When Entertainers Enter Novels

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The French author Colette (1873-1954).

Among the memorable characters in literature are entertainers: actors, actresses, singers, musicians, etc.

Many dramatic possibilities with these fictional “show biz” people — including creative highs and lows, how they handle fame or lack of fame, how they handle wealth (if wealthy), how they deal with loneliness on the road, and so on. These characters might be flamboyant, charismatic, egotistic, shallow, surprisingly decent, beloved, wedded to their work at the expense of relationships…

I thought about all that last week as I read The Parasites, a lesser-known novel by Daphne du Maurier. The absorbing 1949 book focuses on three siblings – intermittently depicted as kids and as adults – whose self-centered parents were acclaimed stage performers. Two of those siblings become performers themselves (one’s an actress and the other is a pianist who composes fluffy, very popular songs) and they are spoiled/often-irresponsible sights to behold.

More novels I’ve read with performers at the center or as notable supporting characters? One of them is Colette’s semi-autobiographical The Vagabond (1910), about an independent-minded divorcee who becomes a music-hall dancer to support herself. I’ve read most of Colette’s novels, and I think this is her best.

Also semi-autobiographical is Charles Bukowski’s Hollywood (1989), a fictionalized/satirical version of the author’s experiences as a screenwriter for the 1987 film Barfly starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway.

Then there’s The Song of the Lark (1915), a poignant Willa Cather novel about an ambitious young woman from a small town who becomes a famous opera singer — and the joys and sacrifices that went along with that.

Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto features an opera singer, too. In the 2001 novel, that singer and others are taken hostage during a private concert she’s giving for bigwigs.

A significant supporting player in Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom (2010) is a rock musician who was a college friend of one of the novel’s two main characters and later has a brief affair with that friend’s wife (the book’s other co-star).

Also in the secondary character realm is the teen Hollywood actress who becomes infatuated with the married male protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night (1934). Another semi-autobiographical novel.

The protagonist in Tom Perrotta’s The Wishbones (1997) is a musician in a New Jersey wedding band trying to decide between being with a fairly conventional New Jersey woman or a more “hip”/edgy New York City woman.

Wilkie Collins’ 1862 novel No Name includes a character whose acting skills from her theatrical career come in handy when navigating an unusual family crisis.

While the main character in Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer (1961) is a film-watching stockbroker rather than an entertainer, I feel that novel deserves an honorable mention here.

I’ll add that some writers of novels have been actors/actresses or worked in other parts of the entertainment world — including Fannie Flagg, Thomas Tryon, Steve Martin, and David Duchovny, to name four.

Thoughts about, and examples of, today’s theme?

Misty the cat says: “Here’s where ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ was filmed, but I didn’t hear any singing.”

My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for the book features a talking cat: 🙂

I’m also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more, including many encounters with celebrities.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — which comments on a not-needed name change for a future park, my town’s hopeful divestment from a bank helping to fund cruel federal immigration detention centers, and another hiring of a high-paid administrator in a school district (mine) where teachers have been laid off — is here.

74 thoughts on “When Entertainers Enter Novels”

  1. Dave, I loved your post. You have a rare, fascinating, and illuminating ability to not only review literature, but positioning it in a relatable context. Born and raised in the Hollywood area, the people of the entertainment industry are close to my heart. Though I’m not an expert, I find you’re able to perceive the heart and soul of them. Thank you for sharing your insights. 😃💕

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    • Thank you, Carolyn! I appreciate the very kind words. 🙂 You, as someone with such a strong Hollywood-area connection and who has worked in show business, know more than most about the entertainment field.

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  2. A unique topic this week Dave! Very interesting and the most interesting part is; I am barely familiar with most of the novels you so generously mentioned! 😊 I have heard of Colette and have ‘Gigi’ and ‘The Cat’ on my bookshelf. Are they interesting?

    Thank you for the lovely books.

    Sharon 🤗

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  3. Hi Dave, a great post. I must admit that I have read few books in this theme. The world of entertainers has never attracted me. The only story I’ve read that has any sort of performing in it that I can think of is Pinocchio and I don’t think that’s what you have in mind 😝

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  5. Hello Dave and Rainy Day Misty,

    Fun topic!

    How about Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid? Eventually made into a tv series, it is loosely based on Fleetwood Mac.

    Okay, that is my BIG contribution!

    Hmm, I wonder if Misty read that book? After all “thunder only happens when it’s raining” are words from Dreams; which was written by Fleetwood Mac, and Misty looks fleet(ish) of foot on the rain soaked cement.

    Just a thought!

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    • Thank you, Resa! “Daisy Jones and the Six” is a great mention! I thought of it when writing the post, but didn’t include it because I’ve never read it. I do own two now-vintage Fleetwood Mac albums (“Fleetwood Mac” and “Rumours”) I purchased back in the ’70s. 🙂

      Ha ha! 😂 Misty would indeed be scared of that “Dreams” lyric from FM’s Stevie Nicks. He’d also be scared of a “Landslide”…

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      • Now vintage… Yikes!

        It seems my entire past life is vintage. Many years ago I used to have this…standing date at certain parties with a guy I knew from Winnipeg, Tim Bachman.
        Yes, co-founder of Bachman Turner Overdrive.

        Anyway, someone reminded me of an incident with him years later, after I had moved to Toronto. I have fond memories, so I searched him online. I had no idea he had passed 2 years ago. I feel very, very, very vintage!

        Play the albums for Misty! Just skip over the 2 afore mentioned songs!

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        • Wow, Resa…a rock-music-star connection! I remember BTO, though I was a bigger fan of the Guess Who — which of course included Tim Bachman’s brother Randy before the latter left the GW. Sorry about Tim’s passing. 😦

          If I offer to play those Fleetwood Mac albums for Misty, he’d like to hear “Go Your Own Way” during his morning walks for inspirational purposes.

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          • YES! “Go Your Own Way” is a huge fave in the Cat World. They also love “I did it My Way”, when Sinatra sings it.

            Ahh, The Guess Who! LOVE!
            I was a kid when they made it big. I knew Burton through my gf’s older sisters. He was always very nice to me.
            He told me some great “on the road” stories, and when he got rich and bought a black Jaguar, I remember him taking me for a ride in it.

            I do feel sad about Tim. Thank you!

            Again..I am Vintage!

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            • Yes! 😂 Cats are big fans of that Sinatra-sung song. 🙂

              You knew Burton Cummings, too!!! And that memorable Jaguar ride! (A car that’s in the cat family.) Somewhere in my apartment I have the single “These Eyes” and maybe one other 45 from the Guess Who.

              The only face-to-face musical meetings I can remember are Pete Seeger in the 1980s (at a progressive newspaper I was doing volunteer copy-editing for) and the bassist for 10,000 Maniacs after seeing them in concert in 2011.

              I’m afraid I’m vintage, too. 🙂 😦

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  6. Hi Dave, and a quick thought from me today. How about Dirk Bogarde, wonderful he was! He was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter, and that’s pretty good.

    I have enjoyed so many films (all very old now). I had bought all his autobiographies (Penguin books) and I’m smiling about those just now; there are some lovely photos in the middle of each of those ones. Time to read them again? Maybe. I have also read two of his novels: Jericho and Wet of Sunset. Fab too! Dear Bogarde, a lovely gay man.

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    • Thank you, Chris! I didn’t know that Dirk Bogarde was also a novelist — nice! Unlike you, I haven’t seen many of his movies, but did watch a clip of him in “Death in Venice” when writing about that Thomas Mann novel a few months ago. Impressive acting. Bogarde and Mann unfortunately shared being forced to keep their sexuality closeted in earlier times.

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  7. I don’t have anything to add to this topic, Dave but I enjoyed it and the earlier comments. The benefit of being a day late and a meaningful comment short is that I get to read the comments. Always a good thing.

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    • Thank you, Dan! Reading great comments is definitely a draw of getting to a blog post a day or more after it’s posted. 🙂

      “…a day late and a meaningful comment short” — great/droll turn of phrase!

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  8. Hi Dave,

    I don’t have anything to add to the topic this week, however I’ve nearly finished du Maurier’s “Jamaica Inn” and she gets better and better the more I read of her. When I wanted to buy a copy of one of her earlier books, it came in a group of six novels, and so I have a copy of “The Parasites” on my shelf. I could absolutely just gobble up and all six books and then read them over and over. I’m blown away by how much I’m enjoying “Jamaica Inn” ❤

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    • Thank you, Susan! I’ve been recently reading or rereading a number of du Maurier’s novels myself, and totally share your enthusiasm. A fantastic writer! I found “Jamaica Inn” to be not quite as accomplished as her later work, but it’s pretty riveting.

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      • I thought it just got better and better! There was a dead body, and I was kinda hoping that someone else had put it there, so that was almost disappointing, but I loved every single page. The ending felt completely illogical for the main character and yet I kept cheering for her. I’ve never read a bad book by du Maurier and am now looking forward to her later books (I’ve only read “Rebecca”) even more!

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        • Thanks for the great follow-up comment, Sue! Yes, the decision the “Jamaica Inn” protagonist made near the end of the novel seemed unlike her, but she was indeed an amazing character thrust into very difficult circumstances.

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    • Thank you, Susi! I love the idea of those kinds of author cameos. 🙂 Made me think of the young John Steinbeck briefly appearing in the older Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” novel.

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  10. Several years ago I got to meet Steve Martin, take a photo I have in a frame.Barnes @ Noble. Union Square,had big names promoting,signing books. He was promoting, “Pleasure Of My Company ” after success of Shopgirl, was made into a film as I remember. He did not show his teeth in photo with me. I noticed in other publicity shots he hadn’t shown his choppers. Steve Martin is also well known for prowess in playing the banjo .

    Michele
    E & P way back

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  11. Ah performers in books. . . . in this excellent post. There’s the OTT Julia Lambert in Somerset Maughn’s Theatre book . Rather a lot in Kanin’s Moviola. There’s the life of movie star extras in he 30s, as told by , Horace McCoy, in I should have stayed home… There’s also the James Cain’s Serenade about a singer.

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    • Thank you, Shehanne! Various great mentions!

      Somehow I’ve missed “Theatre” despite reading quite a bit of Maugham’s other work (“Of Human Bondage,” “The Razor’s Edge,” “The Moon and Sixpence,” “The Painted Veil,” and “Cakes and Ale”).

      I know you and your husband have had some theatrical experiences yourselves. 🙂

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      • It is not one of Maugham’s best known works but I thought it was quietly brilliant in its depiction of the lead. It is of his vintage of course but I liked the writing. Oh we have several theatrical experiences and are working towards another as we speak.

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        • Shehanne, I’m definitely intrigued by the idea of that Maugham novel and will see if my local library has the book. (Probably a long shot. 😦 ) And that’s wonderful that you and your husband have another theatrical project in your future!

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  12. An excellent topic that got me thinking, Dave. There’s Zola’a ‘Nana’, who’s on the stage but not talented in any way apart from using her charms to manipulate men (she first appeared in ‘L’Assomoir’ as a victim of abuse, which sort-of explains the direction her life took thereafter). Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children’ is full of street performers; Wee Willie Winkie, an accordianist, Parvati the Witch, a magician, Picture Singh, a snake charmer – and others. They’re not main characters, but important to the plot. The colourful and very human circus ‘Horse Riders’ of Dickens’s ‘Hard Times’ provide a contrast to the stark utilitarian lives of the Gradgrind family. That’s all I can come up with for now, but if I think of any more I’ll be back. Thank you! 🙂

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    • Thank you, Laura! Great mention of the Nana character! I’ve read both “L’Assomoir” (titled “The Drinking Den” in the edition I own) and “Nana,” and that character certainly ended up having a problematic life after her parents’ lives went to hell. I appreciate the Rushdie and Dickens mentions, too; you came up with a lot!

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    • Thank you, Ada! “The Parasites” is definitely an obscure du Maurier title. I only stumbled on it because I wanted to read more of that author and went to the “du” area of my local library’s shelves. 🙂 More a character study than a plot-driven novel.

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  15. Oh…what fun! You’ve got my wheels turnin’ thinking about other possible examples!
    Thanks for the nudge about Bukowski’s Hollywood! I have a friend who loves, loves, loves that book and has been encouraging me to read. I had no idea Bukowski was an actual screenwriter. Now I’m even more intrigued.
    Thanks, Dave! 😊💝😊

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  16. Thank you very much, Dave, for your interesting topic! I have to admit that I can’t think of any novel that covers it, but I have immediately written down “The Parasites” by Daphne de Maurier and the self-centered entertainer parents and their 3 siblings, because I am very interested in this argument.

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  18. What an incredible list, Dave!

    I can write about Italian literature, and mention Alberto Moravia’s Disprezzo , i, e Contempt, also known ias A Ghost At Noon(1954), which fits your theme perfectly. The novel delves into the world of show business through Riccardo, a playwright who reluctantly takes a job as a screenwriter to pay off his debts, while his marriage falls apart.

    It’s a brilliant exploration of how show business distorts real-life relationships.

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    • Thank you, Luisa, for that great, well-described example of a show-biz person in fiction! And, yes, working in the entertainment realm can often put a strain on relationships; it makes one especially impressed with show-biz couples — such as Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks — who apparently have/had long and happy marriages.

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  20. Dave, this is a fascinating theme and I look forward to following this discussion. It made me realize that our interest in performers isn’t simply about celebrity. I think we are drawn to the very human stories behind the applause. The sacrifices, the ambition, the loneliness, the triumphs, and the disappointments. They become a lens through which we explore our own hopes and frailties.

    Your list reminded me of something Will Storr suggests in The Science of Storytelling (I just finished this most excellent book). We are captivated by stories because they allow us to step inside another person’s experience. Perhaps that is why novels centred on actors, musicians, and writers endure. We’re not only curious about what they achieve, but about what it costs them to become who they are.

    A great post! And as always, I just had to leave a quote:

    “Great storytelling, like great psychology and great neuroscience, is a deep investigation into human behaviour. Literary storytelling is often dominated not by surface action as much as by the laying out of extensive clues as to why the characters behave as they do.”
    Will Storr, The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! I’m looking forward to the discussion, too. 🙂

      Yes, celebrities are in rarified circles in a way, but they are of course still human and their ups and downs can arouse our curiosity and sympathy, and be compelling and relatable. (Although in some cases, we might not be as sympathetic to them as we are to the trials and tribulations of average people because of the societal advantages celebrities often have.)

      Another top-notch quote! You never disappoint with them. 🙂

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