Father Hartke: His Life and Legacy to the America Theater

Rating:
Summary: Well Done, Kid!
Review: This book attempts to accomplish two missions. One, it meets Father Hartke's requirement that it be a history of the Drama Department of Catholic University. In so doing it must necessarily also be a biography of one Gilbert V. Hartke. This is a huge and daunting assignment which Ms Santo Pietro takes on. That she succeeds as well as she does is an amazing achievement.

I never thought I would find Father Hartke captured within the confines of a book. I knew him as a teacher, director, administrator, priest and friend. His character was huge, and extremely difficult to depict on a printed page. He had so many qualities, and sometimes they conflicted. He loved his students, and his attempts to be tough on them once in awhile always fell flat. He put up a front of optimistic idealism, and yet he proved to me many times that he understood hard realities about people. He was a big ham, loved to be upfront of a laughing crowd, loved everything about the theatre except the heartbreak. He believed as a priest that he was filling in for God. Maybe so, but he was much kinder than God.

Congratulations Ms Santo Pietro on accomplishing the near impossible, and that is to dramatize goodness, by showing the human effects of that goodness. The scene between David Sabin, and David Merrick brought tears to my eyes. I could have wished for a little less history, and a few more such moments., but hey, you did a hell of a job!
For the record, the editing and page layouts are first rate. Inspired by her subject character, the author writes with the cool punch of a good novelist.
I can hear that gritty voice saying: Well done, kid!

Rating:
Summary: Well Done, Kid!
Review: This book attempts to accomplish two missions. One, it meets Father Hartke's requirement that it be a history of the Drama Department of Catholic University. In so doing it must necessarily also be a biography of one Gilbert V. Hartke. This is a huge and daunting assignment which Ms Santo Pietro takes on. That she succeeds as well as she does is an amazing achievement.

I never thought I would find Father Hartke captured within the confines of a book. I knew him as a teacher, director, administrator, priest and friend. His character was huge, and extremely difficult to depict on a printed page. He had so many qualities, and sometimes they conflicted. He loved his students, and his attempts to be tough on them once in awhile always fell flat. He put up a front of optimistic idealism, and yet he proved to me many times that he understood hard realities about people. He was a big ham, loved to be upfront of a laughing crowd, loved everything about the theatre except the heartbreak. He believed as a priest that he was filling in for God. Maybe so, but he was much kinder than God.

Congratulations Ms Santo Pietro on accomplishing the near impossible, and that is to dramatize goodness, by showing the human effects of that goodness. The scene between David Sabin, and David Merrick brought tears to my eyes. I could have wished for a little less history, and a few more such moments., but hey, you did a hell of a job!
For the record, the editing and page layouts are first rate. Inspired by her subject character, the author writes with the cool punch of a good novelist.
I can hear that gritty voice saying: Well done, kid!