Books: Deeper than Greasepaint

LAURETTE(433 pp.)—Marguerite Courtney—Rinehart ($5).

On Easter eve 1945, a sick but triumphant actress stepped into her dressing room in Manhattan's Playhouse theater. This opening night of The Glass Menagerie had proved what many critics and theatergoers had long believed: that Laurette Taylor was one of America's great actresses. Among the flowers and the telegrams stood a bottle of Scotch, the gift of testy Critic George Jean Nathan. It was a special kind of a tribute, and Laurette understood. She wired: "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

For almost 20 years Laurette Taylor had...