I Love the Illusion

The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead, 2nd Edition

By: Charles Tranberg

Narrated by: Angie Dillard Brayfield

Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Lovers of old-time radio hold a special place in their heart for Agnes Moorehead. She was one of the busiest and most definitive actresses of that medium. The bottom line is that Agnes Moorehead is one of the few actresses who succeeded in every realm of show business: stage, radio, film, and television. The respect of her peers can be summed up in these statistics: four Academy Award nominations; seven Emmy nominations - with one win; two Golden Globe nominations - with two wins; and the Best Actress award from the New York Film Critics. This impressive biography proves to listeners and scholars alike that she was much more than the witch of Endor!

This is the second edition of the best-selling book, with new material!

©2007, 2016 Charles Tranberg (P)2016 BearManor Media

Fascinating story...HORRIBLE READER!

I love bios on the character actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, but I can't get past the horrendous narration. Angie Dillard Brayfield should find another line of work. She said "antidote" for "anecdote"." And when she was recapping "Citizen Kane" she actually said "Ex-anadu" for "Xanadu." She mispronounced Martin Gables last name. And you can hear the director cueing her. Agnes hasn't even entered the decade of the 40s and Ms .Brayfield has totally ruined the book for me. The 3 stars are for content...its a great bio...but ZERO stars for narration. Don't people edit these things?

An Illusion No More?

Clear, concise writing. You walk away from this book having a much better understanding of who Agnes Moorehead was. With that said I also feel that there are still questions unanswered, my sense is that Ms. Moorehead would have liked that there was still mystery left to who she was.

Always loved Agnes Moorehead!

While I have always been a great fan of Agnes Moorehead, this book was a little disappointing. Not for the story, but it was the narration. I feel the narrator Angie Dillard Brayfield was an awful choice to read this audiobook. Her voice at times sounds ok, but then at times, it sounds like it is the automated voice from my cell phone. It sounds so monotone. I love the story, and learning more about Agnes. This book would have been so much better with a different narrator. "AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY"

Great book, terrible narrator and worse editing

Listening to this audiobook has been a rough ride. I’m only half way through and keep wincing at the narrator’s poor performance and the rotten editing job done on this book.

There are several outtakes and bits of direction from the producers left in that we shouldn’t be hearing at all.
Whoever edited this was in a hurry and didn’t take the time to go through the entire book and edit it correctly.

Audible needs to send this back to the publisher and ask for a re edit. Maybe even a full re-record.

At least get a strong narrator who knows how to pronounce simple words (this actress doesn’t), and an editor that is diligent and doesn’t rush through job.

The excellent writing from the author is all that has prevented me from returning this book and exchanging it with something better.

More magic is needed

Huge fan of Endora and wanted to know more about Mrs Moorhead and what her story is I will say that the base of the bio is great and it does provide a great foundation however the way this is written at times it seems to be wordy and drawn out. Also the performer who’s doing the reading unfortunately does not let you get into the flow of the story instead the way she speaks it’s very obvious that your on the edge of what the story could be.

Complete with Outtakes!

Where does I Love the Illusion rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's a good bio of a radio, film and television star of the 30's - 60's, illuminating the back story of a well-known actress who apparently revealed little of her personal life throughout her career.

What did you like best about this story?

For someone who primarily knew Moorehead as Endora on Bewitched & as the mother at the very beginning of Citizen Kane, it was really interesting to learn of her much earlier success in radio and the stage in the 30's 40's & 50's.

What didn’t you like about Angie Dillard Brayfield’s performance?

1. She was very weak; one of the most unskilled performers I have heard in the last 50 Audible books.
2. There were perhaps 30 or 40 times that she stopped and repeated, that were not edited out. On 2 occasions you can hear the audio producer giving her instructions and these were pretty basic instructions reflecting how he must have struggled to extract a decent performance.
3. There were dozens of times when the pitch of her voice or the audio background or the volume changed markedly after a sentence or even a phrase, indicating an edit and been done.
4. Although not unpleasant to listen to, I would not listen to a book performed by Brayfield again

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it was great to listen to over a week. I was able to call up a few of Moorhead's performances on Youtube and incorporate that experience as the story unfolded.

Any additional comments?

Audible should go back to the supplier and ask for this to be re-edited.

Fantastic subject... Terrible narrator...

Many times, the narrator sounds like a computer generated "text to speech" performance. Then, out of the blue, a paragraph would come out as expressive and natural. Strange choice.

Agnes

I absolutely loved this book. Sometimes the narration got a bit weird, but the book was so great it made up for it. If you’re a fan of the really olden days of classic radio and television, you will love this as much as I did.

great behind the scenes, so-so editing

I thoroughly enjoyed the content of this book, and learning more about her life. Throughout the book I would check out movies and radio shows to acquaint myself with what was revealed. Go find the radio broadcast of Sorry Wrong Number, then the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders, both on YouTube. While the presenter was engaging and enjoyable, there were mistakes. I am sure it happens all the time, and that is fine. However, rather than editing them out, one can hear a director's voice and some sentences or phrases repeated. I don't blame this on the reader but the editor, or lack thereof. Overall, a very enjoyable book which I would recommend.

Terrific book but . . .

. . . this is the absolute worst production and narration ever. Tons of mistakes are left in. Do the producers know anything about the subject? Hume Cronyn is pronounced - Hume Croin. Croin?!
The narrator is awful too - really slow (producer's fault), but when she reads a farmer talking about a play she reads it with a hillbilly accent. Seriously? I would hate to hear her read Steinbeck.