As Thousands Cheer

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Author :
Publisher : Da Capo Press
ISBN 13 : 0786752521
Total Pages : 706 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

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Book Synopsis As Thousands Cheer by : Laurence Bergreen

Download or read book As Thousands Cheer written by Laurence Bergreen and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 1996-03-22 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Irving Berlin (1888–1989) was unable to read or write music and could only play the piano in the key of F-sharp major; yet, for the first half of the twentieth century he was America's most successful and most representative songwriter, composing such hits as "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Cheek to Cheek," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "Puttin' on the Ritz," "White Christmas," "Anything You Can Do," "There's No Business Like Show Business," and "God Bless America." As Thousands Cheer, winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, explores with precision and sensitivity Berlin's long, prolific career; his self-doubt and late-blooming misanthropy; and the tyrannical control he exerted over his legacy of song. From his immigrant beginnings through Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood to his reclusive and bitter final years, this definitive biography reveals the man who wrote 1500 songs but could never quash the fear that, for all his success, he wasn't quite good enough.

The Secret Life of the American Musical

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Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN 13 : 0374711259
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (747 download)

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Book Synopsis The Secret Life of the American Musical by : Jack Viertel

Download or read book The Secret Life of the American Musical written by Jack Viertel and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller: “Both revelatory and entertaining . . . Along the way, Viertel provides some fascinating Broadway history.” —The New York Times Book Review Americans invented musicals—and have a longstanding love affair with them. But what, exactly, is a musical? In this book, longtime theatrical producer and writer Jack Viertel takes them apart, puts them back together, sings their praises, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he shows us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next—by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion—from Oklahoma! to Hamilton and onward. Beginning with an overture and concluding with a curtain call, with stops in between for “I Want” songs, “conditional” love songs, production numbers, star turns, and finales, Viertel shows us patterns in the architecture of classic shows and charts the inevitable evolution that has taken place in musical theater as America itself has evolved socially and politically. The Secret Life of the American Musical makes you feel like you’re there in the rehearsal room, the front row, and the offices of theater owners and producers as they pursue their own love affair with that rare and elusive beast—the Broadway hit. “A valuable addition to the theater lover’s bookshelf. . . . fans will appreciate the dips into memoir and Viertel’s takes on original cast albums.” —Publishers Weekly “Even seasoned hands will come away with a clearer understanding of why some shows work while others flop.” —Commentary “A showstopper . . . infectiously entertaining.” —John Lahr, author of Notes on a Cowardly Lion “Thoroughly interesting.” —The A.V. Club “The best general-audience analysis of musical theater I have read in many years.” —The Charlotte Observer “Delightful . . . a little bit history, a little bit memoir, a little bit criticism and, for any theater fan, a whole lot of fun.” —The Dallas Morning News

Irving Berlin

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Author :
Publisher : Amadeus Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.X/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis Irving Berlin by : Mary Ellin Barrett

Download or read book Irving Berlin written by Mary Ellin Barrett and published by Amadeus Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "God Bless America", "White Christmas", and "There's No Business Like Show Business" are just some of the more than 1,000 songs written by Irving Berlin. Here is an affectionate, intimate, frank memoir of America's most famous and enduring songwriter of this century by his daughter. Photos.

The Papers of Will Rogers: The final years, August 1928-August 1935

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Author :
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 9780806137681
Total Pages : 724 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (376 download)

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Book Synopsis The Papers of Will Rogers: The final years, August 1928-August 1935 by : Will Rogers

Download or read book The Papers of Will Rogers: The final years, August 1928-August 1935 written by Will Rogers and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2006-10-31 with total page 724 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fifth and final volume of The Papers of Will Rogers traces the career of Oklahoma’s beloved entertainer during his most popular years and extends beyond his death in 1935. By 1928, the Oklahoma humorist and commentator had reached national prominence through his newspaper columns, silent films, sound recordings, books, philanthropic endeavors, and lecture tours. His fame, fortune, and influence, however, had yet to crest. This volume showcases a wide variety of documents, including correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the day, revealing Rogers’s rise to fame as the nation’s leading social and political commentator and as a hugely popular star of radio, stage, and film. Rogers’s multifaceted career ended abruptly when he and the famous aviator Wylie Post died in an airplane crash in northernmost Alaska. This documentary history of his final years includes transcripts of radio broadcasts, contracts, and business documents, as well as nearly two hundred telegrams and letters to family, friends, and notable public figures—the majority of which have never before been published. It also covers the aftermath of his fatal airplane accident: the certificate of death, a first-person account of his funeral, settlement of his estate, efforts to pay tribute to his memory, and unauthorized attempts to capitalize on his fame.

America's Songs

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 0415972469
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (159 download)

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Book Synopsis America's Songs by : Philip Furia

Download or read book America's Songs written by Philip Furia and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2006 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Heat Wave

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Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 006204172X
Total Pages : 656 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Heat Wave by : Donald Bogle

Download or read book Heat Wave written by Donald Bogle and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-02-08 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the bestselling Dorothy Dandridge comes a dazzling look at one of America's brightest and most troubled theatrical stars. Almost no other star of the twentieth century reimagined herself with such audacity and durable talent as did Ethel Waters. In this enlightening and engaging biography, Donald Bogle resurrects this astonishing woman from the annals of history, shedding new light on the tumultuous twists and turns of her seven-decade career, which began in Black vaudeville and reached new heights in the steamy nightclubs of 1920s Harlem. Bogle traces Waters' life from her poverty-stricken childhood to her rise in show business; her career as one of the early blues and pop singers, with such hits as "Am I Blue?," "Stormy Weather," and "Heat Wave"; her success as an actress, appearing in such films and plays as The Member of the Wedding and Mamba's Daughters; and through her lonely, painful final years. He illuminates Waters' turbulent private life, including her complicated feelings toward her mother and various lovers; her heated and sometimes well-known feuds with such entertainers as Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, and Lena Horne; and her tangled relationships with such legends as Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Harold Clurman, Elia Kazan, Count Basie, Darryl F. Zanuck, Vincente Minnelli, Fred Zinnemann, Moss Hart, and John Ford. In addition, Bogle explores the ongoing racial battles, growing paranoia, and midlife religious conversion of this bold, brash, wildly talented woman while examining the significance of her highly publicized life to audiences unaccustomed to the travails of a larger-than-life African American woman. Wonderfully atmospheric, richly detailed, and drawn from an array of candid interviews, Heat Wave vividly brings to life a major cultural figure of the twentieth century—a charismatic, complex, and compelling woman, both tragic and triumphant.

A Right to Sing the Blues

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674040902
Total Pages : 287 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis A Right to Sing the Blues by : Jeffrey Melnick

Download or read book A Right to Sing the Blues written by Jeffrey Melnick and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2001-03-16 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All too often an incident or accident, such as the eruption in Crown Heights with its legacy of bitterness and recrimination, thrusts Black-Jewish relations into the news. A volley of discussion follows, but little in the way of progress or enlightenment results--and this is how things will remain until we radically revise the way we think about the complex interactions between African Americans and Jews. A Right to Sing the Blues offers just such a revision. Black-Jewish relations, Jeffrey Melnick argues, has mostly been a way for American Jews to talk about their ambivalent racial status, a narrative collectively constructed at critical moments, when particular conflicts demand an explanation. Remarkably flexible, this narrative can organize diffuse materials into a coherent story that has a powerful hold on our imagination. Melnick elaborates this idea through an in-depth look at Jewish songwriters, composers, and perfomers who made Black music in the first few decades of this century. He shows how Jews such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Al Jolson, and others were able to portray their natural affinity for producing Black music as a product of their Jewishness while simultaneously depicting Jewishness as a stable white identity. Melnick also contends that this cultural activity competed directly with Harlem Renaissance attempts to define Blackness. Moving beyond the narrow focus of advocacy group politics, this book complicates and enriches our understanding of the cultural terrain shared by African Americans and Jews.

In Search of American Jewish Culture

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Author :
Publisher : UPNE
ISBN 13 : 9781584651710
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (517 download)

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Book Synopsis In Search of American Jewish Culture by : Stephen J. Whitfield

Download or read book In Search of American Jewish Culture written by Stephen J. Whitfield and published by UPNE. This book was released on 1999 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading cultural historian explores the complex interactions of Jewish and American cultures.

Irving Berlin

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Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300183216
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Irving Berlin by : James Kaplan

Download or read book Irving Berlin written by James Kaplan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a fast†‘moving, musically astute portrait of arguably the greatest composer of American popular music Irving Berlin (1888–1989) has been called—by George Gershwin, among others—the greatest songwriter of the golden age of the American popular song. “Berlin has no place in American music,” legendary composer Jerome Kern wrote; “he is American music.” In a career that spanned an astonishing nine decades, Berlin wrote some fifteen hundred tunes, including “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “God Bless America,” and “White Christmas.” From ragtime to the rock era, Berlin’s work has endured in the very fiber of American national identity. Exploring the interplay of Berlin’s life with the life of New York City, noted biographer James Kaplan offers a visceral narrative of Berlin as self†‘made man and witty, wily, tough Jewish immigrant. This fast†‘paced, musically opinionated biography uncovers Berlin’s unique brilliance as a composer of music and lyrics. Masterfully written and psychologically penetrating, Kaplan’s book underscores Berlin’s continued relevance in American popular culture. About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: “Excellent.” – New York times “Exemplary.” – Wall St. Journal “Distinguished.” – New Yorker “Superb.” – The Guardian

The Letters of Cole Porter

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Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300249136
Total Pages : 693 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis The Letters of Cole Porter by : Cole Porter

Download or read book The Letters of Cole Porter written by Cole Porter and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-25 with total page 693 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive collection of the letters of one of the most successful American songwriters of the twentieth century From Anything Goes to Kiss Me, Kate, Cole Porter left a lasting legacy of iconic songs including "You're the Top," "Love For Sale," and "Night and Day." Yet, alongside his professional success, Porter led an eclectic personal life which featured exuberant parties, scandalous affairs, and chronic health problems. This extensive collection of letters (most of which are published here for the first time) dates from the first decade of the twentieth century to the early 1960s and features correspondence with stars such as Irving Berlin, Ethel Merman, and Orson Welles, as well as his friends and lovers. Cliff Eisen and Dominic McHugh complement these letters with lively commentaries that draw together the loose threads of Porter’s life and highlight the distinctions between Porter’s public and private existence. This book reveals surprising insights into his attitudes toward Hollywood and Broadway, and toward money, love, and dazzling success.

Writing Better Lyrics

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1582975779
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (829 download)

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Book Synopsis Writing Better Lyrics by : Pat Pattison

Download or read book Writing Better Lyrics written by Pat Pattison and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-01-08 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Must-Have Guide for Songwriters Writing Better Lyrics has been a staple for songwriters for nearly two decades. Now this revised and updated 2nd Edition provides effective tools for everything from generating ideas, to understanding the form and function of a song, to fine-tuning lyrics. Perfect for new and experienced songwriters alike, this time-tested classic covers the basics in addition to more advanced techniques.Songwriters will discover: • How to use sense-bound imagery to enhance a song's emotional impact on listeners • Techniques for avoiding clichés and creating imaginative metaphors and similes • Ways to use repetition as an asset • How to successfully manipulate meter • Instruction for matching lyrics with music • Ways to build on ideas and generate effective titles • Advice for working with a co-writer • And much more Featuring updated and expanded chapters, 50 fun songwriting exercises, and examples from more than 20 chart-toppings songs, Writing Better Lyrics gives you all of the professional and creative insight you need to write powerful lyrics and put your songs in the spotlight where they belong.

The Book of Broadway

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Author :
Publisher : Voyageur Press
ISBN 13 : 0760359385
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (63 download)

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Book Synopsis The Book of Broadway by : Eric Grode

Download or read book The Book of Broadway written by Eric Grode and published by Voyageur Press. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Be absorbed by the profiles of 150 of the biggest, most influential, and most important Broadway musicals and plays ever produced. Shows profiled include everything from the 1860s musical The Black Crook, which captivated and titillated audiences for more than five hours, to the Pulitzer Prize–winning 2010 play Clybourne Park. The men and women who shaped Broadway history--Stephen Sondheim, Tennessee Williams, Bernadette Peters, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II--are celebrated for their groundbreaking work, and photographs throughout illustrate the stunning designs of the shows profiled. This compilation by Author Eric Grode--arts writer for The New York Times, and author of Hair: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation--is the ultimate guide to Broadway shows. Even if you consider yourself an expert in the theater, you will be amazed by the fantastic Broadway trivia scattered throughout this volume, as well as the palpable sense of history in this encyclopedic treatment of one of our most beloved pastimes. Just a few of the titles included are: -Annie -The Book of Mormon -Bye Bye Birdie -Cat on a Hot Tin Roof -Chicago -Death of a Salesman -Fiddler on the Roof -Grease -Guys and Dolls -Hello, Dolly! -Kiss Me, Kate -Les Miserables -The Music Man -My Fair Lady -The Phantom of the Opera -Rent -Six Degrees of Separation -The Sound of Music -A Streetcar Named Desire -West Side Story

Songs of America

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Author :
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0593132955
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (931 download)

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Book Synopsis Songs of America by : Jon Meacham

Download or read book Songs of America written by Jon Meacham and published by Random House. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A celebration of American history through the music that helped to shape a nation, by Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Meacham and music superstar Tim McGraw “Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw form an irresistible duo—connecting us to music as an unsung force in our nation's history.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin Through all the years of strife and triumph, America has been shaped not just by our elected leaders and our formal politics but also by our music—by the lyrics, performers, and instrumentals that have helped to carry us through the dark days and to celebrate the bright ones. From “The Star-Spangled Banner” to “Born in the U.S.A.,” Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw take readers on a moving and insightful journey through eras in American history and the songs and performers that inspired us. Meacham chronicles our history, exploring the stories behind the songs, and Tim McGraw reflects on them as an artist and performer. Their perspectives combine to create a unique view of the role music has played in uniting and shaping a nation. Beginning with the battle hymns of the revolution, and taking us through songs from the defining events of the Civil War, the fight for women’s suffrage, the two world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and into the twenty-first century, Meacham and McGraw explore the songs that defined generations, and the cultural and political climates that produced them. Readers will discover the power of music in the lives of figures such as Harriet Tubman, Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and will learn more about some of our most beloved musicians and performers, including Marian Anderson, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, Carole King, Bruce Springsteen, and more. Songs of America explores both famous songs and lesser-known ones, expanding our understanding of the scope of American music and lending deeper meaning to the historical context of such songs as “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” “God Bless America,” “Over There,” “We Shall Overcome,” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” As Quincy Jones says, Meacham and McGraw have “convened a concert in Songs of America,” one that reminds us of who we are, where we’ve been, and what we, at our best, can be.

The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199874727
Total Pages : 481 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical by : Raymond Knapp

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical written by Raymond Knapp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-04 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical offers new and cutting-edge essays on the most important and compelling issues and topics in the growing, interdisciplinary field of musical-theater and film-musical studies. Taking the form of a "keywords" book, it introduces readers to the concepts and terms that define the history of the musical as a genre and that offer ways to reflect on the specific creative choices that shape musicals and their performance on stage and screen. The handbook offers a cross-section of essays written by leading experts in the field, organized within broad conceptual groups, which together capture the breadth, direction, and tone of musicals studies today. Each essay traces the genealogy of the term or issue it addresses, including related issues and controversies, positions and problematizes those issues within larger bodies of scholarship, and provides specific examples drawn from shows and films. Essays both re-examine traditional topics and introduce underexplored areas. Reflecting the concerns of scholars and students alike, the authors emphasize critical and accessible perspectives, and supplement theory with concrete examples that may be accessed through links to the handbook's website. Taking into account issues of composition, performance, and reception, the book's contributors bring a wide range of practical and theoretical perspectives to bear on their considerations of one of America's most lively, enduring artistic traditions. The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical will engage all readers interested in the form, from students to scholars to fans and aficionados, as it analyses the complex relationships among the creators, performers, and audiences who sustain the genre.

Cheerleading in Action

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Author :
Publisher : Crabtree Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 9780778703334
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis Cheerleading in Action by : John Crossingham

Download or read book Cheerleading in Action written by John Crossingham and published by Crabtree Publishing Company. This book was released on 2003 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cheerleading is a fast-growing sport that's based on teamwork, gymnastics skills, daring stunts, thrilling dances, and--of course--crowd-rousing cheers. Action-packed color photos help show the basic arm and leg positions, stunts and dance moves, and safety precautions.

Moss Hart

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Author :
Publisher : Backstage Books
ISBN 13 : 9780823078905
Total Pages : 476 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (789 download)

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Book Synopsis Moss Hart by : Jared Brown

Download or read book Moss Hart written by Jared Brown and published by Backstage Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "He's a legend of The Great White Way whose very name is synonymous with the Golden Age of Broadway: Moss Hart. In Moss Hart: A Prince of the Theater, biographer Jared Brown offers a meticulously researched, sensitive look at the life and work of a major American artist." "More than just an assessment of Hart's career, this is a personal portrait as well. Despite his enormous success in both theatre and film, Hart spent all of his adult life in psychoanalysis, attempting to come to grips with a crushing depression. He was rumored to be bisexual, and this book examines the evidence for that claim. When he married, in his forties, he and his wife, the actress-singer Kitty Carlisle, were said by Hart's friend and collaborator Alan Jay Lerner to be "not only an ideal couple, [but] the ideal couple."" "This is the first biography to be written with the full cooperation of Hart's family and friends. Author Jared Brown had access to documents (such as Hart's diary) previously unavailable to biographers, and conducted lengthy interviews with Hart's wife and children, as well as with some of the most prominent performers he worked with, such as Julie Andrews, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert, and Roubert Goulet. This long-awaited biography, featuring dozens of never-before-published photographs, is truly the definitive picture of an extraordinary man and a theatrical giant."--BOOK JACKET.

Dinner

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Author :
Publisher : New Directions Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0811221091
Total Pages : 77 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (112 download)

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Book Synopsis Dinner by : César Aira

Download or read book Dinner written by César Aira and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was it a nightmare—the result of a bad case of indigestion—or did something truly scary happen after dinner in the Argentine town of Coronel Pringles? One Saturday night a bankrupt bachelor in his sixties and his mother dine with a wealthy friend. They discuss their endlessly connected neighbors. They talk about a mysterious pit that opened up one day, and the old bricklayer who sometimes walked to the cemetery to cheer himself up. Anxious to show off his valuable antiques, the host shows his guests old windup toys and takes them to admire an enormous doll. Back at home, the bachelor decides to watch some late night TV before retiring. The news quickly takes a turn for the worse as, horrified, the newscaster finds herself reporting about the dead rising from their graves, leaving the cemetery, and sucking the blood of the living—all somehow, disturbingly reminiscent of the dinner party.