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Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy
by Charles BuschA poignant, deliciously anecdotal account of a talented artist's Oz-like journey in the worlds of Off-Broadway, Broadway, and Hollywood The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist&’s Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and a Sundance Festival award winner, Charles Busch has created a unique place in the entertainment world as a playwright, LGBT icon, drag actor, director, and cabaret performer, with his extraordinary gift for both connecting with and channeling the leading ladies of show business. In wonderfully readable chapters, by turns comic and moving, Charles writes how ever since his mother's death when he was seven, he has sought out surrogate mothers in his life. In his teens, Charles moved to Park Avenue in Manhattan to live with his Auntie Mame-like Aunt Lil, who encouraged and nourished Charles&’ talents and dreams, and eventually he discovered his gifts for writing plays and performing as a male actress. Busch also shares his colorful and sometimes outlandish interactions with film and theatrical luminaries including the hilarious comedian Joan Rivers (who became a mother figure to Charles after Aunt Lil&’s death), Angela Lansbury (who attended her first Passover seder with Charles), Rosie O&’Donnell, Claudette Colbert, Valerie Harper, Kim Novak, and many others. Full of both humor and heart and featuring rare photos, Leading Lady is for readers of entertainment books as well as anyone who enjoys real-life stories of artists who break the mold, ditch the boundaries, and find their own unique way to sparkle.
Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker
by Stephen GallowayThe definitive biography of movie executive and philanthropist Sherry Lansing traces her groundbreaking journey to become the first female head of a major motion picture studio, shares behind-the-scenes tales from movie sets and Hollywood boardrooms, and explains what inspired her to walk away from it all to start the Sherry Lansing Foundation.When Sherry Lansing became the first woman ever to be named president of a major studio, the news ricocheted around the world. That was just the beginning of an extraordinary run that saw her head two studios, make hundreds of films, produce classic pictures such as Fatal Attraction and rule for twenty-five years as the most powerful woman Hollywood has ever known. Award-winning writer Stephen Galloway takes us behind the scenes of Lansing's epic journey—inside the battles; up close with the stars; and into the heart of a creative world populated by the likes of Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, Jane Fonda, Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise. He shows us the velvet touch that masked the iron hand, and the roller-coaster drama behind such movies as Titanic, Forrest Gump, Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan. Above all, he takes us into the mind of Lansing, creating a revealing portrait of a dynamic, driven woman who overcame unimaginable odds, pushed boundaries and left Hollywood at the peak of her power to achieve the life she wanted.
Leading Women: Plays For Actresses II
by Eric Lane Nina ShengoldGather any group of actresses, from students to stars, and someone will inevitably ask, "Where are all the great roles for women?" The roles are right here, in this magnificently diverse collection of plays-full-lenghts, one-acts, and monologues--with mainly female casts, which represent the answer to any actress's prayer. The editors of the groundbreaking anthology Plays for Actresses have once again gathered an abundance of strong female roles in a selection of works by award-winning authors and cutting-edge newer voices, from Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher Durang to Claudia Shear, Eve Ensler, and Margaret Edson. The characters who populate these seven full-length plays, four ten-minute plays, and eleven monologues include a vivid cross-section of female experience: girl gang members, Southern debutantes, pilots, teachers, traffic reporters, and rebel teenagers. From a hilarious take on Medea to a taboo-breaking excerpt from The Vagina Monologues to a moving scene from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, the plays in Leading Women are complex, funny, tragic, and always original--and a boon for talented actresses everywhere.
Leading with My Chin
by Jay Leno Bill ZehmeLeading With My Chin is an interesting book to read. The comic stories explain Jay Leno's childhood, adult life and career.
Lean on Me: ` (LyricPop #0)
by Bill WithersBill Withers's classic anthem to friendship lives on in this moving children's picture book adaptation."Lean on me When you’re not strong And I’ll be your friend I’ll help you carry on . . ." Lean on Me is an endearing children's picture book that beautifully demonstrates the power of friendship, based on Bill Withers's classic song of the same name. “Lean on Me” appeared on Withers's 1972 album Still Bill. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and ranked #208 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. With Withers's lyrics and illustrations by Rachel Moss, this picture book follows four close friends through the stages of their childhood, from elementary school until their high school graduation. Withers’s classic and loving refrain serenades them as they lean arm-in-arm into adulthood.
Leaping at Shadows (The Dario Quincy Academy of Dance #1)
by Megan AtwoodMadeleine's the newest arrival at the famed Dario Quincy Academy of Dance. She's worked hard to gain admission, and she's determined not to lose her scholarship. That means not asking too many questions when her antique necklace goes missing, and certainly not breaking curfew. So how does she find herself exploring the creepy tunnels that run underneath the school? As if rivals at dance practice weren't bad enough, Madeleine begins to suspect that there's an ancient evil on the academy grounds. And when Madeleine and her rivals join together, sneaking out at night to explore the school's depths, the evil might just follow them back upstairs.
Leaping at Shadows (The\dario Quincy Academy Of Dance Ser.)
by Megan AtwoodMadeleine's the newest arrival at the famed Dario Quincy Academy of Dance. She's worked hard to gain admission, and she's determined not to lose her scholarship. That means not asking too many questions when her antique necklace goes missing, and certainly not breaking curfew. So how does she find herself exploring the creepy tunnels that run underneath the school? As if rivals at dance practice weren't bad enough, Madeleine begins to suspect that there's an ancient evil on the academy grounds. And when Madeleine and her rivals join together, sneaking out at night to explore the school's depths, the evil might just follow them back upstairs.
Learn Like a Leader: Today's Top Leaders Share Their Learning Journeys
by Marshall Goldsmith Beverly Kaye Ken SheltonWhy are some people able to grow in their careers while others never fully reach their potential? Learn Like a Leader explores this question by examining defining moments of leadership. The authors share personal stories gathered from great leaders such as James Collins, Warren Bennis, and Dave Ulrich, portraying the power of storytelling in training and mentoring.
Learn to Program with Minecraft: Transform Your World with the Power of Python
by Craig RichardsonYou’ve bested creepers, traveled deep into caves, and maybe even gone to The End and back—but have you ever transformed a sword into a magic wand? Built a palace in the blink of an eye? Designed your own color-changing disco dance floor?In Learn to Program with Minecraft®, you’ll do all this and more with the power of Python, a free language used by millions of professional and first-time programmers!Begin with some short, simple Python lessons and then use your new skills to modify Minecraft to produce instant and totally awesome results. Learn how to customize Minecraft to make mini-games, duplicate entire buildings, and turn boring blocks into gold.You’ll also write programs that:–Take you on an automated teleportation tour around your Minecraft world–Build massive monuments, pyramids, forests, and more in a snap!–Make secret passageways that open when you activate a hidden switch–Create a spooky ghost town that vanishes and reappears elsewhere–Show exactly where to dig for rare blocks–Cast a spell so that a cascade of flowers (or dynamite if you’re daring!) follows your every move–Make mischief with dastardly lava traps and watery curses that cause huge floodsWhether you’re a Minecraft megafan or a newbie, you’ll see Minecraft in a whole new light while learning the basics of programming. Sure, you could spend all day mining for precious resources or building your mansion by hand, but with the power of Python, those days are over!Requires: Windows 7 or later; OS X 10.10 or later; or a Raspberry Pi. Uses Python 3
Learning About Dance: Dance as an Art Form and Entertainment
by Nora Ambrosio<p>Learning about Dance: Dance as an Art Form and Entertainment introduces students to the exciting, daring, ever-changing, and dynamic world of dance.</p><p>Learning about Dance invites readers to experience the artistry and excitement of the dance world. The publication presents all aspects of dance as an art form, including chapters on: the choreographer; the dancer; the audience; different dance genres, including ballet, modern and contemporary dance and dance/theatre, jazz, musical theatre dance, tap, world dance, social dance, improvisation, creative movement; dance in education, and careers in dance.</p>
Learning How to Fall: Art and Culture after September 11
by T Nikki Cesare SchotzkoBeginning with Richard Drew’s controversial photograph of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, Learning How to Fall investigates the changing relationship between world events and their subsequent documentation, asking: Does the mediatization of the event overwhelm the fact of the event itself? How does the mode by which information is disseminated alter the way in which we perceive such information? How does this impact upon our memory of an event? T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko posits contemporary art and performance as not only a stylized re-envisioning of daily life but, inversely, as a viable means by which one might experience and process real-world political and social events. This approach combines two concurrent and contradictory trends in aesthetics, narrative, and dramaturgy: the dramatization of real-world events so as to broaden the commercial appeal of those events in both mainstream and alternative media, and the establishment of a more holistic relationship between politically and aesthetically motivated modes of disseminating and processing information. By presenting engaging and diverse case studies from both the art world and popular culture – including Aliza Shvarts’s censored senior thesis at Yale University, Kerry Skarbakka’s provocative photographs of falling, Didier Morelli’s crawl through Toronto, and Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom – Learning How to Fall creates a new understanding of the relationship between the event and its documentation, where even the truth of an event might be called into question.
Learning by Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit
by Corita Kent Jan StewardTap into your natural ability to create!* Engaging, proven exercises for developing creativity* Priceless resource for teachers, artists, actors, everyoneArtist and educator Corita Kent inspired generations of artists, and the truth of her words "We can all talk, we can all write, and if the blocks are removed, we can all draw and paint and make things" still shines through. This revised edition of her classic work Learning by Heart features a new foreword and a chart of curriculum standards. Kent's original projects and exercises, developed through more than 30 years as an art teacher and richly illustrated with 300 thought-provoking images, are as inspiring and as freeing today as they were during her lifetime. Learn how to challenge fears, be open to new directions, recognize connections between objects and ideas, and much more in this remarkable, indispensable guide to freeing the creative spirit within all of us. With new material by art world heavyweights Susan Friel and Barbara Loste, Learning by Heart brings creative inspiration into the 21st century!
Learning from My Mother's Voice: Family Legend and the Chinese American Experience
by Jean Lau Chin"As the reader takes Jean Lau Chin's guided tours through myth and cultural history, it is clear that these stories are more than entertainment: They represent cultural messages about living as a woman. The juxtaposition of Chinese and Western myths with their similarities and differences, followed by the author's incisive analysis of contemporary stories depicting Asian women in print and on the screen, provide culturally driven connections to perceptions and behaviors of Chinese women both individually and in relation to the world. Through these stories, a rich tapestry of information about Chinese women and Chinese American women emerges. The stereotypical Chinese woman fails to appear as the various lenses of ethnicity, gender, location, and epoch make explicit the diversity that exists within any ethnic group and liberate us by providing an informed array of images and possibilities." From Book
Learning the Ropes (Orca Limelights)
by Monique PolakMandy dreams of a career in the circus, working as an aerialist who specializes in rope climbing. When Mandy is accepted into the prestigious Montreal Circus College summer program, she feels that she is finally on her way to fulfilling her dreams. At circus camp she is befriended—and challenged—by young circus performers from around the world. Circus camp turns out to be a magical combination of work and play, but when a veteran aerialist is killed in a fall, Mandy must confront the reality of circus life. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!
Learning to Live Out Loud: A Memoir
by Piper LaurieAn intimate memoir by three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie, one of Hollywood's most gifted and respected actressesAt the age of seventeen, in the glory days of movie-making, Piper Laurie was living every little girl's dream. Having been selected by Universal Studios to be a contract star, Piper was removed from her acting class and provided with stylists, chaperones, leading roles, and handsome dates, and elevated to the heights of Hollywood. Her beauty was admired by the likes of Ronald Reagan, Howard Hughes, Paul Newman, Tony Curtis, as well as dozens of directors and legions of fans. Her name was emblazoned on marquees across America for hit movies of the fifties such as the The Prince Who Was a Thief, The Mississippi Gambler, and Ain't Misbehavin'. But Piper discovered early on that the little girl's dream was not her own. Mortified by the shallowness of the roles and movies she was given, she longed for the freedom and fulfillment of her own artistic vision. After years in the studio system, shy Piper Laurie found her voice and the courage to burn her contract. It was only after she left the oppressive studio culture that she began to star in the TV shows, plays, and films that truly became the hallmarks of her career: The Glass Menagerie on Broadway, the original Days of Wine and Roses, The Hustler, the iconic Carrie, and Twin Peaks. She grew into a three-time Oscar-nominated actress, an accomplished sculptor, and a director. This memoir is the inspiring tale of Piper's perseverance to break from tradition and to practice her craft at the highest level. She started life as a withdrawn, mute child who couldn't find her voice and was transformed into a woman who learned to live out loud by her own rules.From the Hardcover edition.
Learning to Sing
by Clay AikenIn Learning to Sing, Clay Aiken tells the story of how his faith was integral to him learning valuable life lessons during his meteoric rise from life as an aspiring educator in Raleigh, North Carolina to instant stardom on "American Idol." Clay's advice is 1) Believe in yourself, 2) Believe in God, and 3) Be really stubborn. This personal relationship with God is key to personal success, as Clay has witnessed in real life experiences. When asked to "dirty up" his lyrics to increase sales, he resisted-and has sold more than 3 million albums. He refuses to make videos placing him in inappropriate situations, and considers his relationship with God the most valuable in his life. Learning to Sing is an account of Clay Aiken's extraordinary faith and will and perseverance, and an inspiring memoir by someone who became-against all odds-one of the biggest pop stars of his time.
Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life: An Inspirational Memoir
by Clay AikenIn Learning to Sing, Clay Aiken tells the story of how his faith was integral to him learning valuable life lessons during his meteoric rise from life as an aspiring educator in Raleigh, North Carolina to instant stardom on "American Idol. " Clay's advice is 1) Believe in yourself, 2) Believe in God, and 3) Be really stubborn. This personal relationship with God is key to personal success, as Clay has witnessed in real life experiences. When asked to "dirty up" his lyrics to increase sales, he resisted -- and has sold more than 3 million albums. He refuses to make videos placing him in inappropriate situations, and considers his relationship with God the most valuable in his life. Learning to Sing is an account of Clay Aiken's extraordinary faith and will and perseverance, and an inspiring memoir by someone who became -- against all odds -- one of the biggest pop stars of his time.
Lear’s Other Shadow: A Cultural History of Queen Lear
by Thomas G. OlsenLear’s Other Shadow: A Cultural History of Queen Lear offers a deep cultural analysis of the figure of Queen Lear, who shadows and eventually sometimes overshadows her royal husband across the nearly one-thousand-year life of this archetypal tale. What appears to be a deliberate strategy of suppression, even erasure in Shakespeare’s King Lear later inspired dozens of stage, page, and cinematic remakes and adaptations in which this figure is revived or remembered, often pointedly so. From Jacob Gordin’s Yiddish-language Miriele Efros (1898), through edgy stage remakes such as Gordon Bottomley’s King Lear’s Wife (1915) and the Women’s Theatre Group’s Lear’s Daughters (1987), to novelized retellings from Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres (1991) to Preti Taneja’s We That Are Young (2018) and J. R. Thorp’s Learwife (2021), and even the television series Empire (2015–2020) and Succession (2018–2023), Queen Lear regularly emerges from her shadowy origins to challenge how we understand the ancient King Leir/King Lear story. These and many other examples reveal fascinating patterns of adaptation and reinterpretation that Lear's Other Shadow identifies and analyzes for the first time, showing how and why Queen Lear is at the center of this ancient story, whether she is heard from or not.
Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather
by Mark SealThis &“wickedly pacey page-turner&” (Total Film) unfurls the behind-the-scenes story of the making of The Godfather, fifty years after the classic film&’s original release.The story of how The Godfather was made is as dramatic, operatic, and entertaining as the film itself. Over the years, many versions of various aspects of the movie&’s fiery creation have been told—sometimes conflicting, but always compelling. Mark Seal sifts through the evidence, has extensive new conversations with director Francis Ford Coppola and several heretofore silent sources, and complements them with colorful interviews with key players including actors Al Pacino, James Caan, Talia Shire, and others to write &“the definitive look at the making of an American classic&” (Library Journal, starred review). On top of the usual complications of filmmaking, the creators of The Godfather had to contend with the real-life members of its subject matter: the Mob. During production of the movie, location permits were inexplicably revoked, author Mario Puzo got into a public brawl with an irate Frank Sinatra, producer Al Ruddy&’s car was found riddled with bullets, men with &“connections&” vied to be in the cast, and some were given film roles. As Seal notes, this is the tale of a &“movie that revolutionized filmmaking, saved Paramount Pictures, minted a new generation of movie stars, made its struggling author Mario Puzo rich and famous, and sparked a war between two of the mightiest powers in America: the sharks of Hollywood and the highest echelons of the Mob.&” &“For fans of books about moviemaking, this is a definite must-read&” (Booklist).
Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World
by Yang Erche Namu Christine MathieuLeaving Mother Lake is the extraordinary story of Yang Erche Namu - a girl growing up in the borderlands between Tibet and China, who left her remarkable childhood behind for the bright lights of Shanghai and singing stardom. Namu's home is in an area so primitive that during the Cultural Revolution the Red Guards arrived and left because there was nothing to destroy. When Namu was a small child, her mother tried to give her away three times because she would not stop crying. Each time she was returned. As she grew up, she clashed repeatedly with her equally fierce mother until the arrival of a Chinese official, looking for talented singers. Namu was selected for a singing competition in the nearest city - eight hours away - which, to her astonishment, she won. She realised she had a taste for the outside world and, despite her mother's protestations, she decided to run away Leaving Mother Lake is the lyrical story of the girl who grew out of her rural beginnings, battling against the odds to achieve extraordinary success.
Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed
by Scott CalefLed Zeppelin has long been one of the legends of rock, massively successful both commercially and critically. While there are many books about the band, this is the first to plumb the philosophical depths of the creators of "Stairway to Heaven".
Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin IV (33 1/3 #17)
by Erik DavisStripping their famous name off the record was Led Zeppelin’s almost petulant attempt to let their Great Work stand on its own two feet. But the wordless jacket also lent the album charisma. Fans hunted for hidden meanings, or, in failing to find them, sensed a strange reflection of their own mute refusal to communicate with the outside world. This helped to create one of the supreme paradoxes of rock history: an esoteric megahit, a blockbuster arcanum....
Led Zeppelin: The Biography
by Bob Spitz&“In this authoritative, unsparing history of the biggest rock group of the 1970s, Spitz delivers inside details and analysis with his well-known gift for storytelling.&” —PEOPLEFrom the author of the iconic, bestselling history of The Beatles, the definitive account of arguable the greatest rock band of all time.Rock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In Led Zeppelin, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating myth from reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.From the opening notes of their first album, the band announced itself as something different, a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute primal force, of English folk music and African American blues. Spitz&’s account of their artistic journey, amid the fascinating ecosystem of popular music, is irresistible. But the music is only part of the legend: Led Zeppelin is also the story of how the sixties became the seventies, of how innocence became decadence, of how rock took over. Led Zeppelin wasn&’t the first band to let loose on the road, but as with everything else, they took it to an entirely new level. Not all the legends are true, but in Spitz&’s careful accounting, what is true is astonishing and sometimes disturbing.Led Zeppelin gave no quarter, and neither has Bob Spitz. Led Zeppelin is the long-awaited full reckoning the band richly deserves.
Lee Marvin
by Dwayne EpsteinThe first full-length, authoritative, and detailed story of the iconic actor's life to go beyond the Hollywood scandal-sheet reporting of earlier books, this account offers an appreciation for the man and his acting career and the classic films he starred in, painting a portrait of an individual who took great risks in his acting and career. Although Lee Marvin is best known for his icy tough guy roles—such as his chilling titular villain in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or the paternal yet brutally realistic platoon leader in The Big Red One—very little is known of his personal life; his family background; his experiences in WWII; his relationship with his father, family, friends, wives; and his ongoing battles with alcoholism, rage, and depression, occasioned by his postwar PTSD. Now, after years of researching and compiling interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues; rare photographs; and illustrative material, Hollywood writer Dwayne Epstein provides a full understanding and appreciation of this acting titan’s place in the Hollywood pantheon in spite of his very real and human struggles.
Lee de Forest
by Mike AdamsThe life-long inventor, Lee de Forest invented the three-element vacuum tube used between 1906 and 1916 as a detector, amplifier, and oscillator of radio waves. Beginning in 1918 he began to develop a light valve, a device for writing and reading sound using light patterns. While he received many patents for his process, he was initially ignored by the film industry. In order to promote and demonstrate his process he made several hundred sound short films, he rented space for their showing; he sold the tickets and did the publicity to gain audiences for his invention. Lee de Forest officially brought sound to film in 1919. Lee De Forest: King of Radio, Television, and Film is about both invention and early film making; de Forest as the scientist and producer, director, and writer of the content. This book tells the story of de Forest's contribution in changing the history of film through the incorporation of sound. The text includes primary source historical material, U.S. patents and richly-illustrated photos of Lee de Forest's experiments. Readers will greatly benefit from an understanding of the transition from silent to audio motion pictures, the impact this had on the scientific community and the popular culture, as well as the economics of the entertainment industry.