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Valentino As I Knew Him: As I Knew Him (classic Reprint)
by O. O. Macintyre S. George UllmanRudolph Valentino (1895-1926) was an early pop icon and a sex symbol of the 1920s, having starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle, and The Son of the Sheik, and he became known as the “Latin lover” or simply “Valentino.” His sudden death at just 31 years of age unleashed mass hysteria among his female fans and further propelled him into iconic status.This biography of the famous Italian actor, which was originally published in 1926, not long after his untimely death, was written by his business manager and closest friend, George Ullman, providing with the reader with a unique insight into the icon’s life.
Väter allerlei Geschlechts
by Anja Besand Mark Arenhövel Olaf SandersDer Band lädt ein darüber nachzudenken, wie Fernsehserien Vaterschaft (und durchaus auch Mutterschaft) inszenieren und welche Momente der gesellschaftlichen Selbstreflexion und Projektion sich darin abzeichnen. Dabei gilt das besondere Interesse dem spezifischen Reflexionspotential serieller Formate: Unter dem Stichwort der Intergenerationenambivalenz fragen wir, wie serielle Fernseherzählungen von Vaterschaft die zunehmende Spannung zwischen traditionellen, auch normativen Rollenbildern und gelebten Familienpraxen auffächern. Welche Modelle von Elternschaft entwerfen Fernsehserien, welche Familienutopien oder -dystopien imaginieren sie? Wie wird dabei über Geschlechter- und Familienrollen reflektiert? Wie thematisieren sie die Widersprüche von Affekt und Macht, von Autonomie und Abhängigkeit in Familienbeziehungen?
Verdad, Mentiras y Propaganda
by Lucinda E Clarke José A Herrera REste libro describe la primera parte de mi viaje desde ser maestra de escuela primaria, pasando por anunciante en radio, luego escritora de libretos para radio hasta llegar a producir para televisión. Todas las historias son verídicas, aunque algunos nombres han sido cambiados para proteger a los personajes más interesantes. Si alguna vez se han preguntado qué ocurre detrás de las cámaras, este libro les brindará algunos secretos y les explicará cómo se hacen los programas de TV. ¿Cómo se siente trabajar con gente famosa, o entrevistarles cuando no les interesa hablarte? No se dejen engañar con eso de que trabajar en televisión es glamoroso. No lo es. Yo pasé más tiempo en baños y husmeando entre montañas de basura que en salas de banquete. Hacer cualquier tipo de programa de TV es un trabajo de equipo, y yo he trabajado con los mejores equipos de grabación y el mejor personal de estudio en Sudáfrica. Sin ellos y sin su pasión, no podría orgullosamente recordar nada de lo que produjimos. Este libro es para ellos y los clientes que nos dieron la confianza de relatar sus historias. Es también para mi esposo que sufre desde hace tiempo y cuya paciencia mientras escribo este libro ha resistido nuevos límites. No hay dos días que sean iguales en el mundo de los medios de comunicación y yo me siento privilegiada de haber sido parte de ello. Pero no crean todo lo que ven en la televisión. Probablemente, ¡es más sabio no creer en absolutamente nada! España 2014
Verdades, Mentiras e Propaganda
by Lucinda E Clarke Talita Mahfuz AdamoEmbora Lucinda sonhasse ser escritora, obediente, ela estudou para ser professora e obter um emprego “adequado”. Seu primeiro contato com a mídia foi através do trabalho no Serviço de Língua Inglesa em Benghazi, na Líbia. Infelizmente, depois disso, ela voltou às salas de aula. Ela não imaginava que perder o emprego de professora e fazer fiasco numa audição para a SABC a teria levado a escrever roteiros de rádio sobre gado doméstico, sobre o qual ela não sabia absolutamente nada. Assim, começou a sua jornada através da escritura, pré-produção e direção de programas sobre diversos assuntos. O que você vê na televisão, às vezes tem pouca relação com a verdade. Esta coleção de acontecimentos far-lhe-á rir e chorar. Ela retira a máscara da mídia e revela a verdade.
Victoria & Albert: A Royal Love Affair
by Daisy Goodwin Sara SheridanThe official companion to the second season of the PBS/Masterpiece drama Victoria by award-winning creator and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin.Airing in the Downton Abbey slot on PBS/Masterpiece last January, Victoria captivated millions of viewers, eclipsing Downton's first-season viewership and leaving its audience eager for the series's next season, which will focus on Victoria and Albert's passionate and tempestuous marriage.This official tie-in to the show, by creator and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the show, featuring never-before-seen interviews, photos, diary entries, profiles on all major characters, and sumptuous detail on the costumes and props that bring Victoria and Albert's world to vivid life. Victoria and Albert follows this extraordinary relationship between two very different people—she impulsive, emotional, capricious; he cautious, self-controlled, and logical—whose devotion to each other was unparalleled in royal history. Taking fans deeper into the world of Victoria than ever before, Victoria and Albert: A Royal Love Affair is the ultimate gift for devotees of the show.
Una Vida
by Ednita Nazario“Ednita siempre ha sido la “gran dama” que nos señaló el camino, con un espíritu de innovación, tenacidad y entendiendo lo que es la música actual”. —Ricky Martin Pocos cantantes han sido capaces de generar el interés internacional y multigeneracional del que ha disfrutado la artista Ednita Nazario. Una de las estrellas del pop latino más admiradas y con más grabaciones que han resultado en hits, es reconocida por su riqueza vocal y su magnética presencia en los escenarios. En estas páginas Ednita, la diva más amada de Puerto Rico, por primera vez abre su corazón narrando su vida entera, con detalles nunca antes revelados al público. Desde sus humildes comienzos en Ponce, pasando por la pérdida de su gran amor, la bancarrota emocional y financiera y finalmente el regreso al estrellato. Ednita nos abre su corazón y su historia con absoluta sinceridad y transparencia, desde los momentos más felices de su vida hasta los más desgarradores. Una historia de inspiración, amor, familia: esta es Ednita Nazario con toda la pasión y el talento que la han convertido en una de las estrellas más celebradas de nuestra era.
Voice: Onstage And Off
by Robert Barton Rocco Dal VeraVoice: Onstage and Off is a comprehensive guide to the process of building, mastering, and fine-tuning the voice for performance. Every aspect of vocal work is covered, from the initial speech impulse and the creation of sound, right through to refining the final product in different types of performance. This highly adaptable course of study empowers performers of all levels to combine and evolve their onstage and offstage voices.
Voice Lessons: A Sisters Story
by Cara Mentzel Idina MenzelVoice Lessons is the story of one younger sister growing up in the shadow of a larger-than-life older sister—looking up to her, wondering how they were alike and how they were different and, ultimately, learning how to live her own life and speak in her own voice on her own terms. As Cara Mentzel, studied, explored, married, gave birth (twice) and eventually became an elementary school teacher, she watched her sister, Idina Menzel, from the wings and gives readers a front row seat to opening night of Rent and Wicked, a seat at the Tonys, and a place on the red carpet when her sister taught millions more, as the voice of Queen Elsa in the animated musical Frozen, to “Let It Go.” Voice Lessons is the story of sisters—sisters with pig tails, sisters with boyfriends and broken hearts, sisters as mothers and aunts, sisters as teachers and ice-queens, sisters as allies and confidantes. As Cara puts it, “My big sister is Tony-Award-Winning, Gravity-Defying, Let-It-Go-Singing Idina Menzel who has received top billing on Broadway marquees, who has performed for Barbra Streisand and President Obama, at the Super Bowl and at the Academy Awards. The world knows her as 'Idina Menzel', but I call her 'Dee'.” Voice Lessons is their story.
W.C. Fields from the Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway Stage to the Screen
by Arthur Frank WertheimThis book reveals how Fields became a character comedian while performing in Broadway's most illustrious revue, the Ziegfeld Follies. As the first biography to use the recently opened Fields Papers at the Motion Picture Academy, the book explores how Fields years as a Follies entertainer portraying a beleaguered husband and a captivating conman became a landmark turning point in his career, leading to his fame as a masterful film comedian. The book also untangles a web of mysteries about Fields's turbulent private life, from the heartrending stories about the tragic relationship with his calculating wife who refused to divorce him, to his estranged son controlled by his mother, to the seven-year extra-marital affair with a chorus girl that led to the birth of an unwanted child. This electrifying saga illuminates a complex dual personality, whirling from tenderness to brusqueness, who endured so much anguish in order to bring the gift of laughter to millions. Although vilified by Ziegfeld and assailed by demons, Fields survived the cutthroat rigors of Broadway show biz to become a legendary American iconoclast and cultural icon.
Waiting for the Punch: Words to Live by from the WTF Podcast
by Marc Maron Brenda McDonald"Public figures as you rarely if ever hear them: strikingly personal, surprisingly open, and profoundly emotional."— Entertainment Weekly"I’m British, so I’m medically dead inside, but even I can’t help but open up whenever I talk to Marc. He uses his honestly like a scalpel, cutting himself open in front of anyone he’s talking to, and in doing so, invites you to do the same."—John OliverFrom the beloved and wildly popular podcast WTF with Marc Maron comes a book of intimate, hilarious and life changing conversations with some of the funniest, and most important people in the world like you’ve never heard them before. Waiting for the Punch features the stories and thoughts of such luminaries as Amy Schumer, Mel Brooks, Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Sir Ian McKellen, Lorne Michels, Judd Apatow, Lena Dunham, Jimmy Fallon, RuPaul, Louis CK, David Sedaris, Bruce Springsteen, and President Obama.This book is not simply a collection of these interviews, but instead something more wondrous: a running narrative of the world’s most recognizable names working through the problems, doubts, joys, triumphs, and failures we all experience. With each chapter covering a different topic: parenting, childhood, relationships, sexuality, success, failures and others, Punch becomes a sort of everyman’s guide to life. Barack Obama candidly discusses the challenges of the presidency, and the bittersweet moments of seeing your children grow up. Amy Schumer recounts the pain of her parents’ divorce. Molly Shannon uproariously remembers the time she and her best friend hopped a plane from Ohio to New York City when they were twelve on a dare. Amy Poehler dishes on why just because you become a parent doesn’t mean you have to like anybody else’s kids but your own. Bruce Springsteen expounds on the dual nature of desperation to both motivate and devastate. Full of stories that are at once laugh-out loud funny, heartbreakingly honest, joyous, tragic and powerful, Waiting for the Punch is a book to be read from cover to cover, but it is also one to return to again and again.
Waltz of the Snowflakes
by Elly MackayIt is a cold and rainy evening when Gran gives her granddaughter something special: tickets to the ballet. Her granddaughter is reluctant to go. The weather is terrible and they have to wear fancy, uncomfortable clothes. But as the curtains rise on The Nutcracker, the girl's eyes light up as she's introduced to the magic of the theater. The bright costumes, the intricate dances, the magical music, and a new friend all combine to captivate the girl and to bring color to an otherwise dreary evening.Waltz of the Snowflakes is Elly MacKay at her finest, mixing her acclaimed paper-cut artwork with vibrant colors in this whimsical, dreamlike, and inspiring wordless picture book. A must-have for any ballet- and theater-obsessed reader and the perfect gift to be shared during the holidays or any time of year when the world outside needs a little bit of color and vibrancy.
War Pictures: Cinema, Violence, and Style in Britain, 1939-1945
by Kent PuckettIn this original and engaging work, author Kent Puckett looks at how British filmmakers imagined, saw, and sought to represent its war during wartime through film. The Second World War posed unique representational challenges to Britain’s filmmakers. Because of its logistical enormity, the unprecedented scope of its destruction, its conceptual status as total, and the way it affected everyday life through aerial bombing, blackouts, rationing, and the demands of total mobilization, World War II created new, critical opportunities for cinematic representation. Beginning with a close and critical analysis of Britain’s cultural scene, War Pictures examines where the historiography of war, the philosophy of violence, and aesthetics come together. Focusing on three films made in Britain during the second half of the Second World War—Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Lawrence Olivier’s Henry V (1944), and David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945)—Puckett treats these movies as objects of considerable historical interest but also as works that exploit the full resources of cinematic technique to engage with the idea, experience, and political complexity of war. By examining how cinema functioned as propaganda, criticism, and a form of self-analysis, War Pictures reveals how British filmmakers, writers, critics, and politicians understood the nature and consequence of total war as it related to ideas about freedom and security, national character, and the daunting persistence of human violence. While Powell and Pressburger, Olivier, and Lean developed deeply self-conscious wartime films, their specific and strategic use of cinematic eccentricity was an aesthetic response to broader contradictions that characterized the homefront in Britain between 1939 and 1945. This stylistic eccentricity shaped British thinking about war, violence, and commitment as well as both an answer to and an expression of a more general violence. Although War Pictures focuses on a particularly intense moment in time, Puckett uses that particularity to make a larger argument about the pressure that war puts on aesthetic representation, past and present. Through cinema, Britain grappled with the paradoxical notion that, in order to preserve its character, it had not only to fight and to win but also to abandon exactly those old decencies, those “sporting-club rules,” that it sought also to protect.
Warhol's Working Class: Pop Art and Egalitarianism
by Anthony E. GrudinThis book explores Andy Warhol’s creative engagement with social class. During the 1960s, as neoliberalism perpetuated the idea that fixed classes were a mirage and status an individual achievement, Warhol’s work appropriated images, techniques, and technologies that have long been described as generically “American” or “middle class.” Drawing on archival and theoretical research into Warhol’s contemporary cultural milieu, Grudin demonstrates that these features of Warhol’s work were in fact closely associated with the American working class. The emergent technologies Warhol conspicuously employed to make his work—home projectors, tape recorders, film and still cameras—were advertised directly to the working class as new opportunities for cultural participation. What’s more, some of Warhol’s most iconic subjects—Campbell’s soup, Brillo pads, Coca-Cola—were similarly targeted, since working-class Americans, under threat from a variety of directions, were thought to desire the security and confidence offered by national brands. Having propelled himself from an impoverished childhood in Pittsburgh to the heights of Madison Avenue, Warhol knew both sides of this equation: the intense appeal that popular culture held for working-class audiences and the ways in which the advertising industry hoped to harness this appeal in the face of growing middle-class skepticism regarding manipulative marketing. Warhol was fascinated by these promises of egalitarian individualism and mobility, which could be profound and deceptive, generative and paralyzing, charged with strange forms of desire. By tracing its intersections with various forms of popular culture, including film, music, and television, Grudin shows us how Warhol’s work disseminated these promises, while also providing a record of their intricate tensions and transformations.
Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio
by David ThomsonBehind the scenes at the legendary Warner Brothers film studio, where four immigrant brothers transformed themselves into the moguls and masters of American fantasyWarner Bros charts the rise of an unpromising film studio from its shaky beginnings in the early twentieth century through its ascent to the pinnacle of Hollywood influence and popularity. The Warner Brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack—arrived in America as unschooled Jewish immigrants, yet they founded a studio that became the smartest, toughest, and most radical in all of Hollywood. David Thomson provides fascinating and original interpretations of Warner Brothers pictures from the pioneering talkie The Jazz Singer through black-and-white musicals, gangster movies, and such dramatic romances as Casablanca, East of Eden, and Bonnie and Clyde. He recounts the storied exploits of the studio’s larger-than-life stars, among them Al Jolson, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Doris Day, and Bugs Bunny. The Warner brothers’ cultural impact was so profound, Thomson writes, that their studio became “one of the enterprises that helped us see there might be an American dream out there.”
Warriors, Witches, Whores: Women in Israeli Cinema
by Rachel S. HarrisWarriors, Witches, Whores: Women in Israeli Cinema is a feminist study of Israel’s film industry and the changes that have occurred since the 1990s. Working in feminist film theory, the book adopts a cultural studies approach, considering the creation of a female-centered and thematically feminist film culture in light of structural and ideological shifts in Israeli society. Author Rachel S. Harris situates these changes in dialogue with the cinematic history that preceded them and the ongoing social inequalities that perpetuate women’s marginalization within Israeli society. While no one can deny Israel’s Western women’s advancements, feminist filmmakers frequently turn to Israel’s less impressive underbelly as sources for their inspiration. Their films have focused on sexism, the negative impact of militarism on women’s experience, rape culture, prostitution, and sexual abuse. These films also tend to include subjects from society’s geographical periphery and social margins, such as female foreign workers, women, and refugees. Warriors, Witches, Whoresis divided into three major sections and each considers a different form of feminist engagement. The first part explores films that situate women in traditionally male spheres of militarism, considering the impact of interjecting women within hegemonic spaces or reconceptualizing them in feminist ways. The second part recovers the narratives of women’s experience that were previously marginalized or silenced, thereby creating a distinct female space that offers new kinds of storytelling and cinematic aesthetics that reflect feminist expressions of identity. The third part offers examples of feminist activism that reach beyond the boundaries of the film to comment on social issues, particularly those which affect women. This section demonstrates how feminists use film (and work within the film industry) in order to women’s position in society. While there are thematic overlaps between the chapters, each section marks structural differences in the modes of feminist response. Warriors, Witches, Whores considers the ways social and political power have impacted the representation of women and looks to how feminist filmmakers have fought against these inequities behind the camera, in the stories they tell, and in the ways women are depicted on screen. Students and scholars of film, gender, or cultural studies will appreciate this approachable monograph.
Waste of Space
by Gina Damico<p>Cram ten hormonal teens into a spaceship and blast off: that’s the premise for the ill-conceived reality show Waste of Space. The kids who are cast know everything about drama—and nothing about the fact that the production is fake. Hidden in a desert warehouse, their spaceship replica is equipped with state-of-the-art special effects dreamed up by the scientists partnering with the shady cable network airing the show. <p>And it’s a hit! Millions of viewers are transfixed. But then, suddenly, all communication is severed. Trapped and paranoid, the kids must figure out what to do when this reality show loses its grip on reality.
Watching Porn: And Other Confessions of an Adult Entertainment Journalist
by Lynsey GOne feminist’s candid account of her unexpected adventure in the world of porn journalism, and her discovery of an industry that is more nuanced than she ever imagined Lynsey G. never imagined that she would ever work in porn, but at 24 years old, with a degree in English literature and an empty bank account, she found herself reviewing the film East Coast ASSault for an adult magazine in New York City. One interview later and it was official: she was a porn journalist. The job was supposed to be temporary—just a paycheck until she could spark her legitimate writing career—but she loved it and spent nearly a decade describing the nuances of money shots and the effectiveness of sex toys. As both a porn consumer and a porn critic, she was not quite an insider, not quite an outsider, but came to know the industry intimately. She found it so fascinating that she co-founded WHACK! Magazine. Finally, she had a platform to voice her thoughts and observations of the adult film world, as well as educate the rest of us about what really goes on behind the scenes. Eventually, Lynsey was thrust back into the “real” world, but not before realizing that one of the most diverse and nebulous—and profitable—industries on the planet isn’t so quite as different from the rest of the world as she thought. Tantalizing, eye-opening, and witty, Watching Porn is a provocative book about an average girl’s foray into the porn industry and the people who make it what it is, both in front of and behind the camera.
The Way It Hurts
by Patty BlountThere may be two sides to every story, but sometimes there's only one way to set things right...Music is Elijah's life. His band plays loud and hard, and he'll do anything to get them a big break. He needs that success to help take care of his sister, who has special needs. So he'd rather be practicing when his friends drag him to a musical in the next town...until the lead starts to sing.Kristen dreams of a career on stage like her grandmother's. She knows she needs an edge to get into a competitive theater program—and being the star in her high school musical isn't going to cut it. The applause and the attention only encourage her to work harder.Elijah can't take his eyes off of Kristen's performance, and his swooning face is captured on camera and posted with an out-of-context comment. It goes viral. Suddenly, Elijah and Kristen are in a new spotlight as the online backlash spins out of control. And the consequences are bigger than they both could have ever imagined because these threats don't stay online...they follow them into real life.
Wayfaring Stranger (American Autobiography Ser.)
by Burl IvesFirst published in 1948, this autobiography from Burl Ives, whom Carl Sandberg calls “the greatest folk ballad singer of them all,” is as fresh and wholesome as a summer’s breeze out of an Illinois cornfield. His ballads have long been an authentic expression of his land and its people—songs his grandmother taught him in the Midwestern farm country, songs remembered by old-timers in small towns all over the land, songs he heard hobos singing—songs we have come to know and love.In Wayfaring Stranger, writing in the stirring imaginative language of the ballad, Burt Ives tells of a night spent in a haystack with a pig, and of a brief fight with a railroad cop on top of a boxcar. He hitched a ride with Al Capone’s master bootlegger; he barely escaped the clutches of an old maid in Maine; he fell in love on a Great Lakes steamer; he played for evangelists and politicians; in speakeasies and public parks. Always he listened to the people, and he learned their songs. Anywhere he could get an audience, he sang his ballads: Barbara Allen, The Riddle Song, Fair Eleanor, Old Smokey, Silver Dagger, Foggy Foggy Dew.Now in Wayfaring Stranger, he has written his own story—as warm and appealing as the songs he sings.“It’s a fine book, warm, and full-bided, like Burl himself. Burl gives the reader the combination which is in everything he sings: a sense of dignity without pretentiousness, of simplicity without sentimentality. He makes the folk feeling richly alive. Some of his little character sketches remind me of the unforgettable etchings in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg. In short, Burl tells stories just the way he plays and sings—naturally, unaffectedly, poignantly.”—Louis Untermeyer
Wayne and Ford: The Films, the Friendship, and the Forging of an American Hero
by Nancy SchoenbergerJohn Ford and John Wayne, two titans of classic film, made some of the most enduring movies of all time. The genre they defined—the Western—and the heroic archetype they built still matter today. For more than twenty years John Ford and John Wayne were a blockbuster Hollywood team, turning out many of the finest Western films ever made. Ford, known for his black eye patch and for his hard-drinking, brawling masculinity, was a son of Irish immigrants and was renowned as a director for both his craftsmanship and his brutality. John “Duke” Wayne was a mere stagehand and bit player in “B” Westerns, but he was strapping and handsome, and Ford saw his potential. In 1939 Ford made Wayne a star in Stagecoach, and from there the two men established a close, often turbulent relationship. Their most productive years saw the release of one iconic film after another: Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But by 1960 the bond of their friendship had frayed, and Wayne felt he could move beyond his mentor with his first solo project, The Alamo. Few of Wayne’s subsequent films would have the brilliance or the cachet of a John Ford Western, but viewed together the careers of these two men changed moviemaking in ways that endure to this day. Despite the decline of the Western in contemporary cinema, its cultural legacy, particularly the type of hero codified by Ford and Wayne—tough, self-reliant, and unafraid to fight but also honorable, trustworthy, and kind—resonates in everything from Star Wars to today’s superhero franchises. Drawing on previously untapped caches of letters and personal documents, Nancy Schoenberger dramatically narrates a complicated, poignant, and iconic friendship and the lasting legacy of that friendship on American culture.
A Wayward Quest: The Autobiography of Theresa Helburn
by Theresa HelburnA WAYWARD QUEST, which was first published in 1960, is the autobiography of a woman who for forty years was one of the most important figures in the American theater—and who loved every minute of it. Small, vivacious, imaginative, Theresa Helburn was a wonderfully attractive person who at one time or another knew most of the great talents of the century—from Gertrude Stein and Isadora Duncan (her youthful heroines during a sojourn in Paris) to G. B. Shaw and Eugene O’Neill. Her consuming interest in the theater, her convictions about its past and present and dreams for its future, form the background of her story, against this runs a sparkling stream of stories and anecdotes about people and plays she knew and loved.
Weimar Cinema, Embodiment, and Historicity: Cultural Memory and the Historical Films of Ernst Lubitsch (Routledge Focus on Film Studies)
by Mason Kamana AllredIn its retrieval and (re)construction, the past has become interwoven with the images and structure of cinema. Not only have mass media—especially film and television—shaped the content of memories and histories, but they have also shaped their very form. Combining historicization with close readings of German director Ernst Lubitsch's historical films, this book focuses on an early turning point in this development, exploring how the medium of film shaped modern historical experience and understanding—how it moved embodied audiences through moving images.
We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie
by Noah IsenbergFor the 75th anniversary of its premiere—the incredible story of how Casablanca was made and why it remains the most beloved of Hollywood films. Casablanca was first released in 1942, just two weeks after the city of Casablanca itself surrendered to American troops led by General Patton. Featuring a pitch-perfect screenplay, a classic soundtrack, and unforgettable performances by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and a deep supporting cast, Casablanca was hailed in the New York Times as “a picture that makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap.” The film won Oscars for best picture, best director, and best screenplay, and would go on to enjoy more revival screenings than any other movie in history. It became so firmly ensconced in the cultural imagination that, as Umberto Eco once said, Casablanca is “not one movie; it is ‘movies.’ ” We’ll Always Have Casablanca is celebrated film historian Noah Isenberg’s rich account of this most beloved movie’s origins. Through extensive research and interviews with filmmakers, film critics, family members of the cast and crew, and diehard fans, Isenberg reveals the myths and realities behind Casablanca’s production, exploring the transformation of the unproduced stage play into the classic screenplay, the controversial casting decisions, the battles with Production Code censors, and the effect of the war’s progress on the movie’s reception. Isenberg particularly focuses on the central role refugees from Hitler’s Europe played in the production (nearly all of the actors and actresses cast in Casablanca were immigrants). Finally, Isenberg turns to Casablanca’s long afterlife and the reasons it remains so revered. From the Marx Brothers’ 1946 spoof hit, A Night in Casablanca, to loving parodies in New Yorker cartoons, Saturday Night Live skits, and Simpsons episodes, Isenberg delves into the ways the movie has lodged itself in the American psyche. Filled with fresh insights into Casablanca’s creation, production, and legacy, We’ll Always Have Casablanca is a magnificent account of what made the movie so popular and why it continues to dazzle audiences seventy-five years after its release.
Wendy Wasserstein
by Jill DolanPlaywright Wendy Wasserstein (1950–2006), author of The Heidi Chronicles, wrote topical, humorous plays addressing relationships among women and their families, taking the temperature of social moments from the 1960s onward to debate women’s rightful place in their professional and personal lives. The playwright’s popular plays continue to be produced on Broadway and in regional theaters around the country and the world. Wasserstein’s emergence as a popular dramatist in the 1970s paralleled the emergence of the second-wave feminist movement in the United States, a cultural context reflected in the themes of her plays. Yet while some of her comedies and witty dramas were wildly successful, packing theaters and winning awards, feminists of the era often felt that the plays did not go far enough. Wendy Wasserstein provides a critical introduction and a feminist reappraisal of the significant plays of one of the most famous contemporary American women playwrights. Following a biographical introduction, chapters address each of her important plays, situating Wasserstein’s work in the history of the US feminist movement and in a historical moment in which women artists continue to struggle for recognition.
Wes Anderson (Contemporary Film Directors)
by Donna KornhaberThe Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom have made Wes Anderson a filmmaking force. Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums have become quotable cult classics. Yet every new Anderson release brings out droves of critics eager to charge him with stylistic excess and self-indulgent eclecticism. Donna Kornhaber approaches Anderson's style as the necessary product of the narrative and thematic concerns that define his body of work. Using Anderson's focus on collecting, Kornhaber situates the director as the curator of his filmic worlds, a prime mover who artfully and conscientiously arranges diverse components into cohesive collections and taxonomies. Anderson peoples each mise-en-scéne in his ongoing "Wesworld" with characters orphaned, lost, and out of place amidst a riot of handmade clutter and relics. Within, they seek a wholeness and collective identity they manifestly lack, with their pain expressed via an ordered emotional palette that, despite being muted, cries out for attention. As Kornhaber shows, Anderson's films offer nothing less than a fascinating study in the sensation of belonging--told by characters who possess it the least. Covering Anderson's entire oeuvre and including an interview with the director, Wes Anderson is an entertaining look at one of our most beloved and polarizing filmmakers.