Edward G. Robinson, a 1930s cinema icon, had an acting career that spanned over 60 years. After a brush with silent films, he rose to true celebrity status in sound feature films and went on to take part in radio and television performances, then back to Broadway and on the road in live theatre. This work documents Robinson's every known public performance or appearance, listing also co-workers, source material, background and critical commentary. The entries include feature films, documentaries, short subjects, cartoons, television and radio productions, live theatre presentations, narrations, pageants, and recordings that Robinson was involved with during his professional life. Also included are entries relating to Robinson's life and career, ranging from his art collection to his wives.

Many movie genres developed during the silent era, but none was as lasting as comedies. Actors and actresses stood in front of crude, hand-cranked cameras and invented a style that made people laugh and forget their troubles.This is a comprehensive reference work to the people, studios, technical companies and terms associated with silent film comedy. For people, there is a capsule biography, with birth and death rates and a summary of their contribution to the genre. For studios and companies, there is a brief history, focusing on their work in silent film comedy. For terms, a full definition is given.

The result of nearly 15 years of research, this comprehensive analysis of Boris Karloff's life and career, incorporates criticism, in-depth production information, discussion of major cinematic themes and characters, and a look at the historical periods and events depicted in the films. Extensive biographical and career information is dovetailed with a discussion of the classic Hollywood era in order to examine Karloff's overall contribution to American cinema. Each of Karloff's horror films is examined at length, as well as his contributions to other media. Over 100 posters, portraits, film scenes and candid photos illustrate the text, and numerous contemporaries (Evelyn Karloff, Laurence Olivier, Henry Brandon, Ian Wolfe, Zita Johann, others) are quoted throughout.

When Charlie Chaplin left Keystone Studios for more money and greater creative control at Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, he added more depth to his character, more thought to his direction, and more substance to his humor: at Essanay, he grew from a comedian to a true cinematic artist. This work carefully examines all sixteen Chaplin comedies produced at Essanay, showing Chaplin as an artist in transition from the knockabout Keystone farces to more refined, sometimes brilliant Mutual productions. From ""His New Job"" (1915) to ""Triple Trouble"" (1918), the book covers each film with key details, a history of its production, and valuable commentary that places the picture in context within Chaplin's canon.

To today's radio listener, it is difficult to imagine the influence radio once held over the American people. Unlike movies or newspapers, radio both informed and entertained its audience without requiring them to participate. Part of its success depended upon the people who created the sound effects--a squeaking door, the approach of a horse, or a typewriter. The author did live sound effects during the Golden Age of radio. He provides many insights into the early days of the medium as it grappled with entertaining an audience based on a single sense (hearing). How the sounds were produced is fully covered as are the artists responsible for their production. Stories of successful effects production are balanced by embarrassing or funny failures. A list of artists and their shows is included. This entry refers to the LARGE PRINT edition. For the standard edition please see ISBN 978-0-7864-2266-1.

Born in the 1920s during the emergence of radio, schools of the air broadcast an impressive array of instructional programs for the classroom. These broadcast schools operated at the national, state and local levels; issued teacher manuals and learning materials; and offered enormous educational resources to students in both rural and urban areas. This work gives the history of 14 schools of the air, and fills an important gap in scholarship about American education and broadcast media. The book also assesses the successes and failures of the school of the air movement, and examines reasons for its demise.

Cast, production credits, release date, and running time are provided for each of the Tarzan films. The plot synopses include the storyline, background information on the making of the film, and contemporary critical commentary. Also examined is Tarzan on television, from the TV movie Tarzan and the Trappers (1958) to the 1991 series. Heavily illustrated. This entry refers to the LARGE PRINT edition. For the standard edition please see ISBN 978-0-7864-1109-2.

'Quinn Martin was the most innovative and most creative of his kind. He was a man in touch with the future, far more than the times. His characters were not stereotypical characters. His production methods were not stereotypical either. He was unique in a number of ways. That's why his shows did so well' - Lynda Day George, guest star on QM's ""The Fugitive"", ""The FBI"", and other shows.Quinn Martin was the producer of such television shows as ""The Invaders"", ""Barnaby Jones"", ""The Untouchables"", ""The Streets of San Francisco"", ""Cannon"" and ""12 O'Clock High"", to name just a few. How each series made it to the networks, what problems occurred during their production, and why they were cancelled are examined. Martin's devotion to his shows, his hands-on approach to the writing, casting and editing of each episode, his interactions with network executives, and the high standards he set for his crew and actors are widely admired in the industry.

Hitler and the Nazis saturated their country with many types of propaganda to convince the German citizenry that the Nazi ideology was the only ideology. As Joseph Goebbels, who was in charge of propaganda for Nazi Germany, said, ""The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it."" One type of propaganda that the Nazis relied on heavily was cinematic.This work focuses primarily on Nazi propaganda feature films and feature-length documentaries made in Germany between 1933 and 1945 and released to the public. Some of them were Staatsauftragsfilme, films produced by order of and financed by the Third Reich. The films are arranged by subject and then alphabetically, and complete cast and production credits are provided for each. Short biographies of actors, directors, producers, and others who were involved in the making of Nazi propaganda films are also provided.

Often forgotten among the actors, directors, producers and others associated with filmmaking, art directors are responsible for making movies visually appealing to audiences. As such they sometimes make the difference between a hit and a bomb.This biographical dictionary includes not only the world's great and almost-great artists, but the unjustly neglected film designers of the past and present. Among the more than 300 art directors and designers are pioneers from silent films, designers from Hollywood and Europe's Golden Ages, Asian figures, post - Golden Age personalities, leaders of the European and American New Waves, and many contemporary designers. Each entry consists of biographical information, an analysis of the director's career and important films, and an extensive filmography including mentions of Academy Award nominations and winners.

This is an anthology representing the best of papers presented at the 31st Comparative Drama Conference (Los Angeles, California). A three-day event, the conference drew 161 scholars from all over the world.This volume features 16 research papers, a roundtable discussion, review essay, and six book reviews. The papers included here present research about the Chicano Theatre, America's Vietnam War and 9/11 in the French Theatre, Actresses and Modern Hamlet, the Asian Theatre and 12 others. The roundtable discussion is on the future of dramatic literature in the academy. Reviews of selected books are also included.

On April 29, 1789, a band of mutineers turned an otherwise common, uneventful voyage into an unforgettable legend. The confrontation between Lieutenant William Bligh and Master's Mate Fletcher Christian of the H.M.S. Bounty has become one of the most famous stories in the annals of maritime history. Consequently, volumes have been written regarding the mutiny, its protagonists and its aftermath on Pitcairn Island. From William Bligh's firsthand account published in 1790 to 20th century cinematic representations, this copiously illustrated reference book examines more than 1700 books, articles and other materials which deal with the now infamous mutiny on the Bounty and its legacy. Covering the most important material published from 1790 through 2006, it provides descriptive analytical discussions of major works including nonfiction accounts, fictional representations, poetry, articles and movies. Presented chronologically by date of publication, the major works trace the history of the reactions, emotions and opinions that the mutiny has generated in the reading public, allowing the reader to consider each work within the cultural and scholarly context of its respective period. Each section includes an annotated bibliography of selected works and further supplemented with a bibliography of additional literature from the time period. Appendices direct readers to related Internet resources and notable documentaries, and a list of references is included.

With its laser-focus on the verbal and visual infrastructure of narrative, The Metanarrative Hall of Mirrors is the first sustained comparative study of how image patterns are tracked in prose and cinema. In film examples ranging from Citizen Kane through Apocalypse Now to Blade Runner 2049, then on to Christopher Nolan’s 2020 Tenet, Garrett Stewart follows the shift from celluloid to digital cinema through various narrative manifestations of the image, from freeze-frames to computer-generated special effects. By bringing cinema alongside literature, Stewart discovers a common tendency in contemporary storytelling, in both prose and visual narrative, from the ongoing trend of “mind-game” films to the often puzzling narrative eccentricities of such different writers as Nicholson Baker and Richard Powers—including the latter’s eerie mirroring of reader empathy in his 2021 Bewilderment.

A Moon for the Misbegotten is one of Eugene O'Neill's most frequently revived works, and major American revivals of the play have been instrumental in securing its esteemed position in theater history. While the play's landmark production in 1973 is largely regarded as the moment when it finally achieved greatness, its 60-year production history also includes several regional productions and Broadway revivals.This work provides a complete production history of ""A Moon for the Misbegotten"", from the play's original Theatre Guild production in 1947 to its most recent Broadway revival in 2007. Throughout the study, the author provides the inside story on the play's often rocky transition from the page to the stage, including detailed looks at initial casting difficulties and several controversies over censorship.

Popular American films are replete with story lines which involve the father-son relationship, often as the pivotal conflict or dragon which a hero must overcome to achieve success. Sometimes these conflicts are straightforward; other times they are projections of the central character's unconscious becoming conscious - in essence a modern form of myth.These American 'filmmyths' serve as a visual means to project the psyche in an entertaining and easily accessible manner. Focusing on mythic structure, this volume explores twelve popular movies that deal with various aspects of the father-son relationship including the process of becoming a father, absent fathers, the rite of passage, and the turmoil between fathers and adolescents. The films examined include ""The Wizard of Oz"", ""Back to the Future"", ""Stand By Me"", ""Red River"", ""City Slickers"", ""North by Northwest"", ""E.T. the Extraterrestrial"", ""Field of Dreams"", ""Lone Star"", ""The Lion King"", ""Jurassic Park"" and ""The Searchers"".

In 1954 NBC President Pat Weaver introduced "spectaculars"??????lavish entertainment shows designed to bring a new dimension to television. Though special programs had been around since 1939, Weaver's effort heralded a new age, with programs ranging from variety shows with big name hosts (Judy Garland, Cher, Perry Como, Bob Hope, for instance) through animated holiday specials and outstanding dramas to acclaimed children's programming. This is "the" guide to 3,197 entertainment specials, 1939 to 1993, that were broadcast on network, cable or syndicated television. For each show the cast, including guest stars and announcer, is provided. Also included are comprehensive production credits (director, producer, writer and music), dates aired, networks and running times, and program synopses.

Rising to the Surface traces Lenny Henry's career through the 80s and 90s. The 16-year-old who won a talent competition, now has to navigate his way through the seas of professional comedy, learning his craft through sheer graft and hard work. We follow Lenny through a period of great creativity - prize-winning tv programmes, summer seasons across Britain, the starring role in a Hollywood film, and stand-up gigs in New York. But with each rise there is a fall, the most traumatic being the death of his mother. But by the end of the book he has been able to rise through a sea of troubles and breaks out to the surface to accept the Golden Rose of Montreaux for his work in television.

This collection of essays examines popular forms of dance in the Balkan nations, including detailed studies on the history and development of dance in Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, and Greece, among other nations. The essays address the ways in which ethnic and national identity constitutes an important aspect of the performance of Balkan dance, whether by state folk dance ensembles or immigrant groups in other countries. Several essays also examine the unique popularity that Balkan dances and music have found among American audiences, with special attention paid to the work of international folk dancer, Dick Crum in promoting Balkan dance within the United States.

As a screenwriter, novelist, and political activist, Dalton Trumbo stands among the key American literary figures of the 20th century - he wrote the classic antiwar novel ""Johnny Got His Gun"", and his credits for ""Spartacus"" and ""Exodus"" broke the anticommunist blacklist that infected the movie industry for more than a decade. By defining connections between Trumbo's most highly acclaimed films (including ""Kitty Foyle"", ""Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo"", and ""Roman Holiday"") and his important but lesser-known movies (""The Remarkable Andrew"", ""He Ran All the Way"", and ""The Boss""), the author identifies how for nearly four decades Trumbo used the archetype of the rebel hero to inject social consciousness into mainstream films. This new critical survey - the first book-length work on Trumbo's screenwriting career - examines the scores of films on which Trumbo worked and explores the techniques that made him, at the time he was blacklisted in 1947, Hollywood's highest-paid writer. Hanson reveals how Trumbo dealt with major themes including rebellion, radical politics, and individualism - while also detailing lesser-known areas of Trumbo's screenwriting, such as his troubling portrayal of women, the dichotomy between his proletarian attitude and bourgeois lifestyle, and the almost surreptitious manner in which he included antiestablishment rhetoric in seemingly innocuous scripts. An extensive filmography is included.

This work explores the many ways in which the developing film industry of the early twentieth century influenced the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald, focusing specifically on his novels This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night," and the incomplete The Last Tycoon. The Beautiful and the Damned is also discussed briefly. Early chapters examine Fitzgerald's literary adaptation of visual film techniques (pans, freeze frames, slow motion) and aural cinematic concepts (sound effects, diegetic sound) within his most popular novels. The final chapter summarizes the effect such techniques had in augmenting and defining Fitzgerald's unique literary style.

Throughout nineteenth century America, religious officials often condemned the dramatic theatre as an inversion of the house of God, similar to the church in architectural structure and organization but wholly different in purpose and values. This book explores the many ways in which religious institutions have had a profound effect on the development of American theatre. The author analyzes the church's critical view toward common theatre practices, including the use of female and child performers and the inherently uncontrollable nature of the stage. Three appendices provide period correspondence concerning the church's impact on the theatre, including an excerpt from Mark Twain's February 1871 ""Memoranda,"" in which Twain criticizes an Episcopalian reverend for denying church burial to a popular stage comedian.

This traditional auteurist survey closely examines the films of director John Frankenheimer, assessing the thematic and stylistic elements of such films as ""The Iceman Cometh"", ""The Manchurian Candidate"", and ""The Bird Man of Alcatraz"". It begins with a complete overview of Frankenheimer's life and career. A chronology lists production history details for each of his films, and a comprehensive biography draws attention to Frankenheimer's early artistic development. Subsequent chapters categorize his films by genre and theme, examining each film through analytical critiques and plot synopses. Multiple appendices include an analysis of Frankenheimer's short films ""Maniac at Large"" and ""Ambush"", a complete filmography, and a suggested reading list.

From the camp horror classic ""The Creature from the Black Lagoon"" to ""Scarface"", many films have indelible connections to Florida. This guide to Florida cinema and locations reveals that the Sunshine State has been an integral part not only of America's film history but also of its cultural history. Doll and Morrow group more than 80 films shot in Florida by theme, covering each movie with a plot synopsis, cast and credits list, and a discussion of the film's importance. They feature behind-the-scenes views of the making of each film, analyze each film's connection with its Florida locale, and offer an abundance of details and revelations about the filmmakers and stars. Each chapter concludes with a Movie Tourist's Guide to sites connected to the films that can be visited by the public. Cinema scholars will appreciate the authors' attention to forgotten films and little-known pioneers from the silent era. Movie tourists will want to venture to famous locations, such as those in South Beach, where scenes from ""Scarface"" and ""The Birdcage"" were filmed. And Florida natives will enjoy the book's references to the state's history and unique attractions, including Weeki Wachee Springs, Cypress Gardens, and Ross Allen's Reptile Institute. ""Florida on Film"" is the essential guide for anyone interested in the history of film-making in the Sunshine State.

Profitable, relatively inexpensive to produce, and with a faithful built-in audience, Hollywood horror franchise films have long dominated the market for generic feature film productions. This work examines the significant effects, good and bad, that the horror franchise genre has had on the careers of several American film directors, including Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street), Don Coscarelli (Phantasm), and Joe Berlinger (Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows). A comprehensive bibliography is included, along with an extensive alphabetical filmography of popular horror franchise films.

Where intervention programs such as D.A.R.E. and "Scared Straight" have failed to adequately address the problems of at-risk teenagers, inexpensive and easily-implemented after school theatre programs may offer promising new possibilities. This book suggests that low-cost, non-coercive theatre programs can demonstrably lower the incidence of youth violence, drug use, teen pregnancy, truancy, and gang membership. The author considers the problems facing today's teenagers, discusses the history of using theatre for social change in the United States and Britain, and takes an in-depth look at three U.S. theatre programs. An appendix provides an alphabetical directory of 106 after school theatre programs in the U.S., including contact information and a brief description of each program.