This work features interviews with 51 leading ladies who starred in B-westerns, A-westerns, and television westerns. Some were well-known and others were not, but they all have fascinating stories to tell and they talk candidly about their careers and the many difficulties that went along with their jobs. Back then, conditions were often severe, locations were often harsh, and pay was often minimal. The actresses were sometimes the only females on location and they had to provide their own wardrobe and do their own make-up, as well as discourage the advances of over-affectionate co-stars. Despite these difficulties, most of the women interviewed for this agree that they had fun. Claudia Barrett, Virginia Carroll, Francis Dee, Lisa Gaye, Marie Harmon, Kathleen Hughes, Linda Johnson, Ruta Lee, Colleen Miller, Gigi Perreau, Ann Rutherford, Ruth Terry, and June Vincent are among the 51 actresses interviewed.

British filmmaker Peter Greenaway says life offers only two subjects: ""One is sex and the other is death."" Greenaway uses both and romanticizes neither; indeed, his goal is the antithesis of the sanitary and sentimental portrayal of humanity. Although his films have met with outrage from some viewers, cult audiences praise them for insightful messages: that people are detached from violence because they fail to see others' bodies as identical to their own; that predatory capitalism has caused humans to lose sight of our shared physicality and mortality; and that taboos are simply a system allowing people to exercise power over others. This book examines nine of Greenaway's feature films, dedicating a chapter to each: ""The Draughtsman's Contract""; ""A Zed and Two Noughts""; ""The Belly of an Architect""; ""Drowning by Numbers""; ""The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover""; ""Prospero's Books""; ""The Baby of Macon""; ""The Pillow Book""; and ""8-1/2 Women"". The author examines the characters and plot, studies the structure and elements of the story, explores Greenaway's motives and reactions, and reveals audience reactions, including comments from viewers. A filmography lists films written and directed by Peter Greenaway from 1962 to 2004.

Kenneth Strickfaden, innovative genius of illusionary special effects from silent films to the age of television, set the standard for Hollywood's mad scientists. Strickfaden created the science fiction apparatus in more than 100 motion picture films and television programs, from 1931's Frankenstein to the Wizard of Oz and The Mask of Fu Manchu to television's The Munsters. The skilled technician, known around Hollywood's back lots as ?Mr. Electric, ? once doubled for Boris Karloff in a dangerous scene and was nearly electrocuted. From his birth in 1896 to his death in 1984, Strickfaden's life was filled with adventure. He spent his early years working the amusement parks on both coasts, served overseas as a Marine during World War I, took a 1919 cross-country trip in a dilapidated Model T, and favored risky pursuits like automobile and speedboat racing. He worked as an aeronautical mechanic, constructing airplanes for an historic around-the-world flight. A science teacher at heart, he gave 1,500 traveling science demonstration lectures across the U.S. and Canada. Besides covering Strickfaden's entire personal and professional life, this book discusses how later films show his influence. It reveals the fate of his collection of equipment, and is richly illustrated with numerous rare and previously unpublished photographs. Appendices provide a selection of notes, doodles, and scribbles from Strickfaden's notebooks, informal sketches, correspondence, documents, a chronology of his film and television contributions, a bibliography, a film index, and a complete subject index.

Mind control, madness and altered states of reality can make for exciting nights at the movies--which explains the enduring popularity of a film genre that might be called the psycho thriller. Psychiatry and film came of age simultaneously, and characters such as the evil psychiatrist and the pathological killer were often developed in direct reference to the psychological themes that inspired them. For example, the penchants of Hitchcock's famously creepy Norman Bates represented real psychological disorders, and his actions were explained through psychoanalysis. The psycho thriller presents a world where psychology represents a dimension of supernatural and metaphysical wonders. The introduction analyzes what makes a psycho thriller, and subsequent chapters are devoted to each of the archetypal psycho thriller characters (the mad scientist, the psycho killer, the individual with psychic powers, and the psychiatrist) and themes (mind control, dreams, memory, and existential issues). The concluding chapter lists the top twenty psycho thrillers. Stills from classic films in the genre illustrate the text, which also includes filmography, bibliography, and index.

While ghosts often inhabit films and literature devoted to the horror genre, a group of literature-based films from the 1930s and 1940s present more human and romantic apparitions. These films provide the underpinnings for many of the gentle supernatural films of the 1990s. Tracing the links between spectres as diverse as Rex Harrison's ""Captain Gregg"" and Patrick Swazye's ""Sam Wheat"", the text presents the evolution of the cinematic-literary ghost from classic Gothic to the psychological, sociological, and political ideologies of today. Included are analyses of the literary and film versions of classic ghost stories - ""Wuthering Heights"", ""The Ghost and Mrs. Muir"", ""Portrait of Jennie"", ""Letter from an Unknown Woman"", ""The Uninvited"", ""Liliom, and Our Town"" - as well as interpretations of modern films not based on literary works that show the influence of these predecessors - ""Ghost"" and ""Truly, Madly, Deeply"". The text includes stills, a bibliography, and an index.

From the Roman Praetorian Guard to the English shire-reeve to the U.S. marshals, lawmen have a long and varied history. At first, such groups were often corrupt, guilty of advancing a political agenda rather than protecting citizens. It was about the turn of the twentieth century that police officers as we know them came into being. At this time, a number of police reforms such as civil service and police unions were developed. Citizen committees were formed to oversee police function. About this same time, the technology of motion pictures was being advanced. Movies evolved from silent films with a limited budget and short running time to films with sound whose budget was ever rising and whose audience demanded longer, more complex story lines. From the infancy of moviemaking, lawmen of various types were popular subjects. Bounty hunters, sheriffs, private eyes, detectives and street officers - often portrayed by some of Hollywood's biggest names - have been depicted in every conceivable way. Compiled from a comprehensive examination of the material in question, this volume provides a critical-historical analysis of law enforcement in American cinema. From ""High Noon"" to ""The Empire Strikes Back"", it examines the police in their many incantations with emphasis on the ways in which lawmen are portrayed and how this portrayal changes over time. Each film discussed reveals something about society, subtly commenting on social conditions, racial issues and government interventions. Major historical events such as the Great Depression, World War II and the McCarthy trials find their way into many of these films. Significant film genres from science fiction to spaghetti western are represented. Films examined include ""Easy Street"" (1917), a nominal comedy starring Charlie Chaplin; ""Star Packer"", a 1934 John Wayne film; ""The Maltese Falcon"" (1941) with Humphrey Bogart; ""Dirty Harry"", a 1971 Clint Eastwood classic; Leslie Nielsen's spoof ""Naked Gun"" (1988); and 1993's ""Tombstone"" featuring Kurt Russell. The filmography contains a synopsis along with information on director, screenplay, starring actors and year of production. Photographs and an index are also included.

Blake's 7, Terry Nation's science fiction tale of cosmic freedom fighters, became a hit series in Great Britain when it premiered in 1978. Eight years later, the show quickly became a cult program in America. A dramatization of futuristic outlaw heroes who defend the innocent from both alien and human conquering forces, the series might better be said to be equal parts Robin Hood and The Magnificent Seven. The series defied traditional genre elements of science fiction television, and developed the concept of the continual ""story arc"" years before such shows as ""Babylon 5"" and ""Deep Space Nine"". This book provides a critical history and episode guide for ""Blake's 7"", including commentaries for all 52 episodes. Also included are analytical essays on the show, dealing with such topics as themes, imagery and story arc; a consideration of the series as a futuristic Robin Hood myth; cinematography and visual effects; and an overview of ""Blake's 7"" in books, comics and videos. A detailed appendix lists the genre conventions found in the series. The author also includes information about ""Blake's 7"" fan clubs and Internet sites.

Prominent dance critic Arlene Croce wrote for The New Yorker during the 1970s, ?80s and ?90s. Through more than 200 critiques in that magazine, she confirmed a classical aesthetic framework for dance, influencing the work of numerous contemporary critics as well as the tastes of audiences. This book explores that framework and provides an interpretive analysis of the biographical, professional and historical elements that contributed to the context of Croce's work. Topics include Croce's predecessors in dance criticism, relevant twentieth-century contemporaries and the journalistic philosophy of The New Yorker. Providing 10 of Croce's essays in their entirety, the author discusses the three specific elements of artistic excellence that Croce consistently used in her evaluations: sympathetic musicality, Apollonian craftsmanship and the enlivening force of tradition. Special attention is given to the literary and rhetorical qualities of Croce's work. Finally, appendices offer a detailed subject breakdown of topics in Croce's essays, listing (by frequency of appearance) dance companies, dancers, choreographers, dance styles, ballets, and themes.

Television is awash with newly embraced gay and lesbian themes that have crossed over into the collective pop culture of America. Dramas like ""Queer As Folk"" and ""The L Word"", comedies like ""Will & Grace"", and even reality shows including the popular ""Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"" signify a new commercial acceptance of homosexuality that has never been seen before in the United States. However, the increasing exposure has prompted critics to argue that the gay and lesbian representation on television is oversimplified and is rife with one-dimensional characters. Ultimately, the viewers will decide the future of homosexuality and homosexual and lesbian characters on television. The text offers essays that explore such topics as the politics of representation and the clash of progressive and regressive social agendas in television and the workplace's emphasis on the search for a space for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered within the mainstream media. The book contains criticisms of characters in such shows as ""Six Feet Under"", ""Queer As Folk"", ""Friends"" and ""Ellen"".

This work covers ninety years of animation from James Stuart Blackton's 1906 ""Short Humorous Phases of Funny Faces"", in which astonished viewers saw a hand draw faces that moved and changed, to ""Anastasia"", Don Bluth's 1997 feature-length challenge to the Walt Disney animation empire. Readers will come across such characters as the Animaniacs, Woody Woodpecker, Will Vinton's inventive Claymation figures (including Mark Twain as well as the California Raisins), and the Beatles trying to save the happy kingdom of Pepperland from the Blue Meanies in ""Yellow Submarine"" (1968). Part One covers 180 animated feature films. Part Two identifies feature films that have animation sequences and provides details thereof. Part Three covers over 1,500 animated shorts. All entries offer basic data, credits, brief synopsis, production information, and notes where available. An appendix covers the major animation studios.

The first film featuring Charlie Chan, ""The House Without a Key"", appeared in 1925. Forty-seven films and six Charlies later, the series still delights audiences. Charlie Chan connoisseurs cite a variety of reasons for the honorable detective's longevity and appeal, ranging from his wit and personality to the films' fascinating casts that often included future celebrities. This encyclopedia contains over 1,900 entries for characters, actors, crew members, plot devices, and facts, as well as film summaries and Charlie's famous aphorisms. Photographs accompany the text and the entries are arranged alphabetically for easy reference and access. Practically anything a fan of these films might want to know is thoroughly analyzed here.

'Celebrates the capacity to master pain and betrayals with wit sister-sharing, reckless daring, and flight and forgetfulness if necessary' Toni Cade Bambara 'The force of Shange's writing seemed to say, "Fuck the old rule of not airing your female business in front of colored men, white people, let alone the rest of the world." You own the copyright on your life' Hilton Als 'Encompassing, it seems, every feeling and experience a woman has ever had' New Yorker 'Totally extraordinary' New York Times i will raise my voice / & scream & holler / & break things & race the engine / & tell all yr secrets bout yrself to yr face From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. First published in 1975 when it was praised by The New Yorker for encompassing...every feeling and experience a woman has ever had, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf will be read and performed for generations to come. Here is the complete text, with stage directions, of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world. With an introduction by Bernardine Evaristo A W&N Essential

Living in the shadow of a famous parent can have powerful effects, from opening professional doors to pressure so great it leads to suicide. Some children of stars are proud of their roots while others live in secrecy. This is a rare look into the private lives of the children (and, in a few cases, grandchildren) of the classic Hollywood icons, telling the stresses and inspirations of living with great actors who may or may not have been great parents. Some movie stars protected their offspring, but others used them as publicity props or even made them into rivals. Despite their unusual youths, some succeeded in the movies or elsewhere, but most never lived up to the standard expected of them by the public. Many lost their parents, whether to the extremes of the celebrity lifestyle, to divorce, or to their careers. From the beautiful bedtime stories Harpo Marx and his wife told their four adopted children to explain where they'd come from, to the studded belt Bing Crosby used to punish his sons for mentioning their famous father to school chums, this work tells the best and worst of growing up in a celebrity home. Families covered include those of W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Eddie Cantor, Mario Lanza, Stan Laurel, Jerry Lewis, Douglas Fairbanks and Boris Karloff. Research is drawn from interviews with celebrity offspring, who also provided never-before-published snapshots of Hollywood legends at home.

Although Wasserstein calls herself a humanist, her works reflect a political rhetoric, if cloaked in humor, that she herself could not imagine to be anything but feminist. Shaped by literal, cultural, and materialistic feminist theory, Wasserstein illustrates the impact of the women's movement on the lives of her female characters. The five major works, with their near-sequel effect, let us see her characters' college years, mid-twenties, mid-thirties and middle age. Through the use of a newly devised critical context called fem-en(act)ment, or textual or performance drama that is guided by feminist disposition thematically and stylistically, the author here allows for a fresh reading of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

This is an anthology of the best papers that were presented at the 28th Comparative Drama Conference at Ohio State University April 29-May 1, 2004. This international three day event had 59 sessions and 200 program participants who presented and discussed 168 research papers. The conference was co-sponsored by 12 academic units in the College of Humanities and the College of the Arts. The panelists were affiliated with 100 universities and 16 colleges. For 25 years Text & Presentation has been publishing the finest papers presented at the annual conferences to help readers be aware of the happenings in international drama. French novelist Emile Zola, noted for his championship of the Naturalist novel, has been one of the most adapted authors in world literature. There have been approximately 80 film adaptations of his late 19th century novels and short stories, many of which occurred during the silent era of international film production (1895-1927). While the aesthetic elements of Zola's fiction continue to appeal to international cinema, the author's thematic naturalism and his ""scientific methodology"" have provided an ideological framework that incorporates art, science and history into the many cinematic adaptations of his work.

Thanks in large part to an exploitation film producer and distributor named K. Gordon Murray, a unique collection of horror films from Mexico began to appear on American late-night television and drive-in screens in the 1960s. Ranging from monster movies clearly owing to the heyday of Universal Studios to the lucha libre horror films featuring El Santo and the ?Wrestling Women, ? these low-budget ?Mexploitation? films offer plenty of campy fun and still inspire cult devotion, yet they also reward close study in surprising ways. This work places Mexploitation films in their historical and cultural context and provides close textual readings of a representative sample, showing how they can be seen as important documents in the cultural debate over Mexico's past, present and future. Stills accompany the text, and a selected filmography and bibliography complete the volume.

Titanic scholars contend that the demise of ""the unsinkable ship"" left more behind than a memory of April 15, 1912, as an important point in history. Through books, films, stories and songs, the archetypal shipwreck has endured as a metaphor for the perils of mankind's hubris and the fallibility of technology. In 1985, the discovery of the long-missing wreckage two miles below the surface of the Atlantic revitalized interest in the Titanic and spawned a new generation of books, films, and, for the first time, websites and computer games. James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic became the biggest movie of all time and engendered still greater popular interest in the tragic event. This bibliography is a survey of the immense volume of literary, dramatic and commercial endeavors that came out of history's most compelling shipwreck. Organized by genre in accessible categories and short entries, the book includes Titanic-inspired documentaries, narrative films, children's books, histories, short stories, novels, plays, articles, essays, software, websites, poems and songs. Each entry includes a brief review, bibliographic information, and the technical details of the specific source. The reviews include subjective analysis designed to reflect the usefulness of the source and to be of benefit to researchers and scholars. Seven useful appendices include lists of the actors in Titanic films, brief film and television appearances of the Titanic, comic books and parodies, films never or not yet released, books that survived the wreck, and books written by passengers.

Robert Young began his prolific filmmaking career while a student at Harvard University, where he majored in English literature, founded the Harvard Film Society, and, with the help of several colleagues, put together his first film (about a Boston factory worker). His reputation as a documentary filmmaker earned him a prestigious position with NBC, and he has since worked within and without the Hollywood production system for five decades. At age 80, Robert M. Young continues to be actively involved in a variety of projects as a commercially successful filmmaker and an independent artist. In this compilation of 15 essays, scholars of both English literature and film analyze the aesthetic and thematic elements of Young's many works. Among the films examined are Nothing But a Man, Triumph of the Spirit, Cortile Cascino, ALAMBRISTA!, Short Eyes, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, Extremities, Dominick and Eugene, Talent for the Game, Roosters, Caught, and Human Error. The book includes an extensive interview with Young that provides a retrospect of Young's life as a director, cinematographer, writer and producer. A filmography of Young's work and a chronology of his life are also provided.

The sitcom made its first appearance in January of 1949 with the introduction of television's first family, The Goldbergs. Since the advent of the sitcom, televised fictional families have reflected the changing structure of American society. The sitcom emphasized first the lives of suburban, working class European immigrants and gradually expanded to encompass the multicultural urban phenomena of the 1960s. The roles of men and women in the fictional family have similarly been adjusted to depict women's movement into the workforce and the changing identity of the father. As censorship laws became less stringent, sitcom viewers also began to be exposed to the realities of changing family dynamics in America, watching as the traditional nuclear family diverged to include single-parent, two-father, and two-mother households. From the cultural upheaval of the mid-century to the ?reality? craze of the new millennium, television's families have mimicked and even influenced the changing values of American society. This broadcast history covers more than 100 television families, from the Goldbergs to the Osbournes, who have provided entertainment and inspiration for the American public since 1949. An introduction to the cultural trends and social developments of each decade is provided prior to a summary of the significant series of that decade. Each series entry includes a description of the family, the date of the show's first and last broadcast, the broadcasting network, the day and time aired, and the cast of characters.

In 1931 Antonio Moreno completed Santa, Mexico's first true sound film. In it he established one of the foremost genres of Latin American cinema?the popular melodrama?which continues to this day. Latin American filmmakers came to the fore in the fifties and sixties and, as 1992's Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) showed, Latin American films continue to be a major part of the international film scene. In this work over 300 of the most significant films from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and other Latin American countries are covered. Each entry includes the English title, director, year of release, running time, language, country and a detailed plot synopsis. Notes about the production and the filmmakers are also provided for many entries.

In their heyday, pulp westerns were one of America's most popular forms of entertainment. Often selling for less than 50 cents, the paperback books introduced generations to the ?exploits? of Billy the Kid and Jesse James, brought to life numerous villains (usually named ?Black? something, e.g., Black Bart and Black Pete), and created a West that existed only in the minds of several talented writers. It was only natural that filmmakers would look to the pulps for stories, adapting many of the works for the big screen and shaping the Western film genre. The adaptations of seven of the pulps? best writers?Ernest Haycox, Luke Short, Frank Gruber, Norman A. Fox, Louis L?Amour, Marvin H. Albert, and Clair Huffaker?are analyzed here. Insightful and humorous, the work looks at how the pulp novels and the movie adaptations reflected the times in which they were produced. It examines the clich's that became a part of the story: the rescue of the heroine, the gunfights, the evil banker or rancher ready to steal the land of the good, law-abiding citizens, and the harlot with a heart of gold. A critical examination of how the books were interpreted?or frequently misinterpreted?by filmmakers is included, along with commentary on the actors and directors who put the pulps on screen.

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.

With a career in films spanning nearly fifty years, Burt Lancaster brought his unique charisma and energy to roles in films ranging from the adventurous to the bittersweet. This comprehensive filmography of Lancaster's career is accompanied by a biography that provides the background for his immense range of work on the screen. Production information, a synopsis, and commentary is provided for each of Lancaster's 85 films, from the first - The Killers - to the last - Separate But Equal. Photographs from nearly all of Lancaster's films accompany the text, and an index and bibliography are also included.

Diminutive Mickey Rooney has been in show business for more than 80 years as actor, producer, writer, composer, and director. His still-active career spans vaudeville, radio, television, the stage, and movies such as ""It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"", ""The Black Stallion"", and ""The Bridges at Toko-Ri"". He won two Golden Globes and an Emmy and has received or been nominated for many other awards. From leading a 17-piece band to writing a novel, Rooney has been dispensing earthy wisdom and good humor in the public eye for many decades. Part biography and part reference tool, this richly illustrated work covers Rooney's life from his birth in 1920 and first stage appearance 16 months later to his television and film appearances in 2004. It discusses both his professional and personal life and includes information drawn from interviews with his peers, including Spring Byington, Jackie Cooper, and Ann Rutherford. Five appendices conclude the work: a detailed filmography of his more than 170 features and 65 shorts, each listing credits and a brief commentary, plus assorted reviews; listings of all his radio, television, and stage work; and a discography of his recorded work.