At 18, Hal Kanter first came to Hollywood to work as the ghost writer for a comic strip for the princely sum of $10 per week - before he was fired. It was then he heard an Eddie Cantor radio show and realised that he could write better jokes than the famed comedian's writers were providing him. Interestingly enough, Cantor's writers agreed with him, at least to some degree, and hired the brash young man to work with them on the Jack Oakie radio show. Thus was born one of the more interesting and varied careers in Hollywood. Kanter's writing career went from radio shows to screenplays to television series. Along the way he worked with such luminaries as Bob Hope, Frank Capra, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and a host of others. Awarded an Emmy for writing The George Gobel Show, he was the creator of Julia, the ground-breaking television series. Though he went on to enjoy great success as a producer and director, Kanter always considered himself, first and foremost, a writer. And just how many scripts has he written? ""More than I can lift,"" he says.

Quiz Kids was a network radio programme aired from 1940 to 1953 featuring smart children answering difficult questions submitted by listeners throughout America. Part of radio history during its ""golden age,"" and set within the backdrop of dramatic changes in America - social, cultural and political - Quiz Kids thrived during this period spanning a time from home delivery of milk by horse and wagon to the nuclear age. Almost immediately after its debut, the programme made radio history. Audiences marvelled at the speed with which the Kids answered the most difficult questions. The show went beyond the producers' wildest expectations. It was a national phenomenon. Eleanor Roosevelt invited the Kids to the White House to meet with them. Their appearance at the Senate is discussed in the Congressional Record. During World War II, they toured America and raised $120,000,000 in war bonds. They were in demand at military bases, hospitals, fund raising events, national conventions. They were guests on Jack Benny's radio show for three consecutive weeks. Walt Disney, Bob Hope, Fred Allen, the Lone Ranger, Gene Autry and other famous people were on their programme.

Snowdrops are known as the 'harbingers of spring' at a time when there is little else in flower in the garden to brighten the dull winter months. No-one should be without these dainty white gems which can symbolize innocence, purity and hope. The author describes all known snowdrop species, the cultivation of garden-worthy varieties and their naming as well as their history in early European and English literature. He includes the earliest reference to the English word 'Snowe Dropps' in 1615, preceding the previous earliest reference to 'Snow drops' in 1633. For novice gardeners and those who have never grown snowdrops before he describes how to grow just a few reliable varieties, with advice on buying, planting, dividing, looking after snowdrops, labelling, diseases and companion plants. He also dispels the myth that snowdrops are difficult and don't survive well in gardens, giving advice on all aspects of snowdrop culture. For galanthophiles varieties are recommended to extend their collection. This advice is based on personal experience from growing over 100 different cultivars in his town garden in Oxford. The sequence of flowering of different snowdrop varieties from October to March is described, including the autumn-flowering Queen Olga's snowdrop. This diary format of their emergence will help gardeners learn how there can be snowdrops flowering for six months of the year. The book is illustrated with a stunning selection of close-up images of different varieties of snowdrops to help aid identification of these dainty flowers. Included in the chapter on snowdrop art are many historical images from the earliest-known snowdrop woodcut in Dodoens' European Herbal, 1568 to more recent 19th century images. No other author on snowdrops has attempted such an extensive description of snowdrop art over the centuries, including advice from Jacquie Hibbert on how to paint snowdrops, or has described the evolution of this art form for snowdrops. The book concludes with a useful index of all 22 recognized species and over 100 varieties with reference to international collections.

This is a wonderful overview of the remarkable range of dog portraits--there are no human sitters--produced over the last 250 years. It features well-known works such as Rosa Bonheur's Brizo, (one of the best-loved portraits in The Wallace Collection), George Stubbs' Turk, Thomas Gainsborough's portrait of his two dogs Tristram and Fox, Lucian Freud's oil painting of Pluto, his pet whippet, and David Hockney's dachshunds Stanley and Boodgie.Over 50 works, arranged by theme, are drawn from major British collections, including the Royal Collection, the V & A, Tate Britain, the British Museum, and a wealth of regional museums and private collections. In addition memorabilia and souvenirs-bronzes, photos, brooches, and Faberge works, many relating to the British royals, especially Queen Victoria and her children- all evoke the sense of a cabinet of curiosities. This is a must-have for dog lovers.

This study considers film in the aftermath of September 11. Eleven essayists address Hollywood movies, indie film, and post-cinematic media, including theatrical films by directors such as Steven Spielberg, Darren Aronofsky, and Lars von Trier, and post-cinematic works by Wafaa Bilal, Douglas Gordon, and Peter Tscherkassky, among others. All of these analyses are undertaken with an attentive eye to what may be the central concept of our time, the sublime. The sublime--that which can be thought but not represented (the ""unpresentable"")--provides a ready tool for analyses of trauma, horror, catastrophe and apocalypse, the military-industrial complex, the end of humanism, and the limits of freedom. Such essays take the pulse of our cultural moment, while also providing the reader with a sense of both the dual nature of the sublime in critical work, and how it continues to evolve conceptually in the 21st century.

This book reveals and reflects upon Janet Leigh's life and extraordinary career and also extensively analyzes all of her films and television appearances, and the like. For the first decade of her career Leigh's screen persona was restricted almost exclusively to Hollywood's most conventional image of the ""nice girl."" She was cast opposite some of the industry's biggest names including Robert Mitchum in Holiday Affair, Stewart Granger in Scaramouche, James Stewart in The Naked Spur, and Charlton Heston in Orson Welles' masterpiece Touch of Evil. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho supplied her most memorable role: Marion Crane, who is murdered before the picture is half over. The part earned Leigh an Academy Award nomination. Two years later, she starred opposite Frank Sinatra in John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate. From 1951 to 1962, Leigh was married to favorite co-star Tony Curtis; the iconic couple of 50's Hollywood starred together in five films. They had two daughters, Kelly and Jamie Lee Curtis, both of whom followed in their parents' professional footsteps.

The classic of Russian spirituality—now with facing-page commentary that illuminates and explains the text. The Way of a Pilgrim is the timeless account of an anonymous wanderer who set out on a journey across nineteenth-century Russia with nothing but a backpack, some bread, and a Bible, with a burning desire to learn the true meaning of the words of St. Paul: "Pray without ceasing." In this completely accessible new abridgment, all the terms and references are explained for you--with intriguing insights into aspects of the text that are often not available to the general reader.

Text & Presentation is an annual publication devoted to all aspects of theatre scholarship. It represents a selection of the best research presented at the international, interdisciplinary Comparative Drama Conference.

This oral history of television sitcom writing offers the perspectives of 22 of the best and most prolific early comedy writers. How they broke into the business; how they wrote scripts (and where they got their ideas); what it was like to work on hits--and on flops; what the sitcom actors were like; how they collaborated with other writers and producers; and why they retired are just some of the topics they speak to. The book documents insider knowledge and gives the reader a better understanding of what makes great television comedy. The writers' observations about the changes that took place during their long careers help explain why television comedy has evolved so greatly in recent years.

L. Frank Baum's novel, The Wizard of Oz, has spawned 39 official sequels, over 100 unofficial sequels, well nearly 40 films, several TV series, music videos, commercials, computer games, radio shows and more. It has received a number of different interpretations: an African-American slant, a Turkish low-budget fantasy, Japanese anime, and American pornography, among others. This book provides synopses and basic bibliographical information for the forty Oz books in the original series and a number of related books by the Royal Historians of Oz; synopses and credits for live performances (videos and made-for-television performances are included here) based on the Oz books and on Baum's non-Oz fantasies; comic book and comic strip adaptations of Oz; synopses and credits for radio shows and dramatic performances on audiobook or vinyl records; synopses and credits for theatrical films and shorts; documentaries and educational films; synopses and credits for television series and episodes based on Oz; video and computer games; useful websites; and short scenes on television or in movies that have an Oz element.

If you went to a big rodeo in the 1940s, you might have seen Gene Autry singing and jumping his horse, Champ, through a flaming hoop. In the same era, familiar rodeo personalities like Hoot Gibson, Texas Rose Bascom, Slim Pickens and Ben Johnson could be seen in movies or television shows. At a rodeo in the 1960s, you might have seen Lorne Greene and Dan Blocker acting out a skit from their hit television show Bonanza. This reference book provides career profiles of both types of performers who crossed over between acting and cowboying in the period from the 1930s to the 1970s, when Hollywood and the rodeo circuit were closely linked. The first part, ""Rodeo Personalities with a Hollywood Connection,"" traces the careers of notable rodeo stars who also appeared on film or television. The next two sections detail the rodeo appearances of stars better known for their work on the screen (whether small or silver); one of these two sections focuses on performers who tended to appear solo, while the other focuses on famous casts, such as the folks of Bonanza or Gunsmoke. A fourth section alphabetically lists rodeo-related films. Appendices present further information on golden age rodeo personalities, rodeos presenting western stars, and eleven special rodeos distinguished by such features as size, prestige and Western star power.

This work seeks to illuminate the art of George Cukor, the director of some of the most acclaimed and popular films ever to come out of Hollywood. Eight films, ranging in time from David Copperfield (1935) to Rich and Famous (1981) and in mood from the fairy-tale comedy of The Philadelphia Story to the intense melodrama of Cukor's masterpiece, A Star is Born, are closely analysed in search for the elusive secret of Cukor's art. The search reveals that through his long and varied body of work Cukor was preoccupied with certain themes of enduring significance that found expression through his mastery of film direction. More than a mere Hollywood craftsman or the congenial collaborator of such Hollywood luminaries as Hepburn, Grant, Tracy, and Monroe, George Cukor was a true film artist.

Using interviews with Jerry Lewis and many of his co-stars, this book analyses his collaborative efforts with Dean Martin, his subsequent solo work, his writing and directorial careers, and more recent movies such as Hardly Working (1979) and The King of Comedy (1982). Comprehensive filmographic data are provided for each of the films, with cast and production credits, studio, release date, and running time. Lewis's own reflections on his work are included for many of the entries.

A thorough survey of great interest and value to scholars in this field.

This analysis examines several recent reimagined science fiction franchises (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, V, and Star Wars) in order to capture how ""reboots"" work from a fan perspective. Previous encounters with these stories make the reboot experience distinct for fan-viewers, who bring with them a set of expectations and knowledge, often tied to franchise canon, that cannot be separated from the new film or television series. Even when elements of the original versions are maintained, memories of them influence the narrative encounter. This book considers reimagined texts from several levels, including the medium, the characters and the world building, to break down and then explore the reboot experience.

While much of Tom Stoppard's early work (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Real Inspector Hound, for instance) is postmodern, the remainder of his career essentially tracks backward from there--becoming ""late modernist"" in the 1970s (Travesties) and fully modernist in the 80s and 90s (The Real Thing and Arcadia). This pattern also makes sense of Stoppard's recent and uncharacteristic foray into dramatic realism with The Coast of Utopia (2002) and Rock 'n' Roll (2006). The playwright seems to embrace what he sees as the more straightforward rhetorical advantages of literary realism.

Arranged chronologically, this reference work provides production company-written plot synopses or, when a synopsis was not available, trade paper reviews of 476 films about moonshining, feuding, coal mining, mountain love triangles, and many other topics. Also provided are studio, date of release, and length.

What happens when freedom of artistic expression offends freedom of religion? A nationwide controversy arose when America's first professional Passion play, staged in San Francisco in 1879, was pronounced a ""sacrilege"" by Protestant ministers. (Author Salmi Morse's play, The Passion, was in reality a pious description of the Gospel story). This work shows that Morse and his play were actually the victims of the Protestant church's struggle to maintain power during the late 1800's a time when America was changing into a more urban nation. This saga of a society's attempt to control ""immoral""art by government intervention is also a disconcerting look at how easily artistic freedom can be sacrificed on the alter of political expediency.

This is the first study to cover cinemas from Iran to Morocco. Nine essays present the region's major national cinemas, devoting special attention to the work of directors who have given image and voice to dissent from political regimes, from patriarchal customs, from fundamentalist movements, and from the West. These country essays are complemented by in-depth discussions of eighteen films that have been selected for both their excellence and their critical engagement with pressing current issues. The introduction provides a comprehensive overview of filmmaking throughout the region, including important films produced outside the national cinemas. The long history of Iranian cinema, its international renown, and the politics of directors confronting the state, earns it a special place in this volume. The other major emphasis is on the Israel/Palestine conflict, featuring films by Palestinian directors, Israelis, and an Egyptian working in Syria. Nineteen authors collaborated on this book, among them Walter Armbrust, Roy Armes, Kevin Dwyer, Eric Egan, Nurith Gertz, Lina Khatib, Florence Martin, and Nadia Yaqub. About half of the contributors are film scholars; the others range across literary studies and the social sciences to two film directors and a novelist. Beyond differences in disciplinary orientation, there is considerable variation among contributors in the perspectives that inform their writing. They offer an illuminating range of approaches to the cinemas of the region. The book is richly illustrated with posters of the featured films, photos of their directors at work, and stills illustrating critical arguments in the film essays.

References to western movies scattered over some 250 narrative works by more than 130 authors constitute the subject matter of this book, arranged in an encyclopedic format. The entries are distributed among western movies, television series, big screen and television actors, western writers, directors and miscellaneous topics related to the genre. The entries vary in size, from a classic like High Noon to a more obscure title such as Drum Beat, or from, a mega-star like John Wayne to someone like Tom Tyler. While the time span of the presented data exceeds a period of a hundred years--from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to No Country for Old Men (2007)--the entries include many western film milestones (from The Aryan through Shane to Unforgiven), television classics (Gunsmoke, Bonanza) and great screen cowboys of both the ""A"" and ""B"" productions.

When Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve bid farewell to Fibber McGee and Molly and left Wistful Vista on a train in 1941, no one could have predicted that he would be riding the airwaves until 1957. But when one listens to episodes of radio's first spinoff, it becomes clear the The Great Gildersleeve succeeded because its likable and amusing characters were appealingly fallible, much like the folks each of us knew in our hometowns. This book is a guide to more than 500 episodes of The Great Gildersleeve that are in circulation and also to the scripts of 46 episodes for which no recordings exist. Background on the development of the program is included, and the appendices include a list of episodes as well as provide information about cast members, notable occurrences on the program, ratings, and the films and TV series.

From 1906 until 1922, Geraldine Farrar was the Metropolitan Opera's most popular and glamorous prima donna. Convinced that music must always serve the drama, this beautiful and magnetic singer often sacrificed tonal beauty to dramatic effect. Her acting was noted for its intensity and realism. Nevertheless, Farrar was a superb singer, possessing a beautiful lyric soprano voice. Enrico Caruso was her frequent operatic partner, guaranteeing sold-out houses. She performed 493 times in 29 roles, creating Puccini's Madama Butterfly in 1906. Farrar was also a star of the silent screen, appearing in 14 films from 1915 to 1920. In retirement, she was mentor and friend to the African-American diva Camilla Williams, enabling her to become the first African American to have a regular contract with a major American opera company.

Beginning with Charlie Chaplin's Shoulder Arms, released in America near the end of World War I, the military comedy film has been one of Hollywood's most durable genres. This generously illustrated history examines over 225 Army, Navy and Marine-related comedies produced between 1918 and 2009, including the abundance of laughspinners released during World War II in the wake of Abbott and Costello's phenomenally successful Buck Privates (1941), and the many lighthearted service films of the immediate postwar era, among them Mister Roberts (1955) and No Time for Sergeants (1958). Also included are discussions of such subgenres as silent films (The General), military-academy farces (Brother Rat), women in uniform (Private Benjamin), misfits making good (Stripes), anti-war comedies (MASH), and fact-based films (The Men Who Stare at Goats). A closing filmography is included in this richly detailed volume.

From December 1957 through October 1959, Chicago TV viewers were held in thrall by ""Marvin,"" the ghoulishly hilarious host of WBKB-TV's late-night horror film series Shock Theatre. Marvin and his lady friend ""Dear"" (her face ever hidden from the camera) introduced thousands of Chicagoland youngsters to such classic Universal chillers as Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man. This history of Shock Theatre focuses on the series and its creator, Marvin himself--in real life, the multi-talented Terry Bennett, whose wife Joy played ""Dear."" Terry's son Kerry Bennett provides an affectionate foreword, while celebrated horror host Count Gore De Vol (Dick Dyszel) supplies the afterword. Included are dozens of photos and vintage advertisement reproductions, as well as two appendices featuring a resume of Terry Bennett's career and a list of films telecast during his two-year Shock Theatre run.