Henry McAvoy was employed by Fox Silent Films as Location Manager from 1915 until his death in 1920. Henry had managed a fire works company, which gave him the experience of handling explosives to becoming an electrician. His job included that whenever Fox needed anything (submarines, war ships, naval aircraft. locations for filming) it was his job to acquire it. It was also his job to handle the explosives that were used in the thrilling scenes. The breathtaking scenes that thrilled the audiences were staged at the location. Many times this almost cost the life of one of the actors or actresses and in one case did. Author George McAvoy was only three months old when his father was killed in a dynamite explosion in his own garage. George only knew of his father, Henry McAvoy, through stories passed down from his mother and two brothers, from the letters his father had written to his mother when they were courting and when he was traveling, and from the thousands of photographs that his father took. George McAvoy uses these photos to tell the story of his entrepreneurial father who during the period of silent films became in charge of Fox Films special effects and finding the right locations for movies to be filmed. It was a much wilder time in the film industry when the center was Fort Lee, New Jersey, before the move to Hollywood. Many more risks were taken and there were few, if any, stuntmen. Unfortunately much of the film history was destroyed in a large fire at the Fort Lee storage warehouse where the highly flammable films were kept. The story includes onsite tales of filming and details of Henry McAvoy's family life.

Lawrence J. Quirk delves into every personal and professional aspect of Bob Hope's long, complex and dramatic life; rising by sheer dint of will to great wealth and fame. Why did Hope become so identified with sponsoring the Vietnam War? What's the real scoop on his relationship with Bing Crosby? How far astray did Hope's frankly oversexed nature lead him from the marriage he successfully maintained with Dolores for over sixty years? Quirk writes about Hope based on long experience. He knew and interviewed Bob Hope while serving as an army seargeant during the Korean war and later as entertainment editor, and interviewer of top stars for over forty years. Quirk approaches his subject with original observations born of years of studying this most celebrated, yet in some ways most mysterious of entertainment giants.

Judy Garland was an entertainment icon whose performances on stage, screen and television had a tremendous impact across decades and media. This film-by-film study of her work follows her progression from pig-tailed child to a top motion picture star, with such timeless classics as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St Louis, and A Star is Born. Garland's talent and versatility as an actress are explored through each of her movie roles. More than just a reference filmography, this work examines how Garland's talents were realized and understood by producers and the world. It analyzes the star's relatonships with various co-stars and directors and details how she balanced her painful insecurities with her often focused and driven approach to her work. Through the context of her work on film, Judy Garland's innate and enduring star power is readily appreciated and acknowledged.

NewsLady is the memoir of a trailblazing African American woman journalist whose life is about "firsts." Carole Simpson was the first woman to broadcast radio news in Chicago, the first African American woman to anchor a local newscast in the same city, the first African American woman national network television correspondent, the first African American woman to anchor a national network newscast and the first woman or minority to moderate a presidential debate. Hers is a story of survival in a male-dominated profession that placed the highest premium on white males. In this book she recounts how she endured and conquered sex discrimination and racial prejudice to reach the top ranks of her profession. Along the way she covered some of the most important news events over the four decades of her illustrious broadcasting career. Her inspirational story is for all trying to succeed in a corporate environment.

This reference work provides a comprehensive record of the life and career of Betty Grable. The book begins with a biography that presents and discusses the most significant events in Grable's life. The chronology that follows summarizes her career in capsule form. The succeeding chapters provide a detailed account of Grable's performances in various media, including films, television, radio, stage, nightclubs, videos, and records. The entries in these sections succinctly present the facts concerning each of Grable's performances and offer insightful commentary. The volume concludes with a list of Grable memorabilia, a section of miscellaneous information, and an annotated bibliography of books and articles containing extensive or unique material about Grable and her career.

From Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers to Arthur Kopit and Brian Friel, New York-based literary agent Audrey Wood encouraged and guided the unique talents of playwrights in the Broadway theatre of her day. Audrey Wood and the Playwrights illuminates the gifts and strategies of the tenacious woman at the Liebling-Wood Agency who melded playwrights with producers, directors, and leading actors and shaped the American theatre and film industry during the mid-twentieth century. Wood's story is told here through her interactions with her clients, now household names, whose works she steered through periods of triumph and failure. In an era when women, with the exception of actresses, were rare in the theatre business, she was known as the "go-to" agent for success in the commercial theater. Dubbed a "guardian agent," her quiet determination and burning enthusiasm brought America's finest mid-century playwrights to prominence and altered stage history.

'Once upon a time, the London theatre was a charming mirror held up to cosiness. Then came Joan Littlewood, smashing the glass, blasting the walls, letting the wind of life blow in a rough, but ready, world. Today, we remember this irresistible force with love and gratitude.' (Peter Brook) Along with Peter Brook, Joan Littlewood, affectionately termed 'The Mother of Modern Theatre', has come to be known as the most galvanising director of mid-twentieth-century Britain, as well as a founder of so many of the practices of contemporary theatre. The best-known work of Littlewood's company, Theatre Workshop, included the development and premieres of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, Brendan Behan's The Hostage and The Quare Fellow, and the seminal Oh What A Lovely War. This autobiography, originally published in 1994, offers an unparalleled first-hand account of Littlewood's extraordinary life and career, from illegitimate child in south-east London to one of the most influential directors and practitioners of our times. It is published along with an introduction by Philip Hedley CBE, previously Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East and Assistant Director to Joan Littlewood.

ERROL FLYNN "Those first thoughts of death, destruction and suicide began to occur within me--which would not easily or perhaps ever vanish. I no longer had such an interest in living. I didn't give a damn, in fact. Much of the will to live had gone." Like Hemingway, he sat with a gun to his head. He contemplated suicide. Three nights in a row he sat at the edge of the bed with a revolver to his head. The third night it was in his mouth. He, Errol Flynn, had power, fame, money, women, yet it was all an empty victory. He had been destroyed by the rape trial. "That which I had, my big house, my yacht, my bank account, seemed hollow. None of these could take the place of self respect, which I had lost." He would write in his autobiography, "Inside I was smarting, terribly wounded from the scar of the rape trial." He had other aspirations for his life than becoming a phallic symbol. Everyone thought they knew Errol Flynn, but they didn't. He was a complicated man who camouflaged his true self from the outside world and only through some of his own writing could one glean the type of person he really was and what he had hoped to be. No one could enter with aplomb and grace like him, who clicked his heels in salute like him, who was the greatest swashbuckler like him, a terrific horseman who held his sword and lance as if they were part of him; no one could be as great a leader like him, tall, handsome, dashing, whose voice, eyes and mannerisms would make ladies fall in love with him and men follow him to the end of the earth. The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Sea Hawk, They Died with Their Boots On, and Objective Burma are some of the finest films ever made, and undoubtedly no one has been able to replace him. He was a natural actor who lived his roles and his characters, but who aspired to be a writer and war correspondent. He was a man marred by an ugly childhood of neglect and abandonment, who rose out of sheer fortitude of his character to become one of the great stars of the golden age. This book is a probing and extensively researched attempt to explore the people, events and factors that made Errol Flynn who he was. It is an analysis of his triumph, his tortured inner self and his ultimate downfall. There is in addition a complete filmography with historical background.

"Jean Genet: Performance and Politics" is the first book to explore the broad political significance of Genet's performance practice by focusing on his radical experiments, polemical subjects and formal innovations in theater, film and dance. Its new approach brings together the diverse aspects of Genet's work through essays by international scholars and interviews with such key theater directors as Richard Schechner, Terry Hands, Cornerstone Theatre and Jean-Baptiste Sastre.

Shirley Jones is an American film legend of the first order, having starred in Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Music Man, and her Oscar-winning role as a prostitute in Elmer Gantrylong before the iconicThe Partridge Family.On the show, she portrayed the epitome of American motherhood, a symbol to generations of families in the 1970s, and she remains a cult icon today. But for those who only think of Shirley as the prim and proper Marion the librarian or the chaste and demure Mrs. Partridge, a massive surprise is in store. Here, in this candid memoir, the realflesh and blood Shirley Jones is revealed at last. In this hilarious and heart-warming, shocking and intimate memoir, Shirley dishes the raw truth about her own highly charged sexuality, her two husbands-the charismatic and deeply troubled Broadway star Jack Cassidy and the wacky TV comic Marty Ingels-her legendary Hollywood co-stars, and her interactions with the cast of The Partridge Family, including her rock star stepson David Cassidy. From smuggling marijuana across the Mexican border to infidelity and her wild sexual escapades, movie and television icon Shirley Jones gives us an unparalleled look beyond the America's sweetheart exterior.

'Julius Caesar is, simply, Shakespeare's African play' John Kani In 2012, actor Paterson Joseph played the role of Brutus in the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed production of Julius Caesar - Gregory Doran's last play before becoming Artistic Director for the RSC. It is a play, Joseph is quick to acknowledge, that is widely misunderstood - even dreaded - when it comes to study and performance. Alongside offering fascinating insights into Julius Caesar and Shakespeare's writing, Joseph serves up details of the rehearsal process; his key collaborations during an eclectic career; as well as his experience of working with a majority black cast. He considers the positioning of ethnic minority actors in Shakespeare productions in general, and female actors tackling so seemingly masculine a play in particular. Audience reactions are also investigated by Joseph, citing numerous conversations he has had with psychologists, counsellors and neurologists on the subject of what happens between performer and spectator. For Paterson Joseph, his experience of playing Brutus in Julius Caesar with the RSC was a defining point in his career, and a transformative experience. For any actor or practitioner working on Shakespeare - or for any reader interested in his plays - this is a fascinating and informative read, which unlocks so much about making and understanding theatre from the inside.

"If you saw Mark Damon in a tux at the 55th Annual Academy Awards you probably wouldn't picture him in a toga. If he flashed his dazzling smile at his wife, Maggie, your first thought wouldn't be "Oooh, vampire fangs." But Mark played a beast and a vampire, rode across the desert in a toga as the son of Cleopatra, walked the streets of Toledo as a Spanish king named Peter the Cruel and cleaned up the West as two Spaghetti Western cowboys named Johnny. As an actor he played a hero, a rebel and a fool in over fifty teenflicks, Spaghetti Westerns and swashbucklers. As a producer and film distributor, he was involved in the success of over 350 films. Teen idol, singer, film director, writer and producer, astute businessman, inventor of the foreign film sales business - by 1983, Damon had pursued almost as many careers as a tomcat has lives..." - From Cowboy to Mogul to Monster Twenty-five years later, Mark Damon continues to reinvent himself in the film business. His is a NeverEnding Story.