Download or read book Abbott and Costello in Hollywood written by Bob Furmanek and published by Perigee Trade. This book was released on 1991 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The president of the Abbott and Costello Fan Club and the personal archivist for the Abbott and Costello estates combine their resources to produce this comprehensive, one-of-a-kind volume. Giving in-depth coverage of each of their 36 feature films from start to finish, this is the only book that has the permission of Abbott and Costello estates to use rare personal materials, many of which have never before been seen by the public.
Download or read book The Abbott Costello Story written by Stephen Cox and published by Cumberland House Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Abbott & Costello Story is a fond tribute to the comedy team that made Who, What, and I Don't Know the most hilarious names of baseball players ever batted around on the silver screen.
Download or read book Bud Lou written by Bob Thomas and published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. This book was released on 1977 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biography of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, one of the greatest comedy teams of all time.
Download or read book The Horror Spoofs of Abbott and Costello written by Jeffrey S. Miller and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2004-03-22 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are more famously known for their straight comedy routines, they did make a number of films in which horror played a crucial role. The first part of this critical reference examines the Abbott and Costello "Meet the Monsters" spoof films (Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Mummy). The second sections deals with Abbott and Costello's films with horror elements that do not follow this formula: Hold That Ghost, The Time of Their Lives and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. The plot of each film is examined in detail with special attention paid to the comedians' styles of comedy, the effect of the horror scenes, and the place of the film in the Abbott and Costello canon. The reactions of critics (then and now) and the influences the films have had on the horror and comedy genres and on pop culture are also discussed. A lengthy introduction provides background on the lives of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and the development of Universal Studios as the premier horror factory.
Download or read book The Woman Chaser written by Charles Willeford and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2013-08-11 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In post-World War II Los Angeles, a disillusioned used car salesman seeks revenge after his attempt to make the great American film fails miserably. Richard Hudson, woman chaser and used car salesman, has a pimp’s awareness of the ways women (and men) are most vulnerable. One day Richard decides to make an ambitious film, which turns into a fiasco. Enraged, he exacts revenge on all who have crossed him. Praise for The Woman Chaser “A pitilessly hilarious dissection of the American male psyche.” —Chicago Tribune “The most eloquently brainy and exacting pulp-fiction ever fabricated!”—Village Voice
Download or read book Buffoon Men written by Scott Balcerzak and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans and scholars of film history, gender studies, and broadcast studies will appreciate Balcerzak's thorough exploration of the era's fascinating gender constructs.
Download or read book Letters from Hollywood written by Rocky Lang and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rare correspondence from Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Jane Fonda, and other Hollywood luminaries from the silent film era to the 1970s. Letters from Hollywood reproduces in full color scores of entertaining and insightful pieces of correspondence from some of the most notable and talented film industry names of all time—from the silent era to the golden age, and up through the pre-email days of the 1970s. Culled from libraries, archives, and personal collections, the 135 letters, memos, and telegrams are organized chronologically and are annotated by the authors to provide backstories and further context. While each piece reveals a specific moment in time, taken together, the letters convey a bigger picture of Hollywood history. Contributors include celebrities like Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Cary Grant, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Hanks, and Jane Fonda. This is the gift book of the season for fans of classic Hollywood. With a foreword by Peter Bogdanovitch. “This is, quite simply, one of the finest books I’ve ever read about Hollywood.” —Leonard Maltin
Download or read book Hollywood Goes to War written by Clayton R. Koppes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1990-08-16 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The little-explored story of how politics, propaganda, and profits were combined to create the drama, imagery and fantasy that was American film during World War II. 32 black-and-white photographs.
Download or read book Progressive Hollywood written by Ed Rampell and published by Red Wheel Weiser. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With an introduction by Greg Palast, author of bestseller The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Progressive Hollywood features Rampell?s interviews and interactions with Hollywood luminaries such as producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Robert Greenwald; actors Jack Nicholson, Rob Reiner, Mike Farrell, Ed Asner, Martin Sheen, David Clennon, Gore Vidal and Dennis Hopper; directors Michael Moore, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone and Lionel Chetwynd; blacklisted screenwriters Bernie Gordon (who initiated the 1999 protests against Elia Kazan?s lifetime achievement Oscar), Bobby Lees (who injected dialectical materialism into Abbott and Costello comedies) and Norma Barzman (author of 2003's The Red and the Blacklist).
Download or read book Operation Hollywood written by David L. Robb and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-04-29 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Directors of war and action movies receive access to billions of dollars worth of military equipment and personnel, but it comes with a hidden cost. As a veteran Hollywood journalist shows, the final product is often not just what the director intends but also what the powers-that-be in the military want to project about America's armed forces.
Download or read book The Genius of the System written by Thomas Schatz and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when the studio is making a stunning comeback, film historian Thomas Schatz provides an indispensable account of Hollywood's tradional blend of business and art. This book lays to rest the persistent myth that businesspeople and producers stifle artistic talent and reveals instead the genius of a system of collaboration and conflict. Working from industry documents, Schatz traces the development of house styles, the rise and fall of careers, and the making-and unmaking-of movies, from Frankenstein to Spellbound to Grand Hotel. Richly illustrated and highly readable, The Genius of the System gives the definitive view of the workings of the Old Hollywood and the foundations of the New.
Download or read book Military Comedy Films written by Hal Erickson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2012-08-02 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Buck Privates written by and published by . This book was released on 1940 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two copies bound together, both with handwritten annotations. After page 55, the story is continued in narrative format.
Download or read book What Dreams Were Made Of written by Sean Griffin and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-28 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humphrey Bogart. Abbott and Costello. Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. John Wayne. Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable. Images of these film icons conjure up a unique moment in cinema and history, one of optimism and concern, patriotism and cynicism. What Dreams Were Made Of examines the performers who helped define American cinema in the 1940s, a decade of rapid and repeated upheaval for Hollywood and the United States. Through insightful discussions of key films as well as studio publicity and fan magazines, the essays in this collection analyze how these actors and actresses helped lift spirits during World War II, whether in service comedies, combat films, or escapist musicals. The contributors, all major writers on the stars and movies of this period, also explore how cultural shifts after the war forced many stars to adjust to new outlooks and attitudes, particularly in film noir. Together, they represented the hopes and fears of a nation during turbulent times, enacting on the silver screen the dreams of millions of moviegoers.
Download or read book Children of Hollywood written by Michelle Vogel and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2005-03-30 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living in the shadow of a famous parent can have powerful effects, from professional opportunities 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 these classic Hollywood icons, revealing the stresses and inspirations of living with great performers 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 upbringing, some of the children succeeded in the movies or elsewhere, but many never lived up to the public expectations. 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 not obeying the strict family rules, 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, Ruth Hussey, 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.
Download or read book Hand to God written by Robert Askins and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2018-08-28 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the rec room in at a church in Cypress, Texas, Margery leads her students in a puppet pageant to strengthen their faith in the Bible and evade Satan's hand. But when the young members of the Christian Puppet Ministry put those teachings into practice, one devout young man's puppet takes on a shocking personality that no one could have expected. In this hilarious black comedy, a foul-mouthed sock puppet named Tyrone soon teaches those around him that the urges that can drive a person to give in to their darkest desires fit like a glove. In Hand to God, a "true tour de force" (New York Times), Robert Askins has written a play of "unerring perfection" (Huffington Post). The must-see hit of the 2015 Broadway season, starring Steven Boyer and Geneva Carr, garnered an Obie Award and five Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, following its sold out, critically acclaimed off-Broadway runs at MCC Theater and Ensemble Studio Theatre.
Download or read book Heroes of the Comics written by Drew Friedman and published by Fantagraphics Books. This book was released on 2014-09-10 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring over 80 full-color portraits of the pioneering legends of American comic books, including publishers, editors and artists from the industry’s birth in the ’30s, through the brilliant artists and writers of behind EC Comics in the ’50s. All lovingly rendered and chosen by Drew Friedman, a cartooning legend in his own right. Featuring subjects popular and obscure, men and women, as well as several pioneering African-American artists. Each subject features a short essay by Friedman, who grew up knowing many of the subjects included (as the son of writer Bruce Jay Friedman), including Stan Lee, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Eisner, Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee, Jack Davis, Will Elder, and Bill Gaines. More names you might recognize: Barks, Crumb, Wood, Wolverton, Frazetta, Siegel & Shuster, Kirby, Cole, Ditko, Werthem… it’s a Hall of Fame of comic book history from the man BoingBoing.com call “America’s greatest living portrait artist!”