Download or read book The Legendary Mizners written by Alva Johnston and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2003-06-25 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The real-life adventures of Addison and Wilson Mizner, the subjects of the Stephen Sondheim musical Gold! Alva Johnston's joint biography of Addison and Wilson Mizner is a delightful portrait of two of the early twentieth century's most clever and infamous rascals. Born in the 1870s in California, the brothers quickly rose to prominence during the various booms of the 1920s. Addison, the elder, was a self-made architect and real-estate dealer who designed many of the fantastic homes of the fantastically rich in Palm Beach. He could "age" a house and its furnishings to any period his client desired--and would pay for. Wilson's adventures were even more daring and varied, and his quick wit was legendary. In addition to getting rich on the Alaskan gold rush, he had careers as a singer, playwright, prizefight promoter, con man, real-estate salesman, and shady hotel owner. Perhaps his most famous quip was one he delivered on being told that President Coolidge had died: "How do they know?"
Download or read book Panic in Paradise written by Raymond B. Vickers and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even when lawsuits disclosed the chicanery, state and federal regulators misled the public. Despite the official denials, the public panicked. The ensuing runs caused the banking crash.
Download or read book written by David Bruce and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2006-06-01 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Bride of The Funniest People in Religion and Families" contains such anecdotes as these: When Panamanian salsa singer Rubin Blades married Lisa Lebenzon, an Anglo (a white American not of Spanish descent) non-Spanish speaker, he asked her to learn Spanish so he could speak his native language at home. She finished in only seven months a Spanish course that normally took three years. Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, kept a strictly kosher diet. While in Paris, he and a group of rabbis ate only in kosher restaurants. On leaving Paris, Dr. Finkelstein joked, "I can't understand all this fuss people make about French cooking. We have the same things at home." A Sufi teacher spoke about the virtue of patience. As he spoke, a scorpion stung his foot repeatedly. His followers eventually noticed the scorpion and asked the teacher why he had not moved his foot away from it. The teacher replied, "I was discussing the virtue of patience. I could hardly have spoken about patience without also setting an example of patience. I would have been ashamed before God."
Download or read book Bubble in the Sun written by Christopher Knowlton and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher Knowlton, author of Cattle Kingdom and former Fortune writer, takes an in-depth look at the spectacular Florida land boom of the 1920s and shows how it led directly to the Great Depression. The 1920s in Florida was a time of incredible excess, immense wealth, and precipitous collapse. The decade there produced the largest human migration in American history, far exceeding the settlement of the West, as millions flocked to the grand hotels and the new cities that rose rapidly from the teeming wetlands. The boom spawned a new subdivision civilization—and the most egregious large-scale assault on the environment in the name of “progress.” Nowhere was the glitz and froth of the Roaring Twenties more excessive than in Florida. Here was Vegas before there was a Vegas: gambling was condoned and so was drinking, since prohibition was not enforced. Tycoons, crooks, and celebrities arrived en masse to promote or exploit this new and dazzling American frontier in the sunshine. Yet, the import and deep impact of these historical events have never been explored thoroughly until now. In Bubble in the Sun Christopher Knowlton examines the grand artistic and entrepreneurial visions behind Coral Gables, Boca Raton, Miami Beach, and other storied sites, as well as the darker side of the frenzy. For while giant fortunes were being made and lost and the nightlife raged more raucously than anywhere else, the pure beauty of the Everglades suffered wanton ruination and the workers, mostly black, who built and maintained the boom, endured grievous abuses. Knowlton breathes dynamic life into the forces that made and wrecked Florida during the decade: the real estate moguls Carl Fisher, George Merrick, and Addison Mizner, and the once-in-a-century hurricane whose aftermath triggered the stock market crash. This essential account is a revelatory—and riveting—history of an era that still affects our country today.
Download or read book The Quote Verifier written by Ralph Keyes and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our language is full of hundreds of quotations that are often cited but seldom confirmed. Ralph Keyes's The Quote Verifier considers not only classic misquotes such as "Nice guys finish last," and "Play it again, Sam," but more surprising ones such as "Ain't I a woman?" and "Golf is a good walk spoiled," as well as the origins of popular sayings such as "The opera ain't over till the fat lady sings," "No one washes a rented car," and "Make my day." Keyes's in-depth research routinely confounds widespread assumptions about who said what, where, and when. Organized in easy-to-access dictionary form, The Quote Verifier also contains special sections highlighting commonly misquoted people and genres, such as Yogi Berra and Oscar Wilde, famous last words, and misremembered movie lines. An invaluable resource for not just those with a professional need to quote accurately, but anyone at all who is interested in the roots of words and phrases, The Quote Verifier is not only a fascinating piece of literary sleuthing, but also a great read.
Download or read book na written by and published by Macmillan. This book was released on with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Dreamers Schemers and Scalawags written by Stuart B. McIver and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Florida has been the home of many unusual characters throughout the years. Meet Ned Buntline, Laura Riding, Wilson Mizner, Sam Jones, and many others. Storytellers, lawbreakers, movers and shakers, sportsmen, moviemakers, visionaries, and mobsters all left their mark on Florida. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series
Download or read book Unforgivable Blackness written by Geoffrey C. Ward and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-08-04 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this vivid biography Geoffrey C. Ward brings back to life the most celebrated — and the most reviled — African American of his age. Jack Johnson battled his way out of obscurity and poverty in the Jim Crow South to win the title of heavyweight champion of the world. At a time when whites ran everything in America, he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if color did not exist. While most blacks struggled simply to exist, he reveled in his riches and his fame, sleeping with whomever he pleased, to the consternation and anger of much of white America. Because he did so the federal government set out to destroy him, and he was forced to endure prison and seven years of exile. This definitive biography portrays Jack Johnson as he really was--a battler against the bigotry of his era and the embodiment of American individualism.
Download or read book Mizner s Florida written by Donald Walter Curl and published by MIT Press (MA). This book was released on 1987 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first complete biography of the inimitable society architect Addison Mizner, whose Spanish Revival buildings created a new style of resort architecture for Palm Beach and south Florida during the boom years of the 1920s. By 1925, Mizner ranked as one of the country's most prominent architects, as important in his own time as Richard Morris Hunt and Stanford White had been in theirs. The book's 150 illustrations include plans and historical photographs - many published for the first time - showing Mizner's handling of space, the relation of his houses to the landscape, and the many picturesque buildings that combined the comfort and convenience expected by his clients. Donald W. Curl is Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University. The Architectural History Foundation American Monograph Series.
Download or read book The New Yale Book of Quotations written by Fred R. Shapiro and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 1164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revised, enlarged, and updated edition of this authoritative and entertaining reference book—named the #2 essential home library reference book by the Wall Street Journal “Shapiro does original research, earning [this] volume a place on the quotation shelf next to Bartlett's and Oxford's.”—William Safire, New York Times Magazine (on the original edition) “The most accurate, thorough, and up-to-date quotation book ever compiled.”—Bryan A. Garner, Los Angeles Review of Books Updated to include more than a thousand new quotations, this reader-friendly volume contains over twelve thousand famous quotations, arranged alphabetically by author and sourced from literature, history, popular culture, sports, digital culture, science, politics, law, the social sciences, and all other aspects of human activity. Contemporaries added to this edition include Beyoncé, Sandra Cisneros, James Comey, Drake, Louise Glück, LeBron James, Brett Kavanaugh, Lady Gaga, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Barack Obama, John Oliver, Nancy Pelosi, Vladimir Putin, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and David Foster Wallace. The volume also reflects path-breaking recent research resulting in the updating of quotations from the first edition with more accurate wording or attribution. It has also incorporated noncontemporary quotations that have become relevant to the present day. In addition, The New Yale Book of Quotations reveals the striking fact that women originated many familiar quotations, yet their roles have been forgotten and their verbal inventions have often been credited to prominent men instead. This book’s quotations, annotations, extensive cross-references, and large keyword index will satisfy both the reader who seeks specific information and the curious browser who appreciates an amble through entertaining pages.
Download or read book The Funniest People in Comedy and Relationships 500 Anecdotes written by David Bruce and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2006-09-01 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains such anecdotes as these: 1) In his Answer Man column, film critic Roger Ebert answered a question by Matt Sandler about who was the world's most beautiful woman by saying that she was Indian actress Aishwarya Rai. In a later Answer Man column, a reader stated that Mr. Ebert should have answered the question by saying, "My wife." However, Mr. Ebert had a good reason for not answering the question that way: "Matt Sandler asked about women, not goddesses." 2) To advertise its Razzles candy, Mars Candy decided to use a Cleveland, Ohio, show in which comedian Ron Sweed, aka The Ghoul, hosted several mostly bad horror movies. The Ghoul criticized the candy for weeks, and the more he criticized it, the more its sales went up. In gratitude, Mars Candy delivered a case of Razzles to The Ghoul. The case of candy remained on the set of The Ghoul's show for year--unopened.
Download or read book Gunfighter in Gotham written by Robert K. DeArment and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-02-14 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legend of Bat Masterson as the heroic sheriff of Dodge City, Kansas, began in 1881 when an acquaintance duped a New YorkSun reporter into writing Masterson up as a man-killing gunfighter. That he later moved to New York City to write a widely followed sports column for eighteen years is one of history’s great ironies, as Robert K. DeArment relates in this engaging new book. William Barclay “Bat” Masterson spent the first half of his adult life in the West, planting the seeds for his later legend as he moved from Texas to Kansas and then Colorado. In Denver his gambling habit and combative nature drew him to the still-developing sport of prizefighting. Masterson attended almost every important match in the United States from the 1880s to 1921, first as a professional gambler betting on the bouts, and later as a promoter and referee. Ultimately, Bat stumbled into writing about the sport. In Gunfighter in Gotham, DeArment tells how Bat Masterson built a second career from a column in the New YorkMorning Telegraph. Bat’s articles not only covered sports but also reflected his outspoken opinions on war, crime, politics, and a changing society. As his renown as a boxing expert grew, his opinions were picked up by other newspaper editors and reprinted throughout the country and abroad. He counted President Theodore Roosevelt among his friends and readers. This follow-up to DeArment’s definitive biography of the Old West legend narrates the final chapter of Masterson’s storied life. Far removed from the sweeping western plains and dusty cowtown streets of his younger days, Bat Masterson, in New York City, became “a ham reporter,” as he called himself, “a Broadway guy.”
Download or read book The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds Volume 3 written by David Bruce and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sondheim written by Stephen M. Silverman and published by Black Dog & Leventhal. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lively, sophisticated, and filled with first-person tributes and glorious images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy lifts the curtain on a Broadway legend. "Aside from Sondheim's own exceptional books...this may be the best coffee-table volume devoted to his work."(Shelf Awareness) Brimming with insights from a veritable Who's Who of Broadway Babies and complemented by more than two hundred color and black-and-white images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy offers a witty, multidimensional look at the musical genius behind Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and the landmark West Side Story and Gypsy. Exploring the unique bond between Sondheim and his audiences, author Stephen M. Silverman further examines the challenging Sondheim works that continue to develop devoted new followings: Anyone Can Whistle, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along, Assassins, and Passion. The result is a lavish, highly engrossing documentation of the dynamic force who reshaped twentieth-century American musical history.
Download or read book Movie Anecdotes written by Peter Hay and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1991-12-12 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hollywood, Walter Winchell quipped, is where they shoot too many movies and not enough actors. Always looking for an angle, always, scheming, always the scene of clashing egos, the movie industry is where they place you under contract instead of observation--and if you don't have anything nice to say, write it down. "In 1940, I had my choice between Hitler and Hollywood," French director Ren'e Clair recalled, "and I preferred Hollywood--just a little." In Movie Anecdotes, Peter Hay treats us to a delightful ride through the world that has captivated audiences for almost a century, with stories that are often hilarious, sometimes tragic, and always entertaining. He takes us from the rough-and tumble early days (when one studio paid Pancho Villa $25,000 to launch his attacks only in daylight, after a film crew had set up) to the studio era (when Joan Crawford refused to cross the street on the MGM lot except in a chauffeured limousine) to the shenanigans of today's global industry. Here are stories about all the legends: Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Mae West, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Sophia Loren, John Wayne, and, of course, Ronald Reagan. There are the great directors from D.W. Griffith, Hitchcock, and Eisenstein, to Kurosawa, Bergman, Visconti, Huston, Ford, and Woody Allen. And Hay has selected tales of the writers, the wits, and the grand moguls, including perhaps the largest collection of Goldwynisms--both genuine and apocryphal. Along with the laughter, this volume recreates the conflicts that have torn the movie world, from battles over money and contracts, to discrimination, divorces, and scandals. Colorful, incredible, bitter, funny--the stories about moviemaking are as fantastic as the pictures themselves. Now they have been gathered together in an irresistible bouquet that is certain to delight every movie buff and provide fascinating insights for serious students of film.
Download or read book The Grove Book of Hollywood written by Christopher Silvester and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 911 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “treasure trove” of insider accounts of the movie business from its earliest beginnings to the present day—“exceedingly savvy . . . astute and entertaining” (Variety). The Grove Book of Hollywood is a richly entertaining anthology of anecdotes and reminiscences from the people who helped make the City of Angels the storied place we know today. Movie moguls, embittered screenwriters, bemused outsiders such as P. G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh, and others all have their say. Organized chronologically, the pieces form a history of Hollywood as only generations of insiders could tell it. We encounter the first people to move to Hollywood, when it was a dusty village on the outskirts of Los Angeles, as well as the key players during the heyday of the studio system in the 1930s. We hear from victims of the blacklist and from contemporary players in an industry dominated by agents. Coming from a wide variety of sources, the personal recollections range from the affectionate to the scathing, from the cynical to the grandiose. Here is John Huston on his drunken fistfight with Errol Flynn; Cecil B. DeMille on the challenges of filming The Ten Commandments; Frank Capra on working for the great comedic producer Mark Sennett; William Goldman on the strange behavior of Hollywood executives in meetings; and much more. “A masterly, magnificent anthology,” The Grove Book of Hollywood is a must for anyone fascinated by Hollywood and the film industry (Literary Review, London).
Download or read book Brokers of Culture written by Gerald McKevitt and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brokers of Culture analyzes how Italian Jesuit missionary émigrés attempted to integrate a heterogeneous western population (Native Americans, Hispanics, European immigrants, and native-born Americans) into a global religious community while simultaneously facilitating those groups’ entry into American society.
