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What is a comedian doing writing poetry? I often ask myself the same question. I suppose it's just something I can't help doing. In fact, I have always written. As a kid growing up in Chicago, I wrote stories for my own amusement. Later, when work as an actor was scarce, I wrote for Steve Allen. Along the way, I read and appreciated poetry, but never really tried my hand at writing it until late in my "other" career, teaching writing in USC's Master of Professional Writing program. From there, I continued to write on any subject that caught my fancy. At last, I had enough poems to put together to create this collection. In it you will find poems of all sorts, serious, not-so-serious, poems to teach and poems to amuse. Most of my poetry is free verse, although you will also find a few rhyming poems, one trying to teach iambic pentameter, and a few limericks. All of it, however, comes from my own experience. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it."- Shelley Berman SHELLEY BERMAN is a Grammy® Award and three-time gold record award-winning comedian, and an Emmy® Award-nominated actor with hundreds of stage, film and television appearances to his credit. He has authored three books, two plays, several TV pilot scripts, and numerous poems, many of which are being presented for the first time in this collection. For over twenty years, Shelley taught humor writing in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California, where he is now a Lecturer Emeritus. He lives in Bell Canyon, California with his wife, Sarah.

250 Classic Movies brings to the attention of movie fans, and hopefully new fans of older films, motion pictures that are well worth seeing, time and again. Actually, the really good movies never get old. The fist time you see a classic film you might watch it for pure entertainment value. The second time might engross you more in the story. The acting might enthrall you more in the third viewing. And the fourth time? The cinematography, the costumes, the make-up, the sets, or the character players, some in the background (and in musicals, the individual dances), all may suddenly capture your imagination. That's the good thing about the classics-they don't get old because there is so much to behold it's almost impossible to truly see it all the first time around. For this book, the author has selected 250 films that have been acclaimed by critics and/or have been box-office winners or chosen as award-winners by various organizations. Are they the greatest movies ever made? Not necessarily, but they certainly are among the best. To add to the full enjoyment of each film, there are data, awards, trivia, a review, back-stories, posters and photographs-including stills and candids. The book covers twenty categories of filmmaking including foreign films. Represented are famous films from England, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Australia, and Russia. While this book is intended as an overview of the great movies of the first century of filmmaking, we hope it serves as an inspiration to readers to look at other movies of the first hundred years because, after all, in the Golden Age of Hollywood studios were making 700 films a year! So we have a lot to look forward to in our research into the great Classic Movies. George McManus spent 40 years as a broadcast journalist, most of it in California, where he covered the Academy Awards backstage. His time in radio/TV also provided him the opportunity to interview, at length, dozens of filmmakers, often while they were on a book or movie promotion tour. These experiences not only inspired this book, but also enhanced the author's knowledge/appreciation of the films that grace these pages. Mr. McManus lives with his wife and their children in Northern California. He hosts The Midnight Movie on the local community access channel.

Desperately Seeking Susan Foreman is a very different Doctor Who book. Richard Kirby's personal look back at fifty years of time travel is built around his quest to obtain a signed photograph from every living female companion-from Carole Ann Ford's character, who inspired the book's title, right through to the present day and the Doctor's current sidekick, Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman). Reviews of Richard's writing style have varied from "casual" and "easy to read" through to "quirky", and fans of the program have described Desperately Seeking Susan Foreman as "exhilarating", "first class", "lovingly researched" and "like discovering Doctor Who all over again." So why not take a gentle stroll down memory lane? There's something in this book for Doctor Who fans of every age: you'll hopefully learn facts you never knew-and equally importantly, you'll discover if Richard actually found Susan Foreman!

Opening its doors during the era that inspired The Great Gatsby and Downton Abbey, The Barclay Hotel offered its guests a touch of old world elegance amidst the swirling glitz and jazz of New York City's Roaring Twenties.Gilded Age millionaires, progressive social crusaders, and world-renowned artists all found a comfortable home at The Barclay. Blue-blooded scion Harold S. Vanderbilt, legendary author Ernest Hemingway, Ambassador and famed hostess Perle Mesta, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, and civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. were among the elite guests who lived, worked, and socialized at the exclusive hotel. The Barclay Hotel: New York's Elegant Hideaway for the Rich and Famous provides a captivating inside look at the nearly ninety year history of The Barclay, which both impacted and reflected the people, events, style, and romance of its Midtown East neighborhood and New York City itself.Cindy Gueli is a writer, professor, and filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. She has taught and lectured for institutions such as American University, The Washington Center, and House of Representatives Congressional Caucuses. She completed her bachelor's degree at Georgetown University and earned two master's degrees and a doctorate in History from American University. She is also the author of the upcoming book Lipstick Brigade: Government Girls in World War II Washington.Ward Morehouse III's love affair with grand hotels began long before he wrote his first landmark book, The Waldorf-Astoria: America's Gilded Dream, which was followed by Inside the Plaza: An Intimate Portrait of the Ultimate Hotel. His father, the late drama critic Ward Morehouse, lovingly introduced his son to the glamorous life of luxurious hotels. He is a former staff correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, Broadway columnist for the New York Post and author of eight other books.

"When numerous critics have all pointed to the stunning mastery of dialogueevinced in [Sade's] novels, to say nothing of the truly theatricaldisposition of many of the scenes¿erotic or otherwise¿this would seem to belinked to the theatrical obsession that persisted so disturbingly throughouthis tempestuous existence. Shouldn't we therefore look more closely at thistheatre...?"- Annie Le BrunIn commemoration of the two hundred years that have passed since the deathof the Marquis de Sade in 1814, the three-volume series, Rape, Incest,Murder! The Marquis de Sade on Stage, offers English translations of all ofSade's writings, for and about the theatre, with introductions that contextualize Sade's work within the theatrical climate of eighteenth-century France.Volume 1 presents Sade's earliest theatrical efforts, ranging from occasional verse, written to accompany the plays of other authors, to his first attempts at comedy and a newly developing bourgeois tragedy called the drame. The violence and eroticism of Sade's infamous novels are present in the plays, though in a lower dosage, obviously to render them accessible to public performance rather than private reading."[I]t is at the theatre rather than somewhere else that we must revive thealmost extinguished flame of the love that every Frenchman owes his country;there is where he'll be convinced of the dangers that would exist for himshould he fall back into the hands of tyranny. He'll carry home theenthusiasm and teach it to his family and its effects will be so much moredurable, so much more passionate than the momentary inspirations of anewspaper article or proclamation because at the theatre, he learns thelesson by example, and he remembers it."- The Marquis de Sade

Autobiography of an award-winning screenwriterMel Shavelson is one of Hollywood's triple-threat Writer-Director-Producers, and a two-time Academy Award Nominee for his original screenplays, which he also directed. He served three terms as President of the Writers Guild of America, West, and is the recipient of its highest honor, the Laurel Award for Screen Writing.He has written, alone or in collaboration, over thirty-five feature motion pictures, directed twelve of them, and created for television two Emmy Award-winning series.He is the author of two novels and four works of non-fiction, including the NY Times best-seller, Don't Shoot, It's Only Me, this last in collaboration with Bob Hope.Among the stars he has directed in feature films are - in alphabetical order, please! - Lucille Ball, Yul Brynner, James Cagney, Vittorio De Sica, Angie Dickinson, Kirk Douglas, Robert Duvall, Henry Fonda, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Barbara Harris, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Jack Lemmon, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, Lee Remick, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, and Joanne Woodward.Among the films he both wrote and directed are Houseboat, The Seven Little Foys, The Five Pennies, It Started in Naples, On the Double, A New Kind of Love, Cast a Giant Shadow, The War Between Men and Women, and Yours, Mine and Ours.Recently he served on the faculty of USC's Master of Professional Writing Program.He has often said, "There are a lot of good things about growing older - and I wish I could remember what they were."

IDA LUPINO DIRECTSDid you ever stop to wonder how you would react if you picked up a hitch-hiker along the highway and a few moments later found yourself staring into the barrel of his gun? Well, Ida Lupino did..."I kept the victims faceless to enhance fear that the next murder victim could be anybody - even the film viewer watching the film or the person sitting next to them..." - Ida Lupino

"When numerous critics have all pointed to the stunning mastery of dialogue evinced in [Sade's] novels, to say nothing of the truly theatrical disposition of many of the scenes-erotic or otherwise-this would seem to be linked to the theatrical obsession that persisted so disturbingly throughout his tempestuous existence. Shouldn't we therefore look more closely at this theatre...?" Annie Le BrunIn commemoration of the two hundred years that have passed since the death of the Marquis de Sade in 1814, the three-volume series, Rape, Incest, Murder! The Marquis de Sade on Stage, offers English translations of all of Sade's writings, for and about the theatre, with introductions that contextualize Sade's work within the theatrical climate of eighteenth-century France.Volume 2 presents Sade's plays written in prison during the years that preceded and immediately followed the fall of the Bastille in 1789. The revolutionary spirit of the time inspired Sade to pen his only tragedy, a music drama, and a comedy anticipating the Romantics, calling for a relaxation of the classical rules. The violence and eroticism of Sade's infamous novels are present in the plays, though in a lower dosage, obviously to render them accessible to public performance rather than private reading. "[I]t is at the theatre rather than somewhere else that we must revive the almost extinguished flame of the love that every Frenchman owes his country; there is where he'll be convinced of the dangers that would exist for him should he fall back into the hands of tyranny. He'll carry home the enthusiasm and teach it to his family and its effects will be so much more durable, so much more passionate than the momentary inspirations of a newspaper article or proclamation because at the theatre, he learns the lesson by example, and he remembers it." The Marquis de Sade

During the 1950s and 1960s it seemed that every TV show was written by Stirling Silliphant. His scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Tightrope, Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre, Perry Mason, and, of course, Naked City and Route 66, made him Hollywood's most produced writer. Later he dominated the disaster film cycle with The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, brought martial arts phenomenon Bruce Lee to screen prominence with Marlowe and Longstreet, won an Oscar® for In the Heat of the Night, and helped create the TV mini-series. He lived the life of a movie star, not a movie writer, attending A-list parties, sailing his yacht around the world, driving posh cars, and turning out one hit after another.But it came at a price: Four marriages, estranged children, a son's death, and, ultimately, expatriation. Stirling Silliphant: The Fingers of God intimately explores the life and creative process of the man behind Charly, Pearl, The Grass Harp, Village of the Damned, and other big and small screen events. Drawn from exhaustive interviews conducted by author Nat Segaloff in the years before Silliphant's 1996 death and augmented by material from his private files, what emerges is a complex portrait of a larger-than-life figure who rose to the top of a larger-than-life industry. About the AuthorNat Segaloff has written biographies of Arthur Penn and William Friedkin, in-depth profiles of Paul Mazursky, John Milius, and Walon Green; and TV biographies of Stan Lee, Larry King, John Belushi, Darryl F. Zanuck, and Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop. He is a playwright, college instructor, journalist, and producer who loves writing books."Stirling Silliphant was a legendary, larger-than-life screenwriter whose brilliant, innovative scripts changed the face of television and film. Nat Segaloff's compelling biography itself feels like the plot for a movie as it chronicles Silliphant's fascinating personality, epical life, and dramatic career."- David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of First Blood and The Brotherhood of the Rose"Seeing as how The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno were the two films that first made the 10-year-old me want to pursue a career in the movies, I devoured Mr. Segaloff's wonderful book about one of our finest screenwriters; a man who brought us from the sublime (In the Heat of the Night) to the ridiculous (The Swarm), with equal parts artistry and verve."- Scott Rosenberg, screenwriter, Con Air and High Fidelity"Highly-respected film/TV writer Stirling Silliphant gets A+ treatment in this flavorful account of the prolific craftsman. Silliphant's prodigious talents and unique viewpoints shine through this fast-flowing narrative by Nat Segaloff, whose interactions with the Oscar-winning scenarist over many years, gives this detailed study an added dimension. This book is a winner and a choice read!"- James Robert Parish, author of It's Good to be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks

From its tumultuous beginnings in 1977 to its end by firing squad - on screen and off - Soap was as passionate and controversial as the times in which it was made. During its four-year run, it tackled sex, death, depression and infidelity, all with a wit and gentleness never before seen onAmerican television.Throughout that time, a vocal minority hounded the sitcom and parent network ABC over its perceived irreverence toward the mores of a declining generation, even as the real world was convulsed by terrorism, energy crises, and fallout from the Vietnam conflict and governmental malfeasance.For the first time ever, Soap: The Unauthorized Inside Story of the Sitcom that Broke all the Rules takes you behind the scenes, from the producers' battles with network censors over an earlier series, to the creation of enduring story lines such as the death of Peter Campbell, and Burt's abduction by aliens. Based on interviews with nearly 30 members of the cast and crew, this book offers an extensive examination of each episode, and may finally reveal the societal forces that really led to the series' premature demise.

The over 800 radio broadcasts summarized in this book combine exciting, high-technology advancements of the 1940s with high adventure - even by today's standards! This is why Captain Midnight riveted over 20 million people - equally among youths and adults - to their radios around the globe. It's also why many fans went on to become career aviators.Originally written by military pilot Robert M. Burtt, and recovered by screenwriter and novelist Leonard Zane, these post-WWII thrills are back! So come climb aboard prop and jet planes, and haaaapppyyy laaandiiiings!

Let me say a few words about who should really take credit for this bookand the two volumes that will soon follow it.It all began over twenty five years ago when I was looking for some way toenhance my radio show which I called Life in the Past Lane.At the time I was doing much the same thing that many others have done.I was simply replaying radio shows of the past and talking about them. Igot to thinking about the many performers and technicians who madethem and were still around at that time. Why not call them up, talk withthem and then play the results on the air?To make a long story short, I developed a sort of Hollywood and New Yorkunderground and managed to get access to some hard to come by phonenumbers. Much to my surprise, those folks were all more than willing totalk at length about their careers and their lives.It went so well that I decided to expand the project and include theatre,movies, early television and some fine musicians.The end result was that, over a two year span I was able to record overeighty extensive interviews with some of the people who made media history.Therefore-they are the ones who wrote this book. All I did was pull ittogether.

Hold old did Jack Benny claim to be?What was Blondie's last name?Cecil B. DeMille hosted what radio show?If you liked Mel Simons' The Old-Time Radio Trivia Book, you will LOVE The Old-Time Radio Trivia Book II. Once again, Mel has extracted the best of yesteryear and has delivered a book that will keep you engaged and amazed for hours. See how well you remember tidbits about the likes of Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and other radio icons. Take the quizzes yourself and then see how well friends and family do. And while you're at it, you will enjoy classic photos of radio stars, many of them autographed to the author.Mel Simons is also a humorist, musician, radio personality and popular lecturer whose programs include The Golden Days of Radio, The Golden Days of Television, The Big Bands and The Great Entertainers. Mel, a regular on WBZ radio, lives in Boston.

Harry Spain is a man with a problem; well several problems actually, and all of them ex-wives. Blondes Abby, Gloria, and Jessica were all once married to Harry, and now enjoy a platonic friendship with him; spending weekends together at his beach-front property in Malibu. They sunbathe, gossip, and hang out on the beach, until one weekend when their perfect existence is threatened by the arrival of Kimberly; a woman who is not only much younger than themselves, but is a brunette too. Scared that this interloper is about to steal much more than Harry's heart, the three concoct a plan to rid themselves of her, until the arrival of Harry's first ex-wife, Lila, threatens to interrupt their plans. As if that isn't enough, housekeeper Mattie is in the very thick of the action; which ensures that a happy weekend at the beach quickly turns into a boiling pot of anxieties, mid-life crises and clashing personalities.Will Harry survive the weekend from hell, or will his ex-wives change his life forever?Steve Hayes is an actor, screenwriter, and novelist, as well as manager of coffee-shop Googies, and friend to the stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Author of many books including Children of the Dark, Viva Gringo! and Googie's: Coffee Shop to the Stars, Steve lives in Huntington Beach, California, with his lovely wife of twenty-five years, Robbin.Michelle Morgan is an author, columnist and biographer who has written about the Golden Age of Hollywood for the past twenty years. She is author of many books, including: Marilyn Monroe: Private and Confidential and The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals. She lives in Northamptonshire, England, with her husband, Richard and nine-year-old daughter, Daisy.

Every branch of the American military adopted pin-up girls as a symbol ofunification during World War II. She may have been an actress or a model byvocation, but as a pin-up girl she was much more - she was the lover leftbehind, the dream girl one desired to cradle, the sister whose pen kepttheir world alive. This lone vision of beauty was all the goodness that hadvanished.

"Grindhouse" is a term that refers to theaters that primarily showed exploitation films. There were a handful of these theaters on 42nd Street in New York City. These theaters showed a variety of films that generally featured sex, violence, and bizarre subject matter. These included slasher films, X-rated movies, badly-dubbed Hong Kong chop socky pictures, blaxploitation, and general exploitation films. The period most generally associated with these types of movie houses stretches from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s. Since the demise of these theaters, and with them certain types of film, an enthusiasm and appreciation for them has developed. Hollywood films such as Black Dynamite, Machete, and Hobo with a Shotgun have since payed homage to them.Gods of Grindhouse: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers contains conversations with a variety of filmmakers associated with such films. The book contains interviews with key figures such as Roger Corman, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Larry Cohen, David F. Friedman, William Lustig, Ted V. Mikels, and others. It also contains interviews with Bill Rebane and Russ Meyer that have never appeared in print before! This is a one-of-a-kind collection of interviews that gets as down and dirty as the films themselves.

"The Mount Rushmore of Adult Entertainment has four heads: John Holmes, Marilyn Chambers, Jenna Jameson, and Seka. That's it; there ain't no more."- Bill Margold, famed adult film actor,agent, producer, director, and activist Seka-The Platinum Princess, the Marilyn Monroe of Porn, the queen of XXX cinema's Golden Age, and John Holmes' favorite leading lady. Seka is a legendary performer in the annals of adult cinema, and many would say the greatest. Seka's name was so big in XXX that her name above the title was not enough-her name had to be in the title!¿Seka's real life story, though, is as enigmatic as her screen persona. She was never a victim-on-screen or off. This is no tale of remorse, abuse, or self-destructive behavior. Seka was post-feminist before the term was born. Inside Seka is the story of a survivor, a trailblazer, and an icon-still one of the most popular and famous porn stars ever; the last of the natural beauties."Before the Jennas, the Bree Olsons, or the Savannas, the undisputed blonde bombshell of XXX movies was Seka, which makes her story so important in the history of adult entertainment."- Ron Jeremy, porn legend, holder of the Guinness Book ofWorld Records for "Most Appearances in Adult Films"."From calling the shots in a film genre in the days when it was completely controlled by men, to standing and being heard at the infamous Meese Commission, Seka shatters the myth of the poor little victim who lost her way. Don't expect excuses and apologies. This is one blonde bombshell who lives by her own rules."- Candida Royalle, author, entrepreneur, and erotic film pioneer"She was one of the hottest girls in the XXX business, able to seduce any man she wanted. So it should come as no surprise that her story is riveting."- Larry Flynt, Hustler magazineKerry Zukus is the author, co-author, or ghostwriter of over 40 books, including From Harvard to Hell and Back, the upcoming Inside the Hotel Rwanda, and Book of the Month Club Feature Selection The Fourth House.

The Joke Book for people who think Donald Trump and the Kardashians are a JOKE. (2 joke books in 1!)Think about Number One and Number Two and what do you get? Two Joke Books in ONE solely dedicated to TWO self appointed icons, DONALD TRUMP and The KARDASHIANS. Get ready to laugh at Hundreds of Jokes aimed at this overly hyped duo, DONALD TRUMP and The KARDASHIANS in The Joke Book for people who think DONALD TRUMP is a JOKE and The Joke Book for people who think The KARDASHIANS are a JOKE. Two Joke Books in One. "What a Deal?" as DONALD TRUMP would say.Don't Laugh Now. But get ready to Laugh out Loud and Often at DONALD TRUMP and The KARDASHIANS in the NEW JOKE BOOK which combines both of these hysterically funny icons. The Joke Book for people who think DONALD TRUMP is a JOKE and The Joke Book for people who think The KARDASHIANS are a JOKE is Now Available to anyone who wants to enjoy a good laugh at DONALD TRUMP and The KARDASHIANS expense.

In 1952, twentieth century entertainment icon Eddie Cantor survived his first heart attack. He coined the name "cardiactor." Sixty years later, his grandson, Brian Gari, underwent a sudden open heart surgery and had a quadruple bypass. Little did Brian know at the age of two and a half that posing with his grandpa for a promotional photo for the Heart Fund would end up being so prophetic. This is Brian's personal story of what you can expect (and not expect) when undergoingone of the most serious operations one can ever endure. It is filled with the humorand sadness experienced when facing one of life's most challenging moments.About the AuthorA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Stress Test is Brian's second book. His first, We Bombed in New London: The Inside Story of the Broadway Musical Late Nite Comic, was published by BearManor Media in 2006 and is now available in paperback, e-book, and audio book editions. Brian Gari is a composer, lyricist, author, record producer, and performer. He is the author of a short-lived Broadway musical, Late Nite Comic, and he also composed songs recorded by such Pop music legends as Margaret Whiting, The Tokens, and Lesley Gore. He has written the liner notes for artists, such as Neil Sedaka and The Beach Boys. He has recorded twelve solo albums and produced all the releases on Eddie Cantor.

Gathering around the dinner table to discuss the happenings of the day was a tradition that was cherished by all of the Walton family members. Good food and lively conversation creates a bond that is cherished and long remembered by each of us.The Walton Family Cookbook is filled with favorite dishes of the cast members.Ralph Waite's (John Walton) pot roast; Ellen Corby's (Grandma Walton) fresh baked Whole Wheat Bread; Judy Norton's (Mary Ellen) Health Salad and Michael Learned's (Olivia Walton) French Onion Soup and Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing are just some of the taste bud delights you'll find inside plus favorite anecdotes about their own family dinners.

The first serious study of one of America's earliest motion picture comedians, later one of the most popular actors of the silent screen, and the worlds greatest cock-eyed mirthmaker, Ben Turpin.This book is the result of over forty years of researching and collecting anything and everything on this legendary - though sadly forgotten - comic. Never has such a wealth of information been assembled on one of the most respected comedians of his day, and this book, many are sure to agree, is too long overdue.Leaving no stone unturned - from old magazines and newspapers, to genealogy records, to business associates and family descendants - the author makes this the most complete reference book on the life, career and the films of Ben Turpin, and the most complete appreciation ever.Illustrated with hundreds of rare photos, many never-before-seen, most from the author's long-time personal collection, this book will prove indispensible to anyone and everyone interested in movie comedy and film history.