Entertainment Books

This is a great reference book for all of Dusty's recordings. It includes the Where and When of each song she ever recorded.

Paul Howe's excellent book (now in 2nd ed.) is now available for preorder through The Dusty Springfield Bulletin and also through amazon UK. US fans are waiting for amazon to offer it here. PLEASE !!
[...]
Let's Talk Dusty!

Here's what we Dusty fans waited many years for. Several more compilation CD's and a couple more DVD's have been released in the U.S., U.K., Australia and the rest of the world since this comprehensive overview of Dusty's career was published in 2001, so the book is only complete up to that point. No matter, because these pages cover all of the known, individual studio recordings she made, including several alternate versions, album session outtakes and single mixes that have turned up over the years on various collections. There are many live television and radio recordings floating around out there, many of which have yet to see CD or DVD release, but this book is as complete a volume as we could have reasonably hoped for. And the pictures! There are many photos here I had never seen before, making this book even more of a special treat. The casual listener who is only familiar with Springfield for the four or five songs that get endlessly recycled on the radio could probably not care less about this book, but for us rabid fans, this is indispensable. Highly recommended, and nothing in here to disrespect the woman whose real legacy is a catalog of great music, NOT a string of sleazy tabloid stories. Avoid DANCING WITH THE DEMONS, a badly written "biography" which I won't even dignify with a negative review.

Dusty Springfield was a legend in the music industry. She was tough and a perfectionist without apologies. This book is about her music legacy and not about her personal problems with addiction or her sexual orientation. There's more to her person than who or what she sleeps with. Dusty was one of a kind. She died too soon at 59 just when she got awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) on her deathed and died two weeks before her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Sadly, there is one honor that I think she should receive and that is the Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording. If I only had $25,000 dollars to spare, I would do it for Dusty.

There is another book out there on the market that claims to be an authorised biography on her life. If reading a distorted and sensational account of her life is what you want, 'The complete Dusty Springfield' isn't for you. What it is, is a track by track annotation of every recording Britains greatest ever female vocalist recorded. Paul Howes (publisher of the Dusty Springfield Bulletin magazine) has done a fantastic job in detailing every song released (and even some unreleased) from a to z. To achieve what Dusty did in the male dominated music
business of the 60's puts the likes of Madonna in the shade! For anyone with more than a passing interest in how Dusty
achieved so many enduring recordings, time and time again, then
this book, choc full of photographs, is for you. She really
was a one off.

Growing up watching the TV shows and later watching them on Christian TV, I am a great fan of theirs. I even visited their museum in California and just missed seeing Roy. I loved the book. I'm not a great reader but couldn't put it down. I even plan to read it again!

The Cowboy And The Senorita provides fans of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with a new, authorized biography based on the contributions of the Rogers family, who share their inside story of the two. From Dale's determination to be a singer despite her position as a teen single mother to Roy's first wife's death and his struggles raising three children alone, Cowboy And The Senorita packs in black and white photos and high drama to re-create the special challenges and lives of the two.

Chris Enss's, The Cowboy and the Senorita: A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans is one of the most heart-warming and well written biographies about the "King of the Cowboys" and the "Queen of the West." The personal stories of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans are very well crafted, and the author is able to capture the essence and soul of these two wonderful people. Ms. Enss is articulate, animated, and amazing when she read excerpts from her book at a Barnes & Noble store. Fans of her wonderful book should really meet the author in person. I truly hope an audio version of this book gets produced soon.

There is a reason why Roy and Dale were and are national treasures, and The Cowboy And The Senorita reminded me why...their convictions, integrity and humility demanded that they were off screen what they were on screen, and their fans knew it and loved them for it. This was not only a nostalgic, entertaining, and inspiring story, I found it direct and readable and loaded with some wonderful rare photos. This is going to be the gift I give to everyone my age and older who needs a smile and a warm memory, and to everyone my age and younger who needs proven and tested human heroes to look up to and imitate. Happy Trails, y'all.

I loved this little book. Not a Hollywood whitewash, but a real story of two people whose love of family and faith shined for a whole generation because of their earnest values and huge hearts.

This is an absolute essential guide for Dark Ages: Vampire players. It has info on Medieval life, history of the time, religion of the time period, and fictional info on more obscure DA:Vampire bloodlines and disciplines, including the frightening Baali and the mysterious and doomed Salubri. Definitely recommended, excellent reading..... If you're going to play a Dark Ages Vampire game, get this!

While Vampire: The Dark Ages is infinitely resourceful, the Dark Ages Companion is infinitely more so. It has detailed information on aspects of the dark ages which will help any chronicle. Included are several new bloodlines, plenty of new disciplines and new powers for old disciplines, and details on several religions. Possibly the most valuable resource is the new data on combat, including the mass-combat for the armies of the day.

All in all, this product is essential to run a complex chronicle, and well-worth the money.

If a chronicle is hard to build, it is a dark ages chronicle, not because of lack of plot, but excess of it, there's too much going on with the church, also there's chivalry and clan differences begin to break the vampire society. Certainly it is a good time to have a companion to give you few details.

It expands existing disciplines providing new ones, with even new rituals. The blood lines also prove to be interesting characters that players might enjoy, and storytellers trying to run the dark ages chronicle will find this book quite useful.

Great book filled with lots of info on different religions, really helps form backgrounds for npc's. On top of that I also have a pc who is a salubri and It REALLY helps, thank god I found a book that has the discipline of Valeren in it. Anyway overall this book was very helpful.

If you have just purchased Vampire: The Dark Ages, then you will want to look deeply into this book. This book contains information to help make vampire chronicles even more dynamic than before. This volume contains a detailed section outlining the various actions and reactions of different religious organizations. I state organizations because too often the word Church is assumed to mean the Holy Roman, or Catholic Church. Although it was a major power in Europe, there were still plenty of other religions in the world; each religion had its own agenda and these are illustrated in the Companion. Now a Storyteller can be sure throw a massive curve into a Chronicle when Cainites are now confronted by not only Catholic clergy, but also pagan and followers of even more remote religions. What basis of belief do the Assamites follow? It is most assuredly not catholicism. With this book, you can get a slight taste for their beliefs, or the beliefs of those in their homelands.

So that is the church, but what about Cainites themselves? The Companion carries the higher level disciplines for the one listed in the Dark Ages core book. The authors have also included more Thaumaturgical paths as well as power to make better Infernalists. This book carries a wide selection of Dark Thaumaturgical paths and rituals. It also carries a few new disciplines altogether. Wait! New disciplines? Who wield them? This volume also adds four new clans/bloodlines. The Laibon, Lhiannan, and Lamia make their possible First Appearances in the White Wolf canon. Their chapters contain information on their origins, structure, beliefs, and discipline just as it does for all others. The one exception is that it also spells out each bloodline's fate. These Cainites do not survive into the modern days, and now you know why. But, I only mention three, who is the fourth?
The Dark ages are a strange time. Not only does it see the "birth" of a new clan, but also the genocidal hunting of another. Yes, the Salubri are still alive at this time and the Companion provides both a clan overview as well as a long listing of Valeren, the Salubri principle power. For all you veterans, Valeren is not the same as Obeah. Now we have the actual power the Unicorns wielded long ago in Enoch, the very power that is said to have temporarily soothed Malkav of his madness. This alone makes the book worth its cost, but the authors have included so much more.

In summary, coupling this book with Vampire: The Dark Ages will only enhance a chronicle. If players feel they done this before, add a few new religious antagonists, or just drop one of the unknown clans into he story to add danger, intrigue, and a huge new enigma to solve. Do not forget to spice the game with the upper levels of Disicplines. You may have a Brujah or a Nosferatu with a ton of Fortitude, but what good is that when you opponent can strike you from across the room without moving? What good is a ton of Potence and Celerity when your weapons shatter upon impacting another Cainite and not leaving the slightest mark? Who said the "things-that-go-bump-in-the-night" in the night do not have their "things-that-go-bump-in-the-night" as well? Can we say Methusala? Sleep well, childer. Sleep well.

Being a huge Dawson's Creek fan, I just had to purchase this book and am I glad I did! The postcards are great! They truly capture the essence of the show!

Because I have already made it clear that I love Dawson's Creek, it's obvious that I would love this! The poscards are great! The pictures help to show why the show is so great!

My name is Jenn and I want to be just like Jenn on the show. she is my role model. i hope to one day be as experienced as her. think about it she gets to fool around with Dawson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book is sooo awsome. I love the pictures and of course I will never send them. Ther just to cool. In all the pictures Pacey is soo cute. I love this postcard book!

I loved this postcard book. All the photos are great! I would NEVER actually send these postcards to anyone because the pictures are just too great!

I read this book and now I am blind. I then gave it to all my friends who now all hate me. So now I am blind and cant find any friends.

Loved this book! Found myself laughing out loud on most every page. My son kept wondering what the heck was so funny.

This book is hysterical!! I don't remember ever reading anything THIS funny. A must-have for any collection. FIVE STARS!!!

This book is fantastic! If you have a sense of humor, you won't regret buying it. Come on. Click that "add to cart" button. You know you wanna.

Nick Teplitz has a very unusual perspective that is so funny! Read this book and you will be laughing!

I LOVED this book. Diana Vreeland's "Why don't you..." suggestions are absolutely wild. They're obviously intended for women of *great* means (why don't you give a diamond bracelet as a gift to the wife of your favorite bandleader?). And some of the suggestions are so out there, I swear she was chewing magic mushrooms. My favorite is the suggestion to put in a private staircase from your bedroom to the library, and have it carpeted with a needlepoint rug that spells out the notes to your favorite tune. My god, you're right, I'll do that tomorrow!!
This book is great to read out loud at a party.

the strange thing is, I am not sure if it's intentionally funny. The author clearly admires Vreeland, and it's a very affectionate book with wonderful photographs.

It is definitely a great glimpse at another era, and at a level of society I can only imagine. To have the kind of money that allows you to do some of these things is beyond my wildest dreams. It's a fun fantasy trip, and a fun retro trip. Five stars.

This book is something to read on a rainy day. It is beautifully put together and very mood uplifting. The suggestions do not seem all that outrageous to me and indeed could add that very necessary flair or as Diana would say PIZAZZ to your life. I love her suggestions for interior decorating. She talks about the pursuit of the perfect RED. How lovely to imagine living a life where your most important concerns are finding the perfect RED. And yes this book is probably for people who are already fans of Diana. Great pictures too.
ACL

My only qualm: I wish there'd been more "Why don't you...?"s. Frankly, I couldn't get enough of them:

"Why don't you have your cigarettes stamped with a personal insignia as a well-known explorer did with a penguin?"

"Why don't you rinse your blond child's hair in dead champagne to keep its gold, as they do in France?"

"Why don't you wear violet velvet mittens with everything?"

Indeed, why don't I?

This slim book far outshines its company in the Diana Vreeland library, and especially "Allure," a gigantic coffee table book with photographs that appear to have been digitized with a $20 scanner.

Of course, you must know and love Mrs. Vreeland to be here in the first place. Given that you do, buy this book. Don't expect a compendium of her suggestions and aphorisms. Do expect a delightful hour's browse. Well worth the money.

Any info on D.V. is exciting to me. This pretty book is filled with great photos and listing of all the "Why Don't You" articles created by Diana during her days at Harpers. If you are a fan of Diana Vreeland (as I am) you must add this book to your collection.

Catch up on your knowledge, or review what you know. Fun series of all that's Disney.

This is a great book about Disney Company. It goes chronologically from 1901 to 1999 and beyond. Every event in the company's history is put in the book, but without much detail.
Since he maintains Disney Archives, Dave Smith could have done a litle better, like he did with Disney's Encyclopedia.

This book was excellent! It had terrific pictures and it told from 1901 when Walt was born until 2001. It is a great keepsake. I purchased mine at Walt Disney World during the 100 Years of Magic celebration.

I really enjoyed this book. It is packed with lots of great photographs and artwork from Walt Disney and the Disney Company. It also has a really nice overview of the life of Walt Disney and the work of the Disney Company in text.

I appreciated the organization of the book. The book is arranged chronologically, which helped me to understand the flow of events better. This book has a very upbeat, positive tone and paints a very bright and exciting future for the Disney Company.

This book does not contain nearly as much information about Walt Disney as some of the biographies that I have read, but I don't think that was the goal of this book. This book does a very nice job of chronicling the art and the work of this great American icon and then continues the chronology with the work of the Disney Company in the post Walt era.

This book starts with very early Disney and takes the reader all the way through to Fantasia 2000. This is an excellent coffee table book. I highly recommended it to anyone that loves Walt, his work and the continuing work of the Disney Company.

This 213 page book is just full of an endless supply of full color photos of everything Disney for the past 100 years. You'll learn all about Walt's early life and how his ideas created worldwide Disney worlds. Each chapter covers a decade from 1901 to 2001 !! Many of these pictures are archival and never made available before. The book provides many memories for "children" of all ages. It's a keeper. Enjoy !

Earl Hamner is genious, intelligent, heartfelt, honest man. He created the best show on t.v., "The Waltons." This books opens a lot of interesting history of his career and family. The author spends too much time indulging other writers works, and trying to compare them to Earl Hamner. I wish Earl was the author of his bio. You will discover his works from Charlotte's Web, Falcon Crest, Snowy River, Spencer's Mountain, The Homecoming,and of course, The Waltons.
Sections of the book gets very boring, and turns away from Earl's life. The rest of the book is well written. We need more writers & producers like Earl Hamner.
God Bless The Waltons!

Earl Hamner,Jr. is as familiar to some of us as our own father, or grandfather.He has been a part of our lives for as much as the last thirty or so years,since his book "The Homecoming" aired as a made for tv Christmas movie,and the long running series,"The Waltons" took over our living rooms every Thursday night.
The series was based on Mr. Hamner's life growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the depression,and the stories related to many of us,having touched on our families and their histories,stories that were told to us by our parents and grandparents,and some that lived through those times themselves.
Earl had a special gift in his ability to tie that world in with ours,reminding us even still today the meaning of family.He could even make those without a family feel like they were part of one.
Mr. Person's book not only presents a great tribute to a great man, but his writing also has the ability to make the reader feel as though they are reading about one of thier own family,but with some surprises along the way.If I had only one comment about the book it would be that I only wish there were more pages to read in it! Great job,Mr.Person!

Jim Person, who has written three books and over one hundred articles, has a gift when it comes to analyzing, comparing, and critiquing works of literature. In this book he is also gifted with his subject, Earl Hamner. Largely because he is such a humble man, most people do not know much about Earl's career or the extent of his works. If his name sounds familiar, it is because it appears in the opening credits of one of the most beloved series ever on television, The Waltons. Not only was Earl the creator and one of the principal writers of the show based on his life growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the Great Depression, it was his distinctive voice that opened and closed the show. But The Waltons was a mid-career project; you will be surprised to learn in this book how much Earl has done before and after it, across genres. After keeping a journal while he was growing up, he started his career writing radio scripts, has penned nine books, wrote eight Twilight Zone scripts, was the creator of another long-running series Falcon Crest, and was the screenwriter for the animated film Charlotte's Web. In addition, Earl produced or, according to Person, was the "guiding hand" for a number of other series and specials including Brewster Place, Snowy River: The McGregor Saga, and a PBS presentation called The Ponder Heart.

As Person describes in this critical biography, much of Earl's work is influenced by his upbringing. Throughout Earl Hamner's award-winning career, he has maintained his personal integrity, an air of gentility, and even that distinctive Virginia Scotch-Irish accent. But despite his conservative roots, he embraces all aspects of life. He has spent most of his life on the west coast, has traveled extensively, and clearly loves people. He is a sensitive writer who is not afraid to write heartwarming and inspiring stories from which, although he maintains that it has never been his intent to instill lessons, you will learn none-the-less.

Throughout the writing of this biography, Jim Person and Earl Hamner apparently became fast friends, and it's easy to see why. Earl was amazed that Jim was able to capture the essence of him so easily but, in my opinion, it's because the two men are so much alike. At this point I must confess that I am friends with both of them and it's easy to see why they "get" each other. Both are great writers but, more than that, they are great guys: fun-loving, hard-working, principled, and above all, humble.

Cumberland House did an outstanding job putting the book together with photos of Earl, his childhood home, and his beloved mountains on the cover, and many never-before-seen photos sprinkled throughout the book. This is a great read. If you are not already familiar with Earl's works, Earl Hamner: From Walton's Mountain to Tomorrow will make you want to investigate them, and to check out more of Jim Person's writings as well.

This book provides excellant insight on Earl Hamner. My wife and I belong to the International Walton's Fan Club and have meet Earl several times at Walton Reunions. Mr. Hamner is a talented writter and a wonderful person.

Mention 'Earl Hamner' and savvy book readers will instantly recognize his name as the creator of the beloved Waltons, which became a hit TV show - but there's more to his life than Walton's Mountain, as Earl Hamner: From Walton's Mountain To Tomorrow reveals. Hamner was raised in small town Virginia and discovered writing at a young age, becoming a published writer at the age of six. He did much more than just The Waltons: he produced eight scripts for The Twilight Zone, did the screenplay for Charlotte's Web, and was loved and respected for his talents. A fine account of his lively career and many literary contributions evolves.

Writing this book has been, obviously, a labor of love for William Mann, whose earlier books convinced me that henceforward, everything he writes is to be treated as the work of an immensely serious, politically committed and ethical scholar. And yet when all is said and done, and a hell of a lot gets said in this book, I remained singularly unconvinced. Unconvinced as to Schlesinger's talent--sure, he made some great movies, but he'd have to have made CITIZEN KANE for the scales of justice to swing back to normal in light of MADAME SOUZATCHKA or THE BELIEVERS. Unconvinced about the frame story, for it seems so pathetic to dwell and dwell and dwell on the miseries of Schlesinger's life after his debilitating stroke when he could hardly speak and seemed miserable in every encounter. Unconvinced even about the title, which seems to have been chosen to echo Schelsinger's greatest success, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, but in that acse why not just call it MIDNIGHT COWBOY? And then in the long run he seemed like a miserable man in every respect of life, looking back, he was never very happy nor does he seem capable of radiating either good will or basic charity. Added to this the contemptible misogyny which, in a Balzacian scene, Mann summons up by asking Schlesinger for his final, considered opinion of the late Penelope Gilliatt. It's unprintable here, and unpleasant even in context of whatever crime she was supposed to have committed.

Are authorized biographies ever a good thing? What's the point of advertising them in that way?

And yet taken as a whole the book is a splendid piece of work, and in giving us the extremely varied picture of a lot of filmmaking atmospheres, from the Angry Young Men scene of the late 1950s in England, to the New American Cinema that MIDNIGHT COWBOY may be fairly said to have begun, to a later day when stars and producers and test audiences made movie making difficult for directors, Mann excels. It's panoramic in sweep, extremely detailed. And maybe the "authorized" label encouraged many in Schlesinger's circle to speak with Mann, including--well, it seems just about everyone. A great story about Madonna's affectations begins the book, which I won't spoil here but it involves her belief that she had a shot in securing the lead role in MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. Enough said, go for it!

Two lapses in sense made me doubt my hero Mann for a moment. In discussing the Austin Powers phenomenon, he pronounces that "We've come so far that rebels now go BACK in time rather than forward, when the youth culture borrows relics of the past and jumbles them together into a pastiche of expression and attitude." Surely this has been an attribute of youth culture at least since WWII? Blue jeans weren't invented in the 1960s, they were retrieved from a workingman's past in the 19th century.

And look at this sentence, which touches on the critical reception of MIDNIGHT COWBOY. "Stanley Kauffman in THE NEW REPUBLIC adored the film, using adjectives like 'dexterity,' 'intelligence' and 'perception' to describe John's direction." Okay, maybe I'm missing the forest for the trees, but on the other hand maybe "adjective" has a new definition: "noun"?

Edge Of Midnight: The Life Of John Schlesinger is the authorized biography of the filmmaker whose most famous works include "Midnight Cowboy", "Bloody Sunday", "Marathon Man", and "Day of the Locust". Written with the full cooperation of Schlesinger, his family, and his companion of 36 years Michael Childers, as well as with complete access to tapes, diaries, production notes, and correspondence, not to mention interviews with the actors, crew members, friends and colleagues who knew Schlesinger, Edge Of Midnight accurately traces the singularly amazing career of a dedicated and visionary man. Highly recommended for professional cinema researchers and intrigued lay readers alike.

Poor John Schlesinger. This gifted filmmaker never seemed happy, gave off more than a whiff of bitterness, and even seemed jealous of some of the people with whom he worked.

Most especially, the late Penelope Gilliatt, who authored his finest work, "Sunday Blody Sunday." There has been much misinformation regarding this film. Gilliatt was a brilliant film and theatre critic and a writer of fiction. She was orginally part of the greatly influential team of Kenneth Tynan and Gilliatt at the Observer (London). Schlesinger asked Gilliatt to write the sceenplay of Sunday Bloody Sunday. He thought she was the "right writer." Subsequently, the film was made and received rapturous reviews; it stands today as Schlesinger's finest work, along with his T.V. film, "An Englishman Abroad." The trouble started when Gilliatt received the vast majority of the praise for the film, back in 1971 -- I remember. Pauline Kael went so far as to say that Schlesinger had been inspired by the "delicate substance" of Gilliatt's script, which led him to do his finest work. (And Kael and Gilliatt were NOT friends.)
Perhaps, in addition to Gilliatt's brilliance as a fiction writer, Schlesinger chose the heterosexual Gilliatt to write the script because she had been a champion of civil rights for gays and lesbians in Great Britain in the 1950s, when she was only in her 20s, long before, say, Stonewall in the U.S.A., and fought so that GLBTs could have a place at the theatre and film tables of England under the repressive and homophobic Lord Chamberlain. At any rate, her much-honored script is what the film is remembered for. (Also, Sunday Bloody Sunday didn't get a Best Picture Oscar nod, whatever that silly thing is worth, not because of the subject matter, but because a major English studio was about to go bankrupt owing to the dreadful and dreadfully expensive movie bomb "Nicholas and Alexanda," so the Academy members rushed in to help, or at least tried to, with a Best Picture nomination for it to get the studio afloat.) On its release, SBS was not a commerical success.
Anyway, SBS was a major criticial success. The attention focused immediately on Gilliatt and her original screenplay. Schlesinger charged in one interview that Gilliatt had wanted him to film the scene in which Peter Finch and Murray Head kiss, in long-shot, with the two of them running toward each other in slo-mo and shot side-on. Gilliatt was a film critic of what has been described as sky-rocketing intelligence (at the Observer and at The New Yorker), who received threats for her theatre criticism in support of breakthrough playrights in England. I cannot believe that she ever, even once, suggested, as Schlesinger claimed, that she wanted Finch and Head to run toward each other in slow-mo longshot for their kiss. Read her dazzling reviews of Ingmar Bergman's The Passion of Anna and Face to Face to know that she was simply incapable of that sort of sentimentality. To my knowledge, Schlesinger never offered any proof of the charge, either. The problem was, as I remember the events, he and Gilliatt didn't get along and he simply seemed terribly jealous of the acclaim heaped on her. He called her an intellectual snob, apparently because she was largely self-educated and a genius. She had, according to her friends, a near-photographic memory, was the youngest person ever to pass the entrance exams to Oxford, spoke six or so languages, was a serious writer of fiction and criticism, and had a colossal knowledge of theatre and film. Schlesinger must have felt deeply intimidated. How could he hold his own with her?
The playwright Joe Orton, also gay, apparently had no problem with her erudition, as they were beloved friends, and Gilliatt had many, many loyal and faithful friends in the GLBT community. Anybody who has read her fiction will know the script is hers in its entirety, and she made changes only to repair some structural problems and to accomodate the line readings of the actors, with whom she worked closely throughout the film, especially Glenda Jackson. Peter Finch said her script was the most beautiful he had ever read. How all this must have galled Schlesinger, already a sometimes trying presence to those who knew him. At the end, he made one dreadful film after another, often blaming the result on the actors' interference, etc. In truth, Hollywood had become so infantilized that the work of serious filmmakers was largely abandoned long before Schlesinger's death. All the same, he made two magnificent works, Sunday Bloody Sunday and An Englishman Abroad, and one deeply flawed but beautifully acted film Midnight Cowboy. It's doubtful the rest of his work will survive. As for Gilliatt, her vast body of criticism (film and theatre) is used in university film and theatre classes around the world, many of her short stories will survive as masterworks of the form, her brilliant profiles of Bunuel, Godard, Renoir, etc., are among the best of their kind and will be read long after all of us are gone. And Schlesinger, apparently jealous to the end, will forever be indebted to Penelope Gilliatt for her contributions, and she made many, many more contributions to the film than her screenplay, for as long as he or his film is remembered.

I am lying in the sun in Hollywood and I have just devoured this splendid John Schlesinger biography. I recommend it to every movie fan the world over. It is a lovely book and worthy of its subject.

Being north of forty, it would be impossible to underestimate the importance of John Schlesinger's influence on my life as a gay man. Midnight Cowboy and Sunday Bloody Sunday were seismic movie going moments for me. Truly great movies in their own right, both have fully-dimensional gay characters as well as homo-erotic moments that lodged in my young brain and stayed. Jon Voight is a luscious Ken Doll in Midnight Cowboy. And Murray Head could be the poster boy for sexy 70's male in Sunday Bloody Sunday. Glenda Jackson watching Murray's perfect physique as he showered was thunderous for me because every day in Catholic high school I stood next to beautiful boys in showers and I couldn't stop staring and also could not forget none of them would ever be mine.

And thank you John Schlesinger for Julie Christie! The movie-going public will be forever in John's gratitude for giving us Julie.

They say that the music one listens to in our teenage years becomes "our" passion music-wise for our entire lives. Certainly, my life-long allegiance to Joni Mitchell and Aretha Franklin attests to that.

I feel the same way about Julie Christie. I was too young for Billy Liar and Darling when they came out. But both movies mean a great deal to me now. As do McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Shampoo and Return of the Soldier and Afterglow. I love watching this creature on screen. Julie is sexy to me even though I have no desire for her. And I am as much a fan now as I ever was when I first laid eyes on her. More of a fan probably.

Bravo to William J. Mann for painting a vivid portrait of one of our greatest film directors. And bravo John for your illustrious career!

William J Mann is interviewing famed movie director John Schlesinger at his home in Palm Springs. John has just had triple bypass operation followed by a stroke which has left him paralyzed on one side, confined to a wheelchair, and almost voiceless. Although his brain is far from crippled and he can nod, shake his head, and sometimes answer questions in a brief, unexpectedly pointed whisper.

They spend their days together looking out at the mountains which edge the city, and William sometimes talks with Michael Childers, John's lover and partner for many years. Friends of John's occasionally pop in for a visit - Julie Christie, and Brenda Vaccaro, all tearful and upset at John's seemingly hopeless condition.

Mann uses this sense of immediacy to great effect in Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger. Each chapter begins with a sense of how John is declining and how the author is racing against time to find out as much as he can. By interweaving the present with the past, Mann traces richly varied accounts of John's early struggles and glory days.

The end result is of man who has led a creative, and artistically fuelled life, with Mann offering a poignant contrast between the figure who sits staring at the mountains beyond the window, adrift in silent internal exile, with the sound of his laughter on recorded tapes. John's creative energy and intuition, his penchant for mischievousness and naughtiness, and his willingness to take risks and really push the cinematic envelope for more than twenty years, are highlighted with a candid and sincere accuracy.

And John Schlesinger also gave us Julie Christie, whom Schlesinger chose for the character of Liz in Billy Liar. The world of cinema would indeed by dull without the gorgeous Julie. Much of the narrative talks about the tremendous international success of Darling, and how the movie, not only cemented Christie's stardom, but also allowed John to go on to make even riskier movies.

Mann talks about why Darling was so historically significant and the part it played in the cinematic sexual revolution, which in turn greatly affected the changing sexual habits and attitudes in much of the West. John was determined to raise the bar with onscreen frankness, and he often found himself stymied by the Hollywood old guard who were determined to promise their audiences "real stars looking glamorous in beautiful gowns in beautiful sets, no kitchen sinks, no violence, no messages."

But it was Midnight Cowboy and Sunday Bloody Sunday that really pushed the cinematic envelope: Sunday Bloody Sunday, with film's first same sex kiss, boldly rejects "moral" judgment in its account of the middle-class London doctor and the professional woman's feelings and presents both kinds of love as equally natural.

In Midnight Cowboy, Jon Voight's naive hustler from Texas foresees a future for himself in New York as a stud for affluent lonely ladies, but failure plummets him to the city's harsh and seamy underside instead. Midnight Cowboy proved that films, which overthrew convention, that dared embrace radical form and content, could also make money.

Schlesinger admits that he wanted to tell stories that dealt with the human condition, human difficulties, and even the illusions of love. His films were all about adult themes - the difficulties of maintaining relationships, abortion, extramarital affairs, and homosexuality. He wanted to make films about "people pushed on to an edge," and also people who were regarded as the underdog, the outsider in society.

He believed that films needed to be relevant, and that they needed to reflect the changing society. He also wanted his audiences to think, but more importantly, he wanted them to "feel," be it terror or revulsion or compassion or pity. In later years when he couldn't set up the films he wanted to make, Schlesinger damaged his reputation, then his heart and his arteries, by accepting too many potboilers in the desperate, unfulfilled hope of a box-office success that would enable him to work on his own terms again.

Glenda Jackson had a filthy sense of humor. John played a terrible joke on Julie Christie, which involved a feminine sex aid during the making of Far From the Madding Crowd. Sean Penn, although enormously talented, was a nightmare to work with. At the last minute, Brenda Vaccaro refused to show her nipples when doing the love scene in Midnight Cowboy.

The Hollywood brass turned their back on John after the colossal failure of Honky Tonk Freeway, Rupert Everett and Madonna gave the poor man hell on his final disastrous movie, The Next Best Thing - Madonna begging him to do for her what he had done for Julie Christie, while Everett was more concerned with rewriting the script as they were shooting.

William J. Mann has indeed written a formidable account of one director's life, a wonderful patchwork of tidbits including interviews with the people he helped make famous - Alan Bates, Julie Christie, Glenda Jackson. Martin Sheen, Ian McKellan, and Dustin Hoffman.

What evolves is a fascinating biography of a man who desired success, and ambition, and even lots of money. It's a portrait of a tormented man who had a quirky pessimism not withstanding and lived a life relatively free of personal demons. Comfortable with his homosexuality, and totally committed to making movies, "his art came not from discontentment with life, but rather from a love of it." Mike Leonard October 05.

This book is so wonderful, now everyone an see how fresh flowers can enhance your life and your surroundings.

Thanks Elton for allowing us into your home.

Magnolia Village Florist
Seattle, WA

This book has awesome pictures of Elton John's homes, it focuses on the flowers in his houses. This book would be great to put on a coffe table, and a must for an Elton fan. I highly recommend it!

Excellent pictorial of an extravagant livestyle! Hard to belive, though, that there is a gross misprint on page 16-- the lyrics from "Your Song" are attributed to "Mona Lisa & Mad Hatters"! Oops!

Wow ... "amazing" is the best word I can come up with! I have been looking at decorating books for about a year since I bought my dream house. I stumbled upon this book, and have since bought copies for my Mom, my in-laws, my best friend, my gardeners, my designer, ...! I guess I am now their best customer! I plan to give a copy to my designer and say "Here, do this!"

Need I say more?

Elton John is an aristocrat, not only because the Queen said so. He demonstrates this in every day life, in the way he admits his weaknesses, in his involvement for beautiful causes. His house on French Riviera is a jewell. It's almost "too much". But "too much" is never enough for Elton. Thanks to the great pictures from this book you will discover a yellow castle between blue sky, deep blue sea and green grass. White structure of the house creates a contrast with blue, green and yellow. These colours could have been chosen by David Hockney. Original style of this house was respected. Flowers are every where. Furniture is on line with the overall "villegiature" style. Don't dream "too much", this "Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat" life-style has a price. But who talked about money, here? Not Elton, for sure. This is, again, a demonstration of the noble qualities of that man. Never in the whole book, you will find any decoration detail that could make you think it is here to impress people or to demonstrate power. What a paradox! this modern excentric, in the tradition on XVIIIth century english excentricity, never looks arrogant. None of his crazy demonstrations of "luxe" make you feel bad. The Atlanta house is more interesting because of the beautiful furniture and made to order closets for collections of ... everything. This book is a tribute to pleasure, good taste (yes!) and high-life. I learned this word from Johnny Weissmuller in Acapulco (pie de la cuesta beach), just before he died. I think it is quite appropriate to describe what these houses are made for.