Television Books

Taxi Driver was one of the seminal films of the seventies. It broke many boundaries with its use of violence, and it was critically applauded. It was, in my opinion, one of the best films ever made. The script is fascinating, especially to read the bits which were left out of the film.

taxi driver by martin scorsese is a true masterpiece of american cinema.the screenplay written by paul schrader,is one of the best screenplays ever written.the story is about a new york city cabbie who gets tired of seeing all the criminals and scum that the city has to offer.he's a loner who is just trying to make friends and help people out.as a result of all the madness he sees on the sreets,he grows violent and courageous.recommended.

O.K. we all love the film. Martin Scorcese's portrait of a loner slowly slipping into his own obsession with the horrors of inner-city life is seminal, and is still great viewing. De Niro's performance is brilliant as are his supporting actors. However...it is not until one reads the screenplay by Paul Schrader that the film comes to life. It is written almost like a novel, with directions that give the reader new insight and appreciation into the workings of the film and Travis' state of mind. Not only is it a great compliment to the film, it is actually better than the film. When I first saw 'Taxi Driver' I was blown away (along with all those pimps and drug dealers at the end), when I read the screenplay a new appreciation of the art of screenwriting was revealed to me. If you ever want to give someone who is interesting in writing films a present, give them this. Give them the film too. Make them watch the film, then make them read the screenplay, then watch them weep.

Travis Bickle is a social pariah. He can't sleep and needs something to do, so he decides to work the night shift as a New York City cabbie. Travis ruminates (in his journal?) about his difficulties making companionships in his life as well as his dislike for all the filth on the streets. Travis's loneliness, a more concrete manifestation of his alienation problem, is a driving force for his nose dive into psychosis. He hates what he sees in the city until Betsy (Cybil Sheppard) appears as a beacon of light on the street dressed in white. His pursuit of Betsy describes his manic quest for unobtainable companionship and purity. Yet, while his behavior indicates his loneliness, Travis consistently doesn't really know why he keeps behaving badly and often sabotages his own attempts to end his loneliness. For example, his date with Betsy is made unbearable by poor choice of movie. Loneliness is the emotional manifestation of the alienation Travis experiences; it is both a source of great pain and a source of psychosis. He does not understand common social topics, such as popular music, politics or love. His failed attempt at conventional companionship with Betsy leads to his warped effort to be a knight errant for young prostitute named Iris (Jodie Foster).

Travis's descent into psychosis descent ends in a trail of destruction and blood. To save Iris from her life of prostitution, he becomes an army of one. All pimps and Mafiosos in his way die a brutal death. After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Travis dies quietly on the couch as the authorities enter the building. Then, the strange denouement begins. The ending must be seen as a brief flash of his life. The closing scene reflects how Travis would like his life to be remembered. Director Martin Scorsese utilized a similar method in "Last Temptation of Christ" when Jesus sees his life as would be if he got down from the cross. In movie time, the scene takes about a half hour, but the scene only takes a flash to play in Jesus' head prior to his actual death on the cross. Similarly, Travis does not really become a savior or hero, but dies in a self-induced blood bath. During last scenes of Taxidriver, Travis dreams himself as a hero who makes amends with Betsy, receives a grateful letter form Iris's parents and makes friends with his fellow cabbies. The last scene is just a pre-morbid flash in his mind before his lights go out for eternity.

Taxidriver is set in the pre-Giuliani streets of New York, depicted with all its sin and psychosis. Nighttime in New York is filled with explosive violence, pervasive cynicism, and ubiquitous prostitutes. Director Martin Scorsese even indulges himself in such small details as a depiction of a street drummer, traveling gun salesman, and failed store robbery as side trips in Travis's long journey. Travis's disgust for the streets is depicted in his need to clean the semen and blood off his seats after his shift is over.

Several small events act as act harbingers to his own violent rampage. Travis is made to listen to a customer's (played by Martin Scorsese) ravings while the philandering wife's silhouette is visible from the street. The customer discloses to Travis the merits of the 357 magnum and what it will do to his wife when he shoots her. Also, while innocently shopping at a local grocery store, Travis successfully breaks up a robbery.

Awesome movie. What a cast: De Niro, Shepherd, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle. But the best character may be the streets of the city themselves. Scorsese gives the cold pavement of New York an actual living presence in the movie. Smoke, water, blood, grit.

This positively has to be one of the best written screenplays of all cinematic history. In this text lies a story of desperation, loneliness, and insanity. Paul Schrader has not only captured the mentaility of a sociopath, but the emotions and profound thoughts of a man, driven to insanity by not being able to understand a world unlike his own. If you love well written screenplays, Taxi Driver is a must have!

If you enjoy That Girl you will enjoy reading this book. It has the making of the show and lists all the shows in order. It is interesting to see which tv unknows were guest stars on this show. It also tells you who got to say That Girl in each show. It talks about the show came about. It is a nice companion to have along with the DVD set.

I have to say I was very impressed with this book wonderfully written and assembled by Stephen Cole. It was recommended by a friend and I was pleasantly surprised with the care that was put into what should be called the "Official" book on THAT GIRL. This is perhaps the BEST book written on a classic television sitcom! There is something here for everyone. If you are even slightly interested in reading about the series and Marlo Thomas, I suggest you pick it up. Well done Stephen!

I remember watching Marlo Thomas's entertaining sit-com in the late 60s and early 70s and thoroughly enjoying the trials and tribulations of a young struggling actress trying to make it big in the big apple. Being re-acquainted with this delightful series via cable has made it all the more enjoybale and pertinent in the themes explored and in the witty, challenging and humorous encounters an independent woman can face. Stephen Cole has added enormously to an appreciation of this ground breaking show through great research (interviews with Thomas and the writers) as well as providing an episode-by-episode guide to what made each show so special. You will find in this book references to the time, the fashion and the special chemistry between the leads in what is one of my all time favourite television shows...Thanks, Stephen for the love that shines through every page.

While many observers debate the origins of feminism on television, I believe that "That Girl" was the FIRST show of its kind; to portray a single career woman defying convention and starting out on her own. Strip away the humour from this show and you see the predecessor of many of the supposed ground breaking feminist tv shows of the 60's and 70's!

Mr Cole has done an OUTSTANDING job in assembling the history of this show and while recognising the show's clever scripting and acting, draws attention to the groundbreaking issues it tackled for its time. Selected quotes from Gloria Steinman and from Marlo Thomas herself verify the credibilty of his research.

Having said that, don't let me make you think this book is necessarily a feminist manisfesto for the new millenium. It's a funny, clever and insightful companion for anyone who ever loved the show and I found myself laughing out loud as I fondly remembered moments in a show that I grew up with but have never forgotten! Well done to the author: his love of the show and its characters comes through on every page!

Well worth a read!!!

Before Mary had bad parties, before Lucy Carmicheal and Viv had their screw-ball adventures, before Janet and Chrissy stood up to Jack. And before Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia toughed it out through old age and countless dates; there was "That Girl."

Lovable Ann Marie, her nerdy yet very strong (he always seems to be punching other guys out on a count of a misunderstanding) boy friend Donald, and her worried parents are all characters in "That Girl". Ann is a girl, living on her own in NYC for the very first time. She is a struggling actress who is smart, talented, witty and determined...yet she still manages to have the poise and serenity of Samantha Stevens (when all is well on Morning Glory circle, of course).

"That" is where "this" book comes in, it was very informative in all aspects of the history of "That Girl". It went into such detail as original names of characters and original actors..etc. Marlo Thomas really seems to be a true rolemodel, she was strong, independent, and still managed to keep her poise. The actors/producers were interviewed honestly and well. A true monument to the history of TV, and one of its most ground-breaking shows.

"The Truth about Being an Extra: How to Become a Good Background Actor" by Jo Kelly is an amazing book. Finding each and every page interesting, exciting and filled with valuable information, I read it nonstop from beginning to end. I even found valuable information in the introductory sections before the first chapter and in the information at the end of the book. I devoured this book with enthusiasm from cover to cover! Jo Kelly's writing style is friendly, informative, encouraging, and easy to understand. She provides examples of scams and problems she encountered early in her career as a background actor, and explains how she eventually received many successful jobs in background acting once she learned the ropes. She also provides lists- -including addresses and phone numbers- -of legitimate casting agencies for background actors. After reading Jo Kelly's book, I felt that becoming a background actor is a very real possibility, and that it would be tremendous fun!

In "The Truth About Being An Extra", Jo Kelly (founder of Background Actor Seminars) draws upon her years of professional experience as a veteran background actor and her personal insights as a former celebrity wife to reveal "inside secrets" to becoming a successful "background actor", that is, one of those folks you see in movie and television scenes of crowds, passers-by, restaurant diners, etc. Readers will also learn of scams and pitfalls that can happen to naive actors accepting walk-on, background roles in movies, television and commercials when they register with casting agencies. A compendium of solid film industry information, invaluable advice for newcomers, illustrative anecdotal stories of her own experiences, practical tips for securing background acting jobs, locating legitimate casting agencies, as well as becoming both comfortable and professional on the set, "The Truth To Being An Extra" should be found in every college Theatre Department's reference collection and considered "must reading" for anyone aspiring to a background acting gig.

This is a quick read that is full of interesting tidbits of information providing a rare glimpse into the world of working as a background actor in the movies. It is not a detailed guide by any means but it does give the reader an overview of many things aspiring "extra" needs to consider as they travel this career path.

Author Jo Kelly comes across as knowledgeable and very personable in her style of writing. Kelly generously shares her knowledge to help newcomers avoid some of the mistakes she made. Her numerous stories from the trenches offer insights into how the real world works and serves up helpful warnings for the neophyte.

The author offers many very specific recommendations with all the necessary contact details. Unfortunately, for readers outside California, the contacts in "The Truth About Being An Extra" seem to only apply for those in Los Angeles (Hollywood). Other interested readers could probably use these listings as a guide and seek out comparable resources in their own part of the world. For example, Canadian actors might find the book useful for its general advice but then need to go a step further. They would need to seek out the agents, agencies, and specific organizations that are relevant in Canada if that's where they plan to start their career as a background actor.

Kelly discusses both general and specific issues. She mentions child actors, parents of child actors, and actors with disabilities as examples of situations with unique considerations. The glossary of the vocabulary used in the industry adds even more clarity.

As a complete outsider to the world of movie making, I came away feeling I had a bit of insider knowledge about the day-to-day reality of a career as a movie extra. It was a bonus to also learn Kelly's fascinating personal story about how she happened to write this book. Widowed in the early 1990's, her original goal was to make a career change by breaking into the world of background acting! Once she learned to be a good movie extra, she then moved on to give presentations, run seminars, and write this book.

What makes this story within the story so interesting is that she had a major hurdle to overcome first - she had to conquer her fear of public speaking. She gladly credits Toastmasters for helping her deal with that challenge. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Author and veteran movie extra Jo Kelly candidly shares her experience in the field of background acting for films in Los Angeles, CA. Included in this handy guide is contact information for casting agencies and casting agenies, calling services, production studios, and tips for how to join the Screen Actors Guild. The business of background acting (from tracking expenses, finding the location of the shoot, and where to turn for tax preparation help) are also covered. This is an excellent gift book for any aspiring actor interested in learning the ropes of show business and finding his-or-her way around LA. Give one to your community theatre director and pass the information on to others who'd like to work as a movie extra.

A great little book for anyone interested in getting into the "extra" game. Jo Kelly gives lots of very practical advice and good "do's and don'ts" for the first-timer. I especially liked her guidance for those about to appear as a background actor for the first time--she takes away some of the fear of the unknown and tells you the most important things to be aware of BEFORE you step on the set. She also provides excellent resources for child casting, calling services, talent agencies, and scams you may encounter as you get into the field. Definitely recommended for anyone thinking about being an extra, or anyone who has done it and wants to learn more.

A fantastic book about the fastest growing area of DVD releases at the moment, TV series! With breakdowns of cast and guides to the best episodes and releases I only hope enough credit goes to the website [...] who helped TV Guide put this book together!

Fantastic resource for anyone who likes watching reruns and is interested in contemporary tv culture. There are loads of forgotten facts in this book for all the classic tv shows and new ones for current programs. This is an inheritently readable book that belongs next to everyone's tv!

The descriptions of the shows are priceless--they brought back so many memories! And the guide covers a lot of shows that are new or still running, like 24 and ER. I'm not even a serious DVD collector, but the book gives great trivia about all my favorite shows (when they aired, what the names of the original stars were, which episodes went down in TV history). This book is really a history of TV in America, and it covers so many different categories that it really does solve the gift problem for just about everyone on my Christmas list. They won't be able to read just one or two of the listings; once they start in, the trivia will have them hooked. It's organized like a reference book, but It reads like an entertainment magazine.

If you are a tv junkie like me, this book is a blast. It's a handy offline reference to all the shows now available on DVD, and it's filled with lots of trivia and lists. Be ready to shop because the book will make you want to buy even more DVDs for your home library...

This book isn't perfect (I'd rather have more pictures of DVD set covers than old TV Guide covers, for instance, and the descriptions are a bit dry in places), but it IS cool to have a handy-dandy reference like this to use when you can't get online to look up the info. Good to take to the store or keep next to the TV. And if you read the fine print, you'll see that this book was made with the help of data from TVshowsonDVD.com, which is the best place I've seen online for that sort of info. Cool 'dat, and maybe for the next edition of the book TV Guide will work more with that website's staff to talk more about what's new, what's not out (any hints as to why), and what's expected to come soon. You know, show more of the TV-DVD enthusiast in this book...there's a lot of us out here!

I came across this book through a recommendation. I'm so pleased I did.
As an admirer of Duke Ellington's work, I knew of Adelaide Hall, mainly through her connection and early recordings with Ellington, but knew little about the lady herself or her significant achievements in the world of entertainment.
In the books preface, the author, Iain Cameron Williams, claims Adelaide Hall appears in many jazz anthologies as a mere footnote, whilst others abandon her career altogether. With "Underneath a Harlem Moon" Williams attempts to set the record straight by documenting comprehensively her exact relevance and role in the History of Jazz and, in my opinion, succeeds admirably.
Williams's familiarity with his subject clearly demonstrates the amount and depth of research he made in order to unearth the facts. One gets the distinct impression that during the process he left no stone unturned, so detailed is his descriptive. Although Williams's 20-year friendship with Hall must clearly have helped him in appraising his subject's temperament, it must also have allowed him the privilege to see an intriguing side to her character that her fans would not normally have seen. This becomes apparent the deeper one delves into the text.
The book charts in rich detail the life and career of Miss Hall during the frenetic Harlem Renaissance and documents all the colourful characters to emerge from this movement, most of whom worked with Miss Hall at some point in her career. It also gives a fascinating insight into the social history of the Twenties and Thirties when Prohibition, real-life gangsters and sophisticated nightclub culture ruled the sidewalks.
Overall, a hugely enjoyable read made easy by Williams's approachable style of writing and keen interest towards the characters he portrays within the text. A must for all jazz and popular music buffs. The book also contains a sizeable gallery of superb photographs (including one, which must be of great interest to all Ellington fans, a rare previously unpublished photograph of Adelaide and Ellington together, circa 1930.)

With a glittering International career that brought her into contact with such icons as Rudolph Valentino, George Gershwin, Maurice Chevalier and Al Capone, not to mention all her renowned fellow black musicians and colleagues from the Harlem Renaissance, one wonders why the name Adelaide Hall is still relatively unknown or charted in our history books.
Her talent was pure ... untarnished by the ravages of [chemicals] and alcohol. She claimed that she was born to sing and entertain, and with an astonishing career that spanned eight decades how prophetic were those words.
To say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book would be an understatement. The book has been written in such an appealing way that at times I actually felt as if I were part of the story as a member of the audience, so realistic were some of the events and dramas that occur within its pages.
I wholly recommend this book and can truthfully say that it's the best biography I have read this year.
5 stars for the writer.

I can only applaud the writer for the depth of research he obviously engaged upon in order to put forward Adelaide Hall's story and subsequently, I think this book is an important one.
During the 20s and 30s Hall stood alongside giants in the entertainment world yet today, for some unfathomable reason, she is almost forgotten.
Whilst reading Underneath a Harlem Moon I had an uncanny feeling of discovering hidden treasure that has lain buried for centuries. Thankfully, the writerýs intent to inform rather than lecture makes for an engaging and rewarding read. I certainly had no knowledge of the fact that it was Adelaide Hall who helped create the whole genre of jazz singing and, remarkably, that Ella, Billie and all the other jazz divaýs that are nailed inside our history books, only followed in Hallýs steps.
Williams accounts vivid stories of the glory, persecution, pain and happiness Hall encountered in order to achieve her goals and in the process brings the subject's forceful personality, talent and human nature to light. Hall's focused ambition, drive and tenacity, along with the extraordinary eventful circumstances of her life will drive anyone's interest. Her painful contact with racism, the wrath of her impresario and mentor Lew Leslie, the continual envy she experienced from her colleagues and many of her so called friends, along with the tiresome neglect she endured from her philandering and money grabbing husband all led to an isolation Hall appears to have suffered from continuously throughout her life. Her only escape was to tread the boards, for it was here she felt at home and could bask in the real warmth, love and affection she received from her audience. The stage became her drug and, from the volume of work Hall performed, one feels it was an addiction she had no intention of ever giving up.
Energetic reading with thought provoking facts and the most fascinating account of the Harlem Renaissance that I have ever come across. Williams has done a great job of packing this book with valid information without making it overly wordy which makes for an easy read that fairly flies by.
I hope I'm correct in saying that Adelaide Hallýs prospects could very easy change with the publication of this book.

By documenting Adelaide Hall's early career, which ran parallel with one of the most fascinating and culturally rich era's in American black musical history, the writer not only paints a vivid and well written account of the real first lady of Jazz, he also cleverly portrays the whole spirit and ethos of the Harlem Renaissance and all the wonderful characters that helped create this movement. "Underneath a Harlem Moon" is one of the finest books that I have read about the 20s and 30s Jazz Age and one that I thoroughly recommend.

When we are asked of jazz vocal pioneers, the names Ethel, Billie, Ella, and Dinah roll off our tongues without contemplation. However, Iain Cameron Williams, in his book Underneath a Harlem Moon, introduced me to a diva who had been omitted from the history books. This diva is Adelaide Hall.

Born on "the rough side of Brooklyn" and raised in Harlem, Adelaide Hall became one of the most famous black Broadway and cabaret stars, rivaling the legacies of Florence Mills, Ethel Waters, and the like. Williams traces her journey from an ordinary gal from New York to a famed singer, dancer, and actress, the world over.

Williams, a friend of the late Hall, has definitely done his homework. I could tell that he had sat with Adelaide many a time while she related her stories to him in great detail. While I understand that Williams was trying to set a backdrop for Adelaide's story, I felt as though too much time was spent on the histories of her surroundings and her contemporaries, such as Al Capone, Josephine Baker, and even the Duke himself.

I feel like the proverbial wool has been lifted from my eyes about where female jazz vocalists really began. I took the time to research Adelaide further, and even got a chance to listen to some of her recordings. I can now see clearly, after having read Underneath a Harlem Moon, getting to know Adelaide, and hearing her crooning voice, the profound effect she had on divas past and present.

Reviewed by CandaceK
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

This is an excellent addition to the often underappreciated and underwritten field of show biz history. But I've found some curious oversights that should have been corrected. For instance, Al Shean, of Gallagher of Shean, was said to have reprised the team's signature song in only one movie, Atlantic City (1944). How could the far more prominent Judy Garland vehicle, Ziegfeld Girl (MGM, 1941) be overlooked, where Al Shean reprised the number with Charles Winninger standing in for Gallagher? Also, in the Eddie Cantor entry, it's said that Cantor's film debut was a 1913 experimental film for Edison. Is this being confused with the 1922 experimental sound film Cantor did for inventor Lee De Forest (which isn't mentioned)? No reference book is perfect, but I just had to point this out. Plus, with the current popularity of the Jazz Singer DVD with all the Vitaphone shorts, I'm surprised that a consummate vaudeville performer like Adele Rowland isn't listed. But that's minor quibbling; I'm just glad a set of volumes as this is available, and I wish there was another set planned to include more of the alleged 50,000 performers who made up the world of vaudeville!

This is from my review published in "In The Groove" Magazine - April 2007
Frank Cullen LOVES Vaudeville in all it's forms, whether it's the baggy pants comics of burlesque, the "specialty acts" like strongman or eccentric dancers who graced the stages of New York and around the circuits in the 1920s, or the singers who went on to make some of the most popular records of their day. This passion is obvious in the recent publication of the huge two-volume 1300-page compilation Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America (Routledge). Now in his 70s, Cullen saw his first Laurel & Hardy film at the age of nine and was hooked. (Yes, Laurel and Hardy both appeared on the vaudeville stage early in their careers and Cullen devotes six pages to them.). He started reading and watching and listening in his high school years and had a brief acting career as well. In the mid-1980s he formed the American Vaudeville Museum in CT and began publishing the quarterly Vaudeville Times (which I mentioned here last year). Now relocated to New Mexico, Cullen has put his energies into this fascinating book. The peak years for "Vaudeville" were 1905-1925, with over 2,000 theaters around the US. As many as 50,000 performers were in the business during that period. Obviously, not all are in the book but a good mix of the known and the "lesser known" are here. Record collectors will recognize many of them. There are the recording Bakers (Belle, Josephine and Phil) as well as the Smiths (Mamie, Bessie and Kate). Other recording artists covered in much detail include, Eddie Cantor, Sissle & Blake and Moran & Mack. The performers are listed alphabetical from A (Abbott a& Costello) to Z (Zetts Weekly, a rival to Variety, published in 1921). There are sections devoted to each of the "circuits" and the impresarios as well. Photos of the performers and sheet music covers are on many pages. In fact, you'll find a lot of performers who you've only known from sheet music covers. The very handy Bibliography and a 30-page Index, make the book even more useful. Whether you start from the beginning and read it straight through, or use to look up an artist you found on a recording, you'll find this book a great resource. It's a tribute to the hard work and passion of the author. Highly recommended!

Steve Ramm "Anything Phonographic"

A monumental and definitive encyclopadia by an outstanding theater historian. This tome is everything you wanted to know about vaudeville and its performers. It is destined to become the bible for historians and researchers of early American popular theater.

Frank Cullen's knowledge and articulation of the facts of vaudeville, old and new, is a welcome and needed addition to a genre sadly overlooked by the public. Vaudeville was America's first national pasttime and laid the foundation for the world of entertainment in our contenporary culture.

Nicely laid out, easy to read, ample photographs and humor make the two-volume set a must for libraries, archives and theater buffs, or anyone who has an interest in American social history.

Frank Cullen, longtime publisher and head writer of the Vaudeville Times magazine, has finally published his 2 volume biographical encyclopedia of vaudeville. For those who don't know, vaudeville was the main form of live entertainment in America from 1880 to 1930 and it continued even as late at the 1960s. This book carefully catalogues who was who in vaudeville, tells the major reason they became famous or were important, and offers biographies and descriptions of everything connected with the subject.
Along with the work of Professor Anthony Slide, these tomes by Frank Cullen constitute the most important documentation of this major form of American popular culture. Vaudeville is rapidly being forgotten today as its participants die off and younger audiences cannot even recognize the term. Cullen's work honors the performers and offers invaluable insights into what the experience was like.
The book is well written and, like vaudeville itself, immensely entertaining, whether you are reading about familiar stars such as Al Jolson or the completely forgotten ones such as the great Eddie Leonard. There is nothing to complain about in this effort-- if you want to know all about vaudeville, this is the magnum opus. It is lavishly illustrated and has about it that aura of love and care that comes when a writer is totally engrossed in his subject matter and approaches it with honesty, integrity and admiration.
Of course I have to tell you that I am biased because I'm in the book. I once was in "the show business" in vaudeville and there are only a few of us still alive who made it into the Cullen opus. But those of us who are left can assure you, dear reader, that all those vaudevillians who are encapsulated within would be proud of this book. It costs a good bit but it's got everything you need to know about a subject that once was close to the hearts of so many Americans. What's really fun is watching old movies on Turner, admiring the work of stars such as Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, or Trixie Friganza, and then keeping these volumes by your bed to look up the bios! Of course at my age that passes for high adventure! So, thanks, Frank, and good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are. If you know the meaning of that last phrase you'll love this book. If you don't you should read it anyway.

All that you could ever want to know about vaudeville is contained in a monumental two-volume work, Vaudeville Old and New: an Encyclopedia of Variety Performers. It surpasses anything previously written about the American equivalent of British music hall and will stand as the major reference work on the subject for many years to come.

Given its scope, there are entries about entertainers whose names will mean nothing to the average British reader. But that is more than offset by the comprehensiveness the authors bring to all they touch. It is fascinating, for instance, to get an American take on British artistes who became big stars in the U.S., the likes of Vesta Victoria and Alice Lloyd. We learn more about such top-liners as Al Jolson and Danny Kaye and find the answers to all manner of questions. What was so special about Fanny Brice? What brought Sid Caesar's career to a halt? And who knew that the distinguished commentator, Walter Winchell, started out in vaudeville?

The books' essays about burlesque and music hall are as good as you'll likely to get and the fine writing evinces some deft and delicate touches: a description of Beatrice Lillie, for instance, is as "a treasured English tea-rose with thorns" is spot on. The "new" in the title is no false promise. The encyclopedia is bang up-to-date with entries on Britain's Chris Simmons, for example.

The extensive knowledge and deep love of vaudeville by the author, Frank Cullen [working with Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly], shine through in each of these tomes' 1,300 magnificent pages.

Richard Anthony Baker

When I first saw Visions of Armageddon on sale at the bookstore, I often found myself looking at it more and more. So, finally, I bought it.

This has to be a great book on the 1998 blockbuster film. It contains information on all subjects from the film's genesis to final production. Hundreds of lavish photographs and drawing make it even better. It includes interviews with the cast and crew.

However, for people looking for a good book to read, ignore this. The information skips back and forth. One moment they are telling you about how the film began. Then they are telling you about how the special effects were made. Then they are telling about the genesis and so forth. But the lack of definite timeline does not at all hurt the story of the most overcritized film of all time. As Michael Bay said "There is nothing wrong with entertaining people."

If you love the movie, you might want to have it as one of your book collections. It shows the making of the movie & its illustrations. There are also some nice pictures of the cast for those fans who love Bruce, Ben & Liv. Don't miss it!!!

i love this book. it is printed on wonderful paper. it
will last & the fotos are GORGEOUSE! it explains a lot
the stuff behind the scenes & how it was done. more than
just a quickie movie-tie-in. it is worth having on it's
own!

One word on the movie: bad. Still even though the movie sucked, I found myself just peeking at the book while at bookstores. Needless to say I bought the book, and I enjoyed it ten times more then I did the movie. So if you have a choice between the book and the movie, buy the book. You won't regret it.

If you saw the movie, and loved it, go get Visions of Armageddon because it was so good and shows Dreamquest and Vfx how they did those spectacular Special FX. Great pictures from the movie. Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay makes a great team for a fun, high-paced, action-packed movie for the summer! One of my favorite movies of the summer, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ARMAGEDDON GO SEE IT AND YOU'LL BE FEELIN' LIKED YOU GOT OUT OF AN KICK ASS ROLLER COASTER RIDE!!!!

I have always been a fan of Orson Welles on radio and television. Having collected a ton of radio broadcasts on CD and audio cassette and having watched most of his movies, I appreciate the genius of his work. I picked up a copy of this book recently and am amazed at the amount of research put into it. An aspect of Welles rarely discussed is his magic career. At the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention this September in Aberdeen, Maryland, I plan to attend the presentation about Orson Welles and his magic career so I can watch rare footage and films with Welles, and get an even deeper insight to his trickery. Book comes recommended.

Everyone knows that Orson Welles made _Citizen Kane_, possibly the most audacious and most analyzed movie to come out of Hollywood. And then what happened? He had been called a "boy genius", having made the movie (co-written, directed, and starred) when he was but twenty-five years old, but within a decade the term was used with sarcasm, and Walter Kerr wrote that Welles had become "an international joke, and possibly the youngest living has-been." Welles had been knocked down, and in the view of many, he never got up. Certainly, he never made anything like a _Kane_ again, but that isn't really fair: no one has. It is true that he never produced the sorts of films that were Hollywood-popular, but he did not at all disappear. Joseph McBride, a film historian who knew Welles, has answered the title question in his book _What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? A Portrait of an Independent Career_ (The University Press of Kentucky). The answer, quite simply, is that Welles worked and worked for decades in film, writing scripts, making movies, and (perhaps because few would bankroll him) doing things his own way. It's a sad story, in many ways. No one could doubt Welles's genius, and there are so many "if only" episodes in this book that it is often a depressing account. But Welles was not a tragic figure; he reflected years later that he might have made a mistake in staying in films (rather than, say, returning to the theater in which he had previously made his mark). But he would not have had it any other way: "I'm just in love with making movies," he said, and indeed, it was only death that stopped him.

McBride necessarily describes the problems that beset Welles immediately after _Kane_, when Welles could no longer get anything close to the full control of a film which he had practiced on his first movie. Still wanting to make movies, he left Hollywood to continue in Europe. McBride makes the case that contributing to Welles's decision for self-exile was his fear that he would be called to testify in the Communist witch-hunts. Welles loved shooting films and he especially loved editing them (as anyone who has seen _Kane_ can tell). There are plenty of pictures Welles worked on whose footage has been lost, but many others have the footage saved by fans or by creditors, and they frequently propose bringing out a finished version, hiring someone to pull the scenes together into a finished movie even so long after Welles's death in 1985. One producer mentioned she'd like to see a particular film screened not as an unfinished work by Welles, but as a film the way he might have finished it; but she says, "Finished by whom? Who can you substitute for Orson Welles?"

McBride does not go deeply into Welles's inability to finish things. Certainly it was attributable in a large part to Welles's way of skin-of-his-teeth filmmaking, whether or not it was some deep-set psychological disability. Welles could have written a magnificent autobiography, but when he got advances for such a work, he always returned them to the publishers. McBride writes, "Welles was deeply ambivalent about reminiscing, perhaps because he would have had to address issues he usually found too painful or delicate, such as his sexuality, his family life and some of his more traumatic experiences in Hollywood." Some of the stories of incompletion here, however, are extraordinary. His finished negative of _The Merchant of Venice_ was simply stolen from Welles's production office in Rome. The Iranians held funding for his meditation on filmmaking in the sixties, _The Other Side of the Wind_, and then the Shah was overthrown. "It's hard to imagine a movie career more littered with sensational catastrophes than mine," Welles admitted. He seldom admitted that he was the source of the less sensational catastrophes; a cameraman who worked with Welles late in his career said that Don Quixote was never completed because Welles "moved around too much, stuff got lost." For sensational and unsensational reasons, the losses recounted here are staggering. Nonetheless, McBride shows that they cannot be blamed, as some critics say, on Welles's being lazy or dilatory. The decades were filled with work for him, and he was pounding out a manuscript for a brand-new project on the night he died. As an independent filmmaker, Welles may have never fully lived up to his potential, but with a record of films that includes _Touch of Evil_ or the supremely weird _Lady from Shanghai_, his pattern of incompletion must be a minor sin. Much of McBride's personal account comes from his being an actor in _The Other Side of the Wind_ (of course, never finished) as were such droppable names as John Huston and Dennis Hopper. McBride's story won't re-make Welles's post-1950 career, but it isn't just a story of loss and lost opportunities; it is one of real movie history and at least some genuine artistic success.

Along the cinema's history - from time to time - the lucid conscious tends to appear in certain regions of the world. If Griffith gave the first step with (Intolerance and the Birth of a nation), Stroheim made the same with Greed , Robert Wiene with Dr. Caligari, Lang with Metropolis, while the comedy counted with Chaplin and Keaton, then Renoir with The rules of game and The grand illusion and Jean Cocteau emerged as if the same spirits of the Greek dramaturges would have reappeared with his wild mythic expression. Then came Orson Welles , while Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi showed us unknown facets of Japan, Luis Buñuel , the lavish son of the Surrealism in the cinema, half Spanish, half Mexican but France would have among his most sharp and talented artists as the portentous and unique Robert Bresson, and other not less relevant figures such as Marcel Carne, Max Ophlus, Rene Clement; Denmark with Dreyer, Italy would count with De Sica, Visconti and Fellini , Russia with Tarkovsky, Sweden with Bergman and Germany would have to wait until the early sixties for Scholondoff, Fassbinder, Wenders, Herzog, Von Trotta sisters and Hauff. And so, during the early eighties in Italy the brothers Taviani, Bernard Tavernier in France, Kaurismaki in Finland, The Coen brothers in North America , Quedraogo in Africa, Angelopoulos in Greece, Jarmush, Lars von Triers, Kim Ki Duk, Shohei Imamura and more recently Alexander Sokurov in Russia. Because more than artists this constellation of artists-filmmakers had something to say and how they did it.

But the case of Wells is particularly worthy to pay attention, because he embodied like nobody else the status of Shakesperian tragic personage, his ceaseless mind, his countless projects that never became materialized, the enormous efforts he had to do to make a film without abdicating in his ethic principles.

His devotion and everlasting admiration by Griffith, his sharp opinions, profane irreverence, mordacious opinions, his gastronomic excesses, among other singularities gained him respectable and unsaid enemies who neither didn't share nor understand his vision of the world. It's not easy to fit his hat, but the true of the case is he appealed to many filmmakers around the world, (Fuller, Casavettes, Allen, Saura, Almodovar, Waters, Loach, Huston, Roeg among so many others) to make the humanity would be aware (and I borrow a famous Buñuel's statement) we are not living in the best of the possible worlds. A biography that will absorb you from start to finish.

This excel essay allows us to approach the creative universe and the effervescent mind of a propulsive human being, who refused to accept outer impositions, filming what he wanted along his lifetime.

"A filmmaker is really great when the camera is an eye in the mind of a poet."
ORSON WELLES

Mention the name Orson Welles and his most famous involvement - with the radio scare 'War of the Worlds' - immediately comes to mind; but for a deeper understanding of Welles' life and career you need What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career. His later projects were largely self-financed and erratically distributed, but film critic and biographer Joseph McBride has a personal familiarity with Welles from previous projects worked on with him and here shows how the Hollywood studio system forced Welles out of the industry. Its value thus is twofold: as a biography for Welles fans, and as a history of film industry operations and politics.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

While I might be biased because a many parts of this book included stories about my father, Gary Graver, this is not something you want to miss out on if you have any interest in Orson Welles or the inner workings of the Hollywood movie industry. I knew Orson when I was a young boy and teenager during the time my father worked with him, but my memories are nothing compared to the vivid details and thoroughness of Joe's writings.

This book taught me a lot about a man whom I admired and feared. He was rather scary from the perspective of a ten year old, but he often took time to have me sit with him while he taught me card tricks. I am so grateful that these stories are now available for everyone to read. Thank you Joe for your commitment in documenting what no one else ever has and sharing these wonderful stories.

Well, okay Im not sure if this book is true existentialism, but it is a fascinating glimpse into a natural philosopher's "consming obsession to understand the nature of sound".

I was delighted when I discovered that Butch Robins had written this book. I never knew him personally, but when I was a teenager at Beanblossom I remember being on the edge of a conversation where he discoursed on Bill Monroe, Peter Rowan (whom he called "the original space cowboy") and zooming down the road listening to Eric Clapton while still channeling the ancient tones from the last set he played.

I was captivated, and always wished I could have hung around and gotten to know this incredible banjo player with the deep thoughts. This book has been that chance, and it is every bit as fascinating as I always thought it would be!

What with popular culture, social promotion, and computerized spell checkers laying waste to the quality of mass media, one might be forgiven for wanting books to be the last line of defense against the total corruption of the English language. Some books fulfill that desire. "What I Know `Bout What I Know" does not. It is chock full of misspellings, orphaned clauses, arcane editing, meandering ideas, and home language. But those are the only indulgences that author Butch Robins allows himself.

"What I Know..." is Robins' musical autobiography. At first glance, it seems depressingly typical of the genre -- family dysfunction, prodigious talent, epic struggles with a tyrannical boss, hard partying, famous friends, emotional pain, death of a loved one, chemical dependency, mental illness, professional exile, rehab, redemption. On closer examination, "What I Know..." reveals itself to be anything but typical. Robins never descends into self pity, and never blames others for his mistakes. He is critical of others, but views his own shortcomings with an equally unsparing eye.

His adventures are hilarious and painful by turns. Fun is "Unkle Butchie's" true north (A recording session is only successful if a party ensues), which makes his subsequent excursions into the heart of the darkness (via his journal entries, copied verbatim here) all the more jarring. His tale of time spent in the Carter White House will have you rolling on the floor, and wondering why he doesn't link his encounters there with a later tax audit (Maybe the law of unintended consequences has made him a bit more circumspect?)

By his own admission, bearing witness to pain is not exactly Robins' superpower. But bear witness he does, no matter how tough it gets, and his emotional discipline yields some piercing insights. His pithy post mortems on Bill Monroe and Jimmy Martin, though not without empathy, are breathtakingly accurate.

Insightful as he is, Robins is a musician first and foremost. His descriptions of the music he makes are so joyous that one wonders why he hasn't cut a deal with eMusic to release his work (much of which is out of print) for downloading.

As Unkle Butchie's Wild Ride comes to an end, he has endeared himself unexpectedly, even as he puts his new found sobriety in doubt. For all his eccentricities, Butch Robins turns out to be a remarkable, even admirable man who has written a remarkable book.

This is a controversial, but I believe to be truthful book by one of the great living banjo players of our time. It engendered a lot of vitriol among bluegrass fans, as Butch is at times unkind in his assessment of some well-known bluegrass stars who were less than kind to him and others over the years. It's a great read for those familiar with the bluegrass ideom and who can let their star-worship fall by the wayside long enough to experience a bit of truth.

Butch Robins is a great banjo player. His writing style may be somewhat unorthodox, but he shares a wealth of information about what he knows - bluegrass and the people (including himself) who helped to shape it.

In this book you will find some tidbits about some of the "stars" of bluegrass music that you are not likely to find anywhere else. Robins also attempts to put to rest some myths about the father of bluegrass through personal observations made during his tenure with the Blue Grass Boys.

The avid fan of bluegrass will want to read this. Be warned, however, that the English language takes a beating and misspellings are rampant. (Jesse McReynolds' name is mentioned often throughout the book and is spelled correctly only a couple of times.) This work could have - should have - been edited a bit more rigorously. Also, be warned that Butch has no reservations about using words that some might consider offensive - hey, we're all adults here - right!?!?!

If the book had been edited a little better, I could have given it five stars just for the information it contains. But with these problems a weak "four star" rating is about all I can muster. Folks who are hungry for anything bluegrass shouldn't let it stand in their way though - buy it!

The first professional job I had playing Bluegrass was with Charlie Moore way back in 1972 and Butch was his banjo picker.I can say without a doubt that what Butch says about Charlie is true right down the line.I found my self shaking my head yes to all the things I had experienced while working with Mr. Moore that Butch wrote about.A lot of people don't seem to like all he stuff about drinking,drugs and the flaws in their heros--truth be known Butch's book only scathes the surface of what you could write about many of the band learders and side men of professional music of whatever genre. Not all are that way,thats true,but many more than you may think. I had no problem with the way Butch writes nor was spelling a problem. The whole thing is the information he delivers. I was also glad to see that Butch has come a long way to burying his demons.I will be coming out within the next 18 months or so with my own book that will cover more of Charlie Moore as my time was 1772-74,78. Plus, there will be a lot about many other lesser bands, musicans and personal insights on Bluegrass in General.I am looking forward to reading Butch's new book.

Scandalous! But unlike the sound bite scandals of today, this is scandalous behavior which is also very provocative and thought provoking. Sparsely written in screenplay style, it amazed me how completely it took me into the scenes. It was like tumbling through a magnifying glass into those intriguing background scenes of colored speakeasies in "Fried Green Tomatoes" or "The Color Purple" with the lyrics of the blues moving the story line along.

Despite the title, this fictionalized history goes far beyond anything racial. Author Moncrief suggests that on one level this is a story of acceptance. For me it also stimulates thoughts and debate on many of today's situations: the complicated society of working women, sexual roles and identities, domestic violence, life on the road, the rap artists and the thugs and the players. . . and on and on. This book also inspired me to delve deeper into Bessie Smith research and I guess that is the greatest compliment that can be paid to any author.
"Blues on my mind . . . I said blues."

I loved this book. It gave me the opportunity to enter a world I could never be part of and to see it from the inside. It took me places I never imagined and, as I read, the author's presence faded and I was swept into the world of the characters. I suffered, celebrated, laughed and cried with Bessie Smith and her entourage. I highly recommend the journey.

This book is easy reading so I was able to finish it fairly quick. Actually I couldn't put it down because I was captivated by its subject, Bessie Smith, as well as by the other colorful characters that occupied her world. "When Color Was Cool" is not only entertaining, but also a look into a very significant part of American history that we don't often hear about. After finishing the book, I ran out to purchase a couple of Bessie Smith cds. What an amazing woman! What a delightful reading experience.

When Colored Was Cool is an amazing story, that with its flamboyant characters, brought tears to my eyes. The often comedic and frequently tragic lives of Bessie Smith and her troupe are woven together expertly by an obviously gifted author. Though a work of fiction, I feel as though I have now had very real glimpse into a time long before my own. I heartily recommend this book.

I could not put this book down! From start to finish, it held my attention. I could picture all the characters in vivid images and felt like I was right there watching every exciting moment take place. I enjoy reading about the Harlem Renaissance period and would definitely recommend "When Colored Was Cool."