Arts and Entertainment Books

Kenny Miller has lived the Hollywood dream and writes a fascinating story of Tinseltown in its glory days. From a humble start to performances in over 22 feature films as well as steady television and musical work, Kenny is a seasoned pro who has paid his dues. Hobnobbing with the greats and near greats and having fun along the way, Miller has an insider's perspective that is a must read for anyone hoping to break into the world of entertainment. A fun read.

Kenny is a Great guy...NOT a Hollywood phoney. I hope the book does well

Unlike Eddie Fisher's sleazey autobiography, Ken Miller's book recalls bygone Hollywood. While he could write about the dark sides of Natalie Wood, James Dean, Sal Mineo, Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn, Cecil B. DeMille, Connie Stevens and the death of the studio system, Mr. Miller choses the high road.

Fortunately Mr. Miller discusses the craft of acting in both big budget motion pictures and cheapo fly-by-night studios in the 1970's. His behind-the-scenes stories are funny. One highlight involves the acting debut of his pet dog, Krissy.

Ken Miller presents the professional acting craft as the way it should be...not to serious and what should be a lot of fun.

This book reflects a kind soul and a nice man.

You'll laugh out loud at Ronnie's wry and sometimes ribald storytelling....and sure enough, you'll want to share this special collection of unique stories with a friend who'll appreciate it, too. A sweet treasure from a Southern Belle!

I loved Ronnie Claire Edward's memoir, The Knife Thrower's Assistant. It is beautifully written and filled with wisdom, compassion and wit. Read it now! There's nothing quite like it!

This book clearly deserves more than five stars.

To write a book this funny, you have to have good material and be a brilliant story teller. Ms. Ronnie Claire Edwards has both to draw on, and makes wonderful use of them in this madcap memoir of summer melodramas in mining towns, being taken by gypsies, carnival acts, and alligator farms. Just when you think that you have been entertained royally, she switches the stories into a theme of who she is. The result is a brilliant portrayal of a talented actress.

Many people will primarily know Ms. Edwards from her role as Corabeth Walton Godsey in the television series, The Waltons. Her friends, however, know her better by her wonderful stories. In a foreward by Ms. Fannie Flagg, you find out that Ms. Flagg has "constantly dogged Ronnie Claire to sit down and write her always keen and hilarious observations . . . ." I, for one, am glad that she prevailed. I think you, too, will be. To give you a flavor for the book, Ms. Flagg characterizes it as "Oklahoma Gothic -- if there is such a thing. And if there wasn't, there is now." The reference to Oklahoma is because Ms. Edwards is from Oklahoma, and many of the stories relate to Oklahoma.

The book begins with the true tale of how Ms. Edwards became a knife thrower's target. She was 15 and had run off to work with a carnival as a ticket taker. The knife thrower was Great Shoshone Mahaffee, "half Indian, half Irish, and all drunk . . . particularly troublesome in a knife thrower." Her predecessor, Fifi, was starting to twitch. Apparently, she didn't need to worry about the cuticle on one of her pinkies any more. So Mr. Mahaffee "was looking for new blood." In that brief tale, you get a sense of the amazing wit, story telling ability, and writing skill that Ms. Edwards brings to her material.

As interesting as her experiences were, her family's were often even more unusual and humorous. "My family's ecentricity was God-given . . . ." It will spoil the story if I tell too much, but consider that her mother and father called her by totally different names. To her mother, she was Ronnie Claire. To her father, she was Sophronia Gertrude or sometimes, just Gertie. She looked for her birth certificate to check, and her mother said it had been lost. Her father said the mother was wrong, and she was suffering from "transient apoplexy." The mother said the father was doing this "just to be perverse."

When her mother and father die, her siblings take whatever possessions they want and send what they cannot bear to throw away to Ms. Edwards. She takes you through these dusty boxes and shares the memories they bring. After you learn more about her family, their friends and neighbors, and those they help, you will agree with her statement that "is it any wonder I became an actress?"

My two favorite humorous sections here were Uncle Homer's trunk (you won't believe Uncle Homer) and a series of letters from her father describing her mother's false teeth.

Then at the end, she finds a bundle of the earliest photographs and other keepsakes about her own life in a scrapbook. In there is a birth certificate. And what do you think it says? You'll just have to read the book to find out, but it's well worth the read just to find out the answer to that one question.

Ms. Edwards then sums up nicely about how all of this rich background of humorous human poignancy helped her become the person she is.

After you have finished enjoying this remarkable book, I suggest that you take a look at the legacy that you will be leaving your children through the perspective of their experience in opening up your possessions after you are deceased. What will they find? What will they think about? Then, go out and make some new and better memories with them.

Find the brilliance and fun in every moment!

I've read many books about Katharine Hepburn and this is one of the best. She is a very interesting woman. So, besides that, the thing that makes this book good is that the author actually new Katharine Hepburn and spent a fair amount of time with her.

The book covers their relationship between 1968 (when they met) and 1992. Mr. Prideaux wrote some screenplays especially for Great Kate. The book tells about their working relationship and their friendship of sorts.

Mr. Prideaux also writes about his meetings and work with other stars such as: Elizabeth Taylor, Dame Wendy Hiller, Judith Anderson, Patrick Duffy, Julie Harris, Jean Stapleton, Ryan O'Neal and Burt Reynolds.

Oh, how fascinating the 'STAR' quality is. It is amazing how some 'stars' feel superior enough to walk all over people and others are as nice as can be, no matter how famous they are. They are just people after all... no better and no worse than the rest of the world.

A most excellent and intrigueing book.

If you'd like to see the human side of the great Katharine Hepburn, then you've come to the right place. This book is informative, entertaining, a breeze to read, and above all, where Kate is concerned, honest. This is definitive Hepburn.

Very few books on Hepburn have been written by people who even met her, let alone those who knew her personally. James Prideaux has been a close friend for many years. In his book you'll find a portrait of Hepburn that has not yet emerged: human, warm, eccentric AND egocentric certainly, but always, always, ALWAYS fascinating. You'll find here the star, but also the woman-complete with warts. If you want to find a Hepburn not available elsewhere, don't miss this one!

Great conditon and very efficiant on the delievery. We thank you for the wonderful conditon of this book. Pleasently surprised!

A GREAT book! It has great pictures, appendices, and tells all the facts about the greatest band ever!

This is a must for every Led Zeppelin fan. It's chock full of information about the individual members and the group experience. It's well written and has enough illustrations to keep the photog fanatics contented.

This book is a great read and everything a memoir should be -- loving, warm, and often hilarious -- and Dennis Rea offers a unique perspective on an important moment in time. This will appeal to anybody looking for a great travel book or a book about music. Tiananmen Square is a touchstone in history and sets the tone of this book, as it is very much about the tension between the youth culture of China and Taiwan, learning and yearning to express itself, and the oppressive forces of the oppressive Chinese government. Rea is a great storyteller, and he tells his story with much compassion. You won't regreat picking up this book, and you won't be able to put it down!

With a total of 185 pages the book "Live at the Forbidden City" is promising a brief, yet intense contact with the underground rock scene of the 80s and 90s in China. It is keeping the promise, maybe not in the full possible intense, but with a good sense of narratorship by Dennis Rea. Giving account to his travels, studies and teaching in China (Chengdu and Taiwan), he is introducing us to the as-is situation, giving us a first step into the mentality and cultural behaviours that form the China of his time.

In a second step he opens the varient world of Chinese faces and minorities, giving account to the directions that traditional music has taken. After about 40 pages though the direction of the book is changing and turning to modern rock music after having introduced the reader to both the as-is situation and the cultural diversity.

Quick and dirty, hard and fast, Dennis Rea is noting the experiences he made during his sole concerts in Chengdu, his tour with "Identity Crisis", his tour with "The Vagaries" and his "Land" tour. He thereby concentrates on the facts and gives brief (and correct) explanations to the relationships and importance of single players and figures in the music scene. E.g. his relationship to Tang Lei and her involvement in the Chengdu music scene. Or his friends in Taiwan's jazz circles.

As he got in contact with Cui Jian the further annotation about the Chinese music scene circles around him, as Dennis Rea interwove his own tours with those of Cui Jian (sometimes by chance). Dennis Rea gives his own thoughts and explanations to certain scenes and situations and leads the reader through a country of misunderstanding, troublesome concerts and euphoric audiences.

In short: Dennis Rea is a good beginners book for those so far not involved in Chinese music, an interesting musicians autobiography (for a specific part of time, 80s to 90s) with a focus on China. If you never have had any contact with Chinese modern music and how it developed be prepared to read a well-written book that empowers you with the basics (and more) without turning into a scientic encyclopedia.

For students involved in China studies it gives a new point of view by a foreign musician into the music scene of China and of Chengdu, mixed with new facts and stories about Cui Jian and other musicians. A delightful music tour book packed with interesting experiences by jazz musician Dennis Rea. Definitely a must-read.

This book is a marvelous adventure story recounting the years that author Dennis Rea spent in China and Taiwan during the 1990s, initially and ostensibly as a teacher of English, but soon thereafter as a highly regarded musician who performed throughout China and Taiwan and became the first Westerner to record an album in China during its communist era. At the same time, it is
a firsthand account of a time of great political and social upheaval in China written from Rea's's unique vantage point. Rea writes in a highly engaging, witty style that adds to the exploits he recounts. At times gripping, such as his recounting of the uprising in Chengdu during the time of the inflamous Tiannamen Square stand-off between protesters and the Chinese military, and at other times hilarious, such as Rea's trek to an isolated region in western China, this is a book that will thoroughly satsify any armchair adventurer, as well as anyone interested in learning more about China's robust underground music scene. I highly recommend it.

The Lost Days is not an easy read, but if you are interested in solving the mysteries of the human mind and the mystery of Agatha Christie's disappearance in 1926, The Lost Days is a very satisfying experience. Author Owens, a therapist, has done a very interesting thing, she has taken Agatha on as a client and the therapy session solves a seventy-year-old mystery as no one else ever has including the great Queen of Mysteries, Agatha herself.

The queen of mystery biggest mystery was her own. It was incredible to me to find out that Agetha had a mystery of her own that she could not solve. Doctor Owens approach to solving Agetha's mystery was fascinating and a real page turner. It was the most uniqe books I've ever read. Using Agetha history and passages from her books to coherently solve a previously unsolved mystery was a stroke of brillance. Dr. Owens takes us on an intelletual ride that keeps you interested from the first to the last page. The solution was so satisfing that I felt 100% confident that the ultiment mystery was finally solved. YOU WILL HAVE TO READ IT FOR YOURSELF TO BE LET IN ON THE SECRET! The solution and writting is something that Augetha would be proud to have authored herself 5 STARS!

I was surprised to find out that Ms. Christie herself had a mystery surrounding her disappearance in 1926, so I was interested to find this book. But I would have called it, "The Agatha and the Ecstasy."

"Lucy A to Z" is well researched and fact filled. It is one of the few books about Lucille Ball that I can recommend without reservation and I have read most of them. It is an easy read and well worth the time invested in reading about Lucy's career. Wanda Clark

Everything you could ever want to know about Lucy...in one place! I bought a copy of the second edition a few years ago and liked it very much, but I was disappointed that there were no pictures inside. Well, the author has taken care of that in this new fourth edition, and then some! There are lots of pictures, many of which I haven't seen before. The cover photo alone is a real knockout! Not only that, but the book size is bigger and there are many more new entries. It looks like it has been totally redesigned. And if you ever needed to find out anything about Lucy, it's an encyclopedia format, so just look alphabetically (there's also a huge index). I love Lucy, and I love this book! Highly recommended.

I was a fairly big Lucy fan but hadn't bought many books about her, mostly those about her show, I Love Lucy. But when I found this book, the idea of an encyclopedia intrigued me, and I figured there'd be lots of stuff about I Love Lucy, in any case. There sure is, and there's a lot more, on every aspect of Lucy's career, arranged alphabetically. The pictures are great and everything is super easy to find. The writing is both breezy and insightful; the author's obviously a big fan, but he knows his stuff. A lot of research must have gone into this. As someone else on the page says, if you need any `splainin' about anything in Lucy's life or career, it's here.

Well,this item that i purchased,is very awesome i think it's worth it to have this madonna stuff!

In 1998 at the Oscar's Madonna was called the sole survivor of the 80's. Now, nearly a decade later the terms holds true. What was the secret to a reign that rivals the Rolling Stones and Elizabeth the First ... her STYLE! From New York street urchin, yoga mamma, Gauthier Muse, and Scottish lass Mrs. Ritchie .... Madonna is the master of reinvention. Her style is always changing and evolving with time, and keeps everyone guessing what this pop culture icon will do next.

Unlike her 80's contemporaries (Boy George, Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benetar, etc) ... Madonna is not stuck in an era of the "good old days" because like her style reflects, the good times are always NOW!

I just received my copy of this book yesterday! It's a visually stunning retrospective of Madonna's inimitable style and her incredible influence over fashion and pop culture over the past twenty years. The photographs included in this collection are beautiful and capture the true essence of a woman that transcends mere superstardom and is in a class entirely by herself. This book is definitely a must-have in all Madonna fan's collections. Also check out Matthew Rettenmund's Encyclopedia Madonnica & Michael D. Craig's Who's That Girl? The Ultimate Madonna Trivia Book!

With its unique combination of cartoons, photos, newspaper clippings, this is everything a graphic novel should be. It's entertaining, informative and a page turner of sorts. As the memoir progresses, you get drawn into Long Tack Sam's life and you root for him. I felt myself wishing that I had been around to catch his act.

I read this in one sitting! This was done in a journal/comic book format that was informative, fun, and made me feel that when I ended the book, I left with something special. Sam was a pioneer, and all the amazing people he met and worked with (Orson Wells, Laurel and Hardy to name a few), it's like the back of the book said, how come no one knows who this famous man is? His rufasal to compromise to the Chinese steriotype in order to enter Hollywood, and that his daughters were considered too pretty to be filmed as Asians for any Hollywood pictures , really reminds you that the 20th century really changed our views of the world and culture. This man went all over the world, married an Austrian lady, and go figure, had competition from white magicians dressing in Asian motifs and taking similar names to him! I can go on ad infinitium about how great this was, and how I came upon this by accident. I strongly recommend this book to not only magicians, but also to anyone looking for a fun and entertaining read.

I had seen Ann Marie Fleming's documentary film about her great-grandfather, Long Tack Sam, and was thrilled to see that she had also written a book about him. I was expecting the usual sort of biography, text with a couple of photo inserts. Instead, the book is a mix of text, cartoons, and photos, much in the same style as the movie. It's absolutely beautiful, and the period images (ads and posters, photos, etc) convey the style and feel of the vaudeville era which was Sam's heyday. I love to read about vaudeville but it's the images that bring those times to life for me, and this book does it wonderfully.

These women paved the way for all women in media today and forever chaged the landscape of what we hear and see. They have influenced our culture and served as inspiring role models for women. Their stories of perserverence and triumph should make us all grateful for the wonderful women who came before us to open the doors of diversity in all career areas.

This book tells the inspiring tales of some of the most remarkable women of our time who would not be discouraged when told that they could not make it in a man's world.

Women have come a long way in many fields, in part, because of the efforts of many of these 50 courageous women. This is a wonderful book, fascinating backgrounds and photos of our most beloved pioneers. It would also make a lovely gift for any young woman starting out who doesn't even realize the opportunites she has now because of those who went before and blazed the trail. Congratulations, beautifully done!

Jacqueline Marcell, Author, "Elder Rage, or Take My Father... Please!" and Host of the "Coping wWth Caregiving" Internet Radio Program