Service Alert
Delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Showing 121 - 140 of 4253 items
By Virginia Scott. 2010
Focusing on actresses in France during the early modern period, Virginia Scott examines how the stereotype of the actress has…
been constructed. The study then moves beyond that stereotype to detail the reality of the personal and artistic lives of women on the French stage, from the almost unknown Marie Ferr_ - who signed a contract for 12 livres a year in 1545 to perform the 'antiquailles de Rome or other histories, moralities, farces, and acrobatics' in the provinces - to the queens of the eighteenth-century Paris stage, whose 'adventures' have overshadowed their artistic triumphs. The book also investigates the ways in which actresses made invaluable contributions to the development of the French theatre in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and looks at the 'afterlives' of such women as Armande B_jart, Marquise Du Parc, Charlotte Desmares, Adrienne Lecouvreur, and Hippolyte Clairon in biographies, plays, and films.By Mickey Leigh, Legs Mcneil. 2009
When the Ramones recorded their debut album in 1976, it heralded the true birth of punk rock. Unforgettable front man…
Joey Ramone gave voice to the disaffected youth of the seventies and eighties, and the band influenced the counterculture for decades to come. With honesty, humor, and grace, Joey's brother, Mickey Leigh, shares a fascinating, intimate look at the turbulent life of one of America's greatest--and unlikeliest--music icons. While the music lives on for new generations to discover, I Slept with Joey Ramone is the enduring portrait of a man who struggled to find his voice and of the brother who loved him.By Melissa Hellstern. 2008
Where would we be without our friends? If we are truly fortunate, we each have one special friend in our…
lives-the one who cheers every accomplishment no matter how small, who lifts spirits in even the darkest hour, and who knows our deepest secrets and will never tell. In a look at six of the most iconic best friends of our time, bestselling author Melissa Hellstern crafts a charming celebration of strong women and the enduring bonds that unite them. With pairs like Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren, Coco Chanel and Madame Misia Sert, and Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett, Getting Along Famously brings these famous friendships down to earth and explores the precious the art of friendship and the many forms it takes. These women walked the world side by side building friendships that not only withstood all the joys and sorrows of life, but often encouraged them to reach the top of their professions. Whether through laughter or tears, these dynamic relationships illuminate the importance of friendship in every woman's life. Part surprising biography, part tribute to the unique bonds of friendship, Getting Along Famously will remind you of your delight in your own friends and is the perfect book to share with those woman that mean so much you choose to call them family.By Sheila Weller. 2008
A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly…
Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation -- female version -- but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written -- until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs. Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel -- except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information. Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them -- confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.By Celia Hawkesworth, Velibor Colic. 1997
The life of the painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was chaotic and tragically brief. Consisting of a series of vignettes, mostly…
set in the painter's studio and peopled by his lover Jeanne Hébuterne (who ended her own life the day after Modigliani's death), the prostitutes who were his occasional models and several Bohemian visitors, the novel spans the last months of Modigliani's life, evoking the strange workings of the painter's troubled and often drug-fuelled mind and its expression in his paintings, ultimately succeeding in conveying something of the intense artistic life of Paris in the first decades of the twentieth century.By Lisa Robinson. 2014
From a legendary music journalist with four decades of unprecedented access, an insider's behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of…
rock and roll. Lisa Robinson has interviewed the biggest names in music--including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Kanye West. She visited the teenage Michael Jackson many times at his Encino home. She spent hours talking to John Lennon at his Dakota apartment--and in recording studios just weeks before his murder. She introduced David Bowie to Lou Reed at a private dinner in a Manhattan restaurant, helped the Clash and Elvis Costello get their record deals, was with the Rolling Stones on their jet during a frightening storm, and was mid-flight with Led Zeppelin when their tour manager pulled out a gun. A pioneering female journalist in an exclusive boys' club, Lisa Robinson is a preeminent authority on the personalities and influences that have shaped the music world; she has been recognized as rock jounralism's ultimate insider. A keenly observed and lovingly recounted look back on years spent with countless musicians backstage, after hours and on the road, There Goes Gravity documents a lifetime of riveting stories, told together here for the first time.By Wil Haygood. 2013
He was, for decades, one of the most recognizable figures in the cultural landscape, his image epitomizing a golden age…
of American show business. His career spanned a lifetime, but for years he has remained hidden behind the persona he so vigorously generated, and so fiercely protected. Now, in this surprising, illuminating, and compulsively readable biography, we are taken beyond the icon, into the extraordinary, singular life of Sammy Davis, Jr. In scrupulous detail and with stunning powers of evocation, Wil Haygood takes us back to the era of vaudeville, where it all began for four-year-old Sammy who ran out onstage one night and stole the show. From then on it was a motherless childhood on the road, singing and dancing his way across a segregated America with his father and the formidable showman Will Mastin, struggling together to survive the Depression and the demise of vaudeville itself. With an ambition honed by poverty and an obsessive need for applause, Sammy drove his way into the nightclub circuit of the 1940s and 1950s, when, his father and Mastin aging and out of style, he slowly began to make a name for himself, hustling his way to top billing and eventually to recording contracts. From there, he was to stake his claim on Broadway, in Hollywood, and, of course, in Las Vegas. Haygood brings Sammy's showbiz life into full relief against the backdrop of an America in the throes of racial change. Sammy grew up trapped between the worlds of blacks and whites, with so much invested in both. He made his living entertaining white people but was often denied service in the very venues he played. Drafted into a newly integrated U.S. Army in the 1940s, he saw up close the fierce tensions that seethed below the surface. Dragged into the civil rights movement, he witnessed a hatred that often erupted into violence. In his broad and varied friendships and alliances (with Frank Sinatra; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Richard Nixon; Sidney Poitier; Marilyn Monroe, to name just a few), not to mention his romances (his relationship with Kim Novak and his marriage to the blond beauty May Britt drew death threats), he forged uncharted paths across racial lines. Admired and reviled by both blacks and whites, he was tormented all his life by raging insecurities, and never quite came to terms with his own skin. Ultimately, his only true sense of his identity was as a performer.Based on painstaking research and more than 250 interviews, Wil Haygood brings us a sweeping and vivid cultural history of the twentieth century, chronicling black entertainment from its beginnings and the birth of popular culture as we know it. In Black and White transcends simple biography to become an important record, both celebratory and elegiacal, of a vanished America and its greatest entertainer.By Murray Pomerance, Stephen Prince, Jonathan Kirshner, David Sterritt, Diane Carson, Lucy Bolton, Professor Lester D. Friedman, Professor David Desser, Alexandra Keller, Charity Lofthouse. 2018
Throughout his lengthy career as both an actor and a director, Clint Eastwood has appeared in virtually every major film…
genre and, at this point in his career, has emerged as one of America’s most popular, recognizable, and respected filmmakers. He also remains a controversial figure in the political landscape, often characterized as the most prominent conservative voice in mostly liberal Hollywood. At Eastwood’s late age, his critical success as actor and director, his combative willingness to confront serious cultural issues in his films, and his undeniable talent behind the camera all call for a new and comprehensive study that considers and contextualizes his multiple roles, both on and off screen. Tough Ain’t Enough offers readers a series of original essays by prominent cinema scholars that explore the actor-director’s extensive career. The result is a far-reaching and nuanced portrait of one of America’s most prolific and thoughtful filmmakers.By Lance Richardson. 2018
The strange, illuminative true story of Tommy Nutter, the Savile Row tailor who changed the silhouette of men’s fashion—and his…
rock photographer brother, David, who captured it all on film. From an early age, there was something different about Tommy and David Nutter. Growing up in an austere apartment above a café catering to truck drivers, both boys seemed destined to lead rather humble lives in post-war London—Tommy as a civil servant, David as a darkroom technician. Yet the strength of their imagination (plus a little help from their friends) transformed them instead into unlikely protagonists of a swinging cultural revolution. In 1969, at the age of twenty-six, Tommy opened an unusual new boutique on the “golden mile” of bespoke tailoring, Savile Row. While shocking a haughty establishment resistant to change, “Nutters of Savile Row” became an immediate sensation among the young, rich, and beautiful, beguiling everyone from Bianca Jagger to the Beatles—who immortalized Tommy’s designs on the album cover of Abbey Road. Meanwhile, David’s innate talent with a camera vaulted him across the Atlantic to New York City, where he found himself in a parallel constellation of stars (Yoko Ono, Elton John) who enjoyed his dry wit almost as much as his photography. House of Nutter tells the stunning true story of two gay men who influenced some of the most iconic styles and pop images of the twentieth century. Drawing on interviews with more than seventy people—and taking advantage of unparalleled access to never-before-seen pictures, letters, sketches, and diaries—journalist Lance Richardson presents a dual portrait of brothers improvising their way through five decades of extraordinary events, their personal struggles playing out against vivid backdrops of the Blitz, an obscenity trial, the birth of disco, and the devastation of the AIDS crisis. A propulsive, deftly plotted narrative filled with surprising details and near-operatic twists, House of Nutter takes readers on a wild ride into the minds and times of two brilliant dreamers.By John Cleese. 2014
John Cleese's huge comedic influence has stretched across generations; his sharp irreverent eye and the unique brand of physical comedy…
he perfected with Monty Python, on Fawlty Towers, and beyond now seem written into comedy's DNA. In this rollicking memoir, So, Anyway..., Cleese takes readers on a Grand Tour of his ascent in the entertainment world, from his humble beginnings in a sleepy English town and his early comedic days at Cambridge University (with future Python partner Graham Chapman), to the founding of the landmark comedy troupe that would propel him to worldwide renown.Cleese was just days away from graduating Cambridge and setting off on a law career when he was visited by two BBC executives, who offered him a job writing comedy for radio. That fateful moment--and a near-simultaneous offer to take his university humour revue to London's famed West End--propelled him down a different path, cutting his teeth writing for stars like David Frost and Peter Sellers, and eventually joining the five other Pythons to pioneer a new kind of comedy that prized invention, silliness, and absurdity. Along the way, he found his first true love with the actress Connie Booth and transformed himself from a reluctant performer to a world-class actor and back again.Twisting and turning through surprising stories and hilarious digressions--with some brief pauses along the way that comprise a fascinating primer on what's funny and why--this story of a young man's journey to the pinnacle of comedy is a masterly performance by a master performer.By Patrick O'Neil. 2015
This memoir follows a punk rock pioneer on his slide into drug abuse and life as an armed robber, all…
the way through life in recovery and what it's like to look back on those times, knowing all the while that he is still under the threat of three strikes, a twenty-five-to-life prison sentence waiting. He has no choice but to deal with it all drug free.During punk rock's heyday, Patrick O'Neil worked at the San Francisco's legendary Mabuhay Gardens. He went on to become the road manager for Dead Kennedys and Flipper, as well as T.S.O.L. and the Subhumans. He holds an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles.By Karrine Steffans, Datwon Thomas. 2015
For a decade, Confessions of a Video Vixen author Karrine Steffans and the details of her private life have been…
the subject of debate and scrutiny. But, as gossipmongers and critics speculated, assumed, and manufactured tall tales about the New York Times bestselling author, Karrine hid herself and her truth from the world, imprisoned by an abusive marriage and the judgments of society.In Vindicated: Confessions of a Video Vixen, Ten Years Later, Karrine takes readers into the belly of the beast as she harrowingly chronicles the systematic breakdown of her mind, body, and spirit at the hand of one man and the events that propelled her back to prosperity after losing everything. She candidly shares her struggle to be what others demand, her obsession with the American dream, her desperation to appear normal, the lengths to which she went, and the price she paid for it all.This dark, long journey into the life of an abused and tormented woman, wife, and mother uncovers a long-guarded set of painful personal truths, reveals the inspiring details of her life-saving triumph, and will change everything you thought you knew about Karrine Steffans.By Matthew Espinosa. 2017
You may think you know everything about multiplatform entertainer Matthew Espinosa—but he’s here to tell you so much more in…
his debut book, full of hundreds of brand-new pictures from a series of exclusive photo shoots.You know Matthew is burning up the internet with more than 18 million fans across YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You know about his starring role in the hit movie Be Somebody. And you know he makes you laugh every time.More Than Me tells you what you don’t know, with tons of photos, Q&As, and more that offer an inside look at Matthew’s life and a new side of him that’s hilarious and heartfelt. For the first time, Matthew wants to let the world in on the true story of his wild ride to success and why he loves what he does. In this must-have for any fan, Matthew is ready to share how legendary you can all be—together. More Than Me cover credit Chris Eckert.By Kathleen V. Kudlinski, Meryl Henderson. 2007
Childhood of Famous Americans One of the most popular series ever published for young Americans, these classics have been praised…
alike by parents, teachers, and librarians. With these lively, inspiring, fictionalized biographies -- easily read by children of eight and up -- today's youngster is swept right into history.By Jessica Z. Diamond, Ellen Erwin, Sean Hepburn Ferrer. 2006
With nearly thirty movies, countless awards, and an unwavering commitment to UNICEF, Audrey Hepburn's life served as an example of…
both style and purpose. From her early dance performances for the Dutch resistance during World War II to her London cabaret days and her breakthrough roles inGigiandRoman Holiday,audiences worldwide have long been enchanted by Audrey's charm and grace. Now, in this lavishly illustrated biography -- created with the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund -- Audrey's own words are given center stage to create a unique personal narrative. This special collection also includes approximately 200 black-and-white and color photographs selected by the Hepburn Estate, as well as reproduced mementos from Audrey's life. Thirty-four removable documents include an excerpt from herBreakfast at Tiffany'sscript with handwritten notes, a letter she sent to husband Mel Ferrer while preparing forThe Nun's Story,and a birth certificate announcement marking the arrival of her first son. A dazzling celebration of an extraordinary human being,The Audrey Hepburn Treasuresoffers fan an intimate and revealing portrait of the woman they admire and adore.By Axel Madsen. 1988
The ultimate Hollywood story revealed: the sizzling relationship between Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of America's most influential political family, and Gloria…
Swanson, one of the most prominent silent film stars of her day. Gloria and Joe were in love with each other and with the movies, especially Queen Kelly, which completed the real-life ménage à trois. Starring along with the star of the screen and the Boston Brahman in this exposé are Erich von Stroheim, Kennedy's wife Rose, Swanson's husband, and a cast of colorful hangers-on. Madsen recreates their love, scandal, and world, which in its extravagance and intrigue has never been surpassed.By Judy Collins. 2017
A no-holds-barred account of folk legend Judy Collins's harrowing struggle with compulsive overeating and of the journey that led her…
to a solution. Since childhood Judy Collins has had a tumultuous, fraught relationship with food. Her issues with overeating nearly claimed her career and her life. For decades she thought she simply lacked self-discipline. She tried nearly every diet plan that exists, often turning to alcohol to dull the pain of yet another failed attempt to control her seemingly insatiable cravings. Today, Judy knows she suffers from an addiction to sugar and grains, flour and wheat. She adheres to a strict diet of unprocessed foods consumed in carefully measured portions. This solution has allowed her to maintain a healthy weight for years, to enjoy the glow of good health, and to attain peace of mind. Alternating between chapters on her life and those of the many diet gurus she has encountered along the way (Atkins, Jean Nidetch of Weight Watchers, Andrew Weil, to name a few), Cravings is the culmination of Judy's genuine desire to share what she's learned—so that no one else has navigate her heart-rending path to recovery.By Axel Madsen. 1978
The first major biography of the famous and controversial director John Huston, whose thirty-seven films--including The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo,…
and The African Queen--are considered classics and garnered him fifteen Academy Award nominations and two wins.By Simon McDermott. 2018
A powerful and emotional memoir about family and memory from the father-son singing sensation whose heartwarming carpool karaoke video took…
social media by storm.At first, Simon’s beloved father, Ted, suffered sudden bad moods and forgetfulness. Then the diagnosis: Alzheimer’s.Ted was disappearing from the family, but Simon wanted to hold on to him. While music could bring him back temporarily—the video of the two of them singing along to Ted’s favorite song was a hit around the world—Ted could no longer tell his story.This is that story.The Songaminute Man is the heartbreaking, poignant tale of vanishing family memories, a celebration of Ted’s life and a moving account of caring for a truly loved father.By Todd Bridges. 2010
It Was a Hard Choice. Suicide by cop was easy compared to what I had in front of me. I…
had gone from being a teen idol to a tabloid joke. I was broke, and I didn't have any prospects of getting my career back. I had been to rehab five times. I usually didn't last more than a few days. It never once stuck for longer than a few months. I had spent almost a year in jail while awaiting trial and vowed I would never go back. I had tried, and failed, to block out all of the things that had been written about me in the press before. I had felt pain and self-hatred so deep and raw that the only way to silence it was with drugs.