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Rebel on Pointe: A Memoir of Ballet and Broadway
By Lee Wilson. 2014
Short, plump, pigeon-toed, and never good enough for mom, Lee Wilson dared to dream she could grow up to be…
a star. In this uplifting memoir, Wilson describes how she grand jetéd from the stifling suburbia of the 1950s, a world of rigid gender roles, to the only domain where women and men were equally paid and equally respected—in grand, historic dance theaters and under the bright lights of the Broadway stage.At the age of sixteen, Wilson made her classical ballet debut in Monte Carlo. Eight months later, she thrilled to the sound of her first bravos—and she never looked back. After touring Europe and dancing with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York, she set her sights on Broadway, where she danced in many Broadway shows, including Hello Dolly! and the record-breaking performance of A Chorus Line.Rebel on Pointe immerses the reader in a remarkable and visionary world. It lifts the veil of myth surrounding legendary dance icons like George Balanchine to reveal the real men and women who have made American dance and dancers an international phenomenon.Wilson expertly depicts how her profession—at times considered so rigid and exacting—was a leading force in the liberation of women from the prison of post-war society. The hard-won gains and the maddening setbacks of the gender revolution are seen here through the eyes of a young dancer searching for freedom one “pas” at a time.The Real Bettie Page: The Truth about the Queen of the Pinups
By Richard Foster. 1999
“Scrupulously researched . . . An eloquent fan, Foster brings insight into Page’s recent revival as a sex symbol.” —Entertainment…
Weekly TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION UPDATED BY THE AUTHOR WITH A NEW EPILOGUE She has been called the most photographed model in history. From her modest beginnings in Nashville to her legacy as a cult figure, here is the true story of America’s iconic pinup queen, legendary Playboy centerfold Bettie Page—including her stormy marriages, her trial for attempted murder, and her decade-long isolation in a California mental institution. During the 1950s, Bettie set hearts ablaze with her killer curves and girl-next-door smile. Yet at the height of her popularity, with a promising acting career before her, she walked away. For more than thirty years, Bettie stayed hidden from the public eye, though she lived on in her fans’ memories, much like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Journalist Richard Foster became the first reporter to contact Page during her long absence, and the first to tell her full story. Using interviews with those who knew her, and filled with uncommon knowledge and insights, The Real Bettie Page reveals both the fun flirt and fashion-forward counter-culture icon whose style continues to inspire today, as well as the intriguing and complex, flesh-and-blood woman behind her smiling photos. Includes classic and rare color and black-and-white photosPlayboy Laughs: The Comedy, Comedians, And Cartoons Of Playboy
By Patty Farmer. 2017
Following her success with Playboy Swings, Patty Farmer looks at Playboy’s relationship with comedians and cartoonists in her new book…
Playboy Laughs. Playboy Laughs invites readers onto the sets of the organization’s groundbreaking TV shows, Playboy Penthouse and Playboy After Dark. These popular variety series brought top-tier comedians, impressionists, and monologists—as well as the finest musicians—into people’s homes each week. Readers will learn how before he ever dreamed of conquering the magazine publishing world—and along the way establish a worldwide brand—Hugh Hefner harbored aspirations of making his mark in the world as a cartoonist. Playboy Laughs delves into the darker aspects of the time as well, tackling the ways Playboy and its comedy stars helped break down social and racial barriers as well as sexual ones. Known for her devotion to meticulous research and clear, honest storytelling, Farmer has gained the full cooperation of the Playboy organization—and Hugh Hefner himself—making this not only an entertaining read but a trustworthy history of an under-appreciated aspect of American comic culture.Pigeon in a Crosswalk
By Jack Gray. 2013
From television producer Jack Gray comes a generational account of finding one's way at work, at home, and even across…
the street. There are a lot of unforgettable characters in these pages: a loveable if possibly alcoholic dog; a set of grandparents who crush on Alex Trebek and obsess about death; Golden Girls and blue bloods, anchormen and Supreme Court justices; divas and wags--but the best character of all is the author himself. To read Jack Gray's musings is to enter the company of a young man of titanic wit and talent. As he observes and echoes the fixations and neuroses of his generation and our times, he will make you squirm, guffaw, and ultimately marvel.Phil Gernhard, Record Man
By Bill DeYoung. 2018
A go-getting, red-headed college kid eager to break into the music business, Phil Gernhard produced a handful of singles for…
South Carolina doo-wop group Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. One of these songs, "Stay," reached number one on the charts in 1960. Gernhard was just 19 years old. Phil Gernhard, Record Man is the story of a self-made music mogul who created nearly fifty years' worth of chart-topping songs. From a tiny office and studio in Florida, he co-wrote the Royal Guardsmen's "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron," America's fastest-selling single of 1966. He revived the career of singer Dion DiMucci with the ballad "Abraham, Martin and John"--a million seller. He discovered and produced hit records for Lobo, Jim Stafford, and the Bellamy Brothers. Through a long collaboration with music business icon Mike Curb, he launched to fame many others, including country superstars Tim McGraw and Rodney Atkins. In Nashville and Los Angeles, Phil Gernhard was a legend. Yet Gernhard's private life was crumbling. He battled physical and emotional demons that he simply couldn't overcome, struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, and a bad past with his father. He filed for his fourth divorce just months before taking his own life in 2008. Through interviews with Gernhard's musicians, business partners, family members, and ex-wives, Bill DeYoung offers an intimate portrait of a brilliant yet troubled man who channeled his talent, ego, and ambition into the success of others. A true "record man," Gernhard did it all. He lived to make records into gold, to make unknowns into stars, and above all, to make music.PEOPLE Harry & Meghan: One Year Later
By The Editors of PEOPLE. 2019
On the High Wire
By Philippe Petit. 2019
“On the High Wire is fascinating to read. You will learn about the man, his work, his passion, his tenacity…
and lucidity” (Marcel Marceau) In this poetic handbook, written when he was just twenty-three, the world-famous high-wire artist Philippe Petit offers a window into the world of his craft. Petit masterfully explains how preparation and self-control contributed to such feats as walking between the towers of Notre Dame and the World Trade Center. Addressing such topics as the rigging of the wire, the walker’s first steps, his salute and exercises, and the work of other renowned high-wire artists, Petit offers us a book about the ecstasy of conquering our fears and reaching for the stars.Nothing's Bad Luck: The Lives of Warren Zevon
By C. M. Kushins. 2019
Biography of legendary singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, spanning his nomadic youth and early recording career to his substance abuse, final album,…
and posthumous Grammy AwardsAs is the case with so many musicians, the life of Warren Zevon was blessed with talent and opportunity yet also beset by tragedy and setbacks. Raised mostly by his mother with an occasional cameo from his gangster father, Warren had an affinity and talent for music at an early age. Taking to the piano and guitar almost instantly, he began imitating and soon creating songs at every opportunity. After an impromptu performance in the right place at the right time, a record deal landed on the lap of a teenager who was eager to set out on his own and make a name for himself. But of course, where fame is concerned, things are never quite so simple.Drawing on original interviews with those closest to Zevon, including Crystal Zevon, Jackson Browne, Mitch Albom, Danny Goldberg, Barney Hoskyns, and Merle Ginsberg, Nothing's Bad Luck tells the story of one of rock's greatest talents. Journalist C.M. Kushins not only examines Zevon's troubled personal life and sophisticated, ever-changing musical style, but emphasizes the moments in which the two are inseparable, and ultimately paints Zevon as a hot-headed, literary, compelling, musical genius worthy of the same tier as that of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.In Nothing's Bad Luck, Kushins at last gives Warren Zevon the serious, in-depth biographical treatment he deserves, making the life of this complex subject accessible to fans old and new for the very first time.Nigger: An Autobiography
By Robert Lipsyte, Dick Gregory. 1964
Comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory’s million-copy-plus bestselling memoir—now in trade paperback for the first time.“Powerful and ugly and…
beautiful...a moving story of a man who deeply wants a world without malice and hate and is doing something about it.”—The New York TimesFifty-five years ago, in 1964, an incredibly honest and revealing memoir by one of the America's best-loved comedians and activists, Dick Gregory, was published. With a shocking title and breathtaking writing, Dick Gregory defined a genre and changed the way race was discussed in America.Telling stories that range from his hardscrabble childhood in St. Louis to his pioneering early days as a comedian to his indefatigable activism alongside Medgar Evers and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Gregory's memoir riveted readers in the sixties. In the years and decades to come, the stories and lessons became more relevant than ever, and the book attained the status of a classic. The book has sold over a million copies and become core text about race relations and civil rights, continuing to inspire readers everywhere with Dick Gregory's incredible story about triumphing over racism and poverty to become an American legend.My Rendezvous with Life
By Mary Pickford. 2017
First published in 1935, this book by famous film actress Mary Pickford is an essay on death and her belief…
in an afterlife and the undying human spirit.“When we stop to consider that all of life, as we understand it, springs from a little seed, then a progression of life beyond this present experience should not seem such a miraculous thing.“The development of a Sequoia tree growing two hundred and fifty feet into the air and living five thousand years is, to me, more amazing than the transition we call death.“And so why do we humans in this world think of our progression out of it as such a great mystery when the wise ones through the ages have assured us that the only part of us that really can be destroyed is our false and limited conception of life?”—Mary PickfordMostly Sunny: How I Learned to Keep Smiling Through the Rainiest Days
By Janice Dean. 2019
Fox & Friends meteorologist Janice Dean explains how she purposefully finds the silver lining in every cloud, no matter what…
challenge she faces. Janice is well-known for the infectious joy she brings to segments on Fox & Friends, no matter the weather. Yet many of her fans know there’s more to her story than blizzards that are brewing or National Pancake Day celebrations. In this honest yet optimistic book, Janice reveals obstacles she’s faced that could have severely impacted any professional woman’s career, from online trolls to health issues to abusive and sexist bosses. In Mostly Sunny, she talks about it all, including the fateful path meeting her firefighting husband after he lost his colleagues on 9/11; the day she had to talk to her two small children about her multiple sclerosis; and how the pressure on women in television led her to a cosmetic procedure that could have ended her career. But no matter what storms life throws at her, Janice refuses to let setbacks and challenges rain on her parade or cloud her outlook. Thanks to supportive coworkers and an upbeat attitude, she’s mastered turning countless would-be losses into victories. Now, she shares her stories, alternately funny, heartwarming, and touching, in the hopes that they will help others make it through their rainiest days. A New York Times BestsellerMontana Entertainers: Famous and Almost Forgotten
By Brian D'Ambrosio. 1924
Treasure State stars Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy found unparalleled success during the Golden Age of Hollywood. For more than…
a century, Montana has supplied a rich vein of entertainment and personality--from daredevils to dancers and even mimes. Born in Miles City in 1895, comedian Gilbert "Pee Wee" Holmes played sidekick to such stars as Tom Mix. One-time Butte resident Julian Eltinge went on to become America's first famous female impersonator. There was Taylor Gordon, whose golden voice propelled the son of a slave from White Sulphur Springs to Harlem Renaissance fame. From the little-known Robyn Adair to the ever-popular Michelle Williams, author Brian D'Ambrosio marks Big Sky Country's long-standing connections with America's performing arts.Miracle in the Evening: An Autobiography
By Norman Bel Geddes. 2018
MIRACLE IN THE EVENING is the autobiography of one of the most brilliant stage and industrial designers of our time.…
Norman Bel Geddes’ story is the drama of a young man who, having worked his way through school, climaxed a brilliant career with ideas that gave birth to some of the most spectacular theatrical productions of the last half century.Through Norman Bel Geddes’ story, as through the theater itself, pass the many colorful personalities of our age, lending brilliance and scope, good humor and compelling human interest.The life story of this ingenuous man is filled with names of the glittering and the great, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Madame Schumann-Heink (his first portrait-sketch was of this famous contralto), Will Rogers, Charlie Chaplin, David Belasco, Horace Liveright, J. Walter Thompson, Walter Chrysler, Harold Ross, and many others—a fascinating story of a man who has more than once created for audiences a MIRACLE IN THE EVENING.The Mark Hellinger Story: A Biography of Broadway and Hollywood
By Jim Bishop. 2018
Mark Hellinger, beloved newspaperman, whose Broadway column was read daily by 22,000,000 people, and whose years as a Hollywood producer…
were marked by such outstanding successes as “High Sierra,” “The Killers,” and “Naked City,” died in 1947 in his forty-fifth year. In this book, Jim Bishop, who was his secretary, takes us behind the scenes to live again, the life of a man who “went everywhere, saw everything, and did everything—without exultation or remorse.”Rich with the nostalgic echoes of a note-too-distant past, THE MARK HELLINGER STORY is a magnificent account of a fabulous era—Broadway of the twenties and thirties, from the colossal glamour of the Follies, Vanities, and Scandals to the trenchant wit and lilting tunes of the Little Shows, with the heady smell of printer’s ink and the roar of the night presses; the vast canvas of Hollywood in the silent days, and its sudden rebirth with sound.It is the story, too, of a man who crammed into a lifetime more living than most people will ever know. In the words of Jim Bishop, Hellinger “spent time as though he had stolen it and couldn’t find a fence.”Mama's Boy: A Story from Our Americas
By Dustin Lance Black. 2019
This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a celebrated filmmaker and activist and his conservative Mormon mother built bridges across…
today’s great divides—and how our stories hold the power to heal. Dustin Lance Black wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk and helped overturn California’s anti–gay marriage Proposition 8, but as an LGBTQ activist he has unlikely origins—a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas. His mother, Anne, was raised in rural Louisiana and contracted polio when she was two years old. She endured brutal surgeries, as well as braces and crutches for life, and was told that she would never have children or a family. Willfully defying expectations, she found salvation in an unlikely faith, raised three rough-and-rowdy boys, and escaped the abuse and violence of two questionably devised Mormon marriages before finding love and an improbable career in the U.S. civil service. By the time Lance came out to his mother at age twenty-one, he was a blue-state young man studying the arts instead of going on his Mormon mission. She derided his sexuality as a sinful choice and was terrified for his future. It may seem like theirs was a house destined to be divided, and at times it was. This story shines light on what it took to remain a family despite such division—a journey that stretched from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to the woodsheds of East Texas. In the end, the rifts that have split a nation couldn’t end this relationship that defined and inspired their remarkable lives. Mama’s Boy is their story. It’s a story of the noble quest for a plane higher than politics—a story of family, foundations, turmoil, tragedy, elation, and love. It is a story needed now more than ever.Madonna: Like An Icon
By Lucy O'Brien. 2019
Here is the groundbreaking biography that finally solves the mystery at the heart of Madonna's chameleonlike existence. Drawing upon scores…
of candid interviews with producers, musicians, collaborators, lovers, and friends, Lucy O'Brien's Madonna: Like an Icon explores the complex personality and legendary drive that have made Madonna the most famous female pop artist of our time. From her mother's premature death to Madonna's dynamic arrival on the New York club scene, from "Like a Virgin" to Evita and beyond, every stage of this dazzling star's life and career is brilliantly illuminated—the stereotypes deconstructed, the lies exposed, the artist examined, the legend celebrated.Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits
By Barney Hoskyns. 2009
With his trademark growl, carnival-madman persona, haunting music, and unforgettable lyrics, Tom Waits is one of the most revered and…
critically acclaimed singer-songwriters alive today. After beginning his career on the margins of the 1970s Los Angeles rock scene, Waits has spent the last thirty years carving out a place for himself among such greats as Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Like them, he is a chameleonic survivor who has achieved long-term success while retaining cult credibility and outsider mystique. But although his songs can seem deeply personal and somewhat autobiographical, fans still know very little about the man himself. Notoriously private, Waits has consistently and deliberately blurred the line between fact and fiction, public and private personas, until it has become impossible to delineate between truth and self-fabricated legend. Lowside of the Roadis the first serious biography to cut through the myths and make sense of the life and career of this beloved icon. Barney Hoskyns has gained unprecedented access to Waits’s inner circle and also draws on interviews he has done with Waits over the years. Spanning his extraordinary forty-year career fromClosing TimetoOrphans, from his perilous “jazzbo” years in 1970s LA to such shape-shifting albums asSwordfishtrombonesandRain Dogsto the Grammy Award winners of recent years, this definitive biography charts Waits’s life and art step by step, album by album. Barney Hoskyns has written a rock biography—much like the subject himself—unlike any other. It is a unique take on one of rock’s great enigmas.The Little Book of Marilyn: Inspiration from the Goddess of Glam
By Michelle Morgan. 2019
A lifestyle guide and tribute to the style, glamour, and showmanship of Hollywood's most iconic star, with Marilyn-inspired lessons and…
inspiration for today's woman.While the 1950s was in many ways an era of repression for women, Marilyn Monroe broke barriers and rebelled against convention -- and charmed the world with her beauty, talent, and irresistible personality. Filled with gorgeous photos, The Little Book of Marilyn will show you how to bring a touch of that glamour into your own life through: Tutorials on recreating the star's makeup looks Style advice and tips on where to find Marilyn-like fashions Décor ideas from Marilyn's own homes Everyday inspiration from her life that will let your inner Marilyn shine, and much more!Life to the Extreme: How a Chaotic Kid Became America’s Favorite Carpenter
By Ty Pennington. 2019
As a kid, Ty Pennington had too much energy. He was chaotic, bouncing off the walls, and on a first-name…
basis with the local emergency room staff. Back then there wasn't public awareness of attention deficit disorder yet. People just thought Ty was rambunctious. A trouble maker. What do you do with a kid who just can't sit still? Who can't focus?But Ty discovered something amazing when he was just a boy: he felt focused when he was building something. He discovered that he loved to work with his hands - to use tools and be creative. He loved to try new things, build and design new things.In Life to the Extreme Ty shares his remarkable life story. In his characteristic humorous style, he takes you racing through his life with ADHD-infused diversions that will make you laugh out loud. He shares about how he was diagnosed with ADHD in college, and what it has meant to be an advocate for ADHD awareness. He shares about his start as a model and carpenter, and his eventual move to television where he starred in the hit shows Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Trading Spaces.Life to the Extreme will inspire you. Ty's boundless energy and his sense of humor are infectious. You'll laugh. You might cry a little. And you'll definitely be inspired to change the lives of those around you.LIFE Godzilla
By The Editors of LIFE. 2019