"Nachman provides a three-dimensional portrait of the man and the show that were part of our national consciousness for over two decades...a detailed analysis on why Sullivan mattered; Nachman is a natural storyteller...a nuanced description of Sullivan's America. Nachman's style is always accessible...a delight for anyone interested in popular culture"—Ron Simon, Curator of Television and Radio, The Paley Center for Media "A shining gem....One of those rare books you can open anywhere...and be highly entertained. As Ed himself might have said, 'Don't miss it if you can.'"—Dick Cavett, talk show host and online columnist for NYTimes/Opinion
• Sullivan has nearly 100% name recognition among people 40 and older • In a survey of the fifty most influential programs in the U.S., TV Guide ranked The Ed Sullivan Show #10 • Show still appears on PBS and on cable stations across the country • Sixty million baby boomers grew up watching The Ed Sullivan Show For more than twenty years, from 1948 to 1971, fifty-five million viewers watched The Ed Sullivan Show religiously every Sunday night. Everyone who was anyone appeared—the Beatles and Elvis, of course, and Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, and Elizabeth Taylor, plus public figures such as Fidel Castro, David Ben-Gurion, and Martin Luther King, Jr. More than thirty years later, the program remains a pop-culture icon. But despite Ed Sullivan’s prominence, little was known about the private man...until now. Impresario reveals what the Sullivan viewers never saw: nasty, hot-tempered, craven, yet also capable of high ideals and, above all, hugely ambitious. At a time when Americans are looking back, The Ed Sullivan Show stands out as a shining example of television during the golden era. Impresario lets readers look behind the screen to see the man who made it happen.
"A definitive biography of the iconic actor and Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) and his extravagant, sometimes tawdry life, drawing on never-before-seen excerpts from Rooney's diary and exclusive interviews with Mickey, and with those who knew him best, including his heretofore unknown mistress of sixty years"--
The creator and executive producer of Everybody Loves Raymond, on how to make a sitcom classic and keep laughing This laugh-out-loud memoir takes readers backstage and inside the writers’ room of one of America’s best-loved shows. With more than 17 million viewers and more than seventy Emmy nominations—including two wins for best comedy—Everybody Loves Raymond reigned supreme in television comedy for almost a decade. Phil Rosenthal was there at the beginning. United by a shared lifetime of family dysfunction, he and Ray Romano found endless material to keep the show fresh and funny for its entire run. Alongside hilarious anecdotes from the series and his own career misadventures prior to working on the show, Rosenthal provides an enlightening and entertaining look at how sitcoms are written and characters developed. You’re Lucky You’re Funny is an inspiration to aspiring creators of comedy and a must read for the show’s millions of devoted fans.
See our 600+ books at: http: //www.bearmanormedia.com Join our Newsletter for coupons, freebies & news! http: //eepurl.com/MNDT5 Jane Kean's frank and funny memoirs of a show business life are a loving first-hand account of what growing up among Hollywood's Who's Who was like. From funny accounts of her time in Hollywood to revealing stories of her experiences on Broadway, she tells all - and tells it like it was. Jane Kean, star of Broadway, films, and television, enjoyed a career that spanned sixty years. From starring roles on stage in Early to Bed, Call Me Mister, and Ankles Aweigh, she also appeared frequently on American television on shows, such as The Danny Thomas Show, The Lucy Show, Love, American Style, The Dean Martin show, Dallas, and the soap operas Days of Our Lives and General Hospital. Jane also worked as a voice actress, notably in the perennial animated Christmas holiday classic, Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) starring Jim Backus, in which she spoke and sang the part of Belle. She also voiced roles in Disney's Pete's Dragon (1977) with Helen Reddy. Jane became a household word when she appeared with Shelia MacRae in the 1966 television version of The Honeymooners. Because of The Honeymooners complete series has on dvd, she is best known nowadays as Trixie, the wife of Ed Norton, in Jackie Gleason's unforgettable award-winning series. Jane's autobiography is concise and pulls no punches. You'll love how she has generously overfilled the book with many rare photos and illustrations from her life and career. For Jane, a funny thing happened on the way to The Honeymooners . . . she had a life, and the fascinating personal story entertains and informs as only a first-hand account can. In Jane's personal words, she was "the Lady Gaga of the Stone Age."
Strips beneath the glitz, glamour, fame, and power of jackie Gleason's life to reveal an enormously talented, yet deeply private and angry man who was often lonely and depressed. (Biography).
While comedy writers are responsible for creating clever scripts, comedic animators have a much more complicated problem to solve: What makes a physical character funny? Comedy for Animators breaks down the answer by exploring the techniques of those who have used their bodies to make others laugh. Drawing from traditions such as commedia dell’arte, pantomime, Vaudeville, the circus, and silent and modern film, animators will learn not only to create funny characters, but also how to execute gags, create a comic climate, and use environment as a character. Whether you’re creating a comic villain or a bumbling sidekick, this is the one and only guide you need to get your audience laughing! Explanation of comedic archetypes and devices will both inspire and inform your creative choices Exploration of various modes of storytelling allows you to give the right context for your story and characters Tips for creating worlds, scenarios, and casts for your characters to flourish in Companion website includes example videos and further resources to expand your skillset--check it out at www.comedyforanimators.com! Jonathan Lyons delivers simple, fun, illustrated lessons that teach readers to apply the principles of history’s greatest physical comedians to their animated characters. This isn’t stand-up comedy—it’s the falling down and jumping around sort!
Mel Brooks is often regarded as one of Hollywood's funniest men, thanks to such highly successful films as The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. His films do have a tendency to turn out much like the jokes that comprise them--hit-or-miss, one minute shoot-the-moon brilliant and the next minute well short of laughs. This work provides a thorough synopsis and thematic analysis for each of his twelve films along with complete cast and production credits: The Producers (1968), The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World--Part 1 (1981), To Be or Not to Be (1983), Spaceballs (1987), Life Stinks (1991), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995).
In February 1985, Jackie Gleason announced that the original Honeymooner sketches, assumed lost forever, had been found. These lost epsiodes virtually triple the number of show available to fans. National syndication of these episodes in fall 1986. Photographs throughout.
