Frederick Hastings Rindge (1857-1905) moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles in 1882 and bought the famed rancho at Malibu, which he dubbed "Laudamus Farm." Happy days in southern California (1898) opens with a history of the region, followed by chapters dealing with different lifestyles in the area: "seaside life" at Redondo, Santa Monica, and Santa Catalina, and the fish and animals of the sea; ranch life; climate; horseback riding; and mountain climbing.
A lighthearted account by the award-winning producer and director of such productions as Laverne & Shirley and Pretty Woman traces his Bronx childhood, role in shaping A-list celebrity careers and personal philosophies about life and entertainment. 60,000 first printing.
In 1971, my family of four left the bustle of the city for the suburbs of Long Island where we discovered the world of garage sales and flea markets. Before long we were a part of the action, creating "Happy Days," a 30-year family business entailing the buying and selling of antique and collectible toys. We never thought that our middle class suburban family would traverse the United States and the globe encountering humorous and surprising situations wherever we went. After all, who would suspect that something as innocent as selling children's playthings would lead to dealing with mobsters, actors, dreamers, schemers and at least one murderer?!
Acclaimed 60 Minutes commentator and true-crime author Shana Alexander turns her journalist’s eye to her own unconventional family—and herself—in this fascinating, moving memoir Shana Alexander spent most of her life trying to figure out her enigmatic parents. Milton Ager was a famous songwriter whose creations included “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Happy Days Are Here Again.” Cecelia Ager was a film critic and Variety columnist. They were a glamorous Jazz Age couple that moved in charmed circles with George and Ira Gershwin, Dorothy Parker, and Jerome Kern. They remained together for fifty-seven years, and yet they lived separate lives. This wise, witty, unflinchingly candid memoir is also a revealing account of Alexander’s own life, from her successful career as a writer and national-news commentator to her troubled marriages and emotionally wrenching love affairs. She shares insights about growing up with a cold, hypercritical mother, her relationship with her younger sister, the suicide of her adopted daughter, and her reconciliation with her parents after a twenty-year estrangement. “I had to do a lot of detective work to uncover the truth about my parents’ lives,” Alexander said. “I knew almost nothing about them as people. But by the end they really did become my best friends.”
In the 21st century, why do we keep talking about the fifties and sixties? In "Happy Days and Wonder Years", Daniel Marcus reveals how interpretations of these decades have figured in the cultural politics of the United States since 1970.
"This true tale of a Hollywood childhood, a fairytale role in one of television's all-time most popular shows, and a journey to dynamic and radiant health through a living-foods diet reveals author Cathy Silvers to be as enthusiastic an advocate of healthy living as "Jenny Piccolo" was boy-crazy"--Provided by publisher.
For eleven seasons, she was head of one of America's favorite television households. Now meet the lovable real-life woman behind the Happy Days mom. Before she was affectionately known to millions as “Mrs. C.,” Marion Ross began her career as a Paramount starlet who went on to appear in nearly every major TV series of the 1950s and 1960s—including Love, American Style, in which she donned an apron that would cinch her career. Soon after came the phone call that changed her life . . . In this warm and candid memoir, filled with recollections from the award-winning Happy Days team—from break-out star Henry Winkler to Cunningham “wild child” Erin Moran—Ross shares what it was like to be a starry-eyed young girl with dreams in poor, rural Minnesota, and the resilience it took to make them come true. She recalls her early years in the business, being in the company of such luminaries as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, yet always feeling the Hollywood outsider—an invisibility that mirrored her own childhood. She reveals the joys of playing a wife and mother on TV, and the struggles of maintaining those roles in real life. But among Ross's most heart-rending recollections are those of finally finding a soulmate—another hope made true beyond her expectations. Featuring producer Garry Marshall's final interview—as well as a touching foreword from her “TV son” Ron Howard, and a conversation with her real-life son and daughter, Marion Ross's inspiring story is also a glowing tribute to all those who fulfilled her dreams—and in turn, gave us some of the happiest days of our own lives.
