The Variety History of Show Business
The Variety History of Show Business

Author: J. Spencer Beck

Publisher: ABRAMS

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9780810939264

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"There's no business that's bigger or more exciting than show business, and for almost a century Variety has been the single most authoritative and influential publication devoted to the entertainment industry, including the worlds of movies, television, theater, and live performance. With colorful lingo that has enriched the American language, a talent for spotting trends and events long before anyone else does, and statistics to back up its hunches, Variety is one of the most widely known and oft-quoted periodicals in our movie-mad, celebrity-obsessed world." "If Variety could go back and cover the great events of show-business history with all the style, verve, and insight for which it's famous - and add dramatic, revealing photographs - the result would be The Variety History of Show Business." "Each of forty chapters focuses on a pivotal event, introduces its key players, and explores its longterm impact on show business. The reader journeys to Hollywood in 1913, where Cecil B. DeMille shoots The Squaw Man and inadvertendy brings an entire industry West; to the opening night of Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon in 1920, which establishes Broadway as a center for serious theater; to the premiere of the first talking picture in 1927 and the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946; to the final concert of the most popular singing group of the '60s and the first broadcast on MTV in 1981. Along the way, we meet the actors, entertainers, producers, directors, writers, agents, financiers, and a host of other colorful characters who people the world of entertainment."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Variety History of Show Business
Variety History of Show Business

Author:

Publisher: Reed Mitchel Beazley

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 9780600576389

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For almost a century Variety has been the single most authoritative and influential publication devoted to the entertainment industry. Here Variety's editors go into the past and cover the great events of show business history with characteristic style and with more than 100 revealing photos.

Variety
Variety

Author: Tim Gray

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2016-09-13

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0789325985

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An illuminating view of the world as seen through the tinted lens of Hollywood’s most important chronicler of entertainment news and show business. Variety is not only a fascinating look at the history of entertainment as reported by the world’s most highly regarded commentator of show business news, it is also a history of American popular culture and a record of the influence and confluence of art, life, and Hollywood. Illustrated with hundreds of front pages, its articles chronicle everything from Debbie Reynolds’s opinions of 1960s youth to how Steven Spielberg and Jaws transformed the movie business. With new and archival photographs spanning Variety’s more-than-century-old archives, the book includes exclusive essays by a host of well-regarded artists about what Variety means to them, how Variety has impacted the entertainment industry, and what they felt like the first time they saw their names in Variety’s pages. Variety is a decade-by-decade documentation of such pivotal moments as the audience’s move from vaudeville houses to movie theaters, censorship, how Lucy and Desi changed the face of television, Walter Cronkite’s shaping of America’s view of the Vietnam War, the birth of the summer blockbuster, the game-changing technology of Jurassic Park and Avatar, and how the movies, television, and theater reflect society’s ever-changing social values and mores. The perfect gift for anyone who loves Hollywood, Variety is also a never-before-available look at the premier source of entertainment reporting.

The Agency
The Agency

Author: Frank Rose

Publisher: Frank Rose

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 580

ISBN-13: 9780887308079

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The story of the William Morris Agency is the stoyr of show business itself. Founded at the turn of the century, it stood as the premier agency in Hollywood for 80 years. With unvarnished descriptions of the board that runs William Morris and the needy and demanding stars they represent, The Agency is a compelling tale that lifts the curtain on the most intriguing business in Americ today. Photos.

Ziegfeld
Ziegfeld

Author: Ethan Mordden

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2008-11-11

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1429951524

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Any girl who twists her hat will be fired! – Florenz Ziegfeld And no Ziegfeld girl ever did as she made her way down the gala stairways of the Ziegfeld Follies in some of the most astonishing spectacles the American theatergoing public ever witnessed. When Florenz Ziegfeld started in theater, it was flea circus, operetta and sideshow all rolled into one. When he left it, the glamorous world of "show-biz" had been created. Though many know him as the man who "glorified the American girl," his first real star attraction was the bodybuilder Eugen Sandow, who flexed his muscles and thrilled the society matrons who came backstage to squeeze his biceps. His lesson learned with Sandow, Ziegfeld went on to present Anna Held, the naughty French sensation, who became the first Mrs. Ziegfeld. He was one of the first impresarios to mix headliners of different ethnic backgrounds, and literally the earliest proponent of mixed-race casting. The stars he showcased and, in some cases, created have become legends: Billie Burke (who also became his wife), elfin Marilyn Miller, cowboy Will Rogers, Bert Williams, W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor and, last but not least, neighborhood diva Fanny Brice. A man of voracious sexual appetites when it came to beautiful women, Ziegfeld knew what he wanted and what others would want as well. From that passion, the Ziegfeld Girl was born. Elaborately bejeweled, they wore little more than a smile as they glided through eye-popping tableaux that were the highlight of the Follies, presented almost every year from 1907 to 1931. Ziegfeld's reputation and power, however, went beyond the stage of the Follies as he produced a number of other musicals, among them the ground-breaking Show Boat. In Ziegfeld: The Man Who Created Show Business, Ethan Mordden recreates the lost world of the Follies, a place of long-vanished beauty masterminded by one of the most inventive, ruthless, street-smart and exacting men ever to fill a theatre on the Great White Way : Florenz Ziegfeld.

Where Did I Go Right?
Where Did I Go Right?

Author: Bernie Brillstein

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 1614670781

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Beginning in the William Morris mail room in 1955, Bernie Brillstein wanted only three things: “to walk into a restaurant and have people know who I am…to be the guy who gets the phone calls and doesn’t have to make them…to represent the one performer people must have.” Throughout his long career at the top of the entertainment industry––as TV and movie producer, agent and brilliant personal manager––Brillstein has accomplished it all. Where Did I Go Right? is Brillstein’s street-smart, funny, and thoroughly human story of a life in show business. With his trademark wit and candor, he speaks out for the first time about his feud with Mike Ovitz, and how it felt to pass the leadership of his company to his partner, Brad Grey, and “no longer be the king.” He describes his close relationship with John Belushi and what it was like being alone with Belushi’s body as it lay “stretched out across two cramped seats in a tiny jet, wrapped up in a body bag” on the way to his funeral. He shares stories about Jim Hensen and Gilda Radner, about Lorne Michaels and the early days of Saturday Night Live. He takes us behind the scenes at such hits as The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, and The Muppet Show. Brillstein also reveals his secrets about how to survive and prosper in Hollywood, the real meaning of “the art of the deal,” the difference between “hot” and “good,” and why instinct is so crucial to the future of the entertainment industry. “Becoming successful is the most fun of all. I’m not talking about being successful or staying successful. I mean the getting there, the instant you arrive, and for the first time you think, ‘Where did I go right?’” After eight years, Phoenix Books is re-releasing this bestseller, with an updated epilogue from Bernie Brillstein entitled, “Still going right.”

Saturday Night
Saturday Night

Author: Doug Hill

Publisher: Histria Books

Published: 2024-11-05

Total Pages: 681

ISBN-13: 1592115470

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“ It reads like a thriller, and may be the best book ever written about television.” Associated Press“ A chilling real-life cliffhanger.” Washington Post“ An anthropological masterpiece.” Vanity FairSaturday Night is the intimate, original history of Saturday Night Live, from its beginnings as an outlaw program produced by an unruly band of renegades from the comedy underground to a TV institution that made stars of John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy.This is the book that revealed to the world what really happened behind the scenes during the first ten years of this groundbreaking program, from the battles SNL fought with NBC to the battles fought within the show itself. It's all here— the love affairs, betrayals, rivalries, drug problems, overnight successes, and bitter failures, mixed with the creation of some of the most outrageous and original comedy ever.This reissue features nearly fifty photographs of cast, crew and sketches.Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad covered television for a wide variety of popular and professional organizations and publications, including The Associated Press, The New York Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, TV Guide, Broadcasting/Cablecasting, and Advertising Age.

Entertainment Industry
Entertainment Industry

Author: Mark Vinet

Publisher:

Published: 2020-01-19

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13:

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NEW REVISED EDITION - The entertainment industry is a multi-billion dollar business that showcases the work, services, talent, and creativity of a cross-section of the international workforce. The modern entertainment industry is the convergence of the business of music, books, movies, television, radio, Internet, video games, theater, fashion, sports, art, merchandising, copyright, trademarks, and contracts. Employment opportunities abound in this vibrant, eclectic and exciting universe - open to anyone willing to learn and work diligently with creative enthusiasm. To be on the cutting edge of this ever-changing industry, one must possess an in-depth knowledge of the many areas that converge to form modern show business. Entertainment lovers of all ages will enjoy this engaging overview of an evolving industry; from its basic and traditional roots to today's exciting technological innovations that rapidly and constantly influence the entertainment we enjoy. Experience a fascinating and enthralling odyssey while exploring dozens of artistic disciplines that can lead to success in the international entertainment field. A spotlight shines on a variety of business options, specific endeavors, crucial information, general knowledge, detailed advice, and the art of negotiating entertainment agreements. Discover the different types of jobs and careers available in the entertainment industry and the effective tools used to produce & market products. Learn the fundamental and essential provisions of publishing & intellectual property, including! deal-making and standard contracts used by professionals in the entertainment industry. ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY is the second in a series of books dealing with the entertainment business by author, musician, radio host, entertainment lawyer, and historian Mark Vinet. It offers an in-depth study and detailed analysis of the diverse, colorful, and creative art forms that fill the leisure and recreational time of North Americans. This book contains the author's personal entertainment industry rules, tenets, advice, principles, opinions, philosophies, and concepts developed over a thirty-year career in show business as an artist, musician, writer, performer, businessman, manager, and entertainment/copyright/trademark lawyer. -- WADEM Publishing