You may have to register before you can download all our books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED NOVEL, SCARED TO DEATH, COMES HIS LATEST PAGE-TURNER Luke Beckett is anything but your average Hollywood vice squad detective. A cop who refuses to play the game, he is like some Avenging Angel always quick to judge, and to punish with his rock-hard fists those who don’t see his way. Forced to resign after a prostitute bust goes awry, he accepts a police lieutenant position in that God-forsaken place, Palm Springs, where there is hardly enough action to keep his blood circulating. That all changes when his ex-wife Marcia, since re-married to an aging American tycoon and one of Palm Springs’ wealthiest, most influential residents, is found murdered at a swank party under suspicious circumstances with hardly a clue. Assigned to investigate her murder, this short-tempered, superbly trained former big city cop finds more than he expects—a secret romance with a lesbian lover and possible mob connections to her untimely death and assassination attempt on his own life—in this engaging, thought-provoking original hard-boiled mystery.
What was it about this unassuming and funny little guy that led five generations of fans to sidesplitting and mindless mirth? Morris "Moe" Feinberg, Larry's younger brother, sifts through 80 years of rich memories and tells true stories about Larry -- his youth and family, and his career, including the origin of the famous "poke in the eye" routine. This is the biography of Larry, always and forever, the Stooge in the middle
In the world of slapstick comedy, few are more beloved than the Three Stooges. Throughout their 190 short films, they consistently delivered physical, verbal and situational comedy in new and creative ways. Following the trio from outer space to ancient Rome, this volume provides an in-depth look at their comedy and its impact on twentieth century art, culture and thought. This analysis reveals new insights into the language, literary structure, politics, race, gender, ethnicity and even psychology of the classic shorts. It discusses the elements of surrealism within the Stooges films, exploring the many ways in which they created their own reality regardless of time and space. The portrayal of women and minorities and the role of the mistake in Stooges' works are also addressed. Moreover, the book examines the impact that the Columbia Studios style and the austerity of its Short Subjects Department had on the work of the Three Stooges, films that ironically have outlasted more costly and celebrated productions.
“Fantastic.” Gore Vidal, New York Review of Books “Grand.” Ray Bradbury, Los Angeles Times “Definitive.” Salmon Rushdie, The New Yorker “A fluent, incisive and fair history of life in Hollywood during the golden age of films. The author seems to have talked to everyone with knowledge of what went on at MGM in its heyday. . . . Marvelous.” Publishers Weekly From the ten scriptwriters at work to the scandal headlines of Munchkin orgies at the Culver City Hotel to the Witch's (accidental) burning, here is the real story of the making of The Wizard of Oz. This richly detailed re-creation brings alive a major Hollywood studio and reveals, through hundreds of interviews (with camer...
The success of Steve Allen's How To Be Funny led first to the republication of that book, and now occasioned a companion volume, Make 'Em Laugh. This new how-to book about the art of comedy includes an even richer assortment of examples of the author's unique humor. In Make 'Em Laugh, Allen laces his formal instruction with hilarious ad-libs, written jokes, TV comedy sketches, satires, song parodies, humorous essays, amusing autobiographical reminiscences, one-act plays, witty speeches, and stand-up monologues from his comedy concerts. Noel Coward called Steve Allen the most talented man in America, and he is probably the most borrowed-from comedian of all time. The perceptive reader will recognize many of the comic ideas that Allen originated during the "Golden Age" of television comedy - ideas that are still influential in the 1990's. If there were a college course in creating and performing comedy, Make 'Em Laugh would be the ideal textbook.
While the Three Stooges were the longest active and most productive comedy team in Hollywood, their artistic height coincided with the years Curly was with them, from 1932 to 1946. Famous for his high-pitched voice, his “nyuk-nyuk-nyuk” and “why, soitenly,” and his astonishing athleticism, Curly was a true natural, an untrained actor with a knack for improvisation. Yet for decades, little information about him was available. Then, in 1985, Joan Howard Maurer, the daughter of Moe Howard and the niece of Curly and Shemp, published this definitive biography. In addition to speaking at length with his relatives, friends, and colleagues, she amassed a wealth of Curly memorabilia, a mixtur...
An engaging account of the uniquely creative spirit and bustling cultural ecology of contemporary Los Angeles How did Los Angeles start the 20th century as a dusty frontier town and end up a century later as one of the globe's supercities - with unparalleled cultural, economic, and technological reach? In City at the Edge of Forever, Peter Lunenfeld constructs an urban portrait, layer by layer, from serendipitous affinities, historical anomalies, and uncanny correspondences. In its pages, modernist architecture and lifestyle capitalism come together via a surfer girl named Gidget; Joan Didion's yellow Corvette is the brainchild of a car-crazy Japanese-American kid interned at Manzanar; and t...