20 Best History & Criticism, Performing Arts Books
History & Criticism, Performing Arts is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top History & Criticism, Performing Arts audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 20 History & Criticism, Performing Arts audiobooks below.
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Camera Man
- By: Dana Stevens
- Narrator: Dana Stevens
- Length: 12 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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4.2(629 ratings)
4.2(629 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USDNamed a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, and NPR In this genre-defying work of cultural history, the chief film critic of Slate places comedy legend and acclaimed filmmaker Buster Keaton’s unique creative genius in theNamed a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, and NPR
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In this genre-defying work of cultural history, the chief film critic of Slate places comedy legend and acclaimed filmmaker Buster Keaton’s unique creative genius in the context of his time.
Born the same year as the film industry in 1895, Buster Keaton began his career as the child star of a family slapstick act reputed to be the most violent in vaudeville. Beginning in his early twenties, he enjoyed a decade-long stretch as the director, star, stuntman, editor, and all-around mastermind of some of the greatest silent comedies ever made, including Sherlock Jr., The General, and The Cameraman.
Even through his dark middle years as a severely depressed alcoholic finding work on the margins of show business, Keaton’s life had a way of reflecting the changes going on in the world around him. He found success in three different mediums at their creative peak: first vaudeville, then silent film, and finally the experimental early years of television. Over the course of his action-packed seventy years on earth, his life trajectory intersected with those of such influential figures as the escape artist Harry Houdini, the pioneering Black stage comedian Bert Williams, the television legend Lucille Ball, and literary innovators like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Samuel Beckett.
In Camera Man, film critic Dana Stevens pulls the lens out from Keaton’s life and work to look at concurrent developments in entertainment, journalism, law, technology, the political and social status of women, and the popular understanding of addiction. With erudition and sparkling humor, Stevens hopscotches among disciplines to bring us up to the present day, when Keaton’s breathtaking (and sometimes life-threatening) stunts remain more popular than ever as they circulate on the internet in the form of viral gifs. Far more than a biography or a work of film history, Camera Man is a wide-ranging meditation on modernity that paints a complex portrait of a one-of-a-kind artist. -
Razzle Dazzle
- By: Michael Riedel
- Narrator: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 16 hours 40 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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4.16(1031 ratings)
4.16(1031 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.95 USDRazzle Dazzle is a provocative, no-holds-barred narrative account of the people, money, and power that reinvented an iconic quarter of New York City, turning its gritty back alleys and sex shops into the glitzy, dazzling Great White Way–andRazzle Dazzle is a provocative, no-holds-barred narrative account of the people, money, and power that reinvented an iconic quarter of New York City, turning its gritty back alleys and sex shops into the glitzy, dazzling Great White Way–and bringing a crippled New York from the brink of bankruptcy to its glittering glory.
In the 1970s Times Square was the seedy symbol of New York’s economic decline. Its once shining star, the renowned Shubert Organization, was losing theaters to make way for parking lots. Bernard Jacobs and Jerry Schoenfeld, two ambitious board members, saw the crumbling company was ripe for takeover and staged a coup amid corporate intrigue, personal betrayals, and criminal investigations. Once Jacobs and Schoenfeld solidified their power, they turned a collapsed theater-owning holding company into one of the most successful entertainment empires in the world, ultimately backing many of Broadway’s biggest hits, including A Chorus Line, Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Mamma Mia! They also sparked the revitalization of Broadway and the renewal of Times Square.
With wit and passion, Michael Riedel tells the stories of the Shubert Organization and the shows that rebuilt a city in grand style, revealing backstage drama that often rivaled what transpired onstage, exposing bitter rivalries, unlikely alliances, and of course, scintillating gossip.
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Fosse
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrator: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 21 hours 23 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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4.13(1213 ratings)
4.13(1213 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.95 USDWe see Bob Fosse’s legacy everywhere–from Broadway to “Billy Jean” to Beyonc+(r)’s moves in the “Single Ladies” video. Yet in spite of Fosse’s deep cultural significance, no biography has ever broughtWe see Bob Fosse’s legacy everywhere–from Broadway to “Billy Jean” to Beyonc+(r)’s moves in the “Single Ladies” video. Yet in spite of Fosse’s deep cultural significance, no biography has ever brought him fully to life, unveiling the man behind the bowler hat and the swaggering sex appeal. Now acclaimed cultural historian Sam Wasson traces Fosse’s numberless reinventions of himself over a career that would spawn The Pajama Game, Cabaret, Pippin, Chicago, All That Jazz, and other iconic works of art and earn him Tonys, Emmys, and an Oscar.
Wasson traces not only Fosse’s prodigious professional life but his intense relationships with everyone from Liza Minnelli, Fred Astaire, and Neil Simon to Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Lange, and Dustin Hoffman. Through extensive interviews with collaborators and lovers and unprecedented access to Fosse’s archives, Wasson also reveals the deep wounds that propelled his subject’s excessive appetites–for spotlights, women, and life itself. In Fosse, Wasson’s stylish, effervescent prose proves the ideal vehicle for reanimating Bob Fosse as he truly was–after hours, close up, and in vibrant color.
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Thrilling Days of Yesteryear
- By: John Rayburn
- Narrator: John Rayburn
- Length: 8 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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4(5 ratings)
4(5 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDRadio was the number one form of family entertainment for a quarter century. In a dazzling step back in time veteran broadcaster John Rayburn talks about the fantastic era of broadcasting in fascinating interviews with a sterling list of guests,Radio was the number one form of family entertainment for a quarter century. In a dazzling step back in time veteran broadcaster John Rayburn talks about the fantastic era of broadcasting in fascinating interviews with a sterling list of guests, including Durward Kirby (Garry Moore Show), Parley Baer (original “Chester” on radio’s Gunsmoke), Arthur Anderson (Let’s Pretend), Carmel Quinn (Irish singer on Arthur Godfrey), Ezra Stone (Henry Aldrich), Minnie Pearl (Grand Ole Opry), Fred Foy (Announcer on The Lone Ranger), Gale Gordon (I Love Lucy, Our Miss Brooks), Charles Correll (Andy of Amos ‘n’ Andy), Himan Brown (Inner Sanctum, Grand Central Station), Chet Lauck (Lum of Lum and Abner), Frankie Carle (Big band leader). There are great stories about Red Skelton, Jack Armstrong, Lights Out, Quiz Kids, Little Orphan Annie, Jimmy Durante, Time Marches On, Hindenburg disaster, President Roosevelt’s December 8, 1941 declaration of war against Japan and many, many more.
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Junior Bonner
- By: Jeb Rosebrook
- Narrator: Nat Segaloff
- Length: 4 hours 34 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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4(15 ratings)
4(15 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USD“Junior Bonner is Jeb Rosebrook’s masterpiece, subtly understated and richly rewarding. In 1972, it provided director Sam Peckinpah with a unique opportunity to return to his roots and deliver a portrayal of the modern American West. In“Junior Bonner is Jeb Rosebrook’s masterpiece, subtly understated and richly rewarding. In 1972, it provided director Sam Peckinpah with a unique opportunity to return to his roots and deliver a portrayal of the modern American West. In this wonderfully written memoir, Rosebrook captures the creative conflicts that are inevitable as words become images. It depicts a classic confrontation between a talented young screenwriter and tyrannical director whose personal visions merge to make a classic motion picture. A must-read for anyone interested in the reality behind great moviemaking.”
–Garner Simmons, author of Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage
Junior Bonner (1972) is the best rodeo film that’s ever been made. It was the best script Sam ever got his hands on….Junior Bonner is truer to the human element behind the sport than any other rodeo film. It’s Sam’s one Western film where the protagonists survive the transition–at least for another day. The wreck might still be coming for Junior Bonner another mile or so down the road. That was the story of Sam, too.”
–Max Evans, author of Goin’ Crazy with Sam Peckinpah and All Our Friends
“Without the pressure of being commercially successful the film is one of McQueen’s and Peckinpah’s finest films, dealing with the human heart. The combination of deft performances, inspired writing and directing, and the authentic feel of the locations resulted in a rare experience., in the words of McQueen’s next costar Ali MacGraw, who proclaimed, “Such a beautiful, perfect film!”
–Andrew Antoniades and Mike Siegel, authors of
Steve McQueen: The Actor and His Films
“Screenwriter Jeb Rosebrook’s memoir about the making of the classic Steve McQueen film he penned, Junior Bonner, is infinitely more than a behind-the-scenes account of a great film. It’s an inside-the-scenes account of a turning point in his own life, of a dangerous moment in the career of an aging movie star, of a transitional time when Hollywood briefly emulated the artistic ambitions and creative reach of European cinema. The cast of characters includes such flammable figures as McQueen and legendary director auteur-terrible Sam Peckinpah and assorted agents, producers, and 1970s studio executives who were presiding over Hollywood’s greatest explosion of audacious, boundary-breaking filmmaking since its founding. And Rosebrook’s memoir goes deeper, into the hearts and minds of these dreamers and schemers on both sides of the camera who, almost in spite of themselves, their egos, and their appetites, managed to make lasting film art that’s worth analyzing and celebrating all these decades later.”
–Steven Gaydos, Executive Editor, VARIETY
“For decades Jeb Rosebrook entertained audiences with films, television shows and novels. Now, his behind-the-scenes memoir of the production of the movie Junior Bonner, which he scripted, spotlights how filmmaking is an intensely collaborative art. Plus, we get all the skinny, and the fat, of behind the scenes shenanigans, sexual dalliances, and Steve McQueen’s resilience and acting strength against Peckinpah’s iron-fisted directing. Junior Bonner, starring Steve McQueen, Ida Lupino and Robert Preston, evolved through Rosebrook’s inspiring creativity and diligent collaboration with the actors–and director Peckinpah always threatening to send home anyone, cast, or crew, with a tin can strapped to their butt. Through it all, Rosebrook’s script survived to create a classic and memorable film–one of the top 100 Westerns.”
–James Ciletti, Pikes Poet Laureate, Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Orson Welles’s Last Movie
- By: Josh Karp
- Narrator: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hours 24 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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3.93(298 ratings)
3.93(298 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDIn the summer of 1970, legendary but self-destructive director Orson Welles returned to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe and decided it was time to make a comeback movie. It was about a legendary self-destructive director whoIn the summer of 1970, legendary but self-destructive director Orson Welles returned to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe and decided it was time to make a comeback movie. It was about a legendary self-destructive director who returns to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Welles swore it wasn’t autobiographical.
The Other Side of the Wind was supposed to take place during a single day, and Welles planned to shoot it in eight weeks. It took twelve years and remains unreleased and largely unseen.
Orson Welles’s Last Movie by Josh Karp is a fast-paced, behind-the-scenes account of the bizarre, hilarious, and remarkable making of what has been called “the greatest home movie that no one has ever seen.” Funded by the shah of Iran’s brother-in-law and based on a script that Welles rewrote every night for years, it was a final attempt to one-up his own best work. It’s almost impossible to tell if art is imitating life or vice versa in the film. It’s a production best encompassed by its star, John Huston, who described the making of the film as “an adventure shared by desperate men that finally came to nothing.”
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All About “All About Eve”
- By: Sam Staggs
- Narrator: Donald Corren
- Length: 13 hours 34 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.9(493 ratings)
3.9(493 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDTo millions of fans, All About Eve represents all that’s witty and wonderful in classic Hollywood movies. Its old-fashioned, larger-than-life stars–including Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and CelesteTo millions of fans, All About Eve represents all that’s witty and wonderful in classic Hollywood movies. Its old-fashioned, larger-than-life stars–including Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm–found their best roles in this movie, and its sophisticated dialogue has entered the lexicon.
But there’s much more to know about All About Eve. Sam Staggs has written the definitive account of the making of this fascinating movie and its enormous influence on both film and popular culture. Staggs reveals everything about the movie–from who the famous European actress Margo Channing was based on to the hot-blooded romance on-set between Bette Davis and costar Gary Merrill, from the jump-start the movie gave Marilyn Monroe’s career to the capstone it put on director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s.
All About “All About Eve” is not only full of rich detail about the movie, the director, and the stars but also about the audience who loved it when it came out and adore it to this day.
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Cary Grant
- By: Scott Eyman
- Narrator: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 17 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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3.87(853 ratings)
3.87(853 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.99 USDFilm historian and acclaimed New York Times bestselling biographer Scott Eyman has written the definitive, “captivating” (Associated Press) biography of Hollywood legend Cary Grant, one of the most accomplished–andFilm historian and acclaimed New York Times bestselling biographer Scott Eyman has written the definitive, “captivating” (Associated Press) biography of Hollywood legend Cary Grant, one of the most accomplished–and beloved–actors of his generation, who remains as popular as ever today.
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Born Archibald Leach in 1904, he came to America as a teenaged acrobat to find fame and fortune, but he was always haunted by his past. His father was a feckless alcoholic, and his mother was committed to an asylum when Archie was eleven years old. He believed her to be dead until he was informed she was alive when he was thirty-one years old. Because of this experience, Grant would have difficulty forming close attachments throughout his life. He married five times and had numerous affairs.
Despite a remarkable degree of success, Grant remained deeply conflicted about his past, his present, his basic identity, and even the public that worshipped him in movies such as Gunga Din, Notorious, and North by Northwest.
This “estimable and empathetic biography” (The Washington Post) draws on Grant’s own papers, extensive archival research, and interviews with family and friends making it a definitive and “complex portrait of Hollywood’s original leading man” (Entertainment Weekly). -
Difficult Men
- By: Brett Martin
- Narrator: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 10 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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3.84(2617 ratings)
3.84(2617 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDA riveting and revealing look at the shows that helped cable television drama emerge as the signature art form of the twenty-first century In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. WhileA riveting and revealing look at the shows that helped cable television drama emerge as the signature art form of the twenty-first century
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television’s narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. No longer necessarily concerned with creating always-likable characters, plots that wrapped up neatly every episode, or subjects that were deemed safe and appropriate, shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Deadwood, The Shield, and more tackled issues of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race, violence, and existential boredom. Just as the big novel had in the 1960s and the subversive films of New Hollywood had in 1970s, television shows became the place to go to see stories of the triumph and betrayals of the American Dream at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
This revolution happened at the hands of a new breed of auteur: the all-powerful writer-showrunner. These were men nearly as complicated, idiosyncratic, and “difficult” as the conflicted protagonists that defined the genre. Given the chance to make art in a maligned medium, they fell upon the opportunity with unchecked ambition.
Combining deep reportage with cultural analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of a genre that represents not only a new golden age for television but also a cultural watershed. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players, including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm (Mad Men), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), and Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), in addition to dozens of other writers, directors, studio executives, actors, production assistants, makeup artists, script supervisors, and so on. Martin takes us behind the scenes of our favorite shows, delivering never-before-heard story after story and revealing how cable television has distinguished itself dramatically from the networks, emerging from the shadow of film to become a truly significant and influential part of our culture.
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The Making of Some Like It Hot
- By: Tony Curtis
- Narrator: Michael Orenstein
- Length: 5 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: July 21, 2020
- Language: English
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3.81(226 ratings)
3.81(226 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDSome Like It Hot occupies a unique place in American culture. This beloved classic showcases five comic geniuses: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, I. A. L. Diamond, Billy Wilder, and Marilyn Monroe. It has been honored by the American Film Institute as theSome Like It Hot occupies a unique place in American culture. This beloved classic showcases five comic geniuses: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, I. A. L. Diamond, Billy Wilder, and Marilyn Monroe. It has been honored by the American Film Institute as the “funniest film of all time.” It has contributed quotes, styles, and stories to film lore. Yet the full story of its making has never been told–until now.
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Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard
- By: Sam Staggs
- Narrator: Donald Corren
- Length: 14 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.79(187 ratings)
3.79(187 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDBilly Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, a classic film noir and also a damning dissection of the Hollywood dream factory, evokes the glamour and ruin of the stars who subsist on that dream. It’s also one long in-joke about the movie industryBilly Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, a classic film noir and also a damning dissection of the Hollywood dream factory, evokes the glamour and ruin of the stars who subsist on that dream. It’s also one long in-joke about the movie industry and those who made it great–and who were, in turn, destroyed by it. One of the most critically admired films of the twentieth century, Sunset Boulevard is also famous as silent-star Gloria Swanson’s comeback picture.
Sam Staggs’s Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard tells the story of this extravagant work, from the writing, casting, and filming to the disastrous previews that made Paramount consider shelving it. It’s about the writing team of Billy Wilder and Charles Bracket–sardonically called “the happiest couple in Hollywood”–and their raucous professional relationship. It’s about the art direction and the sets, the costumes, the props, the lights and cameras, and the personalities who used those tools to create a cinematic work of art.
Staggs goes behind the scenes to reveal: William Holden, endlessly attacked by his bitter wife and drinking too much; Nancy Olson, the cheerful ingenue who had never heard of the great Gloria Swanson; the dark genius Erich von Stroheim; the once famous but long-forgotten “Waxworks;” and of course Swanson herself, who–just like Norma Desmond–had once been “the greatest star of them all.”
But the story of Sunset Boulevard doesn’t end with the movie’s success and acclaim at its release in 1950. There’s much more, and Staggs layers this stylish book with fascinating detail, following the actors and Wilder into their post-Sunset careers and revealing Gloria Swanson’s never-ending struggle to free herself from the clutches of Norma Desmond.
Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard also chronicles the making of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical production of Sunset Boulevard and the explosive diva controversies that dogged it. The book ends with a shocking example of Hollywood life imitating Hollywood art. By the last page of this rich narrative, listeners will conclude: we are those “wonderful people out there in the dark.”
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Broken Silence
- By: Michael G. Ankerich
- Narrator: Alex Boyles
- Length: 8 hours 5 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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3.74(15 ratings)
3.74(15 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThis is a collection of twenty-three original interviews with stars of the silent screen, with biographical information and a filmography included for each. Interviewed are Lew Ayres, William Bakewell, Lina Basquette, Madge Bellamy, EleanorThis is a collection of twenty-three original interviews with stars of the silent screen, with biographical information and a filmography included for each. Interviewed are Lew Ayres, William Bakewell, Lina Basquette, Madge Bellamy, Eleanor Boardman, Ethlyne Clair, Junior Coghlan, Joyce Compton, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Dorothy Gulliver, Maxine Elliott Hicks, Dorothy Janis, George Lewis, Marion Mack, Patsy Ruth Miller, Lois Moran, Baby Marie Osborne, Muriel Ostriche, Eddie Quillan, Esther Ralston, Dorothy Revier, David Rollins, and Gladys Walton.
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The Way We All Became The Brady Bunch
- By: Kimberly Potts
- Narrator: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 7 hours 55 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: December 03, 2019
- Language: English
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3.55(357 ratings)
3.55(357 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDIn celebration of the Brady Bunch’s 50th anniversary, TV writer Kimberly Potts writes a Seinfeldia-like definitive history of the show that changed the family sitcom and made an indelible impact on pop culture. There isn’t a person inIn celebration of the Brady Bunch’s 50th anniversary, TV writer Kimberly Potts writes a Seinfeldia-like definitive history of the show that changed the family sitcom and made an indelible impact on pop culture.... Read moreThere isn’t a person in this country who hasn’t heard of The Brady Bunch. Whether it’s the show they watched growing up, or the one their parents did–whether adored, or great to poke fun at–The Brady Bunch is unarguably one of the most enduring and inspiring TV shows of our time. It’s lived a dozen lives, from its original comedy debut and big-screen movies, to the Emmy-winning TV auteurs it has inspired–everyone from Vince Gilligan to Seth MacFarlane–and promises to live many more.
In The Way We All Became the Brady Bunch, TV and pop culture writer Kimberly Potts will draw upon her deep knowledge of and appreciation for The Brady Bunch and television and pop culture history, as well as her contacts, connections, and experience, to provide an industry insider narrative of The Brady Bunch. With fresh interviews, The Way We All Became the Brady Bunch will examine the show’s lasting effects on its audience and take readers behind-the-scenes and into the lives of our most beloved characters, all to document why The Brady Bunch was one of the most groundbreaking shows of its time–and why it remains to this day, unforgettable.
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The Last Days of Roger Federer
- By: Geoff Dyer
- Narrator: Richard Burnip
- Length: 11 hours 31 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: May 03, 2022
- Language: English
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3.3(426 ratings)
3.3(426 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USDOne of Esquire‘s best books of spring 2022An extended meditation on late style and last works from “one of our greatest living critics” (Kathryn Schulz, New York). When artists and athletes age, what happens to their work? Does itOne of Esquire‘s best books of spring 2022
An extended meditation on late style and last works from “one of our greatest living critics” (Kathryn Schulz, New York).When artists and athletes age, what happens to their work? Does it ripen or rot? Achieve a new serenity or succumb to an escalating torment? As our bodies decay, how do we keep on? In this beguiling meditation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last works of writers, painters, footballers, musicians, and tennis stars who’ve mattered to him throughout his life. With a playful charm and penetrating intelligence, he recounts Friedrich Nietzsche’s breakdown in Turin, Bob Dylan’s reinventions of old songs, J. M. W. Turner’s paintings of abstracted light, John Coltrane’s cosmic melodies, Bjorn Borg’s defeats, and Beethoven’s final quartets–and considers the intensifications and modifications of experience that come when an ending is within sight. Throughout, he stresses the accomplishments of uncouth geniuses who defied convention, and went on doing so even when their beautiful youths were over.
Ranging from Burning Man and the Doors to the nineteenth-century Alps and back, Dyer’s book on last things is also a book about how to go on living with art and beauty–and on the entrancing effect and sudden illumination that an Art Pepper solo or Annie Dillard reflection can engender in even the most jaded and ironic sensibilities. Praised by Steve Martin for his “hilarious tics” and by Tom Bissell as “perhaps the most bafflingly great prose writer at work in the English language today,” Dyer has now blended criticism, memoir, and humorous banter of the most serious kind into something entirely new. The Last Days of Roger Federer is a summation of Dyer’s passions, and the perfect introduction to his sly and joyous work.
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Maggie Smith: A Biography
- By: Michael Coveney
- Narrator: Sian Thomas
- Length: 14 hours 9 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: December 29, 2015
- Language: English
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3.01(50 ratings)
3.01(50 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USDThis perfect gift audiobook for fans of Downton Abbey will take them behind the scenes of the Grand Dame who brings the Dowager Countess to life. No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith.This perfect gift audiobook for fans of Downton Abbey will take them behind the scenes of the Grand Dame who brings the Dowager Countess to life.
No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith. Michael Coveney’s biography shines a light on the life and career of a truly remarkable performer, one whose stage and screen career spans six decades.
From her days as a West End star of comedy and revue, Dame Maggie’s path would cross with those of the greatest actors, playwrights and directors of the era. Whether stealing scenes from Richard Burton, answering back to Laurence Olivier, or playing opposite Judi Dench in Breath of Life, her career can be seen as a ‘Who’s Who’ of British theatre. Her film and television career has been just as starry. From the title character in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the meddling chaperone in A Room With a View to the Harry Potter films in which she played Minerva McGonagall (as she put it ‘Miss Jean Brodie in a wizard’s hat’) and the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films in which she played the wise Muriel Donnelly, Smith has thrilled, engaged and made audiences laugh. As Violet Crawley, the formidable Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey she conquered millions more. Paradoxically she remains an enigmatic figure, rarely appearing in public.
Michael Coveney’s absorbing biography, written with the actress’s blessing and drawing on personal archives, as well as interviews with immediate family and close friends, is a portrait of one of the greatest actors of our time.
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Lost Sound
- By: Jeff Porter
- Narrator: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hours 30 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
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2.82(22 ratings)
2.82(22 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDFrom Archibald MacLeish to David Sedaris, radio storytelling has long borrowed from the world of literature, yet the narrative radio work of well-known writers and others is a story that has not been told before. And when the literary aspects ofFrom Archibald MacLeish to David Sedaris, radio storytelling has long borrowed from the world of literature, yet the narrative radio work of well-known writers and others is a story that has not been told before. And when the literary aspects of specific programs such as The War of the Worlds or Sorry, Wrong Number were considered, scrutiny was superficial.
In Lost Sound, Jeff Porter examines the vital interplay between acoustic techniques and modernist practices in the growth of radio. Concentrating on the 1930s through the 1970s, but also speaking to the rising popularity of today’s narrative broadcasts such as This American Life, Radiolab, Serial, and The Organist, Porter’s close readings of key radio programs show how writers adapted literary techniques to an acoustic medium with great effect. Addressing avant-garde sound poetry and experimental literature on the air, alongside industry policy and network economics, Porter identifies the ways radio challenged the conventional distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow cultural content to produce a dynamic popular culture.
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We Take You Now to Grover’s Mill
- By: Joe Bevilacqua
- Narrator: Joe Bevilacqua
- Length: 29 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.004.99 USDIn this 1988 documentary, award-winning NPR producer Joe Bevilacqua looks at how the landmark broadcast came about and examines its impact on broadcast history. The half-hour program includes rare interviews with Mercury Theater producer JohnIn this 1988 documentary, award-winning NPR producer Joe Bevilacqua looks at how the landmark broadcast came about and examines its impact on broadcast history.
The half-hour program includes rare interviews with Mercury Theater producer John Houseman, writer Howard Koch, actor Arthur Anderson, and the people of Grover’s Mill, NJ, who lived through the “Martian Invasion.”
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The Compleat Glass Teat
- By: Harlan Ellison
- Length: 24 hours 33 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: February 15, 2022
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.99 USDThe Glass Teat: Essays The classic collection of criticism about television and American culture from the late, multi-award-winning legend. From 1968 through 1972, Harlan Ellison penned a series of weekly columns, sharing his uncompromisingThe Glass Teat: Essays
The classic collection of criticism about television and American culture from the late, multi-award-winning legend.From 1968 through 1972, Harlan Ellison penned a series of weekly columns, sharing his uncompromising thoughts about contemporary television programming for the Los Angeles Free Press, a.k.a. “The Freep,” a countercultural, underground newspaper. Sitcoms and variety shows, westerns and cop dramas, newscasts and commercials, Ellison left no pixilated stone unturned, expounding on the insipidness, hypocrisy, and malaise found in the glowing images projected into the faces of American audiences.
The Glass Teat: Essays of Opinion on the Subject of Television collects fifty-two of Ellison’s columns–including his 2011 introduction “Welcome to the Gulag,” his unapologetic commentary about how cellphones and the internet have extended television’s reach, eroding intelligence and freedom and creating a legion of bloodshot eyed zombies unable to communicate beyond their screens or think for themselves.
Provocative and prescient, irreverent and insightful, Ellison’s critical analyses of the glowing box that became the center of American life are even more relevant in the twenty-first century.
The Other Glass Teat: Essays
The late, multi-award-winning author of The Glass Teat continues his critical assault on television in this second collection of classic criticism.In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were only three major television networks broadcasting original programs and news. And there was only one Harlan Ellison taking them all to task in a series of weekly essays he wrote for the countercultural, underground newspaper, the Los Angeles Free Press, a.k.a. “The Freep.” For nearly four years, he channel surfed through the mire of ABC, CBS, and NBC, finding little of value but much to critique. No one offered a more astute analysis of the idiot box’s influence on American culture, or its effects on the intelligence and psyche of viewers.
The Other Glass Teat: Further Essays of Opinion on the Subject of Television collects Ellison’s final fifty columns, presenting his thoughts on everything from dramas and sitcoms to game shows and roundtable discussions, unleashing his fury against sponsors, the nightly news, and the broadcasts of President Nixon–warning readers about the commander-in-chief’s war against the media long before the Watergate scandal broke.
As television has evolved into wireless streaming services and digital interactions on portable devices, Ellison’s timeless rage against the machine has become prophecy. His plea to unplug is an even more necessary call to action in the face of the twenty-first century’s media onslaught.
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Radio Pro
- By: Joe Martelle
- Narrator: Joe Martelle
- Length: 22 hours 4 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.95 USDRadio Pro is several books in one, covering every aspect of personality radio–from the history of pioneer broadcasters to how to become a successful personality. Forty-one-year radio pro Joe Martelle also brings together a richly variedRadio Pro is several books in one, covering every aspect of personality radio–from the history of pioneer broadcasters to how to become a successful personality. Forty-one-year radio pro Joe Martelle also brings together a richly varied selection of candid comments on the subject from over 150 of America’s best broadcasters–seasoned pros who tell it like it is and what it takes to be a successful air and online personality.
Radio Pro is enlightening, informative, and thought provoking for both the radio student and those interested in personality radio.
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Everything Was Possible (Updated Edition)
- By: Ted Chapin
- Length: 13 hours 57 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: August 30, 2022
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDAs the sole production assistant for Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, Ted Chapin had a front row seat for the creation of one of the most important American musicals of all time. He kept a detailed journal of his experiences, and his richAs the sole production assistant for Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, Ted Chapin had a front row seat for the creation of one of the most important American musicals of all time. He kept a detailed journal of his experiences, and his rich storehouse of
memories forms the core of Everything Was Possible, which itself has become a modern classic of musical theater history. Chapin was there in the drama-filled rehearsal room, typed endless rewrites, ferried new songs around town,
pampered the film and television stars in the cast, and traveled with the show to its Boston tryout and back to New York for the opening night on Broadway.Combining the zeal of an enthusiast with a journalist’s narrative chops, Chapin takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the creation of an original Broadway musical.
Updated to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Follies, this edition includes a new afterword that brings the history of the show forward to today, diving into recent productions around the world, new recordings, the continued promise of a film
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version, and the legacy of the show in the wake of Stephen Sondheim’s death in 2021.
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Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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