Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Arts & Entertainment

In December 1917, Vaslav Nijinsky, the most famous male dancer in the Western world, moved into a Swiss villa with his wife and three-year-old daughter and began to go mad. A prodigy from his youth in Russia, Nijinsky came to international fame as a principal dancer in Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. When psychosis struck, he began to imagine himself as married to God. Although he lived another 30 years, he never regained his sanity. This diary is Nijinsky's confession and his prophecy, the only sustained, on-the-spot account we have by a major artist of entering psychosis.

On June 1, 1962, Marilyn's 36th birthday, famed photographer and reporter George Barris visited Marilyn on the set of what would be her final, unfinished, film. They had met eight years earlier, became friends, and planned to do a picture book and autobiography. Now the time was right. For the next six weeks, Barris photographed and interviewed the actress. "Don't believe anything you read about me except this...." she told Barris. And so she began to confide the truth about herself.

In Mort Sahl's America, the sophisticated, political satirist exposes the grand follies of the powers that be. He tips his dagger towards liberal or conservative, from Robert Dole to Bill Clinton, from Jesse Jackson to Al Gore, no one is spared. Sahl takes his audience on an incredible trip back to Barbra Streisand's 1992 fundraising extravaganza for then Arkansas Governor, Bill Clinton, relaying Streisand's analysis of each of the party's attendees.

Conceived and developed by Steve Allen, the award-winning PBS-TV series Meeting of Minds brought together the most provocative figures of history for conversation and conflict. The result is an outrageously stimulating exchange of ideas - the ultimate talk show moderated appropriately by the man who created The Tonight Show. Historical personalities appearing on this volume I are President Theordore Roosevelt, Queen Cleopatra, Father Thomas Aquina, and Thomas Paine.

Aaron Spelling is one of the most successful showmen of all time. No one else has produced as many television programs nor enjoyed such career longevity-35 years and still counting since Spelling's first production: Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater. Never told before, Aaron Spelling is the life story from the Prime-Time King himself—personal, revealing, and filled with stories on such Hollywood greats as Michelle Pfeiffer, Heather Locklear, Sharon Stone, and Nick Nolte.

More than 85 years after his untimely death at just age 37, Irving Thalberg remains a legendary Hollywood figure. Called the “Boy Wonder of Hollywood,” Thalberg quickly climbed the ranks at MGM studios to become one of the most powerful and high-profile producers of the time, elevating filmmaking to an art form. In this definitive biography, Bob Thomas brings Thalberg's legend to life, recounting how the producer's remarkable talent for developing stars and scripts led to the creation of beloved movies such as Ben-Hur, Romeo and Juliet, and Camille.

Here are legendary director, producer, screenwriter, author, and actor Orson Welles' historic interpretations of excerpts from classic literature. Includes selections from Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince', H.G. Wells' "The Red Room", Saki's "Shredni Vashtar", Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer", Rudyard Kipling's "Riki-Tikii-Tavi", Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Wakefield", Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart", and Robert Louis Stevenson's "Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde".

Conceived and developed by Steve Allen, the award-winning PBS-TV series Meeting of the Minds brought together the most provocative figures of history for conversation and conflict.

Narrating his riveting memoir, beloved actor Dick Van Patten reflects on his prolific career, vibrant life, and the people who shaped both. From growing up during the Great Depression when poverty and racially biased ideologies dominated America, to witnessing the advent of television and its subsequent influence on culture, Dick Van Patten's life is a rich record of change and progress in America and Hollywood.

Leni Riefenstahl, "Hitler's filmmaker", remains one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century. Susan Sontag, though one of her severest critics, said that Triumph of the Will and Olympia, Riefenstahl's most noted films, "may be the two greatest documentaries ever made". Others see her story as an object lesson about opportunism.

For film buffs, aspiring filmmakers, students, and anyone else intrigued by the inner workings of Hollywood, this is the quintessential take on the how, who, what, and why of the film business.

Conceived and developed by Steve Allen, the award winning PBS-TV series Meeting of the Minds brought together the most provocative figures of history of conversation and conflict. In this, the sixth assemblage, the focus is on heroic figures from civil disobedience to the validity of the scientific method.

Recorded live at the Friar's Club in New York City, this collection of stand-up routines features some of the greatest American comedians at the height of their comic skills. Presented by Joey Adams—and with introductions by television legends Milton Berle and Phyllis Diller—this recording captures performances by Norm Crosby, Freddie Roman, Soupy Sales, and Henny Youngman. In this nostalgic, hysterical collection, you'll laugh all the way through hundreds of hilarious jokes, gags, and putdowns.

One of Hollywood's biggest players for almost 50 years, Darryl F. Zanuck presided over Twentieth Century-Fox during its most glorious era. These were the studio's golden days, with stars like Marilyn Monroe and Henry Fonda, directors like John Ford and Elia Kazan, and blockbusters like All About Eve and The Grapes of Wrath.

David Wolper has enjoyed staggering success. He has won countless Oscars, Emmys, and Golden Globes, yet he remains street smart, wry, and surprisingly down-to-earth. By combining flexibility, resourcefulness, and determination, Wolper produced some of the landmark documentaries, films, miniseries, and entertainment events of the 20th century. Producer is the engaging and inspiring memoir of a true pioneer.

Harry Cohn was the cofounder and president of Columbia Pictures, which he ran from the 1930s through the 1950s. Cohn—who abhorred personal publicity—left no writings, made no speeches, and rarely submitted to interviews. Despite this, acclaimed biographer Bob Thomas brilliantly illuminates the life of the powerful but elusive studio head in King Cohn: The Life and Times of Hollywood Mogul Harry Cohn. Thomas details the studio head's rise from a New York City song-plugger to a Poverty Row impresario, highlighting his reign as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.

One night in 1995, author Douglas Adams kidnapped an audience and held them hostage for 70 minutes at London's Almeida Theatre. The audience members were subjected to Adams's dramatic solo performances of excerpts and scenes from his wildly funny, wildly popular books The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and Life, the Universe and Everything. LEARN how to fly! HEAR about Arthur and the Irrational Sofa! GROAN at Marvin's escapade with the Frogstar Battle Robot! Just keep laughing and nobody will get hurt!

Conceived and developed by Steve Allen, the award-winning PBS-TV series Meeting of Minds brought together the most provocative figures of history for conversation and conflict. Historical personalities appearing on this Volume IV are Frederick Douglass; Empress Tz'u-hsi; Cesare Bonesana-Beccaria, Marquis of Gualdrasco and Villareggio; and Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade.

Conceived and developed by Steve Allen, the award-winning PBS-TV series Meeting of Minds brought together the most provocative figures of history for conversation and conflict. Volume XII, the final gathering of brilliant ambassadors from the past, brings together three strong personalities whose profound disagreements make frequent bursts of dispute inevitable.

Whether it is a director insisting on a final cut, a star demanding a bigger motor home, a producer holding the line on a budget, or a grip with a gripe, it seems that the world of moviemaking is nothing but Sturm und Drang. Shoot Out presents a raucous look at how movies get made and the players involved, from writers, producers, directors, and stars to agents and marketers. For film buffs, aspiring filmmakers, students, and anyone else intrigued by the inner workings of Hollywood, this is the quintessential take on the how, who, what, and why of the film business.