Inventing Elsa Maxwell

Inventing Elsa Maxwell PDF Author: Sam Staggs
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312699441
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Chronicles the life and career of Elsa Maxwell, who was an actress, socialite and the queen of party giving.

Inventing Elsa Maxwell

Inventing Elsa Maxwell PDF Author: Sam Staggs
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312699441
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Chronicles the life and career of Elsa Maxwell, who was an actress, socialite and the queen of party giving.

May Sarton

May Sarton PDF Author: Margot Peters
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0449907988
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
From acclaimed writer Margot Peters comes the first, completely authorized biography of novelist, poet, and feminist May Sarton. Granted unprecedented access to personal papers and diaries, Peters gives us a compelling look at the woman who influenced a legion of readers with rich and intimate writings, and reveals the fascinating life that Sarton herself kept hidden. Beginning with a young Sarton largely ignored by her parents, Peters traces the compulsive quest for recognition and artistic inspiration that would characterize most of Sarton's life. We witness her at nineteen as she chooses a life in the theater, only to discover later her real passion: writing. As her literary career takes shape, we watch her personal and professional struggles for acceptance, her intense relationships with such learned friends as Muriel Rukeyser and Louise Bogan, and her secret turmoil over her sexuality. But ultimately, we see Sarton begin to create in her works the image of a strong, independent woman who lived peacefully with solitude--an image that often contradicted the reality of her life.

American Hero

American Hero PDF Author: David Bruce Smith
Publisher: Brandylane Publishers Inc
ISBN: 0985935863
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description
"John Marshall (1755-1835) was a good son, a kind older brother, a loving father and husband, and a dear friend to many. He was a soldier for the Revolutionary Army, a successful lawyer, a congressman, and Secretary of State. Most importantly, he was Chief Justice of the United States. As Chief Justice, John Marshall made the Supreme Court the strong and powerful body it is today."--Back cover.

All about "All about Eve"

All about Author: Sam Staggs
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312252687
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Offers a look at the background and filming of the 1950s backstage movie starring Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe.

Dancing Fish and Ammonites

Dancing Fish and Ammonites PDF Author: Penelope Lively
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 014312627X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
"Sharp, unsentimental and ruefully funny. A fascinating portrait not only of Lively but of the times through which she has lived" -- Daily Telegraph (London) Rare personal reflections from “one of our most talented writers” (The New York Times Book Review), Booker Prize winner Penelope Lively At age eighty, Penelope Lively wrote this powerful and compelling 'view from old age', reporting back on what she found. There are meditations on what it is like to be old as well as on how memory shapes us. There are intriguing examinations of the key personal as well as historical moments she has lived through and her thoughts on her own bookishness - both as reader and writer. Lastly, she turns to six treasured possessions to speak eloquently about who she is and where she's been - fragments of memories from a life well lived.

New York Hotel Experience

New York Hotel Experience PDF Author: Annabella Fick
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839437814
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
For more than two hundred years hotels have played a significant role in American history. The modern hotel is even an American invention. In five case studies of iconic New York hotels, this book presents the hotel experience of the white upper class, literati, young artists, African Americans and Jewish Americans in the twentieth century. Using a variety of texts, including autobiographies, movies and novels, the impact of hotel experience on society and culture - which has been neglected until now - becomes apparent. This unique approach offers a new way of reading New York and helps to better understand the city's special dynamics.

Born to Be Hurt

Born to Be Hurt PDF Author: Sam Staggs
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429942088
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
In a passionate and witty behind-the-scenes expose, the author of All About "All About Eve" takes on the classic 1959 Douglas Sirk film starring Lana Turner Few films inspire the devotion of Imitation of Life, one of the most popular films of the '50s--a split personality drama that's both an irresistible women's picture and a dark commentary on ambition, motherhood, racial identity, and hope lost and found. Born to be Hurt is the first in-depth account of director Sirk's masterpiece. Lana Turner, on the brink of personal and professional ruin starred as Lora Meredith. African-American actress Juanita Moore played her servant and dearest friend, and Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner their respective daughters, caught up in the heartbreak of the black-passing-for-white daughter in the 1950s. Both Moore and Kohner were Oscar-nominated as Best Supporting Actress. Sam Staggs combines vast research, extensive interviews with surviving cast members, and superb storytelling into a masterpiece of film writing. Entertaining, saucy, and incisive, this is irresistible reading for every film fan.

The Other Side of Ethel Mertz

The Other Side of Ethel Mertz PDF Author: Frank Castelluccio
Publisher: Berkley
ISBN: 9780425176092
Category : Entertainers
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The only biography of Vivian Vance is now in paperback, with dozens of rare photographs and handwritten correspondence. Drawn from exclusive interviews with the actress's friends and acquaintances, as well as her own unpublished memoirs, this book tells the whole story about the former glamor girl, including her struggle with a violent depression, her failed love affairs, and her tumultuous friendship with Lucille Ball.

Personal Politics in the Postwar World

Personal Politics in the Postwar World PDF Author: Susanna Erlandsson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350150754
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Unravelling the mechanisms of daily diplomacy in the mid-20th century, this book follows one Dutch diplomatic couple, the van Kleffens, on their postings from the 1930s to the 1950s to offer a new perspective on how non-officials and personal politics shaped the postwar world. Combining private and public source materials, Erlandsson foregrounds the political culture of diplomacy and highlights events and people which have been left off the official record. The book integrates the detailed study of behind-the-scenes diplomatic practice into the larger narrative of traditional diplomatic history, connecting social practices with political outcomes. Exploring how women's tea drinking was used to achieve post-war foreign policy and how Rosa, a Guatemalan cook, contributed to the international standing of the Netherlands, it offers a more inclusive history by recognising the diplomatic work done by actors who were not diplomats. In doing so it demonstrates the ways in which diplomacy was class-bound, gendered and racialized, and proves that historicizing gender and cultural norms is crucial to understanding political and international history.

A Cole Porter Companion

A Cole Porter Companion PDF Author: Don M. Randel
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252098307
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
Balancing sophisticated melodies and irresistible rhythms with lyrics by turns cynical and passionate, Cole Porter sent American song soaring on gossamer wings. Timeless works like "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "At Long Last Love" made him an essential figure in the soundtrack of a century and earned him adoration from generations of music lovers. In A Cole Porter Companion, a parade of performers and scholars offers essays on little-known aspects of the master tunesmith's life and art. Here are Porter's days as a Yale wunderkind and his nights as the exemplar of louche living; the triumph of Kiss Me Kate and shocking failure of You Never Know; and his spinning rhythmic genius and a turkey dinner into "You're the Top" while cultural and economic forces take "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" in unforeseen directions. Other entries explore notes on ongoing Porter scholarship and delve into his formative works, performing career, and long-overlooked contributions to media as varied as film and ballet. Prepared with the cooperation of the Porter archives, A Cole Porter Companion is an invaluable guide for the fans and scholars of this beloved American genius.