2 comments about Virginia Mayo: The Best Years of My Life.

1. As a long time fan of this Lady, I was just very disappointed in her cynicism. For an actress who was so powerful and wonderful on the screen, it distressed me to read so much dessension in her book. She certainly is opinionated and that's good, but disparaging of fellow actors, I believe makes her seem simply petty. I have to say, she admitted to things that would make her unpopular, but she deserves credit for being brave enough to expose her foibles. Also, because the writer is not objective, we're missing information, such as; the details of the filming process. While she may have taken the process lightly, we the reader didn't get the opportunity to enjoy her view on the filming of her movies. Personally, I would loved to have read some behind the scenes documentation of my favorite film of all time, "The Best Years of Our Lives" That movie will always stand alone. It captures the post war era better than any film ever. And like the writer, I wished she had continued acting. Finally, just as Angela Lansbury, Virginia would have been fabulous to watch later in life.



2. This is a wonderful auto-biography, that Virginia Mayo has written. She tells about her life on Hollyood and at home with her family. She tells about her beloved husband, Michael O'Shea, who passed away. Also about her daughter Mary whom she adores, and who feels the same way about her mom.

   The work as well as the rewards and joys of working in Hollywood during the Golden years. Also her book contains many wonderful photos of her. Such a large and generous selection of them. I am a big fan of hers, and she is a beautiful and talented actress. She is also very kind and gracious and has written an enjoyable and delightful book. I very highly recommend it to anyone. Also Virginia provides insight into other Hollywood stars and what they were like to work with, and the ones that she got to meet. Very informative and interesting. She is truly a lovely and kind lady.

No comments about Seventh Generation: An Anthology of Native American Plays.

1 comments about Staging A Musical (Theatre Arts (Routledge Paperback)).

1. I picked up a copy of this book whilst in London, on the recommendation of a friend. I had mentioned that I was involved in the staging of "The Boyfriend", and was a first time musical organiser. Matthew and Stella hit all the key points, and give a heads up for sticky issues. I recommend it highly to all those keen producers out there.

No comments about On Wings of Joy: The Story of Ballet from the 16th Century to Today.

5 comments about Bent: The Play.

1. Bent is a powerful play about the treatment of gays during the years that the Nazi powers controlled Germany. The play starts with two lovers who are arrested and sent to a concentration camp. There, one of the lovers dies. The survivor however continues to cling to an existence and meets another gay prisoner. They move rocks back and forth across a courtyard all day. The men fall in love, despite the fact that they are in a hopeless situation and are constantly guarded and watched as they gradually starve and are worked to death. The play shows us that love may emerge from the human spirit in even the most bleak of times and places. This drama is well written and very moving. It is an important piece of gay literature, dramatizing a terrible chapter in gay history that is often forgotten and hidden.



2. If i could give it more stars i would. Two years ago I was fortunate enough to be a part of a production of this play. Everyone in the world knows of the treatment of the Jews in concentration camps during WWII. Little is known, however, of the treatment of homosexuals that lived and died next to Jews, political prisoners and criminals in these death camps. Martin Sherman sheds light onto this subject in this very chilling and in your face tale of love between two homosexuals in Dachau. You must read this play. It is very powerful and moving. It, along with the documentary Paragraph 175, has changed my life and the way I view alternative lifestyles past and present.
   Do yourself a favor and buy this play. You won't regret it.



3. This is probably one of the most important plays I have ever read. It is just about love surviving in the harshest of places. Don't believe the other review about the characters not being developed enough. They are. And the play is amazing. I understand the importance of it in gay literature, but that is not the reason that I feel its important. I just think it needs to be read. The idea that we can tell a person not to love FOR ANY REASON is unnacceptable. Just read it. It may change your life.



4. I enjoyed this play but I found it hard to feel much emotion for the characters because they were not developed enough in my opinion. The persecution of any group of people, whether Jewish, Gay, Gypsy, or others.. is horrible and should never be condoned. I am glad that this play was written. It sheds some light, however small, on the treatment of Gays by Nazis. More should be written on this topic!



5. this book runs the gamut from joyous hedonism to the extreme visciousness of humankind. I cannot remember the last time I was so emotionally drawn in and captivated by such intelligent, breathing, living characters. This book is a powerful must read for anyone concerned with what makes humanity tick, and the absolute evil that seems so inherently possible. A love story that trancends all generations. This is proof that the human will is a miraculous thing.

5 comments about If I Knew Then What I Know Now ... So What.

1. I absolutely love this book. Whoever wrote that you can here Estelle's voice as you read it, you are REALLY correct. This book is extremely funny, and tells the truth. I wish she could have talked about her time in Torch Song Trilogy a little more though. However, my book is battered as well I have read this book SO many times!



2. I always tought that only the character Sophia was funny, but this book proves that Estelle is just as hilarious....



3. If you're an avid fan of the Golden Girls, and by that I mean, know when it airs on Lifetime and are able to recite dialogue from the show, then this book is for you. It captures the essence of Estelle Getty, and what we loved about her fiesty character, Sophia. It's an easy read of observations, anecdotes. I've read this many a time...my copy's all battered, but every now and then, when I'm feeling sentimental or a little blue, I pick up this book and find myself feeling a whole lot better. It's comfortable and familiar.



4. While reading this book you could hear Estelle Gettys voice while she's cracking jokes throughout. Thoroughly entertaining!



5. This book was fantabulous. Anything Estelle Getty does is automatically a classic.

5 comments about A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood.

1. A Great read. As entertaining as is is informative, this is one of the better books on producing that I have read. The book is broken down in the same way a producer goes about putting together a project. From conception to birth, this covers it all. Many great stories and personalities are covered (esp. good is the section on the Untouchables and not being able to get David Mamet to write anymore because he was off working on his own film House of Games). Pick this one up and enjoy.



2. I have read this book and one by Lydia Obst ("Hello, He Lied"). I preferred the Linson by a mile - Obst is too full of herself (she even disses Linson!). Linson discusses the role of producer and his contribution to films such as "Car Wash" and "The Untouchables". There's a revelatory look at a film he worked on the DIDN'T get made, called "Arrive Alive". Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the process of motion picture production.



3. I saw bits and pieces of an interview with Linson on the new FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH DVD and when I found out he had a book out I decided to check it out. He's been involved as a producer with some of my favorite movies (HEAT, THE UNTOUCHABLES, FIGHT CLUB). This was a quick and enjoyable read. You'll learn a little about what a producer does. What I gleaned from the book was that a producer:

   A) Brings the elements (writer, director, cast) together
   B) Pitches the project to the studio and helps secure financing
   C) Greases the gears to keep a film production going.
   D) Takes a lot of crap from different creative prima donnas
   

   Can you learn these things any other way? Sure, talk to a real Hollywood producer. But if you don't have access to one, pick up Linson's book. There are some really fun anecdotes in here, like dinner with Hunter S. Thompson, talking wardrobe with DeNiro, and wrangling re-writes out of David Mamet.

   "A Pound of Flesh" will be of interest to aspiring producers and those who enjoy finding out what happnens before and while the cameras roll.

   Not a necessary read for all, but for those into the film world. Linson's writing style is highly conversational and pleasurable to read.




4. In an honest, engaging, and pithy memoir, Art Linson manages to convey not only what a producer is and does in modern Hollywood, but also why that individual is so important both in the creation and final success of the product. If American film stands at the nexus of creativity and enterprise, the producer is the individual who must mediate the inevitable clash between these immutable forces, and Linson openly recalls his successes as well as his failures. It's not always pretty, but it's always good.

   In fact,the book's great strength is Linson's success in divorcing himself - or his ego - from his topic, allowing the reader to learn with the author, rather than from him. The entire process of the creation of a film, from pitch to production to premiere, including unpleasant diversions like Turnaround Hell and rites like Test Screenings, is laid before us through Linson's formative years as a producer.

   What the reader ends with is an understanding of the filmmaking process that no textbook could convey, and that few insiders would be willing to impart to a tyro.

   This is truly a primer on movie production that belongs on the shelf of everyone from development executive to film student to movie-lover.




5. This book is about 100X better than Lydia Obst's egotisticalpiece. Indeed, Linson is remarkably ego-free - and he's worked with DeNiro, De Palma, Mamet, and others. His tales are entertaining, at times harrowing, and best of all, he describes the process of assembling all the elements to produce a picture. Not a knockout, but a solid, informative piece of work. I'd like to meet Linson one day.

5 comments about MTV's Beavis & Butt-Head's Ensucklopedia.

1. The "Ensucklopedia" is definitely the funniest book I've ever read. If you used to like watching Beavis & Butt-Head, you gotta get this book. Beavis & Butt-Head go through the letters of the alpabet talking about different things on every letter. For example, in the C's they will talk about Chicks and Concerts Beavis & Butt-Head style.

   Every page of this book, or "Ensucklopedia," is hilarious and I recommend it to anybody.




2. This book has everything from classified ads to songs written by Beavis & Butt-Head to the story of creation. All through 6th grade I read this in SSR and I laughed everytime. I lost the book a few years ago, and just rebought it june, 1999... I laughed harder then ever... I finally got all the jokes. Get it!!!



3. It's in the form of an encyclopedia, covering everything from history to choking your chicken (listed under "M", but the boys couldn't bring themselves to say the word). Hilarious from cover to cover. Tears were rolling down my cheeks I was laughing so hard. A must-have for any fan. Mm-heh-heh.



4. I liked it a lot, it was as if Beavis and Butthead had written it themselves, it was extremely witty and
   
   
5. THE BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD ENSUCKLOPEDIA HUMOUR BOOK IS THE VERY BEST BOOK OF BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD.THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST FOR FANS, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE YOU'LL LOVE THIS WORTHWHILE HILARIOUS COLORFUL JOKE BOOK. THIS BOOK COVERS EVERYTHING FROM THEIR MEANING OF LIFE TO SELF DEFENSE!! IT HAS MANY JOKES AND EVEN SOME USEFUL TIPS! THIS BOOK IS NOT A READ IN ONE DAY TYPE JOKE BOOK. IT HAS MANY PAGES OF WRITING AND ILLUSTRATIONS. SO I URGE YOU EVEN IF YOUR NOT A FAN PLEASE CONSIDER GETTING THIS BOOK. THERES SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.

1 comments about My Purrfect Friend: I Could Live 9 Lives and Not Find a Better Friend Than You.

1. I have a friend that really enjoys the art work of Wysocki and did not know the book existed. She was thrilled with the gift. I would have liked more pages, but it still made a great gift.

5 comments about Cold Reading and How to Be Good at It: An Authoritative Book Vital to the Career of Every Actor.

1. This fast read (54 page `booklet') amounts to what you would expect to hear from a seasoned pro from an extended interview.
   
   Basil presents his brief insights in a question and answer format jumping form topic to topic without getting all boggled down in any one of them.
   
   Six of the 54 pages are BW stills from his previous work, that really do not add anything to the subject outside of reminding you of who this guys is / was in films you might or might not have remembered him from.
   
   While there is some to be gained in terms of a "cold script reading primer," the book is a bit over priced at 12.95 which is to say that the material is probably worth half that much if not much less.
   
   Having said that, it is well written and I do find myself re-reading it haphazardly from time to time because he does manage to walk you through what auditions feel like.



2. I was looking for a book about cold reading as is done by fortune tellers, etc. and bought this book about auditioning, as in cold reading of a part in a play, by mistake. It should be understood that this book is not about mentalism, magic, psychology or any related art.



3. This book has been grouped in with psychic titles in the "people who bought this also bought". It is not a psychic book but an acting book.



4. I think this book would have been really helpful if I had read it when I first moved to LA to pursue acting. The entire first section is almost a glossary of words and phrases that are helpful to know when starting out and the cold reading info is great if you're new to auditioning. Overall, if you've been in LA for a bit and have done casting workshops or have gone on auditions, this book will be too basic for you.



5. This book is a good book for actors who want to fill in some of the industry information. However, I do not recommend this book above personal experience gained by going to auditions and casting director workshops in Los Angeles -- because there are a number of details that are now dated in the book, and only your experience "by getting out there" will help you identify those dated details. I read this book after being in Los Angeles for a year and a half. By then, I was able to identify which information from the book would help me and which would not. The helpful information really filled in some jargon, technical, and business gaps for me. So, under the conditions I have noted, this is a great business book for actors.