5 comments about The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History.

1. it's a nice book to have but Inside Oscar is sooo much better (specially Inside Oscar 2), so is Tom O Neill's Movie Awards which has a lot of inside info, not like Inside Oscar, but at least you get a look at every other awards show.
   
   The problem with this book is that all you get are trivia facts from just the winners, and only for the four acting winners, director and picture, plus an hororary or a Thalberg, at best you'll get a small paragraph of the whole evening but it isn't enough. And as a person who owns Inside Oscar and has read ONeill's book a thousand times, you can tell that many of the comentaries are borrowed from those books as the phrases, sentences, words are the same.
   
   But who cares right? At least you have a book that's nice to look at the has a lot of correct facts....WRONG! It has an incredible amount of mistakes. Everytime you get to a year were the current winner has won something before they tell you, for example, "for more on Beatty go to 1981" meaning Beatty who got a Thalberg or an Honorary in 99 also won in 81 and there's more info there. But the book actually tells when you're on Beatty and his special award from 1999 to go to 1961 something when he wasn't even nominated and there's nothing on him. Same goes with Dustin Hoffman, they tell you "for more on Hoffman go to 1979"...problem is...you're already on 1979...
   
   They say Robert DeNiro has been in 3 Oscar winning movies...I asume they mean Best Pictures...DeNiro's only been in The Godfather II and Deer Hunter...what's the third one?
   
   The say Sean Penn won a Globe for Dead Man Walking and he said "you tolerate me, you really tolerate me" like Sally Field in 84. In reality Penn said this at the Indie Spirit awards.
   
   Sometimes you get as much as 5, 6 mistakes per year, which is a lot considering each year has about 2, 3 pages.
   
   At times they'll say "he's been nominated 5 times" counting every single nomination until the book was edited, even if you're still in 1950. Then they'll do it the other way, they'll say how many nominations somebody has up util that certain year you're reading, even if they got 2, 3 more nods along the way. They couldn't even make a decision on that.
   
   You want more mistakes? Here you go....In 1979 they say "Hoffman nominated 5 times with two wins" meaning they're already counting all the way through 88 when he won number 2 including that nod, which was his 6th not his 5th. And they didn't count his 7th in 97 for Wag the Dog.
   
   Jodie Foster "earning 3 Oscar nods with 1 win"...She has 4 nods. If they're gonna count until 2005 for some people, they should do it for everybody.
   
   Meryl Stree in 79: "winning Academy Awards and ten nominations"...they don't say how many she won....and by 2005 she had 13 nominations, not 10.
   
   And this is all from the newest edition....some of the mistakes must've been there in past editions, they didn't even go back and read it all again to correct mistakes...



2. There are so many errors of various kinds in this book that it really is difficult to list them all! I've read a number of books about the Oscars over the years and I've been an avid follower and trivia buff of all things Oscar since the 60s, but I've never read a book about the Academy Awards that was as sloppy, inaccurate and error-ridden as this one! This book has many glaring and blatant errors - the mind reels! Obviously the authors didn't bother proofreading and checking the facts. To those unfamiliar with Oscar history (and Oscar trivia) who are reading this book for the first time, they will be misled since everything's presented as fact and truth in this terribly written book. I'm glad I bought an inexpensive copy since buying it full price would have been an even bigger waste of money. If you want to know anything about the Oscars, BUY ANY OTHER BOOK BUT THIS ONE!



3. There are so many mistakes in here...read the reviews for a highlight reel. I'll point out another one not listed: at the end of each year, there are lists of the nominees with the winner highlighted in yellow. Michael Caine nomination for 'Alfie' in highlighted depite the fact he lost.



4. This book is not only poorly edited and proofread, as a previous reviewer said, it is INCREDIBLY poorly edited and proofread. Also, it is not well written. Some entries are very sparase--it seems that the writers know nothing of the movie being honored, or the actor or actress winning the trophy, or the role for which they are winning. Did these writers even bother to see "A Passage to India"? You wouldn't know it from their discussion of Peggy Ashcroft's best supporting actress win. They wonder at Dianne Wiest forgetting to thank Woody Allen when she won her first Oscar for "Hannah and Her Sisters" remarking that Wiest was a frequent star of Allen's movies--but "Hannah" was her first movie with Allen. A lot of similar nonsense throughout the book, but it seems to get worse as we get closer to the present, and the carelessness becomes more and more enfuritating.



5. Since my Junior High School years, I've been an avid fan of Oscar night, and the whole history of the Academy Awards and its winners. I guess I'll always love movies, and the allure of Hollywood, having lived in L.A. all my life, and being an aspiring actor in my younger years. In High School as a hobby, I and my best friend and fellow drama student, use to bet who could pick the most winners from each category every year. There is something about Oscar night, and all the glamour that goes with it, that keeps me glued to the set every year; first to hear the nominations, then the big ceremomy to announce the winners. And this book is up-to-date; from the very first winners of 1927, to 2005 and the surprise of "Crash" taking Best Picture honors (my personal favorite). If you enjoy films, and specificly The Academy Awards as much as I do, then you'll love this book.
   
   I relate each years winners and nominees, to historic events and lifestyles of the times. Sort of an insight into what was going on then.

1 comments about How to Speak Shakespeare.

1. This is a fantastic book for beginners who want to get initiated into the world of Shakespeare and how to speak his beautiful language. The book mainly uses the prologue and other parts of "Romeo and Juliet" as a guide, so don't expect to nail Richard III's opening monologue after reading this ...for 3 months. But, you will have the tools to break dialogue and soliloquies down, and you'll have fun doing it.

1 comments about A Woman Killed with Kindness (New Mermaids).

1. Heywood was a very prolific contemporary of Shakespeare. This play is one of his best, and is quite often revived for performance over in the British Isles. It is an intriguing story of love, friendship, hate, disloyalty, and treachery. Heywood skillfully walks us through the emotions, and there are few surprises lurking in the text, as not everything happens as we expect, and the price of honor turns out to be high, but not higher then of love. As is the custom of Elizabethean drama we have a main plot, and we also have a subplot, which serves to highlight the main plot. These two are complimentary, and highlight each others failings very nicely. When characters of the main plot make the wrong choices, the sub plot shows us the right choice in a similar situation, and thus the play is doubly effective. Highly recommended to see that there were other great playwrights besides Shakespeare in the Elizabethean drama, and that they are only unknown today, because Shakespeare was such a giant, that he overshadows, even very competent writers, who would have shinned brightly in any other period.

3 comments about The Alchemy of Theatre - The Divine Science: Essays on Theatre and the Art of Collaboration (Applause Books).

1. Although Edward Albee says, 'No one collaborates with me on a play,' he is wrong. The theater, is built on collaboration. Maybe Mr. Albee writes the play, and maybe he is insistent that the play be performed exactly as he wrote it, but the actions, the sets, the dance steps, the lighting all come from other people. Like a sports team, an army or a corporation it takes a bunch of people to pull it off.
   
   In this book, 28 of Broadway's best write essays on collaboration. The essays are broken down into four general categories:
   
   Part I - Pen to Paper -- Playwrights, Composers, Liberettists, the people who write what's going to become the play.
   
   Part II - Captains -- Theatre Owner, Producer, Director, Casting, Stage Manager.
   
   Part III - Actor, Dancer.
   
   Part IV - Completion -- Set Designer, Costume Designer, Lighting, Sound, Makeup, Advertising.
   
   All in all, this is an insiders view of how they see the theater working. Needless to say, each view the theater differently, they se it from their own point of view. This is not only fair, this is what collaboration is all about.



2. Productions of theatrical plays are collaborative efforts involving large numbers of people the include not only the actors and their director, but the expertise of playwrights, producers, stage hands, craftspeople, choreographers, musicians, publicists, make-up artists, costumers, and so many others. In "The alchemy Of Theatre: The Divine Science", New York theatre journalist and author Robert Viagas has compiled and edited a number of informed and informative essays on the phenomena of the theatre. The essayists range from the late playwright Wendy Wasserstein and the late composer Cy Coleman, to director/producer Harold Prince and director/choreographer Susan Stroman, to playwrights Edward Albee and Terrence McNally, to lyricists and composers Lynn Ahrens and Stepyhen Flaherty, to theatre owner Gerald Schoenfeld, to producer Rocco Landesman, and others representing every aspect of those professionals who must work together to create the theatrical experience for appreciative audiences. A welcome and highly engaging read, "The Alchemy of Theatre" is a core addition to professional, academic, and community library Theatre Arts reference collections and supplemental reading lists.



3. At first glance, "Alchemy" resembles a college textbook (which it could certainly be used for). But Viagas' project is more than a 'standard text.'
   
   He collected input from leaders in every area of the theatre world on the topic of collaboration. After a picture and brief bio of each contributor, Viagas lets these collaborators speak for themselves. Their essays describe rich and varied experiences (SO many influential people in the world of modern theatre!) Playwrights, composers, directors, stage managers, actors, sound designers, makeup artists, advertising executives - all parts of one body - some more visible, but all vital to a successful production. In Viagas' words, "The essence of drama may be conflict - but the essence of creating drama turns out to be cooperation."
   
   It's interesting to compare the priorities of the different contributors. In this book, the experiences of well-known figures like Chita Rivera and Edward Albee are right alongside those of perhaps more unfamiliar names (makeup designer Angelina Avallone and lighting desinger Peggy Eisenhauer.) The book opens with a witty essay by playwright Wendy Wasserstein (who passed away in January).
   
   An entertaining (and educational) read!

2 comments about Theater Design: Second Edition.

1. I am an acoustical and systems design consultant who specializes in the design and functional rehabilitation of worship and performing arts facilities. My role in the planning of such facilities, including ongoing refinements throughout their lifetimes, has pulled me in the direction of taking a broader responsibility for ensuring competent design of the functional elements for sight and sound - that is, of being a "theatre consultant."
   
   In preparation for a book I am writing on the competent functional design of worship facilities, I have undertaken a review of available literature on the subject of public assembly facility design, and in so doing, have found this book to stand out as being in a class of its own in terms of thoroughness, timelessness (freedom from fads), depth of historical perspective, technical authority, and a willingness to not mince words about real-world obstacles to competent design. Izenour, who sadly was taken from us this past March, was truly the "dean" of the theater consulting profession. While I wish I had had more opportunities to learn from this master of the craft of auditorium design, we would all be a lot poorer without this best-of-the-best book. Enjoy!



2. A beautiful and loving treatment of theater design through the ages, George Izenour's classic, long out-of-print, has been recently edited and re-released. A must-have for all theater fans, architects, stage designers, acouticians and classical musicians. The plan, perspective and cut-away drawings of hundreds of theaters, large and small, are a marvel of precision, detail and artistry. Professor Emeritus of Yale Drama School Izenour brings a life-time of experience to this handsome - and heavy - volume. Well worth the high price.

No comments about Stagings: Short Scripts for Middle and High School Students.

No comments about Techniques of Three-Dimensional Makeup.

1 comments about Expressionist Texts (PAJ Books).

1. This is a good primer on Expressionistic writing. It's a tad bit dry for my taste but if you are the literary-scholarly type into Expressionistic writing you might enjoy it. There isn't much published on this subject to begin with.

2 comments about Conversations with Choreographers.

1. In a field where resources for musical theatre choreographers are few and far between, this text is exceptional, in-depth, and insightful. The interviews are informative and delve into the very personal choreographic processes. An excellent resource!



2. The editorial review gives a great description - if you are a dancer or choreographer in today's business, you will want to read about how those who have succeeded got where they are. Hermes Pan, who did more than 60 Hollywood musicals; Joe Layton of Broadway's Once Upon a Mattress, Sound of Music, and George M!, and the film Thoroughly Modern Millie; Lee Theodore, originaly in West Side Story and founder of The American Dance Machine; Michael Bennett and Bob Avian, creators of A Chorus Line; Pat Birch, choreo. of the film Grease and so much more; Larry Fuller of Evita; Tommy Tune of many Broadway shows; Graciela Daniele of Ragtime, AGYG, and A New Brain; Dan Siretta of Goodspeed Opera House; Wayne Cilento, original dancer in A Chorus Line and Dancin'.

   It tells how they started, who inspired them, and what they look for in casting and collaborators. I highly suggest it!

4 comments about The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s.

1. Ever since the Battelle Film Club's showing of Preston Sturges' The Palm Beach Story, I've been on a screwball kick. Screenplays, biographies, non-fiction, what-have-you about that lunatic genre of film greatly interest me. This book by Kendall isn't solely about screwball, but rather an overview of the larger film genre that it falls under, the romantic comedy. Sturges is only the last chapter here. The majority of director coverage goes to Frank Capra and Leo McCarey, and the book goes even more into the lives of the major actresses of the period, Barbara Stanwyck, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Claudette Colbert, who the author asserts were co-creaters of the classic romantic comedy films. The argument goes like this: due to the depression and the unusual success of particular directors (men, and I use the term correctly in this case, who were able to fulfill the cathartic needs of the public going through this rough period), these directors were given extremely free reign. They used it to explore collaborations with their favorite subjects, these independent women. Movies before and after delegated women more to the supporting roles (with notable exceptions, but only as exceptions), but in these romantic comedies of the 30s the women were the lead and often the most sympathetic and fleshed-out characters.

   While the descriptions of the making of the movies was quite interesting, it is the concise biographies of the people involved--directors, actors, actresses, and writers--that help you understand this moment in cinema history. An excellent book on its subject.




2. Along with Marjorie Rosen's "Popcorn Venus" and Brendan French's "On the Verge of Revolt," this is one of three superb feminist film books published in the '70s and '80s. Witty, engaging, and intelligent without lapsing into jargon-studded academic verbiage or theoretical pretention.



3. This is an extremely well-thought out book that should be just as interesting to a film scholar as to the casual reader. Kendall's exploration of the feminist potential in thirties romantic comedy is very assured. Biographical criticism is coming back with a vengeance (in Literary circles anyway) and the author's focus on the relationship between the directors and their female stars makes this book an ideal companion to the more textually-oriented Stanley Cavell's "Pursuits of Happiness". She chooses great movies to discuss. I particularly like her focus on the Capra-Stanwyck relationship--and I envy her for having seen "Forbidden" & "Ladies of Leisure", which I can't find anywhere!



4. I found out about this book when researching Clara Bow. It really is terrific. I suggest you read it right away!