The Magic of Believing: A Lansbury Family Memoir

The Magic of Believing: A Lansbury Family Memoir
Author: Edgar Lansbury
Publisher: JLML Press
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2020-05-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Set against the seismic events of the twentieth century, “The Magic of Believing” is an inspiring family memoir of hardship, courage, hope and triumph. In 1940, as bombs fell on London, Charlotte Lillian McIldowie (“Moe”) boarded a steamer with her daughter, Angela, and twin boys, Edgar and Bruce, to cross the Atlantic. Dodging icebergs and German U-Boats, they eventually arrived unscathed in the United States, the first leg of a lifelong adventure from London to Broadway to Hollywood populated by the most creative and fascinating personalities of the day. The Lansbury family has a proud theatrical tradition that began with the nineteenth century Shakespearean tragedian Robert Mantell and continued with Moe, who under the stage name Moyna MacGill became one of London's golden leading ladies. Angela’s storied career launched in 1942 when she signed with MGM and appeared in her first big screen roles, “Gaslight” and “The Picture of Dorian Grey.” Decades later, she is known and beloved internationally for scores of defining film roles, Broadway musicals such as "Mame,""Sweenie Todd,” and "Gypsy" and, of course, for her portrayal of the beloved Jessica Fletcher in TV’s “Murder She Wrote.” The Lansbury twins wasted no time moving into the family business as well. Bruce became a prolific television writer, series creator, producer, and a senior executive at Paramount Pictures. He produced such legendary TV series as “Mission Impossible” and “The Wild, Wild West.” Edgar began in theater as a scenic designer and eventually produced his first Broadway play, "The Subject Was Roses," which won the Critics Circle and Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. He went on to produce several films and dozens of plays on and off-Broadway, including the international smash-hit musical "Godspell.” Throughout their lives and respective professional careers, in good times and bad, Moe's creative muse and her undying belief in ‘the possible’ provided the energy and magic that fueled the family’s dreams and success.

Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves

Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves
Author: Angela Lansbury
Publisher:
Total Pages: 162
Release: 1991
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9781560541240

"My personal plan for fitness and well-being"--Cover subtitle.

Twitch Upon a Star

Twitch Upon a Star
Author: Herbie J Pilato
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
Total Pages: 463
Release: 2012-11-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1589797507

Based on author Herbie J Pilato’s exclusive interviews with Elizabeth Montgomery prior to her death in 1995, Twitch Upon a Star includes insider material and commentary from several individuals associated with her remarkable life and career before, during, and after Bewitched, including her classic feature films The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed? (1963), and Johnny Cool (1963). Two of Montgomery’s many popular TV movies, A Case of Rape (which remains one of the highest-rated TV-movies of all time) and The Legend of Lizzie Borden (which will soon be remade as a feature film), were groundbreaking and remain classics. But Twitch Upon a Star also goes behind the scenes to explore Montgomery’s political activism, including her early advocacy for AIDS sufferers and the peace movement; her support for all minorities, including the gay community and the disabled; and her controversial participation as narrator of the1988 feature film documentary Cover-Up and its 1991 Oscar-winning sequel, The Panama Deception (both of which chronicled the Iran/Contra scandal of the 1980s). The book also explores Montgomery's tumultuous relationships with her father, screen legend Robert Montgomery (she was a liberal; he was a staunch conservative), and her four husbands (including actor Gig Young, who later died in a murder/suicide). Through it all—and to family and friends such as fellow performers Ronny Cox, Sally Kemp, and Florence Henderson—she was just Lizzie: down-to-earth and unaffected, just like Samantha, the "witch-with-a-twitch" Stephens, her most famous role.

White Hot Grief Parade

White Hot Grief Parade
Author: Alexandra Silber
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2018-07-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1681778300

Alexandra “Al” Silber seems to have everything: brilliance, beauty, and talent in spades. But when her beloved father dies after a decade-long battle with cancer when she is just a teenager, it feels like the end of everything. Lost in grief, Al and her mother hardly know where to begin with the rest of their lives.Into this grieving house burst Al’s three friends from theater camp, determined to help out as only drama students know how. Over the course of that winter, the household will do battle with everything Death can throw at them—meddling relatives, merciless bureaucracy, soul-sapping sadness, the endless Tupperware. They will learn (almost) everything about love and will eventually return to the world, each altered by their time in a home by a river.Told with raw passion, candor, and wit, White Hot Grief Parade is an ode to the restorative power of family and friendship—and the unbreakable bond, even in death, between father and daughter.

Me and Murder She Wrote

Me and Murder She Wrote
Author: Peter S. Fischer
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-04-07
Genre: Actors
ISBN: 9781530944361

Writer and producer Peter S. Fischer (perhaps best known as the creator of the TV series "Murder, she wrote") recollects his career in television, rubbing elbows with Angela Lansbury, Peter Falk, Jerry Orbach, Glenn Ford, Lorne Greene, Sam Elliott, Rock Hudson, Robert Urich, Hal Linden, Robert Young, Telly Savalas, Roger Moore, Robert Culp, William Devane, Robert Blake, and others.

Good Talk

Good Talk
Author: Mira Jacob
Publisher: One World
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2019-03-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0399589058

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “beautiful and eye-opening” (Jacqueline Woodson), “hilarious and heart-rending” (Celeste Ng) graphic memoir about American identity, interracial families, and the realities that divide us, from the acclaimed author of The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing. ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Chicago Tribune, The New York Public Library, Publishers Weekly • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, BuzzFeed, Esquire, Literary Journal, Kirkus Reviews “How brown is too brown?” “Can Indians be racist?” “What does real love between really different people look like?” Like many six-year-olds, Mira Jacob’s half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the media into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where she’s gotten her own answers: her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and, of course, love. Written with humor and vulnerability, this deeply relatable graphic memoir is a love letter to the art of conversation—and to the hope that hovers in our most difficult questions. LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/OPEN BOOK AWARD “Jacob’s earnest recollections are often heartbreaking, but also infused with levity and humor. What stands out most is the fierce compassion with which she parses the complexities of family and love.”—Time “Good Talk uses a masterful mix of pictures and words to speak on life’s most uncomfortable conversations.”—io9 “Mira Jacob just made me toss everything I thought was possible in a book-as-art-object into the garbage. Her new book changes everything.”—Kiese Laymon, New York Times bestselling author of Heavy

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
Author: Sylvia Plath
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 767
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307429504

The complete, uncensored journals of Sylvia Plath—essential reading for anyone who has been moved and fascinated by the poet's life and work. "A genuine literary event.... Plath's journals contain marvels of discovery." —The New York Times Book Review Sylvia Plath's journals were originally published in 1982 in a heavily abridged version authorized by Plath's husband, Ted Hughes. This new edition is an exact and complete transcription of the diaries Plath kept during the last twelve years of her life. Sixty percent of the book is material that has never before been made public, more fully revealing the intensity of the poet's personal and literary struggles, and providing fresh insight into both her frequent desperation and the bravery with which she faced down her demons.

MGM

MGM
Author: Steven Bingen
Publisher: Santa Monica Press
Total Pages: 1157
Release: 2011-02-25
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1595808930

M-G-M: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot is the illustrated history of the soundstages and outdoor sets where Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced many of the world’s most famous films. During its Golden Age, the studio employed the likes of Garbo, Astaire, and Gable, and produced innumerable iconic pieces of cinema such as The Wizard of Oz, Singin’ in the Rain, and Ben-Hur. It is estimated that a fifth of all films made in the United States prior to the 1970s were shot at MGM studios, meaning that the gigantic property was responsible for hundreds of iconic sets and stages, often utilizing and transforming minimal spaces and previously used props, to create some of the most recognizable and identifiable landscapes of modern movie culture. All of this happened behind closed doors, the backlot shut off from the public in a veil of secrecy and movie magic. M-G-M: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot highlights this fascinating film treasure by recounting the history, popularity, and success of the MGM company through a tour of its physical property. Featuring the candid, exclusive voices and photographs from the people who worked there, and including hundreds of rare and unpublished photographs (including many from the archives of Warner Bros.), readers are launched aboard a fun and entertaining virtual tour of Hollywood’s most famous and mysterious motion picture studio.

I'll Drink to That

I'll Drink to That
Author: Betty Halbreich
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2014-09-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1101634553

The stunning true story of Bergdorf Goodman’s legendary personal shopper Eighty-six-year-old Betty Halbreich is a true original who could have stepped straight out of Stephen Sondheim’s repertoire. She has spent nearly forty years as the legendary personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman, where she works with socialites, stars, and ordinary women off the street. She has helped many find their true selves through fashion, frank advice, and her own brand of wisdom. She is trusted by the most discriminating persons—including Hollywood’s top stylists—to tell them what looks best. But Halbreich’s personal transformation from cosseted young girl to fearless truth teller is the greatest makeover of her career.