Another Insight into Mayberry's Stars
585330
For those who have enjoyed watching Andy Griffith and Don Knotts collaborate to make Mayberry a vivid, humorous part of our lives, this book will illuminate the personalities of its two main characters like nothing else. The squamish Don is followed closely from birth and his early days in Morgantown, WV through his multiple insecurities, three wives, and his highly successful comedy career on TV and films as well as his eventual death. Similarly, Andy, his life-long friend and straight man, is also portrayed in respectful narrative through decades of ups and downs that challenged their close ties and disrupted Andy's three tumultuous marriages. De Vise portrays the pair as a Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello comedy team, but includes enough of Andy's selfish traits to cause the reader to wonder if they were not more like Martin and Lewis. Certainly it was Don who earned the artistic awards while Andy attained the wealth and benefits.

This is a fascinating and fun read. You will be disappointed only when the book ends.
2430110
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Maybelline-Story-and-the-Spirited-Family-Dynasty-Behind-It/dp/0984308113/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Maybelline Story--and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It</a>

Growing up in the 70s, the time of discos and over the top makeup, teenage girls, myself included, wanted their lashes as dark and full as possible. We all had the pink and green tube of Great Lash mascara in our makeup bags. I'm middle-aged now and still have Maybelline mascara in my makeup bag. The only difference is I am a little more judicious in my application. So naturally when Sharrie Williams, grand-niece of Tom Lyle Williams; founder of Maybelline, asked if I was interested in reviewing "The Maybelline Story: And the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it" I readily accepted the offer.

Sharrie Williams takes her readers into the world of the royal family of the cosmetic industry. Picture the Carrington's from the hit 1980s television series "Dynasty", change it from oil moguls to cosmetic moguls and you'll understand what it was like being a Williams. The book is an intimate retelling of triumphs and losses, love and betrayal as Tom Lyle Williams, a teenage boy from small town USA, follows his dream to take the world and make it his oyster on his quest to being a millionaire.

Maybelline was started when Tom Lyle discovered his sister Mabel's beauty secret and wanted to share the product with American women. Little did he know that this would begin the journey into a lifelong love story with his little company that turned into a dynasty and the most widely known cosmetic country in the world.
Through the depression and two world wars Maybelline persevered always managing to keep women feeling beautiful through even the toughest times. Mingling with starlets from Hollywood and iconic movie producers the Williams family lived the life only to be dreamed of by millions of people. Lavish parties and extravagant spending paved the way for duplicitous hangers on hoping for a piece of the pie.

Sharrie Williams was born to tell the story of her family. She does it with grace and humility showing not only the successes but the failures of her heritage. I was captivated from the first paragraph greedily pouring over the pages. I highly recommend "The Maybelline Story: And the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it" is a must read for enthusiasts of memoirs and biographies.
2764835
It was fun to see the old stars performing again.  Some were from before my time, but some I remember.
4257062
I received this book free from the publisher, in exchange for writing an honest review.

I've always been intrigued by the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, with its elegant stars and well written movies.  I often compare today's stars with their sloppy sweat pants, public meltdowns and drunken photos in the gossip columns to the always-well-turned-out stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Clark Gable.  What I didn't fully realize is that movie stars have always been normal humans; their personal lives and reputations just had the protection of the police, paparazzi and publicists.  There was a lot of bed hopping, back stabbing and drug use from the earliest days of Hollywood.  I was especially intrigued by the way the Mafia was connected to so many of the actors.

Dina Di Mambro's True Hollywood Noir gives an in-depth look at the lives and deaths of a dozen stars from the 20s to the 80s - William Desmond Taylor, Thomas Ince, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Joan Bennett, Lana Turner, George Reeves, Gig Young, Bob Crane, Natalie Wood, Robert Blake, and Mickey Cohen.  There are many great photos included in the book, some of them never released before.

All of these stars (or their victims) died in questionable circumstances, although they were often passed off as suicides or accidents.  In the decades before DNA forensics, there often wasn't a way to prove the cause of death, and with police being paid off and publicists scrubbing crime scenes before the officials arrived, some of these deaths will never be explained.

This book could have used a good editor, to tighten up some of the repetition and poorly constructed sentences.  But the subject of mysterious celebrity deaths and the inside scoop on how intertwined the stars' lives were overcomes the editing shortcomings.
2344422
The books are great to look at, well bound and attractive, slip case is great as well.  The notes inside give a great deal of history but are easy to digest and really add to our knowledge of the young mouse and his newspaper creator.  The strips are not as great as the dailies, most are Sunday laugh a day style but some have more and some have less story arc to them.  But this is the mouse people fell in love with in the 30's  They only saw him in theatres every few months, here you have his weekly appearances.
Some nice later Floyd G work is here as well, a 7 Dwarfs v. the Witch, 1001 Dalmatians and good old Lambert!  See him rise to the occasion on the printed page.
These pages might be great to read to a youngster at those early years.  Art and pictures work well together.
3523416
This was a fascinating look at two stars I grew up watching. She has a very refreshing tone that's enjoyable to read.
749123
The book was good.  It gave an insight on things people never knew. And now there is a better understanding of such a super star.
4617659
Author Gene Arceri's biography of his close friend Irene Manning is an enduring tribute to a lady who may very well be the greatest star that almost was. Manning was a singer and actress who was equally adept at performing in concert, strutting her stuff in musical theater, emoting and singing in films as well as serenading avid radio listeners. Inexplicably, Manning also seemed to be on the precipice of stardom without ever quite making it.
In this thoughtful book, the reader is treated to reading in Manning's own words her account of a life in the performing arts that was often at odds with her personal needs as well as her own inherent integrity. As a counterpoint, Mr. Arceri fills in additional information and his own personal recollections to flesh out Manning's memories and add a sense of continuity. The end result is a book that answers a lot of questions about the lady and why she essentially turned her back on Hollywood after a promising start and big screen buildup.
Every biography should have a large cast of characters and this book is crawling with familiar names from the past and present such as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Jane Wyman, and  Robert Redford. Interspersed throughout the text are pictures of Irene at different points in her life and career and photos of her friends.
Despite some misspellings and a couple of vague references, this book is well organized and well written. While it was a relatively short book that came in under two hundred pages, it seemed much longer and benefited from strong internal footnoting and comments.
What made this book standout for me was the extreme amount of candor that the seemingly private Manning exhibited when she opened up to her confidant Arceri. From her failed marriages to her admitted perfectionism, what emerges is a classy lady who never sold herself short and never seemed dated even in old age.
2152883
As a member of my local Astronomy club in Rock Island IL, when it was my turn to give a presentation for the month, I derived a lot of information from the book 'Dark Star'.  Andy Lloyd is a believer in the theory that our sun has a companion star called a brown dwarf, which cannot yet be seen or observed by telescopes.  He accumulates his knowledge both from Astronomical facts and from the writings of Zechariah Sitchen, author of the 12th Planet.
2115496
A very interesting book.  I never put it down.  Gives much inside information, that someone close to Frank would only know.  Also, gives great tidbits about other stars.  Some pretty shocking!! Great if you are a Sinatra fan or just love the older stars like myself: Marilyn, the Kennedy's, etc.  I'm a big Marilyn fan and found it very interesting to learn that George (the author) verified that himself, Jeanne Carmen and Marilyn DID indeed live in the apartments on Doheny Drive!  Interesting if you're an MM fan!  Didn't really like every thing he had to say, but very interesting just the same.
3772130
This is the second part of a two-part series which dates from 1999. Again we have soprano Ljuba Kazarnovskaya and her interesting hair and makeup offering introductions to clips of Russian opera singers excerpted from operatic productions on film and television films, some in concert. Bass Ivan Petrov is also featured talking about many of the singers, and for a couple introductions Met opera coach Joan Dornemann turns up as well. If you want to hear full versions of anything you're out of luck; in most cases we get snippets rather than full arias or songs. For example, Kazarnovskaya's concluding segment from a stage performance of Strauss's "Salome" picks up the end of the Dance of the Seven Veils and segues to a small portion of the concluding monolog. Olga Borodina's "Una voce poco fa" showcases her in what looks to be a villa from some Black Sea resort area, which I guess qualifies the clip as an early music video.
When I first found out about this miniseries I was much more interested in part 1 and I still believe that to be the more valuable of the two, but I am very glad to have the clips of Vishnevskaya as Aida (apparently one of the only surviving records of her on film after her image was purged following her defection from the USSR) and of Italian supertenor Mario Del Monaco chewing scenery with mezzo Irina Arkhipova during his guest appearances at the Bolshoi in Bizet's "Carmen."
When this program appeared in the late 1990s there were not a lot of home video options for the opera fan to see as well as hear singers; nowadays you can probably call up fuller versions of most of the arias here on Youtube. It's well worth repeated viewings if you can find an inexpensive copy.
518707
I loved the inside look at the Yeerks. Still do on my reread. I gladly got caught up in the story. I liked the retrospective information by itself, and the current action kept that from feeling like a history book.

Edriss 562 and Marco are both ruthless. I wonder how much Eva is.

Aliens being confused by human society is funny here too.

Visser Three's personality flaws are on full display. Edriss POV would emphasize that, and it seems the Visser conflict brings out more of his bad side. All stick and no carrot describes him well.

There's also some dramatic irony based on details from other books.

The mesh worn by Councilmembers with Hork-Bajir hosts might be like chainmail. I'd thought of chainmain as armor when fighting Hork-Bajir-Controllers. Everything old is new again.

Essam sounds like a YPM type. Maybe Edriss was a bit more sympathetic than she'd admit in front of the council. It seems a Yeerk's personality is often affected by the neurological connection with its host. Maybe they are also shaped by lessons learned while in the host. The Animorphs showing up seemed reasonable as a non-resolution to the idea of shooting Darwin.

So The Sharing's wealth is from Alison's skills put to computer crime. I figured they just accessed their hosts' wealth, which we did see with Lowenstein. The Sharing's money was mentioned about the fancy community center in #33 The Illusion.

The Sharing, from a meta perspective, seems like a sci fi spin on human flaws. This was emphasized by discussing the origins of the organization.

This is great as the other side of Marco's conflict over his Controller mom.
4491164
The pictures in two photo sections tell the whole story of Gordon, Sheila and family.  I have selected some interesting items about Hollywood instead of the typical movie couple in the Fifties.  He made four movies with DoDo Day: "Tea for Two", "The West Point Story," "On Moonlight Bay," and "By The Light of the Silvery Moon."  She was a bit old for the perrenial boyish MacRae.  They were asked to pose for an Easter Seals poster with some 'handicapped' children.  She refused on religious grounds that she was a "Christian Scientist and they don't believe in cripples."  (Hear that, Wink M.)  Gordon was insulted and cursed this Girl-next-door character "She's giving my religion a bad name."  Oh well, in her older years, she always had to be filmed through a special filter to obliterate her wrinkles and aging process, the big phony.  I loved Gordon in "Carousel" and "Oklahoma."  He was fabulous and such a good singer.

Movies are tricks of the eyes and the makeup artists.  There's a quirk in how we see that allows a series of still pictures to spring into motion.  In pursuit of that optical illusion, fortunes have been made; lives devoted to it, and some ruined.  The trouble was if you couldn't tell what was 'legerdemain' and what was 'real,' (magician from the magic); Sheila appeared as the magician's assistant and eventually got to know all the tricks.

They were in Hollywood during the blacklisting and has some interesting things to reveal about the prophetic Ronald Reagan.  Also, when she was named as "Mother of the Year" her marriage was a shambles and they were on the verge of a divorce.  Sounds like Debbie and Eddie, a typical Hollywood couple.  Of all her affairs, I was shocked that Frank Sinatra was one!  She had moved here from England and kept a tinge of the British accent; I guess that's what intrigued him as I don't think it was her singing.  She was pretty and talented during the Sixties, but after the divorce, things went downhill for them both.  Such is life, but especially for the woman.
4957699
Dorman's first softcover book on the RGS, this is another set of wonderful photos published in a
large format, and the difference this time out is that most of them are in color.  Color photos of the
RGS are kinda rare, except those from several railfan trips late in it's life which have been published
elsewhere.
The color photos in this book are mostly from the last decade of the RGS.  There's also a number
of earlier black & white photos.  There is some text, and a number of interesting newspaper quotes
from the period (complements of W. George Cook).
A  good book, and a must-have for any RGS fan.
4191531
This is a mish mash of songs done by stars and faded stars.  Some of these artists and songs may have gone down in obscurity if not for the producers of these CDs.  The uniqueness is in most of the arrangements of the familiar songs that for the most part have been done better by others.  There are a few no names that will tweak your interest.  I liked the inclusion of "Superstars", that sports anthem for nearly 40yrs.  These discs would make for good trivia while intoxicated during a cocktail party.  Add a star for the inclusion of a paper backgammon game set up, along with liner notes practically inviting you to get "smashed". LOL :)  The other esteemed reviewers have listed all the songs.  I'm just not as enthused as they are.  Good enhanced remastering.
3815001
When I think of "Old Hollywood" or at least the imagery that comes with that saying, I think of Rudolph Valentino, Barbara LaMarr, Jean Harlow, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford and several others. This program takes a look at the older celebrities that pretty much started Hollywood, lived and died there.
 Several Hotels that are rumored to be haunted, The Roosevelt Hotel, The Knickerbocker Hotel are shown. Studios like the Raleigh Studios are known to be haunted by a few figures, one being a stageman that fell. Paramount that sits right next to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is also covered. Several Graveyards in and around "Hollywood" are covered as well, "Forever" being one of them in which hundreds of deceased celebrities are buried from the "Golden Age" of early Hollywood. Forest Lawn of Glendale is also talked about where hundreds more are resting in the afterlife.
"The Grey Ghost" aka The Queen Mary ship is said to have a few spirits aboard her vessel and is discussed.
The "Jean Harlow/Paul Bern" house is talked about as it saw an apparent suicide by Paul Bern when he was married to Jean Harlow. Sharon Tate was known to have lived there and maybe saw her own vision of impending death. Elke Somers home is also discussed as it may have several spirits living there.
All in all, a good overview of some of the stories that have lingered in Hollywood "Lore" when it comes to hauntings and the cemeteries here.
There are a few minor mistakes though such as dates being inaccurate or graves shown that are not the person talked about. Whoever chose the music for this also could have selected some better background sound. My thoughts.
Running time about 1 Hour,
Marc Wannamaker, A Hollywood Historian, talks about several areas of known interest.
2393570
Gotta love the classics. Def give the behind the scenes a look. I found it very interesting about the stars of the time.