Showing results by author "B Michael" in All Categories

As Captain Blood, Robin Hood, and the Sea Hawk, he was the "King of the Swashbucklers". As Errol Flynn, he was Hollywood's number one rogue. He was married three times, and also was the defendant in three rape trials. Indeed, it's fitting that his last major swashbuckling film cast him in the role of Don Juan. The play joins Flynn a few weeks before his premature death. Knowing that the end is near, he is in a New York airport, waiting to fly west to see his children for the last time.

This study of Hollywood's favorite "screwball" comedienne begins on the eve of her death. Following a successful war bonds tour, she awaits word in an Indianapolis hotel room to see if she's been successful in securing plane reservations for a flight back to Los Angeles. She's anxious to get home, because she suspects that her husband, Clark Gable, is cheating on her.

For nearly 30 years, Clark Gable was "the King" of Hollywood. Female fans swooned, and male admirers were made envious of his unaffected masculinity. Through jaunty, self-assured performances in films like It Happened One Night, San Francisco, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Gone with the Wind, he carved a niche for himself as the quintessential American movie star.

He's been called "the best film actor Hollywood has ever known". His marvelous performances in classic movies like Captains Courageous, Adam's Rib, Bad Day at Black Rock, and Inherit the Wind endowed him with a tough, solid humorous image - one that was totally at odds with his own personality. The play opens in 1967 when Tracy was in poor health and struggling to complete what would be his final film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Jackie Moss was once one of the hottest stand-up comedians in show business, a contemporary of Don Rickles, Jack Carter, and Buddy Hackett. He'd even had his own television series. But Jackie has a temper and that temper has put his career in trouble. Fired from his most recent Las Vegas engagement and with his personal manager threatening to terminate their relationship, Jackie has only one gig left on his schedule: a well-paying one-night performance at a private party deep in the Ozark Mountains.

In today's hectic work environment, the chances are that you have way too much to do and too little time to get it done. No matter how accomplished and capable you are, achieving your goals can seem almost insurmountable. Why is it that some people consistently seem to get more done than others? The answer is that they know how to set specific, achievable goals for themselves...and then follow through on them.

Before Oprah, before Ellen, there was Dinah Shore. She was the queen of the afternoon talk show. For over five decades, Dinah induced a state of joy into people wherever she appeared, a love affair between her and her audience. In the fickle world of popular music, Dinah had a longer run at the top than any other girl singer, and on television, she had no equal in the musical field. Arguably, she was "the first lady of television". Dinah's life, however, was not always easy.

You don't need Hollywood. No, seriously. When we first started making movies, we were broke college kids with no connections or experience. Fast forward five years and we were producing a million-dollar movie with well-known Hollywood stars. We wrote The Break In to share all the most valuable lessons (and hilarious stories) from our experience so that you can launch a promising career on your own terms.

Why is it that some people consistently seem to get more done than others? The answer is that they know how to set specific, achievable goals for themselves - and then follow through on them. This revised and updated edition of Goal Setting gives listeners powerful techniques they can use to set a goal, make a plan, and acquire the resources and power necessary to achieve their objectives.

In this audiobook, the Green Ghost will face a giant mechanical monster on a long abandoned boardwalk, attempt to solve the murder of his old mentor, and uncover a ring of foreign saboteurs using radio frequencies to carry out their missions of terror and destruction. Here are pulp thrills and spills showcasing one of the most original classic pulp heroes ever invented. Brought to you by Airship 27 Productions, the new home of high adventure.

On the evening of February 1, 1922, silent film director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in his Los Angeles home. The murder, coming on the heels of the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, shocked the Hollywood community and the country, resulting in reform groups labeling the film capital a "modern day Babylon," and demanding that movies be censored or, in some communities, even banned.

They're baaaaaaaaaaaaacckkkkk!!! Rocky Coast Radio Theatre returns with yet another copious cornucopia of classic concoctions, crafted and compiled for the captive congregation (gotta love that thesaurus!). Nightmares on Congress Street, Part V offers dramatized adaptations (complete with music and sound effects) of chilling stories penned by Edgar Allan Poe, Hugh B. Cave, and H. P. Lovecraft, as well as a few additional treats.

In Michael B. Druxman's outrageous comedy, Hail on the Chief!, cantankerous gentleman rancher Oliver Pettridge hates his neighbor, a former cowboy movie star. He's hated him for years over a property line dispute. As the play begins, the neighbor has just been elected President of the United States.

Clara Blow is a one-woman play in two acts about the life and times of Clara Bow. The "It" Girl was the movies' first American sex goddess. The star of Wings, the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar, Clara Bow's unhappy life, in many ways, paralleled that of her successor, Marilyn Monroe. A longtime victim of insomnia, Ms. Bow lies awake on the morning of her estranged husband's funeral and painfully remembers the mentally ill mother who once tried to kill her; her career as the ultimate "flapper" her many nervous breakdowns; and affairs with the likes of Gary Cooper, Gilbert Roland, director Victor Fleming, and, as is said, the USC football team.

While running from the law in Dallas, small time hustler Charlie Powers is hit by a car and "dies". He has an out-of-body experience, in which he witnesses a gangland slaying that took place 17 years earlier. And, he recognizes the killer as a man who is currently running for political office in California. Brought back to life by paramedics, the roguish Powers decides to pursue an investigation for his own personal gain. Unfortunately, he gives himself away to the candidate, and now the pursuer becomes the pursued.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a revisionist history of Hollywood's Golden Era and the tabloid press that covered it. Harry Pennypacker was a prolific and revered newspaper columnist; a colleague of Louella Parsons, Walter Winchell, and the other great columnists of the day.

Unfortunately, nobody has ever heard of him because the papers never ran his articles. They were too hot. Too dangerous. Too likely to tarnish the delicate image of silver screen icons. The newspaper syndicate couldn't fire him because he had an ironclad contract, so Pennypacker wrote his stories...and the editors buried them. Until now.

The 47-day siege of Vicksburg orchestrated by Grant resulted in the eventual surrender of the city and fulfilled a major strategic goal for the Union: command of the Mississippi River for the remainder of the war. In this revealing volume, Michael B. Ballard offers the first in-depth exploration of Grant's thoughts and actions during this critical operation, providing a never-before-seen portrait of the general in the midst of one of his most notable achievements.

HISTORY TELLS US:

In 1888, the elusive serial killer, Jack the Ripper, terrorized the Whitechapel District of London. Scotland Yard was baffled. But, that same year, Jack met his match when he crossed paths with the dreadfully evil ...really awful...Count Dracula. On July 22, 1934, notorious bank robber John Dillinger was shot "dead" by the FBI in front of Chicago's Biograph Theater.

Orson Welles is a one-person play in two acts about the life and times of Orson Welles. Some say that Orson Welles was a genius, but he always denied that. He did give us Citizen Kane, considered by most critics to be the best film ever made, but after that, his career took one long downward plunge. The play finds Welles trying to find the financing for one of his film projects. It's a difficult task, since most of the Hollywood community considers him to be a "screwball".

Renowned professor Michael B. McElroy leads a comprehensive examination of energy, including its history, use in the world today, and environmental consequences. Whether discussing the "oil shocks" of the 1970s, the current reliance on imported oil, or the growing buildup of carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere, it is clear that energy represents one of the world's most daunting challenges.