2342 results for "Memoir"

The Magic of Light The Craft and Career of Jean Rosenthal, Pioneer in Lighting for the Modern Stage

Jean Rosenthal,Lael Wertenbaker
Learn About the Magic of Light from a Master Step into the captivating world of Jean Rosenthal, a trailblazing figure in the realm of lighting design for modern theater. The Magic of Light, a professional memoir crafted with the assistance of friend and novelist Lael Wertenbaker, unveils the artistry behind Rosenthal's technical mastery. Renowned for transforming stage illumination from a mere necessity to a mesmerizing art form, Rosenthal shares her insights, experiences, and the evolution of her craft. Part one of the memoir delves into Rosenthal's profound thoughts on light, exploring its role in theatrical history, dissecting its impact on plays, musicals, operas, and dance. Part two, "Tools of the Trade," serves as a comprehensive guide, detailing the mechanics of lighting instruments, with diagrams, charts, and photographs illustrating Rosenthal's creative process. Included are light plots, cue sheets, and scene designer's elevations for the famous Broadway productions of Hello, Dolly and Plaza Suite. In a heartfelt preface, Wertenbaker offers a glimpse into the life of Rosenthal, a woman of immense talent, professionalism, and profound humanity. From her early collaborations with Martha Graham to her work with Broadway stage greats, Rosenthal's journey unfolds with anecdotes, humor, and the unwavering dedication that endeared her to colleagues and theater crews alike. The Magic of Light is not only a technical guide; it's a celebration of Rosenthal's legacy and her impact on the theatrical world. With contributions from luminaries like Martha Graham, John Houseman, Oliver Smith, Mary Martin, and Garson Kanin, this memoir is a tribute to a pioneering artist whose work continues to shape the essence of stage illumination. This book is also available from Echo Point Books as a hardcover (ISBN 1648374298).
Echo Point Books & Media, LLC 2024-04-02 270 pages

Daydreams and nightmares

Horowitz, Irving Louis
*Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Biography and Autobiography This is the story of the making of a world-famous sociologist. It is even more the story of a boy hustling to survive. Here in an astonishing and candidly written memoir by one of America's premier social scientists recounting the intensely personal story of his tormented youth in a ghetto within a ghetto. It etches the painful details of a boy's overcoming alienation and isolation in a hostile place in an unloving family. In the 1930s a small remnant community of Eastern European Jewish immigrants still resided in predominantly black Harlem. As shopkeepers trying to make out a marginal existence, Harlem's Jews were a minority within a minority. Into this restricted world the author of this book was born. Irving Louis Horowitz's parents had fled Russia, his father the victim of persecution in the Tsarist army during World War I. The boy's schoolmates were the children of black sharecroppers who had immigrated to the North. Poverty, language, and culture all cut off the Horowitz family from traditional community life, and the stress of a survival existence led to the trauma of a deteriorating family unit. Harlem and its environs, the Apollo and the Alhambra theaters, the Polo Grounds, and Central Park were the stage on which a youngster from this ghetto built a kind of self-reliance at the cost of social graces. The recipient of the National Jewish Book Award for Biography and Autobiography, this new, augmented edition contains the author's reflection of the impact of the Great Depression on Harlem family life.
Transaction 2011-09-01 126 pages

Obligato: untold tales from a life with music

Hirschmann, Ira Arthur
Hirschmann, who died in 1989 at the age of 88, was a New York City business executive known for his activities as a diplomat and anti-Nazi activist. In this charming memoir, he tells how he was able to blend his passion for classical music with his professional life. In the 1920s, he obtained a radio station for his company and utilized it to broadcast live symphony concerts. In the 1940s he founded the FM radio station WABF, which carried live classical music concerts. As organizer and president of the New Friends of Music, a nonprofit organization that presented chamber music concerts for the general public, he helped bring many of the world's greatest musicians to this country. It was at Hirschmann's instigation that his friend, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, created New York City's High School of Music and Art. His reminiscences about these and other accomplishments and of his many friends in the music world are delightful, but disturbing is his account of his successful campaign in 1936 to force the New York Philharmonic to withdraw its invitation to the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler to succeed Arturo Toscanini as Music Director of the orchestra. The record of this episode is less clear-cut than Hirschmann suggests; Furtwangler, who conducted at the New York Philharmonic during 1927-1930 and claimed that he remained in Hitler's Germany to save his country's ``soul,'' maintained that he himself withdrew from the appointment because of the anti-German campaign.
Fromm International Pub. Corp 1994 133 pages

All in a Life-time

Morgenthau, Henry,Strother, French
"All in a Life-time" offers a rare and compelling glimpse into the world of early 20th-century diplomacy and United States foreign relations. Written by Henry Morgenthau and French Strother, this political memoir chronicles a distinguished career in public service. As a key figure during World War I, Morgenthau provides firsthand accounts and insightful observations on critical historical events. His experiences as an ambassador offer a unique perspective on the complexities of international relations and the challenges of representing the United States on the world stage. This meticulously prepared print republication allows readers to delve into the past and gain a deeper understanding of the historical context that shaped the 20th century. "All in a Life-time" remains a vital resource for anyone interested in biography, United States history, and the intricacies of public policy. Its enduring appeal lies in its timeless exploration of leadership, diplomacy, and the pursuit of a life dedicated to service. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Anson Street Press 2025-03-29 324 pages

Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison! it seemed like a good idea at the time

Harrison, Harry
"Recollections of one of the grand masters of science fiction, on his storied career as a celebrated author and on his relationships with other luminaries in the field. This memoir is filled with all the humor and irreverence Harry Harrison's readers have come to expect from the New York Times bestselling author of the uproarious Stainless Steel Rat series. This also includes black and white photos spanning his sixty-year career"--
Tor, A Tom Doherty Associates Book 2014-11-04 351 pages

Busted in Bloomington: A Tragedy in the Summer of '68

Dawson, Greg and Candy
This collective memoir of the Bloomington, Indiana High School Class of 1968 chronicles the transformation of clean-cut midwestern teens grappling with issues that would touch the rest of their lives. Chuck Walls, a young English teacher turned them on to edgy literature, music---and marijuana. His life was short but remains consequential to more than a hundred people who spoke candidly to the authors. Hiding his sexuality was mandatory and we see how it led to the demise of a gifted yet troubled teacher. His arrest and tragic death, still wreathed in mystery, continue to haunt the minds of the Class of 1968.
Independently published 2017-08-28 267 pages

Postcards from Heaven Messages of Love from the Other Side

Dan Gordon
"Nearly all of us either have had or have heard of an experience in which a soul already departed reaches back to us who have been left behind.... Sometimes, it's no more than a whisper, a familiar smell in the air, or just the feeling of presence as vivid as when the loved one was still alive. These moments are just that...moments, a glimpse behind the veil; not a letter from heaven, but a postcard." (Dan Gordon, Postcards from Heaven) A postcard from heaven is not a revelation from on high -- rather, it's "a whisper, a familiar smell in the air, or just the feeling of presence" of someone who's passed away. It is just enough of a message to imply that what we call life is not ended by what we call death. Dan Gordon has been receiving these postcards all his life -- from his father, his older brother, and his son Zaki, who was killed in a car accident when he was only twenty-two. Postcards from Heaven is the beautiful, inspirational memoir of four generations of a remarkable family and how they remain interconnected, a part of one another's stories, even after passing to the other side. Here is the span of his father's long life, moving and funny, from the Russian Revolution to his improbable Depression-era courtship of a woman named Goddess -- Gordon's mother -- to his spiritual later years in Israel; his incorrigible older brother's mischievous magic, able to find humor even in cancer treatment; and his brilliant son, a natural storyteller who looked destined to follow his father into the movie business. These are the stories of their lives on earth as well as after death. Full of humor, compassion, and love, Postcards from Heaven comforts and assures us that those we loved can reach back to those of us still on earth -- and, if only we are attentive enough to listen, we can hear them say, Got here safe. It's really beautiful. Much love, till we meet again.
Atria Books 2010-12-01 128 pages

Namedropping: mostly literary memoirs

Elman, Richard M.
In the course of the same old race I find myself writing about knowing some people--how fame seems to set some people apart from us, once known: I was astonished by Ernest Hemingway's small, weak handshake when we were introduced at Scribners by John Hall Wheelock and by the jolt of force with which Elie Wiesel squeezed my hand. How long ago seems knowing, too: when I first meet Isaac Singer he asks me, "Who is Mr. Saul Bellow?" We're on the Upper West Side in his apartment next to the funeral parlor. A yellow parakeet hops around on Singer's bald forehead. Singer's great comic story of faith, "Gimpel the Fool," has only recently been published from Yiddish into English in a translation by Saul Bellow. They're both still a long way from Stockholm. "Do you know him? Can you tell me who this Mr. Bellow is?" he asks. It was not always possible to guess Singer's motives in acting as though he was not impressed with worldly reputations. His features of a medieval Polish saint, even to a faint white-haired tonsure effect around the crown of his skull, were backlit by the glowing monitor from his mischievous incubus.--from the Preface These are Richard Elman's candid snapshots in prose of the various, mostly literary celebrities he encountered during his four decades as a working writer and journalist--among them Isaac Bashevis Singer, Tillie Olsen, Bernard Malamud, Faye Dunaway, Hunter S. Thompson, and other important artists and writers who were Elman's teachers and, occasionally, adversaries. Engagingly written and never superficial, these portraits and anecdotes in many cases strike to the center of each subject's art. To many readers, these persons are just "names"; Elman brings them to life while never simplifying or overdramatizing their work.
State University of New York Press 1998-01-01 277 pages

Survivor from a dead age: the memoirs of Louis Lozowick

Lozowick, Louis
Louis Lozowick (1892-1973), an American painter and printmaker most noted for his depictions of the urban scene, was in many ways a typical cultural figure of the early twentieth century. Born in Ukraine in an era of revolutionary ferment, involved in the artistic adventures of Paris, Berlin, and Moscow in the 1920s, he was one of the earliest links between the international machine aesthetic and the nascent American Precisionist movement. Set almost wholly in Russia and.
Smithsonian Institution Press 1997-02-17 352 pages