Books by Jim Manago

The Vanished World of Robert Youngson examines the life of the forgotten producer and writer who got his start making short subject films. His later features revived audience and critical interest in the 1920s silent film comedians, particularly Laurel and Hardy. These compilations celebrate the world he knew as a child with a nostalgic yearning for a bygone era. Nonetheless, there is an inescapable sadness, particularly at the close of each film, as his narrator expresses how "the laugh makers and thrill makers… have vanished, leaving behind no successors but only moving shadows." Besides candid memories from his wife Jeanne, this study incorporates the only known print interview that Bob gave with a young Leonard Maltin just three years before his death in 1974 at the age of 56. Film historian Jim Manago has authored biographies of Shirley Booth, Kay Aldridge, Gale Gordon, Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey. He hopes to bring to readers the first biography of Jonathan Harris, best known as Dr. Smith on Lost in Space.

The Vanished World of Robert Youngson examines the life of the forgotten producer and writer who got his start making short subject films. His later features revived audience and critical interest in the 1920s silent film comedians, particularly Laurel and Hardy. These compilations celebrate the world he knew as a child with a nostalgic yearning for a bygone era. Nonetheless, there is an inescapable sadness, particularly at the close of each film, as his narrator expresses how "the laugh makers and thrill makers… have vanished, leaving behind no successors but only moving shadows." Besides candid memories from his wife Jeanne, this study incorporates the only known print interview that Bob gave with a young Leonard Maltin just three years before his death in 1974 at the age of 56. Film historian Jim Manago has authored biographies of Shirley Booth, Kay Aldridge, Gale Gordon, Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey. He hopes to bring to readers the first biography of Jonathan Harris, best known as Dr. Smith on Lost in Space.

Gale Gordon, one of America's favorite actors with numerous radio, television, stage, and films to his credit, possessed impeccable comic timing and a unique voice that made him one of the busiest and most productive talents of the twentieth century. Today, we remember him best as Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956), the landlord Mr. Heckendorn on Make Room for Daddy (1959-1961), Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace (1962-1963), and as Theodore J. Mooney on The Lucy Show (1962-1968), Harrison Carter on Here's Lucy (1968-1974), and Curtis McGibbon on Life With Lucy (1986). Gale also skillfully played dozens of characters on Old Time Radio, such as Mayor La Trivia and Foggy Williams on Fibber McGee and Molly, and Rumson Bullard on that show's successful spinoff, The Great Gildersleeve. He was also the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon, in the 1935 radio serial, The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. At last, Jim Manago has brought Gale's life and career back into the spotlight with a handsomely examined biography that features a complete survey of his credits, emphasizing over twenty years of his radio work, where he developed his comedic abilities. Discover his little-known personal life, including his duties as the Honorary Mayor of Borrego Springs, California, and the desert ranch where he lived in tranquility away from the spotlight. Illustrated. Featuring transcribed excerpts from Fibber McGee and Molly and The Great Gildersleeve. "In character, Gale Gordon does something nobody else can do. He just stands there, not saying or doing anything, and all of a sudden he's the balloon that makes you want to reach for the pin." - Bob Sweeney in TV Guide ". . . Oh yes, yes, I'm one of those spoiled creatures of our modern mania. I expect comfort, serenity, beauty, privacy, modern conveniences, and of course a sound investment. And that's rather hard to achieve. But I really believe I have found the answer to all of my desires, here in this valley. I first saw it some thirty years ago. Considered myself a pioneer. Today I one of the fortunate ones lucky enough to escape the tensions of big city life and live in peace and comfort - here." - Gale Gordon speaking on A New Way of Life About the author: Jim Manago has authored The Thrills Gone By: The Kay Aldridge Story (2016), Behind Sach: The Huntz Hall Story (2015), and Love is the Reason for It All: The Shirley Booth Story (2008) for BearManor Media, and he also self-published For Bill, His Pinup Girl: The Shirley Booth & Bill Baker Story (2010).

This is the HARDBACK version. Gale Gordon, one of America's favorite actors with numerous radio, television, stage, and films to his credit, possessed impeccable comic timing and a unique voice that made him one of the busiest and most productive talents of the twentieth century. Today, we remember him best as Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956), the landlord Mr. Heckendorn on Make Room for Daddy (1959-1961), Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace (1962-1963), and as Theodore J. Mooney on The Lucy Show (1962-1968), Harrison Carter on Here's Lucy (1968-1974), and Curtis McGibbon on Life With Lucy (1986). Gale also skillfully played dozens of characters on Old Time Radio, such as Mayor La Trivia and Foggy Williams on Fibber McGee and Molly, and Rumson Bullard on that show's successful spinoff, The Great Gildersleeve. He was also the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon, in the 1935 radio serial, The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. At last, Jim Manago has brought Gale's life and career back into the spotlight with a handsomely examined biography that features a complete survey of his credits, emphasizing over twenty years of his radio work, where he developed his comedic abilities. Discover his little-known personal life, including his duties as the Honorary Mayor of Borrego Springs, California, and the desert ranch where he lived in tranquility away from the spotlight. Illustrated. Featuring transcribed excerpts from Fibber McGee and Molly and The Great Gildersleeve. "In character, Gale Gordon does something nobody else can do. He just stands there, not saying or doing anything, and all of a sudden he's the balloon that makes you want to reach for the pin."- Bob Sweeney in TV Guide ". . . Oh yes, yes, I'm one of those spoiled creatures of our modern mania. I expect comfort, serenity, beauty, privacy, modern conveniences, and of course a sound investment. And that's rather hard to achieve. But I really believe I have found the answer to all of my desires, here in this valley. I first saw it some thirty years ago. Considered myself a pioneer. Today I one of the fortunate ones lucky enough to escape the tensions of big city life and live in peace and comfort - here."-Gale Gordon speaking on A New Way of Life About the author: Jim Manago has authored The Thrills Gone By: The Kay Aldridge Story (2016), Behind Sach: The Huntz Hall Story (2015), and Love is the Reason for It All: The Shirley Booth Story (2008) for BearManor Media, and he also self-published For Bill, His Pinup Girl: The Shirley Booth & Bill Baker Story (2010).

This is the HARDBACK version. "And they are reading sociological significance into my performances . . . I was a brave, independent woman in the forest, frisking around . . . Of course, I was blithely unaware that I was a social statement. I was just a hungry actress." - Kay Aldridge on her Nyoka role, New York Times ". . . six beauties, but the only one who stood out was Kay Aldridge, who had a funny little way of winking her eyes and crinking her nose. They liked Kay for that." - On the Navy Blues Sextette, Los Angeles Times The Thrills Gone By: The Kay Aldridge Story presents the life of the photogenic and most-photographed cover girl, model, Hollywood starlet and Serial Queen who has been forgotten today, except for her iconic role in the Republic serial, Perils of Nyoka. Her story is one of unrealized potential. No, she did not become a major star in Hollywood, and sadly so, perhaps simply because she never overcame the limits of being so photogenic and so heart-stoppingly beautiful in person. Kay Aldridge is portrayed here experiencing nine years of thrills gone by. Her ultimate failure to make superstar status puts the familiar and oft-told Hollywood success stories in perspective. This biography is based on material from Aldridge's original scrapbooks as reassembled and annotated by her daughter as well as inclusion of every major newspaper article written about her. It offers a respectful portrait and appreciation of Aldridge's personal life and includes a brief examination of the thrilling moments from her three serials. Jim Manago has authored the first biography of Huntz Hall and two biographies on Shirley Booth. He holds a Master's degree in Cinema Studies from the College of Staten Island/City University of New York.

This is the hardback edition. "Your father is the American Chaplin."- Groucho Marx (speaking to Gary Hall)"Huntz Hall was a complicated person: extremely generous and loving on the one hand, scarily angry and violent on the other....As I get older I understand my father much better-he was emotionally deprived as a kid, and then he was unprepared for fame and money when they arrived in his teenage years. So he didn't have the skills to be a parent. He did the best he could with the emotional equipment he had." - Rev. Gary Hall (Huntz Hall's son)"I was nuts...Actually, I got into worse trouble than Sach...The cops would say to me, 'We don't want to lock you up, Huntz. You lock yourself up.' I'm lucky that I made it this far." - Huntz Hall, Entertainment Weekly interview"Huntz Hall, I loved him. [He] kept us laughing all the time. He was so funny."- Julie Gibson, actress, Bowery BuckaroosBehind Sach: The Huntz Hall Story presents the life of the man who made us laugh with his unforgettable and unique persona of Horace DeBussy Jones, best known as "Sach." This is the story of Huntz Hall, who played the zany character in forty-eight Bowery Boys motion pictures from the 1946 thru 1958. Perhaps some day Hall will be lauded as surely a comic genius as Chaplin. This biography is based upon never before revealed information provided by his only son. It offers a respectful portrait and appreciation of Hall's personal life and an examination of the comedy moments of his beloved Sach.Jim Manago has authored Love Is the Reason for It All: The Shirley Booth Story (BearManor Media, 2008) and For Bill, His Pinup Girl: The Shirley Booth and Bill Baker Story (Jim and Donna Manago Books, 2010). He holds a Master's degree in Cinema Studies from the College of Staten Island/City University of New York.

''And they are reading sociological significance into my performances . . . I was a brave, independent woman in the forest, frisking around . . . Of course, I was blithely unaware that I was a social statement. I was just a hungry actress." - Kay Aldridge on her Nyoka role, New York Times ". . . six beauties, but the only one who stood out was Kay Aldridge, who had a funny little way of winking her eyes and crinking her nose. They liked Kay for that." - On the Navy Blues Sextette, Los Angeles Times The Thrills Gone By: The Kay Aldridge Story presents the life of the photogenic and most-photographed cover girl, model, Hollywood starlet and Serial Queen who has been forgotten today, except for her iconic role in the Republic serial, Perils of Nyoka. Her story is one of unrealized potential. No, she did not become a major star in Hollywood, and sadly so, perhaps simply because she never overcame the limits of being so photogenic and so heart-stoppingly beautiful in person. Kay Aldridge is portrayed here experiencing nine years of thrills gone by. Her ultimate failure to make superstar status puts the familiar and oft-told Hollywood success stories in perspective. This biography is based on material from Aldridge's original scrapbooks as reassembled and annotated by her daughter as well as inclusion of every major newspaper article written about her. It offers a respectful portrait and appreciation of Aldridge's personal life and includes a brief examination of the thrilling moments from her three serials. Jim Manago has authored the first biography of Huntz Hall and two biographies on Shirley Booth. He holds a Master's degree in Cinema Studies from the College of Staten Island/City University of New York.

"Your father is the American Chaplin."-Groucho Marx (speaking to Gary Hall)"Huntz Hall was a complicated person: extremely generous and loving on the one hand, scarily angry and violent on the other....As I get older I understand my father much better-he was emotionally deprived as a kid, and then he was unprepared for fame and money when they arrived in his teenage years. So he didn't have the skills to be a parent. He did the best he could with the emotional equipment he had." -Rev. Gary Hall (Huntz Hall's son)"I was nuts... Actually, I got into worse trouble than Sach... The cops would say to me, 'We don't want to lock you up, Huntz. You lock yourself up.' I'm lucky that I made it this far." -Huntz Hall, Entertainment Weekly interview"Huntz Hall, I loved him. [He] kept us laughing all the time. He was so funny."-Julie Gibson, actress, Bowery BuckaroosBehind Sach: The Huntz Hall Story presents the life of the man who made us laugh with his unforgettable and unique persona of Horace DeBussy Jones, best known as "Sach." This is the story of Huntz Hall, who played the zany character in forty-eight Bowery Boys motion pictures from the 1946 thru 1958. Perhaps some day Hall will be lauded as surely a comic genius as Chaplin. This biography is based upon never before revealed information provided by his only son. It offers a respectful portrait and appreciation of Hall's personal life and an examination of the comedy moments of his beloved Sach.Jim Manago has authored Love Is the Reason for It All: The Shirley Booth Story (BearManor Media, 2008) and For Bill, His Pinup Girl: The Shirley Booth and Bill Baker Story (Jim and Donna Manago Books, 2010). He holds a Master's degree in Cinema Studies from the College of Staten Island/City University of New York.