Books in the Limelight series

LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT

In this incandescent autobiographical collage, lyricist, playwright and performer Betty Comden takes an exuberant and rueful look back on a lifetime of celebrated triumphs and private sorrow. With her lifelong collaborator Adolph Green, she has achieved glorious success on stage in such musical milestones as On the Town, Wonderful Town and Bells Are Ringing and on screen in the unforgettable Singing in the Rain and The Band Wagon. But this very intimate memoir takes us behind her experiences in theatre and film to her childhood in Brooklyn, her determined exodus to Manhattan and Broadway, her courtship and marriage and the lessons she has learned as a wife and mother. Off Stage is, then, not only of special interest to theatre and movie buffs. It is also the poignant and inspirational story of a woman of many talents and interests who tried to have it all - and very nearly succeeded.

Written with a rare combination of an informed film background and a sophisticated knowledge of literature... a valuable contribution of both literary and film history. - Variety

Written between the late '30s and the early '90s, these pieces by John Cage here acquire the permanence they deserve. Some have never been published before. Many appeared only in magazines, journals, and catalogues; others in concert programs and on record covers. Also included are the texts of lectures and - of crucial importance to the appreciation of his music - Cage's notes on the performance of his compositions, courtesy of his music publisher, C.F. Peters.

This collection of hilarious plays from the 15th - 20th centuries is brimming with all the venerable ingredients of French farce. Distinguished drama scholar Bermel has gathered some of the best in the genre, and the merriment, ribaldry, and wit of the works dance through his translations brilliantly.

The Third and most recent edition of The Vampire Film featuring a new chapter, "The Vampire at the Millennium " was released in October 1996 to coincide with the centennial of Stoker''s novel Dracula. More vampire films have been produced since the First Edition of The Vampire Film appeared in 1974 than in the entire history of motion pictures prior to that year. The first completely revised and updated edition was published in 1993. The Third Edition insures that what began as the first book-length study of the subject in 1974 remains the most comprehensive available.

Looking back on a century that witnessed the emergence of motion pictures to become, almost immediately, a dominant cultural force in our lives, this penetrating and provocative book argues that "movies (like cathedrals) cannot help but display the subconscious impulses oftheir society." From D.W. Griffith to the Marx Brothers to film noir, "what are conceived and consumed as innocent pop movies ... are in fact manifestations of wild horror, superstitious ignorance, fatalistic dread and bigoted savagery."

ÊDetours and Lost HighwaysÊ begins with the Orson Welles film ÊTouch of EvilÊ (1958) which featured Welles both behind and in front of the camera. That movie is often cited as the end of the line noir''s rococo tombstone...the film after which noir could no longer be made or at least could no longer be made in the same way... It is my belief Hirsch writes that neo-noir does exist and that noir is entitled to full generic status. Over the past forty years since noir''s often-claimed expiration it has flourished under various labels. Among the movies he discusses as evidence: ÊChinatownÊ (1974) ÊBody HeatÊ (1981) John Woo''s Hong Kong blood-ballets (e.g. ÊThe KillerÊ 1989) and the pulpy oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino. ä ÊWashington Post Book WorldÊ

"The story of Prince''s career is inseparable from the history of the American musical theatre for the past 40 years...In-depth accounts of musicals Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Cabaret, Company, and Sweeney Todd will be of interest to any musical theatre buff." - American Theatre

Distinguished Metropolitan Opera basso Jerome Hines provides a wealth of information and advice for all those who have embarked on or plan to embark upon a serious singing career. From basic information on how the head and body combine to produce vocal sound, he goes on to analyze the "four voices" encompassed by the singer''s one voice, always explaining how through proper technique and training the voice can achieve its ultimate in power, grace and beauty. The book also guides the singer through the labyrinth of choosing the right teacher, shows how physical and emotional health and care of the body relate to the vocal apparatus and considers such diverse matters as stage fright, dealing with conductors and managers and that final challenge - facing the critics.

...the definitive life. I don''t think it will ever be superseded ... It is scholarly yet readable the fullest most objective and factually detailed book on virtually every aspect of Buster''s career and personality: artistic financial and pyschological ... full of the most interesting (and surprising) information. ä Dwight MacDonald The New York Review of BooksÞÞ A candid yet compassionate account of Keaton''s turbulent personal life...reveals the roots of his humanity ... his pessimism ... âhisã superb spirit of comic gloom ... ä Boston Globe

A fat lavishly illustrated run through of...50 Hollywood movies from the 1930s up to a few years after World War II...valuable and entertaining today not only as a social record but as sheer entertainment...âZinmanã begins with Mae West''s classic ÊShe Done Him WrongÊ and touches all the cinematic landmarks including ÊCasablanca Citizen KaneÊ and ÊGone with the WindÊ... äPublisher''s Weekly

"...that rare thing, a piece of careful scholarship that is also superby entertaining...Starr, who is president of Oberlin College and has been associated with the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, is also a professional jazz musician, and his knowledgeable affection for the music shines through the text." - Andrea Lee, New York Times Book Review

IN AND OUT OF CHARACTER PB