category: Adult's Books

Hollywood in the 1920s sparkled with talent, confidence, and opportunity. Enter Irving Thalberg of Brooklyn, who survived childhood illness to run Universal Pictures at twenty; co-found Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at twenty-four; and make stars of Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Jean Harlow. Known as Hollywood’s “Boy Wonder,” Thalberg created classics such as Ben-Hur, Tarzan the Ape Man, Grand Hotel, Freaks, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Good Earth, but died tragically at thirty-seven. His place in the pantheon should have been assured, yet his films were not reissued for thirty years, spurring critics to question his legend and diminish his achievements. In this definitive biography, illustrated with rare photographs, Mark A. Vieira sets the record straight, using unpublished production files, financial records, and correspondence to confirm the genius of Thalberg’s methods. In addition, this is the first Thalberg biography to utilize both his recorded conversations and the unpublished memoirs of his wife, Norma Shearer. Irving Thalberg is a compelling narrative of power and idealism, revealing for the first time the human being behind the legend.

CECIL BLOUNT DeMILLE

Colossal. Stupendous. Epic. These adjectives, used by movie companies to hawk their wares, became clichés long ago. When used to describe the films of one director, they are accurate. More than any filmmaker in the history of the medium, Cecil B. DeMille mastered the art of the spectacle. In the process, he became a filmland founder.

One hundred years ago, he made the first feature film ever shot in Hollywood and went on to become the most commercially successful producer-director in history. DeMille told his cinematic tales with painterly, extravagant images. The parting of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments was only one of these. There were train wrecks (The Greatest Show on Earth); orgies (Manslaughter); battles (The Buccaneer); Ancient Rome (The Sign of the Cross); Ancient Egypt (Cleopatra); and the Holy Land (The Crusades). The best of these images are showcased here, in Cecil B. DeMille: The Creation of the Hollywood Epic.

This lavish volume opens the King Tut’s tomb of cinematic treasures that is the Cecil B. DeMille Archives, presenting storyboard art, concept paintings, and an array of photographic imagery. Historian Mark A. Vieira writes an illuminating text to accompany these scenes. Cecilia de Mille Presley relates her grandfather’s thoughts on his various films, and recalls her visits to his sets, including the Egyptian expedition to film The Ten Commandments.

Like the director’s works, Cecil B. DeMille: The Creation of the Hollywood Epic, is a panorama of magnificence—celebrating a legendary filmmaker and the remarkable history of Hollywood.

Into the Dark: The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941 to 1950 is the first book to tell the story of film noir in its own voice. Mark A. Vieira uses unpublished images and unheard voices to transport you to the 1940s. Profiling eighty-two films, he shows the evolution of the genre we know as film noir, pulling pithy, nasty quotes from filmmakers, journalists, and exhibitors.

This is time travel, a ticket to a smoky, glamorous world. You enter a story conference with Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, visit the set of Laura, and watch Mildred Pierce with a preview audience. Into the Dark is the first book to recreate the environment that spawned film noir.

Do audiences say “Eek!” when a femme fatale is almost caught? They did in 1944. Into the Dark tells how Double Indemnity grabbed a nervous audience in Brooklyn. This is the first book to show how the genre was welcomed by the public and tallied by exhibitors. There was a consensus: something different was coming from Hollywood.

In 1944 Edwin Schallert wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the trend toward “honesty” had begun in 1941—with Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon. When critics wrote about “crime,” “mystery,” and “hard-boiled” films, these films were cited as the first, so 2016 marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of film noir.

Into the Dark is the first noir book to display the wit and warmth of its artists. Hedda Hopper reports on Citizen Kane,calling Orson Welles “Little Orson Annie.” Bosley Crowther calls Joan Crawford in Possessed a “ghost wailing for a demon lover beneath a waning moon.” An Indiana exhibitor rates the classic Murder, My Sweet a “passable program picture.”

Finally, Hollywood legends like Barbara Stanwyck and Orson Welles speak about film noir, putting a frame on the flashback. Into the Dark is the first book to convey the mystery, glamour, and irony that make film noir a surpassingly popular genre.

Watson-Guptill star Jonathan Fong wowed everyone with his first book, Walls That Wow. Now he turns his wow-power to flower arranging! Try the witty “Gung Hay Fat Choy,” flowers in a Chinese take-out container. Or the cheery “Warhol Daisies,” based on the artist’s flower paintings. Or the “Do Not Disturb Sign,” with a spray of roses for the handle. Fong’s unique, fun, affordable ideas let budding home florists create distinctive, delightful arrangements for every occasion and holiday, every setting, even every outfit.

Complete step-by-step directions plus florist’s tips make it easy–there are even how-to’s for fixing arrangements gone wrong! Both an inspiring idea book and a practical instruction book, Flowers That Wow is sure to wow flower lovers everywhere.

Face it. Most walls are booooring. Until Jonathan Fong gets through with them! Walls That Wow is packed with twenty-four spectacular ideas for jazzing up any wall–without complicated painting. Best of all, every project is removable, so homeowners and renters can try another wow technique whenever the mood strikes.

All the projects are presented with brilliant step-by-step color photos, plus materials checklists, full instructions, helpful hints, and an ETW (estimated time of wow). Unexpected materials, simple techniques, and stunning results make every reader say “WOW! I can do that…and I want to!”

In Parties That Wow, home-style guru Jonathan Fong explains that throwing a party is just like putting on a show–and so the parties presented here are theatrical, imaginative, and entertaining, packed with expert guidance and dramatic surprises from the world’s greatest party director.

Eighteen fabulous theme parties include Pretty in Pink, Starfish and Stripes, Big and Easy, Come to the Cabaret, and many more. Full “stage directions” include ideas for invitations, décor, table accents, flowers and centerpieces, food, and activities.

With show-stopping ideas like these, every party is sure to be a hit!

Greta Garbor’s cocked hat in Romance, Judy Garland’s blue-and-white ginham pinafore in The Wizard of Oz, Katherine Hepburn’s white and silver gown in The Philadelphia Story: these stunning film looks were all created by fashion designer Gibert Adrian.

Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label is the first book to present the full range of the designer’s work and its far-reaching influence on decades of fashion design. Christian Esquevin discusses Adrian’s natural talents for art and design; his studies in Paris, which led to work on Broadway for Irving Berlin; his long tenure as chief designer for MGM; and his wildly successful fashion line.

Copiously illustrated with archival images from film and fashion runway alike, this volume showcases Adrian’s hauntingly beautiful designs and his unrivaled position as a creator of American style.

The first in a trilogy,
Witchy Eye is an epic flintlock fantasy set in an alternate nineteenth century America ruled by ancient gods, divided by profound hatreds, and broken by treachery …

Sarah Calhoun is the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Elector Andrew Calhoun, one of Appalachee’s military heroes and one of the electors who gets to decide who will next ascend as the Emperor of the New World. None of that matters to Sarah. She has a natural talent for hexing and one bad eye, and all she wants is to be left alone—especially by outsiders.

But Sarah’s world gets turned on its head at the Nashville Tobacco Fair when a Yankee wizard-priest tries to kidnap her. Sarah fights back with the aid of a mysterious monk named Thalanes, who is one of the not-quite-human Firstborn, the Moundbuilders of the Ohio. It is Thalanes who reveals to Sarah a secret heritage she never dreamed could be hers.

Now on a desperate quest with Thalanes to claim this heritage, she is hunted by the Emperor’s bodyguard of elite dragoons, as well as by darker things—shapeshifting Mockers and undead Lazars, and behind them a power more sinister still. If Sarah cannot claim her heritage, it may mean the end to her, her family—and to the world where she is just beginning to find her place.

A brilliant Americana flintlock fantasy novel set in a world of Appalachian magic that works.

Game of Thrones meets Last of the Mohicans …