Anthony Slide

In this work, respected pop culture historian Anthony Slide resurrects 50 early 20th century novels with gay themes or characters and discusses them in carefully researched, engaging prose.

A Reference Guide to Fifty Works from the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Lost Gay Novels

An extraordinary portrait of a young woman, terrorized in her own country, brought to the U.S. and mercilessly exploited by the film industry.

Ravished Armenia and the Story of Aurora Mardiganian

Americans have been watching and enjoying British television programming since the mid-1950s, but the information on the personalities involved is difficult, if not impossible, to find in the United States. This guide provides biographical essays, complete with bibliographies, on 100 of the best known and loved actors and actresses from Richard Greene (Robin Hood) and William Russell (Sir Lancelot) in the 1950s through stars of Masterpiece Theatre, including Robin Ellis and Jean Marsh, to the new generation of British comedy performers such as Alexei Sayle and Jennifer Saunders. Not only are serious dramatic actors and actresses, such as Joan Hickson and Roy Marsden, to be found here, but also the great comedy stars, including Benny Hill and John Inman. Among the many shows discussed in the text are Absolutely Fabulous; You Being Served?; Dad's Army; Doctor Who; ; Fawlty Towers; The Good Life; The Jewel in the Crown; Poldark; Rumpole of the Bailey; Upstairs, Downstairs; and Yes, Minister. The guide offers not only factual information but also samplings of contemporary critical commentary and in-depth interviews with Terence Alexander, Richard Briers, Benny Hill, Wendy Richard, Prunella Scales, and Moray Watson. This is a reference source that also serves as fascinating entree into the wonderful world of British television, one that is as fun to browse as it is to use for factual documentation.

An American Biographical Guide to 100 British Television Personalities

Some Joe You Don't Know

The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry is a completely revised and updated edition of Anthony Slide's The American Film Industry, originally published in 1986 and recipient of the American Library Association's Outstanding Reference Book award for that year. More than 200 new entries have been added, and all original entries have been updated; each entry is followed by a short bibliography. As its predecessor, the new dictionary is unique in that it is not a who's who of the industry, but rather a what's what: a dictionary of producing and releasing companies, technical innovations, industry terms, studios, genres, color systems, institutions and organizations, etc. More than 800 entries include everything from Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to Zoom Lens, from Astoria Studios to Zoetrope. Outstanding Reference Source - American Library Association

The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry

Documents the lives and careers of America's first women directors and provides an introduction to the subject of women in the American silent-film industry.

America's First Women Directors

The Silent Feminists

Early Women Directors

A major contribution to film scholarship and women's studies, this is the first critical biography of America's first native-born female director. It fully documents the career of Lois Weber as a director from 1908 through 1934 and notes the impressive number of short subjects and feature films that she made. Largely forgotten and often maligned, Lois Weber has received scant attention in recent years, yet this study points out that she was one of the cinema's genuine auteurs, not only directing, but also writing and often starring in her films. She was one of the first committed filmmakers who utilized the motion picture to express her views on subjects as varied as birth control, abortion, capital punishment, hypocrisy, and racial intolerance. Lois Weber's career is an extraordinary one, arguably unsurpassed by any other woman director before or since. Acclaimed film historian Anthony Slide presents us with an important reminder of the role women played in the American silent film industry and places Weber's preeminence in film history.

The Director who Lost Her Way in History

Lois Weber

A Pictorial Record

Fifty Classic French Films, 1912-1982

Tay Garnett

An essential text on filmmaking. In this book, some of the motion picture industry's most important directors including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Howard Hawks, Louis Malle, Federico Fellini, Blake Edwards, Francois Truffaut, and René Clair answer questions on the decisions that all directors must make before filming a movie, the directors' sources of inspiration, and their philosophy of filmmaking.

Learn from the Masters

Directing

Brian McFarlane

Produced with assistance from the British Film Institute, this is a comprehensive history of the British film industry from its inception to the present day, with minute listings of the producers, directors, actors and studios behind a century of great British cinema.

The Encyclopedia of British Film

Collected together here are Anthony Slide’s writings on film and television history from the 1960s through the present. Subjects and individuals discussed are varied, including Lillian Gish, Val Guest, Vivienne Segal, Wendy Richard, Elisabeth Welch, Lawrence Welk, and Betty White. All illustrate the author’s scholarship, dedication to the serious study of the history of popular culture, and also his unique sense of humor. The book is a reminder of a career that has included time spent as resident film historian of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and associate archivist of the American Film Institute. It complements Anthony Slide’s work as the author or editor of more than 200 books on the history of Popular Entertainment.

The Truth at Twenty-Four Frames per Second: An Anthology of Writings on Film History

The fan magazine has often been viewed simply as a publicity tool, a fluffy exercise in self-promotion by the film industry. But as an arbiter of good and bad taste, as a source of knowledge, and as a gateway to the fabled land of Hollywood and its stars, the American fan magazine represents a fascinating and indispensable chapter in journalism and popular culture. Anthony Slide's Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine provides the definitive history of this artifact. It charts the development of the fan magazine from the golden years when Motion Picture Story Magazine and Photoplay first appeared in 1911 to its decline into provocative headlines and titillation in the 1960s and afterward. Slide discusses how the fan magazines dealt with gossip and innuendo, and how they handled nationwide issues such as Hollywood scandals of the 1920s, World War II, the blacklist, and the death of President Kennedy. Fan magazines thrived in the twentieth century, and they presented the history of an industry in a unique, sometimes accurate, and always entertaining style. This major cultural history includes a new interview with 1970s media personality Rona Barrett, as well as original commentary from a dozen editors and writers. Also included is a chapter on contributions to the fan magazines from well-known writers such as Theodore Dreiser and e. e. cummings. The book is enhanced by an appendix documenting some 268 American fan magazines and includes detailed publication histories.

A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers

Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine

An encyclopedic guide to vaudeville that includes not only information on performers, but also those active behind the scenes in various support capacities. Beyond biographical data, entries on vaudevillians often include contemporary criticism, a sampling of an act's routines, and an appraisal of the performer's place in vaudeville history. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville

Billy H. Doyle

Includes entries for some 7500 deceased actors as well as directors, producers, writers, politicians, and sports figures who appeared in silent films.

A Necrology of Births and Deaths and Essays on 50 Lost Players

The Ultimate Directory of the Silent Screen Performers

Perhaps John Jasper, in Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870), was the first homosexual in a mystery novel. For over 100 years thereafter, depictions of gay men and lesbians were generally unsympathetic.Over 500 novels with homosexual characters or themes, both mainstream and those specifically for gays and lesbians, are examined in the present work. Each entry includes a plot synopsis and critical commentary. Where appropriate, biographical information is provided on the author.

A Critical Guide to Over 500 Works in English

Gay and Lesbian Characters and Themes in Mystery Novels

The anti-Communist hysteria that began in the 1930s became a political cause celebre in 1938 when the House of Representatives established the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities. Soon thereafter, the creation of the blacklist in the late 1940s brought the Hollywood film and television community into the fold. Provocatively capturing the controversy and sentiments surrounding this period of political imbalance, Actors on Red Alert explores the repercussions of the blacklist through career interviews with five prominent actors and actresses.

Career Interviews with Five Actors and Actresses Affected by the Blacklist

Actors on Red Alert

INCORRECT ENTERTAINMENT or Trash from the Past: A history of political incorrectness and bad taste in 20th Century American pop culture Cultural Historian Anthony Slide, who has been described by the Los Angeles Times as a “one-man publishing phenomenon,” strikes again with a book guaranteed to contain something offensive for everyone. Chapters include subjects as varied as Camp, Fascism in Hollywood, Hedda Hopper, and the Porkey's movies. The latest topical jokes on Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Challenger disaster, alcohol, drug, and spousal abuse, communism, ethnicity, gays and lesbians and religion. They are all here in this quirky, outrageous, informative, and above all, entertaining overview of political incorrectness an bad taste in twentieth century popular entertainment, including film, theater, music, radio, television, and Vaudeville. British-born Anthony Slide is a former associate archivist of the American Film Institute and resident film historian of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is the author of more than seventy books on the history of popular entertainment and the editor of a further 125 volumes in the "Filmmakers" series. Among his major works are EARLY AMERICAN CINEMA, THE FILMS OF D. W. GRIFFITH, GREAT RADIO PERSONALITIES IN HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS, GREAT PRETENDERS: A HISTORY OF FEMALE AND MALE IMPERSONATION IN THE PERFORMING ARTS, THE SILENT FEMINISTS: AMERICA'S FIRST WOMEN DIRECTORS, THE AMERICAN FILM INDUSTRY: A HISTORICAL DICTIONARY, THE HOLLYWOOD NOVEL, NITRATE WON'T WAIT: A HISTORY OF FILM PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES, LOIS WEBER: THE DIRECTOR WHO LOST HER WAY IN HISTORY, and SILENT PLAYERS: A BIOGRAPHICAL AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF 100 SILENT ACTORS AND ACTRESSES. In 1990, in recognition of his work on the history of popular entertainment, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Bowling Green University. At that time, he was hailed by Lillian Gish as "our preeminent historian of the silent film."

Incorrect Entertainment

Searching for an introduction to the shadowy, intriguing world of early 20th century gay-themed fiction? In Lost Gay Novels, respected pop culture historian Anthony Slide resurrects fifty early 20th century American novels with gay themes or characters and discusses them in carefully researched, engaging prose. Each entry offers you a detailed discussion of plot and characters, a summary of contemporary critical reception, and biographical information on the often-obscure writer. In Lost Gay Novels, another aspect of gay life and society is, in the words the author, “uncloseted,” providing you with an absorbing glimpse into the world of these nearly forgotten books. Lost Gay Novels gives you an introduction to: authors who aren't usually associated with homosexuality, including John Buchan, James M. Cain, and Rex Stout the history of gay publishing in the US and abroad gay themes in novels published between 1917 and 1950—with entries from nearly every year! the ways in which the popular culture of the time shaped the authors' attitudes toward homosexuality the difficulty of finding detailed biographical information on little-known authors If you're interested in gay studies or history, or even if you're just looking for a comprehensive guide to titles you've probably never heard of before, Lost Gay Novels will be a welcome addition to your collection. The introduction from author Slide—called by the Los Angeles Times “a one-man publishing phenomenon”—provides you with an overview to the basics of this landmark collection. Themes found in many of the titles include death, secrecy, and living a double life, and in reading the entries you will discover just why these themes are so common. As Slide says in his introduction: “The approach of the novelist toward homosexuality may not always be a positive one… but the works are important to an understanding of contemporary attitudes toward gay men and gay society.” Lost Gay Novels will help you further your own understanding of the dynamic relationship between literature and culture, and you will finish the book with a greater appreciation of modern American gay fiction.

" From his unique perspective of friendship with many of the actors and actresses about whom he writes, silent film historian Anthony Slide creates vivid portraits of the careers and often eccentric lives of 100 players from the American silent film industry. He profiles the era’s shining stars such as Lillian Gish and Blanche Sweet; leading men including William Bakewell and Robert Harron; gifted leading ladies such as Laura La Plante and Alice Terry; ingénues like Mary Astor and Mary Brian; and even Hollywood’s most famous extra, Bess Flowers. Although each original essay is accompanied by significant documentation and an extensive bibliography, Silent Players is not simply a reference book or encyclopedic recitation of facts culled from the pages of fan magazines and trade periodicals. It contains a series of insightful portraits of the characters who symbolize an original and pioneering era in motion history and explores their unique talents and extraordinary private lives. Slide offers a potentially revisionist view of many of the stars he profiles, repudiating the status of some and restoring to fame others who have slipped from view. He personally interviewed many of his subjects and knew several of them intimately, putting him in a distinctive position to tell their true stories.

A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses

Silent Players

Fan magazines occupied a unique role in American popular culture during the first half of the twentieth century. Their appeal was in the many stars they featured and, on infrequent occasion, the major literary figures who contributed to the pages.Presented here is an anthology of articles from many of the major fan magazines of the 1920s and 1930s written by those not normally associated with this genre: E.E. Cummings, Theodore Drieser, Janet Flanner, Archibald MacLeish, W. Somerset Maugham, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Each article is fully annotated and accompanied by an introductory essay discussing the author's involvement with the movie industry.

Anthony Slide

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