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“We’re here to stay!” was what Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels assured, speaking to members of the German film industry in early 1933. There were many who agreed with him like Karl Ritter who introduced Mickey Mouse to German audiences in 1930 and in 1933 began to produce propaganda films like Hitler Youth Quex: “In our cinemas we want to see nothing else than convinced National Socialists!”

For a while German film export languished, but with WW2 the Nazis “conquered” cinemas all over Europe and flooded them with their movies, propaganda as well as allegedly “apolitical” entertainment. In the new Germany one can laugh again! the propaganda promised but it was a different way of laughing. It was gallows humor.

This book deals not only with Hitler’s personal cinematic likes and dislikes, with the ambitions of Leni Riefenstahl, with the idyllic world of German animation, with film emigration, with anti-Semitic films, Dachau and Auschwitz. There is also a back story to tell about certain German silents like Metropolis and why the way of Teutonic imagery didn’t end with the death of the Nazi leaders in 1945, why their way of “laughing” is still alive on German screens…

Author Garry Berman gives readers a history lesson in comparing and overlapping the mediums of radio artists and film comedies during the decade of the 1930s. In doing so, he has not only created a new format, he has brought in fresh perspectives of the people that made the magic.” – Bill Cassara, author of Nobody’s Stooge and Edgar Kennedy: Master of the Slow Burn.

“It is a thorough and fascinating study, filled with interesting details.” – James Neibaur, author of Arbuckle & Keaton and The Charley Chase Talkies.

“Garry Berman has done a stellar job.” – Michelle Morgan, author of The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd.

If there was ever a “Golden Decade” of American comedy, it was the 1930s. At the dawn of that remarkable, laugh-filled era, comedians had, for the first time, three performing venues available to them: the stage, radio, and talking films (plus, in the final year of the decade, the arrival of television), resulting in this ten-year span producing the finest performances by the greatest comedians ever to make audiences laugh. In film, comedy titans Laurel & Hardy, The Marx Brothers, and W. C. Fields all reached their creative peaks, as did Mae West, Our Gang (a.k.a. The Little Rascals), the Three Stooges, and less-remembered teams such as Wheeler & Woolsey, Clark & McCullough, and the Ritz Brothers.

At the same time, radio became a major entertainment force, allowing vaudevillians Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Fred Allen, Ed Wynn, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Edgar Bergen, Bob Hope, and Abbott & Costello to become national stars.On the stage, comedians including Bert Lahr, Fannie Brice, Jimmy Durante, and Wynn all thrived, while expanding their respective careers into films and radio.The Funniest Decade devotes one chapter to each calendar year of the 1930s, covering the landmark comedy films, radio programs, and stage performances of each year, while focusing on the individual comedians and comedy teams at key moments in their professional careers, including their first major creative and popular breakthroughs.

Dozens of photos, too!Entertainment historian Garry Berman has been writing about pop culture−especially television, music, and films−for over twenty years. He has contributed to Nostalgia Digest magazine, History magazine, and Beatlefan. He has also written and/or published several comedy scripts and humorous short pieces. This is his sixth non-fiction book.

CAROL BURNETT: Danny Kaye’s show went off the air in 1967 and The Carol Burnett Show was premiering that fall. All I could think about was, We need a Harvey Korman. We need a consummate actor with comedy chops to spare. I believe we had a call in to his agent when one afternoon I happened to see Harvey himself headed for his car in the CBS parking lot. I shouted, “Harvey!” And then proceeded to jump him.I seem to remember leaning him back over a car hood.“Please, please be on our show! You’re the very best! PLEASE?”It wasn’t exactly the most professional way to offer someone a job, but it worked. Harvey signed on, and I was in heaven.

BURT LANCASTER (OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR): “Chris, your father is a brilliant actor. He creates these incredibly believable human characters. On live television, no less.”

PETER MARSHALL (Emmy-Award-winning host of Hollywood Squares) “I always tell people that Chris loves me so much that, when he was six years old and I was in the hospital, he chose to visit me over breakfast at IHOP.”

MEL BROOKS (Oscar-winning writer/director) (Starred Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, and History of the World Part 1): “Chris, I loved your father, even though he could be a real asshole.”

Joseph Warren Revere, a grandson of the legendary Paul Revere, served in the U.S. Navy; circumnavigated the globe; raised the first American flag in Sonoma, California during the Mexican War; battled pirates, sharks, and Indians; searched for gold; had a scandalous affair; joined the Union Army and received a court-martial for his actions at the Battle of Chancellorsville during the Civil War. And then he began the fight of his life.William R. Chemerka, an award-winning educator, author, History Channel commentator, and recipient of the North Jersey Civil War Round Table’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, brings the untold story of Revere’s Gothic adventures to life in this detailed biography.

Sneak through the pitch blackness of a distant mountain ridge along the border and stop to listen to the sounds of the night, only to hear people breathing all around you in the dark. Hide in a brush covered draw so dark that a group of approaching people do not even know you are there until they run into your outstretched hand.This is the real Border Patrol, the federal law enforcement agency where for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, dedicated men and women are on duty in the most remote hills, mountains and deserts along the international border with Mexico, looking for and apprehending men and women who have illegally snuck into the United States.

Border Patrol agents do this because one third of the people they catch have a criminal record. They do this because merciless foot guides or “coyotes” leave their injured or sick countrymen behind to die in the heat or cold of the wilderness. And the agents do this, often on their own and always outnumbered, despite the dangers from armed drug smugglers, border bandits hiding in the shadows, criminal aliens, and the threat of injury from every possible natural obstacle in the untamed borderlands where so many agents skillfully and successfully complete their assigned duties.

Dorothy McGuire remains one of the most beloved stars of Hollywood. An actress of sincerity, dignity and natural beauty, she graced film, radio, television and theater for nearly half a century, delivering unforgettable performances in such classic movies as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the suspense thriller The Spiral Staircase. Yet no biography has been written about her—until now.

Adamant is intended not as a definitive biography, but rather as an attempt, which investigates, reveals and examines, with microscopic tenacity, the many facets of McGuire’s personal and professional history, drawing on a wide range of sources, including personal reminiscences of friends, colleagues and family and the author’s own frequentation of the actress. The reasons for the author’s self-deprecating definition of Adamant as an attempt hinge on the definition of exactly what one is attempting when one writes a biography.

The loose strands of philosophical, literary and spiritual Leitmotifs that are woven through the book’s exploration and culminate in its unusual conclusion make it less a biography than a moral, or alchemical, study of Dorothy McGuire. This loving tribute takes the metaphysical route and makes observations not only about its immediate subject but also about the art of acting, personal evolution and virtues, and, most importantly, the act itself of writing a biography.

Inspired by true events, Children of the Underworld is the thrilling, epic tale of a female private investigator’s astonishing courage and strength in searching for a missing young girl.

Born in Tehran, Sharzad dreamt of traveling the world as an investigative journalist. She’d fantasized of becoming a Persian version of Oriana Fallacci, the great Italian reporter. In her wildest dreams, she never imagined getting involved in the horrifying International child trafficking of children.From San Francisco to Malaysia and Singapore, Sharzad’s search for an innocent young girl turns into web of riveting saga of love, suspense and deceit. It exposes the dark underground bases where children are kept as sex slaves and experiments and much more.

Sharzad’s objective: Locate a young girl named Elizabeth, and bring her home. Elizabeth was born in San Francisco. Her mother was a Palestinian who was literally given to her father by her parents based on a prearranged marriage. What she didn’t know was that her mother was willing to sell her own flesh and blood into slavery to sick pedophiles for only three hundred dollars. Join Sharzad on a multinational rescue mission to rescue Elizabeth from her horrible captors.

Basing the story on her own cases over decades of finding and returning abducted children, author and international private investigator Monique Lessan spins a tale of treachery and horror that you’ll never forget.

The Big Show was an NBC house-built package and an innovation in show business deriving its name from the fact that the talent roster each week included “the biggest names in show business.” Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Phil Harris, the Andrews Sisters, Milton Berle, Judy Holliday, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor and many others were heard on the program — along with hostess Tallulah Bankhead.

It was not until the rehearsal of the premiere broadcast that Bankhead discovered the program was cleverly scheduled in an effort to kill the radio career of Jack Benny, who jumped networks for a shareholder deal. The Big Show was also a financial loss for NBC beginning from day one. To offset the lack of sponsor interest, the network purposely made the weekly program one lengthy commercial promoting their business interests, from RCA television to RCA recording artists. Ethel Merman, for example, appeared on the program multiple times, reprising a dramatic scene from her current Broadway musical, Call Me Madame, which NBC was fifty percent vested.

Since many books already paint a livid portrait of Tallulah Bankhead, this book primarily documents the history of NBC’s The Big Show, broadcast from 1950 to 1952, with briefs fosucing on the life and career of Tallulah Bankhead as it pertained to references on the radio program. This book also includes never-before-published photographs, details about the 1952 television rendition, and a reprint of her 1950 talent contract with NBC.

“Once upon a time there was a girl with moonlight in her eyes, the breeze ruffled through her hair, but that was once upon a time, and once upon a time never comes again.” A few poignant words from a special song but if you let your imagination run wild that girl can only be Marilyn. A picture is worth a thousand words, but in the case of Marilyn Monroe it is even more so. Each and every photograph or piece of artwork depicting her image is truly unrivaled in its beauty. The movies Marilyn starred in are all unique, simply because she was part of the cast. From her first image on the big screen as a mere walk on extra, to the last image she gave us from her unreleased movie, Marilyn’s image radiated and glowed. This book will take you on a special journey along with Marilyn as she always gave 100% to her legions of fans, all the while without knowing how great a movie star she truly was.

BRADYPEDIA is the newest, grooviest book about The Brady Bunch. The book tells the story of the development of the original series through its end and then delves into the many spin-offs that ensued. There’s a price guide for the memorabilia, a chapter on the 80+ songs recorded by the Brady kids, and biographical info on the actors and their families. New revelations abound. What did Chief Eagle Cloud really say to Alice in the Grand Canyon? Were Mike and Carol scripted to have a baby together? How many times was Peter Brady engaged to be married? And what if Mike and Carol had adopted a bunch of kids after theirs left home? Open the book and find out!

BRADYPEDIA is the most comprehensive reference guide to The Brady Bunch ever published.

“BRADYPEDIA is a well-researched book that is enlightening for any Brady fan…and enlightening for the people who were there. I found out some things that even I didn’t know.” –Lloyd J. Schwartz (producer)

“A fun, informative and comprehensive look into The Brady Bunch and its extended afterlife. Through BRADYPEDIA, Erika Woehlk has done an excellent job of chronicling the history of the characters, the actors, the plots: from where they came and where they are.” –Barry Williams (“Greg Brady”)

“BRADYPEDIA is an enlightening book that all Brady Bunch fans should read. It has many obscure and astonishing tidbits that have never been exposed before now.” –Wendy Winans (Brady World)