Reflections for the Renaissance


Book Description

Laura Lonshein Ludwig: poet, recipient of four New York State Council for the Arts Grants, listed in Whos Who in the World in 2004 for her work as a screenwriter, satirist, poet, actress, and director. Laura has performed on stages across the nation, on radio, TV, and in poetry venues. Regional editor for upstate New York for Medicinal Purposes Literary Review, previously the staff assistant for the New Press Literary Quarterly, and a producer with the Museum of Sound Recording, Lauras plays and poetry can be heard on shows created by Teachers and Writers Collaborative, WNYE, The Light Show (WBAI 99.5 FM), Earth Bird, Channel 57, MNN. Lauras poetry can be heard on the Joe Franklins Memory Lane radio program at WOR AM, hosted by Joe Franklin and cohosted by Richard Ornstein, who is the cowriter of the newest screenplay Laura wrote, The Desk. Sounds like a Plot, Ms. Ludwigs last book, was reviewed by the comic Professor Irwin Corey. In these masters of the art, one finds the writer. Laura received outstanding reviews from Al Lewis (radio actor on WBAIs The Al Lewis program with Karen Lewis; Frederick Geo Bold, The Light Show producer and host; Dr. Joseph S. Salemi, New York University professor, poet, translator, scholar, Department of Classics, Brooklyn College) for the first book Robo Sapiens. The reviews and other reviews are to be found in this book, Reflections for the Renaissance. Ms. Ludwigs work can be found in the Mid-Manhattan Library, NYU Bobst Library, the Brooklyn Library, and published in over sixty literary publications. The Xlibris website and all major websites, such as the Barnes and Noble (through Xlibris by e-mail and phone), the St. Marks Bookshop, and City Lights Booksellers in San Francisco, California. Available worldwide; Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble bookstores can order it for you with other books and chapbooks by Laura Lonshein Ludwig. Reflections for the Renaissance is a book of poetry on the masters in literature, theatre, and the screen, for art is life, and life can only be art by loving art itself. The delight and experience in reading the masters in literature and studying the great writers, comics, producers, and artists throughout the ages that have moved Ms. Ludwig to the pen and to the screen. Also included in this collection is The Man on the Street Is without a Prayer, the screenplay that Richard Ornstein compared to Duck Soup, the genius of the Marx Brothers, and Ms. Ludwigs work to Mel Brooks. Short comic plays are included as well. Ms. Ludwig studied acting at the Gene Frankel Theatre, attended Franconia College, and worked in sales and customer relations for twenty years. In a desire to produce television that educates and provides the community with the arts, Ms. Ludwig offered ballet, opera, theatre, poetry, plays, and films to present her screenplays and the work of other artists and activists for ten years in pursuit of program time offering a budget. Brooklyn cable-access TV offered the public and Ms. Ludwig an opportunity to enjoy television made through concern and a love of art. Creating the show with attention to the value of language and art, it was a top-rated program combining the rising artists of New Yorkthe new artists that have studied their craft with the stars. Ms. Ludwig presented some of the great stars in film, radio, and TV. The American dream is to enjoy good literature, and film, to reach for the fruits of your labor in the quest to be part of the renaissance in art. In that quest is the art of today and those that influence and encourage the creation of art. Reflections for the Renaissance honors the artists that I have worked with and who inspired many other artists in the New York poetry circuit, while creating a new body of art to be treasured and to help shape the new renaissance in art for the twenty-first century.




The Funniest People in Comedy and Relationships: 500 Anecdotes


Book Description

This book contains such anecdotes as these: 1) In his Answer Man column, film critic Roger Ebert answered a question by Matt Sandler about who was the world's most beautiful woman by saying that she was Indian actress Aishwarya Rai. In a later Answer Man column, a reader stated that Mr. Ebert should have answered the question by saying, "My wife." However, Mr. Ebert had a good reason for not answering the question that way: "Matt Sandler asked about women, not goddesses." 2) To advertise its Razzles candy, Mars Candy decided to use a Cleveland, Ohio, show in which comedian Ron Sweed, aka The Ghoul, hosted several mostly bad horror movies. The Ghoul criticized the candy for weeks, and the more he criticized it, the more its sales went up. In gratitude, Mars Candy delivered a case of Razzles to The Ghoul. The case of candy remained on the set of The Ghoul's show for year--unopened.




Laugh-Makers


Book Description

Stebbins begins with a history of stand-up comedy, giving vital background about the industry as it emerged and flourished in the United States and subsequently developed into a popular form of entertainment in Canada. He deals with the nature of comic performance in comedy rooms - cabarets designed specifically for stand-up comedy - and examines the career of the comic: how people become interested in comedy, how they progress as amateurs, how they survive on the road and how, sometimes, they become headliners and later writers for film and television. He also discusses the business of comedy: booking agents, comedy chains such as Yuk-Yuk's, room managers, and the comics themselves as entrepreneurs. As the first comprehensive study of a growing phenomenon, The Laugh-Makers will interest sociologists of humour and sociologists of occupations and will contribute to our understanding of Canadian popular culture.




American Humor


Book Description

The paramount question answered in this absorbing collection of essays is: What's so funny about American humor, and why? What are American humor's characteristics? How have they evolved and displayed themselves? Which characteristics are distinctively, or even uniquely, American? Originally appearing as an issue of the American Quarterly, these essays take a close look at American humor from revolutionary times to the present day, and particularly focus on the neglected trends of the past fifty years. Looking at American comic figures as diverse--and even surprising--as Mark Twain and Richard Nixon, at various vehicles for American humor such as comic strips, radio and television, movies, and standup comedians, and at different genres of humor including political, ethnic, and feminist humor, this book brings a lively new perspective to the study of American culture.




Encyclopedia of Jewish American Popular Culture


Book Description

This unique encyclopedia chronicles American Jewish popular culture, past and present in music, art, food, religion, literature, and more. Over 150 entries, written by scholars in the field, highlight topics ranging from animation and comics to Hollywood and pop psychology. Without the profound contributions of American Jews, the popular culture we know today would not exist. Where would music be without the music of Bob Dylan and Barbra Streisand, humor without Judd Apatow and Jerry Seinfeld, film without Steven Spielberg, literature without Phillip Roth, Broadway without Rodgers and Hammerstein? These are just a few of the artists who broke new ground and changed the face of American popular culture forever. This unique encyclopedia chronicles American Jewish popular culture, past and present in music, art, food, religion, literature, and more. Over 150 entries, written by scholars in the field, highlight topics ranging from animation and comics to Hollywood and pop psychology. Up-to-date coverage and extensive attention to political and social contexts make this encyclopedia is an excellent resource for high school and college students interested in the full range of Jewish popular culture in the United States. Academic and public libraries will also treasure this work as an incomparable guide to our nation's heritage. Illustrations complement the text throughout, and many entries cite works for further reading. The volume closes with a selected, general bibliography of print and electronic sources to encourage further research.




Encyclopedia of Television


Book Description

The Encyclopedia of Television, second edtion is the first major reference work to provide description, history, analysis, and information on more than 1100 subjects related to television in its international context. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclo pedia of Television, 2nd edition website.




The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre


Book Description

International in scope, this book is designed to be the pre-eminent reference work on the English-speaking theatre in the twentieth century. Arranged alphabetically, it consists of some 2500 entries written by 280 contributors from 20 countries which include not only top-level experts, but, uniquely, leading professionals from the world of theatre. A fascinating resource for anyone interested in theatre, it includes: - Overviews of major concepts, topics and issues; - Surveys of theatre institutions, countries, and genres; - Biographical entries on key performers, playwrights, directors, designers, choreographers and composers; - Articles by leading professionals on crafts, skills and disciplines including acting, design, directing, lighting, sound and voice.




What's So Funny?


Book Description

Critical studies attempting to define and dissect American humor have been published steadily for nearly one hundred years. However, until now, key documents from that history have never been brought together in a single volume for students and scholars. What's So Funny? Humor in American Culture, a collection of 15 essays, examines the meaning of humor and attempts to pinpoint its impact on American culture and society, while providing a historical overview of its progres-sion. Essays from Nancy Walker and Zita Dresner, Joseph Boskin and Joseph Dorinson, William Keough, Roy Blount, Jr., and others trace the development of American humor from the colonial period to the present, focusing on its relationship with ethnicity, gender, violence, and geography. An excellent reader for courses in American studies and American social and cultural history, What's So Funny? explores the traits of the American experience that have given rise to its humor.




1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said


Book Description

A collection of 1,911 quotes from scholars, comedians, political candidates, writers, reporters, philosophers, and other people from throughout history.