This may be his toughest battle Jake Abbott, an injured Marine veteran, won a playwright competition with his script Afghanistan. The prize? A full-ride scholarship to the University of Idaho, and the chance to have his play performed that fall by the theater department. He should be overjoyed. Instead he finds himself listening for the sound of the voice of a woman he knows he can't have — theater professor Gail Tremont. She's made that clear — it's a conflict of interest, and she's the producer of his play. He might not like it, but he's honor-bound to accept her decision. Gail Tremont is under attack and not just in petty department politics either. There have been real attacks that put her life in jeopardy. But Gail is tough, and she's not going to back down. They're putting on Afghanistan, and no one is getting in the way of that — not even her wayward heart. Book 4 in the series Second Chance Romances featuring four women friends who have each other's backs. And really? There's little you can't do if you've got friends like that — even take a chance on love again. A slow burn, second chance, small town, contemporary romance. (Be prepared for language, triggers, and politics.)

In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Sheldon Leonard, among his many other accomplishments, has never lost his sense of humor. It is this quality that provides the driving force of his memoir, recapturing those antic moments and the comic routines, the gags and the pratfalls, and the enormous joie de vivre that have marked his wonderfully creative and eventful life. In television Leonard has made his greatest contribution to popular entertainment. Occasionally as actor, more often as writer, but mainly - and resoundingly - as producer and director, his credits include some of the most successful and beloved TV series of our time, among them The Danny Thomas Show, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and I Spy. Leonard's account of how these series were created and sustained is in many ways the heart of his memoir.

A powerful, behind-the-scenes look at some of America's all-time favorite television programs during their darkest hours, this study examines how various hit series have absorbed the death of a lead actor during production. Although each television program eventually resumed production, the lead actor's death in each case had a profound impact on the surviving cast and crew and the future of the show itself. Individual chapters explore the events surrounding the deaths of Freddie Prinze (Chico and the Man), John Ritter (8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter), Redd Foxx (The Royal Family), Nicholas Colasanto (Cheers), Phil Hartman (NewsRadio), and many others. Their stories are told through first-hand accounts by those who knew them best, including many of the most talented actors, producers, writers, and directors in television over the past forty years.

An introduction to the theater that includes everything from backstage, cast, behind the scenes information, the building, to the actual productions.

(Theatre World). Theatre World, the statistical and pictorial record of the Broadway and off-Broadway season, touring companies, and professional regional companies throughout the United States, has become a classic in its field. The book is complete with cast listings, replacement producers, directors, authors, composers, opening and closing dates, song titles, and much, much more. There are special sections with biographical data, obituary information, listings of annual Shakespeare festivals and major drama awards.

A Dictionary of Anglo-American Proverbs & Proverbial Phrases Found in Literary Sources of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries is a unique collection of proverbial language found in literary contexts. It includes proverbial materials from a multitude of plays, (auto)biographies of well-known actors like Britain's Laurence Olivier, songs by William S. Gilbert or Lorenz Hart, and American crime stories by Leslie Charteris. Other authors represented in the dictionary are Horatio Alger, Margery Allingham, Samuel Beckett, Lewis Carroll, Raymond Chandler, Benjamin Disraeli, Edward Eggleston, Hamlin Garland, Graham Greene, Thomas C. Haliburton, Bret Harte, Aldous Huxley, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, George Orwell, Eden Phillpotts, John B. Priestley, Carl Sandburg, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jesse Stuart, Oscar Wilde, and more. Many lesser-known dramatists, songwriters, and novelists are included as well, making the contextualized texts to a considerable degree representative of the proverbial language of the past two centuries. While the collection contains a proverbial treasure trove for paremiographers and paremiologists alike, it also presents general readers interested in folkloric, linguistic, cultural, and historical phenomena with an accessible and enjoyable selection of proverbs and proverbial phrases.

By Royal invitation, join us to celebrate The Royal Show! Prodigal son and loyal daughter... The Forsyth Variety Company has been given the opportunity of a lifetime - to entertain Her Majesty at 1962's Royal Variety Performance. Keen to rehearse, the company heads to the Seagate Theatre under the tutelage of the company's owner, Ed Forsyth. This is Ed's last hoorah before retiring and he's keen to leave on a high. But his son, Cal, has absconded, leaving his twin sister, Evie, to help manage the company after their mother's death. Hoping to display her best trapeze performance ever, she's also desperate that the entire troupe should succeed. If only her father hadn't brought in another old-timer... Billy Rich has come all the way from Hollywood, invited to be their main star. Billy is full of bluster and ego and his much younger wife, the mysterious Magdalene, doesn't help. Can this troupe of old-time crooners, dancing girls and magicians possibly pull this off? Especially when they must compete with the 1960's rebellious new bands and revolutionary music? Abandoned by her brother, Evie has no idea if she'll ever be able to wrestle the troupe into a show fit for a queen. But as the theatrical group heads towards a royal deadline like no other, Cal returns out of the blue to introduce a song that could change the world. Is he here to help, or are his motivations darker? As the company descends into illicit romance, family intrigue and foul crimes, rehearsals begin to unravel. Can they really do this? Cal thinks he has the answer, if only the troupe can believe in him. Because the queen's show must go on...