BearManor Media News — q&a

AMERICAN CABLE Q+A WITH AUTHOR JOSEPH BRUTSMAN1. Your latest new book, AMERICAN CABLE sounds epic in both subject and theme. Is that indeed the case?Joseph Brutsman: After a great deal of work, research and introspection, I believe it arrived at that place. I wanted to present an overall history of “Cable”, as I also serve up the true-life adventures of those who put “Reality” programming together. Utilizing my own personal timeline as one of the earliest and longest-running creatives in cable and reality, I go through the evolution of this media, as I also tell of my own journey. The...

Q&A with Richard Torné, co-author of David Lean’s Dedicated Maniac - Memoirs of a Film Specialist 1. How did you meet Eddie Fowlie?I was working as a reporter for an English-language newspaper in Spain and found out that there was a hotel near where I lived that had been built by a retired film specialist - Eddie. I looked into it and the hotel El Dorado in Carboneras was notable for displaying film memorabilia, including part of the décor from the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra, which forms part of the dining hall’s wooden paneling. I made enquiries and was...

Tim Lucas Q&A on his new NoZone book   Tim, could we start with you telling us something about your new book NOZONE, in general?Certainly. NOZONE collects all of the “NoZone” review columns that I wrote for SIGHT & SOUND, the magazine of the British Film Institute, between 2003 and 2012 - so, a nearly ten-year period. My editors there, Nick James and James Bell, were exemplary at their jobs. James Bell, in particular, was personally assigned to the column and always made the end result a bit better than what I initially turned in. I’ve always been bad with...

Q&A with Adam Nedeff, author of Gong This Book! The Uncensored History of Television’s Wildest Talent Show What WAS The Gong Show?The Gong Show was this unlikely pop culture phenomenon that emerged in 1976. Contestants would have 90 seconds to perform their act—any act. Singing, stand-up, ventriloquism, juggling, anything at all. There were three judges watching them and scoring the performance, and at the end of each episode, the highest-scoring act won the Golden Gong trophy, plus a check for $516.32…or $712.05…or $716.32…it changed a couple of times.But one important detail…there was an enormous gong looming behind the judges. After...

Q&A with Louise Carley Lewisson, author of The Sheik and I - The Life and Career of Agnes Ayres Talking about your new book, what gave you the idea to write about Agnes Ayres?While researching my last book on actress Mary Nolan, I ran across Agnes’ name. Like a number of other silent era actresses who did not make the transition to sound, she had taken to working on stage in vaudeville acts, making personal appearances at various move theatres and had even been a real estate agent at one stage. It was at one such vaudeville event that included...