BearManor Media News

The Tom Weaver Sardonicus InterviewQ: Your newest Scripts from the Crypt book, #11, is Mr. Sardonicus. Is it safe to assume that you’re a fan of the movie, and that’s why you’ve made it part of your series? Tom Weaver: I’m a sucker for MOST of the old William Castle horror movies, and Mr. Sardonicus stands out from the pack because, in my opinion, it resembles an episode of TV’s THRILLER – another favorite of mine! A good, ghoulish story, with a period setting, a castle that might as well be in Transylvania – it grabbed me as a kid....

A little something from the Sardonicus book: In the Big Book of Horror Movie History, he’s one of the great “Horatio Alger figures”: Marek Toleslawski. A Central European peasant, born with bleak prospects in Gorslava, circa 1830. On the one-year anniversary of the death of his mother Maria, his father Henryk died, and Marek inherited the family farm. He worked hard, but every time he sold his produce in the city, all moneys went toward the purchase of more feed and seed grain. This led to quarrels between Marek and his wife Elenka, who wanted more from life than the...

Book review courtesy of James L. Neibaur Back around 1970 there was an informative book entitled Clown Princes and Court Jesters that offered chapters on lesser-known comedians of the silent era. This included some of the true pioneers of the moving image, such as John Bunny, Augustus Carney, and Max Linder. Author Lisa Stein Haven’s new book from Bear Manor Media explores the life, career, and tragic end of Frenchman Linder, citing his lasting significance to film history. Max Linder began in films in 1905, making him the first world-famous movie comedian. Writing his own scenarios early on, Linder’s comic...

- Post by author Elva Green Eddie Green was born in 1891 when it was difficult for Black people to get ahead. But Eddie did. He wrote this about getting into radio. "Radio for Negroes is a very hard field to get into...very hard! But the returns are so great, that it's worth the try." You can see that Eddie became a success through radio. He also said "Talent is appreciated...you get respect if you know your business." And Eddie did get respect. Because he made it a point to know is business. He had determination. And he got along...

Reposted with permission by James L. Neibaur If ever a movie series demanded a book of its own, it is Ma and Pa Kettle. And it's especially grand that Lon and Debra Davis have chosen the project for BearManor Media.   This reviewer once held a free weekly film series for his townspeople at a downtown coffee shop. The bonafide classics of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, and W.C. Fields were well attended and enjoyed, but when I would show a Ma and Pa Kettle film, the place was so packed we worried the fire marshall...