James Dean students have long known that the major influence in Dean's life was not Elia Kazan or Marlon Brando but a brilliant, fey radio director named Rogers Brackett. Author Bill Bast roomed with Dean at UCLA and knew at firsthand his friend's Rimbaud-Verlaine relationship with Brackett that the studio tried to suppress after Dean's death. Bast's vivid portrait of Dean and Brackett and the gay underground of New York and Hollywood in the early 1950s will be one of the most talked about books of the year. Only $19.95 (a savings off the pub. list price of $24.95) Barricade Books, hardback, illus., 304 p.
 

Lee Raskin is an attorney, Dean scholar, and renowned Porsche historian. He has collected photographs and other rare Dean items for many years, and the result is this richly illustrated book on James Dean: actor, person, sports car racer. Available from AL at $27.00 (a savings off the $29.95 pub. list price). Please add $5.00 for handling and postage. David Bull Publishing, hardback, illus., 144 p. Perfect for reading and the coffee table.
 

As the head of Murder, Inc. Louis "Lepke" Buchalter oversaw a stable of cold and methodical killers handpicked off the streets of New York: Allie Tannenbaum, Mendy Weiss, and the deadliest of all, Albert Anastasia. They carried out mob hits until Lepke was tricked into surrendering to the Feds in 1939 and then turncoat Tannenbaum put his former boss in the chair with his testimony at Lepke's spectacular murder trial. Paul R. Kavieff has re-created the life and times of the hired killer whose business philosophy was chillingly simple: "No witnesses, no indictments." Only $19.00 (a savings off the pub. list price of $22.00) Barricade Books, hardback,
illus., 246 p.
 

Author William A. DeGregorio has written a 300,000 word one volume encyclopedia with an entry on every president from George to George. This revised and updated edition is full of engrossing, entertaining, and sometimes titillating facts about every denizen of the White House. Chosen by the American Library Association as an "Outstanding Reference Source." Only $14.95 (a savings off the $21.00 pub. list price) Barricade Books, trade paper, illus., 830 p.
 

Robert L. Beir and Brian Josepher have unearthed new information regarding the shocking indifference of the Roosevelt Administration--and many other public figures--to the suffering of the Jews of Europe. Thomas Watson of IBM sold early computers to Germany which were used to identify Jews and other minorities for persecution. In 1939, President Roosevelt refused to allow a ship of German-Jewish refuges to dock and many later perished in concentration camps. These and other haunting facts are brought to light in this new study of one of history's greatest crimes. Only $21.95 (a savings off the pub. list price of $26.95) Barricade Books, hardback, illus., 324 p.
 

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Well, not always. Nevada journalist John L. Smith has written the hidden history of the bookmakers (John Exber), buccaneers (Howard Hughes), gangsters
(Johnny Rosselli), tycoons (Steve Wynn), and other assorted characters (Mayor Oscar Goodman) and cutthroats who built the gaudy castles and gambling palaces of the Desert Kingdom. An American Legends SuperStore Savings title.

 

Get Happy is the ironically titled biography of the sad lady who sang those sad songs (The Man That Got Away, You Made Me Love You) and whose battles with drugs and alcohol followed her through life. Only $15.00 (a 50% savings off the $29.95 pub. list price) Random House, hardback, illus., 510 p.
 

The Menuhin family children were musical prodigies. Willa Cather was a worldly novelist who instructed them in the wise ways of the world during their days in Paris and New York. Lionel Rolfe, a member of the Menuhin family, writes about that uncommon friendship. American Legends is proud to present this original publication in our series of American biographies. Only $10.00 (a $4.95 savings off the $14.95 pub. list price) American Legends Publishing, trade paper, illus., 168 p.

Please send me an autographed copy.
Please send me an unsigned copy.
 

Running Scared
by John L. Smith

A sizzling, unauthorized biography of Steve Wynn, the casino king, who built a new empire in the desert with junk bonds and deal making and changed Las Vegas forever. Only $14.40. (a $9.60 savings off pub. list price) Barricade Books, hardback, illus., 352 p.

Amazon.com review (Five Star Rating)

Heaven & Hell to Play With
(The Filming of Night of the Hunter)
by Preston Neal Jones

The production of The Night of the Hunter (1955) was an amazing cross-pollination of the arts that will probably never be duplicated. The film's producer, Paul Gregory, had a brilliant career as a Broadway producer--but this was his first film. Critic James Agee (1909-1955), a legendary reviewer for Time and The Nation, wrote the first draft of the screenplay that was then polished by Charles Laughton (1899-1962), who also directed the movie. This brilliant narrative study is based upon years of research and interviews with the film's principals (Paul Gregory, Robert Mitchum, Davis Grubb who wrote the novel) and is already a classic that is used in film schools. Only $16.00 (A savings off pub. $18.95 list price) Limelight Editions, trade paper, illus., 398 p.

Surviving Mae West
by Priscilla Rodd

The legendary Mae West loved to shock them-- and was one of the best. Priscilla Rodd is a worthy heiress apparent. Her wicked first novel tells a sad (and sometimes funny) tale of a young lady from a good background who finds herself working as a hooker in New York City. Only $14.00 (a $2.50 savings off pub. list price) Vandalia Press, trade paper, fiction, 207 p.
 

Truman Capote

Born a poor boy in New Orleans, Truman Capote became the chronicler of chic cafe society--until his frank work-in-progress, Answered Prayers, made him an outcast. This video which includes several Capote interviews traces his literary rise and fall.
 

Electric chairs, soup cans, suicides, movie stars, Madonnas and musclemen--these were the subjects of Andy Warhol, the son of a Pittsburgh construction worker and an eccentric, religious mother who became the most important American artist of his generation. (1928-1987) This comprehensive DVD traces Warhol's artistic progress from early drawings at Carnegie Tech and his days as a commercial artist in New York (designing greeting cards) to his last days painting variations of Michaelangelo's The Last Supper. The breathtaking scope of Warhol's originality, and his constant reinvention of himself as an artist, are captured in this rich, well-researched documentary. (Running time: 50 minutes, Color)
 

This documentary contains amazing film clips and rare footage of Billie Holiday--the lady whose career spanned the Jazz Age, the Big Band era, swing and bop. Included are shots of Billie singing, "Please Don't Talk About Me, God Bless the Child, I'm a Fool to Want You"--and other great Holiday favorites. The DVD contains a delicious clip of Billie singing "My Man Don't Love Me," accompanied by Roy Eldridge and Lester Young--who gave her the name, Lady Day.
 

Roy Orbison: In Dreams is an exciting documentary about the poor boy from West Texas who helped shape country rock--and
became an American music legend. This video biography contains rare footage of Roy singing at high school auditoriums, on TV, and on stage during an early tour of Australia (with a then unknown English group, the Rolling Stones). There is also film of Roy recording "Running Scared" in a Memphis recording studio and anecdotes and remembrances by Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash of the genius who composed and sang, "Only the Lonely," "Pretty Woman," "It's Over," "Crying"--all of which are featured in this superb music biography. (Running time: 93 minutes, Color)
 

From the time he left home in Oak Park, Illinois, Ernest Hemingway's life was one adventure after another. Wounded during the First World War, he was decorated for bravery by the Italian Army, then settled in Paris where he served as a correspondent for a Canadian newspaper and moved in bohemian circles: Gertrude Stein, the Spanish Civil War, Scott Fitzgerald, and big game hunting in Africa were the backdrop of Hemingway's exciting and varied life. This bio-documentary, Ernest Hemingway, draws on interviews, rare photographs, and memoirs to present a vivid picture of the author of The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, and other enduring novels. (Running time: 30 minutes, Color)

William Faulkner was a paradoxical genius: Born in Mississippi, and raised in the tradition of the Old South, he was a revolutionary writer whose opaque style and shocking themes made him an American original.

The grandson of a Confederate soldier, Faulkner grew up amid stories of lost battles, violent Southern quarrels, gambling men, and dishonored ladies--themes that he reworked into his gothic tales: As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, The Sound and the Fury.

This documentary searches for the roots of Faulkner's tales and traces his progression from a small town boyhood to the internationally recognized writer whose works are still widely read and admired. (Running time: 30 minutes, Color)

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