Author Description

POP TWENTY #1 is the first in a series of books devoted to 20th Century popular culture, and it offers much more than nostalgia "once over lightly." Reported by top-flight writers who are experts at exploring our shared memories of classic movies, early TV, old time radio, and pop music, POP TWENTY #1 is also richly illustrated with over 140 rare, often never-before-published, photos that bring the stories to life. In its inaugural edition, POP TWENTY includes pieces about the unforgettable 1933 film musical FOOTLIGHT PARADE starring James Cagney, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell with dance numbers staged by the legendary Busby Berkeley (Did you know that Berkeley did not direct all the film's musical ensembles?); the chaotic behind-the-mike story of the founding of the CBS Radio Network (Despite the legend, William S. Paley had nothing to do with it!); a speculation on how James Dean became an icon of rock 'n' roll even though he probably never heard a genuine rock record (The forgotten story of Dean's brief encounter with "Crazy, Man, Crazy" by Buddy Holly); a behind the scenes look at the popular 1950s TV series, I MARRIED JOAN (In which Joan Davis went head-to-head with Lucille Ball and I LOVE LUCY); and an inside the park tour of Old Tucson, the famed Arizona movie ranch (Well-captured on film, but laid waste by an unknown arsonist). Also inside the pages of POP TWENTY #1 are profiles of several well-known early movie memorabilia collectors, an investigation of the strange case of comedian Charley Chase, and contract summaries of top Hollywood stars and directors like Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Allan Dwan and Ernst Lubitsch. If you're a fan of the golden age of Show Business, POP TWENTY is for you.