by Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! “Everyone knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It’s a scientific fact” -Homer Simpson Whenever asked what my dream job would be, I reply with the following: Either film director in the 1970’s (in my opinion the last golden age of Hollywood pictures), writer for Saturday Night Live from […]
Tag: Andreas Kessaris
Shirley Jones: A Memoir by Shirley Jones with Wendy Leigh (Gallery Books, $29.99)
By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! Here’s a story for you: Shy, pretty small-town girl enters beauty contest as a lark and to her surprise wins. That leads to an audition for a part in the chorus of a Broadway show where she is discovered […]
Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution by Brett Martin (The Penguin Press, $29.50)
By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! “…shifting economics revealed that maybe it had always been advertisers, rather than audiences, who were so averse to difficult characters…” -from Difficult Men by Brett Martin Over the last decade there has been a changeover in prestige from the cinema […]
Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales From the New Abnormal in the Movies Business by Lynda Obst (Simon and Schuster, $29.99)
“If they don’t know how to sell it, they won’t make it.” -Lynda Obst By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! If you have ever wondered why Hollywood is currently churning out unwatchable remakes and unoriginal schlock based on obscure comic books or board games, I have a book for you. Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales […]
Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris and The Renegades of Nashville by Michael Streissguth (it Books, $31.99)
“What kind of music do you usually have here?” “Oh we got both kinds. We got country and western!” -from The Blues Brothers By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! There was a time when a handful of people in Nashville had a virtual monopoly on Country & Western music. All the recording artists were […]
Moneywood by William Stadiem (St. Martin’s Press, $31)
By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up Hollywood has long been divided into different “eras” or “ages” often referred to as “Golden” or “Great.” It is probably Hollywood itself that created those names in order to sell movie tickets and create interest in and increase the value of film their vast film vaults. I came of […]