Black Friday Sale!

Just a quick mention that my publisher is having a terrific Black Friday sale, for both print and Kindle eBooks. This includes hundreds of great titles on film and television history.

Details are here. Happy reading!

I'm Being Marked Down!

There's a great moment in the movie comedy "Ruthless People" when kidnapping victim Bette Midler, whose husband refuses to pay the ransom (causing her captors to lower their price), cries in indignation and dismay, "I'm being marked down?!"

Well, Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television and I have likewise been put on sale, at least temporarily. The Kindle edition of my book about 30 neglected and overlooked sitcoms of the classic era is currently yours for a meager $3.99. So why not make it a stocking stuffer, for yourself or the TV fan in your life?

E-Martha

And here comes the eBook version of Martha Raye: Film and Television Clown! Props to Barnes & Noble for being first out of the gate, with the Nook edition now on the market; Amazon and other providers surely won't be far behind.

Power on, and happy reading!

Whale of a Sale

Psst! Here's a little tip for loyal readers of this blog. The Kindle editions of Joan Davis and Lost Laughs are currently on sale for the absurdly low price of $3.99 each.

No telling how long this will last, but chances are you'll never get a better price. Pass it on!

Ready for Close-Ups

Well, this is good news. One of my favorite TV history books of the past few years, Eddie Lucas' Close-Ups: Conversations with our TV Favorites, is now available as an eBook. Lucas' engaging book features lengthy, thorough interviews with some of the best-remembered stars from classic TV shows of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.

Among the shows represented are Leave it to Beaver, Hazel, The Waltons, and The Mothers-in-Law, just to name a few. The book has become even more valuable in the years since its original publication because several of the stars featured -- Peter Breck, Alice Ghostley, Lynn Borden -- have since passed away. I for one am glad their memories were captured by such a skilled and caring interviewer before the opportunity was lost.

Give it a look. I think you'll be glad you did.

Parish the Thought

If you've read half as much on motion picture and television history as I have over the years, you certainly know the name of author James Robert Parish. He's written so many fine books on show business history that it would be impractical to list them all, and if you added all the books in which other authors used and cited his research, you'd be crushed under the resulting avalanche. That's why I'm happy to see that several of his classic 1970s volumes are newly available in eBook form, as part of a series called "Encore Film Book Classics."

This includes such well-regarded volumes as The Funsters, in which Parish and his co-authors profile a slew of film comedians, The RKO Gals, which introduces you to everyone from Constance Bennett to Lupe Velez, and more. Personally, I treasure my well-worn copy of The Slapstick Queens, and hope it will be reissued as well. Kindle editions of these volumes are amazingly cheap, and well worth the price.

If you haven't yet explored Mr. Parish's books, what are you waiting for? Here's my rule of thumb: If you're browsing a book on classic movies and television, and you can't find Mr. Parish's name in the bibliography, it's probably no good anyway.

Joining the eBook Revolution

I must admit, I'm a late convert to the eBook revolution. Yes, I was one of those people saying, "I like real books -- paper and ink and dust jackets and all." And that's still true. But since I was given an eBook reader as a gift a few months ago, I've really fallen in serious like with it. I use it regularly, and I've already purchased nearly 50 books in this format.

One of the nice things about eBooks is that sometimes they cost less than regular books, making it easier to try new authors and subjects. I enjoy reading about TV and motion picture history, and books in that field, which often come from academically oriented publishers, are not always priced for my budget. But eBook versions are often more affordable, especially if you catch a sale. At present, three of my own titles are available as eBooks. For a Kindle user, like me, all three are available for less than $15. If your local public library, like mine, carries eBooks, you might not even need to spend that much.

Not surprisingly, for someone who still likes I Love Lucy, I'm old-fashioned enough to hope the printed book doesn't go by the wayside during my lifetime. But I'm happy to have the chance to enjoy reading in this convenient new way.