Five Books About the Arts

Senior reference librarian, Rosemary Jerome, chooses five of her favorite fiction books that are on the shelves at Half Hollow Hills Library right now

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment (2010)

The Apollo theater has provided a stage for performers and a setting for the creativity of black American music that has influenced American music in general. Recognizing the 75th anniversary of the Apollo theater, this book offers essays by entertainment historians, critics and journalists chronicling the legacy of the theater. The Apollo opened in Harlem in 1934 when black musicians faced limitations on where they could perform and how far their career might go. The Apollo offered a chance for talented amateurs to launch their careers, among them: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, James Brown, Dionne Warwick and the Jackson Five.

Scott Eyman, Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. Demille  (2010)

Author of Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer. Demille's career spanned more than 50 years, included stage and screen hits across genres. Aided by access to Demille family papers unavailable to previous biographers and interviews with Demille's contemporaries, Eyman creates an exhaustive look at this Hollywood icon. He includes amusing anecdotes and fascinating insights into the physical and aesthetic mechanics that went into creating his grand visions for the screen.

Oscar Andrew Hammerstein, The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family (2010)

The famous Broadway lyricist's grandson chronicles his family's musical legacy beginning with Oscar I, a German immigrant whose American dream was realized building and promoting opera, vaudeville and other theatrical endeavors. This book focuses on Oscar II's career. Family background, anecdotes and quotations from the Hammersteins and their contemporaries provide interesting insider facts. Included are chapters detailing the history and development of popular productions such as "Show Boat," "Oklahoma" and "South Pacific."

Virginia M. Mecklenburg, Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell:  from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg  (2010)

This book published in conjunction with a 2010 exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. explores Rockwell's relationship to films as seen in his art. The books many illustrations show Rockwell's work in colorful detail, but its essays give it depth. Mecklenburg (senior curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum) explores Rockwell's artistic career, personal life and his storytelling methods, while Todd McCarthy (chief film critic, "Variety") looks at Rockwell's ability to tell a story through a single illustration.

Joachim Poeschke, Italian Mosaics:  300-1300 (2010)

Poeschke (art history, University of Munster, Germany) chronicles the historical development from late antique mosaics to the powerful influence of Byzantium to the decline of mosaics in the 14th century due to the development of fresco paintings.  The main body of the book illustrates and discusses 19 important buildings in Rome, Ravenna, Sicily, Florence and Venice.