Frank Carlson Library

1907 Edwardian Dublin, a city of whispers and rumors. At the Abbey Theatre W. B. Yeats is working with the talented John Synge, his resident playwright. It is here that Synge, the author of The Playboy of the Western World and The Tinker's Wedding, will meet an actress still in her teens named Molly Allgood. Rebellious, irreverent, beautiful, flirtatious, Molly is a girl of the inner-city tenements, dreaming of stardom in America. Witty and watchful,...

"It was supposed to be the highlight of her career, the pinnacle for which she'd worked all her life. And as Hattie McDaniel took the stage in 1940 to claim an honor that would make her the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award, she tearfully took her place in history. Between personal triumphs and tragedies, heartbreaking losses, and severe setbacks, this historic night of winning best supporting actress for her role as the sassy Mammy...

This book highlights the importance of Kansas' opera houses to the cultural and social development of Kansas during the last half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. The types of civic and cultural entertainments that occurred in these structures and the actors who graced their stages are discussed. A detailed listing of 900 opera houses located in more than 400 Kansas communities and the activities that were held there, from...

"Originally conceived as a novel but then transformed into a play by Ayn Rand, Ideal is the story of beautiful but tormented actress Kay Gonda. Accused of murder, she is on the run, and she turns for help to six fans who have written letters to her, each telling her that she represents their ideal a respectable family man, a far-left activist, a cynical artist, an evangelist, a playboy, and a lost soul. Each reacts to her plight in his own way, their...

Fresh off the heels of a bad breakup, Chloe Anderson poured her heart into penning the perfect boyfriend—and the result was an off-the-charts debut beach read that resonated with women worldwide. Now, Chloe’s scripted hero is headed for Hollywood, with her book destined to become a major motion picture. When Chloe gets wind that silver screen bad boy Liam Hamilton has been cast as the ideal-in-every-way hero of her novel, she’s horrified by...

Nolan Byrd, alias Shredderman, sets out to help the young star of his favorite television show expose a slanderous reporter.

A fascinating novel of the friendship and creative partnership between two of Hollywood's earliest female legends--screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviator's Wife It is 1914, and twenty-five-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently...

Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College,...