David L. Lightner's Books

Winnie Lightner

Tomboy of the Talkies

By: David L. Lightner

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Winnie Lightner

Tomboy of the Talkies

By: David L. Lightner

Winnie Lightner (1899–1971) stood out as the first great female comedian of the talkies. Blessed with a superb singing voice and a gift for making wisecracks and rubber faces, she rose to stardom in vaudeville and on Broadway. Then, at the dawn of the sound era, she became the first person in motion picture history to have her spoken words, the lyrics to a song, censored. In Winnie Lightner: Tomboy of the Talkies, David L. Lightner shows how Winnie Lightner's hilarious performance in the 1929 musical comedy Gold Diggers of Broadway made her an overnight sensation. She went on to star in seven other Warner Bros. features. In the best of them, she was the comic epitome of a strident feminist, dominating men and gleefully spurning conventional gender norms and moral values. So tough was she, the studio billed her as “the tomboy of the talkies.” When the Great Depression rendered moviegoers hostile toward feminism, Warner Bros. tried to craft a new image of her as glamorous and sexy. Executives assigned her contradictory roles in which she was empowered in the workplace but submissive to her male partner at home. The new persona flopped at the box office, and Lightner's stardom ended. In four final movies, she played supporting roles as the loudmouthed roommate and best friend of actresses Loretta Young, Joan Crawford, and Mona Barrie. Following her retirement in 1934, Lightner faded into obscurity. Many of her films were damaged or even lost entirely. At long last, this biography gives Winnie Lightner the recognition she deserves as a notable figure in film history, in women's history, and in the history of show business.

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Page Count

263

Publisher

Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published Date

ISBN 10

1496809866

ISBN 13

9781496809865

Slavery and the Commerce Power

How the Struggle Against the Interstate Slave Trade Led to the Civil War

By: David L. Lightner

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Slavery and the Commerce Power

How the Struggle Against the Interstate Slave Trade Led to the Civil War

By: David L. Lightner

Born in Warsaw, raised in a Hasidic community, and reaching maturity in secular Jewish Vilna and cosmopolitan Berlin, Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) escaped Nazism and immigrated to the United States in 1940. This lively and readable book tells the comprehensive story of his life and work in America, his politics and personality, and how he came to influence not only Jewish debate but also wider religious and cultural debates in the postwar decades. A worthy sequel to his widely-praised biography of Heschel's early years, Edward Kaplan's new volume draws on previously unseen archives, FBI files, interviews with people who knew Heschel, and analyses of his extensive writings. Kaplan explores Heschel's shy and private side, his spiritual radicalism, and his vehement defence of the Hebrew prophets' ideal of absolute integrity and truth in ethical and political life. Of special interest are Heschel's interfaith activities, including a secret meeting with Pope Paul VI during Vatican II, his commitment to civil rights with Martin Luther King, Jr., his views on the state of Israel, and his opposition to the Vietnam War. A tireless challenger to spiritual and religious complacency, Heschel stands as a dramatically important witness.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300135165

ISBN 13

9780300135169

Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse

The Writings and Reform Work of Dorothea Dix in Illinois

By: Dorothea Lynde Dix,David L. Lightner

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Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse

The Writings and Reform Work of Dorothea Dix in Illinois

By: Dorothea Lynde Dix,David L. Lightner

The appalling conditions endured by most mentally ill inmates in prisons, jails, and poorhouses led her to take an active interest also in prison reform and in efforts to ameliorate poverty.

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Page Count

188

Published Date

ISBN 10

0809321637

ISBN 13

9780809321636

Book's by David L. Lightner

Winnie Lightner

Winnie Lightner

Slavery and the Commerce Power

Slavery and the Commerce Power

Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse

Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse

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