A Times Literary Supplement 2017 Book of the Year On December 22, 1953, Mort Sahl (1927–2021) took the stage at San Francisco's hungry i and changed comedy forever. Before him, standup was about everything but hard news and politics. In his wake, a new generation of smart comics emerged—Shelley Berman, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, Dick Gregory, Woody Allen, and the Smothers Brothers, among others. He opened up jazz-inflected satire to a loose network of clubs, cut the first modern comedy album, and appeared on the cover of Time surrounded by caricatures of some of his frequent targets such as Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Adlai Stevenson, and John F. Kennedy. Through the extraordinary details of Sahl's life, author James Curtis deftly illustrates why Sahl was dubbed by Steve Allen as “the only real political philosopher we have in modern comedy.” Sahl came on the scene the same year Eisenhower and Nixon entered the White House, the year Playboy first hit the nation's newsstands. Clad in an open collar and pullover sweater, he adopted the persona of a graduate student ruminating on current events. “It was like nothing I'd ever seen,” said Woody Allen, “and I've never seen anything like it after.” Sahl was billed, variously, as the Nation's Conscience, America's Only Working Philosopher, and, most tellingly, the Next President of the United States. Yet he was also a satirist so savage the editors of Time once dubbed him “Will Rogers with fangs.” Here, for the first time, is the whole story of Mort Sahl, America's iconoclastic father of modern standup comedy. Written with Sahl's full cooperation and the participation of many of his friends and contemporaries, it delves deeply into the influences that shaped him, the heady times in which he soared, and the depths to which he fell during the turbulent sixties when he took on the Warren Commission and nearly paid for it with his career.
A rich, vibrant portrait—the most intimate and telling yet of this complex man considered by many to be the actor’s actor. Spencer Tracy’s image on-screen was that of a self-reliant man whose sense of rectitude toward others was matched by his sense of humor toward himself. Whether he was Father Flanagan of Boys Town, Clarence Darrow of Inherit the Wind, or the crippled war veteran in Bad Day at Black Rock, Tracy was forever seen as a pillar of strength. His full name was Spencer Bonaventure Tracy. He was called “The Gray Fox” by Frank Sinatra; other actors called him the “The Pope.” “The best goddamned actor I’ve ever seen!”—George M. Cohan In his several comedy roles opposite Katharine Hepburn (Woman of the Year and Adam’s Rib among them) or in Father of the Bride with Elizabeth Taylor, Tracy was the sort of regular American guy one could depend on. Now James Curtis, acclaimed biographer of Preston Sturges (“Definitive” —Variety), James Whale, and W. C. Fields (“By far the fullest, fairest, and most touching account . . . we have yet had. Or are likely to have” —Richard Schickel, The New York Times Book Review, cover review), gives us the life of one of the most revered screen actors of his generation. Curtis writes of Tracy’s distinguished career, his deep Catholicism, his devoted relationship to his wife, his drinking that got him into so much trouble, and his twenty-six-year-long bond with his partner on-screen and off, Katharine Hepburn. Drawing on Tracy’s personal papers and writing with the full cooperation of Tracy’s daughter, Curtis tells the rich story of the brilliant but haunted man at the heart of the legend. We see him from his boyhood in Milwaukee; given over to Dominican nuns (“They drill that religion in you”); his years struggling in regional shows and stock (Tracy had a photographic memory and an instinct for inhabiting a character from within); acting opposite his future wife, Louise Treadwell; marrying and having two children, their son, John, born deaf. We see Tracy’s success on Broadway, his turning out mostly forgettable programmers with the Fox Film Corporation, and going to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and getting the kinds of roles that had eluded him in the past—a streetwise priest opposite Clark Gable in San Francisco; a screwball comedy, Libeled Lady; Kipling’s classic of the sea, Captains Courageous. Three years after arriving at MGM, Tracy became America’s top male star. We see how Tracy embarked on a series of affairs with his costars . . . making Northwest Passage and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which brought Ingrid Bergman into his life. By the time the unhappy shoot was over, Tracy, looking to do a comedy, made Woman of the Year. Its unlikely costar: Katharine Hepburn. We see Hepburn making Tracy her life’s project—protecting and sustaining him in the difficult job of being a top-tier movie star. And we see Tracy’s wife, Louise, devoting herself to studying how deaf children could be taught to communicate orally with the hearing and speaking world. Curtis writes that Tracy was ready to retire when producer-director Stanley Kramer recruited him for Inherit the Wind—a collaboration that led to Judgment at Nuremberg, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and Tracy’s final picture, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner . . . A rich, vibrant portrait—the most intimate and telling yet of this complex man considered by many to be the actor’s actor.
From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis—a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern—and irresistible—today as they were when they beguiled audiences almost a century ago. "It is brilliant—I was totally absorbed, couldn't stop reading it and was very sorry when it ended."—Kevin Brownlow It was James Agee who christened Buster Keaton “The Great Stone Face.” Keaton’s face, Agee wrote, "ranked almost with Lincoln’s as an early American archetype; it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful, yet it was also irreducibly funny. Keaton was the only major comedian who kept sentiment almost entirely out of his work and . . . he brought pure physical comedy to its greatest heights.” Mel Brooks: “A lot of my daring came from Keaton.” Martin Scorsese, influenced by Keaton’s pictures in the making of Raging Bull: “The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me,” Scorsese said, “was Buster Keaton.” Keaton’s deadpan stare in a porkpie hat was as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin’s tramp and Harold Lloyd’s straw boater and spectacles, and, with W. C. Fields, the four were each considered a comedy king--but Keaton was, and still is, considered to be the greatest of them all. His iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera Keaton was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General. Now James Curtis, admired biographer of Preston Sturges (“definitive”—Variety), W. C. Fields (“by far the fullest, fairest and most touching account we have yet had. Or are likely to have”—Richard Schickel, front page of The New York Times Book Review), and Spencer Tracy (“monumental; definitive”—Kirkus Reviews), gives us the richest, most comprehensive life to date of the legendary actor, stunt artist, screenwriter, director—master.
The past decade has witnessed the broad adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) technologies. However, a lack of oversight in their widespread implementation has resulted in some incidents and harmful outcomes that could have been avoided with proper risk management. Before we can realize AI/ML's true benefit, practitioners must understand how to mitigate its risks. This book describes approaches to responsible AI—a holistic framework for improving AI/ML technology, business processes, and cultural competencies that builds on best practices in risk management, cybersecurity, data privacy, and applied social science. Authors Patrick Hall, James Curtis, and Parul Pandey created this guide for data scientists who want to improve real-world AI/ML system outcomes for organizations, consumers, and the public. Learn technical approaches for responsible AI across explainability, model validation and debugging, bias management, data privacy, and ML security Learn how to create a successful and impactful AI risk management practice Get a basic guide to existing standards, laws, and assessments for adopting AI technologies, including the new NIST AI Risk Management Framework Engage with interactive resources on GitHub and Colab
Love on Fire is a collection of poetry about love, ranging from sexy and sensual to funny and whimsical, and everything in between. Perhaps readers will even see a bit of their own love lives reflected within. About the Author James Curtis is the first in his family to author a book. He served 26 years in the United States Army, traveling extensively within the United States and abroad. He is currently retired and makes his home in Virginia.
He was the consummate designer of film architecture on a grand scale, influenced by German expressionism and the work of the great European directors. He was known for his visual flair and timeless innovation, a man who meticulously preplanned the color and design of each film through a series of continuity sketches that made clear camera angles, lighting, and the actors’ positions for each scene, translating dramatic conventions of the stage to the new capabilities of film. Here is the long-awaited book on William Cameron Menzies, Hollywood’s first and greatest production designer, a job title David O. Selznick invented for Menzies’ extraordinary, all-encompassing, Academy Award–winning work on Gone With the Wind (which he effectively co-directed). It was Menzies—winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Art Direction, jointly for The Dove (1927) and Tempest (1928), and who was as well a director (fourteen pictures) and a producer (twelve pictures)—who changed the way movies were (and still are) made, in a career that spanned four decades, from the 1920s through the 1950s. His more than 120 films include Rosita (1923), Things to Come (1936), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Kings Row (1942), Mr. Lucky (1943), The Pride of the Yankees (1943), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Address Unknown (1944), It’s a Wonderful Life (1947), Invaders from Mars (1953), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). Now, James Curtis, acclaimed film historian and biographer, writes of Menzies’ life and work as the most influential designer in the history of film. His artistry encompassed the large, scenic drawings of Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad (1924), which created a new standard for beauty on the screen and whose exotic fairy-tale sets are still regarded as pure genius. (“I saw The Thief of Bagdad when it first came out,” said Orson Welles—he was, at the time, a nine-year-old boy. “I’ll never forget it.”) Curtis writes of Menzies’ design and supervision of John Barrymore’s Beloved Rogue (1927), a film that remains a masterpiece of craft and synthesis, one of the most distinctive pictures to emerge from Hollywood’s waning days of silent films, and of his extraordinary, opulent appointments for Gone With the Wind (1939). It was Menzies who defined and solidified the role of art director as having overall control of the look of the motion picture, collaborating with producers like David O. Selznick and Samuel Goldwyn; with directors such as D. W. Griffith, Raoul Walsh, Alfred Hitchcock, Lewis Milestone, and Frank Capra. And with actors as varied as Ingrid Bergman, W. C. Fields, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, John Barrymore, Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Reagan, Gary Cooper, Vivien Leigh, Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, and David Niven. Interviewing colleagues, actors, directors, friends, and family, and with full access to the William Cameron Menzies family collection of original artwork, correspondence, scrapbooks, and unpublished writing, Curtis brilliantly gives us the path-finding work of the movies’ most daring and dynamic production designer: his evolution as artist, art director, production designer, and director. Here is a portrait of a man in his time that makes clear how the movies were forever transformed by his startling, visionary work. (With 16 pages of color illustrations, and black-and-white photographs throughout.)
Affirmative action programs have significantly changed American medicine for the better, not only in medical school admissions and access to postgraduate training but also in bringing a higher quality of health care to all people. James L. Curtis approaches this important transition from historical, statistical, and personal perspectives. He tells how over the course of his medical education and career as a psychiatrist and professor--often as the first or only African American in his cohort--the status of minorities in the medical professions grew from a tiny percentage to a far more equitable representation of the American population. Advancing arguments from his earlier book, Blacks, Medical Schools, and Society, Curtis evaluates the outcomes of affirmative action efforts over the past thirty years. He describes formidable barriers to minority access to medical-education opportunities and the resulting problems faced by minority patients in receiving medical treatment. His progress report includes a review of two thousand minority students admitted to U.S. medical schools in 1969, following them through graduation and their careers, comparing them with the careers of two thousand of their nonminority peers. These samples provide an important look at medical schools that, while heralding dramatic progress in physician education and training opportunity, indicates much room for further improvement. A basic hurdle continues to face African Americans and other minorities who are still confined to segregated neighborhoods and inferior school systems that stifle full scholastic development. Curtis urges us as a nation to develop all our human resources through an expansion of affirmative action programs, thus improving health care for everyone. James L. Curtis is Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
At the Cold Shoulder of History gives an in-depth look at what happened in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. One of the only living participants in President Kennedy's autopsy now comes forward after almost 54 years of silence and speaks about what truly took place inside of the morgue at Bethesda Naval Hospital on the night of November 22, 1963. Jenkins gives a detailed account about the procedures performed on the President's remains. What he learned that night led him to believe there was a conspiracy in the murder of the 35th President of the United States and caused him to undertake his own personal journey into the labyrinth of the assassination.
Geists memoir is written in the tradition of Saint Augustines book, Confessions. Confessions is considered the first Western autobiography chronicling the saints struggles with sin, lust, and his life in Christian ministry. With brutal honesty, Jim Geist shares stories of struggle with character defects, addiction, and obsessive-compulsive behavior. It is a series of antidotal stories from elementary school, little league sports, family stories, and funny stories from hunting camp, graduate school, ministry, and his job as a high school social studies teacher in New York City. In his fifteen years as an educator, dozens of students encouraged Mr. Geist to write a memoir because they found his stories interesting, humorous, and inspirational. He was voted Teacher of the Year in 2012 by his peers, the same year his assistant principal took him to arbitration to steal his livelihood for him speaking out against the change from teacher-centered teaching to classes becoming times of group work where most of the time was not being spent on the curriculum or preparing for the New York state exams. It is a memoir of his careers, marriage, divorce, heartbreak, relationships, human rights activism against genocide, and modern-day slavery. It is a story of an urban teacher, in the midst of changes in the public education paradigm and a failed political candidate shot with slings and arrows of dirty tricks and false charges. It has stories of arbitration and court battles and recovery from codependency through the twelve-step program, learning how to accept life on lifes terms. You will find yourself laughing on almost every page and identifying with many of the human conundrums we face in life because life is often stranger than fiction.
In this easy to read book, James Curtis teaches you intimate first-hand wisdom on how to come closer to God in your new relationship with Jesus Christ.
Back in the 1960’s, the private investigators were able to disprove fraudulente injury claims by gaining the confidence of claimants and having them perform activities that they had the doctors, attorneys, insurance adjusters and courts convinced could not be performed. The millions of dollars saved by the insurance companies using the ‘Rope Job’ came to a sudden halt in 1970 due to claimants attorneys filing law suits against the insurance companies for invasion of privacy. The claimants attorneys stated their claimants could not be contacted by anyone representing the insurance industry once they became represented by an attorney. Since 1970, the insurance companies spend tens of thousands of dollars for surveillance on what they perceive to be bogus claims and often with no tangeble results.
Life is good for 11 year old Jimmy. He likes school, but loves the summertime more. He enjoys friends, day dreaming, fishing, his pet dog, and playing baseball, basketball and football. Jimmy cannot wait until the day he can inherit is brother's paper route.He helps his brother deliver the newspapers on Saturday and Sunday mornings. When his brother Timmy goes to college, Jimmy will inherit the paper route and have extra money in hand to put into savings, with money to go to the movies, to buy some sporting equipment and to be able to buy his family birthday and Christmas presents.James Curtis Geist is a graduate of Nyack College and the Alliance Theological Seminary. He has served as a Protestant minister for five years in New York City and has been a high school history teacher for 16 years. He was voted Teacher of the Year in 2012 and has been an activist addressing the issues of genocide in Sudan, modern day slavery, sweatshops and child labor.Since 2016, Geist has written a Memoir, a book on U.S. History, Global History, the U.S. Presidents, three Children's books and eight books of poetry and anecdotes. He is not related to Bill Geist of CBS or Willie Geist of MsNBC, but wishes he was so he could take advantage of some nepotism into the publishing world. James is married and resides in the woods of Northern New Jersey.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.