A scream in the late summer night announced the brutal crime that tore a wound in the quiet and wealthy Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights. Fifteen years later, only murmurs are heard. One suspect remains in many people's minds, but officially the murder of local high school student Lisa Pruett is listed as unsolved in the files of the Shaker Heights Police Department. Investigative reporter and veteran true-crime author Ted Schwarz (?The Hillside Strangler?) delivers the facts and retells events from the days leading up to the crime through the investigation, the unsuccessful prosecution, and the recrimination that accompanied it. Based on extensive interviews with principal participants, including acquitted suspect Kevin Young.
Hollywood Confidential is the first truly in-depth look at the sexy, humorous, violent, and tragic history of the mob in Hollywood from the 1920s, when Joe Kennedy decided to buy a motion picture company, to the 1980s when the last vestiges of mob influence were revealed through investigations of former Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan and his union backers. The revelations continue into the 1980s when the major studios were no longer important, the independents were on the rise, and it was no longer possible to buy, bribe, or blackmail in a meaningful way. There were deals and bad guys, but the mob as it existed was finished in Hollywood.
The true story of a woman attacked by a serial rapist who finds out that the man she met shortly after her ordeal--who eventually becomes her business partner and lover--is the same man who attacked her. Here, she recounts her role in bringing to justice one of the most notorious criminals in Texas history.
I call these writings "Shorts." If they work for you, they may get you to think about love, or death, or faith, or work, or vulnerability, or friendship, or, or, or... No answers. Just a singular mind at work, producing pieces with no labels-some speeches, some fiction, some non-fiction, some musings. I've enjoyed writing them over the past couple of years; I hope you enjoy reading them. TH
Huey Harris owned 15 crack houses in Montgomery, Alabama, and was one of the wealthiest drug dealers in the South before turning his life around to become pastor of his own church and founder of the highly respected "Huey Harris Ministries". He got into the world of drugs at age 12, when his grandmother introduced his first sale of crack cocaine out of her home -- while his mum was in jail. It had a snowball effect for Harris, who was raised in an atmosphere brimming with illegal activity and run-in's with the law. By the time he was 21, he could afford any material object he desired; from exotic cars, to $5,000 nights at the best "Gentleman's Clubs". He was brilliant at business, using merchandisers such as K-Mart as role models. He offered "Specials". He had "free drugs" days provided to regular customers. He marketed crack the way business executives sold shoes and clothes. He had more money than he ever imagined. But secretly was intensely lonely and fell in and out of severe depression. He was angry, though with whom he was not sure. After a particularly wild emotionally violent night, Harris had a vision that would change his life: he had an epiphany and realised he had other work to do on Earth and it no longer involved spending his empty life with drug users, champagne, prostitutes, and gangsters. Huey started a new daily regime of learning and living under a different set of beliefs. He left the drug life, began studying and preaching in Alabama and then moved to Ohio. He preached in back yards, founded a church, and began preaching and teaching in Mega-Churches, on the shows of major televangelists, including The 700 Club, never losing sight of the hurting individuals who need ministry one-on-one.
For those who question religions, a humorous tale about the start of a church and the odd young man who inadvertently inspired it. The young, mildly schizophrenic Marvin Schwartz travels to learn about life. The people he meets and the events he lives shape his ideas of what God wants for us all. After too many cheap draft beers he learns from the mysterious Zeke Parsnip who smokes unfiltered cigarettes which never burn down and drinks from a glass of beer which is always full. Those lessons he writes down each morning in a loose-leaf notebook with the past night's beery excesses weighing on his brain. That notebook would later inspire the ambitious but unsuccessful Dave Weak to create The Pocontia Valley Non-Denominational Church of the Followers of Zeke Parsnip. At last his fortune was made. That church would survive and flourish long after Marvin Schwartz was gone. Late in his life, the destitute old man Marvin Schwartz has unsettling weird recurring dreams about God and Heaven.
Cleveland's longest-serving (and most outspoken) city councilperson tells the story of her life, from the cotton fields of Tennessee to the steps of the Supreme Court. Fannie Lewis has witnessed and helped influence great change in five decades in Cleveland while resolutely fighting on behalf of her constituents and neighbors in Cleveland's downtrodden Hough neighborhood. She has worked alongside (and often butted heads with) every mover and shaker on the local public stage, and has most recently been a leading proponent of Cleveland's controversial and high-profile school-voucher movement. A very spirited and moving personal tale.
There was a time when every television station in Chicago produced or aired programming for children, and this book discusses the back stories and details of this special era from the people who created, lived, and enjoyed it, such as producers, on-air personalities, and fans. This compendium describes how from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, local television stations created a golden age of children's television unique in American broadcasting and how the FCC changed the regulations governing the relationship between sponsors and local programming in 1972, effectively bringing the genre to a close since the programs operated under strict budgetary constraints. The story of this chapter in television history show the richness of imagination and inventiveness of children's programming and the devotion of the fans. Featured shows include Bozo's Circus; Garfield Goose; Kukla, Fran, & Ollie; The Mulqueen's Kiddie-A-Go-Go; Ray Rayner and Friends; and Super Circus. "Today, we can be nostalgic about the passing of great local children's fare such as Bozo's Circus . . . and Garfield Goose. However, I believe that today's children have more and better choices in programming . . . . What is missing is the localism, the heart and soul that emanated from these and other programs. Economics, regulation, and expectations for what a program should look like have altered children's television forever. As you read this book, perhaps you will not only find memories or curiosities from a bygone era, but inspiration to create children's television for today's audiences. A pie in the face is still funny, kids still like to dance, and the last time I looked, you could still buy six buckets and nail them to a board and call it a Grand Prize Game."—from the foreword by Neal Sabin, WCIU-TV, Chicago Behind-the-Scenes Stories of the Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television as Told by the People Who Lived It At one time every station in Chicago—a maximum of five, until 1964—produced or aired some programming for children. From the late 1940s through the early 1970s, local television stations created a golden age of children's television unique in American broadcasting. Though the shows often operated under strict budgetary constraints, these programs were rich in imagination, inventiveness, and devoted fans. The mere mention of their names brings smiles to the faces of Midwestern Baby Boomers everywhere: Kukla, Fran, & Ollie, Super Circus, Garfield Goose, Bozo's Circus, Mulqueens' Kiddie-A-Go-Go, BJ & Dirty Dragon, Ray Rayner and Friends, and a host of others. In 1972 the FCC changed the regulations governing the relationship between sponsors and local programming, effectively bringing to a close this chapter of television history. What Chicago kids' show had American Bandstand host Dick Clark dancing on T.V. for the first time ever? Why did one have to wait months and, more often, years to get tickets for Bozo's Circus? Which very popular and successful host never wanted to do a children's T.V. show? Who really made the puppet Garfield Goose (you may not have known it was a mystery)? Remember the talent that bit the head off a parakeet on live TV and the shocked emcee's reaction? What sent television executives into a quandary when Kiddie-A-Go-Go went on the air? Which show was almost forced off the air because a giant soft drink company opposed a so-called rival's use of the word sip? Now, discover the back stories and details of this special era from the people who created, lived, and enjoyed it—producers, on-air personalities, and fans.
Fidelity is a vivid description of a man's conflict between marriage and work against the backdrop of grand opera. Mark Feldman has a supportive wife, who wants him to succeed in his new career as vice president of development for the Chicago Grand Opera, but as she witnesses his passion become dangerously intense under the influence of the mesmerizing visionary, Gloria Winthrop, she loses faith in him and returns to New York to restore the career she has forsaken. Mark's own fidelity to marriage is tested as he must choose between a brilliant career and a durable marriage. This core conflict is set again the seductive, glamorous world of grand opera.
This humorous book will entertain you for hours. Based on a small mill village in SC and surrounding areas it will make you laugh out loud. The characters will most likely remind you of someone you know. Do not loan this book to your friends. It is funny and entertaining. THEY WILL NOT BRING IT BACK!
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