Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
History of Radio
& Television
Page Two
History of Cinema Page
Books About Hollywood & Cinema History
Old Time Radio Page at Spirit of America Bookstore
Videos & DVDs
"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"
[Apatow/DreamWorks July 2004] /tt0357413/
"Broadcast News" [Gracie/Fox Dec 1987]
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A love triangle – between a female news producer who falls for the new pretty-boy anchor and the plain-looking news reporter who loves her – parallels the network's move from substance toward style.
Co-produced, written & directed by James L. Brooks; starring William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter, Robert Prosky, Lois Chiles, Joan Cusack, Peter Hackes, Christian Clemenson, Jack Nicholson, Robert Katims, Ed Wheeler & Stephen Mendillo; Oscar nomina- tions for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Hurt), Best Actress (HH), Best Supporting Actor (AB), Best Cinematography & Best Editing; noms for DGA & WGA Awards
Fox widescreen color DVD [10/99] for $9.98 Fox color VHS [1/96] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb Oscar-nominated movie script by James L. Brooks Vintage pb [2/89] out of print/used |
"Desk Set" [Fox May 1957]
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The research department of a New York City TV network is under siege by a computer engineer; the library's department head needs no 'electronic brain' to unmask his secret purpose, and the resulting battle of wits and witty dialogue pits her fear of losing her job against her dawning attraction to the man.
Produced & co-written by Henry Ephron; directed by Walter Lang; co-written by Phoebe Ephron; based on the Broadway play by William Marchant; color cinematography by Leon Shamroy; starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young, Joan Blondell & Dina Merrill
Fox Studio Classics widescreen color DVD [5/2004] for $14.49 Fox color VHS [1998] out of prodn/many used full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
"Good Night, And, Good Luck"
[Warner Independent Oct 2005]
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TV newsman Edward R. Murrow airs a story about a man discharged from the Navy without a trial. Murrow is accused of being a 'Communist sympathizer', and the C.B.S. news team goes on the offensive. "See It Now" airs a series of shows detailing the lies and un-Constitutional tactics of Senator Joe McCarthy, leading to McCarthy's censure by the U.S. Senate.
Co-written & directed by & co-starring George Clooney; starring David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr., Frank Langella, with Joseph McCarthy via archive footage; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Script, Best Actor {DS, of course), Best Cinematograpy & Best Art Direction
Warner widescreen b&w DVD [3/2006] for $14.99 full credits from IMDb; official moviesite |
"The Late Shift" [1996]
"The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit"
[Fox April 1956]
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A WWII veteran takes a temporary job at a New York tv network for the increase in pay, but is soon miserable.
Adapted & directed by Nunnally Johnson, from the 1955 novel; music by Bernard Hermann; starring Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Fredric March, Marisa Pavan, Lee J. Cobb, Ann Harding, Keenan Wynn, Gene Lockhart, Gigi Perreau & Portland Mason
Fox widescreen color DVD [8/2005] for $10.99 Fox color VHS [10/97] for $18.98 Bernard Hermann soundtrack CD [9/99] for $17.98 full credits at IMDb |
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classic novel [1955] by Sloan Wilson [1920-2003] Four Walls Eight Windows 8¼x5½ pb [9/2002] for $11.58 Buccaneer Books hardcover [12/91] out of print/used "The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit II" [1984 sequel] Arbor House hardcover [3/84] out of print/used |
"Max Headroom" TV series [Warner/ABC-TV 1987-88]
full credits at IMDb •
series entry at Wikipedia
 | "Max Headroom: The Complete Series" [2010]  14 episodes made in U.K. for U.S. television; in the future, the television networks and executives rule the U.S. government, while the computer avatar of comatose rebel journalist Edison Carter and his allies expose their unethical activities. Starring Matt Frewer, Amanda Pays, Chris Young, Jeffrey Tambor, George Coe, Charles Rocket, Lee Wilkof, William Morgan Sheppard & Concetta Tomei Shout! Factory color DVD [8/2010] 5 disks for $32.99 |
"Modern Marvels: Television - Window To The World"
[History Channel undated]
 | A&E Home Video b&w/color DVD [4/2005] for $21.99 not listed at IMDb |
"My Favorite Year" [1982]
Directed by Richard Benjamin; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084370/
"Network" [M.G.M. Nov 1976]
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An aging network news anchor is fired, and his on-air tirade – "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" – causes a sensation among his viewers, so he is rehired and given his own show.
Directed by Sidney Lumet; written by Paddy Chayefsky; starring Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall & Ned Beatty; won Oscars for Best Script, Best Actor [Finch], Best Actress [FD], Best Supporting Actress [BS], nominated for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actor [WH], Best Supporting Actor [NB], Best Cinematography, Best Editing; won BAFTA for Best Actor [Finch], nominated for 8 more; won W.G.A. Award for Best Original Script
Warner widescreen color DVD [2/2006] 2 disks for $23.99 M.G.M. color VHS [5/96] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb novelization by Sam Hedrin Penguin movie tie-in mass pb [11/76] out of print/used |
"Quiz Show" [1994]
Directed by Robert Redford; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110932/
"Soapdish" [1991] /tt0102951/
"Television: The First 50 Years"
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Passport Video 100-min. b&w/color DVD [4/2003] for $12.99 not listed on IMDb |
"31 Minutes" aka "31 Minutos, la Película" [indep March 2008]
 | In Spanish with English subtitles; based on the very popular Chilean parody television series of 2003-2005; when the news producer is kidnapped by evil millionaires, the whole Muppet-like '31 Minutes' Action News Team embarks on a quest to rescue him. Co-written & co-directed by Alvaro Díaz & Pedro Peirano; co-written by Daniel Castro & Rodrigo Salinas; with Tulio Treviño, Juan Carlos Bodoque, Juanin Juan Harry, Patana Tufillo, Policarpo Avendaño & Mario Hugo DVD/Blu-ray not available • full credits at IMDb • official movie site |
"Tootsie" [1982] /tt0084805/
"The TV Set" [ThinkFilm April 2007]
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A comedy about the stressful process of getting a television series sold and aired.
Written & directed by Jake Kasdan; starring David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Judy Greer, Fran Kranz, Lindsay Sloane, Justine Bateman & Lucy Davis Fox widescreen color DVD [9/2007] for $17.99 full credits from IMDb |
"U.H.F." [Orion Pictures July 1989]
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A compulsive gambler wins a near-bankrupt UHF TV station in a poker game and hires his loser nephew to manage it. But Channel U62 becomes a success, and when the uncle decides to sell to a competitor to pay off new gambling debts, the station staff rebel.
Co-written & directed by Jay Levey; co-written by & starring 'Weird Al' Yankovic; also starring Michael Richards, Kevin McCarthy, Victoria Jackson, David Bowe, Stanley Brock, Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, Fran Drescher, Anthony Geary & Trinidad Silva
M.G.M. widescreen color DVD [6/2002] for $7.99 Orion Home Video color VHS [6/94] out of prodn/used Volcano Records soundtrack CD [7/89] 12 tracks for $11.98 full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
"Wrong Is Right" [Columbia April 1982]
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Positively prescient satire of television news reporting, anticipating by more than a decade the rise of ruthless tabloid TV, that has an ace reporter trying to hunt down two missing suitcase-size nuclear bombs that are for sale on the black market.
Co-produced, adapted & directed by Richard Brooks; loosely based on the Charles McCarry novel "The Better Angels"; starring Sean Connery, George Grizzard, Robert Conrad, Katharine Ross, John Saxon, Henry Silva, Hardy Krüger, G.D. Spradlin, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Webber, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dean Stockwell & Rosalind Cash
Sony widescreen color DVD [3/2004] out of prodn/used Columbia/Tri-Star color VHS [7/2002] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
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"The Better Angels" [1979] by Charles McCarry
Thirty years ago, the author predicted that a lantern-jawed Eastern liberal would lose to a cowboy with ties to oil in a stolen election for the U.S. presidency; the plot also involves Islamic terrorists intent on obtaining nuclear weapons. Overlook Trade pb [DUE Jan 2010] for $10.08
Fawcett mass pb [3/82] out of print/used Overlook 9x6 hardcover [3/2008] for $17.13 Dutton/Hutchinson hardcover [7/79] out of print/many used |
movies with background of old time or modern radio
at Spirit of America Bookstore
Non-Fiction Books
Television History & Criticism books category at Amazon
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"A European Television History" [2008] Edited by Jonathan Bignell & Andreas Fickers Wiley-Blackwell 9¾x6½ pb [12/2008] for $44.95 Wiley-Blackwell 9¾x6¾ hardcover [12/2008] for $94.95 |
 | "Sounds of Change: A History of FM Broadcasting In America" [2008] by Christopher H. Sterling & Michael C. Keith Univ NC Press 9x6 pb [7/2008] for $22.50 Univ NC Press 9¼x6 hardcover [7/2008] for $59.95 |
 | "The History of Wireless: How Creative Minds Produced Technology For The Masses" [2008] by Ira Brodsky Part I covers Volta, Faraday, Maxwell, Lodge & Hertz; Part IIA covers the telegraph, the telephone, Marconi, Fessenden, de Forest & Armstrong {not Tesla?}; Part IIB covers the birth of broadcast radio & TV, Sarnoff, Farnsworth & Zworykin; Part III is a comprehensive history of mobile radio, cellular & digital cellular. Telescope Books 8¾x6 pb [1/2008] for $17.95 |
 | "The Television Will Be Revolutionized" [2007] by Amanda D. Lotz N.Y.U. Press 9x6 pb [11/2007] for $19.80 N.Y.U. Press 9x6¼ hardcover [11/2007] for $70.00 |
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"The Columbia History of American Television" [2007] by Gary Edgerton Columbia Univ Press 9¾x6¾ pb [3/2009] for $24.75 Columbia Univ Press 10x7¼ hardcover [9/2007] for $50.00 |
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"N.B.C.: America's Network" [2007] Edited by Michele Hilmes Univ CA Press 8¾x5¾ pb [8/2007] for $18.21 Univ CA Press 9x6¼ hardcover [8/2007] for $60.00 |
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"Same Time, Same Station: Creating American Television, 1948-1961" [2007] by James L. Baughman Johns Hopkins Univ Press 9x6¼ pb [2/2007] for $25.55 |
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"TV Wonderland: The Enchantment of Early Television" [2006] by Brad & Debra Schepp Collectors Press 6½x5½ pb [1/2006] for $11.66 |
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"Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse In The Age of Show Business" [orig 1985, rev 2005] by Neil Postman; 20th Anniversary Introduction by Andrew Postman Penguin 7¾x5 pb [12/2005] for $11.20 Viking hardcover [11/85] out of print/used |
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"The Forgotten Network: DuMont & The Birth of American Television" [2004] by David Weinstein Temple Univ Press pb [3/2006] for $19.95 Temple Univ Press 9x6¼ hardcover [5/2004] for $37.49 |
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"The Television History Book" [2004] by Michele Hilmes British Film Institute 9½x7¼ pb [3/2004] for $27.95 British Film Institute 10x7½ hardcover [3/2004] out of print/rare |
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"Movie Stars & Rattlesnakes: The Heyday of Montana Live Television" [2003] by Norma Beatty Ashby Farcountry Press 10x8¼ pb [12/2004] for $19.95 Farcountry Press hardcover [12/2003] out of print/used |
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"Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism & American Culture" [2003] by Thomas Doherty Columbia Univ Press 8¾x5¾ pb [2/2005] for $23.00 Columbia Univ Press 9x6¼ hardcover [10/2003] for $71.00 |
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"Prime Time Animation: Television Animation & American Culture" [2003] Edited by Carole A. Stabile & Mark Harrison Routledge 9x6 pb [4/2003] for $32.53 Routledge 9½x6¼ hardcover [4/2003] for $120.00 |
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"The Encyclopedia of American Television: Broadcast Programming Post World War II to 2000" [2002] by Ronald W. Lackmann Checkmark Books pb [10/2002] for $21.95 Facts On File {4.2 pounds} hardcover [10/2002] for $75.00 |
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"The DuMont Television Network: What Happened? - A Significant Episode In The History of Broadcasting" [2002] by Ted Bergmann & Ira Skutch Rowman & Littlefield / Scarecrow 8¾x6¼ hardcover [4/2002] out of print/used |
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"Brought To You In Living Color: 75 Years of Great Moments In Television & Radio From N.B.C." [2002] by Marc Robinson Wiley & Sons 10¼x10¼ pb [10/2003] for $29.95 Wiley & Sons 10¾x10¾ hardcover [3/2002] for $0.00 |
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"The Classic Serial On Television and Radio" [2001] by Robert Giddings & Keith Selby The mini-series based on classical literature was invented by B.B.C. Radio, then adapted to television. Palgrave Macmillan 8½x5½ pb [2/2001] for $43.28 Palgrave Macmillan 8½x5¾ hardcover [2/2001] for $110.00 |
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"Prime Time Blues: African Americans On Network Television" [2001] by Donald Bogle FS&G 8½x5½ pb [2/2002] out of print/used FS&G 9½x6½ hardcover [2/2001] out of print/many used and more on the Afro-American Film Festival Page |
 | "The Days of Live: Television's Golden Age As Seen By 21 Directors Guild of America Members" [1998] Edited by Ira Skutch Scarecrow Press 8½x5½ pb [8/98] for $29.81 Scarecrow Press 8¾x5½ hardcover [8/98] for $65.00 |
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"C.B.S.: The First 50 Years" [1998] by Tony Chiu Stoddart 11¾x10 hardcover [5/98] out of print/used |
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"The Age of Broadcasting: Television" [1997] Edited by Wim Coleman Discovery Enterprises 7¾x5¼ pb [9/98] out of print/used Tandem Library 7½x5¼ econoclad [3/97] for $15.25 |
 | "Encyclopedia of Television" [1997] Edited by Horace Newcomb Taylor & Francis {17 pounds!} 2nd edition hardcover 4-volume set [10/2004] for $620.00 |
 | "Tube: The Invention of Television" [1996] by David E. Fisher & Marshall Jon Fisher Harvest Books 9x6 pb [11/97] out of print/used Counterpoint hardcover [9/96] out of print/many used |
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"Television's Second Golden Age: From Hill Street Blues To ER" [1996] by Robert J. Thompson Syracuse Univ Press 9x6¼ pb [10/97] for $17.05 Continuum Intl. Publng Group 9¼x6 hardcover [5/96] out of print/used |
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"The Persistence of History: Cinema, Television and The Modern Event" [1995] by Vivian Sobchack Routledge/A.F.I. 9¼x6 pb [12/95] for $29.95 Routledge/A.F.I. 10x8 hardcover [12/95] out of print/used |
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"Television: An International History" [1995] Edited by Anthony Smith & Richard Paterson Oxford Univ Press 2nd edition 9¾x7½ pb [9/98] for $24.46 Oxford Univ Press 10x7½ hardcover [11/95] out of print/used |
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"The Box: An Oral History of Television, 1920-1961" [1995] by Jeff Kisseloff Penguin 8½x5½ pb [1/97] out of print/used Viking hardcover [11/95] out of print/many used |
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"Tinker In Television: From General Sarnoff To General Electric" [1994] by Grant Tinker S&S 9½x6½ hardcover [9/94] out of print/many used |
 | "As Seen On TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life In The 1950s" [1994] by Karal Ann Marling Harvard Univ Press 9¼x6 pb [3/96] for $20.50 Harvard Univ Press 9½x6.4 hardcover [9/94] for $27.50 |
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"Please Stand By: A Prehistory of Television" [1994] by Michael Ritchie Overlook 9¼x7 pb [9/95] for $15.95 Overlook hardcover [9/94] out of print/many used |
 | "The Broadcast Century and Beyond: A Biography of American Broadcasting" [orig 1992] by Robert L Hilliard & Michael C. Keith Focal Press 4th edition 10¼x7¼ pb [10/2004] for $39.56 |
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"Unsilent Revolution: Television News & American Public Life, 1948-1991" [1992] by Robert J. Donovan Cambridge Univ Press pb [3/92] for $28.99 Cambridge Univ Press 9¼x6½ hardcover [3/92] out of print/used |
 | "Beating The Odds: The Untold Story Behind The Rise of A.B.C. - The Stars, Struggles & Egos That Transformed Network Television" [1991] by Leonard H. Goldenson, with Marvin J. Wolf Scribner hardcover [2/91] out of print/many used |
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"Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics" [1990] by William Boddy Univ IL Press 9x6 pb [8/92] for $21.00 Univ IL Press hardcover [7/90] out of print/used |
 | "I Remember Television: A Memoir" [1989] by Ira Skutch part of the D.G.A. Oral Histories series; covers Skutch's years as a network radio director, at a Madison Avenue ad agency, and at the Goodson-Todman TV game show production company Scarecrow Press 8¾x5½ hardcover [1/89] for $48.00 |
 | "The Great Television Race: A History of The American Television Industry, 1925-1941" [1982] by Joseph H. Udelson Univ AL Press 9¼x6 pb [11/90] for $18.95 Univ AL Press 9¼x6 pb [6/89] for $35.00 |
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"Total Television: Revised Edition" [orig 1980] by Alex McNeil Penguin {2.63 pound} 4th edition pb [9/96] for $20.70 Penguin 4th edition book & CD [10/97] out of prodn/used |
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"The Complete Directory To Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present" [1979] by Tim Brooks & Earle F. Marsh Ballantine 8th edition pb [10/2003] for $18.45 |
 | "Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting" [1978] by Christopher H. Sterling & John M. Kittross L.E.A. 3rd edition hardcover [11/2001] for $64.35 |
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"The New York Times Encyclopedia of Television" [orig 1977] by Les Brown Visible Ink Press 3rd edition 9x7¼ pb [2/92] out of print/used Gale Group 3rd edition 9¾x7¾ hardcover [2/92] out of print/used Random House hardcover [11/77] out of print/many used |
 | "C.B.S.: Reflections In A Bloodshot Eye" [1975] by {C.B.S. historian} Robert Metz Playboy Press mass pb [1975] out of print/many used Penguin/Signet mass pb [8/76] out of print/used Playboy Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [1975] out of print/used |
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"Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television" [1975] by Erik Barnouw Oxford Univ Press 8x5¼ pb [5/90] for $19.95 Oxford Univ Press hardcover 10/75] out of print/used |
 | "A History of Broadcasting In The United States" [1966-70] by Erik Barnouw Vol. 1: "A Tower In Babel, To 1933" Oxford Univ Press hardcover [12/66] for $60.00 Vol. 2: "The Golden Web, 1933-1953" Oxford Univ Press hardcover [12/68] for $60.00 Vol. 3: "The Image Empire, From 1953" Oxford Univ Press hardcover [11/70] for $60.00 |
 | "Due To Circumstances Beyond Our Control ..." [1965] by Fred W. Friendly, former president of C.B.S. News Three Rivers Press 8¼x5¼ pb [3/99] out of print/used Vintage pb [2/68] out of print/used |
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"Only You, Dick Daring!: or How To Write One Television Script and Make $50,000,000" [1964 bestseller] A True-Life Adventure by Merle Miller & Evan Rhodes Bantam mass pb [10/65] out of print/used br>Wm. Sloane & Assocs. 8¼x5¾ hardcover [10/64] out of print/used |
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