McFarland and Company, Inc.

The Irish Times called Thomas Kilroy ""one of the most significant playwrights of modern Ireland"", while The Sunday Times has described him as ""one of the outstanding living Irish playwrights and, perhaps, the most complete"". The winner of numerous honors including a special tribute from the Irish Theatre Awards in 2003, he has written fourteen plays. This appraisal of the works of Thomas Kilroy focuses on the common themes and methodology of his plays, including an unusual alliance between serious theatrical complexity and varied but demanding forms of comedy. A separate chapter is devoted to each play with the exception of The Death and Resurrection of Mr. Roche and The MacAdam Travelling Theatre, whose complementary themes are discussed together. Reflecting on the essence of theatre, Kilroy's works combine meditations on humanity with references to Irish history, generally using historical reality as a dramatic starting point. Plays discussed include Kilroy originals such as Talbot's Box, The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde and Blake as well as adaptations of well-known works such as The Seagull, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Henry. Interviews with stage directors (L. Parker, M. Stafford-Clark, P. Mason, A.S. Paul) and the playwright himself contribute to this in-depth analysis of Kilroy's dramatic art. Photographs of staged plays and a list of premieres of Kilroy's works (plays and adaptations) are also included.

Early dystopian science fiction like George Orwell's 1984 or Thea von Harbou's Metropolis show us bleak worlds where capitalism has no boundaries and has corrupted sovereign powers, exploiting the lower classes and benefiting only a few at the top. Political laws and policies related to human life--or the biopolitical--devalue that life, making humanity little more than expendable "machines" producing for capitalism, and capitalism's focus on progress has made it a central concern in much of science fiction. Covering science fiction from the early 1900s to present, this book examines the portrayal of dystopian capitalism and the biopolitical in works like Brave New World and R.U.R., among many others.

John Wayne worked on film sets around the globe. This book follows the trail, from his beginnings on the Fox backlot to his final filming in Lone Pine, California. Locations in Mexico, Normandy, Rome, Madrid, London, Ireland, Libya and Africa are covered, along with his favorite vacation spots in Hawaii, Acapulco, Greece, Monaco, and the Hollywood hot-spots he frequented. Anecdotes revisit his most famous scenes, including Rooster Cogburn's charge in True Grit (1969) and Davy Crockett's last stand in The Alamo (1960). Production details describe how San Diego stood in for Iwo Jima, how Old Tucson was turned into El Dorado, and how Genghis Kahn ruled over the deserts of Utah. Never before published photos present then-and-now views in this first of its kind guided tour for film location hunters and Wayne aficionados.

Reviled by critics but beloved by an extraordinarily faithful audience, Hee Haw was seen in over 15 million homes a week during the height of its popularity. Many years after going off the air, Hee Haw remains the longest running variety show of its type in television history, having aired for nearly 600 episodes during its decades-long run. This book tells the complete story of how one of America's classic television programs was created by two Canadians in Beverly Hills. Series co-creator John Aylesworth provides an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at some of Hee Haw's best--and worst--moments, from the show's shoestring beginnings in a tiny Nashville studio; to the ""Great Country Massacre of 1971,"" which saw the cancellation of Hee Haw, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and several other ""country shows"" on CBS; to its unprecedented success in syndication. Richly illustrated with dozens of the author's personal photographs and memorabilia, the book also includes one appendix providing a complete list of Hee Haw episodes from 1969 to 1992.

This book presents the little-studied story of the history and documents of the pardons, passes, paroles and promises of loyalty used by both North and South. The words of the loyalty oaths required for passes, paroles and pardons grew over time from a few simple lines to several paragraphs. Conditions were added and pre-qualifications modified. This history provides insights into the politics, culture and battlefield realities present during the conduct of the war.

Since cinema's earliest beginnings, there has been friction between producers and directors. Shady accounting practices, which favored the distributors at the expense of the filmmakers, were all too common, causing many filmmakers to form independent companies to make and distribute their own product. This book examines six such low-budget exploitation companies--Associated Distributors Productions, Filmgroup, Hemisphere Pictures, American General Pictures, Independent-International Pictures, Dimension Pictures, and the author's own American-Independent Productions. A brief history of each company, laced with quotes from the company's principals, is presented, followed by a filmography that lists all known credits for that company.