Of the many record companies that existed in the 1930s, only a few big players survived; they did so by smart marketing, competitive prices and most of all by clever artist recording policies. The respective expert in such a recording company usually was the A&R person, short for artist and repertoire. He (as then with […]
You are browsing archives for
Author: Dr. A. Ebert
Urban Noir: New York and Los Angeles in Shadow and Light by James J. Ward and Cynthia J. Miller (eds...
Both Los Angeles and New York City have been of particular interest to movie producers, especially to those who shot drama that was later called film noir. The authors want to dig deeper to unearth the reasons for those two locations, since the ”… inescapable question, then, is: Why this animosity toward the two cities […]
Soundies Jukebox Films and the Shift to Small-Screen Culture by Andrea J. Kelley (2018)
During the 1940s about 1,850 “Soundies” were produced in the US, destined to be played on 5,000 special standalone film machines in circulation nationwide. Those 16mm short films with a musical content were presented in coin-operated movie jukeboxes that were known as “Panorams,” which could be found in consumer places or likely in any place […]
Approaching Twin Peaks: Critical Essays on the Original Series by Eric Hoffman and Dominick Grace (e...
The TV show Twin Peaks, written and realized by Mark Frost and director extraordinaire David Lynch, has generated obviously millions of true fans worldwide who still meet at conventions to share theories and possible explanations for the many mysteries that inform the series. Even decades after the last episode of Twin Peaks season two was […]
Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, And Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction … by Iain Mcintyre and Andrew Nette (eds.)
The development and the origins of pulp fiction books are both well-documented and naturally before there was a market for those products, there was a demand for it. Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, however, starts not at the beginning of this genre, but dives deep into the phenomenon of the pulp books that dealt with subcultures […]
Folk Music in Overdrive: A Primer on Traditional Country and Bluegrass Artists by Ivan Tribe (2018)
By now (actually since the 1970s and thanks to a number of folk revivals) it is no secret that the geographical region of the Upland South was actually exploding with musical talent at the beginning of the 1920s. The states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Carolina produced countless masters and some tuneful virtuosi. The artists […]
Giant Creatures in Our World by Camille D. G. Mustachio and Jason Barr (eds.) (2017)
Even as today every few years or so new films with giant monsters hit the cinemas, the „kaiju“ (“strange beast/creature”) genre is mostly belittled or ridiculed in academic discussion and film studies as well. This situation was not quite satisfying for this book’s editors Mustachio and Barr; considering the fact that the kaiju film has […]
Dark City. The Real Los Angeles Noir by Jim Heimann (2018)
With Dark City a very unusual portrait of an American city is now available. It impresses with many pictures of the city of angels that show the really shadowy sides, the ones that inhabitants from the early 1910s until the 1950s experienced, and that provided the soil and inspiration for many novels and movies. As […]
The British Blues Network: Adoption, Emulation, and Creativity by Andrew Kellett (2017)
After WWII, with the British Empire finally devoid of its former power and importance, young British blues enthusiasts invented their own vision of a new country, they – metaphorically – chose as their preferred home country an idealized (American) life, namely in creating the very personal America with lots of possibilities and adventure. As all […]