Audiobooks by Nat Segaloff

Say Hello to My Little Friend: A Century of Scarface

When Brian DePalma's operatically violent and profane Scarface debuted in 1983, the film drew almost as much fire as the relentless gunfire in the film itself. The movie was a remake of 1932's Scarface-revamped for a new era of drugs, sex, and graphic violence. Attacked as both a celebration of cocaine-fueled excess and a condemnation of it, the film's reputation only grew as the years went by. But the real story of its success started nearly a century ago-when Hollywood first fell in love with the American gangster . . . Hollywood's infatuation with money, power, and organized crime has captured the public's imagination and made Scarface one of its most enduring modern myths. From a 1912 gangster film by D. W. Griffith to the 1932 hit Scarface starring Paul Muni, to Brian DePalma's 1983 shocker, the antihero's rise and fall exposes the dark side of the American Dream-whether it's Prohibition Era bootleggers or modern-day drug dealers. When actor Al Pacino got the idea of doing a remake of Scarface after screening the original, a legend was (re)born-and the rest is history. With guns blazing and chainsaws whirring, movie biz writer Nat Segaloff tears into this pop culture phenomenon with fascinating insights, stunning revelations, and a true fan's glee. This is a must-listen book for movie buffs, crime lovers, and culture vultures everywhere.

Nat Segaloff (Author), Johnny Heller (Narrator)

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The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear

On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle. The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty's bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film's director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of movie, and its aftermath. Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie's enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty's goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people 'think about the concept of good and evil.' The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers' deepest personal beliefs-and fears.

Nat Segaloff (Author), Joe Hempel (Narrator)

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More Fire! The Building of The Towering Inferno: A 50th Anniversary Explosion

It wasn’t the first or last of the disaster pictures, but it was the best of them all, yet its producer had no way of knowing that his career would never again reach those heights. The Towering Inferno (1974) was the crowning achievement of über-producer Irwin Allen, the self-proclaimed “Master of disaster.” Crafted from two best-selling books and with a budget-busting cast headed by two mega-stars, it took two studios to bring it to the screen. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Towering Inferno, biographer-historian Nat Segaloff (who was a member of the film’s special publicity unit) writes about the production, its innovative marketing campaign, and the goings-on before, during, and after its box office success. He draws a compelling, compassionate portrait of Irwin Allen, the workaholic filmmaker who craved the spotlight yet studiously hid his personal life. Segaloff also charts the history of fire in movies, draws personal profiles of the cast and crew, and offers modern fire safety tips that can save your life. More Fire! The Building of The Towering Inferno will bring back the excitement, the fear, and the heat of the greatest disaster movie ever made.

Nat Segaloff (Author), Nat Segaloff (Narrator)

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Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop: The Team That Changed Children's Television

For over forty years, ventriloquist Shari Lewis and her sassy hand puppet Lamb Chop were the most beloved team in children's television. Together with her other puppets Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy, Shari raised three generations of kids and struggled to stay relevant in an industry that was constantly changing. In this audiobook, cowritten and recorded by Shari's daughter Mallory Lewis (who now performs with Lamb Chop) and producer-biographer Nat Segaloff, you'll hear how Shari survived using sheer will and talent, how she reinvented herself to meet new challenges, and the never-before-told story of the origin of Lamb Chop. Shari's story is not only that of a versatile and talented entertainer. It's the personalized history of children's television and of a gifted woman's lifelong struggle to remain on top of a tough profession. Mallory tells her mother's story with intimacy and honesty as Nat fills in the narrative. There's even a guest appearance by Lamb Chop.

Mallory Lewis, Nat Segaloff (Author), Lamb Chop, Lamb Chop Null, Mallory Lewis, Nat Segaloff (Narrator)

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Hollywood and Venal

"Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you find the real tinsel underneath." - Oscar Levant Sometimes fiction is the best way to tell the truth. In this, his first collection of short stories, Nat Segaloff (Final Cuts, Guarding Gable, Mr. Huston/Mr. North) reveals the truth behind some of Hollywood's biggest scandals, agendas, and confidences. First published by reporter/columnist Nikki Finke on her acclaimed website HollywoodDementia.com, these romans-à-clef (stories with a key) expose long-hidden secrets about the Blacklist, the Oscars, publicity stunts, studio follies, ageism, celebrity weirdness, and other gambits that, even today, are barely whispered-if they are discussed at all. For half a century author Segaloff has been a publicist, critic, historian, and producer (not all at the same time) absorbing film industry lore. And he kept notes. Where he could use real names, he put them into his memoirs Screen Saver and Screen Saver Too (both from BearManor). Where he had to hide identities, he saved them for Hollywood and Venal. Here is a collection of funny, revealing, moving, and sometimes absurd narratives, every one of which has its origins in an actual Hollywood event, legend, mindset, pitch, or occurrence known personally to the author. Listeners are invited to guess who.

Nat Segaloff (Author), Nat Segaloff (Narrator)

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Guarding Gable

Guarding Gable-an audio novel by Nat Segaloff-takes off from an actual event in the life of the screen's number one star, and becomes a story worthy of a Hollywood movie.It's 1942, and World War Two is just beginning. Beloved actress Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash while returning from a bond-selling tour, and her husband, Clark Gable, is beyond consolation. Depressed to the point of suicide, he enlists in the US Army Air Corps, telling his bosses at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that he doesn't care if he ever comes back.Naturally, MGM is apoplectic at the prospect of losing their top box office attraction. In desperation, studio head Louis B. Mayer leans on a lowly publicist, Alan Greenberg, to enlist with Gable with orders to protect him and keep him alive during World War Two. Gable could care less, flying five combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, before he's grounded on orders from the brass. Meanwhile, he and Alan happen to fall in love with the same woman-and, if you're Alan, how do you win the girl if your competition is Clark Gable?Believe it or not, the story is mostly true, and it's told in Guarding Gable, an enhanced audiobook now available from Bear Manor Audio. "Enhanced"-in addition to the story-which combines action, comedy, and romance-you'll hear sounds of war, environments that enrich the storytelling, and excerpts from the actual training film that Gable made while reluctantly grounded. By the way, there's also a little rough language; after all, this is the army.

Nat Segaloff (Author), Nat Segaloff (Narrator)

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Screen Saver: Private Stories of Public Hollywood

How do the most glamorous people in Hollywood behave when they're not in Hollywood? They run the gamut, and Nat Segaloff followed them for twenty-five years. He started in the staid and stuffy-but also politically tinged and rapidly evolving-city of Boston, then picked up the trail in Los Angeles. In Screen Saver: Private Stories of Public Hollywood, he writes about the celebrities he worked with when they thought they were out of the public eye. Read about why the job of film critic is one of the most dangerous in journalism; how Deep Throat almost got un-banned in Boston; pointers on how to lie, cheat, and steal in Hollywood; what really happens on those glitzy Hollywood press junkets; Hollywood in transition during the last great age of American cinema. These are the scoops about the bad, the beautiful, the boring, and the blessed as seen by the publicist who kept them out of the papers and then became the reporter who put them back in.

Nat Segaloff (Author), Nat Segaloff (Narrator)

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Mr. Huston / Mr. North: Life, Death, and Making John Huston’s Last Film

Journalist, producer, and film historian Nat Segaloff takes listeners behind the scenes during the final days of the great Hollywood filmmaker John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen). In the summer of 1987, a group of the screen’s most notable stars gathered in glamorous Newport, Rhode Island, to make Mr. North, a charming but unpretentious film about a magical man who turns the town upside down. They included Anthony Edwards, Anjelica Huston, Lauren Bacall, Harry Dean Stanton, Virginia Madsen, Tammy Grimes, and a host of other talents, including legendary director John Huston. The filmmaker was Danny Huston, John’s son. But just as the cameras turned, John fell ill and was replaced by Robert Mitchum. There were daily reports on Huston’s failing health, and the world wondered whether the lion of Hollywood, after surviving so many close calls with death over the years, would finally succumb. Nat Segaloff was the only journalist—the only outsider, in fact—allowed onto the set and behind the scenes of Mr. North, and he reported on it for the Boston Herald—but only some of it. Now, after more than a quarter century, the full story can be told of the daily interactions of these famous egos struggling to finish their movie while overshadowed by the one person who wasn’t even in it.

Nat Segaloff (Author), Nat Segaloff (Narrator)

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The Waldorf Conference

On November 24, 1947, the most powerful men in American film met in New York’s plush Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to decide how to address the Communist witch-hunt being carried out by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Twenty-four hours later they emerged having created the Hollywood Blacklist. The Waldorf Conference dramatically speculates on what went on in that room. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Shelley Berman, Charles Durning, David Ellenstein, John Kapelos, Bill Macy, Richard Masur, George Murdock, John Randolph, Ron Rifkin, William Schallert and John Schuck.

Arnie Reisman, Daniel M. Kimmel, Nat Segaloff (Author), Various Performers (Narrator)

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