Most Popular Books by Bob Thomas

This is the Commemorative Edition of one of the most trusted and respected nonfiction books about Walt Disney ever written! Includes 4 commemorative essays; a photo insert with more than 60 behind-the-scenes images; and an endnotes section with insightful passages from 15 Disney historians and authors to provide further context for modern audiences. Walt Disney is an American hero. From Mickey Mouse to Disneyland, he changed the face of American culture. His is a success story like no other: a man who developed animated film into an art form and made a massive contribution to the folklore of the world. After years of research, respected Hollywood biographer Bob Thomas produced this definitive biography of the person behind the legend of Disney: the unschooled cartoonist from Kansas City, Missouri, who—though his initial studio went bankrupt during his first movie venture—developed into a creative spirit who produced unmatched works of entertainment that have influenced generations. Inside the Commemorative Edition paperback: • Special essays by Christopher Miller, Jeff Kurtti, Marcy Carriker Smothers, and Rebecca Cline and an updated index from the 2023 edition • Preface by Bob Thomas from the 1994 edition • Foreground, 28 chapters, and sources by Bob Thomas from the 1976 edition • Endnotes excerpting 15 books that have furthered Bob’s research from the 2023 edition • 32-page photo insert with more than 60 behind-the-scenes images from the 2023 edition Searching for information about Walt Disney? Explore more books from Disney Editions: The Official Walt Disney Quote Book People Behind the Disney Parks: Stories of Those Honored with a Window on Main Street, U.S.A. Maps of the Disney Parks: Charting 60 Years from California to Shanghai Walt''s Disneyland: A Walk in the Park with Walt Disney The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder

“Let''s Dance” is a fantastic vintage guide to social dancing. It has step-by-step instructions for a variety of traditional dances, as well chapters on history, popularity, general remarks, and much more. This volume is highly recommended for novices and veteran dancers looking to expand their repertoire. Contents include: “From Polka to Mambo – The History of Social Dancing in America”, “On Your Mark, Get Set – Preparing to dance... Simplest Exercises”, “Everybody Does the Foxtrot – The Stance for Dancing... Learning Rhythm... Foxtrot charts”, “Waltzing is Wonderful – The Origins... Waltz Charts”, “Let''s Go Latin – Samba... Rumba... Mambo”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on dance.

From Marceline to the Magic Kingdom. Award-winning Associate Press reporter Bob Thomas'' original biography of Walt Disney is fast-moving and insightful - the perfect introduction to Walt for readers of all ages.

Harry Cohn was a self-invented tyrant who ran Columbia Studios as his personal fiefdom. Extensive interviews and research fuel Bob Thomas''s portrayal of a Broadway song plugger turned powerful player.

"Few Hollywood careers have been more fabulous, more scandalous, more dizzyingly from-rags-to-riches and from-triumph-to-tragedy, more glaringly limelit than that of Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur in 1906 (or 1908, according to her press releases) in Texas. Miss Crawford rose from being a telephone operator in Kansas City (under the name Billie Cassin, since her mother had remarried) to a chorus line in Springfield, Missouri. and from there--as if propelled by one high, miraculous kick--came to MGM, fame, glamour, glitter, romance, and ultimate stardom. For many people Joan Crawford was more than a star; she was *the* star, the very symbol of those dazzling movie queens whose faces were more famous throughout the world than those of emperors, dictators or presidents, and whose very appearance could create a riot--as Miss Crawford once did in New York`s Grand Central Terminal. She was a tough, ambitious, gutsy and fiercely competitive person, a complete professional when it came to making movies, a star on or off the stage. Her energy was inexhaustible and legendary, as was her temper, and her marriages were stormy and violent, whether with fellow-star Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. or with Pepsi-Cola executive Alfred Steele, who made her Pepsi''s ambassador to the world and died leaving her almost penniless. Joan Crawford''s love affairs were the stuff of countless gossip columns, as widely publicized as her movies--and seldom indeed has a life been lived more in the limelight of publicity. Yet in this definitive, powerful and dramatic biography, Bob Thomas, dean of Hollywood biographers, has recreated the *real* life of Joan Crawford: her lonely, terrible death; her search for her father (who abandoned her at an early age and reappeared in her life when she was a star); her struggles to reach the top; the scandals that haunted her life (including the rumor that she had appeared in a blue movie and that Louis B. Mayer had paid a king''s ransom to buy the negative and destroy it); her tortured relationships with her adopted children; her drinking; and her courageous decision to resume work after Steele''s death. Here, at last, is the complete and extraordinary story of Joan Crawford''s life, her films, her marriages, her secrets and her loves, in an intimate biography that delineates the character and the personality of the Ultimate Star."--Dust jacket.

From Mickey Mouse to Hercules

Roy O Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire Roy and Walt Disney will go down in entertainment history as one of its all-time most successful teams. Everyone knows about Walt but what of Roy, the older brother whose stormy relationship with Walt helped build their business empire? This is a fully authorised look at the other Disney genius, featuring previously unpublished interviews, notes, letters, and photographs. It illuminates the Disney story as never before.

From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast

Traces the life and career of the influential producer, shares the impressions of those who worked with him, and surveys Warner Brothers films.

More than seventy-five years after his death, Irving Thalberg remains a legendary Hollywood figure. In this definitive biography, his legend comes to life -- from his beginnings as the "Boy Wonder of Hollywood", to the creation with Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to his tragic death at the age of thirty-seven. With his remarkable talent for developing stars and doctoring scripts, this architect of the American film created some of America''s best-loved movies: Ben-Hur, Mutiny on the Bounty, A Night at the Opera, Grand Hotel, Romeo and Juliet, The Good Earth, Camille. His genius has made his name a legend in the land of legends.

Biography of dancer Fred Astaire.

Step By Step Pictures And Diagrams By America''s Greatest Dance Team, Plus The True Backstage Story Of The Champions'' Rise To Fame.

This is the Rolls-Royce of the how-to and how-not-to books on entrepreneurship. It covers things that are not even touched-upon by other entrepreneur books. It takes the reader through every stage of funding (without money), partnership compatibility, unique structure, sales, marketing, patents, legal problems, selling out or going public, and much more. It is as fail-proof as anything can be.

The best way to learn how to navigate change successfully is to look at practical examples of change management programmes. Organizational Change Explained shares stories and insights from experienced change practitioners so professionals can reflect on their own work, respond critically to what others have done, and take away new tools and techniques to apply to their own change management practice. The book includes a range of cases from different sectors and countries including GlaxoSmithKline and the NHS to offer insights no matter the scale of the change management programme. Organized around central themes such as shaping and design, change leadership, and communication and engagement, Organizational Change Explained presents each case alongside an introduction, conclusion, list of key learning points, questions for reflection and sources of further reading. The book is invaluable to anyone tasked with leading or managing change within their teams, projects, departments or divisions, whether at local level or across geographic locations, countries and cultures.

In If I Knew Then, which was first published in 1962, Debbie Reynolds makes her debut as an author, having already excelled in numerous other fields of expression—including appearing in motion pictures, on the stage, in vaudeville and on television, and selling more than a million copies of her record “Tammy,” from the movie Tammy and the Bachelor (1957). “I’m Debbie Reynolds. “Well, I’m not really Debbie; I’m Mary Frances. But if you like Debbie you can call me that. Or you can call me Sis, like my father, or Frannie, like my brother, or Mrs. Karl or—Whatever you want to call me, I’m pleased to meet you. “Now let’s get down to cases. Like the Case of Why Debbie Reynolds Is Writing a Book. That’s one that even Perry Mason would have trouble solving. “Me write a book? “I can imagine the hubbub this will arouse in certain quarters “People who know me well know I will not be swayed by flattery. I am going to write this book, anyway. First I’d better list what this book is not. “1. It is not an autobiography of Little Me. The life and times of this belle will have to be written a few decades hence. “2. It will not teach you how to play the piano in forty-five (45) days. “3. It will not cure nervous tension, negative thinking or excess acidity. “Then what is it? “It is a book about the things I have learned, often the hard way. It was prompted by the people who have written me for advice on a variety of subjects, mainly personal. Why me, I don’t know. But they write....”—Debbie Reynolds

From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast

Breaking a silence of 30 years, the former Mrs. Rock Hudson tells all about her brief, poignant marriage to the all-American star--from its glamorous, lovestruck beginnings to its shattering, shocking end. "Revealing!"--The Star.

Bing Crosby. No performer will ever be remembered with more affection. For over forty years, this golden-voiced crooner delighted the world with his easy charm and graceful style. He made "White Christmas" a holiday tradition. His "Road" movies with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour are classics of zany comedy. He raised spirits during the Depression, entertained our soldiers during the war, and consistently reassures us that life is a joy and the virtue will be rewarded. Bing''s popularity has endured through three generations. And no one remembers him with more affection than author/journalist Bob Thomas in this joyous memoir of Crosby''s career and life. You can share again the special moments of the great Bing Crosby''s remarkable career. Filled with many rare photographs and anecdotes of Bing, his family, and friends, and featuring an illustrated filmography and a list of his greatest hits, The One and Only Bing is an admiring tribute to an unparalleled singer, a fine actor, and a great man.

In the days when Hollywood films were being cranked out by the big studios the way Detroit turned out automobiles, one man clung to the belief that a motion picture was like a painting which had to be painted and signed by a single artist.In 1939 David O. Selznick justified his belief. He was 37 years old when Gone With the Wind was released to thunderous accolades. It was the triumph -- and the tragedy -- of his life. As a producer he had reached the pinnacle of success; there was nowhere else to go ...In this biography, Bob Thomas tells the story of the stormy career of a man who personified the label legend. It tells of the women he loved and the fortunes he amassed and lost; of the great stars he made and the magnificent motion pictures he created. Here is the man himself -- the author of endless memos, the compulsive gambler, the driving perfectionist.Selznick''s life is also a kaleidoscopic reflection of Hollywood''s golden era when movies were meant to entertain, when the word star was synonymous with glamour and the word damn violated the production code.

DVD is titled "Train your dog" and includes training exercises and tips.

Drawing on the personal experience of two concerned Christian fathers who currently coach youth athletic teams, this book provides practical advice for parents, coaches, and sponsors about how they can help to make sports activities positive events.

Biography of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, one of the greatest comedy teams of all time.

A biography of the internationally beloved cartoonist-creator of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Disneyland.