by Team TVWriter™ Press Service
…And we’re pleased to be able to tell everybody about them.
First up is Herbie’s first new baby Retro Active Television: An In-Depth History of Classic TV’s Social Circuitry, which we think will appeal to television lovers everywhere, regardless of whether they really care about, you know, “social circuitry.”
Here’s a nutshell description of das Buch:
Classic television shows, which were produced with quality, excellence and geared toward family values, have had a positive influence in the lives of viewers for decades; as have the classic TV characters and the classic TV stars that brought them to life.
Some viewers of classic TV became attorneys because of Perry Mason; more than a few doctors enrolled in medical school because of Marcus Welby, M.D. Modern science and artificial limb construction, along with visual and audio implants, were enhanced because of The Six Million Dollar Man. That Girl, Maude, and Wonder Woman helped moved forward the Women’s Liberation Movement, as did The Mary Tyler Moore Show (the latter of which encouraged women to pursue careers in journalism, including Oprah Winfrey)!
Families learned how to better communicate within their households because of Father Knows Best, The Waltons and Life Goes On – the latter of which was about a family member with Down syndrome, who later befriended a young friend with AIDS. In the process, the barriers of prejudice began to dissolved in real life, as they had after audiences observed the true love, affection and acceptance of the “mixed marriages” as portrayed by Lucy and Rickyon I Love Lucy or Samantha and Darrin on Bewitched.
All of it will be chronicled in RETRO ACTIVE TELEVISION: AN IN-DEPTH HISTORY OF CLASSIC TV’S SOCIAL CIRCUITRY by author, producer, and televisionary Herbie J Pilato (Twitch Upon A Star, The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom), the Founder and Executive Director of The Classic TV Preservation Society (a nonprofit that helps to close the gap between popular culture and education).
In short, RETRO ACTIVE TELEVISION will explore the many-layered and heroic aspects of classic TV programming.
Oh, and what better person to have write the Foreword to such an innovative book than the best, and most human and humane classic TV hero of all time…as personified by none other than ADAM WEST – the original and most beloved Batman of them all!
Watch for Retro’s publication by Tantor Books in Fall of 2014!
Herbie J’s second new arrival is Female Icons of Television: Beloved Women of the Small Screen (From the ’50’s, ’60’s And ’70’s). Yes, the title is a mouthful, but who doesn’t want to know about female icons? We mean, c’mon.
Or to put it another, more responsible way:
“An object of uncritical devotion.”
That’s how Webster’s dictionary defines the word “icon.”
From there, the verbal gamut runs “romantic,” “aristocratic,” “sexual,” “sumptuous,” “penetrating,” “wise,” “resourceful,” “majestic,” “mysterious,” “profound,” and beyond; still only partially defining the select individuals who are profiled in FEMALE ICONS OF TELEVISION: BELOVED WOMEN OF THE SMALL SCREEN (FROM THE ’50’s, ‘60’s AND 70’s).In application to television that may not hold much water. But in combination with the additional utterance of “female,” it becomes an unbeatable super-phrase: FEMALE ICONS OF TELEVISION.
In truth? Such a unique gathering is, in effect, undefinable…which in and of itself ironically becomes their ultimate, ideal and best description.
How could any of part of it be nothing but complicated, ambiguous, exciting, overwhelming, and compelling?
The elegant, discerning performance of Elinor Donahue as Betty Princess Anderson, the ideal, sweet-natured but confident and direct daughter from TV’s classic Father Knows Best…The legendary Donna Douglas who with both gusto and grace played the hot and hollering Elly May Clampett, the diamond in the rough on The Beverly Hillbillies….
The barrier-and race-breaking performance of the distinguished Diahann Carroll as Julia in the same-named, first-African-American-led sitcom in TV history…The smart, sassy and sly delivery designed upon us by Barbara Eden and her magical TV carpet ride via I Dream of Jeannie. The erotic, svelte, slinky – and very feminine-swagger of Julie Newmar as Catwoman on the original Batman series.
Each of them and more are probed, prodded and paid tribute to in FEMALE ICONS OF TELEVISION: BELOVED WOMEN OF THE SMALL SCREEN (FROM THE ’50’s, ‘60’s AND 70’s), which is filled with insightful, provocative and revealing commentary culled from exclusive interviews conducted by renowned classic television historian and producer Herbie J Pilato (Twitch Upon A Star, The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom, The Bionic Book, and more).
Look and pine for it in the Fall of 2014 – when it will be released exclusively and exotically by Taylor Trade Publishing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What do we mean by “exotically?” You’ll have to wait till Fall of 2014 to find out. But we can tell you this much: Herbie J has already arranged for an exclusive interview with TVWriter™’s own Larry Brody, and if anybody knows the, ahem, inside scoop on the female icons of that era he’s the guy.
And, yeppers, LB also will be contributing his insights to Retro Active Television. As soon as Herbie J can get him to stop dancing around and sit down and talk!
