When Mrs. August Belmont died in 1979, just before her 100th birthday, she was remembered as a philanthropist and advocate for the arts, especially the Metropolitan Opera--but before her triumphs as Mrs. Belmont, she had dignified the American stage for 13 glorious years as Eleanor Robson, actress. Her splendid voice, understated style, and always-evident intelligence thrilled legions of theatregoers and enthralled the best playwrights of her time, including Israel Zangwill, Clyde Fitch, and George Bernard Shaw. Despite the brevity of her career, Eleanor Robson stands as a prototype for many actresses who followed her--women who sought to control their own careers and demanded artistic respect and freedom, and who, by the twenty-first century, would confidently call themselves not actresses, but actors. This is the first book-length biography of her, focusing especially on her theatrical career.
Eleanor Roosevelt recognized the power of film and television, especially as educational tools to reach young people. She hosted three political talk shows in the 1950s and early 1960s, often appearing in guest spots to promote the United Nations, Democratic candidates, and progressive issues with Ed Sullivan, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Mike Wallace, and Edward R. Murrow. In the 1930s and '40s, fan magazines such as Photoplay and Modern Screen published her opinions on the movies, and she boldly appeared in an interventionist prologue to the 1940 anti-Nazi film Pastor Hall. During World War II, she contributed to civil defense films and became a staple joke in Hollywood comedies. She also negotiated postwar representations of FDR on the big screen, culminating in 1960's Sunrise at Campobello, which portrayed her as the perfect wife. This book is the first to address Eleanor Roosevelt's moving image record and her relationship to film and television in the three decades from the 1932 presidential campaign to her death in 1962.
In The Journey East, Mark Richard Beaulieu continues the fascinating life of Eleanor of Aquitaine with a second volume. Set in the historically rich 12th century, the young French Queen brings her culture into conflicted Paris, where she will become a mother. Developing her court, she leads an army on an amazing journey of personal destinations. With a unique view of the world, parentless Eleanor is brought East into Paris. Married to King Louis the Seventh at age 13, Eleanor is not allowed to bring her Aquitaine chevaliers, troubadours, or friends. She runs up against the French Court, a reigning Queen, and a dark city of obedient religion. Outside of Paris, a new cathedral is built of glowing walls of stained glass, run by Abbot Adam Suger. He is in conflict with austere Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, the nemesis of Eleanor's family. In the division of faith, Eleanor takes sides, but not as you might expect in this contest for power. The young attractive queen faces trials of majesty to bring light to France. Upholding her sister's marriage and dealing with factions that battle to divide the realm, the queen and king are swept up into the French civil war. After her first child, her Aquitaine messenger birds bring news that the First Crusade of her forefathers would not be the last.Recruiting the largest land army ever assembled using her persuasive skills, Eleanor embarks on a 3,000-mile journey East across medieval Europe to enter the ill-fated Second Crusade. She, her champion court, and a train of three hundred women encounter the enchanting culture of Byzantium - the greatest city in the world. Detained by a skilled Emperor, they cross into mountainous Outremer. Running out of supply, they suffer a brutal winter war against the Saracens. Eleanor and her friends test the bounds of chivalry, love, courage, endurance, and the very limits of faith. This fantastic exploration of stamina and a passionate tells her journey with her people. (this is the Feb 2020 edition)----This ten-year writing project draws on the latest scholarly research. Beaulieu's historical fiction significantly updates what we know of this powerful medieval queen. Born as Alienor, she twice becomes a queen, once for France with King Louis 7th, then for England with King Henri 2nd. Find out how she becomes one of the most enigmatic women of the middle ages as she develops the Eleanor Code and gets to be the grandmother of empires.----Mark Richard Beaulieu is an expert on the 12th-century life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. He is an accomplished author, collected painter, award-winning photographer, and innovative software technologist. Trained as a studio artist, Mark holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of California at Davis and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
The Voyage West delivers storyteller Mark Beaulieu's third volume recreating Eleanor of Aquitaine's rich medieval world on land and sea. As a spirited crusader, the young French queen and mother must fight for all she believes in. Survival becomes paramount to endure an ill-conceived war in treacherous Outremer and to sail the dangerous voyage home.Coming ashore in Antioch after horrific losses where only one in twenty survives, Eleanor must overcome despair. Meanwhile, Louis, who has lost most of his army, tours holy shrines. A barge sent by King Raymond invites her to sail up the restorative Orontes river. Her court urges her forward to discover the exotic ways of a rich desert culture. Louis and Eleanor come into a dramatic confrontation over the crusade mission, but actions far deeper are taking place by forces that have called the holy war.This begins the story of a layered world as complex as Eleanor, where armed political struggle, divisive religion, medieval beliefs, and passions compound. Eleanor, driven forward by a holy quest, finds it is everything else that matters. Through novice eyes, she experiences beauty and cruelty. Her court of chevaliers and troubadour princes meet the exotic women of Outremer and the culture of the desert. We see both sides of the enormous battle fought over Damascus. Eleanor meets the sister-queens who operate the holy lands and learn what it takes to be a Queen that uses her court to full advantage. In spite of fears for safety and facing real and immediate danger, she struggles in a holy war with an all-knowing church and an unknowing King, a perfect storm for making infallibly horrific decisions. Ultimately, she understands the forces that call and divide the Second Crusade. Eleanor arrives home as a wholly different person, changed forever. It is an amazing voyage and a thrilling adventure of one of the greatest queens you never knew.This edition is April 2021.
Eleanor McGraw, vertically challenged, empathic and sharp daughter of folk musician Isabel Payne and a world famous rock guitarist, wakes up a few days shy of her 14th birthday to a life more ordinary. After years of vagabonding around the world alongside a series of chaotic father figures, they are settling down with quiet Kjell, a Swedish dentist, on the outskirts of a small town on the South coast of England. While exploring her new home's surroundings, Eleanor discovers a solitary pony in a deserted plot of grazing land. As she befriends the animal and meets scar-faced, foul-mouthed, 16-year-old Pike she is slowly drawn into another family's tragic past and finds herself at the centre of a decision between life or death, past or future, beginning or end. A contemporary book about people, ponies, patchwork families, friendship and love, suitable for anyone - horse rider or not - between 14 and 104. Contains some strong language.
