1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790285103321

Autore

Smith Jacob

Titolo

The Thrill Makers : Celebrity, Masculinity, and Stunt Performance / / Jacob Smith

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, California : , : University of California Press, , [2012]

©2012

ISBN

1-280-49202-3

9786613587251

0-520-95236-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (283 pages)

Disciplina

306.0973

791.4302

791.43028092

Soggetti

Daredevils - United States - History

Daredevils -- United States -- History

Stunt performers - United States - History

Stunt performers -- United States -- History

Stunt performers -- United States

Stunt performers

Stunt performers - History - United States

Daredevils - History - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. The Adventures of the Bridge Jumper -- Chapter 2. The Adventures of the Human Fly -- Chapter 3. The Adventures of the Lion Tamer -- Chapter 4. The Adventures of the Aeronaut -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Further Reading -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Well before Evel Knievel or Hollywood stuntmen, reality television or the X Games, North America had a long tradition of stunt performance, of men (and some women) who sought media attention and popular fame with public feats of daring. Many of these feats-jumping off bridges, climbing steeples and buildings, swimming incredible distances, or



doing tricks with wild animals-had their basis in the manual trades or in older entertainments like the circus. In The Thrill Makers, Jacob Smith shows how turn-of-the-century bridge jumpers, human flies, lion tamers, and stunt pilots first drew crowds to their spectacular displays of death-defying action before becoming a crucial, yet often invisible, component of Hollywood film stardom. Smith explains how these working-class stunt performers helped shape definitions of American manhood, and pioneered a form of modern media celebrity that now occupies an increasingly prominent place in our contemporary popular culture.