1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910821217003321

Autore

Froug William

Titolo

How I escaped from Gilligan's Island [[electronic resource] ] : and other misadventures of a Hollywood writer-producer / / William Froug

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Madison, : University of Wisconsin Press/Popular Press, c2005

ISBN

1-282-90464-7

9786612904646

0-299-25063-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

xii, 345 p. : ill

Disciplina

808.2/25

B

Soggetti

Television writers - United States

Television producers and directors - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"A Ray and Pat Browne book"--series t.p.

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Welcome to Hollywood -- 2. Hello, I Must Be Going -- 3. Going, Going, Gone -- 4. Volcano Man -- 5. The King of Game Shows or "Shoot Her in the Stomach" -- 6. Paradise Found, Paradise Lost -- 7. Skinny Knows -- 8. Bombs on the Left, Cannon on the Right -- 9. Chew Vass Hexpectin Mebbe Too Loose Latrek? -- 10. The Sunset of The Twilight Zone -- 11. Banished to Gilligan's Island -- 12. Bewitched . . . Plenty Bothered and Bewildered -- 13. One Subchaser Missing in Action -- 14. So You Want to Be in Pictures? -- 15. One Last Fling -- 16. Free at Last -- 17. Hollywood, UCLA -- 18. Fun and Games in TV Land -- 19. Only Sometimes a Happy Ending -- 20. Scenes from the Life of a Teacher -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

In the early 1950s writers were leaving radio en masse to try their hand at another promising medium--television. William Froug was in the thick of that exodus, a young man full of ideas in a Hollywood bursting with opportunities. In his forty-year career Froug would write and/or produce many of the shows that America has grown up with. From the drama of Playhouse 90 and the mind-bending premises of The Twilight



Zone to the escapist scenarios of Adventures in Paradise, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, and Charlie's Angels, Froug played a role in shaping his trade. He crossed paths with some of the memorable personalities in the industry, including Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Agnes Moorehead, Elizabeth Montgomery, Robert Blake, Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry, Aaron Spelling, and Sherwood Schwartz. Froug reveals a post-WWII America giddy with the success of its newest medium--yet sobered at moments by strikes and union politics, McCarthyism and anti-Semitism. It was a world of hastily written scripts, sudden firings, thwarted creativity, and fickle tastes. And yet, while clearly exasperated with many aspects of Hollywood, Froug was a man utterly in his element, his frustration with the industry ultimately eclipsed by his dedication to his craft.