Brief Encounters: Conversations with Celebrities

Why did Tennessee Williams choose a Vancouver theatre company to mount the world premiere of his last professionally produced stage play? Why does the song "Amazing Grace" still occupy a very special place in the repertoire of singer Judy Collins? Why did Robertson Davies abandon what appeared to be a successful career as a playwright in Canada to start writing novels? Why did Sophia Loren go back to Italy to serve a jail term for tax evasion? Why did Tom Lehrer totally disappear from the scene after establishing himself as one of America's cleverest and wittiest satirical songwriters? Why did Michael Nesmith quit The Monkees to start making music videos? Why did Brian Moore pronounce his first name, "Bree-ann?" Why did Shari Lewis start conducting symphony orchestras after she had endeared herself to kids all over the world with a comedy ventriloquism routine involving a cute sock puppet named Lamb Chop? Why did Chubby Checker go through 20 pairs of platform boots a year to keep his audiences twisting the night away? These are some of the intriguing questions best-selling author Brian Brennan asks and answers in the stories featured in Brief Encounters: Conversations with Celebrities. Based on interviews conducted during Brennan's 15 years as a newspaper arts and entertainment writer, this anthology of 60 newly created stories about well-known personalities of the 1970s and 1980s vividly recalls a time before the advent of websites and social media, when celebrities relied on newspaper and broadcast journalists to spread the word about their latest books, movies, record albums and upcoming stage performances. In many instances, they revealed to Brennan aspects of their lives never made public before. The featured personalities in this engrossing book of time-capsule journalism also include Richard Harris, Elizabeth Taylor, Glenda Jackson, Chuck Berry and Tammy Wynette, as well as such prominent Canadians as Anne Murray, Mario Bernardi, Randy Bachman, "Rompin'" Ronnie Hawkins and L.R. (Bunny) Wright.

Author: Brian Brennan

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date: Jul 26, 2017

Number of Pages: 334 pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1973971593

ISBN-13: 9781973971597