Killing the Indian Maiden examines the fascinating and often disturbing portrayal of Native American women in film. M. Elise Marubbio examines the sacrificial role in which a young Native woman allies herself with a white male hero and dies as a result of that choice. In studying thirty-four Hollywood films from the silent period to the present, she draws upon theories of colonization, gender, race, and film studies to ground her analysis in broader historical and sociopolitical context and to help answer the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” The book reveals a cultural iconography embedded in the American psyche. As such, the Native American woman is a racialized and sexualized other. A conquerable body, she represents both the seductions and the dangers of the American frontier and the Manifest Destiny of the American nation to master it.

James Wynnegate and his cousin, Henry, upper class Englishmen, have been made trustees for an orphans' fund. Henry loses money in a bet at a derby and embezzles money from "the fund" to pay off his debts. When war office officials are informed of the money missing from "the fund", they pursue James, but he successfully escapes to Wyoming. There, James rescues Nat-U-Ritch, daughter to the chief of the Utes tribe, from local outlaw Cash Hawkins. Hawkins plans to exact his revenge on James, but has his plans thwarted by Nat-U-Ritch, who fatally shoots him. Later, James gets into an accident in the mountains and needs to be rescued.......

Colossal. Stupendous. Epic. These adjectives, used by movie companies to hawk their wares, became clichélong ago. When used to describe the films of one director, they are accurate. More than any filmmaker in the history of the medium, Cecil B. DeMille mastered the art of the spectacle. In the process, he became a filmland founder. One hundred years ago, he made the first feature film ever shot in Hollywood and went on to become the most commercially successful producer-director in history. DeMille told his cinematic tales with painterly, extravagant images. The parting of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments was only one of these. There were train wrecks (The Greatest Show on Earth); orgies (Manslaughter); battles (The Buccaneer); Ancient Rome (The Sign of the Cross); Ancient Egypt (Cleopatra); and the Holy Land (The Crusades). The best of these images are showcased here, in Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic. This lavish volume opens the King Tut's tomb of cinematic treasures that is the Cecil B. DeMille Archives, presenting storyboard art, concept paintings, and an array of photographic imagery. Historian Mark A. Vieira writes an illuminating text to accompany these scenes. Cecilia de Mille Presley relates her grandfather's thoughts on his various films, and recalls her visits to his sets, including the Egyptian expedition to film The Ten Commandments. Like the director's works, Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic is a panorama of magnificence-celebrating a legendary filmmaker and the remarkable history of Hollywood.

A look at the wide-ranging work of the Golden Age genius who made The Ten Commandments and other blockbusters—and helped found the American film industry. Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood is a detailed and definitive chronicle of the director’s screen work that changed the course of film history—and a fascinating look at how movies were actually made in Hollywood’s Golden Age. Drawing extensively on DeMille’s personal archives and other primary sources, Robert S. Birchard offers a revealing portrait of DeMille the filmmaker that goes behind studio gates and beyond DeMille’s legendary persona. In his forty-five-year career DeMille’s box-office record was unsurpassed, and his swaggering style established the public image for movie directors. He had a profound impact on the way movies tell stories, and brought greater attention to the elements of decor, lighting, and cinematography. Best remembered today for screen spectacles such as The Ten Commandments and Samson and Delilah, DeMille also created Westerns, realistic “chamber dramas,” and a series of daring and highly influential social comedies—while setting the standard for Hollywood filmmakers and demanding absolute devotion to his creative vision from his writers, artists, actors, and technicians. “Far and away the best film book published so far this year.” —National Board of Review

Publisher Description

The Squaw Man was adapted from a western/drama stage play written by Edwin Milton Royle. The story revolves around Capt. James Wynnegate takes the blame when his brother, Sir Henry, steals from a charitable fund to save his family from humiliation. So, he relocates to America, buys a ranch in Wyoming, and marries Nat-u-ritch, a Native American woman. But things take a turn after the birth of his son when James is surprised by the arrival of Lady Diana, his brother's wife.

Julie Opp was an American stage actress who was for a number of years popular on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. She was the wife of the Anglo- American actor William Faversham, whom she married shortly after the two co-starred in the 1902 Broadway production, The Royal Rival.

Focusing on New Orleans, Chicago, and San Francisco, while including the achievements of Dallas, Santa Fe, Central City, and San Antonio, this book traces the development of opera in the American West against an ever changing social milieu. Ranging from the red plush era of the nineteenth century onward, the author covers such grand personalities as Adelina Patti, Nellie Melba, Joan Sutherland, and Maria Callas. Of additional interest is the book's coverage of near endless financial difficulties and natural disasters as well as rich personal anecdotes.