Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door: Television's Iconic Women from the 50s, 60s, and 70s - Hardcover

Pilato Writer Producer And Founder Of The Classic TV Preservation Society, Herbie J

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1589799690 ISBN 13: 9781589799691

Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door is the latest creation from entertainment biographer and pop culture consultant Herbie J Pilato. Based on exclusive celebrity interviews, this book runs the gamut of female television legends, from the iconic Mary Tyler Moore to the stars of the original Charlie’s Angels. According to Pilato, “There are so many charismatic women who have made their ‘beauty-mark’ in television. I wanted to celebrate their contributions, not only with regard to aesthetic appeal but to honor the intelligence, individual wit, and unique talent and style that each of them have contributed to television—and how that great medium in particular was utilized to introduce and showcase so many amazing and wonderful women to the world.” Suffice it to say, for exclusive and key information on TV’s top leading ladies who shattered expectations and paved the way for successive generations, this book is the number one resource and go-to guide.

About this title

About the Author:

Herbie J Pilato is a writer, producer, actor, songwriter, and entertainment executive. The author of several media tie-in books (including NBC & Me, The Bionic Book, Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery, and many more), Pilato has also produced for the A&E, Bravo, TLC, Syfy, and TV Guide channels, as well as Sony, Warner Bros., NBC Universal, and other television networks and film studios. He now has several TV shows, books, and films in development, and resides in Burbank, California, where he established Television, Ink. (a production company geared toward family entertainment) and The Classic TV Preservation Society (a nonprofit organization that seeks to close the gap between popular culture and education).

Review:

Pilato pays tribute to the women who lit up the small screen in such now-classic shows as I Dream of Jeannie, Charlie’s Angels, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He devotes 5 to 10 pages to each actress, recounting her rise to fame, her experience on the show (or shows) she starred in, and some basic facts about her life. Among the profiled are Sally Field, who rose to fame in two very disparate roles in Gidget and The Flying Nun before going on to movie stardom; Cher, whose variety show launched her singing career; Patty Duke, who charmed viewers as Patty and her look-alike cousin Cathy on The Patty Duke Show but was forbidden to watch the show by her tyrannical managers; and Nichelle Nichols, who made history on the bridge of the Enterprise in Star Trek. With photographs of the leading ladies and plenty of quotes culled from magazines and interviews, Pilato’s guide will be a welcome trip down memory lane for many readers and a terrific resource for all film and television buffs. (Booklist)

Here are the women that we Baby Boomers wanted to be, date, or go shoe shopping with in mid-century America. What a fabulous shindig Herbie J Pilato has thrown to celebrate these luscious legends! Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door is a joy for any TV fan who was there when these classic shows were new, and a must-read for anyone who wasn’t. (Frank DeCaro, Sirius XM radio host and author of The Dead Celebrity Cookbook)

This book is a marvelous feast of observations that celebrate the glorious days of Hollywood’s Gidgets and glamorous women that we should never forget. Herbie J Pilato is a brilliant author who preserves Hollywood history in a way that no other author has succeeded in doing. (Margaret Wendt, award-winning executive producer, director, and journalist)

From Loni Anderson to the Lennon Sisters, Herbie J Pilato’s collection of small screen legends reminds us that America’s pop-culture icons have never fit neatly into one simple mold. Americans have always been drawn to beauty and glamour, but there is more to the timeless subjects of Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door, and it is revealed more clearly with each turn of a page. (Terry Marks, president and CEO, Hooters of America)

Fans of classic TV will surely treasure Herbie J Pilato’s insightful new collation of our favorite ‘girls’ from yesteryear. Herbie’s reflections and his collection of rarely seen photos will transport you back to simpler times and wonderful memories of these glamorous ladies. (David Van Deusen, publisher of The Walnut Times, the Dick Van Dyke Show newsletter)

Why is it that so many books written about the entertainment industry aren’t entertaining? Not so with Herbie J Pilato’s Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door. He’s clearly enamored with the business and the actresses, and it’s a fun read. This isn’t one of those tell-all books, revealing private secrets that should’ve stayed untold—it’s a positive, fact-filled celebration of these women. (Treva Silverman, Emmy Award–winning story editor of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and That Girl)

As soon as I began to read Herbie J Pilato’s Glamour, Gidgets and the Girl Next Door, a wide grin appeared on my face. It never disappeared. This book is a joyous account of the wonderful women from yesteryear’s television. I’m happy to say that I knew and worked with many of them. Anybody who watched their delightful shows appreciated their talent and beauty. (William Wellman, Jr., actor, author, and son of famed director William Wellman)

Pilato (The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery) highlights 45 female television stars from the 1950s through the 1970s, focusing on the archetypal and nubile characters they portrayed. Dividing the actresses into six sections—from Gilligan's Island, Tina Louise (Ginger) is a 'Liberated Soul' while Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) is a 'Country Girl'—Pilato provides a three- to five-page overview of each actress's life, characters, and TV productions, and closes with a summary of iconic facts. It's impossible to argue with Pilato's picks, and his breadth of knowledge allows him to spotlight lesser-known roles such as Anne Francis's single season as detective Honey West alongside more recognizable 'Supersleuths'—Diana Rigg's Mrs. Peel or Barbara Feldon's Agent 99, for example. . . . Pilato offers a breezy, fun retrospective for nostalgia buffs. (Library Journal)

This is a great read for anyone who is nostalgic for the simple times of classic television sitcoms or who want to know about the women who led the way for the pioneers of the 21st century. (Kelly Townsend, Tribute.ca)

Back in the ʼ60s and ʼ70s, women on TV really knew how to work their magic on viewers, especially those playing witches or genies. Now, television historian Herbie J. Pilato celebrates those small-screen sorceresses, as well as the surfer girls, sweethearts, and superwomen that were the stuff of male baby boomers' fantasies, in the new book Glamour, Gidgets and the Girl Next Door. . . . Pilato has penned breezy profiles of 45 ‘iconic’ actresses, from Gale Storm (MyLittle Margie) to Mary Tyler Moore, who personified boomer TV in chapters with titles like ‘Teen Angels,’ ‘Country Girls,’ ‘Wonder Women,’ and ‘Liberated Souls.’ Peppered throughout are interviews from many of the women, including Elinor Donahue (Father Knows Best), Adrienne Barbeau (Maude), Diahann Carroll (Julia), and Lindsay Wagner (The BionicWoman). There's also plenty of trivia. Dawn Wells, for example, played Mrs. Howell in a stage musical of Gilligan's Island. And while it's clear the women enjoyed the spotlight, they also seem humble. ‘It's flattering that anyone would consider me an icon,’ Donahue says in the book, ‘but I don't.’ (Newsday)

About this edition

• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1589799690
• ISBN 13: 9781589799691
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 328