Mosquitoes and Tortoises: Flights and Crawls on the Fringes of the Mass Media

Anybody can star in a motion picture, write a Tony-Award-winning play, gain fame as a great jazz pianist, promote a Sudanese rock singer, supply the words for one of America’s greatest songwriters, and cause an international crisis among the United States, Soviet Union, and China. Well, … maybe not anybody.

CONTENTS:

Mosquitoes and Tortoises – How to become 15-feet tall without leaving your orchestra seat.Blind Newsy Sees – Running a newsstand can be show business, too. The Jazz Pianist and the Misanthrope – Not every good boy does fine. The New Jugglers – Ed Sullivan, Arthur Godfrey, and prime time modesty. On the Road to Big City Politics – Jack Kerouac defeats Soviet tanks. Skin Deeper – Naked nights with Ingmar Bergman. Balloon Man – Sometimes short subjects aren’t short enough. The Guy and the Doll – Louie and Lorna put on a show. The Missing Times Square – When the New York hub wasn’t theater, porno houses, or Disneyland. At Sea – Crossing the Atlantic for new anonymity. To Be and Not to Be – Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Sudanese rockers, and other swingers in Denmark. Bed and Board – Waiting anxiously for Bette Davis. Provocative Sources – All the non-news that’s fit to print. CIA-The Secret Story – Exposing Italy’s foreign ties. Agents, Double Agents, and Just Double-crossers – Expect nothing and you may be lucky enough to get it. Finding Direction – When the play isn’t the thing.