Big Bosoms and Square Jaws

Biographies & Memoirs

Jimmy McDonough

Arts & Literature

VINTAGE (RAND)

Jimmy McDonough's biography of Neil Young, Shakey was hailed as 'one of the most penetrative studies of a rock icon ever written'. bringing his anecdote-and-action-packed biographical style to another renegade of popular culture, McDonough offers a wild portrait of Russ Meyer, the director, writer, producer and commando movie-making force behind such sexploitation classics as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Beginning in 1959, this former combat photographer put his personal sexual obsessions (mostly involving women with huge breasts) on screen, creating a body of work that has influenced a legion of rock bands, filmmakers and even the occasional feminist. Meyer viewed male-female relations in the same way as he viewed World War II - as a fight to the death - and his bombastic, frequently hilarious, sex-and-violence-drenched pictures wowed mainstream movie audiences from drive-ins to arthouses. Rich with wicked observations and memories from Meyer's friends, lovers, leading ladies, fellow filmmakers and fans, Big Bosoms and Square Jaws tells the full story of Meyer's life and career: his volatile marriages, his battles with censorship and his clashes with the Hollywood establishment. What is the key to profitable movie-making, according to Meyer? 'Big bosoms and square jaws.' This is a story of greed, lust and the American way. It will thrill film fans and appeal to anyone who likes a good yard with plenty of sex, booze and rock'n'roll.

Big Bosoms and Square Jaws : The Biography of Russ Meyer

JONATHAN CAPE.

The long-awaited memoir from John Fogerty, the legendary singer-songwriter and creative force behind Creedence Clearwater Revival. Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of the most important and beloved bands in the history of rock, and John Fogerty wrote, sang, and produced their instantly recognizable classics: "Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," "Born on the Bayou," and more. Now he reveals how he brought CCR to number one in the world, eclipsing even the Beatles in 1969. By the next year, though, Creedence was falling apart; their amazing, enduring success exploded and faded in just a few short years. Fortunate Son takes readers from Fogerty's Northern California roots, through Creedence's success and the retreat from music and public life, to his hard-won revival as a solo artist who finally found love.

Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music

John Fogerty

Humor & Entertainment

Little. Brown and Company

Neil Young is one of rock and roll’s most important and enigmatic figures, a legend from the sixties who is still hugely influential today. He has never granted a writer access to his inner life – until now. Based on six years of interviews with more than three hundred of Young’s associates, and on more than fifty hours of interviews with Young himself, Shakey is a fascinating, prodigious account of the singer’s life and career. Jimmy McDonough follows Young from his childhood in Canada to his cofounding of Buffalo Springfield to the huge success of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to his comeback in the nineties. Filled with never-before-published words directly from the artist himself, Shakey is an essential addition to the top shelf of rock biographies.

Shakey: Neil Young's Biography

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

What do you need to make money making movies? The answer, according to cult hero, creator of the sexploitation film, and the man the Wall Street Journal once dubbed the King Leer of Hollywood, Russ Meyer, is: “big bosoms and square jaws.” In the first candid and fiendishly researched account of the late cinematic instigator’s life, Jimmy McDonough shows us how Russ Meyer used that formula to turn his own crazed fantasies into movies that made him a millionaire and changed the face of American film forever. Bringing his anecdote—and action—packed biographical style to another renegade of popular culture, New York Times bestselling author of Shakey Jimmy McDonough offers a wild, warts-and-all portrait of Russ Meyer, the director, writer, producer, and commando moviemaking force behind such sexploitation classics as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Vixen, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. This former WWII combat photographer immortalized his personal sexual obsession (women with enormous breasts, of course) upon the silver screen, turning his favorite hobby into box-office gold when this one-man movie machine wrote, directed, and produced a no-budget wonder called The Immoral Mr. Teas in 1959. The modest little film pushed all preexisting limits of on-screen nudity, and with its success, the floodgates of what was permitted to be shown on film were thrust open, never to be closed again. Russ Meyer ignited a true revolution in filmmaking, breaking all sex, nudity, and violence taboos. In a career that spanned more than forty years, Meyer created a body of work that has influenced a legion of filmmakers, fashionistas, comic book artists, rock bands, and even the occasional feminist. Rich with wicked and sometimes shocking observations and recollections from Meyer’s friends (such as colleague Roger Ebert and fellow filmmaker John Waters), lovers and leading ladies (some of whom played both roles with equal vigor), a cadre of his grizzled combat buddies, moviemakers inspired by him, and critics and fans alike, Big Bosoms and Square Jaws tells the voluptuous story of Meyer’s very singular life and career: his troubled youth, his war years, his volatile marriages, his victories against censorship, and his clashes with the Hollywood establishment. In his new biography of a true maverick, Jimmy McDonough blows the lid off the story of Russ Meyer, from beginning to his recent tragic demise, creating in the process a vivid portrait of a past America. The picture is midnight black. An imperious, testosterone-heavy voice intones: “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the world of violence . . . While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains sex . . . Let’s examine closely then, the dangerously evil creation, this new breed, encased and contained within the supple skin of woman—the softness is there, the unmistakable smell of female . . . But a word of caution: handle with care and don’t drop your guard. This rapacious new breed prowls both alone and in packs . . . Who are they? One might be your secretary, your doctor’s receptionist . . . or a dancer in a go-go bar!” Cut to an eye-popping triad of outrageous, impossibly built women shimmying with frenzied abandon. A swaggering, bargain-basement Tom Jones–style voice belts out a number on the soundtrack. Cut! Close-ups of gyrating, disembodied breasts and hips. Cut! A shiny, alluring jukebox. Cut! Leering, predatory faces of cigar-chomping manimals impotently cheering the women on. Cut! Cut! Cut! Each new shot seems to add another crazy angle, another fabulous detail. Cut to raven-haired, black-gloved Varla—one of the dancers—head thrown back and cackling maniacally as she hammers the gas pedal of a gleaming Porsche. Vrrrrooom! The Porsche screams down a Mojave desert highway at the head of a menacing trio of bisexual go-go superwomen, itching to annihilate any man who gets in their way. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! screams the title. And this is just the first two minutes of the picture. —From the Introduction of Big Bosoms and Square Jaws

Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film

Crown

Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen

Blackstone Audiobooks

Tammy Wynette was one of the great female singers of the twentieth century, an artist who could plumb the darkest corners of her heart and transform private grief into public drama. Best-selling biographer Jimmy McDonough tells the story of the small-town girl who grew up to be the woman behind the microphone and whose meteoric rise led to a decades-long career full of tragedy and triumph. Through a high-profile marriage and divorce, her dreadful battle with addiction and illness, and the struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving Nashville, Tammy Wynette turned a brave smile toward the world and churned out masterful hit songs full of vulnerability, disillusionment, strength, and endurance. This is an intimate portrait of a music icon, the Queen of Heartbreak, whose powerful voice evoked universal pain and longing even as it belied her own.

Blackstone Publishing

Blackstone Pub

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Books by Jimmy McDonough