Word: americans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...writer ("No kid goes to bed at night dreaming he'll be a ghostwriter"). After earning an M.A. in contemporary Jewish studies at Brandeis, he spent ten years editing scholarly magazines and writing a string of financially unsuccessful books (among them: High Culture, about marijuana use, The Great American Man Shortage and a compendium of Jewish humor). Just as he resigned himself to "finding a real job," an editor friend at Bantam suggested Lee Iacocca. "Great! My kind of guy," said Novak, who had never heard of Iacocca...
...success as a collaborator has brought him a comfortable life in an affluent suburb of Boston that enables him, as he says, "to buy raspberries instead of apples." He is currently compiling an anthology of American humor and mulling future celebrity subjects. He muses about Mikhail Gorbachev ("but somehow I think he's busy right now"), and, as a music lover who has recently resumed piano lessons, he thinks about Paul McCartney or Barbra Streisand. "Or Elvis, if he can find him," wisecracks Ben, 10, one of the Novaks' two sons. As for a return to the solo byline...
...dictum to the best writers. The rest are equally ready to find inspiration where someone else found it before. This is especially true of writers of musicals: attempts at original stories have become all but unheard of. With six weeks left, the '80s have yet to yield a noteworthy American musical not derived from another source, whether fiction (Big River), folklore (Into the Woods), movies ("Nine") or a painting (Sunday in the Park with George...
...meaning of the holiday as part of the first-grade catechism (Pilgrims, friendly Indians, a day for offering thanks) and rarely move beyond Care-Bears sentimentality. This built-in ickiness is a pity, since it tends to overshadow the symbolic significance of Thanksgiving, that most unrepentantly old- fashioned of American celebrations, that patriotic heirloom that nobody has figured out a way to ruin...
...sincere in my appreciation for the way the greenhouse effect has allowed Indian summer to stretch on into the college basketball season. Moreover, I consider it a personal blessing that Jackie Mason was canceled, Donald Trump failed in his efforts to make his name synonymous with American Airlines, Ronald Reagan managed to return from Japan and no trend spotter has successfully named the '90s before they happen...