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Do you know which televised awards show gives a prize for "Favourite Smile"?Or which Oscar host announced that he was going to raffle off a car during the ceremony?Do you know who won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress of the 20th Century? In Reel Winners, Richard Crouse, Reel to Real movie critic and CBC Radio’s "titan of trivia," gives you the lowdown on movie awards, from eight decades of Hollywood self-congratulation to international awards to the toasts from the fringe (like The Skinnies, which celebrate actors and their skin conditions).

When sound arrived in Hollywood in the late 1920s, Canadians were already holding some of the most important roles in the motion picture industry. Louis B. Mayer, from New Brunswick, was boss at MGM; Jack Warner, from Ontario, was head of Warner Bros. Studio; and Mack Sennett, from Quebec, was still King of Comedy. Canadians like Mary Pickford, Marie Dressler, and Norma Shearer moved easily from silents to talkies - this illustrious trio won the first three Academy Awards for Best Actress.

Radio made its debut in the early twentieth century, and the world was never the same. The mysterious magic box brought people together as no other communication medium had ever done. In Nothing On but the Radio, author Gil Murray tells how the new household toy put voices and music into millions of homes. In the 1920s, families gathered around the crystal set; in the 1930s, radio comedians helped offset the Depression; in the wartime 1940s, radio kept up morale; in the 1950s and 1960s, its music, news, and information spread knowledge and entertainment.

By the time Amelia Hall died suddenly in December 1984 she had become one of Canada's most respected and well-loved actresses. In this book she has left an incomparable record of her early years in the professional theatre in Canada. In particular, these memoirs chronicle the history of the Canadian Repertory Theatre of Ottawa, one of the first professional repertory theatres in Canada.

Just Mary and Maggie Muggins are names that will arouse memories in those who grew up with CBC radio and television in the 1940s and 1950s. The creator of these and other children’s shows, former Fredericton schoolteacher Mary Grannan, became a radio star when she hit the national airwaves in 1939, her popularity peaking when Maggie Muggins moved to television in 1955. Long before The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dressup appeared, her work helped to shape the legacy of gentle children’s programming on CBC.

John Grierson, founder of both the British documentary film movement and the National Film Board of Canada, was one of the twentieth century’s most influential personalities in film culture. He gave the word "documentary" to the English language.

Born in Quebec, Emma Lajeunesse studied in Europe and in 1869 at the age of 23 launched her opera career in Italy. Almost overnight she became Albani, the world-renowned diva.

The Marks Brothers may well have been the most remarkable theatrical family in Canadian history. A phenomenon on the vaudeville circuit, the seven brothers left the farm and took to the boards and the footlights throughout the latter part of the 19th century and into the 1920s. The brothers from Christie Lake, near Perth in Eastern Ontario, played to an estimated eight million Canadians, as well as to sizeable audiences in the United States.

The Actor's Survival Kit is required reading in Canadian theatre schools and is a constant resource for its many readers across the country. This fifth edition gives actors fresh research from today's experience, new lists of Canada-wide contacts, and input from success stories. It speaks to a new generation of artists, giving them an up-to-date guide to the business of acting. The book addresses a range of new issues: performer websites, video self-production, and sending résumés and networking on the Internet.

Follow four young dancers in their first semester at the Vancouver International Ballet Academy while they work toward careers as professional ballet dancers. Kaitlyn, Taylor, Alexandra, and Julian are all students at the Vancouver International Ballet Academy where ballet and drama dominate everyone’s lives. Kaitlyn was the star at her old school, but the competition at VIBA is fierce and her reputation as a prodigy is threatened. About to turn fifteen years old, Taylor is a bit of a scatterbrain.