Alan Shayne

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Alan Shayne

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Alan Shayne, co-writer of the memoir Double Life with Norman Sunshine, was President of Warner Brothers Television for ten years, where he shepherded such hit shows as Alice, The Dukes of Hazard, Night Court, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Head of the Class and Growing Pains. In addition to holding other positions at the Warner Brothers Studio, he has been an independent film and television producer with such projects as The Bourne Identity starring Richard Chamberlain (nominated for an Emmy), and he won a Christopher Award for The House Without a Christmas Tree. He began his career in television with David Susskind’s production company, after working in the Broadway casting office for David Merrick. Prior to that, he was an actor on Broadway and ...more

Average rating: 3.98 · 396 ratings · 74 reviews · 6 distinct worksSimilar authors
Double Life: A Love Story f...

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3.96 avg rating — 354 ratings — published 2010 — 15 editions
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The Rain May Pass

4.04 avg rating — 23 ratings4 editions
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The Star Dressing Room: Por...

4.40 avg rating — 10 ratings2 editions
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Finding Sylvia

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The Minstrel Tree

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4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2001 — 2 editions
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Work Book: A Chronology of ...

0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions
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More books by Alan Shayne…

F you are planning a trip this fall for New England leaf season, You might drop...

F you are planning a trip this fall for New England leaf season, You might drop by the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury Connecticut, where a new exhibition of my work will be on display from September 21 and for several months afterwards. This is the invitation that has just gone out..

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Published on August 25, 2013 11:18
Quotes by Alan Shayne  (?)
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“In the 1970s, when Norman Sunshine won an Emmy for the graphics and title design he had created for one of Alan Shayne’s television productions, “Alan and I agreed it was not a good idea for us to be seen together at an industry event,” he remembers. “Alan, after all, was one of the very few homosexuals who had such a powerful, high profile job, and who lived openly with a man. Homophobia had its adherents and some ruthless climber up the executive ladder would certainly love an opportunity to use it… 'Better to be seen with a woman,’ we were advised by a very trusted friend, ‘Makes everyone more comfortable.”
Alan Shayne, Double Life: The Story of a Fifty Year Marriage

“Upon their meeting in New York in 1958: “We didn’t want to live together. We didn’t have any examples of what a good love relationship between two men could be. And there was always the problem of hiding so no one would know we were gay. There was no question that if I were known to be gay, living with another man, it would make it more difficult for me to get work as an actor.” - Alan Shayne, co-author, Double Life”
Alan Shayne, Double Life: The Story of a Fifty Year Marriage

“As an artist in the 1960s, Norman Sunshine was able to maintain a moderately out lifestyle. But when the first exhibition of his paintings in New York brought on a profile in The New York Times in 1968, he was photographed in the apartment that he admitted sharing with Shayne. At both his advertising agency and Shayne’s television production company, the article was met with absolute silence.”
Alan Shayne, Double Life: The Story of a Fifty Year Marriage

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“We both grew up at a time when homosexuality was not even spoken about. There were certainly no books that could help a young person understand that two people of the same sex could build a happy, productive and loving life together. When we entered our 50th year, another same sex couple told us we were ‘an inspiration’, so we began to feel we had the responsibility to make what we’ve experienced available to others. We also wanted to show people who were not gay that our life was not unlike theirs. We are all pretty much the same, so we deserve equal protection under the Constitution.”
Norman Sunshine, Double Life: The Story of a Fifty Year Marriage

“Upon their meeting in New York in 1958: “We didn’t want to live together. We didn’t have any examples of what a good love relationship between two men could be. And there was always the problem of hiding so no one would know we were gay. There was no question that if I were known to be gay, living with another man, it would make it more difficult for me to get work as an actor.” - Alan Shayne, co-author, Double Life”
Alan Shayne, Double Life: The Story of a Fifty Year Marriage

“As an artist in the 1960s, Norman Sunshine was able to maintain a moderately out lifestyle. But when the first exhibition of his paintings in New York brought on a profile in The New York Times in 1968, he was photographed in the apartment that he admitted sharing with Shayne. At both his advertising agency and Shayne’s television production company, the article was met with absolute silence.”
Alan Shayne, Double Life: The Story of a Fifty Year Marriage

“In the 1970s, when Norman Sunshine won an Emmy for the graphics and title design he had created for one of Alan Shayne’s television productions, “Alan and I agreed it was not a good idea for us to be seen together at an industry event,” he remembers. “Alan, after all, was one of the very few homosexuals who had such a powerful, high profile job, and who lived openly with a man. Homophobia had its adherents and some ruthless climber up the executive ladder would certainly love an opportunity to use it… 'Better to be seen with a woman,’ we were advised by a very trusted friend, ‘Makes everyone more comfortable.”
Alan Shayne, Double Life: The Story of a Fifty Year Marriage

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Leaundra Oye! Alan, thanks for the add. Take care...Leaundra


message 3: by Alan (last edited Aug 17, 2011 01:21PM)

Alan Shayne "Your book is a page turner because you both led such adventurous and successful lives in the worlds of art and entertainment, ostensibly different areas which are inherently fascinating and which feed each other more than we think. The dark moments are dealt with as frankly as the brighter turns.

"The measure of depth is the consistently strong melody of the love story which plays underneath almost every incident, and provides the various pressures, cultural and otherwise, which challenge survival.

"The title is right, the length is right, and as the story of two exceptionally talented people, the book's excellence stands as proof that their talent and successes, illuminated by their love for each other, are justified and deserved."

--A.R. Gurney


message 2: by Alan (last edited Aug 17, 2011 01:21PM)

Alan Shayne "Anyone living in a long term relationship, gay or straight, will find him/herself in the pages Alan Shayne and Norman Sunshine have written. They know what it's like to be together for a long time and they tell it like it is, with wit, courage, honesty and tenderness. From Broadway to the East Village to Madison Avenue to Hollywood they have tales to tell and they tell them brilliantly. I loved this book!"

--Alfred Uhry


message 1: by Alan (last edited Aug 17, 2011 01:22PM)

Alan Shayne "A life well lived does not always make a book well written, but here, in this truthful and affecting work, are two carefully maintained lives without a mortgage, paired by fate and synchronized from two points of view like a pair of mated butterflies--weathering storms, loving and enduring joy and danger and triumph and loss together with wit, dignity, intelligence and grace. Reading about their lives has taught me a lot about my own--what I did or did not do, and how I can do it better.  Nothing careless or dishonest in the structure--just one riveting, wisely observed revelation after another by two extraordinary men with a lot to give, to each other and to those of us lucky enough to share. When I grow up, I want to be just like Alan Shayne and Norman Sunshine."  

--Rex Reed


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