Stardust by the Bushel

IPPY Awards Silver Medal / Performing Arts (2023)

"Three big cheers to Brent Lewis for his hard work pulling together these remarkable stories of Eastern Shore's relationship to Hollywood, Broadway, and the unique characters of both worlds who called the Shore home.  The Spy can't wait for volume two." -Dave Wheelan, The Spy Newspapers 

Hollywood on the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore.

One-hundred years of moviemaking on Delmarva, from Easton to Ocean City and Wilmington to Chincoteague.

This is the first comprehensive history of the stars of stage and screen who called the Eastern Shore home during (or after) their lives ... as well as major motion pictures produced on location here. Written with meticulous care and infectious joy by  Brent Lewis, a tenth-generation Eastern Shoreman known for his mastery of regional history and lore.

More than 400 pages long. lllustrated and fully indexed.

From the Foreword

The title of this book is, admittedly, a bit of a puzzle. Stardust is the glamor of the marquee, the mesmerizing sheen of the starlet and the leading man. A bushel is a wood-sided basket with wire handles, best known in packing sheds as a container for fresh fruit, or blue crabs.

Stardust and bushels – what in the name of Louis B. Mayer does the one have to do with the other?

Turns out a watery, agrarian land settled by farmers and fishermen, divided by an entire continent from Hollywood and Vine, has been singing its siren call to movie directors, movie stars, and award-winning screenwriters since celluloid became a thing. Maybe that’s precisely because the Eastern Shore is a little bit different than most anywhere else.....

 Ron Sauder/ Secant Publishing