Ben Ohmart
Encyclopedia
Ben Ohmart is an American
publisher
of media-related biographies
and books on old-time radio
, films and television through his BearManor Media
, located in Albany, Georgia
.
Ohmart developed his back list of more than 250 titles after launching BearManor Media
in 2001 because of his own frustration with the publishing industry:
Ohmart's current biographies include Don Ameche
(with a foreword by John Landis
) and Disney composer Buddy Baker
. Among the books published by Ohmart is the biography of Shirley Booth
by film historian Jim Manago.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publisher
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
of media-related biographies
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
and books on old-time radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
, films and television through his BearManor Media
BearManor Media
BearManor Media is a book publishing company founded by Ben Ohmart in 2001. Specializing in media-related biographies, BearManor Media is located in Albany, Georgia....
, located in Albany, Georgia
Albany, Georgia
Albany is a city in and the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. It is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area and the southwest part of the state. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the...
.
Ohmart developed his back list of more than 250 titles after launching BearManor Media
BearManor Media
BearManor Media is a book publishing company founded by Ben Ohmart in 2001. Specializing in media-related biographies, BearManor Media is located in Albany, Georgia....
in 2001 because of his own frustration with the publishing industry:
- I started this publishing company in 2001, as a writer. I learned how hard it was to tap into the mainstream market with what is essentially nostalgia fodder. So I published The Great GildersleeveThe Great GildersleeveThe Great Gildersleeve , initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, first Introduced to...
myself. Then I learned something important. I seemed to enjoy the publishing side more than the writing side, so, when I began to get offers to publish other people's work (Jane KeanJane KeanJane Kean is an American actress.-Career:Jane Kean and her older sister, , formed a comedy duo that worked the nightclub circuit throughout the 1940s and '50s, and the two appeared on Broadway as sisters in the short-lived 1955 musical Ankles Aweigh.She studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the...
was one of the first), I began doing what I love full time. It still doesn't seem like work. And I know now that that's the greatest life of all... From there, it just took off. I realized that I enjoy the publishing side more than the writing, so I encouraged others to write more about radio, voice actors and those wonderful supporting players that never really got their due. I mean, I'd rather see a first book on the Ritz BrothersRitz BrothersThe Ritz Brothers were an American comedy team who appeared in films, and as live performers from 1925 to the late 1960s.Although there were four brothers, the sons of Austrian-born haberdasher Max Joachim and his wife Pauline, only three of them performed together. There was also a sister,...
than the 50th book on James DeanJames DeanJames Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
.
Ohmart's current biographies include Don Ameche
Don Ameche
Don Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor with a career spanning almost sixty years.-Personal life:...
(with a foreword by John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
) and Disney composer Buddy Baker
Buddy Baker (composer)
Norman "Buddy" Baker was an American composer who scored many of Walt Disney's films, such as The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, The Shaggy D.A., The Million Dollar Duck and The Fox and the Hound.Baker was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, and got his degree in...
. Among the books published by Ohmart is the biography of Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
by film historian Jim Manago.