
Backwards and in Heels
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $15.48
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Katherine Littrell
-
By:
-
Alicia Malone
About this listen
"After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels." - Ann Richards
Women have been instrumental in the success of American cinema since its very beginning. One of the first people to ever pick up a motion picture camera was a woman, as was the first screenwriter to win two Academy Awards, the inventor of the boom microphone, and the first person to be credited with the title film editor. Throughout the entire history of Hollywood women have been revolutionizing, innovating, and shaping how we make movies. Yet their stories are rarely shared.
This is what film reporter Alicia Malone wants to change. Backwards and in Heels tells the history of women in film in a different way, with stories about incredible ladies who made their mark throughout each era of Hollywood, from the first women directors to iconic movie stars and present-day activists. Each story shares the inspiring accomplishments of women, while also highlighting the obstacles women have had to face.
Backwards and in Heels combines research and exclusive interviews with influential women and men working in Hollywood today, such as Geena Davis, J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Octavia Spencer, America Ferrera, Paul Feig, and many more, as well as film professors, historians, and experts. Join Alicia as she champions Hollywood women of the past and present, and looks to the future with the hopes of leveling out the playing field.
©2017 Alicia Malone (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories
- Turner Classic Movies
- By: Carla Valderrama
- Narrated by: Carla Valderrama
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age. The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at 93, reveals her #metoo story for the first time. Valderrama unfolds these stories, and many more, in a volume that is by turns riveting, maddening, hilarious, and shocking.
-
-
Hollywood Fun
- By Ernie D. Casciato on 01-06-21
By: Carla Valderrama
-
The Wrong Kind of Women
- Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood
- By: Naomi McDougall Jones
- Narrated by: Naomi McDougall Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Generation after generation, women have faced the devastating reality that Hollywood is a system built to keep them out. The films created by that system influence everything from our worldviews to our brain chemistry. When women's voices are excluded from the medium, the impact on society is immense. Actor, screenwriter, and award-winning independent filmmaker Naomi McDougall Jones takes us inside the cutthroat, scandal-laden film industry, where only five percent of top studio films are directed by women and less than 20 percent of leading characters in mainstream films are female.
-
-
Drowning in Numbers
- By Allyson O'Rourke on 02-12-24
-
Dark City (Revised and Expanded Edition)
- The Lost World of Film Noir
- By: Eddie Muller
- Narrated by: Eddie Muller, Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dark City expands with new chapters and a fresh collection of restored photos that illustrate the mythic landscape of the imagination. It's a place where the men and women who created film noir often find themselves dangling from the same sinister heights as the silver-screen avatars to whom they gave life.
-
-
Good overview, summary of the genre
- By Buretto on 03-31-22
By: Eddie Muller
-
MCU
- The Reign of Marvel Studios
- By: Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, Gavin Edwards
- Narrated by: Andrew Kishino, Joanna Robinson
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marvel Entertainment was a moribund toymaker not even twenty years ago. Today, Marvel Studios is the dominant player both in Hollywood and in global pop culture. How did an upstart studio conquer the world? In MCU, beloved culture writers Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards draw on more than a hundred interviews with actors, producers, directors, and writers to present the definitive chronicle of Marvel Studios and its sole ongoing production, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
-
-
Puff piece.
- By Habu1271 on 10-26-23
By: Joanna Robinson, and others
-
When Women Invented Television
- The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women - each an independent visionary - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch TV today.
-
-
Must Read T.V.
- By cindy on 05-18-21
-
Mike Nichols
- A Life
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back comes a magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges - some of the worst largely unknown until now. Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion.
-
-
Loved the book, but driven nuts my mispronounced names.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-14-21
By: Mark Harris
-
This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories
- Turner Classic Movies
- By: Carla Valderrama
- Narrated by: Carla Valderrama
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age. The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at 93, reveals her #metoo story for the first time. Valderrama unfolds these stories, and many more, in a volume that is by turns riveting, maddening, hilarious, and shocking.
-
-
Hollywood Fun
- By Ernie D. Casciato on 01-06-21
By: Carla Valderrama
-
The Wrong Kind of Women
- Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood
- By: Naomi McDougall Jones
- Narrated by: Naomi McDougall Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Generation after generation, women have faced the devastating reality that Hollywood is a system built to keep them out. The films created by that system influence everything from our worldviews to our brain chemistry. When women's voices are excluded from the medium, the impact on society is immense. Actor, screenwriter, and award-winning independent filmmaker Naomi McDougall Jones takes us inside the cutthroat, scandal-laden film industry, where only five percent of top studio films are directed by women and less than 20 percent of leading characters in mainstream films are female.
-
-
Drowning in Numbers
- By Allyson O'Rourke on 02-12-24
-
Dark City (Revised and Expanded Edition)
- The Lost World of Film Noir
- By: Eddie Muller
- Narrated by: Eddie Muller, Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dark City expands with new chapters and a fresh collection of restored photos that illustrate the mythic landscape of the imagination. It's a place where the men and women who created film noir often find themselves dangling from the same sinister heights as the silver-screen avatars to whom they gave life.
-
-
Good overview, summary of the genre
- By Buretto on 03-31-22
By: Eddie Muller
-
MCU
- The Reign of Marvel Studios
- By: Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, Gavin Edwards
- Narrated by: Andrew Kishino, Joanna Robinson
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marvel Entertainment was a moribund toymaker not even twenty years ago. Today, Marvel Studios is the dominant player both in Hollywood and in global pop culture. How did an upstart studio conquer the world? In MCU, beloved culture writers Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards draw on more than a hundred interviews with actors, producers, directors, and writers to present the definitive chronicle of Marvel Studios and its sole ongoing production, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
-
-
Puff piece.
- By Habu1271 on 10-26-23
By: Joanna Robinson, and others
-
When Women Invented Television
- The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women - each an independent visionary - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch TV today.
-
-
Must Read T.V.
- By cindy on 05-18-21
-
Mike Nichols
- A Life
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back comes a magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges - some of the worst largely unknown until now. Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion.
-
-
Loved the book, but driven nuts my mispronounced names.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-14-21
By: Mark Harris
-
The Platinum Age of Television
- From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific
- By: David Bianculli
- Narrated by: David Bianculli
- Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Darwin had his theory of evolution, and David Bianculli has his. Bianculli's theory has to do with the concept of quality television: what it is and, crucially, how it got that way. In tracing the evolutionary history of our progress toward a Platinum Age of Television - our age, the era of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad and Mad Men and The Wire and Homeland and Girls - he focuses on the development of the classic TV genres.
-
-
I want to give it higher, except one thing
- By Sandra L. Etemad on 12-07-16
By: David Bianculli
-
I Like to Watch
- Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution
- By: Emily Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Emily Nussbaum
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From her creation of the “Approval Matrix” in New York magazine in 2004 to her Pulitzer Prize–winning columns for The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum has argued for a new way of looking at TV. In this collection, including two never-before-published essays, Nussbaum writes about her passion for television, beginning with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show that set her on a fresh intellectual path. She explores the rise of the female screw-up, how fans warp the shows they love, the messy power of sexual violence on TV, and the year that jokes helped elect a reality-television president.
-
-
Yes, this is worth a credit! 💯
- By Amazon Customer on 07-05-19
By: Emily Nussbaum
-
Oscar Wars
- A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears
- By: Michael Schulman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman chronicles the remarkable, sprawling history of the Academy Awards and the personal dramas—some iconic, others never-before-revealed—that have played out on the stage and off camera. Unlike other books on the subject, each chapter takes a deep dive into a particular year, conflict, or even category that tells a larger story of cultural change, from Louis B. Mayer to Moonlight. Schulman examines how the red carpet runs through contested turf, and the victors aren't always as clear as the names drawn from envelopes.
-
-
Fascinating and FUN
- By Peter Riley on 06-11-23
By: Michael Schulman
-
I Loved Her in the Movies
- Memories of Hollywood's Legendary Actresses
- By: Robert Wagner
- Narrated by: Robert Wagner
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Robert Wagner has witnessed the twilight of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the rise of television, becoming a beloved star in both media. During that time he became acquainted, both professionally and socially, with the remarkable women who were the greatest screen personalities of their day. I Loved Her in the Movies is his intimate and revealing account of the charisma of these women on film, why they became stars, and more.
-
-
Outstanding!
- By Ernie D. Casciato on 12-02-16
By: Robert Wagner
-
Rise
- A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now
- By: Jeff Yang, Philip Wang, Phil Yu
- Narrated by: Brittany Ishibashi, Fiona Rene, Nick Martineau, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Hart-Celler Act passed in 1965, opening up US immigration to non-Europeans, it ushered in a whole new era. But even to the first generation of Asian Americans born in the US after that milestone, it would have been impossible to imagine that sushi and boba would one day be beloved by all, that a Korean boy band named BTS would be the biggest musical act in the world, that one of the most acclaimed and popular movies of 2018 would be Crazy Rich Asians, or that we would have an Asian American Vice President.
-
-
Important book, but read the print version
- By Joanne Chang on 04-19-23
By: Jeff Yang, and others
-
Kathleen Turner on Acting
- Conversations About Film, Television, and Theater
- By: Kathleen Turner, Dustin Morrow
- Narrated by: Kathleen Turner, Dustin Morrow
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few actors have had a career as dynamic as that Kathleen Turner's; success has followed her from the television screen to major blockbusters, from indie films to the theater stage. Over her 40-year career, Turner has developed an instinctual knowledge of what it takes to be a successful actor, and, in her conversations with esteemed film professor Dustin Morrow, she shares these lessons with the world.
By: Kathleen Turner, and others
-
Possessed
- The Life of Joan Crawford
- By: Donald Spoto
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author Donald Spoto has brilliantly explored the lives and careers of numerous Hollywood stars and entertainment icons. In Possessed, his subject is the inimitable Joan Crawford, one of the most electrifying divas of the Golden Age of American film. A more thorough, revealing, and sympathetic portrait of the often maligned movie star - most notably lambasted, perhaps, in the scandalous best seller, Mommie Dearest - Possessed is a fascinating study of the real Joan Crawford, a remarkable actress, businesswoman, mother, and lover.
-
-
Waste of money
- By bkw74 on 07-19-21
By: Donald Spoto
-
The Contender
- The Story of Marlon Brando
- By: William J. Mann
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 21 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The award-winning film biographer presents a deeply-textured, ambitious, and definitive portrait of the greatest movie actor of the 20th century, the elusive Marlon Brando, bringing his extraordinarily complex life into view as never before. The most influential movie actor of his era, Marlon Brando changed the way other actors perceived their craft. His approach was natural, honest, and deeply personal, resulting in performances - most notably in A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront - that are without parallel.
-
-
Psychobabble run amok
- By Dr. Susan Tice-Alicke on 06-07-20
By: William J. Mann
-
From Hollywood with Love
- The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy
- By: Scott Meslow
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An in-depth celebration of the romantic comedy’s modern golden era and its role in our culture, tracking the genre from its heyday in the ’80s and the ’90s, its unfortunate decline in the 2000s, and its explosive reemergence in the age of streaming, featuring exclusive interviews with the directors, writers, and stars of the iconic films that defined the genre.
-
-
RomCom History and Future Personified
- By Brooklyn Gem on 03-07-22
By: Scott Meslow
-
Wes Craven: The Man and his Nightmares
- By: John Wooley
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life and film genius of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream director Wes Craven. Wes Craven is one of the most successful and iconic horror movie directors in Hollywood. His masterful examination of the nightmarish nexus of dreams and reality helped spark a career that has spanned close to forty years. Then, with their mix of horror, sex, and humor, Craven's Scream movies helped revitalize the slasher film genre.
-
-
Will bore you to sleep.
- By Kristopher's Korner on 12-24-16
By: John Wooley
-
Hi Honey, I'm Homo!
- Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture
- By: Matt Baume
- Narrated by: Matt Baume
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From flamboyant relatives on Bewitched to closely-guarded secrets on All in the Family, from network-censor fights over Soap to behind-the-scenes activism on the set of The Golden Girls, from Ellen’s culture clash to Modern Family’s primetime power-couple, Hi Honey, I’m Homo! is the story not only of how subversive queer comedy transformed the American sitcom, from its inception through today, but how our favorite sitcoms transformed, and continue to transform, America.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Sage on 07-14-23
By: Matt Baume
-
American Rebel
- The Life of Clint Eastwood
- By: Marc Eliot
- Narrated by: Marc Eliot
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling author Marc Eliot comes the definitive biography of one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful actors, producers, and directors in the history of American motion pictures. Marc Eliot examines the ever-exciting, often tumultuous arc of Eastwood's life and career, from his days as a disaffected college dropout, to his rise to fame as the archetypal loner, to his acceptance into the pantheon of the Academy as a multiple Oscar Award winner.
-
-
I learned the hard way.
- By Ty Pritchard on 07-23-10
By: Marc Eliot
What listeners say about Backwards and in Heels
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alfie
- 09-27-21
Great Book
This book teaches you so much about film history, not to mention also give you so much more movies to watch that you've probably never seen or heard of
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 12-07-23
Informative book
Such a amazing read from one of my favorite writers and movie buffs. Very detailed and goes into the history of women in cinema from the actresses, the writers, and even the directors. Truly recommend this as a movie enthusiast and somebody that appreciate a woman's worth.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lisakttn
- 03-31-19
Wow
a wonderful book. eye opening and a terrific look at women and minorities in film. the world is changing, but a little too slowly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- L. K. Stewart
- 02-03-20
An informative and passionate call to arms!
At Oscars time of 2019, with no female directors nominated, this book is particularly relevant. The work is well researched, enthusiastically presented, thought provoking and of commanding interest to another TCM film geek!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- EGoodman
- 02-22-21
Film Fan Delight!
I've long been a fan of Alicia Malone's on TCM so was delighted when I found this book on Audible. This book covers the role of women in film since the start of Hollywood through a combination of biographies and essays. The biographies are entertaining and also include the individuals own words on their role and/or the role of women in film. The essays are well researched and thought provoking. Also worth mentioning is that while Alicia writes about well known aspects of women in film and very famous women in Hollywood she brings to light many aspects and women that are not as well known. She also addresses women in every aspect of Hollywood including executives, directors, cinematographers, actresses, etc. I highly recommend this book for film fans, history fans, and everyone who cares about the roles women play in such a vital art form. The narrator also did an excellent job!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ailish
- 02-26-18
Exactly the book I’ve been looking for
As a film scholar I’m constantly looking for new books and unique angles on the history of film and as a feminist I’m always looking for books where I can learn more about bad ass women who paved the way. This book filled both of those roles and more. A really concise read about things I wanted to know about and things I didn’t know I wanted to learn. I have a much longer list of Hollywood women I want to research and learn more about thanks to Alicia. I’d recommend this book to any feminist film nerd.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- gypsykl79
- 08-29-19
Wow!!!
Such amazing history of women in Hollywood. Presented in a way that it was very interesting and engaging. The narrator was wonderful. I learned so much about women's roles in history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shadow007
- 02-06-23
A collection of profiles on women in the filmmaking industry
Backwards & in Heels is about women in the filmmaking industry. But there is narrative to follow. Instead each chapter is basically a short chronicle of the woman’s life/career. Really basic Wikipedia information that doesn’t go beyond a quick the scandals and missed opportunities denied to them. The Marilyn Monroe chapter isn’t even about her but rather what she represents and the symbolism behind her, which was great but is completely differ t from all other Sachs that discussed the women’s lives, careers, and achievements.
Also this book is very cis white women. Black women are mentioned in the era up to civil rights but nothing after. A discussion regarding black women in leading roles, types of roles, and colorism would have been a very good analysis to have. Asian women are only mentioned with Anna May Wong, I don’t think that latinas, especially Mexican women being so close to Hollywood, are mentioned, and LGBTQ people are not mentioned Ed expect when hinting at scandal. Also why is this book only about Hollywood? Why not compare and discuss American and international filmmaking differences regarding women.
The last chapters are a mix of good and bad. There is discussion of women producers and studio insiders, a rarely discussed thing but chapters like Ava DuVernay really feel like it was written in the moment and already feels outdated.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!