Broadway Designer Lloyd Burlingame Releases Book TWO SEEING EYE DOGS TAKE MANHATTAN

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Lloyd Burlingame, a prominent Broadway designer, celebrates his faithful and intrepid Seeing Eye Dogs in a new book release, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan! A Love Story. Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan (ISBN: 978-1-477446-02-7, Trade Paper, 234 pages, $14.95) will be available wherever books are sold in August 2012.

The recipient of the prestigious Robert L.B. Tobin Award for sustained excellence in theatrical design, Lloyd Burlingame served as designer for more than 40 Broadway shows and worked extensively off-Broadway, in opera and regional theatre. In 1980, with nearly no warning, Burlingame was declared legally blind—a horrible catastrophe to befall a visual artist. Displaying an incredible fortitude and uncanny determination, Burlingame continued his work in design, serving as head of the Department of Design for New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts from 1971 until 1997.

Burlingame’s world was transformed from what he called “life with a long white cane, from a grainy black and white silent film, into a wide-screen, vivid Technicolor, 3-D spectacular with quadrophonic sound” with the arrival of a regal and handsome yellow Labrador Retriever, Hickory, and his successor Kemp, the guide dogs who changed Burlingame’s life.

Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan is the story of the adventures—and misadventures—of one blind New Yorker and his two fearless guide dogs. A charming, heart-warming, and sensational story, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan shares a dog’s eye view of the city that never sleeps.

An extraordinary book about the exploits of these canine miracle workers, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan takes readers along for the ride as these loyal Labradors triumph over the challenges of a huge city like New York— crowded sidewalks, traffic, taxis, street vendors, and noises. In addition, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan details those unmistakably “only in New York” moments: an impromptu, and unscheduled, Carnegie Hall duet between Hickory and the world-famous diva Renee Fleming; an all-too-memorable visit to the Russian Tea Room; strolls along the Hudson River; Greenwich Village forays; navigating Times Square; and other big adventures in the Big Apple. In a laugh-out-loud funny and wildly creative narrative, Hickory and Kemp recount what it was really like to find themselves thrust into the high flying New York arts scene.

Humorous and heartwarming, inspiring and enlightening, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan, at its heart, is a love story about the incredible dogs who lavish the gifts of independence, freedom, dignity, and safety on their human partners. Moreover, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan also pays tribute to the trainers, instructors, and fine humans who work with Seeing Eye Dogs, and enlightens readers on how guide dogs are trained.

Much more than a book that simply celebrates the love of dogs, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan honors the extraordinary canine heroes who keep their owners safe in a daunting urban environment such as New York. Told in a spirit that honors these incredible canine citizens, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan sheds light on these guide dogs, described appropriately as the “canine equivalents of the Navy Seals.”

A beautiful and uplifting story about the human-animal bond, hope, and determination, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan is a splendid and sensational tale about life, love, and two loyal Labrador heroes. Delivered with joie de vivre, humor, and wit, Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan is a marvelous story exceptionally well told.

A native of Washington, D.C., Lloyd Burlingame has lived in Manhattan for more than 50 years. Burlingame is currently at work on his memoir, Sets, Lights and Lunacy: A Stage Designer’s Adventures on Broadway and in Opera. For more information about Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan, visit www.guidedogadventures.com.