Call Back Yesterday

A Call Back Yesterday podlet, designed for anyone who is at the 30th annual SIT Weekend, or just wishes they could be there. Recommended listening location: a landing on the long stairs to the garden.

Imagine being an aspiring actor and inviting your friends and family to see your first movie ... then realizing your tiny scene was cut. It happened to George Wendt in "Somewhere in Time," who later landed the role of Norm on "Cheers." For George's 72nd birthday - Oct 17 - CBY gives him a most unexpected birthday present. 

Host John Rabe talks with "Somewhere in Time" director Jeannot Szwarc about making the movie, managing his stars' affair, and where he'd go if he could travel in time. Szwarc retired last year after 51 years of film and TV direction and spoke with John from his home in the Loire Valley where he is riding out the pandemic in splendid isolation.

Host John Rabe talks with film critic Tim Cogshell about "Somewhere In Time," which Tim first saw with his wife almost 40 years ago. She passed away a few years ago, but her memory lives strong with Tim, and it turns out that jawing about it in John's podcast eases the burden a little tiny bit. 

In Call Back Yesterday, public radio's John Rabe addresses his neuroses by celebrating the 40th anniversary of "Somewhere In Time," and exploring the cult movie's themes of love, loss, memory, nostalgia, time travel, and Mackinac Island. 

Episode One - Welcome to Fantasy Island - gives you a taste of what's to come, including interviews with George Wendt, the Avengers screenwriters, Jeannot Szwarc, critics Tim Cogshell and Justin Chang, and Caitlin "The Good Death" Doughty.