Fishko Files

The death of actress and star Olivia de Havilland a few days ago has stirred many memories and considerations. WNYC's Sara Fishko chimes in for this episode of Fishko Files.

William Wyler's The Heiress (1949) airs on TCM next month and is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Criterion and Amazon.

From the New Yorker: a consideration of the "last lioness of the Hollywood Studio System," by Rachel Syme.

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Annie Ross, the singer and actress who died this week at 89, was one-third of the phenomenally successful jazz vocal group Lambert Hendricks and Ross. Its heady days of success, as well as Ross herself, were recalled by the late Jon Hendricks - who spoke with WNYC's Sara Fishko in this archival edition of Fishko Files. (Produced in 2011)

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A cultural movement of Black writers and artists was flourishing a century ago in uptown New York, and it’s being remembered now with various virtual events. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us in this episode of Fishko Files, the Harlem Renaissance movement was rich with ideas.

Emily Bernard is a professor at the University of Vermont and the editor of Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten.

Harlem Renaissance 100 continues with its second, virtual phase. Next up: The Importance of Being Earnest, presented by the Harlem Shakespeare Festival, on July 26.

A box set from the Library of Congress, Harlem Renaissance Novels, offers a deeper dive into the literature of the movement.

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Composer and arranger Johnny Mandel died last Monday at the age of 94. In the sixty years prior, he gave us standards such as “Emily” and “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and ushered in an era of jazz-inflected movies with his 1958 score for the film “I Want to Live.” WNYC’s Sara Fishko spoke to him about that period in this archival Fishko Files, produced in 2008.

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This archival Fishko Files was produced in 2006 - the year musician and manager John Levy was given the prestigious title of "Jazz Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts. His profound impact on music could be seen in many forms, and for many decades. Levy died in January 2012, just three months shy of his 100th birthday.

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Some of the major struggles and victories of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s coincided with a most active period for jazz music. WNYC's Sara Fishko looks at a few cases where the movement and the music came together, in this edition of Fishko Files. Featuring music by Max Roach, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck, among others.

Max Roach's We Insist! Freedom Now

Duke Ellington's My People

Dave Brubeck's The Gates of Justice

Louis Armstrong, Dave Lambert, Jon Henricks, and others' The Real Ambassadors

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A documentary film about the late, infamous lawyer Roy Cohn premieres tonight. As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, the variety of films and dramatic portrayals of Cohn reveal a figure both fascinating and repellent. More in this episode of Fishko Files.

Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn premieres tonight at 9pm on HBO.

Where's My Roy Cohn?, Point of Order, Citizen Cohn, and the HBO miniseries Angels in America are available to stream or buy online.

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The Depression-era novel Miss Lonelyhearts, by Nathanael West, has been called "the purest expression of despair that American literature has produced, in any era." As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us in this Fishko Files, 80 years after the author's death the book - about the descent into darkness of an advice columnist - still rings true.

Miss Lonelyhearts is available to order online.

Jonathan Lethem's upcoming novel, The Arrest, will be published this November. You can find more Lethem on West in "The American Vicarious" (The Believer, 2009).

For more on Lowell Liebermann, visit his website.

Thanks to Rex Doane for lending his voice to our excerpts from Miss Lonelyhearts.

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20 years ago, a book by David Margolick reminded us of the power of a historic song about lynching, Strange Fruit - made famous by the great Billie Holiday. As Americans march against systemic racism, this archival Fishko Files with Lena Horne and others on the song that some say changed the world. (Produced in 2000)

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After the opening of the September 11th Memorial and Museum, record-breaking crowds traveled to Ground Zero, to the exact spot where the tragedy happened. In this archival edition of Fishko Files, WNYC's Sara Fishko asks - why?

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