Forgotten Hollywood

In this episode, I discuss with author Dale Sherman his book "Four Scores and Seven Reels Ago". Four Scores and Seven Reels Ago: The U.S. Presidency through Hollywood Films examines the ways Hollywood has portrayed the presidency over the years.

In this episode, we discuss the act of Steve Buscemi coming back to New York to help other firefighters during the September 11, 2023 events at the World Trade Center.

In this episode, I spoke with the author Chris Alexander on his book Corman/Poe: Interviews and Essays Exploring the Making of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe Films, 1960-1964. Produced on modest budgets for American International Pictures, Roger Corman's adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories were popular in their time as escapist horror cinema. Most starred horror icon Vincent Price and were written (and "freely adapted") by the likes of Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont and Robert Towne.

In this episode, I spoke with author Andrew Patrick Nelson about his book "Still In The Saddle: The Hollywood Western, 1969 -1980". By the end of the 1960s, the Hollywood West of Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, and even John Wayne was passé—or so the story goes. Many film historians and critics have argued that movies portraying a mythic American West gave way to revisionist films that influential filmmakers such as Sam Peckinpah and Robert Altman made as violent critiques of the Western’s “golden years.”

University of Oklahoma Press

In this episode, I discuss the life of actress Helen Walker.

In this episode, I spoke with author Lesley Coffin regarding her book "Hitchcock's Stars: Alfred Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System". Although he was a visual stylist who once referred to actors as cattle, Alfred Hitchcock also had a remarkable talent for innovative and creative casting choices. The director launched the careers of several actors and completely changed the trajectory of others, many of whom created some of the most iconic screen performances in history

In this episode I spoke with author Dan Callahan about his latest book "Bing and Billie and Frank and Ella and Judy and Barbra" which will be out on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, from Chicago Review Press. Crosby, Holiday, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Garland, and Streisand were the major interpreters of the American songbook, and this is the interlocking story of their lives and careers.

Here is the epic tale of how these artists dominated American popular music over a fifty-year period, a roller coaster ride that gains momentum through the 1930s and ’40s, reaches a crest of magical creativity in the 1950s and early '60s, and then crashes down by the early 1970s, a half century when the great American songbook dominated the airwaves and the fight for racial equality came to the forefront.

Pre-order your book today!

In this episode, my friend of the show, Warren Croom and I spoke with actor Johnny Whitaker. Johhny talks about his years as a child actor. The redheaded Whitaker played Jody Davis on Family Affair from 1966 to 1971. He also originated the role of Scotty Baldwin on General Hospital in 1965, and played the lead in Hallmark's 1969 The Littlest Angel, and portrayed the title character in the 1973 musical version of Tom Sawyer.

In this episode I spoke with Bambi Moe about her book "Part of the Magic". Part of the Magic: A Collection of Disney-Inspired Brushes with Greatness is a book of remarkable and wildly entertaining anecdotal stories told through the lens of an entertainment industry insider.