Forgotten Hollywood

In this episode, I spoke with Tom Shubilla about his book "Primetime 1966-1967 The Full Spectrum of Television's 1ist All-Color Season". The year 1966 was when many TV viewers all over America discovered the wonders of "in living color." The 1966-1967 primetime television lineup was remarkable not only for the legendary shows that aired but also because it was the first season in which every show...

In this episode, I spoke with Gary Cooper's daughter, Maria Cooper Janis, about her father and the book she provided family photos for "Gary Cooper Enduring Style". Maria also discussed a film that she thinks is under appreciated and that is "The Hanging Tree". Check it out!

In this episode, I discuss with author G. Bruse Boyer his book "Gary Cooper Enduring Style". Few things are truly timeless. Martinis, The Beatles, bespoke tweed…and, of course, Gary Cooper. Perhaps the nonpareil of Golden Age Hollywood's gentlemen, Gary Cooper was a beloved icon of manliness and style in his prime—and has aged like fine wine. He is the definition of classic.

In this episode, we discuss the film life of Dennis O'Keefe. Dennis was a tall, cheerful, outdoorsy leading man of Hollywood B movies who started in show business as an infant accompanying his vaudevillian parents on the stage. In his teens, Dennis started to write film scripts while attending college.

In this episode, I discuss the life of Dennis Morgan. Many of you may remember his performance as seaman "Jefferson Jones", with Barbara Stanwyck in Christmas in Connecticut (1945) .

In this episode, I spoke with the author Sam Wasson on his book regarding Francis Ford Coppola titled "The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola". story. Francis Ford Coppola is one of the great American dreamers, and his most magnificent dream is American Zoetrope, the production company he founded in San Francisco years before his gargantuan success when he was only thirty. Through Zoetrope’s...

A special message to commemorate this occassion!

In this episode I look at the life of actor Charles Boyer.

In this episode, we discuss the career of actor William Tracy. Grab our Forgotten Hollywood Book Series: Business Movies and Christmas Movies! Both available on Amazon!

In this episode discuss the film career of Sara Haden.

In this episode I discuss the life of Marjorie Main "Ma Kettle".

In this episode I discuss the life of Evelyn Ankers. Many will remember her for playing opposite Lon Chaney, Jr. in five films. The Wolf Man (1941) , The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) , Son of Dracula (1943) , Weird Woman (1944) and The Frozen Ghost (1945) .

In this episode, I discuss the life of character actor Clifford Porter Hall. Doug Hess is the host!

In this episode I spoke with author Robert Dance and his book "Ferocious Ambition: Joan Crawford's March to Stardom". Robert Dance’s new evaluation of Joan Crawford looks at her entire career and―while not ignoring her early years and tempestuous personal life―focuses squarely on her achievements as an actress, and as a woman who mastered the studio system with a rare combination of grit, determin...

In this episode, I spoke with author Mark A Vieira on his book "George Hurrall's Hollywood: Glamour Portraits 1925-1992". George Hurrell was called the “Rembrandt of Hollywood.” Before his arrival, movie star portraits were “soft focus” and undistinguished, derivative of the Main Street USA portrait salon. Hurrell instituted a sharp, dramatic look. The vibrant, temperamental artist was an original...

In this episode, I spoke with author Laurence Leamer "Hitchcock's Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director's Dark Obsession". Alfred Hitchcock was fixated—not just on the dark, twisty stories that became his hallmark, but also by the blond actresses who starred in many of his iconic movies. The director of North by Northwest, Rear Window, and other classic films didn’t much c...

In this episode, I spoke with author Scott Ryan on his book "Moonlighting: An Oral History". Once upon a time ABC-TV’s Moonlighting was among the most buzzed-about shows in the country, thanks largely to the bravado of creator Glenn Gordon Caron, who never met a television convention he didn’t want to break, and the sizzling on-screen chemistry between glamorous erstwhile film star Cybill Shepherd...

In this episode, I spoke with author Scott Eyman on his book "Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided". The remarkable, must-read story of Charlie Chaplin’s years of exile from the United States during the postwar Red Scare, and how it ruined his film career

In this episode, I spoke with George Schlatter about his boo " Still Laughing A Life in Comedy From The Creator Of Laugh-In". In 1967, producer George Schlatter pitched an idea for a quirky new television show: one inspired by the hippie counterculture, which would take the idea of sit-ins, love-ins, and be-ins, and manifest that politicized, sexualized, consciousness-raising energy into pure come...

In this episode I spoke with Episode 186 author Nat Segaloff and his book "Say Hello To My Little Friend: A Century Of Scarface". Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Scarface starring Al Pacino—Brian DePalma’s 1983 gangster film that shook the world, shocked the critics, and shot bullet holes through the American Dream—this explosive Hollywood tell-all charts not only the phenomenon of this contro...

In this episode, I spoke with author Dale Sherman on his book "The Worst We Can Find: MST3K, Rifftrax, And The History of Heckling At The Movies". Had you tuned in to the small television station KTMA on Thanksgiving Day, 1988, you would have been one of the few witnesses to pop culture history being made. On that day, viewers in and around St. Paul, Minnesota, were treated to a genuine oddity, in...

In this episode, I spoke with author/actor Nick Santa Maria about his book "The Annotated Abbott and Costello: A Complete Viewer's Guide to the Comedy Team and Their 38 Films". Abbott and Costello were the most popular comedians of the 1940s, with burlesque-inspired routines that enthralled audiences on both radio and television. Oddly, their films have not received the same level of attention fro...

In this episode, I spoke with author Milan Hain about his latest book "Starmaker: David O. Selznick and the Production of Stars in the Hollywood Studio System". David O. Selznick (1902–1965) was one of the most prominent film producers of the Hollywood studio era, responsible for such artistic and commercial triumphs as King Kong, David Copperfield, Anna Karenina, A Star Is Born, Gone with the Win...

Episode 182 - author John Trafton talking about his book Movie Made Los Angeles In this episode, I spoke with author John Trafton talking about his book "Movie Made Los Angeles". Los Angeles was a cinematic city long before the rise of Hollywood. By the dawn of the twentieth century, photography, painting, and tourist promotion in Southern California provided early filmmakers with a template for b...