Forgotten Hollywood

Guest Host James Lott Jr  talks On Dangerous Ground (1951), directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino: Release year: 1951.  Runtime: 82 minutes.  Genre: Film noir / crime drama.  ✅ Critical & Audience Reception On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a Tomatometer rating of 89% (based on 19 Critics). On Metacritic, its score is listed as “Generally Favorable” with a score of 78.  Th...

In this episode I spoke with author Chris Yogerst about his latest book "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". Few lines of movie dialogue have had greater impact than the most famous line from John Ford’s 1962 masterpiece  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance : “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Although critics of the day did not realize its magnitude, with time  T...

In this episode I spoke with author Steve Basford about his book "Breaking Away: The Quintessential Underdog Movie". Breaking Away , released in 1979, is the quintessential underdog movie, earning numerous award nominations and ranking in multiple Top Ten lists. Why is it so popular, to this day? What is  Breaking Away  about, a bike race? The race is the climactic ending of the movie, but a small...

Larry Namer is an American entertainment entrepreneur, television visionary, and media innovator best known as the co-founder of E! Entertainment Television. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Namer began his career as a cable TV engineer before moving into programming and business leadership roles across the industry. In 1990, he and his partner developed the idea for what became E!—a 24-hour network fo...

In this episode I spoke with Barry M. Putt, Jr about his book "Alice: Life Behind the Counter in Mel's Greasy Spoon". Alice: Life Behind the Counter in Mel’s Greasy Spoon (A Guide to the Feature Film, the TV Series, and More) takes you behind the scenes of one of television’s most beloved sitcoms. It all started with Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award–winning film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Lea...

In this episode, I spoke with Danny Reid about his latest book "Pre-Code Essentials: Must-See Cinema from Hollywood's Untamed Era, 1930-1934".  With unparalleled freedom in the Golden Age of Hollywood, movies produced during the “pre-Code” era between 1930 and 1934 boldly confronted a wide range of provocative subjects, including sexual freedom, the glorification of outlaws, racial taboos, and cla...

In this episode, I spoke with author Thomas Hischak about his book "Bringing Song and Dance to the Screen! Directors of Golden Age Hollywood Musicals". The role directors have played in American cinema cannot be overstated, particularly how they shaped and developed the medium during Hollywood's golden age. Little appreciation has been paid though to the individual directors' accomplishments with...

In this epiosde, I spoke with one of the co-authors, Wheeler Winston Dixon about his book "A Short History of Film, 4th Edition". This updated and expanded edition of A Short History of Film provides an accessible overview of the major movements, directors, studios, and genres from the 1880s to the present. Succinct yet comprehensive, with more than 250 rare stills and illustrations, this edition...

In this episode, I discuss with author Stephen Rebello his book "Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train". Take a deep dive into the shadows and light of one of the most subversive, corrosively funny, and beloved suspense thriller masterworks as author Stephen Rebello unravels for the very first time the tense and drama-filled story of the makin...

In this episode, I discuss with author Jennifer Ann Redmond about her book "Too Fast, Too Short: The Life of Diana Barrymore". American actress and socialite Diana Barrymore (1921–1960) was a figure often overshadowed by her famous lineage and tragic narrative. In Too Fast, Too Short: The Life of Diana Barrymore , author Jennifer Ann Redmond illuminates Barrymore’s complex world, revealing a woman...

In this episode, I spoke with author John Malahy regarding his book " Rewinding The ’80s: Cinema Under the Influence of Music Videos, Action Stars, and a Cold War". The movies were flying blind in 1980. “New Hollywood” was over and the era of auteur-driven, personal films that had defined moviemaking since the late ‘60s came to a symbolic end with Heaven’s Gate  (1980),   replaced by a new world o...

In this episode I spoke with Neil O'Brien about his book "After Disney: Toil, Trouble, and the Transformation of America's Favorite Media Company". The untold succession struggle at Walt Disney Productions following the death of its founder, and the generational transformation which led to the birth of the modern multibillion-dollar animation industry.

In this episode I spoke with author Mark Archuleta about his boo; "The Reel Thrilling Events of Bank Robber Henry Starr: From Gentleman Bandit to Movie Star and Back Again". In 1921 headlines across the country announced the death of Henry Starr, a burgeoning silent film star who was killed while attempting to rob a bank in Harrison, Arkansas. Cynics who knew the real Starr were not surprised. Bef...

In this episode I spoke with author Jennifer O'Callaghan about her book "Rear Window: The Making of a Hitchcock Masterpiece in the Hollywood Golden Age." The definitive, in-depth look inside Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window —the all-time classic of voyeurism, paranoia, and murder that became one of Hollywood’s greatest achievements and turned generations of viewers into “a race of Peeping Toms.” A m...

In this episode, I spoke with author Gary Wigglesworth about his book "The Movie Lover's Quiz Book". Whether you want to challenge yourself or someone else, The Movie Lover's Quiz Book is perfect for any cinephile. Inside you'll find a fun range of rounds and an eclectic mix of questions, all designed to give you hours of entertainment. Doug Hess is the host! Forgotten Hollywood is on Facebook and...

In this episode I spoke with author Maggie Hennefeld about her latest book "Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema". Can you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate―or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries would have us believe. How could laughter be fatal, and what do these reports of women’s risible deaths tell us about the p...

In this episode, I discuss with author Kristen Lopez about her latest book " Popcorn Disabilities: The Highs and Lows of Disabled Representation in the Movies that will be released on November 13, 2025. You can learn a lot from the movies-about sex and relationships, about business, about history. Sure, there's a fair amount of fantasy, wish fulfillment, and glorious hair to exaggerate everything,...

Forgotten Hollywood is on Facebook. Forgotten Hollywood Reference book series on Amazon. Doug Hes is the Creator/Producer/Host of the show. Thank you guest Author Bernard D Dick

In this episode, I spoke with Tracey Goessel about her book "The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks". Douglas Fairbanks was the greatest leading man of his generation—the first and the best of the swashbucklers. He made some of the greatest films of the silent era, including The Thief of Bagdad ,  Robin Hood , and  The Mark of Zorro . With Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and h...

In this episode, I spoke with author David M. Stewart about his book "There's No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme". Jonathan Demme, one of the most influential and dynamic directors of the twentieth century, was a fearless and radical filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer―a compassionate artist, advocate, and humanist who was compelled to tell the stories of marginalized communities...

Guest host James Lott Jr talks about a Store, Counterpoint Records and Books, in East Hollywood that has grea rare finds. He showcases two of the things he found. Forgotten Hollywood is on Facebook. Executive Producer -Doug Hess

Forgotten Hollywood is on Facebook. Forgotten Hollywood Books are on Amazon. In this episode I spoke with author Sheri Chinen Biesen about her book "Through a Noir Lens: Adapting Film Noir Visual Style".  Shadows. Smoke. Dark alleys. Rain-slicked city streets. These are iconic elements of film noir visual style. Long after its 1940s heyday, noir hallmarks continue to appear in a variety of new med...

In this episode, I spoke with author Samuel Garza Bernstein about his book "Cesar Romero: The Joker Is Wild". Dynamic and debonair, Cesar Romero was best known for creating the role of the Joker in the 1960s Batman  television series. As the first actor to play Batman and Robin's villainous nemesis, Romero established the character's giddy, manic tone and the distinctive laugh that subsequent acto...

The Apple. Last Starfighter. Weekend At Bernie's. Night of the Comet. Knight Rider. Hotel. Sins. The Outer Limits. Law and Order and Days of Our Lives. Catherine Mary Stewart goes down memory lane with Guest Host James Lott Jr. Forgotten Hollywood is on Facebook! 

In this episode, I spoke with author Mitchell Hadley regarding his book "Darkness In Primetime". Darkness in Primetime: How Classic-Era TV Foresaw Modern Society’s Descent into Hell reveals how television shows of the 1950s and 1960s, with shocking accuracy, envisioned a world of 24/7 surveillance, thought control, disinformation, persecution, and the loss of freedom—a world disturbingly similar t...