Forgotten Hollywood JLJ Media

In this episode, I spoke with author Kurt Jensen about his book "Peerless Rouben Mamoulian, Hollywood, and Broadway.  A proud Armenian who claimed a distant link to nobility, born in what was then part of czarist Russia, Rouben Mamoulian (1897–1987) was one of the most astonishing and confounding figures in American film and theater, directing the original stage productions of Porgy and Bess, Carousel, and Oklahoma!, as well as films including Love Me Tonight, Queen Christina, City Streets, and Silk Stockings. He was famously fired from the film version of Porgy and Bess in a dispute over publicity and quit Cleopatra after arguments over a single scene. Mamoulian’s mercurial confidence and autocratic tendencies were among the reasons he had a reputation for being uncompromising. This frustrating mix of genius and stubbornness, of critical successes and financial flops, has proven challenging for biographers. 

In this episode, I spoke with Alonso Duralde about his book "Hollywood Pride". For generations, members of the LGBTQ+ community in Hollywood needed to be discreet about their lives but—make no mistake—they were everywhere, both in front of and behind the camera.

In this episode, I spoke with Dean Butler about his book "Prairie Man: My Little House Life and Beyond".  An illuminating, insider’s journey through the world of Little House on the Prairie and beyond, from Dean Butler, who starred as Almanzo Wilder, the man Laura “Half Pint” Ingalls married—on the iconic show still beloved by millions of fans as it reaches its 50th anniversary.

In this episode, I spoke with author Simon Lewis regarding his book "Making A Bridge To Far".  A Bridge Too Far, released in 1977, was the last epic WWII movie made in the Hollywood studio system. Its ambitious goal: to recreate the Allied plan Operation Market-Garden in September 1944. 

In this episode, I spoke with author Jared Stearns about his book "Pure: The Sexual Revolutions of Marilyn Chambers". The untold story of the world’s most famous X-rated star, who rose to fame as the face of Ivory Snow and the star of Behind the Green Door but struggled to find her true self in a world of sex, scandal, and shattered dreams.

In this episode, I spoke with author Scott Ryan regarding his book "The Last Decade of Cinema".  Ah, the nineties. Movies were something in those days. We're talking about a decade that began with GoodFellas and ended with Magnolia, with such films as Malcolm X, Before Sunrise, and Clueless arriving somewhere in between.