Rarified Heir Podcast Joshua Mills

Today on part two of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we continue our conversation with Patti Weidenfeld, daughter of stand-up comedian Pat Cooper. If you heard part one of our conversation last week, prepare yourself for part two because the second half of Patti’s story is unlike anything you have ever heard before.
An idyllic life as the only child of Pat Cooper and her mother Patti Prince, comes to a screeching halt after seeing Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller in Sugar Babies on Broadway at age 8. We learned in the first episode Pat Cooper wasn’t entirely truthful with his daughter about his first family and on this episode, for the first time ever, Patti tells us her remarkable story about how an idyllic life was pulled out from under her.  How family secrets her parents have kept rearing their ugly heads in the most intense way possible. It’s a story Patti’s never told anyone and we were honored she felt comfortable enough to share it with us. Thought it all, Patti maintains a grace and an understanding that are hard to believe. Ultimately, Patti’s story is one that could have made her bitter and angry and no one would have blamed her. Yet as you will hear, she is thoughtful, forgiving, contemplative and loving in ways we only wish we could be. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Another child of a celebrity interviewed by the child of a celebrity. And this is the first time, anyone has heard this story.
 

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Patti Weidenfeld, daughter of comedian/actor Pat Cooper. An entertainer for more than 50 years, Pat Cooper was known as a ‘comedians comedian’, someone who other comedians look up to as a genuine talent and a show business icon. Born in Coney Island Brooklyn, Pat Cooper embodied the Mad Men era comedy scene up until last year when he passed away at age 93. What Jackie Mason was for Jewish comedians, Pat Cooper did for Italian comedians. And believe me he wore his Italian heritage proudly. One of his comedy album Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights featured Pat posing in spaghetti sauce a la Herb Alpert’s Whipped Cream and Other Delights.
Many comedy fans today know Pat Cooper from his guest spots on Seinfeld and films like Analyze This and Analyze That. Unfortunately he’s also remembered for his many appearances on The Howard Stern Show where he became famous as an outrage comic who told tough, real family stories on air airing his dirty laundry for all to hear.
Patti on the other hand, talks to us about growing up in 70s Las Vegas and travelling with her father and mother to casinos on the strip and on the Atlantic City boardwalk opening for entertainers such as Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Tony Bennett, Liza Minelli, Sammy Davis Jr. and more. When he wasn’t doing club dates, he was doing guest hosting slots on The Merv Griffin Show and The Mike Douglas Show upwards of 60 times…each. His infamous 1981 spot on Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow show interview revealed too much about headliners demands that he felt were ridiculous and got him blackballed from working in his adopted home town Las Vegas for years. Once again, Pat aired too much dirty laundry.
Still, Patti had an idyllic life with her father and mother until one day when Patti realized that some things she heard from her parents just didn’t add up. We discuss this with at length with Patti on part one of our interview which you are about to hear right now. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast, everyone has a story. This one, you haven’t heard before.

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Ed Eckstine, son of singer Billy Eckstine and actress/model Carolle Drake. Our conversation with Ed was fun, fascinating, edifying and above all, full of stories of his life as the child of a celebrity but also his own career in the music industry. Our only regret was not keeping Ed for another 90 minutes because he has stories for days. We barely scratched the surface. Part two is a must.
Many of us only know Billy Eckstine as a jazz & pop singer whose baritone voice and smooth delivery made him one of the most in-demand singers from the 1930s well into the 1950s. But he also was a guitar player, trumpet player and this Billy Eckstine & his Orchestra was the first Bebop Big Band and his players and vocalists were a who’s who of Jazz -  Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Art Blakey,  Sarah Vaughan, Pearl Bailey, and Lena Horne all were part of the band in the 1950s.
By 1950, his popularity rivaled Sinatra - which as you will hear wasn’t a rivalry at all between these two friends. It was Eckstine’s talent as well as his good looks and dapper attire that made him perhaps the first black entertainer to become a crossover star in the segregated 1950s America. But as we learn from our conversation with Ed, one photo in a major American magazine essentially put an end to all that in the must ugly and vile way possible. But to hear Ed tell it, this terrible incident was a blessing in disguise as it opened up doors for him outside America and made him an international star, touring well into the 1980s in Europe, Australia and Japan.
Our conversation with Ed also focused on his own career in the music industry that took him from journalist to publicist to head of Quincy Jones Qwest Productions to stints at Polygram,  Arista and as the President of Mercury Records. As Nabil Ayers in the New York Times said, “Eckstine’s story is unique because he was the first black person to be let in — to be allowed by the predominantly white music industry to helm one of its largest entities.”
This is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a story. Ed Eckstine’s is like none other.

Today on part two of our encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we again talk to Alison Martino, daughter of singer Al Martino and guardian of her beloved LA and her Vintage Los Angeles social media properties. And because both Alison and host josh Mills are die hard denizens of the city of angels, there is a lot (and we mean a lot) of hand wringing over the changes that have happened to the city over the last few decades.
Of course we continue our conversation about what it was like growing up as the daughter of her popular singer pop as we again delve into Paramount+’s The Offer about the making of The Godfather. Or maybe it was the maiming of The Godfather. Well, it depends on the viewer of course. We also get into old  schoolLas Vegas and how it worked when it was run by ‘the outfit’ rather than corporations, why Vegas wasn’t on the Martino touring circuit and more. So sit back and take a second listen to the second part of our interview with Alison Martino. Another child of a celebrity, interviewed by the child of a celebrity. Take a listen.

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Alison Martino for the second time about growing up the daughter of singer/actor Al Martino. As the founder of Vintage LA, Alison has created an online juggernaut that has hundreds of thousands of fans wanting to know more about significant current landmarks as well as lost LA as well.
We spoke to Alison in part one of this conversation on the heels of the Paramount+ series The Offer, which is based on the alleged story behind bringing The Godfather to the big screen. Of course, Al Martino plays the role of Johnny Fontaine in Part One and sings “I Have But One Heart” in the film. We also delve into her founding VLA and how it started almost as a lark. We also speak to Alison about her other gig, on Spectrum TV, bringing television viewers a slice of Los Angeles on the small screen in addition to devices of all kinds.
It was great to talk to Alison, someone whose passion for LA is found in her collection of menu’s, matchbooks, ephemera and other collections she passionately collects. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a story. Here’s part one of our Alison Martino interview, now.

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Katharine “Kat” Kramer, daughter of producer/director Stanley Kramer. Now, you might have heard of a few films Stanley directed like The Defiant Ones, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Judgement at Nuremberg, On the Beach and a comedy called It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. So it’s appropriate that this episode is airing two days after the Academy Awards. Why? Because Stanley Kramer’s films have received more than 80 Academy Award nominations, have received 16 Academy Awards and Kramer was given an Academy Award, the Irving Thalberg Award, in 1961. To say the man directed (and produced) some groundbreaking films with actors like Spencer Tracy, Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier would mean you are just scratching the surface of his illustrious career.  
We talk to Katharine about everything about the themes of her father’s films and somehow, because host Josh Mills’ mum starred in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, we end up talking about that film - a lot. We also talk about Phil Spector – who would have thunk? – Katherine’s one woman show, a Mick Jagger tribute album she recorded with many Stones alumni, her career as an actorvist, singing Judy Garland songs to Liza Minelli as a kid backstage, her haunted house growing up, the Kennedy assassination and much more. Katharine is absolutely the most motivated person we’ve had on this podcast as her career in TV, stage, music, charity and as a member of too many boards to count, will attest. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.