He was a beloved comedian and linchpin of Hollywood Squares, but he was also a tortured soul with a tragic life. In the 70s, Paul Lynde enjoyed success as one of the most popular comedians of the time - notably with his role as Uncle Arthur on 'Bewitched' and as the center square on Hollywood Squares. However, what many of the time didn't know is that Lynde was dealing with deeply-routed demons from childhood trauma that resulted in massive drug and alcohol addiction. And, eventually, his hedoni...
Jun 03, 2020•46 min
He was the Stan Lee of Hong Kong comics, but his practices eventually landed him in prison. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Tony Wong produced hundreds of Hong Kong comics, or Manhua, based on his long-running franchise Little Rascals/Oriental Heroes. Despite the fact that it was an open secret that he was largely lying about how involved he was with the creation of his own comics - most of them clearly being drawn and written by ghost artists and Wong merely taking credit for them - he became the b...
May 27, 2020•1 hr 25 min
The Mona Lisa was once a very ordinary painting, but one man made it the most famous one in the world. In 1911, a man with an inside connection stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre by simply walking in and taking it. At the time, the Mona Lisa was regarded as a fairly insignificant minor work by the legendary artist, Leonardo DaVinci. However, all of that would change with the ensuing investigation, and the global attention that the theft would receive. After that, the Mona Lisa became the most f...
May 20, 2020•1 hr 10 min
A comic writer discovered the first superhero Stan Lee ever created. It was the greatest hoax in comics history. In 1999 it was discovered that Stan Lee had created a superhero character BEFORE the Fantastic Four - long-believed to be the first superhero comics characters he'd ever been a part of. His name was the Sentry, and he was co-created by an artist named Artie Rosen back in 1961 and then promptly forgotten by Lee, never to be published. Then, in the late 90s, comic book writer Paul Jenki...
May 13, 2020•1 hr 13 min
These are the bizarre, inspiring, and sad stories of the scandals that rocked the James Bond franchise. George Lazenby was the second man to play James Bond after Sean Connery left. However, he had never acted before and tricked producers into casting him. Kevin McClory was a producer who managed to somehow win the rights to make his own bootleg James Bond movies in court. Both men left lasting marks on the franchise, but both men also spent the rest of their lives trying to recover from the cat...
May 06, 2020•2 hr 1 min
Lonnie Johnson invented your childhood, but big business tried to steal all his money. Lonnie Johnson is an American inventor and engineer, and in the early 90s he invented and patented some of the most important aspects of any 90s kids' childhood. We would have had a lot of boring summer days without his contributions. However, after selling his inventions to big toy companies, he started noticing over the years that they were doing everything in their power to not pay Johnson his cut of the pr...
Apr 29, 2020•54 min
Andrew Getty spent 15 years making a horror movie, and it ended up killing him. Grandson of oil tycoon, J. Paul Getty, and cousin of John Paul Getty III, who was famously kidnapped and tortured as a 16-year-old boy in 1973, Andrew Getty became haunted by night terrors that were so vivid and horrifying that he decided the only way he could get rid of them was to channel all of his fear into a self-financed horror movie. Beginning in 2002, he spent the next 15 years, and 6 million dollars, meticul...
Apr 22, 2020•1 hr 28 min
She was the greatest action star of the 80s you've never heard of. Her career should have been bigger. Cynthia Rothrock was a World Champion martial artist that transitioned into Hong Kong action films in the 80s despite being an American from Scranton, Pennsylvania. She went on to be in some of the most underrated action films of all time. Every heard of the 1985 film, "Yes, Madam!"? Well, it launched an entire genre of movies, the "Girls With Guns" genre, and she was co-lead alongside Michelle...
Apr 15, 2020•1 hr 18 min
The most expensive film in Japanese History was an insane bootlegged Star Wars ripoff. In 1978, at the height of the global 'Star Wars' craze following the release of the first movie in George Lucas's legendary franchise, tons of knockoff Star Wars movies were produced to try and capitalize off of the space craze. However, there was only one of those movies that was notable for A: being directed by the same guy who directed 'Battle Royale,' B: Having all of its sets and costumed designed by the ...
Apr 08, 2020•54 min
The creator of 'The Adventures of Tintin', Hergé, willingly worked for Nazis for years. He's one of the most beloved comic artists in history, deservedly so, but many fans don't want to discuss this dark aspect of his career. For years he produced his long-running comic, 'The Adventures of Tintin,' for Nazi-run magazines in German-occupied Belgium and even collaborated closely with Nazi-sympathizers. Was he himself a Nazi sympathizer, or just struggling to survive in the tumultuous world of comi...
Apr 01, 2020•1 hr 40 min
He made a movie about the Zodiac Killer to catch the real Zodiac Killer. It almost worked. In 1973, Tom Hanson wrote and directed the world's first movie about the Zodiac Killer - an infamous serial killer that terrorized Northern California for months, killing multiple victims. The movie was released mere months after the grisly killings. It was one of the most flagrant examples of exploitation cinema, but was there another motive for making the movie besides just shamelessly capitalizing off o...
Mar 25, 2020•1 hr 17 min
She claimed Hollywood stole 'The Matrix' and 'The Terminator' from her. Many still believe her. Sophia Stewart says that she wrote a book in the 80s that was the basis for both smash-hit movie franchises, 'The Matrix,' and 'The Terminator,' and that her ideas were unceremoniously stolen by The Wachowskis (directors of 'The Matrix) and James Cameron (director of 'The Terminator'). She also claims that she sued Warner Brothers over copyright theft and won $1 Billion dollars, but that the WB has pa...
Mar 18, 2020•1 hr 10 min
The secret backstory behind 'The Hardy Boys' and 'Nancy Drew' is much darker than you ever imagined. These two beloved classic children's mystery novel series written by Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene that have entertained children and adults alike since the 1930s. Or are they? What if we told you that Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene never existed? And that Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and a slew of other children's mystery books from your childhood were all created by one man -- the shady, ...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 45 min
Hosts Dave Baker and Andrew Price walk you through the ins and outs of a particular topic in film, television and pop culture, no matter how strange or obscure. No matter how small a factoid seems to be, Dave and Andrew will explore its origin and maybe even correct some misconceptions on commonly held pop culture beliefs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 25, 2020•3 min
