"BOBBY DRISCOLL: CLASSIC CINEMA STAR OF THE MONTH" EPISODE 64 - “BOBBY DRISCOLL - STAR OF THE MONTH” - 12/02/2024 BOBBY DRISCOLL's name may not be too familiar anymore, but in his heyday, he was the male equivalent of NATALIE WOOD. He was one of the most talented and prolific child stars of the 1940s and 1950s. His descent into darkness should serve as a cautionary tale to all of the stage mothers out there who think their kids will be the next big thing. Sometimes, there is a price to pay for f...
Dec 02, 2024•33 min•Season 2Ep. 64
EPISODE 63 - “NOT EVEN NOMINATED: A DISCUSSION ABOUT CLASSIC CINEMA WITH AUTHOR JOHN DILEO” - 11/25/2024 Author JOHN DILEO, film historian and author, has just published his eighth book, Not Even Nominated: 40 Overlooked Costars of Oscar-Winning Performances. This week, John joins Steve and Nan to discuss his book, as well as his origin story on how he got hooked on classic cinema. Join us for the fun, lively discussion about old Hollywood. And make sure you check out John’s book. SHOW NOTES: So...
Nov 25, 2024•49 min•Season 2Ep. 63
"FORGOTTEN LEADING LADIES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD" - 11/18/2024 A friend of mine once said that in Hollywood the toilet flushes every seven years. Meaning after about seven years, no one remembers who you are. Whether that’s true or not, there are many classic film stars who were once popular, who have faded away into obscurity. We covered men a few months ago, and now we are giving the ladies their due. Join us as we talk about four fabulous actresses who deserve to be remembered — LIZ...
Nov 18, 2024•44 min•Season 2Ep. 62
EPISODE 61 - “FAVORITE CLASSIC FILMS OF THE 1960s” - 11/11/2024 The decade of the 1960s was an exciting time in filmmaking. The stodgy studio contract system was starting to give way to a new crop of independent cinematic auteurs, often associated with the "New Hollywood" era, including Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Sam Peckinpah, Arthur Penn, John Cassavetes, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Peter Bogdanovich. These edgier films pushed the creative boundaries and social themes to re...
Nov 11, 2024•47 min•Season 2Ep. 61
EPISODE 60 - "THELMA RITTER: CLASSIC CINEMA STAR OF THE MONTH" - 11/04/2024 There's a scene in the classic 1950 film All About Eve where Eve Harrington (ANNE BAXTER), a star-struck fan who has infiltrated the life of Broadway star Margo Channing (BETTE DAVIS), is telling the tragic story of her past to Margo and her friends. While Margo and company are drawn into the sad circumstances of Eve's life, Margo's acerbic dresser Birdie, played to perfection by the great THELMA RITTER, is not buying he...
Nov 04, 2024•30 min•Season 2Ep. 60
EPISODE 59 - "POLITICS: THROUGH THE LENS OF CLASSIC CINEMA" - 10/28/2024 As we all get ready to go to the polls and vote in what might be the most important election of our lives, we wanted to take a look at politics in the films of old Hollywood. This week, we explore the movies that reflected the politics and the issues of the day and left an indelible mark on cinema. From labor wars in New Mexico to a mayor’s race in New England to the early years of Abraham Lincoln, join us as we take a look...
Oct 28, 2024•50 min•Season 2Ep. 59
EPISODE 58 - "CLASSIC CINEMA'S HORROR HEROES: BELA LUGOSI & BORIS KARLOFF" - 10/21/2024 When you think of the classic Universal Studios monster movies of the 1930s and 1940s, the two names that come to mind are always BORIS KARLOFF and BELA LUGOSI. These two titans of the horror film genre gave us endless hours of chills and thrills in their portrayal of such iconic movie monsters as Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and The Mummy. This week’s Halloween episode pays tribute to the films and l...
Oct 21, 2024•49 min•Season 2Ep. 58
EPISODE 57 - “Old Hollywood’s Unlikely Casanova: Gene Markey” - 10/14/2024 GENE MARKEY was an interesting character. He was a Hollywood writer and producer who had a decent, but not spectacular career. But what makes him so fascinating is the company he keeps. This man was once married to three of the most beautiful and fascinating women in the world: JOAN BENNETT, HEDY LAMARR, and MYRNA LOY. He later left Hollywood behind and married a wealthy Kentucky horsewoman and lived happily ever after. T...
Oct 13, 2024•35 min•Ep. 57
EPISODE 56 - “MARJORIE REYNOLDS: CLASSIC CINEMA STAR OF THE MONTH” - 10/07/2024 Most film fanatics agree that after the Paramount Picture’s holiday classic “Holiday Inn” (1942), actress MARJORIE REYNOLDS, who gave a star-turn as struggling actress Linda Mason who gets a break singing and dancing in the seasonal nightclub run by BING CROSBY, should have been a big star. However, for reasons not quite clear, she didn’t rise into the stratosphere. While she had a very respectable and long career, s...
Oct 06, 2024•31 min•Ep. 56
EPISODE 55 - “Favorite Classic Films of the 1950s ” - 09/30/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** The 1950s was a real transitional decade for classic films. As we got further away from WW2, and the Cold War began to rise up prominently, there was a cynicism across the land that influenced the content of many Hollywood movies. Films took on a grittier, more realistic fee...
Sep 30, 2024•44 min•Ep. 55
EPISODE 54 - "SPECIAL GUEST: PERI GILPIN TALKS OLD HOLLYWOOD" - 09/23/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** We all know her as the hilarious and acerbic radio producer Roz Doyle on the iconic sitcom “Frasier,” and on the reboot currently airing on Paramount Plus. This week, we have a sit-down interview with actress PERI GILPIN. Peri discusses her love of classic films, t...
Sep 23, 2024•53 min•Ep. 54
EPISODE 53 - “Tribute to Gena Rowlands” - 09/16/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** When screen legend GENA ROWLANDS passed away last month at the age of 94, she left behind a film and TV legacy that will undoubtedly influence artists for decades to come. She was an acting titan who changed the way modern audiences looked at acting. From her historic independent movies...
Sep 16, 2024•38 min•Ep. 53
EPISODE 52 - "BIG SCREEN TO SMALL SCREEN: CLASSIC CINEMA'S TV REMAKES." (052) - 09/09/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** Sometimes, a classic film is primed for being turned into a successful television series — think “M*A*S*H*,” “Alice,” “In The Heat of the Night,” or “Peyton Place.” But this isn’t always the case. There have been many classic films turned into TV sh...
Sep 09, 2024•30 min
EPISODE 51 - “Richard Conte (Star of the Month) ” - 09/02/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** In the great film noir classic Thieves Highway, a gripping drama that takes on the dirty underbelly of the trucking industry, the spectacular RICHARD CONTE plays Nick Garcos, a world-weary, jaded, World War II vet who returns home. After finding his family's produce business i...
Sep 02, 2024•33 min•Ep. 51
EPISODE 50 - “Birthday Tribute to Classic Film star Vera Miles” - 08/26/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** After placing 3rd runner up to Miss America in 1948 as Miss Kansas, VERA MILES soon embarked on a long and illustrious career in Hollywood and was soon working with great directors like ALFRED HITCHCOCK (“Psycho” and “The Wrong Man”) and JOHN FORD (“The Searchers...
Aug 26, 2024•38 min•Ep. 50
EPISODE 49 - “Birthday Tribute to Classic Cinema Star Ann Blyth ” - 08/19/2024 ** This episode is sponsored and brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** With her crystal clear soprano voice, porcelain doll face, and fierce acting talent, ANN BLYTH became a much-in-demand star in the 1940s and 1950s. While known mostly as a romantic musical comedy star in films such as “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” (1948), “...
Aug 19, 2024•31 min•Ep. 49
EPISODE 48 - “STEVE & NAN'S FAVORITE CLASSIC FILMS OF THE 1940s ” - 08/12/2024 ** This episode is sponsored and brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** The 1940s was a phenomenal time for movies. Auteurs like ALFRED HITCHCOCK, GEORGE STEVENS, WILIAM WYLER, and BILLY WILDER were coming into their own with important and personal films that changed the landscape of cinemas. Also, stars like BETTE DAVIS, K...
Aug 12, 2024•45 min•Ep. 48
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self. EPISODE 47 - “Laird Cregar (Star of the Month) ” - 08/05/2024 With his sad, dark eyes, hulking frame, and aristocratic speech, actor LAIRD CREGAR often played the complex villain tortured by a sinister past or an unrequited love that turns into an obsession. No one played characters with suppressed anguish, a tortured soul, or darkness lingering beneath the su...
Aug 05, 2024•32 min•Ep. 47
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self. ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** As CAROLE LANDIS was known as “The Ping Girl” and ANN SHERIDAN was known as “The Oomph” Girl,” actress MARIE McDONALD was saddled with the equally misogynistic title, “The Body.” Yes, she was tall, legg...
Jul 29, 2024•32 min•Ep. 46
EPISODE 45 - “Forgotten B-Leading Men of the Golden Age of Hollywood” - 07/22/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** Sometimes, there is nothing quite like a good old B-movie. Maybe the production values aren’t the best, and maybe the story is grittier than most, but these little gems have provided hours of viewing pleasure to so many. These films also had great leading m...
Jul 22, 2024•40 min•Ep. 45
EPISODE 44 - "THERESA HARRIS: HOW OLD HOLLYWOOD STOPPED HER STAR FROM RISING" - 07/15/2024 ** This episode is sponsored brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self.” ** When THERESA HARRIS appears on screen, you cannot take your eyes off of her. Beautiful, talented, and a skilled singer and dancer, she lights up any scene she’s in. Despite appearing in over 100 films, she rarely received screen credit and most ofte...
Jul 15, 2024•34 min•Ep. 44
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/BENEATH and get on your way to being your best self. EPISODE 43 - “Favorite Classic Films of the 1930s” - 07/08/2024 During the golden era of old Hollywood, each decade brought forth exciting films that helped define the motion picture industry. In a new feature, Steve and Nan will dissect each decade and highlight movies that resonated with them as they started their individual study of film. Beginning with the...
Jul 08, 2024•37 min•Ep. 43
From Beneath The Hollywood Sign is thrilled to welcome our newest sponsor, www.HappyMammoth.com. Use code BENEATH at checkout for 15% off of your entire first order! EPISODE 42 - “Eva Marie Saint: Star of the Month (July)” - 07/01/2024 Blonde, beautiful, sophisticated, and chic, there was no one in Hollywood quite like EVA MARIE SAINT. This versatile, elegant actress had an incredible emotional range and left an indelible mark on the landscape of film. July 4th marks her 100th birthday of this n...
Jul 01, 2024•41 min•Ep. 42
From Beneath The Hollywood Sign is thrilled to welcome our newest sponsor, www.HappyMammoth.com. Use code BENEATH at checkout for 15% off of your entire first order! EPISODE 41 - “The Death of the Dream Factory” - 06/24/2024 When the early movie studios began to pop up in Hollywood during the 1920s and 1930s, the major studio chiefs produced magnificent films and further advanced the art form of film, but they also created a system where they controlled the supply and demand flow and treated the...
Jun 24, 2024•29 min•Ep. 41
From Beneath The Hollywood Sign is thrilled to welcome our newest sponsor, www.HappyMammoth.com. Use code BENEATH at checkout for 15% off of your entire first order! EPISODE 40 - “Old Hollywood's Forbidden Love Story/ Lon McCallister & William Eythe” - 06/17/2024 As we celebrate gay pride month in June, Nan and Steve bring a special episode about 20th Century Fox contract players LON McCALLISTER and WILLIAM EYTHE. Both were handsome, talented, and on their way to becoming major film stars. B...
Jun 17, 2024•33 min•Ep. 40
From Beneath The Hollywood Sign is thrilled to welcome our newest sponsor, www.HappyMammoth.com. Use code BENEATH at checkout for 15% off of your entire first order! EPISODE 39 - “Father Knows Best: Classic Cinema's Best (and Worst!) Dads” - 06/10/2024 When you stop to think about the great fathers of classic cinema, Atticus Finch, the mild-mannered Southern lawyer in “To Kill A Mockingbird” (1962), has to be at the top of the list. But who else would be on that list? And what about the horrible...
Jun 10, 2024•42 min•Ep. 39
EPISODE 38 - “Ruth Roman: Star of the Month (June)” - 06/03/2024 RUTH ROMAN was more than a pretty face; she was a survivor! She survived childhood poverty, the fickle nature of Hollywood, the wrath of Alfred Hitchcock, several marriages, and the sinking of the luxury liner Andrea Doria in 1956. Yes, Roman was a warrior. This week, Roman is our Star of the Month for June. Join us as we take a look at her life and her long and fruitful career, where her versatility kept her working for five decad...
Jun 03, 2024•37 min•Ep. 38
EPISODE 37 - “Memorial Day Movies” - 05/27/2024 War is Hell. As our nation prepares to honor the brave men and women who lost their lives defending our freedom on Memorial Day, Steve and Nan offer up a special episode where they will discuss a few war-themed films that have resonated with them over the years. Their choices cover everything from the Civil War to World War II. SHOW NOTES: Sources: 100 Great War Movies: The Real History Behind the Films (2018), by Robert J. Niemi; 101 War Movies Yo...
May 27, 2024•43 min•Ep. 37
EPISODE 36 - “Classic Hollywood Clones: The Remaking of a Movie Star” - 05/20/2024 SHOW NOTES: They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. That may not be the case when it came to the star system of old Hollywood. When an actor like CLARK GABLE or GRETA GARBO or ROCK HUDSON emerged as a star, every studio in town tried to capitalize and create their own version. For every MARILYN MONROE, there’s a dozen CLEO MOOREs. Often studios would groom an actor with similar looks and skills to...
May 20, 2024•41 min•Ep. 36
EPISODE 35 - “The Mystery Behind the Columbia Pictures’ Torch Lady and MGM’s Leo, the Lion” - 05/13/2024 Every major Hollywood studio has its recognizable logo. Paramount has its “mountain of stars,” 20th Century Fox has its roving klieg lights, and RKO has its radio towers. But two of the most famous studio logos have to be MGM’s “Leo, the lion” and Columbia’s regal “torch lady.” In this week’s episode, Steve and Nan dive into the history of these two iconic symbols of Hollywood excellence. Fro...
May 13, 2024•37 min•Ep. 35
