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In this episode, I spoke with author Mayukh Sen about his book "Love Queenie: Merlie Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star". A beautiful reclamation of a pioneering South Asian actress captures her glittering, complicated life and lasting impact on Hollywood.

In this episode, I spoke with author Joseph Hulihan about his book "Vietnam on the Big Screen: How the Vietnam War Changed Hollywood". America, it is said, deals with its trauma through the medium of Hollywood, and few experiences have been more traumatic than its involvement in the Vietnam War. As the last US helicopters fled the American Embassy compound during the fall of Saigon, they left behind a country devastated by twenty years of death and destruction.

In this episode, I spoke with author Robert Guffey about his Book "Hollywood Haunts the World".  In Hollywood Haunts the World: An Investigation into the Cinema of Occulted Taboos, Robert Guffey deconstructs the most powerful taboos of the twentieth century (and the initial decades of the twenty-first century) by analyzing how disturbing and transgressive ideas involving Theosophy, Gnosticism, Freemasonry, Darwinian Evolution, Surrealism, Freudian and Jungian psychology, race relations, paranoia, UFOs, xenophobia, political conspiracies, the JFK assassination, virtual reality, and alternate dimensions have been reflected in films―both American and foreign―throughout the past one hundred years.

In this episode, I spoke with author Carl Rollyson about his book "Marilyn Monroe Day by Day: A Timeline of People, Places and Events." From hefty biographies and fact-based novels to photograph collections and memoirs, more books have been written about Marilyn Monroe than any other female over the past century

In this episode, I spoke with author Matt Browning about his latest book "Gilmore Girls: Pop Culture Reference Guide". Finally understand every single pop culture joke, obscure reference, and witty one-liner that makes Gilmore Girls one of the most reference-packed shows in television history.

IN this episode I spoke with author Kathleen Brady to discuss one of her favorite Lucille Ball films Stage Door. A boardinghouse for female theater actresses gets a new arrival in the form of Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn), an upper-class woman pursuing her dreams against her wealthy father's wishes. At first, her status makes her unpopular with the other boarders, particularly her roommate, Jean (Ginger Rogers). As Terry becomes better acquainted with the other girls and their shared ambitions, rivalry -- both professional and romantic -- explodes among them

In this episode Robert Ray comes on to discuss Ben-Hur (1959) in 4K for the Easter season.

In this episode I spoke with author Rachel Walther about her book "Born To Lose: The Misfits Who Made Dog Day Afternoon". This is the plot of Dog Day Afternoon, the 1975 film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino, John Cazale, and Chris Sarandon. It remains a high-water mark of New Hollywood, where the best acting talent of the day came together on a film that was truly exceptional.

In this episode I spoke with author Karen M. Spence about her recent book "The Companion Guide to The Godfather Trilogy: Betrayal, Loyalty, and Family". The Companion Guide to The Godfather Trilogy: Betrayal, Loyalty, and Family offers a fresh perspective, going beyond the surface to uncover the real-life context and historical inspirations behind the story.

James Lott Jr is the guest host. In the golden age of Hollwyood, Actors could not be openly NOT straight. But onscreen, different ways to let that out happened!

Guest host James Lott Jr does something a little contraversial and goes to the newest technology that is spreadung thruout the world, Chat GPT, and asks it: What Is Forgotten Hollywood?

Guest Host James Lott Jr talks about some Oscar winners from the 1970s that may have been forgotten. Congrats to all the latest winners of 2025! 

In this episode I spoke with author Kathleen Brady about the 75th Anniversary of I Love Lucy.  The 75th anniversary of I Love Lucy is October 15, 2026. The iconic sitcom, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, originally premiered on CBS on October 15, 1951. Doug Hess is the host and producer! 

In this episode, I spoke with author Chris Enss about her latest book "Daughters of Daring: Hollywood Cowgirl Stunt Women". Discover the untold stories of the bold women who rode harder, roped faster, and stole the spotlight in early Hollywood. Since the famous “first” western movie, The Great Train Robbery, starring Broncho Billy Anderson, made its debut in 1903, cowboy heroes have continued their easily won dominance—but little has been written about the cowgirl stars and their fans.

In this episode I spoke with authors Kathy Fuller and Frank Thompson regarding their book "The First Movie Studio in Texas: Gaston Melies's Star Film Ranch".  In 1910, the Méliès Star Film Company of Manhattan set up a moving-picture studio outside San Antonio, the first in Texas. Determined to make the most authentic Westerns possible, the company filmed there for a little over a year. In that brief time, it created more than seventy single-reel films, leaving a lasting mark on moviemaking.