In this fraught time, when truth and reality are warped beyond recognition, we could all use someone to talk to. WNYC's Sara Fishko has more in this Fishko Files. (Produced in 2002) The Criterion Channel serves up a bevy of films about therapists and patients this month in their series Frame of Mind: Psychiatry on Screen.

In our unsettled moment, people will find ways to mark an unusual Halloween this weekend. It's a time when music - scary music - comes to mind, as WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us in this episode of Fishko Files. Psycho is streaming on Amazon Prime, and Rosemary's Baby airs on Showtime on Monday, November 2. Get Out is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime.

Composer Ned Rorem turns 97 today. In this hour from the archives, Rorem and Fishko share a long, winding conversation illustrated with plenty of his music, as well as some by those he admires - and those he doesn't. (Produced in 2002) For a feast of Fishko programs on music and culture, visit Fishko Hours.

Two dramas start streaming today, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and What the Constitution Means to Me. Looking at both, WNYC's Sara Fishko finds connections and commonality, in this episode of Fishko Files. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix) and What the Constitution Means to Me (Amazon Prime) are now streaming.

Thelonious Monk was born October 10, 1917. WNYC's Sara Fishko looks at Monk, Glenn Gould, and Vincent van Gogh - and how their brilliant gifts mixed with their personal myths and mysteries. (Produced in 2017)

This week marks 65 years since the death of James Dean, film's "first American teenager." WNYC's Sara Fishko digs up the roots of the teen in movies in this archival Fishko Files. (Produced in 2005)

In this time of empty concert halls and virtual performances, WNYC's Sara Fishko is turning her attention to music with an audience, in this episode of Fishko Files.

Sometimes artists, seeking inspiration, find it in the very thing that challenges and haunts them most. Here, WNYC’s Sara Fishko talks with visual artist Frank Stella about some very productive pain. (Produced in 2011)

A few years ago, a rash of books written by arts and entertainment critics inspired WNYC's Sara Fishko to talk to some of the critics/authors about the critical impulse. (Produced in 2006)

The Woody Guthrie archive is filled with riches, including some related to "This Land is Your Land," written 80 years ago. WNYC's Sara Fishko visited Woody's daughter, Nora, for a journey through a bit of Guthrie history in this archival Fishko Files, produced for his centenary in 2012.

In the run-up to the election, we’re all listening to speeches - and many of them are grappling with the very idea of America: what do we want America to be? This episode of Fishko Files goes back to the World War II era, when, as WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, Hollywood movies were asking the same question - or rather, answering it. Jeanine Basinger's The World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre, David Welky's The Moguls and the Dictators, and Thomas Doherty's Projections of War are...

After nearly 70 years on newsstands, Playboy Magazine has ended its print run. In this archival episode produced for The United States of Anxiety, WNYC's Sara Fishko tells the story of Hugh Hefner, whose notion of the "Indoor Man" made Playboy a midcentury staple.  The United States of Anxiety is coming to radio this Sunday, August 23 at 6pm, airing weekly on WNYC 93.9 FM and AM 820.

The artist David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) was recently honored with a quilt created by friends and admirers in his memory. Wojnarowicz, who made art that captured his own decline during the AIDS crisis, was the subject of a Whitney Museum show that inspired this Fishko Files. (Produced in 2018).  Cynthia Carr's book Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz is available on Amazon.

Pianist and singer Hazel Scott was born in Trinidad a century ago, in the summer of 1920. Scott is well-remembered for her sparkling piano technique, as well as her style - but her biography reveals a powerful character with a rich and layered life behind the glamour. More in this archival Fishko Files. (Produced in 2009)

The death of actress and star Olivia de Havilland a few days ago has stirred many memories and considerations. WNYC's Sara Fishko chimes in for this episode of Fishko Files. William Wyler's The Heiress (1949) airs on TCM next month and is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Criterion and Amazon. From the New Yorker: a consideration of the "last lioness of the Hollywood Studio System," by Rachel Syme.

Annie Ross, the singer and actress who died this week at 89, was one-third of the phenomenally successful jazz vocal group Lambert Hendricks and Ross. Its heady days of success, as well as Ross herself, were recalled by the late Jon Hendricks - who spoke with WNYC's Sara Fishko in this archival edition of Fishko Files. (Produced in 2011)

A cultural movement of Black writers and artists was flourishing a century ago in uptown New York, and it’s being remembered now with various virtual events. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us in this episode of Fishko Files, the Harlem Renaissance movement was rich with ideas. Emily Bernard is a professor at the University of Vermont and the editor of Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten. Harlem Renaissance 100 continues with its second, virtual phase....

Composer and arranger Johnny Mandel died last Monday at the age of 94. In the sixty years prior, he gave us standards such as “Emily” and “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and ushered in an era of jazz-inflected movies with his 1958 score for the film “I Want to Live.” WNYC’s Sara Fishko spoke to him about that period in this archival Fishko Files, produced in 2008.

This archival Fishko Files was produced in 2006 - the year musician and manager John Levy was given the prestigious title of "Jazz Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts. His profound impact on music could be seen in many forms, and for many decades. Levy died in January 2012, just three months shy of his 100th birthday.

A documentary film about the late, infamous lawyer Roy Cohn premieres tonight. As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, the variety of films and dramatic portrayals of Cohn reveal a figure both fascinating and repellent. More in this episode of Fishko Files. Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn premieres tonight at 9pm on HBO. Where's My Roy Cohn?, Point of Order, Citizen Cohn, and the HBO miniseries Angels in America are available to stream or buy online.

The Depression-era novel Miss Lonelyhearts, by Nathanael West, has been called "the purest expression of despair that American literature has produced, in any era." As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us in this Fishko Files, 80 years after the author's death the book - about the descent into darkness of an advice columnist - still rings true. Miss Lonelyhearts is available to order online. Jonathan Lethem's upcoming novel, The Arrest, will be published this November. You can find more Lethem on...

After the opening of the September 11th Memorial and Museum, record-breaking crowds traveled to Ground Zero, to the exact spot where the tragedy happened. In this archival edition of Fishko Files, WNYC's Sara Fishko asks - why?

New York-born master filmmaker Alan Pakula produced To Kill a Mockingbird and directed Sophie's Choice, but, as WNYC's Sara Fishko and guests tell us, he's also known for a trio of dark and urgent thrillers which are not getting old - they're getting new. (Produced in 2018)

In the 1940s, author James Agee's film criticism revealed his unusually artful take on Hollywood movies. 65 years after his death, WNYC's Sara Fishko and guests explore Agee's lifelong passion for cinema. (Produced in 2005)

In this crisis, we're all looking at things a little differently, including movies both new and old. Are we losing ourselves in culture, or are we finding ourselves? A little of both, says WNYC's Sara Fishko, in this episode of Fishko Files. The Best Years of Our Lives, Rear Window, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Follow the Fleet are all streaming now on Amazon.