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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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”...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 Mocking Bird” (1962), has to be at the top of the list. But who else would be on that list? And what about the...

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...