Dec 13, 2022
During the 2022 Christmas break, we went over to TCBCast and embarked on an epic four-part, six-hour deep-dive into Elvis Presley's CLAMBAKE (1967). Here's a special preview of Part 1. The rest can be heard on the TCBCast feed (episodes 246A-B, 247A-B). This was a really special experience and if you're into our...
Nov 12, 2022
It's our final episode of 2022 and we're joined by Henry Giardina, Los Angeles-based film critic and co-host of Totally Trans Podcast, who discovered our show by chance while fending off an airport anxiety attack. This week the 1940s draw to a close with ON THE TOWN (1949), the most iconic and memorable of the three...
Nov 1, 2022
What happens when a brand mascot transitions? Cracker Jack - one of the original junk foods, and a brand that has been part of American culture since the late 19th century, most famously in the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - became Cracker Jill earlier in 2022. This week we're watching the awkward middle child of...
Oct 22, 2022
History forgot to record that Sinatra's first acting role was inherited from a sea lion. Both stage & film versions of HIGHER AND HIGHER (1944) were poorly reviewed as a whole but succeeded anyway on the back of raves about a single performer, who, despite being tacked on to the haphazard plot at the last minute, stole...
Oct 18, 2022
This week we're forced to soberly confront our own mortality to the stark strains of a Polish funeral dirge sung in a small-town graveyard. In MIRACLE OF THE BELLS (1948), Sinatra's film career makes a shockingly drastic departure from campy musicals to a dead-serious Catholic melodrama about a man making...