Heilman & Haver - The Stage & Screen Experience

Heilman & Haver - Episode 78 (Guest Matt Stoller)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 78.  We hope you enjoy the show!
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The Hollywood strike has now passed the 100 day mark with no end in sight. Just one week ago, on August 4, Writers Guild of America negotiators met for the very first time in three months with representatives of the major studios to discuss whether contract talks can resume.  According to Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw, they “made zero progress. The two sides are no closer than they were at the start of the strike. They can’t even agree on how to resume negotiations.”
With much of the strike centered on the power imbalance between the major studios and their writers and the consolidation and lack of transparency among the streaming giants, we reached out to an expert on the issues of monopoly and corporate power in America for his take.
Matt Stoller is the Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project.  He is the author of “Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy”, which Business Insider called “one of the year’s best books on how to rethink capitalism and improve the economy.” Stoller is a former policy advisor to the Senate Budget Committee and he also worked for a member of the Financial Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives during the financial crisis. 
Matt's 2012 law review article on the foreclosure crisis, “The Housing Crash and the End of American Citizenship”, predicted the rise of autocratic political forces, and his 2016 Atlantic article, “How the Democrats Killed their Populist Soul”, helped inspire the new anti-monopoly movement. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fast Company, Foreign Policy, the Guardian, Vice, The American Conservative, and the Baffler and Matt writes the monopoly-focused newsletter “BIG” with tens of thousands of subscribers.  You can follow Matt on Twitter at @matthewstoller.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 77 (Guest Sam Wasson)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 77.  We hope you enjoy the show!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Sam Wasson
Joining us for Episode 77 is "one of the great chroniclers of Hollywood lore" according to Janet Maslin of The New York Times, and "a fabulous social historian" and sleuth in the eyes of Hilton Als of The New Yorker.  Sam Wasson is the author of six books on film, including The New York Times bestsellers Fifth Avenue, 5AM: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman; The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood; and Fosse. 
An L.A. native, Sam studied Film at Wesleyan University and at the USC School of Cinematic Arts before publishing his first book, A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards and in addition to his work as an author and publisher, Wasson has written for numerous publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker, and has won three Los Angeles Press Club Journalism Awards. He’s served as a consultant for The National Comedy Center in New York and The Film Society of Lincoln Center, was a Visiting Professor of Film at Wesleyan University and Emerson College and, as a panelist and lecturer has appeared all over the world.
In 2020, Wasson and producer Brandon Millan founded Felix Farmer Press to publish necessary books on the art, business, culture and history of the Hollywood film. His latest book Hollywood: The Oral History - co-authored with renowned film scholar and educator Jeanine Basinger - was released last year and called “Hollywood’s ultimate oral history” by The New Yorker, and “majestic” by The Los Angeles Review of Books.  Wasson’s biography of Francis Ford Coppola’s real-life dream studio, American Zoetrope, The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story, will be published by HarperCollins this December.  You can find Sam online at www.samwasson.com and he joined us from his home in Laurel Canyon.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 76 (Guest Kristen Lopez)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 76.  We hope you enjoy the show!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Kristen Lopez
Kristen Lopez is author of the new book But Have You Read the Book? 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films. In it, Kristen offers an endlessly fascinating look at 52 beloved screen adaptations and the great reads that inspired them. Some films, like Clueless — Amy Heckerling’s interpretation of Jane Austen’s Emma — diverge wildly from the original source material, while others, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, shift the point of view to craft a different experience within the same story.  Kristen explores just what makes these works classics of both the page and screen, and why each made for an exceptional adaptation — whether faithful to the book or exemplifying cinematic creative license.
Kristen is a pop culture essayist, TV editor for IndieWire, and she’s worked as an entertainment journalist for over 15 years, with her articles appearing at Variety, MTV, TCM, and Roger Ebert.  A California native, Kristen was raised in a small suburb near Sacramento and graduated with a Masters in English from California State University, Sacramento.  She is also the creator of the classic film podcast, Ticklish Business.  In her free time, Kristen enjoys reading and finding Old Hollywood connections in her neighborhood.  She joined us from her home in Los Angeles.
Find her writing at TheWrap.com and she’s on Instagram and Twitter at kristenlopez88.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 75 (Guest Chris Lemmon)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 75.  We hope you enjoy the show!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Chris Lemmon
With a career spanning over 40 years, Chris has starred in television series for all major networks, including Knot's Landing, Thunder In Paradise, Studio 59, Brothers Sisters, and most notably Fox's highly acclaimed network-starting situation comedy Duet.  Plus over 25 feature films like Lena's Holiday, Just the Ticket, and That’s Life alongside his father.
Lemmon graduated California Institute of the Arts with degrees in classical piano and composition, as well as degrees in the theatrical arts, and went on to appear in numerous stage productions, including the west-coast tour of Barefoot In The Park, directed by the late Jerry Paris, the original award winning west coast production of Shay by Anne Commire, and the highly successful Love Letters with Stephanie Zimbalast.
He presently resides in New England where he writes and produces feature films and television and his 2006 memoir, A Twist of Lemmon, is a heartfelt tribute to his iconic father. When Jack Lemmon died in 2001, the world lost a two-time Oscar winner and perhaps the most beloved actor of his generation; but Chris Lemmon lost a father and a best friend. In A Twist of Lemmon, Chris shares family tales, intimate father-son conversations, and anecdotes from and about his dad.
Chris then took those stories and memories from the page to the stage, creating his one-man hit show Twist of Lemmon, sharing an intimate look into the experience of growing up in Hollywood, featuring nine of his original piano compositions, a narrative of touching and heartfelt stories, and laugh-out-loud anecdotes from his life and times in the world of Hollywood stardom.  Chris joined from his home in Connecticut.
Watch TWIST OF LEMMON on YouTube.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 74 (Guest Eddie Muller)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 74.  We hope you enjoy the show!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Eddie Muller
“The Czar of Noir” himself, Eddie Muller produces, programs, and hosts a national network of Noir City film festivals, including right here in Seattle, presented under the auspices of the Film Noir Foundation, a nonprofit corporation he founded in 2005 to rescue and restore films from America and abroad.  The Foundation also publishes NOIR CITY magazine, the world’s leading publication on classic and contemporary noir.
Eddie is also the host of TCM’s Noir Alley and the prolific author of crime fiction like The Distance, and is a recipient of the Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America.  His other books include biographies like Tab Hunter Confidential, cinema histories including Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir and the upcoming children’s book Kid Noir: Kitty Feral and the Case of the Marshmallow Monkey.  In his latest book, Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir, Eddie pairs classic cocktails and modern noir-inspired libations with behind-the-scenes anecdotes and insights on film favorites like The Asphalt Jungle, The Big Sleep, and Nightmare Alley.  Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar hits shelves on May 23rd and is available for pre-order now.  Eddie joined us from his home in the Bay Area.
 
COMING UP ON EPISODE 75:
Join us on Friday, May 26th, when we’ll celebrate our 75th episode with special guest Chris Lemmon - author, television and film actor, star of the acclaimed one man show A Twist of Lemmon and, as you might have guessed, son of beloved Oscar-winning actor Jack Lemmon.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 73 (Guest Richard Barrios)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 73.  We hope you enjoy the show!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Richard Barrios
Richard is a writer, lecturer, historian, researcher, and accomplished author of several books, including Must-See Musicals: 50 Show-Stopping Movies We Can't Forget and West Side Story: The Jets, the Sharks, and the Making of a Classic for Turner Classic Movies, Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood from Edison to Stonewall, Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter, and A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film (which was awarded the Theater Library Association Prize).
Richard has lectured extensively, co-hosted the Screened Out series on TCM, appeared in many film and television documentaries in the United States, Great Britain, and Japan, and served as audio commentator for numerous DVD and Blu-Ray releases, including State Fair and South Pacific. 
The publication date for his latest book from Oxford University Press is officially four days away, April 25th, but you can find it now everywhere fine books are sold. On Marilyn Monroe: An Opinionated Guide looks beyond the ballyhoo and legend at Monroe's best-known films, and some that even today remain obscure. Besides her films, it also addresses the work she did on television and the stage, as well as her underrated abilities as a vocalist.  Richard joined us from his home in New Jersey.
 
COMING UP ON EPISODE 74:
Join us May 5th, when we'll welcome Eddie Mueller to the show.  Eddie produces and hosts NOIR CITY: The San Francisco Film Noir Festival, programs numerous other film festivals, curates museums, designs books, and provides commentary for television, radio, and DVDs. He is the author of novels, biographies, movie histories, plays, short stories, and films and joins us to talk about his latest Eddie Muller's Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 72 (Guest Patricia Ward Kelly)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 72.  We hope you enjoy the show!
Please join the conversation - email us with thoughts and ideas and connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and at heilmanandhaver.com.
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Patricia Ward Kelly
Patricia is an accomplished writer, scholar, freelance journalist, and the widow and official biographer of Gene Kelly.  She and Kelly met at the Smithsonian in 1985, when he was the host/narrator for a television special for which she was a writer.  Soon after, he invited her to California to write his memoirs, a job for which she recorded his words nearly every day for over ten years. They were together until his death in 1996.
Currently, Patricia serves as Trustee of The Gene Kelly Image Trust and is the President and Creative Director of The Gene Kelly Legacy, Inc.  She lives in Los Angeles where she is completing a book about her late husband. As part of this work, she is preserving and cataloging The Gene Kelly Archives — an extensive collections of letters, manuscripts, photographs, scripts, interviews, essays, poems, holograph notes, and memorabilia that will eventually be the basis of additional publications and, ultimately, the core of an innovative, virtual Gene Kelly “experience.”
Mrs. Kelly has recorded commentary for the DVDs of An American in Paris, The Pirate, Words and Music, Xanadu, and Hello, Dolly!, and is frequently called upon to introduce Gene’s films in theaters and at festivals, including two years at the TCM Classic Film Festival. She has been interviewed extensively on TCM and has represented her husband’s legacy on numerous PBS specials and pledge drives and on the popular television shows So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars.  She regularly hosts scores of dancers and other artists from around the world at her home, sharing insights about the life and work of her late husband through an intimate tour of The Gene Kelly Archives.
Patricia has appeared in An Evening with Mrs. Gene Kelly in several cities around the world and her one-woman tribute — Gene Kelly: The Legacy, An Evening with Patricia Ward Kelly — sold out two nights at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on the occasion of Kelly’s centenary in 2012 and has been touring across the United States and abroad the past four years, with sold-out performances at Lincoln Center, The Pasadena Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse, the Sedona Film Festival, and many, many more.
In two weeks - Friday, March 17th through Sunday, March 19th - Patricia will be in Seattle to host another one of a kind event, this time at Benaroya Hall - Gene Kelly: A Life in Music.  Gene Kelly dancing on the big screen accompanied live by the Seattle Symphony!  Patricia joined us now from her home Los Angeles.
 
Connect with Patricia and keep up on the latest Gene Kelly news:
On Instagram
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Linkedin

Heilman & Haver - Episode 71 (Guest Kayla Boye)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 71.  We hope you enjoy the show!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Kayla Boye
Photo Credit: Kachi Mozie
Kayla Boye is the writer, producer, and star of the one-woman show Call Me Elizabeth, chronicling the early life of Elizabeth Taylor. Set in May 1961, the play is inspired by Taylor’s conversations with writer Max Lerner as they discuss plans for a biography.  Through a morning session with Lerner at The Beverly Hills Hotel, Taylor rediscovers her sense of self following her 1961 Academy Awards triumph and recovery from a nearly fatal battle with pneumonia. The play examines Taylor’s career, life, and loves, chronicling her survival in the face of adversity and tragedy, and illuminating the core compassion of her character that inspired her later activism in the fight against HIV/AIDS. 
Kayla is a Chicago-based artist whose credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Drury Lane Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Mercury Theater Chicago, Music Theater Works, BrightSide Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Fireside Theatre, Capital City Theatre, Bigfork Summer Playhouse, and The Huron Playhouse. As an arts administrator, she has worked in development, marketing, and finance for Goodman Theatre and Writers Theatre, and she has served as a producer for Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Garage Rep series. 
As a consultant for the Artistic Fundraising Group, her portfolio included work for Arts of Life, BrightSide Theatre, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Chicago Mosaic School, Oak Park Festival Theatre, and Snow City Arts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as Executive Director of The Youngstown Playhouse and she holds a BA in Professional Writing & Editing from Youngstown State University.
Kayla is also a Certified Nonprofit Professional through the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance.  You can find out more about her work at kaylaboye.com and about the show at callmeelizabeth.com.  Kayla joined us from Old Town Pasadena.
 
COMING UP NEXT EPISODE: Patricia Ward Kelly
Make plans to join us again in two weeks, Friday March 3rd, when we’ll welcome to the show Patricia Ward Kelly, widow and official biographer of the truly marvelous Gene Kelly.  Patricia will be in Seattle March 17-19th to host a one of a kind event at the Seattle Symphony, Gene Kelly: A Life in Music.  Get your tickets now at seattlesyphony.org and don’t miss Ep 72 on Friday, Mar 3rd.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 70 (Guest Robert Bader - Part II)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 70.  We hope you enjoy the show!
Please join the conversation - email us with thoughts and ideas and connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and at heilmanandhaver.com!
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Robert Bader
Robert Bader is an author, archive curator, and the writer, director, and producer of many things, including PBS’s upcoming episode of American Masters: Groucho & Cavett, debuting for all you Seattle folks at 8pm, Tuesday, December 27th, on KCTS9.  Tune in and discover the enduring friendship between television personality Dick Cavett and his mentor, iconic comedian Groucho Marx. Their relationship is chronicled through interviews with Cavett, archival footage, and interviews with contemporaries like George Burns, Jack Paar and Woody Allen.
In 2018, Robert produced and directed another story of friendship, Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes which won the Critics Choice Award in 2020, the same year it debuted on HBO.  Robert co-wrote the film with Cavett, chronicling Muhammad Ali’s life and career through the lens of his many interviews with Cavett and the documentary is available to stream on HBO Max and on DVD. He has also produced critically acclaimed television documentaries Dick Cavett’s Watergate and Dick Cavett’s Vietnam for PBS, produced numerous archival DVD and CD releases, including five acclaimed DVD sets of The Dick Cavett Show, two of You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx and two of Bing Crosby: The Television Specials.   
Robert manages the archive of The Dick Cavett Show and is the curator of several important entertainment archives, including those of the estates of Bing Crosby, the Marx Brothers, and Danny Kaye. He also serves on the Board of Directors for The Al Hirschfeld Foundation and Marx Brothers Incorporated, and has helmed countless projects, shows, films, radio and CD releases, including the launch of the Film Preservation Society’s silent film restoration series on Blu-ray with the 1925 film Too Many Kisses, which features Harpo Marx.  Robert is also the author of Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage now available in paperback, and the editor of Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales, an anthology of the comedian’s lost writings.
Robert’s most recent book is entitled Speaking of Harpo, co-authored with the late Susan Fleming Marx, Harpo’s widow.  Susan appeared in three Broadway shows and twenty-eight films before she turned her back on a show business career she never really enjoyed or wanted. The role of her lifetime came when she married Harpo Marx in 1936. Together, they raised four adopted children and enjoyed one of Hollywood's happiest and most successful unions. But their twenty-year age difference made Susan a young widow in 1964.  
Speaking of Harpo is Susan's account of her more than thirty-year adventure with Harpo including encounters with people like Charlie Chaplin, William Randolph Hearst, Salvador Dalí, Joan Crawford, Howard Hughes, Helen Keller, Bugsy Siegel, Sam Goldwyn, Ginger Rogers, and of course, the Marx Brothers. The book provides an inside look at the family and pulls no punches when discussing her brothers-in-law, who weren't always her favorite comedians.  
The book was released in July 2022 and would make an excellent gift for that Marx Brother’s fan or golden age film buff on your list. You can pick up a copy at www.speakingofharpo.com and we hope you enjoy the second half of our interview with Robert Bader.

Heilman & Haver - Episode 69 (Guest Robert Bader - Part I)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 69.  We hope you enjoy the show!
Please join the conversation - email us with thoughts and ideas and connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and at heilmanandhaver.com!
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Robert Bader
Robert Bader is an author, archive curator, and the writer, director, and producer of many things, including PBS’s upcoming episode of American Masters: Groucho & Cavett, debuting for all you Seattle folks at 8pm, Tuesday, December 27th, on KCTS9.  Tune in and discover the enduring friendship between television personality Dick Cavett and his mentor, iconic comedian Groucho Marx. Their relationship is chronicled through interviews with Cavett, archival footage, and interviews with contemporaries like George Burns, Jack Paar and Woody Allen.
In 2018, Robert produced and directed another story of friendship, Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes which won the Critics Choice Award in 2020, the same year it debuted on HBO.  Robert co-wrote the film with Cavett, chronicling Muhammad Ali’s life and career through the lens of his many interviews with Cavett and the documentary is available to stream on HBO Max and on DVD. He has also produced critically acclaimed television documentaries Dick Cavett’s Watergate and Dick Cavett’s Vietnam for PBS, produced numerous archival DVD and CD releases, including five acclaimed DVD sets of The Dick Cavett Show, two of You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx and two of Bing Crosby: The Television Specials.   
Robert manages the archive of The Dick Cavett Show and is the curator of several important entertainment archives, including those of the estates of Bing Crosby, the Marx Brothers, and Danny Kaye. He also serves on the Board of Directors for The Al Hirschfeld Foundation and Marx Brothers Incorporated, and has helmed countless projects, shows, films, radio and CD releases, including the launch of the Film Preservation Society’s silent film restoration series on Blu-ray with the 1925 film Too Many Kisses, which features Harpo Marx.  Robert is also the author of Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage now available in paperback, and the editor of Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales, an anthology of the comedian’s lost writings. His new book Speaking of Harpo, co-authored with the late Susan Fleming Marx, Harpo’s widow, was released in July and is available now everywhere fine books are sold.
He joined us from his home in Los Angeles.
 
COMING UP NEXT WEEK
Friday, December 16th, Rovert will be back to chat about his new book, Speaking of Harpo, co-authored with the late Susan Fleming Marx, Harpo’s widow.