SUDDENLY: a Frank Sinatra podcast

SUDDENLY... exploring the 20th century from a trans, queer & radical Australian perspective through the legacy of Frank Sinatra. Catgirl noir, ring a ding ding, etc. Join us as we deep dive into Sinatra's work and the nuances of history in abstract & creative ways, with episodes structured around Sinatra's albums, songs, films and radio appearances. Hosted by Rabia & Felix in Melbourne, and Henry Giardina in Los Angeles. Check out our website: suddenlypod.gay. Contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com. I dig you the most xx

SUDDENLY will return in 2025 09/12/2024

54: The Man with the Golden Arm (with Spike Vincent) 08/22/2024

54: The Man with the Golden Arm (with Spike Vincent) Melbourne's Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) in North Richmond opened in 2018. This was the result of a years-long grassroots campaign led by the local community, fed up with constant overdoses in the streets. The MSIR operates on principles of harm reduction which simply work and urgently need to be applied throughout the world. The stigma around drug use, and the criminalising of drug users, must end - and that begins with us. In 1955, Frank Sinatra made a historically significant contribution to the destigmatisation of drug use on film in Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm. In a depiction that is in many ways still radical today, Sinatra's character of Frankie Machine is a regular person who is trying his best to shake off a heroin addiction but is simply failed by a society that does not have the means to support him. A compelling and empathetic performance by Sinatra, and subject matter which openly defied the Production Code of its era, made this a memorable classic for many and contributed to a better world. This week on SUDDENLY, friend of the show Spike Vincent joins us to watch The Man With the Golden Arm, sharing his thoughts and personal experiences. Meanwhile, Rabia has been reading up on the MSIR and reports back on the experience of touring the facility to see what goes on first-hand. As a thematic wild card, we also watched an Australian DVD of the film called A Night at the Cinema with extra footage intended to replicate the experience of seeing this film in 1955 in a cinema in specifically Castlemaine, Victoria - including "God Save the Queen", a newsreel, cartoon, local ads etc - which leads us to compelling footage of the 1955 Maitland floods. Plus, an update on Bobby Long. Sources for this episode: * (1955) (watch in full - public domain) * Jack Pearl - (novelisation) (1964) * Lou Reed interview, "", The Canberra Times, 4 October 1987 * (2023) podcast * Judy Ryan - (2022) * Link to of the MSIR (Melbourne Supervised Injecting Room) * Photo of the in North Richmond * at St Vincents Hospital in Sydney * (1965) Newsreel including Maitland flood footage * Katie Carr, "", The Nora Project, 7 October 2022. * Detective Pikachu (2019) * - official advice from Australian Government * Brian Jeffery, "", The Canberra Times, 13 March 1982 contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod /episode/index/show/fb9dac40-36bb-48b3-8844-249461fc107c/id/32619627

53: Wake Up and Live, Part 5 - Giardina on Winchell 08/17/2024

BONUS: The "Is Elvis Alive?" Conspiracy Theory + "The Elvis Files" (1991) (with Justin Gausman) 07/31/2024

52: Wake Up and Live, Part 4 - The Secret 07/06/2024

51: Wake Up and Live, Part 3 - Dancing in the Dark 06/05/2024

50: Wake Up and Live, Part 2 - Machine Men 05/16/2024

49: Wake Up and Live, Part 1 - Mic Fright 05/09/2024

48: Post Time 05/01/2024

47: The Joker is Wild 04/25/2024

Authorized x SUDDENLY - Robin and the 7 Hoods 03/26/2024

46: Why "Our Town" Matters 03/03/2024

45: Suspense 02/26/2024

44: In the Wee Small Hours 02/17/2024

43: Love and Marriage 02/08/2024

42: The Tender Trap 01/27/2024

41: Sinatra Was Wrong About Israel 11/30/2023

40: Church on Fire (with David Nichols) 10/16/2023

39: The Big Show 09/08/2023

39: The Big Show Frank Sinatra's first Australian visit in 1955 followed shortly after the repeal of decades-old laws preventing "coloured" musicians, or any foreign musicians, from performing in the country. The tour was part of the initial run of the now-legendary "Big Shows" put on by mysterious American promoter Lee Gordon, who took advantage of the newly-liberated times to bring acts like Ella Fitzgerald, Johnnie Ray, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong to Australia for the first time. But how did we end up with such racist, bizarre laws in the first place? To understand that, we need to go back to the 1928 Australian tour of an African-American jazz band called Sonny Clay's Coloured Idea, and unravel the elaborate conspiracy that faced them when they arrived. This week, we're examining Sinatra's 1955 Australian tour by putting it in its proper historical context - with a cliffhanger ending you won't see coming. Selected media discussed this week, with links: AI Frank Sinatra cover of the theme from "" AI Eric Cartman cover of Evanescence's "" Deirdre O'Connell's book, , published in 2021 by Macquarie University Press - a key source for this episode, and a highly recommended read. Two iconic photos of Sonny Clay's Coloured Idea arriving in Sydney at Circular Quay, 1928. Viewable through the State Library of New South Wales website. , . Photo of , taken in 2017, via Wikimedia Commons. Photo of in a Melbourne op shop, 2023. Illustration by Jim Russell from 1935 edition of Australian Music Maker and Dance Band News. Sourced from Harlem Nights, available to view via Google Books. Kay Dreyfus' book, , published 2013 by Monash University Publishing. Photo: [Photo by Bullard for The Sun, ID: FXB266504] - pictured: Private Eli Walker and Kathleen Cavanagh. Sourced from Murders Most Foul: Sydney True Crime History Tours website. Ella Fitzgerald - "" Live at Bushnell Memorial Hall, 1954. Johnnie Ray - Filmed in Stockholm, Sweden, 1958, including "Such a Night" and "Up Above My Head." Louis Armstrong - Full live recordings available on Soundcloud, including "Back Home in Indiana" as featured in this episode. Australian newsreel, 1955 - , documenting Sinatra's arrival at Mascot airport in Sydney. Frank Sinatra - Recorded on January 19th, 1955 at West Melbourne Stadium. Full concert audio available on YouTube. Footage of while listening to the above. "" - Variant of the 30-second film reels that played after movies in Australian cinemas, 1950s and 1960s. about the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway in South Canterbury, New Zealand, where the cinema still plays "God Save the Queen" before movies as of 2022, even after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ /episode/index/show/fb9dac40-36bb-48b3-8844-249461fc107c/id/27907932

38: Dream Empire (with Karina Longworth) 09/01/2023

37: BONUS - More Guys, More Dolls 08/20/2023

36: Dolls 08/13/2023

35: and 08/07/2023

34: Guys 08/01/2023

33: Love Like Surgery 07/14/2023

32: Three Coins Reloaded (with Justin Gausman) 07/01/2023

32: Three Coins Reloaded (with Justin Gausman) That's amore. Non paghiamo il fossile. And just like that... Boom, kiss, come on, God bless America. In 1966, a pilot for a potential Three Coins in the Fountain TV series was filmed on location in Rome. It only aired on TV once in August 1970, was not picked up thereafter and has never been made available ever since. Probably very few people have ever seen it at all. This week, we've unearthed it - and since it's turned out to be in the public domain, you can now with English subtitles on the new SUDDENLY YouTube channel. In what somehow turns out to be our longest episode to date, Justin Gausman of TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast joins us to examine "Caesar's Ghost", the first and only episode of the rejected Three Coins series. Is this the best manifestation of the franchise? Could it have been the Sex and the City of the 1960s if someone gave it a chance? We say yes - and it also turns out that this very obscure piece of lost media has significant overlap with the Elvis movie universe. That's right; because three-and-a-half hours wasn't enough, we're talking about Three Coins in the Fountain once again. We're back to talk about this obscure pilot, and also as a mark of respect to Ultima Generazione (Last Generation), the climate activists who turned the Trevi water black just weeks ago. During our record, we fire up the Trevi Fountain webcam once again and witness street sweepers, selfie-takers and a very special surprise that you'll love. Also, stay tuned after the closing theme for a bonus 45-minute discussion with Rabia & Justin about the future of AI in music, recorded spontaneously at 8am due to a timezone mix-up. Watch Three Coins in the Fountain ("Caesar's Ghost") on the SUDDENLY YouTube channel Tune into the Trevi Fountain webcam live as you listen Justin is the co-host of the highly recommended show, . You can also join to watch the "Blue Suede Reviews", and check out his appearance on the YouTube show EAP Society Also, check out our new official website! CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM WEBSITE: @SUDDENLYPOD on / / / Donate to the show @ /episode/index/show/fb9dac40-36bb-48b3-8844-249461fc107c/id/27341313

31: Transcribed 06/22/2023

31: Transcribed The word "homosexual" was first uttered on American television on the night of October 21st, 1963. The show was Breaking Point, a drama series set in a psychiatric hospital. The episode was a confronting take on sexual harassment and toxic masculinity that directly posed the question to its audience: "What is a man?" Despite network objection, this milestone in queer history happened solely because of the determination of the show's producer: George Lefferts. This show was just one of many socially conscious, thoughtful and progressive projects from Lefferts, a man whose long life was defined by his writing and his deep empathy for others. In 1960, he spent hundreds of hours interviewing everyday women about their problems for a groundbreaking show called Special for Women. But it was in radio that he'd really cut his teeth in the early days, working on dramatised science fiction shows like Dimension X and X Minus One in the 1950s. In 1953, he worked with Frank Sinatra on a noir drama series for NBC Radio, Rocky Fortune. Together, they came up with a wacky noir premise for which almost every episode followed the same formula: Rocky is unemployed. Rocky gets a new job. It all goes wrong for him in some way, and he ends up implicated in a murder. Rocky talks his way out of it and catches the killer. Rocky ends up unemployed again. The show was not a hit at the time, and decades of Sinatra biographers have dedicated one or two pithy sentences to it at most. Today, with every episode widely available online in the public domain, Rocky Fortune sounds different. This week on SUDDENLY, we listen to two full episodes of the show plus one of To Be Perfectly Frank, Sinatra's other NBC show from the same period that saw him in the role of DJ. Looking at the work of Lefferts, Ernest Kinoy and Norm Sickel, we attempt to put Rocky Fortune in his proper context - and reclaim him as a hero for the marginalised, for women, and for the unemployed. Selected works of George Lefferts: * Dimension X: "The Professor Was a Thief" (1950) Radio episode, adapted from a story by L. Ron Hubbard. Available on , , . * Rocky Fortune (1953-54) Complete radio series available on , , . * X Minus One: "The Defenders" (1956) Radio episode, adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick. Available on , . * World Wide '60: "The Living End" (1960) TV film about senior citizens, cast with nursing home residents. Lost or unavailable. * Special for Women (1961) TV series, either unavailable or lost. Book of original scripts available to . One episode, "The Lonely Woman", is available in Washington DC. * Breaking Point: "The Bull Roarer" (1962) First use of the word "homosexual" on TV. Watch the full episode . * Teacher, Teacher (1969) TV movie about an underqualified and ill-tempered teacher taking on the education of a disabled child. Watch * Family Album, U.S.A. (1991) Sitcom designed for English learners. Complete video series Norm Sickel was a writer active in 1950s American radio. He wrote banter for Sinatra's 15-minute DJ series, To Be Perfectly Frank. Later, he wrote for Rocky Fortune, apparently at Sinatra's request. His episodes were among the most dramatic and socially conscious of the series. They differed in tone considerably from the comedic noir that Rocky Fortune became most known for. Later, his poems inspired the 1956 instrumental album Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color. Little else seems to be publicly known about Sickel. If you have any more information on what else he might have done creatively or where he ended up, we'd be interested in hearing from you. Join the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union (AUWU) at , or follow them . AUWU member Jeremy Poxon is also to keep up with the latest around Australia's corrupt and cruel welfare regime. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / / / Donate to the show @ /episode/index/show/fb9dac40-36bb-48b3-8844-249461fc107c/id/27193236

30: Lost and Found - Bobby Long and the World of Soundies (with Mark Cantor) 06/10/2023

30: Lost and Found - Bobby Long and the World of Soundies (with Mark Cantor) We found out what happened to Bobby Long. Mostly. And on this episode we're joined by Mark Cantor, America's leading jazz film archivist. Mark is an expert in "Soundies", the early music videos/short films that played on Panoram video jukeboxes in bars, cafes and other public places across America throughout the 1940s. Yes, they had video jukeboxes, and music videos, as far back as the 1940s. We've crossed paths with Mark because he's uncovered an obscure Soundie titled Club Lollypop that stars Bobby Long, the legendary child star and tap dancer who dropped out of public life after his appearance with Sinatra in 1947's It Happened in Brooklyn. (See Episode 13 for more on this.) This week, we have a fascinating chat with Mark about his friendships with Mel Torme and Bill Miller, his incredible collection of rare jazz footage and his lifelong appreciation for Sinatra. We learn all about Soundies - and then, finally, you all get to find out what happened to Bobby Long. Mostly. Soundies featured in this episode: * Count Basie Orchestra with Jimmy Rushing - "" * Nat King Cole - "" * Gene Krupa and his Orchestra with Roy Eldrige and Anita O'Day - "" * Toni Lane - "" * The Four Ginger Snaps - "" * Barry Wood - "" * Arica Wilde - "You Never Know" * The Three Heat Waves - "" * Robert 'Tex' Allen - "" * Bobby Long, Marlene Cameron, Baby Barbara & others - "" Other clips: * Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong - "" (from The Frank Sinatra Show, December 31st, 1952) * Duke Ellington - "" (from Reveille with Beverly) Mark Cantor's book, , is out now. To learn more about Soundies and watch a huge collection of them, check out Mark's website, , and join his Facebook group. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @ ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF BOBBY LONG Bobby Long (March 27th, 1932 - October 31st, 2005) (born Bobby Earl Logsdon, also known as Bob Logsdon) was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Hubert Earl and Lola Mae Logsdon. He began tapdancing at the age of six, and by age ten was performing professionally on the vaudeville circuit. He toured the country throughout his teenage years, including gigs at the Majestic Theatre in Paterson, NJ and Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ, working alongside some of the biggest names in the country. In 1942, he was featured in a Soundie named Club Lollypop, dancing alongside a young girl named Marlene Cameron who he had also worked with during his stage performances. He may have also appeared in other short films of this period. By 1946, he had moved to Santa Monica, CA. His big break came in the form of a starring role singing and tapdancing to "I Believe" alongside Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante in the 1947 MGM musical, It Happened in Brooklyn. He continued touring for several more months. Then, for unknown reasons, he seems to have quit showbiz and public life entirely. At some stage, he may have moved to New York and then back to California again. In 1951, at the age of 19, he enlisted in the United States Navy, most likely after being drafted. He served in the Korean War aboard the USS Philippine Sea as an aerographer's mate third class until 1955. He then led a quiet and private life for the remainder of the 20th century. He married once in 1960 and divorced in 1971. When That's Entertainment, Part 2 was released in 1976, he was miscredited in the "I Believe" segment as "Billy Roy." (This is the name of a different child star from It Happened in Brooklyn.) Decades went by and despite ever-increasing interest in Sinatra, Old Hollywood and the MGM story, the story of Bobby Long was apparently never investigated. Logsdon seems to have done no interviews and did not speak publicly about his tapdancing career. He lived around the Orange County area and worked in technical fields, including computer-assisted design, during at least the 1980s. He married again in the early 1980s and stayed in that relationship until his death on October 31st, 2005. In the late 2010s, interest grew in Bobby Long through comment sections on YouTube and other websites. Numerous people expressed awe at his prodigious ability, an interest in what might have happened to him, and surprise at his seeming to disappear from public life. In 2022-23, this was investigated by this podcast. It was determined where he ended up and that he seems to have led a quiet life by design, and so the case is now closed. /episode/index/show/fb9dac40-36bb-48b3-8844-249461fc107c/id/27098067

29: Not By Ranting, Nor By Chanting 05/22/2023

28: Glamour 05/07/2023

SUDDENLY: a Frank Sinatra podcast

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