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
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49: Wake Up and Live, Part 1 - Mic Fright
05/09/2024
49: Wake Up and Live, Part 1 - Mic Fright
This week we begin a three-part investigation into Wake Up and Live. What is it? Good question. It's a 1930s self-help book, a musical in which a real-life journalist/radio host plays himself, and later, a radio drama adapted from the film. All these things interrelate in a way that's confusing to make sense of in 2024. Just beneath the surface of Wake Up and Live lies an elaborate and shocking story we'll fully detail over the next three weeks. Sinatra won't enter the story until Part 3. What the hell is all of this? You're about to find out. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: donate:
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48: Post Time
05/01/2024
48: Post Time
***SPOILERS AHEAD - LISTEN TO EPISODE 47 FIRST*** It is now post time. Selected resources and links mentioned this week: * Follow on Instagram * video essay by Johnny Law & Order * TCBCast After Dark, Rabia's new side project with Justin Gausman, which you can hear by subscribing to the . * Art Cohn - The Joker is Wild (1955) * Chris Heath - Feel: Robbie Williams (2004) * Joe E. Lewis - "" (1948) * Joe E. Lewis - (1961) * Son of the Mask (2005) * Heckler (Jamie Kennedy, 2006) * * Episode of What's My Line with Joe E. Lewis, website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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47: The Joker is Wild
04/25/2024
47: The Joker is Wild
What if someone slashed Sinatra's vocal cords at the height of his powers? Would he still be able to cut it in showbiz off his charm alone? Could he get into comedy instead of music? More importantly, what would be left of the man without his act? Of all the fictional characters Sinatra portrayed in his early years of dramatic film roles, "Joe E. Lewis" was among the most iconic. This week, we're watching 1957's The Joker is Wild, in which the Lewis persona was presented over an timeline spanning more than 30 years from the early days of vaudeville to the post-war period - with all of this as a backdrop on which to project Sinatra's deepest anxieties and sorrows. This episode features a cover of Bob Dylan's "Jokerman" by John Cruz. website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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Authorized x SUDDENLY - Robin and the 7 Hoods
03/26/2024
Authorized x SUDDENLY - Robin and the 7 Hoods
We went on Authorized Novelizations Podcast to talk about Jack Pearl's 1964 novelisation of Sinatra's Robin and the Seven Hoods. This episode was recorded around six months ago and just released by Authorized this week. They've graciously given us permission to repost it on our feed. If you like what we do on SUDDENLY, you'll definitely have a good time with this epic two-and-a-half-hour deep dive into not just a lesser-known Sinatra film project, but the 60-year-out-of-print trashy novelisation of same. We delve into the bizarre circumstances surrounding the making of the film, and examine the psyche of pulp author Jack Pearl who added original strange details and incredibly violent, misogynistic content to the book. One surprise twist follows another. We're in good hands with the Authorized gang being experts in the maligned genre of film-to-book adaptations, having read Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Cowboys and Aliens and the Cheetah Girls trilogy amongst many others. Authorized is one of our favourite shows and we really recommend you check them out. Despite the cultural divide that comes with different regional spellings of "novelisation/novelization" and "authorised/authorized", everyone had a great time! Regular SUDDENLY programming will resume in April. AUTHORIZED: instagram, twitter - @authorizedpod patreon - patreon.com/authorizedpod SUDDENLY: website - suddenlypod.gay contact - suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate - ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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46: Why "Our Town" Matters
03/03/2024
46: Why "Our Town" Matters
In Episode 43 ("Love and Marriage"), Rabia and Felix watched the infamous televised 1955 musical version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, starring Frank Sinatra as the Stage Manager. The songs were so terrible, and the acting so bad, that Wilder personally called the station and ensured that it would never air ever again. Neither Rabia nor Felix had ever seen the play before, nor even heard of it. While a beloved cultural mainstay in the US, Our Town somehow never made it to Australia. Now, in his first solo episode, Henry explains to Australians what we're missing out on and why Our Town matters. website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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45: Suspense
02/26/2024
45: Suspense
We think of Sinatra as emerging as a serious dramatic actor from the early 1950s onwards, shedding his clean-cut MGM image for the first time when he takes intense roles as mentally disturbed soldiers in From Here to Eternity and Suddenly. But there's a part of the story we've all forgotten. In January 1945, at the height of the bobby-soxer era and months before tapdancing in a sailor suit for Anchors Aweigh, Sinatra made his actual dramatic acting debut on the radio horror anthology series Suspense. This week, we listen to "To Find Help", shockingly ahead of its time, where Sinatra briefly shed his squeaky-clean status to play a violent and mentally ill man terrorising an old woman in her home. website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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44: In the Wee Small Hours
02/17/2024
44: In the Wee Small Hours
In the Wee Small Hours is often considered Sinatra's best work and arguably the first concept album. The "concept" is something along the lines of “I am awake at 3am and I am feeling deeply sad about a lost love.” And that's really it. Just when you think there couldn't possibly be any more songs about the nuances of that kind of misery, there are seven more. It's relentless, it's brutal, it borders on self-harm and it changed the way we all listen to albums forever. So many emotions, such beautiful music, so much history, such an enormous legacy. And yet, what is there to say? Sometimes it's best just to listen - not just to Sinatra, but to the people out there in the world, all with their own problems, who heard this and felt something. Selected resources: * Woody Guthrie - Dustbowl Ballads (1940) (featured: "Dust Cain't Kill Me") * Gordon Jenkins - Seven Dreams (1953) (featured: "The Cocktail Party (The Fourth Dream)") * The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1967) (featured: "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "That's Not Me", "Caroline, No") * Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy (autobiography, 2010) * Jane Russell & Hoagy Carmichael - "I Get Along Without You Very Well" (from Las Vegas Story, 1952) * Bob Crosby and His Orchestra (with Marion Mann, vocal) - "Deep in a Dream" (1938) * Laurie Anderson - "Smoke Rings" (from Home of the Brave, 1986) * The Berlin Patient (podcast hosted by Joel White, 2016-17) (Complete series available on and ) * Sophie Calle - Take Care of Yourself (book and art project, 2007) * Nick Hornby - High Fidelity (novel, 1995) * Marian McPartland Trio - "This Love of Mine" (from self-titled album, 1956) Special thanks to W.M. Akers. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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43: Love and Marriage
02/08/2024
43: Love and Marriage
"Love and Marriage" was one of the worst songs Sinatra ever recorded, and the toxic ideas about marriage that it perpetuated left a negative impact on the world. This week, we look into the song's unlikely origins in a televised musical version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town and its shameful legacy as the theme song for the vile 1980s-90s sitcom Married... with Children. Watching this show for the first time in 2024 is a jaw-dropping experience, not least because of the jeering, catcalling studio audience. And of course, we've sought out the transphobic episode. Join us, won't you, as we travel down the "Tender Trap" to Al Bundy pipeline. This one made us feel bad. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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42: The Tender Trap
01/27/2024
42: The Tender Trap
The phrase "tender trap" essentially didn't exist before the mid-1950s, entering common usage from the film and song which were both popularised by Frank Sinatra. The image of being lured into your downfall by a thing pretending to be soft speaks to a basic element of what it is to be human, and people all over the world have projected their emotions, hangups and life experiences onto this simple concept. This week, we examine Sinatra's classic film and song, plus the original play, then take a look at the many manifestations of the "tender trap" ever since, exploring 70 years of human sexuality and emotion. Selected references: Pamela Robinson Wojcik - The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film (2010) The about the musical they do in High School Musical Marjorie Holmes - I've Got to Talk to Somebody, God (1969) and Second Wife, Second Life (1993) Michael Walsh - How to Undo a Maiden (1971) Transvestia magazine, issue #110. "The Gift" by J. Reviere. (1971) Howard Cosell - Like It Is (1974) Seductress magazine, issue #6 (pornography) (1970s?) The Tender Trap (1978) (pornography) Gay Barchives - with Doug Rehrer about The Tender Trap, Pittsburgh (2020) Ron Nyswaner - Blue Days, Black Nights (2004) Jay Matthews - “Youthful Lovers in China Find They Are Caught in a Tender Trap” 17 December 1978, Washington Post Alexander Abdennur - The Conflict Resolution Syndrome: Volunteerism, Violence, and Beyond (1997) Dave Damiani - "" (2016) Madeleine Davies - “” 13 July 2017, Jezebel The Tender Trap (2021, New Zealand) , Woman Magazine NZ, 1 March 2021 (1974) starring Vincent Price contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko.fi.com/suddenlypod
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41: Sinatra Was Wrong About Israel
11/30/2023
41: Sinatra Was Wrong About Israel
In a special emergency episode, we examine Frank Sinatra's long history with Israel, Palestine and Zionism. Many don't realise just how connected these topics are. This week, we weave a story all the way from Sinatra personally helping run guns to the Nakba in 1948 and his starring role as a fighter pilot for the IDF in 1966's Cast a Giant Shadow, all the way to the bombing of the Frank Sinatra International Student Centre by Hamas in 2002. Henry joins to share his experiences and thoughts from a Jewish perspective, and Rabia has a personal announcement. Selected sources: * Rabbi Dovid Weiss - (Interview with Let the Quran Speak, October 2023) * (1945, anti-semitism PSA starring Frank Sinatra) * Paul Robeson - "" * Hasan Hammami, Nakba survivor, with Middle East Eye, 2023. * Mahmoud Salah, Nakba survivor, with Democracy Now, 2018. * , Al-Jazeera, 15 May 2022. * (1950, short film) * Exodus (1960) * Pat Boone - "" (Theme from Exodus) * Shalom Goldman - Starstruck in the Promised Land (2019) * (1962, short film) * , Friends of Zion Museum profile. * George Jacobs - Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra (2003) * Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) * , Emile Badarin, Middle East Eye, 5 May 2023. * Melville Shavelson - How to Make a Jewish Movie (1971) * "The Shadows and the Light", Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5 episode. * , Jack Engelhard, Israel National News, 8 July 2004. website: contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com ko-fi: Please donate to
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40: Church on Fire (with David Nichols)
10/16/2023
40: Church on Fire (with David Nichols)
Who burnt down West Melbourne Stadium in the middle of Sinatra's 1955 Australian tour, and why did this happen? This week, on our final episode of the year, SUDDENLY investigates. And we're joined by David Nichols - Australian history expert, senior lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne, and author of Dig: Australian Rock and Pop Music 1960-85 - to help us put together the pieces. We also learn about West Melbourne Stadium's second life as Festival Hall, and weave a story spanning seven decades that that takes us all the way up to 2023. Selected media discussed in this episode: * Frank Hardy's novel (1950) * Howard Cosell's of Frank Sinatra from The Main Event (1974) * Ben Folds Five's "" from Ben Folds Five (1995) * (1978) * Recordings of The AMPOL Show from 1957, documenting early Australian performances of Bill Haley and the Comets, Litltle Richard and others. Released as Rock n' Roll Radio Australia 1957. Available . * The Beatles' concert from Festival Hall, Melbourne, 1964. Filmed in full and available . No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @
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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 @
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38: Dream Empire (with Karina Longworth)
09/01/2023
38: Dream Empire (with Karina Longworth)
Surprise! We're joined from Los Angeles by the legendary Karina Longworth, renowned film historian, author, critic and host of the iconic podcast You Must Remember This. This week, we're jumping ahead to discuss HIGH SOCIETY (1956). Louis Armstrong definitely deserved better, and we tackle the explicitly racist treatment of his character in the context in which 1950s Australian audiences would have received it. Also, what's with the old-timey trope of old men singing to little girls about how they'll be hot when they grow up? This week, opinions, perspectives and historical insights vary significantly between the four of us, but all come together to form a cohesive picture. As Karina says, "Your mileage may vary." Deirdre O'Connell's Harlem Nights: The Secret History of Australia's Jazz Age is available Dream Empire (2016) is streaming Listen to Henry's new show with W.M. Akers, The new season of - a continuation of the Erotic 90s series - begins on September 5th. No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @
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37: BONUS - More Guys, More Dolls
08/20/2023
37: BONUS - More Guys, More Dolls
Because six hours wasn't enough, it's a special, informal bonus episode where Henry and Rabia discuss some leftover elements of our GUYS AND DOLLS series we didn't find time to discuss. Here we finish off the story of Damon Runyon's life and his legacy today, discuss the critical reception of the 1955 film, and spend some time thinking about the unsung victims of all of this: horses. No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @
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36: Dolls
08/13/2023
36: Dolls
Fall in love with people, not with gamblers. It's all too strange and strong. Sit down, you're rocking the boat. This week, Henry leads us through the third and final part of our epic GUYS AND DOLLS series. We've got a spectacular supercut of Sinatra recordings of "Luck Be a Lady" through the ages, and a climactic 10-minute mashup that brings together all the themes we've explored throughout this six-hour odyssey. Henry's new podcast I'll Watch Anything will be out soon. Check out his website Watch Sinatra's version of "Luck Be a Lady" from A Man and his Music . No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ Artwork for this series of episodes by Felix (art instagram )
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35: and
08/07/2023
35: and
Why can't Nathan Detroit remember the colour of his own tie? In the second part of our GUYS AND DOLLS series, Henry begins taking us through the musical (and the 1955 Sinatra film) proper, beginning with "Fugue for Tinhorns", "Oldest Established" and "I'll Know." We discuss the intertwined relationship between gambling and religion, and finally come across some real life catgirls to justify the podcast logo in "Pet Me, Poppa." There's gender politics, weaponised incompetence and the beauty of the pre-dawn hours. Then, finally, we talk about the thing you've been thinking this whole time. Next week, DOLLS. No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ Artwork for this series of episodes by Felix (art instagram )
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34: Guys
08/01/2023
34: Guys
Henry Giardina takes the lead as host for the first time as we begin our month-long GUYS AND DOLLS odyssey. In this first installment, the stage is set as we're introduced to the world of legendary short story writer, journalist and master of the "historical present", Damon Runyon. Best known today as the author whose stories inspired the musical Guys and Dolls (later adapted into the 1955 film starring Sinatra), Runyon was a lifelong and loving observer of human nature whose work sprang from the journalistic climate of the early 20th century in America. This week, the world of William Randolph Hearst and his "Gee Whiz!" headlines, Runyon biographer Jimmy Breslin, the struggles of addiction and the budding mythology of a street called Broadway... as we find out what Guys and Dolls really is, where it came from, and why it matters. No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ Artwork for this series of episodes by Felix (art instagram )
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33: Love Like Surgery
07/14/2023
33: Love Like Surgery
It's 1955 and we're deep into the masculinity crisis. It's an era of lofty 800-page novels adapted into 2-hour-plus movies. We've got navel-gazing middle-aged white men, coming out of a period of deep repression and trauma, wondering who and what they really are. Sinatra is one of their icons, as here is Robert Mitchum. This week’s film could have been a later-season episode of Rocky Fortune, and it also could have called From Here to Eternity 2: Dr. Maggio’s Revenge. Once again, Sinatra throws us a curveball in the form of a serious medical drama about the mental health of surgeons: NOT AS A STRANGER (1955). On this episode we deal with a lot of personal trauma, talk about the history of transgender surgeries, learn about Swedish immigration and drop an obscure racial slur that we're 90% sure we're allowed to say. was a Swedish hero who saved thousands of lives during the Holocaust. He is commemorated in Melbourne, Australia in the form of and Watch Raoul Wallenberg: Behind the Lines Henry Giardina's . Longread article on "Butcher Brown" - Why Did He Cut Off That Man's Leg? The Peculiar Practice of John Ronald Brown by Paul Ciotti. Read The list of trans surgery GoFundMes is No longer on social media! Check out our website - Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com
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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 @
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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 @
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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.
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29: Not By Ranting, Nor By Chanting
05/22/2023
29: Not By Ranting, Nor By Chanting
Millions know the song: "Forget your troubles and just get happy." But where does it come from, and what does it really mean? Why are we getting ready for judgement day, and how did Judy Garland end up associated with something that sounds so gospel? This week, we dive into the long and complicated multicultural (and especially Black) history of "Get Happy", the most memorably awkward track on Sinatra's first full-length collaboration album with Nelson Riddle, SWING EASY (1954). Our adventure through history takes us all the way from Art Tatum and the Tallahassee Bus Boycotts of 1956 to a 2008 episode of South Park and the "Diabeetus" internet meme. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @
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28: Glamour
05/07/2023
28: Glamour
In 2007, Italian artist Graziano Cecchini poured red dye into the Trevi Fountain to protest the Rome Film Festival. "You wanted just a red carpet", he said. "We want a city entirely in vermilion. We who are vulnerable, old, ill, students, workers, we come with vermilion to colour your grayness." Escapism, tourism, power, vanity, royalty, memory, sex, romance - and water running blood-red. This week, a deep dive into the extended universe of Rome's iconic Trevi Fountain, spinning off from THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN (1954) and Sinatra's hit title song. A three-and-a-half-hour odyssey recorded while simultanously live-commentating the coronation of King Charles III and monitoring a live webcam of the Trevi Fountain, spanning 10 films released over 56 years and centuries of history... it could only be an episode of SUDDENLY. Watch the live webcam of the Trevi Fountain . Discussed in this episode: * Roman Holiday (1953) * Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) * La Dolce Vita (1960) * The Pleasure Seekers (1964) * Three Coins in the Fountain (1970) (TV pilot filmed 1966, aired once in 1970 and now lost media. Watch the surviving 76-second clip . We may be able to obtain this in full in the near future. Stay tuned for a follow-up episode!) * Coins in the Fountain (1990) (Out of print TV movie. Watch the mysterious extremely low-quality YouTube upload .) * Sabrina Goes to Rome (1998) * When in Rome (2002) Olsen Twins * The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) * 3oh3 ft. Katy Perry "Starstrukk" (2009) * When in Rome (2010) Kristen Bell * Pamela Krist - Memory and the Trevi Fountain: Flows of Political Power in Media Performance (2019) CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @
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27: The Long
04/25/2023
27: The Long
For almost the entire back half of the 20th century, Sinatra sang "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" over and over again. At every show, he would proudly call himself a "saloon singer" and paint a picture for the audience: a drunk, broken-hearted loser, in a bar at 2:45am, pouring his fool heart out to the unlucky bartender. Sinatra revelled in this imagery, and the seductively suicidal "saloon singer" schtick became a beloved cornerstone of his act. History records that this persona began with the film YOUNG AT HEART (1954). But where did it come from? This week on SUDDENLY, we sit down at the bar with the saloon singer - and meet Oscar Levant - before wrapping up with a hypnotic 11-minute "One for My Baby" supercut, sampling 47 years worth of performances from all over the world. Henry Giardina articles on Oscar Levant: Folding Ideas - "The Future is A Dead Mall: Decentraland and the Metaverse" CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @
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26: A Tribute to Bobby Caldwell
03/19/2023
26: A Tribute to Bobby Caldwell
The world has lost the legendary Bobby Caldwell. More than just a futuristic and soulful singer/songwriter, he was also the greatest Sinatra interpreter of his era. This week, we pay tribute to his life - from the strange original songs that made him a superstar in Japan during the City Pop era, to his stunning Sinatra-inspired recordings and the legacy he left for subsequent generations in hip-hop, vaporwave and neo-soul. Since the recording of this episode, Mary Caldwell has shared the details of what happened to Bobby in . She asks that as many people read and share it as possible. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @
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25: In the Lamplight
03/15/2023
25: In the Lamplight
Where does the visual motif of "leaning on a lamp post" come from? Since at least 1840, it was associated with drunkenness, sleaze and criminality. At some point in the mid-20th century, it became a symbol of sophistication, nonchalance and cool. How did this happen? All evidence seems to point to the cover of Frank Sinatra's 1953 album, SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS, as turning the tide. This week, a deep dive on two centuries of lamp post leaning, and Sinatra's place in it as the man who fused the drunk loner with the cool guy. Photo gallery for this episode . CORRECTIONS (to be mentioned in ep. 27) "Apache", a French term meaning hooligan, criminal etc, is pronounced "apasch" and not like the Native American designation "Apache" - I assumed these were two different things, and they are, but didn't know they were pronounced differently - apologies to Native American listeners! Christine and the Queens is now using he/him pronouns as of mid-2022 - this is on me for not keeping up with his career for a while. Apologies and GOOD FOR HIM! CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM / / Donate to the show @
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24: SUDDENLY
03/08/2023
24: SUDDENLY
To a modern Australian audience, Sinatra's shockingly violent noir film SUDDENLY (1954) now seems like an obvious cautionary tale: Guns are bad for society, they drive you mad with power, and kids should be kept away from them. But 1950s American audiences took home the exact opposite message: that guns keep your home safe, everyone should own them and kids should get used to them as early in life as possible. How can this be the same movie? This week, we're looking at gun culture in the US and Australia, the history of political assassinations and mass shootings, and asking the question: when life comes at you fast, and a bad man has a gun, can you keep up? CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @
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23: White Man's Graveyard
02/22/2023
23: White Man's Graveyard
The Mau Mau Rebellion of 1952 saw the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) take up arms against the British Empire's occupation of their land. The struggle for decolonisation was bloody and protracted, with many of the KLFA ending up tortured by British soldiers in cruel labor camps. A film crew from Pathé arrived from London to film staged propaganda newsreels on Kenyan streets, depicting the Mau Mau as terrorists and white civillians as the real victims. Enter Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. In the midst of this uprising, they land in Nairobi with an entourage of 600 and under heavy armed guard. They are issued a weapon each. Ava is there to make a film, Mogambo. MGM's publicity for the film refers to the African continent as "the white man's graveyard." Sinatra, at a low point in his career, is just tagging along for the ride. He spends most of the trip distracted, anxiously reading his copy of James Jones' novel, From Here to Eternity, over and over. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) - a boring film based on a bad novel. Why was it such a hit? Does it deserve to be thought of as the turning point of Sinatra's life? And what really happened in Kenya? CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM / / Donate to the show @
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22: Lonesome Man Blues
02/13/2023
22: Lonesome Man Blues
In 1987, the Scottish band Danny Wilson released their debut album, Meet Danny Wilson. The name came from an old movie that band members Gary and Kit Clark had never actually seen. They knew Frank Sinatra was in it. Their father had seen it once and had complained he’d never been able to find it again. He wasn't alone. MEET DANNY WILSON (1952) borders on "lost film" status, rarely seen and mostly unavailable even today. Audiences and critics passed on it. Sinatra biographers consider it a footnote at best. Watching it now, this seems inexplicable. Sinatra arrives on camera having ditched his MGM persona entirely, singing classic after classic with a newfound confidence and swagger that would stay with him for the rest of his career - and here, seems to have somehow possessed him overnight. How did all this happen? Why did the film disappear? And what if the story of Sinatra’s 1950s comeback isn’t what we think it is? CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @
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21: Brisbane's Jane Russell
02/13/2023
21: Brisbane's Jane Russell
Howard Hughes named DOUBLE DYNAMITE (1951) after Jane Russell's breasts - and the city of Brisbane was obsessed with them. This week, the lost stories of Fr. Kiley, the Catholic priest who tried to ban a Jane Russell film from the Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo, and Shirley Vercoe, the woman who became known as "Brisbane's Jane Russell." On theme with the exploitation and harassment of large-breasted women in Hollywood, we also watched Soleil Moon Frye's stunning found-footage documentary KID 90 (2021). Plus, special tributes to the memory of Mira Bellwether and Lisa-Marie Presley - and we announce a new member of the SUDDENLY team. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on / / Donate to the show @
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