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Fred and Adele, Fred and Ed (by Steven Rea)
Just started reading The Astaires: Fred & Adele, Kathleen Riley’s biographical portrait of the sibling song-and-dance duo whose stage performances — in the years between the wars, before Fred took his top hat and…
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Midwestern Conferences (Jim Cummins)
I was watching Charlie Rose one night years ago when Bill Styron called in and said he didn't "get" David Letterman. Styron said, "Yes, he's mildly ironic, but …" Letterman is from Indianapolis, which…
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POMPEII by John Brehm
Standing on the subway, exhausted, dispirited, glancing over the exhausted, dispirited faces of my fellow passengers, I read posters for a new movie about Pompeii. “How can you breathe when the air is on…
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Vanessa Redgrave, clapperboard and pool (by Steven Rea)
This photo is on the wall in my study – I found it from a dealer of vintage film stills when I was on the prowl for a photo of Vanessa Redgrave on a…
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“They Didn’t Believe Me” [Kern’s breakout song as rendered by Sinatra]
In August 1914 Jerome Kern wrote a song to interpolate in a Broadway musical imported from Britain. The song is "They Didn't Believe Me." It is the first modern ballad, just as Irving Berlin's…
