Al Capp – Exploring A Most Contrary Life by Ronald Sklar Comic strip legend and deeply complicated man, Al Capp channeled his talents but lost to his demons. At the height of cartoonist Al Capp’s success, his satiric, adult-themed comic strip Li’l Abner was featured in 900 newspapers with 90 million dedicated readers. From 1934-1977, … Continue reading
Keeping it Real with The Man of Steel by Ronald Sklar Good thing Superman has strong shoulders, because he carries the weight of the world on them. We project all of our cultural fears and anxieties onto him, constantly ask him for help and rescue, and although times change, we prefer him not to. Nevertheless, … Continue reading
Debbie Nathan Uncovers The Real “Sybil” by Ronald Sklar A new book reveals that the sensational multiple-personality story was just that — a story. In 1973, Flora Rheta Schreiber wrote about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett (a pseudonym for Shirley Ardell Mason) for multiple-personality disorder (sixteen separate personalities in all!). The disturbing book touched a … Continue reading
Mark Shriver Writes About A Good Man by Ronald Sklar Mark Shriver writes a book about his dad, Sargent Shriver, first director of The Peace Corps and avid letter writer. Mark Shriver recently published a memoir about his father, called A Good Man, [Henry Holt & Company] shortly after Sargent’s death from Alzheimer’s disease in … Continue reading
Dan Cortese Goes for the Record by Ronald Sklar America’s favorite dudebro is back with a hit show and a shout out to the iconic MTV Sports. TruTV bills itself not as reality TV, but as “Actuality.” True that. Its new hit series, Guinness World Records® Gone Wild, scored a whopping 1.4 million viewers in … Continue reading
Robert Redford, Stanley Tucci, Brit Marling & Jackie Evancho Learning About Life and History From The Company They Keep by Jay S. Jacobs About the time that the Weather Underground was forming and gaining infamy for their sometimes violent protests, Robert Redford was well on his way to becoming one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Butch Cassidy & the … Continue reading
Alan Light Stands Before the Lord of Song With Nothing on His Lips But “Hallelujah” by Jay S. Jacobs There are certain songs that feel like they were born as classics: the world knew and loved them from their release date. Immediate standards like “Something,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “My Girl” and “Imagine” were fully … Continue reading
Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks and Tom Hooper – Bringing a Broadway Classic to the Big Screen with Les Misérables by Brad Balfour Based on the legendary Victor Hugo novel – by way of the operatic stage musical created around it – the recently released cinematic version of Les Misérables spans 17 … Continue reading
Chris Hayes – Catching Us Up on the Twilight of the Elites by Ronald Sklar MSNBC’s Chris Hayes explains the decay of authority in America, and why you’d better step up. This first decade of the 21st century has been glorious (think iPod and 30 Rock), but it’s also going down as one giant sorry-ass fuck-up. … Continue reading
Tony Danza – Teacher, Teach Us by Ronald Sklar The actor spent a lifetime in front of the camera — but he always wanted to teach. Tony Danza is quoting Shakespeare to me, and it goes a little something like this: There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on … Continue reading
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