Call Back Yesterday

On October 29, 1966, Bobby Kennedy came to Michigan to stump for the Democrats. With the help of an RFK scholar, we listen back to that speech, made at the University of Detroit Memorial Building. Bobby is smart, moving, funny, and prescient. It's a time capsule, to be sure, but surprisingly relevant. I mean, are you surprised that Bobby would say that the GOP talks big but doesn't deliver?

John Rabe talks with "Somewhere in Time" director Jeannot Scwarc about working with the late Christopher Plummer, who tried to foil Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve's on-screen romance. Plummer died Friday, February 5, at the age of 91.

When I asked Kathy and Tom Lewand to do an interview this fall while standing over my parents' grave on Mackinac Island, I expected them to be weirded-out and refuse. But now that I think about it, it wasn't any weirder than the stuff they did with my folks over the years, like Silent Records and The Stone Skipping Contest. Note: This episode includes an excerpt of an exceedingly rare recording of a Robert Kennedy speech in Detroit in 1966.

I talk with Stephen Simon, producer of Somewhere In Time, What Dreams May Come, and All The Right Moves. He was at the crossroads of Old and New Hollywood, and might also be living on the border of the seen and unseen. His new book is What Dreams Have Come: Loving Through the Veil.

Fresh Air and LA Times film critic Justin Chang was in the hallway of KPCC, where I work, and I told him about this podcast I was doing. "Do you like 'Somewhere in Time?'" I asked, expecting a snort. No snort! Find out why in our al fresco interview.

If you're a "Somewhere in Time" fan and you're not that familiar with Sherlock Holmes, a whole world awaits you. And vice-versa for Sherlockians who don't know about "Somewhere In Time." Our guide, as we explore the intersection of these two groups, is Les Klinger, and eminent Sherlockian and a "Somewhere In Time" fan. Plus, Steve Ellis reports on the 30th annual SIT Weekend at Grand Hotel.

A Call Back Yesterday podlet, designed for anyone who is at the 30th annual SIT Weekend, or just wishes they could be there. Recommended listening location: Bogan Lane.

A Call Back Yesterday podlet, designed for anyone who is at the 30th annual SIT Weekend, or just wishes they could be there. Recommended listening location: west end of the Grand porch.

A Call Back Yesterday podlet, designed for anyone who is at the 30th annual SIT Weekend, or just wishes they could be there. Recommended listening location: the GH Parlor.

A Call Back Yesterday podlet, designed for anyone who is at the 30th annual SIT Weekend, or just wishes they could be there. Recommended listening location: the GH Parlor.

A Call Back Yesterday podlet, designed for anyone who is at the 30th annual SIT Weekend, or just wishes they could be there. Recommended listening location: a landing on the long stairs to the garden.

Imagine being an aspiring actor and inviting your friends and family to see your first movie ... then realizing your tiny scene was cut. It happened to George Wendt in "Somewhere in Time," who later landed the role of Norm on "Cheers." For George's 72nd birthday - Oct 17 - CBY gives him a most unexpected birthday present.

Location, location, location. The best place to talk with mortician, author, and Big Funeral critic Caitlin Doughty is, of course, a cemetery. So, for her perspective on "Somewhere in Time," I met Caitlin at LA's first cemetery open to all races and creeds.

Host John Rabe talks with "Somewhere in Time" director Jeannot Szwarc about making the movie, managing his stars' affair, and where he'd go if he could travel in time. Szwarc retired last year after 51 years of film and TV direction and spoke with John from his home in the Loire Valley where he is riding out the pandemic in splendid isolation.

Host John Rabe talks with film critic Tim Cogshell about "Somewhere In Time," which Tim first saw with his wife almost 40 years ago. She passed away a few years ago, but her memory lives strong with Tim, and it turns out that jawing about it in John's podcast eases the burden a little tiny bit.

In Call Back Yesterday, public radio's John Rabe addresses his neuroses by celebrating the 40th anniversary of "Somewhere In Time," and exploring the cult movie's themes of love, loss, memory, nostalgia, time travel, and Mackinac Island. Episode One - Welcome to Fantasy Island - gives you a taste of what's to come, including interviews with George Wendt, the Avengers screenwriters, Jeannot Szwarc, critics Tim Cogshell and Justin Chang, and Caitlin "The Good Death" Doughty.