Podcasts about I Love Lucy

There are those who ask why so many Americans speak Spanish. But according to the Latino media entrepreneur and historian Javier Marin, you might as well ask why so many Americans speak English. Over the last half century, the Hispanic community in America has risen from 3.5 to 62 million. In his new history of Latino media, Live From America, Marin charts how networks like Univision and Telemundo drove the meteoric rise of Hispanic America. This IS America, Marin insists - there are now 62 million Latinos shaping the country's politics, economy and culture. Rather than a demographic trend about some curious minority, it's the core reality of 21st century America.1. The US is now the world's second-largest Spanish-speaking country Only Mexico has more Spanish speakers than America. The US has surpassed Spain and Argentina. This isn't an immigrant enclave - it's a linguistic and cultural reality that's permanent and growing. As Marin puts it: “Even if you deport three million, we still have 57 million.”2. Univision and Telemundo are America's most powerful political engines - and they're not owned by Latinos These networks reach 60+ million people and absorb massive political advertising dollars from both parties. But Univision is controlled by private equity, Telemundo by NBC Universal. This creates a fundamental tension: are they serving their community or their shareholders? The Jorge Ramos ejection-to-Mar-a-Lago-interview arc tells you everything.3. “When you lose dignity, you lose your vote” Marin's thesis on why Democrats gained with Latino voters in recent elections despite Trump's 2024 inroads. The harsh treatment and “physical aggressiveness” of deportation policies cost Republicans votes. Dignity and political loyalty are directly linked. This matters more than economic messaging.4. Richard Nixon invented the word “Hispanic” - as a political strategy In 1969, Nixon commissioned a committee to encapsulate all Spanish speakers with one word to create a political constituency. Reagan embraced it further with Hispanic Heritage Month. The term “Hispanic” isn't organic - it's a government-corporate construct designed to make 60+ million diverse people politically legible and commercially targetable.5. Spanish-language media has always faced censorship and “English-only” movements From Theodore Roosevelt promoting English-only in the early 1900s to Desi Arnaz being censored on I Love Lucy, there's been consistent pressure to suppress Spanish. The FCC nearly cancelled Univision's predecessor over foreign ownership. The current anti-immigrant rhetoric isn't new - it's the same 100-year battle. The difference now: the numbers make it unwinnable.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

For National Take A Hike Day, we look back at a time in the 1800s when huge crowds bought tickets to see people walk around in loops for days at a time. Plus: for National Homemade Bread Day, the story of the bakery that made an eight-foot-long loaf for "I Love Lucy."The strange 19th-Century sport that was cooler than football (BBC) How Competitive Walking Captivated Georgian Britain (Atlas Obscura)I Love Lucy The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever, Authorized by the Lucille Ball Estate by Michael McClay (via Google Books)Walk on over to our Patreon page and back this show

By Walt HickeyWelcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.This week, I spoke to Chris Dalla Riva, author of the new book Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves. Chris is a fixture here at Numlock, we're big fans of his newsletter Can't Get Much Higher and have been eagerly waiting for this book, which tracks the history of music by coasting along the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The book can be found at Amazon and wherever books are sold, grab a copy!This interview has been condensed and edited. Chris Dalla Riva, it is great to have you back on. Especially great this week, because you are finally out with a book that I know you've been working on for a very long time, Uncharted Territory. Thanks for coming back on.Yeah, thrilled to be back, but also thrilled to have the book come out. The book publishing world is one of the only worlds left in the world that moves slow enough where you're waiting for so long for something to happen.You have guest-written for Numlock before; you have been a staple of the Sunday editions in the past. You are definitely familiar to the audience at this point because you are doing some of the best music data journalism out there. You've been working on this thing for, I feel like, as long as I've known you, and it is just great to have it come out finally, man.Yeah, actually, I met you because I was working on this project. I was trying to track down some data that you'd used at FiveThirtyEight, and you responded to my email with your phone number. You were like, “This is easier to explain over the phone.”Yeah, I remember I had scraped the radio for months at FiveThirtyEight just to see where it went, and you hit me up with that. I think that you focused some of your energies on the newsletter, and that's been so fun to follow, but this is truly what you've been working at. It is great to get you on finally to talk all about it.What would you describe this book as? How would you describe it, either to folks who might be familiar with your newsletter or unfamiliar with your newsletter, about what you're setting out to do with this particular project?The subtitle, I think, is helpful. It's What Numbers Tell Us About the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves. My typical pitch is that it's a data-driven history of popular music that I wrote as I spent years listening to every number one hit song in history. You get a balance of music history, data analysis, just random music chart shenanigans. I wrote it over such a very long period of time that you get a little bit of how my life was intersecting with this book over the years as I tried to get it published.I love the angle on the No.1s being a place to go with, because it gives you a pulse on what's popular at the time and not necessarily what's the most influential at the time. You can see there's a lot of stuff that hit number one at one point or another that have no musical legacy whatsoever, but nevertheless are still interesting. It's dipping your toe in the stream, right? You can see that a lot of things that we assume about how the music industry works weren't always the case.You wrote a little bit about the early transition from big bands to singers as the front-facing people in their operation. That was informed in no small part by what was performing on the charts, but also, I think, labor action, right?An under-discussed part of music history in the last 100 years is that when thinking of any band now or any musical artist, you almost certainly think of the front person being the singer. But if you go look back at big bands of the 1930s and 1940s, anyone whose name was attached to the band was often not a singer. Some that come to mind are Glenn Miller, the Glenn Miller band. Glenn Miller was a trombone player. Artie Shaw was a clarinet player. If none of these names are familiar to you, that's okay. But you can ask your grandparents.Why does this transition happen: suddenly, the lead singer is always getting top billing in a band? There are a bunch of things that contributed to this. One thing I talk about pretty extensively is just the advent of better microphones. If a voice cannot be heard over the roar of an orchestra or a big band, you need a choir of people to sing. It makes the singer less identifiable. As we get better amplification, better microphones, you can get a wider range of vocal styles. Those vocalists can now compete with the sound of a ton of instruments.At the same time, something you mentioned that I think is a fun bit of history is how music used to be much better organized. They had better labor organization, the same way that Hollywood has much better labor organization than music these days. There still exists a group called the American Federation of Musicians. For two years, they had a strike for a work stoppage, when no new music was being recorded. This was during World War II. You weren't allowed to strike during World War II.They were frowned upon very much, it seems, yes.Yes, even if you were a musician. People were like, “Come on, why are the musicians striking?” There's a lot of interesting history there. One of the weird loopholes was that singers could not join the American Federation of Musicians. Because of that, some labels would get around the strike by just recording acapella songs or songs with instruments that were not eligible to be membership because they weren't “serious” enough, like the harmonica. There were weird harmonica songs that were popular at this time. By the time the strike ended, by the time World War II ended, suddenly, singers had a much more prominent role because they were the only ones allowed to perform.There is tons of weird stuff about this strike. Like, labels backlogged tons of recordings because they knew the strike was coming. “White Christmas,” maybe the best-selling record of all time, was one of those backlogged recordings — recorded in July of 1942 and put out however many months later.That's fun. That's basically why Tom Cruise is in a union but Bad Bunny isn't?I guess so. Music and labor have a history that I'm not an expert on. For some reason, musicians have had a much more difficult time organizing. It seemed to be a little bit easier back when there were these big bands that needed to be rolled out to perform in movie theaters or local clubs. You needed a tuba player and a trombone player and a sax player. I guess it was easier for those musicians to organize. Whereas now, things are so scattered and productions can be super small, and you could record something in your bedroom. They never got that level of organization. I think it's actually hurt artists to some degree because they don't have the protections that the film industry does.Because you're able to just coast along at the top of the charts throughout basically the century, you're able to get lots of different interweaving stories of labor and also legal disputes/legal outcomes, as well as this technological evolution. What are some of the ways that technology has informed how the music that we listen to changes or evolves over time? Or even some of the litigation that we have seen over the course of the century of musical creation. It just seems like it's a really fun way to track some of these bigger trends that we don't even know are really trends.Yeah, totally. I think one of the key themes of the book is that musical evolution is often downstream from technological innovation, which has a nice little ring to it. But in general, there's this idea that creativity is being struck by the muse, and you create something. Whereas in reality, there are usually physical constraints or technological constraints that shape the art that we make. One of the most basic examples is the length of songs. From the '40s up till the early, mid-60s, the pop song sits around 2.5 to three minutes. The reason for this is that vinyl singles could literally not hold more sound without degrading, which is completely backwards from the idea that there was an artist who chose to write a 2.5-minute song.I was like, “Well, you had to work within the constraint.” Then technology gets better, singles start to get longer. During the disco era, they actually made bigger discs to put out these long dance mixes. The single sat around like 3.5 to 4.5 minutes for decades until about 10 years ago, when it started to shorten again. People typically point to music streaming for this reason, because artists are paid if a song is listened to for more than 30 seconds, so it's really just a volume game. If you have a 14 minute song that someone listens to one time, they get paid once. But if I listen to a two-minute song seven times (which is again, the same amount of time spent listening), I will be paid out seven times. There is this financial incentive to shorten songs.I don't think artists are sitting in the studio thinking about this constantly. But what I see, what I saw again and again, is that artists were rational beings to some degree and would work within the constraints that they were given. They would usually push against those constraints. That's where a lot of great art comes out of.Even new mediums are offering new opportunities. You wrote a little bit about MTV and how that really changed a lot of what was able to be successful at the time. You had new types of acts that were able to really start competing there, and other acts that just weren't. Do you wanna speak a little bit about like what video did?Yeah, video certainly changed the game. There were artists who had visual presences earlier. The Beatles had a very visual presence. I think part of their success is tied to the fact that television was becoming a thing, and mass media was really becoming a thing. However, we associate musicians with visuals so much these days. That really emerged in the 1980s, where you needed your visual concepts to be as strong, if not stronger than, your musical concepts. I think because of that, you start seeing some artists break through who I don't think are considered great musicians.I always sadly point to the song, “Hey Mickey” by Tony Basil. If it's your favorite song, sorry. I don't think it's a masterful musical creation, but it had this fun music video where she's dressed up as a cheerleader. A lot of that song's success was just the fact that MTV was willing to put that in heavy rotation because it was a fun video to watch. We live in the shadow of that era where visuals matter just as much as anything else.When you think about the most popular artists, outside of maybe a handful, you think of their visual concepts. You think of what Beyoncé looks like, what her videos are like, same with Taylor Swift, as much as you think about their music. That really reshaped our relationship with popular music. We expect to know what artists look like. It's odd to think about that; it really wasn't a thing decades before. You could be a fan of an artist and not really know what they look like. How would you know? Maybe you saw them in a magazine. Maybe you caught them on one television show. The idea that we have access to what everyone looks like is a pretty new phenomenon.That's fun. It's just so interesting to see how a simple change, whether it's today an algorithm or then a medium of distribution, can just have material impacts on the popularity of British synth music in America.Yeah, that's the perfect example. There's a great book called I Want My MTV, and it's an oral history of MTV. They talked to one of the founders. Early MTV would play, as you're saying, all these British new wave acts. Think A Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran or even someone like U2. They asked the founder, “Why were you playing so many British artists on early MTV?” He was like, “For some reason, British artists happened to make music videos. And there were about 200 music videos in existence. We had to fill 24 hours of programming.” A Flock of Seagulls was gonna get played a bunch of times just because they happened to make music videos.It is a weird thing. Why would anyone make a music video if there was nowhere to really play them? I don't know why specifically the British had more videos, but there were occasional times where television shows might show a video.They do love that over there, like Top of the Pops. I can see why.Music and television have always been connected. You even think Saturday Night Live still has musical acts. Back then, say your label didn't wanna send you out to Britain to go on Top of the Pops. Maybe they would send a video of you instead. There were videos that would float around on these variety shows, and some early videos were just concert footage. It was like, it was a chicken or the egg thing. Once some people had success on MTV, everyone started producing videos. MTV somehow pulled off the miracle of convincing labels that they needed to make videos and that they needed to front the cost for that. Then they had to give MTV the video for free. I don't know how MTV managed to do that.Well, all of Gen X can't be wrong. If you do wanna get it out there, you do have to get it out there. One really fun recurring thing in the book — which again, like I really enjoyed. I think it's a phenomenal work. I think it's a great history. I'm telling stories that I learned in your book to everybody. It is a really fun read in that regard, I wanna say.I do love how you occasionally clock a genre that really only exists briefly. There's one that always goes around for like the strangest things to hit number one, like the Ballad of the Green Berets. I think like there's a Star Wars disco track that I definitely have on vinyl at home about that. You wrote a lot about like teen tragedy songs. What are some of the fascinating like brief trends that only made a small splash and that all of us have forgotten ever existed, but nevertheless achieve some measure of immortality?Yeah, the teen tragedy song is a good one. That actually inspired the writing of this whole book because I got 50 No. 1s, and I was like, “Why are there so many number ones about teenagers dying? That's a little weird.” And then I did a little digging and tried to piece together why that was. The teenage tragedy song, late '50s, early '60s, there are all of these songs about two teenagers in love, usually high schoolers. One tragically dies often in a car crash, and the other is very sad and maybe says that they'll reunite again one day in the afterlife. Some of the big ones are “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las and “Teen Angel” by Mark Dinning.It's a very weird blip in popular music history. I won't say it has cast a long shadow, but there are some occasional people who pull from that tradition. The craziest teen tragedy song ever was “Bat Outta Hell” by Meatloaf, in which Jim Steinman tried to write a nine-minute motorcycle crash song. I think that's a really interesting one.Disco: bizarre in the amount of people that made disco songs. I really came to like disco and the best disco music, I'm like, “These are the greatest sounds that have ever been recorded.” But it got so big and so popular that everyone felt the need to record disco songs.Not everything is “I Feel Love,” right?No, most things are not. It strikes me that this happened with disco, but has not happened with other genres. Frank Sinatra recorded disco songs. Basically, every television theme song got a disco remix. I Love Lucy had a disco remix. The Rocky theme song had a disco remix.What? I'm sorry, Frank Sinatra did a disco song? Is it good?It's not good. It's “Night and Day” over a disco beat. And it's not clear to me if they just remixed it or if he actually recut the vocal because I just cannot imagine him doing that. In the mid-60s, there was a nun who topped the charts, The Singing Nun with a song called “Dominique.” Of course, during the disco era, it was remixed as a disco song. There are examples of this where people went sort of disco. The Rolling Stones record “Miss You” and it has the disco beat, or Pink Floyd does “Another Brick in the Wall” or Queen does “Another One Bites the Dust.”Everyone was gonna give it a try. There was so much money being made in the disco world at the time. You can always find some artists you would never think would do a disco song probably tried. They probably gave it their best.That's great. It's just fun because the things that hit number one for a week don't necessarily have to be good. They just have to be popular for like a week. Even the construction of the Top 40 chart, which you get into in the book, isn't exactly science. A lot of times, it's a little bit of intuition. It's a lot of what's selling and what's selling where specifically. It is a little bit woo woo, right?Yeah, definitely. The goal of this chart is “What's the most popular song in America in a given week?” Back in the day, that meant what were people buying? What were people listening to on the radio? What were people spinning in jukeboxes? Today, most music is done on streaming. It's consumption-based, rather than sales-based. So the chart's the same in name only, but it's really measuring very different things. The equivalent would be if we knew after you purchased your copy of “I Feel Love,” how many times did you actually play it at home? You could have purchased it, went home and never played it again. Something like that would not register on the charts these days.I respect the people at Billboard because they have an impossible task. It's like “We're gonna take all the information and we're going to boil it down into choosing or measuring what the most popular song is.” It's an impossible task to some degree.I have watched the evolution of the chart, and I go back and forth on whether they have given up on actually trying to rank stuff or if they are just ranking things in a different way. I think that the apples-to-apples between the era stuff is just so hard to do.One thing I really enjoyed about your book, in particular, is that it's not a story of why these songs are the best. It's a story of why these songs were popular at the time, just dipping the toe into the river of human sound. One thing that I'll ask as you wrap: as you were going through these eras, who did you hear a lot more of than you thought? Who did you hear a lot less than you expected?I joked with some people that if you just looked at the top of the charts, the greatest rock band of the 1970s is either Grand Funk Railroad or Three Dog Night because they both had three number one hits, and many other bands in the classic rock canon have none. Led Zeppelin does not really exist on the pop chart, the singles chart. Led Zeppelin really only put out albums. The Eagles were also big during the '70s on the music charts. But Three Dog Night, they're the legends.There are tons of people that I didn't realize how much I would see of them. Someone like Lionel Richie and Phil Collins, of course, they're tremendously popular, but they were so popular. Phil Collins was popular at the height of the bald pop star era, which I think is a thing of the past. You had multiple bald men who were regularly topping the charts in the mid-80s. You see a ton of Phil Collins, more than I was expecting, even though I know he's very popular.Who don't you see a ton of? Sometimes you don't see people until a bit later in their careers. This is actually an interesting phenomenon. Artists do not score a number one hit during their most critically acclaimed period, and then a decade later, they do. For example, Cheap Trick. They have a number one hit, but it's at the end of the '80s song called “The Flame.” Whereas if you hear Cheap Trick on the radio, it's probably their live album from the 1970s. This is a phenomenon you see again and again. Some old timer will get their number one much later in their career. Tina Turner gets her number one when she's probably in her 40s. It's always interesting to see that.There are also some artists where I feel like there's a divergence between what their most popular songs are these days and what was topping the charts. Elton John is a good example there. “Benny and the Jets” was a number one hit, still a tremendously popular song. But he's got a lot of weird No. 1s that I don't think have as much street cred these days. He has a song called “Island Girl.” Did not age like fine wine. I don't even think he plays it live anymore because it's considered somewhat racially insensitive. But it was a No. 1 hit at the time. “Philadelphia Freedom” is another one by Elton John. I feel like when people think of the Elton John catalog, it's probably not the first song that comes to mind. But it was a No. 1 hit, huge smash. His cover of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was a No. 1. Elton John has been very popular throughout the decades, but I feel like the reasons he's been popular have changed.People have just gravitated towards different songs as time has gone on. You get distortions at the top of the charts. But I think, as you mentioned, it provides a good sample of what was actually popular. You have the good, the bad, and the ugly. Whereas if you look at some other sources, people are just gonna be like, “Oh, listen to these records. These are the best records.” In reality, the bad records are important, too.Yeah, bad records are great. They're at least interesting. I imagine also some of this process must have been missing out on a lot of interesting music because one song was just dominating the charts. Were there any songs in particular that come to mind that wooled the roost for potentially a little bit too long?Yeah, the quintessential example is the “Macarena” in the ‘90s.Oh, no!I think it was No. 1 for 13 weeks.Christ!There's a great clip of people at the Democratic National Convention and '96 dancing the “Macarena.” It's so bad. Yeah, so a very popular song. There are tons of stuff that gets stuck behind it. There's a great No.1 hit in the '90s called “I Love You Always Forever.” It's a very nice song by Donna Lewis. It's stuck at No. 2 because it just happened to be popular during the “Macarena's” very long run. YYour life's work, your greatest accomplishment, being stymied by the “Macarena” feels like a level of creative hell that I have never envisioned before.Yeah, there are other artists who got unlucky. Bruce Springsteen never performed a No. 1 hit. He wrote a No.1 hit for another artist. His closest was “Dancing in the Dark” got to No. 2, but that was also when Prince released “When Doves Cry,” so it's a tough, tough week. Bob Dylan, similar thing. He wrote a No. 1 hit, but he only ever got to No. 2. I think he got to No. 2 twice. Once, he got stuck behind “Help” by the Beatles, and another time he got stuck behind “Monday Monday” by the Mamas and the Papas.This is another thing when I talk about the charts. There could be many fewer units sold in a given week, or there could be many more units sold. There's a lot of luck involved if you're gonna go all the way to No. 1. You could be Bruce Springsteen: you release the biggest record of your life, and Prince also releases the biggest record of his life at the exact same time.Incredible. So again, I have read the book. I really, really like it. People are doubtlessly familiar with the newsletter at this point, but I am also a big fan and booster of that. But I guess I'll just throw it to you. Where can folks find the book, and where can folks find you?Yeah, you can find me, Chris Dalla Riva, basically on every social media platform under cdallarivamusic. I'm most active on TikTok and Instagram. The book, Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us About the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves, should be available from every major retailer online. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Booklist, all that good stuff. Not available physically in stores, so definitely order it online.Like I said, I spent years listening to every No. 1 hit in history, built a giant data set about all those songs and used that to write a data-driven history of popular music from 1958 to basically 2025. So go pick up a copy, buy one for your mother for Christmas. Or your father, I don't discriminate. Yeah, check it out. I'm hoping people enjoy it, and I'm really excited to finally get it out in the world. It's been a long, circuitous journey to get it published.It's a really fun read, and I wish it nothing but the best. And yeah, congrats, thanks for coming on.Yeah, thanks for having me.Edited by Crystal WangIf you have anything you'd like to see in this Sunday special, shoot me an email. Comment below! Thanks for reading, and thanks so much for supporting Numlock.Thank you so much for becoming a paid subscriber! Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.numlock.com/subscribe

On this episode of the PAW Book Club podcast, career journalist Todd Purdum '82 answers book club members' questions about his new biography, “Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television.” As Todd's exhaustive research shows, the Cuban-born star of “I Love Lucy” contributed far more than his widely loved charm and comedic talent to the early television industry — many techniques and practices he pioneered are still used today. Yet his own life was a mixture of struggle and success. In his book, Todd puts it like this, “As with most people, and certainly so many high-achieving people, his strengths were bound up with his weaknesses. It was the youthful trauma of losing everything that made him willing to risk anything. The upside of his profligacy was his generosity. The flip side of his restlessness was his creativity. The corollary of his addictions was his drive. He was a genuine original, and for better and worse, he knew it.”

You can't scale chaos — and most shop owners try to anyway! In this episode, Dominic Rubino from Cabinet Maker Profit System shares why growing your construction or contracting business without fixing your systems is like stepping on the gas with a broken engine. Learn how to slow down, find the root cause of your biggest problems, and build a business that runs smoothly — not one that just runs you ragged. Here's what you'll learn: • Why "busy" doesn't always mean "profitable" • The "I Love Lucy" chocolate-factory lesson every shop owner should know • How to use simple question marks to find and fix root problems • The difference between building on rock vs. sand in your operations • How slowing down can actually help you grow faster If you're tired of putting out fires and ready to take control, this episode will change how you look at growth. Also check out: Cabinet Maker Profit System: https://www.cabinetmakerprofitsystem.com Profit Toolbelt: https://www.profittoolbelt.com/ Contractor Wealth System: https://www.contractorwealthsystem.com/ DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE: @Cabinetmakerprofitsystemcom @profittoolbelt4527 ​

In this impactful and inspiring episode of Unstoppable Mindset, host Michael Hingson sits down with Ronald Cocking—performer, educator, and co-founder of the Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts—to reflect on a remarkable life shaped by rhythm, resilience, and love. Ron's journey into the performing arts began at just five years old, when his passion for tap dance ignited a lifelong commitment to dance and musical theater. From his first professional role at age 15 in My Fair Lady to founding one of Southern California's most impactful arts schools, Ron's story is one of dedication, creativity, and community.   But perhaps the most moving part of Ron's story is his 49-year partnership—both personal and professional—with the late Gloria McMillan, best known as Harriet Conklin from Our Miss Brooks. Together, they created a legacy of mentorship through the Looking Glass Studio, where they taught thousands of students across generations—not just how to act, sing, or dance, but how to live with confidence and integrity.   Ron also reflects on the legacy Gloria left behind, his continued involvement in the arts, and the words of wisdom that guide his life:   “Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” “To find happiness, take the gifts God has given you and give them away.”   This is more than a story of a career in the arts—it's a touching tribute to passion, partnership, and purpose that will leave you inspired.   Highlights:   00:48 – Hear how early radio at home shaped a lifetime love for performance. 03:00 – Discover why drumming and tap both trained his ear for rhythm. 06:12 – Learn how a tough studio change led to ballet, jazz, and tumbling basics. 08:21 – See the “sing with your feet” method that makes tap click for students. 10:44 – Find out how a teen chorus role in My Fair Lady opened pro doors. 13:19 – Explore the drum-and-tap crossover he performed with Leslie Uggams. 15:39 – Learn how meeting Gloria led to a studio launched for $800. 18:58 – Get the long view on running a school for 44 years with family involved. 23:46 – Understand how Our Miss Brooks moved from radio to TV with its cast intact. 32:36 – See how 42nd Street proves the chorus can be the star. 41:51 – Hear why impact matters more than fame when students build careers. 43:16 – Learn what it takes to blend art and business without losing heart. 45:47 – Compare notes on marriage, teamwork, and communication that lasts. 48:20 – Enjoy a rare soft-shoe moment Ron and Gloria performed together. 56:38 – Take away the “teach to fish” approach that builds lifelong confidence.   About the Guest:   My father was a trumpet player, thus I heard music at home often in the early 50's and was always impressed and entertained by the rhythms and beats of Big Band music… especially the drummers.  Each time I would see Tap dancers on TV, I was glued to the screen.  It fascinated me the way Tap dancers could create such music with their feet!   In 1954, at age 5, after begging my Mom and Dad to enroll me in a Tap class, my Dad walked in from work and said “Well, you're all signed up, and your first Tap class is next Tuesday.  I was thrilled and continued studying tap and many other dance forms and performing and teaching dance for all of my life.     In my mid teens, I became serious about dancing as a possible career.  After seeing my first musical, “The Pajama Game” starring Ruth Lee, I new I wanted to do musical theatre.  I got my first professional opportunity at age 15 in “My Fair Lady” for the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera Association and loved every minute of it… and would continue performing for this organization well into my 30's   I met Gloria McMillan in the late 60's while choreographing a summer musical for children.  Gloria's daughter was doing the role of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”.  Then, about 3 or 4 years later I would meet Gloria again and the sparks flew.  And, yes, she was Gloria McMillan of “Our Miss Brooks” fame on both radio and television.  Wow, was I blessed to have crossed paths with her.  We shared our lives together for 49 years.   On November 4, 1974, Gloria and I opened a performing arts school together named “The Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts”.  We would teach and manage the school together for 44 years until we retired on June 30, 2018.  We moved to Huntington Beach, California and spent 3 beautiful years together until she left to meet our Lord in heaven on January 19, 2022.   Ways to connect with Ron:   Lgsparon@aol.com     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi there, wherever you are and wherever you happen to be today. Welcome to unstoppable mindset. I'm your host, Mike hingson, and today we get to chat with Ron Cocking, who is Ron. Well, we're going to find out over the next hour. And Ron was married for many years to another person who is very famous, and we'll get to that, probably not as well known to what I would probably describe as the younger generation, but you're going to get to learn a lot about Ron and his late wife before we're done, and I am sure we're going to have a lot of fun doing it. So let's get to it. Ron, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here.   Ron Cocking ** 01:59 Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. Michael, this. I've been looking forward to this.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 I have been as well, and we're going to have a lot of fun doing it.   Ron Cocking ** 02:08 Do you one note on that last name? It is cocking. Cocking, he comes right? Comes from a little townlet in the coal mining country of England called Cockington.   Michael Hingson ** 02:20 I don't know why I keep saying that, but yeah, cocky, no   02:23 problem.   Michael Hingson ** 02:24 Well, do you go up to the reps recreations at all?   Ron Cocking ** 02:28 Oh my gosh, Gloria. And I know you and Gloria, did do you still do it? I've it's on my schedule for September.   Michael Hingson ** 02:35 I'm gonna miss it this year. I've got a speech to give. So I was going to be playing Richard diamond at recreation. Well, I'll have to be Dick Powell another time, but I thought that you you were still doing   02:50 it. I'm planning on it cool.   Michael Hingson ** 02:53 Well, tell us about the early Ron cocking and kind of growing up in some of that stuff. Let's start with that.   Ron Cocking ** 02:59 Well, the early part of my story was when I was born just a little before television came in, before everyone had a TV in their home. How old are you now? If I maybe, you know, I am now 76   Michael Hingson ** 03:12 Okay, that's what I thought. Yeah, you're one year ahead of me. I'm 75   Ron Cocking ** 03:16 I was born in 49 and so my earliest remembrances my mom and dad and my brother and I lived with our grandfather, and we had no television, but we had this big it must have been about three to four foot tall, this big box on the floor in a very prominent spot in the living room. And that was the Sunday afternoon entertainment. I remember my family sitting around, and I listened and I laughed when they did, but I had no idea what was going on, but that was the family gathering. And just, I know we'll talk about it later, but I I just have this notion that at that time I was laughing, not knowing what I was laughing at, but I bet I was laughing at my future   Michael Hingson ** 04:02 wife, yes, yes, but other things as well. I mean, you probably laughed at Jack Benny and Amos and Andy and   Ron Cocking ** 04:09 yeah, I remember listening to all those folks, and it was just amazing. Then when television came about and my father was a trumpet player, and I loved his trumpet playing, and he practiced often at home. He would sit in his easy chair and play some tunes and scales and that sort of thing. But what captured my ear and my eyes when I went to on rare occasions when I could go to his engagements, it was always the drummer that just stuck out to me. I was mesmerized by the rhythms that they could produce. And when TV came about, I remember the old variety shows, and they often would have tap dancers like. Had a stair gene, Kelly, Peg Leg Bates and the Nicholas brothers, and I just, I was just taken back by the rhythms. It sounded like music to me. The rhythms just made me want to do it. And so I started putting that bug in my parents ears. And I waited and waited. I wanted to take tap dance lessons. And one day, my dad walks in the back door, and I said, Dad, have you signed me up yet? And he said, Yep, you start next Tuesday at 330 in the afternoon. So I was overjoyed, and I went in for my first lesson. And mind you, this was a private tap class. Total Cost of $1.25 and we had a pianist for music, no record player, live piano, wow. And so I, I rapidly fell in love with tap dance.   Michael Hingson ** 05:56 And so you did that when you weren't in school. Presumably, you did go to school.   Ron Cocking ** 06:00 Oh, yeah, I did go to school. Yeah, I did well in school, and I enjoyed school. I did all the athletics. I played little league, and eventually would be a tennis player and water polo and all that stuff. But all through the years, after school was on the way to the dance classes.   Michael Hingson ** 06:16 So you graduated, or I suppose I don't want to insult drumming, but you graduated from drumming to tap dancing, huh?   Ron Cocking ** 06:24 Well, I kept doing them both together. I would dance, and then when my dad would practice, I would beg him to just play a tune like the St Louis Blues, yeah, and so that I could keep time, so I pulled a little stool up in front of an easy chair, and one of the arms of the chair was the ride cymbal, and the other one was the crash cymbal, and the seat of the chair was my snare drum. I would play along with him. And eventually he got tired of that and bought a Hi Fi for my brother and I, and in the bedroom I had a Hi Fi, and I started to put together a set of drums, and I spent hours next to that, Hi Fi, banging on the drums, and I remember it made me feel good. One day, my mom finally said to me, you know, you're starting to sound pretty good, and that that was a landmark for me. I thought, wow, somebody is enjoying my drumming,   Michael Hingson ** 07:18 but you couldn't do drumming and tap dancing at the same time. That would have been a little bit of a challenge. A challenge.   Ron Cocking ** 07:23 No, I would practice that the drums in the afternoon and then head for the dance studio later. And in this case, I was a local boy. I grew up in Riverside California, and my first tap teacher was literally maybe two miles from our house. But that didn't last long. She got married and became pregnant and closed her studio, and then I she recommended that I go see this teacher in San Bernardino by the name of Vera Lynn. And which I did, I remember walking into this gigantic classroom with a bunch of really tall kids, and I was maybe seven or eight years old, and I guess it was kind of an audition class, but after that evening, I she put me in the most appropriate classes, one of which was ballet, which I wasn't too excited about, but they all told me, If you're going to be a serious dancer, even a tap dancer, you need to get the basic body placement from ballet classes. And I said, Well, I am not going to put any tights and a T shirt on. But they finally got me to do that because they told me that the Rams football team took ballet class twice a week at that time. Ah. Said, no kidding. So they got me, they they got you. They got me into ballet class, and then it was jazz, and then it was tumbling, and so I did it all.   Michael Hingson ** 08:43 I remember when we moved to California when I was five, and probably when I was about eight or nine, my brother and I were enrolled by my mother. I guess my parents enrolled us in a dance class. So I took dance class for a few years. I learned something about dancing. I did have a pair of tap shoes, although I didn't do a lot of it, but I, but I did dance and never, never really pursued it enough to become a Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. Well, few of us do. I didn't dislike it. It just didn't happen. But that was okay, but it was fun to, you know, to do it and to learn something about that. And so I even today, I I remember it, and I appreciate it. So that's pretty cool.   Ron Cocking ** 09:32 Well, you would understand what I always told my students, that tap dancing is like singing a song with your feet. Yeah. And I would sing, I would say, you all know, happy birthday, right? So I would sing it, and they would sing it along, and then I'd said, then I would sing it again, and I would sing it totally out of rhythm. And they would wrinkle their nose and look at me and say, okay, so what are you doing? And I'd say, Well, you don't recognize it because the rhythm is not correct. So then I would. Would tap dance Happy birthday, and I'd say, you sing along in your mind and I'm going to tap dance it. And that would always ring a bell in their mind, like, Oh, I get it. The rhythm has to be right on the button, or the people aren't going to recognize   Michael Hingson ** 10:16 that was very clever to do.   Ron Cocking ** 10:18 Yeah, thank you. And they got it, yeah, they got it, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 10:22 which is even, even more important. That's pretty clever. Well, so you did that, and did you do it all the way through high school,   Ron Cocking ** 10:30 all the way through high school? And I think when I was 15, I was, I think I was in the eighth grade, maybe ninth, but I was 15 and got my first chance to I was cast in a professional show for San Bernardino civic light opera Association. And the show was My Fair Lady, and it was my English and journalism teacher at the junior high who had been cast. He was a performer also, but something came up and he couldn't follow through, so he had given the association my name, and I was out in the backyard. My mom came out. Said, Hey, San Bernardino clo just called and they want, they want to see it tonight at seven o'clock. So I put on my dance clothes and went over, and the director, by the name of Gosh, Gene Bayless, came out, and he showed me a couple of steps. And he said, Yeah, let's do it together. And he said, Boy, you unscramble your feet pretty well there kid. And he he looked over into the costumers and said, measure this guy. Let's put him in the show. So I was beside myself. And long story short, I Gosh, I'm over the over the years, I my first show was at age 15 with them, and I participated, did shows with them, until I think my last show, I was about 38 years old, and that last show was anything goes with Leslie uggums, wow.   Michael Hingson ** 11:52 So what part did you play on my fair lady?   Ron Cocking ** 11:55 I was just a chorus kid. I remember in the opening when Eliza sings, that wouldn't it be lovely? Wouldn't it be lovely? I was a street sweeper. I remember I had a broom, and there were three of us, and we were sweeping up that street and working in and around. Eliza Doolittle, of   Michael Hingson ** 12:11 course, being really spiteful. You just said a little while ago, you were beside yourself. And the thing that I got to say to that, quoting the Muppets, is, how do the two of you stand each other? But anyway, that's okay, good in the original Muppet Movie, that line is in there. And I it just came out so fast, but I heard it. I was going, Oh my gosh. I couldn't believe they did that. But anyway, it was so cute, very funny. That's great. So and then you were, you eventually were opposite Leslie UB,   Ron Cocking ** 12:39 yes, that was one of the high points talking about dancing and drumming at the same time. In fact, I used to give a drum a basic drum summer camp where I would teach tappers the basics of music notation, quarter notes, eighth notes, 16th notes. And then we would put a tap orchestra together. Everybody had their own music stand and their own drum pad. I would conduct, and we would play little pieces, and they would they would drum a rhythm, tap, a rhythm, drum, a rhythm, tap, a rhythm. And so anyway, it came full circle. One of the highlights of my dance slash drumming career was this show I did with Leslie uggums, the director had done this prior, and he knew it would work, and so so did the conductor in the entre Act. The top of the second act, the pit orchestra starts and plays like eight measures. And then there were six of us on stage, behind the main curtain, and we would play the next 16 bars, and then we would toss it back to the pit, and then toss it back to us, and the curtain would begin to rise, and we were right into the first song that Leslie uggums sang to get into the second act. Then she wanted to add a couple of songs that she liked, and she was very popular in with the audiences in San Bernardino, so she added a couple of songs, and I got to play those songs with her and and that was just so thrilling. And I with the scene finished, I had to have my tap shoes on, on the drum set. I had to hop down from the riser, and came out, brought one of my Toms with me, and played along with another featured tap dancer that kind of took over the scene at that point. So it was, it was really cool.   Michael Hingson ** 14:31 So with all this drumming, did you ever meet anyone like buddy rip?   Ron Cocking ** 14:35 No, I never met any famous drummers except a man by the name of Jack Sperling, which was one of my drumming idols,   Michael Hingson ** 14:44 Donnie Carson was quite the drummer, as I recall,   Ron Cocking ** 14:48 yeah, he did play yeah and boy, his his drummer, Ed Shaughnessy on his on The Tonight Show was phenomenal. Yeah, he's another of my favorites, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 14:57 well, and I remember. I guess Johnny Carson and Buddy Rich played together, which was kind of fun. They   Ron Cocking ** 15:07 played together, and so did Ed Shaughnessy and Buddy Rich did a little competition on the show one time I realized, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 15:15 right, yeah. Well, and it's interesting to see some of the performers do that. I remember once trying to remember whether what show it was on, maybe it was also a Tonight Show where Steve Martin substituted for Johnny, but he and the steel Canyon, the Steve Canyon band, came out. Of course, he was great on the band, and then flat and Scruggs or flat came out. Or which one? Yeah, which one did the banjo flat, I think, but they, but they banjo together, which was fun?   Ron Cocking ** 15:51 Oh, wow, yeah, yeah. Steve Martin is a tremendous band. He is, Whoa, yeah. I,   Michael Hingson ** 15:56 I have a hard time imagining fingers moving that fast, but that's okay, me too. I saved my fingers for Braille, so it's okay. So where did you go to college?   Ron Cocking ** 16:07 I went to for two years to Riverside City College, Riverside Community College, and then I went for two years to San Bernardino Cal State, San Bernardino, and I was majoring in English because I thought I may want to do some writing. But in the meantime, I became married, I became a father, and so I was trying to work and study and maintain a family life, and I just couldn't do it all. So I didn't quite finish a major at Cal State San Bernardino. I continued actually a nightclub drumming career. And now, now we're getting up to where this our performing arts studio began between Gloria and I.   Michael Hingson ** 16:50 So was it? GLORIA? You married first?   Ron Cocking ** 16:53 No, okay, no, Gloria was married. Gloria was a prior, prior marriage for 20 some years, or 20 years, I guess. And I had been married only two years, I think. And when we first, well, we actually met while we were both. I'll tell you the story in a minute, if you want to hear it. Sure, the first time I ever met Gloria Macmillan, I had no idea who she was, because she her name was Gloria Allen at the time that was, that was her married name that she took after the arm is Brooks TV show. Well, she took that the new name before the TV show even ended. But I was choreographing a children's summer musical, and the director came up said, hey, I want you to meet this young lady's mom. So the young lady was Gloria's daughter, her oldest daughter, Janet. And I said, Sure. So he said, This is Gloria. Allen, Gloria, this is Ron. And we shook hands, and I said, Nice to meet you. And that was it. And so the show happened. It ran for a couple of weeks, and Gloria was a wonderful stage mom. She she never bothered anyone. She watched the show. She was very supportive of her daughter. Didn't, didn't stage manage   Michael Hingson ** 18:09 whatsoever, which wasn't a helicopter mom, which is good,   Ron Cocking ** 18:12 definitely that, which was just really cool. So and so I was maybe three, four years later, so Gloria obviously knew that I could dance, because she had seen me choreographed. So I got a phone call from Gloria Allen, and I said, Okay, I remember her. She wanted to meet because she was thinking about starting an acting school and wanted someone to teach actors some dance movement. So I went over for a interview and took my little at that time, about two and a half year old, daughter, three year old, and we chatted, and oh my gosh, I just this, this beautiful woman swept me off my feet. And of course, I by the end of the conversation, I said, Gosh, you know, we talked about how we would integrate the acting and the dance, and I said, Can I have your phone number? Nope, I got the old well, we'll call you. Don't call us. And so I had to wait for a few days before I got a call back, but I got a call back, and I don't remember a lot of details, but the sparks flew really, really quickly, and we started planning our school. And if you can believe that this was 1973 when we started planning, maybe it was early 74 and we invested a whole total of $800 to get ourselves into business. We bought a record player, some mirrors, some paint, and a business license and a little shingle to hang out front. We had a little one room studio, and we. Opened on November 4, 1974 and we would close the studio on June 30, 2018 Wow.   Michael Hingson ** 20:08 Yeah. So you, you had it going for quite a while, almost, well, actually, more than 40 years. 44 years. 44 years, yes. And you got married along the way.   Ron Cocking ** 20:20 Well along the way, my my wife always said she fell in love with my daughter, and then she had to take me along with her. Yeah. Well, there you go. So we were together constantly, just running the school together. And then eventually I moved over to San Bernardino, and it was, gosh, some 1213, years later, we got married in on June 28 1987 and but nothing really changed, because we had already been living together and raising five children. GLORIA had four from a private prior marriage, and I had my little girl. So we we got all these five kids through elementary and junior high in high school, and they all went to college. And they're all beautiful kids and productive citizens, two of them still in show biz. Her son, my stepson, Christopher Allen, is a successful producer now and of Broadway shows. And our daughter, Barbara Bermudez, the baby that Gloria fell in love with. She's now a producer slash stage manager director. She does really well at big events with keynote speakers. And she'll, if they want her to, she will hire in everything from lighting and sound to extra performers and that sort of thing. And she's, she's just busy constantly all over the world, wow.   Michael Hingson ** 21:43 Well, that's pretty cool. And what are the other three doing?   Ron Cocking ** 21:47 One is a VP of Sales for it's a tub and shower company, jacuzzi, and the other one is a married housewife, but now she is a grandmother and has two little grandkids, and they that's Janet, the one that I originally had worked with in that children's show. And she and her husband live in Chino Hills, California, which is about 40 minutes from here. I live in Huntington Beach, California now,   Michael Hingson ** 22:14 well, and I'm not all that far away from you. We're in Victorville. Oh, Victorville, okay, yeah, the high desert. So the next time you go to Vegas, stop by on your way, I'll do that, since that's mainly what Victorville is probably most known for. I remember when I was growing I grew up in Palmdale, and Palmdale wasn't very large. It only had like about 20 703,000 people. But as I described it to people, Victorville wasn't even a speck on a radar scope compared to Palmdale at that time. Yeah, my gosh, are over 120,000 people in this town?   Ron Cocking ** 22:51 Oh, I remember the drive in the early days from here to Vegas in that you really felt like you could get out on the road all alone and relax and take it all in, and now it can be trafficking all all the   Speaker 1 ** 23:04 way. Yeah, it's crazy. I don't know. I still think they need to do something to put some sort of additional infrastructure, and there's got to be another way to get people to Vegas and back without going on i 15, because it is so crowded, especially around holidays, that one of these days, somebody will get creative. Maybe they'll get one of Tesla's tunnel boring tools, and they'll make a tunnel, and you can go underground the whole way, I don't know,   Ron Cocking ** 23:32 but that would be, that would be great. Something like that would happen.   Michael Hingson ** 23:38 Well, so you you started the school and and that did, pretty cool. Did, did Gloria do any more acting after our Miss Brooks? And then we should explain our Miss Brooks is a show that started on radio. Yes, it went on to television, and it was an arm is Brooks. Miss Brooks played by e vardin. Was a teacher at Madison High, and the principal was Osgood Conklin, played by Gail Gordon, who was absolutely perfect for the part. He was a crotchety old curmudgeon by any standards. And Gloria played his daughter, Harriet correct. And so when it went from radio to television, one of the things that strikes me about armas Brooks and a couple of those shows, burns and Allen, I think, is sort of the same. Jack Benny was a little different. But especially armas Brooks, it just seems to me like they they took the radio shows and all they did was, did the same shows. They weren't always the same plots, but it was, it was radio on television. So you, you had the same dialog. It was really easy for me to follow, and it was, was fascinating, because it was just like the radio shows, except they were on television.   Ron Cocking ** 24:56 Yeah, pretty much. In fact, there were a lot, there's lots of episodes. Episodes that are even named the same name as they had on the radio, and they're just have to be reworked for for the television screen,   Michael Hingson ** 25:08 yeah, but the the dialog was the same, which was so great,   Ron Cocking ** 25:13 yeah, yeah. And to see what was I going to add, it was our Miss Brooks was one of the very few radio shows that made the transition to television with the cast with the same intact. Yeah, everybody looked like they sounded. So it worked when they were in front of the camera. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 25:33 it sort of worked with Jack Benny, because most of the well, all the characters were in it, Don Wilson, Mary, Livingston, Dennis day, Rochester, world, yeah. And of course, Mel Blanc, yeah, oh.   Ron Cocking ** 25:49 GLORIA tells a story. She she and her mom, Hazel, were walking down the street on the way to do a radio show in the old days in Hollywood, and here comes Mel blank, he says, he pulls over. Says, Hey, where are you girls headed because I know that he probably recognized them from being at at CBS all the time, and they said, We're headed to CBS. He said, hop in. Oh, that's where I'm going. So Mel Brooks gave her a ride to the Mel Blanc, yeah, would have been   Michael Hingson ** 26:15 fun if Mel Brooks had but that's okay, Young Frankenstein, but that's another story. It is. But that's that's cool. So did they ever? Did she ever see him any other times? Or was that it?   Ron Cocking ** 26:30 No, I think that was it. That's the one story that she has where Mel Blanc is involved.   Michael Hingson ** 26:36 What a character, though. And of course, he was the man of a million voices, and it was just incredible doing I actually saw a couple Jack Benny shows this morning and yesterday. One yesterday, he was Professor LeBlanc teaching Jack Benny how to play the violin, which was a lost cause.   Ron Cocking ** 26:59 Actually, Jack Benny was not a bad view. No,   Michael Hingson ** 27:01 he wasn't violent. No, he wasn't. He had a lot of fun with it, and that stick went straight in from radio to television, and worked really well, and people loved it, and you knew what was going to happen, but it didn't matter. But it was still   Ron Cocking ** 27:16 funny, and I'm sure during the transition they there was a little bit of panic in the writers department, like, okay, what are we going to do? We got to come up with a few shows. We got to get ahead a little bit. So the writing being just a little different, I'm sure that's part of the reason why they went back and kind of leaned on the old, old script somewhat, until they kind of cut their teeth on the new this new thing called television   Michael Hingson ** 27:39 well, but they still kept a lot of the same routines in one way or another.   Ron Cocking ** 27:45 Yeah, when they work, they work, whether you're just listening or whether you're watching,   Michael Hingson ** 27:48 right, exactly what other shows made it from radio to television with the cast   Ron Cocking ** 27:53 intact? You know, I am not up on that number. I   Michael Hingson ** 27:57 know there were a couple that did. RMS, Brooks was, well, oh no, I was gonna say Abbott and Costello, but that was different, but our Miss Brooks certainly did. If   Ron Cocking ** 28:09 the Bickersons did, I forget the two actors that did that show, but that was a really, Francis   Michael Hingson ** 28:13 Langford and Donna Michi could be, but I think burns and Allen, I think, kept the same people as much as there were. Harry bonzell was still with them, and so on. But it was interesting to see those. And I'm awake early enough in the morning, just because it's a good time to get up, and I get and be real lazy and go slowly to breakfast and all that. But I watched the Benny show, and occasionally before it, I'll watch the burns and Allen show. And I think that the plots weren't as similar from radio to television on the burns and Allen show as they weren't necessarily in the Benny show, but, but it all worked.   Ron Cocking ** 28:58 Yeah, yeah. That's why they were on the air for so long?   Michael Hingson ** 29:02 Yeah, so what other kind of acting did Gloria do once? So you guys started the school   Ron Cocking ** 29:10 well after she well, when we started the school, we found ourselves, you know, raising five children. And so I continued playing nightclub gigs. I had one, one nightclub job for like, five years in a row with two wonderful, wonderful musicians that were like fathers to me. And Gloria actually went to work for her brother in law, and she became a salesperson, and eventually the VP of Sales for a fiberglass tub and shower business down here in Santa Ana. So she drove that 91 freeway from San Bernardino, Santa Ana, all the time. But in,   Michael Hingson ** 29:47 yeah, you could do it back then, much more than now. It was a little better   Ron Cocking ** 29:51 and but in, but twist in between, she managed. Her mom still did a little bit of agency. And she would call Gloria and say. Want you to go see so and so. She did an episode of perfect strangers. She did an episode with Elliot of the guy that played Elliot Ness, stack the show Robert Stack the show was called Help Wanted no see. I guess that was an in but wanted, anyway, she did that. She did a movie with Bruce Dern and Melanie Griffith called Smile. And so she kept, she kept her foot in the door, but, but not, not all that much she she really enjoyed when John Wilder, one of her childhood acting buddies, who she called her brother, and he still calls her sis, or he would call her sis, still. His name was Johnny McGovern when he was a child actor, and when he decided to try some movie work, he there was another Johnny McGovern in Screen Actors Guild, so he had to change his name to John Wyler, but he did that mini series called centennial, and he wanted Gloria for a specific role, to play a German lady opposite the football player Alex Karras. And they had a couple of really nice scenes together. I think she was in three, maybe four of the segments. And there were many segments, it was like a who's who in Hollywood, the cast of that show   Michael Hingson ** 31:28 does that was pretty cool.   Ron Cocking ** 31:32 But anyway, yeah, after Gloria finished armas Brooks, she became married to Gilbert Allen, who, who then became a Presbyterian minister. So Gloria, when you said, Did she continue acting? There's a lot of acting that goes on being a minister and being a minister's wife, and she would put together weddings for people, and that sort of thing. And she did that for 20 years. Wow. So she Gloria was a phenomenon. She did so many things. And she did them all so very well, in my   Speaker 1 ** 32:04 opinion. And so did you? Yeah, which is, which is really cool. So you, but you, you both started the school, and that really became your life's passion for 44 years. Yes,   Ron Cocking ** 32:16 we would get up in the mornings, go do a little business, come home, have a little lunch, go back about 132 o'clock, and we would normally crank up about four after the kids get out of school, and we would teach from four to nine, sometimes to 10. Go out, have some dinner. So yeah, we pretty much 24/7 and we had had such similar backgrounds. Hers on a national radio and television scale, and mine on a much more local, civic light opera scale. But we both had similar relations with our our moms after after the radio tapings and the TV things. GLORIA And her mom. They lived in Beverly Hills, right at Wilshire and Doheny, and they had their favorite chocolate and ice cream stops. And same thing for me, my mom would take me there, two doors down from the little studio where I was taking my tap classes. There was an ice cream parlor, haywoods ice cream. And that was, that was the the lure, if you go in and if you do your practicing, Ronnie, you can, I'll take it for an ice cream so that I did my practicing, had plenty of little treats on the way, so we had that in common, and we both just had very supportive moms that stayed out of the way, not, not what I would call a pushy parent, or, I think you mentioned the helicopter, helicopter, but it   Michael Hingson ** 33:37 but it sounds like you didn't necessarily need the bribes to convince you to tap dance, as you know, anyway, but they didn't hurt.   Ron Cocking ** 33:46 No, it didn't hurt at all, and it was something to look forward to, but I I just enjoyed it all along. Anyway, I finally got to to really showcase what I could do when I was cast as the dance director in the show 42nd street. Oh, wow. And I was lucky. We were lucky. San Bernardino clo was able to hire John Engstrom, who had done the show on Broadway. The earlier version that came, I think it was on Broadway in the mid or to late 70s. He had worked side by side with Gower Champion putting the show together. He told us all sorts of stories about how long it took Gower to put together that opening dance. Because everything in the opening number you you see those steps later in the show done by the chorus, because the opening number is an audition for dancers who want to be in this new Julian Marsh show. So the music starts, the audience hears, I know there must have been 20 of us tapping our feet off. And then a few seconds later, the curtain rises about two and a half feet. And then they see all these tapping feet. And then the main curtain goes out, and there we all are. And. I my part. I was facing upstage with my back to the audience, and then at some point, turned around and we did it was the most athletic, difficult, two and a half minute tap number I had ever done, I'll bet. But it was cool. There were five or six kids that had done it on Broadway and the national tour. And then during that audition, one more high point, if we have the time, we I was auditioning just like everybody else. The director had called and asked if I would audition, but he wasn't going to be choreographing. John Engstrom was so with there was probably 50 or 60 kids of all ages, some adults auditioning, and at one point, John pulled out one of the auditioners, and he happened to be one of my male tap dance students. And he said, Now I want everybody to watch Paul do this step. Paul did the step. He said, Now he said, Paul, someone is really teaching you well. He said, everybody that's the way to do a traveling timestamp so and that, you know, I'll remember that forever. And it ended up he hired. There were seven myself and seven other of my students were cast in that show. And some of them, some of them later, did the show in Las Vegas, different directors. But yeah, that, that was a high point for me.   Speaker 1 ** 36:19 I'm trying to remember the first time I saw 42nd street. I think I've seen it twice on Broadway. I know once, but we also saw it once at the Lawrence Welk Resorts condo there, and they did 42nd street. And that was a lot of that show was just a lot of fun. Anyway,   Ron Cocking ** 36:39 it's a fun show. And as John said in that show, The chorus is the star of the show.   Speaker 1 ** 36:45 Yeah, it's all about dancing by any by any definition, any standard. It's a wonderful show. And anybody who is listening or watching, if you ever get a chance to go see 42nd street do it, it is, it is. Well, absolutely, well worth it.   Ron Cocking ** 37:00 Yeah, good. Good show. Fantastic music, too. Well.   Michael Hingson ** 37:03 How did you and Gloria get along so well for so long, basically, 24 hours a day, doing everything together that that I would think you would even be a little bit amazed, not that you guys couldn't do it, but that you did it so well, and so many people don't do it well,   Ron Cocking ** 37:21 yeah, I don't know I from, from the the first time we met, we just seemed to be on the same wavelength. And by the way, I found out as time went by, Gloria was like Mrs. Humble. She wasn't a bragger, very humble. And it took me a while to find out what an excellent tap dancer she was. But when we went to the studio in the early days, we had, we just had one room. So she would teach actors for an hour, take a break. I would go in teach a tap class or a movement class or a ballet class. I in the early days, I taught, I taught it all. I taught ballet and jazz and and and and   Michael Hingson ** 38:01 tap. Well, let's let's be honest, she had to be able to tap dance around to keep ahead of Osgoode Conklin, but that's another story.   Ron Cocking ** 38:09 Yeah. So yeah, that. And as our studio grew, we would walk every day from our first studio down to the corner to a little wind chills donut shop wind chills donuts to get some coffee and come back. And about a year and a half later, after walking by this, this retail vacant spot that was two doors from our studio, we said, I wonder if that might be, you know, something for us, it had a four lease sign. So, long story short, we released it. The owner of the property loved knowing that Gloria Macmillan was that space. And so luckily, you know when things are supposed to happen. They happen as people would move out next to us, we would move in. So we ended up at that particular studio with five different studio rooms. Wow. And so then we can accommodate all of the above, acting, singing classes, all the dance disciplines, all at the same time, and we can, like, quadruple our student body. So then we made another move, because the neighborhood was kind of collapsing around us, we made another room and purchased a building that had been built as a racquetball club. It had six racquetball courts, all 20 by 40, beautiful hardwood. We made four of them, five of them into studios, and then there was a double racquetball racquetball court in the front of the building which they had tournaments in it was 40 by 40 we moved. We made that into a black box theater for Gloria. And the back wall of the theater was one inch glass outside of which the audiences for the racquetball tournaments used to sit. But outside the glass for us, we had to put curtains there, and out front for us was our. Gigantic lobby. The building was 32,000 square feet. Wow, we could it just made our heart, hearts sing when we could walk down that hallway and see a ballet class over here, a tap class over there, singers, singing actors in the acting room. It was beautiful. And again, it was just meant for us because it was our beautiful daughter, Kelly, who passed away just nine months after Gloria did. She's the one that said, you guys ought to look into that. And I said, Well, it's a racquetball court. But again, the first moment we walked in the front door, you start. We started thinking like, whoa. I think we could make this work. And it worked for another 20 years for us and broke our hearts to basically rip it apart, tear the theater down, and everything when we were moving out, because we we couldn't find another studio that was interested in in coming in, because they would have had to purchase the building. We wanted to sell the building. Yeah. So anyway, of all things, they now sell car mufflers out of there.   Michael Hingson ** 41:02 That's a little different way, way. Yeah, social shock, did any of your students become pretty well known in the in the entertainment world?   Ron Cocking ** 41:11 I wouldn't say well known, but a lot of them have worked a lot and made careers. Some of our former students are now in their 50s, middle 50s, pushing 60, and have done everything from cruise ship to Las Vegas to regional some national tours, even our son, Christopher, he did the national tour of meet me in St Louis with Debbie Boone, okay, and he's the one that is Now a successful producer. He's his latest hit. Well, his first, what can be considered legitimately a Broadway hit show was the show called shucked, and it opened about two years ago, I think, and I finally got to go back to New York and see it just a month before it closed. Very hilarious. Takes place in Iowa. The whole show is built around a county in which everybody that lives there makes their living off of corn, making whiskey. And it is a laugh, way more than a laugh a minute. But anyway, we had one of Gloria's acting students who was hired on with a Jonathan Winters TV sitcom called Davis rules. It ran for two seasons, and here he was like 16 or 17 years old, making, I think it was. He was making $8,000 a week, and he was in heaven. He looked like the Son he played, the grandson of Jonathan Winters and the son of Randy Quaid and so he, yeah, he was in heaven. And then after that, he did a very popular commercial, the 711 brain freeze commercial for Slurpee. The Slurpee, yeah, and he made the so much money from that, but then he kind of disappeared from showbiz. I don't know what he's doing nowadays,   Speaker 1 ** 43:00 but it's, it's, it's interesting to, you know, to hear the stories. And, yeah, I can understand that, that not everybody gets to be so famous. Everybody knows them, but it's neat that you had so many people who decided to make entertainment a career. So clearly, you had a pretty good influence on a lot of, a lot of kids.   Ron Cocking ** 43:20 Yes, I over the years, Gloria and I felt like we had 1000s of children of our own, that they that we had raised together. It's really a good feeling. And I still get phone calls. We got a phone call once a few years back from from one of our students who had been trying to crack the nut in New York, and she called us like 530 in the morning, because, of course, it was Yeah, but she had just signed her first national tour contract and was going to go out with the show cabaret. So fortunately, we were able to drive up to Santa not let's see, it's just below San San Jose. The show came through San Jose, and we got to see her up there. But those kinds of things are what made us keep teaching, year after year, all these success stories. Of course, we have former students that are now lawyers. Those are actors. Well, we   Michael Hingson ** 44:17 won't hold it and we understand, yeah and they are actors, by all means. How many teachers did you have in the studio when you had the big building?   Ron Cocking ** 44:26 Gosh, at one time, we had 10 or 12 teachers, teaching vocal teachers, two or three ballet teachers, jazz teachers, and you both taught as well. And we both continued teaching all through that time. We never just became managers, although that's that was part of it, and mixing business with art is a challenge, and it takes kind of a different mindset, and then what an unstoppable mindset you have to have in order to mix business with performing, because it's too. Different sides of your brain and a lot of patience and a lot of patience. And guess who taught me patience? Uh huh, Gloria Macmillan.   Michael Hingson ** 45:09 I would Conklin's daughter, yes, and I'll bet that's where she learned patience. No, I'm just teasing, but yeah, I hear you, yeah. Well, I know Karen and I were married for 40 years, until she passed in November of 2022 and there's so many similarities in what you're talking about, because we we could do everything together. We had challenges. Probably the biggest challenge that we ever had was we were living in Vista California, and I was working in Carlsbad, and the president of our company decided that we should open an office, because I was being very successful at selling to the government, we should open an office in the DC area. And so we both got excited about that. But then one day he came in and he had this epiphany. He said, No, not Virginia. I want you to open an office in New York. And Karen absolutely hated that she was ready to go to Virginia and all that.   Speaker 1 ** 46:15 But the problem for me was it was either move to New York or take a sales territory that didn't sell very much anymore. The owner wasn't really willing to discuss it, so we had some challenges over that, but the marriage was strong enough that it that it worked out, and we moved to New Jersey, and Karen made a lot of friends back there, but, you know, we always did most everything together. And then when the pandemic occurred, being locked down, it just proved all the more we just did everything together. We were together. We talked a lot, which is, I think one of the keys to any good marriages, and you talk and communicate.   Ron Cocking ** 46:56 Yes, in fact, when after we closed the studio in 2018 it took us a few more months to sell our home, and then when we moved down here, it was only about, I don't know, I don't know if it was a full year or not, but the pandemic hit and but it really didn't bother us, because we had, we had been working the teaching scene for so many years that we basically Were done. We basically walked out of the studio. We did. Neither of us have the desire to, well, let's continue in at some level, no, we cherished our time together. We have a little porch out in front of our home here, and it gets the ocean breeze, and we would sit for hours and chat. And oddly enough, not oddly, one of our favorite things to do, we have a website that we went to that had, I think, every radio show of armas Brooks ever made. And we would sit listen to those and just laugh. And, in fact, Gloria, there are some. She said, You know what? I don't even remember that episode at all. So yeah, that that was an interesting part. But yeah, Gloria and I, like your wife and you really enjoyed time together. We never talked about needing separate vacations or anything if we wanted to do something. We did it   Speaker 1 ** 48:16 together, yeah, and we did too. And you know, for us it was, it was out of desire, but also was easier for us, because she was in a wheelchair her whole life. I was I'm blind. I've been blind my whole life. And as I tell people, the marriage worked out well. She read, I pushed, and in reality, that really is the way it worked, yeah, yeah. Until she started using a power chair. Then I didn't push. I kept my toes out of the way. But still, it was, it was really did meld and mesh together very well and did everything   Ron Cocking ** 48:49 together. That's fantastic. I'm proud of you, Michael, and it really   Michael Hingson ** 48:53 it's the only way to go. So I miss her, but like, I keep telling people she's somewhere monitoring me, and if I misbehave, I'm going to hear about it. So I got to be a good kid,   Ron Cocking ** 49:04 and I'll hear I'll get some notes tonight from the spirit of Gloria McMillan too. I prayed to her before I went on. I said, please let the words flow and please not let me say anything that's inappropriate. And I think she's guided me through okay so far.   Michael Hingson ** 49:20 Well, if, if you do something you're not supposed to, she's gonna probably hit you upside the head. You know, did you two ever actually get to perform together?   Ron Cocking ** 49:30 Oh, I'm glad you asked that, because, well, it had been years since I knew that she was a darn good tap dancer. In fact, I had a tap dancing ensemble of of my more advanced kids, and if they wanted to dedicate the extra time that it took, we rehearsed them and let them perform at free of charge once they made it to that group, they they did not pay to come in and rehearse with me, because I would spend a lot of time standing there creating so. So we were doing a performance, and we wanted to spotlight, I forget the exact reason why we wanted to spotlight some of Gloria's career. Talk about radio a little bit. And I said, Gloria, would you do a little soft shoe routine? And because we had invited a mutual friend of ours, Walden Hughes, from the reps organization, and he was going to be the guest of honor, so I talked her into it. At first she wasn't going to go for it, but we had so much fun rehearsing it together. And it wasn't a long routine, it was relatively short, beautiful music, little soft shoe, and it was so much fun to say that we actually tap danced together. But the other times that we actually got to work together was at the old time radio conventions, mostly with reps, and that's really when I got to sit on stage. I was kind of typecast as an announcer, and I got to do some commercials. I got to sing once with Lucy arnazza. Oh, life, a life boy soap commercial. But when Gloria, Well, Gloria did the lead parts, and oh my gosh, that's when I realized what a superb actress she was. And if I don't know if you've heard of Greg Oppenheimer, his father, Jess Oppenheimer created the I Love Lucy shows, and so Gloria loved Jess Oppenheimer. And so Greg Oppenheimer, Jess Son, did a lot of directing, and oh my gosh, I would see he came in very well prepared and knew how the lines should be delivered. And if Gloria was not right on it, he would say, No, wait a minute, Gloria, I want you to emphasize the word decided, and that's going to get the laugh. And when he gave her a reading like that man, the next time she went through that dialog, just what he had asked for. And I thought, Oh my gosh. And her timing, after watching so many armist Brooks TV and listening to radio shows. GLORIA learned her comedic timing from one of the princesses of comedy timing is Eve Arden, right? They were so well for obvious reasons. They were so very similar. And if you have time to story for another story, do you know have you heard of Bob Hastings? He was the lieutenant on McHale's navy. McHale's Navy, right? Yeah. Well, he also did a lot of old time radio. So we went up to Seattle,   Michael Hingson ** 52:32 our two grandkids, Troy Amber, he played, not Archie. Was it Henry Aldridge? He was on,   Ron Cocking ** 52:40 I think you're right. I'm not too up on the cast of the old time radio show. Yeah, I think you're right. But anyway, he was there, and there was an actress that had to bow out. I don't know who that was, but our grandsons and Gloria and I, we walked in, and as usual, we say hi to everybody. We're given a big packet of six or eight scripts each, and we go to our room and say, Oh my gosh. Get out the pencils, and we start marking our scripts. So we get a phone call from Walden, and he said, hey, Ron Bob. Bob Hastings wants to see Gloria in his room. He wants to read through he's not sure if he wants to do the Bickersons script, because he you know, the gal bowed out and right, you know, so Gloria went down   Michael Hingson ** 53:23 couple of doors, coming   Ron Cocking ** 53:26 Yes, and she so she came back out of half an hour, 40 minutes later, and she said, well, that little stinker, he was auditioning me. He went in and she went in and he said, Well, you know, I don't know if I want to do this. It doesn't seem that funny to me. Let's read a few lines. Well, long story short, they read the whole thing through, and they were both, they were both rolling around the floor. I'll bet they laughing and so and then jump to the following afternoon, they did it live, and I was able to watch. I had some pre time, and I watched, and they were just fantastic together. I left after the show, I went to the green room, had a little snack, and I was coming back to our room, walking down the hall, and here comes Bob Hastings, and he says, oh, Ron. He said, Your wife was just fantastic. So much better than the other girl would have been. So when I told GLORIA That story that made her her day, her week. She felt so good about that. So that's my Bob Hastings story. Bob Hastings and Gloria Macmillan were great as the Bickersons.   Speaker 1 ** 54:29 Yeah, that was a very clever show. It started on the Danny Thomas show, and then they they ended up going off and having their own show, Francis Langford and Donna Michi, but they were very clever.   Ron Cocking ** 54:42 Now, did you realize when now that you mentioned Danny Thomas? Did you realize that Gloria's mom, Hazel McMillan, was the first female agent, talent agent in Hollywood? No, and that's how you know when the. They moved from from Portland, Oregon, a little city outside of Portland. They moved because Gloria's mom thought she had talent enough to do radio, and it wasn't a year after they got here to LA that she did her first national show for Lux radio at the age of five. That was in 1937 with with Edward G Robinson. I've got a recording of that show. What's what show was it? It was a Christmas show. And I don't remember the name of the of it, but it was a Christmas show. It was Walden that sent us. Sent   Michael Hingson ** 55:33 it to us. I'll find it. I've got it, I'm sure.   Ron Cocking ** 55:35 And so, yeah, so, so Gloria was a member of what they called the 500 club. There was a group of, I don't know, nine or 10 kids that by the time the photograph that I have of this club, it looks like Gloria is around 12 to 14 years old, and they had all done 500 or more radio shows. Wow, that's a lot of radio show. There's a lot of radio So Gloria did, I mean, I got a short my point was, her mom was an agent, and when Gloria was working so consistently at armas Brooks, she said, Well, I'm kind of out of a job. I don't need to take you. GLORIA could drive then. And so she came back from the grocery store, Ralph's market near Wilshire and Doheny, and she came back said, Well, I know what I'm going to do. I ran into this cute little boy at the grocery store. I'm going to represent him for television. And she that's, she started the Hazel McMillan agency, and she ran that agency until she just couldn't anymore. I think she ran it until early 1980s but she, my god, she represented people like Angela Cartwright on the Danny Thomas show and Kathy Garver on, all in the family a family affair. Family Affair. Yeah. Jane north. Jane North went in for Dennis the Menace. He didn't get the role. He came back said, Hazel, I don't think they liked me, and they didn't. They didn't call me back or anything. Hazel got on that phone, said, Look, I know this kid can do what you're asking for. I want you to see him again. He went back and they read him again. He got the part, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 57:21 and he was perfect for it.   Ron Cocking ** 57:22 He was perfect for that part was, I'm sorry.   Michael Hingson ** 57:27 It's sad that he passed earlier this year.   Ron Cocking ** 57:29 Yeah, he passed and he had, he had a tough life, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 57:36 well, you know, tell me you, you have what you you have some favorite words of wisdom. Tell me about those.   Ron Cocking ** 57:45 Oh, this goes back to the reason why I came across this when I was looking for something significant to say on the opening of one of our big concert programs. We used to do all of our shows at the California theater of Performing Arts in San Bernardino, it's a really, a real gem of a theater. It's where Will Rogers gave his last performance. And so I came across this, and it's, I don't know if this is biblical, you might, you might know, but it's, if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. And that's what I felt like Gloria and I were trying to do. We wanted to teach these kids as as professionally. We treated our students as they were, as if they were little professionals. We we expected quality, we expected them to work hard, but again, Gloria taught me patience, unending patience. But we knew that we wanted them to feel confident when the time came, that they would go out and audition. We didn't want them to be embarrassed. We want we wanted them to be able to come back to us and say, Boy, I felt so good at that audition. I knew all the steps I was and I and I read so well it was. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And so that aspect of it, we felt that we were feeding them for a lifetime, but we also were creating all of these arts patrons, all these lovers of the arts, 1000s of kids now love to go to musicals and movies and plays because they've kind of been there and done that at our studio. And so anyway, that's and whether, whether or not it was their confidence in show business or whether it was their confidence we've had so many calls from and visits from parents and former students saying, Boy, I just was awarded a job. And they said my my communication skills were excellent, and I owe that to Gloria. I was on the beach the other day, and I looked over and there was this young man and his wife. I assumed it was his wife. It was they were setting. Up their beach chairs, and I looked and I say, Excuse me, is your name Brandon? And he said, No, but he said, Is your name Ron? And I said, Yes. He said, No, my name is Eric. And I said, Eric puentes. And so we reminisced for a while. He took tap from me. He took acting from Gloria, and he said, you know, he was sad to hear of Gloria's passing. And he said, You know, I owe so much to Gloria. I learned so much about speaking in front of groups. And he is now a minister. He has his own church in Redlands, California, and he's a minister. And of all the billion people on the beach, he sits next to me. So that's one of those things when it's supposed to   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:41 happen. It happens. It does. Yeah, well, and as we talked about earlier, you and Gloria did lots of stuff with reps, and I'm going to miss it this time, but I've done a few, and I'm going to do some more. What I really enjoy about people who come from the radio era, and who have paid attention to the radio era is that the acting and the way they project is so much different and so much better than people who have no experience with radio. And I know Walden and I have talked about the fact that we are looking to get a grant at some point so that we can train actors or people who want to be involved in these shows, to be real actors, and who will actually go back and listen to the shows, listen to what people did, and really try to bring that forward into the recreations, because so many people who haven't really had the experience, or who haven't really listened to radio programs sound so forced, as opposed to natural.   Ron Cocking ** 1:01:46 I agree, and I know exactly what you're saying. In fact, Walden on a couple of at least two or three occasions, he allowed us to take some of Gloria's acting students all the way to Seattle, and we did some in for the spurred vac organization Los Angeles, we did a beautiful rendition of a script that we adapted of the Velveteen Rabbit. And of all people, Janet Waldo agreed to do the fairy at the end, and she was exquisite. And it's only like, I don't know, four or five lines, and, oh my gosh, it just wrapped it up with a satin bow. And, but, but in some of our kids, yeah, they, they, they were very impressed by the radio, uh, recreations that they were exposed to at that convention.   Speaker 1 ** 1:02:37 Yeah, yeah. Well, and it's, it is so wonderful to hear some of these actors who do it so well, and to really see how they they are able to pull some of these things together and make the shows a lot better. And I hope that we'll see more of that. I hope that we can actually work to teach more people how to really deal with acting from a standpoint of radio,   Ron Cocking ** 1:03:04 that's a great idea. And I know Walden is really sensitive to that. He Yeah, he would really be a proponent of that.   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:10 Oh, he and I have talked about it. We're working on it. We're hoping we can get some things. Well, I want to thank you for being here. We've been doing this an hour already.  

China's Xi Jin Ping calls Trump out for taking credit for yet another peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia at the APEC summit. What happened , which conflict is he boasting about, how did he get rid of actual peacebuilding infrastructure, and why is Trump like something out of an I Love Lucy episode? Hosted by Samantha Karlin, leadership and international affairs expert. Sponsored by Empower Global- a groundbreaking cross cultural leadership development company for global organizations, http://www.empowerglobal.netAnd the Women's Leadership Challenge, the number one program for changemaking women around the world. Http://www.womensleadershipchallenge.com

The musical Wildcat opened on Broadway in New York City in 1960 and starred Lucille Ball in her only starring Broadway role. She was 49 at the time and had wrapped up her hit TV show, I Love Lucy, three years prior.  Lucy plays the lead role of Wildcat Jackson, who comes to Centavo City in search of striking oil and making it rich.

State Senator Scott Wiener is angling for Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat but a New York Times magazine investigation links Wiener's 2022 “Safer Streets for All Act” to a boom in the sex-trafficking of children in California. In other news: Newsom matches Trump in the theatrical use of National Guardsmen, the Los Angeles school teacher who called for armed resistance to immigration enforcement, the “Wealth Tax” makes a California comeback, and how I Love Lucy changed television and the world. Bonus: Lance Christensen discusses some 800 bills now turned into law, as Gavin Newsom force-feeds Californians already choking on regulation. Music by Metalachi.Email Us:dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.comwill@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:@DavidBahnsen@WillSwaim@TheRadioFreeCAShow Notes:Can Anyone Rescue the Trafficked Girls of L.A.'s Figueroa Street?Newsom Says Trump Is ‘Rigging the Election' With Federal Poll MonitorsInside the Tech CEO Campaign to Stop Trump From Sending Troops to San FranciscoNational Guard troops, deployed by Newsom, arrive at LA Regional Food Bank amid government shutdownThe Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012 The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012Los Angeles teacher says ICE agents are 'not the only ones with guns' following shooting of federal agentShould billionaires pay more? California unions want voters to decideThe Force awakens in San Jose Cash payments to unhoused people likely won't end homelessness, but recipients spent wisely, California study saysPhillips 66, Kinder plan first-ever California-bound fuel pipelineBill-O-Rama with Lance Christensen:SB 414 (Ashby) – Regulating charter schools to death (cf AB 84, Muratsuchi) – VETOEDSB 848 (Perez) – Stop passing the trash teachers bill from the Senate Ed Chair – SIGNEDAB 1454 (Rivas) – Holding school districts accountable for literacy scores now that AB 1454 (Rivas) passedAB 1370 (Patterson) – NDA prohibitions for the legislature (Zavala interview) – SIGNEDSB 237 (Grayson) – Allowing more oil drilling in CA – SIGNEDAB 1207 (Irwin) – Continuing cap and tax program – SIGNED Is cap and tax slowly dying to accommodate need for massive increase in electrical production to provide for more AI, datacenter capacity? (CalMatter's piece)AB 628: A Costly New Mandate For California Landlords – SIGNED AB 1264 that eliminated ultra processed foods for kids, but is still gung-ho on sterilizing and mutilating them (Gov press release) – SIGNED Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Everyone loves Lucy! I Love Lucy and its stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz remain legends some 70 years after the classic TV comedy premiered. Fans of this show have likely read many books about Lucy or Desi and Lucy, or the show itself. But no book has been written that focuses on the life […]

Mark Simone talks about the most Instagramable city in the world; the President of France starts his prison term; AOC raising funds to take on Chuck Schumer; Bill Maher gives advice to Democrats;  early voting starts this weekend; Letitia James pleads not guilty in court;  Costco is getting into the Ozempic business; the downsides to using weight loss drugs; only one person left alive from the cast of 'I Love Lucy .'

Todd Purdum joins Zach to unpack Desi Arnaz's wild arc: raised like a prince in Cuba, exiled at 16 by revolution, hustling in Miami, inventing the conga craze, then conquering Broadway and Hollywood with Lucille Ball. We dig into trauma that fueled his genius, the invention of the three-camera sitcom, catching "Lightning In A Bottle" with I Love Lucy, womanizing, marriage cracks and goodbyes, and the fingerprints Desi left on modern television. Guest bio: Todd S. Purdum is a veteran journalist and author whose forty-year career has spanned The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Politico, and The Atlantic. He's covered everything from city hall to the White House, served as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief, and written definitive books on both Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution and the political drama behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He is the author of 'Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television.' This is only the first half of the episode with Todd Purdum. To get the full episode (audio and video), subscribe to The Zach Show 2.0 today: https://thezachshow.supercast.com/ TODD PURDUM LINKS:Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television: https://bit.ly/4opO7StAuthor Page: http://bit.ly/3L0BoY6New York Times Archive: https://www.nytimes.com/by/todd-s-purdumAll Books: http://bit.ly/3J97tMU THE ZACH SHOW LINKS: The Zach Show 2.0: https://thezachshow.supercast.com/Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3zaS6sPYouTube: https://bit.ly/3lTpJdjWebsite: https://www.auxoro.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auxoroTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thezachshowpod If you're not ready to subscribe to The Zach Show 2.0, rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts is free and massively helpful. It boosts visibility, helps new listeners discover the show, and keeps this chaos alive. Thank you: Rate The Zach Show on Spotify: https://bit.ly/43ZLrAtRate The Zach Show on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/458nbha  

3pm: I Was Thinking: John the Lion tamer // This Day in History: 1951 - “I Love Lucy” Premieres // Another world record holder crowned before John

In todays episode of Good Mornin' Amigo we talked about iconic American sitcoms such as "I Love Lucy", influencers, stay at home parents, and we celebrated the ending of Hispanic Heritage month.

It's All Been Done Radio Hour Commercial #300  Halftime Report #21 "In Mourning"     Bob tries to comfort Cheryl as she mournings the impending end of Daniel Kravitz, Chosen One.     Visit our website http://iabdpresents.com Script books, clothing, and more at https://amzn.to/3km2TLm Please support us at http://patreon.com/IABD   A comedy radio show originally performed on Saturday, October 12, 2024, at Boxland in Columbus, Ohio. New episodes streaming live on the 2nd Saturday of every month at 5PM Eastern on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook! And now performing live at MadLab theatre in Columbus, Ohio!      STARRING Kristin Green as Cheryl  Ben Neidenthal as Bob    Narrated by Darren Esler  Foley Artist Megan Overholt  Podcast edited by Trulie Awesome Productions     It's All Been Done Radio Hour created and produced by Jerome Wetzel  Written by Jerome Wetzel  Directed by Samantha Stark  Music Director Kristin Green  Theme Songs composed by Nathan Haley, with lyrics by Jerome Wetzel  Technical Director Shane Stefanchik    Find more from It's All Been Done Radio Hour here: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsallbeendoneradiohour Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iabdpresents/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@iabdpresents   When you post about us, hashtag #IABD 

It was National "I Love Lucy" Day, a testament to pure comedy that stands the test of time--funny is just funny. Daylight savings time could affect the twilight hours of Halloween, but won't, because it is after Halloween. Boys soccer inches closer to a playoff berth, and girls soccer celebrates the seniors.

Desi Arnaz is a name that resonates with fans of classic television, but few understand the depth of his contributionsto the entertainment industry. In Desi Arnaz, Todd S. Purdum offers a captivating biography that dives into the groundbreaking Latino artist and businessman known to millions as Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy.Beyond his iconic role, Arnaz was a pioneering entrepreneur who fundamentally transformed the television landscape.His journey from Cuban aristocracy to world-class entertainer is remarkable. After losing everything during the 1933 Cuban revolution, Arnaz reinvented himself in pre-World War II Miami, tapping into the rising demand for Latin music. By twenty, he had formed his own band and sparked the conga dance craze in America. Behind the scenes, he revolutionized television production by filming I Love Lucy before a live studio audience with synchronized cameras, a model that remains a sitcom gold standard today.About the author: Todd S. Purdum is a veteran journalist and author. Ina career of more than forty years, he has written widely about politics and culture, starting at The New York Times, where he spent twenty-three years, covering politics from city hall to the White House, later serving as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief. He has also been a staff writer at Vanity Fair, Politico, and The Atlantic. He is the author of Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution and An Idea Whose Time HasCome: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers, with whom he has two grown children.#Ilovelucy #desiarnaz #toddspurdum #lucilleball #desiarnazjr

We don't think twice about using a fork today, but our ancestors didn't love it - and they were pretty sure God wouldn't approve, either. Since the 1950s, artificial laugh tracks have helped ensure that jokes land on sitcoms from I Love Lucy to Friends to The Big Bang Theory. Let's meet the man responsible.http://www.commutethepodcast.comFollow Commute:Instagram - instagram.com/commutethepodcast/Twitter - @PodcastCommuteFacebook - facebook.com/commutethepodcast

Words such as 'woke', 'emotional labour' and 'gaslighting' get bandied around a lot, especially in online discourse. And as they get bandied around, their meaning can change over time. Of course, changes in the meaning of words are natural, inevitable and, usually harmless. However, Robbie Morgan, back for his record-setting third appearance on Ethics Untangled, thinks we should be worried about these changes in meaning, at least sometimes. This isn't just pedantry - it's a concern about the way changes in meaning can rob us of the means to express important concepts, and also about the way these moves can serve political motivations in an illegitimate way.Here's Robbie's paper on the topic:Morgan, Robert (2025), "Hermeneutical Disarmament", ​The Philosophical Quarterly 75(3): 1071-1093.Here's Robbie's website.And here are the other sources we discuss in the episode:Beck, Julie (2018), “The Concept Creep of ‘Emotional Labor'”, The Atlantic.Bloomfield, Leonard (1983), Introduction to the Study of Language. Amsterdam/Philidelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, p.240.Brownmiller, Susan (1990), In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution. 1st ed. New York: Dial Press, pp.182, 280-285.Déjacque, Joseph, Hartman, Janine C., and Lause, Mark A. (2012), In the Sphere of Humanity: Joseph Déjacque, Slavery, and the Struggle for Freedom. Cincinnati, Ohio: University of Cincinnati Libraries.Fricker, Miranda (2007), Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Hamilton, Patrick (1939, Gas Light. 1st ed. London: Constable.Hochschild, Arlie Russell (2012), The Managed Heart. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. London: University of California Press.Lead Belly (2015) “Scottsboro Boys.” In Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, 4:26. MacGuill, Dan (2021), “Did People Refer to Gaslighting During the Era of 'I Love Lucy'?”, Snopes. Norri, Juhani (1998), “Gender-Referential Shifts in English.” English Studies 79 (3): 270–87, p.281.Rothbard, Murray N. (2007), The Betrayal of the American Right. Edited by Thomas E. Woods Jr. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises Institute, p.83.Ethics Untangled is produced by IDEA, The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds.Bluesky: @ethicsuntangled.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ideacetlLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idea-ethics-centre/

Lisa Davidson is an ironworker with Local 377 San Francisco. Her team currently does ironwork on the Golden Gate Bridge. But we'll get to that. In this episode, S8 E3, meet and get to know Lisa. I first did that back in May at our Keep It Local art show at Babylon Burning (thanks, Mike and Judy!). Someone at the party that night approached me to let me know that there was a person there who works on the best bridge in the world (fact) and that I should meet them. I love when people really get me. Right away, I was drawn in by Lisa's warmth, charm, and sense of humor. And so we sat down outside in Fort Mason in early August and Lisa shared her life story. She was raised feeling like she had complete freedom. It was something Lisa didn't realize at the time, but looking back, it became clear to her. She was raised in Framingham, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, in a liberal household. Her grandparents lived in Boston itself, and she loved visiting them when she was a kid. Her grandfather ran a tchotchke store in town called House of Hurwitz, and Lisa says that the place had a big influence on her outlook. It was located on the edge of what they call, to this day, the “Combat Zone” (think: red-light district). Her “wheelin' and dealin'” grandpa sold mylar balloons to the Boston Gardens for events held there. He told young Lisa that she could blow up balloons and that that could be her future. Lisa has a brother four years younger than she is. Her dad was an electrician. One of his clients was a lithograph press in Boston. He'd sometimes get paged for a job and have to leave his family, although Lisa now wonders whether he just wanted to get away from time to time. When she was a senior in high school, her parents divorced, despite being a very loving couple up to that point. She says her mom was “crazy in an I Love Lucy way. She was raised in the Fifties the way many young women at that time were, in a way that did its best to stifle any creativity. Suffice to say that her mom had fun decorating the house Lisa grew up in. Despite her and her family's Jewishness, Lisa revolted and wanted to go to Catholic school or just become a preppy L.L. Bean-type kid. She of course regrets rejecting the norms of her family nowadays. It was what it was. The family was more culturally Jewish than religious, though, something Lisa says was a huge influence on who she's become as an adult. She graduated high school and went to college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It wasn't Ivy League, but it was (and is) something of a preppy school. Where Lisa grew up, there was an expectation that kids would go to college, and so she went. It wasn't super far from home, but it wasn't close either. Her parents did suggest that Lisa maybe go to art school. But in her family, it was the kid dismissing that idea. “That's a not real school,” young Lisa told them. She liked sports. At Amherst, she joined the crew team. She liked the competition and how good of shape it got you in. She liked it, but it was a lot of pressure. She graduated, took a year off working odd jobs, then dove into art school. So next up was Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She was surprised she got in, and even navigated a bit of impostor syndrome. Surprised by the school's acceptance of her and feeling somewhat intimidated by other artist students, Lisa ended up doing printmaking. Rather than aiming for a master's degree, she sought a second bachelor's. Her studies had her spending a lot of time in the school's foundry, where she discovered welding. She loved it. During her time back in Amherst, she'd heard of a guy who was going to Alaska. (Lisa and I go off-topic into our shared distaste for camping at this point in the conversation.) Back to the Alaska story, her mom was fully supportive and even took her shopping at an Army Navy store. She went there and worked in canneries through the summer between her junior and senior years at Amherst. While she was up north, doing jobs all over the state, she met folks from California. From the stories they told her, it became a place she wanted to go. But first, RISD. In Rhode Island, she met a guy from Danville in the East Bay. When his family learned of her interest in our state, they invited Lisa to spend a summer with them, which she did. And she and her friend came to The City as often as they could. After those few months, she knew that California—and specifically, The Bay—was for her. She needed to go back and finish that second round of college in Rhode Island, and she did. After that, Lisa “beelined it” back to Oakland. She found work in a prop shop making sculptures out of foam with a chainsaw. Check back this Thursday for Part 2 with Lisa Davidson. We recorded this podcast at Equator Coffee in Fort Mason in August 2025. Photography by Jeff Hunt

I Love Lucy! Hello small town rom-com queen Lucy-freaking-Score! You may know her as the author of the tik-tok sensation Things We Never Got Over (and 34 others) but now I know her as 'one of my favourite guests ever' We dive into everything from her latest novel Story of My Life  (hello, a hot, grumpy tradie and a romance novelist in crisis!) to the magic of found family, the evolution of her writing, and the importance of choreographing certain scenes with her husband, Mr. Lucy. Love you x LINKS: Follow Lucy Score on ⁠⁠instagram Follow Lucy Score on Goodreads Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠tikok⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠⁠ Follow the podcast on ⁠⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠⁠ Order my debut novel ⁠⁠⁠Love on the Air⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With heavy hearts, Anika and Liz discuss "Four and a Half Vulcans", the worst episode of Star Trek's streaming era, and possibly one of the top five worst episodes of Star Trek ever. So that's fun.  Liz keeps returning to the question, "Is this worse than 'Code of Honor'?" "I understand that this is meant to be funny."  Genetics and hair don't work like that "I felt disrespected as a viewer." The whole "feminist career women can't cook, amiright?" trope was tired when they did it with Janeway in the '90s and it's more tired with Chapel and Batel now Anika: the only person on the whole internet watching "Amok Time" for the Spock/Chapel Comedy mind control rape (for the second time in a season) Uhura this season generally has whatever personality is required for the plot, but using her for TERF propaganda about groomers is unforgivable Romula'an is almost a good storyline, provided you don't know anything about genetics, Romulans or how "Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow" went Why is Marie's professional future wrapped up in a plot from I Love Lucy? Pike uses Marie's chronic condition to try to sabotage her career, because apparently their relationship is now a horror story from r/BestofRedditorUpdates You have to be really incompetent to come up with a dance-off that we hate this much!

Front Row Classics sits down with actor and filmmaker Raji Ahsan. Raji recently wrote an upcoming short film entitled Dr. Sam. He and Brandon chat about the origins of the film and how he came about casting both Lucie Arnaz and Alec Baldwin in the film. The two also discuss Raji's background in the arts and the journey he's taken to get to this point. Raji's personal stories about his connections to Arnaz and Baldwin are both touching and inspiring. The two also celebrate their love of I Love Lucy since childhood. 

Front Row Classics is thrilled to welcome Melody Thomas Scott to the show. Melody has delighted audiences at Nikki Newman on The Young and the Restless since 1979.  She and Brandon sit down to discuss he lengthy acting career which began when she was three. They discuss her work in films like Marnie, The Shootist and The Beguiled. Melody also reminisces about her memories of luminaries such as John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock, Kirk Douglas and Clint Eastwood. We also discuss Melody and Brandon's shared love of I Love Lucy. 

Today  Alison interviews Today  Alison interviews son of I Love Lucy creator, Gregg Oppenheimer

Season 6, Episode 29-  Ev shares a “Wacky ‘NON'-Bumper Sticker”, and the “Two New Yorkers' Fortune Cookie”,  and Eric doesn't share his “Eric The Travel Mensch's Travel Tip” because he has some reading to do The couple chat about their parents' relationship vis-a-vis th “I Love Lucy” generation and its ethos.  Besides being available on many podcast platforms, our podcast was accepted into MillionPodcasts.com, a database of hand-curated, amazing podcasts across various categories.  Ours, the New York Podcasts! Check it out: www.MillionPodcasts.com/NewYorkPodcastsPlease Like us AND SHARE on https://www.facebook.com/2newyorkers1000opinions/and follow us on X and Instagram or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

Send us a text or a question or a thought!Heyyyyyyyyy.I'm so sorry for the weird audio quality, but I didn't want to wait a moment longer.Support the showShop my Bookshop affiliate link for my fave books on I Love Lucy and Lucille Ball: https://bookshop.org/shop/thericardoproject If there's a book you'd like to recommend to your fellow listeners, please let me know! Shop Funny Girls - minimalistic classic tv merch: https://funny-girls-tv.myspreadshop.com/ Support the podcast by making a one time donation on PayPal: paypal.me/ricardoproject Get in touch: Instagram: @thericardoproject Email: thericardoproject@gmail.com

On this episode, summer's wrapping up, Evan's feeling melancholic about his birthday and Kevin is adamant (and correct) that the "I Love Lucy" chocolate factory scene is one of the best sitcom moments of all time. Also, Evan tries a sneaky move at the rec pool, while Kevin makes his wife a dry turkey burger salad in an attempt to go the extra mile. If you want to send us your Dumb Parenting Submission, you can email us at DumbDadPod@gmail.com or send it by postal mail to The Dumb Dads, 17216 Saticoy St #678, Van Nuys, CA 91406. The Dumb Dad podcast is also on Youtube. Subscribe here! For more Dumb Dad Pod, follow us on social – https://bit.ly/3t6tE9M We've got DUMB DAD MERCH!  And we're on CAMEO! We'd love to send a message to a dad (or anybody) in your life who needs a Dumb Dad pick-me-up! CHEAT CODES – BETONLINE – Use our Promo Code: BLEAV to receive your 50% Welcome Bonus on your first deposit. Thanks to Chris Verdú for our show music! Check out Verdú on SoundCloud! And thanks to editor, Annie Laferriere. Check her out on instagram!

Lucas McGraw joins us from Tulsa, Oklahoma looking for questions on Star Wars, Dexter, The Bible, and health/medicine. We love the Tulsans around here, so Lucas should fit right in. Have a listen - and be sure to check out his links!Episode Links:Where to eat in Tulsa? Meddys Mediterranean RestaurantWhere do you host? Laurannae Coffee HouseLast Wikipedia Search? Things that happened in 2018Non-Trivia Podcast Recs? Star Wars MinuteFavorite Movie Soundtrack? Shrek 2Something you learned in the last week: I Love Lucy's network intro was different from the syndicated intro.Thanks Lucas! Be sure to listen to his podcast, Knowledge Quest!And be sure to check out our links here: https://linktr.ee/TriviaWorkshop

And just like that, we've finally made it to the end of season 10! For this season finale, gather 'round the table, lock arms, and open yourself up to J & L's interpretation of 2023's The Reading. There's so much to get into about this film that was on the page (and glaringly left off it) but one thing is clear: horror could be Mo'Nique's second wind and ScaryCrit is all the way here for it. A huge thank you to our Critters for sticking beside us throughout our jagged prescence throughout the season. Life stay happenin' but we love doing this show and don't take a single listen for granted. And remember, if you have any recommendations for a future Crit, our lines our open. Thank you all and we'll see you again for Season 11!Timestamps5:14 - Crit Intro06:52 - Crit1:12:25 - Final CurlsGems from Ep. 110RuPaul's Drag Race (2009, television series)Them (2022, television series)The Reading (2023)Precious (2009)Jumanji (1995)Late Night with the Devil (2024)The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)The Haunted Mansion (2003)The Muppet Movie (1979)I Love Lucy (1951, television series)The Brady Brunch (1969, television series)Ouija (2014)Crimson Peak (2015)Ma (2019)Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)Whiplash (2014)Whiplash (2013, short film)X (2022)Ghost (1990)The Deliverance (2024)M3GAN (2023)Nope (2023)Get Out (2017)Halloween (1978)Ma 2 (upcoming)Support the show

CHEESECAKES! Come see Patrick on tour! CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! WELCOME THE GOLDEN GIRLS DEEP DIVE PODCAST! Starting from the beginning of the show, each week we recap an episode of The Golden Girls. Along the way, we sprinkle in researched deep dives into something from the episode or The Golden Girls universe! In Season 2 Episode 23, Dorothy's daughter Kate (well, NEW Kate...) is coming for a visit with a secret to share. Shenanigans ensue when Dorothy thinks she's getting a grandchild, but in reality Kate is planning to leave her husband. Meanwhile, Blanche and Rose settle in on the living room sofa to watch an all-night "I Love Lucy" marathon. And everyone is thrilled when ex-husband Stan shows up with advice of his own.... Our episodes are researched by Jess McKillop, Patrick Hinds, and Jennifer Simard. All of our sources can be found on our website. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @GoldenGirlsDeepDive To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a conversation full of personal revelation and discovery, M3GAN & M3GAN 2.0 star Jen Van Epps and Jordan think hard about the taboos of motherhood and the uncomfortable neediness of the acting profession -- and have a shocking amount of fun doing so. Leda (Olivia Coleman/Jessie Buckley) in Maggie Gyllenhaal's writing and directing debut, THE LOST DAUGHTER is a character Jen wasn't thrilled to relate to; feeling seen by Lucille Ball's irrepressible (but very thirsty) Lucy from I LOVE LUCY is a lot more fun.Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the new I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.***With Jordan Crucchiola and Jen Van Epps  Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky.

Episode 320Guest: Lauren Ashley---This week on Salt Lake Dirt, I'm excited to welcome actress Lauren Ashley. Join us as we dive into a nostalgic conversation about the allure of vintage television and cinema, exploring how shows like I Love Lucy and The Golden Girls sparked her passion for old Hollywood.Lauren shares her journey of discovering classic films during her childhood, recounting how late-night marathons on Nick at Nite opened her eyes to the golden age of television.We discuss the impact of iconic figures like Lucille Ball and the connections to her own creative aspirations, as well as the thrill of meeting legendary stars and the importance of preserving film history.From her experiences working on Hollywood Graveyard projects like The Tomb of Nosferatu to Graves from the Black Lagoon, Lauren reflects on the challenges and joys of filmmaking, including the excitement of collaborating with industry veterans.We also touch on the unique community that surrounds classic film fandom and the significance of cemeteries as a peaceful retreat for those who appreciate the artistry of the past.Thanks for tuning in!Kyler---Episode Links:Linktree: @folklaurFollow Lauren on InstagramWatch The Tomb of NosferatuWatch Graves from the Black Lagoon

Well we all know the TV today, and there are a few hundred channels that we all gave access to today. We dive into the invention, the adoption by the population, the programming explosion, and some popular shows that became staples of the 1950s.    Shows like I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, The Honeymooners and more entertained the masses at the end of their work days.  The televsion became a must have in every home.  With the popularity of the programming came the inevitable insurgence of advertisers. It was a whole new media to use to get in front of the consumers. As you listen to this podcast, think how similar a time we live in today with the advent of social media, digital ads, and inflencer marketing!   There is always more to learn, talk to you soon!   Jimmy & Jean

WGN Radio's Dave Plier celebrates the ‘Fabulous Fifties' with 91 year old music legend Pat Boone; author Todd Purdum on his book ‘Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television'; 50's teen idol Frankie Avalon; the definitive story of the drive-in theater; Keith Thibodeaux ‘Little Ricky', the last living cast member from ‘I Love Lucy'. Plus, […]

Ever wondered how a country girl from Wisconsin becomes a powerhouse in Hollywood? In Episode 246 of Late Boomers, we dive into the inspiring journey of Ryann Liebl, an award-winning filmmaker and deputy CEO of Light Touch Media Group.Join Merry and Cathy as they chat with Ryann about her transition from acting to filmmaking, her passion for clean comedy reminiscent of "I Love Lucy," and the founding of her production company, REL Films. Ryann shares her insights on navigating the male-dominated film industry, the importance of creating your own opportunities, and the evolving landscape of filmmaking in the digital age.Whether you're an aspiring artist or a seasoned professional, Ryann's story is a testament to the power of perseverance and creativity. Tune in to discover why it's never too late to chase your dreams and how you can make your mark in the entertainment world.Ryann Liebl's Bio:Ryann Liebl is a passionate filmmaker, director, content creator, and creative leader, currently serving as Deputy CEO of an award-winning creative agency. A Wisconsin native, Ryann began her acting career at 14, eventually studying at the University of Southern California, where she expanded her talents to writing, producing, and directing. Guided by mentors like Milton Katselas, she embraced the multifaceted art of filmmaking. Ryann is the founder of REL Films, through which she directed and produced Mags & Julie Go on a Road Trip, a situational comedy shot in her home state. With over ten films in development, she remains committed to creating authentic and impactful stories that resonate with audiences. A vocal advocate for female filmmakers, Ryann believes in crafting narratives that reflect genuine female experiences. Her approach to storytelling exemplifies her commitment to empowering underrepresented voices in the film industry. When not on set, Ryann contributes her leadership and vision to her creative agency and helping other artists, seamlessly blending her filmmaking expertise with innovative content strategies.Special Offer:Free consult of content and marketing: www.expertcreativehelp.com Connect with Ryann:Website: www.expertcreativehelp.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyannLiebl/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryann.lieblLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryann-liebl-488887240Thank you for listening. Please check out @lateboomers on Instagram and our website lateboomers.us. If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to watch it or listen to more of our episodes, you will find Late Boomers on your favorite podcast platform and on our new YouTube Late Boomers Podcast Channel. We hope we have inspired you and we look forward to your becoming a member of our Late Boomers family of subscribers.

Today, this is what's important: Blake's chair incident, I Love Lucy, Adam's Karen story, school pick up / drop off, filming locations, hypothetical situations, Isaac's birthday, Hooters, cruise culture, & more. Click here for more information about the This Is Important Cruise.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happened to Little Ricky from I Love Lucy? In this powerful and inspiring episode of Behind the Mike Podcast, host Mike Stone sits down with Keith Thibodeaux, the former child star of I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show. Keith shares his extraordinary journey—from drumming prodigy and Hollywood fame to depression, addiction, and ultimately finding hope in Jesus Christ.Keith opens up about:

In this episode, I spoke with Todd S. Purdum regarding his book "Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television". An illuminating biography of Desi Arnaz, the visionary, trailblazing Cuban American who revolutionized television and brought laughter to millions as Lucille Ball's beloved husband on I Love Lucy, leaving a remarkable legacy that continues to influence American culture today.Forgotten Hollywood is on Facebook!  Doug Hess is the host!

This week on BEHIND THE LENS, we've got a lotta laughs thanks to director/writer/producer GREG PORPER and co-director/co-writer/ and editor JOHN SCHIMKE, who talk about their new, and often side-splitting comedy that opens this Friday, DON'T TELL LARRY. And who doesn't love musical theater, especially fresh off last week's exhilarating Tony Awards? Also on hand talking about their new film and first collaboration, EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE GREAT, are two filmmakers whose work I have long admired, director JON S. BAIRD and writer/producer STEVEN ROGERS. Kicking things off is my exclusive interview with director JON S. BAIRD and his partner in crime for EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE GREAT, writer STEVEN ROGERS. EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE GREAT is a love letter to the theater and everyone who had a dream. A dramedy at heart, as we hear with the rousing opening strains "There's No Business Like Show Business", we meet the Smart family. Led by Buddy and Macy Smart, theirs is an unpredictable life of regional theatre while trying to raise their sons, Les and Derrick. Les dreams of nothing but a future in the theatre (and dare I say that his dreams also include conversations with Tallulah Bankhead, Noel Coward, and Ruth Gordon) while Derrick wants only to stay in one place, go to school, have friends, and play football. Often living on a shoestring, if even that, Buddy refuses to give up on his dreams for the family, while Macy has to try and keep the family together and afloat. A true journey of self-discovery while grappling with identity and belonging, each member of the Smart family learns the power of owning the spotlight, no matter what stage of life you're in. Shifting gears, we move on to laugh-out-loud hilarity with DON'T TELL LARRY, a film that I like to describe as "I Love Lucy" on crack, and my exclusive conversation with co-director/co-writers GREG PORPER and JOHN SCHIMKE. John also serves as the film's editor. Talking with them, I understand completely how the comedic tone of this dark comedy arose. Greg and John are a barrel of laughs themselves. DON'T TELL LARRY is the story of Susan, who tells a harmless little white lie about an office party to her truth-obsessed co-worker Larry in order to secure a promotion. It doesn't take long before she finds herself in over her head when tragedy strikes, and all signs point to Larry as responsible. Terrified her secret will be exposed, Susan ropes in her well-meaning but clueless co-worker Patrick to help cover up her tracks—but every move they make unleashes a whirlwind of chaos. From random drug tests and car explosions to a suspicious detective and a rising body count, Susan's workweek spirals into a full-blown clusterf*ck. http://eliasentertainmentnetwork.com

Hosted by Jane Pauley. In our cover story, David Pogue looks at the legacy of singer-songwriter, activist and father Harry Chapin. Plus: David Martin examines the origins of the U.S. Army as it marks 250 years; Tracy Smith explores the allure of auto racing with Indy Car team co-owner David Letterman; Mo Rocca discusses a biography of entertainer Desi Arnaz, who co-starred with wife Lucille Ball in the classic sitcom “I Love Lucy”; and Conor Knighton learns the magic behind “worm grunting.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Playing Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy, made Desi Arnaz a star. Behind the scenes, he created what became standard procedures for producing, shooting, lighting and broadcasting TV sitcoms. Author Todd Purdum talks about his new book Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television. Also, we hear from Mark Hamill. He's in the new movie The Life of Chuck and is known for playing the iconic hero Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies. He talks about auditioning for the film and acting with puppets. Plus, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new HBO documentary, Pee-Wee as Himself.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The success of I Love Lucy is often credited to Lucille Ball's comedic talent, but biographer Todd Purdum says Desi Arnaz was more than just "second banana" to Lucy. He also helped shape the modern sitcom. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews a documentary about John Lennon and Yoko Ono.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Jason Fraley marks the 75th anniversary of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz taking their vaudeville act on the road in Chicago then New York City, inspiring CBS to give them their own sitcom with “I Love Lucy.” Jason interviewed their daughter Lucie Arnaz when she toured with “Pippin” at the National Theatre in Washington D.C. in 2014. Don't miss their other chat about the best “I Love Lucy” episodes in our archives at ⁠BeyondTheFamePodcast.com⁠. (Theme Music: Scott Buckley's "Clarion")

In this raw and unfiltered episode of It's About DAMN Time, Jarratt opens up about the silent struggle of being "everyone's person"—the strong friend who holds it all together while feeling like the world is crumbling underneath. He shares his personal battle with mental health, the burnout that comes with always being the go-to support system, and how the constant weight of expectations can leave you running on empty."The very thought of contacting somebody made me weep. Not cry, not shed tears, not have a little sigh. I wept." — Jarratt DAMNJarratt talks candidly about what it means to prioritize yourself during Mental Health Awareness Month, even when it feels selfish. He reflects on the importance of setting boundaries, learning to say "no," and understanding that sometimes, being strong isn't enough. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the expectations of others, stretched too thin, or found yourself neglecting your own well-being for the sake of everyone else, this episode is a must-listen.Key Topics:The reality of being everyone's personThe emotional and mental toll of being "strong" for everyoneSetting boundaries without guiltPrioritizing mental health even when the world demands moreLearning to say "no" and protect your energy#MentalHealthAwareness #BoundarySettings #SelfCareIsntSelfish

TODAY: AG Pam Bondi is forced by plucky kid detective James O'Keefe into announcing that the FBI is watching Epstein's child sexual exploitation videos as fast as they can, but that thing from I Love Lucy happened where there was actually so much abuse material that it clogged the investigation machine and created a huge mess they have to clean up first. We examine the few excuses from MAGA for the continued "delay" and see if they hold up to the overwhelming number of concerns by those who JUST WANT TO SEE THESE VIDEOS ALREADY!!! ALSO: Serious deportation enjoyers wonder why the Trump administration is deporting fewer people than Biden but making a violent and distasteful show of arresting single mothers and politicians attempting oversight over the federal agency. Is this a plot by blue-state cops to make Trump look bad? Probably! Music: Slow Pulp - Cramps Kaizo Slumber - I am Happy Because Everyone Loves me (feat. Fromjoy)

Who is your favorite TV mom? WGN Radio's Dave Plier talks to Watching TV author Wally Podrazik about TV's best moms that you grew up with, ranging from I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Happy Days, The Cosby Show, Modern Family and more.

Lucille Ball might have been a natural boundary-pusher, but America's top TV comedienne had some ‘splaining to do when a damning news broadcast unveiled her former ties to the Communist Party. The hysteria of the Red Scare threatened to bury this redhead at the bottom of the Hollywood blacklist overnight. Even when America put rampant McCarthyism to rest, the United States government kept watching Lucille Ball – and we're not talking about I Love Lucy reruns. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices