Explore every episode of the podcast SUDDENLY: a Frank Sinatra podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUDDENLY will return in 2025 | 12 Sep 2024 | 00:24:31 | |
Hi, Rabia here. I have Long COVID and am struggling. I need time to process things and figure out how to best use my energy. Podcasting is good for me but very energy consuming, and I need to work out how I'm going to manage this condition. So Season 3 will end here for now and we will pick back up at some stage in 2025. In the meantime, enjoy this episode of Rocky Fortune. Wear an N95, run an air purifier, avoid crowds, do whatever you can to avoid both contracting and spreading this virus. I dig you the most xx | |||
| 54: The Man with the Golden Arm (with Spike Vincent) | 22 Aug 2024 | 02:12:33 | |
Melbourne's Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) in North Richmond opened in 2018. This was the result of a years-long grassroots campaign led by the local community, fed up with constant overdoses in the streets. The MSIR operates on principles of harm reduction which simply work and urgently need to be applied throughout the world. The stigma around drug use, and the criminalising of drug users, must end - and that begins with us. In 1955, Frank Sinatra made a historically significant contribution to the destigmatisation of drug use on film in Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm. In a depiction that is in many ways still radical today, Sinatra's character of Frankie Machine is a regular person who is trying his best to shake off a heroin addiction but is simply failed by a society that does not have the means to support him. A compelling and empathetic performance by Sinatra, and subject matter which openly defied the Production Code of its era, made this a memorable classic for many and contributed to a better world. This week on SUDDENLY, friend of the show Spike Vincent joins us to watch The Man With the Golden Arm, sharing his thoughts and personal experiences. Meanwhile, Rabia has been reading up on the MSIR and reports back on the experience of touring the facility to see what goes on first-hand. As a thematic wild card, we also watched an Australian DVD of the film called A Night at the Cinema with extra footage intended to replicate the experience of seeing this film in 1955 in a cinema in specifically Castlemaine, Victoria - including "God Save the Queen", a newsreel, cartoon, local ads etc - which leads us to compelling footage of the 1955 Maitland floods. Plus, an update on Bobby Long. Sources for this episode: contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com | |||
| Authorized x SUDDENLY - Robin and the 7 Hoods | 26 Mar 2024 | 02:40:43 | |
We went on Authorized Novelizations Podcast to talk about Jack Pearl's 1964 novelisation of Sinatra's Robin and the Seven Hoods. This episode was recorded around six months ago and just released by Authorized this week. They've graciously given us permission to repost it on our feed. | |||
| 46: Why "Our Town" Matters | 03 Mar 2024 | 00:31:06 | |
In Episode 43 ("Love and Marriage"), Rabia and Felix watched the infamous televised 1955 musical version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, starring Frank Sinatra as the Stage Manager. The songs were so terrible, and the acting so bad, that Wilder personally called the station and ensured that it would never air ever again. Neither Rabia nor Felix had ever seen the play before, nor even heard of it. While a beloved cultural mainstay in the US, Our Town somehow never made it to Australia. Now, in his first solo episode, Henry explains to Australians what we're missing out on and why Our Town matters. | |||
| 45: Suspense | 26 Feb 2024 | 01:55:10 | |
We think of Sinatra as emerging as a serious dramatic actor from the early 1950s onwards, shedding his clean-cut MGM image for the first time when he takes intense roles as mentally disturbed soldiers in From Here to Eternity and Suddenly. But there's a part of the story we've all forgotten. In January 1945, at the height of the bobby-soxer era and months before tapdancing in a sailor suit for Anchors Aweigh, Sinatra made his actual dramatic acting debut on the radio horror anthology series Suspense. This week, we listen to "To Find Help", shockingly ahead of its time, where Sinatra briefly shed his squeaky-clean status to play a violent and mentally ill man terrorising an old woman in her home. | |||
| 44: In the Wee Small Hours | 17 Feb 2024 | 01:37:32 | |
In the Wee Small Hours is often considered Sinatra's best work and arguably the first concept album. The "concept" is something along the lines of "I am awake at 3am and I am feeling deeply sad about a lost love." And that's really it. Just when you think there couldn't possibly be any more songs about the nuances of that kind of misery, there are seven more. It's relentless, it's brutal, it borders on self-harm and it changed the way we all listen to albums forever. So many emotions, such beautiful music, so much history, such an enormous legacy. And yet, what is there to say? Sometimes it's best just to listen - not just to Sinatra, but to the people out there in the world, all with their own problems, who heard this and felt something. | |||
| 43: Love and Marriage | 08 Feb 2024 | 01:32:05 | |
"Love and Marriage" was one of the worst songs Sinatra ever recorded, and the toxic ideas about marriage that it perpetuated left a negative impact on the world. This week, we look into the song's unlikely origins in a televised musical version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town and its shameful legacy as the theme song for the vile 1980s-90s sitcom Married... with Children. Watching this show for the first time in 2024 is a jaw-dropping experience, not least because of the jeering, catcalling studio audience. And of course, we've sought out the transphobic episode. Join us, won't you, as we travel down the "Tender Trap" to Al Bundy pipeline. This one made us feel bad. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com | |||
| 42: The Tender Trap | 27 Jan 2024 | 03:12:49 | |
The phrase "tender trap" essentially didn't exist before the mid-1950s, entering common usage from the film and song which were both popularised by Frank Sinatra. The image of being lured into your downfall by a thing pretending to be soft speaks to a basic element of what it is to be human, and people all over the world have projected their emotions, hangups and life experiences onto this simple concept. This week, we examine Sinatra's classic film and song, plus the original play, then take a look at the many manifestations of the "tender trap" ever since, exploring 70 years of human sexuality and emotion.
contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com | |||
| 41: Sinatra Was Wrong About Israel | 30 Nov 2023 | 02:32:08 | |
In a special emergency episode, we examine Frank Sinatra's long history with Israel, Palestine and Zionism. Many don't realise just how connected these topics are. This week, we weave a story all the way from Sinatra personally helping run guns to the Nakba in 1948 and his starring role as a fighter pilot for the IDF in 1966's Cast a Giant Shadow, all the way to the bombing of the Frank Sinatra International Student Centre by Hamas in 2002. Henry joins to share his experiences and thoughts from a Jewish perspective, and Rabia has a personal announcement. website: suddenlypod.gay | |||
| 40: Church on Fire (with David Nichols) | 16 Oct 2023 | 02:44:34 | |
Who burnt down West Melbourne Stadium in the middle of Sinatra's 1955 Australian tour, and why did this happen? This week, on our final episode of the year, SUDDENLY investigates. And we're joined by David Nichols - Australian history expert, senior lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne, and author of Dig: Australian Rock and Pop Music 1960-85 - to help us put together the pieces. We also learn about West Melbourne Stadium's second life as Festival Hall, and weave a story spanning seven decades that that takes us all the way up to 2023. | |||
| 39: The Big Show | 08 Sep 2023 | 01:50:53 | |
Frank Sinatra's first Australian visit in 1955 followed shortly after the repeal of decades-old laws preventing "coloured" musicians, or any foreign musicians, from performing in the country. The tour was part of the initial run of the now-legendary "Big Shows" put on by mysterious American promoter Lee Gordon, who took advantage of the newly-liberated times to bring acts like Ella Fitzgerald, Johnnie Ray, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong to Australia for the first time. But how did we end up with such racist, bizarre laws in the first place? To understand that, we need to go back to the 1928 Australian tour of an African-American jazz band called Sonny Clay's Coloured Idea, and unravel the elaborate conspiracy that faced them when they arrived. This week, we're examining Sinatra's 1955 Australian tour by putting it in its proper historical context - with a cliffhanger ending you won't see coming.
No longer on social media! | |||
| 38: Dream Empire (with Karina Longworth) | 01 Sep 2023 | 01:00:07 | |
Surprise! We're joined from Los Angeles by the legendary Karina Longworth, renowned film historian, author, critic and host of the iconic podcast You Must Remember This. This week, we're jumping ahead to discuss HIGH SOCIETY (1956). Louis Armstrong definitely deserved better, and we tackle the explicitly racist treatment of his character in the context in which 1950s Australian audiences would have received it. Also, what's with the old-timey trope of old men singing to little girls about how they'll be hot when they grow up? This week, opinions, perspectives and historical insights vary significantly between the four of us, but all come together to form a cohesive picture. As Karina says, "Your mileage may vary." | |||
| 53: Wake Up and Live, Part 5 - Giardina on Winchell | 17 Aug 2024 | 01:40:17 | |
In the final (?) part of our Wake Up and Live saga, Henry returns to the show to share his thoughts on Walter Winchell's legacy through the lens of the gossip landscape of 2024. * John Mosedale - The Men Who Invented Broadway (1981) contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com
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| 37: BONUS - More Guys, More Dolls | 20 Aug 2023 | 01:05:08 | |
Because six hours wasn't enough, it's a special, informal bonus episode where Henry and Rabia discuss some leftover elements of our GUYS AND DOLLS series we didn't find time to discuss. Here we finish off the story of Damon Runyon's life and his legacy today, discuss the critical reception of the 1955 film, and spend some time thinking about the unsung victims of all of this: horses. | |||
| 36: Dolls | 13 Aug 2023 | 02:13:46 | |
Fall in love with people, not with gamblers. It's all too strange and strong. Sit down, you're rocking the boat. This week, Henry leads us through the third and final part of our epic GUYS AND DOLLS series. We've got a spectacular supercut of Sinatra recordings of "Luck Be a Lady" through the ages, and a climactic 10-minute mashup that brings together all the themes we've explored throughout this six-hour odyssey. Watch Sinatra's version of "Luck Be a Lady" from A Man and his Music on YouTube. | |||
| 35: and | 07 Aug 2023 | 01:45:27 | |
Why can't Nathan Detroit remember the colour of his own tie? In the second part of our GUYS AND DOLLS series, Henry begins taking us through the musical (and the 1955 Sinatra film) proper, beginning with "Fugue for Tinhorns", "Oldest Established" and "I'll Know." We discuss the intertwined relationship between gambling and religion, and finally come across some real life catgirls to justify the podcast logo in "Pet Me, Poppa." There's gender politics, weaponised incompetence and the beauty of the pre-dawn hours. Then, finally, we talk about the thing you've been thinking this whole time. Next week, DOLLS. Artwork for this series of episodes by Felix (art instagram @saint_mcfly) | |||
| 34: Guys | 01 Aug 2023 | 01:29:51 | |
Henry Giardina takes the lead as host for the first time as we begin our month-long GUYS AND DOLLS odyssey. In this first installment, the stage is set as we're introduced to the world of legendary short story writer, journalist and master of the "historical present", Damon Runyon. Best known today as the author whose stories inspired the musical Guys and Dolls (later adapted into the 1955 film starring Sinatra), Runyon was a lifelong and loving observer of human nature whose work sprang from the journalistic climate of the early 20th century in America. This week, the world of William Randolph Hearst and his "Gee Whiz!" headlines, Runyon biographer Jimmy Breslin, the struggles of addiction and the budding mythology of a street called Broadway... as we find out what Guys and Dolls really is, where it came from, and why it matters. | |||
| 33: Love Like Surgery | 14 Jul 2023 | 02:46:51 | |
It's 1955 and we're deep into the masculinity crisis. It's an era of lofty 800-page novels adapted into 2-hour-plus movies. We've got navel-gazing middle-aged white men, coming out of a period of deep repression and trauma, wondering who and what they really are. Sinatra is one of their icons, as here is Robert Mitchum. This week's film could have been a later-season episode of Rocky Fortune, and it also could have called From Here to Eternity 2: Dr. Maggio's Revenge. Once again, Sinatra throws us a curveball in the form of a serious medical drama about the mental health of surgeons: NOT AS A STRANGER (1955). On this episode we deal with a lot of personal trauma, talk about the history of transgender surgeries, learn about Swedish immigration and drop an obscure racial slur that we're 90% sure we're allowed to say. Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish hero who saved thousands of lives during the Holocaust. He is commemorated in Melbourne, Australia in the form of a park in Kew and a tree in St. Kilda. Watch Raoul Wallenberg: Behind the Lines here. Longread article on "Butcher Brown" - Why Did He Cut Off That Man's Leg? The Peculiar Practice of John Ronald Brown by Paul Ciotti. Read here. No longer on social media! | |||
| 32: Three Coins Reloaded (with Justin Gausman) | 01 Jul 2023 | 04:19:02 | |
That's amore. Non paghiamo il fossile. And just like that... Boom, kiss, come on, God bless America. | |||
| 31: Transcribed | 22 Jun 2023 | 03:33:15 | |
The word "homosexual" was first uttered on American television on the night of October 21st, 1963. The show was Breaking Point, a drama series set in a psychiatric hospital. The episode was a confronting take on sexual harassment and toxic masculinity that directly posed the question to its audience: "What is a man?" Despite network objection, this milestone in queer history happened solely because of the determination of the show's producer: George Lefferts. Selected works of George Lefferts: Donate to the show @ ko-fi.com/suddenlypod | |||
| 30: Lost and Found - Bobby Long and the World of Soundies (with Mark Cantor) | 10 Jun 2023 | 01:47:10 | |
We found out what happened to Bobby Long. Mostly. And on this episode we're joined by Mark Cantor, America's leading jazz film archivist. Mark is an expert in "Soundies", the early music videos/short films that played on Panoram video jukeboxes in bars, cafes and other public places across America throughout the 1940s. Yes, they had video jukeboxes, and music videos, as far back as the 1940s. We've crossed paths with Mark because he's uncovered an obscure Soundie titled Club Lollypop that stars Bobby Long, the legendary child star and tap dancer who dropped out of public life after his appearance with Sinatra in 1947's It Happened in Brooklyn. (See Episode 13 for more on this.) This week, we have a fascinating chat with Mark about his friendships with Mel Torme and Bill Miller, his incredible collection of rare jazz footage and his lifelong appreciation for Sinatra. We learn all about Soundies - and then, finally, you all get to find out what happened to Bobby Long. Mostly. Bobby Long (March 27th, 1932 - October 31st, 2005) (born Bobby Earl Logsdon, also known as Bob Logsdon) was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Hubert Earl and Lola Mae Logsdon. He began tapdancing at the age of six, and by age ten was performing professionally on the vaudeville circuit. He toured the country throughout his teenage years, including gigs at the Majestic Theatre in Paterson, NJ and Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ, working alongside some of the biggest names in the country. | |||
| 29: Not By Ranting, Nor By Chanting | 22 May 2023 | 01:51:21 | |
Millions know the song: "Forget your troubles and just get happy." But where does it come from, and what does it really mean? Why are we getting ready for judgement day, and how did Judy Garland end up associated with something that sounds so gospel? This week, we dive into the long and complicated multicultural (and especially Black) history of "Get Happy", the most memorably awkward track on Sinatra's first full-length collaboration album with Nelson Riddle, SWING EASY (1954). Our adventure through history takes us all the way from Art Tatum and the Tallahassee Bus Boycotts of 1956 to a 2008 episode of South Park and the "Diabeetus" internet meme. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| 28: Glamour | 07 May 2023 | 03:35:35 | |
In 2007, Italian artist Graziano Cecchini poured red dye into the Trevi Fountain to protest the Rome Film Festival. "You wanted just a red carpet", he said. "We want a city entirely in vermilion. We who are vulnerable, old, ill, students, workers, we come with vermilion to colour your grayness." Escapism, tourism, power, vanity, royalty, memory, sex, romance - and water running blood-red. This week, a deep dive into the extended universe of Rome's iconic Trevi Fountain, spinning off from THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN (1954) and Sinatra's hit title song. A three-and-a-half-hour odyssey recorded while simultanously live-commentating the coronation of King Charles III and monitoring a live webcam of the Trevi Fountain, spanning 10 films released over 56 years and centuries of history... it could only be an episode of SUDDENLY. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| BONUS: The "Is Elvis Alive?" Conspiracy Theory + "The Elvis Files" (1991) (with Justin Gausman) | 31 Jul 2024 | 03:24:10 | |
For the last few months, Justin and Rabia have been co-hosting TCBCast After Dark, a deep dive into the seamy underbelly of the Elvis conspiracy world available only on the TCBCast Patreon feed. As they approached Part 6 of an exhaustive investigation into the truth behind the grifters who perpetuated the false "Is Elvis Alive?" conspiracy throughout the 1980s, and reached the infamous 1991 Bill Bixby TV special The Elvis Files, they decided to bring in Felix for a fresh perspective on the whole thing. Here, exclusive to SUDDENLY, is a 45-minute introduction in which Felix is caught up with everything that has come before it - a speedrun through the entire story of "Is Elvis Alive?" from 1977 to 1991. Also captured here is the moment Rabia learns of Trump's attempted assassination, which bears an unbelievable coincidental parallel to an infamous moment on an oft-circulated tape in which a man attempting to sound like Elvis appears to learn of Reagan's assassination in 1981. THEN, this is followed by the full Elvis Files episode, in which we attempt to make sense of the infamous TV special in its full context - and Justin uncovers that one of its most extraordinary claims, about declassified FBI documents, "Operation Fountain Pen" and a criminal organisation called The Fraternity, is actually true. You just have to hear this one to believe it, folks. This episode will work fine to listen to as a standalone, and will serve as a 101 primer on the absurd world of "Is Elvis Alive?" For the rest of the story, before and after, subscribe to the TCBCast Patreon. SUDDENLY will return to regular programming shortly. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com | |||
| 27: The Long | 25 Apr 2023 | 02:10:38 | |
For almost the entire back half of the 20th century, Sinatra sang "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" over and over again. At every show, he would proudly call himself a "saloon singer" and paint a picture for the audience: a drunk, broken-hearted loser, in a bar at 2:45am, pouring his fool heart out to the unlucky bartender. Sinatra revelled in this imagery, and the seductively suicidal "saloon singer" schtick became a beloved cornerstone of his act. History records that this persona began with the film YOUNG AT HEART (1954). But where did it come from? This week on SUDDENLY, we sit down at the bar with the saloon singer - and meet Oscar Levant - before wrapping up with a hypnotic 11-minute "One for My Baby" supercut, sampling 47 years worth of performances from all over the world. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| 26: A Tribute to Bobby Caldwell | 19 Mar 2023 | 02:17:10 | |
The world has lost the legendary Bobby Caldwell. More than just a futuristic and soulful singer/songwriter, he was also the greatest Sinatra interpreter of his era. This week, we pay tribute to his life - from the strange original songs that made him a superstar in Japan during the City Pop era, to his stunning Sinatra-inspired recordings and the legacy he left for subsequent generations in hip-hop, vaporwave and neo-soul.
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| 25: In the Lamplight | 15 Mar 2023 | 02:54:31 | |
Where does the visual motif of "leaning on a lamp post" come from? Since at least 1840, it was associated with drunkenness, sleaze and criminality. At some point in the mid-20th century, it became a symbol of sophistication, nonchalance and cool. How did this happen? All evidence seems to point to the cover of Frank Sinatra's 1953 album, SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS, as turning the tide. This week, a deep dive on two centuries of lamp post leaning, and Sinatra's place in it as the man who fused the drunk loner with the cool guy. CORRECTIONS (to be mentioned in ep. 27)
CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| 24: SUDDENLY | 08 Mar 2023 | 02:48:19 | |
To a modern Australian audience, Sinatra's shockingly violent noir film SUDDENLY (1954) now seems like an obvious cautionary tale: Guns are bad for society, they drive you mad with power, and kids should be kept away from them. But 1950s American audiences took home the exact opposite message: that guns keep your home safe, everyone should own them and kids should get used to them as early in life as possible. How can this be the same movie? This week, we're looking at gun culture in the US and Australia, the history of political assassinations and mass shootings, and asking the question: when life comes at you fast, and a bad man has a gun, can you keep up? CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| 23: White Man's Graveyard | 22 Feb 2023 | 02:53:05 | |
The Mau Mau Rebellion of 1952 saw the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) take up arms against the British Empire's occupation of their land. The struggle for decolonisation was bloody and protracted, with many of the KLFA ending up tortured by British soldiers in cruel labor camps. A film crew from Pathé arrived from London to film staged propaganda newsreels on Kenyan streets, depicting the Mau Mau as terrorists and white civillians as the real victims. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| 22: Lonesome Man Blues | 13 Feb 2023 | 02:19:19 | |
In 1987, the Scottish band Danny Wilson released their debut album, Meet Danny Wilson. The name came from an old movie that band members Gary and Kit Clark had never actually seen. They knew Frank Sinatra was in it. Their father had seen it once and had complained he'd never been able to find it again. He wasn't alone. MEET DANNY WILSON (1952) borders on "lost film" status, rarely seen and mostly unavailable even today. Audiences and critics passed on it. Sinatra biographers consider it a footnote at best. Watching it now, this seems inexplicable. Sinatra arrives on camera having ditched his MGM persona entirely, singing classic after classic with a newfound confidence and swagger that would stay with him for the rest of his career - and here, seems to have somehow possessed him overnight. How did all this happen? Why did the film disappear? And what if the story of Sinatra's 1950s comeback isn't what we think it is? CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| 21: Brisbane's Jane Russell | 13 Feb 2023 | 02:39:51 | |
Howard Hughes named DOUBLE DYNAMITE (1951) after Jane Russell's breasts - and the city of Brisbane was obsessed with them. This week, the lost stories of Fr. Kiley, the Catholic priest who tried to ban a Jane Russell film from the Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo, and Shirley Vercoe, the woman who became known as "Brisbane's Jane Russell." On theme with the exploitation and harassment of large-breasted women in Hollywood, we also watched Soleil Moon Frye's stunning found-footage documentary KID 90 (2021). Plus, special tributes to the memory of Mira Bellwether and Lisa-Marie Presley - and we announce a new member of the SUDDENLY team. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM | |||
| PREVIEW: TCBCast x SUDDENLY - A Very Clambake Christmas (Part 1) | 13 Dec 2022 | 02:04:39 | |
During the 2022 Christmas break, we went over to TCBCast and embarked on an epic four-part, six-hour deep-dive into Elvis Presley's CLAMBAKE (1967). Here's a special preview of Part 1. The rest can be heard on the TCBCast feed (episodes 246A-B, 247A-B). This was a really special experience and if you're into our regular episodes, you'll definitely get a kick out of it. Hope y'all are enjoying the holidays. SUDDENLY will return in early 2023. | |||
| 20: A Day in the Life (with Henry Giardina) | 12 Nov 2022 | 03:42:42 | |
It's our final episode of 2022 and we're joined by Henry Giardina, Los Angeles-based film critic and co-host of Totally Trans Podcast, who discovered our show by chance while fending off an airport anxiety attack. This week the 1940s draw to a close with ON THE TOWN (1949), the most iconic and memorable of the three Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra musicals. We're in more than capable hands as Henry takes us on a three-and-a-half hour deep dive into the film, the original stage musical, his childhood affinity with "the other guy" Jules Munshin and the gender politics and social climate of the postwar era. Henry also teaches us about PTSD among returned WWII servicemen and introduces us to two underrated and rarely-seen Gene Kelly films on the topic, COMBAT FATIGUE IRRITABILITY (1945) and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (1955). Then, things come full circle and become surprisingly psychedelic. Strap in for this one; with the help of an incredible guest, we're finishing Season 1 and saying goodbye to the 1940s in a big way. It was an absolute pleasure to have Henry on the show. We highly recommend listening to his podcast, Totally Trans: Searching for the Trans Canon, and subscribing to his Substack. Get in touch with us: | |||
| 19: Boys and Girls Like You and Me | 01 Nov 2022 | 02:01:28 | |
What happens when a brand mascot transitions? Cracker Jack - one of the original junk foods, and a brand that has been part of American culture since the late 19th century, most famously in the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - became Cracker Jill earlier in 2022. This week we're watching the awkward middle child of the Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra MGM musicals, TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME (1949). We dig into the awkward racial & gender politics of the film, then improvise our own Australian version of Cracker Jack and eat it live on the show as we dig into the Cracker Jill scandal and what we can learn from it. Instagram & Twitter: @suddenlypod | |||
| 52: Wake Up and Live, Part 4 - The Secret | 06 Jul 2024 | 01:54:32 | |
This week, we continue to act as if it were impossible to fail in part four of our exhaustive deep dive into Wake Up and Live. Picking up the story from the end of World War II, we look at the legacy of Dorothea Brande's book and the essentially identical self-help scam that generations of grifters have perpetuated on the world ever since. Wasn't this podcast meant to be about Frank Sinatra?
contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com | |||
| 18: Sharkey's Night (with Gary Bohan Jr.) | 22 Oct 2022 | 01:36:14 | |
History forgot to record that Sinatra's first acting role was inherited from a sea lion. Both stage & film versions of HIGHER AND HIGHER (1944) were poorly reviewed as a whole but succeeded anyway on the back of raves about a single performer, who, despite being tacked on to the haphazard plot at the last minute, stole the show with his unique talent. In the film version, Sinatra. In the original stage production, a sea lion named Sharkey. And their overlap did not end there. In many ways, Sinatra and Sharkey lived parallel lives. They played many of the same venues, from Steel Pier and Madison Square Garden to Radio City Music Hall. They came of age in the same era and ran in the same circles. They were both considered the best in their fields and both covered songs popularised by Bing Crosby. Both of them worked with Ella Fitzgerald. | |||
| 17: Don't Worry Darling | 18 Oct 2022 | 01:53:57 | |
This week we're forced to soberly confront our own mortality to the stark strains of a Polish funeral dirge sung in a small-town graveyard. In MIRACLE OF THE BELLS (1948), Sinatra's film career makes a shockingly drastic departure from campy musicals to a dead-serious Catholic melodrama about a man making funeral preparations for a young woman who dies of lung cancer. This episode goes to some real dark places, including some long tangents about police abolition and climate justice. But the real question is: is DON'T WORRY DARLING the MIRACLE OF THE BELLS of today, and vice versa? Someone on Twitter thinks so; we put a hot take to the test. Also, was Joan of Arc trans and does it even matter? | |||
| 16: The Kissing Bandit Diaries (with Alison Evans and Justin Gausman) | 10 Oct 2022 | 04:07:51 | |
*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR EPISODE 15* As a tribute to the spirit of Peeter Pedaja and last week's guest, Tim Batt of The Worst Idea of All Time, I, Rabia, watched THE KISSING BANDIT (1948) a total of 11 times in two weeks and kept an audio diary of the experience - presented here unedited, making up the first hour of this wildly experimental four-hour episode. Continuing the Elvis theme, for Watch #11, at about the 1hr15min mark, Justin Gausman from TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast joins me for an in-depth and fascinating chat about THE KISSING BANDIT in the context of the Elvis musicals of the 1960s and the cultural legacy of both Presley & Sinatra in general. This segment is the most like a normal episode of SUDDENLY and is really worth hearing. Justin truly elevates things, despite the fact I'm incredibly delirious as it was recorded on my end after four hours' sleep, before sunrise and immediately following a 4am watch of THE KISSING BANDIT. He deserved better but truly made the most out of being thrown into the deep end of this show. A few days later, I visited my friend Ashley aka DJ GROUP HUG. She had been up for over 24 hours and, for some reason, asked me if I wanted to watch GROWN UPS 2. I said yes and we watched it again. She then made a song about the experience sampling both GROWN UPS 2 and THE KISSING BANDIT. "Insomniac" by DJ GROUP HUG closes out our episode. TWITTER & INSTA: @suddenlypod EMAIL: suddenlypod at Gmail dot com | |||
| 15: This is Not a Book (with Tim Batt) | 03 Oct 2022 | 02:05:06 | |
This week on SUDDENLY, an unbelievable true story. At age 19, Estonian-Australian immigrant Peeter Pedaja had his life changed by a Frank Sinatra film, THE KISSING BANDIT (1948). You will NEVER guess where this is going. | |||
| 14: Q-Day | 25 Sep 2022 | 01:17:49 | |
Following on from Episode 13, we examine the housing crisis that gripped postwar New York City in the 1940s. This pressing social issue was depicted in both Frank Sinatra's IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN (1947) and the pro-squatter, anti-landlord classic, IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE (1947). | |||
| 13: What Happened to Bobby Long? | 21 Sep 2022 | 01:21:57 | |
***UPDATE: We figured it out. Mostly. Listen to Episode 30 for more.*** EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com | |||
| 12: No Bad Rivers | 06 Sep 2022 | 02:28:48 | |
In Sydney of 1960, a man sings acappella to workers on a building site. In Sydney of 2020, a woman sings acappella to TV cameras. In Sydney of 2022, a man wheels his kayak through a drain under a highway. EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com | |||
| 11: Girls from the Future (with Molly Lambert) | 29 Aug 2022 | 03:06:03 | |
The iconic Molly Lambert joins us from Los Angeles, ostensibly to discuss Sinatra's classic MGM musical ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945). In her unique & irrepressible style, Molly leads us on a freewheeling three-hour adventure through her inner universe of celebrity culture, film, music, sex, gender, capitalism and the secret history of the city she loves. Her podcast HeidiWorld: The Heidi Fleiss Story is now streaming everywhere. | |||
| 10: The Sinatra Kids | 10 Aug 2022 | 03:24:11 | |
On January 19th, 1945, hundreds of Sinatra-haters violently descended on a small group of young fans who had come to see STEP LIVELY (1944) at the Empire Theatre in Sydney, Australia. The angry mob jeered and assaulted members of the Sinatra Club, bitterly deriding them as "swooners." Police broke things up, but the haters stayed to boo throughout the screening then stalk fans through the streets as they headed home. This terrifying incident was the result of months of anti-Sinatra resentment boiling over in Australian society. In response, photographer Ivan Ives decided to give the Sinatra Club a chance, and set out - in a series of remarkably beautiful candid shots, only recently unearthed - to show the world who they really were. | |||
| 09: Sharkey's Day (with David Nichols) | 31 Jul 2022 | 01:58:26 | |
Who is Sharkey? We're joined by David Nichols - author, music historian and senior lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne - to find out. This week we're discussing HIGHER AND HIGHER (1943), the film which featured Frank Sinatra in his first credited acting role. Along the way we learn about the debutante ball throughout history, the life of Australian dried-fruit-entrepreneur-turned-renaissance-man C.J. DeGaris, Guy Peellaert's "Rock Dreams" and the long careers of Mel Tormé and Dooley Wilson. | |||
| 51: Wake Up and Live, Part 3 - Dancing in the Dark | 05 Jun 2024 | 02:24:34 | |
The history books forgot about the 1944 radio adaptation of Wake Up and Live, a bizarre and disastrous production in which a fascist self-help book adapted into a comedy movie about duelling radio shows is adapted back into a radio show in which several other radio shows exist within the world of this radio show, and characters with real people playing themselves are altered back into fictional characters again. And THIS was Sinatra's second ever acting role of any kind, fresh off the back of the similary convoluted film Higher and Higher. On top of that, this was also the first time he recorded both "Embraceable You" and "Dancing in the Dark" and he delivers show-stopping performances of both, truly making this a historic moment in time. Yet all of this has essentially gone undocumented. This week on SUDDENLY, you'll hear the original radio broadcast in full as we try to make sense of what this all is - and we're not even done with Wake Up and Live yet. | |||
| 08: SUDDENLY presents Rocky Fortune in 'The Museum Murder' | 24 Jul 2022 | 00:24:58 | |
We're off this week so instead we're presenting a full episode of the classic 1953 NBC radio drama Rocky Fortune, starring Frank Sinatra as the "footloose, fancy-free and frequently unemployed" titular character. 'The Museum Murder' sees Rocky taking a job as a tour guide at a history museum - only to end up with, as usual, more trouble than he bargained for. Rocky Fortune, as with all US radio broadcasts dated before February 1972, is in the public domain. The complete series is freely available on podcast feeds, YouTube, Internet Archive, etc. Google "Old Time Radio" to discover more about the wide world of public domain radio shows, effectively a massive treasure trove of vintage podcasts. Regular programming should return from next week onwards. But this isn't the last you'll be hearing from Rocco Fortunato. | |||
| 07: Night and Day | 17 Jul 2022 | 02:27:22 | |
In Morocco, a gay man hears the Islamic call to prayer and writes a song for his lover. In China, an American soldier watches the same film five times in one day. On a flight from Suva to Sydney, an Australian journalist works up the courage to approach Frank Sinatra. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM Donate to the show @ ko-fi.com/suddenlypod | |||
| 06: We Two in the Spray | 10 Jul 2022 | 01:30:03 | |
Add up the marginalised voices and they become the mainstream. A 19th century Hawaiian prince writing a song about a couple frolicking in gentle rain, a pioneering Korean actor in Hollywood taking archetypal Japanese villain roles during the war - all this and more, just beneath the surface of SHIP AHOY (1942). Plus, we review Shaggy's new Sinatra tribute album COM FLY WID MI and a run-in on a dating app leads Rabia to write the Suddenly Manifesto. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM Donate to the show @ ko-fi.com/suddenlypod
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| 05: Heaven or Las Vegas | 04 Jul 2022 | 01:30:11 | |
The early months of 1941 in Las Vegas were unique in history, a setting that most have forgotten. While still a small town of 8,500 people, this specific period saw the city on the verge of a tinderbox of circumstances - legalised gambling, an army base nearby, sex work, visiting movie stars, permissive divorce laws, organised crime, the end of prohibition and the end of the Depression - that were about to quickly escalate it to the place more familiar to us today. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM Donate to the show @ ko-fi.com/suddenlypod | |||