SUDDENLY: a Frank Sinatra podcast

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: * The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) (watch in full - public domain) * Jack Pearl - Robin and the 7 Hoods (novelisation) (1964) * Lou Reed interview, "Reed Goes Public on Velvet Underground", The Canberra Times, 4 October 1987  * Nobody Dies Here: Inside Melbourne's Medically Supervised Injecting Room (2023) podcast   * Judy Ryan - You Talk, We Die: The Battle for Victoria’s First Safe Injecting Facility (2022)  * Link to book tours of the MSIR (Melbourne Supervised Injecting Room)  * Photo of the "You Talk, We Die" mural in North Richmond  * Stimulant Treatment Program at St Vincents Hospital in Sydney   * A Year to Remember - 1955 (1965) Newsreel including Maitland flood footage * Katie Carr, "The problem with the 'disabled villain' trope", The Nora Project, 7 October 2022. * Detective Pikachu (2019) * Where to obtain Naloxone - official advice from Australian Government * Brian Jeffery, "Gays come out of the closet", The Canberra Times, 13 March 1982

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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.  Sources for this episode:

* John Mosedale - The Men Who Invented Broadway (1981) * Neal Gabler - Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity (1994) * Snopes article on the Elon/Zuck kissing photo  * Better Offline podcast hosted by Ed Zitron, "The AI Bubble is Bursting" episode  * Rehash podcast, "Is Anyone Up?" episode  * Sullivan's Travels (1941) * Fresh Air (1999) * The Sweet Smell of Success (1957) * Scandal (1950) * Winchell (1998) * "Should Non-Jewish Actors Play Jewish Roles?" Henry Giardina, Hey Alma, 18 August 2022  Henry's official site - henrygiardina.com.

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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.

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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? Selected sources and references:

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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. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

Please note that the accompanying graphic for this episode has not been chosen lightly and is intended in the spirit of historical education, criticism and artistic commentary.  In part 2 of our investigation into the saga of Wake Up and Live, we look at the original 1936 self-help book by Dorothea Brande, the toxic ideas that the book perpetuates and the author's ties to fascism and Nazism. To understand why fascism became popular in the United States during the 1930s is also to understand why Wake Up and Live became a bestseller. This week we take a close look at both, from the infamous 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden to the publication and editing career of Brande's husband, Seward Collins, before going over the horrible, horrible book in full detail. Selected sources for this episode:

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This week we begin a three-part investigation into Wake Up and Live. What is it? Good question. It's a 1930s self-help book, a musical in which a real-life journalist/radio host plays himself, and later, a radio drama adapted from the film. All these things interrelate in a way that's confusing to make sense of in 2024. Just beneath the surface of Wake Up and Live lies an elaborate and shocking story we'll fully detail over the next three weeks. Sinatra won't enter the story until Part 3. What the hell is all of this? You're about to find out.  contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

What if someone slashed Sinatra's vocal cords at the height of his powers? Would he still be able to cut it in showbiz off his charm alone? Could he get into comedy instead of music? More importantly, what would be left of the man without his act? Of all the fictional characters Sinatra portrayed in his early years of dramatic film roles, "Joe E. Lewis" was among the most iconic. This week, we're watching 1957's The Joker is Wild, in which the Lewis persona was presented over a timeline spanning more than 30 years from the early days of vaudeville to the post-war period - with all of this as a backdrop on which to project Sinatra's deepest anxieties and sorrows. This episode features a cover of Bob Dylan's "Jokerman" by John Cruz. website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

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. If you like what we do on SUDDENLY, you'll definitely have a good time with this epic two-and-a-half-hour deep dive into not just a lesser-known Sinatra film project, but the 60-year-out-of-print trashy novelisation of same. We delve into the bizarre circumstances surrounding the making of the film, and examine the psyche of pulp author Jack Pearl who added original strange details and incredibly violent, misogynistic content to the book. One surprise twist follows another. We're in good hands with the Authorized gang being experts in the maligned genre of film-to-book adaptations, having read Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Cowboys and Aliens and the Cheetah Girls trilogy amongst many others. Authorized is one of our favourite shows and we really recommend you check them out. Despite the cultural divide that comes with different regional spellings of "novelisation/novelization" and "authorised/authorized", everyone had a great time!  Regular SUDDENLY programming will resume in April.   AUTHORIZED: instagram, twitter - @authorizedpod  patreon - patreon.com/authorizedpod  SUDDENLY: website - suddenlypod.gay contact - suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate - ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

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.  website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

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. website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

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. Selected resources: * Woody Guthrie - Dustbowl Ballads (1940) (featured: "Dust Cain't Kill Me") * Gordon Jenkins - Seven Dreams (1953) (featured: "The Cocktail Party (The Fourth Dream)") * The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1967) (featured: "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "That's Not Me", "Caroline, No") * Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy (autobiography, 2010) * Jane Russell & Hoagy Carmichael - "I Get Along Without You Very Well" (from Las Vegas Story, 1952) * Bob Crosby and His Orchestra (with Marion Mann, vocal) - "Deep in a Dream" (1938) * Laurie Anderson - "Smoke Rings" (from Home of the Brave, 1986) * The Berlin Patient (podcast hosted by Joel White, 2016-17) (Complete series available on YouTube and Internet Archive) * Sophie Calle - Take Care of Yourself (book and art project, 2007) * Nick Hornby - High Fidelity (novel, 1995) * Marian McPartland Trio - "This Love of Mine" (from self-titled album, 1956) Special thanks to W.M. Akers. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

"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.

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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.  Selected references:

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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. Selected sources:  * Rabbi Dovid Weiss - We Cry for the Palestinians (Interview with Let the Quran Speak, October 2023) * The House I Live In (1945, anti-semitism PSA starring Frank Sinatra) * Paul Robeson - "The House I Live In"   * Hasan Hammami, Nakba survivor, interview with Middle East Eye, 2023.  * Mahmoud Salah, Nakba survivor, interview with Democracy Now, 2018.  * Nakba Day: What happened in Palestine in 1948?, Al-Jazeera, 15 May 2022. * Eddie Cantor in Israel (1950, short film) * Exodus (1960) * Pat Boone - "This Land is Mine" (Theme from Exodus) * Shalom Goldman - Starstruck in the Promised Land (2019) * Sinatra in Israel (1962, short film) * Sinatra: Supporting Israel "His Way", Friends of Zion Museum profile. * George Jacobs - Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra (2003) * Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) * Making the Desert Bloom: Why Europe Clings to the Colonial Mindset, Emile Badarin, Middle East Eye, 5 May 2023.  * Melville Shavelson - How to Make a Jewish Movie (1971) * "The Shadows and the Light", Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5 episode. * What'll It Be? Sinatra or Woody Allen?, Jack Engelhard, Israel National News, 8 July 2004.

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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. Selected media discussed in this episode: * Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory (1950) * Howard Cosell's introduction of Frank Sinatra from The Main Event (1974) * Ben Folds Five's "Boxing" from Ben Folds Five (1995) * Newsfront (1978) * Recordings of The AMPOL Show from 1957, documenting early Australian performances of Bill Haley and the Comets, Litltle Richard and others. Released as Rock n' Roll Radio Australia 1957. Available in full on YouTube.   * The Beatles' concert from Festival Hall, Melbourne, 1964. Filmed in full and available on YouTube. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod

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. Selected media discussed this week, with links:

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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." Deirdre O'Connell's Harlem Nights: The Secret History of Australia's Jazz Age is available from Macquarie University Press.  Dream Empire (2016) is streaming on Vimeo On Demand. Listen to Henry's new show with W.M. Akers, I'll Watch Anything.  The new season of You Must Remember This - a continuation of the Erotic 90s series - begins on September 5th. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod

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. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod

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.  Henry's new podcast I'll Watch Anything will be out soon. Check out his website here.

Watch Sinatra's version of "Luck Be a Lady" from A Man and his Music on YouTube. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod Artwork for this series of episodes by Felix (art instagram @saint_mcfly)

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. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod

Artwork for this series of episodes by Felix (art instagram @saint_mcfly)

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. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod Artwork for this series of episodes by Felix (art instagram @saint_mcfly)

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. Henry Giardina's Substack.

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. The list of trans surgery GoFundMes is here.

No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com

That's amore. Non paghiamo il fossile. And just like that... Boom, kiss, come on, God bless America. In 1966, a pilot for a potential Three Coins in the Fountain TV series was filmed on location in Rome. It only aired on TV once in August 1970, was not picked up thereafter and has never been made available ever since. Probably very few people have ever seen it at all. This week, we've unearthed it - and since it's turned out to be in the public domain, you can now watch it in full with English subtitles on the new SUDDENLY YouTube channel.  In what somehow turns out to be our longest episode to date, Justin Gausman of TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast joins us to examine "Caesar's Ghost", the first and only episode of the rejected Three Coins series. Is this the best manifestation of the franchise? Could it have been the Sex and the City of the 1960s if someone gave it a chance? We say yes - and it also turns out that this very obscure piece of lost media has significant overlap with the Elvis movie universe.  That's right; because three-and-a-half hours wasn't enough, we're talking about Three Coins in the Fountain once again. We're back to talk about this obscure pilot, and also as a mark of respect to Ultima Generazione (Last Generation), the climate activists who turned the Trevi water black just  weeks ago. During our record, we fire up the Trevi Fountain webcam once again and witness street sweepers, selfie-takers and a very special surprise that you'll love. Also, stay tuned after the closing theme for a bonus 45-minute discussion with Rabia & Justin about the future of AI in music, recorded spontaneously at 8am due to a timezone mix-up.  Watch Three Coins in the Fountain ("Caesar's Ghost") on the SUDDENLY YouTube channel here.  Tune into the Trevi Fountain webcam live as you listen here.  Justin is the co-host of the highly recommended show, TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Podcast. You can also join his Patreon to watch the "Blue Suede Reviews", and check out his appearance on the YouTube show EAP Society here. Also, check out our new official website! suddenlypod.gay CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM WEBSITE: suddenlypod.gay @SUDDENLYPOD on TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / YOUTUBE / MYSPACE  Donate to the show @ ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

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.  This show was just one of many socially conscious, thoughtful and progressive projects from Lefferts, a man whose long life was defined by his writing and his deep empathy for others. In 1960, he spent hundreds of hours interviewing everyday women about their problems for a groundbreaking show called Special for Women. But it was in radio that he'd really cut his teeth in the early days, working on dramatised science fiction shows like Dimension X and X Minus One in the 1950s. In 1953, he worked with Frank Sinatra on a noir drama series for NBC Radio, Rocky Fortune. Together, they came up with a wacky noir premise for which almost every episode followed the same formula: Rocky is unemployed. Rocky gets a new job. It all goes wrong for him in some way, and he ends up implicated in a murder. Rocky talks his way out of it and catches the killer. Rocky ends up unemployed again. The show was not a hit at the time, and decades of Sinatra biographers have dedicated one or two pithy sentences to it at most.  Today, with every episode widely available online in the public domain, Rocky Fortune sounds different. This week on SUDDENLY, we listen to two full episodes of the show plus one of To Be Perfectly Frank, Sinatra's other NBC show from the same period that saw him in the role of DJ. Looking at the work of Lefferts, Ernest Kinoy and Norm Sickel, we attempt to put Rocky Fortune in his proper context - and reclaim him as a hero for the marginalised, for women, and for the unemployed.

Selected works of George Lefferts: * Dimension X: "The Professor Was a Thief" (1950) Radio episode, adapted from a story by L. Ron Hubbard. Available on Spotify, YouTube, Internet Archive. * Rocky Fortune (1953-54) Complete radio series available on Spotify, YouTube, Internet Archive. * X Minus One: "The Defenders" (1956) Radio episode, adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick.  Available on Spotify, YouTube, Internet Archive. * World Wide '60: "The Living End" (1960) TV film about senior citizens, cast with nursing home residents. Lost or unavailable. * Special for Women (1961) TV series, either unavailable or lost. Book of original scripts available to read in full on Internet Archive. One episode, "The Lonely Woman", is available on film at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. * Breaking Point: "The Bull Roarer" (1962) First use of the word "homosexual" on TV. Watch the full episode on YouTube. * Teacher, Teacher (1969) TV movie about an underqualified and ill-tempered teacher taking on the education of a disabled child. Watch on YouTube. * Family Album, U.S.A. (1991) Sitcom designed for English learners. Complete video series available on YouTube.  Norm Sickel was a writer active in 1950s American radio. He wrote banter for Sinatra's 15-minute DJ series, To Be Perfectly Frank. Later, he wrote for Rocky Fortune, apparently at Sinatra's request. His episodes were among the most dramatic and socially conscious of the series. They differed in tone considerably from the comedic noir that Rocky Fortune became most known for. Later, his poems inspired the 1956 instrumental album Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color. Little else seems to be publicly known about Sickel. If you have any more information on what else he might have done creatively or where he ended up, we'd be interested in hearing from you. Join the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union (AUWU) at their website, or follow them on Twitter. AUWU member Jeremy Poxon is also a great Twitter follow to keep up with the latest around Australia's corrupt and cruel welfare regime. CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / MYSPACE / ODNOKLASSNIKI / YOUTUBE

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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.  Soundies featured in this episode: * Count Basie Orchestra with Jimmy Rushing - "Take Me Back, Baby" * Nat King Cole - "Errand Boy for Rhythm" * Gene Krupa and his Orchestra with Roy Eldrige and Anita O'Day - "Let Me Off Uptown"  * Toni Lane - "The Day of Hitler's Funeral (aka When Hitler Kicks the Bucket)"  * The Four Ginger Snaps - "Keep Smilin'"  * Barry Wood - "Any Bonds Today?" * Arica Wilde - "You Never Know"  * The Three Heat Waves - "Heat's On Again"   * Robert 'Tex' Allen - "The Fella with the Fiddle"  * Bobby Long, Marlene Cameron, Baby Barbara & others - "Club Lollypop"  Other clips: * Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong - "Lonesome Man Blues" (from The Frank Sinatra Show, December 31st, 1952)  * Duke Ellington - "Take the A Train" (from Reveille with Beverly) Mark Cantor's book, The Soundies: A History and Catalog of Jukebox Film Shorts of the 1940s, is out now. To learn more about Soundies and watch a huge collection of them, check out Mark's website, Celluloid Improvisations, and join his The World of Soundies Facebook group.  CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / MYSPACE  Donate to the show @ ko-fi.com/suddenlypod ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF BOBBY LONG

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.  In 1942, he was featured in a Soundie named Club Lollypop, dancing alongside a young girl named Marlene Cameron who he had also worked with during his stage performances. He may have also appeared in other short films of this period. By 1946, he had moved to Santa Monica, CA. His big break came in the form of a starring role singing and tapdancing to "I Believe" alongside Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante in the 1947 MGM musical, It Happened in Brooklyn. He continued touring for several more months. Then, for unknown reasons, he seems to have quit showbiz and public life entirely. At some stage, he may have moved to New York and then back to California again. In 1951, at the age of 19, he enlisted in the United States Navy, most likely after being drafted. He served in the Korean War aboard the USS Philippine Sea as an aerographer's mate third class until 1955.  He then led a quiet and private life for the remainder of the 20th century. He married once in 1960 and divorced in 1971. When That's Entertainment, Part 2 was released in 1976, he was miscredited in the "I Believe" segment as "Billy Roy." (This is the name of a different child star from It Happened in Brooklyn.) Decades went by and despite ever-increasing interest in Sinatra, Old Hollywood and the MGM story, the story of Bobby Long was apparently never investigated. Logsdon seems to have done no interviews and did not speak publicly about his tapdancing career.  He lived around the Orange County area and worked in technical fields, including computer-assisted design, during at least the 1980s. He married again in the early 1980s and stayed in that relationship until his death on October 31st, 2005. In the late 2010s, interest grew in Bobby Long through comment sections on YouTube and other websites. Numerous people expressed awe at his prodigious ability, an interest in what might have happened to him, and surprise at his seeming to disappear from public life. In 2022-23, this was investigated by this podcast. It was determined where he ended up and that he seems to have led a quiet life by design, and so the case is now closed.

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.   

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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. Watch the live webcam of the Trevi Fountain here. Discussed in this episode: * Roman Holiday (1953) * Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) * La Dolce Vita (1960) * The Pleasure Seekers (1964) * Three Coins in the Fountain (1970) (TV pilot filmed 1966, aired once in 1970 and now lost media. Watch the surviving 76-second clip here. We may be able to obtain this in full in the near future. Stay tuned for a follow-up episode!) * Coins in the Fountain (1990) (Out of print TV movie. Watch the mysterious extremely low-quality YouTube upload here.) * Sabrina Goes to Rome (1998) * When in Rome (2002) Olsen Twins * The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) * 3oh3 ft. Katy Perry "Starstrukk" music video (2009) * When in Rome (2010) Kristen Bell * Pamela Krist - Memory and the Trevi Fountain: Flows of Political Power in Media Performance (2019)

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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. Henry Giardina articles on Oscar Levant:  Goodnight, Oscar Levant, Wherever You Are  "Goodnight Oscar" is a Queer Letter to a Mental Health Hero Folding Ideas - "The Future is A Dead Mall: Decentraland and the Metaverse" video essay

CONTACT: SUDDENLYPOD AT GMAIL DOT COM @SUDDENLYPOD on TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / MYSPACE  Donate to the show @ ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

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. Since the recording of this episode, Mary Caldwell has shared the details of what happened to Bobby in a recent interview. She asks that as many people read and share it as possible. 

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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. Photo gallery for this episode here.

CORRECTIONS (to be mentioned in ep. 27)

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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?

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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.  Enter Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. In the midst of this uprising, they land in Nairobi with an entourage of 600 and under heavy armed guard. They are issued a weapon each. Ava is there to make a film, Mogambo. MGM's publicity for the film refers to the African continent as "the white man's graveyard." Sinatra, at a low point in his career, is just tagging along for the ride. He spends most of the trip distracted, anxiously reading his copy of James Jones' novel, From Here to Eternity, over and over.  FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) - a boring film based on a bad novel. Why was it such a hit? Does it deserve to be thought of as the turning point of Sinatra's life? And what really happened in Kenya? 

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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?

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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.

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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.

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:  Twitter (for now?) / Instagram - @suddenlypod Email: suddenlypod at gmail dot com 

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.

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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.  This week, we're joined by Gary Bohan Jr, author of a new book on Sharkey's surreal career. Gary is the great-grandson of Mark Huling, Sharkey's original trainer from Seal College in Kingston, New York. Six years of dedicated archival research went into Gary's book, published just months ago - a true labor of love, and a delightful, unpredictable read. Far from a dark story of animal exploitation, Sharkey emerges from history as a true performer who was dedicated to his craft and deeply loved performing. (He is not actually smoking in the episode photo.) Gary Bohan Jr's SHARKEY: WHEN SEA LIONS WERE STARS OF SHOW BUSINESS (1907-1958), is out now and comes highly recommended by this podcast. Order it from your local bookstore or buy it from the publisher, SUNY Press, here.  Follow Gary Bohan Jr: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Watch a 90-minute talk on Sharkey he gave for the Hurley Heritage Society on YouTube here. Follow the show: on Twitter and Instagram @suddenlypod or get in touch by email - suddenlypod at gmail dot com. 

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? This week we recommend the podcast Ad Creeps, the book The End of Policing by Alex Vitale and MIND GAME (2004). INSTA & TWITTER: @suddenlypod EMAIL: suddenlypod at gmail dot com

*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. During the 11 watches, I also visited places in the life of Peeter Pedaja and documented the time in Australian history following the death of Queen Elizabeth II as events unfolded around me. For Watch #5, I'm joined by Alison Evans, YA author and also my wife, who shares their thoughts on the film having previously watched every Elvis Presley film with me some years earlier.

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. Around 2hr40min, Felix joins in. We've just watched GROWN UPS 2 (2013) and SEX AND THE CITY 2 (2010), films covered on the first two seasons of The Worst Idea of All Time. As a nod to Sinatra, I'm very drunk on Jack Daniel's. Shenanigans follow. I haven't listened back to any of this and can't be held responsible for whatever I said.

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. All of this is completely unedited and runs over four hours. It is what it is and will probably vary wildly from the unlistenable to the sublime. Enjoy. I dig you the most

TWITTER & INSTA: @suddenlypod

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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. Born in 1931, Pedaja spent his entire Estonian childhood on the run from occupying Germans and Russians, including an exhaustive three-and-a-half year search for his lost family. He migrated to Australia by 18 and began hitch-hiking around the country - once riding a bicycle from Perth to Melbourne in summer, another time walking almost 300km in three days to win a bet. At age 19, he saw THE KISSING BANDIT and was inspired. Brandishing a toy water pistol, he managed to hijack a motorcycle then hold up a couple in a car before being promptly arrested. “(Sinatra’s character) in the film never meant to do anything bad and I didn’t either”, he told the court. “I’ve been honest all my life and always will be.” He got off with a suspended sentence - and became known in Australia as “The Kissing Bandit in Real Life.” And his adventures were just beginning. In 1957, he turned up in Darwin having constructed a boat out of oil drums. Oil drum sea travel had become an obsession. Despite warnings that the craft was unseaworthy, he was absolutely determined to cross the Timor Sea and arrive in Indonesia. As he set off, nobody expected him to even survive the trip... THE KISSING BANDIT is universally agreed to be the worst ever Sinatra film, so we got podcasting legend Tim Batt from The Worst Idea of All Time to join us for this episode. But it turned out that all this was just beneath the surface - and maybe it had something to do with the Worst Idea after all. How this incredible story became lost to history is unclear. But you’ll hear all about it, for the first time in almost 50 years, on this week’s SUDDENLY. Voice acting cast for this episode: Pete Rush as Peeter Pedaja, Lewis Worthington as Gregory Black, Henry Giardina as Capt. Peter Petersen, Spike Vincent as Capt. H.I. Phillips and Sue Marsh as Rosalie Pedaja. Peeter Pedaja (sometimes spelt Peter Pedaja, alias Stanley Lexton) was born on August 24th, 1931 in Talllinn, Estonia to Rosalie and Johannes Pedaja, and died on October 17th, 1985 in Melbourne, Australia. If you know any more about his amazing life, we would love to hear from you.  UPDATE: Since the recording of this episode, I've since learned I was mispronouncing his surname. It's "pe-DAI-ya." I looked all over the internet for someone pronouncing it and went by what Google Translate told me, but that turned out to be wrong - sorry! EMAIL: suddenlypod at gmail dot com INSTAGRAM: @suddenlypod TWITTER: @suddenlypod

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). We learn that New York City in the late 1940s was a formative setting for tenant activism that leaves a rich legacy for us in the early 2020s, both in the US and here in Australia. Where Sinatra's film at MGM deals with the housing crisis in a middling & passive way, its sister Allied Artists film IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE (1947) is an explicitly pro-squatting, pro-working class & anti-landlord masterpiece. It is absolutely essential viewing. Plus, a topical surprise visit from an old friend of the show. Recommended: Roberta Gold's When Tenants Claimed the City, THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (2019) and the podcast Eating for Free. Tom Tanuki's article about the scourge of Airbnb in Australian cities: https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/we-have-a-plague-of-airbnb-landlords,16751  Join the Renters and Housing Union Victoria (RAHU) - WEBSITE: https://rahu.org.au/  INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/rahunionvic TWITTER: http://twitter.com/rahunion FACEBOOK: https://fb.me/rentersandhousingunion  Contact us -  EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com  INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/suddenlypod  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/suddenlypod 

***UPDATE: We figured it out. Mostly. Listen to Episode 30 for more.*** At age 14, prodigious triple-threat Bobby Long made his onscreen debut tapdancing and singing along Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante in IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN (1947). Then he disappeared from film, from performing and seemingly from all public life. What happened to such a talented young man? This week, SUDDENLY investigates. Plus, we begin a discussion of the Brooklyn postwar housing crisis that will carry over to the next episode - and there's a Sinatra Kids update.

EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com  INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/suddenlypod  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/suddenlypod  

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.  This week we're looking at one of the greatest songs of the 20th century, "Ol' Man River", as sung by Frank Sinatra in TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY (1946). Racially, socially and environmentally, this masterpiece of songwriting has meant many different things to different people at different times. But one thing is for certain: it has no possible conservative reading. In the first half of this episode we also dig into other songs from the Jerome Kern songbook as featured in the film. Beau Miles' Bad River on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmxKUwB8VFQ The Cooks River Alliance: https://cooksriver.org.au/  Friends of Merri Creek: https://www.friendsofmerricreek.org.au/

EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/suddenlypod  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/suddenlypod 

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.  Recommended by Molly: In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, Velvet Goldmine (1998), Reds (1981), Walt Disney (PBS American Experience) (2015), Defunctland (YouTube series), On the Town (1949), Jokermen (podcast), Can’t Stop the Music (1980), Elvis (2022), Elvis Presley’s “Cotton Candy Land” (original and 2022 Stevie Nicks/Chris Isaak cover), Hail, Caesar! (2016), The Sewing Circle by Axel Madsen, Mad Men, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), the duet albums of Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Smash (TV, 2012-13). Recommended by Rabia: Yes Man (2008), Skirts Ahoy! (1952), CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill, Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera (podcast), Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean (2012), Nevada by Imogen Binnie and Molly’s podcast HeidiWorld. Recommended by Felix: A League of Their Own (TV, 2022). J.P. Robinson's article on Alexander Ivanovich Dorogokupetz, aka "Edward J. Dorogokleepetz": https://flashbak.com/the-teenager-who-egged-frank-sinatra-and-the-bobby-sox-riot-new-york-city-1944-433028/  EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/suddenlypod   TWITTER: http://twitter.com/suddenlypod 

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. Meanwhile, the Step Lively brawl had sparked a national controversy that culminated in a near-riot of thousands in Melbourne four months later. And by 1947, ‘Sinatra clubs’ had become a national phenomenon that seemed to bring the best and worst out of the nation’s youth - everything from tranquil listening parties and camping trips to gang violence, a vengeful home invasion and even an illegal attempt to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Through it all, there was the Voice; for these kids, Sinatra was their whole world. These surreal events were all but completely forgotten with time and have never been reported on since they occurred. Until now. Photo gallery for this episode: https://archive.org/details/sinatra-kids-gallery Special thanks to Trove, the National Library of Australia, the Mitchell Library, and the State Library of New South Wales, courtesy of ACP Magazines Ltd. Sinatra Club members included: Shirley Gormley, Tess Rix, Audrey Gurd, Leslie "Digger" Williamson or Les Williamson, Terry Ryan, Arthur Stevens, Beryl Atherton, Mari Dryden, Marion McKenzie and Shirley Ryan - and in Melbourne, Oliver Gilpin and Norm Kirkwood. Since the recording of this episode, we've learned that there was no "Edward J. Dorogokleepetz"; his actual name was Alexander Ivanovich Dorogokupetz. J.P. Robinson has written an extensive article on him here: https://flashbak.com/the-teenager-who-egged-frank-sinatra-and-the-bobby-sox-riot-new-york-city-1944-433028/  If you can shed any more light on any of this, we'd love to hear from you. EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/suddenlypod   TWITTER: http://twitter.com/suddenlypod 

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.  David's new book, "The Alert Grey Twinkling Eyes of C.J. DeGaris", is out now through University of Western Australia Press. https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/the-alert-grey-twinkling-eyes-of-c-j-degaris  EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/suddenlypod   TWITTER: http://twitter.com/suddenlypod 

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. EMAIL: suddenlypod@gmail.com INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/suddenlypod   TWITTER: http://twitter.com/suddenlypod 

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.  This week we learn all these stories and more while exploring Cole Porter's classic song "Night and Day", as performed by Sinatra in REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY (1943) - a film based on the fascinating true story of Jean Ruth Hay, one of the first ever female DJs in the US. We also cover Sinatra's legendary 1959 concert at the Festival Hall in Melbourne with the Red Norvo Quintet, which he performed for Ava Gardner in the front row... before all these themes come crashing together at the climax of this sprawling 2.5 hour episode. Also, we discuss what we can learn from World War II to survive the pandemic, and finally get to the bottom of war bonds.

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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. The Virginia O'Brien Archive: INSTAGRAM: http://instagr.am/virginiaobriens  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/virginiaobriens 

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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. In amongst all this came LAS VEGAS NIGHTS (1941), released two weeks before the first resort opened on the Strip. This was a tourism ad masquerading as a film, and it tried to sell Vegas both ways at once: a thriving city of nightlife and neon casinos, but also, a folksy little town where everybody knows your name and nobody locks their doors. Bizarre, fascinating and dreary all at once, this film also happened to be Frank Sinatra's first.  Special thanks to KCLV and the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial for the documentary VEGAS IN THE 40s (2022), released just this year, which was a hugely helpful resource in putting this together. The film is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7edD3d0ATw 

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The sound quality will finally improve from next week onwards as the Reversoscope Trilogy, recorded in one marathon session, comes to an end. We tackle the highly problematic Oscar-winning short THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (1945) and wonder what could possibly be so "communist" about it as one Shocking Twist follows another. Then we're learning a LOT about cigarettes in LUCKY STRIKE SALESMAN'S MOVIE 48-A (1948) and are blown away by a transcendentally beautiful Sinatra performance of "Stardust", jarringly embedded in its entirety amongst a tobacco sales pitch. Rabia wraps things up with a reflection on the discussions about racism we've had throughout these episodes.  Take the online virtual tour of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia here: https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/index.htm 

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Time marches on as Felix draws a connection between SHOW BUSINESS AT WAR (1943) and the Zendaya & Andrew Garfield interview that just popped up on his TikTok feed. Then we're back to high-pressure war bond sales tactics again in THE ALL-STAR BOND RALLY (1945). We learn the phrase "in the chips", Bing Crosby becomes a non-binary icon, Sinatra sings a spectacular version of "Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week" and Carol Landis sighs. Meanwhile, another serious discussion of blackface and racism arises from Al Jolson's infamous performance of "My Mammy", the use of the song "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers", the musical 'Yip Yip Yaphank' and a tangent about PT Barnum. 

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It's still raining as we begin our odyssey through the Sinatra filmography with the first of a three-part series exploring shorts he appeared in between 1935 and 1948. First up is MAJOR BOWES AMATEUR THEATRE OF THE AIR (1935), in which he wore blackface - a topic we attempt to cover sensitively, diving into the complicated history of the song "Shine" and the legacy of this form of racism today. Then we're off on THE ROAD TO VICTORY (1944), also known as THE SHINING FUTURE (1944) in its extended Canadian cut - a WW2-era infomercial for war bonds in the form of a sci-fi film set in the not-too-distant future of 1954, or 1960 in Canada. We learn about "Shoo Shoo Baby", The Great Gildersleeve and the term "rusty dusty" before finally explaining what war bonds are. 

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In this first episode, we set out what this is, what we're about to do and why we, as two transgender millennials in the 2020s, are so excited to rediscover Frank Sinatra. We detour into the Frank Sinatra/CATS connection and the abandoned Scorcese biopic - plus a heartfelt reading from a 1998 transgender community newsletter, and more. Also, it starts raining. 

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