Kraft Suspense Theater: The Gun
It ran only from 1963 to 1965, but Kraft Suspense Theater (later titled Crisis) had some of the underpinnings of a great […]
Author: Lee Wallender
Deception, influence, fakes, illusions, themed environments, simulations, secret places, secret infrastructure, imagined places, dreamscapes, movie sets and props, evasions, camouflage, studio backlots, miniatures.
Lola DeWitt: Talman Party Member and Walking Disaster
One of the less savory aspects of the William Talman raid in 1960 was one of the members of the party: Lola […]
Max Tannenbaum: New York Hoodlum Brought to L.A. By Mickey Cohen
Los Angeles. It’s the 1950s. You’re on the front lines as a low-level gang associate of famed mobster Mickey Cohen. Associate, enforcer, […]
Richard Reibold: Shady Ad Exec and Talman Raid Party Host
Shady ad executive figures into a 1960 scandal that almost brought down TV actor William Talman.
Nutri-Bio: Forgotten MLM Supplements Scheme
Long-forgotten supplements company that grossed $30 million per year.
When TV D.A. William Talman Got Busted For Narcotics and Lewd Vagrancy
1960 scandal involving TV actor William Talman and seven others at a West Hollywood apartment.
Go for Broke! (1951): a Film Out of Its Time
Judging by Go for Broke‘s posters and related promotional material, you’d think that this Robert Pirosh picture is yet another post-WWII jingoistic […]
Charles McGraw’s Freakishly Sad and Incongruous Death
Charles McGraw (1914-1980) was the squarest jawed of all square-jawed Hollywood actors of the golden period, always playing a tough guy of […]
Miss Lesley E. Bogert, Prominent Among Newport Socialites
It starts with a photo in a LIFE magazine, July 11, 1938, with the caption saying, “Miss Lesley E. Bogert was prominent […]
Predicting the Date Kamala Harris Becomes President
With Joe Biden’s election as U.S. president, a major power shift has happened in the White House. But there is also the […]