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, pal, friend, whatever. You’re called many things. It’s not like a gangster movie. It’s a mundane life. Some people call you a functionary like it’s an insult. But why? A functionary functions. A… Continue reading Max Tannenbaum: New York Hoodlum Brought to L.A. By Mickey Cohen
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 war film. We see strapping blonde Van Johnson hoisting a rifle and chasing the Italian ladies. The title, too, evokes visions of Battleground (1949)–also starring Van Johnson and directed by Robert Pirosh–and the… Continue reading Go for Broke! (1951): a Film Out of Its Time