Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
This is Later with Lee Matthews,The Lee Matthews Podcast More what You Hear
Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive. LarsJacobson is a writer and executive producer of
the future Novakane in production at Paramount, It'll Star Jack Quaid, An Amber,
mid Thunder with a Safe House andFilm Nation producing. But he's also
(00:25):
the producer of a podcast called Fodor'sGuide to Espionage, heard on the iHeartRadio
Appen everywhere you get podcasts. LarsJacobson, welcome, thank you very much,
pleasure to be here. Let's startwith who is Eugene Fodor the topic
of this scripted podcast. Yeah,what an amazing figure, I mean,
(00:50):
what an amazing character. Yeah,he's a real guy, really a revolutionary
of the travel guide business, oneof the first and greatest, and so
he kind of a rich need thetravel guide process very early when jet setting
and travel was just kind of aburgeoning business. He wanted to open up
the world to travel and his beliefwas if people, you know, learned
(01:11):
about other cultures, that it wasa lot harder to go to war with
one another. But then in thatprocess he was also traveling through Europe and
he witnessed the terrible effects of NaziGermany and the results on Europe and how
it was growing, and he decidedJoe was a quote of his, that
he was not going to return toEurope again unless it was in uniform.
(01:33):
And even though he wasn't a bornAmerican citizen, he enlisted. He worked
for the OSS as a frontline interrogatorbecause he spoke so many languages, and
he was also very you know,he was a geographer, his father was
a geographer. He understood the land, he understood, you know, how
to get from place to place,and also understood the cultures. So he
(01:55):
was really effective in you know,helping the US win the war. And
then afterwards, it wasn't actually discovereduntil the Nixon trials in the seventies,
but it was revealed that he wasworking as a CIA agent, using his
cover as a travel writer to kindof assist in with the CIA during the
Cold War, which I just thoughtwas incredibly interesting but also made a lot
(02:17):
of sense because a travel writer reallyhas all the best qualities of the spy.
You know, they can blend inwith the local community, they can
move freely without suspicion, they canconduct surveillance. They understand he speaks.
He spoke I think up to elevenlanguages. So he really was kind of
the ideal spy. And although wedon't know exactly what he got into,
(02:39):
it was kind of the perfect avenuefor me to inject him into all the
greatest moments of the Cold War,And so that was kind of the impetus
for the show. Well, hesounds a lot like many of the I
love this kind of stuff, bythe way, I love the real life
stuff that happened, particularly during WorldWar Two that seemed to be the golden
age of espionage exactly. And that'swhat was so interesting to me. I
(03:02):
mean, I've always loved those sixtiesera spy shows, you know, I
Spy and Man from Uncle and MissionImpossible, and of course the Bond movies.
And this guy with this was areal life Bond. But he wasn't
just Bond. He was Bond meetAnthony Bourdain. And so for me to
tell a story that gets to takethe audience on an exotic vacation and globe
(03:22):
trot and at the same time takethem on a high stake spy mission,
it was just as a storyteller,it just couldn't be more compelling. And
I love history, so to alsobe able to inject the series with real
history, real people, real locations, so got It's filled with fun facts
and history and it's just a lotof fun. And not to mention the
(03:44):
fact that he was married to thewoman that he ran the company with,
Blosta, who was also extremely talentedlasta Fodor, and so it's a very
interesting dynamic of your husband and wiferunning a business and kind of functioning in
this world. So we got tokind of play with those relationships as well.
The podcast is Fodor's Guide to Espionage. It's about a travel writer who
(04:05):
had a secret life working for theCIA, or what became the CIA,
started out as the OSS. LarsJacobson is the writer and producer of it.
This character also reminds me of manyof the other real life spies of
that era that I've read about,one most notably Tricycle, who spoke many
(04:25):
different languages, was able to blendin and out of cultures without any problem,
was able to talk his way inand out of any even enduring a
five hour grilling from the Gestapo,and emerged highly credible quote unquote. This
guy sounds very similar, only Tricyclewas a triple agent. This was true
(04:51):
patriotism for the Allies. He reallywas, And that to me is also
what's so interesting is those people backof that era. It wasn't all about
technology and facial recognition software and allthis stuff which it is now. It
was really you know, trade craft, and it was boots on the ground
(05:11):
and high stakes, you know,personal missions, and they required a lot
of ingenuity, and you know theeffects of that was of course essential to
the success of the Cold War andto revealing you know, even the course
of this story, we jumped fromcity to city. But in nineteen sixty
(05:31):
one, when all of this istaking place, in the heart of the
Cold War, leading up to theCuban Missile Crisis, all of these these
huge historic moments, the building ofthe Berlin Wall and the exposure of the
Portland Spiring, which was the biggestintelligence breach in British history, Like all
of these events were all happening aroundthe same time. Assassination attempt on Charles
de Gaul, which was the kindof the subject matter of Day of the
(05:55):
Jackal, Like all of these thingswere happening all within Europe, all within
the same year, and Eugene Fodorwas I'm sure central to a lot of
it, or we at least gotto inject him into these events in a
really fun way. Scripted podcast isPhotor's Guide to Espionage. It's about Eugene
Fodor, who is a jet setterand globe trotter who worked for the CIA,
(06:18):
and Larsh Jacobson is the writer andproducer. I'm amazed this has not
been a movie or a book inits own right, or has it.
You know, it's very interesting becauseI was surprised too. I first came
across it when I was doing researchon another project, and I was so
surprised that no one had ever donethis. And I actually had at one
(06:40):
point set it up as a TVseries with a big name actor and the
idea of kind of putting it outas a TV series, And I think
that is still the idea of what'sgreat about a podcast is you can put
out an entire season and you know, it's a perfect proof of concept.
It kind of shows exactly what theseries could be. And I think it
(07:00):
really is ideal for a TV seriesbecause it is truly international. It is
you know, it's Bond meets Ordaine. It's you know, like I said,
an exotic vacation at a high stakesspy mission, which is really fun.
Well, a podcast is certainly cheaperto put together, easier to put
together, but in some ways morechallenging because what you have to do is
create pictures with words and sound ratherthan the pictures themselves. For me,
(07:24):
it's more fun, it really,is it really? And they do they
say, you know, uh,you know, the limitations, you know,
the absence of limitations or the enemyof art or something like that.
So we have, you know,because it's just a radio play essentially.
But what was so great about havingEugene Phodor as a character is we use
his narration as a narrative device tokind of bookend the series. So we
(07:46):
get to you know, he getsto tell us about the location, he
gets to take us to the restaurants, he tells us about the historic places.
He also touches on the history ofVespa in Italy and Gelato, and
so we get to have a lotof fun with the history and using his
voice to explain the world. So, in addition to the spy mission,
the Diti vacations, you're going toget all kinds of fun anecdotes and information.
(08:09):
And so next time you're traveling throughEurope, and maybe there'll be more
travels to come, but this timein Europe, hopefully we'll hit on some
spots that everyone kind of recognizes andintroduce them to some new places. Lars
Jacobson. He is the producer ofFodor's Guide to Espionage. It is a
scripted podcast about the incredible life ofEugene Fodor and his jet setting around and
(08:31):
spying around the world. Thank youfor gining this is an unknown character we've
not heard about so large. Jacobson. Thank you for bringing him to us
and for joining us today. Thankyou so much. It's really great to
be here. Thanks for listening toLater with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews
Podcast, and remember to listen toThe Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to
(08:56):
seven and iHeartMedia Presentation
This is Later with Lee Matthews,The Lee Matthews Podcast More what You Hear
Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive. LarsJacobson is a writer and executive producer of
the future Novakane in production at Paramount, It'll Star Jack Quaid, An Amber,
mid Thunder with a Safe House andFilm Nation producing. But he's also
(00:25):
the producer of a podcast called Fodor'sGuide to Espionage, heard on the iHeartRadio
Appen everywhere you get podcasts. LarsJacobson, welcome, thank you very much,
pleasure to be here. Let's startwith who is Eugene Fodor the topic
of this scripted podcast. Yeah,what an amazing figure, I mean,
(00:50):
what an amazing character. Yeah,he's a real guy, really a revolutionary
of the travel guide business, oneof the first and greatest, and so
he kind of a rich need thetravel guide process very early when jet setting
and travel was just kind of aburgeoning business. He wanted to open up
the world to travel and his beliefwas if people, you know, learned
(01:11):
about other cultures, that it wasa lot harder to go to war with
one another. But then in thatprocess he was also traveling through Europe and
he witnessed the terrible effects of NaziGermany and the results on Europe and how
it was growing, and he decidedJoe was a quote of his, that
he was not going to return toEurope again unless it was in uniform.
(01:33):
And even though he wasn't a bornAmerican citizen, he enlisted. He worked
for the OSS as a frontline interrogatorbecause he spoke so many languages, and
he was also very you know,he was a geographer, his father was
a geographer. He understood the land, he understood, you know, how
to get from place to place,and also understood the cultures. So he
(01:55):
was really effective in you know,helping the US win the war. And
then afterwards, it wasn't actually discovereduntil the Nixon trials in the seventies,
but it was revealed that he wasworking as a CIA agent, using his
cover as a travel writer to kindof assist in with the CIA during the
Cold War, which I just thoughtwas incredibly interesting but also made a lot
(02:17):
of sense because a travel writer reallyhas all the best qualities of the spy.
You know, they can blend inwith the local community, they can
move freely without suspicion, they canconduct surveillance. They understand he speaks.
He spoke I think up to elevenlanguages. So he really was kind of
the ideal spy. And although wedon't know exactly what he got into,
(02:39):
it was kind of the perfect avenuefor me to inject him into all the
greatest moments of the Cold War,And so that was kind of the impetus
for the show. Well, hesounds a lot like many of the I
love this kind of stuff, bythe way, I love the real life
stuff that happened, particularly during WorldWar Two that seemed to be the golden
age of espionage exactly. And that'swhat was so interesting to me. I
(03:02):
mean, I've always loved those sixtiesera spy shows, you know, I
Spy and Man from Uncle and MissionImpossible, and of course the Bond movies.
And this guy with this was areal life Bond. But he wasn't
just Bond. He was Bond meetAnthony Bourdain. And so for me to
tell a story that gets to takethe audience on an exotic vacation and globe
(03:22):
trot and at the same time takethem on a high stake spy mission,
it was just as a storyteller,it just couldn't be more compelling. And
I love history, so to alsobe able to inject the series with real
history, real people, real locations, so got It's filled with fun facts
and history and it's just a lotof fun. And not to mention the
(03:44):
fact that he was married to thewoman that he ran the company with,
Blosta, who was also extremely talentedlasta Fodor, and so it's a very
interesting dynamic of your husband and wiferunning a business and kind of functioning in
this world. So we got tokind of play with those relationships as well.
The podcast is Fodor's Guide to Espionage. It's about a travel writer who
(04:05):
had a secret life working for theCIA, or what became the CIA,
started out as the OSS. LarsJacobson is the writer and producer of it.
This character also reminds me of manyof the other real life spies of
that era that I've read about,one most notably Tricycle, who spoke many
(04:25):
different languages, was able to blendin and out of cultures without any problem,
was able to talk his way inand out of any even enduring a
five hour grilling from the Gestapo,and emerged highly credible quote unquote. This
guy sounds very similar, only Tricyclewas a triple agent. This was true
(04:51):
patriotism for the Allies. He reallywas, And that to me is also
what's so interesting is those people backof that era. It wasn't all about
technology and facial recognition software and allthis stuff which it is now. It
was really you know, trade craft, and it was boots on the ground
(05:11):
and high stakes, you know,personal missions, and they required a lot
of ingenuity, and you know theeffects of that was of course essential to
the success of the Cold War andto revealing you know, even the course
of this story, we jumped fromcity to city. But in nineteen sixty
(05:31):
one, when all of this istaking place, in the heart of the
Cold War, leading up to theCuban Missile Crisis, all of these these
huge historic moments, the building ofthe Berlin Wall and the exposure of the
Portland Spiring, which was the biggestintelligence breach in British history, Like all
of these events were all happening aroundthe same time. Assassination attempt on Charles
de Gaul, which was the kindof the subject matter of Day of the
(05:55):
Jackal, Like all of these thingswere happening all within Europe, all within
the same year, and Eugene Fodorwas I'm sure central to a lot of
it, or we at least gotto inject him into these events in a
really fun way. Scripted podcast isPhotor's Guide to Espionage. It's about Eugene
Fodor, who is a jet setterand globe trotter who worked for the CIA,
(06:18):
and Larsh Jacobson is the writer andproducer. I'm amazed this has not
been a movie or a book inits own right, or has it.
You know, it's very interesting becauseI was surprised too. I first came
across it when I was doing researchon another project, and I was so
surprised that no one had ever donethis. And I actually had at one
(06:40):
point set it up as a TVseries with a big name actor and the
idea of kind of putting it outas a TV series, And I think
that is still the idea of what'sgreat about a podcast is you can put
out an entire season and you know, it's a perfect proof of concept.
It kind of shows exactly what theseries could be. And I think it
(07:00):
really is ideal for a TV seriesbecause it is truly international. It is
you know, it's Bond meets Ordaine. It's you know, like I said,
an exotic vacation at a high stakesspy mission, which is really fun.
Well, a podcast is certainly cheaperto put together, easier to put
together, but in some ways morechallenging because what you have to do is
create pictures with words and sound ratherthan the pictures themselves. For me,
(07:24):
it's more fun, it really,is it really? And they do they
say, you know, uh,you know, the limitations, you know,
the absence of limitations or the enemyof art or something like that.
So we have, you know,because it's just a radio play essentially.
But what was so great about havingEugene Phodor as a character is we use
his narration as a narrative device tokind of bookend the series. So we
(07:46):
get to you know, he getsto tell us about the location, he
gets to take us to the restaurants, he tells us about the historic places.
He also touches on the history ofVespa in Italy and Gelato, and
so we get to have a lotof fun with the history and using his
voice to explain the world. So, in addition to the spy mission,
the Diti vacations, you're going toget all kinds of fun anecdotes and information.
(08:09):
And so next time you're traveling throughEurope, and maybe there'll be more
travels to come, but this timein Europe, hopefully we'll hit on some
spots that everyone kind of recognizes andintroduce them to some new places. Lars
Jacobson. He is the producer ofFodor's Guide to Espionage. It is a
scripted podcast about the incredible life ofEugene Fodor and his jet setting around and
(08:31):
spying around the world. Thank youfor gining this is an unknown character we've
not heard about so large. Jacobson. Thank you for bringing him to us
and for joining us today. Thankyou so much. It's really great to
be here. Thanks for listening toLater with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews
Podcast, and remember to listen toThe Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to
(08:56):
seven and iHeartMedia Presentation
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