From Beneath the Hollywood Sign
If the Golden era of Old Hollywood is your thing, our podcast is for you! If you want TYRONE POWER instead of TOM HARDY, JENNIFER JONES instead of JENNIFER LAWRENCE, or ROBERT MITCHUM rather than ROBERT PATTINSON, then FROM BENEATH THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN is the gin joint for you. Each week, writer and producer STEVE CUBINE and actress and writer NAN MCNAMARA explore, discuss, and dissect the magical, mysterious, amusing, and sometimes bizarre tales of Old Hollywood. So sit back and revisit a time when the pictures were still big and everyone was ready for their close-up.
Episodes
June 3, 2024 • 36 mins
EPISODE 38 - “Ruth Roman: Star of the Month (June)” - 06/03/2024
RUTH ROMAN was more than a pretty face; she was a survivor! She survived childhood poverty, the fickle nature of Hollywood, the wrath of Alfred Hitchcock, several marriages, and the sinking of the luxury liner Andrea Doria in 1956. Yes, Roman was a warrior. This week, Roman is our Star of the Month for June. Join us as we take a look at her life and her long and frui...
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May 27, 2024 • 42 mins
EPISODE 37 - “Memorial Day Movies” - 05/27/2024
War is Hell. As our nation prepares to honor the brave men and women who lost their lives defending our freedom on Memorial Day, Steve and Nan offer up a special episode where they will discuss a few war-themed films that have resonated with them over the years. Their choices cover everything from the Civil War to World War II.
SHOW NOTES:
Sources:
100 Great War Movies: The Real...
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May 20, 2024 • 41 mins
EPISODE 36 - “Classic Hollywood Clones: The Remaking of a Movie Star” - 05/20/2024
SHOW NOTES:
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. That may not be the case when it came to the star system of old Hollywood. When an actor like CLARK GABLE or GRETA GARBO or ROCK HUDSON emerged as a star, every studio in town tried to capitalize and create their own version. For every MARILYN MONROE, there’s a dozen CLEO MOOREs. ...
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May 13, 2024 • 37 mins
EPISODE 35 - “The Mystery Behind the Columbia Pictures’ Torch Lady and MGM’s Leo, the Lion” - 05/13/2024
Every major Hollywood studio has its recognizable logo. Paramount has its “mountain of stars,” 20th Century Fox has its roving klieg lights, and RKO has its radio towers. But two of the most famous studio logos have to be MGM’s “Leo, the lion” and Columbia’s regal “torch lady.” In this week’s episode, Steve and Nan dive into th...
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May 6, 2024 • 47 mins
In “It’s A Wonderful Life,” BEULAH BONDI played the most loving mother to JAMES STEWART. Ma Bailey is the epitome of sweetness, kindness, and supportiveness so it’s quite shocking when we meet the Ma Bailey who would have existed had George Bailey not been born. She’s cold, bitter, and unkind. It gives Bondi the wonderful opportunity to play two versions of the same character, which she does flawlessly. So to celebrate Mother’s Day...
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April 29, 2024 • 29 mins
EPISODE 33 - “Zachary Scott: Star of the Month (May)” - 04/29/2024
Suave, debonaire, and effortlessly charming, ZACHARY SCOTT is best known for his role in MICHAEL CURTIZ's film noir classic Mildred Pierce (1945). As the duplicitous, silver-tongued charmer Monte Beragon, he romances Mildred, played by JOAN CRAWFORD (in her Oscar-winning role), and Mildred's daughter, Veda (ANN BLYTH). This became Scott's signature role: the sexy c...
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April 22, 2024 • 38 mins
EPISODE 32 - “The Mary Astor Purple Diary Scandal” - 04/22/2024
One of the most scandalous trials in early Hollywood history involved actress MARY ASTOR, who had made a name for herself playing virginal ingenues and good girls. Mary, who had kept a diary for most of her life, found her words used as a sensationalized weapon against her in her quest to regain custody of her 4-year-old child in 1936 after her acrimonious divorce fro...
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April 15, 2024 • 35 mins
EPISODE 31 - “The Turner Classic Movies Film Festival Preview” - 04/15/2024
From April 18th through the 21st, the 15th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival will be held in Hollywood. Steve and Nan were fortunate enough to be invited to be a part of the media that covers the festival this year. To get everyone in the mood, we have a special episode about all the festival and everything you need to know. We will give you an overview of w...
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April 8, 2024 • 39 mins
EPISODE 30 - “Robert Walker: Old Hollywood’s Tragic Boy Next Door” - 04/08/2024
No one played sensitive, lost souls quite like ROBERT WALKER. However, he is best known for playing one of the most complicated, psychopaths in film history, Bruno Antony in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’s masterpiece “Strangers On A Train” (1951). His journey from playing sensitive innocents to playing Bruno is reflective of his troubled, turbulent life, and the h...
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April 1, 2024 • 31 mins
EPISODE 29 - “Jan Sterling: Old Hollywood Star of the Month” - 04/01/2024
Our “Star of the Month” is the fabulous JAN STERLING, who was married to our March “Star of the Month,” PAUL DOUGLAS. Blonde, beautiful, and often deadly on screen, Sterling started in theatre, but made a name for herself portraying tough dames, femme fatales, and sexy seductresses in films such as “Caged,” “Ace In the Hole” and “The High and the Mighty.” Ho...
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March 25, 2024 • 35 mins
EPISODE 28 - “Golden Era Stars in 1970s Disaster Films” - 03/25/2024
Just when many classic films stars thought they were finished in showbiz, a wonderful thing happened — 1970s disaster movies! Producers like IRWIN ALLEN and JENNINGS LANG shepherded in an exciting, over-the-top, new genre that capitalized on our fears. They also smartly cast many classic film actors in these movies, providing familiar faces who added comfort and ...
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March 18, 2024 • 31 mins
EPISODE 27 - “Dona Drake: What Price Fame” - 03/18/2024
Latina star DONA DRAKE, who signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1941, was many things — singer, dancer, actress, bandleader, musician — but one thing she wasn’t, as it turned out, was Latin! While Paramount promoted their new discovery as a spitfire Latina born in Mexico City, Drake was, in fact, an African-American woman from Florida who pretended to be Latin, going...
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March 10, 2024 • 42 mins
EPISODE 26 - “Oscar Fever: A Brief History of the Academy Awards” - 03/10/2024
The winners. The losers. The speeches. The gowns. The glamour. The cringey moments. Nothing toys with a film lovers’ emotions like the pageantry of the Academy Award ceremony…or the Oscars, as it has become known. Somewhere, right now, there are people still arguing over whether GRACE KELLY deserved to win the Best Actress Oscar in 1955 for “The Country...
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March 4, 2024 • 26 mins
EPISODE 25 - “Paul Douglas: Star of the Month” - 03/04/2024
In a new feature, we are highlighting a “Star of the Month” where we will dive into the life, career, and legacy of a single performer. To kick things off in this episode, we’ll be discussing the great PAUL DOUGLAS. You may not know his name, but you certainly know his face. With his somewhat craggy mug that usually sported a hang-dog look, he made a career at playing gru...
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February 26, 2024 • 32 mins
EPISODE 24 - “The Hollywood Studio Club: Where The Good Girls Lived” - 02/26/2024
During the early days of Hollywood, hordes of young women pilgrimaged West to try to break into the movie business. And like sheep to slaughter, there were just as many men in Hollywood ready to take advantage of these young, inexperienced, and vulnerable young women. However, the Hollywood Studio Club, a hotel for women, run by women, tried to give...
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February 19, 2024 • 34 mins
EPISODE 23 - “I Coulda Been a Contender: Classic Casting That Almost Happened” - 02/19/2024
It is well documented that the film “Gone With The Wind” started filming before an actress was cast in the lead role of Scarlett O’Hara. Producer DAVID O. SELZNICK made a spectacle out of who would win the coveted role. It became a national obsession. He considered everyone from TALLULAH BANKHEAD to BETTE DAVIS to LUCILLE BALL. He eventual...
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February 12, 2024 • 37 mins
EPISODE 22 - “Cupid’s Epic Fails” - 02/12/2024
Cupid has been stirring things up in Hollywood ever since the very first camera rolled. And when he gets it right, we get CLARK GABLE and CAROLE LOMBARD, JOEL McCRAE and FRANCES DEE, and PAUL NEWMAN and JOANNE WOODWARD. But when Cupid gets it wrong…well, let’s just say it ain’t pretty. In this episode, Steve and Nan discuss some Hollywood couplings that should never have happened.
S...
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February 5, 2024 • 40 mins
EPISODE 21 - “Love Is In The Air” - 02/05/2024
Let’s face it, Valentine’s Day can be a mixed bag. Either you’re blissfully in love and the day is a romantic dream, or, you are not in love and part of you wants to stomp all the roses and put the chocolate bon-bons in a sling shot and pummel Cupid. Whatever your head space this Valentine’s Day, Steve and Nan have a movie for you. Listen in as they share some of their favorite romant...
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January 29, 2024 • 38 mins
EPISODE 20 - “Greg Bautzer: Hollywood’s Legal Lothario” - 01/29/2024
Long before notorious trials like O.J. SIMPSON's made momentary celebrities out of legal eagles like JOHNNIE COCHRAN, ROBERT SHAPIRO and ROBERT KARDASHIAN, there was attorney GREG BAUTZER. From the working class docks of San Pedro, this ambitious Golden Boy with movie-star good looks and a brilliant legal mind became the most trusted confidante of the elite of Ho...
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January 22, 2024 • 33 mins
EPISODE 19 - “Fallen Angel: The Helen Walker Story” - 01/22/2024
Cast as ALAN LADD’s leading lady in her film debut, Massachusetts-born HELEN WALKER was destined for Hollywood greatness. With her deep voice, coolly blonde good looks, and immense talent, she were perfect for Hollywood of the 1940s. However, her rising star abruptly came crashing to earth after a tragic accident sent her life into a downward spiral of despair and al...
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