Writing

ARTICLES & ESSAYS:

Ella Plays Dice – “Ella Fitzgerald was eating a piece of pie when the police burst into her dressing room, guns drawn…”

A Tale of Two Theme Parks – “It was the time of carhops.  It was the time of doo-wop.  It was the epoch of Elvis and Miles…”

Frank Wilkinson & the Battle of Chavez Ravine – “It’s hard to fathom, but Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium is now the third oldest ballpark in major league baseball…”

Lunch With Carson – “On a chilly February afternoon in 1959, Carson McCullers, Marilyn Monroe and Isak Dinesen had lunch…”

What Ever Happened to Hazel Scott – “At one time Hazel Scott was the toast of the jazz and popular music world, an internationally renowned pianist, and top-selling recording artist.  And then she disappeared…”

Galileo In Hollywood – “The Brecht-Laughton Galileo, like the improbable relationship of its two creators, came together at a unique moment in Hollywood history…”

The Hustler at 60 – “The Hustler is a gritty, unsettling drama set in the seedy underbelly of the American Dream…”

To Sir, With Love and the Year of Sidney Poitier – “To Sir, With Love is a classroom drama set in London’s working-class East End during the swinging 1960s…”

The Night of the Iguana: Close Encounters in the Jungle – “Tennessee Williams’s last great play was turned into a movie which was as famous for its behind-the-scenes spectacle as for what actually appeared on screen…”

Why Paris Blues Didn’t Hit the High Note – “Paris Blues could have been a hit.  It could have been a game-changer.  It could have become a classic…”

One-Eyed Jacks: America at the Crossroads – “Moody, psychological, ambiguous, it was awash in sadomasochism, with a brooding Brando in nearly every scene…”

Beatles Redux reviews of Beatles’ documentaries Get Back and John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky

Riot at the Black Cat – “Just a few minutes before midnight at the Black Cat, the Rhythm Queens, a trio of black women singers hired for the night, are getting ready for their big number…”

Making Art/Making History: The Negro History Quilt Club of Marin City & Sausalito – “The Harriet Tubman and the Frederick Douglass quilts are little-known national treasures…”

The Prison-Industrial Complex & the Global Economy – “Over 1.8 million people are currently behind bars in the United States…”  (co-written with Linda Evans)

 BOOKS:

Hollywood Hang Ten – a murder mystery set in 1963 Los Angeles.  A missing child investigation turns into a case of blackmail and murder as a private detective is drawn deep into Hollywood’s hidden past — a past that involves the 1950s anti-communist witch hunts and closeted gay stars.

(available now on Amazon or order at your local bookstore)

MEMOIR:

Watergate Summer – “I watched the 1973 Watergate hearings from a motel room…”