September 04, 2009
Filmmaker R.J. Cutler has covered politics and race -- now he's turned to another combustible topic: fashion. For "The September Issue," he goes behind the scenes at Vogue and watches its imperious editor Anna Wintour and her creative director Grace Coddington at work. Wintour "seems to be the descendant of the minister of fashion from the court of Louis XIV," he tells Kurt.
Don Draper represents a version of masculinity a lot of guys today never knew. The fictional character played by John Hamm in AMC's "Mad Men," is a 1960s ad man who's serious, well-dressed, and secretive. Studio 360's Eric Molinsky tries to understand why fans of the show are ready to ditch their t-shirts and jeans for dapper suits and ties.
Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women:
When the Los Angeles County Museum of Art decided to sell textiles from its collection, artist Robert Fontenot snapped up 50 items and started recycling them. Kurt talks with Fontenot and LACMA curator Rita Gonzales.
In the 1950s, Paulus Berensohn, now 77, studied dance at Juilliard, performed on Broadway, and worked with modern dance legends like Merce Cunningham and Mary Anthony. Then, in his mid-20s, it occurred to him: what would it mean to dance, not just on the stage, but in life? He found the answer at a potter's wheel, and he's been there ever since. Produced by Studio 360's Jenny Lawton.
Lori Moore's new novel, A Gate at the Stairs, is about a young woman who gets a job as a nanny for a family in her Midwestern college town. Moore tells Kurt how living in the Midwest shaped her view of the post-September 11th era.
Remember the eerie flying saucer sound effect from old B-movies? It's produced by a theremin, the only instrument you play without touching. Kurt gets a lesson from theremin virtuoso Pamelia Kurstin. Produced by Amanda Aronczyk.
Kurt Andersen Learns To Play The Theremin:
Production by Oates Ritthichai
Studio 360 is a co-production of
Public
Radio International and
WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by
Ken and Lucy Lehman, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
