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COVER STORY
The
Fifties
Kurt talks with
English professor Ann Douglas about the art, music, and literature of
the 1950's, and the decade's enduring influence on American culture.
  Nat
King Cole
Kurt Andersen talks with Daniel Mark Epstein, who has
written a biography of Nat King Cole, about the singer's groundbreaking
TV variety show.
 Go
to Epstein's Nat King Cole book
Go
to Nat King Cole bio on DownBeat.com
Beat
Speak
Beat musician David Amram tells us
how the Beats had an enormous influence on the way we live and talk today.
Produced by Judith Kampfner.
Go
to David Amram's website
Go
to Maynard G. Krebs' guide to Beatspeak
Go
to Beat generation archives
Go
to American Museum of Beat Art
 West
Side Story
The 1957 Broadway hit explored dark, topical ideas,
and backstage, the social and personal politics of its creators tied this
historic musical to its time. Produced by Sara Fishko.
Go
to brief history of West Side Story
Go
to Cold War Propaganda site
Hal
Sirowitz
In a sort of anti-tribute this mother's day weekend,
John Flansburgh and John Linnell of the cult band They Might Be Giants
have an appreciation of Hal Sirowitz, a poet who has made remembering
his mother a cornerstone of his work. Produced by Trey Kay.
Go
to Hal Sirowitz's website
Go
to They Might Be Giants' website
Go
to Dial-a-Song
Go
to another They Might Be Giants site
 SPECIAL
GUEST
Ann Douglas
Ann Douglas is the Parr Professor of Comparative Literature
at Columbia University, where her lectures on the culture of the 1950's
are standing-room only. She is the author of the award-winning book "Terrible
Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920's" (Farrar, Straus, 1995), and
is currently completing a book on Hollywood 1930-1960. She is also working
on a long-term project, "If You Live, You Burn: Cold War Culture in the
United States, 1939-1965."
Go
to Columbia University profile
Go
to Douglas' book review on a Jack Kerourac biography
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Audio
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need RealPlayer.
Go
to instructions for downloading
Commentary
Sanitizing Bugs: Political Correctness at the
Cartoon Network.
Read
the full text
Now
Playing
Paint by Numbers: The do-it-yourself art craze
of post-war America now has its own retrospective at the National Museum
of American History in Washington. Produced by Andrea Murray from WETA
in Washington.
Go
to the Smithsonian exhibit
Go
to le salon de Paint-by-Numbers
Go
to Most Wanted Paintings (on web)
Go
to Paint by Numbers Window
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