What if..."Hollywood"? with Special Guest Brandon Davis

Tony sits down with Brandon Davis, from NPR Illinois for the first of two episodes with the host of "Front Row Classics" podcast! In this first, we trace Brandon's path from grandma’s Rodgers and Hammerstein VHS tapes to a 350+ episode archive of interviews with film historians, authors, TCM personalities, and even cast members of "The Love Boat".  What starts as a get-to-know-you quickly turns into a golden age tour of "what-ifs"—Bette Davis and James Mason in "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf", Claudette Colbert as Margo Channing, Lucy as the Manchurian mastermind—and why the versions we got endure. Then it’s Hitchcock vs Wilder,  "Double Indemnity" to "The Apartment" and the darkness lurking under the romantic classic , "Sabrina".

Love classic cinema? Hit play, subscribe, and tell us your boldest old-Hollywood what-if. Then share this episode with a fellow film fan and leave a review to help more listeners find the show.

For more information on Brandon's podcast, go to: https://classics136634685.wordpress.com/

Links to Tony's website, and Brad's website at www.goinghollywoodpodcast.com

Follow us on Instagram @goinghollywoodpod

To watch "The True Story of the Barrymores," go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CZTHYN6D/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

To watch Tony's WIRED video "Tech Support: Old Hollywood" go to https://youtu.be/6hxXfxhQSz0?si=TO4Xv6q87XhBnqDT

Reach us at goinghollywoodpodcast@gmail.com

Listen to our Going Hollywood Playlist

Podcast logo by Umeworks

Transcript

Tony Maietta:
Hello, I'm film historian Tony Maietta.

Brad Shreve:
And I'm Brad Shreve, who's just a guy who likes movies.

Tony Maietta:
We discuss movies and television from Hollywood's golden age. We go behind the scenes and share our opinions, too.

Brad Shreve:
And of course, being the average guy, my opinions are the ones that matter.

Tony Maietta:
As does your self delusion. Welcome to Going Hollywood. Hey, everybody, I'm back. But I'm not all by myself this time. I'm so excited. I'm so excited not to be alone. I am not only alone. I have such a wonderful, wonderful guest today.

Tony Maietta:
And I know you're going to be as excited as I am to talk to this man. His name is Brandon Davis. Yes. Brandon Davis is the host of the Front Row Classics podcast with NPR Illinois. And I'm so excited to have him here today to talk with me on Going Hollywood. Welcome, Brandon. Welcome to the podcast.

Brandon Davis:
Hey, Tony, thank you so much. I'm so glad that we were able to do this.

Tony Maietta:
I am, too. I'm so thrilled. I was a guest on Brandon's podcast a couple weeks ago, right, Brandon, on Front Row Classics.

Brandon Davis:
Yeah, I released it a couple of weeks ago. I think we did it almost a month ago maybe.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, wow. God, time flies. Time flies. So that was so much fun. And guess what we talked about, listener guess. I mean, what do you think we talked about? Yes, we talked about Lucy and we also talked about Grey Gardens. No surprise to anyone there. That's what we talked about.

Tony Maietta:
But we had a great time. We had a great time. So I'm so excited to have you on here, Brandon. Brandon's actually going to be joining me for two. He's going to be my guest co host for two episodes coming up. Two consecutive, I hope, consecutive episodes. So I'm excited about that. This one, I'm thinking it's a getting to know you kind of a, kind of a thing for people who may not have been familiar with your podcast, your incredible podcast on NPR Illinois.

Tony Maietta:
So, Brandon, talk to me a little bit about, I want to hear your origin story because you have, you are one busy, busy man. And I'd love to hear what got you, what got you involved in the podcast. First of all, how that came about and of course, what fascinated you about getting involved in classic Hollywood?

Brandon Davis:
Oh, well, long version or short version now?

Tony Maietta:
So I, we got an hour. Take a long version.

Brandon Davis:
Okay. No, I mean, I, you know, I'm with NPR Illinois, as Tony said, and I grew up, I grew up in a little town just north. I live in Springfield, Illinois currently. And I grew up in a little town about 30 minutes north called Lincoln, Illinois, which for all you history trivia experts is the first town named after Abraham Lincoln. Even before he was president.

Tony Maietta:
I didn't know that.

Brandon Davis:
So that is the claim to fame there. But yeah, I grew up loving movies, period. And little by little I had a grandmother who was my gateway into classic film. And it started with first of all her just bringing me VHS of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. So started with Oklahoma. And the King and I and then that segued into the MGM musicals and then that segue. So musicals were the first genre I loved. But what I found was I my parents liked movies, but they didn't love movies.

Brandon Davis:
So a lot of this stuff was self discovery on my part. So I'm grateful to have grown up when I did in the 90s and early aughts with video stories were still around. So if I liked somebody. So say if I saw Singing in the Rain and I enjoyed Gene Kelly, I could go to the video store and find other things that Gene Kelly did. And then that was also the time when IMDb first became a thing, so you could easily go and look out someone's filmography and see what was available. So it was really self discovery on my part. And then of course Turner Classic Movies comes around and other things. AMC was still showing classic movies at the time, so it was all just a bit of self discovery on my part.

Brandon Davis:
But I became a big, big movie buff and it just became sort of my side passion in life. And then, man, the podcasting came about. It actually started when I was in college with a friend of mine who's another movie.

Tony Maietta:
Oh wow.

Brandon Davis:
Not, not into classic film, but into film in general. And I introduced him little by little to classic film in the dorm. And he started a blog which was popular in 2008, 2009.

Tony Maietta:
I remember blogs, I remember blogs.

Brandon Davis:
And we would write little things for the blog and life happened. We graduated from college, we kind of went our separate ways. He moved back to the area around 2015, got married, I was in the wedding. And about a month later, he and a couple other friends of his who were also movie buffs started a podcast. And he texted me like a month later and said, hey, would you host a classic film show for our podcast? And started out I just did one a month and that was how it went. And then it just springboarded. And then in 2019, NPR Illinois decided to pick us up and start airing some of our episodes and they put their name on us and it just happened that way. It was just a self made podcast by a bunch of guys here in the Midwest.

Brandon Davis:
And little by little things started happening. And I really credit as much as we don't wish it would have happened, the Pandemic with really making my show really kicking off because after that, that was when I started doing interviews. It used to just be me and friends talk movies. But then when we were sitting at home doing nothing. Yeah, one of my friends who also is part of our network called the Front Row Network hosted Disney show and they started getting people involved with the Disney company interviewing. And so that started me reaching out to people. I interviewed Patricia Ward Kelly, Gene Kelly's widow. I interviewed Todd Fisher, Debbie Reynolds son and Carrie Fisher's brother.

Brandon Davis:
I interviewed Eddie Muller those first couple months of the Pandemic and then it just spiraled from there and I just, it, and then it hasn't stopped since and who knew? All these years later.

Tony Maietta:
I find it so amazing. You, how many, how many episodes do you drop a week? I mean you really are a busy, busy man.

Brandon Davis:
It just, how do you do it? But it just depends.

Tony Maietta:
I, I, it takes a village to get Brad and myself together schedule wise to record one a week. And you constant.

Brandon Davis:
Well, I'll tell you this. I've got, I'm, I'm one of the, I'm the only person on our network who does his show by himself. So the rest of them have like co hosts and teams. So it's much easier when you're your own boss and can do it yourself and can schedule with guests. But even then when it's appropriate for them and not well. And I have to coordinate. But like I said, sometimes I do a lot of local theater. I've directed theater, I've acted and stuff.

Brandon Davis:
So when I'm doing shows, my output's a little less. But I'm really good at, I'm really good at banking a lot of recordings during the down times then having them saved up.

Tony Maietta:
So you got to do that. You got to, you have to do that. Yeah. You know, Brad is, Brad has, is moving moved to Spain. He should be in Spain now. And so we thought we were good. We thought we had some episodes banked and I knew I wanted to have some guest co hosts, but we got down to it. We're like, oh God, we are.

Tony Maietta:
Do not. We do not. So it's, it's so important to have those banks. But you're your guests. I'm always, I'm amazed listener. First of all, if you haven't listened to Brandon's podcast, My God, Front Row Classics. Listen to it. Fabulous.

Tony Maietta:
And I'm not just saying that because I was on it, but you have everybody. I mean, you have film historians, you have authors, you have professors, you have. You had members of the cast of the Love Boat, for God's sake. It's an embarrassment of Riches Brand and the people you get on your podcast.

Brandon Davis:
Well, and it's so funny. This was. You know, I never dreamed when I started this that I would be interviewing people. It just happened. But what was so funny is I actually talked about this with another guest I had on a couple months ago, and I thought, it's so funny. This is something I couldn't imagine. But when I was a kid, I kind of visioned myself talking to these people. And so it's almost like.

Brandon Davis:
It's almost like, you know, I don't know if I truly believe in manifesting or not, but it's something that.

Tony Maietta:
Something to it.

Brandon Davis:
Starting to believe it a little bit because I'm like, you know, I saw myself talking to the TCM hosts, and here I've talked to all time. True. I'm just. I'm sad that the podcast took off a little bit after Robert Osborne passed away, because that. That was, you know, that's. That would be kind of my greatest get of all time. But I can't complain.

Tony Maietta:
He was an amazing, amazing guy. You know, I think of him. I think of him as kind of a mentor because I worked with Robert a few times, and he advised me and counseled me a lot of stuff, and he was such a great. Just a great resource, and he thought of himself as a film fan. He didn't necessarily think of himself as a film historian. And that's the way I've always felt about it. I'm like, I'm not a historian. I didn't go to film school.

Tony Maietta:
I'm. I'm just someone who really loves movies. Night when I was a kid, and I just wanted to read everything I could about movies and about tv, and it just kind of developed. And that's. I think that's when you come to it naturally like that, when it's like a love that you come to. It's. It's. It's phenomenal.

Tony Maietta:
I just. You're One of your most recent episodes. I talked with you about it, and when I was on your show, you. You did this. You pulled out a dvd. So I. You did a recent episode on the Divorce, and. Which I thought was fantastic, by the way.

Tony Maietta:
I loved it. I loved it. And look, I found one. See, I'm showing you. See that? Can you see that? I told Brandon, oh, my God. The Divorcee was one of the very first DVD commentaries I ever did for Warner Home Video. I think I have one left. I think I have a spare.

Tony Maietta:
So this is coming to you, Brandon, like, you need to know more about the Divorcee. But it also has. And I forgot, it also has Night Nurse on it. And that was another DVD commentary we did on Night Nurse, and I forgot all about that. Have you ever seen Night Nurse?

Brandon Davis:
I have.

Tony Maietta:
Barbara Stanwyck.

Brandon Davis:
I have. It was on tcf. It was a few years ago, but it's been a while. But no, I loved it.

Tony Maietta:
Crazy, crazy movie. Pre Code, obviously. But, you know, we talked about. On my ongoing Hollywood. On this podcast, we talked about Babyface. It was like one of our early episodes, because I wanted to talk about Pre Code and Night Nurse almost. Almost as crazy. Barbara Stameck plays a kind of a good time gal who goes to nursing school and becomes a nurse and then becomes the night nurse for this pair of young girls whose mother is a drunk and they're slowly being starved by the mother and the chauffeur played by a very young and mustacheless Clark Gable.

Tony Maietta:
And it's a crazy, crazy film. These things, they just. I don't know if you know, these movies, they just. With most of them, like, most of them from Warner Brothers were just churning them out, churning them out, churning them out. You know, they're real programmers, and this movie is just. It's insane. It's insane. So I.

Tony Maietta:
I love that movie. It's so fun.

Brandon Davis:
I could watch Barbara Stanwick in anything, right? Just for some reason, you know? And I love. I love Bette Davis, I love Joan Crawford, I love Katherine Hepburn. But there's something about Stanwyck that just, you know, I could. I could. Whatever it is, whatever the genre, whatever, you know, TV movie, theatrical movie, I can watch her in anything.

Tony Maietta:
She. Oh, God, she was amazing, you know, and she worked up until the end and looked fabulous up until the end. I mean, even in the Thorn Birds, she looked fabulous. It's a funny story, and I promise not to. You dipped out with my stories because I want to talk to you. But there's a very funny story about when she was on the Colbys, you know, the Dynasty knockoff. And they were all in the dressing room one time, and they were getting. They were getting ready.

Tony Maietta:
They were all getting made up, and she walked in and they were talking about how difficult it was to maintain their weight, you know, to keep their weight down. And she looked at them all and she went, you all are pigs. When I was your age, my waist was 18 and a half inches. She walked and y' all are pigs.

Brandon Davis:
And she was about the only reason to watch the Colbys.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, she's usually the only reason to watch a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. So what I was thinking was since. Since we're going to talk about one of our. One of my very, very, very favorite movies next week that I wanted to say for somebody special to talk with, because people who listen to this podcast know that for some reason Brad has issues with George Stevens. This has been established, and I couldn't risk exposing my. One of my very favorite movies in the top five to Brad to have him tear it apart. I don't think he would, but I'm not going to risk it.

Tony Maietta:
So next week, Brandon and I are going to talk about from 1943, George Stephens. The More the merrier film I adore. We're gonna talk about Gene Arthur. So for this one, I kind of like give a little bit of a warm up here and just like a. Getting to know you, as I said, a little chat because you and I, we. We didn't know each other. And when I came on your podcast and we just talked and talked and talked or I talked and talked and talked and we just hit it off. So I just thought we should get together and just chat and.

Tony Maietta:
And see what you know, because I'm curious because the way I come at this with. With classic film and what interests me. What is your favorite? I kind of hate when people ask me this, but I'm gonna ask you anyway. What is your favorite genre of film, if you have one? Doesn't have to be just one.

Brandon Davis:
I mean, I. I love so much, but, you know, there's a special place in my heart, like I said, just because musicals were my gateway into it all. So I have a special place in my heart for musicals. But I love film. I love suspense. I love anything by Hitchcock. Man, I love, you know, I love a good 1940s melodrama. I mean, give me Now Voyager.

Brandon Davis:
Give me. Give me anything like that. Random Harvest. Give me anything like that Now Voyager. So much, so much I will say. And my listeners know this kind of. My blind spots are kind of sci fi and horror. Those are a bit of my blind spots.

Brandon Davis:
I've learned to love them as I've gone along and I've had guests on who introduced movies to me. But Other than that, I mean, I pretty much have dabbled in everything.

Tony Maietta:
We truly are brothers from another mother, Brandon, I swear to you. Well, maybe I'm probably your uncle from another mother, but anyway, there was a long period in there until you were born. Because I feel the same way. I am not. I can appreciate horror films and I can appreciate sci fi, but they're not my go to's. I would not. I would not sit down. We did an episode on Bride of Frankenstein, which I love Bride of Frankenstein.

Tony Maietta:
I don't consider it a horror film. I consider it a funny. A comedy, actually. And so did James Whale, by the way. But I can't. I can't necessarily go there unless I absolutely have to. But the melodrama, I mean. Now Voyager, Little Foxes.

Tony Maietta:
You just did an episode on Little Foxes. We just did one on Little Foxes. I feel Betty's bette Davis best 40s performance. I mean, she gave a lot of great performances at Warner Bros. I'm not. I'm certainly not counting out Now Voyager. I love Now Voyager, but she's so good in Little Foxes. It astounds me every time I see it.

Brandon Davis:
It's what Scott and I, My guest on that episode talked about was. She is so known for doing. And I love stereotypical Betty. I love cigarette in the hand, wave, fling around, bugging eyes out, all of that. But when she is controlled, she plays it smaller, like in Little Foxes. It is so powerful. Like, I'm thinking about the moment where, you know, Herbert Marmore, she's, you know, keeping his heart medicine from him, and he's gonna go upstairs to get it, and he goes by the chair and he is just stumbling all across, and she is sitting there, stone cold, you know, in the chair like a statue. And he almost knocks it over, but she does not move one inch, even as the chair is tipping back.

Tony Maietta:
Doesn't move a muscle. And that's William Wyler. I mean, that's absolutely William Wyler. You know, I. That whenever she was with Wyler, the three times, that was who. She was so controlled and she was so. You know, he famously said, if you don't stop moving your neck, I'm gonna throw a chain around it. And she loved that kind of shit.

Tony Maietta:
She ate it up. She ate it up. I think Helen Burstyn said that she holds her mouth so tight because she doesn't want the milk of human kindness to seep out. Which I thought was such an incredible image. Oh, God, yeah. She's astounding. Astounding. You know, we just talked about we were just talking about Valley of the Dolls on.

Tony Maietta:
I think you talked about it recently, too. And we were. I was going through the what ifs and the casting things, and, you know, she really lobbied for the part of Helen Lawson, and I think she would have been fantastic as Helen Lawson. She probably. She would, of course, had to have been dubbed because even though she didn't think she probably would have to be.

Brandon Davis:
Dubbed, well, the couple of times she did, like. Well, I'm thinking back to, like, you're either young or too old from. I think you're lucky stars when she sings in that.

Tony Maietta:
Well, and then also her albums. You know, she does those albums.

Brandon Davis:
And that's true.

Tony Maietta:
She sang Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Brandon Davis:
On Andy Williams.

Tony Maietta:
On Andy Williams. And you're just like, oh, God, Betty. And then she recorded an album of she sings the theme from Now Voyager. And you're just like, oh, wow, Betty. I mean, it's not even. It's not. You know, Patty Duke released an album, too, which is frightening. But there was a little.

Tony Maietta:
She also had a hit record, Patty Duke. So there was. Even with all the mixing, there was a little melody. There's no melody with Bette Davis. It's got to be a staccato, you know, thing. But Betty in her later career, and this is going somewhere. Betty in her later career put herself out for a lot of. For a lot of movies she didn't get.

Tony Maietta:
Valley of the Dolls is one who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? Another one that she really wanted to do. So I guess I'm curious. I love this. I'm fascinated by what ifs, by casting choices that did or didn't happen. Are there any that you're like, oh, God, I would have loved to have seen so and so in that. That would have been amazing. Or, oh, God, I'm glad, you know, dodged a bullet there. What.

Tony Maietta:
Do you have anything like that that you think about?

Brandon Davis:
Well, it's funny that you mentioned because you, you know, you had texted me and we were talking about this topic, and it's.

Tony Maietta:
Brandon, you're giving away my secrets. Don't tell people.

Brandon Davis:
You only gave me a couple of hours.

Tony Maietta:
I did.

Brandon Davis:
No, no. But this was funny. It's an episode I haven't released yet, but a friend of mine, Tristan and I, I've been doing a series of top five episodes lately where we, me and another guest, just rank our top five favorites. We're doing top five plays that were turned into movies and spoiler alert, but who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is on My list. And I mentioned in the episode about how I wouldn't change it at all because Taylor and Burton, brilliant. But if they had gone with their original choices and to seeing Bette Davis and James Mason.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, my God, can you imagine?

Brandon Davis:
Would have been. And to see Bette Davis in the first scene do a Betty Davis, very surreal.

Tony Maietta:
Like Judy Garland playing Helen Lawson opposite Liza Minnelli is Neely. Yeah, so meta. So meta. Yeah, that would have been. She would have been. See, I'm of the belief, and I've said this a million times, I think that I feel like Elizabeth Taylor gives one of the greatest cinematic performances of a stage piece ever in that. That monologue she has at the screen door where it's George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad.

Tony Maietta:
So beautiful and so moving and yet. And then she's balls to the wall with Richard Burton. You know, she hitting her head and yelling and screaming and I do not pray. But that. But Mason and Davis would have been. I mean, an alternate universe. That would have been amazing. That really would have been cool.

Tony Maietta:
I think that, you know, because I'm writing the book. I'm in the process of putting together a book, so it's registered with the WGA people. So. Hello. If you hear this. Okay, I got it. About what ifs about these casting things. And the thing that.

Tony Maietta:
It started with me with Marilyn because there's a whole slew of movies that Marilyn was slated for that because she died, didn't happen. And so I'm really fascinated by that. And they were, you know, what she probably was. I don't want to say she was better off because she's dead, but she. Some of the. Most of the movies were pretty. Were not good movies. Like what a Way to go.

Tony Maietta:
Shirley MacLaine finally got that Goodbye Charlie, which Debbie Reynolds. Oh, my God. It's like, Debbie, what were you. Good God. Bad, bad. So that's what. I love that kind of stuff. And I love.

Tony Maietta:
Of course, speaking of Marilyn and Betty, the biggest Betty miss of all. But Betty got it was All About Eve.

Brandon Davis:
Everybody was considered for that.

Tony Maietta:
Right. But Margot Channing was originally Claudette Colbert.

Brandon Davis:
I mean, Colette Colbert.

Tony Maietta:
And to the point where you see why Anne Baxter was capped because you can kind of see Anne Baxter as a young Claudette Colbert. What do you. But I think that. I don't know, you know, Betty's made it. Betty made it so much her own, you know, I don't know that I. I don't know. I want to see that.

Brandon Davis:
I can't imagine. I can. You Know, I. To me, that is. You know, I love the three Wyler films. I love Baby Jane, I love Mr. Skeffington. There's so many famous movies I love, to me, that that is Betty's Piece de Resistance.

Brandon Davis:
And Alma, I just think that it is because she's able to be grand and larger than life and be human at the same time. And that's what I think is so brilliant about that performance. But it would have been fascinating to see what Colbert would have done. And it's interesting. And I've said this on my show before, it's so funny when you ask me who my favorites are. Colbert is never on my list. And yet so many movies that I love. Star Clawed at Midnight, Palm Beach Story, since youe Went Away so Proudly, We Hail.

Brandon Davis:
A ton of movies that I love are Kev Colbert at the center. And she's just marvelous. But it would have been so different with her. And I just don't know, you know, it might have been just as good, and we would have never known if Davis hadn't played it. But you are right, Baxter, you can easily see her morphing into Claudette Colbert, whereas, you know, Davis eats Baxter up a little bit.

Tony Maietta:
Yes, well, Anne does a little eating herself, but.

Brandon Davis:
Oh, she does.

Tony Maietta:
I mean, that voice. That voice. But, I mean, it would be so fascinating if Betty had been cast originally, maybe, and it was a different world. Maybe Ida Lapino could have played Eve, you know, because they always called Lupino the poor man's Bette Davis. And I'm sure she didn't appreciate that, but I can totally. I could totally see that. But, I mean, it is a. It's a perfect movie.

Tony Maietta:
It's a perfect, perfect movie.

Brandon Davis:
I wouldn't change it.

Tony Maietta:
I mean, my God, you think about Mankiewicz, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and the skill of his dialogue. I love him. I'm one of the few people. Maybe one of the few people. I love Cleopatra. I mean, I'm guilty of loving Cleopatra. Yeah, it's long.

Tony Maietta:
It's way too long. But I. I'm fascinated by that movie. Do you. What do you have? You. You probably. I'm sure you've seen Cleopatra. Takes a couple weeks, but.

Brandon Davis:
Oh, yeah, I've done. I've done an episode on it.

Tony Maietta:
Did you? Well, see, I'm not doing homework here. I should have checked.

Brandon Davis:
No, no, no, you're fine. You're fine. I think my only issue with Cleopatra is I don't think it's a bad movie at all. I think my only problem is because so much of it was cut. The movie feels a little uneven to me. It feels like you can't decide what it wants to be because it's like one scene it'll feel very grand and Shakespearean, and then in another scene it'll feel very stapy. And so the transitions are a little clunky to me. And I'm like, oh, just.

Brandon Davis:
But I'm like, well, if we saw the full six hour thing, it probably would come across much clearer to what Makeowitz is trying to do.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, it's such an interesting. I mean, had it been able. Had they been able to release it in two parts, I think, who knows? It's all speculation. These are all what ifs, you know, and that's. This is what film historians do, folks. So they do these what ifs in their head. Like, what if Cleopatra had been able to be released in two parts? Would it have. Would it have been any different? I just love some of the.

Tony Maietta:
Some of the. When she says, Rex Harris and then she puts the. She kicks the. When she comes into Rome and she kicks the pillow down for him to kneel on her and she goes, you have such bony knees.

Brandon Davis:
Just like.

Tony Maietta:
That's such a Joseph L. Mankiewicz line. You know, it's right out of. You're too short for that gesture. In All About Eve, it's just Mankiewicz. What an erudite, sophisticated. Yeah, I love Mankiewicz. I could watch.

Tony Maietta:
He's one of my favorites. He's one of my favorites.

Brandon Davis:
Even his lesser stuff, like the Barefoot Contessa all has something incredible. I love A Letter to Three Wives.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, me too.

Brandon Davis:
The dialogue in that is so incredible and so snappy. I just love A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve, like, doing those back to back is one of the best double headers any director or writer has ever done.

Tony Maietta:
It is, it is. You know, on one of my many, many cross country trips in my life, one time. This is so. I can't believe I'm admitting to this. I actually audio taped All About Eve the entire film and listened to it like it was a book on tape or a book on CD or it was audible. You know, I mean, we're talking in the 90s here and someone said, that is the gayest thing I've ever heard in my life. I'm like, at least, at least it wasn't Valley of the Dolls.

Brandon Davis:
But the thing about Mankiewicz movies, they're so erudite and so witty. They can pass as radio plays almost. You don't even need the visuals.

Tony Maietta:
No, totally, totally. Yeah. I love Sleuth too. I mean, obviously he didn't write Sleuth, but I love Sleuth. What do you. I mean, what do you think about Sleuth? Isn't it, Isn't it, Isn't it brilliant?

Brandon Davis:
I think Sleuth is great. Well, well. And even Mankiewicz's, you know, earlier stuff that don't quite have his mark on it yet. Even something like Dragon Wick.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brandon Davis:
Or something like, you know, the Ghost of Mist of Muir, which is one of my favorite favorites.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brandon Davis:
They still have that kind of very literary aspect to it that Mankiewicz always brings. And even though I don't. I've got my issues with the movie version of Guys and Dolls, it still has a bit of the Mankiewicz touch on it.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And what a family. My God, what a family tree, you know, I mean, he's one of my very favorites. Who's your favorite? If you had to pick your favorite director from classic Hollywood and you can take it up to the 90s, it's fine. Who would you, who would you pick?

Brandon Davis:
I've gone back and forth, but. Well, always the one that pops into my head first would be Hitchcock. Just because I can watch a Hitchcock movie any day of the week. But. But if I think about it and I think about just in terms of the range of what they could do for me, it's hard to top Billy Wilder.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brandon Davis:
I'm just like, when you go from Double Indemnity to Sunset Boulevard to Some Like It Hot to the Lost Weekend to Sabrina to Witness for the Prosecution, it's just like to the Apartment. What a body of work.

Tony Maietta:
It is an incredible body of work. Yeah.

Brandon Davis:
And they're all so different. And they're all so. And yet they have his cynical brand on them. Even. Even the ones that are light hearted and feel good, you know, some Like It Hot's a little bit cynical. Sabrina has a bit of cynicism to it.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, very much.

Brandon Davis:
And they're all. And they've all got their nice quirk element to them. I'm just like. He just. His work holds up so well. Even things like Before An Affair. I love.

Tony Maietta:
I love Before An Affair, even. And when you have. You don't even factor in the fact that he also wrote them. I mean, he not only directed them. Look, I love William Wilder. William Wyler is definitely in my top five or three, but he didn't write. Billy Wilder also wrote these films. I mean, it's astounding when you think the talent of this man and the breadth of that talent from Ninotchka, which he wrote, he obviously didn't direct it, but from Ninotchka all the way up to Ace in the Hole.

Tony Maietta:
I mean, these, these films that he, he wrote and then the later ones that he directed. And you're right, they're so subversive. I was I talking about Sabrina? You know, Sabrina is a pretty dark movie. People think because, because they're constantly playing, isn't it romantic in Sabrina? Because, hello, Paramount owned it, so they're going to play it all the time. That really. But it lends such a romantic. Everybody thinks, oh, it's such a romantic movie. It's such a romance.

Tony Maietta:
No, it's not really.

Brandon Davis:
She's fallen in love, asphyxiate herself.

Tony Maietta:
She tries to kill herself. She's, she goes. In the end, her choice is the older man for security. So maybe she's, she's pretty smart, but you know what I mean? She's basically, it's really a comment on choosing love or choosing security. And everyone goes, oh, it's such a romantic film, Sabrina. And it's not, it's not at all. It's a very practical, very practical choice. You know, I love that in the Apartment.

Tony Maietta:
Gets me every time. I mean, talk about cynical and. But the underbelly of the cynicism, which is also the heart. And it goes, how it goes back and forth between tragedy and comedy and tragedy and comedy. That's genius filmmaking.

Brandon Davis:
You know, Shirley MacLaine is heartbreaking. She is. I just. Man, she is so good. And I love, you know, I heard you all, you know, your infamous Alice Adams episode. You talk about Fred McMurray and I really, I appreciate Fred McMurray so much as, you know, it's. He's okay when he's a romantically, but when he plays a bastard, you know, whether it's Double Indemnity or the Apartment or the King Mutiny, that is when he's the most interesting.

Tony Maietta:
I find that fascinating. That's. Yes, exactly. He has.

Brandon Davis:
And of course I love the Absent Minded professor and the Shaggy dog and all that stuff, but when he plays a villain, he's perfect.

Tony Maietta:
There's something in McMurray that just fits that perfectly. And it's so funny because he's got that. We use this term when we talk about Lucy, that General Foods image. And yet he had his real, I mean, his real mediae, if you want to say that, were these assholes, these milk, you know, these really reprehensible characters. He. Something about that he plugged into that. You know, it's. It's funny, you could say the same thing about Lucy, really.

Tony Maietta:
You know, I mean, I'm not going to go in on Lucy because we talked enough about her, but, you know, the woman. The woman played all kinds of roles before she created, before she found Lucy Ricardo. And there was something about that hardness to her that she was able to soften when she played Lucy Ricardo, but that seeped out once in a while, and you're like, oh, there's something. That's why she would have been big. Straight talk. Yes. My God. My God.

Tony Maietta:
Right? Oh, my God. Dance Girl Dance, which is my favorite 40s Lucy. She's so gorgeous. And Bubbles, the character in Dance Girl Dance is nothing like Lucy Ricardo. She's so sexy and guttural, and her dialect kind of comes and goes, but it's okay. It's okay. It's Lucy. Yeah.

Tony Maietta:
I think that's why. Speaking of what ifs, you know, we talked about this on the podcast. The biggest what if, one of the biggest what ifs is Lucy and the Manchurian Candidate. And how that would have just totally changed history. I mean, Lansbury, you can't touch that performance. She's astounding in that performance. But, wow, Lucy would have been something in that.

Brandon Davis:
It would have been. It would have been fascinating. I don't even know. It's so funny because you know that that releases in 62, and so who knows if the Lucy show and here's Lucy even happens if she does that.

Tony Maietta:
No, exactly. And I think she knew that. I think she knew that.

Brandon Davis:
Yeah. I mean, she could have had a totally different career at that point. I mean, I don't know. It might have been too startling for people, and it might have ended her career. Who knows what would have happened at that point.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. I think if she hadn't had a studio to run and save, basically in 62, Desi Liu was. Was really on the ropes, and so she had to go back to do the Lucy show to kind of save Desi Liu and keep that studio going. If she was just an actress and she was offered that part, I bet she would have done it, and it would have been something. That is crazy. It's crazy. What do you think about Audrey Hepburn and my fair lady, Mr. Musical? I'm just gonna totally change the subject on you.

Brandon Davis:
I agree with. I agree with the late, great Robert Osborne. I think she was miscast. I think that I love Audrey Hepburn, but I just. It's hard to buy her as the. Oh, yeah, I mean, of course she's gorgeous in the second half of the movie after she' gone through the transition and everything. But it's just. It's hard to buy her as a flower girl in the beginning.

Brandon Davis:
And, you know. And, you know, the dubbing doesn't bother me because I think. I think it's fine. I. I think it's. To me, the dubbing works less for Natalie Wood and West side Story than it does for Audrey Hepburn and My Fair Lady. But I just. It.

Brandon Davis:
I don't know, it's rough. I think that it's hard to really. I don't know, it's hard to really buy her in those opening scenes between. And she. Max Harrison, I think, have a nice chemistry. But, you know, I wish. I wish Julie Andrews had done it. But, of course, we wouldn't have gotten Mary Poppins, so you can't really.

Tony Maietta:
Exactly. You can't. Yeah. I actually. I'm a little. I'm a little softer to Audrey and My Fair Lady. I mean, I agree. Yes.

Tony Maietta:
She does not. She was just not born to play a gutter snipe. I mean, it's just not in her DNA. There is just something aristocratic about Audrey, even when she was, you know, stealing tulip bulb. That's Breakfast at Tiffany's. But another one that you're like, okay, yeah, we talk. It was, you know, Breakfast at Tiffany's. She's not.

Tony Maietta:
No. In what universe is she really Holly Golightly? You know, But I think I feel better about her at Holly Golightly than I do My Fair Lady.

Brandon Davis:
Now. Now, that would have been fascinating if Capote had gotten his way in Monroe.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, I. Come on. That's another one of the Marilyn. Although that was obviously made before Marilyn died. And there were other reasons why Marilyn didn't do it. But, I mean, I always thought in the parallel universe, it would be really cool to see Marilyn as Holly and to see what Marilyn would bring to it. I think that's a huge what if. You know Marilyn, because Marilyn's life ended so when she was 36 years old.

Tony Maietta:
So young, you know, we didn't get to see this great actress come into her full fruition. And I just think about the things that she could have done later on that people would have just knocked people on their asses, I think, because the woman. Yeah, she's just. She's one of my very. She's one of my very favorites because she makes it look so easy. It's. And that's the proof. She's like Meryl Streep.

Tony Maietta:
And people, hold on to your phones. Don't drop them just because I said that. Let me explain. Meryl Streep makes it look so easy. That's what good actresses do. They make it look like they're not acting, they're being. And Marilyn always just was. She just was, you know.

Brandon Davis:
Yeah, she really. I mean, there are some moments in the Misfits that she is really. I mean, you just. You feel so uncomfortable in some of those moments because she's so real. And even Gable in the Misfits, I feel like he's giving, you know, the king of the studio system is almost giving a method performance and the Misfits and some of those scenes. It really is. It's an unsettling movie when you go back and watch it.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, it's so. It's so unsettling. It's. It's hard to watch sometimes because it's. Yeah, it really is there. But you're right. They're all giving these method performances. And even though Gable didn't know he was.

Tony Maietta:
I really. I agree with you. I really think he was. I'm sure there was a part of him which said. Which recognized himself in Gay. And the fact that his life was literally winding down and, you know, ended so soon after that. And I find her. But, you know, when I find Marilyn, I love Marilyn.

Tony Maietta:
My favorite Marilyn is Prince in the Showgirl. I. I think she's so wonderful in Prince in the Showgirl, and I really believe she wipes Olivier off the screen in Prince and the Showgirl. He's so mannered and he's so technical. And that's the genius about Laurence Olivier, of course. But Marilyn is. She's cinematic, she's film. She just is.

Tony Maietta:
And I love her in that. Do you have a favorite Monroe movie?

Brandon Davis:
I love the one like My Sunday Afternoon one that I can watch over and over again as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I just think that that is so fun. I mean, her and Jane Russell together are glorious. I also really love Niagara. I think that she's. I wish she had played more villainous, you know, because I think that she really comes across very sinister in Niagara. And it's fun. That movie's just.

Brandon Davis:
First of all, it's beautiful cinematography to watch. I think that she is just fascinating in that movie. The moment where she wakes up and she hears those bells chime and she knows that he's coming after her now is that. That's some great screen acting from her. But what a year 53 was for her to do Niagara. How to Marry a Millionaire. Angela Prefer Blondes. All the same year.

Tony Maietta:
Astounding. Incredible. Incredible. I mean, she just exploded on the movie. Going public after. After, you know, doing. After being in the trenches for so many years. And then to.

Tony Maietta:
There's a wonderful documentary. Have you ever seen the documentary about something's got to Give? It's called. Well, it's called Something's Got to Give. There's two of them, actually, but there was one that was longer.

Brandon Davis:
AMC did years ago.

Tony Maietta:
Yes, yes, yes. Where they kind of reconstructed it. Yeah. I mean, the hugest.

Brandon Davis:
Dean Martin.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, yeah. What they did was they talked about the making of the film and what went wrong and Marilyn. And then at the end of the documentary, they reconstructed it. This is what it would have looked like with the existing footage. And, you know, and I'm not telling you anything. You don't know, that the rumors about Marilyn giving Terrell a terrible performance, about just being doped up and acting like she was underwater and all that stuff. This. The footage totally, totally contradicts that and shows that.

Tony Maietta:
No, she. This is what makes me so sad. This is a huge what if? And then I'm getting goosebumps. Hey, Marilyn. Because she's so beautiful. She's, like, at her peak. She's lost all the baby fat. She looks fantastic.

Tony Maietta:
She's an adult. She's a wonderful comic actress. And something's got to give. And her. It's perfection. She's perfection in something in the footage that's left, don't you think?

Brandon Davis:
Oh, I think so. I think she's wonderful. And it would have been. It would have been interesting to see her age and to see what she would have done, how she would have become more of this sort of sleek, funny, you know, comedian almost, because she really had a flair for comedy and in dramatic roles and, you know, and what the movie became, you know, Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner is. It's pleasant enough. I. I prefer the thrill of it all. The one that garnered.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, I do, too.

Brandon Davis:
I do, too, but. I do too, but. Yeah, but to see, like, you know, her and Martin could have been something special on the screen together.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, I'm with their chemistry. I mean, and there's. There's an inherent danger in Monroe, you know, that you just don't get from Doris Day. I'm sorry, you just don't get danger from Doris Day, you know, but with Marilyn, it, you know, it goes back to that. You said you'd love to see her play more villainous air quotes roles because There was a. You got an unease with Marilyn. There was a danger with Marilyn. You can.

Tony Maietta:
You could believe that she was duplicitous and that there was something else going on. And I love that quality about her. And yet so light. There's such a lightness of touch. You know, I find that. You know, I also find that with Garbo, you know, you're a Garbo fan. You know, Garbo, Grand Hotel accepting there's such a likeness to Garbo when she's in the right role. When she's.

Tony Maietta:
You guys were talking about it on your Divorcee episode. You were talking about how perhaps Garbo. Was Garbo up for it. Was that. Was that a what if? Or were they just talking about it?

Brandon Davis:
She'd been bandied about for it. Yeah, definitely.

Tony Maietta:
I mean, it would have been Pacquiao, man. I can't imagine her saying, pack your man's pride with the rest, and from now on, your door, my door is only closed to you. Or something like that. I'm bashed out. Can you imagine her saying that? You're Swedish. No, you're the only man my door is close to. Or something like that.

Brandon Davis:
And I. And I love Garbo. And I will say Anna Christie is a bit of a slog to get through, but. Yeah, but. But all of the. But, you know, Queen Christina and Camille, Banana, Karenina, Ninotchka. She was just the something. I mean, nobody ever liked that on screen.

Tony Maietta:
No, I think Anna Christie's a slog because it's an early talkie and, you know, just to hear her talk. But, yeah, I don't give a dumb. About what you. I mean, it's just so.

Brandon Davis:
I don't buy her and Charles Bickford.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, God, no. I don't buy anybody with Charles Bigford. You know, he's like, Chester Morris. I'm like, what? What's the point here? You know, that's why they.

Brandon Davis:
The divorcee, Robert Montgomery. Interesting.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, my God. So much more. So much more interesting and adorable. You're like, what? Yeah, we. You guys talk about Chester Morris, and I always thought, you know, the face looks like he ran into a wall or something because he's got that flat face. But that's all MGM had at that time. You know, this was pre Gable, pre Tracy. They really were scrambling to get some leading men, you know.

Tony Maietta:
So you got Chester Morris. Oh, well, what are you gonna do? I do love. I love the Divorcee. I do. I loved your. I loved what you guys said about it. And your Talk. And I love all the episodes.

Tony Maietta:
You do. Do you have a favorite? And I don't. You don't have to maybe. Let me rephrase that because I don't want to, you know, I don't want to put you on the spot with that. Is there, is there one that you, how do I say this? That doesn't sound like you have a favorite? Is there one that you think about more than you think about another one? And that's not good or bad? So there you go. We just saved you.

Brandon Davis:
Well, it's funny. I don't know. That is a hard question. Just because I've had a lot of special moments on the show.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, I bet.

Brandon Davis:
My biggest, I will say the one that I couldn't believe. And since I'm talking to you and you've talked to her as well. But my conversation with Lucy Arnaz was really. Because we did that on a Friday night. And you know, most of the time my guests, you know, I let them know, you know, my episodes tend to go for 45 minutes to an hour. We talked for an hour and a half.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, yeah.

Brandon Davis:
She. And even when I was ready to wrap up, she, she still was going to be willing to keep going. And it was just, I mean, it was, it was just amazing. And for, for how much, you know, and we talked about this when you were on how Much I Love Lucy meant to me growing up. And I wanted to make sure. Interviewing her because I am a fan of Lucy Arnaz just as much as I am of her family.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brandon Davis:
So I, so I want to make sure the first 45 minutes of that episode are devoted to her.

Tony Maietta:
Good.

Brandon Davis:
And we talk about, we talked about They're Playing our Song and we talked about, you know, all of the stuff that she did on here's Lucy and her time in theater and everything. But then the last portion of it, I asked about her parents. We talked. I love Lucy because there was a lot of. It was the 70th anniversary of I Love Lucy. So there were a lot of events we were talking about, but it was a little bit of a surreal moment because I figured I have her there and it's like the closest chance I'm ever going to be able to thank Lucy and Desmond to be able to thank her.

Tony Maietta:
That's how I felt.

Brandon Davis:
And so that was kind of just an out of body moment. But I've had that. I've had that with a lot of people. Some of my favorite episodes have been talking with children or grandchildren of people and to Be able to just have that. You know, I've spoken with Arnold left, and that was a great conversation. I've spoken with, like I said, Todd Fisher. And I've spoken with. I haven't released it yet, but I talked to two of Gregory Peck's sons, Anthony and Carrie Peck.

Brandon Davis:
And that was a great discussion because what you'll hear when I talk to both of them, I talk to them separately. But it's going to be one episode of Carrie, who is now in his 80s, was born in the 40s when Peck was at his most busy. So when I would ask him about times at home, you know, he's very honest. He said, now, I loved my dad, but I don't have too many memories of him at home. I was just me and my mom because he was working all the time. And then Anthony, who was born about a decade or so later. That was when the studio system broke down and Grand Breen was able. Greg was able to take him on location with him.

Brandon Davis:
So he spent a lot of time with his dad. So it was two different perspectives. And so it's fascinating when you get to talk to people from their perspective of what their parent was like. And then I've talked to Maria Cooper, Janis, the daughter of Gary Cooper. And so, you know, it's just. It's. It's great to get, like, that personal view as talking to just a historian who studied them.

Tony Maietta:
No, it's so true. It's so true because, you know, you can't replace that real thing. You know, it's. It's. It's amazing. I felt that about. I felt that so much about Lucy when, When we talked, it was that, you know, like I said on your show, she is her mother's daughter. She is her mother's daughter.

Tony Maietta:
And you just get that energy from her that Lucy also must have emanated of. You know, she's. She's calling the shots here. It's okay. But kind and loving and funny. And I said to her, it's funny you talked about they're playing our song. Because that was the first thing I said to her was the song I Still Believe in Love was like a theme song in my college years because I just loved that song from They're Playing Our Song. And she was, like, stunned that I knew it.

Tony Maietta:
I'm like, what do you mean, Ian? Sitting down with something dope. I know what I'm talking about. But it's just like, you know, she's done such great work, and yet she's got that mantle she has to carry the fact that. And she carries it beautifully and she carries it with grace. And she's a great custodian of her parents legacy and who can ask for better, who can ask for more than that? You know, it's astounding to me when you have someone like that and then you have. You also have, you know, then you have the Lizas and the Lorna's who are also very great custodians of their mother's legacy and you know, keeping the torch lit. What was your conversation with Lorna like?

Brandon Davis:
She was great. And it was. It's interesting because I tried to get Lorna on her own a couple of times but she's so busy because she's always doing, you know, either cabaret shows or. One time I tried to get her and I almost got her, but then she decided to join the tour in England of White Christmas, which I saw her in White Christmas when she was in St. Louis here a few years ago, which is great. But actually another friend of mine, another relative of somebody, James Duke Mason, who was James Mason's grandson, knows.

Tony Maietta:
Yes, I know they know Duke. Yeah.

Brandon Davis:
And so. So he got her on and I had the two of them on and we talked about A Star is Born, which was great to have both of them on together. But she was great. She very much the same energy as Lucy. I felt like there's a rhinus and just a no BS with either one of them, which was wonderful.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Well, when you think of how many children of famous legends, that's not redundant. Legends end up not doing too good. There's just a common sense to them about this is life. This is life. You know, no illusions here, folks. My parents were my parents and the way they are. Lucy in particular is so honest about her parents and Lorna too about her parents and what they went through, but still have that great love for them and did the work.

Tony Maietta:
I think that's the thing they had to do the same work we all have to do with our parents. You know, as we get older and we begin to understand what they went through through that they were really people. I feel like that's. You get that sense so much that you don't get with other people so much. You know, I mean, it was different situations. Different situations about that.

Brandon Davis:
Yeah. No, no. And she was, she was adorable because, you know, it was. I interviewed her during. It was during Pride Week in June and she had just thrown the first pitch out of the Yankee game the night before for Pride Night at Yankee Stadium. And she was freaking out about it because she said she had never held a baseball in her life. So she was telling me stories about her and her neighbor in her building, like, practicing throwing it down the hallway.

Tony Maietta:
That's so funny. That's so funny. Oh, God. Judy never threw up. Judy never said, let's go out and play catch, Lorna. Let's go play catch. Where's Joe?

Brandon Davis:
I guess not.

Tony Maietta:
Come on, children. That just. That's too funny. That's too funny. I can imagine, though, as I. As I do more podcasts and I look back on episodes that I really love, and episodes I'm like, I wish I could redo that episode. You know, they come in ones that I'm really excited about that don't turn out well, or ones that I don't even think about. And I listen to them, I'm like, hey, that's a good one.

Tony Maietta:
Do you have ones like that? Do you have ones where you're like, you didn't you listen to it? And you're like, oh, wow, that came off a lot better than I thought it did. Or vice versa. And you don't have to mention specific ones, just a general question.

Brandon Davis:
Yeah, well. Well, separately, you know, there's. Yeah, I don't want to mention names, but there's interviews where I didn't think the person was necessarily going to be an interesting guest. When you had them on and you listen back, you know, oh, they were really, you know, he and I or she and I really clicked.

Tony Maietta:
And I know you're talking about me in our interview. Brandon, he didn't think I'd be much. I know. Oh, he's actually got something to say.

Brandon Davis:
No, not at all. I know, but. And then. Yeah, but no. And then you listen back, and then there's ones where you're really excited, and then you start the interview and they're not conversational at all, and they give you just, like one or two answers, and it's just really, really uncomfortable, and it ends up being you. You know, when I'm doing an interview, I am a follower of kind of the 8020 rule. It needs to be 80% the guest, 20% me. And when episodes don't go that way and I feel like it's overly me, I feel like I didn't set out to.

Brandon Davis:
That didn't end up the way I set out to be. But sometimes you're just going to have that. And then, you know, on the other kind of episodes that I do where I just chat a movie with somebody, there are times where I sit back and I listen, and I'm like, oh, I sound a little bit like a know it all on that one. And I should have toned down a little bit. But, no, it's funny. I don't listen back often. I'll listen back once, because I'll go and edit them.

Tony Maietta:
Sure, of course.

Brandon Davis:
But, you know, it's rare that I'll go back and just listen to my own work, you know, on my own, just for fun. But sometimes I do, and sometimes I'll think, oh, that wasn't half bad.

Tony Maietta:
I go back and listen, and I give Brad notes. No wonder he's not here. No wonder he moved to Spain. He's like, maybe Tony will stop giving me notes from episodes we did a year and a half ago.

Brandon Davis:
That's hilarious. No, the banter between you two is fantastic.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, it's funny because I. But I got to give you credit because interviewing somebody week after week after week and the back, you have to not only learn about what you're talking about, you have to learn about them. You know, I mean, I know what's coming to the table when I. When I talk with Brad and we talk about a movie. But you have. So your.

Brandon Davis:
Your.

Tony Maietta:
Your research must be so exhaust. Like I said, I don't know how you do it. And you have a day job. I mean, it's astounding to me.

Brandon Davis:
Well, I have to say, if I was interviewing people, not. Not having to do with movies or not having to do with entertainment, it would be. It would be more of a chore. But because growing up in it and I have. I have a bit of an encyclopedic movie, I don't necessarily. As long as I'm learning about the person, a lot of times the subject I don't need to study up a whole lot on. Now, if I'm talking about a movie with somebody, I like to watch it twice before I do that. But.

Brandon Davis:
But no, you know, and, you know, someone's written a book, I like to. If I can read it. If not, I do a lot of driving, so I'll listen to the audiobook on Audible or something like that.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, it's the best.

Brandon Davis:
So I like. So. So I like to do that. But. But you know what? A lot of times, you know, the people who I'm getting or I'm reaching out to are people who I want to talk to. So it doesn't feel necessarily like a choreography, which is what's fantastic about it. I mean, what's been great is having a relationship with the publishing house that deals with books from TCM and places like that, because they're good about sending you a book well in advance before it releases, so you have time to absorb it before you have to do an interview with the author. So the good thing is I have nice time a lot of times.

Brandon Davis:
There have been a couple of times where I've gotten an email from someone who I reached out to months ago, and they'll, you know, say, oh, we'll get in touch with you. And then they'll say, oh, they can do it tomorrow at.

Tony Maietta:
No.

Brandon Davis:
And you have to scramble. But those are few and far between.

Tony Maietta:
That's got. Yeah, see, that's. That's something I'm, you know, I'm fairly new to this. This media, the. The podcasting. So it's. It's a learning experience. It's a curve, you know, and Brad has been such a great support to.

Tony Maietta:
Of mine and getting us through this. And so now I'm kind of, like, seeing. Okay, I'm just kind of stepping out and saying, I can. I can take care of that. I can take care of that. So it's not always on him to take care of the technical stuff. So hopefully it worked with this episode and the recording words. Because we've.

Tony Maietta:
Because if we gotta do this again. No, I love talking to you. You know, as we said it before, after I was on your show, it's just like we immediately. It really is like a brother from another mother, because we just. I find so many things. We have so many things in common that we've experienced, maybe in different eras, but we've experienced so much, and we came. We came to things. We come to things so much.

Tony Maietta:
So it's really a delight to talk with you about these things because I think we. And to get your perspective, you know, I think it's. I think it's thrilling. It's really. Where else can. Where can people find you? Talk to the people about how they can find you and track you down.

Brandon Davis:
Well, well, first of all, we were talking about what ifs. Can I give you my biggest what if of them all?

Tony Maietta:
Oh, of course, of course, of course.

Brandon Davis:
And I've said this on my show before, but the biggest what if for me is Judy Garland in the movie version of Gypsy.

Tony Maietta:
Or Mame, by the way.

Brandon Davis:
Or Mame. Although I think I would just to hear her sing the. The score for Gypsy.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah, definitely.

Brandon Davis:
Yeah. Even though. Even though, you know, 1962, she would have been 40, maybe a little young, but.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, God, that would have been that's amazing. Yes. Singing the score. You know, I think I told you that I had a friend of mine, we were talking about hello, Dolly and people, someone was bitching about that Carol Channing didn't do it, the barber did it. And this guy said, be honest with me. Who would you really rather hear sing before the parade passes by? Be honest. And you're like, yeah, okay. I mean, you just.

Tony Maietta:
I mean, who else would you rather hear? Yes. Too young. Yes. Too young. Yes. No chemistry with Walter Matthau. But who else would you rather hear sing that score? I mean, come on. And we have it because of that.

Tony Maietta:
So anyway, that's great. That's great. I would love to hear that, too.

Brandon Davis:
Yeah. But no, but no. People can find me anywhere. You find your podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, any of those places. Just look for Front Row Classics podcast and you will find me. I have a Library now. About 350some episodes.

Tony Maietta:
Amazing. Amazing.

Brandon Davis:
Over a decade. Over a decade.

Tony Maietta:
Incredible. Incredible. And people can find you right here next week because Broden's coming back for week number two. I think I'm safe to say this went pretty well, right? I think you can come back for a second week, Tony.

Brandon Davis:
I think you and I are going to go places.

Tony Maietta:
We are. Here we go. World. Gangway. World. Get off of our runways. Yes. Brandon's going to be back here next week and we're going to talk about the delightful.

Tony Maietta:
The delightful, at least in my opinion, and I'm thinking probably of years, too. The more the merrier. From 1943, starring the luminous Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, and the very underrated Joe McCrae. So underrated. So under. Yeah, well, we'll talk, we'll talk, we'll talk.

Brandon Davis:
Save it. Save it for the podcast, as always.

Tony Maietta:
So everybody, I can't do. I. You know what Brad always says at the end of these episodes is, you know, don't forget to follow, subscribe, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill. Reach over and do it. I love it. You guys are great. I love you.

Tony Maietta:
Thanks for sticking with me through this interesting period we're about to go into. Hopefully, like Shetley, the Winters, I'll be a very skinny lady in the water and we'll make it through the other side and we won't have a heart attack at the end. So, Brandon, thank you so much. I so appreciate it. I usually have a fun sign off with Brad, but I really need another person to do it and I don't know if we should because Brad might get upset. So let me say this because we're not saying goodbye. I'm gonna see you next week. So let's not say goodbye.

Tony Maietta:
Let's say see you next week.

Brandon Davis:
See you next week.

Tony Maietta:
Thanks so much, Brandon. Goodbye, everybody. That's all, folks.