S6E25: The Birth of a Galaxy with Sam Wasson
Added 2022-11-15 00:29:22 +0000 UTCAuthor Sam Wasson and Bret Easton Ellis discuss having a blast compiling an oral history of Hollywood, early editors blowing minds with film's first cuts and the tragic casualties of sound entering the cinema. Part 1 of 2.
Comments
Fantastic interview. First discovered Wasson via the "Chinatown" book.
John Q. Thompson
2023-12-10 02:55:30 +0000 UTCI'm in Australia... not everything available here. Anyway, was well worth the wait. I'll check the Euro one next.
AC23
2023-01-09 22:36:10 +0000 UTCDang, it's not on Amazon anymore? At one point you could rent it there. I saw it on YouTube. Brownlow did a sequel series about the European silent industry that's also worth seeing.
Bryan
2023-01-09 17:48:54 +0000 UTCI went searching for this and managed to find a download torrent. It took OVER A MONTH to slowly download to my computer. I am loving it so much (probably way more than the majority of the actual movies). I look forward to going to bed every night and watching another hour (of almost 13 hours). Thanks so much for the tip off Bryan.
AC23
2023-01-09 11:29:49 +0000 UTCFantastic. I want to hear those tapes at AFI.
Rafael Diaz
2022-12-13 03:15:53 +0000 UTCThanks I'll give that a go!
Joe Lonie
2022-11-30 17:19:42 +0000 UTCYou gotta join the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast private group on Facebook dude.
Alexander Quattlander
2022-11-29 04:38:24 +0000 UTCLove the silent films of Chaplin and FW Murnau and von Sternburg.
Alexander Quattlander
2022-11-29 04:37:02 +0000 UTChttps://open.spotify.com/track/2spH6fz3Pg9egzOwZ05BLG?si=toMZ9O34Qwq5qlcC-rzw-g This song is a bit of a tribute to BEE. Less Than Zero means a lot to the lead singer. Ty Teg.
Scott Reynolds
2022-11-25 19:50:27 +0000 UTCOne of the best guests/episodes ever, loved every second of it. Gotta say I wish Sam pushed back on the Riefenstahl bit. She really “invented” very little with her films, it’s more she was the only decent filmmaker of the Third Reich (you can find the others online if you want) and had been given such a grand budget by the government she could pull of what she did. But innovative? The idea that her films were innovative originated from Nazi propaganda itself. Of course, Triumph of the Will and a lot of her other work is notable for how it spreads her ideology through technical acumen, less so any sort of artistic breakthrough or personal testament.
Dan Citriniti
2022-11-25 17:10:48 +0000 UTCAdam’s comment at the very end of this episode was priceless.
Dave
2022-11-24 19:05:24 +0000 UTCYou should have Tim Dillion on the podcast
Raymond Smith
2022-11-23 11:54:59 +0000 UTCHello Bret fans! Not sure if this is where we do this sort of thing, and I'm not on Twitter, so I'm dropping a guest suggestion. Just wanna see what you other fans think. How about Annie Hardy, from the movie Dashcam & Bandcar fame? She's funny as fuck. I think Bret & Adam would dig her.
Joe Lonie
2022-11-21 22:59:19 +0000 UTCI’m on Instagram, look me up.
M. Nero Nava
2022-11-21 16:00:07 +0000 UTCLet’s get that monologue back! Review movies - new and old.
Thomas Matich
2022-11-21 15:39:48 +0000 UTCOh, man. That's amazing! You should take some photos and send me a link. I'm a photographer and I have a friend who is also a photographer -- that's her favorite era. She would die seeing all of that.
bpvalentine
2022-11-21 14:55:03 +0000 UTCThat seems to be your baseline towards most things from what I've seen on BEE's page. I'm not bothered by your hate. It is the internet after all. Most people are happy to define who they are by their sh\ttiness.
bpvalentine
2022-11-21 14:51:41 +0000 UTCLikewise
Spencer Alexander Burson
2022-11-21 05:42:45 +0000 UTCExcellent
Spencer Alexander Burson
2022-11-21 05:27:52 +0000 UTCExcellent. Can’t wait for part 2
Mary Walker
2022-11-20 23:33:23 +0000 UTCAs a young artist born in the 90’s these cinema history episodes are fcking invaluable 😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏 thank you thank for providing this essential service
Anna Sofie Jespersen
2022-11-20 03:05:59 +0000 UTCThis is so good. My mind is blown. Wow. Can’t wait for part two.
Bryson Coles
2022-11-19 03:05:04 +0000 UTCAbsolutely fascinating. Can’t wait for the next instalment
P Smoke
2022-11-18 16:48:13 +0000 UTCCouldn't get through this one for the same reason I couldn't get through Palahniuk's Tell-All. Listening to these effeminate male guests gush about nonsense bullshit isn't the spirit of the BEE podcast that drew me here. That said, the story of Hollywood's origin was deliberately glossed over. The actual story is these people were all Jewish, and Thomas Edison, who was no fan of the Jews, was the patent holder in question. Edison would not allow Jews to use his patent for any amount of money because he correctly believed they would use it for immoral purposes such as pornography. They chose SOCAL for 2 reasons, first, it was far enough from Edison's reach that anyone coming there to enforce the patent would be obvious to spot and avoid due to the low population. The second is they could indeed jump the border to escape charges for pornography. Even in the early days of Tinsel Town the vast majority of midwestern farmer's daughters arriving there to become a starlet ended up being turned out and making smut films to get by. Why not be proud of your history? The Black Dahlia case really covers all reality of what girls went through trying to make it big.
BrienPiechos
2022-11-18 01:26:46 +0000 UTCAnother great episode. I like the weekly format.
Peter Guzzo
2022-11-17 18:23:54 +0000 UTCFantastic episode. Wasson is such a treasure of film knowledge. Looking forward to Part Two
Adam Chin
2022-11-17 18:11:03 +0000 UTCGreat episode. I would add that Disney's Song of the South has already been cancelled.
Ed Mabe
2022-11-17 17:19:22 +0000 UTCDidn’t Bowling for Columbine pretty much make it clear Heston was never going to tear up his NRA card?
Mike Ryan
2022-11-17 17:06:49 +0000 UTCGoing to echo what many are saying about the monologues… like the desert misses the rain.
Pp358
2022-11-17 16:18:18 +0000 UTCREALLY missing Bret’s opening monologues. Anyway, Max and Sam have been better than most this season. So, there’s that.
Mark DeCaro
2022-11-17 04:55:31 +0000 UTClol, Sam is clueless if he thinks Charlton Heston would be against the NRA if he lived now. Sam has no real idea of what it is to be a man like Heston was. Heston was not going to give up his RIGHTS because of criminals. You can't let criminals dictate what is and what is not legal.
Poetical Gore
2022-11-17 03:59:38 +0000 UTCFilm School Story time: circa 2009, when Griffith inevitably came up, kids were upset about the racism and he was super irritated, so instead of watching The Birth of a Nation in class, he told us we had to find our own copy to watch it at home and write on it. But as “punishment” to everyone but me, he had us watch the entirety of Intolerance over the span of three classes. I was one of the only students in class to have actually done the work and watched both films and found them transformative. It’s incredible seeing the language of film being developed directly in front of you.
Steven Carrier
2022-11-17 02:31:29 +0000 UTCIt’s still here, a lot of people act like it’s gone, but it’s not. I live in a 100 year old building built in the silent era, Swanson lived here. We are always unearthing artifacts and stuff. It’s a fun neighborhood if you love this sort of thing
M. Nero Nava
2022-11-16 21:34:11 +0000 UTCGreat interview, really enjoyed it. Bret, have you seen Kevin Brownlow's series HOLLYWOOD, about the silent era? (Don't recall you mentioning it.) If you haven't, absolutely essential. It'll make you weep with gratitude, envy, nostalgia.
Bryan
2022-11-16 20:56:20 +0000 UTCGreat interview. Bought the book right after the interview and I’m already on chapter 5. It’s great!
Alex
2022-11-16 20:25:28 +0000 UTCI'm envious. Few months ago, I saw a video on YouTube where the guy walked around the L.A. neighborhoods with a GoPro strapped to him. Nothing happened. Just a walking tour. And I watched that video probably more than an hour! Highlight was seeing the condo where Cobain wrote most of In Utero.
bpvalentine
2022-11-16 20:20:51 +0000 UTCI hate you.
slimshadyfan666
2022-11-16 20:01:58 +0000 UTCLove!!! I could listen to Bret & Sam talk for days. Love that Sam was back on for a multi part episode. The Big Goodbye was an amazing read and this will be on my Christmas list!
Elizabeth
2022-11-16 18:31:29 +0000 UTCam going to listen on my run. will say more later, after my run.
richard owain roberts
2022-11-16 18:12:18 +0000 UTCI’m probably going to pick up this book. I love old Hollywood stories and thinking about how today’s film culture contrasts with yesteryear film makers. The guest was good, sounded a lot older than his age. Anyway, the best part about living in Hollywood is walking among all that old stuff, and realizing it all happened here… and then you step in human feces. But that’s showbiz
M. Nero Nava
2022-11-16 17:46:33 +0000 UTCExcellent as usual thank you gentlemen
PETER GREER
2022-11-16 03:31:15 +0000 UTCFair enough. Not every discussion has to include both sides. I liked the episode and the guest.
Steve
2022-11-15 16:45:25 +0000 UTCIm only 34 minutes into this episode and I’m looking for bookstores to pick up this book AND Cinema Speculation. I know you’re not primarily focused on marketing and promo, but GREAT MARKETING AND PROMO! I love the podcast. Fan for life, SK
Shawn Kilroy
2022-11-15 14:57:23 +0000 UTCYeah, AND...? Hours of entertainment, you ingrate. I'm mostly kidding. I'm not sure why every fucking conversation has to have this specious balancing act about why the whole thing sucked, too. If I cream my shorts over the sausage (not intended as foreshadowing to my comment below, I swear, but who am I to question the natural, beautiful symmetry?... this is digressive for a parentheses), should I light a candle for the pig and damn the butcher, too? Again, I get what you're saying. Judy Garland endured a nightmare, I'm sure. But just because your view of her is so deeply marred, does it have to be for EVERYONE and EVERY SINGLE TIME early Hollywood is discussed? Can't Sam Wood (teehee, now I'm foreshadowing) and Bret just geek out? Maybe Bret can cover the other material in some other less obstructive way later? In fact, if he ever writes historical fiction, what better topic? I don't mean to put you on blast, btw. I assume you mean well.
bpvalentine
2022-11-15 07:36:33 +0000 UTCI don't know if this will be controversial. I read that Scotty Bowers book maybe two years ago? I'd be really interested in a take on that subject. Maybe I'm naive about sexuality in queer matters, but I thought the book convincing.
bpvalentine
2022-11-15 07:15:26 +0000 UTCThis book sounds absolutely fascinating - buying this immediately !
Seneca Garcia
2022-11-15 03:21:25 +0000 UTCGood episode. Happy to listen to two grown-ups talking (as opposed to the previous two guests). But Sam's utopian view of early Hollywood sounds oversimplified. Judy Garland is mentioned, for example.... didn't the studio system pump her with amphetamines to get as much product out of her as possible?
Steve
2022-11-15 02:34:28 +0000 UTCI think the weekly episodes has really worked for the podcast. This season has been excellent.
Andrew Hearne
2022-11-15 00:52:49 +0000 UTC
