October 2024 – Now I've Heard Everything

Journalist Steven Roberts On The Contributions of Immigrants

October 30, 2024October 27, 2024Bill Thompson

The United States has always, it seems, felt deeply divided about immigrants.

We consider ourselves a melting pot, a refuge that welcomes the tired, the poor, the huddled masses.

But at the same time we are often suspicious of immigrants, hostile to the newcomers from foreign lands

In this election year, in particular, anti-immigrant sentiment has divided us.

Fifteen years ago, the journalist and commentator Steven Roberts took inspiration from Barack Obama’s first inaugural address when deciding on a title for his book. Roberts called it From Every End of This Earth.

So here now, from 2009, Steven Roberts.

Steven Roberts.is 81, and appears regularly in several major media outlets.

The Movie Hero’s Toughest Fight: How Kirk Douglas Beat a Near-Fatal Stroke

October 28, 2024October 26, 2024Bill Thompson

October 29 is World Stroke Day, to help us all recognize the causes and effects of stroke.

In 1996 a severe stroke nearly killed one of America’s greatest actors, the then-79-year-old Kirk Douglas.

Overnight this dynamic, seemingly ageless, icon of film was plunged into a terrifying new reality that he later admitted had him considering suicide.

But it turned out that Douglas, in real life, was every bit as tough and relentless as the heroic characters he played on screen.

And then Douglas did something even more heroic – he not only went public with his fight to regain health, he wrote a book about it. In typically defiant Kirk Douglas fashion, he called it My Stroke of Luck. It was published in 2002, six years after his life-changing episode.

It may be hard to listen to this interview, but you will draw incredible inspiration from it.

So here now, from 2002, Kirk Douglas.

Kirk Douglas died in 2019. He was 103.

Yankee Legend Mickey Mantle And His Favorite Summer

October 25, 2024October 24, 2024Bill Thompson

It’s the Yankees and Dodgers in the World Series, for the 12th time in their history. The last time was in 1981.

The 1950s, however, were all Yankees-Dodgers. They met in seven World Series in the ‘50s

The 1956 Series was particularly notable – in Game 5 that year, the Yankees’ Don Larsen pitched a perfect game.

There was a spectacular 8th inning catch that preserved Larsen’s gem – that defensive miracle was turned in by center fielder Mickey Mantle.

That was a great year for Mantle. He won the Triple Crown, leading the American League in homers, RBI, and batting average.

It was such a great time that Mantle titled his 1991 memoir My Favorite Summer. I met this Hall of Fame legend that spring to talk about it.

So here now, from 1991, Mickey Mantle.

Mickey Mantle was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1974. He died in 1995 at age 63.

Iconic Big Game Hunter Peter Capstick and His Love of Africa

October 23, 2024October 19, 2024Bill Thompson

Peter Capstick had a promising future on Wall Street in the 1960s But business wasn’t his passion. Africa was, and more specifically, hunting in Africa.

Capstick became a professional hunter, leading safaris and writing books and articles about hunting.

Often drawing comparisons to Ernest Hemingway, Cap[stick built a reputation as a hunter and guide.

And hunters today will recognize his name from the .470 Capstick rifle cartridge.

I met him in 1987 while he was on tour for his book Peter Capstick’s Africa.

So here now, from 1987, Peter Capstick.

Peter Capstick died in South Africa in1996. He was 56.

Elizabeth Gilbert and How She Learned To Eat, Pray, Love

October 21, 2024October 19, 2024Bill Thompson

A 2006 book about a young woman’s journey of self-discovery landed on the New York Times bestseller list – where it stayed for nearly two years.

The author of that book, Eat, Pray, Love was the then-37-year-old Elizabeth Gilbert, an accomplished writer and storyteller.

It was a profound sense of not knowing who she was that led Gilbert to radically change the direction of her life. First with divorce, then with a year-long “hero;s journey” to Italy, India, and Indonesia.

Get your copy of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book

When the book was made into a movie in 2010, Julia Roberts was cast as Elizabeth Gilbert:.

I met the author when the book was republished in paperback in 2007.

So here now, from 2007, Elizabeth Gilbert.

Elizabeth Gilbert is 55 now. Time magazine has named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Eat, Pray, Love has sold over 12 million copies.

Marvin Hamlisch: The Way He Was

October 18, 2024October 12, 2024Bill Thompson

The Sting. The Way We Were. A Chorus Line.

Composer Marvin Hamlisch was well-known for all of those, and much more.

Hamlisch is one of only a handful of entertainers to have ever won the “EGOT” — an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. And he’s one of only two people to have won all four of those, plus a Pulitzer Prize.

I met him in 1992, when he wrote a memoir of his decades in show business, starting with his early years at Juilliard. He called it The Way I Was.

So here now, from 1992, Marvin Hamlisch.

Marvin Hamlisch died in 2012, at age 68.

First, You Speak Out: Betty Rollin Started the Breast Cancer Dialogue

October 16, 2024October 12, 2024Bill Thompson

In the mid-1970s Betty Rollin was a rising star at NBC News, racking up prestigious awards for her work.

She didn’t realize that the most important story she would ever cover would be her own.

Rollin was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975. And even though the disease claimed tens of thousands of lives every year, it got little public attention.

That is, until Rollin wrote a book about her experience, a landmark book that has helped millions of women get through their own diagnoses. Rollin called her book First, You Cry.

That book is now widely credited with opening the door and helping the nation start a dialogue about breast cancer.

First, You Cry was republished in 1993, some 16 years after its initial publication.That’s when I met the dynamic and witty Betty Rollin.

So here now, from 1993, Betty Rollin.

Betty Rollin.lived for another 30 years after our interview. She died in 2023 by assisted suicide at the age of 87.

Commentator Kevin Phillips on The American History We Get Wrong

October 14, 2024October 17, 2024Bill Thompson

Back in 1976 the U.S. celebrated the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – the Bicentennial.

In about a year and a half, we’ll be marking the nation’s 250th anniversary. It’s called the “semiquincentennial,” or sestercentennial.

Either way, we may be wrong – 1776 was not necessarily the great historical focal point we’ve all been taught that it was.

So said noted political commentator Kevin Phillips in a 2012 book he called 1775.

The time leading up the actual Declaration may be more pivotal, in the long run, than the actual document itself, in spite of the famous painting of the signing on July 4th. That, too, is a myth, says Phillips.

How do we keep 1776 in proper perspective?

Kevin Phillips died in 2023. He was 82.

Here now, from 2012, Kevin Phillips.

Rebuilding The Navy: Former Sec. John Lehman

October 11, 2024October 6, 2024Bill Thompson

John F. Lehman Jr., Secretary of the Navy

After Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president in 1981, one of his eary appointments was to name a new Secretary of the Navy, who was tasked with rebuilding a demoralized and under-equipped Navy.

He chose a 38-year-old Naval Reserve aviator named John Lehman. No stranger to Washington, Lehman had served on the National Security Council staff under Henry Kissinger during the Nixon administration.

Lehman served as Secretary until his resignation in spring 1987. And the following year he wrote a book called Command of the Seas.

And on top of all of his public service , Lehman is also a first cousin once removed of Princess Grace of Monaco.

I spoke with him when his book was published in the early weeks of 1989.

So here now, from 1989, John Lehman.

John Lehman is 82 now. He’s chairman of the Princess Grace Foundation USA. He lives in Pennsylvania and New York.

Ultra Violet: Her Life With Andy Warhol

October 9, 2024October 6, 2024Bill Thompson

Pop art icon Andy Warhol once said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Don’t know about you but I can think of lots of people on social media who have proven that to be true.

Famous For 15 Minutes is also the title of a 1988 book by French-American artist and actress Isabelle Dufresne,one of Andy Warhol’s “superstars” who went by the name Ultra Violet.

Dufresne was introduced to Warhol in 1963 by Salvador Dali. She spent the next several years at Warhol’s Factory before they went their separate ways in the 1970s.

I met Ultra Violet when she was on her book tour about a year and a half after Warhol’s death.

So here now, from 1988, Ultra Violet.

Isabelle Dufresne, Ultra Violet, died in 2014 at the age of 78.