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Jazz Singer Joe Williams

The Chicago-born Williams sang for the Count Basie Orchestra before beginning a solo career in 1962. In the 1940s, he suffered a nervous breakdown, unsure of what he wanted out of his professional life. After a year in the hospital, he returned to performing, and has a new album called In Good Company.

27:14
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Other segments from the episode on June 20, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, July 20, 1989: Interview with Joe Williams; Commentary on the vocal group The Dells; Interview with Agnes Varda; Review of Jiri Weil's novel "Life with a Star."
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09:53

Movie Director Agnes Varda

The French filmmaker started making movies before the New Wave movement, and without having a vast knowledge of film history. Her latest, Kung Fu Master, is about forty-year-old woman who falls in love with an adolescent boy. Varda cast her son as the male lead.

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03:25

Jiri Weil Tells a Tragic and Familiar Story

Author Philip Roth was in part responsible for getting the Czech novelists Life with a Star translated into English and published stateside. Book critic John Leonard says it stands out among the myriad, Kafka-esque books about the Holocaust.

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44:09

Cabaret Singer Bobby Short

He's been playing piano and singing at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City since 1968. He's considered one of the great cabaret singers of our time. The 79-year-old song stylist was slated to retire from the Cafe Carlyle this coming New Year's Eve, but he's extended his schedule, and he's not going anywhere for the time being. Short has been named a "living landmark" by New York's Landmark Conservancy and a "national living legend" by the Library of Congress.

Interview

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52:30

Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

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43:04

This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

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08:26

This Romanian film about immigration and vanishing jobs hits close to home

R.M.N. is based on an actual 2020 event in Ditrău, Romania, where 1,800 villagers voted to expel three Sri Lankans who worked at their local bakery.

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