ON THE KNOWS with Randall Kenneth Jones

This episode will help you understand how art—specifically cinema—can grow in importance over time, and our ongoing exploration of art continues to shed valuable light on the human condition. #ArtIsLife Today, more than 70 years after it premiered, "Sunset Boulevard" remains the finest ever movie made about the pathology of fame: those who lose it, those who abuse it, and those who never attain it at all. Great films are born of great collaborations, and "Sunset Boulevard" represents one of the most extraordinary confluences of cinematic talent in film history. Still, its production was surprisingly fraught, filled with unexpected twists. Why was William Holden, who had never caught fire as a leading man, hired to play Joe Gillis after the fastest-rising star in the business dropped out at the last minute? After Mae West and Mary Pickford turned down the now iconic role of Norma Desmond, how did Billy Wilder convince Gloria Swanson, who had long been absent from Hollywood at this point, to leave her low-paying job as a TV talk show host to join the cast? From the writers' room during Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's final collaboration to the moment when the film won three Academy Awards, scholar and former Rolling Stone staffer David M. Lubin takes readers on a fascinating journey through film history that proves, once and for all, why "Sunset Boulevard" is one of the most iconic films in cinematic history. By exploring the history of "Sunset Boulevard" in time for the movie's 75th anniversary, from its inception to its making its present-day legacy, READY FOR MY CLOSEUP breathes life into a beloved masterpiece of American cinema, not only marking its influential place in film history, but also proving how prescient it really was in terms of the human costs of relentless technological change and our obsessive quest for fame, youth, and immortality. As an undergraduate, David M. Lubin studied filmmaking at the USC School of Cinema while reviewing music for Rolling Stone. He earned his Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale. Among his seven books is an in-depth study of the blockbuster film Titanic. A professor at Wake Forest University, he has been a visiting professor at Oxford and lectured throughout the United States, Europe, China, and Australia. His Shooting Kennedy: JFK and the Culture of Images won the Smithsonian Institution's Charles C. Eldredge Prize for "distinguished scholarship in American art." Lubin is a Guggenheim Fellow and an NEH Public Scholar. Podcast Highlights: • Randy explains that his favorite thing to do on the podcast is to challenge himself by reading a book and "putting himself on trial" by interviewing its author • David explains how his young students at Wake Forest University actually inspired him to choose "Sunset Boulevard" as a topic for his book. As his students were embarking on their own careers, the "Joe Gillis" character—and his challenges—resonated with them. • David and Randy discuss additional reasons that "Sunset Boulevard" holds up so well. For one, it's the first Hollywood film that explores the "sickness" of fame. The film serves as an indictment of Hollywood's view of aging, which essentially has not changed. • David explains how female students are influenced by the same pressure Norma Desmond feels about her appearance and the importance of looking their best. • David and Randy discuss the concept "reel life" vs. "real life"—1950 vs. today, including the concepts of "reality television" and "being famous for being famous." • David and Randy discuss "Sunset Boulevard" as an exploration of exploitation on a grand scale. • David and Randy discuss Billy Wilder and the character of "Joe Gillis" are both gigolos. • David and Randy discuss how "Sunset Boulevard" explores writers, the writing process, and the exploitation of writers, noting that every character is "writing" something. • David and Randy discuss their concerns over AI's potential impact on true human emotion, education, and thought. Best Quotes (from the book and the podcast episode): • David M. Lubin, READY FOR MY CLOSEUP: "A movie about has-beens and also-rans, about failed comebacks, misguided dreams, and murderous delusions, Sunset Boulevard was made by a raft of exceptionally creative individuals, all at critical/junctures in their careers, several of them playing roles that seemed drawn from their actual lives." • David M. Lubin, READY FOR MY CLOSEUP: "Comedy, crime film, horror story, Hollywood exposé, romantic melodrama, and psychological thriller, "Sunset Boulevard" is above all an unsentimental examination of our innate unwillingness to accept the inevitability of decline, decay, and death." • Randall Kenneth Jones: "I don't see those of us who are beyond our youth doing much to support each other. We have so much power. We have so much knowledge. We have so much to give—and so much to learn—yet we don't do enough to elevate each other." • David M. Lubin: "A lot of people think intellectuality is dry, dusty and inhuman, [but] exploring the ideas of works of art is anything but dry and dusty. If you do it the right way, it's exciting." • David M. Lubin: "A good writer has to be a good reader." • David M. Lubin: "The joy of life is making daily discoveries: Walking down the path and turning these corners and seeing where it takes you. So what I know with certainty is that life consists of uncertainty." ON THE KNOWS is produced and edited by Kevin Randall Jones. www.OnTheKnows.com David M. Lubin https://news.wfu.edu/2025/07/28/as-classic-film-sunset-boulevard-celebrates-its-75th-wfu-experts-new-book-garners-national-attention/ Randall Kenneth Jones: www.RandallKennethJones.com Susan Bennett: www.SusanCBennett.com Kevin Randall Jones: www.KevinRandallJones.com

This episode will help you KNOW more about the value of thoughtfully capturing and sharing one's legacy—and giving credit where credit is due. Michael Seth Starr covered television at the New York Post as a reporter, columnist, critic, and editor for over 28 years. He has written a filmography of Peter Sellers and biographies of Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Art Carney, Joey Bishop, Bobby Darin, Raymond Burr, William Shatner, Redd Foxx, and Ringo Starr. He has made frequent appearances on television, including The Today Show, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America, The Early Show, Larry King Live, Extra, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, and Tavis Smiley. He lives in New Jersey and can be found online at MichaelSethStarr.com. His latest book, NOTHIN' COMES EASY: The Life of Rodney Dangerfield, is the first biography of the "bug-eyed, sweaty, herky-jerky, tie-pulling comedian with the doleful countenance." Dangerfield's indelible beat-down image was played for laughs, but there were sad truths behind his sad-sack persona. Dangerfield and Starr have much to teach us about legacy, persistence, humor, accuracy, and, shall we say, overexposure. Podcast Highlights: • Michael shares his career path in entertainment journalism • Randy shares his respect for previous guests Suzanne Somers, Loretta Swit, Norman Lear and Cindy Williams • Michael's most recent biography is about Rodney Dangerfield. His next biography is about Bob Newhart. • Michael shares his love for the mid-to-late 20th century era of comedy. • Randy shares his admiration for Michael's extraordinary level of research and fact checking. • Michael discusses his commitment to telling a good story. • Michael and Randy talk about Rodney spending a lot of time in a robe with nothing underneath and the subsequent consequences. • Michael shares information about Rodney career arc, including how he achieved success later in life. • Michael discusses Rodney's self-respect, or lack thereof. • Michael shares his goal to give all his subjects the attention they deserve. • Randy shares his admiration for Michael's ability to capture names and moments from entertainment history that otherwise may be lost forever. • Michael shares his definition of comedy. • Michael shares what he learned from his exploration of the life and career of Rodney Dangerfield. (i.e. stick-to-itiveness) • Michael shares what he KNOWS ON THE KNOWS with Randall Kenneth Jones is a podcast featuring host Randall Kenneth Jones (bestselling author, speaker & creative communications consultant) and Susan C. Bennett (the original voice of Siri). ON THE KNOWS is produced and edited by Kevin Randall Jones. www.OnTheKnows.com Michael Seth Starr www.MichaelSethStarr.com Randall Kenneth Jones: www.RandallKennethJones.com Susan Bennett: www.SusanCBennett.com Kevin Randall Jones: www.KevinRandallJones.com

Adam Levy brings over 25 years of diverse legal experience to the bench, serving as one of three judges on Prime Video's Tribunal Justice, created by Judge Judy Sheindlin. Podcast Highlights: • Levy talks about being part of a legal dynasty, including his mother, Judge Judy Sheindlin • Levy discusses how the "rule of law" applied at home • Levy shares the importance his mother's work ethic had on his professional development • Levy shares a funny story of how his mother accepted a job on his behalf early in his career • Levy shares his passionate views on the importance of truth and his disgust for those who blatantly lie • As a young attorney, Levy would learn by reading transcripts of cases that reflected the work of the best possible lawyers, prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers • Levy discusses the instances where he and the other two Tribunal Justice judges disagree • Levy shares his loathing for situations where various legal professionals don't play by the rules, especially when one of those involved seems more concerned about their own political aspirations • Levy explains his views on the classification of public documents as well as conspiracy theorists and the value of critical thinking Having served two terms as Putnam County District Attorney in NY, Levy used his experience as a private practitioner to create pragmatic and impactful programs and initiatives to improve the fair and impartial administration of justice in the county where he lived, worked, and raised his family. This hands-on approach included extensive in-service training for all newly hired prosecutors and an open-door policy for his staff. Leading by example, Levy personally prosecuted a wide range of criminal cases, including sexual assaults, political corruption, and witness intimidation matters. Levy also dedicated time to training the next generation of lawyers as well. He was an instructor at The National Institute of Trial Advocacy and a long-time educator at The New York Prosecutors Training Institute. These trainings helped lead, guide, and mentor young prosecutors in cross-examination and trial strategy skills as they began their legal careers. Levy's expertise was built through a lifetime of legal service. As a 1992 Hofstra Law School graduate, Levy began his career as an ADA at the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, where he prosecuted a wide range of violent and non-violent offenders with a practice focused on seeking justice for women and children who were the victim of physical and sexual assault—He then co-founded his legal partnership, Levy & Santoro, in Carmel, NY. He brought his trial experience from Suffolk County to the people of Putnam County, handling complex criminal and matrimonial matters in courts throughout New York State. Levy's no-nonsense approach to cases and reputation as a skilled trial attorney and advocate ultimately led to his election as District Attorney in Putnam County, where he lived with his family. His daughter, Sarah Rose, a newly admitted lawyer, is the law clerk on "Judy Justice," where his mother, judicial icon Judge Judy Sheindlin, presides. Levy and his wife Lori have two other children, Jacob and Emma, who are still in school. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing, scuba diving, white water rafting, and spending time with his family. ON THE KNOWS with Randall Kenneth Jones is a podcast featuring host Randall Kenneth Jones (bestselling author, speaker & creative communications consultant) and Susan C. Bennett (the original voice of Siri). ON THE KNOWS is produced and edited by Kevin Randall Jones. www.OnTheKnows.com Adam Levy: www.TribunalJustice.TV Randall Kenneth Jones: www.RandallKennethJones.com Susan Bennett: www.SusanCBennett.com Kevin Randall Jones: www.KevinRandallJones.com

Not long ago, Steven Petrow experienced one of the worst years of his life. He lost both his parents, separated from his husband, and learned that his sister had metastatic cancer. He began to question: how can one find joy during incredibly difficult times? Award-winning Washington Post columnist Petrow explains that joy is not only around us, but within us. He examines this and so much more in his much-anticipated book "The Joy You Make: Find the Silver Linings--Even on Your Darkest Days." Steven Petrow is an award-winning journalist and author who is best known for his Washington Post and New York Times essays on aging, health, and civility. He's a contributor to NPR and other news outlets and his TED Talk, "Three Ways To Practice Civility," has garnered nearly two million views. Petrow is the author of six previous books, including the bestselling "Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old." He's North Carolina's 2024 Piedmont Laureate and lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina. In his latest book, he explores the many expressions of joy and shows readers how to find, cultivate, and share it. Combining his personal experiences with research and expert interviews, Petrow asks (and answers) the question: "What if there was a way to find the joy in everything?" The connection between joy and grief are inseparable. Joy is present everywhere; it takes practice, we need to shift our mindset and we need to understand better to experience it. ON THE KNOWS with Randall Kenneth Jones is a podcast featuring host Randall Kenneth Jones (bestselling author, speaker & creative communications consultant) and Susan C. Bennett (the original voice of Siri). ON THE KNOWS is produced and edited by Kevin Randall Jones. www.OnTheKnows.com Steven Petrow: www.StevenPetrow.com Randall Kenneth Jones: www.RandallKennethJones.com Susan Bennett: www.SusanCBennett.com Kevin Randall Jones: www.KevinRandallJones.com

Today we are celebrating our 200th Episode with the return of a special friend of the podcast, Judge Tanya Acker. Acker serves as one of three judges on Amazon Freevee's Tribunal Justice, created by Judge Judy Sheindlin. Acker also hosts "The Tanya Acker Show" podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Overcast, and Pocketcasts. Most recently, Acker was a judge on the Emmy-nominated series, "Hot Bench." Acker is also the author of "Make Your Case: Finding Your Win in Civil Court," published by Diversion Books. In the book, Acker provides readers with curated, targeted information about what people want to know: what happens during court proceedings and why, how to best prepare for it — and how to avoid court entirely and find out if there is a better way. Acker is an experienced civil litigator who has represented a wide array of clients, from major automobile manufacturers in high-stakes product liability litigation to media companies in hotly contested trade secret disputes. She has been a featured commentator on "Good Morning America," "The View," "Entertainment Tonight," "Wendy Williams," "The Talk," "Inside Edition," "Banfield," "The O'Reilly Factor," "Larry King Live," "CNN Reports," "Anderson Cooper 360," "Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell," "Extra," "Your World With Neil Cavuto," "HLN's Special Report," "CNBC Reports," Great Britain's "GMTV" and Sky News, and various other broadcasts. She also guest co-hosted CNBC's "Power Lunch," and "C Magazine" included her in an election season profile on noteworthy California women in politics. Acker also has contributed to the Huffington Post and served as a Temporary Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court Temporary Judge Program. While a student at Yale Law School, Acker represented low-income women in family law cases and served as a teaching assistant in Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure courses. She also worked at the Office of White House Counsel, the Civil Rights Division in the United States Department of Justice and the private law firms Irell & Manella, O'Melveny & Myers and Williams & Connolly. At Williams & Connolly, she assisted President Clinton's personal lawyers with press interviews, worked on the preparation of Congressional testimony for pending product liability legislation and researched First Amendment issues. After graduating from Yale, Acker served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Dorothy Wright Nelson on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. After her clerkship, the Office of the Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice awarded Acker a Bristow Fellowship. While working as a Bristow Fellow, Acker drafted Supreme Court briefs and helped prepare the Solicitor General for oral argument before the High Court. Among the cases on which Acker worked was Clinton v Jones, where she assisted both the Solicitor General and President Clinton's personal attorneys in preparing for oral argument. In private practice, Acker's legal work spanned a broad variety of matters, from civil litigation involving public and private entities, to various constitutional cases, to providing constitutional cases, to the provision of business counseling and advice. She also maintained a commitment to pro bono work, receiving the ACLU's First Amendment Award for her successful representation of a group of homeless individuals against the City of Santa Barbara. Acker later worked in entertainment industry outreach for the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign and as Deputy Campaign Manager for the Los Angeles mayoral campaign of City Councilman Bernard C. Parks. After that, she worked as the General Counsel of a company that manufactured emissions control products. Acker received her B.A. degree at Howard University in 1992, where she graduated summa cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was awarded a Luard Scholarship for study at St. Anne's College at Oxford University and served there as the co-editor-in-chief of the Oxford University Women's Magazine. At Yale Law School, she was awarded an Earl Warren Scholarship by the NAACP and a Coker Fellowship by the Yale faculty. Acker maintains an active involvement in various philanthropic, civic and business organizations. A volunteer with Love Takes Root, she has traveled to Haiti to work in a clinic and orphanage founded by that organization. She is a member of the Beverly Hills West (CA) chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and additionally serves on the boards of Public Counsel, the Western Justice Center, the Boy Scouts of America (the National and Western Los Angeles County Council Boards); PacWest Bancorp; and as trustee of the Pacific Battleship Center, which operates the Battleship USS Iowa Museum. She is also a member of the Yale Law School Executive Committee and the Yale Law School Fund Board. ON THE KNOWS with Randall Kenneth Jones is a podcast featuring host Randall Kenneth Jones (bestselling author, speaker & creative communications consultant) and Susan C. Bennett (the original voice of Siri). ON THE KNOWS is produced and edited by Kevin Randall Jones. TANYA ACKER Online: Web: www.TribunalJustice.TV Web: www.TanyaAckerShow.com ON THE KNOWS Online: Join us in the Podcast Lounge on Facebook. X (Randy): https://twitter.com/randallkjones Instagram (Randy): https://www.instagram.com/randallkennethjones/ Facebook (Randy): https://www.facebook.com/mindzoo/ Web: RandallKennethJones.com X (Susan): https://twitter.com/SiriouslySusan Instagram (Susan): https://www.instagram.com/siriouslysusan/ Facebook (Susan): https://www.facebook.com/siriouslysusan/ Web: SusanCBennett.com LinkedIn (Kevin): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-randall-jones/ Web: www.KevinRandallJones.com www.OnTheKnows.com

Michael Sheldrick is a global gamechanger. A policy entrepreneur, Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact and Government Affairs Officer at Global Citizen, he is also the author of the amazing new book, "From Ideas to Impact." He is a driving force behind the efforts of Global Citizen to end extreme poverty. Michael leads the organization's campaigns to rally support from governments, businesses and foundations to get the world on track to end extreme poverty. A policy entrepreneur, Michael has worked on campaigns globally with artists such as Beyoncé, Coldplay, Idris and Sabrina Elba, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Priyanka Chopra, Rihanna and Usher, as well as and world leaders including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Mottley, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and former Australian Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. Michael has co-produced some of the world's largest social impact campaigns and events such as the annual Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York, the Guinness World Record-winning virtual concert One World: Together At Home, and the centennial celebration of Nelson Mandela (Mandela 100). As well as reaching millions of people in over 150 countries, these campaigns have helped secure more than US$40 billion towards local and regional organizations providing access to lifesaving medical treatment, sanitation, education, equity and empowerment, and climate residency efforts. Amongst other awards, One World received Guinness World Records for most money raised for charity by a remote music festival. ON THE KNOWS with Randall Kenneth Jones is a podcast featuring host Randall Kenneth Jones (bestselling author, speaker & creative communications consultant) and Susan C. Bennett (the original voice of Siri). ON THE KNOWS is produced and edited by Kevin Randall Jones. Michael Sheldrick Online: Web: MichaelSheldrick.com ON THE KNOWS Online: Join us in the Podcast Lounge on Facebook. X (Randy): https://twitter.com/randallkjones Instagram (Randy): https://www.instagram.com/randallkennethjones/ Facebook (Randy): https://www.facebook.com/mindzoo/ Web: RandallKennethJones.com X (Susan): https://twitter.com/SiriouslySusan Instagram (Susan): https://www.instagram.com/siriouslysusan/ Facebook (Susan): https://www.facebook.com/siriouslysusan/ Web: SusanCBennett.com LinkedIn (Kevin): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-randall-jones/ Web: KevinRandallJones.com