Remembering Elie Wiesel (1928-2016)

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Judith Trojan

ELIE WIESEL

On December 10, 1986, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, author, teacher, humanitarian and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel framed his Nobel acceptance speech, “Hope, Despair and Memory,” with this quote:

“Remembering is a noble and necessary act. The call of memory, the call to memory, reaches us from the very dawn of history.”

Memory is a fragile enterprise.  If revisited and replayed with clear eyes and heart, our memories can incite joy and solace or propel us to acknowledge pain from our past and revive our better angels.

“Elie Wiesel was born on the 30th of September 1928 in the Romanian town of Sighet in the Carpathians. He and his three sisters grew up in a peaceful family which was strongly bound by Jewish traditions and the Jewish religion,” recalled Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in December 1986. “Elie was 14 years old when the deportation of Hungarian Jews began. Sighet was  occupied by Hungary, and the town’s Jewish population was packed, in the usual humiliating way, into goods wagons and transported to Auschwitz. There he saw his mother and youngest sister sent to the gas chambers. Later, his father died while being transported to Buchenwald.”

Elie Wiesel could easily have been forgiven if he moved on with his life and allowed the memory of his horrific childhood to fade into oblivion. But instead of being consumed by grief and despair or driven by revenge and retribution, his memories catapulted him onto the world stage as a prolific lecturer, memoirist and author (57 books!), longtime professor at Boston University, and human rights advocate.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.  He lived to tell his story in the hopes that it would imprint on the collective memory of present and future generations, so that the atrocities that he experienced firsthand could never happen again.

Elie Wiesel and his son Elisha Wiesel.

His backstory, his lifelong advocacy for human rights and, most importantly, his voice are the threads that flow through the 90-minute American Masters profile, Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, premiering on PBS tonight, Tuesday, January 27, 2026,  9:00 – 10:30 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region.)

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, written, produced and directed by Oren Rudavsky, taps Wiesel’s voice as narrative via vintage audio and film footage enhanced by on-camera interviews with his wife and son, various colleagues and former students and current Holocaust educators. While the use of expressionistic animation by Joel Orloff to illustrate Wiesel’s agonized backstory is a tad excessive and intrusive, and the film as a whole is standard documentary fare, a brief sequence focusing on a middle school classroom at the Northstar Academy in Newark, NJ, is a revelation and cries out for additional coverage and discussion.  The students are clearly gifted as is their teacher, Paris Murray.  As Ms. Murray introduces her class to Wiesel’s remarkable memoir, Night (1960), we see a wonderful example of Elie Wiesel’s life’s work play out in real time.  He would be so proud!

The film’s timely debut commemorates 2026 International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  It will stream concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including http://PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.  For more information on Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire and other films in the American Masters PBS series, check out  http://pbs.org/americanmasters

I never met Elie Wiesel, but I have the distinct memory of having spoken with him…on the phone.  It may not sound like much, but to me, it was thrilling. During my tenure as Director of The Christopher Awards, a decades long national Awards program annually honoring books for adults and children, films and TV programs and individuals whose life’s work “affirmed the highest values of the human spirit,” I was determined that our annual Awards gala presenters be past Christopher Award winners.

Thankfully, with that goal in mind, I was able to corral a stellar group of presenters from the film, TV and publishing industries each year to present our Awards.  Elie Wiesel was a previous honoree decades before I joined the Christophers… a man I revered, who I knew would inspire our gala attendees and current winners with a stirring speech that would live on in their collective memories.  Sadly for me and our gala audiences, he was so booked up with lecture engagements that our schedules never meshed.  Elie Wiesel passed away on July 2, 2016 at the age of 87.

On December 10, 1986, Elie Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, an honoree who “dedicated his life and writing to the themes of memory, the dangers of indifference, and the moral duty to act against injustice.”  I have reprinted below and encourage you to read excerpts from the Presentation speech made that day regarding Elie Wiesel’s stellar qualifications for the Prize.  I do this with the hope that it will not only remind us of the urgent work that needs to be done to reverse growing antisemitism and racism in our country and the erosion of our Democracy and disregard for our Constitution, but also will clarify the actual criteria for Nobel Peace Prize consideration. –Judith Trojan

Excerpts from the Presentation Speech delivered on December 10, 1986, honoring Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, by Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

“Most people were unable to recognise the deadly threat to democracy which was developing. During Nazism’s formative years the general attitude was one of unsuspicious ambivalence. Of course one disagreed with Hitler, but when is one not in disagreement with politicians? And of course one was aware of the terrible rumours about the brownshirts’ atrocities, but wasn’t it necessary to evaluate this against the background of the extraordinary situation in the country? At least there was now a strong and active government, and Hitler was of course a democratically elected leader… Most people feared some sort of unavoidable catastrophe. But only a few suspected the extent of what was happening – and it is precisely because of this blindness that the catastrophe was allowed to happen.

Young Elie Wiesel.

“Today, the Peace Prize is to be presented to one who survived. In 1945, on the ashes left behind after the sacrificial flames which annihilated six million Jews, sat the 17-year-old Elie Wiesel, an only son of Abraham, an Isaac who once again had escaped a sacrificial death on Mount Moriah at the last moment. He will receive the Nobel Peace Prize today because he, too, has become a witness for truth and justice. From the abyss of the death camps he has come as a messenger to mankind – not with a message of hate and revenge, but with one of brotherhood and atonement. He has become a powerful spokesman for the view of mankind and the unlimited humanity which is, at all times, the basis of a lasting peace. Elie Wiesel is not only the man who survived – he is also the spirit which has conquered. In him we see a man who has climbed from utter humiliation to become one of our most important spiritual leaders and guides.

“The Nobel Committee believes it is vital that we have such guides in an age when terror, repression, and racial discrimination still exist in the world.

“Through his books Elie Wiesel has given us not only an eyewitness account of what happened, but also an analysis of the evil powers which lay behind the events. His main concern is the question of what measures we can take to prevent a recurrence of these events.

“It is this that Elie Wiesel wants us to understand. His mission is not to gain the world’s sympathy for the victims or the survivors. His aim is to awaken our conscience. Our indifference to evil makes us partners in the crime. That is the reason for his attack on indifference and his insistence on measures aimed at preventing a new holocaust. We know that the unimaginable has happened. What are we doing now to prevent it happening again? Do not forget, do not sink into a new blind indifference, but involve yourselves in truth and justice, in human dignity, freedom, and atonement. That is this Peace Prize laureate’s message to us.

“It has been said that peoples or cultures who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, and it is against the background of his own experiences that Elie Wiesel now warns us of this.

“The duty and responsibility which Elie Wiesel preaches are not primarily concerned with the fear of the terrors of the past repeating themselves. It is much more an engagement directed at preventing the possible victory of evil forces in the future. The creative force in this process is not hate and revenge, but rather a longing for freedom, a love of life and a respect for human dignity. Or as Elie Wiesel has said himself: ‘I will conquer our murderers by attempting to reconstruct what they destroyed.’

“Elie Wiesel sat thus in the ashes after Auschwitz. The storm and fire had terrorized his life.  Everything was in ruins. His family was annihilated. Two of his sisters were alive, though he was not aware of this at the time. He was homeless and without a fatherland. Even his identity as a human being was undermined – he was now prisoner number A 7713, a sort of shipwrecked sailor on a burnt coast, without hope, without a future. Only the naked memories remained.  Why did this have to happen? And why should I have survived? Dear God, why were six million of your own chosen people sent to their deaths? Where were you when they hanged 12 year olds in Auschwitz, or burned small children alive in Birkenau?

“But he was alive. And in time it occurred to him that there could be a purpose behind it – that he was to be a witness, the one who would pass on the account of what had happened so that the dead would not have died in vain and so that the living could learn.

“All Elie Wiesel’s books and publications are concerned with the same theme – the Holocaust is present in them all.  As he himself says: ‘You can get out of Auschwitz, but Auschwitz can never get out of you.’  But, even though the theme is always the same, and even though the same story is repeated time after time, there is always a new approach which opens up new perspectives. There is a remarkable development in Wiesel’s authorship.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.

“It is in recognition of this particular human spirit’s victory over the powers of death and degradation, and as a support to the rebellion of good against the evil in the world, that the Norwegian Nobel Committee today presents the Nobel Peace Prize to Elie Wiesel. We do this on behalf of millions – from all peoples and races. We do it in deep reverence for the memory of the dead, but also with the deep felt hope that the prize will be a small contribution which will forward the cause which is the greatest of all humanity’s concerns – the cause of peace.”  Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1986

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Ken Burns Revisits The American Revolution in Powerful New Documentary Series

Posted on November 16, 2025 by Judith Trojan

“This is, I think, the most important event since the birth of Christ. The creation of the United States of America.”—Ken Burns.

If you’re convinced you know all there is to know about the American Revolution–the period spanning approximately 1754 and the close of the 18th century–and what you know you vaguely remember from middle school or from some clunky TV costume drama, think again.  If you claim the United States as your home, no matter your country of birth or current residency, it’s imperative that you become reacquainted with America’s origin story.

The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Engraving by Paul Revere, circa 1770. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library.

The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Engraving by Paul Revere, circa 1770. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library.

What better way to be proactive in the fight to save our democracy then to turn to Award-winning, critically-acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns, who has spent the better part of the past 50 years telling America’s story on film.  It took almost 10 years for Burns and his production team, including fellow producer/directors Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt; screenwriter/historian Geoffrey C. Ward; cinematographer Buddy Squires and a dedicated crew of editors, musicians, researchers, scholars and historians, to turn the mythic shape-shifting birth of the “American experiment” into a definitive narrative that not only traces the timeline of the bloody eight year war for Independence but also its incendiary backstory and divisive epilogue as well.

The due diligence of Ken Burns and his team has paid off handsomely, and couldn’t be more timely.  Their six episode, 12-hour documentary series, The American Revolution, debuts on PBS tonight, Sunday, November 16, 2025. It will be broadcast over six consecutive nights in two-hour installments, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET. (See below for detailed screening and streaming info, and check local listings for air times in your region and for marathon PBS rebroadcast dates leading up to America’s Semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026.)

The Continental Congress adopting The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. Painting by John Trumbull, circa 1818. Photo courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

The Continental Congress adopting The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Painting by John Trumbull, circa 1818. Photo courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

No photographic images or film footage of the period exists, of course, so the challenge to engage viewers with America’s complex origin story would seem to be insurmountable.  But if you’re afraid this series will be a data dense snooze, fear not!  Anyone familiar with Ken Burns’ filmography knows that he and his team are masters of turning reams of dusty research into a living, breathing narrative.

Yes, there are the requisite scholarly talking heads and archival paintings, lithographs and drawings; period newspaper clips, rabble rousing broadsides, pamphlets and other graphic ephemera.  Eighteenth century and newly drawn maps document the parameters of military maneuvers; and seasonal footage shot on-location at national historic sites frames expressionistic battlefield and campground vignettes dramatized by professional reenactors.

George Washington. Painting by Charles Willson Peale, circa 1779 -1781. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

GEORGE WASHINGTON. Painting by Charles Willson Peale, circa 1779 -1781. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

But the Ken Burns signature elements that drive the 12-hour American Revolution series into the stratosphere are the wartime anecdotes, intimate ruminations and political screeds culled from touching personal letters and diaries and fiery political and literary tracts of the period.  Penned in real time by almost 200 individuals who lived and died during this tumultuous period, these musings, read in voice over by A-list actors, provide the emotional through line for the series. Yes, there’s Meryl and Morgan; but I, for one, especially applaud Paul Giamatti’s return as “John Adams.”

Every faction is given a voice here, and every voice tells a story important to our understanding of the bigger picture.

Two Georges led the charge then, and anchor the series now.  We meet King George III and his political and military cronies, most especially General (Lord) Charles Cornwallis, and George Washington and his fellow political and military compatriots, including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, the Marquis de Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton and turncoat Benedict Arnold.  We hear from rank-and-file Continental Army soldiers and rough-and-tumble American militiamen; Native soldiers and civilians from the six nation tribes; enslaved and free African Americans; Hessian soldiers in the British service; America’s French and Spanish allies; and various civilian colonists–men and women expressing their allegiance to Loyalist, Patriot or Pacifist causes, whose homes, farmland, livestock and family members were ravaged by bands of invading marauders and who faced imprisonment or worse for their wartime allegiances.

A Revolutionary soldier bidding farewell to his wife. Painting by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe. Photo William R. Koch.

A Revolutionary soldier bidding farewell to his wife. Painting by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe. Photo: William R. Koch.

“Our film tells the remarkable history of the people who lived through the American Revolution, their everyday concerns, and their hopes, fears and failings,” said producer/director Sarah Botstein. “The Revolution changed how we think about government–creating new ideas about liberty, freedom and democracy.”

What began as a political clash between civilians in 13 American colonies and the British government grew into a bloody, eight year civil war that pitted brother against brother, friend against friend, and ultimately, became a world war that engaged more than two dozen nations and forever changed the world and inspired democratic movements across the globe.  But, as with all wars, there were colossal missteps that added tarnish to that legacy.

The Revolutionary War Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. Painting by Alonzo Chappel, circa 1860. Photo courtesy Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.

The Revolutionary War Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. Painting by Alonzo Chappel, circa 1860. Photo courtesy Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.

The American Revolution series does not shy away from battlefield carnage, especially from ill-conceived military maneuvers by George Washington and others, or from the promises made and broken to soldiers, including slaves and Native Americans whose allegiance and service in the fight against British rule were crucial to our nation’s founding.  I found sequences focusing on the exploitation of slaves and Native Americans, and the brutal conditions under which American troops were expected to fight against professionally trained and uniformed British and Hessian soldiers to be especially painful to watch.

Upended by empty promises of equitable remuneration, crippling diseases and extreme weather conditions, American troops lacked decent uniforms, boots, housing, military supplies, rations and inoculation.  In winter, they slept in snow covered encampments in flimsy, wet uniforms without footwear, blankets or sufficient food. Yet they marched on, transporting artillery and supplies for hundreds of miles in scorching summer heat or pelting snow and sleet over rough wilderness terrain and ice-clogged rivers.  And their wives and mothers (as caregivers and cooks) and their children marched right alongside them.

I challenge anyone not to shed a tear or two during the lead up to George Washington’s pivotal Delaware crossing on December 25, 1776, in the wake of his massive defeat in New York, or be touched by his concern for the well being of his frozen and sickened troops.

Washington crossing the Delaware River on the evening of December 25, 1776, in a daring maneuver to surprise Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ. Painting by Emanuel Leutze, circa 1851. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Washington crossing the Delaware River on the evening of December 25, 1776, in a daring maneuver to surprise Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ. Painting by Emanuel Leutze, circa 1851. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“The Revolution was eight years of uncertainty, hope and terror, a brutal war that engaged millions of people in North America and beyond and left tremendous loss in its wake,” said producer/director David Schmidt. “The United States that emerged from the war was a nation few could have imagined before the shooting began in April 1775.

By far, one of the most commendable takeaways from The American Revolution is its rigorous portrait of those who sacrificed so much in battle after battle to assure us the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for 250 years.  And so, in addition to the great minds who drafted our Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, the troops who fought and died so heroically for our independence during the 18th century should be at the top of our list of American heroes 365 days of the year and especially honored on Veterans Day and July 4th.

And, finally, I came away with deeper reverence for George Washington.  Despite being a flawed military tactician, resolute slave owner, usurper of Indian land, and member of the billionaire boys’ club of his day, Washington moved me with his dedication to the well being of his troops and for never losing sight of the lofty principles for which he and his men were fighting.  It was observed that when drawn into the thick of battle, with men falling all around him, Washington managed to command and inspire his troops and survive without a scratch.  His resilience, sense of duty, and inborn charisma, confidence and intelligence served him so well during the American Revolution that we should be forever thankful that George Washington arrived on the scene when he did and wore his “great man” mantle exceptionally well on the battlefield and as the first President of the United States of America.— Judith Trojan

The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781. Painting by John Trumbull, circa 1787-1828. Photo courtesy IanDagnall Computing/Alamy Stock Photo.

The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781. Painting by John Trumbull, circa 1787-1828. Photo courtesy IanDagnall Computing/Alamy Stock Photo.

Viewing The American Revolution

Episode 1:  In Order to Be Free (May 1754 – May 1775) premieres on PBS tonight, Sunday, November 16, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET.

Episode 2:  An Asylum for Mankind (May 1775 – July 1776) premieres on PBS, Monday, November 17, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET.

Episode 3:  The Times That Try Men’s  Souls (July 1776 – January 1777) premieres on PBS, Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET.

Episode 4:  Conquer By a Drawn Game (January 1777 – February 1778) premieres on PBS, Wednesday, November 19, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET.

Episode 5:  The Soul of All America (December 1777 – May 1780) premieres on PBS, Thursday, November 20, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET.

Episode 6:  The Most Sacred Thing (May 1780 – Onward) premieres on PBS, Friday, November 21, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET.

Producer/directors of THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION from left: David Schmidt, Sarah Botstein and Ken Burns. Photo: Stephanie Berger.

Check local listings for regional air times and marathon PBS rebroadcast dates leading up to America’s Semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026.  The six-part American Revolution series will be available to stream on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video App , via iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, the “PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel,” Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.  PBS station members can also stream The American Revolution via PBS Passport, as part of a full collection of Ken Burns’ films.  Visit ShopPBS.org for DVD purchase links and PBS International for foreign distribution.

Educational materials available to teachers and students will be accessible at the Ken Burns in the Classroom hub on PBS LearningMedia.  And Attention Holiday Shoppers and diehard history buffs!  Don’t miss the series’ companion hardcover:  The American Revolution: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns. Alfred A. Knopf, 2025. –Judith Trojan

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HBO’s Country Doctor Casts Timely Shadow on U.S. Healthcare

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Judith Trojan

“I’ve learned from being poor. I’ve learned from being hungry. I’ve had two kidney transplants and been as sick as a lot of the patients I’ve taken care of,” says Dr. James Graham.

Dr. Graham had a rough start.  He grew up on an Indian reservation with no indoor plumbing and a physically, emotionally and sexually abusive drunken stepfather. But despite his hellish childhood, he learned to administer dialysis to his stricken mom and grew up to become a physician who, for more than 40 years, has cared ardently for the more than 1,260 far-flung residents of rural Fairfax, Oklahoma.  For some of those predominantly poor and uninsured residents, he has been their life support and the only doctor they have ever known.

The life and death challenges that Dr. Graham faces daily are daunting.  His attempts to save not only his patients but the failing medical facilities that serve them are the focus of the new cinema vérité documentary short, Country Doctor, directed by Emmy®-winning filmmakers Shari Cookson and Nick Doob.  Country Doctor debuts on HBO tonight, Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 7:00 – 7:38 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for repeat screenings on HBO in the days and weeks ahead, availability on HBO On Demand and HBO Max for streaming.)

Filmed over a period of three years, Country Doctor is a timely, 11th hour reminder of how and why healthcare in rural America has fallen through the cracks.  Hard fact:  “Since 2010, over 140 hospitals in rural America have closed, leaving just one doctor for every 2,500 people.”  Country Doctor shows us exactly what that reality has meant to caring medical practitioners like Dr. Graham and his colleagues, who try to do their best for their patients with very little. It is unimaginable to contemplate the fallout from the planned Federal cutbacks that will grow the rolls of uninsured patients and open the door to more rural hospital and clinic closures.

Dr. James Graham travels far and wide on a daily basis to treat his patients in rural Fairfax, Oklahoma. Photo courtesy HBO.

Within the wide-ranging rural communities that he services, Dr. Graham continues to fill many demanding roles.  He hits the road daily in his truck, treats patients in their homes, at Fairfax Community Hospital, a nursing home and three clinics, one of which is 60 miles away and serves four counties.  He also regularly travels to the Oklahoma state Capitol to lobby for more government assistance.  Often, Dr. Graham’s only remuneration is a box of homegrown tomatoes or a small cache of veggies from his patients’ gardens, which he kindly accepts in lieu of a check or cash.

Fairfax Community Hospital has been on the verge of closure at least 10 times during Dr. Graham’s 40-year career.  Run-down and short staffed, the hospital was ill-equipped to effectively handle the demands brought on by such natural disasters and epidemics as tornadoes and COVID, respectively, both of which took a toll on the region. Country Doctor tracks the most recent Fairfax Community Hospital bankruptcy filing, its auction in North Carolina of all places, and the only bidder and subsequent buyer, Dr. Elizabeth Pusey, M.D., from California.

Dr. Elizabeth Pusey, the new owner of rural Fairfax Community Hospital in Oklahoma, joins local physician Dr. James Graham (right) to inaugurate the hospital’s new and improved infrastructure. Photo courtesy HBO.

Local skeptics, including newspaper publisher and editor, Joe and Carol Conner, fear that Dr. Pusey’s gameplan will play out much like that of other hospital scammers who buy failing rural hospital properties simply to make a quick buck by draining what’s left of their assets–selling off furniture, medical equipment, the building and land–and ditching the carcass within a year or two.

Thankfully, Dr. Pusey proved to be an outlier in that shady underworld, at least during the filming of Country Doctor. Her interest in the hospital’s challenges serving a diffuse, low income rural community seemed legit and hopeful.  She plowed financing into repairing and expanding Fairfax Community Hospital’s infrastructure and scored points when she expressed interest in building ties within the community.

We should all be so fortunate to have physicians like Dr. James Graham.  He is a quintessential wholistic healer, not only dedicated to treating his patients’ physical illnesses but their mental health, emotional well being, and the food and financial insecurity that threatens to derail all of the above.  He talks a longtime patient down from contemplating suicide, delivers nonjudgmental dietary advice and empathetic end-of-life support. Best of all, he makes it clear how much he appreciates each and every one of his patients.  In short, he is resilient, resourceful and, best of all, he truly cares.

And what about the under-resourced hospitals and clinics that rural patients across the nation depend upon? What will happen to communities like Fairfax, Oklahoma, when the Federal cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare subsidies kick in?  Country Doctor is a timely eye-opener for anyone who is far removed from the rural healthcare crisis in America or who has been ignoring or blindsided by the machinations in Washington, DC, that will ultimately endanger us all.

Dr. James Graham en route to the Oklahoma State House to lobby for healthcare funding. Photo courtesy HBO.

Now more than ever, Country Doctor deserves to be seen and rescreened. The film debuts on HBO tonight, Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 7:00 – 7:38 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for repeat screenings on HBO in the days and weeks ahead, availability on HBO On Demand and HBO Max for streaming.) Country Doctor should spark robust discussion in pre-med and sociology college and university classes and community programs focusing on the healthcare crisis in America today.  I also fervently hope it will encourage some healthcare professionals to contemplate careers in rural America. –Judith Trojan

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Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything Debuts on ABC

Posted on September 25, 2025 by Judith Trojan

BARBARA WALTERS (1929-2022). Photo courtesy The Walt Disney Company.

“Without Barbara Walters, there wouldn’t have been me–nor any other woman you see on the evening, morning and daily news.”—Oprah Winfrey.

I confess. When The View debuted on ABC on August 11, 1997, I predicted its quick demise.  I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to watch five women bitch and gossip about their love lives, show biz scandals, skin care and current events for an hour every day.  Boy was I wrong!  Needless to say, when I’m home, I never miss an episode.

Let’s face it, I should have known better, given that veteran broadcaster Barbara Walters originated the concept. She also co-hosted with a smile–and an iron fist–until her retirement from the show in 2014.

The View would not only enhance her storied broadcast legacy but prove to be a feather in ABC’s cap.  Copycat programming began popping up on rival networks; The View and Barbara were satirized on NBC’s Saturday Night Live; and, for better or worse, the show paved the way for such female-dominated reality TV franchises as The Housewives series.  The View grew to become a cultural and political touchstone that gave women–left, right and center–a voice in a universe previously dominated by men.

The early days…TODAY SHOW co-hosts Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs. Photo: NBC News.

The bumpy back story of Barbara Walters’ 50-year career in broadcast journalism, historically a “men’s club” closed to women, was well known to broadcast insiders, but not to the general public who took her stardom for granted.  While Emmy® Award-winning producer/director Jackie Jesko knew that Walters paved the way for women in front of and behind network TV cameras, it was clear that the personal price she paid at various stages of her career would resonate with women of all ages.  It was a story that needed to be told.

Jackie Jesko‘s feature-length documentary, Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything, makes its timely network TV debut on ABC tonight, Thursday, September 25, 2025 (on what would have been Barbara’s 96th birthday!), at 9:00 p.m. ET/8:00 C.  The film is also available for streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

Despite being diminished and even derailed by male colleagues who were legends in their own time (and minds!), Barbara Walters was always one step ahead…and resilient, relentless and fearless.  These traits fueled her drive to establish a foothold in broadcast journalism that began behind-the-scenes as a writer, then as a co-host of NBC’s The Today Show; segued in 1976 to ABC News as the ill-fated “first woman in the U.S.” to co-host the Evening News; to her success as a roving reporter in the field thanks to Roone Arledge who tapped her potential; then as a co-host and commentator of ABC-TV’s phenomenally successful Friday night series, ABC News 20/20; and finally as the creator and co-host of The View.

To tell this story, Ms. Jesko incorporated a treasure trove of archival broadcast footage and photos and made good use of Walters’ own voice over recordings and on-camera commentary from seasoned notables who worked with, were mentored, inspired or interviewed by Walters.  Standouts include Oprah Winfrey, Joy Behar, Bette Midler, Cindy Adams, Cynthia McFadden, Katie Couric, Connie Chung, Andy Cohen and Monica Lewinsky.  

Barbara Walters interviewed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in his tent in Tripoli, Libya. The interview aired on “ABC News 20/20” on January 27, 1989. Photo: ABC News/The Walt Disney Co.

The film provides fascinating insight into her talent for “gets,” gaining exclusive access to elusive interview subjects, and convincing such prickly world leaders as Muammar Gaddafi, Fidel Castro, Anwar El-Sadat and Menachem Begin, and the likes of Monica Lewinsky and the Menendez brothers to sit down with her instead of other superstar male and female colleagues (Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, John Chancellor, Diane Sawyer).  She asked questions out of left field that no one else dared ask, and her subjects invariably shed a tear or two during their interviews.

“She distinguished us,” recalled David Sloan, senior executive producer, ABC News. “She made ABC News a destination for the biggest newsmakers of the time…and being a magnet for those interviews was her greatest contribution to the  division.  ABC News thanked her for that and gave her the oxygen to reach the stratosphere.”

Make no mistake, Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything is no puff piece. It covers the highs and lows of her career, personality and personal life, warts and all, including her sketchy choice of male lovers, the failure of her three marriages and the toll on the well being of her daughter, who she loved dearly.  As such, this film will be an outstanding evergreen addition to high school, college and university classes focusing on the History of Broadcast Journalism, as well as Women’s Studies programming in colleges, libraries and community venues.

“My hope for the film is that audiences feel they get to know the real Barbara, in all her complexities–her private struggles and her public triumphs,” said producer/director Jackie Jesko. “Barbara stayed a television fixture for five decades, battling rampant sexism, fierce competition and a constantly evolving media landscape. Barbara’s story gives us the opportunity to explore the changing relationship between journalism, fame, and truth.”

Katharine Hepburn chose Barbara Walters as her interviewer, circa 1981, for this rare TV appearance. Photo: ABC News/The Walt Disney Co.

Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything makes its network TV debut at 9:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. Central, on ABC tonight, Thursday, September 25, 2025, on what would have been Barbara’s 96th birthday. The film is also available for streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.  Don’t miss it! –Judith Trojan

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Mariska Hargitay Reclaims her Childhood in My Mom, Jayne

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Judith Trojan

“I’ve spent most of my life feeling ashamed of my mother… a person that I have no memory of… a person who’s voice I didn’t want to hear,” recalls Award-winning actress and freshman director Mariska Hargitay near the close of her touching new film, My Mom, Jayne.  The feature-length documentary debuts on HBO tonight, Friday, June 27, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/PT (see below for streaming details).

Whether you’ve watched the landmark Dick Wolf juggernaut, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, from its premiere episode on NBC in September 1999 or caught up via reruns… or, like me, never tire of watching repeat episodes, the one constant throughout the series’ record-breaking 26 season run, is fearless, resilient, compassionate Olivia Benson.

The years have been good to Olivia Benson.  Rising up through the ranks of the New York City Police Dept.’s (NYPD) sex crimes unit from detective to sergeant to captain, the character of Olivia Benson has seasoned appreciably from fictional NYPD cop to iconic champion for women and men of all ages who have faced sexual abuse and assault.

Benson’s appeal and longevity have everything to do with the beloved actress who has devoted her career to playing her.  Mariska Hargitay carries Benson’s mantle off screen as an advocate for the rights and dignity of sexual assault victims and the capture and conviction of their assailants.  Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004, which not only aims to end the backlog of untested rape kits in the U.S. via its “End the Backlog” initiative, but also strives to change the dialogue surrounding sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.

Captain Olivia Benson and actress/activist Mariska Hargitay share another more provocative storyline: They’ve persevered despite having had mothers who left them with unresolved scars and few if any positive mother-daughter memories.

While Olivia Benson’s scripted traumatic childhood has periodically impacted her casework for better or worse, it has taken Mariska Hargitay 60 years to face and untangle her own complicated backstory.  Her determination to squash the false narratives and misconceptions spun in the media and within her own family about her mom, celebrated 1950s and ’60s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield; her dad, aka Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay; and her siblings, came six decades after the horrific car crash in 1967 that killed her mom at age 34 and almost took her own life at three.

Happy occasions and photo ops were few between Mariska aka “Maria” Hargitay and her mom, Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car crash when Mariska was 3.  Photo 12/Alamy Stock Photo. Courtesy of HBO.

With My Mom, Jayne, Hargitay set out to untangle the misconceptions blurring her mom’s public and private persona and to bring clarity to her own lineage.  Fraught with unexpected twists, her journey to set the record straight was far from easy.

“After she passed away, the moment that’s always stayed with me is when I found my baby book,” remembers Hargitay. “All of my siblings had one. But when I looked through mine, it was practically empty.  So on top of having no memories, I think it just gave me a sense of more loss.  It was like this little hole in my heart.”

Jayne Mansfield‘s backstory will be a revelation to anyone who remembers her only as a textbook dumb blond with a voluptuous body and kittenish voice; posing in sexy, skintight outfits by her heart-shaped pool or on the arm of her body-builder husband, Mickey Hargitay; or acting sultry in pot boiler B-movies.

Despite her high IQ, multi-language fluency, childhood training as a violinist and concert pianist, and her dream to be taken seriously as an actress, she was forced to use “pin-up publicity to get her foot in the door” of the sexist male movie execs and casting agents who made and marketed celebrities in 1950s and ’60s Hollywood.

Director Hargitay uncovered wonderful family photos and ephemera and vintage family and archival film and TV clips to tell her mother’s story in and out of the public eye… with her husbands, especially Jayne’s second husband, Mickey Hargitay, and lovers; with Jayne’s mother and grandmother; and her expanding brood of young children. At the height of her celebrity, Jayne Mansfield was not only a popular cover girl, but entertained the troops with Bob Hope, and appeared on seminal period TV and talk shows, the latter often with her expanding brood of kids in tow.

Archival clips from her performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” (as a violinist!) and popular appearances on talk shows hosted by Groucho Marx, Edward R. Murrow, a surprisingly smarmy Jack Paar, and annoyingly perky Merv Griffin (who engages in some banter with tiny Mariska aka “Maria”) are delightful additions to this film.

And finally, there are touching memories and plot twists to unpack from Mariska’s siblings, those known and those new to her, as well as input from her beloved stepmom, Ellen Hargitay.

Actress/director Mariska Hargitay (right) finds closure when she revisits her childhood and elevates the legacy of her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield (left), in MY MOM JAYNE (HBO).

Mariska Hargitay brings a welcome level of maturity and insight to a complex story that demands the ability to make peace with a deep reservoir of loss and grief and shame and move forward with acceptance and joy.  I can’t imagine anyone not being moved by her journey and the film that she made to record it.

My Mom, Jayne debuts on HBO tonight, Friday, June 27, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.  (Check listings for repeat screenings on HBO in the days and weeks ahead, availability on HBO On Demand and HBO Max for streaming.)

The film promises to be an evergreen addition to film and TV history and popular culture courses in colleges and universities, as well as women’s studies in college, library and group counseling settings dealing with mother-daughter relationships. –Judith Trojan

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Remembering Pee-wee Herman on Screen and Off

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Judith Trojan

The summer of 1988 ushered in an odd lot of male screen heartthrobs. They came in all shapes and sizes, saddled with such monikers as Roger Rabbit, Crocodile Dundee, Dirty Harry and Johnny Five.  It was the perfect summer for Pee-wee Herman to lose his virginity.

After winning raves for his feature film debut in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) and high ratings and numerous Emmys® for his innovative Saturday morning kids’ show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse (1986-1990), Pee-wee toyed with romance in his second feature film, Big Top Pee-wee (1988), and raised the hackles of small-minded media mavens.  Film critics Siskel and Ebert turned their thumbs way down, inexplicably targeting the film’s dearth of “magic,” while studio bosses agonized over Pee-wee’s extended kissing scene (devised as a humorous nod to legendary Hollywood film kisses).  Naysayers feared the film would traumatize Pee-wee’s young fans and turn off adults previously captivated by his innocence and iconic pop persona.

Neither fear seems to have been warranted. The media flap over “Big Flop Pee-wee” paled in comparison to the dicey legal battles yet to come for actor, comedian, director, producer and performance artist Paul Reubens and his creation and alter ego, Pee-wee Herman.  Reubens’ 1991 arrest for indecent exposure in an adult movie theater and spurious targeting by politically-motivated law enforcers and the media raised troubling questions about the moral fiber of the man behind Pee-wee Herman.

Pee-wee Herman on tour, circa 1984. Photo by HBO/Pee-wee Herman Productions, Inc.

Who was “Pee-wee Herman” anyway, and why did audiences, at various intervals, either adore him or condemn him?  And why did Paul Reubens “hide behind” his alter ego, keeping his own identity hidden and private life under wraps until his arrests and the gossip-fueled press cast shade upon his motives, sexual predilections and storied career?

“I felt a freedom in having an alter ago…It’s not me…I’m choosing a path for somebody else.”–Paul Reubens.

With more than 40 hours of riveting on-camera interviews with Reubens filmed just prior to his unexpected death in 2023 at age 70 and a thousand hours of archival family and behind-the scenes TV and film footage and countless photographs from Reubens’ extensive personal collection at his disposal, film director Matt Wolf has fashioned a fascinating posthumous feature-length documentary, Pee-wee as Himself.  The film gives Paul Reubens the chance to come out from the shadows, tell his own life story, debunk fake news and innuendo, and set the record straight.

Pee-wee as Himself debuts in two parts airing back-to-back on HBO tonight, Friday, May 23, 2025, 8:00 p.m. – 11:20 p.m. ET/PT (see below for details).  Be advised…You don’t have to be a Pee-wee fan to be gripped by this “in-your-face” revelatory bio and pop culture trip down memory lane.  The colorful period film and TV clips and photos that trace Pee-wee’s provenance and Reubens’ extraordinary talent are glorious and there are surprises and some tears as well if you stick with it to its touching climax.

Paul Reubens’ early headshot. Photo by HBO/Tony Whitman.

As a student who found his calling in the avant-garde theater milieu of CalArts and as a member of the renowned L.A. improv theater group, The Groundlings, Paul Reubens channeled his youthful creative talents and showbiz aspirations (stand-up comic, circus performer) into a career as a performance artist.  Driven by his 1950’s childhood fascination with such kids’ TV shows as “Howdy Doody,” “Captain Kangaroo” and “The Mickey Mouse Club”; the crazy antics of Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel; and nostalgic movies starring Hayley Mills, Reubens’ path to Pee-wee, at first off the grid on stage in Los Angeles and ultimately as creator and star of Pee-wee’s Playhouse on Saturday morning TV, was circuitous.  Pee-wee defied easy categorization.

Pee-wee’s Playhouse

By rights, Pee-wee’s Playhouse was conceived by Reubens predominantly for kids.  “I took my job as having a children’s show so seriously,” recalled Reubens.  But no self-respecting adult interested in pop culture, creative TV programming, or the art of animation would have missed it.

Children loved Pee-wee unconditionally, and why not?  Pee-wee was anarchic. He wore his primly-pressed grey suits and red bow ties a tad too small, his hair neatly close-cropped, and his lips slightly rouged.  A throwback to such child-men stars of the silent cinema as Harry Langdon, Pee-wee looked all grown up but acted young.  As a result, he could be forgiven his wicked little laugh, his ability to convincingly converse with puppets and all manner of animated and inanimate objects, and his herky jerky way of registering glee.  He made being “different” acceptable and turned “nerdy” into an art form.

Pee-wee’s magical playhouse was set in a tropical paradise.  There were no parents to stifle his imagination, to redecorate sensibly, or to clean up the artful chaos that reigned there.  His playhouse was a study in pop culture excess.

Everything normal folks would consider inanimate became animated in Pee-wee’s playhouse.  His refrigerator jumped with roly-poly chops; fruits and veggies frolicked in “beauty” contests, circus acts or lessons in the four basic food groups. His globe and clock, his big over-stuffed chair, and even his floorboards had personalities all their own.  A miniature dinosaur clan lived in his mouse hole, his window box sprouted a singing trio of posies, and his ant farm (a marvel of silhouette animation) spelled out “good morning” as Pee-wee greeted each brand new day.

On the PEE-WEE’S PLAYHOUSE set. “I felt like I could just give this beautiful, incredible gift to kids.”–Paul Reubens.  Photo by HBO/Pee-wee Herman Productions, Inc.

What made this all so magical?… a variety of glorious animation techniques, from cut-out, clay and puppet animation to pixillation and computer- generated imagery.  This technical wizardry set the show heads above standard Saturday morning TV fare at the time.  Even the cartoons introduced by the King of Cartoons (William Marshall) were worth watching on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, since they were vintage black-and-white and color classics rarely seen outside of revival theaters and film festivals.

Although Pee-wee’s toys and human and animal pals were his favorite focus, he never missed a chance to impart a lesson of some sort to his young viewers. “I loved looking into the camera and talking directly to the kids,” said Reubens.

Each week, a secret word was highlighted, and lessons relevant to social, physical or mental well-being were somewhere to be found. The nature of sharing, friendship, feeling wanted, caring for a pet or even for American history, for that matter, were well integrated into the action that unfolded in Pee-wee’s playhouse.

Pee-wee synthesized the best shticks of Jerry Lewis, Pinky Lee, Soupy Sales and Howdy Doody; but unlike his predecessors, Pee-wee had new age multimedia at his disposal and made the most of it.  Not afraid to experiment, Pee-wee patterned his playhouse universe on the philosophy that technology was the breeding ground for magic.

Pee-wee’s Feature Film Debut

In the playhouse, Pee-wee did exhibit a normal schoolboy attraction to Miss Yvonne (Lynne Stewart), billed as the most beautiful woman in puppetland.  While Pee-wee’s blush was as sexy as the show ever got, it did set the stage for Pee-wee’s mildly flirtatious behavior in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, his feature film debut in 1985.

Pee-wee Herman and director Tim Burton on the Alamo set of PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE. Photo by HBO/Pee-wee Herman Productions, Inc.

In Big Adventure, Pee-wee retained his childish innocence and good cheer even as he was stripped of his most prized possession…his bicycle.  Not an ordinary bike, Pee-wee’s spiffy red, Schwinn two-wheeler boasted gadgetry that would make a preteen James Bond drool.  As directed by Tim (“Beetlejuice”) Burton and cowritten by Paul Reubens (Pee-wee), Pee-wee’s celluloid universe was bizarre to say the least.  Saturated with bright colors, his home and hometown looked like they dropped off of a kitschy 1950’s picture postcard.

Still a boy at heart but pedaling toward puberty, Pee-wee caught the eye of cute bike shop proprietress Dottie (Elizabeth Daily) who tried innocently to get him to take her to a drive-in.  Initially disinterested, Pee-wee took a riotous detour to the Alamo and then to Hollywood to reclaim his stolen bike.  Along the way, he cozied up to a pretty waitress named Simone (Diane Salinger), who, inspired by Pee-wee’s example, dumped her Neanderthal boyfriend and hopped a bus to Paris.

Campy fun, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure became an underground hit with young adults who loved its off-the-wall humor.

Pee-wee Joins the Circus

While puberty was essentially a pain-in-the-neck for bicycle-lover Pee-wee in Big Adventure, it did give him more exposure to girls, which stood him in good stead in his next film, Big Top Pee-wee (1988).

Much more than his Saturday morning TV show or Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-wee allowed Pee-wee and director Randal (“Grease”) Kleiser to concoct a fantasy world so Edenlike and unthreatening that Pee-wee’s nascent manhood seemed to flow naturally from his environment.

As the master of a lush, pastoral farm that could only exist in storybooks, Pee-wee became a gentleman farmer–same suit, same bow tie, same flannel pjs and bunny slippers–who had a sweet connection to his barnyard flock.  During the film’s opening moments, Pee-wee awakened to a brand new day with “talking pig” Vance at his side and the rest of the barnyard gang snug in their beds in the barn.  All finally convened over a picnic breakfast of flapjacks (flapped by the animals), freshly picked fruit, and chocolate milk squeezed a la cow.

Pee-wee and his pig, Vance, mix it up in BIG TOP PEE-WEE. “I wanted kids to learn about being a nonconformist.”–Paul Reubens.

Pee-wee became engaged to Winnie (Penelope Ann Miller), the town’s beautiful but prissy schoolmarm, who kept him at arm’s length despite his attempts to move a little closer. Their sweetly comical relationship was nipped in the bud, however, when Pee-wee’s eyes wandered over trapeze artist Gina Piccolapupula (Valeria Golina).  Fiery Gina flew with a circus that crash landed on Pee-wee’s farm during a hurricane.

The circus, full of wild and crazy performers (a wolf boy; half-man, half-woman; bearded lady; and mermaid, among others) and jungle animals, provided many colorful, charming moments, as did Pee-wee’s attempt to master a circus act on his own.  “I was always obsessed with circus movies,” recalled Reubens.

These wonderful sequences, rooted in Reubens’ idyllic childhood spent hanging with Ringling Brothers circus performers wintering in his Sarasota hometown, amplified by the gorgeous set design and cinematography, as well as sequences featuring Pee-wee’s secret scientific experiments in his state-of-the-art greenhouse, were overshadowed at the time by grouchy pundits knocking his first screen kiss (with Gina) and implications of his slip-slide into puberty and “third base.”

Pee-wee Herman may have stepped on a few toes with Big Top Pee-wee, but he deserved a chance to grow up…at least a wee bit.

It’s Never Easy to Say Goodbye

Paul Reubens deserved a chance to be heard and publicly exonerated as well.  He has been served admirably by the 40 hours of interviews he agreed to film sometimes grudgingly with director Matt Wolf, while secretly fighting cancer before his death in 2023.  I wholeheartedly recommend Pee-wee as Himself, not only for diehard Pee-wee Herman fans, but also for young people and art, performance and film students struggling for validation as artists and human beings.

“More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labeled something that I wasn’t,” said Paul Reubens in audio recorded the day before he died. “I wanted somehow for people to understand that my whole career, everything I did and wrote was based in love and my desire to entertain and bring glee and creativity to young people and everyone.”

Pee-Wee as Himself, debuts on HBO tonight, Friday, May 23, 2025.  Part 1:  8:00 – 9:40 p.m. ET/PT. Part 2: 9:40 – 11;20 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for repeat screenings on HBO in the days and weeks ahead, availability on HBO On Demand and HBO Max for streaming.)  –Judith Trojan

Who’s who and what’s what? Paul Reubens greets his alter ego, Pee-wee Herman. Photo by Dennis Keeley/HBO.

Big Top Pee-wee (82 min., 1988.  Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube TV, Pluto TV).

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (92 min., 1985.  HBO On Demand, HBO Max, Hulu, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime).

Pee-wee’s Playhouse (45 episodes, 5 seasons, 1986-1990. Peacock, some seasons on Netflix, Pluto, Roku, Tubi, Shout!TV).

The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway (89 min., 2011.  HBO On Demand, HBO Max).–J.T.

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Leonardo da Vinci and Ken Burns Dazzle on PBS

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Judith Trojan

“This is the story of the most curious man in history.”

Painter, draftsman, writer, designer, architect, inventor, philosopher, scientist, mathematician, military and aeronautical engineer, philosopher, cartographer, geologist, botanist, anatomist, physicist. Clearly, there was more to the man than the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.”

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) embraced an exhaustive aggregate of vocations and avocations, filling thousands of notebook pages with exploratory drawings and profound musings that were often centuries ahead of the curve during his 15th and 16th century lifetime.

Leonardo da Vinci would be a daunting subject for any filmmaker, and seemingly beyond the purview of Ken Burns, who has spent his entire career filming Award-winning documentaries about American history. It’s no surprise that noted historian Stephen E. Ambrose (Band of Brothers) once said of Burns, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.”  So why Leonardo da Vinci, and why now?

LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519). Self-portrait (Red chalk on white paper), circa 1515.

“No single person can speak to our collective effort to understand the world and ourselves,” said Ken Burns. “But Leonardo had a unique genius for inquiry, aided by his extraordinary skills as an artist and scientist, that helps us better understand the natural world that we are part of and to appreciate more fully what it means to be alive and human.”

Perhaps the leap to Leonardo was not such a stretch for Burns after all, given that Leonardo shares some common ground with visionary American polymath Ben Franklin.  You can read my coverage of Burns’ riveting four hour, 2022 documentary, Benjamin Franklin, here @ http://www.judithtrojan.com/2022/04/04).

Lucky for us that it was time for Burns to turn his camera on foreign shores and collaborate once again with his director/writer daughter Sarah Burns (The Central Park Five), and her writer/director husband David McMahon on their extraordinary, new two-part, four hour documentary, Leonardo da Vinci, set to debut on PBS tonight, Monday, November 18, 2024, and tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/ 7:00 C each night.  (Check local listings for air dates in your region and below for complete details.)

Let me just say from the outset that during the four hours that I spent screening Leonardo da Vinci, words like “Wow“…”Brilliant“…”Extraordinary” and “Breathtaking” popped out of my mouth and landed squarely on the pages of my handwritten notes.  If you think you already know everything you need to know about Leonardo da Vinci, think again.

Studies of proportions of face and eye (with notes) by Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1489. By Permission of MiC-Musei Reali. Biblioteca Reale. Photo: Ernani Orcorte.

Bravo to the Burns team and most especially to Buddy Squires, who bumps his cinematography up a notch utilizing split screen images (for the first time in a Ken Burns film!) to juxtapose comparable vintage and current film and photographic images with pages from Leonardo’s notebooks.  The latter include a rich array of  preliminary “cartoon” renderings for his paintings; detailed movement, light, shade and perspective studies of horses, birds, candle flames, folds of cloth and natural landscapes; handwritten (backwards aka “mirror script”!) scientific analyses and analytical drawings of such inventions as flying machines and the intricacies of human anatomy culled directly from his human and animal cadaver dissections.  In this way, the film transcends Leonardo’s timeline, linking his artistic and scientific explorations to those well beyond the 15th and 16th centuries.

Drawing of a fetus in utero, with the uterus opened out; details of the placenta and uterus by Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1511. Royal Collection Trust/©His Majesty King Charles III.

“Leonardo’s thinking was so unique and, in many ways, timeless that our traditional approach alone would have been insufficient,” said writer/director David McMahon. “Though we follow Leonardo’s personal journey and explore his artistic and scientific accomplishments, we’re also really focused on what went on in his mind and on understanding the depths of his curiosity. To do this we use material from his notebooks mixed with archival film, photos and sound, along with our cinematography and visual effects, and we’re not afraid to stray from the timeline.”  

Leonardo da Vinci, illegitimate and unschooled, transformed his humble beginnings into a teachable landscape that fed his voracious desire to learn, to connect, to see and create things anew.  A lifelong perfectionist, he was the recipient of many artistic commissions from avid patrons; but he rarely completed anything, at least to his satisfaction, and often carried his unfinished paintings around for years.

Drawings of a whole heart by Leonardo da Vinci, probably of an ox, three diagrams demonstrating the function of the ventricles, circa 1511-1513. Royal Collection Trust/Royal Collection Trust/©His Majesty King Charles III.

Seasoned historians, biographers, museum curators, theater and film directors, a priest and a surgeon are threaded throughout the four hour film.  Some are subtitled and all make a solid case for Leonardo’s genius… as a “shape shifter,” who “never took no for an answer,” who “always wanted to know more,” and who had an “incredible investigative ability to make his eye an investigative tool.”

“You must wander around and constantly, as you go, observe, note and consider the circumstances and behavior of men as they talk, quarrel, laugh or fight together,” wrote Leonardo da Vinci.  Italian actor Adriano Giannini gives voice to Leonardo’s writings throughout the film.

“Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1503. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY.

Despite having been a serious student of Art History, I can’t say that I ever understood the appeal of the “Mona Lisa.” It was too distancing and enigmatic a portrait for my taste.

I can now look at the painting with fresh eyes and appreciate it most especially for Leonardo’s rich and ebullient backstory and the passion that drove him to meld multiple disciplines into his work as an artist and scientist.  I encourage you not to miss Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon’s dazzling new film, Leonardo da Vinci.  I guarantee there’s no better way to time travel back to the Italian Renaissance and put the present day in perspective. –Judith Trojan

Viewing LEONARDO DA VINCI

“Virgin and Child with Saint Anne” by Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1503. Post-restoration 2012. The stripes on left and right are 19th century additions left for documentation purpose. This painting was begun around 1503 at least, in Florence, then was kept by Leonardo da Vinci until his death, still unfinished in 1519; the work was very probably acquired by Francis I in 1518. Musee du Louvre via Art Resource.

Part 1: The Disciple of Experience premieres on PBS tonight, Monday, November 18, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 C.

Part 2: Painter-God debuts on PBS on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 C.

Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region. The two-part series will be available to stream on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video App , via iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.  PBS station members can also view Leonardo da Vinci via PBS Passport, as part of a full collection of Ken Burns’ films.  International distribution will be handled by PBS International. Visit ShopPBS.org for DVD purchase.

In tandem with the broadcast of Leonardo da Vinci, middle and high school educators will be able to tap into theme-related educational materials (videos, topical research and other classroom supplements geared specifically for grades 6-8 and 9-12) at the Ken Burns in the Classroom site on PBS Learning Media to enrich their Italian Renaissance classes in Social Studies, Art History, Literature, Science and Biology. –Judith Trojan

“The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1494-1498. Mural, fresco in the Refectory of Santa Maria della Grazie, a Dominican Convent in Milan, Italy.

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The Mystery of Mozart’s Sister Exposed on PBS

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Judith Trojan

Musical prodigies Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (left) and his older sister Maria Anna (right) were devoted to each other and possibly co-writers of Wolfgang’s earliest work. Photo: ©Media Stockade.

“My little girl, although she is only 12 years old, is one of the most skillful players in Europe.” –Leopold Mozart.

Musical prodigies Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his older sister, Maria Anna, astounded the music world with their skill as harpsichordists and their ability to read and write music.  The siblings, a mere 4-1/2 years apart in age, blossomed as seasoned musicians under the tutelage of their dad, Leopold, a highly respected court musician, lecturer and composer in 18th century Salzburg, Austria.

“The extraordinary musical talent which merciful God has blessed my two children in full measure…a story as appears but once in a century,” boasted Leopold Mozart in 1760.

Leopold clearly took great pride in both Wolfgang and Maria Anna and made every effort to promote their talent to a wider audience.  But things changed when Maria Anna approached her mid-teens, an age when performing in public for paying audiences was verboten for young women.  She would be expected to marry and have children and, according to 18th century mores, her husband would become her priority and she, his property.  Maria Anna’s extraordinary musical talent and early promise would be forsaken in deference to her husband and her brother Wolfgang’s rising career.

Maria Anna and Wolfgang Mozart performed together on the harpsichord to great acclaim during a childhood Grand Tour of Europe, as seen in SECRETS OF THE DEAD: MOZART’S SISTER on PBS.  Photo: Alina Gozin’a/©Media Stockade.

However Maria Anna Mozart has not been forgotten by Mozart scholars and interpreters the world over who have begun to pinpoint her possible contributions to her brother’s body of work.  Was she not only Wolfgang’s dedicated copyist but also the co-writer of his earliest work…the work credited solely to him?

The controversies surrounding the siblings’ musical collaborations and the global search for Maria Anna’s own compositions are explored in Mozart’s Sister, the latest hourlong episode of the PBS Secrets of the Dead series, set to premiere tonight, Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at 10:00 p.m. ET/9:00 C. (Check local listings for repeat broadcasts in your region.)  It will also stream simultaneously with broadcast (see below for details).  

In 1762, when Wolfgang was six and Maria Anna was 11, Leopold took them on a grueling 3-1/2 year Grand Tour of Europe, from Salzburg to Vienna, then on to The Netherlands, Paris and London, where his “miracles from God,” as he called them, played the harpsichord for paying audiences large and small, in palaces, courts, and taverns, garnering critical acclaim.  Left to their own devices when their father took ill in London, the children passed the time composing music.  It has been suggested that Wolfgang would write the melodies, while Maria Anna would orchestrate and write everything down in her personal notebook.  That notebook has become a treasured artifact for Mozart scholars and an indispensable resource for sleuths hoping to prove the extent of the siblings’ collaboration.

Handwriting analysis has played an important role in pinpointing Maria Anna Mozart’s contributions to her brother Wolfgang’s early work.  Photo: Shannon Ruddock/©Media Stockade.

In Mozart’s Sister, writer/director Madeleine Hetherton-Miau juxtaposes brief costumed set pieces with reflections from a handful of current Mozart afficionados, conductors, scholars and archivists who appear on-camera in performance or with pages of Maria Anna’s cherished composition notebook, family letters and artifacts close at hand to discuss their efforts to authenticate current evidence and do battle with naysayers.

Two of those pros add much needed flavor to the film’s otherwise textbook feel.  Nineteen-year-old Alma Elizabeth Deutscher, a British composer, pianist, violinist, conductor and former child prodigy, compares her own challenges as a precocious young female composer, conductor and musician with Maria Anna’s experiences.  And forensic document examiner Heidi Harralson details the surprising revelations culled from the handwriting and calligraphy found in Maria Anna’s notebook and family letters.

Maria Anna Mozart’s rising musical career came to a screeching halt once she came of age to marry.  From SECRETS OF THE DEAD: MOZART’S SISTER on PBS.  Photo: Shannon Ruddock/©Media Stockade.

Women in 18th century Europe had no rights or chance to ply their craft as composers, musicians and conductors.  Sadly, it took more than 200 years for things to change for women who aspired to fill those roles with distinction in the classical music field.  Mozart’s Sister touches on the efforts currently in play to acknowledge Maria Anna Mozart as an active collaborator with her brother, Wolfgang, and as a talented composer in her own right.

As such, The Secrets of the Dead:  Mozart’s Sister will be an evergreen addition to music appreciation classes in high school, college, university and adult education venues focusing on Wolfgang Mozart’s family dynamics and childhood.  It should also serve as a timely discussion catalyst in women’s studies programs addressing the societal obstacles women have faced throughout history as artists, writers, scientists, community and political leaders.  The film should definitely inspire further research and hopefully inspire the production of a feature-length bio-pic about the life and times of Maria Anna Mozart, also known as Nannerl.

Mozart’s Sister debuts on the PBS series Secrets of the Dead tonight, Wednesday, October 9, 2024,  10:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET/9:00 C.  (Check local listings for repeat broadcasts in your region.)  The film will stream for free simultaneously with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including http://www.pbs.org/secrets and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.  Contact ShopPBS.org for DVD purchase. –Judith Trojan

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The Sopranos Creator David Chase Hits the Doc on HBO

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Judith Trojan

“Everybody made a deal with the Devil. Tony is really the Devil’s representative.” —David Chase.

If, like me, you’re a die-hard fan of the HBO series, The Sopranos, be sure not to miss Oscar®-winning director Alex Gibney’s latest film project, Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos. The fascinating, two-part documentary series debuts on HBO tonight, Saturday, September  7, 2024, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT (see below for details).

“I knew it was gonna be about money and death,” said Sopranos’ creator, writer, director David Chase about his galvanizing HBO series that sits atop many 10 Best Lists and serves as the centerpiece of Wise Guy. 

Don’t come to Alex Gibney’s new documentary expecting a juicy, revelatory bio of a man who has managed to keep his private life off the grid for the past quarter century.  Although Gibney has a proven track record covering twisty, incendiary subject matter (Scientology, pedophile priests, big pharma, Enron, etc.), he had his work cut out for him with intensely private, dour David Chase, who admitted to being uncomfortable talking about himself on camera.  In the end, Wise Guy shines a light on Chase’s roots only as they manifested in the writing, directing and casting of The Sopranos.  It works, and you won’t be disappointed.  

WISE GUY director Alex Gibney (left) grilled SOPRANOS creator David Chase (right) on a set replicating the Dr. Melfi-Tony Soprano therapeutic experience. Photo courtesy HBO.

Gibney cleverly opens the show pitching hardball questions, seated face-to-face with David Chase in a replica of Dr. Melfi’s office.  Much of Chase’s early bio flies by in this mock Melfi/Tony Soprano therapy session, but two things move the needle…the ties that bind David Chase to New Jersey and to his mother.  

“My mother was just nuts,” confessed Chase, as he reveals how her borderline personality disorder drove the creation of The Sopranos from its earliest conception… and never let it go.  Chase, a film school educated writer/director with a list of quality TV writing credits under his belt, yearned to direct feature films, especially one about a Jersey mob boss with a crazy mother who wanted to kill her son.  What a concept!  Even when this dream project morphed into a TV pilot, “Nobody wanted it,” recalled Chase.

Still finding its footing as a purveyor of off-brand entertainment, HBO finally greenlit the pilot; and, after an agonizing delay, the series as well.  “My life was saved,” said Chase, who was ready to ditch TV altogether and write feature films on spec if the pilot dead ended.  The Sopranos is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of its series debut on HBO in January 1999.  It ran for seven seasons (the final two seasons were listed as 6A and 6B). 

David Chase’s affinity for New Jersey, his primary home state, played a major role in his vision for the series. “There was always a mob presence in New Jersey,” said Chase, fingering an incident in Jersey when “a guy got blown up in his car in his garage.”

Chase balked at demands to film in L.A. on faux Jersey sets.  Exteriors would be filmed instead on-location in northern New Jersey and the Jersey shore, which significantly boosted the series’ appeal.  As a northern New Jersey native and lifelong resident, it was clear to me from the outset that filming in New Jersey was an asset. The Jersey sites, like the Soprano home, Artie Bucco’s eateries, the Bada Bing strip club, the Pork Store and Holsten’s, became major characters in their own right, and were as important to the series’ popularity as Tony, Carmela, Dr. Melfi and Uncle Junior.

David Chase originally envisioned actress Lorraine Bracco as Carmela Soprano, but Bracco had other plans. “I wanted Dr. Melfi. She intrigued me”… but “I had to bury Lorraine to let Melfi come out.”

One of the most provocative sequences in Wise Guy focuses on Chase’s meticulous process of casting the Sopranos’ pilot.  Auditions for primary characters are illuminated by Chase’s no nonsense voice over narration and colorful recollections by those who eventually won the coveted roles.

Appearing in Wise Guy are Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi), Edie Falco (Carmela), Drea de Matteo (Adriana), Michael Imperioli (Christopher) and, the most unlikely cast member of all, Steven Van Zandt (Silvio), a musician whose early potential as Tony intrigued Chase… until HBO nixed nonactor Van Zandt in the lead role and James Gandolfini showed up.  Despite flubbing his first audition, he came back the next day and nailed it.  “It was pretty obvious that he was Tony,” remembered Chase.

Archival interviews with James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano), Nancy Marchand (Livia) and Tony Sirico (Paulie) are also threaded throughout Wise Guy, as are anecdotes about their offbeat casting (Marchand), comical quirks (Sirico) and personal demons (Gandolfini).

David Chase cast noted stage and TV actress Nancy Marchand against type as Tony’s treacherous mom, Livia Soprano: “She opened her mouth and that was it. She had it.”

“The show was always shocking somebody about something,” recalled Edie Falco. And keeping it that way was a 24-hour-a-day challenge for the writers, directors, HBO execs, actors and, most especially, for David Chase, who “was never satisfied.”

Pivotal episodes, from pilot to finale, are revisited in Wise Guy, especially those that piggyback riveting, relatable Soprano family dramas or Melfi/Tony therapy sessions with scenes of gruesome beatings and murders…garroting the snitch hiding out in college town, USA; whacking Big Pussy on a boat and Adriana in the woods; beating a stripper to death in a parking lot; and Tony’s “mercy” killing of cousin Tony B, caught by surprise with his arms full of groceries.  If those sequences aren’t enough to keep kids out of the room while you’re watching Wise Guy, then the extended clip of Dr. Melfi’s rape in a parking garage is.  These series of clips make Wise Guy unsuitable viewing for young children.

The end was near, or was it? Holsten’s, Bloomfield, NJ, circa 2007.  Pass the onion rings, and Don’t Stop Believin’…

David Chase hints that The Sopranos’ controversial final episode, “Made in America,” filmed at Holsten’s in Bloomfield, NJ, may have been inspired by a scene in “2001: A Space Odyssey” and foreshadowed in an earlier Sopranos’ episode featuring Soprano siblings Meadow and AJ haggling over interpretations of a Robert Frost poem. Maybe…but maybe not.

Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, debuts on HBO tonight, Saturday, September 7, 2024.  Part 1:  8:00 – 9:15 p.m. ET/PT. Part 2: 9:20 – 10:45 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for repeat screenings on HBO in the days and weeks ahead, and Max for streaming.)  If you loved The Sopranos, don’t miss it!! –Judith Trojan

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Fly With Me Takes Flight on PBS American Experience

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Judith Trojan
No, this isn't a Radio City Rockettes kick line. It's a Delta Air Lines Stewardess graduation photo, circa 1944, as seen in FLY WITH ME on PBS AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Photo courtesy Delta Air Lines.

No, this isn’t a Radio City Rockettes kick line. It’s a Delta Air Lines Stewardess graduation photo, circa 1944, as seen in FLY WITH ME on PBS AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Photo courtesy Delta Air Lines.

“Getting married meant I had to give up my job as a stewardess for Pan Am, a job I loved.”–Mary Higgins Clark.

The year was 1949.  She was 21 and ready and eager to quit her comfortable secretarial job and take a pay cut to travel the world as a stewardess.  That 21 year old would eventually blossom into best-selling author and “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark.

I got to know Mary Higgins Clark fairly well over the years during my stints in Corporate Communications at her publisher, Simon & Schuster, and at The Christophers, as Director of the Christopher Awards.  You can read one of my interviews with her here in FrontRowCenter  http://www.judithtrojan.com/2020/02/21/   

I admit that I was flabbergasted when, during one of our earliest conversations, Mary admitted to me that, as a young woman, she was determined to become a stewardess.  During the late 1940s and ’50s, young working class women of her generation were on track to marry and have a family.  But before they settled down in postwar suburbia with a husband and kids, many were lured by the glamour of traveling the world as a stewardess.  Most never made the cut.

Once you got your foot in the door as a stewardess on a mid-century American airline, you not only had to maintain the good looks and weight that won you the job in the first place, but you also had to pay strict attention to your head to toe grooming and deportment.  Photo courtesy United Airlines.

Once you got your foot in the door as a stewardess on a mid-century American airline, you not only had to maintain the good looks and weight that won you the job in the first place, but you also had to pay strict attention to your head to toe grooming and deportment.  Photo courtesy United Airlines.

Young, wannabe stewardesses had to meet archaic physical, psychological, race and age requirements and maintain strict lifestyle standards just to be accepted into an airline’s three week training program, land a job offer, perform the job and keep it without breaking the rules that got them hired in the first place.

“The requirements in those days would bring on a class-action bias suit now,” recalled Mary Higgins Clark in her autobiography, Kitchen Privileges (S&S, 2002).  “You had to be between 21 and 26 years of age, between five-two and five-seven in height, and your weight had to be commensurate with height.  You couldn’t wear glasses.  You had to be pretty. You had to have an outgoing personality. You had to have a college education or the kind of job experience that would have made you at ease in dealing with the public.  And you had to speak a foreign language.”

You also had to be single, white, and retire by age 32.  And you had to consent to insufferable mandatory weight, deportment and grooming reviews.

If this sounds a lot like the mindset that gave birth to Barbie in 1959, you need look no further than Sarah Colt and Helen Dobrowski’s fascinating new documentary, Fly With Me, for affirmation.  Fly With Me debuts on the PBS American Experience series tonight, Tuesday, February 20, 2024, 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 C.  (Check local listings in your region.)  It will also stream simultaneously with broadcast (see below for details).

“Stewardesses were a revolution waiting to happen,” said Ms. founder Gloria Steinem.

As the commercial airline industry upgraded their spartan aircraft into safer, more comfortable family-friendly transports, male cabin crews were replaced by attractive female cabin attendants or stewardesses.  The young women were not only expected to prepare and serve meals but to treat passengers like would-be houseguests, calm their unease, administer first aid, birth their babies if need be, and expedite grueling emergency procedures in case the plane crash-landed on land or at sea.

Pretty in Barbie pink. Stewardesses, circa 1970, in sexy designer duds. Photo courtesy San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Pretty in Barbie pink. Stewardesses, circa 1970, in sexy designer duds. Photo courtesy San Diego Air & Space Museum.

During the post WWII, Cold War and Vietnam War eras, stewardesses also often found themselves on or near the front lines, shuttling scared and scarred troops and other military personnel to and from dangerous regions.

Meanwhile, back at corporate headquarters, ambitious airline marketing mavens began commissioning such noted fashion designers as Jean Louis, Valentino, Emilio Pucci and Pierre Cardin to transform traditional, buttoned up stewardess uniforms into trendy, sexy gear.  Gone were the sensible heels, white gloves, seamed stockings and girdles, replaced by mini skirts and hot pants, low-cut necklines, vinyl knee high boots and cocky headgear. This marketing ploy certainly gave new meaning to the words “corporate downsizing” and “Fly Me.”

“You’re being marketed basically as a Barbie doll, and yet doing more and more complex work,” said professor and historian Phil Tiemeyer in Fly With Me. “There’s a fundamental incompatibility between these two things.”

Soon, the archaic job and lifestyle requirements that restricted prospective applicants and long term careerists galvanized stewardesses to take action.  Interviews with some of the remarkable flight attendants who fought the bumpy good fight for gender, race and class equality in their workplace against the airline industry’s demeaning, discriminatory employment practices are featured throughout Fly With Me.  That they played pivotal roles within nascent national feminist, labor and workplace equity organizations and commissions, standing side by side with such feminist icons as Gloria Steinem, is a real eye-opener.

“The women of Fly With Me broke barriers by becoming flight attendants in the first place, but what is so remarkable is that they were also in the vanguard of fighting for workplace equity,” said writer/director Sarah Colt.  “By exploring this history, we show the power of individuals to make change and how gender, race and class are critically intertwined.”

"Stewardesses were a revolution waiting to happen."--Gloria Steinem. Photo circa 1965, courtesy United Airlines.

“Stewardesses were a revolution waiting to happen.”–Gloria Steinem. Photo circa 1965, courtesy United Airlines.

Fly With Me will be an important, evergreen addition to high school, college and university classes and library programs focusing on women’s and gender studies, U.S. labor history, and programs dealing with the history of airline travel.

Fly With Me debuts on the PBS American Experience series tonight, Tuesday, February 20, 2024, 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 C.  (Check local listings in your region.)  Fly With Me will stream for free simultaneously with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/ and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.  The film will be available for streaming with closed captioning in English and Spanish. Contact ShopPBS.org for DVD purchase. –Judith Trojan

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