Werner Burkhardt, German music journalist, critic, and translator, discusses his life and work with Studs. Mr Burkhardt speaks about his life during the time of Adolph Hitler, the Hitler Youth, and World War II. They end the interview talking about Jazz in Munich, a recording of "My Man" by Billie Holiday closes the interview.

Studs speaks with dance critic Walter Terry about his book, Miss Ruth: The More Living Life of Ruth St. Denis. They also discuss her influence on the world of dance. A few audio clips of Walter Terry interviewing Ruth St. Denis are played.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Writer and critic Walter Kerr discusses his book "The Silent Clowns," about the film era's greats including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Raymond Griffith, and Harry Langdon. Studs begins by reading an excerpt from James Agee's "Death in the Family" with music in the background followed by Kerr reading from his book. They begin talking about how silent films affected the audience, lesser known stars Lloyd Hamilton and Charley Chase, and then analyze several famous Charlie Chaplin scenes to assess the complex nature of his characters.

Interviewing with the very "u" girl at the establishment (Part 2) while Studs was in England.

Interviewing with the very "Upper U" girl at the establishment (Part 1) while Studs was in England.

Friedrich Luft, Chief Drama Critic for Die Welt discusses German theater and Bertolt Brecht as well as new playwrights such as Peter Weiss. Unlike American theaters, Germany has over 200 theaters that are subsidized and each town of 50,000 has a theater. Just like the days of The People's Stage (which still exists) the grocer and cobbler of Germany enjoy the theater. They are as devoted to the theater as going to a museum or church. They are treated to 12 to 16 new or old plays from Sophocles to Sartre or Pinter.

Terkel delves into the life of Frank Norman, a London ex-con who turned his life around and became a novelist and playwright by writing on his experiences. He wrote "Bang to Rights" shortly after his prison release which brought him great fame. He followed that with "The Monkey Pulled it's Hair" that had a U.S. release under the name "Don't Darling Me Darling". Norman opened up to Terkel discussing his illegitimacy, his illiteracy till age 14, his institutionalization in an orphanage which he turned into the novel "Banana Boy".

Kenneth Allsop, literary critic for the Daily Mail, BBC host of Tonight and author of "The Bootleggers and Their Era" sits down with Studs Terkel to discuss everything from the Social Realism of Arnold Wesker, Allen Sillitoe, and Shelagh Delaney known as the Backstreet Kids to the class warfare of "The Fourth of July" author David Benedictus. The two key groups of theater, the Royal Court led by George Devine and the Theater Workshop led by Joan Littlewood is also discussed.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic and author Roger Ebert discusses his book "Roger Ebert's Book of Film: From Tolstoy to Tarantino, The Finest Writing From A Century of Film" (published by Norton); reads passages from his book.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic and author Roger Ebert discusses his book "Roger Ebert's Book of Film: From Tolstoy to Tarantino, The Finest Writing From A Century of Film" (published by Norton); reads passages from his book; interview with Buster Keaton is played at 35:18.

While their works and forte is classical music, Roger Detmer and Virgil Thomson talk about tape and electronic music. Detmer points out that in some eastern European countries, tape is considered pasee, and yet it's used often to recreate a sound to be used with their orchestras. Both men talk about electronic music and how it's sometimes used to make hand-made music sound artificial.

Ten years ago, explained Robert Brustein, not for profit theatres were starting to pop up. Brustein was optimistic about these new theatres being available in communities as a way of offering culture. Theatres will not be funded though, because President Reagan cut federal funding to theatres in half. In addition, the National Endowment for the Arts was not growing fast enough to assist all theatres involved.

Content Warning: This conversation includes racially and/or culturally derogatory language and/or negative depictions of Black and Indigenous people of color, women, and LGBTQI+ individuals. Rather than remove this content, we present it in the context of twentieth-century social history to acknowledge and learn from its impact and to inspire awareness and discussion. Richard Hoggart talks about the media and the cultural explosion. Hoggart explains that facts are not knowledge.

Ralph Ellison, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction for his book "Invisible Man," discusses his early life and education and his life as a writer and lifetime scholar. He speaks on being a musician (trumpet), the joy of music and the Church and how they fit into the lives of African Americans.

Part 2 of celebrated fim critic Pauline Kael discussing her book "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" as well as Laurence Olivier, Sidney Poitier, safe roles, older actors, distortion of women's contributions, and Lillian Hellman's frustrations.