Celebration for Duke Ellington's birthday

Cathy Berberian reflects on the evolution of her avant-garde singing style and her work with various contemporary music composers. Includes an interview with John Cage. Content Warning: This conversation has the presence of outdated, biased, offensive language. 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.

Joe Mantegna, Meshach Taylor, Mike Sod, Dennis Franz and Bryan Hickey, all cast members of the "Wonderful Ice Cream Suit," reenact scenes from the play. Joe Mantegna also explains that the guys pitch in to buy the suit. Once they wear the suit, magical things happen to each one of them. .

James O'Reilly, Frank Galati and Pauline Brailsford talk about their roles in "The Dresser". Although they've all been performing the play for the last six weeks, they all agree they thoroughly enjoy acting in their roles night after night. The cast members reenact a number of passages within this interview.

Julia Reichert, Sylvia Woods, and Stella Nowicki discuss their documentary film "Union Maids" and the tradition of unions in the United States.

Discussing the book "Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness" (published by Norton) with author and poet Carolyn Forche.

Discussing the book "The Angel of History" (published by HarperCollins) with poet and author Carolyn Forche.

Caroline Bird discusses her book, 'Born Female: The High Cost of Keeping Women Down', published in 1968. Studs plays interviews from dissenters of the Women's Liberation Day and Caroline Bird responds. The discussion continues on issues of sexism and the future of the women in the workforce.

Truth be told, Carol Langer was doing research for another film when she stumbled upon the silent enemy in Ottawa, IL, and then as a result, she made the film "Radium City". Back in the 1920's, young women had jobs to paint clock dials with radium-dipped brushes. The interview includes personal narratives and accounts from the film.

Discussing the book "American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War" (published by MIT Press) with author and photographer Carole Gallagher.

Carol Wald's book, "Myth America: Picturing Women, 1865-1945", came about after she saw some pictures of women and how they were depicted. Wald asked herself if the images of the tacky, frail American women represented her. Various images like sheet music, postcards, and advertisement posters showed women as good girls, nice girls, pious and pure. Wald's point is women are not perfect angels nor are they angelic all the time.

Studs Terkel interviews opera singers, Carol Neblett and Richard Stillwell, as members appearing in the Lyric Opera production of "Don Giovanni". They discuss their characters, Elvira and Don. Carol Neblett and Richard Stillwell discuss their careers.

In this interview Carol Channing discusses her work as artist: comedic timing; live/club performing; her connection with the audience as a performer; theater as a "spiritual world"; the concept of "opening nights"; creation of Mehitabel's (alley cat) voice; "Lorelei", and her ability deliver comedic characterizations and impersonations (such as Marlene Dietrich, Sophie Tucker, and Cecilia Sisson). Included in this interview are excerpts from the "Little Girl from Little Rock", "Madeline and Other Bemelmans", "Shinbone Alley".

This interview features singer and actress Carol Channing which discusses: the film "Shinbone Alley"; production of "Lorelei"; her grandmother; and her career. It begins with a musical excerpt from the animated movie "Shinbone Alley" featuring Channing singing as the alley cat Mehitabel. It also includes excerpts from the Broadway production called "Lorelei", examples of her character acting/comedy (as Cecilia Sisson), her reading of "Madeline and other Bemelmans", and a portion of the song "So Long Dearie" from the play "Hello, Dolly!".

Carol Channing discusses the following with Studs Terkel: her early career; her growth as actor/comedian; her approach to her work; her performance in "Lorelei" as Lorelei; her performance in "Wonderful Town" as Ruth; the job of the understudy; and breaking performance barriers and type casting.