Hello! And welcome to The Dana Gould Hour podcast. Fasten your fun belts, we are blasting off, yet again.

We are joined today by legends. You heard me. Mark Frost is a legendary writer, first in television. He started out on The Six Million Dollar Man, moved on to Hill Street Blues, co-created Twin Peaks with David Lynch. In motion pictures, he wrote and directed the film Storyville, he wrote the 2005 The Fantastic Fourand its sequel Rise Of The Silver Surfer and he has a new book out entitled Yankee Sphinx, which tells the story of FDR from just before America's involvement in World War II up through his death. It's told through the eyes of FDR's Great Uncle, Will Hasset, who worked as FDR's speech writer and press attaché, one might say. We cover a lot of topics and a lot of ground and I am super happy that Mr. Frost sat down and gave me his time.

Gary Rhodes is a writer and film historian who has written, among many other titles, a multi-volume set on the strange life and career of Bela Lugosi. He's written about Ed Wood, he wrote the book Horror At The Drive In, Essays In Popular Americana and he has an excellent new book out entitled Weirdumentary: Ancient Aliens, Fallacious Prophecies and Mysterious Monsters from 1970's Documentaries. Before streaming, before cable, before the History Channel and Ancient Aliens, these topics were explored in documentaries at your local Cineplex. Many were produced by the late great, Sunn Classic Pictures. UFOs, Elvis, Bigfoot, they're all here, in the pages of Weirdumentary, and we're a-gonna talk about it.

And now, it's on, to our filthy business.

This is a very special episode in that is constituted of a series of deep dives into several different subjects in which I have a rabid interest. Hopefully you do as well. If not, you're in for a long-ass listen.

Unless you're new to the show, you know of my deep and abiding interest in all things David Lynch. So, it was a pleasant surprise when I learned of the book A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks by Scott Meslow. Scott has written for such publications as GQ, New York and The Atlantic. And his book is far too in depth and accomplished to have been thrown together as a quickie cash-in following Mr. Lynch's passing. Quite, as it turns out, the contrary. Scott had pitched his book years before and was well into the writing of it at the time of his passing. And he talks about how the attitudes of his interview subjects changed from before and then after that event. And the book itself if great. You don't have to be a Twin Peaks nut to enjoy it, as it's also a story of how an idea becomes a show, what happens when that show, which was always greater than the sum of its parts becomes a cultural touchstone, etc. etc. etc., Scott Meslow, the author of A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks is here.

As of that weren't enough, Thom Shubilla, who has been here before to discuss his books Prime Time 1966 – 1967: The Study Of Television's First All Color Season, and James Bond And The Sixties Spy Craze. He is also one of the producers of the documentary Drew Friedman Vermeer Of The Borscht Belt, and has another in series of "I Know Dana Gould Will Buy It So That's One Sale Right There" books, King Kong Vs. Godzilla: The Most Colossal Conflict The Screen Has Ever Known. It's ostensibly about the making of the 1962 Toho Studios love letter to me known as King Kong Vs, Godzilla, but it's also just a fantastic story of show biz and deal making. It has everything: guys selling properties they think they have the rights to but don't, guys selling properties they know they don't have the rights to but selling them anyway, and yes… murder.

True Tales From Weirdsville takes a deep dive into the life career and bizarre death of 1950's scream queen. She made some weird ass movies, Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman, Attack of The Giant Leeches, but what she did on screen could not compare to what happened in real life and that is a promise. The late, lovely and talented Yvette Vickers.

For details and links to my upcoming appearances, please go to the live shows page at DanaGould.com.

And now, it's on, to our filthy business.