Search results for

In their day, acts like Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy would keep audiences young and old as transfixed as the biggest stars on television today. It's hard to imagine that ventriloquists and their wooden sidekicks would be such big hits -- on radio. NPR's Bob Edwards talks to the author of a new book about the bygone era of ventriloquism.

Gregory Hines, the greatest tap dancer of his generation, dies of cancer at age 57. He grew from a child star to become a Tony-winning Broadway actor who made numerous appearances in movies and television. NPR's Jacki Lyden reports.

Any parent who's tried to get a child to eat something nutritious might want Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer in their corner. Their new CD, Bon Appetit! Musical Food Fun, features catchy songs about good eating habits and the importance of exercise despite lifestyles that don't always promote those goals. The Grammy-nominated duo discuss their latest project with NPR's Bob Edwards.

Kim dominated the leaderboard after her stellar first run at the women's snowboard halfpipe event on Thursday in Beijing. She's the first woman to win multiple Olympic golds in the halfpipe.

NPR's Paul Brown traces country blues back to its origins among sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta. It's part of "Honky Tonks, Hymns and the Blues," a special 11-part weekly series, airing Fridays on Morning Edition, highlighting the creation of American musical traditions.

HBO is now airing the second season of Project Greenlight, a reality TV show that focuses on aspiring screenwriters and directors who earn a chance to make a movie for Miramax. Winners star in a behind-the-scenes look at the movie business. But what happens to those who miss the cut? NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

At his death in 1829, English scientist James Smithson left half a million dollars for the establishment of an institution in Washington, D.C. He'd never set foot in the city -- or in the United States. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Nina Burleigh, author of The Stranger and the Statesman, a new book about the mysterious benefactor of the Smithsonian Institution.

From the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s through the Vietnam War, Martha Gellhorn covered the major conflicts of her day. Best known as the third wife of Ernest Hemingway, Gellhorn was also a pioneer in journalism, telling the story of war in a unique and personal way. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports on a new biography of the writer.

British rock singer Rober Palmer died of a heart attack Friday in Paris. The musician, best known in the 1980s for songs and music videos like "Addicted To Love" and "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On," made an impression on independent producer Paul Ingles, years before Palmer made MTV.

Photographer Frederic Brenner spent 25 years documenting Jewish communities in more than 40 countries on five continents. The results are the subject of an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and a new book, Diaspora: Homelands in Exile. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Brenner about his art and the state of the diaspora.

For the first time in history, all 10 acts on the "Billboard Top 10" are black. Nine of the 10 are rap acts, and the top spot is held by Pop/R&B songstress Beyonce and Dancehall Reggae star Sean Paul.

Fred Rogers often spoke of kindness, thoughtfulness -- and of course neighborliness -- on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the children's show he hosted for over 30 years. NPR's Susan Stamberg interviews his widow, Joanne Rogers, about a new book of his sayings and advice. Read excerpts from The World According to Mister Rogers.

Flow is a tale of storytellers in an urban neighborhood. It's written and performed by actor-rapper Will Powers. NPR's Verta Mae Grosvenor reports.

An exhibit at London's Natural History Museum contains photographs that are meant to be touched. Artists created the tactile photos by utilizing a type of plastic in order to create texture which gives the sense of depth, light and shadow. Carrie Giardino reports.

From Outkast's politicized hip-hop to the first CD from singer-songwriter Edie Brickell in a decade, this fall brings a bevy of new music releases. NPR's Michele Norris reviews the fall lineup with Tom Moon of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Will Hermes of Spin magazine.

Elia Kazan, director of the original Broadway productions of Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire, dies at the age of 94. Kazan also won Oscars for his film-directing work, including On the Waterfront. But he was villified by many of his colleagues for 1952 congressional testimony that identified Hollywood figures as communist sympathizers.

Commentary by Alexandra du Bois, a student at Indiana University and the winner of the first "Composers Under 30" Competition. The Kronos Quartet will be playing the piece she wrote for them at some of their concerts this season.

In the ninth century, the Buddhist sage Lin Chi told a monk, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." He meant that those who think they've found all the answers in any religion need to start questioning. The new book Killing the Buddha takes this advice to heart, examining American roadside distractions on the path to enlightenment. Chicago Public Radio's Jason DeRose reports.

Among the 764 hospitals hit with a 1% reduction in payments for having high numbers of infections and avoidable complications are more than three dozen Medicare ranks among the nation's best.

Among the protesters' grievances is the requirement in New Zealand that certain workers get vaccinated against the coronavirus, including teachers, doctors, nurses, police and military personnel.

Just in time for Mother's Day, participants in the StoryCorps national oral history project make special recordings with, and for, their moms. Hear a sampling of the conversations recorded in a booth at New York City's Grand Central Terminal.

Think 1950s food and you might conjure up Jell-O salads with a riot of add-ons or soda pop put to unnatural uses. In her new book, Something from the Oven, Laura Shapiro deconstructs food from the '50s -- and the industry that foisted it on American households. Shapiro talks with NPR's Melissa Block.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Jack Weatherford about his new book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Weatherford has spent the past eight years in Mongolia researching the man he deems the greatest ruler the world has ever seen. He says that Khan was not the stereotypical barbarian of lore, calling him a statesman responsible for laying the foundations for global trade and diplomacy.

In her new work Safe in Hell, now on stage in Southern California, playwright Amy Freed renders the Salem witch trials as black comedy. The play centers around the dysfunctional relationship between two historic figures involved in the 17th-century trials: moralist Increase Mather and his son, Cotton. Freed talks with NPR's Renee Montagne.

A report published in the Journal of Death Studies finds that poets die younger than novelists, playwrights and other writers. James Kaufman, a researcher at California State University at San Bernardino, suggests poets may die young because they tend to be more tortured and prone to self-destruction. NPR's Bob Edwards reports.