All upcoming Popular Culture programs

For 46 years, director John Huston masterfully navigated the Hollywood system, offsetting conventional commercial assignments with deeply uncompromising personal projects. His films are stories of triumph and suffering, of anti-heroes and sociopaths, alcoholics, adventurers, and lusty rebels. Film historian Max Alvarez celebrates these achievements in a tribute filled with film selections and archival images drawn from the works of one of cinema’s greatest directing artisans.

From the moment movies learned to talk, they learned to sing. Audiences in 1927 were electrified when they heard Al Jolson belting out top tunes of the day in The Jazz Singer, and since then some of the greatest vocalists have been star attractions in Hollywood musicals. Media historian Brian Rose looks at the ways Hollywood has captured singers such as Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Lena Horne, and Frank Sinatra and provided audiences with an invaluable record of indelible performances.

In 2023, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour of all time, with revenue exceeding $1 billion. While Swift clearly benefits the most, the tour also gave a financial boost to host cities around the world and a wide range of industries. Economist Kara Reynolds explores the unique economic issues associated with Swift and her impact on the music industry.

Unforgettable costumes define our favorite films: the chic gray suit by Edith Head for Kim Novak in Vertigo; Irene Sharaff’s massive ballgown for Deborah Kerr in The King and I; and William Travilla’s pink gown and gloves worn by a diamond-bedecked Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Film historian Max Alvarez leads a stylish journey through six decades of cinematic costumes in a tribute to the remarkable designers whose sketchpads came to life on the soundstages.

Oscar-winning composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Ennio Morricone and John Williams have engraved iconic scenes into our collective memory with their extraordinary music. Just ahead of this year’s ceremony, concert pianist and film-music fanatic Rachel Franklin leads a journey through 90 years of award-winning movie scores, accompanied by her grand piano and a wide collection of fascinating film clips.

The Academy Awards will be announced on March 2. Get ready by joining Washington City Paper film critic Noah Gittell for an evening that focuses on all things Oscar, from Academy Awards history and trivia to discussions of this year’s nominations and behind-the-scenes stories. He also sorts through all the story lines, rumors, and gossip.

Two decades after the devastation of the Blitz, the youthquake of the 1960s transformed staid London into Swinging London—the epicenter of a new world of fashion and entertainment. Carnaby Street set the styles; Soho’s nightclubs were the place to dance the night away; the British Invasion in music sent the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and other groups to the top of the charts and the country’s films outdid Hollywood as they tackled taboo topics of abortion, homosexuality, and interracial sex. Historian Julie Taddeo explores how London—and the nation­—rebranded itself as a with-it world powerhouse.

The 1950s in America is thought of as a pleasant and placid decade, an era of conformity and good cheer, Leave It to Beaver, men in gray flannel suits and women in the kitchen. But it was also the decade of Emmett Till, the Little Rock Nine, Little Richard, Joseph McCarthy, air-raid drills, and Rebel Without a Cause. Leonard Steinhorn, a professor at American University, examines the politics, music, media, popular culture, and race relations of a far more complex decade than memory might suggest.

The feats and names of baseball’s Negro Leagues stars are legendary: Satchel Paige, James “Cool Papa” Bell, Josh Gibson, and more. The story of the league and its players is more than a history of sports: It’s a story about American society, Historian Louis Moore explores how baseball became Black America’s game; the rise and fall of the Negro Leagues; and what inclusion of their stats into those of today’s Major League Baseball means for the past and present players.

As soon as television began in the late 1940s, advertising was a vital part of the picture. Media historian Brian Rose examines how advertising evolved during television’s first two decades and the important role it played in convincing viewers that the key to happiness was to buy their way into the American dream.