Special Weekend Podcast! – Monsters
Monsters have always captured our imagination. From ancient minotaurs and sea serpents to modern-day chupacabras,… Read More »Special Weekend Podcast! – Monsters
The Most Feared Teacher in the History of Beverly Hills High
Mr. Hale was menacing—a carbon copy of boxer Muhammad Ali, with beefy forearms, scarred knuckles, and a perfectly cut Afro. Even his chubby cheeks looked mean. He sat the entire lecture, staring at us like plebs. We were terrified of this man.
Cancel Culture Target #1: Will The Real Donald Sterling Please Stand Up?
The following excerpt is from an explosive and inspiring new memoir, The Bastard of Beverly Hills,… Read More »Cancel Culture Target #1: Will The Real Donald Sterling Please Stand Up?
What’s Father’s Day Without A Father?
On Father’s Day, are children only supposed to honor dads who are living? Or do we also use the holiday to celebrate the lives of the the papas who are no longer with us?
Beverly Thrills: 12 Famous Faces Past & Present
Several celebrity stories didn’t make it into The Bastard of Beverly Hills. Too many to count! But since they didn’t propel the narrative, they were left on the cutting room floor. However, here are a few anecdotes from some of those stories for fans of the book, or just the curious, starting with one about “Uncle Milty” Milton Berle.
Lost Secrets of The Addams Family
Die-hard fans of The Addams Family probably know that Vic Mizzy composed the show’s catchy theme song and directed the actors in its opening credits. And you may be familiar with the musician’s first wife, Mary Small, a celebrated radio singer known as “The Little Girl with the Big Voice.” But what you might not know is that Vic Mizzy had a secret grandson whose daughter gave him up for adoption with the aid of an infamous attorney.
Recipe For Disaster: The Year Tony Roma Married My Mom
In The Bastard of Beverly Hills, I tell a crazy story about the time my mother was married to restaurateur Tony Roma, and though it’s true to the best of my recollection, people shouldn’t get the wrong impression about him.
Michael Landon’s Secret Best Friends
Actor Michael Landon, best known for his portrayal of Charles Ingalls on television’s Little House on the Prairie was my parent’s closest friend and confidant for nearly three decades. Their friendship was full of highs and lows, marked by a great tragedy, and it’s a fabled story that has never been told. I’ve tried my darndest to bring their incredible relationship back to life in the pages of a colorful new memoir, The Bastard of Beverly Hills, available May 23rd from JIA Publishing. It’s a raw and unapologetic, coming-of-age book that intimately explores a range of sensitive topics from adoption to addiction, faith and cancel culture, and one that I hope readers will be able to both relate to and learn from.
The Mysterious Origin of Albert Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie
What made my journey through the aftermath of Albert’s tragedy even more surreal was the fact that the character Albert Ingalls on the hit television show Little House on the Prairie was named after my brother.
My Sephardic Roots: From the Isle of Rhodes to Rodeo Drive
I’m German and Askenazi by birth, but as a baby, I was adopted by a Sephardic family hailing from the Isle of Rhodes. They were, and remain, hot-blooded, eccentric, and whimsical, and growing up among them was mostly wonderful.
If These Walls Could Talk: A Century of Scandals and Secrets Behind the Oldest House in Beverly Hills
When Beverly Hills was still nothing but a bean field, only one farmhouse stood on the horizon. This is the true story of one family who lived in that famous house and the scandals and secrets that it kept locked up and hidden until now.
The Bildungsroman and the Transformation of a Literary Genre
Explorations of emotional development, self-formation, and coming-of-age themes are universal and timeless when it comes to literature. They’re central themes in many outstanding works and can be traced from before the Greeks into the modern-day. However, examining personal growth and life experiences within a new canvas and genre, the Bildungsroman provided post-colonial writers with an entirely new palate from which to draw insight and a unique opportunity to portray widely different protagonists responding to modern challenges. Perhaps the most recognized features of the form, dealing with education, rebellion, and reconciliation, are exemplified in Oscar Wilde’s aesthetic gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, where the author so extraordinarily deconstructed the bildungsroman, that his masterpiece fundamentally transformed the genre.