TALKING JAZZ AGE LAWYER AT THE LAMBS

On March 24, 2022, I had the privilege of speaking to The Lambs, America’s oldest theatrical club, about their sainted former member, Jazz Age Lawyer Nathan Burkan, and shared stories about many of his legendary clients, including Victor Herbert, Charlie Chaplin, Sam Goldwyn, and Mae West. Watch the video below.

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100 YEARS OF WHACKING THE MUSIC MELON

(April 2, 2021) 100 years ago this month, songwriters in the United States received their first-ever royalties for the public performance of their works, as the Directors of  the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers inaugurated a quarterly ritual that Variety would dub “whacking the music melon.” [N.B.: The  title of this post is…

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CHARLIE IN THE HAREM

Charlie Chaplin’s films represented only a small fraction of the commerce being transacted in his name, image, and antics during the World War I era. Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer recounts how Chaplin’s lawyer, Nathan Burkan, chased down spurious Chaplin films that he considered “vulgar, suggestive, and obscene.”    

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LITTLE GLORIA

At the moment of her death this past June, it could fairly be said that Gloria Vanderbilt, at the age of 95, had been a celebrity longer than anyone on earth. My forthcoming book, Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture, recounts the remarkable events, including the…

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CHUNGA'S REVENGE

The lead vocals for Frank Zappa’s fine 1970 Chunga’s Revenge album were performed by a duo billed  as the THE PHLORESCENT LEECH & EDDIE. It was a badly kept secret that this was actually Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, founders of the 60s soft rock band the Turtles, who used the pseudonym due to a lingering contractual dispute…

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