Wheeler Winston Dixon & Jenny M. Jones

In the 1930s and 40s the great Hollywood studios were ruled by a small group of men who had complete control over which films got made and what stars got to appear in those films. These moguls rule was absolute and together they had a feeling of “absolute immortality.” They were the real gods of Hollywood. But after they died, the era of the classic Hollywood studio also came to an end and the studios lost their individual identities. Tune in tonight for a lively conversation about classic Hollywood with WHEELER WINSTON DIXON, the James Ryan Endowed Professor of Film Studies at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His new book is DEATH OF THE MOGULS: THE END OF CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD.

The 1998 film THE BIG LEBOWSKI has become one of the greatest cult films of all time. What is it about this complex shaggy dog story that is so appealing? Tonight on Inquiry, we speak with author and cinema historian JENNY M. JONES about her new sprawling and endlessly entertaining history THE BIG LEBOWSKI: AN ILLUSTRATED, ANNOTATED  HISTORY OF THE GREATEST  CULT FILM OF ALL TIME. Tune in and learn about how the Coen brothers work together when filming; about who might have been cast as “the Dude” instead of Jeff Bridges,Maude Lebowski’s connection to the Fluxus art movement and the inspiration for Walter Sobchuk. The Dude abides.