Wednesday, July 16, 2025

#popculture84: Soap Opera Star Gets Facelift—And So Does Her Character


When Jeanne Cooper had work done on her face, the procedure was incorporated into her TV character.
by Rich Watson 


The Young and the Restless debuted on CBS daytime television in 1973. You probably know the theme song. One year later, Jeanne Cooper joined the melodrama at age 46, after a long career in the golden age of TV, appearing in many shows.

In 1984, she was ten years older and felt she needed a facelift. Then her character did the same.

And it was shown.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

#popculture84: Whose House? Run-DMC Debuts, Straight Outta Hollis


The good news is that there is a crew. Not five, not four, not three, just two.
by Rich Watson 


Rap music began in the late seventies but took off in the mainstream during the eighties, through the black neighborhoods of New York.

One of its biggest success stories was Run-DMC, who debuted in 1984–a group from a part of Queens which spawned a number of stars.

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

#popculture27: “Sunrise” and the Rise of German Expressionism in Film


This Hollywood silent film was the product of a unique cinematic movement in Germany.
by Rich Watson 


The early decades of film saw it developed in different ways in different countries. 

In post-World War One Germany, the unusual style developed there led to an influential movement. It led to some of the medium’s greatest early films, such as the 1927 drama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.