On The Tinsel Front

Author: Christopher Bomba

  • Sound Editor Ray

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    Ollie: This morning, for instance, this sound editor named Ray offered to show me how he uses a machine called a Moviola to put in a sound effect and sync it with the action… I created the character of sound editor Ray to honor my father, Raymond Bomba, who worked as a film and TV…

  • The Hal Roach Studios

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    Miller: No, before the war it was the Hal Roach Studios, you know, where Laurel & Hardy and the Our Gang films were made. When the Army took it over, Fort Roach seemed appropriate… The home of the USAAF First Motion Picture Unit during the war, the “Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known…

  • Lois’ house: Storybook Architecture

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    Ollie: I couldn’t tell whether the architect was being serious or ironic. It looked like someplace Hansel and Gretel would have stopped at if they were intentionally looking for the witch… Lois’ “Fairy Tale” house is not based on any specific home, either in the past or present. I came up with it, however, because…

  • First Motion Picture Unit

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    Ollie: There was a stretch of large buildings strangely fronted by a mansion – or what looked like a mansion. Big letters over the front porch read “U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES.” But I gotta tell you, it was not like any base I’d ever seen… “The 18th AAF Base Unit (Motion Picture Unit), originally known as the First…

  • Ronald Reagan

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    Ollie: That’s when it dawned on me. This was that actor, Ronald Reagan. … here he was, a lieutenant in the Army Air Force and some big cheese at this base. While there are many websites that detail Reagan’s military service during the war, this article from the National Museum of the United States Air…

  • Schwab’s Pharmacy

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    Ronald Reagan: “Who knows, maybe there’s an actor in you. This could be your big break. Beats hanging out at Schwab’s…” This Lt. Reagan reference (which goes completely over Ollie’ head) is to Schwab’s Pharmacy, where, local legend had it, an aspiring actor or actress could be discovered. The following is from Historical Hollywood Photographs,…

  • Episodes to begin May 19, 2024!

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    Finally (I think) we have a launch date. Barring any complications, the first two episodes will be available starting Sunday, May 19, 2024. Go on Apple Podcasts, Audible or Spotify and “Follow” On The Tinsel Front!

  • About the Cover Art

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    If you are wondering the podcast’s cover art… This was the emblem for the USAAF’s First Motion Picture Unit during the war. In researching whether I could use it I learned about the INSTITUTE OF HERALDRY, the U.S. Government agency in charge of emblems and coats of arms for the military and other agencies. From…

  • Trailer

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    This is the trailer for ON THE TINSEL FRONT, a scripted podcast series coming in Spring 2024. It is 1942.  Washed out of flight school and inexplicably assigned to the Army Air Forces “First Motion Picture Unit” in Culver City, California,  Private Oliver Whelan tumbles down the rabbit hole of World War II Hollywood.  A…