Rick Kogan – Page 27 –

Comptroller Rita Crundwell, convicted of embezzling $53 million from the citizens of Dixon, is one of dozens of those featured in the film "Lincoln is Crying."

‘Lincoln Is Crying’ movie takes a comedic look at the corruption that stains Illinois … and Chicago

January 23, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

John Davies has been a television producer for most of his adult life, Tom Weinberg too. They met decades ago at WTTW-Ch. 11 and have fashioned separate careers making films...

Author Rick Telander with his book "Sweet Dreams" with 42 poems, each matched with illustrations by guest artists from around the world.

In ‘Sweet Dreams,’ a sportswriter becomes a poet and some pals provide the magical artwork

January 23, 2024 at 12:05 p.m.

If you know anything about Rick Telander, you know that he has been a must-read sports columnist with the Sun-Times for more than 30 years, having been hired away from...

"The 1963 Chicago Bears: George Halas and the Road to the NFL Championship," by Charles Billington.

Bringing some warmth with a book about the ’63 Bears and some other sports tales from the podcast world

January 16, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

The weather outside is frightful and frigid and I don't really need to tell you that this is a bleak time of year. That is especially true for local sports...

The skating chimp Spanky with his partner-trainer Dave Pitts in a 1965 promotional photo for Ice Capades.

A new movie and play gives us an ice skating chimp, his trainer and a serial killer

January 10, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

In the rarefied realm of monkey movies, "He Went That Way" is not likely to rank with such cinematic triumphs as "Planet of the Apes" and its many sequels, Clint...

Shecky Greene during a 1966 appearance on "The Hollywood Palace," a television variety show broadcast Saturday nights on ABC.

In memoriam: A few final words and a Sinatra story about the Chicago-born comic Shecky Greene

January 9, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

In recent days in the places where older folks gather to remember and talk about what they remember, conversations were peppered with the name Shecky Greene. Only those of a...

Writer David Mamet in his Santa Monica office in 2018.

The sparks, opinions and anecdotes fly as David Mamet tackles his 40 years in Hollywood in ‘Everywhere an Oink Oink’

January 2, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

My first encounter with David Mamet was not a pleasant one. It began on the night of May 25, 1979, when I watched in increasing dismay, the world premiere of...

Ernest Perry, Jr. (as Hambone) and Nambi E. Kelley (Risa) in August Wilson's play "Two Trains Running," directed by Chuck Smith at the Goodman Theatre in spring 2015.

In memoriam: Amid the holidays and hopes for a new year, we remember who and what we lost in 2023

December 27, 2023 at 10:15 a.m.

Every year, amid the holiday hoopla, music and general merriment, we must concern ourselves with the shadow of mortality. The end of each year brings memories of the people who...

Jonathon Brandmeier at WLUP on Feb. 1, 1994.

Once upon a time there was the radio station WLUP, and what a wild place it was

December 12, 2023 at 10:01 a.m.

The radio, one of the niftiest inventions of the 20th century, has been informing, entertaining, outraging and boring millions of people for more than 100 years. It was called "magic...

Comedians Don Rickles and Bob Newhart arrive at a fundraiser for childhood diabetes on Oct. 28, 2000, at the Beverly Hills Hilton.

When Don and Barbara Rickles met Bob and Ginnie Newhart, they became friends for life — as told in Judd Apatow’s latest film

November 29, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is Bob Newhart: "Somebody called me up and they said, 'Look, Don Rickles is looking for a best friend ... and none of us wanna do...

Cubs catcher Randy Hundley, right, celebrates his 27th birthday with teammate Ernie Banks on June 1, 1969, at Wrigley Field.

New book ‘Ironman’ shows how Randy Hundley’s career goes far beyond catching for the Cubs and suffering 1969

November 28, 2023 at 7:53 a.m.

His statistics do not jump out: 3,442 at bats in 1,061 games, 813 hits, 82 home runs, .236 batting average, 381 runs batted in. But baseball is more than cold...

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