Terry Gross

Songwriter Matt Dennis. He wrote "Angel Eyes," which was one of Frank Sinatra's signature songs. Dennis also wrote several other songs that Sinatra recorded. Dennis first wrote for Sinatra when Sinatra was the singer with Tommy Dorsey band's, and Dennis was the band's staff arranger and composer. (Originally aired 12/12/95)

Trumpet player and arranger Billy May talks about working with Frank Sinatra. May worked with Sinatra on and off from the mid 40's to the mid 80's. He arranged Sinatra's albums Come Fly With Me, Come Swing with Me, and Come Dance with Me, on Capitol Records He did the arrangements for the Ellington -Sinatra album on Reprise. On Sinatra's 1979 release, Trilogy, May arranged the section called The Past. They met in 1939 when May was playing trumpet and arranging for the Charlie Barnett band, and Sinatra was singing with Tommy Dorsey. (Originally aired 12/12/95)

Songwriter Sammy Cahn also wrote many of the songs that Frank Sinatra recorded, including Come Fly With Me, Teach Me Tonight and High Hopes. He also wrote the scores for many Broadway shows including Walking Happy and Skyscraper, and for the movies Come Blow Your Horn, Robin and the Seven Hoods, and A Pocketful of Miracles. Cahn died in 1993 at the age of 79. (Originally aired 7/23/1985)

Charles Granata is a Cop who has an extensive archive of Sinatra recordings. Many of them have been used for Sinatra reissues. He was Project Director for the box set: "Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years 1943-1952).

Part Two of our series on Frank Sinatra: Nancy Sinatra, Sinatra's daughter. She recorded a few hits of her own including "These Boots are Made for Walking," and "Something Stupid," the duet she recorded with her father. Nancy Sinatra wrote a book about her father, "Frank Sinatra: An American Legend." (REBROADCAST from 12/12/95)

Will Friedwald has written an encyclopedic guide to the music legacy of Frank Sinatra: "Sinatra! The Song is You: A Singer's Art" (Da Capo Press). The work chronicles Sinatra's five-decade career, drawing on interviews with his many collaborators, and interviews with Sinatra himself, and includes a discography of his well know, as well as little known recordings. Friedwald is also the author of "Jazz Singing." (Originally aired 9/24/97)

Naturalist and biologist Roger Tabor has studied house cats for twenty years. He has prepared television series on felines for the BBC and has written several books on the subject. He is author of "Understanding Cats: Their History, Nature, and Behavior."

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a veterinary behaviorist, is the author of "The Dog Who Loved Too Much: Tales, Treatments, and the Psychology of Dogs" (Bantam). He describes his own methods for correcting dog behaviors, such as attacking the telephone when it rings or scaring company, and he includes many stories from his own practice.

Film director Martin Scorsese. Shortly before her death, his mother, Catherine Scorsese, published a cookbook of recipes: "Italian-American: The Scorsese Family Cookbook" (Random House). She acted in, and cooked in (on and off-screen) for several of her son's movies. Martin Scorsese will talk about casting his mother in his films and about her book. (Rebroadcast of 2/12/1997)

Novelist Russell Banks and Canadian Film Director Atom Egoyan discuss their new film “The Sweet Hereafter”. The film is adapted from Banks’ 1991 novel. It’s the story of how a small town deals with a tragic school bus crash. Banks has written 12 novels which include: “Affliction,” “Rule of the Bone,” “Searching for Survivors,” “The Book of Jamaica,” and “Continental Drift.” Egoyan is best known for “Exotica” a film that won the International Critics Prize for Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival.