I’m greatly enjoying the epic podcast The Secret History of Hollywood. Actually, it’s less of a podcast and more of an audiobook. You should check it out. I’m just starting part three of the latest series, “Bullets and Blood.” In parts one and two, Cagney emerges as one of the few people in Hollywood with two feet on the ground and a good heart. Some of the best anecdotes in the podcast are of his tussles with the mercenary head of the Warner Brothers Studio, Jack L. Warner, who was vexed by a rare star who needed the studio less than the studio needed him.

If some crazy dark side of his personality emerges in part three, please don’t spoil it for me!