428: Oh You Shouldn't Have
Allison Silverman
Allison Silverman reports on This Is Your Life, a show from the 1950s where unsuspecting—and often famous—audience members would have their biographies created on the spot for 40 million viewers. But is that really a present you'd want to receive? Allison is an Emmy Award-winning writer who has worked on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. (20 minutes)
"I'll Cry Tomorrow" by Lillian Roth
More in History
644: Random Acts of History
Act One: The Miseducation of Castlemont High
A bunch of high school students gets taken to see a movie that's supposed to teach them about history.
627: Suitable for Children
Act Two: History is Not a Toy
There's a museum in Baltimore that was created to memorialize the black experience in America.
Act Four: Rocket Boy
Paul Zimmer is eighty-three years old now, and he's still haunted by something he saw in his teens.
The Giant Pool of Money
The surprisingly entertaining story of how the U.S. got itself into a housing crisis.
Petty Tyrant
The rise and fall of a school maintenance man in Schenectady, New York who terrorized his staff and got away with it for decades.