WTTW/Chicago

A documentary about the careers of child stars of the '40s in Hollywood, featuring movie clips with Shirley Temple, Margaret O'Brien, and numerous others along with interviews.

"Tarantella" was an early Super 8 short film directed by Christopher Nolan with his childhood friend Roko Belic. It was made in 1989 while Nolan was studying at University College London. The film aired on "Image Union," a PBS programme in Chicago. It is about the suffering of a young man while he has nightmare about spiders and demons.

A portrait of a generation at a turning point in 1976: With plans to attend their high school reunion, five members of the first Television Generation gather in an East Village, NYC, apartment where they discuss their dreams, insecurities, past events, and TV shows. They attempt to figure out what to do with their lives as they head toward age 30.

Shari Lewis, Lamb Chop, and the gang discover the true meaning of Chanukah in this special holiday program. The story of the special holiday and all its traditions are celebrated with music and song along with Lloyd Bochner, Alan Thicke and Pat Morita.

A look at the screen triumphs and private lives of the screen's number-one singing team.

In July 1974, a group of Chicago based blues artists who had already achieved legendary status gathered together with some of their younger "blues brethren" from all over the country to pay tribute to the man most responsible for bringing blues from the Mississippi Delta upriver to Chicago, Muddy Waters. Appearing with Muddy that night were his contemporaries Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and Pinetop Perkins, and from the next generation of blues lovers and performers, Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, Johnny Winter, Dr. John, and Nick Gravenites -- all artists who were on their way to becoming legends themselves. What resulted from that joyous teaming was a truly historic session that not only presented some of the greatest blues classics ever written, but a never-to-be-forgotten hour that truly demonstrates the love of music by one generation for another.

Taped for a two-part PBS Soundstage, Petty employs the Chicago locale as an entry into the blues and R&B that are at the foundation of rock & roll, and to a lesser extent, his music. This results in a fascinating and exciting show, where the extensive covers are just as interesting as -- and arguably more interesting than -- the few hits he gets around to playing.

Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, Blondie is still putting out new music and rocking out for fans everywhere! Debbie Harry and her band bring their eclectic mix of pop, rock and punk sounds to Soundstage, performing hits such as 'The Tide is High,' 'One Way or Another,' and 'Heart of Glass' in an electrifying concert audiences are sure to love!

Throughout the 1900's, before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1946, black baseball talent blossomed in the Negro Leagues. Baseball buffs still sing the praises of Josh Gibson who could be counted on to hit 70 homeruns in a season, and Satchel Paige who pitched over 100 no-hitters in his career. Only the Ball Was White pays tribute to the many topflight players from the Negro Leagues. Narrated by actor Paul Winfield, the program documents a bygone bittersweet era in baseball and the men who were denied stardom by the color line. Ballplayers throughout the country were interviewed for this program, all of them quick to tell tales of the life, the competition, and the camaraderie. These include: Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Buck Leonard, Jimmy Crutchfield, David Malarcher, Effa Manley, and Quincy Trouppe.

The colorful stories of Irish-American immigrants and their descendants who lived the history and exemplify the repeated cycle of the outsider becoming the ultimate Chicago citizen-insider.

In February 2002, families living in the Robert Taylor Homes public housing development were given a 180 day notice of eviction. In six months, the community that had been their home for generations would be demolished. DISLOCATION chronicles the lives of tenants in one building as they move through the six-month relocation process. The filmmakers follow three families as they prepare for their own move and as they help others around them. Dislocation is a story of a community coping with its own impending demise. It is a tale of courage, hope, and survival.

Memories and home movies of numerous Chicagoans bring the 1940s and '50s alive, from early Chicago television to the patriotic spirit of the war years when everyone pulled together.

Quintessential alternative rockers, Sonic Youth, celebrate free-form experimentalism while reinforcing their performance-art driven tradition in this Soundstage performance, recorded on May 7, 2003 at WTTW Grainger Studio in Chicago. The band, which settles just outside the realm of definition, delivers a part rock, part free-form noise, part avant-garde punk performance which features a new song "Sympathy for the Strawberry."

Power pop is arguably one of Americas greatest gifts, The All-American Rejects are champions of the genre. Group members Tyson Ritter, Nick Wheeler, Mike Kennerty, and Chris Gaylor made their mark in 2002 with a memorable self-titled debut, which houses the buoyant hit Swing Swing. The All-American Rejects rev high with big, loud guitars and anthemic choruses. Catch the rocking All-American Rejects wave with Dirty Little Secret, Swing Swing, and The Last Song on Soundstage. The All-American Rejects is like a feel-good summer trip on a sunny highway windows down, great pop blaring, and not a care in the world.

Discover the rise and fall of the legendary department store Marshall Field’s.

The history of Chicago's African-American community told like never before -- through the voices of its leading citizens, scholars, artists, politicians, and business leaders.

Known fondly as the "Queen of the Blues," Koko Taylor began singing in Chicago blues clubs in the 1950s. Her gritty, powerful voice attracted the attention of Willie Dixon, another famous Chicago blues icon and record producer. Her recording of Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" topped the R&B charts in 1966. This special, recorded in 1991 for WTTW, documents her history, and cements her legacy as a Bonafide Chicago Blues legend.

One of the most loved bands in rock history, as well as one of the most commercially successful-with 50 hit songs in the U.S. alone, 18 gold records, a Grammy, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame-Chicago have maintained the unflagging devotion of millions of devoted fans throughout their 37-year career. ...This DVD documents a live show that was broadcast on PBS in June of 2003 where they play many of their hits from throughout their long career, including `25 or Six to Four,` `You`re the Inspiration,` `Saturday in the Park,` and `Beginnings,` among many others.

Inventive performer and poignant songwriter John Hiatt captures the attention of fans and critics alike. In this Soundstage performance, which features Dar Williams and Robinella and the CCstringband, Hiatt performs "My Baby Blue" from his most recent album Beneath This Gruff Exterior. He also showcases timeless pieces like "The Thing Called Love" and "Memphis in the Meantime."

For generations, seemingly all paths led through Chicago as trains carrying passengers, livestock, and freight crisscrossed the country. In a new WTTW special and companion website, Riding the Rails, lifelong train enthusiast Geoffrey Baer hops aboard all kinds of trains to tell the story of this essential mode of transport and how it shaped our city. Along the way, he uncovers clues all around us to railroads of the past, recalls the colorful characters who built them and the unsung workers who toiled on them, and reveals why our current rail system is just as vital to Chicago’s existence today.