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Don Swaim (former WCBS producer, anchor, editor, writer, reporter -- you name it) 9/12/05

This is brand new. I was part of the project and it relates to my work at WCBS in the mid 1980s. A new two-DVD package of THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (starring David Bowie) has JUST been released. You might recall this 1976 film, which was based on the novel by Walter Tevis, who also wrote THE HUSTLER (starring Paul Newman) and it's sequel THE COLOR OF MONEY (also with Paul Newman). The package by Criterion includes a reissue of the book (published by Ballantine/Del Ray) plus: a re-mastered DVD of the film AND a second DVD with many extras including a composite of two CBS radio interviews (running close to an hour) I did with Walter Tevis shortly before his death. My interviews with Tevis explore his development as a writer, his dissent into alcoholism, and how he emerged creatively only to die prematurely of cancer. You can hear my original interviews with Tevis online at WIRED FOR BOOKS. These were among interviews a news executive at WCBS complained about, accusing me of reporting on writers he'd never heard of, among whom was Elie Weisel, winner of the Nobel Prize. The new Criterion Collection DVD package can be ordered online at CRITERION. NOTE: This is NOT an ad. I'm just happy to have been part of this film/novel restoration, and I wanted everyone to know that there's life after CBS.

Don

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