Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Anne Serling, daughter of the great writer and as we learn, practical joker and pop culture figure Rod Serling. Of course we talk to Anne about beloved anthology shows her father created like The Twilight Zone as well as The Night Gallery but we also talk to Anne about her father's humanity, his years growing up in upstate New York, his religious beliefs and traditions, his career in radio, the films he wrote and much more.

But we also hear from Anne about why she wrote a book about her father, As I Knew Him: My Dad Rod Serling but also what it was like being the daughter of entertainment industry legend,…at home. We learned that Rod was a lover of animals and their home was filled with dogs, parakeets and even some very unconventional animals. We learn her father splurged only on two things which we will get to, his favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, the music her father sang to and even some of the inside jokes they shared together.

This episode is literally years in the making and we couldn't have been more thankful to Anne for taking the time to sit down with us to talk about someone we all know and love as a creator of two massively influential television shows but also about the humanity, humor and kindness of her father as only she would know. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a story. Or is it?

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Today, we are doing something different but not totally unprecedented. Last year in 2024, we presented a bonus episode, recorded live at the Texas Theater in Dallas, Texas with Ernie Kovacs award winner, Gerald Casale from Devo at VideoFest. This year, we'd like to present this year's VideoFest's Ernie Kovacs Award recipient, comedian Fred Armisen. This is just one of the ways we keep the legacy of both Ernie and Edie Adams going and frankly, it's really a major impetus for this podcast itself. How better to keep someone's legacy alive than via the children of those who knew them best, their children?

Recorded on November 23, in the very same theater where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, exactly 62 years prior, this episode exists only because of one person and we wanted to thank Dev Shapiro of Selig News for his recording. You see, we recorded this directly from the sound board for ideal sound quality but when we got the digital files, they were corrupted and unusable. Thankfully, it was Dev to the rescue and while Dev was not recording directly from the sound board, I think we can all forgive the minor audio issues because well, he saved our bacon by just being there. Preservation is key and we thank Dev for making that happen. And thank you to yours truly for some of the audio fidelity we goosed up for this episode too.

Big thanks to VideoFest's Founder Bart Weiss, the VideoFest team including Kelly Kitchens (who is also a Patreon supporter), Reid Robinson, Elijah Cruz Barron, Janeth Farnsworth, Jessica Spawn, Andy Streitfeld and Mark Wickersham as well as Barak Epstein of the Texas Theatre and Erin Barros of Concord Hospitality. More big thanks to Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams archivist Ben Model for the tip to bring up the Ernie in Kovacsland book on stage prior to the interview as well.

And now, here's Fred Armisen. Take a listen. Everyone has a story.

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to guest Tamar Springer about her composer/songwriter father Philip Springer. Now, unless you are in music publishing or a collector of film soundtracks or possibly a musical academic, the name Philip Springer might not seem like a name you would know. A ha, but if I told you he was the composer & co-writer of the hit Eartha Kitt, Christmas song "Santa Baby" then would you know? Or perhaps you'd know some of his other work which has been sung by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald, from Dusty Springfield to Elvis Presley. In all, Philip Springer has composed more than 500 songs and he's still writing songs today at age 99.

Our conversation with Tamar centers around a documentary she made about her father that is Academy Award eligible and has screened at film festivals around the country. Her film about her father, More Than Santa Baby is Tamar's film about her father's career that spans performing classical music, writing some of the earliest electronic music, scoring film and television shows, writing for songwriters at the famed Brill Building and much much more.

What's more, there is a familiar connection between Tamar and host Josh Mills family that even he didn't realize when they started the conversation. It's more than incredible, it's downright cosmic. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a has a story. But not like this. Not like the one guest Tamar Springer tells on this episode. She really lived up to her name!