On the occasion of Ms. Magazine’s 40th anniversary, WNYC’s Sara Fishko asks: what’s the history of that term “Ms.,” anyway? It’s the subject of today’s Fishko Files

As World War Two was ending in the mid 1940s, John Huston began to make a film for the US Army on veterans who’d been psychologically damaged in battle. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, the film “Let There Be Light” was filled with gripping footage of ailing veterans.  But the film never saw the light of day until thirty-five years later.  Here is the next Fishko Files…

Fifty years ago, in the simpler days of television, all three networks aired a tour of the White House led by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, a stunning number of Americans tuned in and took notice. Here is the next Fishko Files.

Next week, a 1950s English play opens off-Broadway that was more than just a play, says WNYC’s Sara Fishko. It was a cultural landmark that shook English class consciousness to its foundations.  A trip to post World War II Britain –in this episode of Fishko Files.

Sometimes, says WNYC’s Sara Fishko, you have to be far away to see something clearly.  In this year-end edition of Fishko Files, thoughts on distance

Cultures the world over have long recognized the power of individuality in the creation of art.. But when the individual artist is threatened, can there can be creative power in groups?  WNYC’s Sara Fishko explores the world of  “Tunisian Collaborative Painting” –in this edition of Fishko Files

For the first time, the complete films from the 1930s, by the French director Jean Vigo, are available in a DVD set.  The restless and adventurous young filmmaker was not always so celebrated, WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us --in this quick look. 

A hundred and fifty years ago, a theater then known as The Academy of Music began presenting cultural events in downtown Brooklyn.  Now it is America’s oldest performing arts center: The Brooklyn Academy of Music, or BAM. In its early days, Mark Twain, Sarah Bernhardt and Isadora Duncan graced its stages.  WNYC’s Sara Fishko has more on the history of a great institution—in this episode of Fishko Files. 

The newest Census figures reveal: the highest number of never-married women in the country live in New York.  But the so-called “single girl” has long been associated with the Big City, says WNYC’s Sara Fishko.  Especially on TV.  In this edition of Fishko Files, a look at the single-girl show that broke the mold, 45 years ago. 

With a silvery statue of Andy Warhol now standing in Union Square until October, and soaring sales of Warhol’s work this past spring, the artist is still a presence. WNYC’s Sara Fishko has news of a new book that charts Andy Warhol’s life in New York, literally every step of the way, in this edition of Fishko Files…

Every day in Bryant Park, next week, you can hear pianist Roy Eaton perform rags by Scott Joplin.  WNYC’s Sara Fishko has more on Joplin, the man who brought ragtime into the light.

This Sunday, a revival of the classic comedy “Born Yesterday” opens on Broadway.  As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, its author, Garson Kanin, was responsible for a generous slice of American culture.  Here is the next Fishko Files...

Premiering this weekend is a new TV adaptation of “Mildred Pierce,” one of James M. Cain’s Depression-era, tough-guy novels. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, those books provided 1940s Hollywood with plenty of material for its dark dramas. Here is the next Fishko Files...

This week pianist Van Cliburn was one of ten artists to receive the National Medal of Arts from President Obama.  Here is an episode of Fishko Files originally produced to mark the 50^th anniversary of Cliburn’s historic victory in Moscow during the Cold War.

The Grammy Awards are this weekend. One of the many nominees is pianist Keith Jarrett, up for his improvised solo on the song “Body and Soul.”  It has WNYC’s Sara Fishko thinking about that song’s long history of musical inspiration...in this edition of Fishko Files.

This fall has seen a new translation from Russian to English of Boris Pasternak’s “Doctor Zhivago.”   The art of translation has a lot to do with give and take --between two languages, and in this case, two translators.  Here is the next Fishko Files....

Halloween is coming. It’s the season for unsettling images and dark thoughts.  WNYC’s Sara Fishko has a story about a painting from the 1880s - that fits right in! Here is the next Fishko Files...

New York played a central role in the development of abstract art after World War II. As the Museum of Modern Art prepares for the opening of its biggest-ever show of abstract expressionism, WNYC’s Sara Fishko talks to a couple of post-War New York painters, in this edition of the Fishko Files.

With the fall TV season about to launch, a new series will premiere on CBS. The show, about a pair of Las Vegas lawyers, is called "The Defenders." WNYC’s Sara Fishko looks back nearly 50 years to find a show on the same network with the same title -- and a very different slant.

Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? Since the 1920s, composers of all kinds have been trying to write music that combines jazz and symphonic elements.