Breakfast in Hollywood

Do yourself a favor. Get this disc of the surviving episodes of Tom Breneman's "Breakfast In Hollywood", turn off your TV and internet news, and listen to a man whose tremendous heart and genuine sense of humor can still bring good cheer 75 years later. (Garry Moore tried to emcee "Breakfast In Hollywood" in the immediate aftermath of Breneman's sudden death in 1948, but Moore's personality just wasn't a good fit for the show.) There was a major motion picture made in 1946 which featured Breneman and the stars Nat King Cole, Spike Jones, Hedda Hopper, and Beulah Bondi, among others. Try to see it (it's on YouTube) as it was filmed on location inside and out front of his "beanery". Interestingly, the Art Deco/Streamlined facade of Breneman's restaurant-ABC studio still stands as part of a large complex just north of Sunset Blvd. and Vine Street in Hollywood.