Here's a bonus Off-Ramp Episode to celebrate a special anniversary!

In 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre scared the pants off the American public with the CBS Radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds."

In 2013, to mark the 75th anniversary of Welles' radio masterpiece, I commissioned RH Greene to produce a documentary telling the backstory of the broadcast, which he called "The War of the Welles." The icing on the cake is that it's introduced by the one and only George Takei. 

So let's listen to it again on the 84th anniversary, and lift a glass to the power of audio. 

(Fun fact: "The War of the Words" was broadcast on October 30, not 31, 1938.)

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Today, we dig into the Off-Ramp archives to pay tribute to a man named Jules Bass, who was a part of our childhood. Bass died Tuesday at the age of 87.

With his partner, the late  Arthur Rankin, Jr., Bass produced some of the most beloved children's Christmas TV specials: "The Little Drummer Boy," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman," and one more that maybe isn't really a Christmasspecial at all. 

In 2012, Off-Ramp's RH Greene argued cogently that "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" was a Jewish origin story for Santa ... essentially a Hanukkah special. The clues are all there in plain sight: The villains are cartoon Nazis who burn toys instead of books. Santa is a foundling, like Moses, raised by Tante Kringle -- the Yiddish word for "aunt." And Santa is a freedom fighter, whose ragged band make an Exodus to their own promised land in the cold desert.

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

A Forefather of Modern Art in Southern California; Modern Love; Cool Curator; Cool Living; Are Black People Cooler than Whites?; Stone Cold; Where's the Future?; More Jazz at the Getty; Ahmad Jamal; Not Ruby Tuesday, Ruby Restaurant; A Trumpet in Every Pot

Careful Where You Point That Thing!; Twelve Tones, Hanging Ten; Hail, Little Caesar; How Green Was My Valley?; Say It Is So; Clippers' Main Man; Mariachis on the Move; The Closer's Closet; The Wagonmaster

Off-Ramp Goes Live to Report on the Fires

Vartabedian Handicap; Galileo at the Skirball; Taco Shop Memories; Puppets of Japan; Gunning for 100 and Still Pushing Art; Commuters looking for Community; I Am a Man Now; Hallowed Ground; From New York to LA; Birth of the Cool; Listener Comment

Wine Country: Echo Park; Wine Country: Slow Pickings; Wine Country: A Tasting; With Mallets of Forethought; United in Hate; Sisyphus has his rock and Alys his bug; Spider Pavilion; Spider's Web Snares Genius; Homeboy is Here To Stay; Wes Parker Reflects on Baseball; Listener Call: LAX Pylons

Soundtrack of Your Life; Song Stories; Going Super Sonic; Jobbing at the County Fair; Sad Life, Great Writer; Film, Music, Art and Sport?; Not The End; Getty Receives the Go on Antiquities; Solar Convention in Long Beach; You're listening...

Commentator Garrison Keillor; Art Tatum Rises ; California Canon; Unsung Beat; Skid Row Seafood Joint; The Straight Bacon; Whiskey Runs with Queena; From OC to Iraq; On The Gritty Side

Sentimental Kendt; Jerry Stahl on "Love Without"; All You Can't Eat; Anime Bento; Airport Beautification; Yogathon Habitat; Mix Tapes; Firehouse Cooks; Culture Clash's Zorro in Hell; Bike On