A Very Jewish Christmas

Tis the season—for Chinese food and a movie!

Our first Jewish guest is Bill Adler, the Def Jam alum who helped Run DMC create their iconic 1987 song, “Christmas in Hollis.” He tells us how he went from being a music journalist to the second full-time employee at Def Jam in the 1980s; how “Christmas in Hollis,” ended up on the soundtrack of films like Die Hard, and how his distaste for cliched holiday music led him to make an annual Christmas playlist for friends and family, and now, you! Listen to Adler’s 2018 Christmas Jollies mix here.

We also talk to Steven de Souza, the Hollywood screenwriter responsible for films like CommandoJudge Dredd, and, of course, Die Hard. He tells us how the Bruce Willis character was actually originated by Frank Sinatra, the origin of the movie’s epic “yippee ki yay” catchphrase, and why Die Hard is even more of a Christmas movie than White Christmas.

 
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