Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Conversation begins at 8:05
With the 60th anniversary of the assassinations of JFK & Lee Harvey Oswald, Danny Fingeroth (http://dannyfingeroth.com) brings us the new biography, JACK RUBY: The Many Faces of Oswald's Assassin (Chicago Review Press, bookshop.org/a/4669/9781641609128). Danny & I talk about what drew him to tell Ruby's story, how many JFK conspiracy rabbit-holes he had to avoid, the challenges of separating Ruby's life from myth & speculation, and how the bio began as a graphic novel collaboration with Rick Geary (!) before its prose incarnation (although he's still hoping for an adaptation). We get into what he learned from talking to Ruby's rabbi, Hillel Silverstein, the figures he would have loved to interview for this book, what Ruby's siblings & their kids went through in the aftermath of Jack's moment of infamy, the circus of Ruby's murder trial and Melvin Belli's failed epilepsy defense, and the danger of treating Ruby's life like a sitcom. We also discuss Danny's dizzying résumé, including his 20-year run as a writer & editor at Marvel Comics, discovering himself as a biographer with Stan Lee: A Marvelous Life (bookshop.org/a/4669/9781250766182), the complexity of the (working) relationships of Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko, the surreal of experience of meeting Gabe Kaplan while promoting JACK RUBY, and more! Follow Danny on Twitter (twitter.com/dannyfingeroth), Facebook (facebook.com/danny.fingeroth), Instagram (instagram.com/danny_fingeroth/), and Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/dannyfingeroth.bsky.social) • More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-565-danny-fingeroth • Support The Virtual Memories Show via patreon.com/vmspod and via our newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
Conversation begins at 8:05
With the 60th anniversary of the assassinations of JFK & Lee Harvey Oswald, Danny Fingeroth (http://dannyfingeroth.com) brings us the new biography, JACK RUBY: The Many Faces of Oswald's Assassin (Chicago Review Press, bookshop.org/a/4669/9781641609128). Danny & I talk about what drew him to tell Ruby's story, how many JFK conspiracy rabbit-holes he had to avoid, the challenges of separating Ruby's life from myth & speculation, and how the bio began as a graphic novel collaboration with Rick Geary (!) before its prose incarnation (although he's still hoping for an adaptation). We get into what he learned from talking to Ruby's rabbi, Hillel Silverstein, the figures he would have loved to interview for this book, what Ruby's siblings & their kids went through in the aftermath of Jack's moment of infamy, the circus of Ruby's murder trial and Melvin Belli's failed epilepsy defense, and the danger of treating Ruby's life like a sitcom. We also discuss Danny's dizzying résumé, including his 20-year run as a writer & editor at Marvel Comics, discovering himself as a biographer with Stan Lee: A Marvelous Life (bookshop.org/a/4669/9781250766182), the complexity of the (working) relationships of Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko, the surreal of experience of meeting Gabe Kaplan while promoting JACK RUBY, and more! Follow Danny on Twitter (twitter.com/dannyfingeroth), Facebook (facebook.com/danny.fingeroth), Instagram (instagram.com/danny_fingeroth/), and Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/dannyfingeroth.bsky.social) • More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-565-danny-fingeroth • Support The Virtual Memories Show via patreon.com/vmspod and via our newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
