Author and Designer Hillary Carlip {"Willis Wonderland"} "It’s Like a Pop-Up Book On Steroids"

Show Notes

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Hillary Carlip the designer and co-author of the most fabulous pop-up book you'll ever see Willis Wonderland: The Legendary House of Atomic Kitsch, which is a book dedicated to the home, kitsch collection and all-round fabulousness of Hillary's friend, the late great songwriter and visual artist Allie Willis. (Allie is also the subject of a documentary that was featured on this podcast last year; The World According to Allie Willis. It's now streaming on Hulu.) Hillary talks about how the pop-up book project came to her, finding illustrator Neal McCullough in Ireland and "paper engineer" Mike Malkovas in Paris and collaborating on this incredibly elaborate book all over Zoom. She also talks about creative endeavors from her past including the memoir Queen of the Oddballs, the photo book Ala Cart, which was inspired by the abandoned shopping lists Hillary's been collecting for years, juggling in the movie Xanadu and winning The Gong Show and host Chuck Barris's mad adoration. Other topics include: her long marriage to TV writer and producer Maxine Lapiduss, watching Olivia Newton-John fall for Matt Lattanzi on Xanadu, managing the ups and downs of a creative career while staying true to herself and the many times during the book's creation when she felt the spirit Allie guiding the way. 

www.williswonderlandpopupbook.com

www.hillarycarlip.com