Sylvester Stallone and His Friends' Films Podcast

Ryan and Adrian continue the live listen of Sylvester Stallone’s The Steps memoir, still on Step One, through the deli shift, an audition, and the winter coat he had to save for.

Ryan and Adrian listen to Sylvester Stallone’s The Steps memoir, still on step one, in the chapter where he cleans lion cages and bombs a Juilliard audition.

Ryan and Doug stay cold on *The Steps*, chapter three of step one. First two agencies never get past the secretaries. No photo, no resume. Pharmacy booth, fifty cents, four poses, nose against the lens. Third office slides the strip back: professional shots only.
Last name on the list. Walk-up, German accent, no secretary. He gives Mike Stallone. Then the birth-certificate fight: mother wanted Tyrone, after Tyrone Power; father blew up and put Sylvester on the form, Americanized from the grandfather, firstborn Italian custom. School years as Sylvester the Cat, Tweety, fists, suspensions. Mike ever since, except at home.
That agent offers a 10 p.m. Brooklyn audition and does not come upstairs. Apartment 3D, a man called Ed, robe, sake, Death of a Salesman*, a noise in the closet. Sly leaves. Drink maybe laced. Cigarette, elevated train, proud he did not do something stupid. Bill Conti under the exit. Not *The Party at Kitty and Stud’s — Morton Lewis never shows. End of the chapter. No spoilers in chat.
Fuse Gino and Sir Robert were in. Nine hours of audiobook, live and unedited, maybe into Christmas. Ryan’s Rocky and Rambo feeds; Doug is back when the clocks line up.

Ryan and Doug keep the cold listen of Sylvester Stallone reading *The Steps*. Step one is New York. Off the bus at Port Authority, heat, horns, no bed, no one he knows. Walk to 46th and 9th, Hell’s Kitchen, where it started.
Born July 6, 1946. Mother in denial until labor on a bus. Forceps, crushed nerve, left side of the face, the slur. Cold-water flat, plywood on the tub, $15 rent, steel wool in the baseboards, pink mice under the sink. Father the barber who wanted to sing. Mother the cigarette girl at Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe who later claimed she was the star. She never divorced truck-driver Tommy; a four-year-old son she denied. Furniture broken. Then three years in Queens with Mama Hansen, visits once a month. Frank is not in the room yet — Ryan and Doug flag the half-brother from their Frank coverage and wait for the split.
Back to 1969. Bench at Port Authority, Woodstock headline, $80, Bowery flophouses, two nights by the garbage cans, then the Sutton at $21.80 a week. Room smaller than a modern cell. Shared bathroom, shower with the clothes on, Yellow Pages open to talent agents. Bill Conti still under the steps. Ryan’s Conti interview is in the comments if you ask. Frank Stallone coverage lives on the other show.

Ryan and Doug go in cold on the first listen of Sylvester Stallone reading The Steps (William Morrow / Harper Audio). Ryan has been skipping the press tour so the book stays a surprise. Doug takes the inaugural episode after years on the Rocky and Rambo runs.
Dedication: Jennifer, Sophia, Sistine, Scarlet, then Sage and Serge. Chat flags Sasha as a character in I Play Rocky (Sir Robert). Sly did not write that film.
Then step zero. Pyrenees, 1969, 100 pesetas, Madame Pilar, an egg in a handkerchief. Double lifeline, change around 25, three marriage lines, fortune by 1976, drama not singing, avoid comedy. University of Miami, a few credits short. Draft-dodge line left as a claim; hearing-loss story (amp at a concert) not in the pages yet. Costa Brava at dusk, a fisherman’s mussels, driftwood, time undefeated, then New York. Piano under it is Bill Conti.
Live, pauses for comment, no spoilers in chat. Thunderlips is in. Rocky 50th is this year; Star Wars is next. Ryan’s Rocky and Rambo feeds; Doug is back when the clocks line up.
The Steps, Sylvester Stallone, memoir, audiobook, Madame Pilar, 1969, Bill Conti, Sasha, I Play Rocky, Rocky 50th