Father Time comes for us all in different degrees. Now one sees countless ads for wrinkle creams, hair colouring, replacements or surgeries linked to boosting confidence. The most offensive is getting children as young as twelve to use skin rejuvenation products. Anubys Lopez’s film Aged (2023) takes a huge page of countless films where glands are harvested and injected more strongly. The film uses motifs of Countess Dracula (1971) and Cocoon (1985) to bring terror to the onset of gray hairs and fading memories. More importantly, it is what family members would do to make sure the clock is forcibly turned back.
Aged (2023) is oddly constructed and misdirected in places with some poor direction missing key plot moments. Bright scenes of rural landscapes and a meeting in an antiseptic stilted coffee shop with Charles Bloom (Dave McClain), meeting with Veronica Grey (Morgan Boss-Maltais) to interview as a caregiver for his ailing mother.
Aged (2023) is oddly constructed and misdirected in places with some poor direction missing key plot moments. Bright scenes of rural landscapes and a meeting in an antiseptic stilted coffee shop with Charles Bloom (Dave McClain), meeting with Veronica Grey (Morgan Boss-Maltais) to interview as a caregiver for his ailing mother.
- 5/7/2024
- by Terry Sherwood
- Horror Asylum
Those attending the 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood next month will have an opportunity to engage with Mel Brooks and Vitaphone, both born in 1926. One’s extinct, the other’s still going strong.
While Brooks, 97, will be on hand for a closing-night screening of his 1987 comedy Spaceballs, six Vitaphone vaudeville shorts from the 1920s will be projected in 35mm, with sound played back from their original 16-inch discs on a turntable designed and engineered by Warner Bros.’ postproduction engineering department.
Also announced Thursday:
• Steven Spielberg will participate in a Q&a with Howard Suber — the UCLA faculty member at the center of the recent six-part TCM documentary The Power of Film — ahead of a director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977);
• Nancy Meyers and Alexander Payne, respectively, will introduce world premiere restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and John Ford’s The Searchers...
While Brooks, 97, will be on hand for a closing-night screening of his 1987 comedy Spaceballs, six Vitaphone vaudeville shorts from the 1920s will be projected in 35mm, with sound played back from their original 16-inch discs on a turntable designed and engineered by Warner Bros.’ postproduction engineering department.
Also announced Thursday:
• Steven Spielberg will participate in a Q&a with Howard Suber — the UCLA faculty member at the center of the recent six-part TCM documentary The Power of Film — ahead of a director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977);
• Nancy Meyers and Alexander Payne, respectively, will introduce world premiere restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and John Ford’s The Searchers...
- 3/21/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Studio takeovers have been the talk of the town in Hollywood for some time. It’s been less a discussion of if control will be ceded to new companies and more a conversation about who is buying, and why. Will it be studios taking over other studios, or, perhaps, tech giants elbowing further into the industry?
This week the megadeal fever was kickstarted again as it was floated that Warner Bros. Discovery has expressed interest in a tie-up with Paramount Global, following a meeting between Warners CEO David Zaslav and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish in New York last Tuesday. Such a merger would be historic, especially since the rolling back of the 1948 consent decrees that ended in major studios divesting in their theater chains.
Given that such a merger would (once again) reshape the Hollywood landscape, it’s worth remembering the first time Warner Bros. was involved in a mega...
This week the megadeal fever was kickstarted again as it was floated that Warner Bros. Discovery has expressed interest in a tie-up with Paramount Global, following a meeting between Warners CEO David Zaslav and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish in New York last Tuesday. Such a merger would be historic, especially since the rolling back of the 1948 consent decrees that ended in major studios divesting in their theater chains.
Given that such a merger would (once again) reshape the Hollywood landscape, it’s worth remembering the first time Warner Bros. was involved in a mega...
- 12/22/2023
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
One of Elvis Presley‘s songs features a spoken word section. The tune is partly based on a famous quotation from William Shakespeare. Colonel Tom Parker had Elvis record the song for a very special reason — and Elvis went the extra mile to make sure the song sounded just right.
Elvis Presley’s song is based on ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare
“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” is a highly atypical Elvis song, mostly because it features a long spoken word section. The spoken word bit begins “You know someone said that the world’s a stage and each of us must play a part / Fate had me playing in love with you as my sweetheart / Act one was where we met / I loved you at first glance / You read your lines so cleverly and never missed a cue / Then came act two, you seemed to change, you acted...
Elvis Presley’s song is based on ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare
“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” is a highly atypical Elvis song, mostly because it features a long spoken word section. The spoken word bit begins “You know someone said that the world’s a stage and each of us must play a part / Fate had me playing in love with you as my sweetheart / Act one was where we met / I loved you at first glance / You read your lines so cleverly and never missed a cue / Then came act two, you seemed to change, you acted...
- 12/17/2023
- by Matthew Trzcinski
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Steve McQueen Erases Al Jolson’s Blackface in New Film at L.A.’s Newly Opened Marian Goodman Gallery
Long-time New York and Paris gallery Marian Goodman has opened in Los Angeles with a show of director and artist Steve McQueen’s short film, Sunshine State. Shown on two back-to-back screens in a capacious room, the work finds McQueen training his artistic vision on the history of blackface in Hollywood. The 30-minute piece includes footage of the late actor Al Jolson in blackface in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer, considered the first feature-length movie with synchronized dialogue and the winner of an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.
McQueen included the scenes from The Jazz Singer in Sunshine State after the movie’s copyright expired on Jan. 1, 2023. “It’s been about 20 years that I’ve wanted to work with this material,” McQueen told AnOther Magazine at International Film Festival Rotterdam where Sunshine State premiered in January. “I wanted to work with it because I wanted to erase Al Jolson.
McQueen included the scenes from The Jazz Singer in Sunshine State after the movie’s copyright expired on Jan. 1, 2023. “It’s been about 20 years that I’ve wanted to work with this material,” McQueen told AnOther Magazine at International Film Festival Rotterdam where Sunshine State premiered in January. “I wanted to work with it because I wanted to erase Al Jolson.
- 10/28/2023
- by Degen Pener
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Imagine a time before 90 inch TV screens were sold at Walmart for $200 on Black Friday, a time when the family would gather around one rabbit eared black and white television to watch a show on one of the four channels they had available to them. Now imagine a world in the immediate aftermath of World War 2, when everyone needed a good laugh. In that time you may turned on your TV’s after enjoying your mother’s pot roast and carrot dinner to see young men such as Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks performing comedic routines that gave you truly guttural laughs. The premises seemed so simple, yet the genius that went into crafting these bits would soon shape the entire direction of comedy. These men would go on to become some of the most iconic figures in the history of entertainment. Sadly, as time does to us all,...
- 7/21/2023
- by Brad Hamerly
- JoBlo.com
Clockwise from top left: A Trip To The Moon (Flicker Alley), 2001: A Space Odyssey (Warner Bros.), King Kong (Warner Bros.), Avatar (Disney), The Matrix (Warner Bros.)Graphic: AVClub
Though they may seem a recent phenomenon, special-effects driven movies have been with us since the dawn of cinema. From the...
Though they may seem a recent phenomenon, special-effects driven movies have been with us since the dawn of cinema. From the...
- 6/8/2023
- by Luke Y. Thompson
- avclub.com
Here’s looking at Warner Bros. which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Earlier this year, Turner Classic Movies, which is a member of the Warner Bros. Discovery family, celebrated the centennial with a monthlong tribute to the studio that gave the world such landmark films as 1927’s “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature with synchronized recorded singing and some dialogue; the ultimate gangster flick 1931’s “Public Enemy,: the glorious 1938 swashbuckler “The Adventures of Robin Hood”; and the beloved 1942 “Casablanca.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
- 5/30/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Dan Harmon's "Community" is one of the best network sitcoms ever produced. Over six rocky seasons, during which the perennially low-rated series teetered on the brink of cancellation, Harmon and his phenomenal writing staff crafted a densely layered and wildly meta disquisition on what it means to be human. Seriously. A sitcom did this.
The show initially revolved around seven misfits who bond quickly as a study group at the fictional Greendale Community College. That the study group is formed under false pretenses (McHale's Jeff is trying to hook up with Jacobs' Britta) places all of the relationships on the shakiest of foundations. Before long, every character has their insecurities tattooed on their forehead, which leaves us wincing as hard as we laugh.
As the series segued into its second season, Harmon expanded the core to include disgraced Spanish teacher Ben Chang (Ken Jeong). Chang is the ultimate try-hard.
The show initially revolved around seven misfits who bond quickly as a study group at the fictional Greendale Community College. That the study group is formed under false pretenses (McHale's Jeff is trying to hook up with Jacobs' Britta) places all of the relationships on the shakiest of foundations. Before long, every character has their insecurities tattooed on their forehead, which leaves us wincing as hard as we laugh.
As the series segued into its second season, Harmon expanded the core to include disgraced Spanish teacher Ben Chang (Ken Jeong). Chang is the ultimate try-hard.
- 4/16/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
David Zaslav went office-furniture shopping when he moved into the executive building on the Warner Bros. lot last year. The new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery had Jack L. Warner’s large dark-wood desk pulled out of storage for his use. He also found a leather legal pad holder once clutched by another of his predecessors at the storied studio: Steven J. Ross.
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
- 4/6/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
The Warner brothers — Harry, Sam, Albert and Jack — were different from Hollywood’s other movie moguls in the industry’s early years. They were shrewd, brash, outspoken and passionate in ways that deviated from the industry norm. The most publicly consistent brother was Harry, a stoic businessman and proud immigrant. Sam was the technical visionary who was gone too soon. Albert largely avoided the public eye, although he served as a loyal ambassador to the family brand. Jack was the wild child, the entertainer, the sometimes unpredictable one.
Those talents served them well during a transitional time for what would become the filmed entertainment industry. The year 1903 marked that transition, moving from what historian Tom Gunning calls a “cinema of attractions,” based on simple spectatorship of an event, to narrative storytelling, which allowed audiences to get lost in what they saw onscreen. There was only one way to test the...
Those talents served them well during a transitional time for what would become the filmed entertainment industry. The year 1903 marked that transition, moving from what historian Tom Gunning calls a “cinema of attractions,” based on simple spectatorship of an event, to narrative storytelling, which allowed audiences to get lost in what they saw onscreen. There was only one way to test the...
- 4/4/2023
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Warner Bros. today celebrates its centennial milestone as April 4, 2023, marks 100 years of its iconic contribution to film and television.
Its rich heritage stretches back to the four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants, who founded the studio in 1923 and became mavericks of the film industry. They not only created some of Hollywood’s greatest movies and film stars, but they also were pioneers behind the innovative technology of the Vitaphone that synchronized sound and put them in the forefront as major players in Hollywood.
Related: Warner Bros. Top-Secret Archives: Treasure Trove Of Film Memorabilia From ‘The Matrix’, ‘Batman’, ‘My Fair Lady’ & Dozens More
Sam Warner spearheaded the movement by applying the technology with sound effects and music, but no dialogue, in the 1926 film Don Juan, and then in two scenes from one of the first “talkies,” 1927’s The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, that featured...
Its rich heritage stretches back to the four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants, who founded the studio in 1923 and became mavericks of the film industry. They not only created some of Hollywood’s greatest movies and film stars, but they also were pioneers behind the innovative technology of the Vitaphone that synchronized sound and put them in the forefront as major players in Hollywood.
Related: Warner Bros. Top-Secret Archives: Treasure Trove Of Film Memorabilia From ‘The Matrix’, ‘Batman’, ‘My Fair Lady’ & Dozens More
Sam Warner spearheaded the movement by applying the technology with sound effects and music, but no dialogue, in the 1926 film Don Juan, and then in two scenes from one of the first “talkies,” 1927’s The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, that featured...
- 4/4/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
Many filmmakers yearn for their work to be at the centre of a public conversation. But it’s not always a good thing.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
- 3/10/2023
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
Many filmmakers yearn for their work to be at the centre of a public conversation. But it’s not always a good thing.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
- 3/9/2023
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning “12 Years a Slave” was released almost a century after D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” the first film ever to be screened at the White House. McQueen’s film, however, was not shown at the U.S. President’s official residence. The British director spoke Saturday about this issue while at an in-conversation event at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
“It was just after that situation with Skip Gates,” said McQueen, referring to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates by Sergeant James Crowley, a suspected case of racial profiling that stirred great controversy for then-President Barack Obama, who was alleged to have taken sides after publicly stating the local police department had acted “stupidly.” “So, at that time, everything Obama was doing was being scrutinized,” continued the director, “and that was the theory of why ‘12 Years a Slave’ was...
“It was just after that situation with Skip Gates,” said McQueen, referring to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates by Sergeant James Crowley, a suspected case of racial profiling that stirred great controversy for then-President Barack Obama, who was alleged to have taken sides after publicly stating the local police department had acted “stupidly.” “So, at that time, everything Obama was doing was being scrutinized,” continued the director, “and that was the theory of why ‘12 Years a Slave’ was...
- 1/29/2023
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
Mel Brooks was born in 1926, prior to the advent of talkies and television. He grew up worshiping the vaudevillian likes of Groucho Marx, Al Jolson, and George Jessel. Given the anarchic, anything-for-a-laugh quality of his best movies, you'd think Brooks' allegiances would be tightly aligned with Groucho. But while he's on the record with his affection for the Marx Brothers' work, he was especially enamored of Eddie Cantor.
For most people in this day and age, Cantor is a name more than a personality. The worst that can be said about him is that he was a song-and-dance man who, like Jolson, mimicked African-American entertainers in blackface to bolster his appeal. But Cantor was a born, trailblazing Jewish entertainer, and his comedic rambunctiousness kicked down the door for people like Brooks, who lacked the patience to craft a meticulously structured screwball masterpiece like Ernst Lubitsch's "Trouble in Paradise" or...
For most people in this day and age, Cantor is a name more than a personality. The worst that can be said about him is that he was a song-and-dance man who, like Jolson, mimicked African-American entertainers in blackface to bolster his appeal. But Cantor was a born, trailblazing Jewish entertainer, and his comedic rambunctiousness kicked down the door for people like Brooks, who lacked the patience to craft a meticulously structured screwball masterpiece like Ernst Lubitsch's "Trouble in Paradise" or...
- 1/19/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Plot: At the dawn of the sound era, a tawdry collection of people working in silent films must reckon with their rapidly changing fortunes as the talkies, and a new strict morality, become commonplace.
Review: Within the first ten minutes of Babylon, you get an anus-first view of an elephant having diarrhea and then, shortly after, a golden shower performed by a woman on a very content customer. This is all lovingly shot by director Damien Chazelle and his Dp Linus Sandgren, as if to announce, “hey – if you thought The Wolf of Wall Street was over the top, get a load of this!” As it turns out, the brown and the golden showers are only the beginning of Chazelle’s nightmarish descent into the seemingly depraved world of 1920s Hollywood. As Al Jolson said in The Jazz Singer, the movie that spells doom to many of the characters here,...
Review: Within the first ten minutes of Babylon, you get an anus-first view of an elephant having diarrhea and then, shortly after, a golden shower performed by a woman on a very content customer. This is all lovingly shot by director Damien Chazelle and his Dp Linus Sandgren, as if to announce, “hey – if you thought The Wolf of Wall Street was over the top, get a load of this!” As it turns out, the brown and the golden showers are only the beginning of Chazelle’s nightmarish descent into the seemingly depraved world of 1920s Hollywood. As Al Jolson said in The Jazz Singer, the movie that spells doom to many of the characters here,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
One of the most anticipated presumed Oscar contenders, and one of the very few remaining to debut before year-end, dropped last night with the first screening of Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle’s Babylon. Paramount’s big Christmas release, and hopeful awards magnet chose the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theatre for the unveiling in front of entertainment pundits, industry members, and most importantly guild and Oscar voters, a perfect venue with both sides of the massive screen bookended by those imposing large Oscar statues. In addition to the screening there was a post Q&a with Chazelle and stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and Tobey Maguire followed by a dessert reception in the lobby.
Reviews of the December 23 wide release are embargoed for at least a month (Paramount has not chosen the exact date yet...
Reviews of the December 23 wide release are embargoed for at least a month (Paramount has not chosen the exact date yet...
- 11/15/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
At the same time 'cancel culture' vultures are circling Disney's 'Mickey Mouse', comparing the original cartoon character to a 'Jim Crow' minstrel, the new documentary "Mickey : The Story of a Mouse", streams November 18, 2022 on Disney+:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes author Nicholas Sammond in the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation".
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'. 'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel. He is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie', wear the white gloves worn by black servants,...
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes author Nicholas Sammond in the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation".
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'. 'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel. He is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie', wear the white gloves worn by black servants,...
- 10/5/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
'Cancel culture' vultures are now circling Disney cartoon character 'Mickey Mouse', that according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular ‘Jim Crow’ minstrel of all time:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie', wear the white gloves worn by black servants, performing their version of "Uncle...
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie', wear the white gloves worn by black servants, performing their version of "Uncle...
- 7/13/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Photo: ‘Almost Famous’ A Brief Summary of Movie Musical History Movies and music have long been intertwined. Before Warner Bros.’ use of the Vitaphone turned “moving pictures” into “talkies,” the most upscale cinemas hosted orchestras to accompany the silent films they screened, and the first movie advertised as a talkie was a musical. ‘The Jazz Singer’ starring Al Jolson, only foretold things to come. Vincente Minnelli and Stanley Donen, along with many of their contemporaries, would go on to produce a wave of iconic movie musicals in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. With their huge sets and elaborate dance breaks, Golden Age movie musicals wowed their audiences and produced some of the era’s chart-topping radio hits. Related video: Full Commentary - Cast & Crew Spills Secrets on Making of ‘Elvis’ | In-Depth Scoop | Austin Butler Related video: Full Rendezvous At the Premiere of 'Elvis' with Reactions from Stars | Austin Butler, Baz Luhrmann...
- 6/28/2022
- by Kevin Hauger
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Every now and then a new short film comes along and provides a different way of looking at the world. Not Black Enough is a great case-in-point, tackling the legacy of blackness in the USA head-on, unafraid to dive into musical pastiche, use epic long takes, build up repetitive elements and minimalist electronic music to get its message across, truly making one ‘feel’ the ideas that are being put on screen as opposed to simply observing them. At times courting controversy, but never losing sight of the bigger picture, this is a bold and exciting experimental short from New York Director Jermaine Manigault, one that demonstrates both a great amount of confidence and ambition. Released online to mark Juneteenth Dn talked to him about the potentially problematic use of blackface, the need to collaborate with white actors, finding the right housing project to shoot in and how he pulled off...
- 6/19/2022
- by Redmond Bacon
- Directors Notes
'Cancel Culture’ vultures are now circling Disney's 'Mickey Mouse', who according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular 'blackface' minstrel of all time:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " said Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations....
"...an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie' wear white gloves worn by black servants, performing their version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with a cast of cartoon animals.
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " said Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations....
"...an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie' wear white gloves worn by black servants, performing their version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with a cast of cartoon animals.
- 4/2/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Brian Cox shudders to think what path his life would have taken had he not become an actor. “I think because I love traveling, I would’ve probably joined something like the Merchant Navy,” said the burly Scottish actor during a Washington Post Zoom conversation about his autobiography, “Putting the Rabbit in the Hat.” “I would’ve probably been an assistant cook or something and traveled around the world. I did actually think of the alternative [to acting] but then I put the alternative away because I knew I was going to do what I was going to do, come hell or high water.”
Thank goodness, he put the alternative away because the world would have been robbed of one of the most acclaimed actors who has triumphed on stage, screen and television. He was chilling as the first Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann’s 1986 “Manhunter.” He was terrifying in his Emmy...
Thank goodness, he put the alternative away because the world would have been robbed of one of the most acclaimed actors who has triumphed on stage, screen and television. He was chilling as the first Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann’s 1986 “Manhunter.” He was terrifying in his Emmy...
- 2/21/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
"The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse", produced by Disney Television Animation, is the new original TV special, streaming February 18, 2022 on Disney+:
"...'The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse' spotlights the adventurous and comedic antics of ‘Mickey Mouse' and his female friend 'Minnie', geared towards fans of all ages..."
Recently left-wing 'cancel culture' vultures have been attacking Disney's original 'Mickey Mouse' character, that according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular 'Jim Crow' minstrel of all time.
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
"...'The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse' spotlights the adventurous and comedic antics of ‘Mickey Mouse' and his female friend 'Minnie', geared towards fans of all ages..."
Recently left-wing 'cancel culture' vultures have been attacking Disney's original 'Mickey Mouse' character, that according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular 'Jim Crow' minstrel of all time.
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
- 1/22/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
When the musical version of The Producers first began previews on Broadway in 2001, an incident made headlines after an irate audience member stood up and began pacing the aisles of the St. James Theatre. “Where is Mel Brooks?” he is reported to have shouted. “This is an outrage!”
Brooks—the composer, lyricist, writer, and actual producer of The Producers—was in the theater that night, and as one who never ignores a confrontation, he happily came out. The 75-year-old filmmaker and lifelong funnyman asked the stranger what was the problem. “This show is a disgrace!” cried the patron. “How could you sing about Hitler?! I was a soldier. I fought in World War II!”
At which point, Brooks fired back, “I also fought in World War II. I don’t remember seeing you there!” Depending on whose account you believe, the two either then came to blows or at least...
Brooks—the composer, lyricist, writer, and actual producer of The Producers—was in the theater that night, and as one who never ignores a confrontation, he happily came out. The 75-year-old filmmaker and lifelong funnyman asked the stranger what was the problem. “This show is a disgrace!” cried the patron. “How could you sing about Hitler?! I was a soldier. I fought in World War II!”
At which point, Brooks fired back, “I also fought in World War II. I don’t remember seeing you there!” Depending on whose account you believe, the two either then came to blows or at least...
- 1/5/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, classic novels by Ernest Hemingway and Agatha Christie and hundreds of thousands of pre-1923 sound recordings are among the works that entered that public domain on New Year’s Day 2022.
Dorothy Parker’s first poetry collection Enough Rope, William Faulkner’s first novel Soldiers’ Pay, and books by Langston Hughes, Willa Cather, T.E. Lawrence and more also joined Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in the public domain, the Associated Press reported.
“When works go into the public domain,...
Dorothy Parker’s first poetry collection Enough Rope, William Faulkner’s first novel Soldiers’ Pay, and books by Langston Hughes, Willa Cather, T.E. Lawrence and more also joined Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in the public domain, the Associated Press reported.
“When works go into the public domain,...
- 1/1/2022
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Six years before his death in 1996, “Rent” composer Jonathan Larson began performing a solo semi-autobiographical musical “Tick, Tick…Boom!” about a young struggling composer named Jon who fears that he has made the wrong career choice. After his death, Larson’s show was expanded into a three-person piece by David Auburn that ran in London, off-Broadway, and as a national tour. Now it is an acclaimed new Netflix movie directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who appeared in a Encores production of the musical in 2014) and starring Andrew Garfield.
The composer bio movie genre has long been a favorite of Hollywood, especially during its Golden Age. But these bio-pics played fast and loose with the facts. The Production Code prevented these films from exploring the fact that Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart were gay. And some of these composers and/or their families were still alive and wanted a certain image presented on the big screen.
The composer bio movie genre has long been a favorite of Hollywood, especially during its Golden Age. But these bio-pics played fast and loose with the facts. The Production Code prevented these films from exploring the fact that Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart were gay. And some of these composers and/or their families were still alive and wanted a certain image presented on the big screen.
- 12/7/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
While some Americans are demanding Democrats pay reparations for the creation of historically racist 'Jim Crow' laws, 'cancel culture' vultures are also circling Disney's 'Mickey Mouse', following the takedown of “Uncle Remus” statues from Disney theme parks and according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, Mickey Mouse was created to be the most popular 'Jim Crow' minstrel of all time:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
- 9/7/2021
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.Velvet Goldmine (1998)Todd Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine (1998) opens with a confession that swiftly becomes a command: “Although what you are about to see is a work of fiction, it should nevertheless be played at maximum volume.” Those words, mischievously repurposed from Martin Scorsese’s concert film The Last Waltz (1978), herald one of the great pop music fantasias: a cinema à clef that reimagines ’70s glam rock in an alternate dimension, where fictional versions of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and others perform a parallel version of history as we know it. Embracing the period’s mutable personae and camp energies, the film evokes the spirit of its patron saint, Oscar Wilde—depicted as the original pop star, descended to Earth from outer space—treating “art as the supreme reality and life as a mere mode of fiction,...
- 8/12/2021
- MUBI
New York, New York is a helluva town. The Bronx is up. And the Battery is down. The people ride in a hole in the ground. New York, New York. It’s a helluva town. And it’s also a perfect backdrop for countless Broadway and movie musicals.
And for good reason. The metropolis is a melting pot of cultures and boroughs. Over the decades, the Great White Way has been home to burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway. The town always is brimming with the best writers and composers. Remember Tin Pan Alley?
There is also a romanticism of New York often depicted in these musicals: most of them were shot on sound stages and studio, so they offer an expressionistic, impressionistic, and even surreal look at NYC. Martin Scorsese tipped his out to these studio musicals with his classic 1977 “New York, New York,” starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro.
The...
And for good reason. The metropolis is a melting pot of cultures and boroughs. Over the decades, the Great White Way has been home to burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway. The town always is brimming with the best writers and composers. Remember Tin Pan Alley?
There is also a romanticism of New York often depicted in these musicals: most of them were shot on sound stages and studio, so they offer an expressionistic, impressionistic, and even surreal look at NYC. Martin Scorsese tipped his out to these studio musicals with his classic 1977 “New York, New York,” starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro.
The...
- 6/24/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
While some Americans are demanding the Democrat party pay reparations for the creation and implementation of the 1865 US 'Jim Crow' laws, as a legal way to put Black citizens into indentured servitude, taking away their voting rights, controlling where they lived, how they traveled and to seize their children for labor purposes, 'cancel culture' vultures are now circling Disney's 'Mickey Mouse', that according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular Jim Crow minstrel of all time:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
- 4/8/2021
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
“It’s just that jazz ain’t cool anymore,” the sexy saxophonist is told in the new Amazon Prime dramatic feature “Sylvie’s Love.”
But Viola Davis’ title character in Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” disagrees: “Blues helps you get out of bed in the morning.”
Who would have thought that one of the notable trends in filmed entertainment at this time would be an American art form born more than 120 years ago? Amid the stalled and rearranged film landscape of 2020, just as the Black Lives Matter movement re-emerged as a cultural force, numerous film and TV projects are celebrating jazz, blues and other music associated with the Black experience, and its historically challenging path to full respect.
“Sadly, these projects remain timelessly relevant,” said James Erskine, director of the new documentary, “Billie,” about legendary jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday.
Besides those “Sylvie’s Love” and “Ma Rainey,” consider “The Eddy,...
But Viola Davis’ title character in Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” disagrees: “Blues helps you get out of bed in the morning.”
Who would have thought that one of the notable trends in filmed entertainment at this time would be an American art form born more than 120 years ago? Amid the stalled and rearranged film landscape of 2020, just as the Black Lives Matter movement re-emerged as a cultural force, numerous film and TV projects are celebrating jazz, blues and other music associated with the Black experience, and its historically challenging path to full respect.
“Sadly, these projects remain timelessly relevant,” said James Erskine, director of the new documentary, “Billie,” about legendary jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday.
Besides those “Sylvie’s Love” and “Ma Rainey,” consider “The Eddy,...
- 1/13/2021
- by Mary Murphy and Michele Willens
- The Wrap
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Double Keatons”
By Raymond Benson
At least three companies have been doing restorations of Buster Keaton’s silent comedy classics from the 1920s—Kino Video is one, The Criterion Collection is another. As the films are in public domain, the separate restorations can now be copyrighted. A third entity, Cohen Film Collection, has also been re-issuing the films in high definition. Cohen just released its fourth volume in their ongoing series, and to this reviewer, the company is doing an outstanding job.
Volume 4 of “The Buster Keaton Collection” contains 4K restorations of Go West (1925) and College (1927). Most critics and fans will agree that these two titles may be the lesser of Keaton’s outstanding output of the era. Nevertheless, there are moments of genius in both Go West and College, but also an eyebrow-raising instance of controversy in the latter title.
Go West...
“Double Keatons”
By Raymond Benson
At least three companies have been doing restorations of Buster Keaton’s silent comedy classics from the 1920s—Kino Video is one, The Criterion Collection is another. As the films are in public domain, the separate restorations can now be copyrighted. A third entity, Cohen Film Collection, has also been re-issuing the films in high definition. Cohen just released its fourth volume in their ongoing series, and to this reviewer, the company is doing an outstanding job.
Volume 4 of “The Buster Keaton Collection” contains 4K restorations of Go West (1925) and College (1927). Most critics and fans will agree that these two titles may be the lesser of Keaton’s outstanding output of the era. Nevertheless, there are moments of genius in both Go West and College, but also an eyebrow-raising instance of controversy in the latter title.
Go West...
- 12/12/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.Above: 42nd StreetWhile other genres undoubtedly advanced with the dawning of sound technology, the musical is likely the most indebted to the reverberations of this complementary process. More than that, though, the movie musical was fundamentally born with the surge of sound—it simply could not have existed otherwise. And since that time, the musical has indeed been a uniquely cinematic venture, less beholden to conventional narratives and often disposed to experimentations in color, location, camera mobility, production design, and special effects. Especially in its heyday, the so-called “Golden Age” lasting between the mid-1930s and late-‘50s, Hollywood musicals were an enrapturing experience, delighting audiences with spectacle, romance, athleticism, fine performances, and, of course, song and dance. Some of America’s brightest stars sparkled in the musical, while many of...
- 10/7/2020
- MUBI
Historian and scholar Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926, against the backdrop of Jim Crow America. A half-century later, it would become Black History Month when President Gerald Ford officially recognized it in 1976.
Woodson wanted Negro History Week to help correct a national narrative that barely included African Americans and allowed errors and blatantly racist perspectives to stand uncorrected. It was a time of great change for black people: Just 50 years removed from slavery, racial “uplift” dominated discourse and media and African Americans struggled to find a place in the country.
It was also the early days of cinema, 11 years after the release of D.W. Griffith’s racially incendiary “The Birth of a Nation” (1915), and a year before the first talkie, “The Jazz Singer” (1927), which featured Al Jolson in blackface. Meanwhile, the career of black cinema pioneer Oscar Micheaux was on the rise, as he and other black filmmakers,...
Woodson wanted Negro History Week to help correct a national narrative that barely included African Americans and allowed errors and blatantly racist perspectives to stand uncorrected. It was a time of great change for black people: Just 50 years removed from slavery, racial “uplift” dominated discourse and media and African Americans struggled to find a place in the country.
It was also the early days of cinema, 11 years after the release of D.W. Griffith’s racially incendiary “The Birth of a Nation” (1915), and a year before the first talkie, “The Jazz Singer” (1927), which featured Al Jolson in blackface. Meanwhile, the career of black cinema pioneer Oscar Micheaux was on the rise, as he and other black filmmakers,...
- 2/28/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Tony Sokol Feb 18, 2020
The 2020 Tribeca Film Festival will open with Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President. Willie Nelson and Nile Rodgers will hit the Beacon.
The 19th Tribeca Film Festival will open with the premiere of the rockumentary-style presidential portrait Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President on April 15. The documentary catalogues how popular music helped replant a Georgia peanut farmer in the White House.
Sure, we remember Barack Obama breaking into an Al Green jam during his presidential press conferences, but there was a time the only kinds of music you associated with the White House were The Marine Marching Band, John Philip Sousa and Guy Lombardo. Abraham Lincoln went to the opera thirty times while he was president. President Nixon's barrelhouse piano intermittently backed up Pearl Bailey. But when Canadian rock band The Guess Who played the White House on July 17, 1970, they had to drop "American Woman," their newest and biggest single from the set list.
The 2020 Tribeca Film Festival will open with Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President. Willie Nelson and Nile Rodgers will hit the Beacon.
The 19th Tribeca Film Festival will open with the premiere of the rockumentary-style presidential portrait Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President on April 15. The documentary catalogues how popular music helped replant a Georgia peanut farmer in the White House.
Sure, we remember Barack Obama breaking into an Al Green jam during his presidential press conferences, but there was a time the only kinds of music you associated with the White House were The Marine Marching Band, John Philip Sousa and Guy Lombardo. Abraham Lincoln went to the opera thirty times while he was president. President Nixon's barrelhouse piano intermittently backed up Pearl Bailey. But when Canadian rock band The Guess Who played the White House on July 17, 1970, they had to drop "American Woman," their newest and biggest single from the set list.
- 2/18/2020
- Den of Geek
Back in the early 1970s I was crazy about Depression-Era Warner Bros. movies, that weren’t being shown on TV or anywhere else. In that climate of deprivation, a documentary that used movie film clips from the period felt extremely fresh and new. Philippe Mora’s picture sees 1930s America through the movies, through music, and the evasions of official newsreels. Franklin Delano Roosevelt preaches prosperity while James Cagney slugs his way through the decade as a smart-tongued everyman — in a dozen different roles. This was a new kind of documentary info-tainment formula: applying old film footage to new purposes.
Brother Can You Spare a Dime
Blu-ray
The Sprocket Vault / Vci
1975 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 106 min.
Street Date October 1, 2019 / 24.95
Film Editor: Jeremy Thomas
Research by Michael Barlow, Jennifer E. Ryan, Susan Winslow
Produced by Sanford Lieberson, David Puttnam
Directed by Philippe Mora
Philippe Mora was an accomplished artist and documentary...
Brother Can You Spare a Dime
Blu-ray
The Sprocket Vault / Vci
1975 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 106 min.
Street Date October 1, 2019 / 24.95
Film Editor: Jeremy Thomas
Research by Michael Barlow, Jennifer E. Ryan, Susan Winslow
Produced by Sanford Lieberson, David Puttnam
Directed by Philippe Mora
Philippe Mora was an accomplished artist and documentary...
- 12/21/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
I’ll bet you thought that when the two sides clashing in Mel Gibson’s movie “Braveheart,” or the sound of jet fighters blasting away in the sky came from, well, the two sides clashing and the sound of jet fighters blasting. This may have been the case in 1927 when Al Jolson starred, singing away in […]
The post Making Waves Review: Not only an education but quite an entertaining one appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Making Waves Review: Not only an education but quite an entertaining one appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 12/16/2019
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
While accepting her Paley Honors Award in recognition of her groundbreaking achievements in television comedy, Carol Burnett took time to look back and share an anecdote with the audience about how she made it to this point in her storied career.
“It was television that gave me my opportunities, but as a woman in this business, it wasn’t always easy to do what the naysayers said couldn’t be done,” Burnett said. “When I exercised a clause in a contract that I had with CBS way back in 1967 that would allow me to do an hour comedy variety show, I was told by the network executives that comedy variety was a man’s game: Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Dean Martin. They said, and I quote, ‘It’s not for you gals.'”
Thanks to her contract, CBS had no choice but to put Burnett’s show on...
“It was television that gave me my opportunities, but as a woman in this business, it wasn’t always easy to do what the naysayers said couldn’t be done,” Burnett said. “When I exercised a clause in a contract that I had with CBS way back in 1967 that would allow me to do an hour comedy variety show, I was told by the network executives that comedy variety was a man’s game: Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Dean Martin. They said, and I quote, ‘It’s not for you gals.'”
Thanks to her contract, CBS had no choice but to put Burnett’s show on...
- 11/22/2019
- by Libby Hill
- Indiewire
Twenty-five years after the popular character’s final appearance on “Saturday Night Live” — and the box office bomb feature film based on the character — Julia Sweeney has a lot to say about Pat. As part of her current one-woman show, “Older and Wider,” Sweeney tells stories of her time from 1990-1994 as a cast member on “SNL” and her experiences in Hollywood. Pat comes up naturally — though that hasn’t necessarily been a good thing in the three decades since the character’s mainstream debut.
Sweeney showed her teenage daughter an “It’s Pat” sketch, only to get the response: “It really feels like that character is just about making fun of someone where you can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman.” In the same show, Sweeney asked herself, “My God, what did I do? Was I the Al Jolson of androgyny?”
Dave Itzkoff of The...
Sweeney showed her teenage daughter an “It’s Pat” sketch, only to get the response: “It really feels like that character is just about making fun of someone where you can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman.” In the same show, Sweeney asked herself, “My God, what did I do? Was I the Al Jolson of androgyny?”
Dave Itzkoff of The...
- 11/21/2019
- by LaToya Ferguson
- Indiewire
The centerpiece of Scott Ora’s cluttered San Fernando Valley apartment is the 1939 Oscar his step-grandfather, the late lyricist Leo Robin, was presented for co-writing “Thanks for the Memory.” Sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the film “The Big Broadcast of 1938,” the trophy sits proudly on the piano where Robin worked on some of his biggest hits. The movie marked the comedian’s breakout role and Leo’s tune, co-written with frequent collaborator Ralph Rainger, soon became Hope’s theme song. It was Robin’s only Academy Award win out of a total of 10 nominations.
Over the course of 20 years, from 1934 (when the best original song category was introduced and he was nominated for “Love in Bloom”) through 1954, Robin, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame who died in 1984 at the age of 84, earned 10 Oscar nominations (two in 1949 alone). His impressive catalog includes signature tunes for Maurice Chevalier...
Over the course of 20 years, from 1934 (when the best original song category was introduced and he was nominated for “Love in Bloom”) through 1954, Robin, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame who died in 1984 at the age of 84, earned 10 Oscar nominations (two in 1949 alone). His impressive catalog includes signature tunes for Maurice Chevalier...
- 10/1/2019
- by Roy Trakin
- Variety Film + TV
Hey hard-rockin’ film fans, better hope the sound system at your local multiplex goes well past eleven because it’s musical biography time once more. Sure popular musicians have been recreated on screen through the years, Surprisingly the lives of Al Jolson and Fanny Brice inspired two hit films and a couple of sequels (The Jolson Story begat Jolson Sings Again while the great Streisand starred in Funny Girl then Funny Lady). Ah, but late 2018, a little over six months ago rock and roll ruled the box office (and garnered 4 Oscars) with the story of Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody. And a fictional music flick, the fourth iteration of A Star Is Born, inspired by real performers and showcasing the acting debut of a current music superstar, grabbed a gold statue and lots of filmgoers. Plus earlier this year Netflix got into the act with a “biopic” of those heavy metal hellions,...
- 5/31/2019
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
My new book, Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind the Songs, tells the tales behind every officially released studio recording of Bruce Springsteen’s career so far. In addition to my years of Springsteen reporting, including five interviews with the man himself, the book draws on over 60 hours of brand-new interviews with musicians, producers, and other collaborators from throughout his career (including Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan, Nils Lofgren, Soozie Tyrell, Tom Morello, David Sancious and many, many more). I’m proud to debut this exclusive excerpt here at Rolling Stone, where...
- 3/31/2019
- by Brian Hiatt
- Rollingstone.com
This season’s much anticipated musical episode of The Magicians has some great song covers, which range from sweet ballads to empowering anthems. On the softer side, there’s Hale Appleman serenading Summer Bishil with Al Jolson’s and Bing Crosby’s “Beautiful Dreamer,” as well as getting his groove on to The Pretenders’ “Don’t Get Me Wrong.” On […]
The post ‘The Magicians’ Gets Musical Again with “All That Hard, Glossy Armor” appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘The Magicians’ Gets Musical Again with “All That Hard, Glossy Armor” appeared first on /Film.
- 3/29/2019
- by Vanessa Armstrong
- Slash Film
It was November 2004, and Dave Chappelle was filming the third season of Chappelle's Show for Comedy Central. After two seasons of mining edgy racial humor to great ratings success, Chappelle was eager to push the envelope to its breaking point.
He conceived of a series of sketches involving various racist "pixie" characters and cast himself as a "Black Pixie" — an ugly stereotype in blackface and a bellboy uniform that visits an airplane passenger (also played by Chappelle) and encourages him to order the fried chicken.
The sketch amused Chappelle in rehearsals, but when it screened for ...
He conceived of a series of sketches involving various racist "pixie" characters and cast himself as a "Black Pixie" — an ugly stereotype in blackface and a bellboy uniform that visits an airplane passenger (also played by Chappelle) and encourages him to order the fried chicken.
The sketch amused Chappelle in rehearsals, but when it screened for ...
- 2/12/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
When Megyn Kelly used her perch on “Megyn Kelly Today” to defend the use of blackface before an audience of millions, she professed ignorance of a bygone practice that still annually haunts the nation 170 years later, especially during Halloween. Kelly may have lost her job, but anyone getting up to speed on the controversy because of one debate about costumes should understand that the conversation goes much deeper than that. The tradition of blackface remains a sore point in American history that continues to have a destructive impact to this day.
Needless to say, white audiences will never be able to engage with “blackface” through the nuanced lens that black audiences can bring. Terence Nance addressed this disconnect in several episodes of his HBO series “Random Acts of Flyness,” when he literally gives face to a Larry Wilmore “Daily Show” quote (“Here is when blackface is Ok: When you have a black face!
Needless to say, white audiences will never be able to engage with “blackface” through the nuanced lens that black audiences can bring. Terence Nance addressed this disconnect in several episodes of his HBO series “Random Acts of Flyness,” when he literally gives face to a Larry Wilmore “Daily Show” quote (“Here is when blackface is Ok: When you have a black face!
- 10/25/2018
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
In issuing a defense of blackface Tuesday before contritely apologizing on Wednesday, Megyn Kelly learned her hardest lesson yet about how her current job at NBC differs from her old one at Fox News. And while she sought to clean up her own mess, there remains one question that’s beyond her ken to answer: Just how many more times she’ll be permitted to learn that lesson.
That Kelly crossed a rhetorical line should come as no surprise. After launching her show with the insistence that she no longer wanted to cover political topics at all, Kelly found herself drawn, by some combination of ratings necessity and trollish temperament, towards controversy, sitting as the moderator of a rotating panel she dominates through force of opinion. The blackface conversation — in which Kelly questioned why darkening one’s skin for a Halloween costume is a big deal at all, noting that...
That Kelly crossed a rhetorical line should come as no surprise. After launching her show with the insistence that she no longer wanted to cover political topics at all, Kelly found herself drawn, by some combination of ratings necessity and trollish temperament, towards controversy, sitting as the moderator of a rotating panel she dominates through force of opinion. The blackface conversation — in which Kelly questioned why darkening one’s skin for a Halloween costume is a big deal at all, noting that...
- 10/24/2018
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
Among this year’s leading Oscar contenders for Best Actor is Emmy winner Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”) for his star turn as the late Freddie Mercury, the legendary lead vocalist of the rock band Queen, in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Should Malek reap an Oscar bid, he will mark the 12th leading man to date recognized for his portrayal of a real-life musician.
First to achieve this feat was James Cagney, nominated for his lively depiction of Broadway composer and performer George M. Cohan in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942). On Oscar night, Cagney was triumphant, scoring the lone Oscar of his storied career.
Later in the decade, a pair of actors earned recognition for portraying real-life musicians, the first being Cornel Wilde, up for his performance as Polish pianist Frederic Chopin in “A Song to Remember” (1945). The following year, Larry Parks was a nominee for portraying singer and actor Al Jolson in “The Jolson Story...
First to achieve this feat was James Cagney, nominated for his lively depiction of Broadway composer and performer George M. Cohan in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942). On Oscar night, Cagney was triumphant, scoring the lone Oscar of his storied career.
Later in the decade, a pair of actors earned recognition for portraying real-life musicians, the first being Cornel Wilde, up for his performance as Polish pianist Frederic Chopin in “A Song to Remember” (1945). The following year, Larry Parks was a nominee for portraying singer and actor Al Jolson in “The Jolson Story...
- 9/21/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
“Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin, the eruptive singer who reigned atop the pop and R&B charts in the late ’60s and early ’70s with a succession of albums and singles of unparalleled power and emotional depth, has died. She was 76.
Franklin was suffering from pancreatic cancer, and had earlier undergone surgery in December 2010. Her longtime publicist Gwendolyn Quinn reported Franklin died Thursday morning at her home in Detroit.
“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart,” Quinn said in a statement. “We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.”
She was the most lionized and lauded female R&B vocalist of her era. Winner of 18 Grammy Awards, and a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement honoree in...
Franklin was suffering from pancreatic cancer, and had earlier undergone surgery in December 2010. Her longtime publicist Gwendolyn Quinn reported Franklin died Thursday morning at her home in Detroit.
“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart,” Quinn said in a statement. “We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.”
She was the most lionized and lauded female R&B vocalist of her era. Winner of 18 Grammy Awards, and a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement honoree in...
- 8/16/2018
- by Chris Morris
- Variety Film + TV
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