A rainy Saturday afternoon. After doing some light housework, I was in the mood to see some light entertainment. Something under 90 minutes. The first episode in Season 2 of BRIDGERTON did just the trick. That show has some fierce and fabulous eye-candy -- the sets, the costumes and the actors.
In the second season opener, young single ladies are preparing to make their debut before the queen. This is basically a ritual in which the young ladies are groomed by families to attract a husband. They are offered up like free cheese cube samples on a platter held by a supermarket employee. One such presentation is halted abruptly by the queen when a new edition of the widely read, hugely popular and extremely influential gossip sheet has just been published and released. The society observer's identity is kept secret.
This episode was too much fun. One of the Bridgerton men, hungry to find a future wife, finds a woman who captivates his heart. She's smart and independent. But he's being set up with her sister. The queen, wearing large wigs that are shaped like hot air balloons, likes the sister. There is a gala ball for the debutantes. If the dance music sounds familiar, it's Madonna's "Material Girl."
A couple of other things I love about BRIDGERTON: The cheeky voiceover narration done by Julie Andrews and the show's cinematography. The cinematographers know how to light Black actors. They are sorely needed on the production team of HBO's THE GILDED AGE.
The two-time Oscar nominee turned 81 this week. I think I can trace the beginning of my gayness back to a night with Ann-Margret back in Southern California. I was a little boy and our family went to see a double feature at the Twin-Vue Drive-In in Gardena. We lived in South Central L.A.
The first feature was BYE BYE BIRDIE. When I saw the movie open with Ann-Margret alone onscreen doing this....
....something in my little boy heart shouted "Faaaaaaabulous!" I was hooked. I immediately became a hardcore Ann-Margret fan. In that open, she displayed her musical talent, her warmth, her loveliness, her hipness and her undeniable screen charisma. After that, I was all about Annie. If there was a movie magazine with an article about her, I wanted to buy it. When she was a character in a special episode of THE FLINTSTONES, I had to see it. When she made other movies, aimed at the young generation, I begged my parents to let me see them,
My pre-teen adoration of Ann-Margret wore Mom out. I talked about Ann-Margret a lot. Then one day, Mom said "I have to see why you are so worked up about this Ann-Margret." Mom had been caller number 1 with the correct answer to a trivia question contest on a local radio station. She won lunch for 2 at a semi-swanky restaurant in Hollywood. She called a friend who was also a co-worker and said "On Saturday, let's go have lunch in Hollywood and then there's a movie I want to see that's playing near the restaurant."
The movie was the drama THE CINCINNATI KID starring Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell -- and Ann-Margret.
When Mom got home, she said this to me about Ann-Margret: "Oh, honey. she's good. Like back in my day. She'll do these BYE BYE BIRDIE movies for you kids, then she's gonna move up because she's good -- like Joan Blondell and Barbara Stanwyck good."
Ann-Margret had delighted young audiences in THE PLEASURE SEEKERS, KITTEN WITH A WHIP and VIVA LAS VEGAS.
Then, she did indeed move up. She got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for CARNAL KNOWLEDGE directed by Mike Nichols. She got a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the rock musical drama TOMMY.
She also excelled in made-for-TV movies. She got raves for her performance as Blanche DuBois in an ABC TV production of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. In 1983's WHO WILL LOVE MY CHILDREN?, based on a true story, she played an Iowa mother of ten who is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Her husband is an irresponsible alcoholic so she works doggedly to find loving families for her children once she's gone. The performance brought Ann-Margret a lead actress Emmy nomination.
Her work brought about this memorable moment from the winner -- Barbara Stanwyck. Watch this clip.
I received a DVD of this foreign movie during Oscars countdown season when the nominations were announced. I didn't watch. But when my buddy, Scott Simon, interviewed the director/writer last weekend on his NPR Weekend Edition show, the interview was so warm and his praise for the film was so sincere that I was motivated to watch my DVD.
I now know how Scott felt. PETITE MAMAN is an absolutely beautiful, unusual film that is told simply in 1 hour and 10 minutes. It's a tale of love, grief, memory and connection. Brava to writer/direction Celine Sciamma for her well-deserved success with this tender French film.
I can't tell you too much about PETITE MAMAN I'd give away and ruin the surprise, revelations and joy of this film. But I can tell you some.
As the film opens, we see 8-year old Nelly going from room to room in a facility and saying goodbye to old ladies. Then she leaves and gets in a car with her mother. Nelly is polite, smart without being precocious, aware and playful. We see this playfulness in the way she shares her snacks with her mother, who is as sweet as Nelly is.
There's grief in Nelly's heart because of the recent passing of her beloved grandmother. She and her mother are on their way to the grandmother's house in the woods -- the mother's childhood home -- to clear it out.
During the process, the mother leaves. It's just Nelly and her dad. Nelly is aware of the heartbreak her dad has and the grief her mother has. While walking in the woods, Nelly meets a girl who is building a treehouse. The girl, Marion, is also 8 years old and looks just like Nelly. The two become fast friends. The friendship will prove to have a certain healing magic about it.
There's no hyper editing. No glitzy special effects. No extravagant movie sets or lead characters wearing capes. As I wrote, it's told simply -- and beautifully. Nelly and Marion are played by real-life twins, Josephine and Gabrielle Sanz. They're wonderful.
Here's one of my pleasures -- on weekends, I love to watch food/cooking shows. I used to watch Food Network shows. But now the programming on that channel seems to be all competitive cooking shows, each with a trio of judges. I love cooking shows that present a dish you'd love to eat plus some history and people on the show that you can relate to. That plus lovely visuals. Such shows, for me, are a relaxing and informative pastime.
I recently went to Netflix to check out some food shows and found a couple of treasures I'd like to share.
In STREET FOODS: LATIN AMERICA, a person in Argentina says "We love cheese. A lot of cheese." That hooked me right away because I love cheese too. The Argentinians also love futbol (soccer), dance and they're passionate about politics. We get some appealing visuals of Argentina, some of its history and then we're shown a stuffed tortilla that had me drooling immediately. It was stuffed with ham and cheese.
In Buenos Aires, we go to the CENTRAL MARKET to see chefs and non-chefs purchase fresh produce and to connect with friends. There are popular food stalls in the market. At one of them, we meet Pato. She's the working class whiz behind that popular stuffed tortilla.
From her, we learn there was some sexism in the cooking game there. She was 14 when she realized she wanted to grill, barbecue and cook. But there, in Argentina, the males did the grilling and barbecuing. Girls made salads and set the table. Pato learned the art of that kind of cooking and pushed her way through the sexism.
One day, while playing soccer, she met a woman and fell in love. Eventually, her partner helped her in the kitchen Coming out to her family was not easy for Pato. Neither was having her partner behind the food counter at first. Their Buenos Aires food stand is called LAS CHICAS DE LA TRES. The food visuals in this episode made me want to be sitting at the counter with a mouth full of a stuffed tortilla. Here's a taste of the show.
Because I adore tacos, I sampled TACO CHRONICLES to see the tacos al pastor. This episode was male-driven. The voiceover narration is a man speaking as a taco as he gives you history of the hugely popular taco there in Mexico City. Over a shot of meat being sliced, the taco tells us that we're seeing "perfectly golden pork meat" with "badass flavor."
We get some history of the taco al pastor with lots of favorable comments from customers and others. And I did want a platter of those tacos. But the history we get is minimal, there's not one person we can hook into -- like the fabulous Pato in Buenos Aires -- and the TACO CHRONICLES food visuals in that episode are pretty ho-hum.
I revisited the episode of Netflix's SOMEBODY FEED PHIL wherein host Phil Rosenthal goes to Rio de Janeiro during carnival season. Phil is tall, lanky, chatty and extremely friendly. He engages people in this food/travel show. This particular hour-long episode in Season 4 made me want to pack some toiletries, casual clothing and a fork so I could fly to Brazil and eat my way through Rio.
This entire hour is like segments of THE DISH that you see on the CBS MORNINGS Saturday news show. It's not just about the gorgeously presented food. It's also about the people who make it and their location. Speaking of CBS, Phil Rosenthal is the person who created the hit CBS sitcom, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND.
The Rio episode is lovely to look at, we learn things about the culture and the food looks sensational. The photography on the show is great. We see parts of Rio we don't usually see. One of my favorite segments in it is when Phil finds great foods in the lower-income part of Rio. He goes to an eatery in the favela neighborhood. There, Phil eats at a place and meets the chef. The chef, who grew up in a favela, opened his restaurant to provide opportunities for down-on-their-luck people in the neighborhood. In other words, he's an excellent chef and a mensch. Phil gets him to tell the story -- as he samples the food -- and expresses the spirit of why we dine out and why we dine with others. I love this episode. Here's a taste of Phil's show.
Phil made me want to fly to Rio for the spareribs with pineapple alone. They look delicious!!!!
Do you watch that new addition to the NCIS franchise on CBS? It's become one of my new Monday night favorite shows. I watch it because of its lead actress, Vanessa Lachey. Before the show premiered, I saw her on the CBS MORNINGS news program. She was a celebrity guest and, of course, she was promoting the show. She grabbed my interest because, back in 2003, she hosted a show on MTV. I worked for MTV Networks back in the late 80s as a host on VH1.
Vanessa Lachey plays Jane Tennant, the first female Special Agent in Charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor. I watch mainly because Lachey is excellent in the role. You totally believe her as the special agent. Tennant is focused, serious, a good leader and tough. She will take a bad guy down in a heartbeat. There are other elements, besides Vanessa Lachey's performance coupled with the episodes' action-packed mysteries, that I love about the show. It has good roles for women -- women who are young, middle-aged and in their senior years. There's a same-sex relationship between two of the female staff members that's worked smoothly and interestingly into the show.
As for racial diversity, NCIS: HAWAI'I gets an A. Episodic TV programs shot in New York will employ local actors. The same with shows shot in L.A. This show is shot in Hawaii and uses a lot of local actors. Let me tell you, there is some exceptional Asian-American and Pacific Islander acting talent we see on NCIS: HAWAI'I. Much of that talent should be invited to come over here to the mainland and book some work.
There you have it -- my love for Vanessa Lachey's acting on NCIS: HAWAI'I plus other elements in the show. Oh! About that spelling of the state in the show's title. The special apostrophe is called an okina. It reflects the island name's spelling in the Hawaiian language. Here's a taste of the show.
This 50-minute feature, billed as a Netflix special event, opens with gorgeous twilight shots of verdant, spacious locations. Then we hear Oprah Winfrey say "Here we are on my porch in Maui." Then she introduces her special guest, Oscar and Tony winner Viola Davis, and begins the Maui porch interview by delving in Davis' poverty-stricken youth. As you know, Oprah's hugely successful daytime talk show is now history, She started her also successful Oprah's Book Club on that show. The daytime talk show is gone but her book club lives on. She announces new selections on CBS MORNINGS, a news program co-anchored by Oprah's best friend, Gayle King. Recently on the program, Oprah announced her current book club selection and it's a memoir. It's FINDING ME by Viola Davis. In that show, CBS MORNINGS also aired a 6-minute interview Oprah did with the actress/author. This Netflix presentation is an extension of that interview and one that makes you gasp and say "Wow."
With one win and four nominations to her credit, Viola Davis is now the most Oscar-nominated Black actress in Hollywood history. When she was 14, she realized that she wanted to be an actress. The journey to seek her goal was far from easy. In her youth, Davis' family lived in extreme poverty. Often, in their Rhode Island home, there was no heat, no water and rat infestation. Viola wrote "...the rats were so bad, they ate the faces off my dolls..."
In her Netflix interview, Viola reveals the poverty, violence and sexual abuse of her youth and the colorism and racism she faced in her acting career. She explains how her hit ABC series, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, liberated her emotionally. She also talks about deep love -- love for family members, teachers who helped her along the way, her husband and child. Here's a trailer.
Viola Davis said "...failure and hardship is an interesting learning tool." She is living, talented proof of that. If you are a Viola Davis, I recommend watching this interview. Her memoir, FINDING ME, is available this week.
I live with my sister in a one-bedroom St. Paul, Minnesota apartment. And, yes, I still do miss New York City with all my heart. About the last Thursday of last month, I got hit with a foot infection that rendered me immobile for a couple of days. I couldn't walk. So, my sister ordered me to go to the nearby hospital. She called an ambulance. I was in the hospital for a week and needed physical therapy to help me get on my feet again. I needed a walker. I'm back home again now -- walking around the apartment and raiding the refrigerator every hour. Without a walker, thank you. Being back home, I craved something with an NYC flavor as I recuperated, something to get me back in a New York state of mine.
I went to Netflix and checked another half-hour episode in Fran Lebowitz's PRETEND IT'S A CITY series of interviews conducted by Martin Scorsese. I watched the "Hall of Records" episode.
That was just what I needed.
When I was new to New York in the 1980s and had my own weeknight celebrity talk show on VH1, novelist Susan Isaacs (COMPROMISING POSITIONS, ALMOST PARADISE, SHINING THROUGH) and her husband invited me to dinner at an upscale Italian restaurant. The other dinner guest was -- Fran Lebowitz. I sat next to her. She was the same exact way she'd been on my VH1 show and other national TV shows. Whip-smart, hysterically funny, totally honest, no pretense. She's that way in all the PRETEND IT'S A CITY episodes I've seen.
In "Hall of Records," Fran talks about guilty pleasures and aging. If you watched the MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE on local TV when you were a kid, you'll dig this half-hour. She explains why Cary Grant is a guilty pleasure for her. About aging -- she had me laughing out loud in recognition of her youth experiences compared to the youth of today who tried to explain Twitter and Instagram to her even though she already knew what they were, she's just isn't a slave to technology and social media. She rather watch Cary Grant. There are clips of the foreign film classic THE LEOPARD by Visconti, THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR by Joseph Losey and Annaud's THE BEAR that work perfectly as she talks about youth, aging and the arts. My favorite part? Hardcore New Yorker Fran Lebowitz tells Scorsese about the time she went on a trip to Alaska with friends and their guide told them to watch out for bears. He carried a gun for protection. She didn't. A very funny story.
I loved it. If you get Netflix and have never seen the Fran Lebowitz series, here's a taste:
A film that takes us back to Hollywood in the 1920s, one that is a mostly a silent film shot in black and white, may not have been top cineplex mainstream fare in 2011. But I loved it. THE ARTIST was one of my favorite films of that year -- and the last 10 minutes of THE ARTIST left me in a sheer state of glee. The movie won the Oscar for Best Picture, Michel Hazanavicius won for Best Director Jean Dujardin won for Best Actor. His character, at the open of the movie, is a bit like Gene Kelly's character in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. He's a big star in silent films and he has a very healthy Hollywood ego. Then Hollywood is shaken by a new revolutionary technology called "sound." Talking movies are about to make their debut. Dujardin's egomaniacal silent film actor worries about what sound will do to his career. Also, he becomes attracted to a young Hollywood hopeful, a dancer, but is reluctant to act on his emotion because he is married.
THE ARTIST also features Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Ann Miller, John Goodman and James Cromwell.
Jean Dujardin became the first Frenchman to win the Oscar for Best Actor.
Dujardin is a big, brawny, handsome and extremely versatile, talented actor. So why didn't Hollywood utilize him after he won the Oscar? Do you know? Was his entertainment representation here in America just clueless about his talents? He should've done other lead role in films and been a guest on network TV shows. I saw a couple of his French films and I was quite impressed with his range and bravery as an actor. If you know why Hollywood dropped the ball on getting Jean Dujardin more good roles and exposure here in America after he won the Best Actor Oscar, please let me know.
I am so glad to be back after being hit with a foot ailment that did a whammy on my mobility for a spell.
I know very few may appreciate this post but I'm writing it anyway. It's about the 1940s singer/comedy actress Virginia O'Brien and the late singer/recording star, Phoebe Snow.
I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Our family lived in the curfew area during the Watts Riots of 1965. Here's a short feature on our community two years after the uprising.
This uprising lasted for about a week in 1965. After 1965, there were programs and activities to help the community heal from that event. One such event was the Watts Christmas Parade. This fun parade went down Central Avenue. We lived on East 124th Street and Central Avenue, so we could just walk a few seconds to Central Avenue from our cul-de-sac block to have a great view of the parade. O was not yet a teen-ager but I was already a serious classic film fan. I knew the names of old movies and their stars. Mom, my sister and I were on Central Avenue enjoying the parade. Another convertible with a celebrity sitting atop it was approaching. I saw that the celebrity was Virginia O'Brien, known for getting laughs by singing specially-written songs that she performed with a deadpan delivery. When her car passed right in front of us, I shouted "Mom! It's Virginia O'Brien!" Other bystanders were applauding and cheering. The singer heard me, looked and me and she must have wondered "How does this kid know who I am?" I'm waving enthusiastically, she gave me a broad, beaming smile while waving back and passed a hand over her face to give me her famed deadpan expression.
I was in Heaven on Central Avenue.
Many years later, I'm working on TV in New York City and living in a studio apartment in the Chelsea section of the city. I was still a Virginia O'Brien fan. Singer Phoebe Snow a good buddy of mine. We'd hang on the phone and laugh or go out, grab a bite and laugh. Back in the 90s, when people still used answering machines, I put a clip of a Virginia O'Brien tune on my machine as part of my outgoing message on January 2nd and kept it on for a few days afterwards. Phoebe had called to leave me a message but had to call right back because she was howling with laughter after hearing my music clip. Phoebe said that I had to tell her who that singer was and I had to tell her the name of the song. Phoebe would call back the next day and the day after, not to leave me a message, but -- as she told me -- to hear Virginia O'Brien again and laugh.
Here's the song that was on my answering machine on a New Year's Day. O'Brien sang it in an MGM musical comedy called PANAMA HATTIE.
