I did not have to beg my mother to let me stay up late on a Sunday night before a school day so I could watch a Barbra Streisand special on CBS. Why? Because Mom would be sitting right there with me. Barbra Streisand albums were in The Rivers Family record collection in our South Central L.A. home. So, I have been a major Barbra Streisand fan for over half my life. I listened to NPR host Scott Simon interview the truly multi-talented entertainer on Saturday's Weekend Edition. In classic Hollywood terms, she's a powerhouse entertainer but not a "triple threat." Barbra can sing and she can act. But, unlike Judy Garland and Doris Day, her dancing left a little something to be desired. A minor point when you consider the other achievements in her long, spectacular career -- especially on film. In one very exciting night at the Academy Awards, she won a Best Actress Oscar for 1968's FUNNY GIRL the hit film adaptation of the Broadway musical that made her a new star. The Broadway show gave her two of what would become her signature tunes -- "Don't Rain On My Parade" and "People".
What made her Oscar triumph moment so exciting was that two Oscars were awarded. Streisand, a Hollywood newcomer, tied for Best Actress with veteran Hollywood icon, Katharine Hepburn. As usual, Hepburn did not attend the awards when she was nominated. She was nominated 12 times. Hepburn won four Oscars for Best Actress. So far, that's record number of wins for one woman in the Best Actress category.
Her first three films were "big voice" musicals. There was FUNNY GIRL. Then we moviegoers saw the film version of another Broadway hit. Although too young for the lead role in HELLO, DOLLY!, casting her in the role made good Hollywood box office sense. She was the hot new star. What other American female singing star who had wowed the public with her records and network TV specials had that kind of voice? Its glistening softness melted your heart and then it could soar and hit the heights like a sonic boom. Proof? Wait for her final note in her rendition of "Before The Parade Passes By" in HELLO, DOLLY! Vincente Minnelli's ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER was another film based on a hit Broadway musical comedy. Then Streisand showed you that she didn't need songs to stand out in a role. She established her own style of screen comedy as the motor-mouthed, pushy but ultimately lovable hooker in 1970's THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT. Doris considers herself to be a "model and an actress" -- not a hooker.
This too was a Broadway hit and the material was adapted to fit Streisand's comic strengths. The original play starred the late and extremely gifted African American actress, Diana Sands, and Alan Alda. This was a golden example of Broadway diversity. The role of Doris was not written specifically for a black actress. Sands, who was in the original cast of Broadway's landmark drama, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, got the role because she was right for the part.
In the early 1970s, the versatile Sands succumbed to cancer.
After I listened to Scott's enlightening interview, I thought about the Oscar history Barbra Streisand went on to make. Her sharp, smart dramatic work as the social activist in 1973's THE WAY WE WERE earned her another Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
The second Oscar that Barbra Streisand won came in the music category. She co-wrote "Evergreen," the hit song she introduced in the 1976 rock music remake of A STAR IS BORN in which she starred opposite Kris Kristofferson.
Barbra Streisand got an Oscar nomination as producer when 1991's THE PRINCE OF TIDES was nominated for Best Picture.
With the musical, YENTL, Streisand was able to reach for something in the space opened when top Hollywood actress Ida Lupino shattered a glass ceiling in the early 1950s. Lupino used camera wheels as wagon wheels to ride like a pioneer into the Hollywood Boys Club of directors and stake a claim. Barbra Streisand was another film actress who took hold of the camera as a film director. She directed 1983's YENTL. She co-produced and solely directed 1991's THE PRINCE OF TIDES. She took on the lead female role in the film and she took charge behind the camera. The movie got 7 Oscar nominations. But she's never been nominated for Best Director.
Nick Nolte was a Best Actor Oscar nominee and Kate Nelligan was a Best Supporting Actress nominee for THE THE PRINCE OF TIDES, Amy Irving was a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for YENTL and Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall was Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES, a 1996 film starring and directed by Barbra Streisand. Bacall, a star since the 1940s, received her first and only Oscar nomination thanks to Streisand's film.
I think that is Oscar history right there. Has any woman directed more actors to Oscar nominations for their performances than director Barbra Streisand? I don't think so. Yet, I never hear that mentioned in intros of her nor to do I recall reading it in print items about her. She won an Oscar for Best Actress, she won another Oscar for co-writing the Best Song, she produced and directed an Oscar nominee for Best Picture and she's directed four actors to Oscar nominations for their performances.
It's Oscar history worth noting for Women In Film. Ida Lupino would be so proud of her.
The stage, screen and recording star talked to Scott Simon about her current concert tour and her new CD. To hear the interview, find "The Enduring Fabulousness of Barbra Streisand" after you click onto NPR.org.
For classic film fans, here's a new Meryl Streep movie to add to the Irene Dunne comedy phase of her screen career. I will explain later. Back in the 1990s, Meryl Streep mentioned Marlon Brando as a great influence on her acting. She singled out his performance as Marc Antony in 1953's JULIUS CAESAR. In the same article, she mentioned Lucille Ball. You can see touches of Ball as Lucy Ricardo in Streep's performance as the singing socialite FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS. Meryl Streep is quite warm and delightfully loopy in this film lobbing off lines like "He's raping my ears!" as a pompous pianist plays with too much gusto. Ironically, dear Florence has no idea that she too rapes ears with her off-key musical output.
Streep's characterization has a touch of Lucy Ricardo in I LOVE LUCY. She's outfitted like Margaret Dumont in a 1930s comedy with Groucho Marx. Her character has elements of the kind of woman who would have been played by the famed monologist Ruth Draper.
Meryl Streep can sing and sing well. She sang "Amazing Grace" in SILKWOOD. She sang "He's My Pal" in IRONWEED. She sang the new tune "I'm Checkin' Out" to a Best Song Oscar nomination on POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. By the way, all three films brought Streep Oscar nominations for Best Actress. She sang in MAMMA MIA! That 2008 film version of the Broadway musical comedy hit did not bring Streep an Oscar nomination but it was huge box office hit here in the States and overseas. Streep can be funny and sing -- as she did in one of my guilty pleasure favorite films of hers. In the open of DEATH BECOMES HER, Streep breaks me up in her number as the bitchy Hollywood movie star diva. She's on Broadway in a wretched musical version of Tennessee Williams' SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH.
Back in the late 1980s, Meryl Streep mentioned in a newspaper article that she was interested in doing a film version on Broadway hit, EVITA. But Hollywood decided to go with a non-actress instead.
Many years ago, I first heard of Florence Foster Jenkins when someone was talking about Mrs. Miller, a popular and frequent novelty act guest on the Merv Griffin syndicated talk show. She was not as off-key as Jenkins but she did make one think of those Margaret Dumont characters Groucho Marx constantly teased. And Mrs. Miller recorded albums.
FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS was directed by Stephen Frears. His credits include THE GRIFTERS with Anjelica Huston, THE QUEEN starring Helen Mirren and PHILOMENA starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan -- films that are refreshing to see when you look at today's current slate of cineplex fare. They're films with juicy roles for middle-aged or senior actresses, films driven by dialogue and relationships -- not by CGI special effects and young, shapely comic book superheroes. When we first see Florence, she makes an onstage entrance similar to something we would have seen in a classic Chuck Jones cartoon for Warner Brothers. She strikes the moviegoer as being a ditzy socialite. True, she does have her clueless moments but she truly, deeply cares about the arts. She is passionate about classical music. She gives financial support. She's such a passionate and financially endowed fan that classical music greats such as conductor Arturo Toscanini can drop by unannounced. Ultimately to ask for some financial support. Florence may seem ditzy but she knows that her money, as a modern urban song states, is the milkshake that "brings all the boys to the yard." Her protector, publicist, manager and the main man in her life is her devoted husband, a British charmer and self-admitted second-rate actor named St. Clair Bayfield. Hugh Grant hits just the right note in this role. It's an odd relationship. Yes, he does love her and he's obviously devoted to keeping bad reviews out of her sight. He has a mistress. But Florence always remains his top priority over the sexy young mistress. Florence hits sour notes onstage. She has harmony in her non-traditional marriage.
Around the time of his hits like 1999's NOTTING HILL with Julia Roberts, I heard Grant frequently called "The new Cary Grant" by entertainment reporters. I think that's because he's dapper, had a British accent and got the girl at the end of the picture. If you really look at his amusing characters, I feel he was more like a David Niven. Look at Niven as the lovable cad in William Wyler's DODSWORTH, in the comedy BACHELOR MOTHER co-starring Ginger Rogers, THE BISHOP'S WIFE co-starring Loretta Young and Cary Grant, and PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES co-starring Doris Day. Grant gives life and sweetness to this film version of the singer's husband. You do wonder if, in real life, it was a marriage of sexual convenience and he was gay at a time when one couldn't be openly gay. I'm sure the answer is available to be researched. Florence needs a pianist for her recital. True, she can't sing but she's hiring and she's got money. That's why it's called show business. She likes the unassuming and overwhelmed Cosme McMoon played by Simon Helberg, star of the long-running CBS sitcom, THE BIG BANG THEORY. Florence likes Cosme. St. Clair hires Cosme.
Shy, talented Cosme has long dreamed of playing Carnegie Hall. He just never dreamed of playing piano for someone who sounds like Florence Foster Jenkins. Fear seems to be crouching behind his constant smile. He walks as if his neck and torso have been starched. Here's a trailer.
We love St. Clair because he loves Florence. We love Florence because she loves the fine arts. "Music matters," she says. Although she can't sing, she gives her all to perform for our soldiers in World War 2. She is determined to entertain men fighting for our freedom and liberty. She's not selfish. Florence is not like young contestants on reality TV competition show, talented contestants who hunger for instant celebrity status. Microwave stardom. They want to be stars for the Red Carpet experience. Florence wants the spotlight to distinguish herself and help others. She will give money the keep the classical music arts going. Her ultimate dream is to be a part of the entertainment world that enriched her life and often healed her broken heart. Who hasn't had a dream like that? I did. I have. I was touched and enlightened by TV and film. I wanted to contribute to it, be a part of it. Like Florence, I've occasionally wondered if I really had talent or if I was just a novelty to some people.
St. Clair sees Florence as she really is. To Cosme, she reveals the heartbreaks of her life. And there were big heartbreaks. I have been a Meryl Streep fan for decades, going back to her performance in the 1978 NBC mini-series HOLOCAUST about a Jewish family's struggle to survive the horrors of Nazi Germany. Meryl's acting skills in her early film career coupled with her brilliance at foreign accents dazzled us. Look at SOPHIE'S CHOICE, OUT OF AFRICA, THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN and A CRY IN THE DARK (the "A Dingo Ate My Baby" movie). We were so dazzled by her acting perfection and technique that often we didn't get fully absorbed into her characters the way we did, say, Bette Davis in NOW, VOYAGER and ALL ABOUT EVE, Barbara Stanwyck in STELLA DALLAS, THE LADY EVE and DOUBLE INDEMNITY, Anne Bancroft in THE GRADUATE, Shirley MacLaine in THE APARTMENT and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT or Whoopi Goldberg in THE COLOR PURPLE . Meryl's mountaintop dramatic talents made her remote, in a way. Too far above us. Like Irene Dunne in the 1930s, Streep's early film career was a steady diet of dramas. Dunne was dramatic in CIMARRON, BACK STREET, THE SILVER CORD, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION. A noted signer, Irene Dunne sang in the 1936 musical drama SHOW BOAT. Then came the 1936 screwball comedy, THEODORA GOES WILD. Apparently, moviegoers went wild for Irene Dunne being funny and a fashion plate -- and giving them a song on the side. They loved the newer, warmer Irene Dunne. She scored again thanks to the screwball comedy classic with Cary Grant, 1937's THE AWFUL TRUTH. Dunne proved to be a top screen comedienne.
I feel that Meryl Streep made a similar and calculated Irene Dunne-like turn when she made SHE-DEVIL in 1999 to break up the dramas. She needed to play kitchen-sink women. She needed to play someone who seemed accessible and of common clay. She needed to make us laugh. Then came her comedies POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990), DEFENDING YOUR LIFE (1991) and DEATH BECOMES HER (1992). In two of those, she sings. She's at her funniest while singing in FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS.
She's at her warmest and most vulnerable in scenes with Hugh Grant. Like the scene with Florence and St. Clair seated in theater seats when the theater is empty. Streep put a few tears in my eyes with this scene.
Is this a great movie? Not compared to those other Stephen Frears films that I mentioned. But FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS is a very entertaining film with a surprising poignancy, solid and touching work from Meryl Streep and a stand-out performance from Hugh Grant. To me, it's like a very good made-for-TV movie that's fun to see because...well, there's probably a little bit of Florence Foster Jenkins in many of us.
I've been a regular listener to NPR since 2005. I learn a great deal from NPR. Then there are times when I wonder if they really get it. Something today struck me as ironic. Today's MORNING EDITION show did a feature on the surprising news that Comedy Central had cancelled THE NIGHTLY SHOW hosted by Larry Wilmore. I watched his show frequently. In fact, I think I watched THE NIGHTLY SHOW more often than I watched THE DAILY SHOW with Jon Stewart. I was thrilled to see a middle-aged black man (who grew up in South Central L.A. the same as I did) host a political comedy talk show in late night. Or host any kind of talk show in late night. Larry Wilmore had given us The Bernie Mac Show. That hit sitcom had been rejected by ABC, CBS and NBC. Fox picked it up. Wilmore's sitcom production won a prestigious Peabody Award. On Comedy Central, he didn't have an easy task in these days of "Black Lives Matter," "Oscars So White" and Donald Trump running for president. But Larry Wilmore did some good stuff and raised excellent points that needed to be raised.
I did respect and appreciate Stewart's Emmy-winning and acclaimed THE DAILY SHOW. But, when the writing staff first started winning Emmys for its liberal news-talk comedy program, I thought this: "As much as they rag on the GOP for the lack of racial diversity, there's little racial diversity in the group of writers making Emmy acceptance speeches right now on TV! They look like the cast of Friends." That's what I mean with that line about wondering if liberal NPR features and programs "really get it." It's like the liberal upscale white buddy you've had for years who can't stand the racial exclusion he sees coming from the GOP, but then you realize that in all the years you've known each other, he's never introduced you to another black friend. That's 'cause he ain't got any. You're it. And if he can bring a guest to a brilliant classical music recital at Carnegie Hall or a swanky midtown cocktail party for some corporate bigwigs, he'll tell how the event was but he won't think to ask you along as the guest. However...if he gets two tickets to a show at The Apollo and has to go uptown to Harlem, you'll get a text asking if you're free and if you'd like a go along because....he's gonna be surrounded by black people!
As black performers, we know that the playing field is not level. Larry Wilmore knows this full well. We are often overlooked, under-utilized, under-publicized or our history is just flat-out ignored or misreported.
NPR's excellent FRESH AIR hosted by Terry Gross had a 5-day week-long special salute to late night hosts. Each one hour show for the week focused on late night TV entertainment talk show hosts. Terry Gross' week was co-hosted by frequent NPR contributor and TV critic/historian, David Bianculli. I listened to the whole week and wrote a blog post on it (August 29, 2013: LATE NIGHT WEEK on NPR).
The 5-part series went back to the early days of late night hosts such as Steve Allen and Jack Paar. It took us through the days of Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. We heard from new guys such as Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers. We heard about those who failed in late night shows -- Joan Rivers, Chevy Chase and Pat Sajak. In the entire week, we never heard a soundbite from or heard any portion focused on Arsenio Hall. Remember how big a hit Arsenio's late night show was? Julia Roberts' character referenced him in Pretty Woman. Bill Clinton made pop culture history playing the saxophone on Arsenio's show. Arsenio made the cover of TIME magazine. His was a racially groundbreaking late night TV talk show.
But he was completely overlooked by FRESH AIR in its week-long salute to late night hosts. Which made me wonder if any black people were on the immediate production staff to call attention to that fact. There should have been interview clips of Arsenio Hall in that series.
Today, the MORNING EDITION piece of Larry Wilmore began with the host saying that the field of late night talk show hosts was predominantly white male and would be even less diverse now that Larry Wilmore's show has been cancelled. The report is done by Eric Deggans. I was a fan of Deggans' newspaper column before NPR hired him. He is a black man. I wish he'd been a contributor three years ago on FRESH AIR's week-long salute to late night hosts. Eric would have gotten Arsenio mentioned.
Before their huge success on the TV series, EMPIRE, Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson were in the 2005 movie, HUSTLE & FLOW. Howard got an Oscar nomination for playing a pimp in that movie. David Edelstein reviewed the movie on NPR's FRESH AIR. He raved about Howard's performance and said the "new" actor was "like a young Samuel L. Jackson." I looked at my radio and said, "What?!?!" Terrence Howard was very well known to black audiences by that time. In TV biopics, he'd played a member of the Jackson Five of pop music fame, boxer Muhammed Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King's fellow Civil Rights leader, Ralph Abernathy. He played one of the high school music students in MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS, the film that brought Richard Dreyfuss an Oscar nomination for Best Actor of 1995.
Howard had a very important role in the 2000 comedy, BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE. Not high art but a big box office summertime hit with black and white moviegoers. He played a network TV show director in CRASH, Oscar winner for Best Picture of 2005. My point is -- Terrence Howard was not like "a young Samuel L. Jackson." He was like a good, middle-aged Terrence Howard.
But there were no black film critics/historians on NPR to say, "David Edelstein...let's talk." That's what I mean about our history being overlooked. Or misreported. My other example is Jeffrey Lyons on NBC giving credit for Dr. Martin Luther King's TONIGHT Show appearance and interview to Johnny Carson. This was during Lyon's obituary piece on the late Johnny Carson. Carson didn't book and interview Dr. King in 1968. That was the work of King's friend, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte substituted for Johnny Carson the whole week he was on vacation. Reporter Jeffrey Lyons was wrong -- on a network news program. Belafonte interviewed Dr. King that night on NBC.
That's probably still the longest amount of time we've seen a black performer host the TONIGHT Show on NBC.
I will miss Larry Wilmore so much on Comedy Central. The late night talk show color wall is a tough one to crack. And I have big love any minority who had the balls or brass ovaries to charge through it.
In the future, I hope NPR remembers that Larry Wilmore was there. Like Arsenio Hall was. Again, I loved THE NIGHTLY SHOW. Larry Wilmore, thanks for keepin' it 100, bruh.
To read or hear the Eric Deggans segment, go to NPR.org, click into Programs and find the MORNING EDITION for Tuesday of this week. Wilmore's last show airs this coming Thursday.
Bette Midler joins Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett and Sammy Hagar as a mentor on NBC's 11th season of THE VOICE. That new season starts September 19th. When the news broke, a couple of my young friends responded, "Really?" I declared an affirmative "Yes" as a response. I have a feeling that my younger friends -- early 40s and under -- know the Bette Midler of movies like BEACHES and her 1980s recordings of "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From A Distance."
Those two records, and I write this respectfully, would get airplay on Easy Listening stations. Bette Midler's early work gives her the top credentials to be a mentor on THE VOICE. First of all, I have seen her in concert several times through the decades. The first time was in Milwaukee. I was an usher when she played Milwaukee's classy 2500-seat theater in what is now called the Marcus Center. That's where many A-list entertainers and Broadway tours played. Her one-night engagement sold out quickly. She came, we saw, she slayed us. Midler was brassy and new and fun, a busty redheaded dynamo who had a hit record with her sensuous, earthy cover of "Do You Want To Dance?" She scored in charismatic appearances on The TONIGHT Show with Johnny Carson that spotlighted her musical and comedy skills.
This redhead was one energetic entertainer sure to rise to stardom. She had the 70s rock vibe but the soul of an old show biz trouper. She sang with Bing Crosby and with Bob Dylan. In concert, she could belt out a rock tune like nobody's business, have you doubled over with laughter at her bawdy X-rated jokes and then break your heart with a rendition of John Prine's "Hello In There." She was naughty, lovable and, above all, talented giving you an evening of "tit and wit." Her devoted gay audience grew to include what we called "mainstream" fans.
I've seen contemporary acts in concert, at The Grammys and other music shows. Few can match or top those early Bette Midler shows. She combined spectacle with smarts. You could not be stupid at her shows and get her hysterically funny references that ranged from pop culture and current show biz gossip to classic films such as CITIZEN KANE and the classic poetry of England's John Milton. A perfect example of this is the 2-record live recording of her Cleveland concert, BETTE MIDLER: LIVE AT LAST.
I'm pretty sure the year was 1976. If you've never heard this concert, treat yourself. This is vintage Midler. More network TV appearances followed, including a 1977 music variety special with Dustin Hoffman. Then came Bette Midler's big screen film acting debut in 1979's rock music drama, THE ROSE. Even though millions of us had her records and saw her in concert, we were not prepared for how devastating she was as that blazing hot rock star who was soon to burn out. She totally deserved that Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Rose is an ambitious rock star in the Vietnam War era who gives all her heart and soul in performance onstage. The rock 'n' roll lifestyle has taken its toll on her. She's had a bout with drugs. She's on the road constantly and there's no time for romance or solitude. She's physically and spiritually frayed. As a performer, she's a larger than life show business commodity that's being used and abused so others can profit.
Bette Midler would go on to get a second Best Actress Oscar nomination, for 1991's FOR THE BOYS, but never again (so far) would Bette Milder be as raw, revealing and dramatically riveting as she was in THE ROSE. You did think of the late 1960s rock singer Janis Joplin as you watched Milder in the role. Bette, however, said that she based her character in part on the late Jim Morrison on The Doors.
If you've never seen this film, you need to rent it. When you experience Midler singing the rock tunes, you'll immediately know that she has the right to mentor on THE VOICE. This is especially true of her final number in THE ROSE. She put an unforgettable stamp on "Stay With Me."
It's not just a powerful vocal rendition, it's brilliant acting. She treats the song as a monologue. She's specific in the moment of the scene and specific in her character's physicality. She's onstage, she's extremely heartbroken and she's under the influence of a critical dose of drugs. All the rage and pain and loneliness of her life come out in that song. It's as if she's casting out her own demons. Midler's Rose is tragic, funny, infuriating, pathetic, huggable and -- this above all -- very human. You connect to this character. It's a truthful performance. Alan Bates and Frederic Forrest co-starred.
In future film roles, when her stardom had been secured, Midler wouldn't often be as raw and vulnerable. She'd occasionally be like a comedy writer Bruce Vilanch version of a character played by Bette Midler the star. There would be touches of Bette "business" winking at you. Think of BEACHES or herSTELLA DALLAS remake, 1990's STELLA . In 1979, a new talent named Bette Midler totally and bravely gave herself over to the character called The Rose. And the results were fascinating to see.
The Best Actress Oscar went to Sally Field, the favorite, for NORMA RAE. By then a Hollywood veteran, Field had been the star of two 1960s youth market ABC sitcoms and then was pretty much regarded as fluff by snobbish Hollywood. She reinvented herself to tremendous critical acclaim in the dramatic 1976 NBC mini-series SYBIL as a schizophrenic young woman abused in childhood and now battling a multiple personalities disorder. Later, the NORMA RAE film role brought her just about every major entertainment prize short of the Soul Train Music Award. She'd won Hollywood's respect along with her first Oscar.
If Sally Field hadn't won, the Oscar should've gone to Bette Midler for THE ROSE. Yes, today's young pop/rock vocalists hoping to be discovered can learn a thing or two about singing -- and about acting -- from The Divine Miss M.
Look for Bette Midler on NBC's THE VOICE come September. In spring of 2017, she'll be back on Broadway in a revival of the musical comedy classic, HELLO, DOLLY!
A swanky hotel in lower Manhattan. A banquet room with hot and cold food available for members of the entertainment press. A movie junket was underway and the stars of the movie were granting on-camera interviews in a rooms down the hall. I sat with a plate of food and went over my interview notes while reporters at another table were praising an actor who was not in the movie being promoted. The actor -- Tom Hiddleston.
From what I could overhear, Hiddleston had granted interviews for a movie in which he starred. The reporters chatted enthusiastically about his charm, graciousness, humor and the attention he gave to them. He made each interviewer feel special whether that interviewer was from a big deal network program like the TODAY Show or from a modest TV station in Tacoma, Washington. I immediately thought: One day, he'll get a Golden Globe or Oscar nomination. Or both. That's how the Hollywood game works.
I SAW THE LIGHT came out early this year. It came and went apparently. It's a biopic about the late country music superstar, Hank Williams. Some of the singer/songwriter's famous hits are "Hey Good Lookin'", "Your Cheatin' Heart", "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", "Cold, Cold Heart," and "I Saw the Light." Tony Bennett, who turned 90 this week, recorded "Cold, Cold Heart" in the early 1950s and Bennett's cover reportedly widened the awareness and popularity of the Grand Old Opry star. British actor Tom Hiddleston played Alabama native Hank Williams. And Mr. Hiddleston played him very, very well.
I saw I SAW THE LIGHT just last month. I was so impressed with Hiddleston's performance that I watched it twice. His slim, jackknife frame resembles the late singer's and his lean face has angles that lend the actor even more of a resemblance. As movie biopic, the film is not satisfying, not in comparison to much better biopics like WALK THE LINEabout Johnny Cash or LA VIE EN ROSE with Marion Cotillard in her Oscar-winning performance as France's singing legend, Edith Piaf. You can even go back to an older classic like 1955's I'LL CRY TOMORROW starring Susan Hayward as Lillian Roth, a singing star who also battled alcoholism. In those films, we see the pain and heartaches that lead to addictions. Hank Williams was an alcoholic whose drinking was so severe that it surely took a toll on his health. He died of a heart attack at age 29. We don't really get a definite sense of why he drank so excessively. What was the hole in his soul that he tried to fill with liquor? He had constant back pain. He had a wife who was another constant back pain. As the film opens, they're getting married on rainy night. She's in his band and fancies herself a good singer. She is not. But she wants to be a country music star and believes she is just as talented as Hank.
Why did he marry that annoying woman? What was the major attraction? We don't get a sense of that either. But we do get a sense of how much Hank's mother cannot stand her daughter-in-law. The mother-in-law is a short but juicy role played expertly by Cherry Jones. Actress Elizabeth Olsen hits just the right note as Audrey, the wife jealous of Hank's stardom,
I SAW THE LIGHT is not a bad movie. The screenplay is not fully realized. We need more information to give us more insight into the character. Nonetheless, it is worth watching for the masterful performance given by Tom Hiddleston. The twang, the rhythmic and sexy way he moves his leg and shoulder while singing onstage, his inner light that turns on when he hits the stage...it's all there. Hiddleston does his own singing. Here's a trailer.
The British star won the cheeky "Rear of the Year" award for a TV appearance his bottom made. His hot buns were out in a sexy scene in a British mini-series. Lately, Tom Hiddleston has gotten entertainment press attention because he's the boyfriend of pop singer Taylor Swift.
As Hank Williams sang -- "Hey Good Lookin'!" I wonder if Taylor realizes what a good actor Tom Hiddleston is. You think she's seen I SAW THE LIGHT? If you can, check it out on video. You won't be disappointed in his performance.
August is SUMMER UNDER THE STARS month on Turner Classic Movies. This is a clever and entertaining TCM programming gimmick for the summer season. In August, each day from dawn through the prime time hours is devoted to one particular star. I want to give you a quick tip on a movie. It features a star who became a comedy legend. In this drama, the star portrays a character who displays some downright ugly behavior. Later, she'll break your heart. In playing that raw and unappealing side of the character, the actress played the truth and what was sorely human about that woman. The actress found the heartbreak and found the character. It's excellent acting. The star is in peak performance showing her dramatic skills. She's Lucille Ball as a hard-boiled bitch of a nightclub entertainer. This woman is ambitious. She plans to get to the big time and she doesn't care whose feelings she hurts along the way. She's angry at life.
The 1942 drama is called THE BIG STREET and airs Tuesday, August 2nd, at 1:00p Eastern. THE BIG STREET is a Damon Runyon story so it centers on Broadway in New York City. We see Lucy in her RKO years.
Keep in mind Lucille Ball had bit parts in the 1930s Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers RKO musicals TOP HAT and FOLLOW THE FLEET. Lucy then showed her wisecracking comedy chops as one of the struggling young stage actresses living in a Broadway boardinghouse in STAGE DOOR (1937). Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn were the stars of that one. Lucy and Eve Arden were wisecracking sidekicks who, like Ginger and Kate, would go on to become stars themselves. Lucy became such a major star on the small screen with her groundbreaking 1950s TV sitcom, I LOVE LUCY, that she and husband Desi Arnaz bought RKO and turned it into Desilu Studios. Lucy rose to head of Desilu in the early 1960s. This made her the first woman to head a major studio in Hollywood --and that studio was the very one where she'd worked as a bit player in classic Astaire & Rogers musicals.
Henry Fonda is Lucy's co-star in THE BIG STREET. He plays "Pinks," the kind and unassuming nightclub busboy who falls falls for the haughty entertainer named Gloria.
She winds up disabled. Gloria can't walk. When she's down and out, "Pinks" stays loyal to the beauty who's now bitter, broken and alone. Gloria must learn humility. She must have a heart.
If you've read my posts here for some time, you know that one of the highlights of my life was being invited by Lucille Ball to come over to her Beverly Hills home for cocktails. This was in 1989 when I worked on VH1. I was in Los Angeles doing a few days of taping for my talk show at the time. Lucy had seen and liked my celebrity talk show. In her comfortable home, she and I chatted about a few of her old movies. I told her how much I love THE BIG STREET. I added that, if I ran a revival movie theater, I'd put it on a double bill with MIDNIGHT COWBOY. Why? Because both are New York City stories of love and friendship in which one character winds up disabled and the other character gets the crippled friend to Florida. Lucille Ball really liked that movie connection I made. She gave me a huge smile. Lucy was extremely proud of that performance -- as well she should have been.
If I was a TCM Guest Programmer for a night, one of my selections would be THE BIG STREET. Lucy is exceptional in this drama. She truly gets the soul of that character. She acting strengths were not limited to comedy. And I'll admit it -- her final scene in THE BIG STREET makes me cry every...damn...time.
If you can, spend some time on THE BIG STREET with Lucille Ball. Aug 2nd is her SUMMER UNDER THE STARS day on TCM. At 8p ET, there's another one of my favorite Lucille Ball movie. Again...not a comedy. It's a brisk, well-played Manhattan murder mystery called THE DARK CORNER. Mark Stevens plays the private eye being framed for murder. Lucy plays his smart, devoted secretary. She hits a home-run in that role. Clifton Webb co-stars in this 1946 film from 20th Century Fox. After that comes YOURS, MINE AND OURS, a 1960s comedy that reunites Lucy with Henry Fonda.
