In an earlier post, I reflected on how Patricia Neal's life had proved that F. Scott FitzGerald's maxim, "there are no second act in American lives," wrong. While Leslie Neilsen did not have the physical challenges that plagued Ms. Neal, his career change from dramatic leading man to comedy icon certainly constitutes a second act.
Although Canadian by birth, Neilsen had acted in American Theater, Television and Film since the 1950s. He starred in the science fiction classic, Forbidden Planet; was cast as the Captain in The Poseidon Adventure; and portrayed George Armstrong Custer in The Plainsman. Along the way, he made guest appearances in classic or enduring TV series such as, "Gunsmoke, "Hawaii Five-0," "Ironside," and "The Streets of San Francisco."
For much younger audiences, however, it will be his roles from Airplane (1980), "Police Squad" (1982), and then the subsequent Naked Gun Movies; Dracula: Dead and Loving It; and Spy Hard that will "Shirley"mark their memories of Leslie Neilsen's screen presence.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Tools for the toolbox
I have been intently reading John Gallagher's Reimagining Detroit. The book is analysis of the problems facing Detroit and some possible solutions. Of course, the text deals largely with the most obvious problem Detroit faces: abandonment. Mr. Gallagher does not offer a panacea, rather he proposes some "tools for the toolbox" to reimagine the city as we know it now.
The book is compelling and offers innovative, insightful suggestions.
I keep thinking one thing: Metro Detroiters expect a panacea, a quick fix, and an awaiting savior to implement it. I hope we all take Mr. Gallagher's suggestions to heart. I will take more than one champion to fix the problems. It will take the whole region.
The book is compelling and offers innovative, insightful suggestions.
I keep thinking one thing: Metro Detroiters expect a panacea, a quick fix, and an awaiting savior to implement it. I hope we all take Mr. Gallagher's suggestions to heart. I will take more than one champion to fix the problems. It will take the whole region.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Detroit's True Blood Connection
He's 3000 years old, controls wolves, is the Vampire King of Mississippi, and that's just on the surface! As the prime antagonist of Season 3 of True Blood, Russell Edginton is a more than an equal in power and guile to Eric Northman, Bill Compton or Sophie-Ann. And he is also played by an out actor with Metro Detroit roots.
Dennis O'Hare, who plays Russell Edgington on True Blood, was born in Kansas City, but grew up in Oakland County. After graduating from Brother Rice in High School in 1980, he then went to Northwestern University. He was a noted Chicago stage actor before moving to New York. On Broadway, he has been in Cabaret, won a Tony for Take Me Out, and received a Tony Nomination for his role in Assassins.
On the small screen, he had recurring roles in Brothers & Sisters, Law and Order and CSI: Miami as well as True Blood. On the sometime bigger screen, his film roles have included parts in Duplicity, Milk and Charlie Wilson's War.
O'Hare was interviewed by Between the Lines in November 2008 about his role in Milk, where he played the virulent homophobe and California State Senator John Briggs. Briggs attempted to pass a California Proposition to ban gay teachers from the classroom as a way to advance his visibility in California Politics. Milk and other gay activists led the "charge" against the initiative. Even though the pollsters though it would pass, the measure was defeated.
Let's look forward to Season 4 of True Blood.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Made for Mystery Science Theatre 3000
Some movies are made to go straight to DVD, Dracula 3000 was made to bypass theaters, DVD and just straight to mocking cable. The premise itself is intriguing enough: a derelict ship (the Demeter) is adrift in the Carpathian Solar System and discovered by the salvage ship Mother. the Mother is captained by Van Helsing (Caspar Van Dien) with a crew that includes Vice Captain Aura (Erika Eleniak), Navigator Intern Mina Murray (Alexandra Kamp), Information Specialist Arthur Holmwood (Grant Swanby), Cargo Specialist 187, (Coolio), and Cargo Specialist HMV (Tiny Lister).
Aboard the Demeter, the Crew discovers boxes of sand in the cargo bay, wooden crosses and a long dead body. Whoshing about is a spectral figure, later revealed to be Count Orlock, in search of blood. For those of you familiar with the novel and some film adaptations, you know what happened to the original crew of the Demeter.
It was a vain attempt to have 187 become a quasi-Renfield and the reworking of a few original characters was another half hearted attempt to ground the film, but by the time Orlock is seen in costume....all bets are off. His cape and collar resemble something that was rejected in the story boarding of the Drak Pak or the Monster Squad.
Unless you are in a mood to throw popcorn at the small screen, leave Dracula 3000 out of your Netflix Que.
Aboard the Demeter, the Crew discovers boxes of sand in the cargo bay, wooden crosses and a long dead body. Whoshing about is a spectral figure, later revealed to be Count Orlock, in search of blood. For those of you familiar with the novel and some film adaptations, you know what happened to the original crew of the Demeter.
It was a vain attempt to have 187 become a quasi-Renfield and the reworking of a few original characters was another half hearted attempt to ground the film, but by the time Orlock is seen in costume....all bets are off. His cape and collar resemble something that was rejected in the story boarding of the Drak Pak or the Monster Squad.
Unless you are in a mood to throw popcorn at the small screen, leave Dracula 3000 out of your Netflix Que.
Friday, August 27, 2010
The Moment of Psycho
I just finished reading David Thomson's The Moment of Psycho How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder. Not only great insight in to Hitchcock as a director, businessman and human being, but also America as a society on the verge of recognizing something it was but would not want to admit.
The Hollywood of 1960 still had some of trappings of the Golden Age, but also had a censorship office that was nothing as to what it had been in 1930s and 1940s, was losing viewership to television, and the lions of the earlier age were going toothless, if not dying on the plain.
America was on the edge of a decade that would see unrest through the assisnation of a president, the expansion of and reaction to civil rights and the smouldering then burning war in Vietnam.
And to begin that decade in American film, we had an Englishman telling us the story of an American Beauty trapped in despair, with her one apparent attempt at salvation ending in a shower and not in the arms of her "lover." It is also the story of a man trapped in the horrors of his own mind, with props that brought those horrors to "reality." And when the two meet, well, you know the rest of the story.
Psycho, Vertigo, and the Birds would influence later works by later directors, including Roman Polanski, Francois Truffaut and Brian DePalma. And yet, Psycho and the Birds met with sharp critical disdain in the hands of American Film critics at the time of their release. In filming the shower scene, Hitchcock padded the film footage to willingly make sacrifices for the production code office, who would object to a toliet even merely show on screen, let alone flushed. And violence, outside of war movies, was just as dirty as sex in the eyes of some code reviewers. So, in 1960 Hollywood still felt the need to have moral guardians.
Meanwhile, on Television, in something as buttoned-down as the news, violence, real graphic violence, began to be common place: how many times was the Zapruder film shown in slow motion? And by the end of the decade, the napalm of Vietnam and a summary execution of a supposed Viet Cong Agent by a Vietnamese Military Official would bring death and violence into the small box in front of the TV tray as news was watched over Swanson's Saulisbury Steak and Potatoes.
And the Code Office was worried about glimpses of moleskin and chocolate syrup.
The Hollywood of 1960 still had some of trappings of the Golden Age, but also had a censorship office that was nothing as to what it had been in 1930s and 1940s, was losing viewership to television, and the lions of the earlier age were going toothless, if not dying on the plain.
America was on the edge of a decade that would see unrest through the assisnation of a president, the expansion of and reaction to civil rights and the smouldering then burning war in Vietnam.
And to begin that decade in American film, we had an Englishman telling us the story of an American Beauty trapped in despair, with her one apparent attempt at salvation ending in a shower and not in the arms of her "lover." It is also the story of a man trapped in the horrors of his own mind, with props that brought those horrors to "reality." And when the two meet, well, you know the rest of the story.
Psycho, Vertigo, and the Birds would influence later works by later directors, including Roman Polanski, Francois Truffaut and Brian DePalma. And yet, Psycho and the Birds met with sharp critical disdain in the hands of American Film critics at the time of their release. In filming the shower scene, Hitchcock padded the film footage to willingly make sacrifices for the production code office, who would object to a toliet even merely show on screen, let alone flushed. And violence, outside of war movies, was just as dirty as sex in the eyes of some code reviewers. So, in 1960 Hollywood still felt the need to have moral guardians.
Meanwhile, on Television, in something as buttoned-down as the news, violence, real graphic violence, began to be common place: how many times was the Zapruder film shown in slow motion? And by the end of the decade, the napalm of Vietnam and a summary execution of a supposed Viet Cong Agent by a Vietnamese Military Official would bring death and violence into the small box in front of the TV tray as news was watched over Swanson's Saulisbury Steak and Potatoes.
And the Code Office was worried about glimpses of moleskin and chocolate syrup.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Michael Sheen: monsters and statesmen
After just watching Twilight: New Moon, it struck me that Michael Sheen is noted by Independent/Art House film viewers for his role as Tony Blair in The Queen with Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth; on the other hand, horror and younger fans may know him more for his role in the Underworld Series as Lucian and his role of Aro Volturi in the Twilight Series.
Sheen's Tony Blair received accolades, although at the awards ceremonies his role was overshadowed by Mirren's Elizabeth. Sheen had practice for the playing Blair in TV Production The Deal and in a later production, The Special Relationship, reprised the role for a third time.
Sheen's Tony Blair received accolades, although at the awards ceremonies his role was overshadowed by Mirren's Elizabeth. Sheen had practice for the playing Blair in TV Production The Deal and in a later production, The Special Relationship, reprised the role for a third time.
Although, he has many years of acting ahead of him, I think that we see a foreshadowing of another versatile versatile Welshman, Anthony Hopkins. For as Hopkins can play Lechter, Hitler, and Nixon, he can also play Jack Lewis, Burt Munro and John Quincy Adams. After all, it is only acting.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Patricia Neal: Proving F. Scott FitzGerald Wrong
With the news of the death of Patricia Neal, I was reminded of many things: her Oscar winning role as Alma in Hud, her marriage to Roald Dahl and her recovery from a stroke that had left her speechless and paralyzed.
A Southern Girl, who came to the Stage and Screen via Northwestern and her own sheer will, Neal's Breakout role was as Dominique Francon in King Vidor's direction of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. In real life, she began an affair with her leading man in The Fountainhead, Gary Cooper. The affair ended with heartbreak, when Cooper would not leave his wife and Neal terminated a pregnancy.
Neal next married Roald Dahl; later admitting that she didn't love him but dearly wanted children. She would have 5 children with Dahl, but their life was marked with death and disability. A son would suffer a traumatic head injury and a daughter would die at seven. Neal herself would suffer a massive stroke which seemingly would cut short her 15 year, Oscar winning career on film and television. In part she was a trooper(and in part Dahl was a bulldog), but she learned to walk and talk again. In 1968 she staged her comeback in The Subject was Roses, which led to her being nominated for an Academy Award. Her co-stars, Jack Albertson and Martin Sheen, won an Oscar and a received a Golden Globe nomination for their roles.
After The Subject was Roses she created the role Ma Walton, was portrayed by the actress Glenda Jackson in The Patricia Neal Story (Dahl was played by Dirk Bogarde) and was a fierce advocate for paralysis victims. Her own Tony Award, the first ever presented, was lost and she was presented with a "new" award by Billy Irwin in 2006.
Ms. Neal: Old Hollywood and Broadway, solid television performer and a damn stubborn woman.
A Southern Girl, who came to the Stage and Screen via Northwestern and her own sheer will, Neal's Breakout role was as Dominique Francon in King Vidor's direction of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. In real life, she began an affair with her leading man in The Fountainhead, Gary Cooper. The affair ended with heartbreak, when Cooper would not leave his wife and Neal terminated a pregnancy.
Neal next married Roald Dahl; later admitting that she didn't love him but dearly wanted children. She would have 5 children with Dahl, but their life was marked with death and disability. A son would suffer a traumatic head injury and a daughter would die at seven. Neal herself would suffer a massive stroke which seemingly would cut short her 15 year, Oscar winning career on film and television. In part she was a trooper(and in part Dahl was a bulldog), but she learned to walk and talk again. In 1968 she staged her comeback in The Subject was Roses, which led to her being nominated for an Academy Award. Her co-stars, Jack Albertson and Martin Sheen, won an Oscar and a received a Golden Globe nomination for their roles.
After The Subject was Roses she created the role Ma Walton, was portrayed by the actress Glenda Jackson in The Patricia Neal Story (Dahl was played by Dirk Bogarde) and was a fierce advocate for paralysis victims. Her own Tony Award, the first ever presented, was lost and she was presented with a "new" award by Billy Irwin in 2006.
Ms. Neal: Old Hollywood and Broadway, solid television performer and a damn stubborn woman.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Vampires, are the modern ones a sulking sort?
Photo by Luc ViatourI must admit I have not watched True Blood or Twilight. I have just not had the desire. I much prefer David Boreanaz as Boothe and not Angel. I like my vampires sick and twisted; I like my heroines to be bad girls; Anita Blake is the uber tough girl par excellence. I realized, however that I am criticizing what I have not seen. So, here it goes. I will watch both True Blood and Twilight and reflect not react. Stay tuned, I may eat some crow, or just smile my wry smile a bit longer.
Monday, July 26, 2010
'Cause baby it's hot, hot, hot (peppers, part 1)
As July closes, this is the time of the grill, the arrival of some wonderful warm weather produce, and all of us are wondering where summer is going--for Labor Day will arrive soon. This is the season of tomatoes, summer squash, sweet corn and peppers. Of course, I am referring to "green peppers," which go beyond green and have forever been given a bad rap by over-cooked back of the box stuffed peppers from the 1960s and 1970s! Beginning with the Bell, peppers (Capsicum) include a range of varieties of colors, shapes, heat and flavor. Their heat runs from the incendiary (scotch bonnet) to the intriguing poblano and pasilla. Like the other New World wonders of corn, tomatoes and potatoes, peppers have been adopted, cultivated, celebrated and tweaked the world-over, impacting Asian, European and African cuisine.
As one of the fruits of the Colombian voyages, chilies were readily adapted in Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. Losing the West, but for Brazil, the Portuguese brought peppers to East Asia where they became incorporated into cuisines familiar with using spices, such as peppercorns, ginger, turmeric and cardamom. Ironically, Columbus had been looking for way to the East by going West and one of his commercial goals was to establish a spice trade! Peppers became widely cultivated and the cultivars of India, Thailand and China became part of the "classic" dishes we know now such as Samosas, Pad Thai and Hunan Beef.
In Europe itself, the pepper moved east, from Spain to France and Italian, and then further east yet again to become a key ingredient in the cooking of Hungary, where paprika means both the spice made from ground peppers and the peppers themselves. In the rest of the Balkans, peppers became the key ingredient of "Balkan Salad," a mixture of eggplant, garlic, sweet peppers, tomatoes and vinegar.
In Africa, the pepper is essential ingredient in West African and Ethiopian cuisine. In West Africa, an essential element of cooking is a trio of onions, tomatoes and peppers, usually the hottest of the bunch--habernero and scotch bonnets. This is the West African mirepoix or holy trinity ( a al Cajun cooking). Jollof Rice and Groundnut (peanut) Stew are two regional dishes that rely on red peppers and scotch bonnets for their piquancy. In Ethiopia, ground chilies and other spices are combined to form Berbere, the seasoning that is key to several Wots (stews).
Another Ethiopian chili powder is Mitmita, a key ingredient in Kitfo.
As one of the fruits of the Colombian voyages, chilies were readily adapted in Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. Losing the West, but for Brazil, the Portuguese brought peppers to East Asia where they became incorporated into cuisines familiar with using spices, such as peppercorns, ginger, turmeric and cardamom. Ironically, Columbus had been looking for way to the East by going West and one of his commercial goals was to establish a spice trade! Peppers became widely cultivated and the cultivars of India, Thailand and China became part of the "classic" dishes we know now such as Samosas, Pad Thai and Hunan Beef.
In Europe itself, the pepper moved east, from Spain to France and Italian, and then further east yet again to become a key ingredient in the cooking of Hungary, where paprika means both the spice made from ground peppers and the peppers themselves. In the rest of the Balkans, peppers became the key ingredient of "Balkan Salad," a mixture of eggplant, garlic, sweet peppers, tomatoes and vinegar.
In Africa, the pepper is essential ingredient in West African and Ethiopian cuisine. In West Africa, an essential element of cooking is a trio of onions, tomatoes and peppers, usually the hottest of the bunch--habernero and scotch bonnets. This is the West African mirepoix or holy trinity ( a al Cajun cooking). Jollof Rice and Groundnut (peanut) Stew are two regional dishes that rely on red peppers and scotch bonnets for their piquancy. In Ethiopia, ground chilies and other spices are combined to form Berbere, the seasoning that is key to several Wots (stews).
Another Ethiopian chili powder is Mitmita, a key ingredient in Kitfo.
In Latin America, the cradle of pepper cultivation, the pepper plays a key role in creating the flavors that wrap around the tomato, corn and potato. In a mole, being able to taste one of the 20 or so ingredients distinctively means the mole hasn't been made correctly; however, even so, part of the richness is the contrast of chocolate and chilies and the counterpoint they create on the tongue. Speaking of chocolate, the earliest preparation of cacao was not as a sweet bar, but a savory drink of ground, roasted cacao powder, ground chilies, cornmeal and vanilla.
In the United States, we have been the beneficiaries local intelligence and European innovations. In Taos and Santa Fe, green and red chili sauce is as common as salt and pepper on the table. From Cajun Country comes tabasco sauce, with McIlhenny's as the best known. Although a host of other "hot sauces" abound, McIhenny's Tabasco is the standard, from table to bar world-wide. A lesser know but just as important Cajun condiment is Chow Chow, made with chopped vegetables and vinegar.
In between Taos and Thibodaux is Texas, where TexMex can be sampled in all its various forms from fast food to homemade tamales. Emblematic of TexMex is the basket of chips and salsa. But TexMex is the mother of Chili con carne, with dried, ground chilies serving as the base spices, for many North Americans may have been our first foray into TexMex, no matter how remote it may have been in spirit.
Ole for the chili, celebrate this versatile vegetable by attending a chili festival, cooking Kung Pao Beef or TexMex or by putting a few drops of Tabasco Sauce in your next Bloody Mary!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Getting Dracula on Film
With the release of the latest Twilight movie, I was reminded of the fact that it took 35 years for the original and "official" Dracula to make it to the Big Screen. Bram Stoker's Dracula was published in May of 1897; the Universal Studio's Production debuted in 1931. A veiled production of Dracula, Nosferatu (1922) appeared in 1922, only to be met with litigation by Florence Stoker and the destruction of many copies of the film. Let's look at the long path from the published novel to the official film print.
Stoker was an Anglo-Irish civil servant turned theatre manager turned author. While working at the Castle in Dublin, Stoker published The Duties of the Clerks of the Petty Sessions in Ireland (1879). While his day job was as a government clerk, he dearly wanted to be a theatre critic and became a reviewer for Dublin University Magazine, whose former co-owner, Sheridan LeFanu, was the author of Carmilla. During his career as theatre reviewer, he critiqued an 1876 Dublin performance of Hamlet, by the English Actor Henry Irving. This began the long relationship between Irving and Stoker, which led to Irving inviting Stoker to be his personal assistant and theatre manager in London at the end of the decade.
In 1878, Stoker married Frances Balcombe. Ms. Balcombe had more than one suitor, as would Lucy Westerna. In a case of reality being more interesting than fiction, Stoker's rival for Frances was Oscar Wilde. Florence had turned Wilde's offer of marriage down.
Bram Stoker would publish would publish 12 novels, but none would be as successful as Dracula. In essence, Dracula was his biggest legacy both culturally and financially. Stoker had staged a reading of Dracula at the Lyceum in May 1897 to preserve a theatrical copyright and his estate retained copyright on the novel in Berne Convention signatory nations. And Mrs. Stoker was vigilant in protecting copyright.
Although Stoker appreciated the modern technology of the 1890s and greatly understood both the performance and business of theatre, it seems odd that a film adaptation would take so long. For instance, Frankenstein had its first cinematic version in 1910. Part of the story may be the "success" of Dracula as a play, adapted by Hamilton Dean (1924) and later by John Balderston, both under Ms. Stoker's strict legal control.
In Dean's adaptation, the action is set totally in England. As translated to the stage by Balderston, the number of characters is streamlined and their roles are changed. Balderston rewrote John Seward to be not a young suitor, but the father of Lucy Seward, a metamorphosis of Lucy Westerna and Mina Murray. Arthur Holmwood and Quincey P. Morris are eliminated totally from the script. This adaptation set the screenplay for Universal's 1931 English and Spanish productions of Dracula on screen.
Both plays were a success even though they departed from the text of the novel. Dean's adaptation was a hit in English Theatres outside of London, and eventually became a popular audience favorite there as well eventhough the critics didn't think much of it. Part of this was pure marketing...the original nurse on hand to help swooning audience members. Dean at one point had as many as three traveling companies producing the play at one time in England.
Dean and Balderston were very careful to respect Mrs. Stoker's wishes and with good reason. In 1922, F.W. Murnau directed Nosferatu. Nosferatu is the story of the Transylvanian Graf Orlock buying a house in Bremen with the help of an attorney and future neighbor, Waldemar Hutter. After the real estate transaction is concluded, Orlock attacks Hutter and travels to Bremen via ship. One by one, the sailors on the ship die. Meanwhile, Hutter's superior Knock has gone insane and is admitted to the asylum run by Dr. Bulwar. Orlock's animal to call is the rat, and when Orlock arrives in Bremen, his rats bring the plague. Hutter recovers and returns to Bremen. While at Orlock's castle, Hutter had discovered a book that explains that a vampire can be destroyed by sunlight in conjunction with the actions of a virtuous woman. Ellen sacrifices herself and in the process, Orlock dies as the rising sun shines through the bedroom window.
For those close to the story, the parallels and plagiarism are self evident. Graf Orlock = Count Dracula; Hutter = Harker; Knock = Renfield; Bremen = London; and the ocean voyage. Even Hutter's journey to Orlock's castle is by coach from a bridge parallels Harker's (Renfield's) ride from the Borgo Pass to Dracula's Castle. Mrs. Stoker got it too.
She sued.
Albin Grau, F. W. Murnau and Henrk Galeen, the films co-producer, director and screenwriter, neither asked Mrs. Stoker permission to use the story or paid for it is use.
Mrs. Stoker sued Prana-Film and won, but Prana-Film was by then in receivership. With no money to pay creditors, let alone for damages, Prana-Film was finished. Mrs. Stoker and the British Incorporated Society of Authors then sought an alternative means of compensation: that all the copies of the film be destroyed. The receivers destroyed the copies of the film in their possession, but other copies existed. They would stay "underground" until Mrs. Stoker's death in 1937.
Universal was very careful in negotiating with Mrs. Stoker and secured the rights in 1928, including employing Bela Lugosi, who starred in the Balderston adaptation, to work with Mrs. Stoker. In the end, Universal obtained several extant prints and destroyed them between the time they secured the rights and the production of Tod Browning and Carl Leammle Jr's Dracula in 1931.
Stoker was an Anglo-Irish civil servant turned theatre manager turned author. While working at the Castle in Dublin, Stoker published The Duties of the Clerks of the Petty Sessions in Ireland (1879). While his day job was as a government clerk, he dearly wanted to be a theatre critic and became a reviewer for Dublin University Magazine, whose former co-owner, Sheridan LeFanu, was the author of Carmilla. During his career as theatre reviewer, he critiqued an 1876 Dublin performance of Hamlet, by the English Actor Henry Irving. This began the long relationship between Irving and Stoker, which led to Irving inviting Stoker to be his personal assistant and theatre manager in London at the end of the decade.
In 1878, Stoker married Frances Balcombe. Ms. Balcombe had more than one suitor, as would Lucy Westerna. In a case of reality being more interesting than fiction, Stoker's rival for Frances was Oscar Wilde. Florence had turned Wilde's offer of marriage down.
Bram Stoker would publish would publish 12 novels, but none would be as successful as Dracula. In essence, Dracula was his biggest legacy both culturally and financially. Stoker had staged a reading of Dracula at the Lyceum in May 1897 to preserve a theatrical copyright and his estate retained copyright on the novel in Berne Convention signatory nations. And Mrs. Stoker was vigilant in protecting copyright.
Although Stoker appreciated the modern technology of the 1890s and greatly understood both the performance and business of theatre, it seems odd that a film adaptation would take so long. For instance, Frankenstein had its first cinematic version in 1910. Part of the story may be the "success" of Dracula as a play, adapted by Hamilton Dean (1924) and later by John Balderston, both under Ms. Stoker's strict legal control.
In Dean's adaptation, the action is set totally in England. As translated to the stage by Balderston, the number of characters is streamlined and their roles are changed. Balderston rewrote John Seward to be not a young suitor, but the father of Lucy Seward, a metamorphosis of Lucy Westerna and Mina Murray. Arthur Holmwood and Quincey P. Morris are eliminated totally from the script. This adaptation set the screenplay for Universal's 1931 English and Spanish productions of Dracula on screen.
Both plays were a success even though they departed from the text of the novel. Dean's adaptation was a hit in English Theatres outside of London, and eventually became a popular audience favorite there as well eventhough the critics didn't think much of it. Part of this was pure marketing...the original nurse on hand to help swooning audience members. Dean at one point had as many as three traveling companies producing the play at one time in England.
Dean and Balderston were very careful to respect Mrs. Stoker's wishes and with good reason. In 1922, F.W. Murnau directed Nosferatu. Nosferatu is the story of the Transylvanian Graf Orlock buying a house in Bremen with the help of an attorney and future neighbor, Waldemar Hutter. After the real estate transaction is concluded, Orlock attacks Hutter and travels to Bremen via ship. One by one, the sailors on the ship die. Meanwhile, Hutter's superior Knock has gone insane and is admitted to the asylum run by Dr. Bulwar. Orlock's animal to call is the rat, and when Orlock arrives in Bremen, his rats bring the plague. Hutter recovers and returns to Bremen. While at Orlock's castle, Hutter had discovered a book that explains that a vampire can be destroyed by sunlight in conjunction with the actions of a virtuous woman. Ellen sacrifices herself and in the process, Orlock dies as the rising sun shines through the bedroom window.
For those close to the story, the parallels and plagiarism are self evident. Graf Orlock = Count Dracula; Hutter = Harker; Knock = Renfield; Bremen = London; and the ocean voyage. Even Hutter's journey to Orlock's castle is by coach from a bridge parallels Harker's (Renfield's) ride from the Borgo Pass to Dracula's Castle. Mrs. Stoker got it too.
She sued.
Albin Grau, F. W. Murnau and Henrk Galeen, the films co-producer, director and screenwriter, neither asked Mrs. Stoker permission to use the story or paid for it is use.
Mrs. Stoker sued Prana-Film and won, but Prana-Film was by then in receivership. With no money to pay creditors, let alone for damages, Prana-Film was finished. Mrs. Stoker and the British Incorporated Society of Authors then sought an alternative means of compensation: that all the copies of the film be destroyed. The receivers destroyed the copies of the film in their possession, but other copies existed. They would stay "underground" until Mrs. Stoker's death in 1937.
Universal was very careful in negotiating with Mrs. Stoker and secured the rights in 1928, including employing Bela Lugosi, who starred in the Balderston adaptation, to work with Mrs. Stoker. In the end, Universal obtained several extant prints and destroyed them between the time they secured the rights and the production of Tod Browning and Carl Leammle Jr's Dracula in 1931.
The Dean/Balderston/Browing Dracula became a cult hit of stage and screen, ushering in Universal's golden age of horror pictures. By the of the decade, Universal released The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Dracula's Daughter and Frankenstein, even though the Hays Office had imposed a production code that required edits in all of the films after 1934 to be acceptable for public release or re release.
Enjoy and rejoice Twilight Fans, that you didn't have to wait until 2040 to see the latest movie in the series.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Weather: the Ultimate Reality Show
Given the waves of thunderstorms that have swept the Midwest and Great Lakes the last few weeks, and then our recent heatwave, I have realized that weather is the ultimate reality show. Of course there is a cable channel devoted to it, which would have made us scratch our heads thirty years ago. I shouldn't have been too surprised, however, when I remember my youth in small town Iowa. When we lived in Denison, our first cable TV bundle was the most basic of basic: ABC from Sioux City (KCAU), NBC from Sioux City (KTIV), CBS from Sioux City (KMEG), Iowa Public Broad Cast System, ABC From Omaha ( KETV) NBC from Ohama (then KMTV), CBS from Omaha (then WOWT) and, later, TBS, from Atlanta...but more about that another time.
In addition to the above, we had a channel, which in living black and white, was a closed circuit camera panning back and forth on analog wind gauge, thermometer and clock! All day every day. No talking heads, no commercials--that I can remember--just the constant sweep of the camera at the instruments. And we watched it! not for any great length of time, but it just always showed up as we were channel surfing!
Now, 30 odd years later, in the Detroit Media Market, we have weather, weather everywhere. First, there is the Weather Channel itself, now in addition to forecasts, the programming includes Storm Stories, Wake Up with Al and Storm Riders. The Weather Channel has its own version of instrument weather--but with Radar sweeps and satellite images: Weather Scan.
Local News Stations have two subjects that are reported by all the stations in a given market: Sports and Weather. With weather there seems to be two over riding themes: speed and technology. In the morning, we know to expect the weather on the 2's or 4's, etc. depending on the channel's original analog signal. The reporting of the weather is more predictable than the forecast! In addition, doppler radars, storm trackers, lightning trackers and computer simulations all figure into the technological "arms race" in local weather forecasting and reporting. And then there are the times when weather itself is news: power outtages due to weather events, floods, drought, tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards.
Stay tuned, hurricane season is upon us....and that unfortunately can be the exemplification of tragedy and a breaking news story.
In addition to the above, we had a channel, which in living black and white, was a closed circuit camera panning back and forth on analog wind gauge, thermometer and clock! All day every day. No talking heads, no commercials--that I can remember--just the constant sweep of the camera at the instruments. And we watched it! not for any great length of time, but it just always showed up as we were channel surfing!
Now, 30 odd years later, in the Detroit Media Market, we have weather, weather everywhere. First, there is the Weather Channel itself, now in addition to forecasts, the programming includes Storm Stories, Wake Up with Al and Storm Riders. The Weather Channel has its own version of instrument weather--but with Radar sweeps and satellite images: Weather Scan.
Local News Stations have two subjects that are reported by all the stations in a given market: Sports and Weather. With weather there seems to be two over riding themes: speed and technology. In the morning, we know to expect the weather on the 2's or 4's, etc. depending on the channel's original analog signal. The reporting of the weather is more predictable than the forecast! In addition, doppler radars, storm trackers, lightning trackers and computer simulations all figure into the technological "arms race" in local weather forecasting and reporting. And then there are the times when weather itself is news: power outtages due to weather events, floods, drought, tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards.
Stay tuned, hurricane season is upon us....and that unfortunately can be the exemplification of tragedy and a breaking news story.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
You say tahmato, I say tomahto
In honor of the first blossoms on the Sweet 100 cherry tomato, a little epistle on the fair red or yellow fruit! The little yellow flowers opened on Thursday.
About 500 years ago, gold and silver from the New World were not only things that would transform the daily life of Old World Natives. This may sound corny, but Columbus discovered maize, chili peppers and chocolate on his voyages, thus ushering in the first wave of new staples to Europe. When the shirttail cousins Cortes and Pizarro pierced Central Mexico and Peru, they found with newly opened European Eyes the tomato and the potato. We will save the potato, chili peppers and chocolate for the future!
The Spanish saw these berries being consumed by the Native Americans; seeing that tomatoes had no adverse effect, the Spanish were early adapters of the tomatl...elsewhere on the Continent, however, people were a bit slower on the uptake. For, tomatoes--like that other great New World import, tobacco--are a member of the Nightshade family, which also includes belladonna, mandrake, and Jimsom weed. There is some truth to this, for the green leaves and vines of the tomato are poisonous...but thank heavens, the fruit is not. Even if their wholesomeness as food was suspect, they were grown as ornamentals. Fortunately, from Spain, the tomato spread to Italy, changing a cuisine that we now deeply associate with tomatoes. From there they moved northward to the cuisine of France. Later, an early American advocate of tomatoes was our future president, Thomas Jefferson, but whether he acquired his taste for tomatoes in Paris or Virginia is a matter of conjecture.
On these shores, outside of Greater New Mexico, our Yankee forbears were not keen on the tomato until the 1820's onward, but in the South, the tomato entered Creole cuisine and then spread north. And to this day, in South Louisiana, the key difference between Cajun Gumbo and Creole Gumbo...is that Creole Gumbo contains...tomatoes!
Surprisingly, although Southern Italians had been eating sliced tomatoes with salt, pepper corns and oil since the 1540s, the first documented tomato pasta sauce dates from 1839! Thank goodness someone had the insight to make red sauce! I love bechamel or butter and garlic, but sometimes I just need pasta with a long simmered marinara!
Think of the average American Child or Manchild without ketchup.....is it possible? Our ketchup is a variation on fish sauce, via mushroom and and walnut pickle sauces, with tomato ketchup arising in the period between 1800 and 1840. The high acidity of tomatoes made it one of the first and safest produce to preserve and can. By 1876 Heinz was offering bottled ketchup and by 1899 condensed soups were developed by Campbell's, thus cementing the presence of the tomato on the American table, in the pantry and later the icebox.
Let's sing praises to the tomato! As the Robin is to spring, the tomato is to summer!
The Spanish saw these berries being consumed by the Native Americans; seeing that tomatoes had no adverse effect, the Spanish were early adapters of the tomatl...elsewhere on the Continent, however, people were a bit slower on the uptake. For, tomatoes--like that other great New World import, tobacco--are a member of the Nightshade family, which also includes belladonna, mandrake, and Jimsom weed. There is some truth to this, for the green leaves and vines of the tomato are poisonous...but thank heavens, the fruit is not. Even if their wholesomeness as food was suspect, they were grown as ornamentals. Fortunately, from Spain, the tomato spread to Italy, changing a cuisine that we now deeply associate with tomatoes. From there they moved northward to the cuisine of France. Later, an early American advocate of tomatoes was our future president, Thomas Jefferson, but whether he acquired his taste for tomatoes in Paris or Virginia is a matter of conjecture.
On these shores, outside of Greater New Mexico, our Yankee forbears were not keen on the tomato until the 1820's onward, but in the South, the tomato entered Creole cuisine and then spread north. And to this day, in South Louisiana, the key difference between Cajun Gumbo and Creole Gumbo...is that Creole Gumbo contains...tomatoes!
Surprisingly, although Southern Italians had been eating sliced tomatoes with salt, pepper corns and oil since the 1540s, the first documented tomato pasta sauce dates from 1839! Thank goodness someone had the insight to make red sauce! I love bechamel or butter and garlic, but sometimes I just need pasta with a long simmered marinara!
Think of the average American Child or Manchild without ketchup.....is it possible? Our ketchup is a variation on fish sauce, via mushroom and and walnut pickle sauces, with tomato ketchup arising in the period between 1800 and 1840. The high acidity of tomatoes made it one of the first and safest produce to preserve and can. By 1876 Heinz was offering bottled ketchup and by 1899 condensed soups were developed by Campbell's, thus cementing the presence of the tomato on the American table, in the pantry and later the icebox.
Let's sing praises to the tomato! As the Robin is to spring, the tomato is to summer!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Good Guys and Lone Wolves
I must confess. Maybe, I was in the mood for something cheesy. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that I have a tiny bit of arrested development, so finding the sophomoric humorous and satisfying is one my little quirks (if I am generous, a sin if I am judgmental). All in all, I found the Good Guys just as outrageous, outlandish and cartoonish as I thought would be. AND I liked it.
I must admit, I only watched The West Wing sporadically in its original run. But since catching a number of episodes on Bravo, I have really developed a passion for the series. And Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman is a great actor with a great story, cast and script. While he is an exceedingly sharp political operative when it comes to strategy and tactics, he is sometimes arrogant and immature in the limelight: Press Briefing Room or on talk television. He is a man who can steer a presidential campaign to victory, but who also can not resist trying to one-up the press only to have his jokes and gaffes go over like a lead pigeon in a windstorm.
Yes, Josh Lyman is a snappy dresser, mostly well mannered and serious about his job; Detective Dan Stark thinks he is a snappy dressy, is only concerned about being semi-welled mannered to the ladies, and the only thing he takes seriously about his job is "busting punks," by what ever means necessary. And since the Good Guys is a "buddy" show in addition to a police procedural, Colin Hanks plays Jack Bailey, who in this Mutt and Jeff pairing, is a young and by-the-book detective dragged about by Dan against his better judgment. Cop/Detective series, stories and novels have often relied on the "Buddy Theme:" Dragnet's Friday and Gannon; Law and Order's Greevey and Logan; Holmes and Watson; Tommy and Tuppence; Poirot and Hastings; and Wolfe and Godwin. Sometimes the paring forms a narrative device or sometimes the characters' interplay helps drive the action in the plot.
Off the force and on this side of the pond, however, for all of the buddies and sidekicks, there are plenty of lone wolves. Guys who may have been on the force or are a force to be reckoned with: The Continental Op, Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. (Yes, Sam had partner, Miles Archer, but when we begin looking for the black bird, the only partner Sam is interested in is Mrs. Archer.) They drink. They work around the police. They lie when they need to and violence is part of the job, sometimes a pleasurable part of the job. They have a sense of right and wrong, even if they don't want to show it. In the end, solving the crime is not so much about justice; it is just finding out what the damn truth is.
And they are good guys too, and definitely not cheesy.
I must admit, I only watched The West Wing sporadically in its original run. But since catching a number of episodes on Bravo, I have really developed a passion for the series. And Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman is a great actor with a great story, cast and script. While he is an exceedingly sharp political operative when it comes to strategy and tactics, he is sometimes arrogant and immature in the limelight: Press Briefing Room or on talk television. He is a man who can steer a presidential campaign to victory, but who also can not resist trying to one-up the press only to have his jokes and gaffes go over like a lead pigeon in a windstorm.
Yes, Josh Lyman is a snappy dresser, mostly well mannered and serious about his job; Detective Dan Stark thinks he is a snappy dressy, is only concerned about being semi-welled mannered to the ladies, and the only thing he takes seriously about his job is "busting punks," by what ever means necessary. And since the Good Guys is a "buddy" show in addition to a police procedural, Colin Hanks plays Jack Bailey, who in this Mutt and Jeff pairing, is a young and by-the-book detective dragged about by Dan against his better judgment. Cop/Detective series, stories and novels have often relied on the "Buddy Theme:" Dragnet's Friday and Gannon; Law and Order's Greevey and Logan; Holmes and Watson; Tommy and Tuppence; Poirot and Hastings; and Wolfe and Godwin. Sometimes the paring forms a narrative device or sometimes the characters' interplay helps drive the action in the plot.
Off the force and on this side of the pond, however, for all of the buddies and sidekicks, there are plenty of lone wolves. Guys who may have been on the force or are a force to be reckoned with: The Continental Op, Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. (Yes, Sam had partner, Miles Archer, but when we begin looking for the black bird, the only partner Sam is interested in is Mrs. Archer.) They drink. They work around the police. They lie when they need to and violence is part of the job, sometimes a pleasurable part of the job. They have a sense of right and wrong, even if they don't want to show it. In the end, solving the crime is not so much about justice; it is just finding out what the damn truth is.
And they are good guys too, and definitely not cheesy.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The Dude in Indian Territory
Mattie Ross: [watching Rooster load his revolver] Why do you keep that one chamber empty?
Rooster Cogburn: So I won't shoot my foot off.
As I surfed the web looking at Dennis Hopper's career, I discovered, much to my surprise, that the Coen Brothers are in the process of remaking True Grit. True Grit is one of my favorite movies: the counter play of John Wayne, the smiling Glen Campbell, and the gumption of Kim Darby's character teamed with Robert Duval as Ned Pepper, Dennis Hopper as Moon and Jeff Corey as Tom Chaney (all a string of superb villains) makes for a great two hours of cinema. While we think of Indian Territory, Oklahoma, as a Great Plains swath of Red Clay, the scenery of Fort Smith and Indian Territory reminds us that the Ozarks spill over form Missouri and Arkansas into Eastern Oklahoma.
Rooster Cogburn: So I won't shoot my foot off.
As I surfed the web looking at Dennis Hopper's career, I discovered, much to my surprise, that the Coen Brothers are in the process of remaking True Grit. True Grit is one of my favorite movies: the counter play of John Wayne, the smiling Glen Campbell, and the gumption of Kim Darby's character teamed with Robert Duval as Ned Pepper, Dennis Hopper as Moon and Jeff Corey as Tom Chaney (all a string of superb villains) makes for a great two hours of cinema. While we think of Indian Territory, Oklahoma, as a Great Plains swath of Red Clay, the scenery of Fort Smith and Indian Territory reminds us that the Ozarks spill over form Missouri and Arkansas into Eastern Oklahoma.
We have already seen Jeff Bridges in one Post-Modern Western, Wild Bill. Lawman/Gunman/Hero/Heel? a la the Earps, Holliday and Masterson: depends on what point in what life one is judging? As with current Hollywood, the lens of popular culture, wishful thinking, dime novels and the legend of the West, all of our heroes either larger than life or smaller than legend. And, in another interesting side note, Jeff Corey, Tom Chaney in the original True Grit, played Wild Bill Hickok in Little Big Man.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Original Buried Alive
With TLC's Hoarding: Buried Alive and the season finale of Bones, compulsive hoarding has become a compelling trainwreck to watch. I thought we might take a look at the "Ur Text" of hoarding in popular culture: The Collyer Brothers. Homer and Langley Collyer's demise was the ultimate buried alive, at least for Langely.
Born in Gilded Age New York, Homer (1881 to 1947) and Langley (1885 to 1947) both graduated from Columbia. Homer practiced law and Langley studied engineering and was an avid musician. Their father, a prominent New York doctor, had built a brownstone in Harlem when it was en vouge to live in the neighborhood . The brothers never left the nest; apparently, their parents did. By the 1920's both of their parents were dead and the brothers had the house to themselves.
What came next echoed a Poe or Lovecraft short story, except this wasn't fiction--not yet.
Langley and Homer began collecting and neglecting. By the end of the 1920's the house was without utilities; for heat the brothers turned to kerosene and some sources say that the water was drawn by the bucket from a distant pump. And by the 1930's Homer was blind and disabled. Langley became his caregiver. Although the brothers had money in the bank, Langley picked food from trash bins. He saved newspapers, so that when Homer regained his sight, he could catch-up on the news. Papers, books (25,000), musical instruments, and odd items such as a baby carriages, clocks and yards upon yards of unused fabric all stacked up in the 12 room mansion.
To the neighbors, the brothers had become "Ghosty Men." In 1942 the Bowery Savings Bank began foreclosure proceedings when the brothers fell behind on their payments. In the midst of a confrontation with the bank and police, Langley paid off the mortgage with a single, final payment and wished to be left alone. Langley continued his foraging and collecting at night. And then one day in March of 1947, the police received a report of a dead body at the Collyer House. The front door was blocked, even when taken off of its hinges. The police gained entry through a window. In the squalor they did find Homer dead, but Langley was nowhere to be found. During the ensuing manhunt, which was going on as the same time as the city was clearing over a 100 tons of stuff from the house, Langley was reported in New Jersey, but the leads turned up nothing.
Homer was found on the 21st of March. On April 8, the body of Langley was uncovered by workman. It was less than 10 feet from the chair in which Homer died. In an effort to protect their "treasures," Langley had engineered as series of bobby traps. Unfortunately for him, he apparently triggered one while bringing Homer food.
Even after the house was cleared of refuse and objects, it wasn't structurally sound. The house was raised and the site now is a pocket park.
The brother's lives and legacy have been novelized by both Marcia Davenport and E. L. Doctorow, turned into a stageplay, inspired artwork and forms one of the narratives of Franz Lidz's Ghosty Men. And apparently, in the lexicon of New York Firefighters, the dwelling of a hoarder is "a Collyer Castle. "
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Mario Meatless
Mario Batali recently announced that his restaurants would become part of the Meatless Monday movement by offering vegetarian suggestions and specials on Mondays. While at first bite this might seem paradoxical, given Mario's penchant for Parma Ham, prosciutto, and anything fowl, there are plenty of recipes in the Italian cannon that work for Meatless Mondays.
Mario joins Sir Paul McCartney, Gwenneth Paltrow, Kate Moss, Al Gore and Yoko Ono in Meatless Mondays; he is the first noted "Foodie" chef to become part of Meatless Mondays. One should note, however, that Michael Pollan, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of California Davis and University of Maryland have also joined the movement.
Don't trick yourself into thinking this as a penance for living in the modern world. Rather, see this a chance to explore and to ensure that you are eating with your eyes as well as your stomach. Sometimes, we view food way too much as raw fuel (just eating) and forget the social and ritual contexts of meal.
Meatless Mondays or a Meatless Day a week seems sensible; our factory farms are economically efficient but resource exhaustive. And there is plenty of produce in the garden and market that await discovery. Learn how to cook chard, roast fennel, saute some mushrooms, make polenta, fry squash or simmer a vegetable bolgnese. Ciao
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
New Wine in Old Bottles
Just a brief posting....
Nightmare on Elm Street is back.
Haven't seen the new one. I saw the first version 20 years ago, and have not looked at a basement the same since. The movie industry is a risk averse enterprise; so, if a plot line or a character or a concept have worked once, why not try it again? That is, until I saw a trailer for the "A Team." But hopefully, as George Peppard did in the original, Liam Neeson can make the best of a wobbly bottle.
Next, I saw a commercial for a film I thought would surely be a remake of It's Alive. I don't know, but thank heavens, it turned out to be entitled Splice. BTW It's Alive was remade two years ago!
Nightmare on Elm Street is back.
Haven't seen the new one. I saw the first version 20 years ago, and have not looked at a basement the same since. The movie industry is a risk averse enterprise; so, if a plot line or a character or a concept have worked once, why not try it again? That is, until I saw a trailer for the "A Team." But hopefully, as George Peppard did in the original, Liam Neeson can make the best of a wobbly bottle.
Next, I saw a commercial for a film I thought would surely be a remake of It's Alive. I don't know, but thank heavens, it turned out to be entitled Splice. BTW It's Alive was remade two years ago!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Camped Crusader Cameo!
I thought I had seen, or maybe I thought I had remembered, all of the guest villians from the late 1960's Batman series. This great casting/fawning to the stars of stage and screen (Ethel Merman, Victor Buono, Vincent Price and Van Johnson), earlier television (Art Carney and Milton Berle), or pure wild cards (such as Joan Collins, Zsa Zsa Gabor or Roddy McDowell) makes the series just as outrageous as the "KAPOWS" splattered across the screen in fight scenes.
This evening, in my stroll through cable channels, I caught an episode featuring the Black Widow. I must admit, if I have seen this episode before, I don't remember it. As far as episodes go, not much, but a whole lot of Tallulah Bankhead to make up for it. I didn't recognize her, I kept running true classic movie actresses through my mind trying to make a match! It was only until I saw the credits, that duh, of course, I recognized her.
Born of an Alabama politcal family, Tallulah's grandfater and uncle were US Senators and her father eventually became speaker of the US House of Representatives. Leaving the South for New York in her teens, she had a little luck on Broadway. It was the West End where she made her mark, starting in The Dancers. She did have later successes on Broadway in Little Foxes, the Skin of Our Teeth and Private Lives, but her career on stage and screen seemed to be either hit or miss. She played her best character in real life. After 1950, as a character none other than Tallulah, she became the successful host of a radio show, published a best selling memoir and made appearances on talk shows. Given what we know now, by the 1960's her life was marked with substance abuse and physical breakdown, it is amazing that she could even guest star on Batman.
Ms. Bankhead starred in Lifeboat, where the director, Alfred Hitchcock was the less the guest star and more the King of Cameos in his own films. From the Lodger to Family Plot, Mr. Hitchcock would appear for a few moments on film, sometimes even carrying a Bass in a case or as a newspaper photograph. Hitchcock's cameos became something to look for in his movies, an expected event that occurred along with a few red herrings or plot twists. Sometimes being the inside joke and also getting to tell it, makes the rest of life and work so much more satisfying.
This evening, in my stroll through cable channels, I caught an episode featuring the Black Widow. I must admit, if I have seen this episode before, I don't remember it. As far as episodes go, not much, but a whole lot of Tallulah Bankhead to make up for it. I didn't recognize her, I kept running true classic movie actresses through my mind trying to make a match! It was only until I saw the credits, that duh, of course, I recognized her.
Born of an Alabama politcal family, Tallulah's grandfater and uncle were US Senators and her father eventually became speaker of the US House of Representatives. Leaving the South for New York in her teens, she had a little luck on Broadway. It was the West End where she made her mark, starting in The Dancers. She did have later successes on Broadway in Little Foxes, the Skin of Our Teeth and Private Lives, but her career on stage and screen seemed to be either hit or miss. She played her best character in real life. After 1950, as a character none other than Tallulah, she became the successful host of a radio show, published a best selling memoir and made appearances on talk shows. Given what we know now, by the 1960's her life was marked with substance abuse and physical breakdown, it is amazing that she could even guest star on Batman.
Ms. Bankhead starred in Lifeboat, where the director, Alfred Hitchcock was the less the guest star and more the King of Cameos in his own films. From the Lodger to Family Plot, Mr. Hitchcock would appear for a few moments on film, sometimes even carrying a Bass in a case or as a newspaper photograph. Hitchcock's cameos became something to look for in his movies, an expected event that occurred along with a few red herrings or plot twists. Sometimes being the inside joke and also getting to tell it, makes the rest of life and work so much more satisfying.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Strawberries
Recently, I saw a Big Boy's Strawberry Festival Spot on TV. Ah, a tempting slice of pie to follow a patty melt. From there, my mind drifted. First, I recalled the scene from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery where Dr. Evil blasts into space, via a rocketed Big Boy. Then, the Kidnapped Big Boy stolen as homecoming prank. Or the Big Boy that ended up cradling a swiped nativity scene Baby Jesus in his arms.
But the strawberries themselves really got me thinking. First, there are the stolen strawberries of the Caine Mutiny, with its ensuing key search and anti-climatic conclusion. And finally, there are the eponymous Wild Strawberries of Bergman's Film, where it is not so much the strawberry as what the idiomatic expression in Swedish means: a personal treasure, especially one that may not be highly regarded by others. So, find your own Wild Strawberries and have some fun along the way.
But the strawberries themselves really got me thinking. First, there are the stolen strawberries of the Caine Mutiny, with its ensuing key search and anti-climatic conclusion. And finally, there are the eponymous Wild Strawberries of Bergman's Film, where it is not so much the strawberry as what the idiomatic expression in Swedish means: a personal treasure, especially one that may not be highly regarded by others. So, find your own Wild Strawberries and have some fun along the way.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Hawking, Sagan and Fermi
Stephen Hawking's recent admonishment about searching for and then contacting extraterrestrial life reminded me of the late great Carl Sagan. Sagan's Cosmos presented astronomy, physics and the history of science in a way that captured some of the minds of the best geeks of my generation. It was from this series and the companion book, that I first learned about the Drake Equation, which postulates how many other electromagnetically enabled and possibly communicating civilizations there may be in the Milky Way galaxy, which according to the SETI League, is estimated to be about 10,000.
The contrary to the Drake Equation is the Fermi Paradox, which basically states: if there are so many intelligent civilizations out there, why haven't we encountered them? This paradox was apparently expounded by Fermi in the 1950 almost 10 years before Drake's equation was first formally formulated.
I thought a really great Cold War reason why we may have not encountered or contacted extraterrestrial life is that highly technologically advanced societies may have a tendency to destroy themselves!
The contrary to the Drake Equation is the Fermi Paradox, which basically states: if there are so many intelligent civilizations out there, why haven't we encountered them? This paradox was apparently expounded by Fermi in the 1950 almost 10 years before Drake's equation was first formally formulated.
I thought a really great Cold War reason why we may have not encountered or contacted extraterrestrial life is that highly technologically advanced societies may have a tendency to destroy themselves!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Bitter Ends? Civet Coffee
The Times recently featured Kopi Luwak, Civet Coffee. The "beans"undergo a unique journey on the way to the roaster, to say the least. In the Philippines and Indonesia, the civet purloins the sweetest coffee cherries from the trees; as the cherries are digested by the civet's g.i. tract, the nascent coffee beans--more seed-like than a run of the mill bean--ferment. The fermented seeds can be gathered from civet scat, rinsed, roasted and brewed into what is considered the world's best coffee.
With prices of $99 a cup and $227 for a pound of beans, fakes abound, so beware. And with market demand, a Vietnamese company produces a brand of civet coffee not fermented in the mongoose's gut, but in a synthetic enzyme wash. I guess it is not only for the thrifty, but also for the faint of heart.
With prices of $99 a cup and $227 for a pound of beans, fakes abound, so beware. And with market demand, a Vietnamese company produces a brand of civet coffee not fermented in the mongoose's gut, but in a synthetic enzyme wash. I guess it is not only for the thrifty, but also for the faint of heart.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Urban Farming? Green Acres meets The Good Life.
With the interest in turning Detroit's vast tracts of empty blocks into urban farms, I reflect on my Iowa/South Dakota boyhood and wonder what 40 acres of corn would like west of City Airport? I know it would look like: 40 acres of corn west of City Airport. This interesting idea of reusing idle land reminded me of two television series with a "Back to the Land" theme. Green Acres and The Good life. Let's have some fun with a thought experiment.
In Green Acres Redux, Oliver Wendell Douglas, now a Detroiter, could have kept his downtown law practice and had his hobby farm. Of course, Lisa would have been happy to keep a high rise penthouse on the waterfront and let Oliver commute. Also, being a lawyer, Mr. Douglas would at least have a shot in getting 40 acres with a clear title in Detroit!
In The Good Life 2010, Tom and Barbara Good, would not only be able to turn their own lawns into vegetable gardens, but could also put both adjoining lots into cultivation. In this case, we would have to find a comedic element other than the clash with the neighbors. For, even if the neighbors were rigidly upper middle class, they would applaud the Goods for doing the right the thing! I can see Tom replacing Lenin the chicken with a flock of pheasants; however, he would then need to reinforce the fencing to keep out the coyotes. Pheasants and coyotes, which use to make me think of South Dakota, actually are abundant in the Urban Prairie.
My mind races on, could Hoss and Little Joe graze cattle on the West Side?
In Green Acres Redux, Oliver Wendell Douglas, now a Detroiter, could have kept his downtown law practice and had his hobby farm. Of course, Lisa would have been happy to keep a high rise penthouse on the waterfront and let Oliver commute. Also, being a lawyer, Mr. Douglas would at least have a shot in getting 40 acres with a clear title in Detroit!
In The Good Life 2010, Tom and Barbara Good, would not only be able to turn their own lawns into vegetable gardens, but could also put both adjoining lots into cultivation. In this case, we would have to find a comedic element other than the clash with the neighbors. For, even if the neighbors were rigidly upper middle class, they would applaud the Goods for doing the right the thing! I can see Tom replacing Lenin the chicken with a flock of pheasants; however, he would then need to reinforce the fencing to keep out the coyotes. Pheasants and coyotes, which use to make me think of South Dakota, actually are abundant in the Urban Prairie.
My mind races on, could Hoss and Little Joe graze cattle on the West Side?
Friday, April 16, 2010
Vampires and the small "r" romance
Vampire: a foul, stinking, undead creature from the grave or a suave victim in need of nurturing?
The first of what may be many post concerning the creatures of the night!
Over the last one hundred years, the image of the vampire has shifted from a nosferatu, "a plague carrier," to the doomed aristocrat, the goth rocker, the deadly and beautiful temptress, or a "perpetually troubled teen." Of course, earlier censorship restrictions and the demure tone of traveling companies soften the image of the vampire on stage.
I must admit that I am in the generation that was too young to remember the original Dark Shadows, just old enough to see Love at First Bite and greatly appreciated Bram Stoker's Dracula.
The vampire in some traditions is a noted shape shifter, and not just in an animal form. It is not too far a stretch to think that if a vampire can turn into a mist, a dreaded walking cadaver can appear to be or be perceived as beautiful being. Something, if not to be loved, to be desired.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Premier Post
Let's Just be Gleeful!
In this day when almost any successful film, television show or book can be repackaged as a musical and be taken seriously, thank heavens for a show that is just fun. We know that Glee is over the top. We know that Show Choir/Glee Club can be intense in real life; the anxieties of "fitting in" are just as intense. Adolescence is a roller coaster of emotions; and as the curse of 1980's mix tape shows, sometimes it is best expressed in song(s).
So bring on the covers, I won't look for the lip-syncing, but save us the Slushies in the face. They may echo Soupy Sale's pies, but they are painful reminders of the bullying that goes on in school.
I look forward to replaying song clips on fox.com; for I know it is often "a show about a show." All too often, many a television show tries to be about something, when we know that the best series are sometimes about nothing at all.
In this day when almost any successful film, television show or book can be repackaged as a musical and be taken seriously, thank heavens for a show that is just fun. We know that Glee is over the top. We know that Show Choir/Glee Club can be intense in real life; the anxieties of "fitting in" are just as intense. Adolescence is a roller coaster of emotions; and as the curse of 1980's mix tape shows, sometimes it is best expressed in song(s).
So bring on the covers, I won't look for the lip-syncing, but save us the Slushies in the face. They may echo Soupy Sale's pies, but they are painful reminders of the bullying that goes on in school.
I look forward to replaying song clips on fox.com; for I know it is often "a show about a show." All too often, many a television show tries to be about something, when we know that the best series are sometimes about nothing at all.
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