Movies Til Dawn

Herewith, the first of the stills from "City Island". And click here to read the allaboutjazz.com review of "Tis Autumn: The Search For Jackie Paris" . The "Tis Autumn" DVD can now be ordered on Amazon, though technically it's a pre-order as the street date is 3/31. But why let that stop you? I'll publish more stills from "City Island"...albeit erractically, so as to force you to keep coming back to check the site. Meanwhile, enjoy this portrait of an all-Amercian dysfunctional family...and don't forget to click to enlarge!   Subscribe in a reader

Apropos of Jerry Lewis's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award given to him at the Oscar's last night, I thought I'd reflect (and frankly reprint from a very long time ago a quite interesting piece I wrote for this blog back when ABSOLUTELY NOBODY READ IT) upon the man who, one way or another, everybody loves to hate...and secretly (I believe) everyone actually quite likes and perhaps even adores. Check yesterday's (2/22/09) New York Times Sunday arts section appreciation of Lewis. I believe it's his first American highbrow nod in God knows how long (if ever) and it comes, frankly, as something of a surprise. What a nice thing for the New York Times to reach across the divide and celebrate the fact that Jerry Lewis--our last link to true, old-fashioned, show-biz is alive and well and able to accept a long overdue award. Even so, the writer can't help but reference the eight-hundred pound elephant in the room--namely the fact that Jerry's tendency to go to very un...

Our week of cabaret interviews ended (last Friday already...oy vey, where have I been?) with the great Dixie Carter . Now most of you probably share my own ignorant view that Ms. Carter is nothing more than a legendary television star ("Designing Women", of course, but also "Different Strokes" for awhle and more recently her memorable turn on "Desperate Housewives"). But thanks to "Intimate Nights" author James Gavin, I'm now hip to the fact that Dixie Carter is, first and foremost, a singer of rare ability, a cabaret artist to the bone whose early work was in the small nightclubs that we're exploring in our documentary. (By the way, apropos of that "Desperate Housewives" mention: according to the above wikipedia link, Marc Cherry, DH's creator, began his career in Hollywood as Dixie's assistant during "Designing Women". There's a moral in there about not being a total dragon to your personal assistant wh...

Forgive my disappearing act, but I had one hell of a week. We (myself, James Gavin and Melissa Painter) interviewed on-camera the first half-dozen subjects for the documentary "Intimate Nights" (see previous post if you don't know what I'm talking about). I already wrote about Shelley Berman, our first fascinating find. But it only got more interesting as we went on. On Monday, we met the great Orson Bean, who I knew mostly from game shows when I was growing up but who had a wonderful and extensive career in cabaret in the 50's as well as a big-time Broadway career ("Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter", "Never Too Late" etc.) Oh, you don't believe that I really met Orson Bean? Well... There. Desdemona's hankie isn't in the same class of proof. Next up was the wonderful French actor/comic/singer Robert Clary, who most people know from "Hogan's Heroes". A truly gentle-man, Clary had a horrific background which he somehow e...

Welcome to my new movie, a documentary based on a wonderful book by James Gavin called "Intimate Nights: The Golden Age Of New York Cabaret" . Jim's book documents, in astonishing and wonderfully entertaining detail, the history of the small clubs--those chic and innovative nightspots where, once upon a time, people went too for an evening of sophisticated entertainment featuring singers, musicians, monologists, stand-up comics etc. Cabaret, in other words, in its most rarefied and exuberantly sophisticated form. I urge you to buy Jim's book if you're interested in this subject. And I urge you even more strongly to buy it if you're not--because it will make you into a convert. It's a fantastic cultural treasure trove that deserves more attention and is about to get it. I met Jim last year through a mutual friend and, without knowing it, we were each other's admirers; I'd loved "Intimate Nights" since it's initial publication in the e...

We had two screenings of "City Island" last week--one in New York and one in LA--for prospective buyers of the film, as well as friends and recruited audience members. I was at the LA screening which--I'm unashamed to say--was a big fat hit. Lots of laughs and some genuine tears flowing toward the end. There is nothing more gratifying than hearing laughter at your work--providing of course that your intention was to make people laugh. By the way, we're premiering at a major film festival this coming spring--I'll name it when the appropriate time has come. After the screening, Andy Garcia arrived in a marvelous looking blue pin-stripe suit. He greeted people outdoors and I complimented him on dressing so well for the occasion. He said that he'd come straight from a taping of the Jimmy Kimmel show to promote his new movie "Pink Panther 2" in which he stars with Steve Martin. Thus the real reason for the suit was revealed. Nonetheless, it was still a sm...