Free tix! DeMille’s ‘Cleopatra’ @ Chinese Theatre 90th birthday
Apr
20
2017
On May 1, 2017, Hollywood Heritage, the TCL Chinese Theatre, and NBCUniversal will celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the opening of the Chinese Theatre. It was known then, and for many still is nostalgically remembered as Grauman’s Chinese. The Chinese gives a prime example of Los Angeles’ kooky ‘themed’ architecture. The birthday bash will feature ...
Marilyn, in red perfection, on auction this weekend 1
Mar
24
2017
BRUNO BERNARD (German, b. 1912) Marilyn Monroe At Niagara Falls, 1952 C type print, printed later Estate signed & numbered ‘20/50’ 40 by 30 inches What a woman. What can we say? This spectacular portrait of Double-M among several now on auction at Julien’s. Bid now, auction closes this Sunday. Marilyn Through The Lens – ...
Postcards from the beyond
Jan
26
2017
Carrie Fisher is gone. Debbie Reynolds is gone. Mike Nichols is gone. But on Thursday February 2 those dearly departed will send us a postcard from the beyond. A nice ‘homage’ screening of Nichols’s “Postcards From the Edge” (1990) at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Carrie Fisher adapted her semi-autobiographical best-seller about an actress ...
Meg Stuart: female brutalism tinged by vulnerability
Jan
23
2017
At left, a portrait of the expatriate choreographer Meg Stuart who is visiting Los Angeles this week. Her bravura solo, “Hunter” will be performed at REDCAT this weekend. Many choreographers in Los Angeles will find Meg fascinating and real. I am personally very attracted by her distinctive brand of female brutalism — mixing raw emotion ...
Anita Bryant tells it, once more, to Playboy magazine 1
Sep
6
2016
Less than 10 years after the Stonewall Riots, Anita Bryant launched a successful campaign to repeal gay rights in Dade County, Florida. Bryant’s notorious campaign gave legitimacy to a new style of right-wing politics and helped launch the Moral Majority and similar right-wing movements that continue to the present day. Bryant’s rumblings had a major ...
Review: Natalia Osipova rules the boy’s club of “Tour de Force III” 2
The latest edition of packaged ballet entertainment wrangled by impresario Sergei Danilian, the force behind “Tour de Force III” presented Saturday night at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, brandished a sorry statistic. That each of the evening’s four repertory items was the creation of a male choreographer unfortunately goes without saying. The marginalization, no, ...
Worldly woman shocks small-town America! Pola Negri, you go girl.
Jul
14
2016
“A Woman of the World” (1925) stars Pola Negri in a comedy about a sophisticated European countess (do they make ’em unsophisticated?) who encounters culture shock during her visit to small-town America. Her continental freedoms — she smokes in public, she wears flashy makeup — clash with local morals. A crusading District Attorney enters the ...