John Waters, son of P.T. Barnum

Film · Theater
He was irrepressible. In 1959, filmmaker John Waters posted announcements on telephone poles of his Baltimore neighborhood. From the start, he was both a creator and a P.T. Barnum impresario. Culled from the costumes, props, handwritten scripts, correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, film clips, and more, included in “John Waters, Pope of Trash,” the major exhibition dedicated ...

Enjoying life at 98: Dick Van Dyke

Film
I cannot say more, or in a truer fashion, about the jaunty 98-year-old than did the man who took these photos of Dick Van Dyke, and then wrote about him in Los Angeles Magazine. Chris Nichols, a friend of artsmeme (F.O.A.M.) took these candid shots in conjunction with Moments in Time, an exhibit photographic portraiture ...

‘Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad’ with Barrie Chase in person 1

Film
It’s a macabre but nonetheless resolute fact — and it came directly, unprompted, from Chase, a friend of artsmeme (F.O.A.M.). (She is also one of artsmeme’s favorite subjects.) Barrie Chase, one of Hollywood’s most precious jewels as a dancer, now 90 and fit as a fiddle, admitted it herself. Speaking of It’s a Mad, Mad, ...

Splendid early film choreography by Jack Cole for ‘Kismet’ (MGM, 1944) 2

Dance · Film
This YouTube bundling of two lengthy harem numbers choreographed by Jack Cole for KISMET (MGM, 1944) displays the young choreographer’s mature grasp of his craft in staging, and in creating beautifull and unusual framing of dance for the eye of the camera. The first sequence has rare footage of The Kraft Sisters, in particular Beatrice ...

To rise again in Rome: Malcolm McDowell & pals in ‘Caligula’

Film
Caligula (Malcolm McDowell) is an anxious young man. He seems to have lost his moral compass. But that’s understandable. He’s seen his family murdered; then, he himself adds to the bloodshed by offing his adoptive grandfather, the mad emperor Tiberius (Peter O’Toole). He’s conducting an unsavory relationship with his fetching sister Drusilla (Theresa Ann Savoy), ...

Up on the roof: summer movies at The Montalbán

Film
It’s a fun and cool thing to do. It’s Rooftop Movies at The Montalbán where a summer screening series kicked off the other night with The Greatest Showman, the Hugh Jackman/Michelle Williams movie-musical we had never seen. We had a ball. You can have one too. It goes like this. Find your way to the vaunted ...

Fabulous. Bruce Lee appreciation, via UCLA Film & Television Archive

Film
Admired for his incomparable martial arts skills, Bruce Lee’s philosophies of self-actualization equally inspire his fans worldwide. A special screening at UCLA Film Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater celebrates Lee as a thinker and instructor: ABC TV’s Longstreet: “The Way of the Intercepting Fist” (1972) co-stars Lee as a martial artist and life coach ...

Academy Film Museum ‘Regeneration Summit’ to include music & dance

Dance · Film · Music
Hooray! It’s a regeneration summit! Not really sure what that is, but we’ll all find out soon enough February 3-5, at the onset of Black History Month, when The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’s Regeneration Summit: A Celebration of Black Cinema, kicks off a three-day event with the grand mission of exploring the history of ...

Jeff Beck: Death of a great guitarist. Maiming of his marquee by Orpheum Theatre

Architecture & Design · Music
nov 6 2022 marquee photo courtesy jeff mantor ed. note: The heartbreaking and unwelcome news of the death of legendary rock guitarist, Jeff Beck, sent us careening to an earlier time and place. But for a theater full of his Los Angeles fans, that time and place was the Orpheum Theatre just two months ago, ...

Tyrone Power, still vital in his movies

Film
Hey, he was Ty Power. The dashing, dark-eyed actor, who descended from a long line of them, and whose name, in 1939, nearly topped the list of Twentieth Century-Fox’s biggest box-office earners, starred in dozens of movies, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known titles include The Mark of Zorro, Marie Antoinette, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of ...