Jack Cole’s pinnacle, “Ladies in Waiting” 3

Dance · Film
Mitzi Gaynor, at right above, in a sotto voce-hiss to Kay Kendall in Jack Cole‘s brilliant “Ladies in Waiting” dance sequence from LES GIRLS (MGM, 1957), delivers bad news. Their friend, Angele (Taina Elg) will soon be exposed to her fiancé and his proper family as a tawdry chorus girl. The number, full of drama ...

The subtle art of the New Yorker cartoon in an HBO documentary

Film · Visual arts
Whether they leave readers amused, inspired or baffled, the iconic single-panel cartoons in The New Yorker magazine have been a cultural touchstone over the past 90 years. They power not on a laugh out loud, but on a brain-tickling smile. VERY SEMI-SERIOUS, a film directed by Leah Wolchok that glimpses the process behind publishing the ...

Buffalo Bill Cody, Maurice Chevalier, The Police played Bataclan

Architecture & Design · Film · Music
The charming and playful website for the Bataclan Concert Hall lists bookings for rock acts through May 2016. The Chinoiserie-style building dates from 1864, ironically, right when European powers were having imperial adventures in the Far East. Located at the sage address of 50 Boulevard Voltaire, The Bataclan ports a noble history as a cafe ...

Peggy’s place

Film · Visual arts
Art of This Century, view of the Abstract Gallery, New York, ca. 1943. Courtesy Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. Left to right (paintings): Vasily Kandinsky, Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2, 1913; Kazimir Malevich, Untitled, ca. 1916; Francis Picabia, Very Rare Picture on Earth, 1915; Albert Gleizes, Woman with Animals (Madame Raymond Duchamp-Villon), 1914 (partially visible ...

Historic Jack Cole film retrospective to MoMA

Dance · Film
ALL THAT JACK (COLE) celebrating a great Hollywood choreographer 18-film retrospective/interviews/talks coming to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY Jan 20 – Feb 4 2016 save the dates – film listings in december

On Veteran’s Day, Hollywood legend Norman Lloyd to introduce “The Great Dictator” 1

Film
photo credit: Valerie Macon/Getty Images For November’s edition of “Evening @ the Barn,” the fun monthly presentation series of Hollywood Heritage, a fitting event will truly let freedom ring, American-style. Charles Chaplin‘s political satire, “The Great Dictator” (1940, starring Chaplin, Jack Oakie, Billy Gilbert and Paulette Goddard) will have a special Veteran’s Day screening at the ...

Happy 100th, Frank! Love, The Wallis

Film · Music
For many he remains forever young, but the truth is Frank Sinatra would turn 100 on Dec. 12, 2015. Honing in on just one aspect of his performance career — his movie-making — The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is rolling out a screening event of three of Sinatra’s best known films. From ...

Cinefamily in Chantal Akerman tribute

Film
The honoring of a highly respected filmmaker, Belgian-born Chantal Akerman (1950 – 2015), who died October 5 in Paris, apparently by her own hand at age 65 — a sad occurrence. The Cinefamily will screen Akerman’s chef d’ouevre, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce-1080 Bruxelles, which when premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975, ...

Jack Cole’s precious “Ain’t Misbehavin'” from GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES (1955)

Dance · Film
In which Cole first slows the Fats Waller song to a snail’s pace for Alan Young to sing, then ramps it up, to a jungle beat, spewing forth his love of African dance.

“Spartacus” meets its maker, Dalton Trumbo

Film
In honor of the film’s anniversary, Laemmle Theatres and Reel Talk with Stephen Farber are pleased to present SPARTACUS (1960) in a screening Friday, November 6 at the Royal Theater in West Los Angeles. On the same day that Trumbo opens in theaters, depicting the life of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, enjoy a tribute of his ...