Malcolm McDowell: “I love Cagney.”
Sep
17
2011
Charming the knickers off his audience by telling witty tales of Stanley Kubrick and Lindsay Anderson, actor Malcolm McDowell earned extra points by showing respect to the great James Cagney. The occasion was the 40th anniversary screening, at the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills, of Kubrick’s exuberant, brilliant, thought-provoking ...
Meow! Bette Davis discusses her dear colleague Joan Crawford 3
Sep
16
2011
Quotations from Chairman Bette: “I wouldn’t piss on her [Joan Crawford] if she was on fire.” “She [Joan Crawford] has slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie.” “Why am I so good at playing bitches? I think it’s because I’m not a bitch. Maybe that’s why [Joan Crawford] always plays ladies.” “[Joan Crawford] ...
Serenade: C’est un ballet abstrait.
Everything sounds better in French. That’s a given. But beyond sounding beautiful, the lovely and poetic program note posted below tackles the hard job of putting the ephemeral into words. What’s the subject? “Serenade,” a ballet that in its making, and in the viewing of it, touches God. C’est un ballet abstrait. C’est- á-dire, sans intention ...
Line-up of geniuses: West Side Story’s Broadway creative/production team
The West Side Story Broadway production team in 1957: (l. to r.) lyricist Stephen Sondheim, scriptwriter Arthur Laurents, producers Hal Prince and Robert Griffith (seated), composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. (click for detail) Thank you, songbook1, for posting this photo. Like this? Read more: Not a Jet, but still the swingingest thing: George ...
Headlining at the Rainbow Room: Jack Cole and his Dancers
Sep
14
2011
Cafe Life in New York Jack Cole and His Dancers Featured in the Rainbow Room’s New Show (by) Malcolm Johnson The New York Sun, Saturday, May 18, 1942: The Rainbow Room’s new show, introduced this week, is a gay diversion highlighted by the colorful performance of Jack Cole and his Dancers. In fact there is ...
Eiko & Koma’s ‘Water,’ in a frigid lily pond
“Water is in our bodies, rivers, sea, our womb, and our tears.” So say Eiko & Koma, the Japanese-born performance duo, in an artists’ statement. Immersed for 45 beautiful, but bitter-cold, minutes in a Skirball Center lily pond, they encourage their audience to “remember and imagine the ancient water from which all living things came.” ...
A Gish gift for Trish
Pleased to see Hollywood riches supporting New York creativity. That’s the way it oughta be. And especially nice that it’s an exchange between three creative women. [Item below re-posted from New York Times Culture Beat, September 7, 2011, 12:45 pm , by Daniel J. Wakin] Trisha Brown Wins Gish Prize A Gish for Trisha: the ...
Why art matters: Eiko & Koma and photographer Johan Elbers on lower Manhattan sand dune in 1980 2
Photo featured in Eiko & Koma: Time is not Even, Space is Not Empty Photo credit: (c)Johan Elbers (1980) Like this? Read more: Eiko & Koma’s “Event Fission” at the landfill created for the World Trade Center, 1980
Eiko & Koma’s “Event Fission” before the twin towers of the World Trade Center (1980) 2
Sep
10
2011
How did these two artists foresee that there would be hell to pay on this site? Who knows? They’re artists. They probably don’t know themselves. “Event Fissions” took place at sunset at Battery Park Landfill in Manhattan, which was created from sand dredged from New York Harbor and earth excavated during the construction of the ...
The Agnes & Cecil Show 1
From Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille, by Scott Eyman, published by Simon & Schuster, 2010, page 307-308. Agnes deMille was struggling in London to make ends meet when Cecil hired her for six weeks at $250 a week to create the dances for Cleopatra. It ended badly, but then it ...