Rita Hayworth’s stardom on staircases
May
25
2022
ed. note: Do you know what "press books" were in the movie industry of high Hollywood? We didn't either, until a nice librarian at USC named Ned Comstock introduced the press book from the 1946 film noir, Gilda. Columbia Pictures, where the movie originated, employed public relations people to create little compendia of story ideas ...
Bijayini Satpathy animates Met Museum galleries with her dance
photo credit: stephanie berger When Odissi dancer Bijayini Satpathy was selected as the MetLiveArts Artist in Residence for 2021-22, she contemplated how to use the much-coveted opportunity─a year-long association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its superlative architecture and collections. Satpathy was still in the nascent stages of exploring her own choreographic voice when ...
‘Comb-out’ cat fight in MGM hair salon
Memories of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio’s early-morning hair-and-makeup ritual as described by one of the era’s leading girls-with-curls, Leslie Caron.EXCERPTED FROM: Donald Knox, “The Magic Factory: How MGM Made An American in Paris” (New York: Praeger Publishers) 1973 One of the biggest fights between the ladies was in hairdressing. Sydney Guilaroff was the king of that ...
REVIEW: Julia Child, warbly kitchen warrior near to our hearts, in new doc
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu is ‘said’ to have said, “When the student is ready, the master will appear.” American homemakers didn’t realize it in the post-World War II decade, but Julia Child was the master they awaited – a down-to-earth cookery guru to guide them away from pre-made mixes, frozen variety trays, and the ...
Ida Rubinstein, diva/dancer/actress of fascination, in new Holder play
A new show opens this week in London: It’s a theatrical presentation about “dance’s forgotten diva.” Which … I always thought … was me! But in the reality-based universe, our friend, Christian Holder, has another dance diva in mind. Holder, the great former star principal dancer with The Joffrey Ballet and a Renaissance man, following ...
Dame Helen rules, in new HBO drama “Catherine the Great”
Oct
21
2019
The face that launched a thousand ships. Good old Helen! Wait, wait … that was Helen of Troy. Our Helen, Dame Helen Mirren, equally regal as squired by her husband, the director Taylor Hackford, looked simply spectacular in an ensemble custom-designed by Badgely Mischka for a launch party for her new miniseries, “Catherine the Great.” ...
‘Judy was not nasal,’ says vocal coach Bob Garrett 1
Does Zellweger, at right, convey Garland’s physical stance to your eye? Garland kept her body taut to channel her breath. Also, note the shape of Renee’s mouth. Drop that jaw, sister! Viewing the big new biopic, JUDY, which opens tomorrow in cinemas, I did not feel that Renee Zellweger caught the great Garland’s essence particularly ...
Diva in concert: Darlene Love at Pepperdine
A recent hot theater ticket in San Diego was the trial run of the historic rock musical, “House of Dreams,” that told the story of Hollywood’s fabled Gold Star Studio. Over a hundred hit songs were recorded there in the 1960s — from “Rockin’ Robin” to “Good Vibrations” to “Cherry Bomb.” Owner/engineer and sound innovator ...
Not a man’s dance-world, says ‘Femme Fetale,’ speaking in bodytalk
Aug
22
2019
Of the three-woman dance crew, ‘Femme Fetale,’ comprised of a Korean, a Mexican and a French dancer, one of the ladies is named Marie Poppins. Femme Fetale dance crew
Can it possibly be fifty years since ‘Goodbye, Columbus’?
Jul
22
2019
One of the landmark comedies of the 1960s and perhaps the best screen rendition of the work of Philip Roth was the adaptation of the author’s National Book Award-winning novella, Goodbye, Columbus. The movie launched the careers of its two stars, Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, who will both join Laemmle Anniversary Classics host Stephan ...