Mae I entertain you, asks Ms. West
Jan
8
2015
Actress, singer, comedienne, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol — no, we’re not describing arts∙meme. Rather, it’s the inimitable movie star Mae West. Movieland’s most provocative purveyor of dirty double-entendres did her job while strapped into an hour-glass figure. West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the New York stage before moving to ...
Glorya Kaufman joins Bernardo for the dance at the gym
It was mambo-mania Saturday night at the elegant Dorothy Chandler Pavilion when Los Angeles dance “angel,” Glorya Kaufman, posed with pleasure with George Chakiris, the Academy Award-winning star of “West Side Story.” Chakiris engaged in newsy dance conversation prior to a screening of the movie-musical masterpiece before a very full house of big-screen movie fans. ...
Tuesday is Wendy-day
Jun
6
2014
It’s always nice to have a special visitor from New York, in this case our good friend, the longtime editor of “Dance” Magazine, Wendy Perron. Next Tuesday evening, Wendy will join forces with a stellar line up of dance thinkers and dance talkers: the great dancer/dance maker Simone Forti and choreographer/educator Victoria Marks. It all ...
“You’re no spring chicken,” Bette Davis told Gena Rowlands in 1979 5
May
31
2014
So incredible, Wednesday evening, to see the great Gena Rowlands in person, interviewed by film critic Steven Farber after a screening of her historic tour de force performance in “A Woman Under the Influence.” As part of a long conversation, Rowlands spoke with great warmth about her memories of Bette Davis, with whom she co-starred ...
An influential woman still and always: Gena Rowlands
May
24
2014
Looking forward to attending a special screening, next Wednesday evening, of A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974), a landmark film directed by John Cassavetes and featuring a groundbreaking and courageous performance by actress Gena Rowlands. The film was one of the first preserved by the National Film Registry because of its cultural significance. Rowlands will ...
arts·meme turns six 1
May
20
2014
A sparkling ‘Shirley Temple’ for arts·meme, the Los Angeles arts blog that came into existence on May 24, 2008. The young lady, having formally entered café society, here hoists a cocktail in commemoration of her sixth birthday. Happy birthday, arts·meme! Kudos and hugs around to arts·meme technology guru, Beijing-based Mark Levine; Heap Big Technology Friend ...
Four actors and “The Heiress”
Because so much of the programming for TCM Classic Film Festival 2014 focuses on Classical Hollywood, any given day of viewing during the four-day event (suitably enough, located on Hollywood Blvd., with the Chinese Theatre complex as epicenter) is an immersion in acting. Champions of auteurism argue that the story of Hollywood studio movies from ...
Our critic’s game plan for TCM Fest 2014
Ramping up for the opening night of TCM Fest, we heard from our intrepid film critic Robert Koehler, who plans his festival as follows: I’m putting an emphasis on the world premiere restorations.The festival happens to slotting a few of these directly opposite each other on Saturday, when the vast majority of them are screening. ...
Dueling divas on Hollywood Blvd: Divine vs. Shirley Jones
Apr
7
2014
Can’t make it to TCM Fest 2014 opener, screening “Oklahoma”? Got sold out? Then trundle across Hollywood Boulevard to where the real party people will be celebrating the DVD release of “I am Divine,” sub-titled, “The True Story of the Most Beautiful Woman in the World.” Docu concerns the great drag-queen actor, otherwise known as ...
“Oklahoma!” choreographer, Agnes deMille, appreciated 2
TCM Classic Film Festival 2014 opens Thursday April 10, 2014, with a screening of “Oklahoma!” at Grauman’s TCL Chinese Theatre. Shirley Jones, the film’s star, will be honored. Let’s learn about “Oklahoma!”‘s great choreographer who transferred groundbreaking stage choreography to the screen in 1955. AGNES (George) deMILLE b. Harlem, New York, Sept 18, 1905 d. ...