Nate Silver, who's had a pretty good track record when it comes to predicting elections, has crunched some numbers and come up with his picks for the major Oscar categories. Most of these are in line with Conventional Wisdom...so know that there are a lot of people around who have made the same forecasts without all the statistical analysis that Mr. Silver uses. Personally, I'm sticking with my belief that at least in the acting categories, the winner is the one that Academy members think will give the most passionate acceptance speech. I haven't seen either Milk or The Wrestler so I'm not judging the merits of either performance. But Mickey Rourke would give a more emotional acceptance speech than Sean Penn so Rourke will win.
George Skelton explains the budget crisis in California. It pretty much comes down to the Republicans in the legislature believing that their base will punish them for voting to raise taxes...but not for the many disasters that will befall the state if taxes aren't raised.
By the way: To clarify something I said earlier, I didn't think Gray Davis was a very competent or honest governor...but the main reason he was removed from office was that the public was convinced he was mismanaging our finances. Arnold S. especially hammered him for doing things like raising vehicle license fees, which was somehow a sign of gubernatorial incompetence and/or tyranny. Well now, we have pretty much the same mess that was threatened if we didn't oust Davis, and Arnold is even proposing a doubling of vehicle license fees.
I don't think Davis should be brought back or anything. I just think we oughta acknowledge that at least in terms of the state's economy, we're getting exactly what recalling him was supposed to avoid.
We don't torture in this country. But apparently we do leave people in little isolation cells for five or more years without ever charging them with anything. Jane Mayer reports.
Greg Ehrbar, whose fine book on Disney records you should own, informs me of a documentary that airs later today on BBC2 Radio and sounds interesting. It's called Life with Lucy and Desi. I can't figure out what time it's on right this minute but they usually keep these things online for at least a week for later listening. As soon as there's a link, I'll post it...and some of you may want to tune in live. Personally, I'd rather hear about Ethel and Fred but that's just me.
Within the Broadway community, one occasionally finds a basic prejudice against performers and writers who are best known for their work on television. Every so often, some producer casts a "TV actor" and noses are quickly elevated. Remarks are made that the show in question is despoiling the grand tradition and standards of the Great White Way by booking someone for their name...someone who is presumed not to have the credentials or chops to trod the sacred boards. If you don't have an extensive background in stage work, you're kind of presumed unworthy until proven otherwise and some people won't even allow you the chance to prove otherwise. Should a complete unknown be cast...well, that's fine. The producers obviously discovered someone of great talent. But hire an actor who used to be on a sitcom or other TV series and clearly they've "sold out" and are pandering to exploit the star's reputation.
I'm not particularly in the Broadway community but I sometimes find myself in those arguments saying things like, "Why don't you wait until the actor actually starts performing the role until you decide they can't do it?" Often, it's a matter of the critic just not knowing. When it was announced that Bebe Neuwirth was going to Broadway in a revival of Damn Yankees, I found myself at a party of stage actors, all of whom were sneering that a "TV actor" had been handed such a plumb role just because she was on Cheers. I informed them that Ms. Neuwirth had done a lot of stage work, including roles on Broadway...but even if she hadn't, so what? If she can do the part (she was terrific in it), what difference would her past credits make?
I'm a big believer in not reviewing work that hasn't even been done yet. I also believe that most people can do more than one thing and it's silly to "type" them forever based on the first thing you knew them for. Steve Allen used to tell the story of being in some South American country in the fifties and being asked who was the number one comedy star on U.S. television. He told them, "Probably Jackie Gleason" and they were startled. People asked, "The bandleader?" because that was the sum and total of his reputation down there. The Honeymooners hadn't been imported but his records had been.
So when I read that someone who's famous for being on TV is going to do a play or musical, I don't race to assume they can't possibly handle it; that some shameless producer has engaged them because, even though their performance may suck, their fame will sell tickets. "Give them a chance," I say. "Maybe they'll be wonderful in the role."
Every so often though, it's really tough to be that open-minded. Jerry Springer playing Billy Flynn in Chicago?
I'm not a huge fan of most horror movies but I used to watch them often on TV, largely for the hosts. There are few, if any, these days but we used to have "horror hosts" in this country...men (and occasionally, women) who'd dress up to introduce monster movies and macabre films on local channels, usually late at night.
There were an awful lot of them. Sometimes, they were devout fans of such flicks. Sometimes, the station manager would order one of the local newsmen or announcers to dress up as a ghoul and go introduce movies. Some of them came up with some very creative ways to get you to tune in for the umpteenth rerunning of Man-Made Monster with Lon Chaney Jr.
As I wrote in this article, my favorite in Los Angeles was a gent named Larry Vincent whose screen character was called Seymour. Ever since I posted that on this site, I get one or two e-mails a month from someone who wants to know where they can find video of the Seymour. I have to write back to them and report that if any still exists, it's pretty well hidden. I haven't seen a frame of Seymour footage anywhere since he was on KHJ and KTLA back in the early seventies.
But you can see a lot of other horror hosts in a new documentary that's debuting on DVD this week. It's called American Scary and it was assembled with great love and dedication by John Hudgens and Sandy Clark. I don't think they located any Seymour footage but they did find tons of clips of hosts from across the land, and they tracked down an awful lot of them for interviews, along with folks who were enthusiastic watchers. You can find out more about this great work at this site and you can watch the first ten minutes of it by clicking your mouse a few inches below this paragraph...
February 16, 2009
