Is Show Business Cursed? Why do we lose so many legends so young?
"Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom."
-Herbert Spencer, British philosopher (1820-1903)
Happy Saturday!
I hope you have an artistic weekend ahead. It's Oscar weekend!!
Here in New York, we are moving towards The Bistro Awards (April 23rd Save the date!) I'm the associate producer for the third year in a row! The MAC Awards are coming up on March 29th. My dear friend Ervin Drake (Good Morning, Heartache and It Was A Very Good Year...as well as Widow's Weeds) is being honored this year. The MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) will take place at BB King's on March 29th. Then we are on to the theatre awards, the Drama Desk Awards and the Tonys...both in June! It's nice to be awarded, its nice to be honored, it's also nice to lead by example.
As I'm writing my book on the Dollys, celebrating the women of Hello, Dolly!, I'm being pulled in two different directions. There are many who want to focus on the bad aspects of these women.
On the one hand, I desire to celebrate these women. However, as I dig deeper, their humanness comes out more and more. One Dolly, for example, I have been told by many, was hated by cast and crew...and yet, this was a woman loved the world over.
It's amazing how we put these celebrities on such a pedestal.
Sometimes, when we meet them, the expectations can be beyond anything we imagined. Other times, we walk away disliking them. I've heard people say horrible things about someone because a celebrity didn't give them an autograph or seemingly brushed them off.
I have seen someone turn on a celebrity in an instant because they didn't get what they wanted when they wanted it.
When Whitney died, on my birthday, 3 years younger than me, it hit me hard...as it did the rest of the world. The world was mourning the passing of an Icon. In A Star is Born (both the Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland versions),the funeral scene bears an uncanny likeness to the way that Norma Shearer was mobbed by fans at her husband, Irving Thalberg's, funeral.
I was mourning the loss of a person. As I watch the news, I cry over people that I've never met...especially when their lives are cut short at such an early age. And yet, we've been watching this spiraling out of control for the past 10 years.
A facebook friend posted the following on his Timeline last night, "
-Herbert Spencer, British philosopher (1820-1903)
Happy Saturday!
I hope you have an artistic weekend ahead. It's Oscar weekend!!
Here in New York, we are moving towards The Bistro Awards (April 23rd Save the date!) I'm the associate producer for the third year in a row! The MAC Awards are coming up on March 29th. My dear friend Ervin Drake (Good Morning, Heartache and It Was A Very Good Year...as well as Widow's Weeds) is being honored this year. The MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) will take place at BB King's on March 29th. Then we are on to the theatre awards, the Drama Desk Awards and the Tonys...both in June! It's nice to be awarded, its nice to be honored, it's also nice to lead by example.
As I'm writing my book on the Dollys, celebrating the women of Hello, Dolly!, I'm being pulled in two different directions. There are many who want to focus on the bad aspects of these women.
On the one hand, I desire to celebrate these women. However, as I dig deeper, their humanness comes out more and more. One Dolly, for example, I have been told by many, was hated by cast and crew...and yet, this was a woman loved the world over.
It's amazing how we put these celebrities on such a pedestal.
Sometimes, when we meet them, the expectations can be beyond anything we imagined. Other times, we walk away disliking them. I've heard people say horrible things about someone because a celebrity didn't give them an autograph or seemingly brushed them off.
I have seen someone turn on a celebrity in an instant because they didn't get what they wanted when they wanted it.
When Whitney died, on my birthday, 3 years younger than me, it hit me hard...as it did the rest of the world. The world was mourning the passing of an Icon. In A Star is Born (both the Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland versions),the funeral scene bears an uncanny likeness to the way that Norma Shearer was mobbed by fans at her husband, Irving Thalberg's, funeral.
I was mourning the loss of a person. As I watch the news, I cry over people that I've never met...especially when their lives are cut short at such an early age. And yet, we've been watching this spiraling out of control for the past 10 years.
A facebook friend posted the following on his Timeline last night, "
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!
Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!
Tomorrow's's blog will be... My Exclusive Interview with MARILYN MAYE on Hello, Dolly!
Here's to an INCREDIBLE tomorrow for ALL...with NO challenges!
Now, GO OUT AND see Carol Channing: Larger Than Life now in theatres.
Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING and HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED DAY
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com
This Blog is dedicated to Whitney Houston and Howard Kissell and the gifts they gave to the world
Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!
Tomorrow's's blog will be... My Exclusive Interview with MARILYN MAYE on Hello, Dolly!
Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!
Now, GO OUT AND see Carol Channing: Larger Than Life now in theatres.
Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING and HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED DAY
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com
This Blog is dedicated to Whitney Houston and Howard Kissell and the gifts they gave to the world
Richard, good blog post. But, let me out myself as the Facebook friend mentioned, if only to clarify that I don't -- in any way -- feel I own a piece of the Whitney. Also, my comments were simply to admit to guilty pleasures rather than to gloat, which I feel is entirely candid, emotionally healthy (for me, at least) and valid. I wish life could be all Sunshine, Lollipops & Roses, as Leslie Gore sang, but it isn't always that way. I have the impression you have the impression I'm cynical, but I really am upbeat and vigilantly drama-free in my own life. So if I like a little "Hollywood Babylon" now & then, my mia culpas, but I don't deny my darker yearnings which are, in essence, quite innocent.
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