What's Up Doc? A Celebration Of my favorite Peter Bogdanovich movie

Do you know the meaning of the word propriety?

Happy Saturday!!
I would like to celebrate a birthday today...not mine...one of a man who added to my teen years, Peter Bogdanovich in the 70s!

One of my all time favorite movies is WHAT'S UP DOC? written by Buck Henry, David Newman and Robert Benton and directed by Peter Bogdanovich in 1972. I was 11 years old when that film opened and I thought it was one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. I was already in love with Barbra Streisand!

The year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated.
It was on this date in 1972, that Jane Fonda was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.

She has since apologized.



Hugh: I find that as difficult to swallow as this potage au gelee.
Judy: How would you like to swallow one sandwich d'knuckles?

What's Up, Doc? is a 1972 screwball comedy film released by Warner Bros., directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn (in her first full-length film role, which was also her first Golden Globe-nominated role). It was intended to pay homage to comedy films of the 1930s, especially Bringing Up Baby,as well as old Bugs Bunny cartoons (another WB product).

Judy: You don't wanna marry someone who's gonna get all wrinkled, lined and flabby!
Howard: Everyone gets wrinkled, lined and flabby!
Judy: By next week?



The film was a success, and became the third-highest grossing film of 1972. The film won the Writers Guild of America 1973 "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" award for writers Buck Henry, David Newman and Robert Benton. It was placed at number 61 on the list of 100 greatest comedies published by the American Film Institute, and at number 68 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions.

The story, which takes place in San Francisco, centers on four identical plaid overnight bags and the people who own them.

One of the bags belongs to Howard Bannister, Ph.D. (played by Ryan O'Neal), and is filled with igneous "tambula" rocks that have certain musical properties. Bannister, a musicologist from the Iowa Conservatory of Music, and his tightly-wound, overbearing fiancée, Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn), have come to San Francisco from Iowa in the hope of winning a grant funded by Frederick Larrabee (Austin Pendleton). Howard has a theory about how ancient man may have used rocks to create music. Howard's rival for the grant is the ethically-challenged, dubiously-accented Hugh Simon (Kenneth Mars), who apparently is from Yugoslavia (Croatia) but seems to be doing work in Western Europe.



The second bag belongs to Judy Maxwell (Barbra Streisand), and is filled with her clothes, and, interestingly enough, a large dictionary. No matter where Judy goes, trouble happens, from car crashes to spontaneous combustion of hotel rooms. She never finished college, but nevertheless has amassed a considerable amount of knowledge from all of the courses she took at the many institutions of higher learning from which she was expelled.

Howard: What am I gonna tell Eunice?
Judy: That's the easy part. You go up to her room. She answers the door; now she will have been crying so her eyes will be all bloodshot and her nose will be all red and runny, but you look past all that. You stare purposefully into those red-rimmed, swollen eyes, and you say, "Eunice, my dear, there's been a terrible mistake. I've behaved like a cad, a bounder! But now I see everything clearly and I've decided that Judy and I are gonna put you into a home."
Howard: That is not funny!

The third bag belongs to Mrs. Van Hoskins (Mabel Albertson), a rich woman who is using it to store her valuable jewels.

he fourth and last overnight bag belongs to the mysterious "Mr. Smith" (Michael Murphy) and contains top-secret government papers. There is at least some indication that he has them illegally and wishes to make them public. The equally mysterious "Mr. Jones" (Philip Roth) identifies himself as a being from the government, and is on a mission to recover the documents.

Howard, Eunice, Mrs. Van Hoskins, and Mr. Smith all happen to check into the Hotel Bristol at the same time, whereupon Judy lodges herself there without paying and begins pursuing Howard (to his bewilderment). Two hotel employees (Sorrell Brooks and Stefan Gierasch) attempt to steal the jewels belonging to Mrs. Van Hoskins, while Mr. Jones attempts to get the bag belonging to Mr. Smith. Over the course of the evening, the bags get switched haphazardly from room to room as the four parties unwittingly take one another's suitcases. Howard ends up with the jewels, Judy with the documents, Mr. Smith with the clothes, and the thieves end up with the rocks. Few people ever actually open the bags to confirm that what they think they have is what they actually possess. Meanwhile, Judy manages both to secure the grant for Howard while masquerading as Eunice and to destroy his hotel room. The following day, everyone makes their way to Mr. Larrabee's home where a shooting ensues, Howard and Judy take all the bags and are chased up and down the hills of San Francisco on a delivery bike and a Volkswagen Beetle (after they crash the bike into a costume shop) by the thieves, Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones, Eunice, Simon, Larabee and a few roped-in bystanders. They go through Chinatown, down Lombard Street, and eventually into San Francisco Bay. All the protagonists finally end up in court, under the gavel of a world-weary and curmudgeonly judge (Liam Dunn) who, improbably, turns out to be Judy's father.


Judy: I know I'm different, but from now on I'm going to try and be the same.
Howard: The same as what?
Judy: The same as people who aren't different.

Eunice: [while Judge Maxwell is making a list of crimes with which to charge a group of people] They tried to molest me.
Judge Maxwell: That's...
[looks at Eunice]
Judge Maxwell: unbelievable.

In the end, everything is cleared up, Mrs. Van Hoskins pays the considerable damages in Howard's name with the reward money he would have received for the return of her jewels, the hotel thieves are forced to flee the country and the papers are put back in the hands of the government (though perhaps not for long ...). More importantly, Judy exposes Simon as a fraud and plagiarist (thus getting Howard the grant), Eunice leaves Howard for Larrabee and Judy announces she is taking one more pass at college — studying Music History at the Iowa Conservatory of Music. The film ends on a suitably romantic (and silly) note as Howard and Judy share an airborne kiss while their in-flight movie shows the Bugs Bunny cartoon that gave the film its name.

Barbra Streisand as Judy Maxwell!

Judy: I don't know who he is but I hate him.

Judge Maxwell: I think I want to skip over this part, too.
Howard: That night, I went back to my room and she was in the bath.
Judge Maxwell: Who was there? No, don't tell me, just go on.
Howard: When Eunice walked in and the drapes caught fire, everything burned. They asked me to leave. I really don't blame them.
Judge Maxwell: Good boy. Is there more?
Howard: Sure.
Judge Maxwell: There's more.
Howard: Well, the next day, today, Mr. Larrabee asked me to his house with my rocks and to bring Eunice. Or rather, Burnsy, the one he thinks is Eunice. Is that clear?
Judge Maxwell: No, but it's consistent.
Howard: Shall I go back over it?
Judge Maxwell: No, please, I beg you, don't. Just go on.
Howard: It gets kind of complicated now. First, there was this trouble between me and Hugh.
Judge Maxwell: You and me?
Howard: No, not you. Hugh.
Hugh: I am Hugh.
Judge Maxwell: You are me?
Hugh: No, I am Hugh.
Judge Maxwell: Stop saying that!
[to bayliff]
Judge Maxwell: Make him stop saying that!
Hugh: Don't touch me, I'm a doctor.
Judge Maxwell: Of what?
Hugh: Music.
Judge Maxwell: Can you fix a hi-fi?
Hugh: No, sir.
Judge Maxwell: Then shut up!

God, Do I Love this movie! Happy Birthday, Peter! And THANK YOU!


"If I have offended one person, I have offended one person too many" Here's to an INCREDIBLE weekend for ALL!


RENT "WHAT'S UP DOC TONIGHT!
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Tomorrow's blog will be a YOU TELL ME...I'm open to suggestions!

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TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED JULY!
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com

O'Donnell's take on Leno, GLEE is GOLDEN, Controversial FOCUS ON FAMILY AD...and more!

Comedian and former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell said Thursday she wants Jay Leno to step aside and allow Conan O’Brien to continue hosting “The Tonight Show” at its regular time of 11:35 p.m.



“If you’re privileged enough to drive the bus, you should say, ‘Thank you’ and drive it to the best of your ability, and when it’s time for them to hire a new driver, you should say ‘Thank you for allowing me to drive this as long as I did’ and pass the keys to the new guy with red hair, and not try to flatten his tires before he even gets going,” Rosie said while promoting a new HBO documentary, according to the Associated Press.

NBC has announced that it plans to move “The Jay Leno Show,” which has been killed in the ratings in its 10 p.m. slot, to 11:35, pushing Conan to a 12:05 start.
Conan has refused to accept the move and has blasted NBC execs on his recent shows.

TMZ is reporting that NBC has offered Leno a new contract to host “The Tonight Show” and Conan is out. NBC is denying that, according to the Hollywood Reporter, citing network sources.
This was sent to me this week and it sums up my life's philosophy:Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.
I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.
How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain and my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because People cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer.
One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips.
She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process.
The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on your SHOULD DO list.
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say?;And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you? Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see her sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say
'Hi'?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND including me if you consider me a friend. If it comes back to you, then you'll know you have a circle of friends.

To those I have sent this to... I cherish our friendship and appreciate all you do.

'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!'
It's a New Year!...a time for change and growth. Here is a picture of my gorgeous co-star at The Iguana every Wednesday Night.
Dana Lorge (photo taken by Ivan Farkas):
Not just good, they're Golden: Glee cast hums a happy tune.



LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Ryan Murphy, co-creator, head writer, senior executive producer and Svengali to the kids of Glee, looks like hell, and why not?


Murphy and a dozen cast members of the Golden Globe Award-winning dramedy are in the middle of rehearsing a scene for an episode that will air in April. Murphy, a tuque pulled down over his weary head, looks positively wowed as Lea Michele, who plays Glee's desperately perky diva-in-waiting Rachel Berry, launches into a solo, unplugged and unmiked, coiling and uncoiling around a grand piano.
The Glee sound stage on the Paramount lot is a cavern of empty space, with lights and scaffolding high overhead – Murphy says the sound stage is the largest of its type on the lot, which is why the Glee production team has claimed it as their own. But Michele's voice is so pure, so pristine, that when she hits the high notes – and holds them – the sound, while soft around the edges, is easy to hear, even though she isn't wearing a microphone.
Amber Riley, who plays the irrepressible Mercedes, performs a gospel-themed solo – a radically different style from Broadway star Michele – and even if you haven't seen a single scene of Glee, you know, based on those two performances, that something special is happening here.

"Are you hung over?" a reporter asks Murphy, after the applause died down.

"I think we're all hung over," someone else says, and the whole cast laughs.

After the Golden Globes, the cast separated and went from one party to the next, passing each other in the night, "from one dance factory to the next," Michele says cheerfully. If she's tired – and there are moments when, yawning and curled up on her chair, she looks it – her voice certainly doesn't show it. When she hits her mark, uncoiled over the piano and lets her voice go, it's as if another being takes over her body.

Murphy admits to being overwhelmed with emotion at the Golden Globes. As he jumped onto the stage to accept the award, he says he couldn't help but look at "this sea of 17 faces I have lived with for the past year" and feel a deep sense of wonder and appreciation.
"I won one before for Nip/Tuck," Murphy says, deadpan, "but this one feels more wholesome."

Murphy says A-listers' jaws dropped in the Beverly Hilton ballroom when Glee was announced as the winner, and his kids took the stage en masse. It was a beautiful moment.

"There were so many people who looked floored," Murphy says, "but the face I'll always remember is Julianne Moore."

Murphy made a face of moon-eyed shock and astonishment.

That plug for arts education in his acceptance speech was deliberate, Murphy says.

He has no way of knowing if Glee has had an effect on school arts programs – "We don't get to see the numbers," he admits – but he does know he's been swamped with e-mails – "more than I can count" – from individual kids who say their school arts programs have been cut back in recent years, or gutted entirely.
If Glee helps school administrators give arts education funding a second look, even if only briefly, it will have been worth it, he says.

Cory Monteith, the B.C.-based actor who plays Finn Hudson, appears laid back and relaxed in a hoodie, even though he was rushed to the stage after shooting a scene, and immediately rushed out afterwards to rehearse the next morning's scene.




"This one felt good," Monteith says. "This one felt really good."

Glee returns on Tuesday, April 13, with the first of nine new episodes. A second season has already been confirmed for the fall.


CBS has accepted a controversial ad from anti-gay & anti-choice Focus on the Family despite having rejected an ad five years ago from the United Church of Christ a pro-LGBT and affirming denomination to air during the Superbowl. At the time CBS said it has "a longstanding policy of not accepting advocacy advertising."

Sign on to the change.org petition asking CBS to Reject the Focus on the Family Ad, or accept the UCC ad. Allowing this ad to go on without allowing UCC to air their ads is hypocritical because it allows advocacy by anti-gay organizations but not by pro-LGBT Churches.


Support THE ARTS! LIVE THEATRE! Go see a show this week! Send me your reviews and suggestions and I will put them in my next blog coming out next Tuesday! Here's to an ARTS-filled week! Don't forget to contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/Foundation.htm

With grateful XOXOXs for your support!

Richard Skipper

Follow me on Twitter @RichardSkipper




HERE IS WHAT AUDIENCES ARE SAYING ABOUT MY WORK:
This show is so peppy it's almost like it's been plugged into an electric socket! We had a jolly good time, and so will you! Alix Elias, http://www.myspace.com/foodoflovesongs






We the members of Bending Threads, fresh back from the Holidays & New Year, wanted to tell you BOTH how much we enjoyed performing for you at Iguana's on 12/18/09!! You too are a fantastic duo of personalities and hilarious duets! We enjoyed the personable family environment at Iguana's and the DIVERSE range of performers you had there. We were honored that you like to push the publicity side of things for the performers performing and encourage the audience to catch our outside shows & acts. All in all what a great network to be apart!!! Hope to see you on March 17th, 2010...contact us and let us know!!!!

Bending Threads, http://www.facebook.com/BendingThreads


I am so glad to be a new friend! I love the Iguana show and will be keeping up on all of your activities. Thanks for the fun times.
Roger Mapes,





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NYC Now a night out in NY to see a show at a VERY AFFORDABLE price! Dana Lorge and I have put our OWN spin on the variety show format and are now hosting every Wednesday night in NYC at The Iguana VIP Lounge (http://www.iguananyc.com) in the heart of NYC (240 West 54th Street 8-11PM/with an intermission).
WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE IGUANA!


Cover: $12 - no food or drink minimums – but remember – the food is great!
This is a nice night
out with the family! A
"throw back" to the variety shows we grew up with.

For more info, please call 845-365-0720 or visit _www.RichardSkipper.com_

RESERVATIONS A MUST!!!!!!!!
212-765-5454. No one admitted before
7:30.









January 20th: Douglas Davidian, Cait Doyle, D'yan Forrest, Greta Heron, Catt John, Alegra Themmen

Feb 3 : Michael Austin, Christopher Gerrard, Lucia Mozzola, Jane Schechter, George Stella, Jane Stuart

February 10th: MY BIRTHDAY SHOW! Glen Charlow, Jenna Esposito, Helene Feldman (who shares a birthday with Richard), Jeanne MacDonald, Stearns Matthews, Jim Speake, Maureen Taylor ...
...and a few other surprises as well!

February 17th : James Alexander, Sally Swallow


March 10th: David Alpher & Jenny Litt, Louise Quick (pictured), Nicholas Tamagna, Pam Tate, Maureen Taylor

March 17th: Cindy Marchionda returns!

March 24th, Julie Reyburn returns!


March 31st: Frank Basile returns


April 7th: RJ Shaw


April 28th: Kecia Craig and Frank Stern!
Keep checking http://www.richardskipper.com/schedule.html for upcoming entertainers and shows!


TILL NEXT TIME...

Johnny Depp has played a pirate, a boy with blades for hands and a man who loved a blade or two himself, Sweeney Todd, but Depp reveals to the UK...

Johnny Depp has played a pirate, a boy with blades for hands and a man who loved a blade or two himself, Sweeney Todd, but Depp reveals to the UK Mirror that his dream role would be to play a beloved Broadway icon. The actor told the Mirror that he would love to portray singer/actress Carol Channing in a biopic.
Depp has regularly donned a series of bizarre outfits for his movie roles, he even dressed up as a woman for his starring part in the 1994 Tim Burton comedy Ed Wood. And by all accounts he wants to to go even further by playing the 88-year-old Channing.

He remarked to the paper that, "My dream role would be to play musical legend Carol Channing in a biopic of her life.
I love her, I really do, she's amazing. With all the digital technology these days, I could probably pull it off!" To read more in the Mirror click here.

Films featuring Johnny Depp have grossed over $2.2 billion at the United States box office and over $4.7 billion worldwide.
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, Screen Actors Guild Awards four times and Golden Globe Awards eight times, Depp won the Best Actor Awards from the Golden Globes for his role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Depp's newest film, Public Enemies is currently playing in movie theaters. Depp plays outlaw John Dillinger in the motion picture.
On July 18th, for one night only, Carol Channing returnrd home to where she belongs in her first appearance after having to cancel late last year due to fracturing her hip.

The program was in San Francisco at San Francisco State University.





Since her Broadway debut in Blitzsteins' For An Answer and a Time Magazine cover story, which hailed her performance as Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Miss Channing has been a star of international acclaim. Her Broadway appearances include some of the most memorable characters in theatrical history, winning three Tony Awards® including one for her legendary portrayal of Dolly Levi in Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! as well as one for Lifetime Achievement.
Carol's career has been varied and continuing. During her first film role in The First Traveling Saleslady starring opposite Ginger Rogers, she also gave newcomer Clint Eastwood his first on screen kiss. Among her numerous TV and Film successes was the madcap Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, which earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award. In 2008, Carol was inducted into the Smithsonian Institute in D.C., along with eight other legendary ladies of stage and screen. She still performs with the gusto of a young aspiring actress and has recently committed her life to bringing a refocus on the Arts to the public educational system. Through the Carol Channing/ Harry Kullijian Endowment for the Arts Foundation, Carol offers lectures and performances, hoping to engage the public's support for education in the Arts while also creating scholarships.

After the surprising news of Johnny Depp revealing that his dream role would be to portray Carol Channing, star of stage and screen for most of the 20th century, on film, BroadwayWorld wanted to know what the legendary Channing thought of the announcement.

Ever the gracious delight, Carol Channing was happy to comment on Depp's desire to "dance in her shoes", she remarked, "It is not a new concept to me. Not at all. Men have been imitating me for as long as I can remember. In fact, most of the impersonations I have seen have had a five o'clock shadow.
I imagine, when or if Johnny should portray me, he will succeed.
Because a true artist, such as himself, is one who loves his or her creation and therefore represents their honest view of that which they are creating. I think he is a gifted performer and I would be very proud, as well as interested in seeing what his vision of me would be. Johnny is someone I would very much like to help me and my foundation (ChanningARTS.org) to bring the Arts back into the the public school system in America."

The celebrated actor told the UK Mirror that he would love to portray Broadway beloved icon Carol Channing in a biopic. Depp has regularly donned a series of bizarre outfits for his movie roles, he even dressed up as a woman for his starring part in the 1994 Tim Burton comedy Ed Wood. And by all accounts he wants to to go even further by playing the 88-year-old Channing.

He remarked to the paper that, "My dream role would be to play musical legend Carol Channing in a biopic of her life.
I love her, I really do, she's amazing. With all the digital technology these days, I could probably pull it off!" To read more in the Mirror click here.
Films featuring Johnny Depp have grossed over $2.2 billion at the United States box office and over $4.7 billion worldwide.
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, Screen Actors Guild Awards four times and Golden Globe Awards eight times, Depp won the Best Actor Awards from the Golden Globes for his role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Depp's newest film, Public Enemies is currently playing in movie theaters. Depp plays outlaw John Dillinger in the motion picture.





BWW thanks Harlan Boll for his efforts in helping to report this article.


In recent weeks, the folks who run the Tony Awards have defriended future Will Ferrells and Liza Minnellis, along with several score journalists.

In a recent e-mail, Tony Award Productions informed the 100 or so journalists who cast ballots for the annual prizes that our voting privileges had been canceled.

This dictat came hard on the heels of a ruling that shed “Special Theatrical Event” from the awards.
That’s the category in which Minnelli was a Tony winner in June over Will Ferrell, both of whom had lucrative, popular limited runs on Broadway last season.
So Carrie Fisher’s highly anticipated solo show, “Wishful Drinking,” which arrives in the fall, will have to compete for Tony recognition against full-scale, well-populated new plays like Tracy Letts’s “Superior Donuts” and David Mamet’s “Race.” Poor Carrie won’t stand a chance.
Such head-in-the-sandism is business-as-usual for people who as individuals can be very smart but in concert tend to perform with all the savvy of Shakespeare’s rustics.

The Tonys show no sign of recognizing plays that don’t open on Broadway real estate, for example. Such as “Ruined,” the powerful Lynn Nottage war drama still running at the Manhattan Theatre Club long after many a Tony-nominated show has closed.



And now, in dumping the press, the Tony brains have eliminated the only voting group with no axe to grind beyond personal quirks and taste. The 700 other voters are the producers themselves and members of the various Broadway unions -- people who can generally be counted on to vote for their own shows (or ones their friends are in).


Tony Award Productions said the reason for dropping journalists is because voting represents a conflict of interest for us.
That’s quite a fantastic argument: Restricting the votes to only those with a true conflict of interest, the logic seems to go, somehow sanitizes the voting process.

This from a group which, after more than half a century, still won’t police its members to be certain they bother to see the shows they vote for. While other entertainment industries are busily breaking down barriers and opening up doors, Obama- era inclusionism seems to have escaped the notice of the producers and landlords who run the country’s best-known theater awards.




I was hoping the Oliviers, London’s big theater prizes, might show us how it’s done. Unfortunately, they’re even more Byzantine than the Tonys. British journalists don’t vote. And nobody cares about them (possibly because the press has no stake in them, and anyway they don’t even rate a TV show).

One British press agent told me the Tonys get more play in London than the Oliviers.

Still, at least the Brits have a special events prize to cover oddball entertainments, and forward-looking venues like the nonprofit Donmar Warehouse are right in there competing with commercial shows in the West End. The Tony managers, meanwhile, are protecting a brand whose sell-by date is long past, rather than creating a whole new model.




(Jeremy Gerard is an editor and critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Jeremy Gerard in New York at jgerard2@bloomberg.net. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/18/wynton-marsalis-interview



What happens to child stars when they mature? It's too early to tell about Daniel Radcliffe, but some, like Shirley Temple, can't make the transition to grown-up parts, yet aren't forgotten. Others, like Gary Coleman, are forgotten but not gone. A few, like Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood, become even more successful as adults. And others, like Mickey Rooney, keep working without ever regaining the fame they once had.
Patty Duke enjoyed early acclaim, then honed her craft by steady appearances that expanded her range. She became an award-winning actress with an enviable career. Currently portraying Madame Morrible in Wicked at the Orpheum Theatre, she will appear at the Castro Theatre on Monday, July 20, in a tribute arranged by San Francisco's legendary impresario Marc Huestis. Following a reception and an onstage interview with Duke conducted by Bruce Vilanch, Huestis will screen her best-known film, Valley of the Dolls (1967).

Born (1946) in Elmhurst, New York to an alcoholic father and a mother who suffered from clinical depression, Anna Marie Duke began acting on television in 1957. Her film debut was playing the young Emily in The Goddess (58). She attained Broadway stardom in 1959 as Helen Keller opposite Anne Bancroft's Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker.
Both repeated their triumphs in the acclaimed 1962 film, and each won an Oscar, Duke beating Angela Lansbury's fierce mother in The Manchurian Candidate in the Best Supporting Actress category. At that time, she was the youngest actress to win a regular Academy Award.

She starred as look-alike teenage cousi
Patty Duke as Madame Morrible in Wicked .
ns in a television series, The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), then made the transition to an adult in the infamous Valley of the Dolls, based on Jacqueline Susann's tawdry, bestselling roman a clef.
Duke was Neely O'Hara, loosely modeled on Judy Garland. She gets fired from a Broadway show because her singing threatens veteran musical comedy star Helen Lawson (Susan Hayward), a character inspired by Ethel Merman. Neely becomes a major star and a pill-popping egomaniacal diva, every bit as monstrous as Lawson. (Garland was originally cast as Lawson, but was fired when she failed to appear on the set – probably because she had second thoughts about playing such a bitch.) Barbara Parkins and Sharon Tate co-starred with Duke. Despite horrendous reviews, the picture was a box office smash. Its notoriety, however, haunted Duke, much like Faye Dunaway was tarnished after her portrayal of Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest (81).
Until recently, Duke disowned Dolls and her performance in it, both of which became camp classics beloved by contemporary gay men. Four decades later, the film is a fascinating take on an era, and Duke's gutsy, over-the-top emoting is riveting and completely in keeping with the sensationalist material. In a featured role, Hayward, well-known for intense characterizations, matches Duke. But the lovely Parkins and the stunningly beautiful, doomed Tate are too restrained.

After Dolls, Duke worked steadily and restored her luster. For the big screen, she starred in Me, Natalie (69), as a young woman struggling to find herself and romance in Manhattan during the Go-Go years. It won her a Golden Globe Award. Television, however, gave her far more opportunities.
She guested on countless hit series and starred in small-screen movies, playing melodrama, suspense, and comedy with growing assurance. From 1974 to 1999, she garnered eight Emmy nominations, winning three times, for My Sweet Charlie (70), Captains and Kings (76), and, most memorably, as Annie Sullivan in a remake of The Miracle Worker (80). She was also touching as Sook in the 1997 television version of Truman Capote's moving A Christmas Memory.

Her first marriage ended in divorce, and a second was annulled. In 1972, she wed actor John Astin, and for years was billed as Patty Duke Astin. They had two children, but divorced in 1985. Since 1986, she has been married to Michael Pearce.
They have one son. She became the first woman President of the Screen Actors Guild (1985-88). Her autobiography, Call Me Anna, was filmed for television (90), and she played herself starting at age 30. For years, she had battled bi-polar disorder, and wrote courageously about it in 1992's A Brilliant Madness: Living With Manic Depressive Disorder. She has been an early and tireless advocate for people with AIDS.

During the 60s, Duke had a modest recording career, and in 2005 played Aunt Eller in the Broadway revival of Oklahoma!. Madame Morrible in Wicked adds another memorable character to her remarkable career. Her appearance at the Castro should be among the most exciting ever arranged by Huestis.GO SEE A LIVE SHOW THIS WEEK! Don't forget to contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/Foundation.htm

With grateful XOXOXs for your support!

Richard Skipper

Follow me on Twitter @RichardSkipper


AND DON'T FORGET: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NYC



WE WERE SRO LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT (7/8/09)!
Now a night out in NY to see a show at a VERY AFFORDABLE price!
Richard Skipper, along with Dana Lorge, is hosting a weekly variety show in NYC at The Iguana VIP Lounge in the heart of NYC (240 West 54th Street 8-11PM/with an intermission). WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE IGUANA! What they are doing is NOT being done anywhere else! Each week will showcase 5 entertainers. Other entertainers that show up will be inserted throughout the show as time permits/this is done by lottery!
AND each are joined by Barry Levitt on keyboard and Saadi Zain on bass.Each week will be different. The price is ONLY $10.00 with NO food or drink minimum (although the food at The Iguana is top notch). This is a nice night out with the family! The show will also be done with class and elegance.
A "throw back" to the variety shows we grew up with. For more info, please call 845-365-0720 or visit www.RichardSkipper.com. RESERVATIONS A MUST!!!!!!!!! 845-365-0720. No one admitted before 7:30.
TONIGHT (July 15th) guests include: Suzannah Bowling, Diana LeBlanc, Mitch Kahn, Gretchen Reinhagen, and Kim Schultz Improv Group... and a few other surprises as well! Remember $10.00 Cover/No food or drink minimum!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT! July 22nd: Jonathan Long, Sue Matsuki, Maria Ottavia, and Felicia Strassman AND Sharon McNight


July 29th: 2009 Bistro Award Winner for Outstanding Debut: Deb Burman, Kristopher Monroe, Marcus Simeone, Maureen Taylor, and Susan Winter.


August 5th: Sandi Durell, Bobbie Horowitz, Carolyn Ohlbaum, Brent Winborn, and Yaffa

August 12th: Barbara Gurskey, Rachel Stone and Leslie Orofino confirmed (Others TBA)



THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS ARE FROM 7/8/09
"What a bright, warm, funny host you are! Thank you so much for allowing me to jump up and enjoy my craft last night. Looking forward to the next one!” –Sierra Rein”



“That was a great evening, glitches or no glitches. My friend Deb Mayer (who I introduced you to, and is a fabulous actress) said she absolutely loved the format you have devised. XXXOOO Diana LaBlanc

“Such a deal!! 3 hours of excellent live entertainment for $10 deserves SRO every week!!!!” Carolyn Kalmus

“Thank you so much for last night! And thanks to Dana also! I had an absolute ball! Looking forward to coming back on August 5, and hopefully sooner.”
Carolyn Ohlbaum