Happy Independence Day!

"I know the 4th of July has turned into picnics and fireworks, and barbecue moments. But it's worthy of a pause, to think about what it really means to have Freedom."
-Oprah Winfrey

Happy Independence Day!

To all souls of America!I have a special thanks to all who are living their dreams!
When was the last time that you heard today's holiday referred to as Independence Day?

I truly don't remember!

These are the kind of greetings I receive...and I appreciate them. But I desire all that read my blog today to think of what INDEPENDENCE means to you. I heard on the radio yesterday that in a recent Maris poll, 58% of AMERICANS polled had no idea of the historical reasons for this celebration/holiday! If you do a Google search, the FIRST entry is the Will Smith film!

Fun Fact: Calvin Coolidge was the only US President born on the Fourth of July.

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States!

Per David Price, "July 4, 1937, Judy Garland with Sophie Tucker, entertaining at Louis B Mayer's annual Fourth of July party. They had recently finished work on BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938. One can only imagine what Sophie might have said when they handed her that outfit ..." (Source: THE JUDY GARLAND EXPERIENCE)

On June 30th, 1999, John Farr had an incredible article in The Huffington Post,For Independence Day, Ten Movies That Scream America In a clear, engaging way, John Farr can synthesize movies and the media like no one else. Here is that article in its entirety. I added the clips and photos.

As we head into the closing stretch of this Independence Day weekend, for those who'd like to move beyond the evergreen "Yankee Doodle Dandy", I want to suggest some classic titles scattered over the decades that each in their way evoke our country's unique character -- to paraphrase a favorite movie title, encompassing the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

If you haven't seen any of these for a while, well now's the time.

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936)- Simple country boy Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) inherits an immense fortune from a distant relative he doesn't even know, and must then navigate a sea of handlers and hand-out requests to make sense of his new life as multi-millionaire. But those who think they can manipulate this tuba-playing rube are soon in for a rude awakening. This charming slice of Americana from director Frank Capra is one of Cooper's most appealing comic forays, as his plain-talking homespun reflection of rural America-foxes all those smug and greedy city-slickers. Thus the movie reinforces the recurring Capra theme of solid individual integrity over the mob of established, monied interests. The husky voiced Jean Arthur delivers a note-perfect turn as Babe Bennett, a hard-nosed lady journalist who first ridicules, then falls for Longfellow, much to her surprise. One of the screen's authentic classics, this is pixilated comedy at its very best.

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)- Charting the early life experiences of Abraham Lincoln (Henry Fonda) in Springfield, Illinois, this fictionalized biopic follows the future Civil War president from his first political speech in 1832 and the tragic death of girlfriend Ann Rutledge (Pauline Moore) to his first trial case as a lawyer. Throughout, we glimpse moments of anguish and triumph in the making of a moral leader, as well as his courtship of society belle Mary Todd (Marjorie Weaver). The film culminates with Lincoln summoning uncommon ingenuity in defending two young men accused of murder. Fonda, who originally declined the role because of his awed reverence for Lincoln's legacy, embodies Abe with plainspoken assurance and gutsy idealism. Weaver, as the future Mrs. Lincoln, and Alice Brady, as the mother of two sons presumed guilty of murder, round out a luminous studio cast. Don't miss this stunning, mythic portrait of American greatness personified, by the legendary director of Stagecoach.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)- The great Sam Goldwyn produced this first, most ambitious movie about the plight of returning servicemen at the end of the Second World War. The film follows the unique readjustments to civilian life faced by three veterans: Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), a young officer coming back to a dead-end job, Al Stephenson (Fredric March), an older soldier returning to a loving family and stable career, and Homer Parrish (Harold Russell), a sailor who has lost both his hands in combat. Each character is subtly drawn under William Wyler's expert direction, evoking the complex challenges that confront veterans of all ranks -- making sense of their own war experiences while readjusting to a changed America. Even with the requisite dose of sentimentality and romance, the film never strays far from its central premise that no matter what you return to in a time of peace, war changes you forever. Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Best Actor (March) and Best Supporting Actor (Russell, an amputee veteran, and non-actor!).

Picnic (1955)- Hal Carter (William Holden), a down-and-out former college football jock, hops a freight to Kansas to ask his wealthy former roommate Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson) for a job. Alan's thrilled to see him (at first), but others distrust the rugged stranger, including Flo Owens (Betty Field), the socially ambitious mother of the girl Alan's been dating, town beauty Madge (Kim Novak, in her film debut). She senses the potential chemistry between Hal and Madge, an attraction that might hurt Hal's job search, and ruin Flo's carefully laid plans for her daughter's future. Matters come to a head at the town picnic. Joshua Logan's adaptation of the hit William Inge play captures the feeling of mid-twentieth century small town America as few other pictures have. Location shooting (in Technicolor) helps, with the crowd shots of real Kansans enjoying themselves during the picnic sequence particularly evocative. The two romantic leads do indeed heat up the screen, particularly during their memorable dance to the fifties standard, "Moonglow". Robertson, Field, Rosalind Russell and Arthur O'Connell round out a first-rate cast. Attend this Picnic.

Medium Cool (1969)- TV cameraman John Cassellis (an unrecognizable, pre- Jackie Brown Robert Forster) meets and falls for struggling single mom, Eileen (Verna Bloom), against the least opportune of back-drops: the turbulent 1968 Democratic Convention, when brutal police reaction to student demonstrations put the city of Chicago in chaos. John and sound-man Gus (Peter Bonerz) must capture the unfolding crisis for posterity, and in this volatile situation, it appears nothing is safe, including any future for John and Eileen. Haskell Wexler's one-of-a-kind film seamlessly blends narrative and documentary forms, as the actors actually played their scenes as the Chicago riots were exploding all around them. The heightened sense of immediacy and danger is palpable. Extremely well-played by Forster and Bloom, this is a fascinating, irreplaceable American time-capsule for the ages. Look for Peter Boyle as an impassioned right-winger.

Breaking Away (1979)- This strikingly buoyant coming-of-age picture set in Indiana tells of four local boys (and recent high-school grads) who must face their futures, but not before enjoying one last carefree summer. Protagonist Dave (Dennis Christopher) is obsessed with cycling, and on learning how many cycling champions come from Italy, cultivates an appreciation for all things Italian, much to the consternation of his conventional parents (Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie). Dave's cycling skills will eventually be tested against the snobby college guys in Bloomington's annual bike race. Director Peter Yates's heartfelt, life-affirming movie will prove a winner for older kids and adults. Christopher is appealingly quirky in the central role and the film also showcases the budding talents of future stars Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern as two of Dave's buddies. Dooley is outstanding as Dave's bewildered father, a solid Middle American you might actually buy a used car from.

Tender Mercies (1983)- Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall), once a successful country music balladeer, has a severe drinking problem and has finally hit bottom. It's no surprise that when alcoholics reach this sad crossroads in life, they either wither away entirely or climb back up into the world. With the help of patient widow Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) and her young son, Mac gradually finds the strength to reclaim his life. This quiet, unadorned gem, beautifully realized by Australian director Bruce Beresford from a brilliant Horton Foote screenplay, is an actor's showcase, and Duvall makes the most of it, turning in a bravura performance that won him a well-deserved Oscar. (Trivia note: screenwriter Foote had also done the script for Duvall's first film twenty years earlier: To Kill A Mockingbird, where the actor played the mysterious Boo Radley).

Born On The Fourth Of July: Motion Picture Soundtrack Album


Born On The Fourth Of July (1989)- This riveting biopic of Vietnam protester Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) opens with his all-American upbringing in Massapequa, NY, and entry into the war as a deeply patriotic enlisted man. Later, Kovic returns home disillusioned and psychologically scarred from a bullet wound that's left him paralyzed from the waist down. Alienated and adrift in Mexico, the hard-drinking vet eventually begins to pull his life together, devoting his energies to anti-war activism. Helmed by Vietnam vet Oliver Stone, Born is a profoundly moving portrait of a macho athlete whose horrific battle experience causes him to reassess his politics and reorient his give-'em-hell attitude. Cruise, in an ambitious turn away from heartthrob roles, plays Kovic with precision and conviction, especially at his darkest moments, delivering the finest work of his career. Co-written by Stone and Kovic, Born reflects the pain and anger felt by an entire generation of returning US soldiers, and will leave a lasting impression.

Editor's note: What if Charlie Sheen had starred in 1989's "Born on the Fourth of July" instead of Tom Cruise? Sheen has claimed that director Oliver Stone originally offered him the film's star role as paralyzed Vietnam vet and activist Ron Kovic. "I think the movie would've worked better and his career would've peaked at a higher level," Studio 360 host Kurt Andersen tells The Hollywood Reporter. The biopic worked out fine for Cruise and director Oliver Stone – it grossed $70 million domestically and got Stone his second directing Oscar and Cruise his first best actor nomination.

American Beauty (1999)- Leading an empty suburban life with his uptight, real-estate-agent wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), and depressed teenage daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), sardonic forty-something Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) decides to overhaul his body -- and his life -- when he falls madly in lust with gorgeous nubile Angela (Mena Suvari), Jane's flirtatious best friend. This superlative drama by theater director Sam Mendes peers at the dark side of American middle-class life with ripe, risqué humor and aching poignancy. Both screenwriter Alan Ball and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall were honored along with Mendes at the 1999 Academy Awards for their evocation of suburban alienation, but Kevin Spacey, whose cool, cynical narration constitutes the film's central nervous system, deserved all the acclaim he received for bringing Lester to life (including a Best Actor Oscar). Working in a subplot involving Lester's new neighbors, an unhinged Marine (Chris Cooper) and his artsy, drug-dealing son (Wes Bentley), Mendes gives this Beauty a gut-wrenching finale that completes Lester's transformation.

Transamerica (2005)- Just a week before pre-operative transsexual Bree Osbourne (Felicity Huffman), formerly Stanley, is about go under the knife to complete her male-to-female transformation, she learns that she has a 17-year-old son named Toby (Kevin Zegers), who's in trouble with the law. Encouraged by her therapist, Margaret (Elizabeth Peña), to come to grips with her past, Bree bails Toby out of jail and takes him on a cross-country road trip to Los Angeles. Expertly handled by first-time director Duncan Tucker, this funny, touching film belongs to a tradition of beautifully observed movies about nontraditional American families. Huffman is riveting to watch, especially in the scenes with her disapproving mother, Elizabeth (Fionnula Flanagan). But it is her rapport with Zegers, perfect as the troubled Toby, that gives the film its heart and soul, especially as he believes Bree is a goody-goody church type-not his father. Their trip-so often the arc of growth in great road films-is mutually nourishing and eye-opening.

Settle in with Transamerica for a frank, heartfelt outing.

For close to 2,000 more outstanding titles, visit www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com.

Also check out John's video blog profiling great films at www.reel13.org.

Follow John Farr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jfarr02


Check in tomorrow as I write about two more stars on the rise...one honoring a major superstar!

I own nothing, no copyright infringement on anything included in this blog intended.

Thanks for being a loyal reader of my blog!

GO SEE A LIVE SHOW TONIGHT!
Become A Facebook friend of mine!
Follow me on Twitter
If you've seen one of my appearances/shows, add your thoughts to my guestbook at www.RichardSkipper.com



Tomorrow's blog will be about You tell me...I'm open to suggestions!

Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm

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

A STAR IS BORN: FROM TENNESSEE TO OZ

"For Judy Garland's family and friends who have contributed so generously to this work"
dedication to FROM TENNESSEE TO OZ: The Amazing Saga of Judy Garland's Family History by Michelle Russell




Happy Sunday!

Greetings this Fourth of July weekend! Can’t believe that it’s actually here! Those of us on the East Coast have lousy weather today! June literally passed by in a blink of an eye with all the activities I had on my calendar. A barbeque that I was scheduled to attend today has been postponed till tomorrow, rain or shine.
So, I don't feel guilty sitting at my computer and writing my blog this morning.
Big news in Hollywood!

Beyoncé will star in Clint Eastwood’s remake of the classic rags-to-riches tale A Star Is Born.

Beyoncé had been tipped for the role for some time but she finally confirmed the casting during an interview with Good Morning America. "Clint Eastwood? Can you believe that? I can't believe it still. When I met with him I was just in awe. I'm so, so honored that he believes in me. And I can't wait to do this film," she said.


"I represent this generation's talent and for me to be the chosen person, as an African American woman, is incredible," the chart-topper added.


The role Beyoncé will play, an aspiring singer who arrives in Hollywood desperate for a break, has already been played by Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and Janet Gaynor in previous remakes.

Leonardo DiCaprio is expected to be announced as the male lead, an aging film star who helps Beyoncé’s character find fame, while Clint Eastwood will direct.
Filming starts in autumn; the movie is set for release in 2012.

I think it is great that this universal story is getting a new retelling for a new generation. The last time was 1976. 1976's A Star Is Born was an American rock music musical film telling the story of a young woman, played by Barbra Streisand who enters show business, and meets and falls in love with an established male star, played by Kris Kristofferson, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline. This version was the highest-grossing of the three films and the second highest grossing film of 1976 in the US behind Rocky.
(Side note, Rocky is slated to come to Broadway as a musical!)


Much success, Beyonce'! I'm rooting for you!

Now, I would like to write about A star on the rise who has written about the early rise of another star that we all love!. Michelle Russell! Michelle has been working tirelessly for as long as I've known her...about ten years on preserving the legacy of Judy Garland's early life...as Francis Gumm... and events leading up to her birth. I have received an advance copy of the book and it is incredible!

Michelle has explored old documents, sought out relatives and followed the yellow brick road-cross-country-in pursuit of Judy Garland's past history.

She has discovered a fascinating, never-to-be-forgotten history, as well as unearthed new stories about young Judy and her family from the people who were there.

Clemmie Baugh, a beautiful, crippled girl from a wealthy Tennessee family, grew up during the Civil War. Clemmie meets and falls in love with the handsome Will Gum, who has big dreams, but no money. After a short-lived success, Will falls to temptation and looses everything. Soon, Clemmie's mother lives in fear of her life. Eventually, Will and Clemmie's son, young Frank Gum, because of his beautiful voice, is rescued by the richest man in town. This book, FROM TENNESSEE TO OZ,covers 1870 through the 1940s. Plus over 170 images.

The book-which, as I said earlier, is an advance copy-was completed a few weeks ago in order to arrive at the Judy Garland Festival, which just happened last month.

For those who bought advance copies, Michelle will be putting out a newsletter to update you. Michelle says this has been a fabulous eight year journey, discovering Judy's family history.

Michelle Russell is an actress, singer and producer. This is her sixth book.

There is also a companion CD, which I also recommend. It's already on my Ipod! All of this has taken it's toll on Michelle, as well...just as it did with Judy!...like going broke twice, overcoming foreclosure and more.

She says she just hopes she has told this story well enough. She has!
During her eight years of work on FROM TENNESSEE TO OZ, Michelle travelled to nine states and conducted long-distance research in an additional eight states. "There are pioneers, plantation owners, Civil War soldiers, ministers of God, a US Congressman, and some persons, like Garland's grandfather, Will T. Gum, of questionable character."

" There are hints of pyromania, death threats and other shocking allegations."

There was a lady who once lived in the family home and took care of the three year-old child known as Baby Gumm. As a result of the generosity of countless persons, Michelle was able to fill her book with many rare stories and photos.

Michelle has appeared at The Judy Garland Festival many times.
For information on FROM TENNESSEE TO OZ, please call (570)443-8275.

Check out From Tennessee To Oz

Check in tomorrow as I write about two more stars on the rise...one honoring a major superstar!

I own nothing, no copyright infringement on anything included in this blog intended.

Thanks for being a loyal reader of my blog!

GO SEE A LIVE SHOW TONIGHT!
Become A Facebook friend of mine!
Follow me on Twitter
If you've seen one of my appearances/shows, add your thoughts to my guestbook at www.RichardSkipper.com



Tomorrow's blog will be about You tell me...I'm open to suggestions!

Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm

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

Hello, Gorgeous...A Tribute to Marilyn Michaels and the other Funny Girls!

"You think beautiful girls are going to stay in style forever? I should say not! Any minute now they're going to be out! Finished! Then it'll be my turn!"
-Fanny Brice in Funny Girl


Hello, Gorgeous People!


I've been thinking a lot lately about the proposed Broadway revival of FUNNY GIRL...(and the woman who did the first national tour!), the first since it closed on Broadway on March 12th, 1964. I've been thinking about it for a few reasons. Last month, I saw Chip Defaa's wonderful ONE NIGHT WITH FANNY BRICE starring Kimberly Faye Greenberg at St. Luke's Theatre.

I've written about this in a couple of blogs. Go see this show to get a truer account of Fanny Brice's life. Also, this week, I read a wonderful article written by the marvelous Marilyn Michaels in this week's New York Times referring to the right qualifications to play Fanny Brice. Marilyn Michaels, a singer and comedian known for her impersonations of Barbra Streisand and other celebrities, offers suggestions for the producers looking to cast the demanding role of Fanny Brice in the coming revival of “Funny Girl.”

(A NIGHT OF NEARLY 100 STARS @ Queensboro Community College
May 8, 2005, Barry Levitt, Marilyn Michaels and 'Carol')


I don't think there is a person alive today who doesnt equate Fanny Brice with Barbra Streisand and vice versa. Of course, it made Barbra a star...and vice versa! Although, Barbra lost the Tony to Carol Channing (for Hello, Dolly! that year (1964), she went on to win the Oscar for the film AND even did the film version of Hello, You Know Who!. Barbra's understudy in Funny Girl was Lanie Kazan. Barbra was replaced in the run by Mimi Hines.
Barbra Streisand came out of the small Greenwich Village clubs fully formed, bursting upon the worlds of Broadway, Hollywood, television, and recordings in a totally unique, sometimes controversial way.

(Courtesy of Marilyn Michaels
Marilyn Michaels in the national touring company production of “Funny Girl.”)

Marilyn Michaels did the first national tour of Funny Girl.



Marilyn writes, "In 1965, when the composer Jule Styne ran up to me onstage at the Winter Garden Theater during auditions for the national company of “Funny Girl” and exclaimed, “You must do this part!,” he saw qualities in me that any actress playing Fanny Brice must have to make the role believable."

I've had the pleasure of working with Marilyn twice and she has always been to me a CLASS ACT all the way! Producers, forget Funny Girl ! Bring Marilyn Michaels to Broadway!

Winner of an Outer Critic Circle Award and a Drama League Award for her debut in Catskills On Broadway, Marilyn Michaels is America's premier woman of a thousand faces and voices. From the time she starred as Fannie Brice in the national company of Funny Girl, garnering rave reviews throughout the country, and through her debut on the Emmy winning television series, The Kopykats, Marilyn has become familiar to fans all over the world.

She is known to audiences by her countless appearances on such television shows as The Tonight Show, Regis and Kathie Lee, Lifestyles with Robin Leach, The Today Show, Sally Jesse Raphael and The Howard Stem Show. Ed Sullivan Show, Sullivan on Broadway,The Dean Martin Show, Dean Martin Roasts,Name of the Game with Sammy Davis, etc...

Marilyn has brought her gift for satire and her powerful singing style to such diverse venues as Las Vegas and Atlantic City, starring at Harrahs hotel in the dazzling revue, Broadway Ballyhoo. Known as a "tripple threat performer" she is one of the few performers in show business who can be seen hosting a standup show such as Girls Night Out for Lifetime or dealing with topical and pertinent social issues as host of CNBC'S Talk Live.

Then in the blink of an eye, you will catch her doing a commercial for Diet 7Up or appearing in concert at Town Hall or The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse in what she views as her true root talent, that of a singer. Then there are those who know Marilyn's theatrical heritage and have heard her sing in five different languages, or caught her performing with her mother the famed female Cantoress, Fraydele Oysher. She guested on the PBS special Another Mitzvah, along with Alan King and Erica Jong, and hosted WLIW television's Awards in Excellence Gala.

Marilyn began her career singing with her mother, Fraydele, when she was seven. At the age of 15 she was soloist in her father's choir, the late Metropolitan Opera basso, Harold Sternberg. The cantor was her uncle, the legendary Moishe Oysher. It was through this musical heritage that Marilyn honed her ear for sounds, dialects and languages.. Her character portrayals have been seen on such national shows as Spelling/Goldberg's The Love Boat, and as a guest star on the soaper One Life To Live. Her rendition of Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand singing via split screen on an NBC Award show has become a cult favorite. She has appeared with the Philadelphia and Long Island symphonies, as well as displaying versatility as a narrator with multiple personalities in the Emmy winning Reading Rainbow for PBS (Gregory the Terrible Eater) as well as the narration for the audio book, Frankly Scarlett, I Do Give A Damn (Harper Collins)

A many facetted woman , Marilyn is an accomplished painter whose landscape paintings and celebrity artworks have shown in New York and Palm Beaches finest galleries. Her art poster, The Fabulous Blondes (E Channel, Celebrity Homes) depicts a mural consisting of filmdom's movie goddesses. (Source: Marilyn Michael's website)

Marilyn, and with all due respect to all the other Funny Girl's, YOU are my favorite!

I've actually seen three productions of Funny Girl over the years. The first was at the now defunct, Equity Library Theatre. Boy, do I miss that theatre! It was 1986 and starred Carole Schweid as Fanny Brice.

Stephen Holden wrote of her performance in that show in the NY TIMES, "'FUNNY GIRL,'' the musical that catapulted the young Barbra Streisand into the stratosphere in 1964, is a star vehicle if ever there was one. Its portrait of Fanny Brice, an ambitious, insecure kook, bursting at the seams with a talent that is matched only by an unbridled chutzpah, is a plum that requires a larger-than-life performer - and not necessarily Miss Streisand - to make it breathe with excitement. At the very least it demands someone with the compulsive clown's instincts to show off and turn everything into a shtick - someone so self-dramatizing that even off the stage she is giving a performance.

Carole Schweid, who plays Fanny in the Equity Library Theater's revival of the show, has a low-keyed charm but very little drive. Her Fanny is a cheerfully mousy girl-next-door with big brown eyes, a plaintive Cheshire cat grin and an appealing awkwardness. But Miss Schweid doesn't give the role nearly enough energetic charge to suggest a show-business lightning bolt. And her small, nasal voice, which frequently wavers in pitch, is suited to only one aspect - the cutesy, nostalgic side -of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's multifaceted score. "

I have to agree. I felt SOMETHING was missing.

I next saw it at The Papermill Playhouse in 2001 starring the amazing Leslie Kritzer! SHE should do this on Broadway!"Funny Girl

John Kenrick in his review of the show wrote, "A tornado passed through central New Jersey last week, but no one who was on hand had any complaints. In fact, we all stood and cheered till we were hoarse, for this was a musical comedy tornado, and her name is Leslie Kritzer."The Paper Mill Playhouse team said they had found an exciting new talent to star in their long awaited revival of Funny Girl, and they were not exaggerating. Kritzer is no imitation of Stresiand, but every inch an original. She's a powerhouse singer who can wring the heart out of "People," and then sustain clarion notes in showstoppers like "Don't Rain on My Parade" until you wonder how so much sound can come out of such a petite package! In between, she fills "You Are Woman" with flawless physical shtick, and does things with a pillow and bridal gown in "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" that even Streisand never thought of. Would that Broadway had waited until this lady came along to revive "Once Upon a Mattress" – here at last is someone worthy of Carol Burnett's comic legacy.

Kritzer has such assurance that its surprising this young New Jersey native has few previous credits. (Her only NY stint was in the off-Broadway revival of Godspell.) I'll bet you this much – she will have major credits in years to come, and those of us lucky enough to catch her in this Funny Girl will brag that we were there for that rarest of events – the birth of a genuine star."

I also was at The Revision Theatre concert version in 2009 in Asbury Park starring Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl with an all star cast!

Nick Arnstein: I'd be happy to wait while you change.
Fanny: I'd have to change too much, nobody could wait that long.

Lanie Kazan introduced the evening, told a few anecdotes and sang HIS IS THE ONLY MUSIC THAT MAKES ME DANCE. Here is Steven as Simply Barbra!


After "Hello, Dolly!", people thought every show needed a hit title song. . Producers wouldn't open the Jones and Schmidt show 110 in the Shade in England unless there was a title song. The first version of the song "Funny Girl" was written to be sung on roller skates, but this proved too dangerous to stage. When they cut the skating, they also cut the number. Jule Styne and Bob Merrill then wrote a second version, then a third one for the movie (heard here), hoping finally to pull off a hit title song and grab an Oscar. It was nominated-but alas, lost out to Michele Legrand's "The Windmills of Your Mind."

Fanny Brice: Where I come from, when two people... well, sort of love each other... oh, never mind.
Nick Arnstein: Well? What do they do when they "sort of love each other"?
Fanny Brice: Well, one of them says, "Why don't we get married?"
Nick Arnstein: Really?
Fanny Brice: Yeah, and sometimes it's even the man.



Fanny Brice: You could get lonesome being that free.
Nick Arnstein: You could get lonesome being that busy.
Fanny Brice: Now who'd think to look at us that we got the same problem!

Fanny Brice: He's a gentleman. A gentleman fits in anyplace.
Rose Brice: A sponge fits in any place.

I own nothing, no copyright infringement on anything included in this blog intended.

Thanks for being a loyal reader of my blog!

GO SEE A LIVE SHOW TONIGHT!
Become A Facebook friend of mine!
Follow me on Twitter
If you've seen one of my appearances/shows, add your thoughts to my guestbook at www.RichardSkipper.com



Tomorrow's blog will be about You tell me...I'm open to suggestions!

Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm

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

Happy Birthday Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Caron!

"There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South... Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind..."


Happy July!
Today is the birthday of two of my favorite film actresses! Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Caron. Both are still with us and if this blog is ever seen by either, I want to celebrate the wonderful gifts they have given to the world.
And they both have Paris in common!

And they both had STAR POWER! I never had the opportunity of meeting either.
However, I do have "six degrees of separation" situations with both.
Years ago, Harold Kennedy did a series of lectures at St Malachy's, The Actor's Chapel, in Manhattan. Around '82 or '83.

No Bed of Roses had just come out.This wonderfully juicy tell-all reveals a new tragedy, illness, or romantic fiasco on almost every page.
Joan was born in Japan to British parents who were cold and harsh.
Their marriage ended early, and Joan and her sister (Olivia de Haviland) moved to California with their mother. The famous rift (more like a "war") between Joan and her older sister apparently was a case of extreme sibling rivalry that lasts to this day.

Joan was doing a book tour and she was there to discuss the book and sign copies. When she first came on stage, she said, "I will answer any and all questions. But please, no questions about my sister." A woman's hand shot up and she asked, "Who is your sister?"
The entire room burst into raucous laughter.
Joan gathered ALL the flowers on stage, which were massive, and gave them to this woman in the audience. I will never forget that!
But back to our birthday girl. There are so many wonderful images I have of Miss de Havilland on film. As I write these words, they flood through my brain. Of course, Melanie in Gone With The Wind!

There is THE SNAKE PIT, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (and several other films with Errol Flynn), HUSH, HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (my favorite), I also love her in THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS!, THE HEIRESS. I could go on and on. She was a star when a star was a star!

Olivia Mary de Havilland (born July 1, 1916) is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.

Olivia de Havilland is the last surviving principal cast member from Gone With the Wind. She played Melanie, the sweet southern belle with a backbone of steel, and de Havilland is reportedly very much like the character she portrayed. De Havilland won two Oscars, for To Each His Own, a 1946 drama in which her character became pregnant out of wedlock, and three years later as The Heiress, in which Montgomery Clift might be pursuing her only for her money. She was also nominated for Hold Back the Dawn, in which Romanian Charles Boyer might be pursuing her to marry his way to US citizenship, for The Snake Pit, where her character was committed to an insane asylum, as well as for Gone With the Wind.(Incidentally, yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the release of the book Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell)

The stars of Gone With the Wind have, for the most part, not been blessed with long lives.

Vivien Leigh, who played the movie's central character, Scarlett O'Hara, passed away in July 1967 from tuberculosis at the age of 53. The life of Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) was claimed in November 1960, when he was 59, by a coronary thrombosis, ten days after he had suffered a severe heart attack. In June 1943, the life of Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes)was cut short at 50, when, while he was involved in propaganda and posibly intelligence work for his native Briain during World War II, his plane was shot down by the Nazi Germans. Hattie McDaniel (Mammy), who won an Oscar (the first black to do so and the only black to do so until 1963) for Best Supporting Actress, died of breast cancer at 57 in 1952.

De Havilland got two big breaks in one summer production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
First, she understudied for Gloria Stuart's character, Hermia, and in true Hollywood fashion got the role when Stuart had to drop out.
Then Warner Brothers decided to film the stage production as a feature, and De Havilland signed a seven year contract with the studio.

In quick summary once again, de Havilland was born in Tokyo, Japan to a father with an overseas patent law practice and an actress mother. Both she and her sister, Joan Fontaine (Rebecca, Suspicion, The Constant Nymph, Ivanhoe) were among the 1930s' leading motion picture actresses. De Havilland's film debut was 1935's A Midsummer Night's Dream. She is probably best known for her role in 1939's Gone With the Wind and 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood, in which she played Maid Marian. Although losing the 1939 Best Supporting Actress Oscar, for which she was nominated, to McDaniel, de Havilland eventually won two Best Actress Oscars, for her roles as Miss Josephine "Jody" Harris in 1946's To Each His Own and as Catherine Sloper in 1949's The Heiress. Married twice and the mother of two children, de Havilland has resided in Paris since the 1950s. (Additional biographical details about de Havilland are accessible easily enough.

Mickey Kuhn, who, in Gone With the Wind, played de Havilland's character's son Beau Wilkes as a seven-year-old, has been communicating with de Havilland in recent years via letters and notes. He offers this assessment of her: "She's a lovely lady. She's just the epitome of class. And she's a delight to talk to."

However, Kuhn shares a detail that may be surprising about his interaction on the set with de Havilland: "I have to be honest with you. I never met Olivia when I was working. Can you believe that? When [her character] was dying, she was behind closed doors, and that was just a fake wall. I never met her."

In fact, Kuhn "never had the opportunity to meet her until her 90th birthday. They had a 90th birthday party for her out in Hollywood, and I was invited.

I just briefly met her because those Hollywood types wanted to dominate her. Being the gentleman that I am, I didn't push myself."

According to Kuhn: "Last October, my wife and I were in Paris to celebrate our 25th anniversary. And we were at Olivia's house. We were to have cocktails with her. But something got snafued, and we didn't have the opportunity. But we were at her house, and it was still quite a thrill.

Her staff had forgotten to tell her earlier in the day that I was going to be there. She did say, however, that if I were available the next morning, that we would meet for brunch. But, unfortunately, that was when I had to leave."
Please visit http://www.oliviadehavillandonline.com

Kuhn states: "She's a wonderful lady, and she's in great shape. She's coming out to California in September. Her daughter is getting married, and she's going to be at the wedding. I'm hoping, and I'm praying, that [Turner Classic Movies host] Robert Osborne can arrange a meeting for us."

Kuhn also notes de Havilland's concern about Stalinist atrocities and her resistance to efforts of the international Communist movement to infiltrate Hollywood. He states: "It's nice to know that she was one of those in Hollywood who saw through the Communist plot."

Stacey Albert, an auditor for the City of Philadelphia, is planning a get-together for friends tonight -- which will feature a viewing, at the very least, of The Adventures of Robin Hood -- in honor of de Havilland's 95th birthday. Albert relates personally to the role of Melanie Wilkes.

"Olivia almost always played the shy character [note: de Havilland was displeased, as her career developed, by what she felt was typecasting], never getting the spotlight. That's like most of us as we live our lives ... in the shadow of a sister, brother or other family members. Almost the only major role of hers in which she didn't play this kind of character was in The Adventures of Robin Hood. However, not here!

(SOURCE: Actress Olivia de Havilland ("Gone With the Wind", "Robin Hood") Turns 95 by Adam Taxin, Philadelphia Jewish Culture Examiner, Read entire article HERE

Today is also the birthday of Leslie Caron! Again, I never met her but I do have her recent autobiography autographed to me thanks to my friend Jud Newborn who interviewed her as part of his film series at Long Island University. It still kills me that I was unable to attend that night! As with Ms. de Havilland, there are so many images that run through my head! GIGI, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, DADDY LONG LEGS, LILI, THE GLASS SLIPPER!


Leslie Caron's mother was an American dancer who briefly made it to Broadway, but gave up her career for marriage, and eventually took her own life. She nudged her daughter toward dancing almost as soon as she could walk, and by the age of 16 young Leslie was chosen to dance with France's prestigious Ballet de Champs Elysees. After three years as a professional dancer, Caron was "discovered" by Gene Kelly, and at the age of 19 she starred with him in the classic An American in Paris.

She made numerous Hollywood musicals, dancing with Fred Astaire in Daddy Long Legs, singing but not dancing with Kelly in Gigi with Maurice Chevalier, and slapping Cary Grant (who slapped her back) in Father Goose. She also worked often in European films, and won a British Academy Award playing the unwed pregnant woman who gathers strength from her odd roommates in The L-Shaped Room. Her more recent films include Funny Bones with Jerry Lewis and Oliver Platt and Le Divorce with Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts.

In semi-retirement from films, Caron runs a now runs a surprisingly affordable bed and breakfast, La Lucarne aux Chouettes (The Owl's Nest), located about 70 miles outside of Paris.


The class that these women exhibited on screen and in their professional lives is also Gone With The Wind. I miss that!


Join this page on Facebook: Bring Olivia de Havilland to the TCM Film Festival

SOURCES:Leslie Caron's NNDB PAGE


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