Freddie2 Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Yes. I texted her, but I have no idea when she'll read it. My last texting conversation with her involved her grilling me for not liking My Fair Lady and then telling me the story of how she got drunk and met Dixie Carter in 1991. She's probably recording it anyway, as she has a constant flow of Memorex blank DVDs in her recorder at all times. She makes copies and sends them to family and friends. It gives her something to do, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 The "What a Character" that preceded "Auntie Mame" was about Mary Wickes. A short bio, stating she was born in 1916 BUT graduated from COLLEGE in 1934. (She was actually born in 1910). There was a late-in-life on camera interview with Mary too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 For Lucy's sake, I so want "Mame" to eventually be looked on as a movie classic. I think it's generally true that a few bad scenes can alter one's perception of the merits of a production in total. Look at "Lucy in London". I think the Anthony Newley segment, being too long, mars that. And the chase scene in "Lucy Gets Lucky" negates the fact that she's giving us so many wonderfully classic Lucy scenes. And "Mame": I wish someone would go back and clean up those soft-focus close-ups, because that's all some people see. And there aren't really all that many. The critics at the time make it sound like Lucy was the only star ever in soft-focus. have they ever seen "Casablanca"? And even Shirley Temple's close ups are soft in her movies. But there's something about Lucy's in Mame that are jarring. And it takes away from scenes. Makes people go "ah-HAH: look at THAT!". When I did my re-edit of some of the Mame numbers, I was able to bring some of the shots within musical numbers into better focus; and my special effects knowledge is pretty limited. I didn't watch all of mame last night, but this time, I concentrated on what Lucy was doing. And she's really giving it her all. Very nuanced, certainly much more than the then-current Here's Lucy. She really has some marvelous little moments. I'm thinking of little ones: her primping in front of the mirror as they head out to dinner with Beau, her conversations with Joyce Van Patton ("a huuuunt?"), her reaction to Mother Burnside, and of course she shines throughout the "mame" number. Of the scenes that don't work (and bring down the rest of the movie), I list: The "You? In a convent?" scene Though Lucy looks great, the whole party at Mame's is poorly staged and badly edited. It seems to just sit there when it should be the comedy climax of the whole show. I don't like the opening dialogue (or Lucy's line readings) when she first meets Patrick. "Oh my GAWD. I'm your Auntie Mame" in which she appears to be almost annoyed. And the scene where Gooch is being transformed comes across a little mean-spirited instead of joyous fun. One of my big gripes is that grown up Patrick seems to have no affection for Gooch. Lucy's "Peckerwood" take is great but I don't quite understand it. I can only assume. Other than those (and a couple others I'm sure; and another disclaimer: I'm passed the point of being able to be objective), I've come to the conclusion that it's a great movie. It has fewer detractors than it used to, but it's still short of being thought of as even as good as "Hello Dolly". You'd think it would have had numerous runs already on TCM, but last night was its TCM debut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 The whole "Mame" fox hunt scene works well enough but could have been more tightly edited and included more of the sight gags from "Auntie": going the wrong directions, plowing through Mother Burnside's flower bed. A couple of things about the same scene in "Auntie": the bit with Roz's small boots is ridiculous. Somebody would have said something. Roz is no Lucy (but then who is?) but handles her slapstick well. The close ups of her on the horse are quick enough that maybe 1958 audiences didn't notice it's the same merry-go-round fake horse that doubled for Annabelle when Lucy is riding along-side the train in "Lucy/Cub Scouts/President". And at least the fox Lucy holds is real and not the obvious stuffed animal as it is in "Auntie"! Speaking of Annabelle, I posted a video of Lucy doing pretty much the same bits after falling off the horse in one of the "Annabelle" movies. I'll see if I can find it and re-post. The culmination of this scene in the movie makes the praise for Mame for motivated: that she managed to stay on a horse declared insane by the county vet with Sally Cato being exposed as the culprit. Other than the roller skate scene, "Mame" tended to steer clear of anything that was too "Lucy". But they missed a golden opportunity with the "Man in Moon is a Lady" sequence. Instead of the (unlikely) bit of her lolling around in the dressing room and missing her cue (though I do like her reaction to "Moon Lady! You're on!"), they could have had her trying to mount the moon before it rises. Imagine how many laughs Lucy could milk out of her attempts to climb on, get herself steady and the look on her face and the jolt of her body when the moon actually starts to rise. Besides.... Mame missing her entrance is more the stage manager's fault than hers anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie2 Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 90% of the movie's issues are technical ones. The cinematography is pedestrian for such a big production. The only interesting shots I can think of are the two times the camera does a little arc- during Open A New Window and when Bea and Lucy are doing soft-shoe during the Bosom Buddies reprise. The Mame sequence didn't have a single overhead shot! That type of thing deserved a Busby Berkeley to do the staging. A lot of the singing sounds cobbled together and unprofessional. I never understood why the movie didn't get any Oscar nominations- the costumes alone seemed to be screaming for recognition. One reason the movie may not have done too well with critics is because of the time frame. It was sandwiched between Lost Horizon and At Long Last Love, so it definitely came at a sour time for musicals. Does anybody know the box office numbers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I never thought about the absence of an overhead shot in the number. The circle leap would have warranted one. They did have the "underhead" show of the men leaping over the hedges. It's so hard to figure what the actual grosses were. Numbers sometimes reflect domestic grosses only, include foreign income and the pre-sale to television. In his intro, Osbourne says it made a LOT of money breaking a Radio City box office record, but of course that included a stage show. I know it opened big in most towns. The year-end figure Variety stated was $6.5M, but what that number reflects, I don't know. I think only domestic rentals. It was Warner Brothers 4th highest grossing film of the year behind Exorcist, Magnum Force and Blazing Saddles. Lucy claimed it made money, but it certainly wasn't the blockbuster everyone was hoping for and expecting. Had the movie been made 5 years earlier, it would have fared better. For one thing, Lucy would have been in much better shape vocally. Times had changed rather dramatically since 1969. 1972's "Cabaret" changed critic's perception of what a movie musical should be. Osbourne said "also considered for the role was Elizabeth Taylor, then at her peak". I can't imagine. Liz's peak was the mid-60s. Perhaps "Here's Lucy" in 1970 was her last high water mark. By the 70s, the Burtons were better known as celebrities than actors. I don't know of a big hit she had after "Virginia Wolf" in 1966. Liz's acting never did much for me. She did do a movie musical "A Little Night Music" in 1977 but it barely got a theatrical release and is all but completely forgotten today. One reviewer: "Liz's 'Send in the Clowns' is no chart-buster." I saw it in a theater and it was a dreary production. So much for hit Broadway musicals automatically getting the Hollywood treatment. Even harder to fathom is Bette Davis in the role. She campaigned for it, but can you imagine her cackling out the songs? Bette's last good picture was "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" in 1965. Turned down for the Mame role, Bette next set her sights on Vera. One good thing that might have come out of Bette Davis as Vera is that the critics might have gone easier on Lucy's age since Bette is 3 years older, but looked at least 10! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 Mame at Radio City Music Hall set a record for the most money made by a film at one theater in a single day and a record for most money made at a single theater in a week. That's pretty impressive. This was several weeks into the run too. The reviews weren't dissuading people in New York. Most of the New York critics were pretty pro-Lucy and these were the people who had to have seen Angela Lansbury do the role too. Mame made $2.7 million at Radio City alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie2 Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I never thought about the absence of an overhead shot in the number. The circle leap would have warranted one. They did have the "underhead" show of the men leaping over the hedges. It's so hard to figure what the actual grosses were. Numbers sometimes reflect domestic grosses only, include foreign income and the pre-sale to television. In his intro, Osbourne says it made a LOT of money breaking a Radio City box office record, but of course that included a stage show. I know it opened big in most towns. The year-end figure Variety stated was $6.5M, but what that number reflects, I don't know. I think only domestic rentals. It was Warner Brothers 4th highest grossing film of the year behind Exorcist, Magnum Force and Blazing Saddles. Lucy claimed it made money, but it certainly wasn't the blockbuster everyone was hoping for and expecting. Had the movie been made 5 years earlier, it would have fared better. For one thing, Lucy would have been in much better shape vocally. Times had changed rather dramatically since 1969. 1972's "Cabaret" changed critic's perception of what a movie musical should be. Osbourne said "also considered for the role was Elizabeth Taylor, then at her peak". I can't imagine. Liz's peak was the mid-60s. Perhaps "Here's Lucy" in 1970 was her last high water mark. By the 70s, the Burtons were better known as celebrities than actors. I don't know of a big hit she had after "Virginia Wolf" in 1966. Liz's acting never did much for me. She did do a movie musical "A Little Night Music" in 1977 but it barely got a theatrical release and is all but completely forgotten today. One reviewer: "Liz's 'Send in the Clowns' is no chart-buster." I saw it in a theater and it was a dreary production. So much for hit Broadway musicals automatically getting the Hollywood treatment. Even harder to fathom is Bette Davis in the role. She campaigned for it, but can you imagine her cackling out the songs? Bette's last good picture was "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" in 1965. Turned down for the Mame role, Bette next set her sights on Vera. One good thing that might have come out of Bette Davis as Vera is that the critics might have gone easier on Lucy's age since Bette is 3 years older, but looked at least 10! With A Little Night Music being my favorite musical score, I have seen the movie and I have to say it suffers from many of the same issues as Mame, the biggest ones IMO are the omission of several numbers and the fact that Liz was clearly dubbed in some spots. It's even more of an editing trainwreck than Mame and you can basically hear when they cut between different takes of songs. Not to mention the film was shot out of order so Liz's weight fluctuates wildly in between scenes. Highlights are the newly added lyrics to the opening number "Night Waltz", and the always beautiful Diana Rigg, who, with limited vocal ability, gives one hell of an interpretation and is my favorite version of The Countess. They kept Len Cairou and Hermione Gingold from the original production. Hermione isn't given much to do and it's very underwhelming coming after Music Man and Gigi. Too bad Desilu's 'Glynis' hadn't been renewed. Maybe she'd be a big enough star to have kept the Desiree role at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I thought maybe the print I saw was badly edited because Hermoine's big solo "Liaisons" was cut, but there was dialogue leading up to it and an abrupt cut to next scene. I wonder if it was filmed. I prefer the Broadway "Glamorous Life", though the film version is sung more often. The one nicely filmed number is "Weekend in the Country", the highlight being Diana Rigg. Not sure why they changed some of the lyrics. It seems like the studio lost interest at some point. With A Little Night Music being my favorite musical score, I have seen the movie and I have to say it suffers from many of the same issues as Mame, the biggest ones IMO are the omission of several numbers and the fact that Liz was clearly dubbed in some spots. It's even more of an editing trainwreck than Mame and you can basically hear when they cut between different takes of songs. Not to mention the film was shot out of order so Liz's weight fluctuates wildly in between scenes. Highlights are the newly added lyrics to the opening number "Night Waltz", and the always beautiful Diana Rigg, who, with limited vocal ability, gives one hell of an interpretation and is my favorite version of The Countess. They kept Len Cairou and Hermione Gingold from the original production. Hermione isn't given much to do and it's very underwhelming coming after Music Man and Gigi. Too bad Desilu's 'Glynis' hadn't been renewed. Maybe she'd be a big enough star to have kept the Desiree role at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I thought maybe the print I saw was badly edited because Hermoine's big solo "Liaisons" was cut, but there was dialogue leading up to it and an abrupt cut to next scene. I wonder if it was filmed. Hermoine's "Liaisons" was filmed and cut and now lost. Stills still exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie2 Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 Interesting to know it was filmed. I wonder how they staged it. The sad thing is, Hermione is probs my least favorite Mme. Armfeldt, with my favorite being Regina Resnik performing with the New York City Opera. Angela Lansbury comes in a close second. For some reason my dad weighs in on this issue and sides with Angie. Elaine Stritch's version was all in the eyes, and it was a little too over the top for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I saw the revival twice: once with Lansbury and once with Stritch. Stritch was criticized for memory lapses, but she did not have any the night I saw her. I will never forget her delivery of the line "My daughter tours" in The Glamorous Life. I would have loved to have seen Leslie Caron do the role. She did it in Paris around the time of the revival. It would be really special with her history with Gigi as a courtesan-to-be and Hermione Gingold as the grandmother who trains her. PS. Catherine Zeta Jones was better on stage than she was on the Tony telecast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted July 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 PS. Catherine Zeta Jones was better on stage than she was on the Tony telecast! Well, it couldn't get much worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I saw ALNM with Stritch as well. She seemed on point the night I saw it. I was just so excited to finally see Bernadette on stage. I first saw this show at college senior year with the soon to be Broadway star Matt Cavanaugh (we graduated in the same class) as Hetrick. I remember loving The Miller's Son and looked forward to hearing that on Broadway. Charlie on the other hand thought that character came across as too underdeveloped to get a song like that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie2 Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 I saw ALNM with Stritch as well. She seemed on point the night I saw it. I was just so excited to finally see Bernadette on stage. I first saw this show at college senior year with the soon to be Broadway star Matt Cavanaugh (we graduated in the same class) as Hetrick. I remember loving The Miller's Son and looked forward to hearing that on Broadway. Charlie on the other hand thought that character came across as too underdeveloped to get a song like that. A lot of people agree with Charlie about The Miller's Son, and it doesn't quite fit in the spot that late in the show, but it really sums up everything that the show's about. It's probably the most technically brilliant song Sondheim has ever written. Just glancing over it, I could probably write a whole essay about each strophe and stanza, not to mention the way it ties in with other songs (specifically Now/Later/Soon), but it's still all a little too far over my head to comprehend how well put together it all is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie2 Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 I saw the revival twice: once with Lansbury and once with Stritch. Stritch was criticized for memory lapses, but she did not have any the night I saw her. I will never forget her delivery of the line "My daughter tours" in The Glamorous Life. I would have loved to have seen Leslie Caron do the role. She did it in Paris around the time of the revival. It would be really special with her history with Gigi as a courtesan-to-be and Hermione Gingold as the grandmother who trains her. PS. Catherine Zeta Jones was better on stage than she was on the Tony telecast! Wow, that connection between Caron and Gingold would be so cool!!! It would be interesting to see Leslie's interpretation. That song is great, but it takes a lot to make one version stand out from the other. I'd be fine with Stritch forgetting anything onstage since she could ad lib her way out of anything. Not to mention refusing to wear an earpiece, which was probably a bad idea for someone with as many memory issues as her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 I saw ALNM with Stritch as well. She seemed on point the night I saw it. I was just so excited to finally see Bernadette on stage. I first saw this show at college senior year with the soon to be Broadway star Matt Cavanaugh (we graduated in the same class) as Hetrick. I remember loving The Miller's Son and looked forward to hearing that on Broadway. Charlie on the other hand thought that character came across as too underdeveloped to get a song like that. OMG you know the gorgeous and talented Matt Cavanaugh??? Did you get to see him in "Urban Cowboy" or anything else aside from "Night Music"?? Spill it sister! And thank you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 Never got to see Matt in anything after college. I did get to see his now wife back when they were engaged in a show called Happiness at Lincoln Center. I don't know Matt. Just went to school with him. I was on a theater crew freshman year so we might have crossed paths then but I wouldn't know who the hell he was then. I do have his picture from my senior college year book and also that he won the theater award the year he graduated. I almost saw him in John and Jen in college. The theater downtown was doing it and I gave away tickets to it on my Bway radio show but never got down to see him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Never got to see Matt in anything after college. I did get to see his now wife back when they were engaged in a show called Happiness at Lincoln Center. I don't know Matt. Just went to school with him. I was on a theater crew freshman year so we might have crossed paths then but I wouldn't know who the hell he was then. I do have his picture from my senior college year book and also that he won the theater award the year he graduated. I almost saw him in John and Jen in college. The theater downtown was doing it and I gave away tickets to it on my Bway radio show but never got down to see him. Thanks Luvs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted July 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES 2.30 AM on Wednesday, July 22: Forever Darling 8:00 AM on Sunday, July 26: Easy Living 9.30 AM on Sunday, July 26: Roberta 3.14 PM on Tuesday, July 28: The Long, Long Trailer 8.00 PM on Monday, August 3: Father Takes a Wife 11.15 PM on Monday, August 3: Stage Door Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted July 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 Also, on Saturday, August 15 at 12.30 p.m., one of my fave early Lucy movies, the all-star Having Wonderful Time! It seems like it has been a while since this has been on TCM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 On Friday, October 2, TCM will show The Facts of Life (9:30am) and Critic's Choice (1:15pm). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted December 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2015 Lucky Americans getting Lured on their TCM tonight. TCM Canada never airs this. Instead, we're getting Confessions of a Nazi Spy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted December 3, 2015 Report Share Posted December 3, 2015 Even though I own it and watch it a million times I want to hear the pre and post banter for this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Kampen Tripp Posted December 10, 2015 Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 Even though I own it and watch it a million times I want to hear the pre and post banter for this. Are you referring to LURED? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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