Worth 1,000 Words: FRANK SINATRA at the SANDS
A FEW MONTHS BEFORE THIS UNIQUE PRESS PHOTO was taken, FRANK SINATRA [Dec. 12, 1915-May 14, 1998] had received a career boost when he won the Oscar for From Here to Eternity. Sinatra holds the hands of two show girls.
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Dated June 10, 1954, the caption reads: Wynn Terry (seated, left) and Gladys Gardner (in front of her), Ziegfeld Girls prior to 1930, watch Frank Sinatra dance with their 1954 counterparts in a revival of the Ziegfeld Follies at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. Miss Gardner starred from 1913 to 1919, and is “Dean” of the Ziegfeld Girls. [from Steve Crum’s showbiz memorabilia collection]
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To see and hear Frank Sinatra winning his Oscar, proceed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubcVEuA55jc
For spectacular, end-of-the-world effects, plus trite script, ‘2012’ delivers
By Steve Crum
Flashing back to the 1970’s recalls that era’s long string of disaster movies, many by Irwin Allen. Titles like The Towering Inferno, Earthquake and The Poseidon Adventure forever reside in my cinema cells. There were so many to endure. Flash to present, and 2012 is the latest in director Roland Emmerich’s disaster movie string that includes Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and Independence Day. Endure is the word now too. Despite gasp worthy special effects, 2012 clunks along with yakety, cliched speeches and a familiar aka cliched plot that tap into virtually every disaster flick ever produced.
Even 2012’s fantastic CGI effects become tiresome half-way into the 158 minutes long, and that means long, movie. How many cities do we have to see split apart, crushed, exploded, and tsunamied (yes, I’ve created an action verb) to overflow our Big Wow cup? Extreme Disaster, the series, time.
Emmerich channels his own doomsday library as well. In Independence Day, a scientist convinces the President of the United States that an alien invasion is imminent. 2012’s scientist, Adrian Hemsley (Chitwetel Ejiofor) eventually hooks U.S. President Wilson (Danny Glover) into believing the Mayan calendar’s sage prophecy is correct, resulting in the world essentially turning itself inside out on 12-21-12. Such tragedy occurs, so they say, once every 640 thousand years. What bum luck. Like Independence Day, there is a countdown to disaster inscribed on screen: 2010…2011…2012.
The story, co-written by Emmerich and Harald Klaser, is in traditional three acts: (1) the build-up, anticipating the disaster to come; (2) preparing for the inevitable catastrophe (making travel plans, gathering families together); and (3) trying to escape/survive the event.
That said, follow this fast summary of 2012. Act 1: The worst solar flares ever are observed by U.S. Government scientists. “For the first time the flares are causing a neutronic physical reaction (on earth),” warns one expert. “The earth’s core is overheating like a microwave.” Flooding occurs in India. Minor quakes are shaking California. (There is a funny sequence of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as portrayed by an Arnold impersonator.) Key characters, including the Curtis Family, are introduced. Dad Jack (John Cusack) and Mom Kate (Amanda Peet) are divorced with two kids (Liam James and Morgan Lily). There is Kate’s boyfriend Gordon (Thomas McCarthy).
Let me add now that the actors do credible jobs, considering the wild plot, but no one should expect Oscar nods. (Flipping positive, the special effects will undoubtedly be nominated for an Oscar, and win.) Other characters include Pres. Wilson’s daughter Laura (Thandie Newton), the power hungry presidential aide Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), and Woody Harrelson’s conspiracy theory soothsayer, Charlie Frost. The Frost persona is common to disaster movies, since he represents the extremist, proactive element in society. In Independence Day, it was the scruffy eccentric played by Randy Quaid. In 2012, Frost hides out in Yellowstone National Park, and runs a maverick radio station from his trailer, spewing daily doomsday broadcasts. There is also a belligerent, wealthy Russian, Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric), with his mistress and obnoxious twin sons.
Act 2 revolves around relatives desperately trying to phone each other to reunite and make travel plans to somewhere safe. Look for George Segal in a small role as cruise ship entertainer Tony Delgatto.Act 3 really dominates the film with seemingly endless but spectacular effects. Principal characters run, dodge and jump via car, plane and ship as they trek to China for safety. (I will not spoil the surprise element awaiting them, but it reeks of government conspiracy.)
In the old movie days of Cecil B. DeMille, spectacle was often hyped as: “SEE! THE PARTING OF THE RED SEA!” and “MARVEL: A CAST OF THOUSANDS!” 2012 could boast a cast of millions (CGI enhanced, of course), and more: “SEE! HAWAII UNDER MOLTEN LAVA!…D.C. UNDER GRAY ASH!…YELLOWSTONE EXPLODE LIKE AN H-BOMB!”
Has anything really changed from DeMille to Allen to Emmerich?
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On an A to F Grade Scale: C
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Worth 1,000 Words: GENE AUTRY, JOAN CAULFIELD & CHAMPION
BACK IN THE MAKE-UP CHAIR AGAIN is cowboy great GENE AUTRY [Sept. 29, 1907-Oct. 2, 1998], as “The Smartest Horse in the Movies,” CHAMPION, waits his turn. “The Singing Cowboy” Gene, whose real first name was Orvon (Gene was his middle name), sang, acted, and rode the range in 100 movies from 1934-55. His distinct cowboy-country voice was featured in 600 songs that sold in the millions. His best sellers, the biggest being Christmas tunes, include: Back in the Saddle Again (his theme song), That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine (which he wrote), Here Comes Santa Claus (which he also wrote), Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (his biggest hit, still heard every December). Gene Autry is represented by five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the time of his death in 1998, Autry was still eagerly waiting for the baseball team he owned, the Los Angeles Angels, to win a World Series pennant.
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A Trivia Note: The early years of TV’s Gunsmoke were filmed at Gene Autry’s movie ranch, named after one of his films as well as a song: Melody Ranch.
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THIS CBS PUBLICITY STILL is a curio. Dated May 5, 1953 (on back), its headline is: TOUCH-UP. The suggested text to be run in newspapers and magazines nationwide: CBS-TV star Gene Autry and his horse, Champion, receive a final touch-up from Joan Caulfield and make-up artist Joe Schenck, in busy CBS Television City, Hollywood. The world’s largest plant built exclusively for television broadcasting will be the origination point for Miss Caulfield’s starring vehicle, “My Favorite Husband,” when it has its CBS-TV premiere in the fall. [from Steve Crum’s showbiz memorabilia collection]
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More Trivia: Previous to its television run, Joan Caulfield’s sitcom, My Favorite Husband, had a healthy run on radio in the late 1940’s with Lucille Ball as its star. Lucy’s CBS-TV show, I Love Lucy, was #1 in viewer ratings in 1953.
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Gene Autry is back in the saddle again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5F-O_19lSI
Worth 1,000 Words for VETERANS DAY: KATE SMITH
KATE SMITH [May 1, 1907-June 17, 1986] will be forever remembered for singing one song, a super patriotic one, Irving Berlin’s God Bless America. Not that she never sang any other song, not by a long shot. But of the 600+ songs she introduced on stage, radio, records and television, it is God Bless America that endures. Twenty of her records sold over a million, including GBA, There Goes That Song Again, The White Cliffs of Dover, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree, and When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain (her theme song). Her popular radio program, The Kate Smith Hour, launched the career of Abbott & Costello. In 1982, The First Lady of Popular Song received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan. It was for a lifetime of service to the United States of America, particularly during World War II, when the great Kate used her singing, talking and spirit to sell $600 million in Defense Bonds. That is a huge amount now, but thinking of it in 1940’s reference is overwhelmingly awesome. Thanks to the impact of Kate Smith, there have been serious proposals to replace The Star Spangled Banner with God Bless America as our National Anthem.
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IN THIS RARELY SEEN press photo, Kate signs autographs for admiring soldiers on leave during WWII. No doubt each of them knew the lyrics to God Bless America by heart. [from Steve Crum’s showbiz memorabilia collection]
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Worth 1,000 Words for VETERANS DAY: DANNY KAYE
WHEN UP IN ARMS was released in 1944, WWII was still a grim reality. UP IN ARMS provided musical-comedy entertainment laced with wartime patriotism, and featured Danny Kaye in his first starring role as a hypochondriac drafted into the Army. He sang (or is the better word performed?) The Lobby Number and Melody in 4F. This vintage still features most of the film’s stars: (From left) CONSTANCE DOWLING, DINAH SHORE, DANA ANDREWS, DANNY KAYE, and LYLE TALBOT. [from Steve Crum’s showbiz memorabilia collection]
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