Since my last post, I had a major head-smacking moment.
I'd said that I thought I was done with "Battle-axes from Broadway".
I forgot about Miss Hannigan.
The Queen of the Battle-Axes.
"Annie" has probably provided us with more battle-axes per capita than any other show, considering all the productions and road companies there have been.
I know this because I asked my Siri "Who were all the actresses who played Miss Hannigan?
It directed me to a website called abouttheartists.com.
It had a section devoted totally to Miss Hannigan.
Every replacement, every road company, even every community theater production.
It's a fairly new website, so it's still incomplete.
But it's thorough.
Dorothy Loudon originated the role, and I never previously thought of her as a battle-axe.
But it turns out that she sort of WAS one in real life.
At least to the extent that she hated kids.
Hated being around them, hated sharing the stage with them.
So she has earned her wings.
Here are some of the better-known Miss Hannigan battle-axes that show up on the website:
Jane Lynch--who better?
Ruth Kobart---won a Tony for playing David Burns' hen-pecking wife in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum".
Born for the role.
Sally Struthers---really wasn't one on TV, but I've heard stories.
Wanda Sykes---Boy, I would have loved to see that.
Nell Carter---I once sat at the next table from her at a restaurant in Atlantic City.
She had one of the hugest meals I'd ever seen sitting in front of her.
And she must have been pushing four hundred pounds at that point.
She downed every bite.
I was afraid that she was going to reach over and grab some of MY food.
I started guarding it very closely.
She was impressive, but I thought "At this pace, maybe she's got about six months left".
To quote Colonel Hall about Private Doberman, "he's got to be about three hundred calories away from exploding".
Nell Carter died about eight months later.
I guess you could say she beat the spread.
JoAnne Worley---right on the money.
Kathleen Freeman---one of my all-time favorites. I'll bet she was great.
I worked with her once, and have a great story to share with you about her.
But that's for another time.
So, to sum up, "Annie" is the Broadway Battle-Axe Champeen.
Next time, filmdom's all-time Battle-Axe movie.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
The "Fiddler" Battle-Axes.
"Fiddler on the Roof" certainly had it's share of battle-axes.
At least three per performance.
Tevye's wife Golde, and Yente the Matchmaker are two of them.
Maria Karnilova, the original Golde, certainly seemed like a battle-axe.
My father was Zero Mostel''s limo driver during his entire run in "Fiddler".
According to Zero, Karnilova was THE battle-axe.
Yente was played by Bea Arthur, certainly no less formidable in the battle-axe world.
Word was, that as "Fiddler" was previewing, on it's way to Broadway, Bea's part got more and more cut down.
And she never stopped complaining about it.
I'm guessing that cutting down Bea's part was probably a good thing.
A little of her always went a long way.
Witness "Maude", where she had w-a-a-a-y too much to do, and "The Golden Girls", where she was only needed to slam home the punch-lines, which she did with aplomb.
In the Dream Sequence, there is the character of Frumah-Sarah, Lazar Wolf's late wife.
One song, which she bellows, Ethel Merman style.
Three battle-axes, in one show. My God, Jewish men were hen-pecked.
An entire entry will be devoted to Ethel Merman, who brought the battle-axe to new heights, or depths, according to your attitude on the subject.
And, once again, as Golde, we had Andrea Martin.
'Nuff said.
And, as Golde, we had Rosie O'Donnell.
Once again, 'nuff said.
As far as battle-axes go, "Fiddler on the Roof" was replete.
We are far from done, but I think the rest of them are not featured specifically in any Broadway show.
What they are, are some of my all-time favorites.
And a few are why I decided to go on this trek to begin with.
'Til next time.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
At least three per performance.
Tevye's wife Golde, and Yente the Matchmaker are two of them.
Maria Karnilova, the original Golde, certainly seemed like a battle-axe.
My father was Zero Mostel''s limo driver during his entire run in "Fiddler".
According to Zero, Karnilova was THE battle-axe.
Yente was played by Bea Arthur, certainly no less formidable in the battle-axe world.
Word was, that as "Fiddler" was previewing, on it's way to Broadway, Bea's part got more and more cut down.
And she never stopped complaining about it.
I'm guessing that cutting down Bea's part was probably a good thing.
A little of her always went a long way.
Witness "Maude", where she had w-a-a-a-y too much to do, and "The Golden Girls", where she was only needed to slam home the punch-lines, which she did with aplomb.
In the Dream Sequence, there is the character of Frumah-Sarah, Lazar Wolf's late wife.
One song, which she bellows, Ethel Merman style.
Three battle-axes, in one show. My God, Jewish men were hen-pecked.
An entire entry will be devoted to Ethel Merman, who brought the battle-axe to new heights, or depths, according to your attitude on the subject.
And, once again, as Golde, we had Andrea Martin.
'Nuff said.
And, as Golde, we had Rosie O'Donnell.
Once again, 'nuff said.
As far as battle-axes go, "Fiddler on the Roof" was replete.
We are far from done, but I think the rest of them are not featured specifically in any Broadway show.
What they are, are some of my all-time favorites.
And a few are why I decided to go on this trek to begin with.
'Til next time.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
The "Oklahoma" Battle-Axes.
The 1943 Broadway musical "Oklahoma!" begins with the curtain going up revealing an old woman sitting on a stool, churning butter.
In 1943, this was considered revolutionary.
Before "Oklahoma!", virtually every Broadway musical began with the curtain going up revealing a group of singing and dancing chorus girls.
Not "Oklahoma!".
An old woman, sitting on a stool, churning butter.
Then a young cowboy ambles onstage and sings "Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'"
To the old woman, sitting on the stool, churning butter.
The simplicity of this overwhelmed it's 1943 audience.
The old woman was named Aunt Eller.
She was "Oklahoma!"'s battle-axe.
The first Aunt Eller was an actress named Betty Garde.
Betty Garde was a formidable figure.
She was nobody to be messed with.
I was way too young to see Betty Garde as Aunt Eller.
But I know that she was nobody to be messed with.
Because I remember her in a memorable episode of "The Honeymooners", in which the Kramdens hired a maid, because Ralph got laid off from the bus company, and Alice got a job, leaving Ralph unable to handle the housework.
That maid was played by Betty Garde.
Ralph Kramden decided to mess with her by requiring her to respond to any of his requests with "Very good,sir".
He never got his "Very good sir".
All he got from Betty was "O-kay", which made Ralph fume.
It was priceless.
The battle-axe who played Aunt Eller in the movie of 'Oklahoma!" was Charlotte Greenwood, who was quite charming in "Oklahoma!"
She was noted as a singer and dancer.
Particularly for her high kicks.
Where she was really a great battle-axe was in the 1943 movie "The Gang's All Here", where she played the hen-pecking wife of Edward Everett Horton, who was not at all resistant to the wiles of Carmen Miranda.
The scenes the three of them had were a major hoot.
She was also a great battle-axe Juno, in the Broadway musical "Out of This World", where all the characters were Greek Gods and Goddesses.
This made her the only battle-axe Goddess on record.
Andrea Martin played the same role in the City Center revival.
The 1979 Broadway revival of "Oklahoma! had Mary Wickes play Aunt Eller.
Mary Wickes.
Tons of battle-axe credits.
Nurse Preen in the play and movie of "The Man Who Came To Dinner".
Miss Cathcart on the "Dennis the Menace" TV series.
Liz, Danny Thomas's press agent on "Make Room For Daddy".
Tons of credits.
All battle-axes.
She kind of phoned it in with "Oklahoma!"
At least the night I saw it.
She was also the "Meet Me In St. Louis" battle-axe.
Not the movie or the stage show.
In life.
Years ago, I was changing planes at the St.Louis airport, on my way to Los Angeles.
I get to my gate,and immediately spot Mary Wickes sitting across from me, also waiting to get on the plane.
I immediately approach her and introduce myself, knowing her name, and using it, "Mary Wickes!!", complimenting her on her career profusely.
She looked up at me and literally, derisively, replied "Hhmmpphh!!!!
I didn't brandish myself for invading her privacy.
I simply regarded her as a major battle-axe, and actually far worse.
Andrea Martin also played Aunt Eller on Broadway.
I told you that you haven't heard the last of her.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
In 1943, this was considered revolutionary.
Before "Oklahoma!", virtually every Broadway musical began with the curtain going up revealing a group of singing and dancing chorus girls.
Not "Oklahoma!".
An old woman, sitting on a stool, churning butter.
Then a young cowboy ambles onstage and sings "Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'"
To the old woman, sitting on the stool, churning butter.
The simplicity of this overwhelmed it's 1943 audience.
The old woman was named Aunt Eller.
She was "Oklahoma!"'s battle-axe.
The first Aunt Eller was an actress named Betty Garde.
Betty Garde was a formidable figure.
She was nobody to be messed with.
I was way too young to see Betty Garde as Aunt Eller.
But I know that she was nobody to be messed with.
Because I remember her in a memorable episode of "The Honeymooners", in which the Kramdens hired a maid, because Ralph got laid off from the bus company, and Alice got a job, leaving Ralph unable to handle the housework.
That maid was played by Betty Garde.
Ralph Kramden decided to mess with her by requiring her to respond to any of his requests with "Very good,sir".
He never got his "Very good sir".
All he got from Betty was "O-kay", which made Ralph fume.
It was priceless.
The battle-axe who played Aunt Eller in the movie of 'Oklahoma!" was Charlotte Greenwood, who was quite charming in "Oklahoma!"
She was noted as a singer and dancer.
Particularly for her high kicks.
Where she was really a great battle-axe was in the 1943 movie "The Gang's All Here", where she played the hen-pecking wife of Edward Everett Horton, who was not at all resistant to the wiles of Carmen Miranda.
The scenes the three of them had were a major hoot.
She was also a great battle-axe Juno, in the Broadway musical "Out of This World", where all the characters were Greek Gods and Goddesses.
This made her the only battle-axe Goddess on record.
Andrea Martin played the same role in the City Center revival.
The 1979 Broadway revival of "Oklahoma! had Mary Wickes play Aunt Eller.
Mary Wickes.
Tons of battle-axe credits.
Nurse Preen in the play and movie of "The Man Who Came To Dinner".
Miss Cathcart on the "Dennis the Menace" TV series.
Liz, Danny Thomas's press agent on "Make Room For Daddy".
Tons of credits.
All battle-axes.
She kind of phoned it in with "Oklahoma!"
At least the night I saw it.
She was also the "Meet Me In St. Louis" battle-axe.
Not the movie or the stage show.
In life.
Years ago, I was changing planes at the St.Louis airport, on my way to Los Angeles.
I get to my gate,and immediately spot Mary Wickes sitting across from me, also waiting to get on the plane.
I immediately approach her and introduce myself, knowing her name, and using it, "Mary Wickes!!", complimenting her on her career profusely.
She looked up at me and literally, derisively, replied "Hhmmpphh!!!!
I didn't brandish myself for invading her privacy.
I simply regarded her as a major battle-axe, and actually far worse.
Andrea Martin also played Aunt Eller on Broadway.
I told you that you haven't heard the last of her.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
Friday, March 20, 2015
The "Pippin" Battle-Axes.
The Broadway musical "Pippin" has had several major productions.
It is primarily a show geared for young people.
But, pretty much for demographics sake, the creative team added one old crone, a character named Berthe, to fill out the cast.
You might call her a battle-axe.
She has the best song in the show.
An upbeat sing-along called "Oh, it's time to start livin'".
It regularly brings down the house.
The first house-bringer-downer was in the original production, Irene Ryan, better known as the noted battle-axe "Granny" on
"The Beverly Hillbillies".
I saw a TV production, taped from a stage production, in which Martha Raye played Berthe.
Although Martha Raye was a great comedienne and singer, she had certainly earned her battle-axe credentials.
There was this movie that regularly aired on Million Dollar Movie in New York City called "Navy Blues", made in 1941.
In it, Jack Oakie played the hen-pecked boyfriend of Martha Raye. She was hilarious, with her enormous mouth very much in place.
Her performance probably did much to delay our entry into World War 2.
This, was ostensibly what we were fighting for.
Around the same time, she co-starred opposite Bob Hope in several movies, in which she lusted after him, while he was out chasing somebody like Dorothy Lamour.
No "Thanks For The Memory" there.
As Berthe, she sang her number probably better than anyone else ever did.
In a much more recent production, Andrea Martin played Berthe.
Andrea Martin was probably best know for her long stint as a regular on SCTV, where she played many hilarious characters, and actually invented the first satire of a battle-axe, with the creation of Edith Prickley, the eternally leopard-skin outfitted
shrew who was the station manager.
As she got older, she grew into almost exclusive Broadway-type battle-axe roles.
We have not heard the last of Andrea Martin.
More will be heard about Ms. Martin as we continue.
'Til next time.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
It is primarily a show geared for young people.
But, pretty much for demographics sake, the creative team added one old crone, a character named Berthe, to fill out the cast.
You might call her a battle-axe.
She has the best song in the show.
An upbeat sing-along called "Oh, it's time to start livin'".
It regularly brings down the house.
The first house-bringer-downer was in the original production, Irene Ryan, better known as the noted battle-axe "Granny" on
"The Beverly Hillbillies".
I saw a TV production, taped from a stage production, in which Martha Raye played Berthe.
Although Martha Raye was a great comedienne and singer, she had certainly earned her battle-axe credentials.
There was this movie that regularly aired on Million Dollar Movie in New York City called "Navy Blues", made in 1941.
In it, Jack Oakie played the hen-pecked boyfriend of Martha Raye. She was hilarious, with her enormous mouth very much in place.
Her performance probably did much to delay our entry into World War 2.
This, was ostensibly what we were fighting for.
Around the same time, she co-starred opposite Bob Hope in several movies, in which she lusted after him, while he was out chasing somebody like Dorothy Lamour.
No "Thanks For The Memory" there.
As Berthe, she sang her number probably better than anyone else ever did.
In a much more recent production, Andrea Martin played Berthe.
Andrea Martin was probably best know for her long stint as a regular on SCTV, where she played many hilarious characters, and actually invented the first satire of a battle-axe, with the creation of Edith Prickley, the eternally leopard-skin outfitted
shrew who was the station manager.
As she got older, she grew into almost exclusive Broadway-type battle-axe roles.
We have not heard the last of Andrea Martin.
More will be heard about Ms. Martin as we continue.
'Til next time.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The "ShowBoat" Battle-Axes.
There are a handful of Broadway Musicals that require the producer to go out and hire a battle-axe.
She can have a husband, in which case her function is to be the hen that pecks him.
Such is the case with Parthy Hawks, wife of Cap'n Andy Hawks, in "Showboat".
The tradition started back in 1927, with the original Broadway cast.
Parthy was played by Edna May Oliver.
She was a wonderful character actress who resembled Margaret Hamilton, but was not as nice looking.
She had a hatchet-face.
She was a child-frightener.
Someone once asked her if she had ever sung.
She replied "With a face like mine, who's going to ask me to sing??!!"
Thus, Parthy had no songs in "ShowBoat"
The thing about battle-axes is that they almost always know why they were hired.
Edna May was asked to re-hone her face for the mid-1930s Broadway revival of "Showboat".
The first movie version in 1936 had someone playing Parthy who I can't remember, and was never famous.
But in the remake, in 1951, Parthy was Agnes Moorhead.
This was a role that was right in her wheelhouse.
From her very first appearance in film, in "Citizen Kane", as young Charles Foster Kane's mother, who gives her son away to tycoons who raise him, over the very meek objections of her husband (the beginning of her hen-pecking career), she was a battle-axe, but she very shrewdly underplayed it, to devastating effect.
It wasn't until later on that she became the first campy battle-axe as Endora in the "Bewitched" TV series.
Not that long ago, in a Broadway production that I saw, Harold Prince hired Elaine Stritch to play Parthy.
For the first and perhaps only time, Parthy was given a song.
They put a little baby in her lap, and had her sing "Why Do I Love You?" to it.
I don't know whose idea it was, but it was very effective.
Stritch, a well-known battle-axe in real-life, perhaps had to be coaxed into playing the role, lest the Broadway crowd start saying "Well, there's Elaine in real life".
So maybe the conversation went something like:
Stritch: Hal, I ain't playin' no friggin' battle-axe.
Prince: But Elaine, everyone thinks you are one anyway!
Stritch: So let 'em! I ain't playin' her!
Prince: Well...how about this? We give you a friggin' baby. And you sing to it. And they'll love you for it.
At least they won't think you're SUCH a battle-axe!
Stritch:....I'm in.
Then, as she grew more and more comfortable wearing the mink stole of battle-axedom, she enlisted to play Alec Baldwin's total battle-axe mother on "30 Rock".
I'm given to understand that even Baldwin was afraid of her.
Next time, more Battle-Axes of Broadway.
-------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
******
She can have a husband, in which case her function is to be the hen that pecks him.
Such is the case with Parthy Hawks, wife of Cap'n Andy Hawks, in "Showboat".
The tradition started back in 1927, with the original Broadway cast.
Parthy was played by Edna May Oliver.
She was a wonderful character actress who resembled Margaret Hamilton, but was not as nice looking.
She had a hatchet-face.
She was a child-frightener.
Someone once asked her if she had ever sung.
She replied "With a face like mine, who's going to ask me to sing??!!"
Thus, Parthy had no songs in "ShowBoat"
The thing about battle-axes is that they almost always know why they were hired.
Edna May was asked to re-hone her face for the mid-1930s Broadway revival of "Showboat".
The first movie version in 1936 had someone playing Parthy who I can't remember, and was never famous.
But in the remake, in 1951, Parthy was Agnes Moorhead.
This was a role that was right in her wheelhouse.
From her very first appearance in film, in "Citizen Kane", as young Charles Foster Kane's mother, who gives her son away to tycoons who raise him, over the very meek objections of her husband (the beginning of her hen-pecking career), she was a battle-axe, but she very shrewdly underplayed it, to devastating effect.
It wasn't until later on that she became the first campy battle-axe as Endora in the "Bewitched" TV series.
Not that long ago, in a Broadway production that I saw, Harold Prince hired Elaine Stritch to play Parthy.
For the first and perhaps only time, Parthy was given a song.
They put a little baby in her lap, and had her sing "Why Do I Love You?" to it.
I don't know whose idea it was, but it was very effective.
Stritch, a well-known battle-axe in real-life, perhaps had to be coaxed into playing the role, lest the Broadway crowd start saying "Well, there's Elaine in real life".
So maybe the conversation went something like:
Stritch: Hal, I ain't playin' no friggin' battle-axe.
Prince: But Elaine, everyone thinks you are one anyway!
Stritch: So let 'em! I ain't playin' her!
Prince: Well...how about this? We give you a friggin' baby. And you sing to it. And they'll love you for it.
At least they won't think you're SUCH a battle-axe!
Stritch:....I'm in.
Then, as she grew more and more comfortable wearing the mink stole of battle-axedom, she enlisted to play Alec Baldwin's total battle-axe mother on "30 Rock".
I'm given to understand that even Baldwin was afraid of her.
Next time, more Battle-Axes of Broadway.
-------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
******
Friday, March 13, 2015
Back To Battle-Axes.
We will center on two battle-axes today.
Their careers barely overlapped, as one was much older than the other, and died much sooner.
But the parts they played were so similar in nature that it has been confusing to determine who played which part in which movie.
One in particular was "Tugboat Annie".
I had a devil of a time trying to determine whether it was Marie Dressler or Marjorie Main.
And I felt ashamed having to look it up.
But, shame or not, I did.
It was Marie Dressler.
It was made the year before she died.
If it was a year later, they could have slipped Marjorie Main right in there, and very few people would have noticed the difference.
That's how similar they were.
Marie Dressler was best known for appearing opposite Wallace Beery in films where she'd clop him over the head with a rolling pin.
According to Wallace Beery's personal reputation, I'm sure that this was a role that she relished.
Marjorie Main was never as big a star as Marie Dressler.
Her biggest claim to fame, after playing a series of housekeepers and schoolteachers, was as Ma Kettle in the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series of movies turned out by Universal Studios.
Hatched by a movie called "The Egg and I", Ma and Pa were big moneymakers for Universal.
These were movies with a rural background.
Ma and Pa Kettle were farmers, and were such big hits in "The Egg and I", that they were spun off.
In the late fifties, there was a TV version of "Tugboat Annie".
The title role was played by an actress named Minerva Urecal.
Here's the irony: Minerva Urecal was a dead ringer for Marjorie Main, who, as recently noted, did NOT play "Tugboat Annie".
That was Marie Dressler.
We have not heard the last of Minerva Urecal, who was a major battle-axe unto herself.
Her name will re-appear in at least one more subsequent article.
But they were all major additions to the comedy landscape, and we are lucky that they all graced our presence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
Their careers barely overlapped, as one was much older than the other, and died much sooner.
But the parts they played were so similar in nature that it has been confusing to determine who played which part in which movie.
One in particular was "Tugboat Annie".
I had a devil of a time trying to determine whether it was Marie Dressler or Marjorie Main.
And I felt ashamed having to look it up.
But, shame or not, I did.
It was Marie Dressler.
It was made the year before she died.
If it was a year later, they could have slipped Marjorie Main right in there, and very few people would have noticed the difference.
That's how similar they were.
Marie Dressler was best known for appearing opposite Wallace Beery in films where she'd clop him over the head with a rolling pin.
According to Wallace Beery's personal reputation, I'm sure that this was a role that she relished.
Marjorie Main was never as big a star as Marie Dressler.
Her biggest claim to fame, after playing a series of housekeepers and schoolteachers, was as Ma Kettle in the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series of movies turned out by Universal Studios.
Hatched by a movie called "The Egg and I", Ma and Pa were big moneymakers for Universal.
These were movies with a rural background.
Ma and Pa Kettle were farmers, and were such big hits in "The Egg and I", that they were spun off.
In the late fifties, there was a TV version of "Tugboat Annie".
The title role was played by an actress named Minerva Urecal.
Here's the irony: Minerva Urecal was a dead ringer for Marjorie Main, who, as recently noted, did NOT play "Tugboat Annie".
That was Marie Dressler.
We have not heard the last of Minerva Urecal, who was a major battle-axe unto herself.
Her name will re-appear in at least one more subsequent article.
But they were all major additions to the comedy landscape, and we are lucky that they all graced our presence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Doctor Rothman, The Play Doctor.
I'm aware that many of you were expecting more battle-axes today, and perhaps there will be disappointment that there won't be.
I'm sure that THEY will be miffed, considering that they are battle-axes and all.
We will most-likely return to them on our next outing.
That oughta' shut 'em up.
But something more pressing time-wise has come up, and I need to address it.
Chicago has become somewhat of a Broadway tryout town.
As they charge full Broadway prices, I feel like I have every right to review "The First Wives Club---The Musical", which I saw last Saturday.
This is for the creative forces in charge of this incoming musical, who still have time to do something about it.
I am going to try to approach this surgically.
So I get to take out the scalpel.
This is generally a very entertaining show, along the lines of "9 to 5---the Musical", and Menopause--the Musical".
The second act "The First Wives Club" is very clever, funny, zips along, and has very good songs.
The whole show should be that way.
The problem is the first act.
It is leaden, predictable, and doesn't set up the premise quickly enough.
These are virtually two separate shows.
We all know, based on having seen the movie on which it was based on, that a First Wives Club will be established, to exact revenge on the husbands who divorced them.
Yet the establishment of the First Wives Club is the revelation of the first act, and how it ends it.
Everybody knows it's coming.
It's got to come sooner, with perhaps one of the three wives not being faced with getting divorced yet.
The other two women consider her a vital cog in getting the plan to work, and perhaps their misgivings about her marital status can be played to comic effect.
Then, when her husband serves her with papers, you have a legitimate act break, as she climbs on board.
The first act is way too top-heavy.
It's a two-hour and forty minute show, and all the length is in the first act.
Specifically the three soliloquies that each of the women have after being dumped.
They are all of the "Woe is me, my man dumped me" variety.
And they are all dreary.
They should have been more on the lines of comic songs like "Just you wait, 'Enry 'Iggins, Just You Wait".
This is a musical comedy, and should never stray from that.
But they were just dirge-like, and commented after the fact on something we had just seen.
That's where the time should come out.
Eliminate those three songs.
One for each of the principals.
It's very democratic.
There are plenty of songs left over.
Keep it light.
And move up the Act Break.
Let the first successful, funny "sting" happen.
Formulate that as the Act Break.
This show has every chance of being successful, whether my advice is taken or not.
Hell, the New York Times critic just moronically took a crap on Larry David's new play, so what the hell do they know?
I know that they don't know how to make an incoming show any better than it is.
That's why I've hung up my shingle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
I'm sure that THEY will be miffed, considering that they are battle-axes and all.
We will most-likely return to them on our next outing.
That oughta' shut 'em up.
But something more pressing time-wise has come up, and I need to address it.
Chicago has become somewhat of a Broadway tryout town.
As they charge full Broadway prices, I feel like I have every right to review "The First Wives Club---The Musical", which I saw last Saturday.
This is for the creative forces in charge of this incoming musical, who still have time to do something about it.
I am going to try to approach this surgically.
So I get to take out the scalpel.
This is generally a very entertaining show, along the lines of "9 to 5---the Musical", and Menopause--the Musical".
The second act "The First Wives Club" is very clever, funny, zips along, and has very good songs.
The whole show should be that way.
The problem is the first act.
It is leaden, predictable, and doesn't set up the premise quickly enough.
These are virtually two separate shows.
We all know, based on having seen the movie on which it was based on, that a First Wives Club will be established, to exact revenge on the husbands who divorced them.
Yet the establishment of the First Wives Club is the revelation of the first act, and how it ends it.
Everybody knows it's coming.
It's got to come sooner, with perhaps one of the three wives not being faced with getting divorced yet.
The other two women consider her a vital cog in getting the plan to work, and perhaps their misgivings about her marital status can be played to comic effect.
Then, when her husband serves her with papers, you have a legitimate act break, as she climbs on board.
The first act is way too top-heavy.
It's a two-hour and forty minute show, and all the length is in the first act.
Specifically the three soliloquies that each of the women have after being dumped.
They are all of the "Woe is me, my man dumped me" variety.
And they are all dreary.
They should have been more on the lines of comic songs like "Just you wait, 'Enry 'Iggins, Just You Wait".
This is a musical comedy, and should never stray from that.
But they were just dirge-like, and commented after the fact on something we had just seen.
That's where the time should come out.
Eliminate those three songs.
One for each of the principals.
It's very democratic.
There are plenty of songs left over.
Keep it light.
And move up the Act Break.
Let the first successful, funny "sting" happen.
Formulate that as the Act Break.
This show has every chance of being successful, whether my advice is taken or not.
Hell, the New York Times critic just moronically took a crap on Larry David's new play, so what the hell do they know?
I know that they don't know how to make an incoming show any better than it is.
That's why I've hung up my shingle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
Friday, March 6, 2015
I Miss The Battle-Axes. Part One.
According to the Wikipedia Dictionary:
A "battle-axe" is a term, generally considered pejorative, for an aggressive, domineering and forceful woman.
The prime example was the militant temperance activist Carrie Nation, who wielded a hatchet and made it her symbol, living in Hatchet Hall and publishing a magazine called The Hatchet.
She became involved in the suffragette campaign for votes for women and this campaign further established the archetype.
Synonyms, according to the Thesaurus: Hag, Harridan, Old Bag, Biddy, Fishwife, Harpy, Shrew, Crone, Beldam....
That pretty much covers it.
The "Battle-Axe" has pretty much been a staple of movies and television since the beginning of talkies.
They have been exclusively female.
I can't, for the life of me, think of a male battle-axe.
Battle-axes have become a dying breed.
Almost extinct.
Perhaps they have become politically incorrect.
God, I hope not.
They have been God's gift to comedy.
When Carol Ann Susi, who provided the unseen voice of Mrs. Wolowitz on "The Big Bang Theory", recently passed away, and Chuck Lorre killed off the character, it may have marked the death-knell of the battle-axe as we know it.
I loved Mrs. Wolowitz.
Just as I loved every battle-axe who preceded her.
This series of articles will be an extended traipsing down Battle-Axe Memory Lane.
I'd like to ask you to please refrain from posting suggestions of anyone I've left out until I announce that the series of articles has ended.
Thank you for your cooperation in advance.
Where to begin? Chronologically, I guess.
The earliest notable example of a battle-axe in the movies that I can recall is Mae Busch.
Mae Busch was probably most popularized as the punch-line for Jackie Gleason's character, Stanley R. Sogg, the pitchman for the Late, Late, Late, Late Late, Late, Late Show.
As it went to "commercial break", Gleason would say something like "We'll return to our film, the classic "Hello,Annapolis",
starring Dick Foran, Larry Parks, Thurston Hall, El Brendel, and the ever-popular Mae Busch".
"The ever-popular Mae Busch" always got a huge laugh.
Then Gleason would go into a litany of pitches for various products, invariably ending with "For each order you place, you will receive, at no extra charge, a three pound wedge of Fatchamarra's Matzaroni Cheese".
If any of this sounds familiar, it's because Johnny Carson directly stole this routine, almost verbatim, when he did Art Fern, the host of the "Tea-Time Movie".
Gleason even had the equivalent of the Matinee Lady.
Except I think he had like three or four of them at once.
Mae Busch specialized in being the battle-axe wife of Oliver Hardy, her hen-pecked husband, in the Laurel and Hardy movies.
Most notably "Sons of the Desert".
She was the hen who did the pecking.
After being particularly miffed at him, for good reason, she would hurl crockery at him that smashed all around him.
She'd hit him over the head with a rolling pin.
Hardy was never injured by any of this, which is what made it palatable.
And hilarious.
There was absolutely nothing soft or sensitive about Mae Busch.
That's what made it work. Big time.
Even before she was the Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton played hatched-faced, battle-axe schoolteachers, housekeepers, telephone operators, and secretaries, playing the foil to W.C.Fields on a couple of occasions.
Her battle-axe status was so ingrained that, in the late seventies, when I saw the L.A. company of Sondheim's "A Little Night Music", and Hamilton appeared in the role created by Hermione Gingold, it was an utter travesty.
Hermione Gingold may have been many things, but she was never a battle-axe
Could you imagine Hamilton and Maurice Chevalier singing the duet "I Remember It Well" from "Gigi"?
Neither could I.
And that was the equivalent of what I saw when she was in "A Little Night Music".
But boy, when she played the hatchet-faced battle-axe everywhere else, she was in a class by herself.
She was virtually untouched.
And she did it in scores and scores of movies.
We have many more battle-axes to discuss as we proceed.
Again, please no suggestions until I finish the entire series.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
A "battle-axe" is a term, generally considered pejorative, for an aggressive, domineering and forceful woman.
The prime example was the militant temperance activist Carrie Nation, who wielded a hatchet and made it her symbol, living in Hatchet Hall and publishing a magazine called The Hatchet.
She became involved in the suffragette campaign for votes for women and this campaign further established the archetype.
Synonyms, according to the Thesaurus: Hag, Harridan, Old Bag, Biddy, Fishwife, Harpy, Shrew, Crone, Beldam....
That pretty much covers it.
The "Battle-Axe" has pretty much been a staple of movies and television since the beginning of talkies.
They have been exclusively female.
I can't, for the life of me, think of a male battle-axe.
Battle-axes have become a dying breed.
Almost extinct.
Perhaps they have become politically incorrect.
God, I hope not.
They have been God's gift to comedy.
When Carol Ann Susi, who provided the unseen voice of Mrs. Wolowitz on "The Big Bang Theory", recently passed away, and Chuck Lorre killed off the character, it may have marked the death-knell of the battle-axe as we know it.
I loved Mrs. Wolowitz.
Just as I loved every battle-axe who preceded her.
This series of articles will be an extended traipsing down Battle-Axe Memory Lane.
I'd like to ask you to please refrain from posting suggestions of anyone I've left out until I announce that the series of articles has ended.
Thank you for your cooperation in advance.
Where to begin? Chronologically, I guess.
The earliest notable example of a battle-axe in the movies that I can recall is Mae Busch.
Mae Busch was probably most popularized as the punch-line for Jackie Gleason's character, Stanley R. Sogg, the pitchman for the Late, Late, Late, Late Late, Late, Late Show.
As it went to "commercial break", Gleason would say something like "We'll return to our film, the classic "Hello,Annapolis",
starring Dick Foran, Larry Parks, Thurston Hall, El Brendel, and the ever-popular Mae Busch".
"The ever-popular Mae Busch" always got a huge laugh.
Then Gleason would go into a litany of pitches for various products, invariably ending with "For each order you place, you will receive, at no extra charge, a three pound wedge of Fatchamarra's Matzaroni Cheese".
If any of this sounds familiar, it's because Johnny Carson directly stole this routine, almost verbatim, when he did Art Fern, the host of the "Tea-Time Movie".
Gleason even had the equivalent of the Matinee Lady.
Except I think he had like three or four of them at once.
Mae Busch specialized in being the battle-axe wife of Oliver Hardy, her hen-pecked husband, in the Laurel and Hardy movies.
Most notably "Sons of the Desert".
She was the hen who did the pecking.
After being particularly miffed at him, for good reason, she would hurl crockery at him that smashed all around him.
She'd hit him over the head with a rolling pin.
Hardy was never injured by any of this, which is what made it palatable.
And hilarious.
There was absolutely nothing soft or sensitive about Mae Busch.
That's what made it work. Big time.
Even before she was the Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton played hatched-faced, battle-axe schoolteachers, housekeepers, telephone operators, and secretaries, playing the foil to W.C.Fields on a couple of occasions.
Her battle-axe status was so ingrained that, in the late seventies, when I saw the L.A. company of Sondheim's "A Little Night Music", and Hamilton appeared in the role created by Hermione Gingold, it was an utter travesty.
Hermione Gingold may have been many things, but she was never a battle-axe
Could you imagine Hamilton and Maurice Chevalier singing the duet "I Remember It Well" from "Gigi"?
Neither could I.
And that was the equivalent of what I saw when she was in "A Little Night Music".
But boy, when she played the hatchet-faced battle-axe everywhere else, she was in a class by herself.
She was virtually untouched.
And she did it in scores and scores of movies.
We have many more battle-axes to discuss as we proceed.
Again, please no suggestions until I finish the entire series.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Report Card---"A Most Violent Year"
The first sign of spring: This is the last Report Card of the winter season.
'A Most Violent Year" was the last DVD that I watched from the slew that were sent me.
It came out too late to be considered for this past season's awards.
If anything, they're aiming for next season's.
The Year in question is 1981.
Everyone had big cars.
It is similar in tone to the great Scorcese and Coppola gangster films: Goodfellows, The Sopranos, On The Waterfront, the Godfather...
It is an intelligently made and played story about big-time corruption in the oil heating business in the 1980's.
On to the scoring:
Is it interesting?
Very.
A.
Compelling even?
Occasionally.
A.
Is it controversial?
It's a morality play, with the lead character having to make controversial decisions.
B.
Is it a story worth telling?
Very much so.
A.
Is it good storytelling?
Very.
A.
Is it well written?
Very.
A.
Is it well cast? Well played?
Yes on all counts. Albert Brooks, looking considerably older, is very good in a supporting part.
A.
Well shot?
Extremely.
A+.
Is it too long? Too short?
Just right.
A.
Is it believable? Do you care about the characters?
Yes, and very much.
A.
Is it predictable? Does it surprise you?
There are surprises at the end.
A.
Do you think about it after you've seen it?
There are haunting images.
A.
Is it funny?
Not really. Albert Brooks being there and not getting laughs underscores that.
C.
Would it have been worth the thirteen bucks it would have cost to see it in the movies?
I wouldn't feel the need, but then, I'm cheap.
B-.
Is it impressive?
Very.
A.
Overall grade: A.
Movies like this should definitely keep being made.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
'A Most Violent Year" was the last DVD that I watched from the slew that were sent me.
It came out too late to be considered for this past season's awards.
If anything, they're aiming for next season's.
The Year in question is 1981.
Everyone had big cars.
It is similar in tone to the great Scorcese and Coppola gangster films: Goodfellows, The Sopranos, On The Waterfront, the Godfather...
It is an intelligently made and played story about big-time corruption in the oil heating business in the 1980's.
On to the scoring:
Is it interesting?
Very.
A.
Compelling even?
Occasionally.
A.
Is it controversial?
It's a morality play, with the lead character having to make controversial decisions.
B.
Is it a story worth telling?
Very much so.
A.
Is it good storytelling?
Very.
A.
Is it well written?
Very.
A.
Is it well cast? Well played?
Yes on all counts. Albert Brooks, looking considerably older, is very good in a supporting part.
A.
Well shot?
Extremely.
A+.
Is it too long? Too short?
Just right.
A.
Is it believable? Do you care about the characters?
Yes, and very much.
A.
Is it predictable? Does it surprise you?
There are surprises at the end.
A.
Do you think about it after you've seen it?
There are haunting images.
A.
Is it funny?
Not really. Albert Brooks being there and not getting laughs underscores that.
C.
Would it have been worth the thirteen bucks it would have cost to see it in the movies?
I wouldn't feel the need, but then, I'm cheap.
B-.
Is it impressive?
Very.
A.
Overall grade: A.
Movies like this should definitely keep being made.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
*****
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