Well, dear readers, I finally finished watching Mr. Robert Altman’s film, Gosford Park, which I ultimately enjoyed. I say “ultimately” because, as is so frequent these days, I was led down the garden path on this film, promotion-wise. Once I understood what the film really was, then I found it enjoyable, albeit twenty minutes too long (the film runs 138 minutes). So, why was I led down the garden path? Because this film was being sold as a fizzy Agatha Christie thing, almost as a sendup of the genre, and it is anything but that. They do films like this such a disservice when they do that – I mean, I sat there for half the film waiting for my fizzy Agatha Christie sendup, and then it finally occurred to me I was never going to get it. I went back, started over and then enjoyed the film that was actually presented. Plain and simple or, to put it a different way, simple and plain, it’s Upstairs Downstairs, basically a soap opera, and quite a melancholy one at that. Of course it has grand bits of fun and humor, but they are hardly the driving force of the film. Sure, if you pick out only those for the trailer and only emphasize the mystery, then it just might seem like a fizzy Agatha Christie sendup. By the way (BTW, in Internet lingo), in case you think I’m totally off-base here, I happened to watch half the film again with Mr. Robert Altman’s commentary on, and practically the first thing out of his mouth were the following things: Upstairs Downstairs and soap opera. There are other people present during Mr. Altman’s commentary track, but strangely they are not identified on the packaging. I believe the art director is one of them, and I’m pretty sure one of the others is Mr. Bob Balaban, who comes off sounding a right twit. In fact, practically every time he speaks, Mr. Altman says something back, and usually tersely. In any case, I thought the actors were all splendid, every one of them. I especially was taken with Jeremy Northam (an actor new to me) as Ivor Novello. I will again comment on Mr. Patrick Doyle’s wonderful score and Mr. Novello’s lovely songs which, blasphemous as it may seem, I prefer to Mr. Noel Coward’s.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? In case anyone missed my post yesterday, all the books and CDs have been shipped and should be to you shortly. Any orders subsequent to yesterday will most likely go out the day they’re received. So, if you enjoy the DVD or book, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell the man in the street or the trees in the park and get them over here to haineshisway.com, or to amazon or barnesandnoble.com (Benjamin Kritzer is now available for order at Barnes and Noble online, but strangely not at amazon yet – the DVD is available at both, plus in stores everywhere). Well, that was a self-serving bit of self-promotion, wasn’t it? How unseemly. Continuing along these unseemly lines, if you enjoy the DVD you should go to amazon and post your “review”. If you enjoy the book you should go to barnesandnoble.com and post your “review”.
Well, we have several High Winners and one Highest Winner in our handy-dandy Unseemly Trivia Contest. But we’ll get to that in a moment. First we must all do the dreary Unseemly Button thing. O, tis a drear drear thing we must do. To push the drear Unseemly Button – perhaps we should eat a cheese slice whilst doing it – after all, a cheese slice a day helps the Unseemly Button go down.
I had occasion to hear a private recording of the Encores! version of Li’l Abner. What a lot of fun – I happen to know that several producers have been interested in a revival of Abner, but they all want to futz with the book and the estate of the authors won’t allow it. Well, if you listen to the laughs issuing forth during this performance, the book is still hilarious, even the dated bits. Just listening to it, I can tell that the Abner of Burke Moses is problematic – he’s not laid back enough or innocent enough. Alice Ripley is overplaying Daisy Mae a bit, but I think she’d be wonderful in a production of the show with a really good director (plus she’s a dead ringer for the cartoon character). Dana Ivey and Dick Latessa as Mammy and Pappy Yoakum are great-sounding, as is Michael Mulhearn as Earthquake McGoon. David Ogden Stiers as General Bullmoose is hilarious and nails every single laugh, which are many. The strangest performance is Lea DeLaria as Marryin’ Sam. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad idea, but for some reason, at least audio-wise, it doesn’t work. I should think Lee Wilkof would be a fine Marryin’ Sam. Or Kevin Chamberlin. In any case, the score sounds as great as always, and it’s fun to hear some of the reprises that aren’t on the recording.
What am I, Ken Mandelbaum all of a sudden? As I mentioned, we have winners in our Unseemly Trivia Contest, so let’s recap the question and give the answer.
Some years ago there was a dancer who danced in one of the most exciting dance numbers ever done in a Broadway musical. Directly after that show, said dancer took part in a ground-breaking show, a show which would go on to be very successful and have a long run – a show which, for various reasons, was totally unique. The cast of that show also included someone who would go on to star in a hugely successful television series.
Name the dancer, the ground-breaking show, and the actor who went on to star in a hugely successful television series. And remember, I added the clue that the show pretty much was the end of the dancer’s budding career.
And the answer:
The dancer: Margo Sappington (dancing in Turkey Lurkey Time from Promises, Promises, to the right of Donna McKechnie – Baayork Lee was to the left)
The ground-breaking show: Oh, Calcutta!
The actor: As it turns out, there are two answers here, either of which were acceptable – Bill Macy, who went on to star in Maude with Bea Arthur, and Alan Rachins, who went on to appear in LA Law.
Congratulations to High Winners freedunit, William E. Lurie, Michael Shayne and Paul Fairie. And our handy-dandy electronic hat has chosen our Highest Winner completely at random – Mr. William E. Lurie.
Tomorrow, as most of you may remember, is Ask BK Day, so get your excellent questions ready, because I am ready, willing and able to answer them. And don’t forget, if you’re in the LA area or have friends who are, come to our DVD signing at Laserblazer in Westwood, Friday night at seven, or to the Hollywood Memorabilia show on Saturday and Sunday at the Beverly Garland Hotel on Vineland (just north of Ventura Blvd.) in North Hollywood, where you can meet and greet our very own Susan Gordon who will be sitting next to our very own me.
Well, dear readers, I have things to do, places to go, people to see. I have more packages to ship (several orders came in this morning), and business to attend to. I must, in short, take the day, sieze the day, grab the day and make every minute count. I shall eat rice pudding and then do the rice pudding dance and then I shall laugh and laugh and be witty and gay all the livelong day and night. I shall put on my tails and walk up and down my street holding a martini glass with Diet Coke in it. I shall sit at the piano and play the songs of Meltz and Ernest whilst eating a ham chunk. What the hell am I talking about? Today’s topic of discussion: As long as we were mentioning Dame Agatha Christie – what are your favorite films based on her wonderful books? I’ll start: Witness for the Prosecution (what a great movie that is), Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express, Murder At The Gallop (the best of the Margaret Rutherford series, in my opinion (IMO, in Internet lingo), And Then There Were None and a few others. And while we’re at it, what are your favorite Christie books. Mine, without doubt, is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and I’m quite fond of And Then There Were None and The ABC Murders.