19th and 20th-century American broadway impresario
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This week my, guest is Christopher T. Connelly, the author of the fascinating new book HELEN MORGAN — THE ORIGINAL TORCH SINGER AND ZIEGFELD'S LAST STAR. There are a number of individuals who were very big Broadway stars back in what I call the Silver Age of Broadway (the 1920s and 30s), But who today are mostly overlooked and left out of the conversation. Performers who were on a level with Jolson and Cantor and Fanny Bryce, but whose fame has almost entirely faded. Of course most musical theater fans will know the name Helen Morgan, and know that she originated the role of "Julie" in Show Boat. But if you are like me, you will be largely unaware, of the incredible range of her talents, the depth and breadth of her career, and the level of her stardom. And I have no doubt that you'll be as fascinated by this book and by this conversation as I was. Christopher S. Connelly is a film and theater historian. His work has appeared in Etcetera magazine and the Kino Lorber DVD release of Mamoulian's Applause. He is also an actor, Roman Catholic cantor, and chorister for the Atlanta Opera. When he is not writing or performing, he works IT for the Georgia Institute of Technology. Become A PATRON of Broadway Nation! This episode is made possible in part through the generous support of longtime Patron Club Member MARK STANTON. If you are a fan of Broadway Nation, I invite you to become a PATRON! For as little as $7.00 a month you can receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussion that I have with my guests — in fact I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. And you will also have access to additional in-depth conversations with my frequent co-host Albert Evans that have not been featured on the podcast. And all patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgement of your vital support of this podcast. And If you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits. If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link: https://broadwaynationpodcast.supercast.tech/ Thank you in advance for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Continuamos el nuevo proyecto dentro de Los Hijos Malditos, dedicado a los ganadores al premio de la academia a la mejor película. En este noveno episodio os traemos El gran Ziegfeld, ganadora del premio a la mejor película en la novena ceremonia de los Oscars de 1936. Recordaros que estos programas salen en anticipado para los fans, y una semana después se libera para todo el mundo, junto con el vídeo en YouTube, Viernes a las 12:00. La lista de difusión de estos programas es: https://go.ivoox.com/bk/11150206 En YouTube podéis verlo en: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIEDHvzg8WRo74shL44NxWQ57psxMJbPa Y tenéis todos los enlaces en https://allmylinks.com/loshijosmalditos
Ziegfeld Boy Josh Sanders discusses De-Nuded, a double bill with Mama Alto's De-Flowered at Chapel Off Chapel for Midsumma, February 7 & 8. Midsumma Festival - Ziegfeld Boy: De-Nuded Midsumma Festival - Mama Alto: De-Flowered
Silent film accompanist group the Invincible Czars tours the country. Josh Robins talks about how they got started and their intent to support the action on screen. Blanche Mehaffey was a Ziegfeld Girl, a WAMPAS Baby Star and a film actress who hailed from Cincinnati.
My guest is Christopher S. Connelly, author of Helen Morgan: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld's Last Star. Morgan was a hugely popular singer and actress who set the template for musical theater performance style. We talked about Morgan's big heart, her deeply emotional connection with audiences, and how her approach to life was more Auntie Mame than as the downtrodden songstress she has been typically rumored to be. Learn more about the book and where to buy it here: https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781985900592/helen-morgan/ The show is available on— Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, PocketCasts, Google, and Radio Public Like the podcast? Subscriptions are as low as 99 cents a month: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/k-cruver/support You can also support my work on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/watchingclassicmovies --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/k-cruver/support
Front Row Classics welcomes back our friend Vanessa Ferguson and Brett Rutherford from Beyond the Mouse. The two hosts and Brandon are celebrating the 100th anniversary of MGM by taking a look at one of the greatest examples of the studio's unparalleled glamour. 1941's Ziegfeld Girl is a mammoth production illustrating what life was like for performers in the Ziegfeld Follies. The film features a star-studded cast with three great MGM stars at the center: Judy Garland, Lana Turner and Hedy Lamarr. The hosts discuss their various storylines along with the performances by Jimmy Stewart, Jackie Cooper, Tony Martin, Eve Arden and Edward Everett Horton
You Stepped Out of a Dream Front Row Classics welcomes back our friend Vanessa Ferguson and Brett Rutherford from Beyond the Mouse. The two hosts and Brandon are celebrating the 100th anniversary of MGM by taking a look at one of the greatest examples of the studio’s unparalleled glamour. 1941’s Ziegfeld Girl is a mammoth … Continue reading Ep. 255- Ziegfeld Girl →
Ziegfeld Rivera is a potential predator that was featured in the Ocean County, New Jersey sting. He is most well-known for biting into the crunchy stale brownies that were left out for him, as well as his surprisingly uncensored obscenities during his arrest. Rivera traveled from Staten Island, New York, to the sting house in Ocean County, New Jersey. After complimenting the size of the sting house, he attempted to eat one of the brownies but soon realized that they were stale, causing an audible crunch after he took a bite. Regardless, he continued to chew on them while laughing, asking the decoy Casey Maura if she wanted to "take a drive somewhere" after confirming (lying) that he had marijuana on him. Casey proclaimed that she'd rather hang out at the house for the time being. Enter Chris Hansen. This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!
Bring on the Beautiful Girls Front Row Classics is celebrating MGM’s 100th anniversary with a movies that features a cast of some of it’s greatest stars. Ziegfeld Follies is a musical revue with is essentially a series of musical numbers with no linear plot. Featuring the talents of luminaries such as Fred Astaire, Lena Horne, … Continue reading Ep. 236- Ziegfeld Follies →
“Miller, Lyles, and I were standing near the exit door . . . Blake stuck out there in front, leading the orchestra—his bald head would get the brunt of the tomatoes and rotten eggs.” This is the story of American musical theater and the dawn of modern Broadway. Popular entertainment is evolving fast in the early twentieth century. Minstrel shows just aren't drawing the same numbers anymore (for good reason), and burlesque and variety shows abound. The earliest “official” musical, The Black Crook takes several notes from these sometimes scandalous shows, as do Flo Ziegfeld's new “revues.” By the 1920s, composers, writers, and choreographers are experimenting with what a musical production can do: using songs to advance the plot (thanks Hammerstein!), and incorporating new music genres like jazz. Big players including George Gershwin, Noble Sissle, and Irving Berlin all play a role in crafting the perfect environment for the American musical to emerge, but the production Show Boat really gives a glimpse of the future of musical theater. It entertains even as it tackles heavy topics, and the score is seriously moving. It's difficult to anticipate how audiences will receive this new form—less pompous than a European operetta, but definitely more substantial than one of Ziegfeld's musical revues. So, without further ado . . . take your seat, the show's about to begin. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette come see a live show get HTDS merch or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of the Airwave Media Network. Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hi this is David Armstrong. You may be wondering where I and Broadway Nation have been over the past few weeks. As you will hear, I have been battling a wicked case of bronchitis and today is the first day in ten days that I have been able to talk even enough to croak out this brief message. At the end of the summer, I had been planning to take a few weeks off from podcasting anyway, and this bronchitis has just jumpstarted that break. So here's the plan: On September 19 Broadway Nation will return for an exciting new season featuring a fascinating line-up of authors who have written some amazing new books. We will start with author Thomas Hischak who will kick us off with a discussion of Song Of The Season — Outstanding Broadway Songs since 1891. In the weeks that follow, you will meet Laurie Winer talking about Oscar Hammerstein and the Invention of The Musical, Doug Reside on his book Fixing the Musical — How Technologies Shaped The Broadway Repertory, Trevor Boffone who has written about TikTok Broadway. Dustyn Martincich and Pheobe Rumsay will discuss Dance In Musical Theatre — A History of the Body In Movement, Christopher Connelly on Helen Morgan: The original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld's Last Star, and Joshua Rosenblum and his book Closer Than Ever — The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire. And that's just the beginning! As always Albert Evans will join me for some deep dives into Broadway's past and, no doubt, there will be previews of my upcoming book. I guarantee it will all be worth the wait. In the meantime, you are invited to join more than 2600 fans of this podcast in the Broadway Nation Facebook Group where every day you can find posts and videos about the Broadway musical and Immigrant, Jewish, Queer and Black artist who invented it. See you soon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bruce Calvert on the new restoration of Napoleon (1927) • Kurt Jensen, author of Peerless: Rouben Mamoulian, Hollywood and Broadway • Christopher S. Connelly, author of Helen Morgan: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld's Last Star (91:14)
Max Ziegfeld is an L.A. based comedian who may or may not be Satan. He joins us to talk about cancel culture, suicide and the Holocaust.And he makes us all laugh - by offending everyone.Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JATQPodcastIntragram: https://www.instagram.com/jatqpodcastYoutube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCET7k2_Y9P9Fz0MZRARGqVwThis Show is Available Ad-Free And Early For Patreon supporters here:https://www.patreon.com/justaskthequestionpodcastPurchase Brian's book "Free The Press" Follow Brian's Salon articles!
An interview with Christopher S. Connelly, author of "Helen Morgan: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld's Last Star" --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lights-camera-author/support
We each grew up watching a variety of musicals, from Annie to Ziegfeld. We've even gotten to perform in a few on stage. Also, we both got caught up in the storms that were Phantom of the Opera and Les Miz. In many ways, narratives through music make the stories and even the emotions portrayed much more poignant.Today's root beer is Gene Simmons Moneybag.Intro and Outro music by Stockmusic331 on Pond5Send us a Text Message.
Imagine F. Scott Fitzgerald in the afterlife, some thirty-six years after his premature passing, discovering to his dismay that the cheesiest TV producer ever has copped the title to a little-known short story of his and turned it into a landmark of cultural kitsch. That's the premise of this episode, in which we dissect the creepiest story Fitzgerald ever wrote, called, unfortunately "The Love Boat." Yes, we'll soon be making another run of endless Isaac and Gopher jokes as we explore this tale of a man who consoles his mid-life crisis by crashing not one but two (!) high-school proms. You read that right: creepy! The story actually takes its title from a famous 1920 ballad from the Ziegfeld follies, but why let that stop us from going off on an Aaron Spelling jag. Come aboard! We're expecting you!
Host Luisa Lyons chats with Nicole Holst, producer of The Zeigfeld Girls Revue, a new cabaret celebrating the stories of the original Follies girls including Mae Murray, Olive Thomas, Louise Brooks, Julie Newmar, and Fanny Brice. Which Follies girl still haunts the New Amsterdam Theatre? Are any of the Follies girls still alive? What cultural trends did they start? In this delightful chat, dive into the making of the show, and hear some of the stories behind the featured women, and the performers who will be portraying them!The Ziegfeld Girls Revue will be livestreamed from NYC's The Green Room 42 on April 13, 2024. Nicole Holst is a classically trained dancer/choreographer, cabaret singer, and show producer who has been creating shows in NYC since 2006. Her specialty is creating high-quality, vintage-themed show concepts that transport the audience to magical eras in time and bring history back to life. To date, she has created 8 original evening-length shows, founded 3 dance companies, and curated several site-specific special events. Nicole has been hired as event manager by Sayen Art Festival, Dorian's Guilded Society, and ACE Entertainment LA at the Ritz Carlton NoMad. Her work has been commissioned by Firestone Walker Beer, the American Folk Art Museum, and Billi Shakes at the Brooklyn Bowl. She looks forward to collaborating with the artists who inspire her and creating bespoke, immersive entertainment for NYC venues. See more at www.nicolenadineproductions.com and follow @nicolenadineproductions for the latest shows!SHOW LINKSThe Ziegfeld Girls RevueNicole Holst Follow Nicole on Instagram Learn more about Fanny Brice with Kimberly Faye Greenberg on Episode 8 of the Filmed Live Musicals podcast Support the showFilmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
From MGM, The Great Ziegfeld winner of the 9th Academy Award for Best Picture, stars William Powell and Luise Rainer and was directed by Robert Z. Leonard.
He was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29th, 1903 in Eltham, England. The fifth of seven sons, his parents were William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Somerset, and Welsh mother Avis, a light opera singer who later worked as a cleaner. The family eventually moved to Bristol for a time before emigrating to the U.S. aboard the SS Philadelphia, passing through Ellis Island on March 30th, 1908, before settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned pocket money by singing, dancing, and performing, winning a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. In December 1920, Hope and his brothers became U.S. citizens when their British parents became naturalized Americans. The next year, he was assisting his brother with the electric company when a horrific accident crushed his face. The reconstruction of which led to his distinctive appearance. In the 1920s Hope formed a dance act called the "Dancemedians" with George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who performed a tap-dancing routine on the vaudeville circuit. He acted in a double with Byrne, eventually making his way to New York. The act flopped, pushing Hope to strike out on his own, changing his first name to Bob in 1929. He spent five years on the Vaudeville circuit, failing an RKO screen test in 1930, but he broke out on Broadway, first in Ballyhoo of 1932, and then opposite Tamara Drasin and Fred MacMurray in Roberta, which played two-hundred ninety-four times between November of 1933 and July of 1934. Meanwhile in 1932, he appeared on Major Bowes' Capitol Family Hour and later on Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann Yeast Hour on June 3rd, 1933 alongside Jimmy Wallington. In 1933 he married his vaudeville partner Grace Troxell. They divorced the next year and Hope was soon with another performer, Dolores Reade. Though they spent the rest of their lives together, and Hope was notoriously unfaithful, a legal record of their marriage is vague at best. The couple would eventually adopt four children. In 1934 Hope signed a six-short contract with Educational Pictures. Radio soon followed. By then, he'd developed performing chops so strong, he could sing, dance, or act in any number of ways. On Friday January 4th, 1935 over NBC's Blue Network, he debuted in The Intimate Review. This first series was short-lived: ratings were mediocre, but Hope found his first radio foil, comedienne Patricia Wilder, who, with her thick southern accent, went by Honey Chile. The Intimate Review went off the air in April, but on September 14th, 1935, Hope was back on radio over CBS with The Atlantic Family. While he was on for CBS in 1936, Hope starred on Broadway in Ziegfeld's Follies with Fanny Brice; and in Cole Porter's Red, Hot, and Blue, with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante. The next May 9th, 1937, Hope was back on radio for NBC's Blue Network on Sundays at 9PM with The Rippling Rhythm Revue. During this run Paramount beckoned: The Big Broadcast of 1938 was to begin filming, and Hope was offered a part. He moved to Hollywood, continuing his monologues by transcontinental wire. The Rippling Rhythm Revue was canceled in September, but three months later Hope joined The Dick Powell Variety Show on December 29th, 1937. The Big Broadcast of 1938 was released on February 11th, and suddenly, Hope was a huge star. On Tuesday, September 27th, 1938 at 10PM, The Pepsodent Show took to the air. That first season, Hope's 15.4 rating was good enough for twelfth overall. In 1939 he was up to 23.1 and fifth. In 1941 his rating was 26.6 and fourth, and finally in 1942 his Crossley rating cracked thirty points, while his Hooper cracked forty. Hope soon began a five year run as radio's top comedian.
This week on Vintage Classic Radio's "Sunday Night Playhouse," we journey back to the golden era of radio with a special presentation of "Ziegfeld Follies of the Air 1936," originally broadcasted by Lux Radio Theatre on February 29, 1936. This radio play, an adaptation of the illustrious stage show created by Florenz Ziegfeld, captures the essence of 1930s entertainment and brings it to life for modern audiences. The Ziegfeld Follies, a hallmark of American entertainment, transitioned from the stage to the airwaves during the 1930s, thanks to CBS Radio. This adaptation, a blend of music, comedy, and drama, was part of a series that aired as a tribute to Florenz Ziegfeld after his passing in 1932. The radio adaptation, authored by the talented team at Lux Radio Theatre, keeps the spirit of Ziegfeld's vision alive, infusing each episode with the glamour and allure of the original stage shows. Hosted by Eddie Dowling and featuring the musical direction of Al Goodman, this episode showcases a stunning array of talent. Notable performances include Fanny Brice, bringing her comedic genius in the role of Baby Snooks; Helen Morgan, with her enchanting vocal performances; and Jack Pearl, who introduces the audience to the humorous character of "Baron Munchausen." The episode also stars Will Rogers, delivering his trademark wit, and a rare radio appearance by Ziegfeld himself. The cast list for this memorable broadcast includes: Eddie Dowling as the Host Al Goodman leading the Orchestra Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks Helen Morgan in various musical numbers Jack Pearl as Baron Munchausen Will Rogers in comedic monologues Florenz Ziegfeld in a special appearance Other notable guests include Patty Chapin, James Melton, and Benny Fields, each adding their unique flair to this historic broadcast. "Ziegfeld Follies of the Air 1936" is a rare gem, a glimpse into the past when radio reigned supreme. Few episodes of this series survive, making this broadcast a precious piece of entertainment history. Tune in to Vintage Classic Radio this Sunday for an unforgettable trip down memory lane, celebrating the legacy of one of America's greatest showmen, Florenz Ziegfeld.
Join us for ZIEGFELD GIRL, where Judy Garland stars alongside Lana Turner and Hedy Lamarr as women trying to navigate the intricate world of the Ziegfeld Follies.
On this episode, we're going to start a miniseries that I've been dreading doing, not because of the films this company produced and/or released during the 1980s, but because it means shining any kind of light on a serial sexual assaulter and his enabling brother. But one cannot do a show like this, talking about the movies of the 1980s, and completely ignore Miramax Films. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California. The Entertainment Capital of the World. It's the 80s Movie Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens/ Thank you for listening today. On this episode, we're going to start a miniseries that I've been dreading doing, not because of the films this company produced and/or released during the 1980s, but because it means shining any kind of light on a serial sexual assaulter and his enabling brother. But one cannot do a show like this, talking about the movies of the 1980s, and completely ignore Miramax Films. But I am not here to defend Harvey Weinstein. I am not here to make him look good. My focus for this series, however many they end up being, will focus on the films and the filmmakers. Because it's important to note that the Weinsteins did not have a hand in the production of any of the movies Miramax released in the 1980s, and the two that they did have a hand in making, one a horror film, the other a comedy that would be the only film the Weinsteins would ever direct themselves, were distributed by companies other than Miramax. But before I do begin, I want to disclose my own personal history with the Weinsteins. As you may know, I was a movie theatre manager for Landmark Theatres in the mid 1990s, running their NuWilshire Theatre in Santa Monica. The theatre was acquired by Landmark from Mann Theatres in 1992, and quickly became a hot destination for arthouse films for those who didn't want to deal with the hassle of trying to get to the Laemmle Monica 4 about a mile away, situated in a very busy area right off the beach, full of tourists who don't know how to park properly and making a general nuisance of themselves to the locals. One of the first movies to play at the NuWilshire after Landmark acquired it was Quentin Tarantino's debut film, Reservoir Dogs, which was released by Miramax in the fall of 1992. The NuWilshire quickly became a sort of lucky charm to Harvey Weinstein, which I would learn when I left the Cineplex Beverly Center in June 1993 to take over the NuWilshire from my friend Will, the great-grandson of William Fox, the founder of Fox Films, who was being promoted to district manager and personally recommended me to replace him. During my two plus years at the NuWilshire, I fielded a number of calls from Harvey Weinstein. Not his secretary. Not his marketing people. Harvey himself. Harvey took a great interest in the theatre, and regularly wanted feedback about how his films were performing at my theatre. I don't know if he had heard the stories about Stanley Kubrick doing the same thing years before, but I probably spoke to him at least once a month. I never met the man, and I didn't really enjoy speaking with him, because a phone call from him meant I wasn't doing the work I actually needed to do, but keeping Harvey would mean keeping to get his best films for my theatre, so I indulged him a bit more than I probably should have. And that indulgence did occasionally have its perks. Although I was not the manager of the NuWilshire when Reservoir Dogs played there, Quentin Tarantino personally hand-delivered one of the first teaser posters for his second movie, Pulp Fiction, to me, asking me if I would put it up in our poster frame, even though we both knew we were never going to play the film with the cast he assembled and the reviews coming out of Cannes. He, like Harvey Weinstein, considered the theatre his lucky charm. I put the poster up, even though we never did play the film, and you probably know how well the film did. Maybe we were his lucky charm. I also got to meet Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier weeks before their first film, Clerks, opened. We hosted a special screening sponsored by the Independent Feature Project, now known as Film Independent, whose work to help promote independent film goes far deeper than just handing out the Spirit Awards each year. Smith and Mosier were cool cats, and I was able to gift Smith something the following year when he screened Mallrats a few weeks before it opened. And, thanks to Miramax, I was gifted something that ended up being one of the best nights of my life. An invitation to the Spirit Awards and after-party in 1995, the year Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender won a number of awards for Pulp Fiction. At the after-party, my then-girlfriend and I ended up drinking tequila with Toni Collette, who was just making her mark on American movie screens that very weekend, thanks to Miramax's release of Muriel's Wedding, and then playing pool against Collette and Tarantino, while his Spirit Awards sat on a nearby table. Twenty feet from stardom, indeed. I left that job at the end of the summer in 1995, and I would not be involved with the Weinstein Brothers for a number of years, until after I had moved to New York City, started FilmJerk, and had become an established film critic. As a critic, I had been invited to an advance screening of Bad Santa at the AMC Empire 25, and on the way out, Bob Weinstein randomly stopped me in the lobby to ask me a few questions about my reaction to the film. Which was the one and only time I ever interacted with either brother face to face, and would be the last time I ever interacted with either of them in any capacity. As a journalist, I felt it was necessary to disclose these things, although I don't believe these things have clouded my judgment about them. They were smart enough to acquire some good films early in their careers, built a successful distribution company with some very smart people who most likely knew about their boss's disgusting proclivities and neither said nor did anything about it, and would eventually succumb to the reckoning that was always going to come to them, one way or another. I'm saddened that so many women were hurt by these men, physically and emotionally, and I will not be satisfied that they got what was coming to them until they've answered for everything they did. Okay, enough with the proselytizing. I will only briefly go into the history of the Weinstein Brothers, and how they came to found Miramax, and I'm going to get that out of the way right now. Harvey Weinstein and his younger brother Bob, were born in Queens, New York, and after Harvey went to college in Buffalo, the brothers would start up a rock concert promotion company in the area. After several successful years in the concert business, they would take their profits and start up an independent film distribution company which they named Miramax, after their parents, Miriam and Max. They would symbolically start the company up on December 31st, 1979. Like the old joke goes, they may have been concert promoters, but they really wanted to be filmmakers. But they would need to build up the company first, and they would use their connections in the music industry to pick up the American distribution rights to Rockshow, the first concert movie featuring Paul McCartney and his post-Beatles band Wings, which had been filmed during their 1976 Wings Over the World tour. And even from the start, Harvey Weinstein would earn the derisive nickname many people would give him over the years, Harvey Scissorhands, as he would cut down what was originally a 125min movie down to 102mins. Miramax would open Rockshow on nine screens in the New York City area on Wednesday, November 26th, 1980, including the prestigious Ziegfeld Theatre, for what was billed as a one-week only run. But the film would end up exceeding their wildest expectations, grossing $113k from those nine screens, including nearly $46k just from the Ziegfeld. The film would get its run extended a second week, the absolute final week, threatened the ads, but the film would continue to play, at least at the Ziegfeld, until Saturday December 13th, when the theatre was closed for five days to prepare for what the theatre expected to be their big hit of the Christmas season, Neil Diamond's first movie, The Jazz Singer. It would be a sad coincidence that Rockstar's run at the Ziegfeld had been extended, and was still playing the night McCartney's friend and former bandmate John Lennon was assassinated barely a mile away from the theatre. But, strangely, instead of exploiting the death of Lennon and capitalize on the sudden, unexpected, tragic reemergence of Beatlemania, Miramax seems to have let the picture go. I cannot find any playdates for the film in any other city outside of The Big Apple after December 1980, and the film would be unseen in any form outside a brief home video release in 1982 until June 2013, when the restored 125min cut was released on DVD and Blu-Ray, after a one-night theatrical showing in cinemas worldwide. As the Brothers Weinstein were in the process of gearing up Miramax, they would try their hand at writing and producing a movie themselves. Seeing that movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th were becoming hits, Harvey would write up a five-page treatment for a horror movie, based on an upstate New York boogeyman called Cropsey, which Harvey had first heard about during his school days at camp. Bob Weinstein would write the script for The Burning with steampunk author Peter Lawrence in six weeks, hire a British music documentary filmmaker, Tony Maylam, the brothers knew through their concert promoting days, and they would have the film in production in Buffalo, New York, in the summer of 1980, with makeup effects by Tom Savini. Once the film was complete, they accepted a purchase deal from Filmways Pictures, covering most of the cost of the $1.5m production, which they would funnel right back into their fledgling distribution company. But when The Burning opened in and around the Florida area on May 15th, 1981, the market was already overloaded with horror films, from Oliver Stone's The Hand and Edward Bianchi's The Fan, to Lewis Teague's Alligator and J. Lee Thompson's Happy Birthday to Me, to Joe Dante's The Howling and the second installment of the Friday the 13th series. Outside of Buffalo, where the movie was shot, the film did not perform well, no matter how many times Filmways tried to sell it. After several months, The Burning would only gross about $300k, which would help drive Filmways into bankruptcy. As we talked about a couple years ago on our series about Orion Pictures, Orion would buy all the assets from Filmways, including The Burning, which they would re-release into theatres with new artwork, into the New York City metropolitan region on November 5th, 1982, to help promote the upcoming home video release of the film. In just seven days in 78 theatres, the film would gross $401k, more than it had earned over its entire run during the previous year. But the film would be gone from theatres the following week, as many exhibitors do not like playing movies that were also playing on cable and/or available on videotape. It is estimated the film's final gross was about $750k in the US, but the film would become a minor success on home video and repeated cable screenings. Now, some sources on the inter webs will tell you the first movie Miramax released was Goodbye, Emmanuelle, based in part on a profile of the brothers and their company in a March 2000 issue of Fortune Magazine, in which writer Tim Carvell makes this claim. Whether this info nugget came from bad research, or a bad memory on the part of one or both of the brothers, it simply is not true. Goodbye, Emmanuelle, as released by Miramax in an edited and dubbed version, would be released more than a year after Rockshow, on December 5th, 1981. It would gross a cool $241k in 50 theatres in New York City, but lose 80% of its screens in its second week, mostly for Miramax's next film, a low budget, British-made sci-fi sex comedy called Spaced Out. Or, at least, that's what the brothers thought would be a better title for a movie called Outer Touch in the UK. Which I can't necessarily argue. Outer Touch is a pretty dumb title for a movie. Even the film's director, Normal Warren, agreed. But that's all he would agree with the brothers on. He hated everything else they did to his film to prepare it for American release. Harvey would edit the film down to just 77mins in length, had a new dub created to de-emphasize the British accents of the original actors, and changed the music score and the ending. And for his efforts, Weinstein would see some success when the film was released into 41 theatres in New York on December 11th, 1981. But whether or not it was because of the film itself, which was very poorly reviewed, or because it was paired with the first re-issue of The Groove Tube since Chevy Chase, one of the actors in that film, became a star, remains to be seen. Miramax would only release one movie for all of 1982, but it would end up being their first relative hit film. Between 1976 and 1981, there were four live shows of music and comedy in the United Kingdom for the benefit of Amnesty International. Inspired by former Monty Python star John Cleese, these shows would raise millions for the international non-governmental organization focused on human rights issues around the world. The third show, in 1979, was called The Secret Policeman's Ball, and would not only feature Cleese, who also directed the live show, performing with his fellow Pythons Terry Jones and Michael Palin, but would also be a major launching pad for two of the most iconic comedians of the 1980s, English comedian Rowan Atkinson and Scottish comedian Billy Connelly. But unlike the first two Amnesty benefit shows, Cleese decided to add some musical acts to the bill, including Pete Townshend of The Who. The shows would be a big success in the United Kingdom, and the Weinsteins, once again using their connections in the music scene, would buy the American film rights to the show before they actually incorporated Miramax Films. That purchase would be the impetus for creating the company. One slight problem, though. The show was, naturally, very British. One bit from the show, featuring the legendary British comedian and actor Peter Cook, was a nine-minute bit summing up a recent bit of British history, the leader of the British Labour Party being tried on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder his ex-boyfriend, would not make any sense to anyone who wasn't following the trial. All in all, even with the musical segments featuring Townshend, the Weinsteins felt there was only about forty minutes worth of material that could be used for a movie. It also didn't help that the show was shot with 16mm film, which would be extremely grainy when blown up to 35mm. But while they hemmed and hawed through trying to shape the film. Cleese and his show partners at Amnesty decided to do another set of benefit shows in 1981, this time called The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Knowing that there might be interest in a film version of this show, the team would decide to shoot this show in 35mm. Cleese would co-direct the live show, while music video director Julien Temple would be in charge of filming. And judging from the success of an EP released in 1980 featuring Townshend's performance at the previous show, Cleese would arrange for more musical artists to perform, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Donovan, Bob Geldof, Sting, and Midge Ure of Ultraviolet. In fact, it would be because of their participation in these shows that would lead Geldof and Ure to form Band Aid in 1984, which would raise $24m for famine relief in Ethiopia in just three months, and the subsequent Live Aid shows in July 1985 would raise another $126m worldwide. The 1981 Amnesty benefit shows were a success, especially the one-time-only performance of a supergroup called The Secret Police, comprising of Beck, Clapton, Geldof and Sting performing Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released at the show's closing, and the Weinsteins would make another deal to buy the American movie rights to these shows. While Temple's version of the 1981 shows would show as intended for UK audiences in 1982, the co-creator of the series, British producer Martin Lewis, would spend three months in New York City with Harvey Weinstein at the end of 1981 and start of 1982, working to turn the 1979 and 1981 shows into one cohesive movie geared towards American audiences. After premiering at the Los Angeles International Film Exposition in March 1982, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball would open on nine screens in the greater New York City metropolitan area on May 21st, but only on one screen in all of Manhattan. And in its first three days, the movie would gross an amazing $116k, including $36,750 at the Sutton theatre in the Midtown East part of New York City. Even more astounding is that, in its second weekend at the same nine theaters, the film would actually increase its gross to $121k, when most movies in their second week were seeing their grosses drop 30-50% because of the opening of Rocky III. And after just four weeks in just New York City, on just nine or ten screens each week, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball would gross more than $400k. The film would already be profitable for Miramax. But the Weinsteins were still cautious. It wouldn't be until July 16th when they'd start to send the film out to other markets like Los Angeles, where they could only get five theatres to show the film, including the brand new Cineplex Beverly Center, itself opening the same day, which, as the first Cineplex in America, was as desperate to show any movie it could as Miramax was to show the movie at any theatre it could. When all was said and done, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball would gross nearly $4m in American theatres. So, you'd think now they had a hit film under their belts, Miramax would gear up and start acquiring more films and establishing themselves as a true up and coming independent distributor. Right? You'd think. Now, I already said The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was their only release in 1982. So, naturally, you'd think their first of like ten or twelve releases for 1983 would come in January. Right? You'd think. In fact, Miramax's next theatrical release, the first theatrical release of D.A. Pennebaker's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars concert film from the legendary final Ziggy show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on July 3, 1973, would not come until December 23rd, 1983. And, for the third time in three years, it would be their music connections that would help the Weinsteins acquire a film. Although the Ziggy Stardust movie had been kicking around for years, mostly one-night-only 16mm screenings on college campuses and a heavily edited 44min version that aired once on American television network ABC in October 1974, this would be the first time a full-length 90min version of the movie would be seen. And the timing for it couldn't have come at a better time. 1983 had been a banner year for the musician and occasional actor. His album Let's Dance had sold more than five million copies worldwide and spawned three hit singles. His Serious Moonlight tour, his first concert tour in five years, was the biggest tour of the year. And he won critical praise for his role as a British prisoner of war in Nagisa Ōshima's powerful Japanese World War II film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. The Weinsteins would enlist the help of 20th Century Fox to get the film into theatres during a very competitive Christmas moviegoing season. But despite their best efforts, Fox and Miramax could only nab one theatre in all of New York City, the 8th Street Playhouse in lower Manhattan, and five in Los Angeles, including two screens at the Cineplex Beverly Center. And for the weekend, its $58,500 gross would be quite decent, with a per screen average above such films as Scarface, Sudden Impact and Yentl. But in its second weekend, the all-important Christmas week, the gross would fall nearly 50% when the vast majority of movies improve their grosses with kids out of school and wage earners getting time off for the holidays. Fox and Miramax would stay committed to the film through the early part of 1984, but they'd keep costs down by rotating the six prints made for New York and Los Angeles to other cities as those playdates wound down, and only buying eighth-page display ads in local newspapers' entertainment section when it arrived in a new city. The final gross would fall short of half a million dollars, but the film would find its audience on home video later in the year. And while the Weinsteins are no longer involved with the handling of the film, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars will be getting a theatrical release across the planet the first week of July 2023, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the concert. So, here were are, four years into the formation of Miramax Films, and they only released five films into theatres, plus wrote and produced another released by Filmways. One minor hit, four disappointments, and we're still four years away from them becoming the distributor they'd become. But we're going to stop here today because I like to keep these episodes short. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again next week, when we continue with story of Miramax Films, from 1984 to 1987. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
On this episode, we're going to start a miniseries that I've been dreading doing, not because of the films this company produced and/or released during the 1980s, but because it means shining any kind of light on a serial sexual assaulter and his enabling brother. But one cannot do a show like this, talking about the movies of the 1980s, and completely ignore Miramax Films. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California. The Entertainment Capital of the World. It's the 80s Movie Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens/ Thank you for listening today. On this episode, we're going to start a miniseries that I've been dreading doing, not because of the films this company produced and/or released during the 1980s, but because it means shining any kind of light on a serial sexual assaulter and his enabling brother. But one cannot do a show like this, talking about the movies of the 1980s, and completely ignore Miramax Films. But I am not here to defend Harvey Weinstein. I am not here to make him look good. My focus for this series, however many they end up being, will focus on the films and the filmmakers. Because it's important to note that the Weinsteins did not have a hand in the production of any of the movies Miramax released in the 1980s, and the two that they did have a hand in making, one a horror film, the other a comedy that would be the only film the Weinsteins would ever direct themselves, were distributed by companies other than Miramax. But before I do begin, I want to disclose my own personal history with the Weinsteins. As you may know, I was a movie theatre manager for Landmark Theatres in the mid 1990s, running their NuWilshire Theatre in Santa Monica. The theatre was acquired by Landmark from Mann Theatres in 1992, and quickly became a hot destination for arthouse films for those who didn't want to deal with the hassle of trying to get to the Laemmle Monica 4 about a mile away, situated in a very busy area right off the beach, full of tourists who don't know how to park properly and making a general nuisance of themselves to the locals. One of the first movies to play at the NuWilshire after Landmark acquired it was Quentin Tarantino's debut film, Reservoir Dogs, which was released by Miramax in the fall of 1992. The NuWilshire quickly became a sort of lucky charm to Harvey Weinstein, which I would learn when I left the Cineplex Beverly Center in June 1993 to take over the NuWilshire from my friend Will, the great-grandson of William Fox, the founder of Fox Films, who was being promoted to district manager and personally recommended me to replace him. During my two plus years at the NuWilshire, I fielded a number of calls from Harvey Weinstein. Not his secretary. Not his marketing people. Harvey himself. Harvey took a great interest in the theatre, and regularly wanted feedback about how his films were performing at my theatre. I don't know if he had heard the stories about Stanley Kubrick doing the same thing years before, but I probably spoke to him at least once a month. I never met the man, and I didn't really enjoy speaking with him, because a phone call from him meant I wasn't doing the work I actually needed to do, but keeping Harvey would mean keeping to get his best films for my theatre, so I indulged him a bit more than I probably should have. And that indulgence did occasionally have its perks. Although I was not the manager of the NuWilshire when Reservoir Dogs played there, Quentin Tarantino personally hand-delivered one of the first teaser posters for his second movie, Pulp Fiction, to me, asking me if I would put it up in our poster frame, even though we both knew we were never going to play the film with the cast he assembled and the reviews coming out of Cannes. He, like Harvey Weinstein, considered the theatre his lucky charm. I put the poster up, even though we never did play the film, and you probably know how well the film did. Maybe we were his lucky charm. I also got to meet Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier weeks before their first film, Clerks, opened. We hosted a special screening sponsored by the Independent Feature Project, now known as Film Independent, whose work to help promote independent film goes far deeper than just handing out the Spirit Awards each year. Smith and Mosier were cool cats, and I was able to gift Smith something the following year when he screened Mallrats a few weeks before it opened. And, thanks to Miramax, I was gifted something that ended up being one of the best nights of my life. An invitation to the Spirit Awards and after-party in 1995, the year Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender won a number of awards for Pulp Fiction. At the after-party, my then-girlfriend and I ended up drinking tequila with Toni Collette, who was just making her mark on American movie screens that very weekend, thanks to Miramax's release of Muriel's Wedding, and then playing pool against Collette and Tarantino, while his Spirit Awards sat on a nearby table. Twenty feet from stardom, indeed. I left that job at the end of the summer in 1995, and I would not be involved with the Weinstein Brothers for a number of years, until after I had moved to New York City, started FilmJerk, and had become an established film critic. As a critic, I had been invited to an advance screening of Bad Santa at the AMC Empire 25, and on the way out, Bob Weinstein randomly stopped me in the lobby to ask me a few questions about my reaction to the film. Which was the one and only time I ever interacted with either brother face to face, and would be the last time I ever interacted with either of them in any capacity. As a journalist, I felt it was necessary to disclose these things, although I don't believe these things have clouded my judgment about them. They were smart enough to acquire some good films early in their careers, built a successful distribution company with some very smart people who most likely knew about their boss's disgusting proclivities and neither said nor did anything about it, and would eventually succumb to the reckoning that was always going to come to them, one way or another. I'm saddened that so many women were hurt by these men, physically and emotionally, and I will not be satisfied that they got what was coming to them until they've answered for everything they did. Okay, enough with the proselytizing. I will only briefly go into the history of the Weinstein Brothers, and how they came to found Miramax, and I'm going to get that out of the way right now. Harvey Weinstein and his younger brother Bob, were born in Queens, New York, and after Harvey went to college in Buffalo, the brothers would start up a rock concert promotion company in the area. After several successful years in the concert business, they would take their profits and start up an independent film distribution company which they named Miramax, after their parents, Miriam and Max. They would symbolically start the company up on December 31st, 1979. Like the old joke goes, they may have been concert promoters, but they really wanted to be filmmakers. But they would need to build up the company first, and they would use their connections in the music industry to pick up the American distribution rights to Rockshow, the first concert movie featuring Paul McCartney and his post-Beatles band Wings, which had been filmed during their 1976 Wings Over the World tour. And even from the start, Harvey Weinstein would earn the derisive nickname many people would give him over the years, Harvey Scissorhands, as he would cut down what was originally a 125min movie down to 102mins. Miramax would open Rockshow on nine screens in the New York City area on Wednesday, November 26th, 1980, including the prestigious Ziegfeld Theatre, for what was billed as a one-week only run. But the film would end up exceeding their wildest expectations, grossing $113k from those nine screens, including nearly $46k just from the Ziegfeld. The film would get its run extended a second week, the absolute final week, threatened the ads, but the film would continue to play, at least at the Ziegfeld, until Saturday December 13th, when the theatre was closed for five days to prepare for what the theatre expected to be their big hit of the Christmas season, Neil Diamond's first movie, The Jazz Singer. It would be a sad coincidence that Rockstar's run at the Ziegfeld had been extended, and was still playing the night McCartney's friend and former bandmate John Lennon was assassinated barely a mile away from the theatre. But, strangely, instead of exploiting the death of Lennon and capitalize on the sudden, unexpected, tragic reemergence of Beatlemania, Miramax seems to have let the picture go. I cannot find any playdates for the film in any other city outside of The Big Apple after December 1980, and the film would be unseen in any form outside a brief home video release in 1982 until June 2013, when the restored 125min cut was released on DVD and Blu-Ray, after a one-night theatrical showing in cinemas worldwide. As the Brothers Weinstein were in the process of gearing up Miramax, they would try their hand at writing and producing a movie themselves. Seeing that movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th were becoming hits, Harvey would write up a five-page treatment for a horror movie, based on an upstate New York boogeyman called Cropsey, which Harvey had first heard about during his school days at camp. Bob Weinstein would write the script for The Burning with steampunk author Peter Lawrence in six weeks, hire a British music documentary filmmaker, Tony Maylam, the brothers knew through their concert promoting days, and they would have the film in production in Buffalo, New York, in the summer of 1980, with makeup effects by Tom Savini. Once the film was complete, they accepted a purchase deal from Filmways Pictures, covering most of the cost of the $1.5m production, which they would funnel right back into their fledgling distribution company. But when The Burning opened in and around the Florida area on May 15th, 1981, the market was already overloaded with horror films, from Oliver Stone's The Hand and Edward Bianchi's The Fan, to Lewis Teague's Alligator and J. Lee Thompson's Happy Birthday to Me, to Joe Dante's The Howling and the second installment of the Friday the 13th series. Outside of Buffalo, where the movie was shot, the film did not perform well, no matter how many times Filmways tried to sell it. After several months, The Burning would only gross about $300k, which would help drive Filmways into bankruptcy. As we talked about a couple years ago on our series about Orion Pictures, Orion would buy all the assets from Filmways, including The Burning, which they would re-release into theatres with new artwork, into the New York City metropolitan region on November 5th, 1982, to help promote the upcoming home video release of the film. In just seven days in 78 theatres, the film would gross $401k, more than it had earned over its entire run during the previous year. But the film would be gone from theatres the following week, as many exhibitors do not like playing movies that were also playing on cable and/or available on videotape. It is estimated the film's final gross was about $750k in the US, but the film would become a minor success on home video and repeated cable screenings. Now, some sources on the inter webs will tell you the first movie Miramax released was Goodbye, Emmanuelle, based in part on a profile of the brothers and their company in a March 2000 issue of Fortune Magazine, in which writer Tim Carvell makes this claim. Whether this info nugget came from bad research, or a bad memory on the part of one or both of the brothers, it simply is not true. Goodbye, Emmanuelle, as released by Miramax in an edited and dubbed version, would be released more than a year after Rockshow, on December 5th, 1981. It would gross a cool $241k in 50 theatres in New York City, but lose 80% of its screens in its second week, mostly for Miramax's next film, a low budget, British-made sci-fi sex comedy called Spaced Out. Or, at least, that's what the brothers thought would be a better title for a movie called Outer Touch in the UK. Which I can't necessarily argue. Outer Touch is a pretty dumb title for a movie. Even the film's director, Normal Warren, agreed. But that's all he would agree with the brothers on. He hated everything else they did to his film to prepare it for American release. Harvey would edit the film down to just 77mins in length, had a new dub created to de-emphasize the British accents of the original actors, and changed the music score and the ending. And for his efforts, Weinstein would see some success when the film was released into 41 theatres in New York on December 11th, 1981. But whether or not it was because of the film itself, which was very poorly reviewed, or because it was paired with the first re-issue of The Groove Tube since Chevy Chase, one of the actors in that film, became a star, remains to be seen. Miramax would only release one movie for all of 1982, but it would end up being their first relative hit film. Between 1976 and 1981, there were four live shows of music and comedy in the United Kingdom for the benefit of Amnesty International. Inspired by former Monty Python star John Cleese, these shows would raise millions for the international non-governmental organization focused on human rights issues around the world. The third show, in 1979, was called The Secret Policeman's Ball, and would not only feature Cleese, who also directed the live show, performing with his fellow Pythons Terry Jones and Michael Palin, but would also be a major launching pad for two of the most iconic comedians of the 1980s, English comedian Rowan Atkinson and Scottish comedian Billy Connelly. But unlike the first two Amnesty benefit shows, Cleese decided to add some musical acts to the bill, including Pete Townshend of The Who. The shows would be a big success in the United Kingdom, and the Weinsteins, once again using their connections in the music scene, would buy the American film rights to the show before they actually incorporated Miramax Films. That purchase would be the impetus for creating the company. One slight problem, though. The show was, naturally, very British. One bit from the show, featuring the legendary British comedian and actor Peter Cook, was a nine-minute bit summing up a recent bit of British history, the leader of the British Labour Party being tried on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder his ex-boyfriend, would not make any sense to anyone who wasn't following the trial. All in all, even with the musical segments featuring Townshend, the Weinsteins felt there was only about forty minutes worth of material that could be used for a movie. It also didn't help that the show was shot with 16mm film, which would be extremely grainy when blown up to 35mm. But while they hemmed and hawed through trying to shape the film. Cleese and his show partners at Amnesty decided to do another set of benefit shows in 1981, this time called The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Knowing that there might be interest in a film version of this show, the team would decide to shoot this show in 35mm. Cleese would co-direct the live show, while music video director Julien Temple would be in charge of filming. And judging from the success of an EP released in 1980 featuring Townshend's performance at the previous show, Cleese would arrange for more musical artists to perform, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Donovan, Bob Geldof, Sting, and Midge Ure of Ultraviolet. In fact, it would be because of their participation in these shows that would lead Geldof and Ure to form Band Aid in 1984, which would raise $24m for famine relief in Ethiopia in just three months, and the subsequent Live Aid shows in July 1985 would raise another $126m worldwide. The 1981 Amnesty benefit shows were a success, especially the one-time-only performance of a supergroup called The Secret Police, comprising of Beck, Clapton, Geldof and Sting performing Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released at the show's closing, and the Weinsteins would make another deal to buy the American movie rights to these shows. While Temple's version of the 1981 shows would show as intended for UK audiences in 1982, the co-creator of the series, British producer Martin Lewis, would spend three months in New York City with Harvey Weinstein at the end of 1981 and start of 1982, working to turn the 1979 and 1981 shows into one cohesive movie geared towards American audiences. After premiering at the Los Angeles International Film Exposition in March 1982, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball would open on nine screens in the greater New York City metropolitan area on May 21st, but only on one screen in all of Manhattan. And in its first three days, the movie would gross an amazing $116k, including $36,750 at the Sutton theatre in the Midtown East part of New York City. Even more astounding is that, in its second weekend at the same nine theaters, the film would actually increase its gross to $121k, when most movies in their second week were seeing their grosses drop 30-50% because of the opening of Rocky III. And after just four weeks in just New York City, on just nine or ten screens each week, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball would gross more than $400k. The film would already be profitable for Miramax. But the Weinsteins were still cautious. It wouldn't be until July 16th when they'd start to send the film out to other markets like Los Angeles, where they could only get five theatres to show the film, including the brand new Cineplex Beverly Center, itself opening the same day, which, as the first Cineplex in America, was as desperate to show any movie it could as Miramax was to show the movie at any theatre it could. When all was said and done, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball would gross nearly $4m in American theatres. So, you'd think now they had a hit film under their belts, Miramax would gear up and start acquiring more films and establishing themselves as a true up and coming independent distributor. Right? You'd think. Now, I already said The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was their only release in 1982. So, naturally, you'd think their first of like ten or twelve releases for 1983 would come in January. Right? You'd think. In fact, Miramax's next theatrical release, the first theatrical release of D.A. Pennebaker's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars concert film from the legendary final Ziggy show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on July 3, 1973, would not come until December 23rd, 1983. And, for the third time in three years, it would be their music connections that would help the Weinsteins acquire a film. Although the Ziggy Stardust movie had been kicking around for years, mostly one-night-only 16mm screenings on college campuses and a heavily edited 44min version that aired once on American television network ABC in October 1974, this would be the first time a full-length 90min version of the movie would be seen. And the timing for it couldn't have come at a better time. 1983 had been a banner year for the musician and occasional actor. His album Let's Dance had sold more than five million copies worldwide and spawned three hit singles. His Serious Moonlight tour, his first concert tour in five years, was the biggest tour of the year. And he won critical praise for his role as a British prisoner of war in Nagisa Ōshima's powerful Japanese World War II film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. The Weinsteins would enlist the help of 20th Century Fox to get the film into theatres during a very competitive Christmas moviegoing season. But despite their best efforts, Fox and Miramax could only nab one theatre in all of New York City, the 8th Street Playhouse in lower Manhattan, and five in Los Angeles, including two screens at the Cineplex Beverly Center. And for the weekend, its $58,500 gross would be quite decent, with a per screen average above such films as Scarface, Sudden Impact and Yentl. But in its second weekend, the all-important Christmas week, the gross would fall nearly 50% when the vast majority of movies improve their grosses with kids out of school and wage earners getting time off for the holidays. Fox and Miramax would stay committed to the film through the early part of 1984, but they'd keep costs down by rotating the six prints made for New York and Los Angeles to other cities as those playdates wound down, and only buying eighth-page display ads in local newspapers' entertainment section when it arrived in a new city. The final gross would fall short of half a million dollars, but the film would find its audience on home video later in the year. And while the Weinsteins are no longer involved with the handling of the film, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars will be getting a theatrical release across the planet the first week of July 2023, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the concert. So, here were are, four years into the formation of Miramax Films, and they only released five films into theatres, plus wrote and produced another released by Filmways. One minor hit, four disappointments, and we're still four years away from them becoming the distributor they'd become. But we're going to stop here today because I like to keep these episodes short. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again next week, when we continue with story of Miramax Films, from 1984 to 1987. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
The Broadway musical is one of New York City's greatest inventions, over 160 years in the making! It's one of the truly American art forms, fueling one of the city's most vibrant entertainment businesses and defining its most popular tourist attraction -- Times Square.But why Broadway, exactly? Why not the Bowery or Fifth Avenue? And how did our fair city go from simple vaudeville and minstrel shows to Shuffle Along, Irene and Show Boat, surely the most influential musical of the Jazz Age?This podcast is an epic, a wild musical adventure in itself, full of musical interludes, zipping through the evolution of musical entertainment in New York City, as it races up the 'main seam' of Manhattan -- the avenue of Broadway.We are proud to present a tour up New York City's most famous street, past some of the greatest theaters and shows that have ever won acclaim here, from the wacky (and highly copied) imports of Gilbert & Sullivan to the dancing girls and singing sensations of the Ziegfeld revue tradition.CO-STARRING: Well, some of the biggest names in songwriting, composing and singing. And even a dog who talks in German! At right: Billie Burke from a latter-year Follies. (NYPL)Visit the website for more information and images.This episode was originally recorded in 2013. Since then we have recorded many shows on the Broadway theater district. Please check out these shows for more information:-- Mae West: 'Sex' On Broadway-- Rodgers and Hammerstein-- West Side Story: The Making of Lincoln Center-- The Shuberts: The Brothers Who Built Broadway-- The Cotton Club: The Aristocrat of Harlem-- Tin Pan Alley and the creation of modern American music
Join the loot, along with me and my friend Corey as we tackle on five categories of films! The first film from any director? The first Best Picture winner we haven't seen? A film from Sudan? A Friday the 13th film? It's a mixed bag so check out the episode to know our thoughts on what we saw.00:00:00 - 00:02:04 -- Intro00:02:04 - 00:09:03 -- Meet Corey!00:09:03 - 00:56:32 -- The January Loot00:56:32 - 00:59:19 -- Closing00:59:19 - 01:01:59 -- OutroFollow Corey and The Film Effect PodcastWebsite: The Film Effect PodcastTwitter: @FilmEffectPodFacebook: The Film Effect PodcastInstagram: The Film Effect PodcastCorey's Twitter: @KnifeySpoony12Blue Collar clip (c) Universal PicturesPodcast Intro/Outro: Tino Mendes & Yellow Paper - The Heist
Interviews with Jane Montgomery Griffiths, Josh Sanders & Mama Alto. The MILF and Mistress is a one-woman play about a middle-aged lesbian who sees a dominatrix. Playwright Jane Montgomery Griffiths chats about her play that stars Jennifer Vuletic and challenges taboos with humour and respect. Stages at Theatre Works' Explosives Factory for Midsumma. https://www.theatreworks.org.au/2023/the-milf-and-mistress Double-billed music productions Ziegfeld Boy and Follies Girl capture old Hollywood classics. Performers Josh Sanders & Mama Alto chat with James in the studio. Staging at Chapel Off Chapel for Midsumma. Interview starts at 33.37. https://chapeloffchapel.com.au/show/ziegfeld-boy/ https://chapeloffchapel.com.au/show/follies-girl/ Sovereignty was never ceded.
It takes 20 years to make an overnight success..... No other entertainer proved successful in as many fields as Eddie Cantor during the 1920s and '30s. Nicknamed "Banjo Eyes" and "the Apostle of Pep" for his endless reserves of energy and showmanship he began his career touring in vaudeville, was promoted to the more legitimate theater of Ziegfeld's Follies, recorded many hits for Columbia, translated the success to film during the late '20s, became the biggest radio star of the '30s with the Chase & Sanborn Hour, and later moved to television as well.
Synopsis Today's date marks the anniversary of the first performance of Jerome Kern's Show Boat, produced in 1927 at the National Theater in Washington, D.C. by Florenz Ziegfeld. Show Boat's book and lyrics were by Oscar Hammerstein II, adapted from Edna Ferber's novel, which had been published only the year before. It was a most unusual story for a musical, and dealt frankly with alcoholism and interracial marriage. Mixing tragic and comic elements was something simply unheard of in American musical theater of that time. Ziegfeld's secretary recalled that before the Washington premiere, he fretted that audiences would be disappointed that the girls on stage were wearing much too much clothing for a typical Ziegfeld show. There was little or no applause following the November 15th premiere, and Ziegfeld assumed that “Show Boat” was a flop. But the Washington audiences were simply too stunned to react. When Ziegfeld's secretary told his boss that there were long lines waiting to buy tickets for subsequent performances, at first Ziegfeld didn't believe it. But by the time Show Boat opened on Broadway the following month, even the Great Ziegfeld knew he had a hit on his hands—and one based on great music and a powerful book, with nary a scantily-glad show girl in sight! Music Played in Today's Program Jerome Kern (1885-1945) selections from Showboat Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Carl Davis, cond. EMI 4573
This episode is the second half of my conversation with Gary Flannery regarding the life and career of Broadway dancer, director, choreographer, writer and producer, George White. Between 1919 and 1939 George White produced 19 Broadway shows including 13 editions of his own lavish and legendary revue – The George White Scandals. In part one Gary shared the story of George White's unlikely rise from the slums of NY's Lower East Side to his first triumphs on Broadway. Gary also began making his very persuasive case that George White is the most underrated and neglected genius in the history of the Broadway, who should be considered of equal, or even greater, significance than Ziegfeld, Cohan, the Shubert Bros, and any of the other greatest showman in Broadway history. As we ended part one George had just opened The George White Scandals of 1922, directed & staged by George White, costumes by Erte, and starring George White, W.C. Fields, and Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, all performing the music & lyrics of George Gershwin & Buddy De Sylva. In this episode we learn how George White put together the legendary songwriting team of De Sylva, Brown & Henderson, discovered Eleanor Powell and Ann Miller, and advanced the careers of Harry Richman, Ethel Merman, Ray Bolger, Burt Lahr, the Howard Brothers and more! If you enjoy this podcast, I feel certain that you will also enjoy joining our Broadway Nation Facebook group -- where you will find daily postings of images, videos, articles and links that relate to, and enhance, each and every episode of this podcast. Just google “Broadway Nation Facebook group” and join the more than 2000 other fans of Broadway Nation. It's always fun, fascinating and informative. See you there! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
durée : 00:59:00 - Les Nuits de France Culture - Broadway : pourquoi et comment le nom de cette artère de Manhattan est-il devenu synonyme de comédie musicale ?, premier temps de "La comédie musicale américaine" une série de Roland Auguet diffusée la première fois le 18 août 1980. Broadway. quel artiste n'en n'a pas rêvé ? Combien d'auteurs, de compositeurs ont rêvé d'y devenir un jour l'égal d'Oscar Hammerstein, d'Irving Berlin, de Cole Porter ou de Leonard Bernstein ? De voir un jour un théâtre porter leur nom comme George Gershwin ou Stephen Sondheim ? Quel danseur n'a pas, en songe, mis ses pas dans ceux de Fred Astaire sur la scène du New Amsterdam Theatre et quel entrepreneur de spectacles n'a pas eu l'ambition d'une folie à la démesure des Follies de Ziegfeld ? * Broadway tout à la fois le graal et le saint des saints. Broadway où est née la comédie musicale au début du XXème siècle, là où elle a grandi avant de conquérir l'Amérique toute entière et le monde sous toutes ses latitudes en rencontrant le cinéma parlant. C'est l'histoire que racontait ce premier épisode d'une série de Roland Auguet, consacrée à la comédie musicale américaine avec Dominique Jando, Daniel Ringold, Lucien Rioux et Marion Vidal. Production : Roland Auguet Réalisation : Marie-France Nussbaum La comédie musicale américaine, 1ère émission : Broadway - 1ère diffusion : 18/08/1980 Indexation web : Sandrine England, Documentation sonore de Radio France Archive Ina-Radio France
This is the first part of my conversation with Gary Flannery who somehow, while pursuing his own spectacular career as dancer, also found time to become the leading expert on the tumultuous life and career of George White – the fabled Broadway producer, director, choreographer, writer, songwriter and dancer. White rose to fame in Vaudeville and as a featured performer in The Ziegfeld Follies and then, between 1919 and 1939, went on to produce 19 Broadway musicals including 13 editions of his own spectacular and legendary revue – The George White Scandals. It is Gary's firm conviction that George White is the most underrated and neglected genius in the history of the Broadway musical. And, furthermore, he believes that if George White's full legacy and impact were more fully acknowledged and recognized it would equal or surpass that of Ziegfeld, George M. Cohan, the Shubert Bros, and virtually every other great showman in Broadway history. Gary has certainly convinced me – and I suspect that after you've heard him tell George White's amazing story -- you will be persuaded as well. Gary Flannery's day job was as one of Bob Fosse's favorite dancers and he appeared in the Broadway productions of both DANCIN' and PIPPIN – and you have probably seen him as one of the leading dancers in Fosse's film, All That Jazz. He also toured the world dancing with Shirley MacLaine, was a featured dancer on many television variety shows, and today he directs, choreographs, writes, teaches and conducts master classes in all manner of Broadway dance and musical theater history. His research on George White is only one part of his Great American Revue project which includes lectures, books, documentaries and revivals in various stages of production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For this weeks movie review, Mita and Nadeem watched the 1936 Best Picture Winner, "The Great Ziegfeld". Contrary to popular belief, Ziegfeld might not be so great.
Our retrospective on every Academy Award Best Picture continues with 1936's "The Great Ziegfeld" starring William Powell & Myrna Loy. Does this classic stand the test of time and deserve its place in Oscar history? ** Deep Dive Movie Reviews contain spoilers ** 1:11 - The Great Ziegfeld synopsis 2:03 - Initial thoughts on the film 11:00 - Understanding Flo Ziegfeld 14:47 - The chemistry of Frank Morgan 19:00 - Blackface and 1936 attitudes 20:51 - The 9th Academy Awards 23:40 - Does The Great Ziegfeld stand the test of time?
This month we read and review The Diviners by Libba Bray! Like all of our reviews, the first part is spoiler free. Here's a little about The Diviners:SOMETHING DARK AND EVIL HAS AWAKENED… Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It's 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho is hiding a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened… We hope you enjoy this episode!Do you have a book you'd like us to review on this show? Want to give us some feedback? Send us an email at badassliteraturesociety@gmail.comIf you don't already, follow us on Instagram and FacebookAll music from hooksounds.comArt by Justin Miller DesignCheck us out here!
Warner Bros George Feltenstein brings a special guest to discuss the June 2022 Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive. John Fricke is the foremost authority on Judy Garland and he brings his insights and stories into a lively, fun-filled discussion of these three black and white Judy Garland films available now for the first time on Blu-ray. First up is the glamourous 1941 musical "Ziegfeld Girl" starring Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, James Stewart and directed by Robert Z. Leonard with musical numbers directed by Busby Berkeley. Next, we review the 1942 musical "For Me and My Gal" starring Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, George Murphy, Martha Eggerth, and directed by Busby Berkeley. A showcase for Judy and her vaudeville roots, this was also Gene Kelly's first film role. And finally, we review the 1945 "The Clock" starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker and directed by Vincente Minnelli. Purchase on Amazon:Ziegfeld Girl Blu-ray For Me and My Gal Blu-rayThe Clock Blu-rayThe Wizard of Oz 4KFor all Warner Archive podcasts: www.theextras.tv/podcastsOtaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv
“The Great Ziegfeld” is a three hour showcase glorifying the ideal American entrepreneur. A classist figure that swings wildly between giving to the working class and conning them into free labor, Mr. Ziegfeld would pull himself up by his bootstraps if his Louis Vuitton Diamond-Studded Oxfords had any. Watch as this movie insists one man can single-handedly change the world of art on his own and ignores all of the horror of producing underage showgirls. Director Robert Leonard spent a lot of money to win the Oscar for Best Picture but we think he should have spent that money on a editor. You can find Andy @royalty_valens and Maevas @MaevasEvergreen. Listen to future episodes at our website: Time Honored Pictures Dot Com.
Jake Johnson, author of Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America (University of Illinois Press, 2021) takes as his subject the artifice of musicals—no one really bursts into song and dance to liven up a simple conversation and even the historical characters are not true-to-life. He argues that it is the very unreality of musicals that makes them powerful sites of belief—whether it is a reflection of the beliefs of the creators of the work, or what audiences want to believe about themselves. He focuses on how musicals serve large and small communities across America and shape local religious, political, cultural, and familial identities. Rather than using examples from the commercial Broadway theater, however, Johnson brings to life more idiosyncratic productions from the middle of America from the “Senior Follies,” a Ziegfeld-follies like production staffed by older performers to a re-imagining of The Sound of Music written for a polygamous community called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the current political climate where consumers are fixated on the urban/rural divide and differences in the “flyover” states from the coasts, it seems especially important to turn critical attention to musical and dramatic practices outside of Broadway institutions. Kristen M. Turner is a lecturer in the music and honors departments at North Carolina State University. Her research centers on race and class in American popular entertainment at the turn of the twentieth century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion
Jake Johnson, author of Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America (University of Illinois Press, 2021) takes as his subject the artifice of musicals—no one really bursts into song and dance to liven up a simple conversation and even the historical characters are not true-to-life. He argues that it is the very unreality of musicals that makes them powerful sites of belief—whether it is a reflection of the beliefs of the creators of the work, or what audiences want to believe about themselves. He focuses on how musicals serve large and small communities across America and shape local religious, political, cultural, and familial identities. Rather than using examples from the commercial Broadway theater, however, Johnson brings to life more idiosyncratic productions from the middle of America from the “Senior Follies,” a Ziegfeld-follies like production staffed by older performers to a re-imagining of The Sound of Music written for a polygamous community called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the current political climate where consumers are fixated on the urban/rural divide and differences in the “flyover” states from the coasts, it seems especially important to turn critical attention to musical and dramatic practices outside of Broadway institutions. Kristen M. Turner is a lecturer in the music and honors departments at North Carolina State University. Her research centers on race and class in American popular entertainment at the turn of the twentieth century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/popular-culture
Jake Johnson, author of Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America (University of Illinois Press, 2021) takes as his subject the artifice of musicals—no one really bursts into song and dance to liven up a simple conversation and even the historical characters are not true-to-life. He argues that it is the very unreality of musicals that makes them powerful sites of belief—whether it is a reflection of the beliefs of the creators of the work, or what audiences want to believe about themselves. He focuses on how musicals serve large and small communities across America and shape local religious, political, cultural, and familial identities. Rather than using examples from the commercial Broadway theater, however, Johnson brings to life more idiosyncratic productions from the middle of America from the “Senior Follies,” a Ziegfeld-follies like production staffed by older performers to a re-imagining of The Sound of Music written for a polygamous community called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the current political climate where consumers are fixated on the urban/rural divide and differences in the “flyover” states from the coasts, it seems especially important to turn critical attention to musical and dramatic practices outside of Broadway institutions. Kristen M. Turner is a lecturer in the music and honors departments at North Carolina State University. Her research centers on race and class in American popular entertainment at the turn of the twentieth century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
This podcast is one of a series looking back at some highlights from the 2021 Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive.Warner Bros executive George Feltenstein takes us through the June 2021 Blu-ray release of the 1946 classic film, "Zeigfeld Follies." Starring an ensemble cast of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Esther Williams, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Lena Horne, and many more, this beloved film is an imperfect classic made up of dance numbers, comedy sketches, and lots of beautiful girls, as was typical of the Ziegfeld tradition. George provides background on the complex production challenges the movie faced over multiple years of filming. And his insights into the songs, dance routines, and behind-the-scenes stories make for an entertaining review of both the film and Blu-ray release.The June 2021 Blu-ray of "Ziegfeld Follies" is another of the many technicolor restorations from the Warner Archive in 2021, and finally allows viewers to see the film in the glorious color and detail of the original film.
Deb has been a Muni performer since 1989. She made her Muni debut in the chorus of Fiddler on the Roof. She went full circle with that show playing Golde in our 2009 production. Since that debut, she has played a number of roles including Ziegfeld's Favorite in The Will Rogers Follies in 1996, Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls in 1997 and Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray in 2011. Her last performance on the Muni stage was as Mother Superior in Sister Act in 2018. Deb currently serves on the Muni's Board of Managers where she will be President during the 2022 season. Want to get involved in this project? Email history@themuni.org
In this episode we discuss the ninth Best Picture Winner, The Great Ziegfeld, the first and one of the best Hollywood biopic musicals, the career of Florenz Ziegfeld, and the death and funeral of legendary Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg! Other topics include: George Jessel, musician and songwriter Spike Jones, Walt Disney, William Powell, Billie Burke, William Wyler, Irving Thalberg, costumes by Adrian, A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, film history Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thanktheacademypodcast Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thankacademypod Email us your thoughts: thanktheacademypod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thank-the-academy/support
Patrick and Lauren explore the life and times of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. One of the world's earliest and greatest showmen. Sex Sells. The birth of the Follies and the first biopic to win Best Picture. Join us as we pick apart his life and the ladies he leaves along the way.
Welcome to the episode where Dave says the fateful line, 'I outright refuse to ever watch (this) again'. Yep, it's Robert Z. Leonard's Best Picture winner, The Great Ziegfeld, where the charismatic William Powell misplaces his charm in a bloated epic as follies producer Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., paired with the Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, and an extended cameo by Myrna Loy. This is a rather swear-laden episode as co-hosts Dave and Andrew vent their frustrations about this long film. Make sure to check out Dave's new podcast, Off Screen Death with co-host Michael Denniston. Subscribe via RSS Feed, Anchor.fm, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Follow the hosts on social media at the links below: Andrew F Peirce – @TheCurbAU David Giannini – @Darnthatdave Awards Don't Matter - @AwardsDontPod https://anchor.fm/awards-dont-matter/episodes/1932-1933-Best-Picture-Nominee---42nd-Street-Lloyd-Bacon---Awards-Dont-Matter-epqidhSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to the episode where Dave says the fateful line, 'I outright refuse to ever watch (this) again'. Yep, it's Robert Z. Leonard's Best Picture winner, The Great Ziegfeld, where the charismatic William Powell misplaces his charm in a bloated epic as follies producer Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., paired with the Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, and an extended cameo by Myrna Loy. This is a rather swear-laden episode as co-hosts Dave and Andrew vent their frustrations about this long film. Make sure to check out Dave's new podcast, Off Screen Death with co-host Michael Denniston. Subscribe via RSS Feed, Anchor.fm, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Follow the hosts on social media at the links below: Andrew F Peirce – @TheCurbAU David Giannini – @Darnthatdave Awards Don't Matter - @AwardsDontPod https://anchor.fm/awards-dont-matter/episodes/1932-1933-Best-Picture-Nominee---42nd-Street-Lloyd-Bacon---Awards-Dont-Matter-epqidh
Song, Dance, Drama, a 3-hour runtime? What's not to like about The Great Ziegfeld? Well, as is turns out (and you'll have to listen to the episode to get the full picture), this film was made for a different audience, a different purpose, and in a very different time. This is certainly a film, and that is all the Back Log Boys can agree on. Stick around until the end to find out what film we'll be talking about next time! You can find more of our content on YouTube and Twitter. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
LIVE from BroadwayCon 2020, I am recording a very special episode of Baring It All with Call Me Adam with Tony Award Winner and Emmy Nominee Cady Huffman. In this live interview, Cady is Baring It All with Call Me Adam about:Her Award winning turn in Mel Brooks' The ProducersWhat Tony Award season and Night was likeBackstage Broadway StoriesWe play a game called Cady Did, inspired by her new digital TV series of the same nameSo much moreCady is best known for winning the 2001 Tony Award for Best Performance by a "Featured Actress in a Musical" for playing Ulla in Mel Brooks' The Producers, which starred Matthew Broderick & Nathan Lane.Cady also received a 2019 Emmy Nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Digital Drama Series" for her portrayal of Lisa in Amazon Prime's After Forever. She just launched her own digital TV series call Cady Did, which is available on YouTube.More on Cady Huffman:Cady has been seen on Hulu's Difficult People, Netflix's Master of None and on the web series After Forever (for which she received a 2019 Emmy Nomination) and He's With Me, for which she won the 2016 Indie Series Award for Best Guest Appearance in a Comedy.Cady recently returned to the Broadway stage in a limited engagement as “Mama Morton” in the Broadway production of Chicago. Previous Broadway credits include the Tony Award winning play The Nance opposite Nathan Lane, for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, but she is best known for her Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award winning performance as "Ulla" in The Producers on Broadway opposite Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. This led to her unforgettable recurring role on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm where she almost became Larry David's 10th anniversary present. This success also brought her to the Food Network's kitchen stadium where she judged for 10 consecutive seasons on Iron Chef America.Cady's other Broadway credits are her Tony-nominated performance as Ziegfeld's Favorite in The Will Rogers Follies, the original production of La Cage Aux Folles, Steel Pier, Dame Edna: The Royal Tour, and Bob Fosse's last original musical Big Deal. She has had several guest starring appearances on television, including recurring roles on The Good Wife and Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Frasier and Mad About You. She even showed up on Daytime's One Life To Live as the 2nd Dr. Paige Miller.Cady's big screen appearances include The Company Men opposite Ben Affleck and Chris Cooper, John Turturro's star studded musical film Romance & Cigarettes, Hero (with Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis and Andy Garcia), The Nanny Diaries opposite Scarlett Johansson and the wonderful Christmas movie Love The Coopers. She also has starring roles in the indy films Dare, $20 Drinks, Billy's Dad Is A Fudgepacker, Space Marines and Throw the Hoolihan. She also produced and stars in film festival favorite Sunday on the Rocks, which won 2nd Place Feature at the New Haven Film Festival.Connect with Me:Website: www.callmeadam.comFacebook: @CallMeAdamNYCInstagram: @CallMeAdamNYCSpecial Thanks:Theme Song by Bobby...
On this episode we tackle the 9th Academy Award winner, The Great Ziegfeld! This biopic about famed Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. that includes three whole hours of punchy dialogue and grandiose musical numbers (some might say too many musical numbers). Maggie rants about biopics in general, and Ian rants about romantic comedy tropes. So grab that bottle of champagne you've been hiding in your bed post and take a listen. Follow us on instagram and twitter @bestpicturespod or send us an email at bestpicturespodcast@gmail.com
On this episode, we are discussing the ninth Best Picture Winner: “The Great Ziegfeld.” "The Great Ziegfeld" is a biopic that follows the rise of Florenz Ziegfeld, a theater producer who became renowned during the 1920s for his lavish stage productions. Starting out by promoting individual performers, Ziegfeld established revues featuring dozens of women, shows that developed into his famous Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway. His appreciation of women is also apparent off-stage, leading to a love triangle involving actresses Anna Held and Billie Burke. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, the film stars William Powell as Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., Myrna Loy as Billie Burke, Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and Frank Morgan as Jack Billings. Here on The Envelope, we discuss & review every Best Picture Winner in the Academy Awards History. We are a Cinema Squad Production, presented on the Cinema Squad Podcast Channel. You can reach anyone here at TheCinemaSquad.com – Just go there to email us, check our bios, and keep up with the latest episode.
Ever since the early 1900s, the New Amsterdam Theatre, located on 42nd street in New York City, has been the home of Disney On Broadway. However, this historic theatre had a long life before housing some of Disney's biggest hits including THE LION KING, MARY POPPINS and currently ALADDIN, this historic theatre. For this episode, we'll speak with two members of the operations team: Chris Pappas and Dana Amendola, about the theatre's early years–from its construction up through the historic Ziegfeld Follies.