Steve Martin Go Home

After my diss last week of Steve Martin, about his ill-conceived decision to do a second bad remake of the Pink Panther series. (we call them "paycheck movies") I was reminded today, via a TBS broadcast, of another ill-advised remake of a classic: "The Out-of-Towners," which Martin did with Goldie Hawn in 1999– that Martin really should be prosecuted as a serial-remaker.

The original (1970) was directed by Arthur Hiller, from a Neil Simon script (he won a WGA award for it). The inspired casting of Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis (both nominated for Globes) further galvanized this picture as an untouchable Simon-comedy classic. I cannot think of this movie without hearing in my head the nasal delivery of Dennis: "Oh my gaaawd."

Got MLK?

MLK Day legislation was first introduced in 1968.

Illinois was the first state to adopt it as a state holiday in 1973.

Congress passed legislation for the holiday in 1983.

It was formally adopted as a federal holiday in 1986.

It took 15 years!

MLK's actual birthday is January 15th.

So government decided on the 3rd Monday in January.

There is a prescient convergence in the fact that MLK Day falls on the day before the inauguration this year.

Today we are nostalgically reminded of the dream.

And tomorrow we will see it's manifestation.

I Danced With Frankie Manning.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMDf4ciCRs

Frankie Manning  was one of Whitey's Lindyhoppers. He danced at the Savoy in the heyday of swing. He toured and appeared in films, most notably 1941's "Hellzapoppin." (he's in overalls) After WWII, the swing craze ended, Frankie came home from war, took a job as a postman, and lived a fairly uneventful life for the next 40-odd years. Then in the mid-80s, producers of the musical "Black and Blue" were searching for dancer from that swing era. Frankie was found and brought out of retirement to help choreograph the show. It was then he also began teaching swing-era dances at a studio downtown. This is when I danced with him: literally. He was still flipping women over his back! And despite his decades of living in the obscurity of civil service and loss of creative life, he has never shown an ounce of bitterness.

In 1989 Frankie Manning turned 75 years old, had a profile on 60 Minutes, and won a Tony Award!

Forever young, he turns 95 in 2009. Bless his gentle soul. He is one of a kind.

HIP HOP PRODUCT PLACEMENT?

SNL Report:

I am convinced that Kanye is being paid by labels to mention their brand names in his songs. He is the ultimate commercial whore. This has been going on for too long and he should be called out for it!

Re: Mad Men

I think I watched the first episode of this show when it first came out and then I fell off. Couldn't keep the appointment -- weekly. Let it slide. I'm watching it now via Netflix. Much more enjoyable way to view episodic TV in the first place. But let me say... this show is so well done, it aspires to high art. It is so well-crafted it is made like a film. And the writing is so good that character depth is revealed with every new episode. Damn good. Deserves every award.

Golden Globes Update

Me:  Don't know if anyone noticed, but Kate Beckinsale did not seem terribly comfortable to be sharing the mic with Puffy. Probably because the arrogant prick didn't so much share it with her as shoulder her out of the shot and hog prompter.

She:  I did notice that! Her contempt was palpable. But I'm a huge PD fan -- he amuses me.

Me:  Thank you for the validation. Yeah, he can be amusing in a TMZ, train wreck, highway accident, rubbernecking kind of way. And I am all over the current competition between he and Kanye for who is the biggest phallus in hip-hop. These two are both wunderkind, mama's boys in the worst way. I think Kanye leads with all his recent award show antics and the lip-syncing controversy over his last SNL appearance. But P-iddy is coming on strong with his recent Cîroc vodka ads that try to co-opt Sinatra cool, even shooting in B&W and using his track "Come Fly With Me."  

www.youtube.com/watch?v=71vW0NrvYNQ

Instead, he comes off more like the black Donald Trump.

the gOlden glObes

golden globes, sal

In a press release today the Hollywood Foreign Press appointed Salma Hayek Ambassador to the Golden Globes.

Later, seemingly in a knee-jerk reaction, the SAG Awards appointed Cloris Leachman.