tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72764162751738667392024-03-05T01:30:44.632-05:00James Bawdenjames bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.comBlogger1071125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-74407681952164836852021-01-05T19:08:00.002-05:002021-01-05T23:31:43.383-05:00CBC's Nature Of Things Is Back With A Bang<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMBeiNo9wGvvUPiTQtfODC9sfAVNxX78MKQrwiU8naSHehhEQOr5chquaaf1XPwLSlQfdYqpKy-CDPh61N3VmhfRYrD0TbFVl_kfjZkhCSX5Uc2sBej8BFVobpbWal2G3ePX8T_JKd2u_/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="365" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMBeiNo9wGvvUPiTQtfODC9sfAVNxX78MKQrwiU8naSHehhEQOr5chquaaf1XPwLSlQfdYqpKy-CDPh61N3VmhfRYrD0TbFVl_kfjZkhCSX5Uc2sBej8BFVobpbWal2G3ePX8T_JKd2u_/" width="221" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><br />I well remember the time a CBC head of production told me on the eve of The Nature Of Things's 50th anniversary he was going to cancel the venerable show at season's end.<p></p><p>When I duly reported such nonsense all heck burst forth and that decision was quickly rescinded.</p><p>And now? Nature Of Things continues and prospers and this Friday's production titled Searching For Cleopatara is one of its best in recent seasons.</p><p>This hour has a bit of everything: some snippets from very bad Cleopatra movies to the exciting unearthing of an unknown tomb located perhaps in the monument where Cleopatra herself may have been buried.</p><p>Can I add here by stating when I interviewed Claudette Colbert in 1984 (she was 81 and making her only TV miniseries) she confessed how totally frightened she was of snakes when working with Cecil B. DeMille on the suicide scene in. his production of Cleopatra. This hour promptly disposes of most of the Cleopatra myth: she was actually Greek from the Ptolmey line.</p><p>But was she as ravishing a beauty as Elizabeth Taylor? Rare golden coins unearthed near a possible burial site suggest she had quite a nose. And we're told fairly early on that the queen's actual burial site has yet to be discovered.</p><p>One current site that has some prospect is the "City of the Dead" located just outside the city of Alexandria. There's quite some excitement as one tomb gets discovered and two bodies are found, one of them in surprisingly decent condition.</p><p>"But this is not the queen." executive producer Alan Handel is telling me on the phone. "Not grand enough but perhaps indicative of other burials nearby. The archeologists are getting closer."</p><p>To humanize the story the events are seen through the enthusiastic comments of Kathleen Martinez who has made discovering the queen's tomb almost an obsession. She's aided by British Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley and we share their enthusiasms every time another artifact is discovered.</p><p>What emerges is a portrait of a queen who reigned over some seven million subjects right into what is now Syria and was skilled at survival techniques, We learn there was a tsunami in 365 AD which may gave scattered some precious artifacts over a considerable distance and hindered the current quest for her grave.</p><p>What emerges is far more exciting than any Claudette Colbert or Elizabeth Taylor epic.</p><p>Handel tells me there are various lengths for foreign sales--he has turned it into an historical mystery, beautifully shot and tightly edited, in short another big hit for a venerable CBC TV series still filled with surprises. Made by Rezolution Pictures and Handel Productions (written and directed by Susan Teskey and Rosalind Bain).</p><p>SEARXHING FOR CLEOPATRA PREMIERES ON CBC-TV'S THE NATURE OF THINGS FRIDAY JANUARY 8 AT 9 P.M.</p><p>MY RATING: ****.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-71257431583007075272020-12-31T20:28:00.000-05:002020-12-31T20:28:18.660-05:00E-Mails, I Get E-Mails!<p>DEAR JIM: Please explain why BBC Canada is going off the air?( Mrs. H. K. (Thunder Bay).</p><p>BAWDEN: I say hurrah! The system was operated by Corus Entertainment but BBC kept its best product to be sold to the highest bidder.</p><p>Instead we got chunks of bad thrillers like Shakespeare And Hathaway, The Antiques Roadshow, a very bad variety show with instalments often years old and whatever weak comedies BBC couldn't sell to the highest bidders.</p><p>BBC is now going to set up its own streaming service but you'll have to pay of course. That's the way TV is evolving into a chain of pay TV services.</p><p>DEAR JIM: Why is CTV clogging the airwaves this past week with entire reruns of such U.S. imports as CSI ? What happened to Canadian content (R.H, Simcoe).</p><p>BAWDEN: I've been watching some of the many episodes of CSI. Would you believe some of its offshoots were financed by Alliance Atlantis and count as Canadian content? The episodes are beautifully shot with many exteriors and the cost would be prohibitive in any Canadian series that chose to be competitive.</p><p>DEAR JIM: Why have Canadian TV movies disappeared from the air (D.Y., Oakville).</p><p>BAWDEN: As we get more and more channels the quality of TV begins to deteriorate as networks struggle with an ever shrinking audience. The old 10 channel system meant live operas, ballets, adaptations such as Sean Connery in a great CBC-TV production of Macbeth. All gone now because CBCX can't afford such quality stuff anymore.</p><p>DEAR JIM: I wanted to buy a city for my class of Getting Married In Buffalo Jump, a great CBC-TV flick starring Paul Gross and I had to pay $80 to a U.S. copy to get one. What's happening?</p><p>BAWDEN: I have a friend who spent several years in the CBC-TV archives in Mississauga. She tells me she watched a superb version of Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider starring Keir Dullea and directed by Eric Till. Masterful! But CBC has no intention of putting such riches out on video and making some money."Do you think we want to remind viewers how wonderful CBC used to be," said one senior bureaucrat. HE acknowledged CBC had a kinescope of Edith Evans doing her only TV version of The Importance Of Being Ernest --but it has been locked up for years. When the late, great Harry Rasky was browsing in Sam The Record Man's one time he came across his documentary on G.B. Shaw which CBC had sold to BBC Video and never even informed him!</p><p>DEAR JIM: Why don't they bring back Peter Mansbridge as anchor of CBC'TV's National? The current newsreaders lack gravitas?</p><p>BAWDEN: An excellent idea!</p><p>DEAR: Why did CTV cancel Canada AM? I thought it was one of the top quality shows on CTV. (P.B., Ottawa).</p><p>BAWDEN: I heartily agree. It was the first early morning news show on Canadian TV and Helen Hutchinson and Norm Perry were supreme. To knock it off for a silly lifestyle show was indeed craziness.</p><p>DEAR JIM: If you could revive one quality series from the dustbin of history what would it be? (C.C.,Hamilton)</p><p>BAWDEN: How about two: Friendly Giant and Chez Helene?</p><p>-30-</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-2557121719873149852020-12-01T20:59:00.002-05:002020-12-01T20:59:22.464-05:00Here's Where I get Interviewed!<p> A quite brilliant graduate student dropped by the other day to interview me about my strange career as a Canadian TV Critic. Some of her questions were so brilliant I volunteered to pass comments on to readers:</p><p>SHE: How did you get started as a TV critic?</p><p>ME: It was a Toal accident. I was a summer student at The Globe And Mail and the TV critic, the wonderfully acerbic Black Kirby fell ill and I took over for a bit. I worked next to him in the tiny M&D Department --that means "Music and Drama:"/</p><p>The theatre critic, the imposing Herbert Whittaker had been at it since 1935. He had to file his copy by midnight and wrote his reviews on slips of paper which were sent down the chute and by 11:45 the full page would come up and he'd have 15 minutes to correct names.</p><p>John Kraglund was the classical music writer and he was there, too, most nights although his reviews were usually brief.</p><p>I remember coming into the department at noon one day and Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy were waiting for Herbie to take him to lunch.</p><p>On another day Katharine Hepburn's chauffeur was there waiting to drive Great Kate to Lunch.</p><p>Also in the department: Martin Knelman (movies), Barbara Gail Rowe (dance) and Urjo Kareda (features) and the art critic who wrote a full page every Saturday ----</p><p>And I was there for two summers and then The Spectator phoned and offered me the TV critic job --the venerable Jack Miller had just left for The Toronto Star and I followed him there in 1980 when he jumped to the science beat.</p><p>SHE: HOW difficult was it covering TC from Hamilton?</p><p>ME: Miller told me to ditch my cart and take the bus in every few days to Toronto for screenings and interviews. There were no cassettes at first so I'd go into tiny screening rooms and watch a rough cut of whatever program I had requested.</p><p>SHE: Was nothing being done in Hamilton?.</p><p>ME: CHCH was an independent station. Sam Hebscher bought the movies for the station and CHCH had the world TV premieres of such hits as Gone With The Wind, The Ten Commandments, Ben-our. They also made such series as Party Game, --I remember interviewing Bill Shatner on that tiny set--he did eight episodes in one day --he was paid per episode. I was also on the set of Ein Prosit, Hilarious House Of Frankenstein, hey, CHCH had some great Canadian content and syndicated these shows including Pierre Berton to the rest of the nation's TV stations.</p><p>SHE: What did you doin Toronto?</p><p>ME: More screenings. At TVOntario I interviewed old movie buff Elwy Yost multiple times---</p><p>SHE: Do you think this Saturday Night At The Movies and those old films --could he be a hit in today's market?</p><p>ME: I doubt it. Because Elwy was the only game in town showing old black and white movies. Some Saturday nights he was beating CBC's Hockey Night In Canada. So CBC and other networks bought up whole collections to keep him from running them.</p><p>SHE: What about CBC?</p><p>ME:I was on the set of such CBC spectaculars as ballets directed for TV by Norman Campbell. Harry Rasky produced one Raskymentary a season --dazzling TV portraits of the likes of Raymond Massey, Christopher Plummer, Bernard Shaw. And Rasky and Campbell won Emmys for CBC. Today all that has disappeared.</p><p>SHE:Why?</p><p>ME: As we get more channels the quality of the old line networks has dipped because of lower ratings. CBC needs more money than the government is willing to give. So quality programming has dropped precariously.</p><p>SHE: What about the old commercial nets?</p><p>ME: I think CTV made a bad mistake cancelling Canada AM because it was too expensive to produce. Some of CTV and Global's hour dramas were just fine: ENG, Traders but they are too expensive what with falling ratings.</p><p>SHE: Who is hurting, do you think?</p><p>ME: Canadian actors and writers who have stories to dramatize but the money is no longer there. There are the quality documentaries? The more channels we get the lower the quality of the product unless you are willing to pay a fortune for speciality channels. The federal government has got to get involved. Canadian TV movies have virtually disappeared. Arts programming from opera to ballet has gone.</p><p>SHE: Sounds like you want a return to the good old days?</p><p>ME: No, that's impossible. I just want Canadiasns to become concerned about the shrinkage of quality Canadian TV programs --that's all. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-48121236816776961972020-11-14T21:40:00.003-05:002020-11-14T21:40:35.320-05:00Alex Trebek And I<p>I first interviewed Alex Trebek in the fall of 1971/ at the old CBC Radio building on Toronto's Jarvis Street.</p><p>It was a former private girls school but had been the home of CBC Radio for decades.</p><p>I was then the kid radio/TV critic for The Hamilton Spectator, newly installed as I replaced the venerable Jack Miller/</p><p>One of my first assignments was to do a story on CBC announcers and how they read the Queen's English. I'd already chatted up Lloyd Robertson who was the gold standard and then I got to meet and greet Alex Trebek who sounded almost the same as Lloyd.</p><p>I learned CBC anchors underwent rigorous testing so they all sounded the same. No females were then allowed.</p><p>For example when I chatted up the venerable CBC News announcer Earl Cameron he told me he couldn't change a word without calling on a writer --it was for this very reason that Lloyd Robertson finally had enough and defected to CTV News where he could write his own news script.</p><p>Any how I found Trebek to be young and vigorous. He was still doing a lot of CBC radio as well as hosting such CBC TV quiz hsows as Reach For The Top.</p><p>I like quiz shows best," he told me. Which probably explains why he lasted for decades on TB's Jeopardy.</p><p>At the time Trebek was married to announcer Elaine Callei of CHCH-TV whose online cast show titled Call Callei was one of the best for information and gossip.</p><p>Even way back then Alex was crazy about quiz shows. He hosted CBC's Reach For The Top for years which featured high school students duelling for prizes to donate back to their collegiate/</p><p>and he also refereed Music Hop which ran weekdays on CBC-TV and was a sort of Canadian rejoinder to Dick Clark's afternoon teen TV shows.</p><p>When Alex jumped to American TV he wondered if he'd make it in the more tempestuous world of L.A.</p><p>Back then quiz shows were the staple of morning TV. I was on the set of Concentration with Ed McMahon. Dick Clark's $10,000 Pyramid ran for decades. There was Tic Tac Dough which I likes,</p><p>On Canadian TV I'd watch Definition taped at CFTO and also Party Game at CHCH-TV where I first interviewed Bill Shatner.</p><p>Jeopardy seemed to run forever in syndication. Trebek told me it offered solid information and that was the reason for survival when the competition faltered.</p><p>When I asked him why Wheel Of Fortune also survived? He laughed and said "Damned if I know."</p><p>These dayss age only daily quiz show still on U.S,. TV is The Price Is Right which blares for an hour every weekday.</p><p>You see quiz shows are taped one day a week --that's the only way they ca be financially successful.</p><p>Trebek told me "we do have breaks between shows but it's a bit hard keeping the concentration going on the fifth episode. But we some how IN always get through it."</p><p>In March 2019 he revealed on YouTube his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer which is almost always considered deadly.</p><p>He fought on and said he'd lie down between shows to conserve his strength. He even came out with a fine memoir titled The Answer Is...</p><p>Treatments caused him to lose his hair --he bought several toupees that looked exactly fine.</p><p>He battled bouts of depression and fatigue. In 2014 he guess estimated he'd hosted 6,800 episodes.-I imagine he must have hit 8,000 episodes by the end.</p><p>'"My first U.S. quiz show was The Wizard Of Odds. :</p><p>The last time we chatted on the phone he was looking forward to hosting the all time three biggest winners.</p><p>Asked to define his success he told me "I'm, just a kid from Sudbury who never forgot his roots and where he came from. I would have flunked out as a contestant. I could only answer about 60 per cent of questions and I've gotten worse as pop culture questions currently abound."</p><p>"Ive had a great life. Why should I be afraid of what's to come?"</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-13748396285935347342020-05-20T21:50:00.001-04:002020-05-24T00:04:41.759-04:00I Remember Joyce Davidson<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQrT_UZfe8K9ChhohyphenhyphenP9Xnk2mEDtKARl2b7hmntxqVLcy4uyO1YdeeCcGpP-qvryj1lQ4EdnTC6xXmTZQHVHkR8iWRuT0mY6Twq-AhdZJF12o8oLaPzMLDPGnzNTp6-KUFKM1cr_Bc7t0w/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQrT_UZfe8K9ChhohyphenhyphenP9Xnk2mEDtKARl2b7hmntxqVLcy4uyO1YdeeCcGpP-qvryj1lQ4EdnTC6xXmTZQHVHkR8iWRuT0mY6Twq-AhdZJF12o8oLaPzMLDPGnzNTp6-KUFKM1cr_Bc7t0w/s400/Unknown.jpeg" /></a>I first interviewed Canadian TV star Joyce Davidson when I was a cub reporter for The Globe And Mail in 1970.<br />
When I walked into her suite at Toronto's Park Plaza hotel her husband David Susskind interjected "What is this? The B Squad?"<br />
I found Davidson a warm and still splendid TVstar to interview.<br />
I remember her laughing "I give good quotes so ask away !"<br />
At one point I asked about her famous quote on Canadian TV that Canadians were just a little bored when Queen Elizabeth passed through on one of her tours.<br />
"Well, it is true," she laughed. "But the papers blew that one into a big front page story. It became a learning experience for me. Best to keep my mouth shut on such matters."<br />
"You never keep your mouth shut," interjected Susskind to intense laughter from his wife.<br />
A few years later --it was 1972-- and Davidson had jumped to a weekly hourlong interview show up at CFTO.<br />
She'd fly in from her New York home to interview the likes of Truman Capote and Pierre Berton.<br />
Capote thought she'd captured him as never befopre and said it was the best interview he'd ever granted.<br />
You let me be me," he said sadly and for once his famous mannerisms were toned down.<br />
"Actually, I'm doing this show just to prove I'm still around," she laughed in the limousine taking her back to the Prince hotel.<br />
Davidson had started her TV career in 1954 as the maid on a cooking show for CHCH.<br />
"I'd clean up but had to be so pert and sassy the cook demanded I tone down my mannerisms."<br />
She jumped in 1956 to Tabloid CBC's early evening show loaded with interviews and talk and all live.<br />
"I was still living in Hamilton so I'd commute back and forth every day. on the train."<br />
"Why not ask me about the night in 1854 we said it was going to be a lovely evening and then Hurricane Hazel hit. Our weather caster Percy Saltzman came home to find his basement flooded and his wife shouting "Percy!"<br />
Eventually Davidson had the urge to go to New York where she excelled as co-host with Dave Garoway on NBC's Today Show.<br />
"Dave was very territorial. After all he'd started it. I did all the women's inserts from cooking to fashions. Dave banned me from ever chatting up a politician. But it was three hours live every weekday starting at 6 a.m. and that meant I had to get up at 4 a.m. I've had insomnia ever since."<br />
Then came The Jack Benny Show "where I did all the commercials for Lux and other sponsors and I'd do a bit of banter with Jack who was such a lovely guy. Years later I met him at a party and thanked him for being so nice to this newcomer and he burst into tears."<br />
Then I jumped to The George Gobel Show and he was less kind."<br />
Then came stint as a rotating host of the live daily U.S. information show PM East, PM West.<br />
"The only segment extant is my interview with Boris Karloff. The rest was shredded by the producers years later."<br />
"When I'm at CFTO doing an hour long profile my job is to make the subject look at great as possible. I'm not there to tear anybody down. So maybe the show is a bit old fashioned.<br />
Later on Davidson interviewed authors on CBC for Toronto's yearly Book Festival.<br />
She lived for years in a swank apartment on Bay Street and I'd occasionally ask her out for lunch but she always declined.<br />
"Baby, I want you to remember me as I was and not an old lady."<br />
And what about writing a memoir.<br />
"I'd have to tell the truth and that has always gotten me in hot water. So the answer is no."<br />
Jpyce Davidson was 89 when she died last month, still a Canadian treasure.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-79135501901097452092020-02-17T20:42:00.005-05:002020-02-19T00:17:48.810-05:00Pat Ferns Exits Canadian TV With A Last Flash Of Brilliance<br />
"This is it --my last TV production," sighs legendary TV producer Pat Ferns from his B.C. headquarters.<br />
"But I couldn't go out with anything more challenging. I've spent the better part of a year finishing the French. German and Canadian versions of Listening To Orcas --all of which are different."<br />
When I first jumped into TV criticism in 1971 at The Hamilton Spectator Ferns was one of the biggest producing names in the business.<br />
The very next year I flew to Montreal and boarded a rented car driven by publicist Pat Bowles to travel deep into the Quebec countryside and the site of the new mini-series The Newcomers.<br />
Imperial Oil pumped millions into this project produced by Ferns and partner Dick Nielsen and each hour dramatized a different era of immigration to Canada.<br />
A New France settlement had been meticulously reconstructed to show how our first settlers depended initially on the aboriginals to sustain themselves through the difficult winters.<br />
Ferns and partner Dick Nielsen seemed to be everywhere in those days with bold, innovative projects that were outside the humdrum boundaries of weekly TV series.<br />
And Ferns agrees with me this tandem worked because each was so very different they complemented each other.<br />
Ferns was quite brilliant but taciturn with a very clear vision of what he hoped to achieve in every production.<br />
And Nielsen was a wild man of ideas forever churning out synopses and challenging the boundaries of ordinary TV landscape.<br />
And they both excelled at a time there were only 10 competing TV channels.<br />
"I just felt CBC had a tremendous responsibility in bringing culture to television that can't be matched today," he says.<br />
Part of the problem lies in the breakup of the huge audiences --in a 100 channel universe there are few outlets with the kind of audience to support cultural productions.<br />
"We had left CBC to form a company (Nielsen Ferns Productions) and were able to do things that a single network couldn't afford to do and we could sell to other markets and that was encouraging."<br />
I remember one NF film I was on was Quebec Canada 2005 which was put together by Nielsen and mostly shot at the King Edward hotel. All the principals were in the Toronto Star newsroom for a shot or two and they included Martha Henry who I chatted up at my desk.<br />
Nielsen Ferns was finally purchased by the Toronto Star (in 1976) as a production company but the federal government was not favourable to having companies owned by media giants.<br />
So these days if a high school teacher wishes to screen a copy of The Wars to show to the class Torstar reluctantly sends out a tattered VHS copy demanding it be returned within days.<br />
So Nielsen andd Ferns founded a second company Primedia and a whole host of sparkling new productions came forth : Glenn Gould's Toronto, the four hour mini-series Glory Enough For All, Heaven On Earth (written by Margaret Atwood) and bought for Masterpiece Theatre.<br />
In 1995 Ferns decamped again to recharge the Banff Television Festival and turned it into an internationally renowned centre which was much admired by talent on all sides.<br />
About the current state of Canadian TV production he says "In British Columbia the TV studios are full but most of the series being made here are American shows."<br />
For the past year Ferns has toiled on his latest production Listening To Orcas premiering on CBC-YV's The Nature Of Things Friday February 21 at 9 p.m.<br />
"It's about the toughest assignment I've had. There is a separate French version and another German one. I somehow feel Michael's English language version the best --they all wanted different angles to the same story."<br />
Michael Allder directed it beautifully and the co-writer is Gail Gallant and Geoff Matheson edited it very tightly.<br />
There are so many memorable scenes.<br />
We see the narrow habitat of the orcas off Vancouver island which is threatened with noise pollution as well as the scarcity of salmon stocks.<br />
We get to know neurologist Lori Marino and zoologist John Ford who are rushing to save the habitat of the orcas who are decreasing .<br />
Sarika Cullis-Suzuki is once again our host and she covers all the basis. The use of drones to track the migration of the orcas provides a novel visual.<br />
I think we come to care about these enigmatic animals particularly the lot of one born here in 1969 but shut up in a mainland aquarium for 50 years.<br />
In retirement should she be taken back to her home?<br />
We see the shots of her reacting to her baby and not knowing how to feed it --that is the saddest moment.<br />
Ferns says he may be finished with productions but wants to mentor students on how to survive in a cut throat business and all the while produce splendid Canadian TV shows and specials.<br />
"After all I've been doing this for a very long time."<br />
LISTENING TO ORCAS PREMIERES ON CBC-TV'S THE NATURE OF THINGS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 21 AT 9 P.M.<br />
MY RATING: ****.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-8886003339570693152020-02-05T22:15:00.001-05:002020-02-05T23:26:39.166-05:00A New Suzuki Shines On The Nature Of Things<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5VO8OkFIX9N-L-YONh2olLC3dPU6nnmvXPWBVQNoaQJz2uuT3in6QdL6FHhyphenhyphenq4jSJ97VdlbzJHX0feWvu58FcUQZPg-BtrHevkB_JEBmFuAwbnivlUBLntyqBnNRy97ytJILb2-uGQHe/s1600/thumbnail.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5VO8OkFIX9N-L-YONh2olLC3dPU6nnmvXPWBVQNoaQJz2uuT3in6QdL6FHhyphenhyphenq4jSJ97VdlbzJHX0feWvu58FcUQZPg-BtrHevkB_JEBmFuAwbnivlUBLntyqBnNRy97ytJILb2-uGQHe/s320/thumbnail.jpeg" width="320" /></a>Here's where I admit my age as I remember the time not too long ago when two fine CBC-TV series were battling for ascendancy. In one corner there was the great This Land and in the other long running Nature Of Things.<br />
And as NOT's executive producer Jim Murray explained to me with upcoming budget cuts only one could survive.<br />
"So I've decided to personalize the series with David Suzuki as host and he'll bring in his followers every week."<br />
This Land elected to stay host-less and was the one CBC-TV eventually dropped because of slightly weaker ratings.<br />
And then only a few years ago the new CBC programming chief told me he intended to drop TNOT on its 50th year on CBC-TV.<br />
I broke the story in The Toronto Star, all hell broke loose and The Nature Of Things still survives and the programmer in question is long gone.<br />
All of which serves as a reminder that the more things change the more they remain the same.<br />
Now I'm promoting the latest Nature Of Things hour and welcoming a new face to the perennial favourite.<br />
She's Sarika Cullis-Suzuki and, yes, she's the daughter of guess what world famous environmentalist turned CBC-TV host.<br />
Her first hour long program Kingdom Of The Tides is pretty terrific in its own right.<br />
"It started out with my fascination as a little girl in the summers I spent in B.C. by the ocean. Looking at the many creatures who lived at the edge of the sea or in the tides. So this was a sort of reunion for me to help better understand how these original creatures could actually adapt and thrive there."<br />
The hour is actually two stories in one.<br />
"We also go to the Bay of Fundy which has an entirely different set of creatures and mud flats that stretch forever. This I wasn't used to --we have to slide along the mud flats or we'll wind up getting stuck out there."<br />
There are some great shots --like the hermit crabs who exist living in the discarded shells of other creatures.<br />
"And the sea stars making meals of the mussels."<br />
One theme is the fragility of these two very different but similar ecosystems, how climate change or pollution could spoil these sites irrevocably.<br />
"We try to show how they all exist on each other. but these creatures are all masters of adaptation. They depend on each other. I felt a sense of wonder when there."<br />
Cullis-Suzuki says she asked her father for advice in her first hosting role --she's a marine biologist by profession-- and he simply told her to be herself.<br />
She has a fine, instinctive way of appearing before the camera and her enthusiasm for the subject really comes across.<br />
She does give us some facts but is not at all pedantic.<br />
And Cullis-Suzuki has already made a second TOT documentary on orca whales to run pn Feb, 2!1.<br />
Kingdom Of The Tiide was expertly written directed by veteran Christine Nielsen----- and photographed beautifully by Stefan Randstrom for Infield Fly Productions.<br />
And yes, its virtually a must see.<br />
KINGDOM OF THE TIDE PREMIERES ON THE NATURE OF THINGS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7 AT 9 P.M.<br />
MY RATING: ****.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-72402035749051407542020-02-02T16:31:00.001-05:002020-02-05T21:43:46.511-05:00I Remember Daniel TaradashIn August 1983 I was again on the Television Critics tour at the Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles and I had a day off. A friend had given me the telephone number of famed screen writer Daniel Taradash and I phoned him early that morning. Not only did he pick up the call he said he'd be over at about 3 p,m. for an hour long interview.<br />
Here are highlights of our conversation:<br />
JB: I was surprised you agreed so quickly to my request for an interview.<br />
DT: Had to. Two days from now I'll be at a film festival in Barcelona where a newly minted print of From Here To Eternity is being shown.<br />
JB: Let's start at the beginning with your upbringing in New York city.<br />
DT: Well, I grew up in New York city, went to Harvard and law school was something my father insisted on. I was always writing short stories for myself but I didn't think during the Depression I could make a living at it. I won a contest for a new play and parlayed that into a trip to Hollywood.<br />
JB: And then you wrote the screenplay for Golden Boy(1939)?<br />
DFT: Something like that. Rouben Mamloulian was going to direct Golden Boy from the Clifford Odets play but Odets was in Europe with his wife Luise Rainer and unavailable. Several seasoned writers had taken cracks at it but Rouben said they were missing the point.So he hired me and Louis Meltzer from the contest and told us to try rewriting the first scene and he liked both our works and hired us at $200 a week which was a lot of money to this mostly unemployed writer.<br />
Finally we all went to a desert retreat for two weeks along with Rouben and every day we'd tackle a different scene.We had to stick to the play as much as possible and not loose its foundations. Then Columbia had me write a biography of the warden of Sing Sing but never used it and I was dropped. So I got a job writing for Joe Pasternak at Universal in a movie titled A Little Bit Of Heaven designed to make Gloria Jean into another Deanna Durbin.<br />
Then I was drafted and went into the army unit making the Why We Fight shorts, After the war I joined Allan Scott who was then a producer at David Selznick's lot but nothing came of the projects we worked on. Then producer Robert Lord hired me to juice up the dialogue on Knock On Any Door (1949) at Columbia where I got to know the star Humphrey Bogart who was quite a della.<br />
JB: You also wrote the play Red Gloves for producer Jed Harris in 1949.<br />
DT: A really nasty character. He started off very sweet but turned into this raging egomaniac. I think he just liked to be noticed. A true sadist.Charles Boyer was our star and at a certain point he told Jed not to speak to him any more.<br />
JB: Then you wrote a western Rancho Notorious (1952) for Fritz Lang?<br />
DT: When we met I discovered he was a real scholar of the American West.As I wrote a page he'd add the camera angles, the pauses, the direction right into the script. When we went on the floor he was suddenly challenged by our leading lead the great Marlene Dietrich. Both loved a good fight and they fought every day. The cut he delivered to Howard Hughes was so tightly edited it could not be changed much at all. This was for me a great lesson in film making --don't give producers anything extra because they'll just cut it anyway.<br />
JB: How did you get the assignment for From Here To Eternity (1953)?<br />
DT: Well, James Jones had tried to adapt his own novel and failed. I had a chat with Buddy Adler who was running Columbia and he thought I was onto something and took me in to see Harry Cohn and Harry ordered me to be hired. Harry said he was stuck with a lemon because with all the bad language gone what was left? I started off deepening the Maggio character--he just peters out in the novel but I argued he has to die at the end. I finally went home to Florida because I couldn't deal with Harry's constant interference and I worked from there. I doubt Harry ever read much of the book anyway.<br />
And I was the one who suggested Fred Zinneman as director --he was close to finishing Member Of The wedding and Harry thought he was a prestige name.<br />
JB: Were you in on the casting?<br />
DT: I made myself available., Fred insisted on Monty Clift as Prew but Harry said "I got Aldo Ray" and insisted on a test. It was OK but Fred said he'd walk without Monty. You know Donna Reed ran lines with Aldo for his test and Fred then signed her as the prostitute although Harry wanted Audrey Totter.<br />
Harry had just signed Joan Crawford to a multi-picture contract but she came in and selected a very expensive wardrobe that wasn't right and insisted on her own choreographer so Fred just let her go. He hired Deborah Kerr as the wayward wife which which certainly was offbeat casting. Frankie Sinatra campaigned for Maggio and took a tiny salary to get it. Lancaster was always going to be the biggest star. But you know Monty Clift was a Method man and he took lessons in boxing but was so un-muscular we used a double in some long shots. Another thing --I didn't want the couples to ever meet. The two women do but only at the end.<br />
JB: Did winning the Oscar for best screenplay help you at all?<br />
DT: Well, I told Harry Cohn he owned me one. And I deliberately selected the powerful story Storm Center about the censoring of books and I told Harry I was going to entice Mary Pickford out of a 20-year retirement to play the leading librarian. We were still at the height of McCarthyism,remember.<br />
JB: Then what happened? Well, you know gossip hen Hedda Hopper was a terrible right winger and she kept pounding Mary in her column day after day for being un-American and it finally got to Mary and she just left. So I got Bette Davis and made it and it has yet to make a penny of profit which I prophesied from the beginning.<br />
JN: Then came Desiree (1955)?<br />
DT: Oh, please. A terrible mess. We wrote it for Marlon Brando because he owed Fox a picture after walking off The Egptian but he was boredas Napoleon and didn't try and we had Jean Simmons and Merle Oberon who at least worked on their parts.<br />
JB: Then came Picnic (1956).<br />
DT: At the first preview an older woman comes up to me and says "There's no picnic, is there?"I talked to Bill Inge about it and he said he hated the play because a happy ending was superimposed. I tried to capture the feeling of that small Then Harry Cohn started cutting it up and Roz Russell's partas cut sharply. Harry wanted her nominated as best supporting actress but she refused. I thought Bill Holden too old for it and Kim Novak a blank stare. But it did make a lot of money.<br />
JB: What about Bell Book And Candle (1958).<br />
DT: Miscast. Jimmy Stewart was too old for it. Kim Novak wasn't comedically aware if you get my drift.I still say we should have used Cary Grant and Grace Kelly but Grace retired to become a princess and Cary lost interest.<br />
JB: You say Harry Cohn's death in 1958 affected your career.<br />
DT: I was going to do Andersonville for Harry but the new front office vetoed it as not box office. And I wrote some very bad pictures like Hawaii (1966) and Morituri (1965), Alvarez Kelly (1966) was another stinker and my Golden Boy Bill Holden was drunk through much of the shooting. There was turmoil on the set of The Other Side Of The Mountain(1969) and when I finished the first draft they tried to fire me.<br />
So you see I really do miss the Hollywood of Harry Cohn. He was lucky he died before the independents took overbite business. You look shocked --I'm just being realistic. -- it was much easier when I knew who I was working for. But whenever FHTE is on TV I'll watch a bit --I'm always interested what the local stations chose to cut for commercials.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-73834621354216487702020-01-25T22:01:00.003-05:002020-01-27T14:40:27.619-05:00Jayne Eastwood Gets A TV Series Lead<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ERYa_bhvdep5Wfus213Tw0tJ8xoR5GimqoVgfug4ZTv5EI0oQAzxudnLEDkGdvI8SfeL4VnJcLSLtkASD65riiCvZ0D7LD44JolBroJGoV8arBH3u8C3UKIX6yiuSFCHGvqiryPN2CoP/s1600/mail.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ERYa_bhvdep5Wfus213Tw0tJ8xoR5GimqoVgfug4ZTv5EI0oQAzxudnLEDkGdvI8SfeL4VnJcLSLtkASD65riiCvZ0D7LD44JolBroJGoV8arBH3u8C3UKIX6yiuSFCHGvqiryPN2CoP/s320/mail.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
It's certainly no surprise to me that the incredibly talented Jayne Eastwood is busy these days making a very funny comedy series titled Hey Lady! for CBC Gem available on February 14.<br />
You see, I was the very first TV writer to interview her for her first splash in 1970 in the groundbreaking Canadian film Goin' Down The Road.<br />
And here we are fifty years later still talking up a storm.<br />
Here are highlights of my new telephone conversation with the divine Miss E:<br />
JB: Jayne do you remember that day in July 1970 when I motored out to your home with a Globe and Mail photographer to conduct your very first print interview?<br />
JE: Actually, I think it was Cabbagetown. But I was a bit nervous, yes. I'm not sure how you got to me first.<br />
JB: Your agent was the brother of Globe entertainment editor Donn Downey --that's how I scored that coup. I remember you were bit nervous at first. But neither of us thought this would be the beginning of a long and busy career.<br />
JE: I've never stopped working --that's for sure.<br />
JB: People thought Goin' Down The Road marked the beginning of a huge boom in Canadian film making. But it never really happened. Can you explain why?<br />
JE: Financing. The big chains weren't that interested in Canadian movies, I guess.So a lot of talent drifted to TV. I know I did.<br />
JB: You also did the long anticipated reunion TV movie Down The Road Again.<br />
JE: Of course it did not have the impact of the first. But I thought it was important because it wrapped everything up. Director Don Shebib had exactly18 shooting days so the fact it turned out as well as possible is something to cheer about. The original was 16 mm so the second in 35 mm seems smoother.<br />
JB: And today the two movies ares being sold in a boxed set. I remember another early interview with you when you were at CBC rehearsing for a live TV drama.<br />
JE: With Allyn Ann McLerie, the legendary Canadian actress who had stardom in the U.S. CBC took an old TV play first done in the Fifties and we redid it live. But ratings were poor and CBC never tried another live one.<br />
JB: You were just telling me when Show Boat ran for several years on the Toronto stage you were in it but also as understudy for Cloris Leachman as Party Ann.<br />
J: I was introduced to her as her understudy and she hands me her dog's leash and says to take it for walk. And I got to sub for her for a total of 12 performances. Now that was fun.<br />
JB: I remember interviewing you again on the CBC comedy series Material World which I thought had a lot of potential.<br />
JE: It started slowly but we were up against American shows that ran all season and I think that meant we could never catch up. They began changing the cast --the wonderful character star Lou Jacobi was out after the first season, then Chris POtter went --he now stars in Heartland but it just never caught on.<br />
JB: Another one I remember you in --Joely Fisher's drama show filmed here --again with Potter.<br />
JE: And I lasted just at the beginning because the show changed and changed. And I don't think it laster much longer.<br />
JB: I have better memories with you on the set of Riverdale, a CBC attempt to make a long running soap series. Some of the sets were refashioned from Paradise Falls, I think.<br />
JE: Loved that one. So did the fans. But it needed to run a half hour every night right after coronation Street to build up popularity. We had a great cast too:<br />
JB: Ever consider moving to the U.S. like many other Canadian actors. were doing that time.<br />
JE: Well once Lorne Michaels said he wanted me to audition for SNL but the pay wasn't so high and I would have to take my kids to live in New York city andI couldn't do that to them.<br />
JB: I mean your credits run pages. You've done everything in TV and movies.<br />
JE: Even commercials which keep on passing. How to establish a character in one minute! It's a real challenge I can tell you.<br />
JB: Ever missed an important Canadian series as a character star?<br />
JB: I'll have to think about that.<br />
JB: You moved from Dundas to Hamilton.<br />
JE: After my husband Dave Flaherty passed . And in Hamilton I can tell you houses are still for sale at respectable p[rices. There's a strong artistic community growing up here.<br />
JB: Let's not forget you have a separate stage career.<br />
JE: With Women Fully Clothed --we're still going.<br />
JB: I watched your new project for CBC Gem right through and there area lot of laughs there.<br />
JE: Great. It was made as a series of bits. You can watch a few or right through. I just thought the scripts by Morris Panych were wonderful, there are eight separate pieces and Jackie Richardson as my comic sidekick Rosie is very funny.<br />
We got some choice talent--Don McKellar as the psychiatrist, Scott Thompson as the judge, Peter Keleghan, Zach Bennett and we all had a ball.But it is funny --my character is battling old age. She says what she's feeling, the words just pop out. And we break through the glass --I sometimes talk directly to the audience at home. I hope it catches on. I'm beginning to think of stories for the next batch.<br />
JB: Jayne is now off to the Sundance Festival where her new show is being previewed.p<br />
So Jayne Eastwood is doing what she always does --dancing as fast as she can.<br />
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james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-39143488305268767002020-01-03T21:09:00.001-05:002020-01-10T13:05:02.632-05:00CBC's Future Is MurkyCBC-TV got a lot of deserved flack for mounting a ''new'' game show titled Family Feud Canada.<br />
Remember please --here is a pubically funded network that you the tax payers fork out almost $1 billion annually and yet the choices on CBC are becoming ever narrower.<br />
Gone from CBC are TV movies , miniseries, any sort of arts programs, Straford plays, culture; offerings..<br />
This means no more thrilling dramatical historical lessons like The Last Spike, no TV movies Alice Munro's Of Girls And Women.<br />
The last time I spoke to Emmy winning director Norman Campbell he was in cubby-hole of an office at CBC doing absolutely nothing.<br />
True, he could look across the hall at the huge Norman Campbell Concert hall where he had never staged single production because of budgetary concerns.<br />
When Emmy winning documentarian Harry Rasky looked for one of his "Raskymentaries" in the video store he actually found one in a boxed set of BBC titles<br />
CBC had sold the rights to the BBC for Rasky's masterful study of George Bernard Shaw and somehow forgot to tell Rasky about it.<br />
Rasly's incredibly rich studies of the lives of Chris Plummer, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams lie moldering in the CBC TV archives in Mississauga.<br />
CBC says it hasn't the money to produce boxed sets --which would sell like hot cakes --but a prominent CBC-TV veteran says "nuts" to that idea.<br />
"CBC is afraid of opening the vaults because it would show what wonderful network it used to be," Mr. X recent;y told me.<br />
Indeed, there was a time in the 1970s when CBC-TV hit a similar budgeting impasse and devised a series of pure reruns titled "Rearview Mirror" which ran on Sunday afternoons garnering a very respectable audience.<br />
One of the lost and found treasures was a 1962 taped version of Macbeth done in the old Front Page Challenge setup Yonge st. and starring Sean Connery and Zoe Caldwell.<br />
Dennys Arcand directed it and when I contacted him at his Malibu home he said "I'm so very glad it still exists. After that Sean said he was going to the Caribbean to start filming his first James Bond opus."<br />
Let's face it the future of the CBC is not altogether clear.<br />
I'm suggesting g the main network should abandon all commercials and become a PBS of the North.<br />
CBC still has hits like Heartland and Murdoch Mysteries but these shows are aging fasten and newer series just haven't made it,<br />
The revamped The National is a ratings disaster and none of the several hosts boasts the gravitas of a Peter Mansbridge or a Knowlton Nash.<br />
CBC needs a drastic shake up or there are fears it may no longer be able to justify its swollen budget.<br />
One last point--CBC is running its game show against perennially popular Jeopardy.<br />
If you are a game show addict Jeopardy remains must viewing.<br />
Go watch Family Feud Canada if you like but this weird import is not going to save Canada's struggling public network.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-43600763962244409352019-11-10T14:26:00.001-05:002019-11-17T23:59:57.403-05:00Cheating Hitler: Surviving The Holocaust-- One Of TV's Best Of The SeasonJust when it seems quality programs on Canadian TV are fading fast along comes this special documentary that may very well be the best of the year.<br />
Called Cheating Hitler: Surviving The Holocaust this 88-minute masterful documentary comes just in time.<br />
The premiere is appropriately on History Monday November 11 at 9 p.m.<br />
We are rapidly ending the era when there are any survivors of the Holocaust still living.<br />
So cheers to director Rebecca Snow for allowing three feisty veterans of the Holocaust to tell their stories on the very locations where millions of other Jews were slaughtered.<br />
The premiere is entirely and appropriately scheduled for Remembrance Day--it runs on History Monday November 11 at 9p.m.<br />
Snow tells me "The challenge was working with such elderly survivors. And of course I never knew exactly what the ending would be in all three stories. I think we told their stories of survival just in time."<br />
First there is Maxwell Smart who was just nine when his family was rounded up as Nazi troops moved to send them in cattle cars on the way to slaughter.<br />
It was his mother who told the little boy to run into the woods and hide.<br />
And he survived for months in hiding until he met another boy Janek who was also in hiding.<br />
Smart tells us he wasn't sure how long he'd survive but the two companions helped each other.<br />
One day they rescued a woman and her baby in ice water. And Max thinks this was the reason Janek soon sickened and died.<br />
And he has felt guilty ever after.<br />
To survive he says "I became a human animal...I was alone for six months."<br />
Then the story turns remarkable--the baby survived and may even be alive in Tel Aviv as an incredibly old woman.<br />
The camera follows Smart to Tel Aviv and its here his incredibly odyssey ends.<br />
The conclusion is truly amazing but you'll have ti watch the feature to find out.<br />
The other survivors are Helen Yemus and Rose Lipszyc and against all odds they also survived.<br />
Their True stories are indeed stranger than fiction.<br />
And astonishingly the images of deep forest and lakes are incredibly beautiful, tranquil these days. At Sobibor where two million Jewsare said to have perished a vast lake of white stones marks the terrible spot of mass executions.<br />
The film should serve as history lesson for all of us who don't realize the magnitude of this event and how it changed the demographics of a huge portion of Eastern Europe.<br />
These three eye witnesses remember the execution shots --at one spot empty German cartridges still litter the forest floor.<br />
Helen remembers the fear inside the ghetto in Lithuania --she spent three years there, Rose returns to Sobibor where her family perished --the terrible, ghastly loneliness of theist now a museum is hard to take.<br />
"Everything seemed to work out," Snow tells me. "It was a big gamble that mostly worked."<br />
I simply believe Cheating Hitler is the type of true story that must be screened in every classroom.<br />
CHEATING HITLER: SURVIVING THE HOLOCAUST PREMIERES ON HISTORY MONDAY NOVEMBER 11 AT 9 P.M.<br />
MY RATING: ****.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-19968881332714603272019-11-01T21:15:00.000-04:002020-01-27T14:40:57.252-05:00I Remember Hal WallisIt was June 1982 and I was still sleeping at 7 a.m. in my room at Los Angeles' Century Plaza hotel--the phone kept ringing until I picked it up.<br />
"Hal Wallis here," came the booming voice. "My car will be picking you up in half an hour for our interview."<br />
I sat upright. "I thought this was for lunch," I stammered.<br />
"Right on!" came the booming reply. "I'm in Rancho Mirage this week. It will take my driver three hours to get you there. So get up and be ready at the entrance at 8:30!" Then Hallis rang off.<br />
I did as I was told and at three hours later emerged from the sleek white Rolls to bang on the door of Wallis and his second wife Martha Hyer.<br />
After pleasantries we retired to a gigantic sunken living room and later retreated to a fancy bistro for a leisurely lunch.<br />
Here are highlights of our conversation:<br />
MARTHA HYER:Jim, you should have been here last night as we ran Casablanca. Hal provided a running commentary for each scene including the last line which he thought of during the last night of filming at the San Diego airport.<br />
JB: Mr. Wallis, that's an excellent way to begin the interview, your buying an un-produced Broadway play and turning it into one of the most treasured movies.<br />
HW: The unproduced play was called Everyone Comes To Rick's. I could see it needed a whole lot of work and I had the Epstein twins work on it for a bit and later Casey Robinson rewrote some of their dialogue and then Howard Koch polished it a bit more. I needed Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa but David Selznick owned her contract and said she was set on going to Paramount to co-star with Gary Cooper in For Whom The Bell Tolls. I did a superb test with Michele Morgan but her studio RKO then asked for a double salary which made me hopping mad. Hedy Lamarr had a one picture deal with Warners but she chose The Collaborators because it had a complete script.<br />
I sighed in relief when George Raft sent a note saying he couldn't possibly make a movie without seeing a full script. He'd already turned me down for The Maltese Falcon saying he had vowed never to do a remake. And for High Sierra he scrawled "I'm through with gangster types!" So one could say Humphrey Bogart who was my first choice became a huge star based on the scripts Grorrge Raft turned down.<br />
JB: But Ingrid Bergman did wind up in Casablanca.<br />
GW:Paramount decided on a contract player Vera Zorina and Selznick phoned and we got her but for a limited time meaning I had to start production sooner than I'd wanted. I paid a fortune to get Sydney Greenstreet, Claude Rains and Conrad Veidt. Dooley Wilson couldn't sing much and he couldn't play the piano at all --MGM asked a fortune but it almost went to Lena Horne! I thought she was too beautiful so I forked up to MGM. On some days the cast would be standing around until new dialogue pages arrived.<br />
Mike Curtiz did a terrific job but at first he said no and I had to warn Vince Sherman he might have to jumping as director. Mike came around --he had an ability to shoot fast and goad his cast into great moments even if he was a bit of a bully. Of course the Allies landing in North Africa just as we opened the picture certainly helped.<br />
JB: Then came Oscar night.<br />
HW: Jack Warner had nothing to do with this movie until he realized it was going to be this monster hit. He made sure Paul Lukas also got a best actor nomination (for Watch On The Rhine) and campaigned against Bogey which was very perverse. Paul won and Casablanca was named as best picture and a phalanx of Jack's relatives blocked my aisle and Jack ran up and received the award. I was stunned and then angry. I resigned the next day but stayed on to finish the editing on Saratoga Trunk which starred Bergman and Gary Cooper.<br />
Days later the Academy sent over a second Oscar for me and the next year asked me to present the Oscar for best picture. As I trotted up to the stage I could see Jack glowering in rage. When he came to write his autobiography he never mentioned me once. Now that's carrying a real grudge.<br />
JB: Let's get back to your roots and how you became such a powerhouse at Warners.<br />
Hw:Well, I started at Warners in the publicity department in 1922 and worked my way through the system so that I knew everything about how movies are made and how they get targeted. It was an invaluable education, one young people simply can't get in any film school. And my mentor was always Darryl Zanuck who was one step ahead of me.<br />
In 1928 I was made head of First National --the Burbank studio Warners had bought cheaply the year before. First National had initially been a huge, sprawling success but it had one key weakness --the studio owned no theatres whereas feisty Warners may have been smaller but it pioneered talkies and was hugely rich. As the years went by the difference between First National and Warners was mainly a bookkeeping enterprise. The U.S. anti-trust department dictated the two studios could not merge and that went on until 1951 when TV started eating up the movie business.<br />
JB: When you took up production what were the main problems you could see.<br />
HW: We were riding high in brutality. We had the tough guy stars Cagney, Robinson, Muni but few female stars. In 1931 we bought the contracts of Bill Powell, Ruth Chattewrton and Kay Francis after Jesse Lasky inadvertently let their contracts lapse at Paramount.<br />
I was determined to build our own cadre of female stars. I thought Bette Davis would go far. Ann Dvorak was equally talented but her brawls with Jack Warner got so vicious she finally left in a huff. I gave Olivia deHavilland her big breaks in 1935 when she was 19 in Captain Blood and A Mid Summer Night's Dream. I thought Jane Bryan had the looks and talent to go to the top but she married industrialist Justin Dart and retired from the business.<br />
In 1938 I signed Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon to short term deals because we had such a need for leading ladies. But neither of those ladies exactly fitted in. In 1939 I brought Geraldine Fitzgerald to the studio --on her first day Jack loaned her out as Estella in Goldwyn's Wuthering Heights for which she was Oscar nominated and then she co-starred with Bette Davis in Dark Victorty Bette gave her bad advice --to fight against any casting and she was on suspension when I was casting The Maltese Falcon and I was unable to use her.<br />
JB: I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932) was a huge success but also a big gamble.<br />
HW: Yes, because the author Robert Elliot Burns was in L.A. for the filming and we had to move him from safe house to safe house because the authorities from Georgia were determined to re-arrest him. At the time I was locked in combat with Jack Warner who wanted most features to run about an hour. He was very close with the exhibitors who wanted two new hourlong features a week but I pressed for longer features to better tell a story. Jack roared because the length of Chain Gang was 87 minutes. But the cost was under $200,000 because director Mervyn LeRoy filmed so quickly and Paul Muni was brilliant in it.<br />
JB: Your thoughts on Muni.<br />
HW: I once assigned him to High Sierra and he said "Hal, I've played my last gangster." I said "But you've never played a gangster at WB!" Did this mean after the success with The Life Of Louis Pasteur he'd no longer play scientists. Or after The Story Of Emile Zola he was through playing writers. Those great men roles and their huge success meant he only wanted to play great men. I hated his make-up in Juarez--the face never moved but he said Indians never showed emotions. And it was a flop, he'd lost the sympathy of the audience. He came from Yiddish theatre where one hides behind false noses and bears. There was intense rivalry between him and Eddie Robinson. Once Eddie said he didn't want ro do A Despatch From Reuters and I said "OK, Muni wants that one." And he grabbed the script and ran from my office.<br />
JB: I saw you at the table with Bette Davis at her 1978 AFI dinner and it's obvious you knew how to deal with her.<br />
HW: She'd yell and scream at Jack Warner but never at me. She'd try to intimidate her directors. For awhile Teddy Goulding could do no harm and then she became so difficult he faked a heart attack so he wouldn't have to work with her again on Old Acquaintance. She first knew Irving Rapper when he was her dialogue director on several pictures. They were very chummy on the set of Now, Voyager which I consider one of her best. But later after I left WB she tried to have him removed as director of Deception. When she refused the female lead in Watch On The Rhine I said Irene Dunne wanted the part and Bette instantly said she'd do it. At the AFI dinner she was taken aback by how many of her co-workers simply had refused to come out and salute her.<br />
JB: At one time William Wyler was her favourite.<br />
HW: He got her the Oscar for Jezebel. During one scene he photographed her coming down the stairs to greet Donald Crip 13 times and the selected the second take. He could do that with Sam Goldwyn because Sam only released one or two pictures a year. On The Letter there's that marvellous opening on the Malay rubber plantation and he took a whole day and photographed it seven times. And I picked the first time and harsh words were spoken on both sides. I never borrowed him again and Davis later came in conflict with him when Goldwyn borrowed her for The Little Foxes --in return we got Gsary Cooper who we needed for Sergeant York. And the arguments between the two became so bitter Willie would never use her again. She refused to go to his AFI salute or so I'm told but he was there at hers which was a pleasant surprise.<br />
JB:Probably your top picture of that era was The remake of the Maltese Falcon (1941).<br />
HW: Jack Warner said "Make it or whatever --I don't care."I had to have Humphrey Bogart and was anxious that George Raft might insist but he sent me a letter explaining he'd never do a remake. Then Jack forbade me using Gerry Fitzgerald as co-star because she was already on suspension. I'd wanted Mary Astor all along --she was seven years older than Gerry and I knew she could capture two two sides of Bridget. I promised Johnny Huston he could direct if he first produced a new screenplay. He bought multiple copies of the novel so he could paste verbatim some of the choice speeches from the book. And I assigned him an ace cameraman Arthur Edenson.<br />
It really was an easy one to direct because there are mostly dialogue scenes in hotel rooms and Sam Spade's office and apartment. I watched the rushes and suggested a few times he speed up the action. The fire on the ship is the only big outdoor scene. Total cost was under $200,000 and it made five times that in first release.<br />
And I know your next question will be why no sequel. Nobody thought in those terms at the time. A typical Warners sequel was Brother Rat And A Baby. But we didn't have the rights to use Sam Spade in another story and we asked Dashiell Hammett to supply a new novel but he just couldn't do it, he was so alcoholic by then.<br />
JB: Jack Warner didn't want it to be Oscar nominated at all?<br />
HWL He said it was a remake and beside the credits say "With Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor" so they couldn't be nominated as best actor and actress. He ordered Mary be nominated instead as best supporting actress for The Great Lie and she won.<br />
JB: But then John Huston made Action In The Pacific (1942)<br />
HW: Garbage! We took all the actors from Bogey to Greensatreet to Astor and put them in a melodrama about the Japs blowing up the Panama Canal. Johnny was drafted and left without finishing an ending so Vince Sherman had to make something up. But it made money!<br />
JB: Let's look at 1938 when you produced 196 major movies. In 1940 you produced 21. the 1938 pictures includedJezebel, White Banners, Brother Rat, the remake of Dawn Patrol, the Adventures of Robin Hood. In 1940 you had such hits as City For Conquest, Virginia Vity, All This And Heaven Too, the Fighting 69th. How did you do it?<br />
HW (chuckling): I need went home. No, seriously! I'd arrive at 8 a.m. and spend hours checking the rushes from the day before. All the time I was dictating memos to the associate producers. Let's see, I had Robert Llord ever since Chain Gang, David Lewis who I got from MGM after Thalberg's death, Mark Hellinger, Henry Blanke who replaced me as production head in 1943. but no doubt about it I was seriously overworked.<br />
JB: You put Errol Flynn and Olivia deHaviland in their first picture together. And they went on to make six more blockbusters. I'm trying too be delicate but Errol was not a nice man.Our legal department had to extricate him from many serious issues. He simply didn't care about anything but pleasuring himself/ But underneath the golden boy facade there was a seriously ill man. He'd had TB and typhus in Australia and often an irregular heartbeat. In 1942 he collapsed on the set of Gentleman Jim with his first heart attack --the reason he failed a physical to get I not the army during wartime.<br />
B: After Jack Warner grabbed the Oscar for Casablanca you resigned.<br />
JB: I'm a big fan of your production of Kings Row (1941) but I wonder why it was done in black and white.<br />
HW: Wartime restrictions. If we'd made it in color it would have been as popular today as Gone With The Wind. I hired Sam Wood to direct but hewasas slow as molasses. We were going to use Jeffrey Lynn as Parris but Sam said he looked too similar to Ron Reagan. So I narrowed Bob Cummings at the last minute from Universal. I needed aCassie but Ida Lupino went on suspension rather than do it. I used Betty Field but she wasn't quite right. Bette Davis wanted it but she was a decade too old. I think Claude Rains was wonderful, so was Charles Coburn as the cruel doctor who saws off Robbie's legs. This one made Reagan into a big star.<br />
JB: You twice won the Irving Thalberg award but did you ever met him.<br />
HW: I'd see him at premieres. Always beautifully dressed. Very pale and thin. the big studios used to send out copies of their big hits. So he'd seen Captain Blood and said he liked it. Which was a thrill. Later, I wanted to nab Norma Shearer becauseWB needed female stars. She was very gracious but said --this was in 1942--that she considered herself totally retired.<br />
JB: Why did you call the making of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) the happiest experience of your career?<br />
HW: I knew this was going to be Jimmy Cagney's last WB picture. I'd starred Jim in such hits asG-Men,Boy Meets Girl, The Roaring Twenties and Strawberry Blonde. I phoned him and he immediately accepted but there were only few months before his contract expired. I hired his brother Bill as associate producer and agreed when his real sister Jeanne Cagney was hired to play his movie sister. On this one I believe Jimmy as co-director. When Curtiz had yelled at him in other films he'd roar right back. Here he set up every scene and let Curtiz concentrate on lighting and camera work. The facts were substantially altered because George M. Cohan wasn't the nicest of men. In this treatment he only has one wife and his nastiness was airbrushed out. Jimmy's dancing made the movie. That scene where Cphan visits President Roosevelt was tough to shoot--we had FDR Mostly with his back to the camera. And when Jimmy as George leaves Jimmy interpolated a little jig down the stairs. Then came the big test: Cohan had story approval and the movie was run for him in New York and he loved it. It made him a big name again and he died a happy man shortly after.<br />
Jimmy found out how hard it was to make his own pictures. He made Johnny Come Lately and Blood On the Sun (1945) but they were inferior to his WB work.13 True Madeleine (1946) was for Fox.But his production of The Time Of Your Life bombed. So in 1949 he was back at Warners.<br />
JB: But you are still incensed Jack Warner ran up on Oscar night and took the best picture statuete for Casablanca.<br />
HW: Yes! His relatives blocked the aisle until he grabbed it. The audience knew what was happening. I call it the Curse of Casablanca. Because Jack did not win another Best Picture Oscar until 1964 for My Fair Lady. I'm still bitter about it. But I stayed to supervise postproduction of Saratoga Trunk which didn't have much pep as far as I was concerned. Louis Mayer wanted me to become the new Thalberg at MGM but I finally formed a production unit releasing through Paramount. I'd have my own set of stars which Paramount could use and vice versa.<br />
The first was Lizabeth Scott who I saw on Broadway and I promptly starred her with Robert Cummings in a tearjerker It Had To Be you (1945). I fully acknowledge I made a mistake with her --she was terrific as the girl with a past in The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers. She was sort of bad but really a good girl in Deserty Fury and then I loaned her to Columbia for Dead Reckopmning and she was typecast. Her rival art Warners was Lauren Bacall and Warners gave Lauren more challenges --she was excellent in Key Largo and I blame myself for not getting Liz into more sympathetic parts.<br />
My second find was Burt Lancaster who had a circus background. He was born in 1913 and had almost no acting experience but I immediately loaned him to Mark Hellinger for the small but important part of The swede in The Killers. He looked terrific and was cast against another unknown Ava Gardner,. He got third billing on Desert Fury but attracted all the attention. He told me early on he wanted to move quickly into producing and he did so by the Fifties.<br />
JB: You rarely used the old Warners stars.<br />
HW: Bogey was always asking why I wasn't hiring him. But I had nothing for him and he was too expensive. I did buy Come Back Little Sheba for Bette Davis but she refused it after watchingShirley Booth on Broadway. So I had to use Shirley who had never made a picture and was10 years older than Bette. Then Burt Lancaster flopped me by saying he wanted to play Doc --he was 30 years younger than the alcoholic, elderly doctor but he was terrific. And he was terrific again with Anna Magnani in The Rose Tatoo --and she also won an Oscar. For The Rainmaker I wanted Eva Marie Saint but she refused to sign a term contract. So I used Kate Hepburn who was 20 years older and it showed and that one wasn't very successful.JB: You used Barbara Stanwyck a Lot in those days.<br />
HW: Shared a contract for her with Paramount. She was terrific in Martha Ivers --her weakling husband was newcomer Kirk Douglas who came from the New York stage. He thought he was going to play Van Heflin's part but he was terrific as the alcoholic husband and began a career of sympathetic weaklings. Even then there was a rivalry with Burt that continues to this day.Kirk didn't get out of that typecasting until he made Champion in 1949,<br />
And Barbara? She got an Oscar nomination for Sorry, Wrong Number (`948), Agnes Moorehead had played that part live on TV. I offered her a supporting role but she refused and good for her. Barbara was also great in The File On Thelma Jordan and The Furies, the last film of Walter Huston. But it didn't do as well. She was 43 by then and Paramount thought she could no longer appeal to younger film goers. Sot she just kept going but at other studios.<br />
HW: You made few comedies until Martin and Lewis came along.<br />
HW: I saw them on TV. I tested them out in a comedy My Friend Irma in 1949 which grossed five times its actual cost. Sp I followed with My Friend Irma Goes West to the same uge reception. From the beginning I knew the boys hated each other. Dean wanted to be as funny as Jerry. Jerry wanted to be as suave as Dean. They'd make a picture a year for me. They also were rotating stars on Colkgate Comedy Hour. U always paired them with veteran directors to teach them the business.For At War with the army (1950) it was Hal Walker. For Jumping Jacks (1953) it was Norman Taurog.Scared Stiff (1953) was a remake of a Bob Hope vehicle The Ghost Breakers. I'd add some pretty starlets like Polly Bergen, Mona Freeman, even Donna Reed.Each vehicle could be churned out in about four weeks and the profits were large.<br />
Jerry was always difficult to control, always making crazy demands. Sometimes he wasn't speaking to Dean or vice versa and finally he comes and tells me" I'm splitting up the act. I still had both of them on contract so I used Jerry solo on The Sad Sack and then he went off on his own way becoming ever more obstreperous, Nobody thought Dean could succeed on his own but after he made Rio Bravo (1959) with Duke Wayne for Howard Hawks he did just fine.<br />
JB: You have a story about making Career at Paramount in 1959.<br />
HW: Jerry Lewis was doing something, I had Career (1959) with Shirley MacLaine and Carolyn Jones --they switched roles with my permission and that worked out just fine. Perlberg and Seaton were in pre-production for The Pleasure Of His Company and that was it. The rest of the lot was dark and a majority of the employees had been dismissed.<br />
HW: You've described Shirley MacLaine as difficult.<br />
HW: Yes! But also very talented. I saw her dancing in a Broadway show and she had everything. She signed with me but I had little work for her. She did my Artisys And Models with Jerry and Dean. And I loaned her to Paramount for The Trouble with Harry.Mike Todd wanted her as the Hindu princess in Around The World In 80 Days.She did Hot Spell for me and Paramountr used her in The Matchmaker. In 1958 she garnered her first Oscar nomination for Some Came Running.Then came the incredible The Apartment. Magnificent! I wanted her to end her contract with Wives And Lovers but she turned it down so I refused to loan her for The Unsinkable Molly Brown. I used Van Johnson and Janet Leigh and that one just tanked so maybe Shirley was right after all.<br />
JB: You made buckets of dough with Elvis Presley.<br />
GW: I saw him live on TV wigging those hips. I thought I just had to have him under contract. His agent Colonel Parkrt was a cagey old bird. He signed Elvis to contracts with me, Fox and MGM. I'm proudest of King Crerole where he really acts --I brought in Mike Curtis and they boded and Mike coaxed Elvis out of his shell. The craziest time came when I cast Angie Lansbury as his ma in Blue Hawaii --and it worked. He was petrified when put against Barbara Stanwyxk in Roustabout --she'd bark ay him when he forgot lines. Elvis always reported to work with a paunch so I had to hire all his sidekicks --yjey were to play touch doornail with him out on the Paramount lawn every day and work him up to a sweat. But did I ever know age guy? No. He told me after his ma died that he really didn't care anymore. his favourite director as the years passed was Norman Taurog who usually directed little kids. And that's what Elvis remained --a little, starstruck kid.<br />
JB: Why move to Universal in 1969?<br />
Because Paramountt wasn't Paramount any more.Charles Bludhorn was chairman and it was part of a conglomerate.and he said nobody was interested in Becket because "It was a "mediaeval thingy." But he was wrong. Then when I wanted to do Anne Of A Thousand Days he flew into a rage. He'd wanted Richard Burton to do narration on another picture and Richard said sure but he wanted Charles to give wife Liz Taylor a baubel or two. Chjarles went ballistic and cancelled the picture so I took it to Universal . And it was a hit and so was Mary, Queen Of Scots starring Vanessa Redgrave. Glenda Jackson refused Elizabeth I because shed already done the TV miniseries.Finally, she said she'd do everything in three and a half weeks.I think we finished with her latest night on the last day.<br />
JB: Will Rooster Coburn (1976) be your last picture?<br />
HW: Probably. I'd outbid Duke Wayne for the right to True Grit, then the next day I phoned him and offered him the lead and he burst into laughter. For the girl I almost used Sally Field but I was told she was TV's Flying Nun and that might distress moviegoers. So I used Kim Darby plus Glenn Campbell. Henry Hathaway directed it. Then in1976 came the sequel Rooster Cogburn. Hathaway phones me and shouts "I'm 78, Duke is 69 and has cancer, Hepburn is 70 and twitches like crazy." So include men out. So we used Stuart Millar and Kate and Duke just rode roughshod over the young guy. But it made a huge profit."<br />
JB: Do you consider yourself retired?<br />
HW: Not from life. I might make a few more films. Or Not. the picture business is in trouble these days. Too many sequels, special effects, murders. Whatever happened to telling a simple love story?<br />
Hal Wallis did not make any more movies. He died at Rancho Mirage in1986, aged 88.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-67583679698611130982019-10-31T23:32:00.000-04:002019-10-31T23:32:22.503-04:00I Remember Budd SchulbergThere I was last week watching the classic boxing movie The Harder They Fall starring Humphrey Bogart and written by Budd Schulberg --it was on Turner Classic Movies salute to Film Noir.<br />
And then I sat upright --I remembered I'd interviewed Budd Schulberg at a fancy dinner party in Los Angeles in 1986.<br />
It was the PBS portion of a 15-day tour by visiting TV critics and late on the last night.<br />
I'd been out on sets all day so when I got back to the hotel it was after 8 p.m, and there was only one empty seat left in the vast ballroom.<br />
I looked up and found myself seated next to Budd Schulberg andI instantly discovered why he rarely went on TV talk shows --he had a terrible stammer.<br />
Here are highlights of our conversation.<br />
JB: I remember watching you guest on the Merv Griffin talk show one late night and you told the other guest --Gloria Swanson-- that she'd been the inspiration for one of the main characters in your great novel The Disenchanted.<br />
BS (chuckling): We taped in an old Hollywood movie theatre and afterwards Gloria jumped up, ran out the door and ordered her chauffeur to find a book store open so she could buy the book.<br />
Well, there are lots of used bookstores on Hollywood Boulevard but were they open late nights? I was dubious.<br />
JB:Your memoir of growing up in Hollywood, Moving Pictures, is one of the best books about "the biz!..<br />
BS: My father B.P. Schulberg ran Paramount Pictures after merging his own studio Preferred Pictures. He had one b ig asset Clara Bow who wasn't much of an actress but boy could she shimmy. I'd play jacks on the landing with her when she came over for a swim but if she lost she'd scream up a storm --a real sore loser. But Clara couldn't stand still --when talkies came in she had to stand still and speak into a big vase where the mike was located and she just couldn't do that.<br />
JB: Then you say your happy family life blew up in 1931.<br />
BS: When papa ran off with Sylvia Sidney who had replaced Clara as Paramount's hottest star. He was 60, she was 21 and, pf course, it didn't last.<br />
JB: And then your papa was tossed out of Paramount by his body Adolph Zukor.<br />
BS:Mean, nasty, and always triumphant over his enemies. He got rid of Jesse Lasky around the same time. For some reason the Great Depression affected Paramount more than any other studio. And Zukor made sure he was the winner in a very nasty power struggle. Papa went on to Columbia which was a Poverty Row studio and things were never the same again.<br />
BS: You write about how B.P. would go one all night benders of playing poker and almost always loose.<br />
BS: One night he lost $20,000 which is around a million dollars in today's money. He finally gambled away everything.<br />
BS: You've written feelingly about working with F. Scott Fitzgerald on the 1939picture *(*(*(.<br />
BS: I told the boss Walter Wanger that it needed a quick rewrite and he said "Oh, I've got Scott Fitzgerald working on dialogue in the next room. I'd thought Scott had died, it was years ago that he had a new book. So we went up to Dartmouth together and he got progressively more smashed and finally I did all the rewriting. He'd been one of my heroes but here was a tragic, broken man who just couldn't write the kind of snappy movie dialogue that any third rate writer could have delivered.<br />
JB: Did you know what you were doing when writing your magnificent 1941 novel What Makes Sammy Run?<br />
BS: I thought I was telling a great story but it rocked Hollywood. MGM head Louis Mayer demanded I be deported as if Hollywood was a separate country. I was toiling for Sam Goldwyn at the time and he ran down the stairs where he saw me and shrieked "Sammy how could you?" Exactly. How dare I tell the truth. I was fired on the spot.<br />
JB: Many producers wondered if they provided the character of Sammy Glick?<br />
BS: Jerry Wald swore it was him and he was mighty proud. But it was a compendium, I had so many bastards to chose from.<br />
JB: I saw the 1959 live TV movie version. It had John Forsythe, Dina Merrill, Barbara Rush and Larry Blydeb as Sammy,<br />
BS: There was also a 1949 TV version. More recently Steven Spielberg had an option on it to do a version with Ben Stiller, But I'm not sure. Steven makes blockbusters, safe, earnest productions but on the bland side.<br />
JB: I recently watched The Harder They Fall, the terrific 1956 movie on boxing and Humphrey Bogart's last movie.<br />
BS: He looked haggard. Coughed incessantly. Was very prickly. It has the wonderful actress Jan Sterling in a rare sympathetic role. Rod Steiger's histrionics could get out of place and I remember Bogey rolling his eyes as Rod ranted on and on. I've always loved boxing. But I don't think our wonderful director Mark Robson did. So there were some clashes over interpretation. But as Bogey's last film it is an oddity and it did bigger business than On The Waterfront.<br />
JB: Critics say On The Waterfront dramatizes the awful act of naming names.<br />
BS: There was nothing awful about it. I named names, yes, but only people who had already been named. I'd joined the Communist party in the depth of the Great Depression ... then it was overtaken by the Stalinists and everything changed and I left the party.<br />
JB: I'm surprised by what you just told me --Marlon Brando refused to do the Scene "I coulda been a contender"in On The Waterfront (1954).<br />
BS: He told Elia Kazan it didn't ring true and he'd walk if forced to do it. Then it turned out the scene had Steiger pointing a gun at him and Gadge knocks the gun away and Marlon did it on the first take and it's his signature thing. I saw the story as more an indictment of corruption on the waterfront. we tried selling the story to Darryl Zanuck at Fox and he yelled "Who the talk wants to see a bunch of longshoremen brawling?" So we took it to cagey Harry Cohn and it won all kinds of awards.<br />
JB: Describe your association with Kazan<br />
BS: He's the rare director who likes and admires fine writing. As long as he staged and also edited Tennessee Williams those plays shone. When Tennesse went it along he had a chain of big flops.<br />
JB: You were just telling me of an attempt to do a new version of A Face In The Crowd.<br />
BS: I watched the rise of such TV icons as Arthur Godfrey who one day turned on his star singer Julius LaRosa and fired him, live on TV. From that I thought of a story of a country and western cowpoke who could indeed manipulate the medium of TV. We had a low budget so Gadge hired Pat Neal who needed the work and used an unknown Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes and he was terrific and so was an unknown from Broadway, Walter Matthau. And it remains my favourite picture.<br />
JB: What about a proposed new version:<br />
BS: I was told Warners wanted a remake with Tom Cruise so they arranged a screening with many directors and screenwriters and at the end everybody just drifted out. I was told Tom Cruise's team said "This is a masterpiece, It can't be bettered or even matched."<br />
JB: After that you seemed to drop out of movie making.<br />
BS: I had a terrible experience with Wind Across The everglades and I even had to direct a few scenes when our director Nick Ray disappeared for a time. So I went back to memoir writing and writing about fighters. They've even done On The Waterfront on stage. I'm not written out at all, I fully intend to go on and on.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-35853064053262545882019-10-28T14:47:00.002-04:002019-10-28T22:07:18.429-04:00The Science Of Fear Will Scare You <br />
Be Afraid: The Science Of Fear revs up the day after Halloween which is entirely appropriate.<br />
You can catch it Friday November 1 at 9 p.m. on CBC-TV's The Nature Of Things.<br />
Director Roberto Verdecchia on the phone tells me he first thought about the subject after his last Nature Of Things documentary on household insects seemed to incite fear in a whole lot of viewers.<br />
The nature of fear it seems is somewhat of a mystery.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyOWFW8Wnl0qL0q82aoPJsZAfQjDf3DDy3YCxmlcEq6MGmJRm6zHTkEJPDv6mkhhxpIzxtFEeTlLAbSPnfNZh74ypjwjumEtfj6LTJDK61QE3pIwqcVHW08eXvZdBhpD_VgxhzijgTQ5K2/s1600/dp1JLlKg+%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyOWFW8Wnl0qL0q82aoPJsZAfQjDf3DDy3YCxmlcEq6MGmJRm6zHTkEJPDv6mkhhxpIzxtFEeTlLAbSPnfNZh74ypjwjumEtfj6LTJDK61QE3pIwqcVHW08eXvZdBhpD_VgxhzijgTQ5K2/s400/dp1JLlKg+%25281%2529.jpeg" /></a>And there's the suggestion some amount of fear could actually be good for us.<br />
So he set about trying to find the nature of fear.<br />
He visited with a young motorcycle stunt rider who seems not at all fazed by the stunts he must clearly execute to avoid injury.<br />
There's the strange case of Miriam who with pulverized with fear over chickens.<br />
We see how a therapist helps her until in one shot she is petting the very hen that caused her such misery.<br />
Then there's the lady who is terrified of heights. Pills can help but she also needs to work through her problems with a therapist<br />
I liked the segment on haunted houses--you would never ever get me inside one all the years I visited at the Canadian National Exhibition's Midway.<br />
Some visitors would leave the haunted house feeling exultant they had confronted their fears --and survived.<br />
But I would go on some of those gravity changing rides and yell and scream and really enjoy myself.<br />
For many --not me-- the mere anticipation of fear is something they actually enjoy. Our emotions get aroused but then rational behaviour sets in.<br />
Some fears it turns out are good for us. It seems we're born with some senses of fear as a segment on babies demonstrates.<br />
Women are four times as afraid of spiders and snakes than men.<br />
And then there's the odd case of a woman who has no fear --it's due to an illness in her amygdala.<br />
"She's not shown because we were fearful people could take advantage of her," Roberto explains to me.<br />
"But we show she certainly has no anticipatory feels of fear no matter what."<br />
It was only in a controlled experiment when she was deprived of oxygen for a second that fear appeared.<br />
"It's an example of more than the amygdala controlling fear patterns."<br />
By the way this hour may be filled with scare inducing moments but it ends on a bright, calm moment. Turns out some fear is necessary to survival for us all.<br />
BE AFRAID: THE SCIENCE ON FEAR PREMIERES ON CBC FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 AT 9 P.M.<br />
MY RATING: ****,<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-51920994865372578702019-10-22T15:04:00.004-04:002019-10-24T00:07:29.188-04:00I Remember Diahann Carroll<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55_2Z_g9eXpIt6B-8aeeHdq-rhoyRraCJLEtYqitaFr5dAtP-36GNAit2fqQdJHvul6xZ1XOg6uuYlDikFJlKgNR1A9slII5Svva2EnhhfWzcQFTVwNuqbKGz7jh45SOa1AdQ5OIaKdsr/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55_2Z_g9eXpIt6B-8aeeHdq-rhoyRraCJLEtYqitaFr5dAtP-36GNAit2fqQdJHvul6xZ1XOg6uuYlDikFJlKgNR1A9slII5Svva2EnhhfWzcQFTVwNuqbKGz7jh45SOa1AdQ5OIaKdsr/s400/Unknown.jpeg" /></a>The news of the passing of Diahann Carroll caught me off guard.<br />
I'd known the black super star had been in declining health in recent years but I was astonished she was 84 at her passing --I always thought she was a bright, vibrant personality who could do it all --as the star of the pioneering sitcom Julia and later the elegant seductress of Dynasty.<br />
I first interviewed Carroll when she was preparing toped as the star of the Canadian production of Sunset Boulevard in 1984. I later followed with several telephone conversations.<br />
Here are highlights of our conversation:<br />
JB: You are about to come the first black Norma Desmond. How does that feel?<br />
DC: Oh, I' m always breaking the rules, I guess.<br />
JB: You also starred in the first sitcom to star a young black woman who wasn't a domestic --Julia which ran on NBC for three seasons which began in 1968.<br />
DC: The first season we were up against Red Skelton on CBS and It Takes A Thief on NBC so the competition was always fierce. We stayed there for three seasons --in the third season we knocked out Red and went up against CBS's Her Haw. It was deemed revolutionary in its day and the only way I got through it was with the support of veterans Lloyd Noland and Lureen Tuttle. We had great guests stars --veterans Ezra Stone and Don Ameche not only acted they also directed episodes. We were making a big statement of equality --I played the widow of a Vietnam veteran. Not a great show but a landmark nevertheless.<br />
JB: How did you get started?<br />
DC: Well, I was born in the Bronx, daddy was a subway conductor. I grew up wanting to be a singer and my parents reluctantly agreed that I could try but if over time I couldn't do it then I'd finish my university degree in sociology.<br />
JB: Then you won a TV talent show on Chance Of A Lifetime?<br />
DC: Yes, that was so long ago it was on the old DuMont network. I was also on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on CBS. I sang at the Latin Quarter and then in 1954 I was signed for the musical Carmen Jones. Otto Preminger was the director and the stars were Harry Belafonte and the wonderful Dorothy Dandridge, Otto screamed a lot and Dorothy screamed right back at him. You have to remember there was fear among movie producers about highlighting black females. Dorothy's career was tragically short because she just couldn't get any traction and it preyed on her.<br />
JB: Later on you were also in Porgy And Bess starring Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis Jr., Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier. I've never seen this movie but I'm told your voice was dubbed.<br />
DC: I was told my voice was tools and I was dubbed. I thought it was crazy. Qe started rehearsals with the great director Rouben Mamoulian who had directed the stage original. Then a gigantic fire resulted in destruction of all the huge sets on the Goldwyn lot. We started over with --you guessed it --Otto Preminger who yelled even louder. I wasn't a fan of the finished product. And these days the Gershwin estate won't permit it to be shown or so I'm told.<br />
JB: I first saw you singing at the Imperial Room of the Royal York hotel circa 1971 and realized you possessed one of the greatest voices. I had to review and interview such stars as Julie London and Peggy Lee who had the talent to just sing without much amplification.<br />
DC: I loved singing in those clubs. I was told when Dorothy came to sing at the Imperial Room she asked "Where am I staying" and became tearful when told she'd have the penthouse suite.<br />
JB: In fact she dropped to her knees and kissed the floor. In the American hotel supper clubs she had to stay at a black residence e such was the segregation of the times. But I'm wondering why you think the age of the luxury supper clubs has passed.<br />
DC: In America it's scary. You have to dress up, go downtown after dark and there's violence everywhere. And some of the newer singers just don't have the skills to sing in such an intimate setting and hold the audience. They rely on amplification and just plain singing is foreign to them.<br />
JB: I've listened to the cast album of No Strings, the brilliant 1962 Richard Rodgers, starring Richard Kiley and you in great voice. And I wonder why it never became a movie.<br />
DC: They tried. Ray Star<br />
bought the rights but an interracial love story?No way! Ray tried to change the girl into a Eurasian and announced Nancy Kwan as the new lead. I felt devastated. But there was such a storm of controversy among the black community that he backed off and the project was shelved.<br />
JB: But you did some movies, prominent ones.<br />
DC:Paris Blues (1961) was a cute thing set in the jazz world starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward and I was aired with Sidney Poitier who I almost married --what a mistake that would have been. Then Old Otto phoned me and signed me for Hurry, Sundown which starred Michael Caine and Jane Fonda. We shot in St. Francisville county, Louisians, home of the KKK. I received death threats, so did other cast members. It was all very scary, much more interesting than the actual ploy.<br />
You always made TV acting a part of your career.<br />
DC: I did them all but always as a guest star, never the series star.<br />
JB: Tell me the story of joining Dynasty in 1984.<br />
DC: Esther Shapiro who created the soap told me she had always been aware there was no prominent African American star.I told her I'd love to join but as an upscale character. And she came up Dominique who is half sister to Blake played so well by John Forsythe. The clothes were fantastic but are sometimes uncomfortable because they are so bizarre. I wondered what Joan Collins would make of all this. But she is a professional, she understands a series needs new characters to continue. And she knows everything about camera lenses, lighting. I loved playing this black bitch and I also got to co-star on seven episodes of the spinoff series The Colbys. And it made mr a name with all the younger audience who didn't know about Julia.<br />
JB: You then joined the cast of Lonesome Dove in 1994 shot in Alberta.<br />
DC: It told the true story of the American west. We're usually written out of the official story and its important to keep the record straight.<br />
JB: And now you're a black Norma Desmond. I remember catching Diana Sands in Saint Joan and after a few moments the fact she was black seemed irrelevant --she was such a force.<br />
DC: We're still in rehearsals. It's a new theatre the Ford way out in suburban Toronto. I saw the movie and I also saw a clip from the Tonight show where Gloria Swanson sang a so g from a musical version that never got fully produced. So far I'm walking up those d-d stairs so often I wonder if I'll survive. What I've been through in my career I think I'm finally ready to play this one, it has one of the greatest roles ever written for a woman.<br />
NOTE: After her triumph in Sunset Boulevard Carroll returned to TV series work --she was on 25 episodes of White Collar (2009-14), and seven episodes of Grey's Anatomy (2006-10).<br />
DIANNE CARROLL DIED ON ()()()(). She was 84.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-70035767223572316562019-10-20T21:40:00.000-04:002019-10-20T21:40:12.946-04:00RCAF Is No More<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fiHJaJO6rRGU86v0sMmDvfh-tbhMtLfTDyeIghas8bRBap0Z_hU6f2Yo4iO5qPuxSOSl3vhSl66J_3nTWjr2FtpcUlY4JYHh36NKWUSaJFQRz4geDEoKV-xgkxuaHdI1XmkqBLdhk4LI/s1600/Airfarce.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fiHJaJO6rRGU86v0sMmDvfh-tbhMtLfTDyeIghas8bRBap0Z_hU6f2Yo4iO5qPuxSOSl3vhSl66J_3nTWjr2FtpcUlY4JYHh36NKWUSaJFQRz4geDEoKV-xgkxuaHdI1XmkqBLdhk4LI/s400/Airfarce.PNG" /></a>The CBC caused much consternation the other day by announcing it was cancelling the venerable comedy sketch show Royal Canadian Air Face.<br />
'My neighbour heard about the news and asked me "I thought that one was gone long ago."<br />
I had to explain to her that indeed the weekly half hour series RCAF was gone but a New Year's Eve special had been running for some time.<br />
By contrast NBC has constantly revived and re-invigorated Saturday Night Live as a case study in keeping a well regarded series going.<br />
But CBC these days is trying to ditch as many of its older shows in a misplaced economy drive.<br />
These days only two founding members of RCAF are still around: Don Ferguson and Luba Goy.<br />
They've added to the roster other, younger comics but it's tough when you're only around once a year.<br />
The real reason is CBC's determination to get out of producing entertainment shows.<br />
And also RCAF doesn't travel well abroad --the rest of the world couldn't care less about Canadian humour.<br />
For this reason CBC last year cancelled Ron James's annual one man show that usually ran on New Year's Eve. and last time out garnered a cool million viewers.<br />
It seemed to be made for $1.99 and James was usually the whole show.<br />
So what if it hit 1 million or so viewers? It didn't fit CBC's idea of what it should be doing.<br />
Other shows like Murdoch Mysteries are kept around because they sell well in other countries and still fare fairly well at home, too.<br />
So this New Year's will be the last time RCAF goes at it.<br />
Some RCAF series are on video but just try finding a copy these days.<br />
And just for the record the great RCAF team originally included Roger Abbott, John Morgan and Dave Broadfoot --all deceased,<br />
CBC these days is out of the production field except for national newscasts.<br />
<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-1204810377225638682019-10-11T20:55:00.000-04:002019-10-13T15:49:44.406-04:00A Kandahar Away Is Must See TV<br />
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A Kandahar Away is a complete surprise --a compelling but beguiling documentary about one man's decision to honour his home town of Kandahar by building a war memorial in another Kandahar --a Canadian prairie hamlet so small the entire population is 15 people.<br />
This is one of those must-see productions we can still occasionally catch on Canadian TV. The premiere is on Documentary Channel Saturday October 20 at 9 p.m.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfS-CdoQYnl4oqnkd0TjmUTTDS2Xa8ukVIKus2-rY-FMnFr6uQW_WlWfr6UjIkXStzQW7cbu9ZXGqYIka0X90TVTEGivmdN8fhepAhK92i72pWr5Bx7TIeKyPJL1TQFQ6KBSD0jcwsXuH/s1600/Aisha+and+Abdul+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfS-CdoQYnl4oqnkd0TjmUTTDS2Xa8ukVIKus2-rY-FMnFr6uQW_WlWfr6UjIkXStzQW7cbu9ZXGqYIka0X90TVTEGivmdN8fhepAhK92i72pWr5Bx7TIeKyPJL1TQFQ6KBSD0jcwsXuH/s320/Aisha+and+Abdul+5.jpg" width="320" /></a>It's a true life exploration of the emotional gulf that divides generations and was beautifully directed by Canadian filmmaker Aisha Jamal.<br />
She also co-stars in the true life saga of her articulate and sensitive father Abdul Jamal who remembers the days in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he grew up before being forced to migrate with his family to Canada.<br />
Somehow Abdul discovered there was a second Kandahar in Saskatchewan and his heart ached so much for his home town he planned a trip with his family to explore this hamlet --it was named by Canadian soldiers returning from the war but in recent decades has deteriorated into a few habitable homes and nothing else.<br />
The Jamals journey to this place with their five children who have grown up in Canada and have Canadian sensibilities.<br />
All are surprised he wants to build a war memorial to the fallen Canadian soldiers --158 soldiers have died in the conflict which seems never ending. But he also wants to honour Afghan civilians who died in the war.<br />
What do the few residents of Canada's Kandahar think of this? Some seem surprised or even bemused --they rarely see tourists at the best of times.<br />
Aisha is such an accomplished filmmaker she makes us care for Abdul and his quest.<br />
She also appreciates the skepticism of her siblings who wonder why build a monument in a place tourists never visit.<br />
There are wonderful portraits drawn of the local Kandaharites -the mayor, the old man who spends winter snowed under in his tiny cabin and the coffee shop waitress among others<br />
We see the townsfolk kicking up their heels at a local dance--they seem so accepting of the newcomers in their midst. Abdul even gets to propose his plans to a surprised Canadian general Rick Hillier.<br />
See, nobody wants to discourage him. Most of his children are silently opposed to the plan. They figure Abdul must discover reality of the situation for himself.<br />
What Aisha has done is paint a vivid portrait of generational conflict --we all come from other countries and retain a vivid if misleading image of what it was like back then.<br />
Abdul must confront reality for himself. His children must respect his deep wishes.Aisha has caught all the ups and downs of their journey beautifully. The theme is universal --one man's dreams and home sickness confronting the harshness of reality.<br />
Says filmmaker Jamal: "I started this film without knowing how it would end. There were endless surprises particularly the wonderful way the Canadian residents of Kandahar took to my family. And it's a voyage that still continues."<br />
As of air date Adbul Jamal remains determined to build his war memorial in the Canadian hamlet of Kandahar.<br />
A KANDAHAR AWAY PREMIERES ON DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 20 AT 9 P.M.<br />
MY RATING: ****.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-14628078082486348832019-09-22T17:57:00.001-04:002019-09-22T18:13:58.944-04:00The Divided Brain Divides MeCBC's Documentary channel sent me a video link to a new 78-minute documentary The Divided Brain.<br />
My left brain said no but my right brain said take a shot and since I'm an impulsive guy I watched and found it tremendously fascinating.<br />
You can check it out on Documentary Sunday Sept. 22 at 9 p.m.<br />
I think there'll be other showings during the next few weeks.<br />
Dr. Iain Gilchrist is our fascinating hosts and he doesn't just stay in a classroom and read from his lecture notes.<br />
We go on a dizzying wild ride from visits with various stroke victims to a fancy rehab centre high in the Swiss mountains to a guest appearance from John Cleese who helps explain why comics are heavily dependent on their right cortex.<br />
For a documentary about such a complex subject the pace is very fast moving from the Egyptian pyramids to physicians who've battled their own brain problems to little kids who rely more on their right brain in early childhood.<br />
Gilchrist originally taught English Lit at Cambridge University and it was there that he first realized our modern world is trapped in some dangerous imbalances.<br />
We go to Maudsley hospital, constructed for Great War veterans, to see how people with strokes cope<br />
We're told in the modern world that left and right hemispheres are constantly in conflict with each other.<br />
I finally learned how my pet pigeon could differentiate between pebbles and grain kernels --so much for the term "bird brands".<br />
Cleese trained as a lawyer but was only able to utilize his right cortex when he switched to comedy.<br />
I feared this might degenerate into "talking heads" documentary but exactly the opposite is true.<br />
The images are truly astonishing although I strongly suspect Gilchrist sometimes romanticizes the past.<br />
In modern society he sees evidence of "a fix" favouring left brain accomplishments.<br />
What he wishes for us all is more a sense of balance instead of our acquiescence in unlimited material growth.<br />
I found the segment with a brain expert who suffered an aneurysm most fascinating--as her brain started to shit down she felt a kind of thrill at witnessing this first hand.<br />
Talking to a group of New York graduate students Gilchrist is himself called out but he handles the dissension with verve.<br />
The theme --our brain is not as mechanical as clockwork--is in itself revolutionary.<br />
The human brain has remained the same in modern times but visits to people in Tahiti and the Amazon show how some peoples have not succumbed to theme to the left.<br />
And talking to a Blackfoot chief Gilchrist sees that almost everything in that culture is animate --cuture produces these biological differences.<br />
This outstanding production was made by Matter Of Fact Media --Vanessa Dylyn produced and the director is Manfred Baker.<br />
I'' try to find out other airdates, I promise.<br />
THE DIVIDED BRAIN PREMIERES ON CBC DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22 AT 9 P.M.<br />
MY RATING: ****<br />
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james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-15229112995584011692019-09-11T22:35:00.001-04:002019-09-11T22:39:56.968-04:00I Remember Rod ConeybeareSo there I was at The Hamilton Spectator in September 1971 and it was my first day on the job as TV critic.<br />
My wonderful first features editor, Alex Beer, said he wanted me to start by surveying the state of children's TV and he even had the headline: "Sunshine Supermen".<br />
And so the next morning I was on the bus to Buffalo to interview Commander Tom whose show for kids ran afternoons on WKBW-TV.<br />
A day or so later I was on another bus --this time to Toronto to interview Bob Homme of CBC's Friendly Giant as well as Ernie Coombs who was Mr. Dressup.<br />
That's my long winded way of saying I first met puppeteer Rod Coneybeare on the set of Mr. Dressup.<br />
First shock: the series shared a studio up Jarvis Street with Knowlton Nash's The National news.<br />
"We have to be out of here by 5 p.m.'' exclaimed Rod with that wry smile of his.<br />
And so I spent a leisurely day on the set of this wonderful show. I saw the castle and the other sets.<br />
I watched an unhurried taping as Homme said the introduction "Look up! Look way up!"<br />
Friendly Giant was one of CBC-TV's greatest ever hits.<br />
And yet Homme resolutely refused any commercialization of the show --there were no dolls or other accoutrements mass produced to sell to the kiddies.<br />
"Guess I'm old fashioned," Homme smiled. "But the show is for kids and not the advertisers. I'll fight any effort at commercialization."<br />
I loved watching the great rapport between Homme and Coneybeare who was the puppeteer and supplied the voices for Jerome the Giraffe andRusty the Rooster.<br />
"I see Jerome as a kind of slow drawling Jimmy Stewart," Coneybeare said with a bit of a smile.<br />
'"One thing we must never do is talk down to the kids. We treat them with kindness and courtesy and it has always worked out very well."<br />
Homme came out of Wisconsin TV in the early 1950 as did his pal Mr. Rogers.<br />
And I was surprised how much rehearsal went into every 15-minute show.<br />
"We teach a little bit, we entertain a bit,"Coneybeare told me that day.<br />
"And it works. By the time they go into Grade One we've lost them as daily viewers. Hopefully we've educated them and sent them on the way to be good and thoughtful to everyone they meet at school."<br />
"I think I have a wonderful rapport with Rod," Homme said with a wide grin. "He's here because he wants to be --it's not for the money."<br />
But the show absolutely had to be finished by 5 p.m.<br />
"After that time they roll off our sets," Coneybeare told me. "And they roll in the set for The National."<br />
Coneybeare also produced a CBC quiz show for a while --Yes, You're Wrong. And in later years he wrote for the Don Adams sitcom Check It Out which was produced in Toronto.<br />
I had one later meeting with Coneybeare in the early1980s.<br />
Toronto's Crest Theatre had been converted into a repertory house for old MGM flicks and I went one Saturday afternoon to watch The Philadelphia Story.<br />
I found a seat and looked up and there was Coneybeare smiling at me in the next seat.<br />
"You have great taste in old movies," he cracked.<br />
Coneybeare was 85 at his death and leaves his wife and several grown children and grandchildren.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-9089688413705820412019-09-09T22:34:00.002-04:002019-10-26T18:46:16.140-04:00The Nature Of Things Continues To FascinateSo here I am at Ryerson University for the retirement of eminent teacher and filmmaker David Tucker who in his day contributed several outstanding films for CBC's The Nature Of Things.<br />
And gathered around Tucker are other NOT alumnae who are in complete agreement with me that this is one CBC series which has lost none of its lustre.<br />
Just to prove my point I'm telling them I've just previewed another NOT gem which runs on CBC Friday Oct. 25 at 9 p.m. --First Animals, the title alone is intriguing.<br />
This magnificent example of a pioneering NOT documentary was written and co-produced by veteran Andrew Gregg whose work I have been reviewing since his days on CBC's The Journal.<br />
What really excites me about First Animals is that it introduces a possible new CBC star in evolutionary biologist Dr. Maydianne Andrade who teaches at Scarborough College.<br />
The show is introduced as ever by the legendary geneticist Dr. David Suzuki who once posed nude for a cover of Starweek TV guide and at 83 seems as evergreen and vital as ever.<br />
But this one depends on Dr. Andrade's agility as she sprints up a rock formation in B.C., the Burgess Shale deposit that has been revealing clues to earth's past since the first Smithsonian expedition there in 1909.<br />
We watch the way shale deposits are cracked open to reveal the very first animals who populated this sea 500 million years Ago.<br />
Trapped in the sediment these creatures were perfectly preserved and they are indeed very odd --looking more like willowy plants than actual animals.<br />
Through Dr. Maydiane Andrade's questions to the soft spoken Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron we become involved in this mystery hunt for the very first animals and with one crack a new species is discovered.<br />
I liked Dr. Caron's line "They are staring at us after 500 million years."<br />
It looks huge compared to the other finds --a sort of space ship with a gigantic shell and eyes at the bottom as it plowed the ocean floor for nutrients but also able to peer above for possible predators.<br />
"Filming conditions were arduous," Gregg reports on the phone. "We weren't sure what if anything could be discovered during our shoot but instead we came away with a major finds."<br />
Gregg's approach is to get to know these biologists and become fascinated by their laborious searching.<br />
"We literally hit pay dirt," Gregg reports."It could be a major find as we track the evolution of first animals."<br />
This one is so well edited and presented it will have you wanting more.<br />
"Well, there is a longer version, 10 more minutes of info," Gregg says.<br />
But the CBC version is masterfully put together. we get to know just enough about Andrade and the senior researcher on the mountain cliff, softly spoken and humorous Jean-Bernard Caron.<br />
Host Andrade is a natural for TV. She knows how to ask the right questions and Gregg admits "Getting those shots is a matter of luck, too, and we were really lucky this time."<br />
There's a side visit to another site in Newfoundland and its even older --some 565 million years ago this was the sea bed. Some of these specimens lack eyes and a gut but they are not plants.<br />
We're then transported to the back research rooms of ROM never penetrated by the public. We see artists tracing out how this "Spaceship" creature must have navigated through the water.<br />
Through the magic of animation the creatures live again, we see how they could speed through water, how they must have dominated their watery environment."<br />
"It's quite a journey, I agree," laughed Gregg.<br />
The hour also introduces us to a potential new star for future NOT episodes. Dr. Andrade knows how to ask questions and how to involve viewers in her search.<br />
And the best thing about? First Animals?<br />
There isn't a boring second-- it's so expertly and tight edited it will have you wishing for more.<br />
FIRST ANIMALS PREVIEWS ON CBC'TV's THE NATURE OF THINGS FRIDAY OCTOBER 25 AT 9 P.M.<br />
MY RATING: ****.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-38675746673234634182019-09-02T21:59:00.004-04:002019-09-02T22:02:11.966-04:00I Remember Valerie HarperNews that my friend Valerie Harper had died from cancer aged 80 was disturbing but not unexpected.<br />
Harper was battling the strange illness of cancer of the membrane of the brain lining and had several reprieves when she was declared cancer free.<br />
But it reminded me of the wonderful times I had interviewed her at ,length and the warmth and friendship she had always shown me.<br />
Here are highlights of our conversations:<br />
BAWDEN: Here we are at a 1980 dinner at the Century Plaza hotel and you're with your husband fitness expert Tony Cacciotti. People forget youre an accomplished dramatic actress and the TV movie Shadow Box (1980) must be one of your personal favorites.<br />
HARPER:: It was directed by Paul Newman and looked at thee couples copping with terminal cancer at a hospital retreat. Joanne Woodward and Chris Plummer were one couple, IOIOIOI and Sylvia Sidney were the second and Jimmy Broderick and I played the third. He was a marvellous dramatic actor (and star of Family) and he succumbed shortly afterwards to cancer and he never told me about it. It must have been so hard for him to be playing sick and actually have cancer but denying it for fear of being fired.<br />
BAWDEN: These opportunities come to you because of your fame as TV's Rhoda.<br />
HAPER: I completely realize that. It's the power of TV. It washes away everything else you've ever done. It's scary but also challenging. I was an unknown before I joined the MTM stock company.<br />
BAWDEN: So how were you hired?<br />
HAPER: By a sage casting director Ethel Winant who had spotted me at Second City improv outings. She called me in. I read for various people with the intent of becoming an eccentric sidekick to Mary Tyler Moore in her new 1970 sitcom and I got it. I wanted to shed few pounds but I was told "Stay large. you can play off that." So I didn't lose weight until the break before the second season.<br />
We already had filmed a batch before we came on the air. The front seats were filled with CBS executives and their wives and everything seemed to point rot a hit from the first taping.<br />
We'd shoot one show at 7 and a second show at 9:30 and from the first episode nothing much was changed. The writers and producers headed by Jim Brooks wrote so well that we didn't have to change a comma. The audiences were enthusiastic but they were invitees so one couldn't be quite sure.<br />
BAWDEN: Remember your first lines?<br />
HARPER: In the premiere episode I flounce into Mary's apartment where she's unpacking and say "I have to lose 10 pounds by 8:30." And the audience screamed. I thought it was funny in rehearsal but not that funny.<br />
HARPER: Tell me how the structure or hierarchy of the show worked.<br />
'HARPER: Well, it was Mary's show but she never got tough with us on the set. I'm sure she had talks behind the scenes as to what she wanted to achieve. Mary Richards was a transitional figure. She was over 30 but she was unmarried and not divorced --the CBS censor said "No divorcee"! Mary just shrugged, she told me on her first (The Dick Van Dyke Show) the censor had initially balked her wearing slacks so much.<br />
BAWDEN: Did that make her TV's first feminist?<br />
HAZRPER: Well, the character didn't want to marry at that stage in her life. She wanted a career. Whether or not any of the boyfriends slept over wasn't quite clear.<br />
BAWDEN: How did the week progress?<br />
HARPER: There was a table read on Mondays. Very few lines were cut. Something might be sharpened a bit. Then on Tuesday there was a dress rehearsal, that sort of thing. It became very leisurely with blocking starting on Wednesday and first rehearsals Thursday and we'd do the show on Friday. The success of MTM meant the company boughtt out the old Republic studios and turned many of the stages into mini theatres for TV sitcoms.<br />
BAWDEN: I remember one MTM party that took place for TV critics and the entire top floor of Chasen's was filled with a star at every take. I got Paul Sands from Friends And Lover, a rare MTM sitcom that didn't ,make it.<br />
BAWDEN: I was listening in to the pre-dinner conversation at this gala and one of my fellow critics was pissed off you really weren't Jewish.<br />
HARPER: I know! I told him it was great acting!I was born in a small town in upstate New York. I'm really not an urban creature at all. And by the way my mom isCanadian. born in Calgary. In fact we're thinking of getting her back there for the 50th anniversary of her graduation from the Calgary School of Nursing. I'm getting excited about that.<br />
BAWDEN: What about your personal relationship with Mary Yyler Moore?<br />
HARPER: What about it? She was my boss, I'm the employee. Look, we're acting associates and friends. But there's a distancing around Mary. I'd never bother her with trivial matters.<br />
BAWDEN: When they proposed a spin off what was your reaction?<br />
HARPER: I was stunned. Why leave a surefire hit? But they kept pushing and finally in 1974 Rhoda came about and Mary even made an early appearance to help boost the show. You know Rhoda's wedding attracted a near record audiemce. But I was always leery, I thought she was funnier as a single. We ran four years and 110 episodes but spin offs are almost always less popular than the original.<br />
CBS started us off Mondays at 9:30 hammock between Maude and Meduical Center and up against ABC football and NBC Monday night movies and it was a rough slot.<br />
We barely survived--it was too late so CBS plopped us Mondays at 8 before Rhoda and All In The Family and we started to grow.<br />
In 1977 we went Sundays at 8 after 60 Minutes and had high audiences. In 1978 we went on Saturday nights at 8 which was becoming the lowest rated night of the week and we died, just died there.<br />
BAWDEN: But your wedding became a real TV event.<br />
HARPER: I think it got something g like 50 million viewers.But people did not want to see Rhoda happily married. She lost her zing.So I gradually separated from Joe and finally got a divorce and all this was painful and not helpful. And I hated hurting David Groh who is such an accomplished actor. We brought back Nancy Walker as my ma but laughs were infrequent. All those chefs at CBS had destroyed a sound comedic character and I was relieved it got cancelled. Mary had already closed down her show in 1977.<br />
BAWDEN: But Mary and Rhoda were reunited?<br />
HARPER: In 1980 we joined up for a reunion thingy which was an adult TV movie and not comedy. Not a great idea. People did not like these two as serious. It was a stark reminder they were getting old as we were. It was a bad idea I felt from the first day of filming. Nobody cares to remember that dud but you.<br />
BAWDEN: Tell me about Valerie.<br />
HARPER: Here's your scoop for tomorrow's edition. I'm not coming back. I'm not playing second fiddle to a bunch of teenaged boys. No, I won't do it. NBC put us up against the second half hour of Murder She Wrote. So we're a semi-success. But not with this girl. Not now. Not any time.<br />
NOTE: As it turned out Harper came back for one episode and then walked again to be replaced by Sandy Duncan as a new character and with a new title Valerie Family.<br />
Then in 1990 my phone at The Toronto Star was ringing an d Valerie Harper was cooing:"I'm back."<br />
HARPER: It's called The Office and we're on CBS directly opposite guess what show --Valerie's Family. And on my show I have a grand gal LuAnne Ponce and she's the sister of Danny Ponce who I worked with before leaving. So the talks over breakfast in that house must be very interesting. I'm the secretary for packaging company and I've been there for 19 yearns Dakin Matthews is my inept boss and comedy ensues.<br />
But both series crashed in the ratings fairly quickly.<br />
I had one more phone call when Harper guested on Hot In Cleveland in 1990<br />
HARPER: It's as close to a reunion show as we'll ever get, Mary is battling illness but she's still super disciplined. It was so wonderful just to see her and Cloris and Betty White and the whole thing was shot very quickly because we're veterans after all.<br />
My disease is in remission. I'm a fighter first and foremost. In 2010 I played Talullah Bankhead on Broadway. I've done Dancing With The Stars --I started as a dancer. I'm grateful for the friends I've made and the TV shows I've been in. Rhoda I think of as my best friend, she's helped me get a slice of the acting pie and I ran with it and I'm still running as fast as I can.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-38411877507317871832019-08-20T16:44:00.001-04:002019-08-20T17:04:17.527-04:00Now Let Us Praise Sean McCannSean McCann was one of my favourite Canadian TV character actors.<br />
His death at 83 although not unexpected creates a huge void in the Canadian TV acting community.<br />
I guess I first met and interviewed him on the set of Night Heat, a series that was made for CTV and for CBS late nights.<br />
He was always good, sometimes great.<br />
Born in Detroit he gravitated to Toronto after deciding a career in acting was what he wanted.<br />
Like all Toronto based actors he supported American stars who were making TV movies in Toronto simply because it was cheaper.<br />
When I asked McCann about it he simply shrugged and said "That's the reality of the situation. Every job helps pay the bills."<br />
But he understood when younger Canadian actors set off for L.A. simply because they were tired of supporting American stars.<br />
"That's the economics," he told me. And he'd say for the record the private networks including CTV and Global were simply not living up to their regulations dictating 50 per cent of prime time content had to be Canadian.<br />
'"If I have to do Littlest Hobo, then so be it," he said with a laugh." And let me tell you the dogs used on that show are very professional."<br />
But there was one time in 1983 when McCann proved his mettle.<br />
He starred in Don Brittain's sizzling TV biography of our most successful prime minister, Mackenzie King.<br />
Sure McCann got all the ticks right. He also dug deep to show the man's humanity--it was a masterful portrait.<br />
And yet because of cruel politicking McCann never even got a Gemini nomination.<br />
"Everything is politics," McCann told me with a laugh when he phoned me to thank me for the column. "I'm sure I ticked off the establishment with my warts and all portrayal."<br />
"I was interested in what made him tick. weird he may have been but he won campaign after campaign, even diminishing his adversary Arthur Meighan who was considered the brainiest PM of all time."<br />
I remember meeting up with McCann in on the set of the 1985 TV movie remake of Anne Of Green Gables. And there he was at it again in the 2016 TV remake --but in a different role.<br />
When I asked McCann he simply shrugged and said "That's Canadian TV for you."<br />
And yet he survived and prospered for many decades giving finely textured miniature portraits that linger in the mind.<br />
And already I'm missing the guy.james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-1117156081225218162019-07-20T18:05:00.000-04:002019-08-20T16:45:31.094-04:00A Place Of Tide And Time Is RemarkableWatching the current trends in Canadian TV can be hazardous to the health of a veteran TV critic<br />
I started my career in 1970 when CBC was fairly bursting with arts specials, dance profiles directed by the great Norman Campbell, Canadian TV movies and those ward winning "Raskeymentaries".<br />
All are gone these days as the "Canadianness" of Canadian TV palpably recedes.<br />
And then along comes a brilliant special A Place Of Tide And Time which is all about what it really means to be a Canadian.Titled A Place Of Tide And Time takes us to the Quebec village of St. Paul's River which has been around since the days of Jacques Cartier.<br />
But the whole English speaking community has been in retreat ever since limitations on cod fishing were imposed on the community more than two decades ago.<br />
This brilliant profile of a people who simply refuse to retreat is amazing --the images are so stark and imposing, the citizens refusing to give over to self py.<br />
There is real concern the village may eventually have to be abandoned.<br />
We visit with the few teenagers --the high school only has seven graduates this year and these young people can sense there's no future for them.<br />
They also know how special their environment is.<br />
We get to know their parents and the other "oldsters" who have never known any other way of life.<br />
There's fishing for crab but that is highly seasonal.<br />
Tourists come through in the summer but the town's museum is no longer being funded by the provincial government.<br />
By the film's end, we come to care for these special people;e and understand the reluctance to leave a community where everyone helps each other and there is no crime.<br />
There are two directors listed: Aude Heroux-Levesque and Sebastien Rist and they have managed to gain the confidence of their subjects who emerge as charming, brave and determined to stay just as long as possible in their own homes.<br />
One Bonus: There's a first class salmon river that could be exploited for fishing parties.<br />
We see them gathering at the convenience store, trying to think of new ways to exploit this unique way of life. I have a feeling there's absolutely no crime here which seems amazing these days.<br />
We see how the high school has diminished to just a handful of kids who all say they'll have to move just to survive. And, yet, there still is a graduation ceremony.<br />
We get inside these wonderful people, become involved at this collective show of courage, hope that against all odds they'll not only survive but somehow prevail.<br />
And all of a sudden I'm feeling less bleak about Canadian TV's future .<br />
A PLACE OF TIDE AND TIME PREMIERES ON CBC DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL SUNDAY NIGHT AT 9.<br />
MY RATING: *****.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-72135697773957028512019-06-06T23:41:00.001-04:002019-06-06T23:41:50.683-04:00CTV Looking To The FutureThat was quite a performance CTV put Thursday afternoon to an over flood crowd of potential buyers as Canada's largest private network strutted itself.<br />
It was the Annual Fall TV Preview and was as star studded as any I have covered.<br />
The venue was Sony Centre an d there were dozens of stars running around and great gimmicks throughout.<br />
We learned that friendly Mike Holmes and his son and daughter are defecting to CTV.<br />
On a sadder note CTV's fine homegrown drama series Cardinal comes to an end after 14 more episodes.<br />
The biggest challenge for Bell Media which runs CTV and a gaggle of other cable networks is how to balance the requirements of Canadian content requirements with the pricey but very popular U.S. imports.<br />
I remember asking CTV former president Murray Chercover at my first CTV launch in 1970 why it was held at the CTV board room and with only 10 TV critics present.<br />
"My big Canadian shows are Littlest Hobo and Stars on Ice," he said. "You want me to promote those?"<br />
These days CTV can tub thump its ratings achievements and then some.<br />
But 19 cities? Forget that. Most newspapers have dumped their TV coverage altogether and gone for wire copy.<br />
I still say CTV's nightly news at 11 with Lisa LaFlamme is vastly superior to CBC's meandering newscast which often has no focus.<br />
I'm not a fan, however, of the silly morning show. which replaced Canada AM.<br />
Cancelling Canada AM was a huge mistake --here was one of the best known CTV shows around and it was dumped unceremoniously.<br />
It was Canadian TV's first national morning show and one of the identifying markers for CTV. And I know a lot of viewers were unhappy --at 7 a..m. they wanted news and information --not Ben Mulroney chirping around.<br />
But back in 1970 CTV had one channel on the air and that was that.<br />
As TV Critic for The Hamilton Spectator I had 10 channels to cover.<br />
These days the count is well over 100.<br />
CTV is in the middle of rebranding many of its cable companies.<br />
SPACE is becoming CTV SciFi.<br />
The Comedy network becomes CTVComedy Channel.<br />
Gusto becomes CTV Life Channel--guess CTV has forgotten Global once had a Life channel before it was rebranded.<br />
What I really miss from CTV are the superb TV movies it used to make --but TV movies are missing from most networks these days. I'm told they can't be rerun because viewers tape everything these days.<br />
However, CTV has signed a deal with Harlequin to manufacture20 TV movies and that sounds promising.<br />
Up on the Sony Center stage dazzling array of imported stars and Canadian names strutted their stuff. The presentation was magnificent and and showed how positive Bell Media is about its future.<br />
CTV after all gets first crack at the U.S. shows it needs to import and simulcast with the U.S. networks for huge ratings. The shows it turns down turn up on Global or Citytv.<br />
I listened in to the chatter of the ad buyers as they muted on booze and dainties in the lobby and they were impressed. As was I.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276416275173866739.post-85860088062477342332019-06-04T21:17:00.002-04:002019-07-12T22:42:08.029-04:00Me And Doris DayI'm Remembering Doris Day<br />
I was lucky to share an interview with the legendary Doris Day .<br />
The location was her swank dressing room at Warners' Burbank Studios in 1969<br />
Also present was the ageless TV critic for The New York Daily News, Kay Gardella.<br />
Why would the legendary lady give me the time of the day?<br />
Well, she was having quite a time selling the rights to a Canadian network and figured a little publicity might help.<br />
Here are highlights of our conversation:<br />
BAWDEN: Doris, why have you jumped to a TV series after decades of movie stardom?<br />
DD: Why not? They just aren't making the kind of movies I'd want to star in these days.<br />
JB: I've heard that you turned down the choice role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1968)?<br />
DD: I've heard that story also but nobody ever approached me. I'm not sure I'd do it because Annie Bancroft was so tremendous. They might have asked my late husband Marty Melcher but he never told me.<br />
JB: How does it feel to be on theWarners lot again?<br />
Dd:Painful. All my old co-stars have departed. Ronnie Reagan is in politics these days. Others are in heaven.<br />
Describe your first day on the lot in 1948.<br />
DD: I'd been signed for one movie originally written for Mary Martin --Romance On The High Seas. I only got through it because my co-star Jack Carson helped me overstep of the way. I was so scared I'd never even go to the commissary without Jack. I remember I was in wardrobe one day and Joan Crawford looked me up and down as if to say Who Do You Think You Are.<br />
JB: But you made it.<br />
DD: Barely a few years later and Jack Warner was no longer signing long term deals. I barely made it and I think Virginia Mayo was the last unsigned --she lasted here until 1960.<br />
JB: Is it true you have ordered all the freckles on your TV photographs be erased?<br />
DD: Why not. I hate these freckles.<br />
JB: Doris I see over there a wet bar in your five-room dressing room. What gives?<br />
DD: I have a little nip from time to time. It was my late husband (Marty Melcher) who was the milk drinker.<br />
JB: Criticise today's movies.<br />
DD: It's girls showing their boobs and people screaming dirty words at each other. Is that entertainment. I think suggestion is sexier. When Rock Hudson and I made Pillow Talk (1960) that's all there was --suggestion. And moviegoers ate it up.<br />
JB: You have yet to win an Oscar.<br />
DD I'm in good company. After Love Me Or Leave Me (1955) premiered Louella Parson wrote a whole column about how I deserved an Oscar as Ruth Eating. But I was too Anna Magmnani beat me to the fifth nomination by a few votes. I did get nominated by Pillow Talk but comedies never win anyway.The actresses I most revere went Oscarless: Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy,. Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard. I'm in good company. .<br />
JB: But I did see you at the AFI Salute to Jimmy Cagney.<br />
DD: I'd go anything for that man. But I don't usually go to those things. They'll never give it to a singer anyhow. I didn't;t go for Jimmy Stewart or Alfred Hitchcock. I'd rather stay home and read a good book.<br />
JB: Will you ever sing live again --such as at a high class nitery?<br />
DD: Nope. I did that for years as a big band singer. I don't want to repeat myself although there have been some very big offers.<br />
JB: What's next after TV?<br />
DD: Nothing! I want to retire and look after my animals. I bought a small hotel in Pebble Peach where people can take their dogs and cats along with them. Cruelty tp amid,asls is rampant/ It's a disease.<br />
JB: How often do you sing these days?<br />
DD: In the shower every morning. The voice is still there I'm proud to report.<br />
JB: What's your latest movie offer?<br />
DD: It was for one of those horror things. But my aim is bad. If I ran around with a hatchet I might actually hurt somebody. I'm a singer so I can scream with the best of them. But why bother? I stopped doing murder mysteries after Midnight Lace --it made a bundle but I'd lie awake shuddering all night.<br />
JB: Will you ever sing again public?<br />
DD: I hope not. I sang for years with those big bands. We'd go by bus all night between stops. I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore.<br />
JB: Clint Eastwood says he sees you in the supermarket at Pebble Beach.<br />
DD: Now if he offered me a western I might think about it. I've never dopamine a western.<br />
JB: What co-stars do you keep in touch with?<br />
DD: I was talking to Lauren Bacall and Kirk Douglas last year. We're the three stars of Young Man With A Horn (1950) and we're all alive and still kicking. That is an accomplishment.<br />
JB" Favourite movie of yours?<br />
DD: On Moonlight Bay (1951) because I was a tomboy in it and I got to sing with the glorious Gordon McRae. And it was about a large family who struck by each other and I never had that in real life.<br />
JB: Why was the format of your TV series changed after the first year?<br />
DD: Because it wasn't working. I was a mom with two kids in the first year and my fans hated me in jeans. That's all gone, I'm m back in high society with lots of boyfriends my age.<br />
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<br />james bawdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13179197282035331435noreply@blogger.com0