Andy Warhol's 1970s/80s Journal Entries about Movies and Celebrities

Before the pandemic hit, I attended an exhibit of Andy Warhol's paintings at Chicago's art museum and it was really impressive; his paintings are often very simple but there was usually some deep meaning behind them. I followed up my trip by reading some of his books and one was a collection of his journal entries from the late 1970s and 1980s. I really dig collections like this because they are essentially autobiographies, and usually more personal and candid than a traditional autobiography which can be more formal and structured. 

The entries by Warhol gave me sense of his mind like I never knew.  He would write about going to church every Sunday. Or seeing mundane things like "saw a squirrel eating a nut" (8/20/79). Or who or what he saw at a party or a restaurant in New York. Or reminisces and brushes with movie star friends like Paulette Goddard. In some of the 1985 entries he wrote about his experience on the "Love Boat" tv show. And he even talked about meeting with Donald Trump and his wife who wanted him to do some art to be on display in one of his buildings. 

My favorite parts of the collection were any time he would reference or comment on a recent movie he had seen. 

I've included a few excepts/quotes as well as some of my own thoughts. It's funny - Andy Warhold would write in his diary in a very similar way that I blog....basically commenting on a few random things that stood out to him about a film or something. And I love how he philosophizes as well, such as "Life really does repeat itself. The old songs come back in a new way and the kids think they're new and the old people remember and it's a way of keeping people together I guess, a way of living". (8/2/78) I think he would have really used Twitter alot if were around back then. 

The following excepts come from the book The Andy Warhol Diaries, which is a printed collection of the artist's journal entries. The book is edited by Pat Hackett. 

Note: anything in red is written by me and not a quote from the book.

Jan 29, 1978 - There was a dinner for the New York Film Critics and celebrities were there. "Maximilian Schell was there and he'd gotten a supporting role award for Julia. I had  never met him before and I was disappointed that he was fat, but he was really sweet. He said that I did great things for him in Germany, that he'd seen Flesh and hated it and then gone back to see it again and again and loved it, and that he though, 'if this is a movie, then I can make a movie too.'

April 4, 1978 - a screening of Louis Malle's movie "Pretty Baby". "Interesting...strange....It was a cute idea for a movie, but nothing comes of it - like they had pickets picketing against the sin in New Orleans but nothing happened because of it."

May 30, 1978 - "I began watching The Valachi Papers on TV with Charles Bronson, and then I fell asleep, and then I woke up and ran to the window when I heard a voice say "Open Up, it's the narcotics squad" and then I realized it was on the TV".  

July 27, 1978 - Watched 20/20 and instead of saying, "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes" it was so funny to hear Hugh Downs say "As Andy Warhol once said, in fifteen minutes everyody will be famous". People on TV always get some part wrong. Like "In the future fifteen people will be famous"

Oct 12, 1978 - "I watched TV.... All Fall Down. When Brandon DeWilde kicks the picture of Warren Beatty and Angela Lansbury grabs it and holds it close - it's so good, you know? Who wrote the movie? Was it the one who committed suicide who was like Tennessee Williams? The one who wrote Picnic? Inge.

Nov 19, 1978 - "Went to the Coronet to a screening - The Deer Hunter was the new kind of movie - three hours of watching torture. It took place in Clairton, Pennsylvania, where all my cousins afe from, and in the movie they said was Russian-Polish, but that was just to make it more something, because it was really Czechoslovakian. It had John Savage, and lots of good looking kids".

"It starts off, it's three buddies drinking. For a whole hour it's the Polish Wedding, and they could have cut it, but it was fun. So real and so beautiful. It shows a new kind of people in the movies that haven't been shown before, so it's really good. Then they go shooting some deer, so you know that from there it's going to cut to Vietnam. In the end Chris Walken puts a gun to his head and shoots himself dead and Bobby DeNiro says "Oh Darling, I love you I love you" holding his bleeding head, something like that.  

Aug 2, 1979 - I started watching Brief Encounter and at first I thought it was really good but then I started thinking what a stupid story about a lady who would give herself a problem when she had a happy marriage, and it was just dumb and I hated it". 

Aug 17, 1979 - Went to Gulf  & Western building for a meeting with Paramount Pictures to do the poster artwork for their new movie Serial. I didn't realize it was such a big meeting. I was 15 minutes late and there were 20 people there.....the guy - his name was Cohen with a "K" - Kohen, he pointed out the window, he kept saying, "You've got to do a good job so I can keep the office". He saying, "I'll know it when I see it." He was so old fashioned.

Note: Warhol did not do the poster art for the movie.

Sept 16, 1979 - went to a party for the opening of Yanks movie. Met Richard Gere "(He) said ten years ago he came in on a bus from new Jersey and went to see our movie Bike Boy at the Village and he said from then on, he's been trying to be an actor". 

Jan 7, 1980 - went to see American Gigolo - "at the end of the movie there's a scene where a pimp is being thrown out off a balcony by Richard Gere and you see my three posters in the background - the Torsos. The scene is played against them"

May 26, 1980 - wrote about seeing The Empire Strikes Back. 

Aug 12, 1980 - wrote about meeting Sean Young..."she's in some James Ivory movie that's about to come out" (Jane Austen in Manhattan starring Anne Baxter in her last film). 

Oct 16, 1980 - he wrote that it was in the news that Mary Tyler Moore's son committed suicide. I didn't know that, that's sad. Andy mentioned the suicide in "Ordinary People" and wrote "everyone's going to hate her now because they will think that that's really her".

(I haven't seen that movie in long time so I'll need to check that out again.). A few months later, he met Mary for lunch and wrote about that too.

Oct 26, 1980. Andy wrote "I watched Sabrina on TV and William Holden and Audrey Hepburn looked so old. It seemed so old-fashioned talking about Long Island and the North Shore.....I watched Hooper on TV and my God, it was great. Just Burt Reynolds and his usual lines. He played a stunt man."

Nov 16 1980 - "watched Saturday Night Fever on TV and it was great"

January 13, 1981 - "watched Giant on TV from 1 - 5:30. It's so long. I even went to church in between and when I came back it was still on. James Dean's acting when he gets old is the worst thing. But they did a good thing - when he's drunk and talking into the microphone it's like a rock star...he's right on top of the microphone and it's just noises coming out and so it's abstract"...

Feb 22, 1981 - "Jerry Hall called...said that poor Mick (Jagger) has been down in Peru with the Herzog movie and it rains all day and he has to sleep on a wet mattress and Jason Robards was taken away with pneumonia to a hospital in NY" 

- Note: the movie they were talking about was Fitzcarraldo which came out in 1982 ....I haven't seen it. Both Jagger and Robards were re-cast.  

Later that day, Andy Warhol wrote that he went to a black-tie birthday affair (for lawyer Roy Cohn) with about 200 people. "Lots of heavies" he wrote, and noted that Donald Trump was there. That was interesting. Others he saw there were Gloria Swanson, Rupert Murdoch (TV mogul), Mark Goodson (TV mogul), and others.  Interesting how Trump has had TV connections going back 40 years; I think people forget all the media ties he has.  (in later journal entries, Andy writes about his meetings with Trump, but there was nothing too remarkable or unsurprising).

March 13, 1981 - Andy saw Jack Nicholson at a party...wrote..."I told Jack how great he was in Postman and that everybody thinks Jessica Lange is great".

April 14, 1981 - Worked until 5:30. Jon Gould invited me to a screening of Atlantic City that he was giving for his crowd. 

June 12, 1981 - "I watched Urban Cowboy and John Travolta just dances so beautifully. It was a really good movie

July 12, 1981 - "Saw a wonderful movie on TV - Coal Miner's Daughter, and I wish I taped it. Oh I wish I was married to a husband like that."

Aug 28, 1981 - "Paramount was having a screening of Mommie Dearest (cab $6).....it was absolutely great. Faye was really good. Really. Oh this movie affected me so much. Movies are really affecting me lately. What's happening to me?"

In January 1982, Andy wrote about meeting with Robert Towne, the screenwriter of Chinatown who was working on a new movie Personal Best, about to be released. Andy also wrote about going to see the play in NY Torch Song Trilogy (later would be a movie) and meeting with Harvey Firestein who created the play (and also acted in one of Warhol's plays years earlier).  

Jan 15, 1982 - he went to see the "new" Coppolla movie "One from the Heart" starring Frederic Forrest (who was in Apocalypse Now). I never saw One from the Heart. Andy wrote "was boring...stinkerroo..and Forrest is one of my favorite actors and he'd gained about 20 pounds for the role. It was pretty but looks aren't enough, it's not going to make it"

June 5, 1982 - "went to see My Dinner with Andre....I feel asleep....it was so boring. Hippie talk. I guess the kids are thinking this is intellectual because it tells about feelings". 

June 16, 1982 - He wrote about seeing "Grease 2" for the third time. He really liked that movie!

June 17, 1982. He wrote about seeing Blade Runner and wasn't sure what to make of it..."It's like Dick Powell playing Philip Marlowe. And if I ever saw this as a script, I wouldn't know what to think. And they say these lines seriously, it's all done like it's real problems". 

Sep 1982 - watched "Looking for Mr Goodbar....(Richard Gere) was so good in it....couldn't watch the ending because it was too crazy"

March 25, 1983 - "Decided to see The Outsiders which was just opening, and I loved it. It was like watching Lonesome Cowboys. You can't believe it - young boys with dyed hair reading poetry in the sunset. The Sal Mineo type. And then they're in this old church hiding and the boy says, "All I really want you to do is read Gone with the Wind out loud to me". And all the boys are so cute. And this schmaltzy music playing as if the boys are going to kiss. Things were all cut up so they didn't make sense. It was like seeing Bruce Weber photographs. Every boy was a raving beauty". 

May 15, 1983 - Went over to the Criterion to see Beathless (tickets $10). It's strange to see Richard Gere doing this. It\f it'd been somebody like Matt Dillon it would have been like a James Dean movie. It's that Satre way, the nothingness thing. You would think existentialism would be still modern, but it isn't. ....it's strange to see someone that age doing that, but maybe that'll bring back that kind of person...."

April 1, 1984 - "Decided to see The Ten Commandments (playing in a local theater)...And let me go on record: Cecil B DeMille is the worst director ever. We'd missed an hour but was still three hours to go and a half hour intermission. And all those actors were terrible. I mean Edward G Robinson, forget it. And forget Yvonne DeCarlo and Anne Baxter, too. Charlton Heston was okay, he was good-looking. The orgy scene was (laughs) people dropping grapes on each other - it sounds like an old Andy Warhol movie, right? And then they would lift their skirt two inches off the floor. That was it. That was the orgy. Edward G Robinson - you couldn't believe it."

Nov 12, 1984 - went to see Stranger Than Paradise...it's good"

Feb 1, 1985 - Andy went to see a film with his friend Tab Hunter - Lust in the Dust, a b-movie. "The movie was awful but I had to lie to Tab and say I loved it. He was literally trying to act. He tried to be Clint Eastwood when all he should have done was be Tab Hunter"

March 19, 1985 - he went to see Desperately Seeking Susan. "It's like those sixties movies but the opposite - the sixties movies had too much sixties and not enough story - and this has too much story and not enough eighties. It's boring"

July 22, 1985 - Went up to see Kiss of the Spider Woman...I liked the movie. And I guess people are wanting artsy movies now, or something. It's the right time. 

Aug 13, 1986 - went to see Stand By Me at the Coronet. These four little kids and there's the fat kid, and the brilliant kid, and the crazy kid."

Sep 29 1986 - saw Blue Velvet - "what a good movie, so weird and creepy. Alot of couples walked out. And Dennis Hopper was finally good."

Oct 8, 1986 - saw Color of Money "I slept through most of it. I just wasn't interested in pool, and nothing was explained". 

 

 

Judy (2019) and Factory Girl (2004)

I'm not sure how I feel about the movie "Judy". I read somewhere that Judy's family did not approve/endorse the film, and that Liza Minnelli never met Renee Zellweger and never gave her approval on the project.

Something about that seems unsettling to me...here we have the filmmakers devoting time and effort on a biographical film about a much-beloved celebrity, yet not even getting the approval of the family? Is it a movie critical of Judy -- or is it a celebration her life? What is the director aiming to do?

For example, the new movie "It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" - which features the character of Mr. Rogers - did get the approval of Rogers's family, and the director was upfront by aiming to make this a celebration of Rogers.

But with Judy, I wasn't sure what to expect. There are some darker moments depicted in the film - such as her dependency on drugs and personal difficulties with people - but I don't think the movie introduces anything new that hasn't been written about before.

Having seen the film, I see it as a celebration of her life, and a tribute to Judy, even though it only focuses on the last year of her life. A few flashbacks go back to the late 1930s when she was filming Wizard of Oz and some other MGM films, and the beginnings of her drug addiction.

But it's not really an all-encompassing life story. It would be interesting to see more of 1940s Judy during the MGM years, or 1950s Judy. Bobby Rivers recently wrote on his blog that the 2001 TV biopic was far superior, and was endorsed by the family.

Renee has been getting rave reviews for her performance  in "Judy"; her acting is good but it is obvious to me that she is doing an impression of the Judy from interviews she gave on tv in the 1960s. Renee gives the character grandiosity, no question about that; I did get a sense that she was the most popular person in the world, and also got the sense that she was a very troubled person, insecure. But overall it is a rather average film. I think it should have been called "Judy in London", because the entire film is set there during Judy's tour during 1968 and 69, and also focuses on her relationship with her third husband Mickey Deans.

The best parts of the movie in my opinion are these scenes with Mickey and the scenes where she befriends a gay couple and spends time with them in their home. It's interesting to watch because you never expect a mega-superstar to mingle with fans like that.

There's one scene where Judy visits her twenty-something daughter Liza at a party; it's interesting but totally unnecessary. There's really no need for it because we never see Liza again in the film and it feels thrown in there. There is a character who is an assistant to Judy in London (played by Jessie Buckley), and I wish her character was explored a bit more.  There are several scenes of singing and they are ok but I wish the film were a bit more compelling.

A much better film in my opinion is Factory Girl, which came out in 2006 but I only recently saw. Sienna Miller plays the artist Edie Sedwick who becomes famous simply by being associated with Andy Warhol in the 1960s. It's an great movie because both characters are explored while the focus remains on Edie's character. Like Judy Garland, Edie was troubled and addicted, but her fame was a different kind of fame, and the movie explores that. Afterwards, I wanted to find out more about the director and writer; the writer doesn't have too many other credits but the director was co-director on the Hearts of Darkness/Coppola documentary from 1991, which is really impressive. I read somewhere that he initially set out to do a Edie/Andy documentary but ended up doing a feature instead. Interestingly, in the end credits (and in the DVD's Special Features) are clips of interviews from people who knew Andy and Edie so this really give the movie an extra punch.

Bob Dylan is depicted as a character that is obviously based on him - but only the name is changed. (I read he was not a fan of this depiction).

Some of these personal details are dark and seemingly trashy or sleazy, however they are real-life details about celebrities that we can relate to and try to understand.  The director does an amazing job of recreating Andy's art studio in New York. The costumes, makeup, and camera work / cinematography are really good; each shot looks really well-positioned and carefully crafted.

The movie only focuses on Edie's years in New York, and not her last years when she was institutionalized, although that might make for an interesting film or story as well, because she eventually marries someone she meets there (per the epilogue).

I suppose perhaps that Edie's last year was not unlike Judy's in some ways.

Additional articles:

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/12/andy-warhol-and-edie-sedgwick-a-brief-white-hot-and-totally-doomed-romance

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/edie-sedgwick-the-life-and-death-of-the-sixties-star-431412.html

https://www.npr.org/2014/02/02/251651304/a-suburban-teen-saw-the-sparkle-of-edie-but-not-the-pain

New York Stories (1989)

This film came out in 1989, an anthology, composed of three short films (about 40 minutes each) from 3 directors.

Woody Allen has one of the films, called "Oedipus Wrecks". He plays himself, a single man who is dating Mia Farrow (who has 2 kids - one of them Kristen Dunst). He also has a mother who is always making disapproving comments, is overly critical, and generally overbearing. I have a relative with the same personality! There's a part where she comes over to his office and interrupts a business meeting. The old mother is played by Mae Questel who was the old senile lady in Christmas Vacation. She's really funny in this and should have been in more movies. I liked the short because it shows how Woody deals with her and learns to cope with her and accept her and I could relate to that.

I couldn't relate to the short film that Francis Ford Coppola directed. It's about a rich girl who lives in a hotel in New York. She has a famous musician dad (Giancarlo Gianni) and wants to see him reunite with her mom played by Talia Shire. There's also a new rich boy who comes from royalty from an unnamed country. The girl befriends him. There's also a robbery, and some funny moments with her butler played by Don Novello. He's the only down-to-earth character in this and funny; I don't know why he hasn't done more movies. Most critics don't like this short. It feels really choppy as if were three half-hour sitcom episodes cut to 40 minutes. His daughter Sophia Coppola co-wrote this, so there may be some personal/semi-autobiographical content in this, but I'm not sure. I know Francis' father was a professional flautist, so certainly there's a familial connection there.

In one scene, some of the characters take a stroll in New York's Central Park, and there's a cool shot of this awesome-looking bridge (see below). I'd love to see that bridge one day if I ever get a chance to visit New York:

Finally, Martin Scorsese's film Life Lessons is the first short, and it's pretty good. Scorsese only directed; he didn't write this film. Nick Nolte plays an artist in New York with a big studio apartment with lots of paint and canvases, and he has an apprentice/former lover (Rosanna Arquette) who lives there too. It's basically a simple story, and it's lighthearted and funny.  Nolte makes a good artist, I thought. Believable as he whips his paintbrush and oil paints on the canvas. He reminds me of a friend I had (who died last year) who was about the same age as Nolte's character in the film. We went to art galleries together and browsed and talked about the art. He even loved to paint on canvas (I have some of this paintings I want to keep) and inspired me to do more painting as well.

Agnes Varda short films

Agnes Varda was one of the great French filmmakers who emerged during the New Wave period, and continued making films until recently; her final was 2017's Faces/Places, which was nominated for an Oscar (I still haven't seen it yet but it's on my list). I recently attended a retrospective of her short films, noted below.

A Diary of a Pregnant Woman | L'Opéra-Mouffe (1958, 27 minutes)
This film, shot in black/white, was made when she was pregnant (hence the title); it's perhaps one of her most-personal shorts in the series. She films a couple - lovers - and scenes of  streetlife in a neighborhood in Paris called la Mouffe, with lots of interesting juxtapositions.

Along the Coast | Du Côté de la Côte (1958, 27 minutes)
This is a traveloge film (shot in color) showcasing the coast of Southern France. Lots of beach shots and shots of tourists and travelers, with narration throughout. A lovely musical score by Georges Delleurde. It's really cool to see this footage from the late 1950s, as well as plentiful scenes of Nice and Monte Carlo, where I visited in 2004 on a France trip.

Hello Cubans | Salut les Cubains (1963, 30 minutes)
Another traveloge, but this time it is in black-and-white, and using mostly photographs in B/W. Agnes took hundreds of photos which she compiled for this film. A narrator describes the history of Cuba and the events leading up to the revolution. She also took a number of quick-succession photographs and turned them into some cool-looking animations; one was of a rumba dancer. Really exceptional.

Elsa la Rose (1965, 20 minutes)
This is short documentary of an older couple, a man and a woman. The man is about 70 or so, and a poet.  His wife, also in her 70s, is also interviewed on camera and asked about how she feels about all of the many love poems he wrote to her over the years.

Uncle Yanko (1967, 22 minutes)
Agnes had an older Greek relative who emigrated to San Francisco and lived a bohemian life of an artist. This is her tribute to him. It's a pretty cool short film.  There's several scenes of him hanging out with some other artists and friends and eating and talking about art and music and politics. And lots of footage of his artwork. I was sad to learn that he passed away just a few years after this was made.

Black Panthers (1968, 28 minutes)
Made just one year after Uncle Yanko, Agnes again makes a short film set in the United States/California. This time in Oakland California, and focuses on The Black Panther protests during the imprisonment of Huey Newton, a founding member. Agnes interviews many of the Panther leaders including Stokely Carmichael and other people who are just tourists or passerbys who are interested in the protests. It's really a great documentary. It's amazing how she and a crew were able to interview Newton in jail for such a lengthy interview.

The Pleasure of Love in Iran | Plaisir D'amour en Iran  (1976, 6 minutes)
This lightly comedic short follows a young couple on a vacation. They relax on a courtyard bench admiring the colorful mosaics on the exterior of a mosque, and make some innocently irreverent comments about the architecture - how the domes look like breasts and the minarets look phallic. I like the part when the woman has a sudden burst of inspiration, and starts to write a poem on some toilet paper. It's a funny short, and feels like it could be one scene in a longer movie, which would be interesting.

Women Reply | Résponse des Femmes (1976, 9 minutes)
About a dozen women are brought together and filmed in short/quick segments talking about what it means to be a woman and how they feel about how women and women's bodies are portrayed in advertising and on television, and how they feel about men's perceptions in general. It's an amazing film, and so relevant for today. Made the year I was born. The baby in the film would be my age, too.

Ulysses  (1983, 22 minutes)
In 1954 Agnes took a photograph of two people on a beach standing near a dead goat corpse. It's a unique photo that she presented among her works of photography for many years. In 1982 she interviewed the man and boy in the photo and tried to see if they remembered it. They didn't. It's a really interesting and contemplative film. In a humorous touch, she films a real goat with a copy of the picture and the goat eats the photo.

I really enjoyed all of her films. I love how she always add a touch of humor in them.

Le Plaisir (1952) directed by Max Ophuls

Translated into English, "Le Plaisir" means "The Pleasure".

The film is a compilation of three short stories, and features a fine cast of French actors: Pierre Brasseur, Danielle Darrieux, Jean Servais, Simone Simon, and Jean Gabin.

According to the Criterion website, the film "pinpoints the cruel ironies and happy compromises of life with a charming and sophisticated breeziness."

Story 1: Le Masque (The Mask): Takes place in a dance hall. A rubber mask reveals an old man who loves to dance.

Story 2: Le Maison Tellier. (The Tellier House) A madame by the name of Tellier closes her brothel for the day and travels to the countryside with her workers for a Catholic mass. Meanwhile, a Jewish girl is touched by the serenity of the service.

Story 3:  Le Modele.(the model)  An artist meets Simon Simone in the Louvre and falls in love.

Fluid camerawork by cinematographers Philippe Agostini and Christian Matras.
Written by Guy de Maupassant. Directed by Max Ophuls.

The Line King: The Story of Al Hirschfeld (documentary, 1996)

An outstanding documentary about Mr. Hirschfeld (1903-2002), the famed artist best known for his caricatures of stage and screen celebrities for over 70 years. I am a huge fan of his work and watching this documentary (which was nominated for an Oscar) was a real treat.

The film features clips from numerous celebs sharing their best Hirschfeld memories, Hirschfeld interviews and home movies, and of course, hundreds of drawings he did through the years. But he didn't just do drawings, he painted and sculpted too

I learned that at age 18 or 19 years old, he worked for Selznick pictures, and did poster artwork and eventually took over the art department. He die many caricatures of movie stars during this period.

In 1926 he started sketching Broadway show for numerous New York newspapers, and did it for the rest of his life. He also did numerous TV Guide covers over the years.

Games (1967) starring Simone Signoret, James Caan, and Katherine Ross

Interesting trio of actors

It's a psychological thriller starring Simone Signoret, James Caan, and Katherine Ross. Any movie featuring those three actors really piques my interest. It's one of Caan's early roles. Prior to this movie he terrorized Olivia de Havilland in Lady in a Cage. 

Went to see a screening of this last week at the Music Box Theater, which showed it in 35 MM. The film opens with a neat credit sequence featuring an animated deck of cards. Caan and Ross play a wealthy married couple living in a 2-story New York townhome. The interior of the home is decorated with all kinds of art and arcade-type amusement games such as pinball machines. The couple play host to the kinds of parties that Andy Warhol might attend, and they amuse their guests with bizarre stunts and tricks.

I love this poster.
It seems to exclaim "SHOCKER!"

Character actor George Furth plays a hipster party guest with a 60's perm. He seems to be having a ball, while their housekeeper gleefully announces that she's leaving town on a three-week vacation. Whether or not she'll be back is anyone's guess. Then there is the grocery errand boy who has a crush on the lovely Katherine Ross. He pops in and out of the house at the most inconvenient of times.

Outshining every other performer is none other than the great Simone Signoret (Diabolique), who enters the young couple's lives one day, and soon, the "games" begin - mind games if you will. The kind that put those in Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf to shame. Real guns are used, and there's real danger. To her, pinball games are mere child's play.

There are some plot twists that are better left unsaid so as to not spoil anything. I was really surprised at the outcome of everything, and wasn't expecting what was going to happen. A few of my theater companions found the movie predictable, as did Roger Ebert in his review of the film.  But for the most part, the film had me in suspense. One scene involves a cat who had me thinking it might do something that may or may not happen. You'll have to see the movie to find out.

A mind-bending thriller that you will not soon forget. Directed by Curtis Harrington.

The Mill and the Cross getting good reviews

The Mill and the Cross :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

4 star review for The Mill and the Cross

This movie looks amazing! I can't wait to see it. Watch the trailer here.

Midnight In Paris (2011)

I've been looking forward to this new Woody Allen movie all year, and I finally saw it. Much of the film is just what I expected: part fantasy reminiscent of Purple Rose of Cairo (one of my favorite films) where Owen Wilson's character Gil - a writer on vacation with his girlfriend - meets some of the great artists and writers of the 1920s and earlier (in his dreams, of course). My favorite part was when he meets Toulouse Lautrec in a can-can and this is a really fun part.

In the film Gil makes a comment that Parisians are more sophisticated than Americans, and dreams of living there. He is also a nostalgia buff and idolizes artists of the past, which is a preoccupation that is criticized by other characters in the film.

At midnight each night, his dreams come true and is magically is transported back into time to Paris in the 1920s, and gets "advice" from the likes of Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. Gil's left wing political views aren't explored any further, even when he comes into contact with all of these artists who would have shared his political passions. One character makes a comment about Trotsky which made me want to see a scene with Trotsky and Gil (it doesn't happen but that would have been interesting!).

I always love it when a film brings together so many historical figures because it always makes me want to learn more about them. In the movie, we see short glimpses of Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and filmmaker Luis Bunuel, but they are very short and those people don't become supporting characters, which I was secretly hoping for. I'm not a Bunuel expert so I probably missed some of the inside jokes that Allen writes in here. Picasso shows up, and I wished there were more scenes with him. I'd even love to see Chagall at work. Oh well, now we're talking about my dream and not Gil's.

The movie met my expectations for the most part, and I pleasantly surprised to see so many shots of great Paris landmarks. I've been there and this brought back alot of great memories of my trip. Someone even mentions going on a trip to Mont St Michel. Wow - I've been there too and how fun it would have been to see that on the big screen. Has there ever been a movie filmed on Mont St Michel? I wonder.

But still, there is something missing from this film that I still have not been able to put my finger on. I don't consider this to be a masterpiece like I think Purple Rose is. I walked out of this movie longing to see John Huston's Moulin Rouge again. Now that's a great film.

Tony Curtis the blogger

This is my favorite photo of Tony, with some of his most colorful paintings.

Not only was he a talented painter, Tony was also a blogger. In the past year he had some great posts and pics on his trips to Mexico, Atlanta, and Chicago. I just love the posts where he would say, "Been a while since I posted! Sorry!".

Visit The Tony Curtis blog sometime if you haven't seen it; there are links to more photos of his fine art. (http://tonycurtisonline.blogspot.com)

Also, there are some updates on the memorial service.

Norman Corwin turns 100 years old today

Today, May 3, American writer, journalist, screenwriter, producer, and essayist Norman Corwin celebrates a milestone birthday: 100 years young!

He began his radio career as a local commentator. He moved to New York City in 1938 and produced Norman Corwin’s Words Without Music for CBS. Two of Corwin’s masterworks, “The Plot to Overthrow Christmas” and “They Fly Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease,” debuted on this series.

In 1941, CBS’ Columbia Workshop gave Corwin a 26-week radio series; he responded with stories ranging from the whimsical to the darkly serious to the inspirational. A similar approach was taken on 1944’s Columbia Presents Corwin.

In December of 1941, Corwin wrote and produced We Hold These Truths, an all-star celebration of the Bill of Rights’ 150th anniversary. This landmark program aired over all four networks simultaneously.

Corwin created the special V-E Day broadcast On a Note of Triumph, which Carl Sandburg called “one of the all-time great American poems.”

Listen to "On A Note of Triumph" - the entire broadcast - from NPR (1 hour long) (opens in a new window; Flash player needed)

It's absolutely fascinating!

Three months later, he wrote 14 August, a V-J Day documentary narrated by Orson Welles.

Corwin wrote and produced over 100 programs during the golden age of radio. Notable programs include:

The Plot to Overthrow Christmas - December 25, 1938
They Fly through the Air with the Greatest of Ease - February 19, 1939
Spoon River Anthology - March, 1939
Descent of the Gods - August 3, 1940
Mary and the Fairy - August 31, 1940
Psalm for a Dark Year - November 9, 1940
We Hold These Truths - December 15, 1941
America at War (series) - February 14, 1942
The Lonesome Train - March 21, 1944
Untitled - May 30, 1944
Home For the 4th - July 4, 1944
El Capitan and the Corporal - July 25, 1944


On a Note of Triumph - May 8, 1945
The Undecided Molecule - July 17, 1945
14 August - August 14, 1945
God and Uranium - August 19, 1945
Hollywood Fights Back - October 26, 1947
Could Be - September 8, 1949
Document A/777 - March 26, 1950

---

He also wrote screenplays for motion pictures, and was nominated for an Oscar in 1956 for the words he gave to Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn in "Lust for Life" about the life of Vincent Van Gough.



Filmography:

1967 "Sametka" (story)
1962 "Madison Avenue (writer)
1960 "The Story of Ruth" (writer)
1958 "The Naked Maja" (writer)
1956 "Lust for Life" (screenplay - Nominated for Oscar)
1956 "No Place to Hide" (screenplay)
1953 "Scandal at Scourie" (writer)
1951 "The Blue Veil" (wrter)

---

In the early 1970s Corwin produced and hosted the television show Norman Corwin Presents.

In 1979 he hosted Academy Leaders, a weekly showcase for short animated films, such as those produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

Corwin wrote several books, which include Trivializing America; plus many essays, letters, articles and plays.

---

In recent years, National Public Radio has aired several new Corwin plays under the title More By Corwin. These included:

Our Lady Of The Freedoms, And Some Of Her Friends - A play about the Statue of Liberty.

No Love Lost - A lively debate about the nature of democracy in America, in the form of an imaginary dialogue between Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr; the work is based on their writings. This play featured Lloyd Bridges, Jack Lemmon, Martin Landau and Corwin's friend William Shatner. Shatner appeared in a number of Corwin productions.

The Writer With The Lame Left Hand - Based on the life story of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. This production featured Ed Asner, Charles Durning, Samantha Eggar and William Shatner.

The Curse Of 589 is a comedy about a physicist (William Shatner) who comes across an honest-to-goodness real life fairy, with a working magic wand.

The Secretariat - A play on the meaning of prayer. This production featured Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Phil Proctor, and William Shatner.

50 Years after 14 August - A reflection on the end of World War II. Co-produced with Dan Gediman.

---

A 40 minute long documentary was produced about him in 2005. Partipants in the documentary included Robert Altman and Walter Cronkite. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. (It lost)

These days he keeps busy as a writer in residence at the Journalism School at USC. He writes articles for various publications, and is active in various organizations in and around the Los Angeles area.

Last year someone wrote on Huffington Post that Norman should have a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to Radio. Read the Post Here. I wholeheartedly support that idea, as his work is legendary.

We wish Norman all the best on his 100th birthday today!

Sources:
Biography from the Radio Hall of Fame
Norman Corwin Official Website (http://normancorwin.com)
Wikipedia entry: Norman Corwin