Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

“`While there are alcoholic beverages available at California Adventure or Downtown Disney, many guests would like a glass of wine or a beer when sitting down to a warm meal at the Blue Bayou. And that is what will be new on the menu when the popular restaurant reopens.

“`Guests will only be able to order from a limited selection of beer, wine, and a signature cocktail. All beverages must be consumed within the establishment and will be limited to a maximum of two adult drinks, per guest.

“`Blue Bayou is not expected to reopen on April 30th with the rest of the park. New guidelines do allow for indoor dining in theme parks, but Disney is simply not ready yet. So, this location will wait. One thing is for sure… they have been working on their menus.

“`Let me raise a glass and offer a toast to the Blue Bayou at New Orleans Square.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`The SAG Awards are this weekend, and I have officially voted for my favorite nominees in the fields of film and television. As a voting member, I evaluate each nominee in the specific categories. Join Art Kirsch, John Coleman and me to discuss my cinematic cast selections on Celebrating Act 2:

“`Enjoy!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`Be part of a a free webinar from the Cypress Chamber of Commerce called Getting Your Message Out: Tips on Marketing and Promoting Your Business by using press releases, media outlets, and social media with a fine panel of experts. I am thrilled to be one of the panelists.

Manny P. here…

“`Larry McMurtry was the popular scribe of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove. His tales resonated on the big screen as The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and Brokeback Mountain will attest. He earned an Academy Award for his latter work. In fact, flicks adapted from McMurtry’s works have earned thirty-four  Oscar nominations

“`McMurtry was born into a family of ranchers. He penned his initial novel, Horseman Pass By, at the age of twenty-five in 1961. It was made into the movie Hud starring Paul Newman that came out two years later. Productions that found its way on the big screen and on television include  Texasville, Falling From Grace, The Evening Star, The Murder of Mary Phagan, and Streets of Laredo.

“`During the 1960–1961 academic year, McMurtry was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University’s Creative Writing Center,  studying the craft of fiction under Frank O’Connor and Malcolm Cowley, alongside other aspiring novelists, including Ken Kesey, Peter S. Beagle, and Gurney Norman. McMurtry remained lifelong pals with Kesey and eventually wed his widow.

“`McMurtry was a rare-book aficianado. During his years in Houston, he managed a book store called The Bookman. In 1969, he moved to the Washington, D.C. area. A year later, with two partners, he started a book shop in Georgetown, calling it  Booked Up. He eventually opened another Booked Up in Archer City. It became one of the largest used bookstores in the United States. As sales of books became less popular, he downsized his inventory and properties.

“`Larry McMurtry was eighty-four.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`Jessica Walter had a storied career as an actress. She was well known as a murderous stalker in Play Misty For Me. The performance earned her a Golden Globes nod. On television, she was a familiar face for over forty years. She was wed to actor Ron Leibman until his death in 2019.

“`Walter studied acting at Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City.  Her father was was a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra and NYC Ballet Orchestra. She began acting on stage and won the Clarence Derwent Award for Outstanding Debut Broadway Performance in Photo Finish. Besides Play Misty For Me, she was notably cast in Grand Prix.               JESSICA WALTER –>

“`Walter excelled in television. She was in the first episode of Flipper and guest-starred in Naked City, Ben Casey, Route 66, The Fugitive, The F. B. I., Mannix, The Magician, Trapper John M. D., Mission:  Impossible, The Name of the Game, Alias Smith and Jones, Cannon, Banacek, Barnaby Jones, Columbo, Hawaii 5-0, McCloud, Ironside, Magnum P. I.,  The Streets of San Francisco, Murder She Wrote, Three’s a Crowd, Law & Order, Knott’s Landing, and eighty-two episodes of Arrested Development.

“`Jessica Walter was eighty.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`George Segal was the banjo player-turned-thespian who received an Oscar nomination for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  His face was familiar in iconic motion pictures churned out in the 1960s and 1970s.

“`Segal initially became interested in acting at the age of nine, when he saw Alan Ladd in This Gun for Hire. After college and the army, Segal eventually studied at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen, and became the understudy in a Broadway production of The Iceman Cometh.

“`He was signed to a Columbia Pictures contract in 1961, making his movie debut in The Young Doctors. What followed was appearances in a number of film productions, including The Longest Day, Invitation to a Gunfighter, Ship of Fools, No Way to Treat a Lady, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, The Hot Rock, A Touch of Class, Where’s Poppa?, The Bridge at Remagen, King Rat, The Owl and the Pussycat, The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, Fun with Dick and Jane, and Blume in Love.

“`On the small screen, Segal was a series regular in Take Five, Murphy’s Law, Just Shoot Me!, Retired at 35, and most notably, The Goldbergs. He also guest-starred in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Naked City, Murder She Wrote, The Larry Sanders Show, Caroline in the City, Boston Legal, and The Simpsons. In 1976, Segal co-hosted the Academy Awards along with Gene Kelly, Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau, and Robert Shaw.

“`Segal was also an accomplished banjo player. He released three albums and also performed with the instrument in several of his acting roles and on late-night television.

“`George Segal (above right) was eighty-seven.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`Mad Magazine cartoonist Al Jaffe is celebrating a century of life. He is known for work in the satiric periodical, including a trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in. He had been a constant contributor to the magazine for six decades and he was its longest-serving employee. With a career running from 1942 – 2020, Jaffee holds the Guinness World Record for having the longest-ever career as a cartoonist. In the fifty years between April 1964 and April 2013, only one issue of Mad was published without containing new material by Jaffee. —–>

“`Jaffee initially appeared in Mad in 1955, an issue after its transformation from a comic book format to magazine. In issue #86, He created his longest-running Mad feature, the Fold-In. It appeared in almost every issue of the magazine from 1964 – 2020.  A four-volume hardcover boxed set,  The Mad Fold-In Collection:  1964 – 2010, was published by  Chronicle Books in September 2011.

Courtesy of MAD MAGAZINE

“`Jaffee announced in June 2020 that he would retire. In his honor, Mad published a tribute issue. The cartoonist takes it all in stride, noting: Serious people my age are dead.

“`Happy birthday to the remarkable Al Jaffee!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`Yaphet Kotto was an actor who thrived in cinema, television and on Broadway. He was best known for his roles in Midnight Run, as the James Bond villain Mr. Big in Live and Let Die, and in the original Alien flick.

YAPHET KOTTO

“`While in his teens, Kotto was studying acting at the Actors Mobile Theater Studio. He made his stage debut in a Boston production of Othello.  In 1969, he replaced James Earl Jones in the Pulitzer-winning The Great White Hope on Broadway.

“`Kotto’s film debut was in 1963 in an uncredited role in 4 For Texas. Other parts included The Thomas Crowne Affair, 5 Card Stud, Brubaker, The Running Man, and The Star Chamber. On television, he guest-starred on The Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Night Gallery, Mannix, Bonanza, Hawaii 5-0, The A-Team, and Murder She Wrote.  He co-starred in Roots, and won a Best Supporting Actor Emmy as Idi Amin Dada in Raid on Entebbe.

“`Yaphet Kotto was eighty-one.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`The screen pairing of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara was legendary. Art Kirsch and John Coleman have asked me to discuss their staying power on Celebrating Act 2.

“`Enjoy!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`For over one hundred years, Leo the Lion introduced  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films with a triumphant roar as the studio’s mascot. However, MGM has just revealed their first update to its branding since 2012, with footage of a live lion replaced with a digital double.

“`The feline roaring in the current MGM logo has actually had that job since 1957, a total of sixty-four years, which is about forty-nine years longer than the average lion’s lifespan. And before the 1957 version,  there were seven other different lions that played the part of Leo. Occasionally swapping in a new lion has not been a big issue for MGM. But the footage from 1957 is starting to show its age. To future-proof Leo, he has been replaced with a CG lion.

“`The new animated logo was originally going to be introduced in the most recent James Bond flick, No Time to Die.  Since its release has been pushed back several times as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual Leo will instead make his debut with Dog, a comedy set for release in July, and Respect, an Aretha Franklin biopic that will be available in August.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`Art Kirsch and John Coleman have asked me to discuss rule changes that affect voting for motion pictures to select the best for the upcoming Oscar ceremony on Celebrating Act 2.

“`Enjoy!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`The Pasadena Civic Ballet is presenting L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse. And this performance can be seen from your vehicle.  Guest artists include Petra Conti and Eris Nezha, former principal dancers of La Scala and Boston Ballet.

“`This is not the initial drive-in ballet from the company, which staged an outdoor version of The Nutcracker before the 2020 holidays. The drive-in experience have dominated cultural calendars over the last year or so, but finding a live ballet has been a far rarer thing.

“`Included in the package:  Picnic in Oz munchin’ box catered by San Marino Cafe for each ticketed passenger; distributed at the vehicle entrance. Feast on picnic favorites like chicken, mac and cheese, and Over the Rainbow fruit kebobs.  Enjoy a bucket of Emerald City cotton candy. That perfect air of savoir fair in the merry ole land of Oz.

“`The performances are March 12th, 13th, and 14th. As expected, tickets are first vehicle – first serve. For ticket pricing and purchase, please visit:  https://www.pcballet.com/wizard.

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“`Joan Weldon was an actress,  best known as the scientist daughter to Edmund Gwenn in Them!. Her career began in the San Francisco Grand Opera Company chorus and also sang with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. Weldon performed at an opening of the New York State Theater at the Lincoln Center in 1964. Contracted by Warner Brothers, she had a brief film career. On television, she appeared in Perry Mason, Maverick, and Have Gun – Will Travel.

“`Joan Weldon (right) was ninety.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`My love of silent films began when I was a child. A popular documentary series took a loving look at early comedies and the filmmaker’s name was Robert Youngson. John Coleman and Art Kirsch help me offer a conversational retrospective on Celebrating Act 2.

“`Enjoy!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

“`This is the annual presentation of my SAG Awards Ballot, highlighting personal selections for movie-related performances in 2020. In my humble estimation, this was a weird year for cinematic productions since theaters remain shut down. Everything I watched was streamed. Here are my selections:

  OUTSTANDING MALE:  Chadwick Boseman  (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

A great selection of candidates, though Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods and Tahar Rahim in The Mauritanian were snubbed. My choice for Chadwick Boseman is not made out of respect for his untimely passing. In my estimation, his gives the finest performance in any category this season. Anthony Hopkins (The Father) and Gary Oldman (Mank) are worthy rivals. Hopkins contends with real and imagined settings, making his efforts all the more superlative. Steven Yeun (Minari) gives a fine understated performance. Riz Ahmed is receiving critical attention for Sound of Metal, but I am not buying the hype.

  OUTSTANDING FEMALE:  Frances McDormand  (Nomadland)

Viola Davis as Ma Rainey is the clear front-runner. Honestly, Davis never gives a bad effort. In this case, she is actually overshadowed by Boseman’s performance. For me, it comes down to Frances McDormand’s reflective journey and Vanessa Kirby undergoing a difficult child-birth in Pieces of a Woman. It is a tough choice.  McDormand is truly the greatest American actress of this generation and roles are clearly tailored for her. Carey Mulligan is effortlessly wicked in Promising Young Woman. Amy Adams rounds out the field with an angry one-note recital. Andra Day was snubbed for her impressive turn in The United States vs. Billie Holiday.

  OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING MALE:  Leslie Odom Jr.  (One Night in Miami)

Manny P. here…

“`There is a robust debate on what defines the greatest motion pictures during Hollywood’s Golden Age. John Coleman, Art Kirsch and I enter the fray with our opinions on the subject. My personal selection… find out by watching!

“`Enjoy!

Until next time>                               “never forget”