AN SNL REVIEW: S6-EP.5 - David Carradine/Cast of The Pirates of Penzance

 They may not have been doing these live episodes for too long, but I think this group needed a break.

Thanks to all of the hoopla with the 1980 election starting the season super late, the Doumanian team are only on their 5th episode as they approach the 1980 holiday break.

Behind-the-scenes tensions are the theme-du-jour and the network is now starting to interfere more than they ever had before with the show. 

Doumanian placed a lot of the blame solely on the writers and felt that they were the reason that the show was floundering...and she seemed completely in denial about any of her shortcomings in the role.

Sure, the writing wasn't consistent by any means but so far, these 5 episodes do have solid moments amongst the disasters. We also see good concepts that aren't developed to their best potential...and that truly has to fall back onto Doumanian for not having the proper wherewithal to allow someone to oversee the writing.

Technically, Doumanian DID have a headwriter on staff. I did mention in the prologue post that the prolific Mason Williams had been hired but Doumanian seemed almost too weary to allow him any kind of creative control.

This would prove to be his last episode as he finally succumbed to the drama.

And truthfully, this episode is not really a success by any means. It also sets the tone for some strange dynamics going into the shows of Winter 1981.

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COLD OPEN: Piscopo Does Pardo

As of this episode, we've only really seen Piscopo do an impersonation of Jimmy Carter (which was okay) and Jim Fowler of Wild Kingdom (which was at least better than Rocket's Marlin Perkins) but here, I feel like we get a real taste of his talent.

Piscopo is, without a doubt, one of the more infamous SNL players as it seemed as though he was on top of the world, and then he lost it all. Out of morbid curiosity, I will tune into his radio show as I do live in NYC and while he is still very charismatic, he's also a right-wing lunatic. So much of Piscopo's career is known for his brief highs on SNL that got overshadowed by Eddie Murphy and then his career just never truly took off. 

I do feel like Piscopo's impersonations were often solid at least, but he had many misfires (such as his take on Johnny Carson's Art Fern) and some successes (Frank Sinatra and David Letterman).

I think his biggest issue is that his own vocal timbre would bleed into some of his impersonations, which is sort of what happens here when he attempts to do his take on the show's long-time legendary announcer Don Pardo.

Piscopo's goal is to do the impression so he can find a way to make an extra paycheck, until Pardo chimes in from above ("I'm EEEVERYWHEREEEE JOOOOEEEE!") to put a stop to it. 

That's followed by a silence and an awkward "Live From New York" shoe-horn.

It is fine for what it is...not to mention super quick.

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MONTAGE

&

MONOLOGUE:

I can't say that I have much of an opinion about David Carradine. As evidenced by how frequently it will be mentioned in this episode, Carradine was linked to the TV show Kung Fu.

To add to the obscurity, Kung Fu had already been off the air for 5 years at that point...and I have not seen a single episode of it. My knowledge of Carradine pretty much solely resides on his performance in Kill Bill and his death not long after that film. I have to admit that I usually pride myself on having a relatively decent amount of knowledge about a host's career so it is always a bit jarring and fascinating when I go into watch their hosting gig mostly blind to how they may come off.

Here - Carradine is clearly drunk/stoned out of his mind.

And perhaps in one of the more entertaining monologues of the season, he calls out the horrible writing handed to him twice.

"Well, that didn't work" soon followed by "Just reading the cue cards - that's all!".

Perhaps the interesting shift to this is that he decides he wants to perform a song-and-dance number only for Charles Rocket to intervene. His claim is that this is SNL and that it is a show meant for comedy and not for musical numbers such as this.

The irony of Charles Rocket of all people telling Carradine this after we've sat through painful silences during Weekend Update and cocky misguided character work...but you do have to wonder how the audience truly felt about Rocket at this point. 

When Carradine forcibly kicks Rocket off the stage mid-dance routine, the audience actually cheers.

It does make me feel like the 1980 audience recognized the slimy copycat nature of Rocket's work.

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COMMERCIAL: Gun City

Piscopo gets to tackle a Crazy Eddie style of commercial parody here, and he does VERY well with it. However, the idea of a "Gun City" store where you can come by all of the guns you need does play as a bit rough in today's political climate.

The comment about how you could be compared to the "meanest brotha in the Bronx" certainly got a lot of love from the audience.

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SKETCH: Kung Fu at a clothing store

Sigh...sadly this is the beginning of a runner. 

Like I mentioned earlier, Carradine was most known for his work on the show Kung Fu which had already been off the air for 5 years at that point.

And yet, this episode is about to devote THREE sketches to it...and none of them are really that successful.

With this runner, we also get Gilbert Gottfried in yellowface playing Master Po (a role that had been played by the legendary actor Keye Luke)...and it will be the only role he plays all night.

This sets Gottfried on a spiral where his sullen nature turns him into more of a catatonic presence...and understandably so. Also, I have mentioned it yet but let us not forget that David Carradine is a white man who played a Chinese monk on that show.

Even in the 1970s, the casting was considered controversial. George Takei, along with the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists, filed a formal complaint against the show for "performing unfair hiring practices".

Eddie Murphy gets to play a store clerk who is dressed exactly like his Velvet Jones, although he doesn't use the same voice. It has been said that Murphy actually developed Jones during this season but that some objected that the character was racially insensitive....

I mean... okay... I suppose that is admirable and I can see why they may think that, but do they see what else they are putting on during this season?!

At any rate, this sketch is mostly a dud so let's move on.

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SKETCH: Vickie & Debbie at the Mall

5 episodes in and we are now on our 3rd Vickie sketch. 

We've had some recurring characters pop up already, but I think now would be a good time to discuss the concept of how often you should do a recurring character.

There is a sense of wanting to establish favorites, especially when you're so desperate to try to keep the show relevant so I can see why they may have felt eager to latch onto any characters that may have felt like they garnered a solid audience response.

I do enjoy the interactions between Matthius and Dillon because they certainly developed a close friendship behind the scenes that still continues to this day.

This installment works as a nice sweet character piece, though isn't necessarily funny.

It does seem to really establish more of the "catchphrases" for Vicki like "bored to the max" or, perhaps my favorite: "bite the bag".

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FILM: The Rocket Report

Despite the many qualms that one might have with Charles Rocket, I feel like he gets his glimmering moments when doing these Rocket Reports.

I suppose I appreciate the fact that he tried to keep it fresh by changing up the routine a little with this one, but the actual result is that it falls a little flat.

The previous iterations relied a lot on his interactions with the general public, but here, he focuses on the subject of Santa Claus but putting him in more of a Lost Weekend, Night of the Meek setting where we watch a drunken Santa roam the city (played by Rocket as well).

Some later iterations of the Rocket Report will stray from public interactions but they find ways to make it work a little better. Here, I just found it a tad boring.

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SKETCH: Guthrie & Dylan

This is my favorite sketch of the night and is often considered one of the best highlights of this infamous season. I would definitely rank it pretty high on that list, for sure.

Carradine gives his best performance of the night as Woody Guthrie, who is in the hospital getting visited by Bob Dylan, played by featured player Patrick Weathers.

Weathers doesn't get much of a chance to shine this season (sort of the same as other featured players like Matthew Laurence and Yvonne Hudson...Eddie Murphy was the only one who overcame it), but this is easily his biggest and best moment (aside from a more offensive moment of him in brownface which we will see in the Robert Hays episode). 

Weathers' Dylan is first-rate and even Carradine does a very solid Guthrie, whose vocal style was sort of reminiscent to what Dylan would become synonymous with.

This is made apparent when Dylan begins singing: "Hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song" only for Guthrie to tell him to sing more like "HEY, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a SONG!" 

I do also love how Dylan's guitar has a sticker that says "This machine kills fascists too".

It is pretty quick and to the point, and it feels like a breath of fresh air in tonight's episode...and just for a lot of the sketches from this season in general.

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COMMERICAL: The Home Version of DALLAS

This sketch starts off very intense with the yelling and the slapping that occurs between Piscopo, Matthius, and Dillon and for a quick moment, you think you are in for a really brash sketch that is going for shock value.

Thankfully, it veers off into a solid direction where Rocket plays a pitchman who is serving up a home game version of Dallas, the iconic primetime soap opera. 

The idea of taking family dysfunction and sprucing it up with hats and wigs a la Dallas does amuse me...not gonna lie.

We cut back to the same scene with Piscopo now acting as J.R. and Matthius as Sue Ellen (complete with cowboy hat and also a wig similar to Linda Gray's hairstyle from that time).

My favorite visual, however, is when Denny Dillon enters as Lucy (Charlene Tilton) wearing a obnoxiously long blonde wig that she gets tangled up in when Matthius slaps her again.

A fun piece and it doesn't outstay its welcome.

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SHORT FILM: Mr. Bill's Christmas Special

The Mr. Bill shorts, which were a staple of the original era, are certainly fascinating when you view them standalone.

I had the Best of Mr. Bill VHS tape as a kid and I noticed how as they progressed, the stories of the shorts became serialized...though they eventually descended into madness with Mr. Bill going to jail and, as shown here, he becomes homeless with Miss Sally and Spot. 

This short was originally going to be shown during the Christmas episode hosted by Ted Knight the year prior, but got cut...and honestly, despite a certain charm seeing the character again, something felt a little off with this one.

I do suppose the sleigh ride down the rocky cliffside is the most memorable highlight.

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SKETCH: KUNG FU CHRISTMAS

The second of three Kung Fu sketches tonight...and once again, I am not fond of any of them but this one manages to get the best moment.

They end up casting Eddie Murphy as Bruce Lee which leads to the line:

"Bruce Lee is back (Eddie Murphy jumps onscreen), only this time, HE'S BLACK!"

A nice comedic moment and it is delivered well...but it goes nowhere after that. Plus, we still get Gottfried in Yellowface yet again.

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A HOLIDAY WEEKEND UPDATE FOR US TO CHERISH...HOPE YOU ENJOY THE LARD! (I promise that will make more sense in a moment)

This is, thankfully, not a super long update segment but Rocket is still sort of sitting in that weird smarmy zone and given truly weak comic material.

Joe Piscopo gets his 4th Update commentary in a row as the sportscaster and seems firmly entrenched as an audience favorite...not to mention, he is very close to have finally developed the voice this character is synonymous for. 

Although, if this Update segment should be seen for anything, it is the commentary done by Ann Risley.

Considering this is her 5th episode on the show, I suppose it might sense for a new cast member to have some trouble finding their bearings...but as I have stated, I am not sure Ann Risley was suited to sketch comedy.

While she managed to get a couple of showcases in the Burstyn episode along with a truly miscast one in the Curtis episode, this time she is handed a poorly written absurd commentary that repeatedly recommends that the best gift you can give to your loved ones is lard wrapped in a plastic bag.

I have to admit...it is almost so bad that it is good. It is such a bizarre concept that I could see it possibly working with a couple of rewrites but Risley was CLEARLY the wrong person to try to put this over.

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MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: A Medley from The Pirates of Penzance

Maybe I am biased being someone who did a lot of musical theatre and loves the theatre in general, but I think it is actually a shame that SNL has never tried booking a musical again.

Even if they kept it to more of the "pop-friendly" selections, they could've had Ben Platt on to sing a number from Dear Evan Hansen...I am not saying I would've wanted that personally, of course ;-)

This was the centennial production of The Pirates of Penzance that was famously produced by the legendary impresario Joseph Papp, the man behind The Public Theatre and Shakespeare in the Park.

My experience with this particular production is only through filmed bits and the cast recording, but it is obvious to see why it caused such a craze at the time. Not to mention, a great cast that included George Rose, Rex Smith, and also Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline.

A truly infectious medley...and it works well at this portion of the show too.

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SKETCH: HARLEM HEROIN 

This sketch is a doozy, and has become a bit of a talking point in recent years amongst SNL fans as more and more people watch these episodes.

 While this sketch does fall under the whole "shock value" humor we have seen a lot so far from this season, I actually think this sketch is telling an interesting story about drug use and how white people were just as into it...if not more so...than what racial profiling and stereotyping might suggest.

Rocket, Risley, Matthius, and Piscopo all play waspy white Park Ave residents who have come uptown to score some primo heroin...which Matthius' character deems is as cool and in as sushi. 

Move over, cocaine! Heroin is here as the new hot drug!

Although one line from this sketch really hits hard these days:

"You're probably the kind of guy who worries about dirty needles!"

Keep in mind, this aired in December 1980. Less than a year later, AIDS will get its first mention on the news.

Aside from that very prescient line that was far more prescient than the writers intended, it is the sketch's twist/ending that really sells it.

Murphy plays the drug dealer but is then revealed to be an undercover cop. As he arrests the group, he proclaims how he is tired of white people coming to Harlem and giving it a bad name.

"You all should've stayed on Park Ave where you belong!" 

A very fascinating snapshot of a city on the cusp of drastic change.

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SHORT FILM: The Virgin Search

This was the third bit that Doumanian had fought with the censors over for the Burstyn episode, but she managed to win the day.

As a concept, it is certainly a bit crude, but what makes it work is that it becomes a great character showcase for Gail Matthius.

Bascially, NBC lays down an ultimatum: They need to hire a girl and she HAS to be a virgin.

All the girls are played by Matthius.

First we have a small town cheerleader who ends up not being a virgin but then it descends fast as they end up in Paris and talk to young Parisian schoolgirl. She's not a virgin because she was a conquest of Roman Polanski (a joke the audience LOVED by the way).

Then we get to the moment that the censors hated (because they were okay with pedophilia seemingly) where they ask a nun but it turns out she had sex with Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello's well known character he did on SNL in the 70s).

The ending segment is what makes it. When the trio of NBC execs are so dejected, they drown their sorrows in a bar only to come across a bizarre New Wave girl who admits she is a virgin because she's "SAVING MYSELF FOR CARL SAGAN!".

And this girl is revealed to be Gail Matthius and the "true story" as to how she became a new cast member. So yes, a crude topic but I do love what Matthius does here and the ending twist is a lot of fun.

Plus, just the fact she is saving herself for Carl Sagan is funny in of itself.

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COMMERCIAL: DOPENHAGEN and HAPPY DAZE

Ugh...for the love of...

In this bit, you can REALLY tell how under the influence Carradine really is...and while that sort of ties into the whole theme, Carradine struggles with this and flubs his lines.

And it isn't even like the material rises above just basic cheap drug humor anyway.

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SKETCH: The Death of Col. Sanders

A topical sketch for its time, this one aired shortly after the death of the iconic founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Col. Harland Sanders. 

We get an interesting pairing of Carradine, Murphy, and Dillon here as three people mourning his loss while eating from buckets of KFC.

A decent sketch, and I think the more bumbling energy from Carradine works better here in solemn mode. Plus, he has Murphy and Dillon there to balance him out.

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SHORT FILM: The Dancing Man by Mitchell Kriegman

The great Bill Irwin!!!!

I have always been a fan of Irwin because not only is he great at being a physical comedy/mime work (on top of being a clown), but he is a stellar dramatic actor too. I still marvel at seeing his Tony Award winning role as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

 Here, we get to see him in mime mode...but more fun than what you might expect.

We watch him just go about his morning routine but the moment he hears "Shake Your Groove Thing", he basically has to...well...shake his groove thing.

His manic dancing is hilarious, especially when it occurs as he is pouring orange juice or trying to walk down the stairs.

Sadly, this will be the last segment of Kriegman's on the show as he would get fired over the holiday break. I feel like his comic sensibilities, while not always hilarious, were a nice feel in what would often be very brash episodes.

It also doesn't hurt that he had Bill Irwin to work with here.

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SKETCH: Kung Fu Weflare Counseling

Why they felt the need to keep draining from the Kung Fu well baffles me...because I think they could've come up with something better...even if the quality output this season has been rather questionable at times.

Having Carradine's character along with Yvonne Hudson get told that they should take up prostitution as a source of income at the welfare office is...odd. 

It seems like it COULD be funny but it is also kind of offensive at the same time...especially with Hudson's presence.

Also - this sketch has Carradine slipping back into a dark abyss where he seemingly forgets a line which leads Hudson to try to find a way to skip ahead to get back on track with the sketch.

And to top it all off, we get Gottfried as Po again.

An absolute disaster of a sketch.

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MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: The Cast of Penzance sings a holiday medley

This was a nice use of the Penzance cast while also ending the show on a nice festive note before the holiday season...and anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love the holiday season and will listen to the music a lot during that time for a pick-me-up.

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GOODNIGHTS:

With the Penzance cast and the SNL cast and anyone else who might try to crowd onstage during the Goodnights, this could be the most crowded we've ever seen the home base be.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the Goodnights is simply seeing Gottfried, finally out of his yellowface, looking so dejected and morose. This truly is the beginning of him mostly becoming a dreary presence for the remainder of the season aside from the occasional glimmer here and there.

Frankly I don't blame him...and he has another episode coming up where he has a string of sketch characters that are dire in other eays.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

As we come to the end of the "first half" of the 6th season, I do think that this episode was a rather bizarre outing to leave on. It may have had an inspired musical guest, but most of the sketches were weak aside from a scant couple.

This episode marks the end for writer Mitchell Kreigman as I mentioned earlier but was also the final show for headwriter Mason Williams.

Williams' sensibilities seemed to be crushed by Doumanian's own bizarre insecurities and he was never truly allowed a chance to shine. Sometimes I do wonder what might've happened if Doumanian allowed Williams to have more legit reign over his team...but alas, Doumanian just seemed destined to make one wrong decision after another.

Going into the winter episodes, the show is in a very precarious position. New headwriters come in (which I will discuss in the next episode) but there isn't much of a shift in terms of the quality. 

Although strangely, one of the best episodes (if not THE best epsiode) of the season will come during this stretch...along with the worst episode since Malcolm McDowell. 

Not to mention one of the more lifeless and aloof hosts to have ever come onto SNL.

Stay tuned as we prepare to enter the winter shows of 1981.

SHE MADE ME LOVE HER: Singing the Praises of One Ms. Judy Garland

So yes, this is my 100th post.

And I chose a topic I felt was justified. 

June is Pride Month...and there are very few performers as beloved in the community as Judy Garland. It seems fitting that she both came and left the world during June.

In fact, I am posting this on June 9th, just day before her birthday.

I have talked a lot about Garland in the past...particularly in a long post on my old blog, but I decided that she was worth a revisit and a new discussion. Considering how much of a factor she played into my childhood onward (not to mention the timing of Pride Month), I felt like this was a great topic to delve into.

As is to be expected, my introduction to Judy Garland was through the most obvious and expected source: The Wizard of Oz. 

I was very young...maybe like 3 years old...and not surprisingly, I loved the movie but I had developed something of a fascination with her.

Now keep in mind, I was not exactly aware of her personal life for a little while longer. I believe I ended up reading about it online in minimal capacity...and soon after watched an E! True Hollywood Story on her life. This was still during the 90s so it was also before the famous Judy Davis/Tammy Blanchard biopic came out.

With how beloved she is in the community, I still find it kind of fascinating at how much I was drawn to her at my young age before I even realized a lot of things about myself...or could comprehend them.

One vivid memory I had is that I actually printed off Judy Garland's filmography on a Dot Matrix printer.

For you young kids out there, this would be a Dot Matrix printer:

Needless to say, it took forever...but that is how we rolled in the mid 90s.

That and dial-up internet.

ANYWAY....I can recall watching a lot of her films on AMC back when being the American Movie Channel actually meant what its title was.

Not surprisingly, it was a combo of two films that turned her more into an obsession for me: 

Meet Me in St. Louis

A Star is Born

I think the real pleasure of Meet Me in St. Louis is that it was my first true glimpse into the glitzy glamorous style of an MGM musical. It is simply gorgeous to look at and it gives Garland some of the best songs to sing.

Then you have A Star is Born which truly showed the world what a stellar dramatic actress she could be...but hey, let's give the Oscar to Grace Kelly anyway...sigh...

A lot has been said/written/put on film about Garland and her life...and chances are if you're reading this, you are pretty familiar with her life and work so I don't need to go into a lot of detail.

Her treatment by Hollywood is the stuff of horrific legend...and tragedy. The fact that they treated her like she was some kind of ogre (MGM head Louis B. Mayer infamously called her his "little Hunchback")

Let me take a quite sidestep to show you a pic of Louis B. Mayer:

Sir, you are a marshmallow dipped into cigar ash so please take several seats.

Now that I got that out of the way...

I really want to focus more on her work and celebrate her immense and immeasurable talent. What I am going to do is single out some of my favorite vocal performances of hers. These might be video clips or strictly audio clips, but I feel like they are what I always go to the most when I got back to revisit her glorious voice.

I want to begin with an audio recording from November 1935, when Garland was just 13 years old. She had been asked to perform on a radio program only to find out that her father was dying in the hospital from spiral meningitis. Her father had been known to have an amazing voice and seemed to be the source of her talent...something that her mother cultivated and resented all at once. Also, her father faced a lot of turmoil for what was said to have been "homosexual indications".

Garland never saw her father alive again and had to perform "Zing! Went The Strings of My Heart", her first signature song, live on the air. A radio was placed next to his hospital bed in hopes that he could hear her sing one last time before he passed away the following morning.

The audio of her performance is below:

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Going through her career, here are some of my favorite highlights:

Dear Mr. Gable/You Made Me Love You

The song "You Made Me Love You" is a classic. It was first introduced by Al Jolson in the 1913 Broadway revue The Honeymoon Express and it has since been covered by many artists over the years...but as to be expected, I feel like it is a song that belongs to Garland.

It is remarkable how mature her voice sounds at 15. 

The story goes that lyricist Roger Edens penned new lyrics repurposing the song as a teenaged fan singing about her love of Clark Gable, which Garland performed at a birthday party for Gable prepared by MGM in 1937.

The performance was such an instant success amongst MGM execs at the party that they included the song in the film Broadway Melody of 1938...and would eventually become a beloved B-Side on the single for "Over the Rainbow".

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Over the Rainbow

The song is a legend for a reason.

While the original recording done for The Wizard of Oz is undeniably great, I often love a lot of the versions she did as she got older.

It is hard to single out just one...but I chose this one as it is a video and it was an early example of her giving the song a little more dramatic weight as she was singing this during the height of WWII.

It was said that Garland once wrote a letter to the song's lyricist E.Y. Harburg about how much she deeply loved the song despite having performed it thousands of times.

"I have sung it over a thousand times, and it is still the song that is closest to my heart"

And to think it almost got cut from the film...

I don't think much else is needed to express my love and legend of this one.

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The Trolley Song

I could make a case of this being the song of Garland's I revisit the most. It is so glorious and joyous and truly epitomizes what I really enjoy about Meet Me in St. Louis as a film.

Rather sadly, the film lost the Oscar for Best Song to "Swinging on a Star" from that year's Best Picture winner, Going My Way.

Another case of the Academy making the wrong choice...and they didn't even nominate "The Boy Next Door" or "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". What is surprising is that it took until 1980 with Fame for a film to receive more than one Best Song nomination.

Years ago, I was on a date with a guy I had met up with a couple of times. I lived in Astoria, Queens while he lived in Forest Hills, Queens. For those unfamiliar with the geography, his stop was basically at the end of the line...and I often would stay on with him and then take the Manhattan bound train back.

This song sort of became our anthem whenever it would happen.

And even though that guy eventually turned out to be a jerk in the end, I suppose it is a fond memory!

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The Man That Got Away

For the longest time, I considered this to be my favorite vocal performance ever. I don't know if I am prepared to make such a hyperbolic statement on the matter these days, but I do think this is a solid answer if I am forced to choose.

A Star is Born, as I eluded to earlier, is a master class of acting.

Aside from her truly remarkable musical moments, Garland truly nailed the dramatic weight of the role and gives...by far...the best performance from any of the Star films and frankly one of my favorite performances ever.

The twist to the story in a lot of ways is that Garland's character Esther/Vicki is bemoaning the alcohol abuse of her husband actor Norman Maine (played in this version by James Mason) and it cultivates in a monologue that is easily the finest acting moment of Garland's career and one of the best performed monologues in film history. The "twist" is that the parallels between Norman Maine and Judy Garland were indisputably clear....so much so that director George Cukor approached Garland delicately before the take and for her motivation said: "You know this. You really know this".

It only makes the moment all the more tragic despite its brilliance. 

Here it is:

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But despite her many great film moments, I think the best volume of her work in terms of quality content has to come from two places:

The Judy Garland Show

and

Judy: At Carnegie Hall

Let's discuss the album first:

In this case, I will be hyperbolic.

This is easily my favorite album ever. The excitement and energy here is unmatched...and it is easy to see why the night is often dubbed "the greatest night in show business history".

If there was ever a live performance from the past I could attend, it would easily be this one.

Classic after classic, definitive performance after definitive performance, it is no wonder that audiences wanted to swarm the stage and begged for encore after encore and even getting her to repeat songs she had already sung.

Hey...if I was in that room, I would be fully prepared for a 7 hour concert. If I can sit through productions of Angels in America, The Coast of Utopia, and Nicholas Nickleby, I most assuredly would be ready to never leave Carnegie Hall until absolutely necessary. 

In 2001, Capitol released a new CD which was considered the "warts and all" version. This contained all of Garland's asides, the scuffing heard as the orchestra would prepare, and even the false start to the performance of "Come Rain or Come Shine". All of it was meant for us to hear what those lucky people heard in full during that amazing night at Carnegie Hall. 

I could easily say to just listen to the whole album...and yeah, here I go...JUST LISTEN TO THE WHOLE DAMN ALBUM!

But I do want to single out a few selections I am fond of that aren't the songs I have already mentioned:

When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)

-This is audio from the recording paired with video from a different TV broadcast.

This is the first song Garland performed in the set and it is a lovely rendition...particularly her belted G on "smiles" at the end.

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You Go To My Head

-I feel like this is a song that doesn't get as much attention as some of the other classics, but the bouncy cha-cha vibe is truly infectious here.

It is probably my favorite version of the song, not surprisingly, even though it had been covered by the likes of Sinatra, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday.

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Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody

-Yet another song that had been made famous by Al Jolson.

I feel like Garland blew this one out of the water...aside from the fact that the term "Dixie" is problematic these days.

I think what I often love about Garland is how she often builds her songs to such a flourishing end that you can't help but leap to your feet to give her a standing ovation.

And maybe I have done that alone in my bedroom while listening to songs such as this...

...DON'T JUDGE ME!!

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Let's go ahead and dive into The Judy Garland Show:

The whole reason that Garland opted to do a variety series was due to her financial struggles...and despite the very wealthy payout for the time (roughly $25-30k per show), she never managed to truly find financial stability in the remaining 5 years of her life.

The show was cancelled after only one season (1963-1964) and had faced stiff competition in the ratings from NBC's enormously popular Bonanza. 

For just a single season of 26 episodes, The Judy Garland Show is basically a swirl of course corrections.

 

When the show premiered, there seemed to be a true focus on the concept of "variety" which led to the hiring of Jerry Van Dyke (the younger brother of the beloved Dick) to be the comic relief.

Or I should say "comic relief".

It was heavily apparent right off the bat that Van Dyke wasn't working even behind the scenes and once the shows started airing, the vitriol towards him was so instantaneous that he was let go pretty much on the spot after only being featured in 10 episodes. 

From here, the show shifted towards focusing strictly on Garland as a vocal performer with only the occasional interactions with her guests...and I must admit, I do love the bit that often repeats where she keeps trying to force her guests to have tea and they never seem to want any.

It sort of makes me think of Marge Simpson and her ice cream sundaes: "What's wrong with my sundaes!?".

The ratings were so low, despite the increased critical praise following the departure of Van Dyke, that CBS cancelled the show in late winter 1964. With that in mind, they allowed production to continue for the season to which the show's THIRD producer Bill Coleran decided to forego any real comedic element and strictly treat the final 7 episodes as Judy Garland: In Concert.

A lot of these episodes strictly featured Garland alone but she did have guests such as Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, and Mel Torme. 

As what comes to no surprise to absolutely anyone reading this, I agree with the consensus that this show was cancelled far too soon and I wish that CBS had given it more of a chance or moved it to a new timeslot. 

I also have to wonder if maybe by some miracle it could've helped extend Garland's life if not for just a little bit longer too.

Here are some performances from the show that I happen to love...and a small sampling as I feel like I could be here until July if I didn't stop myself.

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As Long As He Needs Me

-One of the "Torchiest" Torch Songs to have ever...well.."torched".

"As Long As He Needs Me" had basically just entered the lexicon at this point as Oliver! had premiered on Broadway a few months prior. 

I also love the setup of this song as each episode often ended with Garland performing a song with the great catwalk lighting setup. It always felt so grand and dramatic...but this was always my favorite rendition of this song.

I also love the end where Garland's penchant for never really knowing what to do with her arms is on full display here.

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Come Rain or Come Shine

-From one of the earliest episodes to air, her iconic rendition of this song (made famous on the Carnegie Hall album) is blazing with brilliance.

It is no wonder that the people who did watch the show absolutely adored these portions and would quickly succumb to boredom and annoyance when Van Dyke would appear.

A song like this should pull anybody out of a Van Dyke stupor!

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Ol' Man River

-For what is usually considered one of the most well known Bass songs in history, it might seem unusual for Garland to tackle a song such as this.

However...as is no surprise to anyone...it is easily one of her finest efforts. 

It is deeply intense and passionate...and the layers she gives it are simply unmatched.

It also ties in to the whole idea that she consistently leaves you wanting more with such a powerful ending.

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Happy Days are Here Again/Get Happy

-The iconic duet.

I am someone who can be VERY reserved when it comes to Barbra Streisand. Her early work (which is smack dab during the era in which this aired) is simply iconic and her brassy vocals are clearly impressing Garland as she performs with her. In fact, you could argue that she feels/looks overshadowed (although Garland had zero resentment for Streisand). 

Streisand's demeanor, more so as she got older, could be cold and aloof...which has always rubbed me the wrong way.

Garland, on the other hand, always seemed to be warm and ready with a quip. 

She was old school...and this was her meeting "the new school"...and it is GLORIOUS.

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West Side Story Medley

-Roughly two years after the release of the film, West Side Story was arguably one of the more beloved musical properties at that time.

While the material certainly wasn't meant for people like Garland or her colleague Vic Damone, I think both of them do a lovely job here.

Particularly thrilling is the final song of the medley: "Tonight"

Garland's belting of the final notes is so thrilling and possibly the highest I've heard her belt in a song. I don't know how it happened, but I somehow never saw this medley until my friend/former roommate Daniel and I acquired DVDs of the show and we would watch them together...with copious amounts of wine.

I recall getting to the moment and thinking to myself with the key change: "Wait...is she going to hit the note I think she is going to hit?"

When she did, Daniel and I looked at each other stunned.

Simply fantastic.

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The Battle Hymn of the Republic

-When Garland says to the audience that she would be singing a song that is seldom ever heard on TV, I suppose that was an apt assessment. 

Choosing to sing "Battle Hymn" does seem odd at first glance but the real reason for this was due to the fact that President John F. Kennedy, with whom she was a good friend, had just been assassinated three weeks prior. 

As an homage, she sang the song despite not directly mentioning the reason why on air. 

The result might be one of the best TV moments ever. It is a passionate and powerful rendition that never ceases to give me a chill every time I watch the clip.

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LASTLY...

I feel like I can honestly say that not a day goes by that I don't think about or reference Judy Garland in some capacity.

I often talk about people who have left an indelible impression on my life, such as Stephen Sondheim or filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman or David Lynch, but Judy Garland is really the first major example of someone who just spoke to me and I felt a strange sort of kinship that I could never really explain.

As I got older, it really felt like that Garland connection was kismet.

I responded to her in ways that similar people like me also shared...and one has to wonder why it is that she was such an icon for the LGBT community.

In fact, the whole concept of her being popular with gay men was noticed as far back as 1967.

In a review written for Time Magazine, the writer notes that a "disproportionate part of her nightly claque appears to be homosexual" and would go on to describe them as "the boys in tight trousers". The article does try to justify this and despite how disparaging and insulting the previous comments were, I would say that their description for the adoration is pretty accurate...at least from my own sort of personal vantage point:

"The attraction to Garland might be made considerably stronger by the fact she has survived so many problems; homosexuals identify with that kind of hysteria".

Writer William Goldman also writes of a similar theme for Esquire and makes some even more disparaging comments (that he would later apologize for) that her concerts frequently feature "fags who just flit by" and chatter inanely. 

He would go on to add:

"Homosexuals tend to identify with suffering. They are a persecuted group and they understand suffering. And so does Garland. She's been through the fire and lived – all the drinking and divorcing, all the pills and all the men, all the poundage come and gone – brothers and sisters, she knows".

A lot has been said about Judy Garland's death coinciding with the Stonewall Riots. 

This is one of those things that is truly debatable as to how direct her death was to the riot, but you can't really deny that the amount of people in the community affected emotionally by it were already on edge while drinking there that night.

Although, as is sadly the case, a lot of the Stonewall Riot lore has been whitewashed over the years. Most involved were actually trans and/or people of color. Of those people, it was once said that they were "not the type to moon over Judy Garland records or concerts. Many were looking for a place to live or where there next meal was coming from".

Aside from that speculation, there is no denying that Garland was a devout supporter of all human civil rights and would frequently go to gay bars with many of her gay friends, including her Star is Born director George Cukor.

There is famous quote where a reporter asked Garland, seemingly hoping for a juicy negative response, what she felt about having a seemingly large gay following:

"I couldn't care less. I sing for people!"

Although...if I am being honest...sometimes I feel like she is the only performer in history where when I listen to her, I like to imagine she is singing just for me.

I love you, Judy.

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I leave you with two more songs:

The amazing rendition of Over the Rainbow from the Carnegie Hall concert.

AND...

Garland's take on the perennial Rodgers & Hammerstein ballad You'll Never Walk Alone

A 50th Anniversary Retrospective: LOOKING BACK AT THE BEST FILMS OF 1973

As we continue our journey through years and decades past, I find myself thinking more about films that I don't often talk about as much.

I have already mentioned that one of my main reasons of doing this series was to try to talk about older films that might not get a mention from me on various posts. When I do "Best of the Decade" lists, that often just singles out maybe one or two films from a specific year throughout a decade. 

When it comes to a decade like the 70s, it is unfair to leave so many films behind when they do deserve a brief discussion. Although, the sad truth to that is that there just aren't enough hours in the day to wax rhapsodic about a few dozen films made in the 70s.

Even when I did my "Best of the 1970s" list, I put down thirty honorable mentions because I wanted to at least mention the films by name despite the fact the fact I was only going to zero on 10 of them for my list to write about.

I already tackled 1978 so now we come to a very big milestone year: the 50th Anniversary for the films released in 1973.

One quick note: I will be considering Ingmar Bergman's Cries & Whispers by its original 1972 release date even though it had competed for Best Picture with films from 1973 (not an uncommon practice for foreign releases that slipped into the Best Picture race). For reference though, had it made this list, it would've been my #2 selection.

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THE LIST:

#10 - The Wicker Man

(Robin Hardy)

It is kind of a shame that when most people hear the title Wicker Man that their minds probably go straight to Nicolas Cage and the 2006 remake: "Oh no! My eyes!".

I am honestly very guilty of that as well.

However, the concept of "folk horror", which got a huge boost fairly recently with Ari Aster's Midsommar, can be traced back to the original Wicker Man by British filmmaker Robin Hardy.

One of the things that works so well about the film is that despite the fact you know exactly where it is heading, you still feel so immersed in the dread and the dreary atmsophere.

I can't say that the film scares me but it is certainly unsettling in how it is presented in such a stark and matter of fact manner. With the relatively low budget, it gives the film a documentary kind of feel which only adds to the uncomfortable nature...particularly in its final scene. 

It might a film that hasn't aged too well in how its presented, but even THAT helps the film maintain a sense of heightened dread.

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#9 - Paper Moon

(Peter Bogdonavich)

Peter Bogdonavich is part of the late 60s/early 70s slate of filmmakers dubbed as "New Hollywood", which also included the likes of Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola, De Palma, and a few others...but unlike many of them, Bogdonavich never seemed to be able to sustain the level of esteem and clout that he got so handily in the early 1970s.

His masterpiece was 1971's The Last Picture Show, but he would never come truly close to hitting those heights again. I would say the closest he came was with Paper Moon (and he would later have 1985's Mask)...which paired father/daughter duo Ryan and Tatum O'Neal.

A lot has been said about these two as both have had a volatile relationship over the years and the fact that young Tatum WON the Oscar for this while he didn't even receive a nomination left him with an ego that was shattered.

Sure, Bogdonavich may have coached the hell out of Tatum O'Neal to get the performance he wanted, but the results were quite stellar and led to her being the youngest winner ever (and also perhaps a strong case for the most egregious category fraud)...and it goes without saying that Ryan O'Neal is...well...a merely adequate actor at best who never truly achieved greatness.

It is that blank slate quality that sort of made him work so well two years later in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.

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#8 - American Graffiti 

(George Lucas)

George Lucas is another filmmaker who is closely linked to the "New Hollywood" generation, but he has since become very closely identified with Star Wars and that is basically it.

In many ways, Lucas is someone that has so much respect and legend around him for a whole galaxy he created...but he doesn't seem to be the best person to cultivate that galaxy.

And because of the massive worldwide phenomenon that is the Star Wars franchise, it is kind of crazy to think that George Lucas began his career and his fame as the man behind a teenage comedy/drama set in the early 1960s.

American Graffiti tapped into the 70s nostalgia for 50s America...although one has to question why in many ways aside from the conservative innocence. And with this film, it is technically set in 1962 only roughly a decade removed from its release.

If anything, it truly shows how much things changed in our country (and the world) during the 1960s with the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, the Vietnam War, and the British Invasion. 

It felt like things truly came alive in the 60s while the world lost so much of its innocence...and while some of that innocence maybe needed to go, I do suppose its hard to not to fall for the charm of this movie and its quirky cast of characters.

However...I do think it is very problematic that at the end, Lucas allows all of the main male characters to get epilogue bubbles while the women get absolutely nothing.

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#7 - Serpico

(Sidney Lumet)

As someone who admittedly has no shame in renouncing the corrupt nature of many police departments, including the one that is represented in his film and the city I live in, I do take some solace in Serpico for depicting an officer who was looking so strongly for reform.

I do think that Serpico, despite being based on a real life officer, may suffer a little from a bit of a "we can only dream" mentality and might border a tad on the preachy side of things even if I think it mostly sticks the landing when it comes to that...but I also say that as someone who wholeheartedly agrees with the topic of severe police reform, especially with the NYPD.

In the end though, the film mostly succeeds...and it is Al Pacino who pushes it over the edge.

After his sterling and mostly stoic work in The Godfather, you can really tell with Serpico that Pacino is an actor capable of so much. I actually wish he won the Oscar for this performance as it is truly so passionate and volcanic while also having such great moments of beautiful subtlety and emotional vulnerability. 

It's a very good film with an important and (sadly) timely message that gets kicked up a notch by a truly stellar Pacino performance that is easily among the top 5 of his career.

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#6 - Mean Streets 

(Martin Scorsese)

There is a certain hard-edged style that has become so indelibly linked to New York filmmaker Martin Scorsese...and despite a couple of admirable efforts prior, Mean Streets is the film that truly established the kind of gritty content we would get from him: a true Scorsese effort.

As one might expect, the film contains staples that would become common themes in Scorsese films: the mob and giving film work to Robert DeNiro.

Much like Toshiro Mifune and Akira Kurosawa, there haven't been many actor/director combos that have been quite as potent and successful as DeNiro/Scorsese...and they click so well together.

And connected to those common themes, you do see a lot of glimmers of future films like GoodFellas or The Departed, but I think where Mean Streets might suffer is that it feels a little more rough around the edges.

I do think in some ways it does work in the film's favor but I think some of the pulsating edges that he would eventually give a movie like GoodFellas or even Taxi Driver just 3 years later show that he was still figuring things out as a filmmaker.

It is still one of my favorite films by him because it does feel like you are witnessing a legend be born but with the promise that the best is coming sooner rather than later.

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#5 - Don't Look Now

(Nicholas Roeg)

A film like Don't Look Now is a balancing act as it manages to be a psychological thriller in its highest form while also being a very sophisticated horror film.

Considering 1973 was also the year of a certain film about a girl who vomited pea soup and played with a crucifix in a rather bold way, I think Don't Look Now (and also the aforementioned Wicker Man) represents a truly underrated film of the genre as a whole from that year.

Leading the film are Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland giving two of the finest performances of their lengthy careers as Laura and John, a grieving couple who lost their young daughter after she drowned.

While dealing with the grief, they relocate to Venice where they are tasked with helping restore an old church and soon after encounter two sisters. One of them insists that she has psychic abilities and that their young daughter is trying to contact them from the afterlife to warn them of impending danger.

John doesn't believe them until he actually starts experiencing unusual premonitions that might be showing that something tragic may occur. 

Don't Look Now is a film that does suffer at times from being a bit too glacial, but I think that glacial setting helps make the shock of the ending pay off enormously.

It is a film that manages to give great style to a genre that many would soon write off as being only able to make cheap slasher movies a decade later.

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#4 - Touki Bouki

(Djibril Diop Mambety)

During a decade when "Blaxploitation" films were all over the place, it is a shame that a movie like Touki Bouki is not as known as it should be for being a great representation of Sub-Saharan filmmaking.

If you were to simplify Touki Bouki, it would be a movie about goals and dreams and the quest to achieve them...and that is something we've seen dozens and dozens of times in films.

I think what sets apart the film from others of the genre is how unflinching it is in its approach of showing the true horrors that people would've faced at the time...and it is also manages to take a Truffaut/Demy/Rohmer French New Wave aesthetic and transplanting it into an African world.

Martin Scorsese once dubbed the film as a "cinematic poem" and I actually think that is a very strong and apt description.

In addition to the French New Wave elements, Mambety also gives a dose of neo-realism straight from the Italians and even montages like Soviet filmmakers of that era.

I think this is one film that deserves to be seen and discussed a lot more...and I would like to be a little more vague with going into it in detail. I do want to warn anyone that watches it that there is animal cruelty and it is a bit unsettling to see.

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#3 - Amarcord

(Federico Fellini)

After making some truly glorious films throughout the 50s and 60s, I consider Amarcord to be the swan song of Federico Fellini's career.

While his contemporaries like Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa often tackled darker material, Fellini was a filmmaker who always seemed to go for certain whimsical and fanciful approach...and that isn't to say his films were frivolous; they simply just had more of sumptuous appeal. 

I often talk a lot about films that delve into "memories" or "coming-of-age" tales and I would rank Amarcord as being among the best of that genre, right up there with Yi Yi and Cinema Paradiso.

Much like the film that will end up being my #1 selection on this list, you could say Amarcord is one of those films where there isn't exactly a strong plot.

But I think the world Fellini created is truly an explosion of life at its most colorful and vibrant...and you can tell that Fellini really puts a lot of his own childhood into the film...including his own juvenile sexual deviant ways.

It manages to balance a great line between very elegant but also brash and crude. There is a realism to everything but with a heightened sense that were a witnessing what might be a fever dream of a childhood memory...and very few filmmakers could walk the tightrope of reality and film exuberance quite like Fellini.

Amarcord is essentially a slang term in Italian for "I Remember"...and the film's theme song (which has since been used in pop culture for sentimental montages and the like) is one of my favorite film themes ever. The whole score, by The Godfather's Nino Rita, is one of the best pairings of film and music we will ever get.

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#2 - Badlands

(Terrence Malick)

Every now and then, a filmmaker comes along and you know that they just have something special.

It becomes even more exciting when they hit it out of the park on their debut.

Much like Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows, I think one of the best debuts of any filmmaker has to be Badlands.

I have already discussed Terrence Malick on this series as his 1978 masterpiece Days of Heaven was my choice of the best film of that year (and it also ranked on my top 10 of the decade as well).

Malick is a filmmaker who is something of a mystery. He has a lot of clout and respect and people want to work with him, but he is reclusive and rarely ever gives any kind of interviews. For the longest time, people weren't even sure what he looked like...AND...after he made Days of Heaven, he didn't make another film for 20 years. 

Badlands has a similarity to Days of Heaven in that the story itself is rather conventional and it deals with a couple who are sort of on the run. 

While Days has more of a sweeping epic Harlequin romance angle to it, Badlands seems more in line with being a neo-noir Bonnie & Clyde, as it was loosely based on the real-life murder spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate in 1958, a couple that murdered 11 people.

Badlands was the first film to truly introduce Sissy Spacek to more of a wider audience and it truly establishes her as a new kind of face and performer for actresses in the 70s.

Martin Sheen was already known for his theatre and television work (and originally was deemed too old by Malick to play this role), but he does very well at capturing a sort of sly and sleazy charmer. There is no denying the chemistry between him and Spacek is palpable.

While the film has received its flowers, I still think it is something of a unsung film at the same time. It deserves a little more attention and praise.

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#1 - Day for Night

(Francois Truffaut)

For those who did happen to read my "Best of the 1970s" list, you will recall that Day for Night was my #10 choice. 

You always hear about films that celebrate Hollywood, but there is something about special about a film that simply celebrates film and filmmaking.

When it comes to that type of genre, I would say that Day for Night is among the best ever...and in terms of being a love-letter to film, it is right up there with Cinema Paradiso.

I think what is truly remarkable about Day for Night is that it manages to be such a quietly chaotic and unorganized film but it isn't at its detriment. It truly makes us feel like we are witnessing the true messy nature of a film set where someone might pull focus at a certain moment and another person may do so the next. This could be either the director or an actor or a crew member...because in the end, every film's output would not be possible without the help of everyone on the set. Day for Night puts that mentality all on the screen.

As a filmmaker, Truffaut is someone that I admire greatly in terms of how he approaches films (no matter what Quentin Tarantino has to say about it), but I would say his overall output wasn't as consistently stellar as some of his contemporaries.

I do think Day for Night is one of his true masterpieces...and there is a sense that his career was building to this film (even if I actually still think my favorite film of his was his debut: The 400 Blows). 

The film truly captures the magic of the cinema and how it is made...and I often think back to the line said by Valentina Cortese's character Severine: "What a funny life we lead! We meet, we work together, we love each other, and then, as soon as we grasp something -- it's gone."

It's a potent line.

(And not for nothing, Valentina Cortese losing the Oscar to Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express was such a joke that one of the first things Bergman said at the podium was an apology to Cortese. A true class act.)

That line hits so hard...especially when related to any kind of artistic endeavor. The bonds and attachments formed are often strong and emotional...and magical.

Day for Night is basically magic. The end.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

In the last few weeks, I have been admittedly dealing with a lot when it comes to various things. The sad truth is that I would've expected writing down my thoughts on films or TV or theatre would be a great source of releasing some stress...sadly that hasn't been the case.

However, over the last couple of days, I was able to devise this post as I did want to continue my "Anniversary Retrospective" series and also get some new content out there.

I do have some other years lined up that I would like to do still, but this time, 1973 was the one that stood out. There are times where I will draft a list of films and then I will flip flop some of the placements and in some cases, remove a film altogether.

When it came to 1973, I felt pretty solid about the list and just shifted some of the movies around as I began writing about them. 

It is a very good year for film and the amazing thing is that this is basically the appetizer leading into the main course that is 1974 and the dessert that is 1975.

*And I suppose if I keep this series up, I will be discussing 1974 for its 50th Anniversary next year!*

For reference, other years coming up will be:

1968 (55th)

1983 (40th)

1993 (30th)

1998 (25th)

2008 (15th)

Maybe I will do one for 2018, but it still feels too recent. We shall see!