Cultural Kleptos: How the Left Hijacks Art (and Everything Else) for the Good of Mankind

Kids love movies about people who tell lies – because they’re such naughty, little fibbers themselves.  During my formative years, it seemed like the same two films were on TV everyday when I came home from school – to remind me of the dangers of mendacity.  Perhaps it was a portent of things to come.

William Wyler’s “The Children’s Hour” (1961)

One was Weird Woman (1944), a neglected camp classic that was part of Universal’s low-budget Inner Sanctum series - about a scorned librarian (scream queen Evelyn Ankers) who seeks revenge on her ex- (Lon Chaney Jr.) by spreading gossip about his new wife (Anne Gwynne), an all-American voodoo princess he met on a South Seas expedition (don’t ask).

After several people inadvertently die as a result of Ankers’s aspersions, Chaney and gang steal a move straight out of the Democratic playbook - they devise an elaborate, fear-mongering ruse to guilt her into submission (and make her confess).  Here’s a clip of Ankers being browbeaten – with prophecies of gloom and doom – by little-known B-actress Elizabeth Russell: (more…)

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Tags: Anne Gwynne, audrey hepburn, Cairo, Charles Bronson, Dashell Hammett
Posted Jul 30th 2009 at 5:03 am in Classic Hollywood, Culture, Featured Story, Politics | 18642669 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/07/30/cultural-kleptos-how-the-left-hijacks-art-and-everything-else-for-the-good-of-mankind/Cultural+Kleptos%3A+How+the+Left+Hijacks+Art+%28and+Everything+Else%29+for+the+Good+of+Mankind2009-07-30+12%3A03%3A16Charles+Winecoff

Tonight’s Tony Award Predictions

Join Gary Graham, Tim Slagle, Moxie X. Cathedra, Stage Right and many more as Big Hollywood live-blogs the West Coast feed of the Tony Awards.

Tonight, 8:00 PM Pacific Time, Telecast on CBS.

It’s often said during Oscar season that there are two sets of predictions:  Who WILL win, and who SHOULD win.  It’s the same with Broadway’s Tony Awards but I often like to add a third prediction:  What would be the best for business.  Believe it or not, often times the Tony Awards seem to take into account the shows that “need” the award for marketing purposes.  Even though one show stands out and seems to be the obvious choice to win the top prize, a surprise occurs and a David beats a Goliath thus ensuring a longer run for David.  I will list a few examples for Best Musical travesties from the past that many might quarrel with in terms of the validity of the show that won, but the commercial outcome of the shows involved can’t be argued.  You have a right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.

1991: “Miss Saigon” has a multi-million-dollar advance, leads nominations with 11, wins Best Actor and Best Actress.  Best Musical that year?  “The Will Rogers Follies.”  Without the award, “Will Rogers” would have not made it another six months. After winning the prize, it ran for two more years, had a successful tour and might still be running in Branson, MO.  “Saigon” ran for a decade. (more…)

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Tags: 33 variations, alice ripley, allison janney, billy elliot, brian d'arcy james
Posted Jun 7th 2009 at 11:03 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 152962No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/06/07/tony-awards-predictions/Tonight%27s+Tony+Award+Predictions2009-06-07+18%3A03%3A09Stage+Right

A Love Letter to Broadway

The magic of Broadway and off-Broadway theatre is intoxicating to me.  From the actual theatre houses to the performers to the behind the scenes mechanics of putting up and running a show, the whole experience affects me to my very core.

This is my love letter to Broadway.  Join this theatre nerd on my journey into the wonders and joy of the theatre going experience.

Whether you’re coming from Uptown or Downtown, the Eastside or Westside, as you make your way to the theatre, you get swallowed up into the hustle of Times Square and the atmosphere is electric. The streets fill with an eclectic mix of people bustling to their theatres surrounded by a cacophony of street music, bucket drummers, corner evangelists, vendors, excited chatter, car horns, and the occasional argument by someone who just got taken in a game of three-card monte. (more…)

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Tags: "Annie Get Your Gun", "Avenue Q", "Blood Brothers", "Bye, "Long Day's Journey into Night"
Posted Jun 1st 2009 at 6:39 am in Entertainment | 146822No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jshaffmaster/2009/06/01/a-love-letter-to-broadway/A+Love+Letter+to+Broadway2009-06-01+13%3A39%3A29Jane+Shaffmaster

Tony Award Nominations 2009

In what is becoming an annual rite of self-destruction, Broadway has once again chosen to snub many of the big-name stars who have put their film careers on hold to trudge onto the boards eight times a week, take a significant pay cut, and run the risk of being ridiculed for being unable to cut the mustard as a theatre actor  (As Alan Swan famously said before having to appear on live television in “My Favorite Year”:  ‘I’m not an actor, damn you, I’m a movie star!’).  This week’s announcement of nominees for Broadway’s top prize, the Tony Award, was more newsworthy for the names left off the list than for the relatively unfamiliar names singled out for the honor. 

Nathan Lane and John Goodman are selling tickets hand over fist for their revival of “Waiting for Godot” but neither received the honor of a nomination.  Same with David Hyde Pierce, Frank Langella, Mary Louise Parker and Matthew Broderick. 

It was no surprise that Jeremy Piven was included out of the Best Actor category after his famous sushi defense for missing performances in David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow,” but not honoring John Lithgow’s brilliant turn in “All My Sons” in the same category is a crime against humanity!  It ranks up there with the snub of Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman in the 1984 revival of “Death of a Salesman.” Brian Dennehy was honored with the Best Actor award when he did Willy Loman in 2000, but that goodwill did not anoint him worthy of a nomination this year for his turn in “Desire Under the Elms.”  (more…)

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Tags: Angela Lansbury, Brian Dennehy, broadway, Christine Ebersol, Daniel Radcliffe
Posted May 9th 2009 at 6:15 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story | 129722No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/05/09/tony-award-nominations-2009/Tony+Award+Nominations+20092009-05-09+13%3A15%3A30Stage+Right

The Streisand Effect – or People Who Don’t Need People

I have a confession to make: when I’m alone in my car – or in iPod isolation – I sometimes listen to Barbra Streisand.  And I’m neither a big fan of pop music nor of the current state of liberalism – the cushy, comfy, groupthink kind with which Streisand has become closely linked in recent years.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Whenever I’m feeling a little down, Streisand’s rousing, patriotic rendition of “Before the Parade Passes By” (from the Hello, Dolly! soundtrack) is the next best thing to shooting up a Diet Rockstar.  The movie may be deadly, but that track is classic Barbra: starts out quiet, plaintive, then slowly builds to an almost militaristic crescendo of chorus, trumpets, beating drums – and Babs, screaming her head off above it all with a heroic, never-ending high note that sounds like a war cry.

I know - that’s so gay.  But for me, the song is musical comfort food – and proof of the power of the human spirit: a rusty Main Street USA antique, shined up and brought back to life by a disadvantaged ugly duckling from Brooklyn, with a voice straight from God, who beat the odds.  That’s when Streisand was still one of a kind.

But that was 1969.  This is now.  Today, “Before the Parade Passes By” would probably be called something like “Whenever the Trans-Cultural Community Gathering Happens to Reconvene.”  And it would probably be sung by Sheryl Crow. (more…)

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Tags: a star is born, Arnold Scaasi, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Barbra Streisand
Posted Apr 17th 2009 at 5:03 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Politics | 999786 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/04/17/the-streisand-effect-or-people-who-dont-need-people/The+Streisand+Effect+-+or+People+Who+Don%27t+Need+People2009-04-17+12%3A03%3A37Charles+Winecoff

I’m a Middle-age Lobotomy: Liberalism and My Hollywood Road to Ruin

This is the story of how I got kicked out of Hollywood…and how I hope to kick myself back in again. 

From the late 70’s to early 90s I made my living as a Hollywood screenwriter. I’m best known as co-writer of cult film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, which features the seminal punk band The Ramones. 

My writing partner and I worked every day on the set of the film, and we spent a lot of time with the band, including a 22-hour marathon Ramones concert at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. As a souvenir of that day, I still carry around a 40% hearing loss and white-noise tinnitus in both ears. 

Over the years, I’ve been approached by many Ramones fans wanting to know what it was like to work with band members Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Ringo. Of the four, the most interesting, approachable and, yes, intelligent glue-sniffer was Johnny Ramone, and my partner and I would often spend time talking with him about his film collection and our shared affection for Buster Keaton movies.  (more…)

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Tags: Big Green Initiative, California, Conservative Blacklist, jane fonda, Joey Ramone
Posted Mar 26th 2009 at 5:05 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 889542 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rdvonch/2009/03/26/im-a-middle-age-lobotomy-liberalism-and-my-hollywood-road-to-ruin-by-russ-dvonch/I%27m+a+Middle-age+Lobotomy%3A+Liberalism+and+My+Hollywood+Road+to+Ruin2009-03-26+12%3A05%3A31Russ+Dvonch

Sunday Matinee: Oscar Special… “The Sound of Music”

This week’s Sunday Matinee is dedicated to Hollywood.

Because it’s Oscar Sunday and the whole world is focused on the Kodak Theatre and the red carpet parade about to happen, it seems fitting that Broadway throws Hollywood a bone today.  Also, considering every other Broadway show these days seems to be a staged version of a popular movie, (”Shrek”, “Wedding Singer”… Really?) it seems appropriate to shine a little light on a Broadway Musical that has been adapted to film.  (more…)

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Tags: Andy Griffith, anne bancroft, broadway, Carol Burnett, chicago
Posted Feb 22nd 2009 at 11:40 am in Entertainment | 5707016 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/02/22/sunday-matinee-oscar-special-the-sound-of-music/Sunday+Matinee%3A++Oscar+Special...+%22The+Sound+of+Music%222009-02-22+19%3A40%3A56Stage+Right

Paleo-Feminists Visit Jane Fonda

I knew Jane Fonda’s blog would be a treasure-trove of fun information! 

Last night was the first preview for “33 Variations” at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, and to celebrate her triumphant return to the Great White Way, Blog-erella posted pics of all of the very, very important people who came to see and support her.  I suggest you check it out and look at the pics…  It is a veritable “Jurassic Park” of feminist raptors! (more…)

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Tags: 33 variations, cristina biaggi, eve ensler, feminist, gloria steinem
Posted Feb 11th 2009 at 11:49 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment | 4811841 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/02/11/paleo-feminists-visit-jane-fonda-on-first-preview/Paleo-Feminists+Visit+Jane+Fonda+2009-02-11+19%3A49%3A42Stage+Right

Jane Fonda: New Play, New Blog, Same Attitude Towards The Troops

Just when I thought I might run out of ideas for blog posts, I get a gift from God… Jane Fonda has started a blog in conjunction with her return to Broadway in “33 Variations!” The play, by Moisés Kaufman, sounds absolutely fascinating and when I first heard about Fonda’s casting I didn’t think I’d have much to write about since on the face of it the play doesn’t seem political. But now that her friends and fans seem to have talked Hanoi Jane into sharing her personal thoughts in a blog every day… Well, this is going to be a target rich environment! 

Jane says that she was in part inspired by none other than Rosie O’Donnell to do the blog and if her musings are anything like Rosie’s, let’s just say I owe that dame a big thank you hug for influencing Henry’s daughter (I don’t usually use the word ‘dame’, but I’m hoping it annoys Rosie if she ever reads this). (more…)

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Tags: blog, jane fonda, new blog, new play, supports some of the troops
Posted Feb 4th 2009 at 4:21 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 40146111 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/02/04/blog-arella/Jane+Fonda%3A+New+Play%2C+New+Blog%2C+Same+Attitude+Towards+The+Troops2009-02-05+00%3A21%3A39Stage+Right

They Don’t Make ‘Em Like Fonda Anymore

While I was growing up in the liberal New York, my father, a rock-ribbed Republican and immigrant from communist Eastern Europe, was prone to hold grudges against entertainers. Thus, The Boycott was instituted to include a wide array of comedians, singers and movie stars. Their crime: political sedition.

There was, of course, the obvious. Jane Fonda, whose anti-Americanism is legendary, was a complete non-starter. Nor was there to be any mention of the frosty anti-Zionist Lynn Redgrave* at the dinner table. (Though, it’s difficult to imagine any normal kid actually wanting to mention, or even knowing who the hell, Lynn Redgrave was to begin with.) Even lesser-known lights such as Costas-Gravas and Martin Sheen were also banned outright.

So, come to think of it, I should probably thank dad for insulating my young mind from a needlessly torturous encounter with “The China Syndrome” or “Missing.”

The problem is, this boycott began to expand at such a precipitous pace that by its height I was exclusively watching movies featuring Jim Nabors and Burt Reynolds. I’m relatively certain, there was no pre-teen Jewish kid in the entire country — perhaps the world — who knew more about Hal Needham flicks.

Today, I can’t find a single star worth boycotting. I’ve come to accept there will be some perfunctory plotline that will cast capitalism as the sapling of all evil; I accept that every month another pretty face will grace us with an angry political homily.

(more…)

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Tags: alec baldwin, boycotts, coen brothers, jane fonda, michael moore
Posted Jan 15th 2009 at 6:01 am in Celebrity News, Politics | 1878989 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dharsanyi/2009/01/15/they-dont-make-em-like-fonda-anymore/They+Don%27t+Make+%27Em+Like+Fonda+Anymore+2009-01-15+14%3A01%3A38David+Harsanyi