‘Progressive’ Hollywood Fails Women Where Old Studio System Did Not

Oscar season approaches, which means that once again it’s time for the annual cry of … There-Are-No-Good-Roles-For-Women! Maybe “cry” isn’t the best word. ”Whine” is more suitable — from a self-inflicted wound. Here’s a taste of this year’s first-whine from a Hollywood Reporter story titled: Shallow Pool for Oscar’s Actress Contenders:

How shallow is the pool? Some are talking about performances such as Sandra Bullock’s in the feel-good film “The Blind Side

The lack of depth has led to a slew of awards-season chatter, from the expected downplaying — all categories are cyclical — to blanket explanations about studios making fewer awards movies in general. …

But it also highlights that, for all the strides made by the women behind the camera, the women in front of them can still be subject to the old prejudices. Indeed, the more cynical in town — including at least one actress awards-contender — say that the director and actress trends are hardly a coincidence. Many female directors, they argue, can feel pressure to cast a preponderance of strong male leads to negate the perception that theirs is a female-oriented film.

The article is simply wrong on one very important point. These aren’t “old prejudices,” these are new prejudices. (more…)

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Tags: Alice Faye, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Bette Grable, Claudette Colbert
Posted Nov 18th 2009 at 2:55 pm in Classic Hollywood, Politics | 26449889 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/18/progressive-hollywood-fails-women-where-old-studio-system-did-not/%27Progressive%27+Hollywood+Fails+Women+Where+Old+Studio+System+Did+Not2009-11-18+22%3A55%3A48John+Nolte

‘The Wizard of Oz’: Seventy Years Later — Still Inspiring, Still Relevant

“That’s the best song ever written,” Judy Garland said of “Over the Rainbow” in an interview with Barbara Walters on March 6, 1967, almost three decades after she captured countless hearts as “Dorothy” in “The Wizard of Oz,” featuring that magical song. 

So, too, “The Wizard of Oz”—released 70 years ago today—is, perhaps, the best film ever made.  

Or, at least, the most quintessentially American—in terms of our struggles, hopes, aspirations, dreams, and, ultimately, unshakable confidence, that “somewhere over the rainbow… dreams… really do come true.”

MGM had purchased this highly popular and imaginative children’s book written by L. Frank Baum, and published in 1900, for $75,000, specifically for Judy.  During development, the silver shoes became ruby, thus undercutting Baum’s apparent allegory to “bimetallism”—currency backed by silver, replacing “the gold standard” and favoring rural farmers; in contrast to the worthless “greenbacks” some say Emerald City represents.  (more…)

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Tags: 70th Anniversary, Ahmadinejad, Holocaust, iran, judy garland
Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 2:40 pm in Classic Hollywood, Film, Politics | 23721827 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mckendall/2009/09/29/the-wizard-of-oz-seventy-years-later-still-inspiring-still-relevant/%27The+Wizard+of+Oz%27%3A+Seventy+Years+Later+--+Still+Inspiring%2C+Still+Relevant2009-09-29+21%3A40%3A22Mary+Claire+Kendall

The Strings of Judy Garland’s Heart

Thirty years after Judy Garland-”Dorothy”-first publicly performed “Over the Rainbow” on June 29, 1939, previewing the soon-to-be-released Wizard of Oz, this quintessential girl-next-door reached for more sleeping pills and hoped-for sleep, only to be, mercifully, granted eternal rest.

She always wanted to be “glamorous,” forgetting her far-surpassing appeal as the very essence of America. 

Her story, the final earthly chapter ending forty years ago today, embodies American triumph and tragedy.  

Born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, her life nearly ended in 1921 after her parents’ marriage was rocked by revelations of her father’s homosexual infidelity. 

But, family physician Dr. Marcus Rabwin told Frank Gumm, “you go back to your wife and tell her I said she must have this baby.”  The “powerful” Garland “force field,” as fellow MGM star Ann Miller put it, was evidently already at work.  (more…)

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Tags: Frances Gumm, judy garland, MGM, mickey rooney, Strike up the Band
Posted Jun 22nd 2009 at 3:21 pm in Classic Hollywood, Music | 166126One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mckendall/2009/06/22/the-strings-of-judy-garland%e2%80%99s-heart/The+Strings+of+Judy+Garland%E2%80%99s+Heart+2009-06-22+22%3A21%3A49Mary+Claire+Kendall

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

Top 5: Easter Weekend Films

Another Easter season comes and goes without a single offering from mainstream Hollywood to attract oh, say, a billion or so believers into theatres. We’re not political, they say. We’re not agenda-driven, they say. Our choices are based on profit, they say. We have to appeal to an international audience, they say.

Right.

“The Pink Panther” sequel no one asked for we get, but where’s, “The Passion II: Acts of the Apostles?”  –and anyone familiar with the Bible knows I’m not joking.

Once again Hollywood steps over dollars to make pennies on “Observe and Report” and we’re forced to return to a more tolerant Hollywood on DVD. Congratulate me, tomorrow I celebrate my first year as a Roman Catholic and here are my five favorites over this Holy Week. (more…)

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Tags: Catholic, charlton heston, Easter, Easter Parade, Fred Astaire. Jim Caviezel
Posted Apr 11th 2009 at 1:53 pm in Top 5 | 1039066 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/04/11/top-5-easter-weekend-films/Top+5%3A+Easter+Weekend+Films2009-04-11+20%3A53%3A45John+Nolte

Platitudes are not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things

The other day I was stuck in traffic behind a young woman whose rear bumper sported three popular cries for help: Hope, Free Tibet, and Save the Planet.  Her ass was covered.

For some reason, it made me think of my late grandmother, an English rose with a backbone of steel – what us Americans call a “tough cookie.”  As a young divorcee, she single-handedly raised my mother, and took care of her own mother, through the Great Depression and beyond.

I used to love asking her about all the events she’d seen take place in her lifetime: the rise of the automobile, the night of Orson Welles’s famous War of the Worlds broadcast, the blackouts during WW2, the “Stars Over America” war bond blitz (which even Hollywood nonconformist Bette Davis threw herself into), the arrival of television, and on and on.

As a boy, it seemed to me my grandmother had lived many lives, and seen more sweeping, historical changes than I could ever dream of.  I had missed the boat. (more…)

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Tags: AOL, Blackberry, bumper stickers, change, Che
Posted Feb 2nd 2009 at 10:00 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 3496645 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/02/02/platitudes-are-not-healthy-for-children-and-other-living-things/Platitudes+are+not+Healthy+for+Children+and+Other+Living+Things2009-02-02+18%3A00%3A49Charles+Winecoff

Unearthed Video: Classic Hollywood ‘Pledges’ to FDR

This clip is from the finale of “Babes In Arms,” the first of four extremely entertaining, black and white, “Let’s put on a show” musicals Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland made over just a few years.

The context of the clip is what’s fascinating. The year is 1939, two years before Pearl Harbor, so this is not a studio humorously and affectionately saluting a wartime president. In fact, FDR’s New Deal was well into its fifth year but still the Depression raged. Even more interesting is that MGM studio head, Louis B. Mayer, was a staunch and active Republican who opposed FDR and loathed his Big Government solutions. (more…)

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Tags: aston kutcher, demi moore, judy garland, louis b. mayer, mickey rooney
Posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 10:46 am in Entertainment, Politics, Video | 2742567 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/01/22/unearthed-video-classic-hollywood-pledges-to-fdr/Unearthed+Video%3A+Classic+Hollywood+%27Pledges%27+to+FDR2009-01-22+18%3A46%3A10John+Nolte