I’ve been going through old recordings on my FiOS TV DVR. How old? Last night I watched an episode of Louie that was recorded on August 2, 2012. “Whoever dies first,” says Robin Williams. Almost exactly two years later, he committed suicide.
Williams had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. An autopsy revealed Lewy Body Dementia. Then Louie C.K. pulled a “metoo” and committed career suicide, but it was temporary and he’s been back on stage for a while.
Patrick O’Neal, whose brother Michael was one of the finest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, stars in Assignment to Kill, from 1968. The pitch for the movie seems to have been along the line of, “James Bond, insurance agent.” An overlooked 60’s gem? I’ll know after watching it.
Tom Hanks’ commencement speech at Harvard last Thursday. Hey, he makes a reference to The Adventures of Superman, and goes on from there to list more comic book characters!
Hanks didn’t advise the grads to “follow your passion.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/22/opinion/stem-women-gender-disparity.html
A nice commentary on Hanks’ comments from the Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/31/tom-hanks-commencement-harvard/
George Maharis has died at the very advanced age of 94. From the NYTimes, where that publicity photo came from, I learned that Maharis was gay. (Bring back white sidewall tires!)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/28/arts/television/george-maharis-dead.html
Curiously, there’s no direct mention of his orientation in the Hollywood Reporter obituary, despite it having been relevant to his leaving the series.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/george-maharis-dead-route-66-star-1235502542/
Maharis’ character was obviously based upon Jack Kerouac, with co-star Martin Milner looking like Brian Wilson’s older brother who wasn’t in the Beach Boys. The pilot episode of Route 66 is excellent, with strong adult content. The memorable theme was by Nelson Riddle, who wrote the equally memorable theme to the Batman TV series.
CORRECTION: A certain gentleman going by the name of “Denro” says, “Riddle me this, Nelson. The Batman theme was written by Neal Hefti!” Here are some Batunes that Riddle did compose, borrowing liberally from Hefti’s ditty:
More about the state of red state healthcare.
A very sympathetic 1-hour biography of Marion Davies, with comments from noted silent film historian Kevin Brownlow. It was financed by Hugh Hefner, who was revealed in last year’s Secrets of Playboy to have been a monster.
How about that swell toe-tapper of a tune, heard a couple of times in the documentary? “There Ain’t No Maybe in My Baby’s Eyes” is what Robert Crumb would call sweet music.
As pointed out in the documentary, Marion had a stutter. She wanted to quit the movies when sound came in, but then her stutter disappeared once the cameras were rolling.
In 1933 Marion, age 36, was teamed with the somewhat younger Bing Crosby in Going Hollywood. Being a pre-code movie, several disclaimers need to be made. First, Marion does a number in black face. Second, Bing implies that Sterling Holloway was gay. Third, Ned Sparks makes fun of Pratts!
Before watching Going Hollywood, I suggest reading this extremely negative review.
http://pre-code.com/going-hollywood-1933-review-marion-davies-bing-crosby/
With all of that background to go on, you can now decide for yourself if Marion Davies was a no-talent hack whose career was entirely thanks to the influence of William Randolph Hearst. I’m leaning towards the side that says, “Gosh, she was a peach of a girl.”
