smash his camera II

 

Photographer Ron Galella (TIME calls him "a paparazzi pioneer") named that picture "Windblown Jackie."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

foreground:  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

background:  Ron Galella

        In the documentary Smash His Camera (now streaming on Amazon Prime) various people interviewed, give their opinions -- pro and con -- about Mr. Galella.  In one segment there's a volley back and forth, like ping-pong, of talking heads--some speaking well of the snapper, and others just "dragging" him like mad.

His uninvited, candid picture-taking of Mrs. Onassis inspired strong negative emotions in some people.  They could remember clearly the assassination of her first husband, President John F. Kennedy -- shot to death in the backseat of a moving open car, sitting next to Jackie.  In 1971 that Dealey Plaza debacle was only eight years in the past.

For some random photographer to be now stalking her through the streets of New York City was seen by these people as heaping cruelty on top of infamy and horror.

  "Leave Mrs. Kennedy alone!!" was their attitude.

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smash his camera

 

Amazon Prime has a documentary on, now, about Ron Galella, the photographer who snapped many, many famous people, "in the day."

He photographed President Kennedy's widow, Jacqueline, in Central Park one afternoon -- the Secret Service guy stepped in front of him and told Galella, "You have enough."

Galella said, "OK, I'm going."

And Mrs. Kennedy called out, "Mr. Connolly, smash his camera!"

Every time I've read that anecdote, I've wondered about its accuracy.  (Would Jackie say a violent phrase like "smash his camera"?  Was she going all gangstah on us...?)

And some genius made the title of the Galella doc, "Smash His Camera."

Hahaha, perfect.

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I recognise the songs

 

West Side Story

1961

A December 20th article in The Guardian asks the Headline Question,

Have we witnessed the death of the Hollywood remake?

some Reader Comments

~  It was always a risk to make something that in the first incarnation was pretty much pure style.

Remakes tend to be more about the story than style.

~  The original West Side Story does not play well to the younger generation -- my 14-year-old loved the new one though.

~  The problem with West Side Story is it's old fashioned.  I know it was heralded as a great musical and the original film was good but the young generation are not interested in something that basically is a million miles from life today.

~  I wanna see this but will wait.  My mum played the soundtrack when she cooked.  I recognise the songs.

The original was on TV a couple of Christmases ago.  I put it on and from the opening shot above New York, looking down on the grid of streets with the sounds rising up then to the introductory first number my kids were transfixed.  

        They didn't know what they were watching, they couldn't comprehend this idea of a serious musical on screen.

~  There are apparently only seven plots in the world, so how "fresh" is any drama?

~  Surely the pandemic and streaming services have changed everything.

Cinema is going to really struggle this decade and there may not be many left by the end of it.  Certainly the big chains are going to struggle.  Small independents that still offer an experience (and a drink) will probably survive.  That's probably a good thing.

~  The neoliberal world has produced plenty of money but little artistic creativity in film.  Layers of management dictate what gets made and keeping the narrative within politically safe parameters shuts out differences in expression.  

        Films are endlessly rearranging the past and preventing the future from being born.

~  What about the 1970s?

~  Hollywood has been bereft of new ideas for 20 years.

~  Not to mention that movies actually used to look like something, now it's almost all CGI to the point of absurdity.  Look at the remake of "Murder on the Orient Express."  At least "Harry Potter" used a real train.

        I think the golden age of movies is the mid 50s to the mid 90s.  Big screens, big film, no CGI.  Sets were actually built, not conceived, and there was craftsmanship involved, not just technical skills no matter how impressive they are.

~  You could be describing the golden era of music as well, for probably the same reasons.

~  I'm not complaining.  My wife and daughter have gone to see it, leaving me to watch football catch-ups over a couple of pints

~  The simple truth is it will always be less risky to the investor's mind to back a remake than an original.

Which is why we get so much utter crap.

~  The average person who would go to see this is also not likely to go to the cinema at the moment.  Young people aren't interested in West Side Story or Steven Spielberg.

~  Young people don't go to the cinema.  They watch Youtube while TikToking on their phone and washing their hair.

~  The film world has been a regurgitator of old tat for a long time now.

~  It's about time, Broadway take note.  It's been a model used far too long.  Where's the newness and originality of today.  Let's hope that it changes.....how many years of the Lion King for example.

~  21st century Hollywood movies are created by shallow, greedy people (producers) whose only concern is how to make a profit.  Their goal is not to create great art or even good entertainment.  

They have contempt for their customers and continually underestimate our intelligence.  

They think, "This crap is good enough for the peasants."  

Occasionally, one of these films turns out to be quite good due to the covert efforts of the director and the editor, underlings who struggle to do good work without having their spirits crushed by their mercenary bosses.  

You can see the results if you scroll through the offerings on streaming movie channels:  99% of the films available are crap, just as the producers intended.

~  I'm not interested in remakes and the words 'movie franchise' make me grit my teeth.

~  "Have we witnessed the death of the Hollywood remake?"

No.  Next.

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seven plots

 

On Amazon Prime I recently re-watched a movie I had seen in the theater in the early '90s, where a battered wife fakes her own death to escape her husband.

        Then today I streamed a 2006 TV-movie where a soon-to-be-ex-husband fakes his own and his young son's deaths so he won't have to share custody with the kid's mother.  (A little extreme, right?)

        The wife / mother has been believing her ex and little boy died and then she accidentally finds out, 14 years later, that the son is probably still alive on a tourist-type island out in the ocean.

So she goes looking for her son.  This is when I started to think about that earlier movie -- even the means of faking the death was the same:  out on a boat on the ocean, a storm comes up, and --

1990s film:  wife "apparently drowns during the storm"

2006 TV-movie:  4-year-old son and dad "apparently drown during the storm."

In the battering-movie, the husband discovers by chance, from someone's remark that his wife knew how to swim, after all...!  Similar to the mom in the other movie -- she sees an 18-year-old guy in some friends' vacation pictures and is sure that's her son.

Is this believable?  Too much of a coincidence?  I don't go that deep -- I'm not there to "fight with" the movie.  If it's well-told and I'm hooked on the suspense, I'll go with it.

The mom is off to that island to look for her son -- just like the Hitting-Husband in the earlier movie takes off across the country, from the East Coast to the West Coast, so he can find his Disappearing Fugitive Wife.  

He wants to either batter/bully her into submission or kill her -- the Searching Mom wants to just find her son.  And -- tell him "I'm your mom, I love you" and she's probably pretty mad at the ex-husband.  

        But I don't have the impression that she wants to batter or kill him.

        She doesn't seem super-angry:  it's more like she's in a sort of "Trance of Grief."  She's a little bit like a soft-spoken robot.

In the earlier movie, there's that moment when the wife realizes her husband may have been in the house where she's living now -- he may have found her.  

It's not unlike in the other one, where the ex-husband and father hears some info from the son over the phone and realizes his ex-wife is onto him.  His facial expression of "uh-oh!" is similar.  

He tells his son to leave immediately and meet him on another island.  (They have boats.)

I don't know how the Lost-Son one ends, yet -- I had to go to work.

One wonders, did the writers "copy" the idea from the earlier movie?  On the other hand, there are theories that only a certain number of story-lines exist, in humanity.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Google:  "number of plots in literature."

Many academics, most notably author Christopher Booker, believe there are only seven basic narrative plots in all of storytelling -- frameworks that are recycled again and again in fiction but populated by different settings, characters, and conflicts.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

1. Overcoming the Monster

2. Rags to Riches

3. The Quest

4. Voyage and Return

5. Rebirth

6. Comedy

7. Tragedy

______________________

But -- What about faking your own death in the ocean during a storm...?  I guess I'm caught up in the specifics, and Mr. Booker is speaking more generally....

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avoiding scrutiny; courting disaster

 

Actor Chris Noth (Mike Logan on early-90s Law and Order; "Mr. Big" on Sex and the City) is suddenly facing accusations of S.A. from three women.  The stories reported sound similar to the Bill Cosby activities, but without the drugs.  Odd stuff.

        Like -- If these stories are accurate it sounds like Mr. Noth wanted to sort of toy with the idea of "consent" -- like instead of Two Consenting Adults, how about maybe One aggressive adult and another adult who's not having such a good time....

A whole other area of behavior that most of us would not be too familiar with.  One of the women said he texted her the next day and asked her if she had a good time--saying, "I thought it was fun, but I wasn't sure how you felt."

Dicey.

And then if they allow Comments on these stories, it's just a free-for-all, a lot of it really disturbing.  "Why did she accept his invitation to go to his apartment if she didn't expect to be raped?"

(??)

(!!)

I see both sides of that.  If any woman younger than me asked my advice on going to a date's home, to be alone, I would give the standard advice, I guess -- if this is a new relationship and you haven't been intimate and you don't intend to become intimate -- well -- tonight -- then maybe stay in public spaces -- restaurant, theater, go for a walk, etc.

        But it's also true that I would not think to say, "Well don't go to his house and be alone with him because then he has the right to sexually assault you."  No -- that's not right.

Civilized people assume other people are going to behave in a civilized manner.  We assume we're on the same page, as far as acceptable behavior.  (There's that adage:  When you assume, you make an 

ass

of

u 

and

me.)

So -- we mustn't assume the other person will behave in a civilized manner if we are alone.  Then we basically have to be on guard because -- everybody can be a psycho?  Well, yes--that is kind of what we were taught in our young-and-growing-up years, come to think of it.

And Chris Noth, married with two children, the whole time.

Blah-blah-blah.

One of the articles quotes an expert who says, "It's important to keep in mind that people who perpetrate abuse are often skilled in how they present themselves and how they use their power and position to try and avoid scrutiny."

-30-

queen of hearts; earl of scandals

 

I was trying to put someone else's picture on here, but it wouldn't go so I tried for a Princess Diana picture.  (She never lets us down.)

Evidently the Sex And The City actor I was trying to give space to here thinks himself not only too important for my blog, but more important than Princess Diana.  

Good luck with that, bud.

-30-

each glance and every little movement

 

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" ran for seven seasons in the '70s (can that be a song? -- "Seven Seasons In The Seventies," by the Tumbling Rocks...).

All the seasons are on You Tube right now -- if you want to watch some but not all, select Seasons 1, 2, and 3.

If you had to narrow it down more, then just play Seasons 2 and 3.  That is the ultimate Diamond-Goldness of the show, right there.

        That was the height of all of the components of a great work of comedy -- all the notes being hit just how we needed them.

I want Season 1 in there, too, because first seasons of shows are where it's finding its legs -- the characters that have been created are being further discovered, etc.

        In the first season, there are a few clunky moments because writers, directors, actors -- everybody -- is still finding their way.  And there are also these amazing, surprising points where the rubber meets the road -- the lightning goes into the bottle and doesn't get back out -- and the live audience will erupt in laughter and delighted screams of mirth and recognition ("I know someone just like that!").

Who can turn the world on with her smile?

Who can take a nothing day 

And suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?

Well, it's you, girl, and you should know it...

-30-

keep away the cold

 

Broadway

On You Tube, type in

steam heat, the pajama game

and play.

I got (clang) (clang) s-s-s-steam heat,

I got (clang) (clang) s-s-s-steam heat,

I got (clang) (clang) s-s-s-steam heat,

But I need your love to keep away the cold

I got (clang) (clang) s-s-s-steam heat,

I got (clang) (clang) s-s-s-steam heat,

I got (clang) (clang) s-s-s-steam heat,

But I can't get warm - without your hand to hold

The radiator's hissin' - still I need your kissin'

To keep me from freezin' each night...

     

        All these old musicals -- I remember my mother taking me to see a college production of Guys and Dolls when I was junior-high age, in Ohio.  It was outdoors -- probably Kent State students putting it on, I can't remember--I don't remember the plot or the music, either, but the event stays in my mind and it's a pleasant recollection.  I had a feeling of, "This is it.  This is perfect, and where I want to be."

-30-

an Eisenhower state of mind

 

If we want to get into a 1950s state of mind, Amazon Prime will help us -- their streaming site is currently bristling with cold-war-era musicals:

Pal Joey

Damn Yankees

Guys And Dolls

The Pajama Game

        (1957; 1958; 1955; 1957, respectively)

Pal Joey is being revived on Broadway soon.

        The 1957 film had Kim Novak in it.  (My main Kim Novak film reference is Hitchcock's Vertigo [1958].)

The Pajama Game has Reta Shaw in it:  in the 1960s, she appeared on "Bewitched" several times, as one of Samantha's relatives.

Guys And Dolls has Frank Sinatra in it and Marlon Brando.  The stage version of Guys and Dolls included a song called "A Bushel and a Peck" which is also in the 2009 film, Julie and Julia, where they cook their way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Guys And Dolls the film was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who directed two of my favorite classic movies, A Letter To Three Wives, and All About Eve.

        This version of Guys and Dolls is based on the 1950 Broadway musical, with a "book" (as they call it in the theater) by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows.

Abe Burrows is mentioned in Woody Allen's' autobiography:

--------------------------- [excerpt] ------------ I would do some gag writing for a while, perhaps, for Hope, perhaps for Berle or Jack Benny....  It was somewhere at that time that my relatives suggested I have a talk with a very distant relative by marriage, Abe Burrows....I asked the aunt, who said she couldn't help me except to say he lived at the Beresford, the stylish West Side co-op.  

"How can I contact him?" I asked shyly.  My mother, more aggressive than General Patton, said, "You don't have to contact him.  You know where he lives.  Just go over to his house." ---------------- [end, excerpt]

Abe Burrows' son James Burrows worked on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, and more.

In Damn Yankees, Ray Walston ("My Favorite Martian" 1963 - 1966) is Satan -- he appears to a frustrated baseball fan and promises him success at his goals, but then the devil will own his soul, that's the bargain.

        ...Like The Devil and Daniel Webster, etc.  I looked up on Wikipedia the theme of people selling their soul to the devil, in literature, film, etc. -- under the title, "Deals with the Devil in popular culture" -- the list is long!  This theme has even been used in games.

        OK -- here it is:  the New World Encyclopedia says,

------------------ [excerpt] ----------------- Faust, or Faustus (Latin for "auspicious" or "lucky") is the protagonist of a classic German legend who makes a pact with the Devil.

The archetypal tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works produced over several hundred years, by artists including Christopher Marlowe, Goethe, Thomas Mann, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Oscar Wilde and Charles Gounod.  

        Each retelling of the Faust legend builds, in some way, off of the previous versions. --------------------- [end, excerpt] -------------

So this is what's behind the expression, "a Faustian bargain."

From the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame:

"Legend has it that Robert Johnson met the devil at a crossroads and gave him his soul in exchange for mastery of the guitar.  Steeped in mystery, killed mysteriously, his legend eclipsed only by his skill, Robert Johnson may be the first ever rock star."

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book ends

 

Rodgers and Hart

Before there was Rodgers and Hammerstein 

(Oklahoma!

South Pacific

The Sound of Music)

there was Rodgers and Hart.

One of their songs, "I Could Write A Book," was in Pal Joey (currently on Amazon Prime) and it was also in When Harry Met Sally... (1989).

If they ask me, I could write a book

About the way you walk and whisper and look

I could write a preface on how we met

So the world would never forget

And the simple secret of the plot

Is just to tell them that I love you a lot

Then the world discovers as my book ends

How to make two lovers of friends...

_____________________

Also written by Rodgers and Hart for Pal Joey is a song titled "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"

...Couldn't sleep, and wouldn't sleep

When love came and told me, I shouldn't sleep...

This song is also sung in the Woody Allen movie Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986, and also in The Crown (Netflix).  In both of these films, the song is not performed onstage by a professional, it's being sung by characters in the story, in a casual, family setting.

_____________________________

Another R & H song included in Pal Joey, "The Lady Is a Tramp," was originally written for a Broadway musical titled, Babes in Arms.

I used to see that title & think, Wow, a little inappropriate -- he's calling a lady a "tramp" - that could have consequences... But then Wikipedia explains it all:

------------------------- [excerpt] This song is a spoof of New York high society and its strict etiquette (the first line of the verse is "I get too hungry for dinner at eight...") and phony social pretensions.  It has become a popular music standard.

[end / excerpt]

This is one of those songs where, I've heard it and cannot remember where --

She gets too hungry, for dinner at eight

She likes the theater and never comes late

She never bothers, with people she'd hate

That's why the lady is a tramp

Doesn't like crap games, with barons or earls

Won't go to Harlem in ermine and pearls

Won't dish the dirt with the rest of the girls

That's why the lady is a tramp

She loves the free, fresh wind in her hair

Life without care...

-30-