Lady of Burlesque

Lady of Burlesque
YouTube viewing

Well, I certainly didn’t expect a murder mystery from a movie titled Lady of Burlesque! Maybe I should’ve looked at the poster first. This one was kinda hard to follow for three reasons: a huge cast, with most of them talking a mile a minute, and in a hipster lingo from almost a century ago. It was worth it, though, to see Barbara Stanwyck shaking her moneymaker!

The history of burlesque dancing is a long one, covering much of world history, cultural mores, fashion, etc. Here’s a Cliff Notes version written by modern burlesque dancer Dita von Teese. For this post, we need to focus on one dancer in particular.

Gypsy Rose Lee was exposed to showbiz early in life. To support the family, she performed in vaudeville, dancing with her older sister, June Havoc, as kids. When June eloped, GRL was able to continue solo as a striptease artist. The legend has it that she chose this path when she had a wardrobe malfunction one night on stage that turned in her favor. She added humor to her act and became a star, performing as part of the Minsky Brothers’ burlesque show in New York.

The Way to Eden: Rod Roddenberry's quest for a better world

The release date for Star Trek: Discovery has been pushed back to next May, but anticipation for the new series hasn't diminished in the slightest. One reason why is due to the air of legitimacy and continuity lent by the presence of Rod Roddenberry, co-executive producer, president of Roddenberry Entertainment, and the only son of Majel Barrett and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

Rod grew up largely indifferent to Trek until Gene's death in 1991, which forced him to reexamine the franchise and his relationship to it. Looking at the testimonials to his father and to Trek inspired Rod to work towards keeping the ideals that spawned Trek alive. As Rod put it in an interview from last month:

...It's as if his death shocked me into awareness. I saw that his millions and millions of fans had connected with Star Trek in a way I never did, and I needed to know more about that. I listened to the most incredible stories of people who were able to move beyond their physical disabilities or heal from a rough childhood because of how Star Trek inspired them and encouraged them to believe in themselves. I was moved by that!

In-between work on other genre shows, some created by Gene post-TOS, Rod has slowly put thought to action in the subsequent years. The following are notable examples:

- The Roddenberry Foundation searches for people with big ideas on how to improve society and gives them a pile of money to help them along. For example, Rod gave his alma mater, Hampshire College in Massachusetts, a $200,000, two-year grant "to find interdisciplinary solutions to climate change, sustainability, and social justice." Among the projects the grant will fund is a "solve-a-thon," in which participants actively work to solve a specific problem.

Rod with George Takei & Brad Altman
on their zero-gravity ride

- Roddenberry Adventures is an exploration team that engages in hikes, camp outings, scuba diving and more in an effort to study the environment on a deep level. Earlier this year, they sent George Takei, his husband Brad, and twenty fans on a zero-gravity ride within a modified Boeing 727 aircraft that can create the sensation of weightlessness without actually going into space.

- Roddenberry Entertainment produces multimedia sci-fi/fantasy products in the spirit of Star Trek. The graphic novel series Days Missing involves an immortal super being who steps into critical juncture points throughout history to keep humanity on the straight and narrow. Kinda like Voyagers! In 2012, a film and TV deal had been announced.

In addition, RE produced the 2010 documentary Trek Nation, in which Rod examines his father's life and legacy, not unlike Adam Nimoy's film about his father Leonard, For the Love of Spock. In an interview with Wired, Rod stated about the doc, "I want [audiences] to see the film and realize [my father] was fallible, he was flawed, of course he was human. And anyone who has passion and drive can be a Gene Roddenberry.... anyone can do what they put their mind, their heart into."

Rod with his son Zale

This fall, RF offered $1 million cash to anyone who can come up with an idea or who already has an idea on how to change the world for the better. In an interview with Trek Movie, Rod used the Trek concept of the replicator, a device that converts energy into matter, as an example of such a forward-thinking concept:

...what we'll do is start to realize what is truly unique and what can't be replicated is the individual, the philosophy, the idea, the thought. When there is no more need, no more want and we truly find value in learning about each other and the differences in each other. That's the IDIC philosophy.

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, or IDIC, is a Vulcan concept introduced during TOS. It has come to symbolize the greater Trek ideal as well, and it is something to which Rod Roddenberry strives to live his life.

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Previously:
Axanar and fan fiction
William Shatner's 'Leonard'
Two Nimoy docs
Lin brokers Axanar settlement
action Trek vs. mental Trek
the new fan film rules
Discovery to break the Trek mold
Star Trek at 50

Star Trek at the Intrepid

New York has gotten Star Trek fever this 50th anniversary year, just like everyplace else. I didn't attend the big convention in Manhattan earlier this month, but I did enjoy a rare Trek-themed exhibit at the USS Intrepid: the Starfleet Academy Experience. My Trekkie pals Bibi and Eric came to town to join me on this adventure. We had a good time.

The Intrepid is an aircraft carrier that served with distinction during World War 2, and now it functions as an overpriced military and maritime history museum, docked on the west end of midtown Manhattan. The Starfleet exhibit was in a seperate area to the side of the vessel.

Scanning a Klingon patient with a tricorder.

It was a perfect summer day. Bibi and Eric arrived earlier than I had expected, so we had time to take in a street fair on Eighth Avenue (Eric had an arepa for the first time), followed by a proper lunch at Two Boots Pizza on Ninth. Then we headed for the pier.

 A hologram of a Starfleet officer greets you to the exhibit, followed by a timeline of Trek's future history, from the Eugenics Wars and Khan, to Zefram Cochrane's warp flight, to Jonathan Archer, the Romulan Wars and the founding of the Federation, through select highlights of the events leading up to the Trek movie Nemesis.

The exhibit consists of games and interactive activities designed to "train" you for a "career" in Starfleet. At the outset, you're given a wristband with some manner of thingamajig that lets you access the displays when you touch it to a Starfleet emblem at each station. For example, you're "trained" in each field - tactical, engineering, communications, medical, etc. - and you take a mini-test where you answer questions based on Trek knowledge and plain common sense. It's like those annoying quizzes you see your friends on Facebook take all the time that tell you which Harry Potter character you are, or what your hippie name is, or something like that.

Uniforms from the shows on display.

You can examine a patient with a tricorder (a greatly simplified one, of course); learn how to speak Klingon from a native; get "beamed" in a transporter and have the experience recorded on a digital file; plot a course to get the Enterprise to DS9 safely; take phaser target practice; and more. Yes, you can even take the Kobayashi Maru test on a simulated bridge of the Enterprise-D.

There was only one working phaser practice station working (of two), so we had a bit of a wait. It was basically a shoot-em-up video game, whwhereyou hold the phaser like a Wii, aiming at different targets on the screen. I thought there was a split-second delay between pressing the button and the reaction, but I had a sucky score, so I have to blame something. All three of us had sucky scores, but Bibi's was the highest. She also did the best at the Kobayashi Maru test. There was no way to cheat on it, as far as I could tell. I was tops, however, in navigating the safest course for the Enterprise, and I didn't do too badly in speaking Klingon.

Replica of the Enterprise-D bridge.

In the end, you're presented (through your e-mail address) a certificate of completion indicating which field you're best suited for. I'm gonna be a tactical officer, it seems, while Bibi's going into communications and Eric in sciences. We were all pretty pleased with the results. They suited us.

We enjoyed the exhibit. We thought it was geared more toward the casual or non-fan than to diehards like us, which waisn't necessarily bad. Bibi reminded me of the old Las Vegas exhibit - she hadn't been there, but she had heard it was way better. Maybe it was. Me, I'm just glad Bibi and Eric made the trip down to go to this with me.

The secret life of links

First off, I wanna say the blog has experienced an upsurge in readership dating back to last winter. The page count total for May was the highest in almost four years. That's pretty amazing, and it's because of you, so thanks so much for sticking with me. I really appreciate the support.

I did not realize Anton Yelchin was actually Russian. I suppose the name should've been a tip off, but I never gave it much thought. His Chekov was a sharp departure from Walt Koenig: a little younger, a little more manic, much more of a prodigy. What I will remember most is him running down the Enterprise hallways like a madman, trying to figure out how to rescue Kirk. He did a decent job of stepping into the boots of an iconic science fiction character. I'm grateful for his contribution. This Variety piece summarizes his pre-Trek career.

Here's something you'll get a kick out of: last week I returned to Brooklyn's Videology, the video rental store turned bar and screening room (and, amazingly, is still a video store as well) for a movie trivia night! I was there at the invite of Jen from my writer's group, who is a big fan of pub trivia nights and party games in general. She was there with her friend Laura, whom I had met before. For a Tuesday night, the place was packed - but then, the impression I got was that this regular event was quite popular. We shared a table with three other people and we partnered with them for the duration of the contest.

There were several rounds of varying degrees of difficulty. In addition to answering questions, we had to also identify stills, audio clips and video clips. You couldn't be a lightweight, either - the questions the hosts provided really did test your movie knowledge. I think Jen and I would've preferred more classic movie-related questions than we got (though there was one about Judy Holliday which I'm proud to say I knew instantly), but our newfound teammates pulled their weight and then some. They knew their stuff too.

Regrettably, it was not enough in the end. Our team floated in the top five at one point before fading out of contention in the later rounds. I think we finished tenth out of somewhere between 15-20 teams (I told you the place was packed). It was fun, though. Too bad the grand prize was only free drinks!

Your links:

Jennifer examines the history of Buffalo Bill in film.

Kristina is in a French New Wave mood.

Le says Harold Lloyd was cinema's first nerd.

Did you know Y-nk-- hall of famer Lou Gehrig appeared in a Western? Paddy knew.

Retrospace looks at two B-movies about space princesses on Earth (NSFW).

Paramount releases their guidelines for Star Trek fan films. I'll talk more about this next month.

Yes, one day, even schlock cinema will be preserved.

A bit of local news: Kaufman Astoria Studios is expanding.

Enjoy the holiday weekend, everyone. I'll be back July 7.

Groundhog's links

So far, the new format seems to be going over well. The pageview numbers are roughly comparable with what they were before the Switch, and the announcement of the CinemaScope Blogathon generated a whole lot of interest. Thanks once again on behalf of Becky and myself to everyone who's joining us for that next month.

Among the stuff to look forward to this month will include another venture into the hullaballoo that is the #TCMparty on Twitter, only this time I'll devote a post exclusively to my experience with it, which will be a first. I have a tentative idea which film to watch. It's one that I'm quite familiar with, so dividing my time between my TV and my cellphone shouldn't be much of a problem. As I've talked about before in this space, I'm still not convinced that live-tweeting a film is a habit I'd want to obtain, but I can't deny its popularity, and it certainly can be fun - in the absence of watching with real live people.

The Top 10 for 2014 should be ready, if not this week, then next week. At this point, the only movies I still haven't seen which could affect my selection (and that I wanna see, of course) are Still Alice and A Most Violent Year. I hope to get to the latter, at the very least. Also, I'll post my Oscar predictions and a brief post-Oscar recap.

I've already started sharing excerpts from my novel with my writing group and I'd say they like it. One guy said, in all seriousness, that I should start thinking about getting an agent because he's convinced it's marketable. I don't know about that. It's a sports novel, and from what I've read, sports novels are a rare and tiny niche. But it's also a tragic love story, so there's that too. 

Regardless, I'm well over 40,000 words at this stage and it's a slow, uphill climb. I'm impatient about it because I want the writing part to end so I can start revising, and a lot of times, I'm paralyzed by the lack of words coming to mind. What I'll do - something I learned during NaNoWriMo but didn't apply to my own writing until now - is that I'll write a generic description of what it is that's supposed to go in a certain paragraph and highlight it in red. Then, when it comes time to revise, I can go back and fill it in with the necessary detail. That has helped me a lot.

Your links for this month:

Speaking of Bill Murray, did you know about the other sci-fi film he made in 1984 - the one that never got released? Allow Will to elucidate.

Raquel reflects on the death of a loved one through a Lionel Barrymore film.

The Lady Eve saw The Godfather with a live orchestra.

Monstergirl has a really weird-sounding Gothic horror flick about a girl school with some funny business going on.

Don't think I've ever mentioned The Hollywood Revue before, so I'll do so now. Here, Angela reviews a new book about epic filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille.

My new favorite movie blog title is Cary Grant Won't Eat You. And the blog is pretty good, too. Here, the author laments that comedic acting remains unappreciated at the Oscars, using The Grand Budapest Hotel's Ralph Fiennes as a case study.

In last week's new release roundup, I linked to my report on a second-run Forest Hills theater that gambled on American Sniper to save them from extinction. I'm proud to say that they gambled and won.

Great article about the Loew's Wonder Theaters (including the Loew's Jersey City), then and now.

Are kids' adventure movies on the wane?

Finally, the issue of Newtown Literary with my short story "Airplanes" is now available for the Kindle.

5 movies set at World's Fairs

The Unisphere, the symbol of the '64 Fair

Yesterday, I attended a very special event - a festival celebrating the anniversaries of the two World's Fairs held in New York: the 1939-40 Fair and the 1964-65 Fair. Both Fairs, as well as yesterday's festival, were set here in Queens, at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, across the street from CitiField and the 7 train, home to tennis' US Open and repository of many childhood memories.

I played and hung out in Flushing Meadows a lot as a kid, and though I had a vague awareness that it was home to the World's Fair, it existed only as something from the dim and distant past, long before I hit the scene. Naturally, I saw the relics of the Fair - the Unisphere, the New York State Pavillion, the Terrace on the Park - but to me, these were just cool looking objects that were part of the park, like slides and swings were part of my grade school park.

This year, I've had cause to re-examine Flushing Meadows from a historical perspective. For instance, the Museum of the Moving Image currently has an exhibit featuring clips from promotional films for the '39 and '64 Fairs. Seeing the park from the context of the Fairs, as part of a worldwide attraction that was visited by tons of people, was exciting. I especially liked seeing the Unisphere being built. A giant steel globe tilted at an axis and mounted on a base, the Unisphere was built for the '64 Fair and has since grown to represent Queens in general, but once upon a time it had a much larger significance, and now I feel a bit more aware of that.

The New York State Pavillion

At yesterday's festival, there was a wide variety of music, food, park-related exhibitions, art, and more that commemorated the past and celebrated Queens in general. The Pavillion, a giant circular structure which has since fallen into disarray since its construction for the '64 Fair, was open to the public, and I had the distinct pleasure of walking around inside it for the first time ever. 

You've gotta understand - in all the years I've been to Flushing Meadow, playing in it with friends as a kid and hanging out in it as an adult, I've always taken the Pavillion for granted. I knew next to nothing about its history other than that it was once part of the Fair. It meant little to me - for a long time, I didn't even know what it was called - and now, to have been inside it and to fully grasp its significance... it was quite a moment. (Incidentally, there's a movement afoot to save and preserve the Pavillion.)

On top of all this (though by pure coincidence), I'm currently reading the true crime book The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, the story of a serial killer who operated during the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 (great book!). So it's safe to say that I've had World's Fairs on my mind lately. With that in mind, I thought I'd take a look at five examples of how they've been depicted in movies.

- Meet Me in St. Louis. Might as well start with the best known one. The St. Louis Fair of 1904 was the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, commemorating the centennial of the notable land deal with France that gave America much of its Midwest. Among the highlights included a large bird cage, the world's biggest organ (at the time), a wireless telegraph tower, and a concession devoted to the Anglo-Boer War. Dr. Pepper and Puffed Wheat cereal debuted at the fair.

Meet Me in St. Louis was, of course, inspired by the song "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis," which is in the movie. Judy Garland is radiant, and the songs she sings, such as "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," have become American standards. Could've done with a little less Margaret O'Brien, but otherwise it's an all-timer.

- It Happened at the World's Fair. Seattle is the setting here. They had their Fair, the Century 21 Exposition, in 1962, during the "Space Race" with the Soviet Union, and science & technology was a major motif. The Space Needle was constructed for the Fair and has since become the symbol of Seattle in general. In addition, the Monorail and the sports facility now known as the KeyArena were built for the Fair.

It Happened at the World's Fair was an Elvis movie, made after Jailhouse Rock but before Viva Las Vegas. He sings a song called "Take Me to the Fair" on a ukelele to a kid. There's a scene in the Space Needle, of course. It's also Kurt Russell's debut film, back when he was a child actor. He kicks Elvis in the shins!

- Charlie Chan at Treasure Island. San Francisco's Golden Gate International Exposition was held in 1939-40 (the same years as the New York Fair) on Treasure Island, an artificial island built for the Fair. The Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge were relatively new at the time, and the island is where the two spans meet. The Pacifica statue, an 81-foot sculpture of the goddess of the Pacific Ocean, was the symbol of the Fair.

The 22nd Charlie Chan movie (and the third featuring Sidney Toler as Chan), he heads out to SF during the Fair to investigate the death of a friend. Was it suicide - or murder? There's real footage of the fair, including aerial shots, in the film. Some say the Zodiac killer was inspired by this film to go on his killing spree. Plus, a young Cesar Romero.

- So Long at the Fair. Paris' Exposition Universelle was held in 1889 and it gave the world the Eiffel Tower, named for its designer, Gustave Eiffel, and though people were less than thrilled with it at first, it would go on to become world famous and synonymous with Paris, and indeed, France itself. Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley performed there as part of their Wild West Show.

So Long at the Fair is a Jean Simmons movie in which she searches Paris during the Fair for her missing brother, whom no one acknowledges as ever having been in Paris - even though he was. It's allegedly based on an urban myth. The title comes from a lyric to a popular song at the time.

- Gamera vs. Monster X. Expo '70, or Osaka Banpaku, was held in Osaka, Japan in 1970. IMAX debuted there. A moon rock from the Apollo 12 mission was on display, as were mobile phone prototypes. The Landmark Tower was built for the Expo, as was the Tower of the Sun, a structure with three human-like faces on its facade, moving staircases and an artificial tree inside. It inspired a song by Shonen Knife.

Even a Japanese monster movie has a Fair connection! Gamera is basically a giant turtle. He debuted in 1965 and there have been twelve films in the series (so far; now that the new Godzilla seems to have done well, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we see him again). Gamera vs. Monster X (AKA Gamera vs. Jiger) was actually filmed at the Expo. It sounds like a cheaply made kiddie film, but I'm sure it's loads of fun.

The Night I Danced at the Hollywood Canteen

The Classic Movie History Project Blogathon is an event in which participants examine a given year in movies from the Golden Age, hosted by Movies Silently, Silver Screenings and Once Upon a Screen. For a complete list of participating blogs, visit the links at these sites.

1942

Matthew got drafted for the war in April of 1942. Momma told me in a letter. By that time I was well into my Hollywood "career," and he and I had fallen out of touch with each other long ago. We had believed our little high school romance could still work, separated as we were by the miles and by my shifting priorities, but then again, my aunt Shirley warned me about long-distance relationships.

Truth is, though, I knew things were turning sour when I first told him I was leaving for Hollywood after graduation. He knew I had dreams that were bigger than our hometown of Aberdeen, Washington - dreams that he didn't quite share, no matter how supportive he tried to be. Did we love each other? Maybe. I've certainly thought about it now and again, over the years... but whatever it was we had, it wasn't enough. The promises we made to each other to write, to visit, to call, were built on a foundation of sand... and in my heart, I knew it. Maybe I did love Matthew.

But I loved showbiz a little bit more.

Rifftrax Live presents Night of the Living Dead

Rifftrax Live presents Night of the Living Dead

seen @ Regal Cinemas Union Square, New York NY

10.24.13

Heckling, like comedy in general, is a kind of art. I'm convinced of this. There's a certain level of arrogance involved, sure - there kinda has to be; after all, the heckler is placing himself above the heckled - but to be good at it, and not just some douchebag with too much to drink - you've gotta know how to make it funny. Who can forget that scene in Roxanne where Steve Martin holds a symposium on how to heckle somebody with a big nose?

In the film world, mocking films, good or bad, is almost always more entertaining than praising films, especially since negativity tends to have a longer shelf life. Last week, Ryan talked about how social media has dramatically shortened the period of backlash on a given film. Some people, it seems, are eager to put down a popular movie in a bid for attention. To a certain extent, I can relate to that mentality, but that can get old after awhile because it tends to be mean-spirited.

Light-hearted mockery is different. Not being any kind of comedy expert, I can't express the difference accurately, but I think it may have something to do with having an intimate knowledge of the subject, flaws and all, and still appreciating it. Perhaps this is where the art comes in.

Which brings us to Rifftrax. It's an outgrowth of the long-running TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, in which the stars - Michael J. Nelson and the two guys who voiced the robots, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett - sell audio files of their trademark heckling stylings to be played with specific movies. They also sell DVDs of films that come with their audio commentary. In essence, it's like watching MST3K without the silhouetted robots in the corner, or the original material in-between movie segments.

Every once in awhile, Rifftrax stages live events, in which they do their schtick before a live audience and the event is simulcast around the country in select movie theaters. My pals John and Sue are big Rifftrax fans, and that's how I wound up getting to see Rifftrax' take on the horror classic Night of the Living Dead last Thursday.

The screening was preceded by a bunch of horror-flavored parodies of movie slide-show word games and trivia, accompanied by silly songs. At the appointed hour, Nelson, Murphy and Corbett appeared on a Halloween-decorated stage at a theater in Nashville. Before the main attraction, there was what is a Rifftrax Live regular feature: a short that they also heckle, featuring an unlucky Mr. Bean-type character that's part of a series.

Night played while the Rifftrax guys sat off to the side and did their thing. I'm told by John that they used to ad lib, but at this performance they wrote their lines in advance. I couldn't help but be a tiny bit disappointed, but it didn't matter. For one thing, they never have to worry about stepping on each other's lines. It looked like they all took turns, and for the most part, they knew when to come in with the jibes and when to allow for the dialogue. 

At regular intervals, the simulcast goes from the film to a split-screen of the film on one side and the Rifftrax crew on the side, Brady Bunch style, as they heckle. It's a little off-putting at first, but you get used to it eventually.

An example of how the Rifftrax crew looks onstage. This is taken
from their Manos: The Hands of Fate performance.

Anyone who has seen MST3K knows how funny these guys can get, and they were hilarious. I was a bit skeptical about them riffing on a good movie, but it's not the first: they've done all three Lord of the Rings movies, Star Trek II, and even Casablanca! That, of course, is in addition to all the horrible films and shorts they've riffed as well. The crowd was a surprising mix of young and old people, and it was very nearly a full house. The whole thing was a lot of fun.

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Related:
MST3K presents Manos: The Hands of Fate
MST3K presents Santa Claus Conquers the Martians