The ultimate Joni guide

Nice to find a specialist Joni Mitchell magazine when shopping at the local out of town major superstore, one of the UNCUT magazine specials on major music artists. 

This is a terrific on on our major favourite, Joni, to add to the collection. It cover all the albums - 20 plus - in detail, with lots of info and comment and fitting in Joni's remarkable career too, from the mid 60s onward, including all the rarities, the art, the dvds, etc, 

It just makes one want to go back and play them all again,   Lot of Joni of course at label, including (yes, Martin, once again), the time I met her in Kings Road, Chelsea in London in 1972, when we were both in our twenties, and walked along having a great conversation with her, 

Not the best Joni song, but we love this late 80s video with Joni dancing around the kitchen, doing the dishes and playing with her cat. 

We have now revised our list of Joni's top songs:- Here's 30+:

Tin Angel  (I love that line: "dark with darker moods is he …") /Be Cool / Man to Man / Chinese Café / Goodbye Pork Pie Hat / Let The Wind Carry Me / A Strange Boy / Barangrill / Car On A Hill / Down to You / The Same Situation / Just Like This Train / The Last Time I saw Richard / A Case of You / You Turn Me On I'm a Radio / Off Night Back Street / Talk To Me / Night Ride Home / Night in the City / Chelsea Morning / Urge For Going / The Circle Game / Both Sides Now / Michael From Mountains / Marcie / Songs to Ageing Children Come / Edith and the Kingpin / The Hissing of Summer Lawns / Good Friends / My Secret Place / Number One / Shiny Toys / God Must  be a Boogie Man.

A new Boys In The Band

A new touring production of THE BOYS IN THE BAND turns out to be the first major revival in decades of Mart Crowley's 1968 play, a landmark production and a certified gay classic.

I remember the original production being on in London then, but being in my early twenties, I had no interest in seeing it. The original cast did the film too in 1970., directed by William Friedkin, which I saw at the time but had no real memory of, so really I was coming to this new production without any pre-conceived ideas.  A friend saw it last October in its initial theatre run, and it is today finishing a two week run in London's west end.

I had a great seat in the front row, so it almost felt I was on stage with them. It turned out to be another great gay revival like those of THE JUDAS KISS and MY NIGHT WITH REG in recent years (see Theatre. Gay Interest labels).

It is also a 60s landmark play, like Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (also getting a major revival in London this spring), and like that play it also descends into booze hell and 'get the guest' games as the drama unfolds.

I loved the set here, with all those movie star pictures, and that 60s soundtrack. The cast of 9 do it justice too. Mark Gatiss (SHERLOCK, DR WHO) and his real life husband Ian Hallard are the leads as Harold and Michael - host of the birthday party for Harold. Daniel Boys scores as the nice guy Donald, and Jack Derges is an eye-catching midnight cowboy - he may be a trick but he is also a treat in a lively performance. Michael's is the lead role with lots of lines and business - it must be exhausting playing it twice a day on matinee days. 

It is the first major revival of this iconic play in two decades, and it still works as an engrossing drama, capturing that late sixties moment in 1968 before Stonewall and gay liberation in the 1970s and the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. So we get lots of Bette Davis and Judy Garland impressions as Emory and the others camp it up, as Michael's straight college buddy unexpectedly drops in ....

It is 1968 and nine men gather in a New York apartment for a birthday celebration. Harold receives a surprise gift from his friend Emory in the form of a beautiful male hustler. Meanwhile party host Michael gets an unwanted surprise of his own, As the booze is drank and the dope smoked, the mood swings from hilarity to heartbreak. 

It is a busy play to stage, with all those props and food and drink - the cast have to eat salad and lasagne, as well as drink whatever is in those bottles, as well as emote. To my surprise, I liked it a lot, and have now ordered the film dvd to see how it was staged then, and that original cast (above, right), several of whom did not survive the Aids era. 

"Its the Downbeat club at three in the morning, you are singing just for yourself and the boys in the band" - Norman Maine to Esther in A STAR IS BORN, 1954 

This post has now got over 200 views, and my pal Colin tweeted it to the boys:

Colin Howe‏@ColHowe

Great review of @BoysBandPlay on my friend's blog http://osullivan60.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/a-new-boys-in-band.html?m=1 … @danielboys @Markgatiss @IanHallard @mrjackderges @jamesholmes19

1:48 AM - 19 Feb 2017

RIP, continued ...

Two more titans of British television depart, and another music legend and one of our most esteemed journalists/critics, as this busy year runs away .....

Andrew Sachs (1930-2016) aged 86. The nation mourned at the passing of Manuel, the dim waiter "from Barcelona", at the centre of FAWLTY TOWERS tv series, a classic of British television, endlessly repeated and loved (there were only 12 episodes). Sachs' perfect creation was the equal of John Cleese's Basil, particuarly in episodes like "Basil the Rat". His many other roles included QUARTET, and a lot of television series including CORONATION STREET, HOLBY CITY, EASTENDERS, etc. 

Peter Vaughan (1923-2016) aged 93. One of the most recognisable character actors who kept busy into his 90s with his role in GAME OF THRONES. Also notable for OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH, PORRIDGE, and a slew of film and television roles - and stage too: he originated the role of Ed in Orton's ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE in 1964. His air of menace was just right for so many productions and kept him busy. Films included STRAW DOGS, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, BRAZIL,  
His first wife was the marvellous Billie Whitelaw, another favourite of ours. 

Greg Lake (1947-2016), aged 69 - another major musician from my misspent youth: Greg Lake, bassist and founding member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, one of the great progressive rock bands of the late 60s and 70s. Lake has died at 69, just 9 months after the passing of Emerson .....  ELP were very popular then (I had their album "Pictures At An Exhibition"), and he co-wrote (with King Crimson's Peter Sinfield) that Christmas anthem we will be hearing this season: "I Believe in Father Christmas".

AA Gill (1954-2016), aged 62. AA (Adrian) advised us only 3 weeks ago that he had cancer, and now it has taken him 3 weeks later. We have always liked his witty, trenchant TV reviews for "The Sunday Times" where he was also restaurant critic, with all those witty, erudite reviews in that dazzling prose. He was also the scourge of the television producers ("Tristams") and wrote moving reports from world crisis spots,like Syria or Darfur. AA will be much missed, The "Sunday Times" editor said he was the soul of the paper. He was also author of several books, including one on The Ivy restaurant. Today's paper features his last writing on his cancer diagnosis and treatment. We should all be so strong facing life's challenges, 
"AA Gill is away" indeed.

End of year ...

The new "award season" will soon be underway, with a lot of prestige titles jostling for inclusion. As ever we have to wait a while for the interesting new releases here .... at least Tom Ford's NOCTURNAL ANIMALS was well-received and should be a major contender.

We have to wait until January for LA LA LAND, February for MOONLIGHT, March for Verhoeven's ELLE with that stunning Isabelle Huppert performance ...

Meanwhile, I have LOVE & FRIENDSHIP, THE NEON DEMON, THEO & HUGO, and an interesting new Irish movie SING STREET to see and relish ... Bond and The Beatles too, as we have finally seen SKYFALL and SPECTRE, and EIGHT DAYS A WEEK. 

Reviews coming up, including another French rarity MALE HUNT (LA CHASSE A HOMME) an all-star 1964 item, with only Belmondo, Brialy, Deneuve & Dorleac, Laforet, Presle etc. 

Not bad for December, now for all those end-of-year reviews ... Of the Sight & Sound Top 20 of 2016, http://www.bfi.org.uk/best-films-2016
I have only heard of half of them, most of them have not opened here yet until next year, and Hollywood mainstream movies are mainly absent (apart from LA LA LAND and MOONLIGHT, if they are considered mainstream). 

Cover Girl - an occasional series

I had this TOWN magazine when I was 16, in 1962, showing young starlet and girl about town Sarah Miles, then making a name for herself, with the release of TERM OF TRIAL, which she would follow up with THE SERVANT, she has been creating headlines for a long time. Great to see her a few years ago, as per Sarah label. More TOWN girls coming up. 
It was that large stylish men's magazine covering the London high life, and copies fetch a good price now. (I got this and the Vitti and Monroe cover issues reasonably cheap a while ago ...). The photo is by Terence Donovan, as is this 1966 shoot with Joanna Lumley ....

Monica

Some super black and white shots of our goddess Monica Vitti, by Elisabetta Catalano. I have finally got my hands on that 2011 issue of Italian "Vanity Fair" with 12 pages on Monica, with some terrific photos and comments and features on her, on her then 80th birthday.  There is also now that new Blu-ray of L'AVVENTURA .... Those Antonioni films find new admirers all the time. 
My first appreciation on Monica back in 2010 is at Monica 1 label, got over 2800 views then. She is still a major European star even if she has been silent for some years .....

The landscape and architecture of that face ... and that distinctive voice and sense of fun.
I came across a piece on her by Alan Stanbrook from 1990:
"There are two Monica Vittis: the husky, effervescent comedienne, which is how she sees herself, and the grave, statuesque beauty gazing into a haunted future which is how director Michelangelo Antonioni saw her. They worked together five times, between L'AVVENTURA in 1959 and THE OBERWALD MYSTERY in 1980. A presence more than an actress, Vitti was moulded into a Bernhardt (and the face of European cinema) when she wanted to be a Betty Hutton or Kay Kendall. Humour has surfaced throughout her career, from CHATEAU EN SUEDE to MODESTY BLAISE.. The first film she directed SECRET SCANDAL (unavailable here) is also a comedy. A thick Roman accent denied her an international career, but, with Antonioni, she had more than that: like Jeanne Moreau, hers became the face of our troubled times."  

Latest MM memorabilia

We have found a treasure trove of Monroe memorabilia including some "Vanity Fair" magazines I had not seen, and photographer Lawrence Schiller's memoir MARILYN & ME (see post below) covering that shoot on SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE in 1962 when he took those pool photographs which made the cover of LIFE magazine and are still fascinating now. 

This year too VANITY FAIR ICONS appeared, a choice glossy magazine for MM fanatics, with great text and photographs, including appraisals of the Strasbergs, De Maggio, Miller; excerpts from Tony Curtis's memoir, and Lawrence Schller's. and reports on those MM documents and possessions which were stored away after her death, and inherited by Lee Strasberg's third wife, who did not even know MM. 

The first serious writing on Monroe was probably that nice feature by David Robinson in that October 1962 issue of TOWN magazine, which I had when I was 16 - it was great to find it again recently on a vintage magazine site, it costs quite a lot now!  There was also that early fan mag, covering the MM years.

Back in the early sixties, we liked those early MM books, before the avalanche of them followed: that early one by George Carpozi; MARILYN, THE TRAGIC VENUS by Edwin P. Hoyt (first published in 1967),  and NORMA JEANE by Laurence Guiles with that silvery Beaton cover shot. THE FILMS OF MARILYN MONROE of course, Then the 1973 Norman Mailer tome certainly brought Marilyn into the mainstream, collecting as it did those major photographs by Milton Greene (which a lot of us had not seen before), and the pool pictures by Schiller, and some Eve Arnold shots, and that Mailer text cementing Monroe as the American Icon. Schiller, now 79, and a writer/producer, shot those pool pictures when he was 25. 

Eve Arnold's book on MM contains a wealth too, as does the Barris, Stern, Schiller books on those late photoshoots. The best of the later books is the enormous MARILYN IN THE FLASH, reviewed last year, covering her many public appearances. A lot of the other MM books are not worthwhile and just rehash the usual stuff or try to seek a new angle on her death. 
The books by her maid Lena Pepitone and by Susan Strasberg are worth reading though for different facets on the Monroe persona and life, James Spada's 1982 MARILYN:  A LIFE IN PICTURES is another nice one, and Donald Spoto's huge biography seems to get everything right

(No, Marilyn was not killed by the Kennedys. Her 'suicide' may have been accidental, after being fed all those barbiturates by different people over the years; and her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson and her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, may have had a hand in it.).

So, the Monroe industry goes on and on ..... 

RIP, continued ....

Andrzey Wadja (1926-2916), aged 90. The venerable Polish director whose ASHES AND DIAMONDS was an international arthouse sensation in 1958, as successful as those early Fellini and Bergman classics. He won  awards like an Honorary Oscar and the Palm D-Or, A GENERATION and KANAL were also early films, and his later films included MAN OF MARBLE, MAN OF IRON, DANTON among his extensive credits in that long career. Another of the great European directors departs ....

Jean Alexander (1926-2016), aged 90. The veteran British actress who was a mainstay on television's CORONATION STREET for decades as the busybody Hilda Ogden, complete with her hair in curlers, a turban and a pinny as she cleaned the Rovers Return pub, and berated her workshy husband Stan, a role she played from 1964 to 1987. She later did a long stint in LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE from 1988 to 2010. The extensive tributes show how well-loved she was. We always relied on Hilda for a laugh among the ongoing drama on the cobbles, Jean's creation was the equal of those other great Northern Women who dominated CORRIE in its Golden Age; Vera Duckworth, Annie Walker, Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Bet Lynch, Rita and Mavis etc. and dare one say Ivy Tilsley. Now we are stuck with the endless sagas of the boring Platts, Steve McDonald et al. At least Mary and snobby Sally and fab Tim provide some relief. Ta ra chuck, as Hilda would say. 

Peggy Spencer (1920-2016), aged 95. For decades the doyenne of ballroom dancing, Perhaps the current hit STRICTLY COME DANCING would not exist without her laying the groundwork through her dance competitions and ballroom teaching. She also choreographed a video for The Beatles ("Your Mother Should Know") and for Nureyev in VALENTINO. Her formation dance teams were often on television and danced for royalty and all those years of the earlier COME DANCING television shows.

Vintage Magazine Shop. We are sad to see the demise of another London legend, Brewer Street in Soho is certainly falling to the developers with a vengance. This massive store was a marvellous place to browse, buy current movie memorabilia, and their basement held an incredible stock of vintage movie and fashion magazines, (Thanks again Colin, for finding a 1959 number of "Films & Filming" which I needed to complete my collection). The shop is continuing on line, Here are some comments:

This is one of the most unusual shops in London. Perfect if you want to get a quirky gift.
As its name suggests, this is a shop selling vintage stuff but it doesn't just stop at magazines. You'll find posters, books, music, mugs and little gifts. The shop is a slightly messy treasure trove and you can lose yourself just browsing. 
It is with serious regret that on Thursday, 29-September-2016 that this Soho gem has finally closed down their doors for good. It has become yet another causality for independent shops in central London, due to the landlords obviously increasing rents, which go up every year.      

The Vintage Magazine shop will be missed immensely, and I have to say it had quite a few interesting things on offer for film fans, cinema goers and media & arts researchers, and people who simply browsing.

Woody's films ranked !

I am indebted to that enterprising movie magazine LITTLE WHITE LIES, as they have ranked all Woody Allen's 46 films, with interesting comments on them, just as his new one CAFE SOCIETY is getting better than usual reviews here (My pal Martin "loved, loved, loved it".). The link is here:   Enjoy!

http://lwlies.com/articles/the-films-of-woody-allen-ranked/

I couldn't top that, Woody (is it really 51 years since he was chasing Romy Schneider in WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?, our favourite 1965 cult movie .... ) has been variable over the years, with some movies I love (ok, the mainly early funny and mid-period ones) and some I just had no interest in seeing. 

My top 10 Woodys would be:      (but check the link and read all about them all). 

• ANNIE HALL
• MANHATTAN
• INTERIORS
• STARDUST MEMORIES
• HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
• CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS
• MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
• EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU
• ANOTHER WOMAN
• RADIO DAYS
• BROADWAY DANNY ROSE
• THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO
• LOVE AND DEATH

I dashed to BLUE JASMINE which seemed his best in years, it was only after we realised the flaws in the script, but it was marvellously done, especially by Cate Blanchett. His London movie YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER worked for us too. 1972's EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX amused at the time - Woody as the Fool, Gene Wilder and the sheep - but that extended sperm sequence may jar now, with that anti-gay jibe (Are there any gays in the Woody universe, apart from Meryl Streep as the lesbian ex-wife in MANHATTAN?) 
Reviews of some of these at Woody label. Lets hope he, in his 80s,  can keep turning out a movie a year for a while longer yet ...  

Summer re-views: for the RVT boys

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, one of London's oldest gay pubs, is a Grade II listed entertainment venue, which has been catering to confirmed bachelors and their friends ever since it was a music hall in a previous incarnation. I had a lot of pleasant evenings there myself; it now has a free film club on the 1st of every month, and this evening's choice is - wait for it - WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? so I am sure the boys in the band will be singing out the lines along with Bette and Joan. Take it away guys: "Butcha are in that wheelchair, Blanche, you are ... " and that delicious end line: "You mean all these years we could have been friends". Here once again is the BABY JANE cover from my favourite magazine ... (I was 17 when I got that issue in 1963). 

Cleopatra out-takes ...

Elizabeth Taylor and veteran actor Finlay Currie on the set of CLEOPATRA. But Finlay wasn't in CLEOPATRA you say - quite right, his part was surgically removed when they were cutting the 6 hour epic down to a more manageable 4 .... pity Finlay didn't make the cut here, he was in so many other epics, from QUO VADIS? to BEN HUR. 

FILMS IN REVIEW is a fascinating little magazine I missed at the time, its good discovering them now, like that 1988 one with a terrific interview with Lee Remick looking back over her career, and this recent acquisition I found on ebay, dated January 1988 with a good feature on CLEOPATRA, going through the original Mankiewicz screenplay for his proposed six hour version, which would be shown in two parts. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox soon put paid to that and the 4-hour version that exists now is as much as we are going to get. 
I don't think there will be any A STAR IS BORN-type restoration here! 

Other deletions, apart from Finlay, included background material on those other characters like Ruffio, Sosigenes, Apollodorus, Octavian, etc. 

I like this particular scene closing the first half, as Cleo sails away, its perfectly written, acted, and scored with that great Alex North score.

Among the supporting players we also like Richard OSullivan (the little boy in DANGEROUS EXILE) as the petulant young Pharoah, Gregoire Alsan as the scheming Pothinus, and Pamela Brown's all-seeing high priestess, and of course we love the opulent sets and costumes, as discussed before, and that great panning shot over the bay of Alexandria as Caesar arrives ....  There is still a lot to enjoy in CLEOPATRA not least Rex as Caesar and as befits a Mankiewicz film, the dialogue is to savour.

Legendary ladies at lunch ....

I remember this particular issue of AFTER DARK from February 1981 and had it at the time, nice to find it on ebay, cheap too. I wanted to re-read this interview with two great Broadway ladies having lunch: Geraldine Page and Julie Harris. They were doing a new play at the time, MIXED COUPLES, their first time on stage together - they had though both been in Coppola's YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW, his lovely debut feature in 1966. 

I read somewhere that we Londoners were lucky in that Maggie Smith and/or Judi Dench were often on the boards here - but New Yorkers had regular appearances by Harris and Page. 
Harris though did bring her wonderful 1977 show THE BELLE OF AMHERST to London, which wowed me so much I had to write and tell her, and surprisingly, she wrote back, with this lovely card - the only time I ever wrote to (and got a reply) from a performer I liked. 

We have been entranced with Miss Harris (who passed away in 2013) ever since THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING and of course EAST OF EDEN. 

Page knew Dean too, as per the photograph below: (They were in THE IMMORALIST on Broadway).

This issue of AFTER DARK too has great interviews and pictures with David Hockney and Lily Tomlin (who I am now enjoying in the GRACE AND FRANKIE boxset) and there are also comments on LA from the likes of LA regulars like Natalie Wood, Bette Davis, Gore Vidal etc. as well as Quentin Crisp on Mae West!

We also remember having this photobook FAME reviewed here, some great images by Brad Benedict of celebrity culture, like this great image of Richard Gere (then hot off AMERICAN GIGOLO)  as presumably a L.A. hustler ... More on Harris & Page at their labels - Julie was a 'Person we Like' in  2010 (that got 1,992 views here).  

ABC plus Chelsea boys after dark ...

The title of this gay miscellany was going to be: "Where is my ABC book?" .... its a funny story: I was going through some old photos the other day and saw one of some books of mine at a previous address in Brighton (here in England), and it showed a little book from 1997 that amused me and my friends: "The ABC Book, a homoerotic primer" by Marcus Vellekoop. But where was it now? I had not seen it anywhere for ages or when I moved last month and could not find it. They were asking silly prices for it on Amazon (over £40!), then I found a reasonable priced copy on ebay and just as I completed my purchase my partner, who had been re-arranging his books in the spare bedroom, walked in holding my ABC Book in his hand, saying it had got packed in with his books! Luckily, as I had purchased the other copy within the hour, I got back to the seller asking him to cancel my order as I did not need two copies .... so I should hear about that today. If I have to keep the new one, I will send it to whoever asks for it first ....(Its ok, they have refunded.)

Here is the blurb for this delicious treat;

A is for Astronauts floating in space

B is for Bikers having a race

C is for Cowboys under western skies

D is for Dancers at their exercise

E is for Executives reaching their goals

F is for Firemen sliding down poles ...

Written and illustrated by award-winning artist Maurice Vellekoop, this delightfully naughty ABC book for adults is a celebration of gay male archetypes from Jailbirds to Opera Singers, Hairdressers to Truckers. Each letter of the alphabet provides the key to a hot and funny scenario of gay sex,. With erotic drawings reminiscent of a cross between Tintin and Tom of Finland, Vellekoop commemorates and honors these classic homoerotic fantasies with great humour and gaiety. A great gift, and a must for every gay household.

Right: Q is for Quarterbacks getting a spanking. 

My copy also included a few pages I had pulled from a magazine, featuring more Vellekoop wit: "Disco Inferno" imagining what the afterlife would be like for more gay types, based on Dante's Circles of Hell: Drama Queens are shuttled directly to Heaven, where nothing dramatic happens (they all play golf);  disco circuit boys are subjected to an enternal Liberace concert with no ecstasy in sight; closeted celebrities are trapped in a room with limitless supplies of unauthorised tell-alls and TV movies about them (we see Rock and Agnes Moorehead having to endure telemovies about them...) etc, At least my search for the book led me to more Vellekoop items: a book of "Pin-Ups", and "Vellevision". Can't wait to get them. His artwork and style grows on one.    www.google.co.uk/webhp?ie=UTF-8&rct=j#q=maurice+vellekoop

Then there is The Chelsea Boys. We loved the cartoon strips in weekly papers and nice to see them in book form. Again, the blurb puts it perfectly:

Chelsea Boys is the first collection of Glen Hanson and Allan Neuwirth's popular syndicated comic strip that appeared in magazines and newspapers throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The strip follows the often outrageous antics, wild sexcapades, and everyday heartbreaks of three gay roommates who are as different as can be and living together in the heart of New York's trendy Chelsea neighborohood: cuddly Nathan, a short, neurotic, 40-something native New Yorker (who is nuts about Barbra Streisand - and she appears in the strip too); gorgeous, buff Sky, a naive yet deeply spiritual art student raised on a farming commune in Canada; and the fabulous drag diva Soiree, who masks his inner pain with a rapier wit and flamboyant style. Filled with humour, humanity, and wry observations on life in a modern setting, CHELSEA BOYS presents a family like you've never seen before and storytelling that speaks the truth while being outrageously funny. . 
I was a Chelsea Boy myself in 1972/73 - but in London not New York (but at least I got to mix with Joni Mitchell and Elton John, as per previous reports ...). 

We also found some AFTER DARK magazines - these are so '70s and early '80s now, but we liked them at the time, the hip New York slant on theatre and movies, with a very gay slant .... lots of pretty pictures too, but also some interesting interviews and features. I have found a few more on ebay - including one with some great pictures of Julie Harris and Geraldine Page together. Of course all that era is pre-Aids now, so it certainly ramps up the nostalgia factor ...