RIP, continued ....

Barbara Cook (1927-2017),  aged 89.  Barbara was one of the legendary Broadway divas and remained much-loved to the end. She starred in several musicals (starting with Bernstein's CANDIDE and as Marian the librarian in the original THE MUSIC MAN ("Till there was you"), and later re-invented herself as a top solo artist, after weight and alcohol problems, filling out Carnegie Hall, and also did several appearances in London. Sondheim insisted on her for that 1986 Concert version of FOLLIES, where in an all-star cast (Lee Remick, Elaine Stritch, Carol Burnett) her versions of "Losing My Mind" and "In Buddy's Eyes" are standouts. Thank goodness its on dvd. I must now check out her available recordings. 

Elsa Martinelli (1935-2017), aged 82. Italian actress, Eurobabe and model. Elsa was one of our Italian favourites, the slim fashion model stood out from the usual statuesque beauties. She was a top model by the mid-fifties and was spotted for the Kirk Douglas western THE INDIAN FIGHTER, where she certainly looked the part. She alternated between American and Italian films (such as my favorite, LA NOTTE BRAVA in 1959), and Vadim's dreamy vampire film BLOOD AND ROSES. Her best known role is probably that of Dallas in Howard Hawks' 1962 African saga HATARI! where she has that delightful sequence with the baby elephants "Baby Elephant Walk" as scored by Henry Mancini. She also squared up nicely to John Wayne. There was also a little seen Charlton Heston comedy, and we like her in the swinging London spy saga MAROC 7 in 1967, and slinky euro-thrillers like THE 10TH VICTIM. She was also in Welles' THE TRIAL and his bored companion in THE VIPs. Also in FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN in 1957, MANUELA, RAMPAGE and more.  

Robert Hardy (1925-2017), aged 91. The splendid Robert Hardy was another long-standing veteran of British theatre, film and television. I seem to have been watching him almost all my life .... his most famous role must be of the country vet in James Herriot's ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, a long runner in the 1970s and 80s. He also played Churchill several times. Other tv roles included THE TROUBLESHOOTERS, Sir Tobt Belch and other assorted Shakespeare roles, and he did CORIOLANUS with Olivier in 1959. I remember him as the Earl of Leicester in a 1967 BBc series KENILWORTH, and of course he was also in the HARRY POTTER films,

My employers engaged him to host a prestigious evening event at the Tower of London in the 90s, and he was a great success, despite it raining.

Sam Shepherd (1943-2017) aged 73. The acclaimed Pulitzer-prizewinning American playwright and actor, who captured aspects of American life perfectly with plays like FOOL FOR LOVE. His film career began with DAYS OF HEAVEN, and THE RIGHT STUFF and more routine fare with BABY BOOM, STEEL MAGNOLIAS etc. 

Hywel Bennett (1944-2017), aged 73. Popular British actor of his era, who later found success on television as SHELLEY and of in EASTENDERS etc. His film career though in the late 60s and early 70s was typical of the tatty fare the British cinema descended into then: that dreadful film of LOOT (review at Orton label) , PERCY, PERCY'S PROGRESS (about penis transplants), THE BUTTERCUP CHAIN, etc THE VIRGIN SOLDIERS was fitfully amusing in 1969. I never liked THE FAMILY WAY with that grotesque role of the father as played by John Mills, and his other two with Hayley Mills, TWISTED NERVE and ENDLESS NIGHT were rather unpleasant too. At least he progressed to Dennis Potter plays like PENNIES FROM HEAVEN.

Ty Hardin (1930-2017), aged 87. Ty was quite a busy guy what with 8 wives and 10 children, and fitting in playing BRONCO on tv and assorted movie roles in tough guy movies like BATTLE OF THE BULGE, CUSTER OF THE WEST, MERRILL'S MARAUDERS etc, but we have fond memories of him here in THE CHAPMAN REPORT in 1962 in those spray-on shorts, getting Glynis Johns all in a tizzy, or in BERSERK!, a circus cheapo made in England in 1967 where he is Joan Crawford's love interest.

Glen Campbell (1936-2017), aged 81. Another titan of American popular country music, The Rhinestone Cowboy's work with Jim Webb will endure, also in movies since TRUE GRIT in 1969

Bright shiny Sixties people

Fab pic of some groovy 60s people: theres Susannah York, Joe Orton, Tom Courtenay, Twiggy and more ..... must find out who the others are. 

The photo is by the Earl of Lichfield, and the others are Miranda Chiu, Michael Fish, Lucy Fleming and Peter S. Cook. Thanks, Colin. 

Prick Up Your Ears, 1987

The story of the spectacular life and violent death of British playwright Joe Orton, through the eyes and pen of that other great British playwright Alan Bennett.

In his teens, Joe Orton (a smart working-class boy from Leicester) is befriended by the older, more reserved Kenneth Halliwell, and while the two begin a relationship, it's fairly obvious that it's not all about sex (they were also sent to prison for defacing library books, hilariously treated here). Orton loves the dangers of cruising; Halliwell, not as attractive as Joe, doesn't fare so well (he is bald and wears a wig). While both try to become writers, it is Orton who succeeds - his plays ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE and LOOT become huge hits in London of the sixties, and he's even commissioned to write a screenplay for the Beatles. But Orton's success destroys Halliwell's sanity, whose response ended both their lives.

This 1987 film is a fascinating re-view now, particularly with that great cast: Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina early in their careers as the outrageous playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell who ends up killing them both. Add in Vanessa Redgrave ideal as the agent Peggy Ramsay (a small woman actually), Julie Walters as Joe's dotty mother back in Leicester, Frances Barber as his sister, Lindsay Duncan as the wife of writer John Lahr (Wallace Shawn) who wrote that great biography of Orton, as we follow him piecing together Joe's life. Its a fascinating saga particularly for anyone who lived through that 1960s era, as I did. 
I did not see MR SLOANE then but remember walking past the theatre where it was playing when I was first new in London in 1964, when I was 18 - but I saw the 1967 production of LOOT at the Criterion, with young Simon Ward and Kenneth Cranham. In 1976 I saw a great revival of SLOANE at the Royal Court, with Beryl Reid reprising her role in the 1970 film (much better than the film of LOOT - see Orton label) with Malcolm McDowell as Sloane in leather trousers! The actual murder of Orton in August 1967 and Ken's suicide was front page news, I was spending the weekend in Hastings on the coast with friends and it was in all the papers ...

Written by Alan Bennett from Lahr's book and directed by Stephen Frears, PRICK is a treat all round and captures both the 80s and 60s perfectly, and their one-room flat in London's Islington. It should be a better-known cult film, it does not shy away from the seedier aspects of cruising (what gays did before all those bars and clubs opened in the '80s - pity Orton did not live to see all that...) its frank language captures it all too. Its also very moving and sad as well as being wildly funny - Oldman (great legs) is perfect as Joe (looks like him too in that leather cap and tee shirt) and Molina is also marvellous as ever. Great to see him recently in that other gay romance LOVE IS STRANGE (and those re-runs of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), while Gary is magnetic in films like AIR FORCE ONE, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY etc (and directed NIL BY MOUTH). 
Lahr's book is a great read too (as are Orton's published diaries), capturing it all, like Joe's final visit to Brighton where he was looking at flats as be was thinking of moving there, once he had left Halliwell (before he returns to London that fateful weekend ... when Ken explodes in murderous rage when Joe suggests they could split up, leaving Ken feeling abandoned by Joe's success), and it also details their friendship with Kenneth Williams and their trips to Morocco etc. Orton's own diaries are very amusingly explicit too on his many sex-capades ...
Great quotes in the film also: like that end comment, before The Beatles's "A Day In The Life" reaches that crescendo ...

Leonie Orton:  [Mingling Joe's and Ken's ashes]
I think I'm putting in more of Joe than I am of Ken.

Peggy Ramsay:  It's a gesture dear, not a recipe.

Kenneth Halliwell:  Cheap clothes suit you. It's because you're from the gutter.

[Halliwell puts his hand on Orton's leg. Orton brushes it off]

Joe:  No. Have a wank.

Kenneth:  Have a wank? Have a wank? I can't just have a wank. I need three days' notice to have a wank. You can just stand there and do it. Me, it's like organizing D-Day. Forces have to be assembled, magazines bought, the past dredged for some suitably unsavoury episode, the dog-eared thought of which can still produce a faint flicker of desire! Have a wank, it'd be easier to raise the Titanic.

[Joe and Ken are cruising a strange man]

Joe:   He's built like a brick shithouse!

Kenneth:  He's probably a policeman.

Joe:  I know, isn't it wonderful?

Peggy:  Ken was the first wife. He did all the work and the waiting and then...

John Lahr:  Well, first wives don't usually beat their husbands' heads in.

Peggy:  No. Though why I can't think.

John:  So what does that make you? The second wife?

Peggy:  Better than that, dear. The widow.

Ortonesque: Mr Sloane's loot

1970 saw the release of the two films based on Joe Orton's hit '60s plays LOOT and ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE. Both are outrageous black comedies and were very successful plays, but maybe they were too black and unconventional for movies then, as it seemed the film-makers did not know what to make of them, and even tried to camp up LOOT so the film now is a grotesque piece, not helped by the casting of the two male leads.

I saw the London production of the play in 1967 (programme, left), when 21, when the two boys were young Simon Ward and Kenneth Cranham, and it was a brilliant production, at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus, that little theatre with white tile walls and you go downstairs to it, so it rather resembles a gentleman's public toilet, quite apt in the circumstances. Orton was of course the enfant terrible of theatre then, being hailed as a new working-class Oscar Wilde from Leicester, ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE had been a hit in 1964 - I remember being 18 and walking past the theatre, but had not started my theatre-going just yet then, so I was determined to see LOOT on the stage. Orton also wrote WHAT THE BUTLER SAW and tv productions like THE RUFFIAN ON THE STAIR - all brilliantly funny to read now - and was supposed to script a film for The Beatles, all of which he wrote very funnily about in his explicit diaries, which are a marvellous read of the time, detailing his gay exploits (that Irish labourer in a deserted house, boys in Morocco etc) and his holidays with Kenneth Williams, and that last weekend of his in Brighton when he was looking at houses to buy, as he was planning to leave his long time lover Kenneth Halliwell. 
Unfortunately, he was not to know that Halliwell would kill him and then himself, on his return to their studio in Islington, London that weekend in August 1967. I was on the coast too that weekend, in Hastings in Sussex, with friends - and it was the big story that weekend, in all the papers, so that was his career and talent snuffed out at age 34. Stephen Frear's 1987 film PRICK UP YEAR EARS, based on the Orton diaries and Jack Laar's book, and scripted by Alan Bennett, covers it all in detail, with great performances from Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina, ably supported by the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, Frances Barber, Lindsay Duncan and Julie Walters.

So, to the films: LOOT: Dennis (Hywel Bennett) and Hal (Roy Holder) are inseperable. They are also irreverent, boisterous, highly sexed and eager to acquire a quick fortune by the most expedient method - robbing a bank. Only problem is where to hide their loot - fortunately Dennis works as an undertaker's assistant, so a coffin seems the perfect place to hide it. But from the moment they try to fit a body (Hal's mother who has conveniently died) and the money in the coffin, plans go wrong, and soon the boys have a lot of trouble on their hands as the dreaded Inspector Trustcott (Richard Attenborough) arrives to investigate, and then there is the devious, gold digging nurse (Lee Remick) who was looking after the deceased, and maybe planning to marry the widower, Hal's father (Milo O'Shea) or maybe Dennis himself, whom she has been carrying on with. 

This is all jazzed up with the most hideous set imaginable, a dreadful music soundtrack that never stops, Lee Remick does her best and some of Orton's witty lines survive the Galton & Simpson script, but why is she got up to look like Jean Harlow with peroxide hair and a beauty spot, and sporting that hilarious Irish accent? The boys seem all wrong too - Bennett was unaccountably popular at the time (THE FAMILY WAY, THE BUTTERCUP CHAIN, TWISTED NERVE, PERCY) but Holder looks terrible in that awful wig, neither are in the least appealing. One of the few amusing moments is Lee's nurse pulling up Hywel's underpants over his bare bum. Milo is a lot of fun as usual, and I had forgotten comedian Dick Emery is also in it. Add in the missing eyeball, and the body being moved around, and the boys (Dennis is meant to be bisexual, while Hal is gay) robbing the bank naked (so no evidence on their clothes!) and it all gets sillier and sillier, and looks like one of those dreadful early '70s British efforts like DORIAN GRAY, GOODBYE GEMINI, ALL COPPERS ARE, etc. - as we detail at Trash/London labels. 
The play is the thing here, not this awful movie. Director Silvio Narrizano though had hits with his GEORGY GIRL in 1966 and that odd Terence Stamp western BLUE, as well as a prolific tv career. 

ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE, also 1970, fares a lot better, as directed by Douglas Hickox, with sterling performances by Beryl Reid and Harry Andrews, who play the material 'straight' without the need to camp it up, as that eager brother and sister wanting to get their hands on the thuggish young Mr Sloane - Peter McEnery is a good choice here. Everyone's lack of morals is nicely detailed as Kath (Beryl) and shady businessman Ed (Harry) lock horns over the sexy young lodger Sloane.

Sloane, a handsome, sexy and completely amoral young man, joins Kath's household as a lodger and proceeds to manipulate her and her brother, Ed. He is recognized by Kemp (Dadda) as the murderer of Kemp's former employer, whereupon Sloane murders Kemp. Sloane's "just desserts" are not what one would expect.

Harry Andrews is perfect here, eagerly hiring Sloane as his chauffeur, and Beryl Reid has another great comic role after her stage and screen success in THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE, and she certainly goes to town with it here (in that see-through day-glo mini-dress) as she and Andrews provide a comic masterclass in how to play this kind of material. I also saw Beryl reprising her Kath role on the stage in a Royal Court 1975 production with Malcolm McDowell dangerously menacing in leather as Sloane (right).  I had seen McEnery as HAMLET - in Leicester! - around then, and of course he was Boy Barrett in VICTIM, and those films with Hayley Mills, Jane Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Glenda Jackson etc. We also saw him SHADOW OF A GUNMAN at the Young Vic and he was later in a revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC in the late 80s, but his last credit was in 2008.

So, the film of MR SLOANE is still good fun, LOOT is just simply dreadful.