This choice will not surprise one person who has ever met me. Here's the history I grew up an only child. I unsuccessfully begged my mother for a brother or sister until she was well into her 80's. I discovered the Osmond Brothers during their One Bad Apple phase, which led me into a few unfortunate years of bell-sleeved shirts and fringed vests. The Osmonds' obvious joy at singing together, to say nothing of their vast musical talents, would bring tears to my eyes as I watched them perform. I knew that Andy Williams had discovered the brothers, and gave them their debut on his TV show. However, I was unaware that Andy and his brothers were the original clean-cut singing siblingsthat is until I saw this production number on an Andy Williams Christmas special Boy, were my eyesand earsopened This performance of Kay Thompson's Jingle Bells features the...
- 12/24/2016
- by Jim Caruso
- BroadwayWorld.com
Troubling fact: the great director Otto Preminger's worst film is not Skidoo. Three physical misfits form an alternative family as a defense against the world. It's a good idea for a movie, but the writer and director do just about everything wrong that a writer and director can do. Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon Blu-ray Olive Films 1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date August 16, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Liza Minnelli, Ken Howard, Robert Moore, James Coco, Kay Thompson, Fred Williamson, Anne Revere, Pete Seeger, Pacific Gas & Electric, Ben Piazza, Emily Yancy, Leonard Frey, Clarice Taylor, Julie Bovasso, Barbara Logan, Nancy Marchand, Angelique Pettyjohn. Cinematography Boris Kaufman, Stanley Cortez Production Design Lyle R. Wheeler Charles Schramm Makeup effects Charles Schramm Film Editors Dean Ball, Henry Berman Original Music Philip Springer Written by Marjorie Kellogg from her novel Produced and Directed by Otto Preminger
Reviewed...
Reviewed...
- 8/20/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Following 2013’s Teenage, cinematographer Nick Bentgen reteams with director Matt Wolf for a short film about the man behind the look of one of children’s literature’s most-loved characters, Eloise. It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise is a portrait of Hilary Knight, whose sharp line drawings visualized for generations the Plaza Hotel-dwelling young girl introduced in Kay Thompson’s books. Executive produced by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner of Girls, the short film will premiere on HBO in March but receives its festival launch at Sundance on January 24. Here, Bentgen, who directed Northern Lights and shot Ballet 242 and […]...
- 1/24/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Following 2013’s Teenage, cinematographer Nick Bentgen reteams with director Matt Wolf for a short film about the man behind the look of one of children’s literature’s most-loved characters, Eloise. It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise is a portrait of Hilary Knight, whose sharp line drawings visualized for generations the Plaza Hotel-dwelling young girl introduced in Kay Thompson’s books. Executive produced by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner of Girls, the short film will premiere on HBO in March but receives its festival launch at Sundance on January 24. Here, Bentgen, who directed Northern Lights and shot Ballet 242 and […]...
- 1/24/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
This 1957 musical makes an unconvincing May-to-December pairing of Hepburn and Astaire, but the gorgeous confectionary has its moments
For me, the gorgeous confectionery of George and Ira Gershwin's songs can't entirely sweeten this 1957 musical directed by Stanley Donen, now on re-release. I confess to finding it, sometimes, a bit mannered and grating. Kay Thompson plays Maggie Prescott, a terrifying New York fashion mag editor gearing up for a Paris trip and looking for the next big thing. Super-famous photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) commandeers a Greenwich Village bookstore for an elaborate shoot, and finds himself captivated by the shy, intellectual young woman in charge: this is Jo, played by Audrey Hepburn. On the spot, he realises that, in his hands, Jo could be the Eliza Doolittle of the fashion world. This brainy beauty will be a sensation. Of course they fall in love. Hepburn is in the boho-gamine mode,...
For me, the gorgeous confectionery of George and Ira Gershwin's songs can't entirely sweeten this 1957 musical directed by Stanley Donen, now on re-release. I confess to finding it, sometimes, a bit mannered and grating. Kay Thompson plays Maggie Prescott, a terrifying New York fashion mag editor gearing up for a Paris trip and looking for the next big thing. Super-famous photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) commandeers a Greenwich Village bookstore for an elaborate shoot, and finds himself captivated by the shy, intellectual young woman in charge: this is Jo, played by Audrey Hepburn. On the spot, he realises that, in his hands, Jo could be the Eliza Doolittle of the fashion world. This brainy beauty will be a sensation. Of course they fall in love. Hepburn is in the boho-gamine mode,...
- 2/28/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Birdland Records has just announced the release of 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas,' stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics 'It's The Holiday Season,' 'Sleigh Ride,' and 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,' among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.
- 12/3/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Happy Birthday, Liza Minnelli Minnelli was born in Los Angeles into show business royalty. With her mother Judy Garland and her father the Award winning director Vincent Minnelli, her's is the only family where both parents and child have won an Oscar. Her god parents were Ira Gershwin and Kay Thompson. Liza made her screen debut in 1949 as a toddler with her mother in the MGM movie musical In the Good Old Summertime.
- 3/12/2013
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
"Moon River" singer and 1960s TV variety show host Andy Williams has died in his Branson, Mo., home, People reports. He was 84.
Remember other celebrities we lost this year
Williams, born Howard Andrew Williams in Iowa, first started singing with his brothers in the late '30s. Together the quartet joined entertainer Kay Thompson in her nightclub act. After breaking up in 1952, Williams launched his solo career where he eventually landed a spot on The Tonight Show and a Columbia Records contract. His rendition of the Breakfast at Tiffany's theme "Moon River" became his signature hit.
Read More >...
Remember other celebrities we lost this year
Williams, born Howard Andrew Williams in Iowa, first started singing with his brothers in the late '30s. Together the quartet joined entertainer Kay Thompson in her nightclub act. After breaking up in 1952, Williams launched his solo career where he eventually landed a spot on The Tonight Show and a Columbia Records contract. His rendition of the Breakfast at Tiffany's theme "Moon River" became his signature hit.
Read More >...
- 9/26/2012
- by Robyn Ross
- TVGuide - Breaking News
Andy Williams, whose corn-fed good looks, easygoing charm and smooth rendition of "Moon River" propelled him to the heights of music stardom in the early '60s, died Tuesday at his home in Branson, Mo., following a battle with bladder cancer, his family announced. He was 84, and 2012 had marked his 75th year in showbiz. Williams is survived by his wife Debbie and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian. With 17 gold and three platinum records to his name, Williams enjoyed his golden years playing golf and dividing his time between La Quinta, Calif., and Branson, where he appeared at his Andy Williams Moon River Theater since 1992.
- 9/26/2012
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Life is a cabaret for Jim Caruso, whether hosting “Cast Party” at Birdland or performing alongside the iconic Liza Minnelli.Back Stage talked with the entertainer at the Actor’s Fund Benefit on Thursday, where he discussed the world of cabaret.Most of your performance career has been hosting cabarets. Why have you mainly focused on solo entertainment, instead of story- based performance? Jim Caruso: I came to New York with a vocal trio called “Wise Guys” and that’s really where I started making great inroads and it’s kind of snowballed from there. I would love to do more Broadway. Billy [Stritch] and I did “Liza’s At the Palace” three years ago, which was thrilling. I was so much younger then and it was just the thrill of my life to be at the Palace, sing Kay Thompson arrangements, and to have Billy there with the piano...
- 6/8/2012
- by help@backstage.com (Laura Meltzer)
- backstage.com
I was saddened to learn this morning that Betty Garrett, the great star of stage, screen, and TV, passed away yesterday at the age of 94 after suffering an aortic aneurysm.
Garrett was one of those rare people — like, say, Jack Valenti — who happened to be a witness to and/or participant in a remarkably high number of historic events of the 20th century. She was a member of Orson Welles’s famed Mercury Theatre company, and was with him on the night that he shook up America with his infamous radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938); she was Frank Sinatra’s leading lady in two of the earliest great M-g-m musical-comedies, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1949) and “On the Town” (1949); her career was greatly hurt by the Hollywood Red Scare after her husband, the Oscar nominated actor Larry Parks, refused to name names before the House Committee...
Garrett was one of those rare people — like, say, Jack Valenti — who happened to be a witness to and/or participant in a remarkably high number of historic events of the 20th century. She was a member of Orson Welles’s famed Mercury Theatre company, and was with him on the night that he shook up America with his infamous radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938); she was Frank Sinatra’s leading lady in two of the earliest great M-g-m musical-comedies, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1949) and “On the Town” (1949); her career was greatly hurt by the Hollywood Red Scare after her husband, the Oscar nominated actor Larry Parks, refused to name names before the House Committee...
- 2/13/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
We don't think Eloise ever did this at The Plaza Hotel.
Charlie Sheen caused $7,000 in damages to his room in the hotel's Eloise Suite — named after the heroine in Kay Thompson's children's books — before being hospitalized early Tuesday morning in New York, TMZ reports.
See the photos of Charlie Sheen's trashed hotel room
Photos of the trashed room — which were first obtained by TMZ — show ...
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Charlie Sheen caused $7,000 in damages to his room in the hotel's Eloise Suite — named after the heroine in Kay Thompson's children's books — before being hospitalized early Tuesday morning in New York, TMZ reports.
See the photos of Charlie Sheen's trashed hotel room
Photos of the trashed room — which were first obtained by TMZ — show ...
Read More >...
- 10/27/2010
- by Joyce Eng
- TVGuide - Breaking News
Annette Bening looks older. Well, hurrah for that! It's a rare but pleasurable example of a woman my age in a Hollywood film
The Kids Are All Right has several things going for it. Close behind Mark Ruffalo at his most adorably Ruffaloesque, Julianne Moore's scrumptious rump and the title being The Kids Are All Right and not The Kids Are Alright, is the rare but pleasurable spectacle of a woman my age up on screen in big close-up. We haven't seen much of Annette Bening of late, and apparently she's been too busy rearing children to worry about getting lifted or Botoxed, because she looks older. Well, hurrah for that! That's what my neck looks like too!
There are, of course, inevitable online comments by wet-eared oiks who sneer: "She's beginning to look like the Crypt Keeper." But this is what fiftysomething females look like, tykes, so get over it.
The Kids Are All Right has several things going for it. Close behind Mark Ruffalo at his most adorably Ruffaloesque, Julianne Moore's scrumptious rump and the title being The Kids Are All Right and not The Kids Are Alright, is the rare but pleasurable spectacle of a woman my age up on screen in big close-up. We haven't seen much of Annette Bening of late, and apparently she's been too busy rearing children to worry about getting lifted or Botoxed, because she looks older. Well, hurrah for that! That's what my neck looks like too!
There are, of course, inevitable online comments by wet-eared oiks who sneer: "She's beginning to look like the Crypt Keeper." But this is what fiftysomething females look like, tykes, so get over it.
- 10/21/2010
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
When Liza Minnelli talks about her performing style and the woman who's had the most influence on it, she doesn't mention mom Judy Garland -- even though it's clear the mater helped shape her powerful techniques. No, she cites Kay Thompson, who is probably remembered today, if and when she is, for creating Eloise, the lovably spoiled brat who ran wild in the Plaza Hotel long before it was turned into the residential edifice it is now. But Thompson was more than the lady who dreamed up Eloise, giving the tyke a name taken from Catherine Louise Fink, the moniker Thompson was born with and dropped when she skipped her St. Louis birthplace and headed for Hollywood to make a reputation -- not as the classically trained musician she was but in the world of popular singing. And...
- 3/22/2010
- by David Finkle
- Huffington Post
Broadway did what Broadway does best to open Sunday night's 63rd annual Tony Awards - delivering an electrifying musical number that starred Dolly Parton, Elton John, Liza Minnelli, the casts of West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Pal Joey, Shrek, 9 to 5: The Musical, Next to Normal, Rock of Ages and Billy Elliot and finished off with a love-in: a rousing rendition of "Let the Sun Shine" from the new best-revival production of Hair that got all 6,000 attendees inside Radio City Music Hall dancing in their seats. When the spectacle concluded, the evening's host, How I Met Your Mother star Neal Patrick Harris,...
- 6/8/2009
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Sandra Bernhard (I'm Still Here... Damn It!, TV's "Rosanne"), Florence Henderson (Fanny, TV's "The Brady Bunch"), Maureen McGovern (Little Women, Nine) and Ron Palillo (Hot L. Baltimore, TV's "Welcome Back, Kotter") will be performing at Broadway Backwards this year, joining previously announced performers Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu, All Shook Up), Tony Award nominee Sally Mayes (She Loves Me), Kate Reinders (Good Vibrations, Gypsy; one-half of TASTiSKANK) and Tony Yazbeck (Gypsy, A Chorus Line), Mario Cantone (Assassins, TV's "Sex and the City"), Alan Cumming (Cabaret), Gina Gershon (Cabaret, Showgirls), Whoopi Goldberg (Producer: Thoroughly Modern Millie, TV's "The View"), Aaron Lazar (Les Mis?rables), Megan Mullally (Young Frankenstein, How to Succeed in Business..., TV's "Will & Grace"), Jai Rodriguez (TV's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," Rent), Christopher Sieber (Spamalot), John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), Marty Thomas (Xanadu); and TV's "Ugly Betty" stars Becki Newton and Michael Urie. Joining the roundup on Monday, February 9, 2009 as Host will be Jim Caruso,...
- 1/22/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
'Until You play The Palace, you haven't played the top!" sang Judy Garland ages and ages ago.
On June 10, 2007, I was attending an AmFAR benefit in the Rainbow Room with the AIDS-fighting hero Kenneth Cole. Liza Minnelli joined us; she performed, she fooled around, she then sold one song, "Our Love Is Here to Stay," to big bidders who paid $50,000 to hear this number.
Liza was with a guy named Ron Lewis, and they were about to depart for South America on an adventure to bring to life...
On June 10, 2007, I was attending an AmFAR benefit in the Rainbow Room with the AIDS-fighting hero Kenneth Cole. Liza Minnelli joined us; she performed, she fooled around, she then sold one song, "Our Love Is Here to Stay," to big bidders who paid $50,000 to hear this number.
Liza was with a guy named Ron Lewis, and they were about to depart for South America on an adventure to bring to life...
- 10/19/2008
- by By LIZ SMITH
- NYPost.com
'We Are in heaven. Can't stop staring at her in complete awe. Feeling incredibly blessed to have been given this precious little angel. Can't wait for you to meet her!"
So e-mails that brand-new mother Nicole Kidman about baby Sunday Rose. (And, we hear that Keith Urban and his famous wife won't be selling photos of their little girl!)
Now That Jessica Seinfeld is back in the tabloids being sued for plagia rism in the matter of her vegetables-for-kids cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious," it leads one to wonder -...
So e-mails that brand-new mother Nicole Kidman about baby Sunday Rose. (And, we hear that Keith Urban and his famous wife won't be selling photos of their little girl!)
Now That Jessica Seinfeld is back in the tabloids being sued for plagia rism in the matter of her vegetables-for-kids cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious," it leads one to wonder -...
- 7/17/2008
- by By LIZ SMITH
- NYPost.com
Bob Geldof's adopted daughter Tiger Lily is set for Hollywood stardom - after reaching the final audition stage for a forthcoming movie.
The 11-year-old orphan was taken in by the star after the death of her mother - and Geldof's ex-wife - Paula Yates in 2000. Her natural father, Inxs star Michael Hutchence, was found hanged in a hotel room three years earlier.
But now Tiger Lily is one step closer to fame in her own right, as she is down to a final shortlist of ten young actresses who are all vying for the lead role in the big screen adaptation of Kay Thompson's Eloise book series.
A final audition took place last month and the youngster now faces a nail-biting wait to find out whether or not she has been successful.
The 11-year-old orphan was taken in by the star after the death of her mother - and Geldof's ex-wife - Paula Yates in 2000. Her natural father, Inxs star Michael Hutchence, was found hanged in a hotel room three years earlier.
But now Tiger Lily is one step closer to fame in her own right, as she is down to a final shortlist of ten young actresses who are all vying for the lead role in the big screen adaptation of Kay Thompson's Eloise book series.
A final audition took place last month and the youngster now faces a nail-biting wait to find out whether or not she has been successful.
- 4/1/2008
- WENN
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