Category Archives: Performers

Showtune Saturday: “A Little Priest”

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes: 25 years after they created the roles of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury reunite for a Sondheim tribute concert at the Hollywood Bowl. It goes without saying that they are of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Performers | Tagged angela lansbury, demon barber of fleet street, len cariou, showtune saturday, stephen sondheim, sweeney todd | 2 Comments

“A Damsel In Distress” (1937)

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: A musical comedy co-written by P.G. Wodehouse, with music and lyrics by the Gershwins, and starring Fred Astaire is pretty much essential viewing for me. Although the film is usually regarded as one of Astaire’s post-Rogers flubs, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Fred Astaire, George Burns, George Gershwin, George Stevens, Gracie Allen, Ira Gershwin, Joan Fontaine, Musicals, P.G. Wodehouse, Romantic Comedy | 5 Comments

Showtune Saturday: “Doin’ What Comes Naturally”

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes: An outtake from Annie Get Your Gun (1950), with Judy Garland, before she was fired by MGM and replaced by Betty Hutton. Garland had clashed with original director Busby Berkeley, and retaliated against his perfectionism by showing … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Music, Performers | Tagged annie get your gun, betty hutton, Busby Berkeley, irving berlin, Judy Garland, showtune saturday | 1 Comment

Capitulation

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: A Russian who immigrated to Paris in the early 1920s, Dimitri Kirsanoff was above all an avant-gardist. However, he wasn’t above employing Griffith-style melodrama when it suited his purposes. In his “Menilmontant,” a brief, richly volatile work about a … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Dimitri Kirsanoff, Film, France, Menilmontant, movies, Nadia Sibirskaia, Silent Film | 5 Comments

Quote Du Jour

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes: In my more than ten years of critical examination of motion pictures, I have never seen anything quite so unacceptable as the shots of the breasts of the character of Rio. This is the young girl whom … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Movies, Performers | Tagged breasts, censorship, howard hughes, Jane Russell, joseph breen, obscene indecent immoral and offensive, production code, the outlaw | 2 Comments

Jane Russell: Singer

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:

Posted in Music, Performers | Tagged Do It Again, George Gerswhin, Jane Russell, rape culture | 2 Comments

Showtune Saturday: “So In Love”

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes: Hermann Prey, the great Austrian baritone known best for his German lieder interpretations, gives a heartfelt rendition of the standard from Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate. Yes, perhaps his English could be better, but can you doubt … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Performers | Tagged Cole Porter, Hermann Prey, Kiss Me Kate, showtune saturday | 1 Comment

Notes on “Every-Night Dreams”

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: There’s an almost cubist visual sensibility at work in this 1933 silent from director Mikio Naruse. Scenes are fractured into barrages of angles, the camera sometimes moving in on its subjects in kamikaze fashion. Many of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged film Ever-Night Dreams, Japan, Mikio Naruse, movies, Silent Film, Sumiko Kurishima | 2 Comments

Showtune Saturday: “Dentist”

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes: Certainly the best song sung by Steve Martin playing a sadistic biker-dentist in a musical horror movie about a cannibalistic plant based on a stage musical derived from a Roger Corman film, ever. From Frank Oz’s Little Shop … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Music, Performers | Tagged dentist, frank oz, little shop of horrors, showtune saturday, steve martin | 1 Comment

Naked Lady of the Week: Lexi Belle

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: Porn star Lexi Belle, AVN nominee for best three-way sex scene (G/G/B) and winner of the award for best three-way sex scene (B/B/G), knows about the good life: Along with her vegetarianism, she involves herself in animal volunteering, expressing a … Continue reading →