The Best Picture win at the Oscars is the highest prize in the film industry. However, some films manage to take home the top award, yet they still don’t manage to stand the test of time. There are some Best Picture winners that no one talks about, even though they’ll always be a part of Academy Award history.
‘The Broadway Melody’ (1929) L-r: Charles King as Eddie Kearns, Bessie Love as Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney, Mary Doran as Flo, Anita Page as Queen Mahoney, and Nacio Herb Brown as Pianist | John Springer Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney (Bessie Love) and Queenie Mahoney (Anita Page) are vaudeville sister performers looking to break into the Broadway scene. However, romantic melodrama quickly overshadows their attempt to pursue fame as a duo.
The Broadway Melody is the second film to win the Best Picture Oscar, with only Wings coming before it.
‘The Broadway Melody’ (1929) L-r: Charles King as Eddie Kearns, Bessie Love as Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney, Mary Doran as Flo, Anita Page as Queen Mahoney, and Nacio Herb Brown as Pianist | John Springer Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney (Bessie Love) and Queenie Mahoney (Anita Page) are vaudeville sister performers looking to break into the Broadway scene. However, romantic melodrama quickly overshadows their attempt to pursue fame as a duo.
The Broadway Melody is the second film to win the Best Picture Oscar, with only Wings coming before it.
- 2/28/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
A newly recorded cast album for Broadway’s Funny Girl starring Lea Michele as Fanny Brice will be released digitally tomorrow – Friday, Nov. 18 at 12:01 a.m. Et. The surprise announcement was made by Michele herself during last night’s curtain call at the Broadway hit.
“We’re all so so so proud to announce that we’re going to be releasing our original cast album,” Michele said excitedly from the stage following the Wednesday night performance. “As the biggest Funny Girl fan my whole life, I am so proud and it’s so so so great!”
See video of her announcement below.
The news of the unexpected album release was also shared on this morning’s Today show.
Produced by David Caddick and David Lai and featuring the score by Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics), a physical CD of the new cast recording is set for release on Friday,...
“We’re all so so so proud to announce that we’re going to be releasing our original cast album,” Michele said excitedly from the stage following the Wednesday night performance. “As the biggest Funny Girl fan my whole life, I am so proud and it’s so so so great!”
See video of her announcement below.
The news of the unexpected album release was also shared on this morning’s Today show.
Produced by David Caddick and David Lai and featuring the score by Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics), a physical CD of the new cast recording is set for release on Friday,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
It’s not often that a major Broadway musical lands its ideal lead six months after beginning performances and opening to mixed reviews. Then again, it’s an anomaly that a star with the credentials of Lea Michele would agree to step in as a replacement lead. But Michele’s tenacious determination to test her skills as Fanny Brice, a role she clearly considers the part of a lifetime, puts her in uncommon territory.
To get the headline news out of the way first, Michele gives a sensational performance in Funny Girl. While her predecessor in the Broadway revival, Beanie Feldstein, was a sweetly captivating presence who leaned hard on the comedy, her light, pleasant singing voice put her out of her depth with numbers that called for supple modulation and commanding power.
Perhaps even more crucially, the hunger that defines early 20th...
It’s not often that a major Broadway musical lands its ideal lead six months after beginning performances and opening to mixed reviews. Then again, it’s an anomaly that a star with the credentials of Lea Michele would agree to step in as a replacement lead. But Michele’s tenacious determination to test her skills as Fanny Brice, a role she clearly considers the part of a lifetime, puts her in uncommon territory.
To get the headline news out of the way first, Michele gives a sensational performance in Funny Girl. While her predecessor in the Broadway revival, Beanie Feldstein, was a sweetly captivating presence who leaned hard on the comedy, her light, pleasant singing voice put her out of her depth with numbers that called for supple modulation and commanding power.
Perhaps even more crucially, the hunger that defines early 20th...
- 10/3/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Well, that’s that. After all the controversies and badly handled original castings and headlines and backstage bruisings and firings or resignations or whatever they were, Funny Girl is, as so many suspected all along, the musical that Lea Michele was born to lead. Broadway’s new Fanny Brice is, to put is simply and without exaggeration, a knock-out.
Michele has been in the role since early September, but, with some cast members out sick with Covid in recent weeks, and to give the newcomer some breathing room, critics have only in recent days been invited to the August Wilson to observe the changes. The wait was worth it.
From the moment she begins to sing the opening number “Who Are You Now?,” audiences relax in the assurance that this musical, for whatever its other merits – or lack thereof, and there is plenty of lack thereof – will be sung by...
Michele has been in the role since early September, but, with some cast members out sick with Covid in recent weeks, and to give the newcomer some breathing room, critics have only in recent days been invited to the August Wilson to observe the changes. The wait was worth it.
From the moment she begins to sing the opening number “Who Are You Now?,” audiences relax in the assurance that this musical, for whatever its other merits – or lack thereof, and there is plenty of lack thereof – will be sung by...
- 10/2/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.Above: 42nd StreetWhile other genres undoubtedly advanced with the dawning of sound technology, the musical is likely the most indebted to the reverberations of this complementary process. More than that, though, the movie musical was fundamentally born with the surge of sound—it simply could not have existed otherwise. And since that time, the musical has indeed been a uniquely cinematic venture, less beholden to conventional narratives and often disposed to experimentations in color, location, camera mobility, production design, and special effects. Especially in its heyday, the so-called “Golden Age” lasting between the mid-1930s and late-‘50s, Hollywood musicals were an enrapturing experience, delighting audiences with spectacle, romance, athleticism, fine performances, and, of course, song and dance. Some of America’s brightest stars sparkled in the musical, while many of...
- 10/7/2020
- MUBI
By now we all know that the film the Academy selects as the “Best Picture” of any given year is rarely the actual Best Picture, but some years it’s hard to explain why they picked what they picked. Never mind “Shakespeare in Love” beating “Saving Private Ryan,” because at least “Shakespeare in Love” is a handsome production with a witty script. Never mind “Dances with Wolves” beating “Goodfellas,” because at least “Dances with Wolves” is a respectable western. We’re taking a look at the films that we can’t watch, even in a vacuum, without cringing nowadays. And when you compare them with the nominees that didn’t earn the Oscar, it’s just plain hard to justify why the Academy voted the way it did.
“The Broadway Melody” (1929)
The second Best Picture winner, and the first synch sound movie to win the top prize, was innovative for the time.
“The Broadway Melody” (1929)
The second Best Picture winner, and the first synch sound movie to win the top prize, was innovative for the time.
- 1/7/2020
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
After Florenz Ziegfeld spent the early decades of Broadway's 20th Century 'glorifying the American Girl,' a young composerlyricist named Jerry Herman spent a good hunk of the second half showcasing extraordinary women.
- 8/12/2017
- by Michael Dale
- BroadwayWorld.com
After Florenz Ziegfeld spent the early decades of Broadway's 20th Century 'glorifying the American Girl,' a young composerlyricist named Jerry Herman spent a good hunk of the second half showcasing extraordinary women.
- 8/12/2017
- by Michael Dale
- BroadwayWorld.com
Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. revolutionized entertainment. Though he was best known for the Vaudeville showgirls in the musical review that bore his name, but his reach extended beyond the Follies. He legitimized Vaudeville and funded the show that would spawn the modern American musical. Though Ziegfeld died in 1932, MGM continued glorifying - and profiting from - Ziegfeld's legacy. In 1936, MGM released a biopic, The Great Ziegfeld based on the life of Ziegfeld and his wife, Billy Burke. The success of that film led the studio to announce a spiritual successor in 1938: Ziegfeld Girl, set to star Joan Crawford, Eleanor Powell, and Virginia Bruce. But when the movie was finally made 3 years later, the cast had changed a bit.
The Movie: Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
The Songwriters: Joseph McCarthy & Harry Carroll, from a tune by Chopin
The Players: Judy Garland, Lana Turner,...
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. revolutionized entertainment. Though he was best known for the Vaudeville showgirls in the musical review that bore his name, but his reach extended beyond the Follies. He legitimized Vaudeville and funded the show that would spawn the modern American musical. Though Ziegfeld died in 1932, MGM continued glorifying - and profiting from - Ziegfeld's legacy. In 1936, MGM released a biopic, The Great Ziegfeld based on the life of Ziegfeld and his wife, Billy Burke. The success of that film led the studio to announce a spiritual successor in 1938: Ziegfeld Girl, set to star Joan Crawford, Eleanor Powell, and Virginia Bruce. But when the movie was finally made 3 years later, the cast had changed a bit.
The Movie: Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
The Songwriters: Joseph McCarthy & Harry Carroll, from a tune by Chopin
The Players: Judy Garland, Lana Turner,...
- 4/13/2016
- by Anne Marie
- FilmExperience
It's the final Hollywood film by the legendary Ziegfeld star Marilyn Miller, and it's also a terrific talkie feature debut for W.C. Fields -- with one of his dazzling juggling bits. But the real star is director William Dieterle, whose moving camera and creative edits rescue the talkie musical from dreary operetta staging. Her Majesty, Love DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date January 19, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Marilyn Miller, Ben Lyon, W.C. Fields, Leon Errol, Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, Clarence Wilson, Ruth Hall, Virginia Sale, Oscar Apfel. Cinematography Robert Kurrie Film Editor Ralph Dawson Songs Walter Jurmann, Al Dubin Written by Robert Lord, Arthur Caesar from story by Rudolph Bernauer, Rudolf Österreicher Directed by William Dieterle
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Warner Archive Collection has been kind to fans of early talkies. We've been able to discover dramatic actresses like Jeanne Eagels...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Warner Archive Collection has been kind to fans of early talkies. We've been able to discover dramatic actresses like Jeanne Eagels...
- 3/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...
With Judy Garland's growing success, MGM decided it was time to have her star in her own feature. The studio dusted off some musical numbers (arranged by Roger Edens) as well as a handful of contract players and Ziegfeld stars. Judy played a young aspiring actress stuck in a conservative school. Supported by her zany Russian maid (Fanny Brice), the young girl decides to join a musical. The result was another hit for Judy, and a delight for future Vaudeville nerds and historians.
The Movie: Everybody Sing (MGM 1938)
The Songwriters: Harry Ruby & Bert Kalmar
The Players: Judy Garland, Fanny Brice, Allan Jones, Reginald Owen, Billie Burke, directed by Edwin L. Marin
The Story: In Everybody Sing, Judy was joined by not one but two famous Ziegfeld women: Billie Burke (aka Mrs. Florenz Ziegfeld, who we'll see again later), and Fanny Brice,...
With Judy Garland's growing success, MGM decided it was time to have her star in her own feature. The studio dusted off some musical numbers (arranged by Roger Edens) as well as a handful of contract players and Ziegfeld stars. Judy played a young aspiring actress stuck in a conservative school. Supported by her zany Russian maid (Fanny Brice), the young girl decides to join a musical. The result was another hit for Judy, and a delight for future Vaudeville nerds and historians.
The Movie: Everybody Sing (MGM 1938)
The Songwriters: Harry Ruby & Bert Kalmar
The Players: Judy Garland, Fanny Brice, Allan Jones, Reginald Owen, Billie Burke, directed by Edwin L. Marin
The Story: In Everybody Sing, Judy was joined by not one but two famous Ziegfeld women: Billie Burke (aka Mrs. Florenz Ziegfeld, who we'll see again later), and Fanny Brice,...
- 2/10/2016
- by Anne Marie
- FilmExperience
By Giacomo Selloni
If you are like me, you probably have a nostalgic heart. The fact that you read Cinema Retro is a major clue. Have you ever yearned to spend an evening in the past, a la Gil (Owen Wilson) in Woody Allen's “Midnight in Paris?” What if I told you how to experience an evening with Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice, Marion Davies, Will Rogers and Florenz Ziegfeld for a show at his famous theater that is hosted by Eddie Cantor? Would you go?
While real life can not actually bring you back in time to do so, Cynthia Von Buhler can, and has, with her new iTheater production “Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic” current running on Friday and Saturday evenings at the Liberty Theater on 42nd Street in NYC. Cynthia's previous interactive and immersive shows “The Bloody Beginning” and “The Brothers Booth” were wonderful productions that brought audience members...
If you are like me, you probably have a nostalgic heart. The fact that you read Cinema Retro is a major clue. Have you ever yearned to spend an evening in the past, a la Gil (Owen Wilson) in Woody Allen's “Midnight in Paris?” What if I told you how to experience an evening with Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice, Marion Davies, Will Rogers and Florenz Ziegfeld for a show at his famous theater that is hosted by Eddie Cantor? Would you go?
While real life can not actually bring you back in time to do so, Cynthia Von Buhler can, and has, with her new iTheater production “Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic” current running on Friday and Saturday evenings at the Liberty Theater on 42nd Street in NYC. Cynthia's previous interactive and immersive shows “The Bloody Beginning” and “The Brothers Booth” were wonderful productions that brought audience members...
- 6/15/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
[Press Release] (March 5, 2015 – New York, NY) This spring, a former Broadway theater just off Times Square will be resurrected as the lavish and risqué playground of Florenz Ziegfeld and his Follies for Speakeasy Dollhouse: Ziegfeld’S Midnight Frolic, the third interactive show in the Speakeasy Dollhouse series from author, artist and playwright Cynthia von Buhler. From April 18 – May 9 at the Liberty Theater (enter backstage at 233 West 41st Street), guests can step into a reimagining of Ziegfeld's 1920’s extravaganza The Midnight Frolic, replete with showgirls, burlesque, aerialists and – of course – plenty of spirits. At the center of the story is the mysterious 1920 poisoning death of silent film star and Ziegfeld Girl, Olive Thomas, and the subsequent destruction of her husband,...
- 3/5/2015
- by Pietro Filipponi
- The Daily BLAM!
Luise Rainer, a star of cinema's golden era who won back-to-back Oscars but then walked away from a glittering Hollywood career, has died. She was 104. Rainer, whose roles ranged from the 1930s German stage to television's The Love Boat, died Tuesday at her home in London from pneumonia, said her only daughter, Francesca Knittel-Bowyer. "She was bigger than life and can charm the birds out of the trees," Knittel-Bowyer said. "If you saw her, you'd never forget her." The big-eyed, apple-cheeked Rainer gained Hollywood immortality by becoming the first person to win an acting Academy Award in consecutive years, taking...
- 12/30/2014
- by Associated Press
- PEOPLE.com
Luise Rainer dies at age 104: Rainer was first consecutive Oscar winner, first two-time winner in acting categories and oldest surviving winner (photo: MGM star Luise Rainer in the mid-'30s.) The first consecutive Academy Award winner, the first two-time winner in the acting categories, and, at age 104, the oldest surviving Oscar winner as well, Luise Rainer (Best Actress for The Great Ziegfeld, 1936, and The Good Earth, 1937) died at her London apartment on December 30 -- nearly two weeks before her 105th birthday. Below is an article originally posted in January 2014, at the time Rainer turned 104. I'll be sharing more Luise Rainer news later on Tuesday. January 17, 2014: Inevitably, the Transformers movies' director Michael Bay (who recently had an on-camera "meltdown" after a teleprompter stopped working at the Consumer Electronics Show) and the Transformers movies' star Shia Labeouf (who was recently accused of plagiarism) were mentioned -- or rather, blasted, in...
- 12/30/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
Directed by Alejandro G Inarritu, Birdman, a black comedy about a washed-up actor trying to revitalize his career by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway play, has been heralded since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. It joins a number of films released this year featuring performers of some kind, whether professional or aspiring, or people masquerading in their daily lives.
Some of these films follow the music industry, like Begin Again, centered on a struggling label executive who decides to record music with a singer-songwriter in various New York City locations; Beyond the Lights, about a hip-hop star struggling from the pressure of being on the verge of stardom; Get on Up, a James Brown biopic; and Whiplash, focusing on a drummer’s attempts to become a great jazz musician within a prestigious university ensemble and the vicious training techniques his instructor uses.
Managing Editor
Directed by Alejandro G Inarritu, Birdman, a black comedy about a washed-up actor trying to revitalize his career by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway play, has been heralded since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. It joins a number of films released this year featuring performers of some kind, whether professional or aspiring, or people masquerading in their daily lives.
Some of these films follow the music industry, like Begin Again, centered on a struggling label executive who decides to record music with a singer-songwriter in various New York City locations; Beyond the Lights, about a hip-hop star struggling from the pressure of being on the verge of stardom; Get on Up, a James Brown biopic; and Whiplash, focusing on a drummer’s attempts to become a great jazz musician within a prestigious university ensemble and the vicious training techniques his instructor uses.
- 12/24/2014
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Oldest person in movies? (Photo: Manoel de Oliveira) Following the recent passing of 1931 Dracula actress Carla Laemmle at age 104, there is one less movie centenarian still around. So, in mid-June 2014, who is the oldest person in movies? Manoel de Oliveira Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira will turn 106 next December 11; he’s surely the oldest person — at least the oldest well-known person — in movies today. De Oliveira’s film credits include the autobiographical docudrama Memories and Confessions / Visita ou Memórias e Confissões (1982), with de Oliveira as himself, and reportedly to be screened publicly only after his death; The Cannibals / Os Canibais (1988); The Convent / O Convento (1995); Porto of My Childhood / Porto da Minha Infância (2001); The Fifth Empire / O Quinto Império - Ontem Como Hoje (2004); and, currently in production, O Velho do Restelo ("The Old Man of Restelo"). Among the international stars who have been directed by de Oliveira are Catherine Deneuve, Pilar López de Ayala,...
- 6/17/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will kick off a day-long celebration of home movies on Saturday, October 12, at noon, with “Home Movie Day Los Angeles,” a free event that welcomes Angelenos, their families and friends to watch their personal home movies on the big screen.
At 7 p.m. the Academy will present “Hollywood Home Movies IV,” which will feature specially selected home movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, including footage of such luminaries as Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Billie Burke, Marlene Dietrich, Walt Disney, Mitzi Gaynor, Betty Grable, Cary Grant, Jean Harlow, Shirley Jones and Florenz Ziegfeld.
In addition to intimate glimpses of celebrities at work and play, the program includes 1935 footage of Atlantic City, Satchel Paige pitching in an exhibition game at Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field, Billy Gilbert’s Uso troupe performing during World War II, and the wrap party for “It’s a Wonderful Life.
At 7 p.m. the Academy will present “Hollywood Home Movies IV,” which will feature specially selected home movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, including footage of such luminaries as Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Billie Burke, Marlene Dietrich, Walt Disney, Mitzi Gaynor, Betty Grable, Cary Grant, Jean Harlow, Shirley Jones and Florenz Ziegfeld.
In addition to intimate glimpses of celebrities at work and play, the program includes 1935 footage of Atlantic City, Satchel Paige pitching in an exhibition game at Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field, Billy Gilbert’s Uso troupe performing during World War II, and the wrap party for “It’s a Wonderful Life.
- 10/2/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Robert Cuccioli, the Tony nominated star of Jekyll and Hyde, will play Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. in an upcoming industry reading of the musical Ghostlight. Ghostlight, which has book, music and lyrics by Matthew Martin and Tim Realbuto, tells the true story of Ziegfeld Follies girl and silent film star Olive Thomas, her rise to fame in the Follies alongside Fanny Brice, her affair with a married Ziegfeld, her Hollywood marriage to movie star Jack Pickford, and ultimately her tragic downfall which led to her mysterious death at age 25 in Paris.
- 8/30/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Paul Henreid: Actor was ‘dependable’ leading man to Hollywood actresses Paul Henreid, best known as the man who wins Ingrid Bergman’s body but not her heart in Casablanca, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. TCM will be showing a couple of dozen movies featuring Henreid, who, though never a top star, was a "dependable" — i.e., unexciting but available — leading man to a number of top Hollywood actresses of the ’40s, among them Bette Davis, Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland, Eleanor Parker, Joan Bennett, and Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of Paul Henreid movies to be shown on Turner Classic Movies in July consists of Warner Bros. productions that are frequently broadcast all year long, no matter who is TCM’s Star of the Month. Just as unfortunately, TCM will not present any of Henreid’s little-seen supporting performances of the ’30s, e.
- 7/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
It may be rather hard to believe, but I hadn’t seen Funny Girl prior to this release. It’s quite possible that some may find this to be a bit of cinematic blasphemy, especially for a film buff like me, but unfortunately the Streisand musical was never near the top of my list of older film that I absolutely had to see. What with the impending release of the film on Blu-Ray for its 45th anniversary, there seemed like no better time to finally visit what many consider to be a classic film, so without further ado, let’s dive right in.
The film tells the story of Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand), a young woman who dreams of becoming a star on the stage. She tries to become a chorus girl, but it just isn’t a good fit, especially when she can’t stay in sync with the rest of the group.
The film tells the story of Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand), a young woman who dreams of becoming a star on the stage. She tries to become a chorus girl, but it just isn’t a good fit, especially when she can’t stay in sync with the rest of the group.
- 4/30/2013
- by Jeff Beck
- We Got This Covered
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 30, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $19.99
Studio: Sony
Barbra Streisand falls for Omar Sharif in Funny Girl.
Legendary superstar Barbra Streisand (A Star is Born) stars in her Academy Award-winning role of famed performer Fanny Brice in the 1968 romantic musical biography Funny Girl, on Blu-ray for the first time and exclusively available at Amazon.
In her first starring film, Streisand recreated her Tony Award-nominated Broadway role for Hollywood giant William Wyler (Ben-Hur), playing the comedienne in a story that contrasted Fanny’s comic onstage antics with her dramatic offstage romance with that gambling nogoodnik Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif, Lawrence of Arabia).
Also featured in the cast are Kay Medford as Fanny’s mother, Anne Francis as a Ziegfeld showgirl, and Walter Pidgeon as legendary Broadway showman Florenz Ziegfeld.
The film’s many memorable songs—penned by Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics)—include “Don’t Rain on My Parade,...
Price: Blu-ray $19.99
Studio: Sony
Barbra Streisand falls for Omar Sharif in Funny Girl.
Legendary superstar Barbra Streisand (A Star is Born) stars in her Academy Award-winning role of famed performer Fanny Brice in the 1968 romantic musical biography Funny Girl, on Blu-ray for the first time and exclusively available at Amazon.
In her first starring film, Streisand recreated her Tony Award-nominated Broadway role for Hollywood giant William Wyler (Ben-Hur), playing the comedienne in a story that contrasted Fanny’s comic onstage antics with her dramatic offstage romance with that gambling nogoodnik Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif, Lawrence of Arabia).
Also featured in the cast are Kay Medford as Fanny’s mother, Anne Francis as a Ziegfeld showgirl, and Walter Pidgeon as legendary Broadway showman Florenz Ziegfeld.
The film’s many memorable songs—penned by Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics)—include “Don’t Rain on My Parade,...
- 3/26/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Alexa here. Today is Billie Burke's birthday. Billie was a Broadway star, a Ziegfeld girl (literally: she was married to Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. until his death), and a silent movie actress who made a successful move to the talkies. But she is most remembered for her embodiment of Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz. I was thrilled at the casting of Michelle Williams as the prequel version of the sorceress; of anyone out there I think she would project the same angelic charm Billie did. (That trailer was great, but where was Glinda's bubble? She'd better have a bubble.)
Here are some artsy creations to celebrate Billie's canonic version of Glinda.
Diorama of Dorothy and Glinda in Munchkinland, by Natasha Burns.
Typographical illustration of Glinda's words by ChattyNora.
cookies & dolls & artwork oh my... after the jump
...
Here are some artsy creations to celebrate Billie's canonic version of Glinda.
Diorama of Dorothy and Glinda in Munchkinland, by Natasha Burns.
Typographical illustration of Glinda's words by ChattyNora.
cookies & dolls & artwork oh my... after the jump
...
- 8/7/2012
- by Alexa
- FilmExperience
I hate when legends pass away, and yesterday delivered us a toughy: Ernest Borgnine, who won the Best Actor Oscar for 1955's Marty (delivered by Miss Grace Kelly!) and charmed us on McHale's Navy, died at 95. Now the oldest living Best Actor is the noble and towering Sidney Poitier, who was born over 10 years after Borgnine. While our octagenarian Oscar winners deserve the utmost reverence, there's something downright superhuman about the nonagenarian awardees, if I do say so myself. Today, in honor of Borgnine, we're toasting five such winners who are alive, kicking, and ruling. Just start applauding now and don't stop until the end of the post.
1. Luise Rainer (aged 102)
Won: Best Actress (twice) for 1936's The Great Ziegfeld and 1937's The Good Earth
Why She Rules: Rainer is a German-Austrian actress who walked away with her first Oscar -- a Best Actress win in the first year Best...
1. Luise Rainer (aged 102)
Won: Best Actress (twice) for 1936's The Great Ziegfeld and 1937's The Good Earth
Why She Rules: Rainer is a German-Austrian actress who walked away with her first Oscar -- a Best Actress win in the first year Best...
- 7/9/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
Frank Capra, Luise Rainer, George Jessel Luise Rainer turns 102 today, January 12. She is the oldest living Academy Award winner in the acting categories, having won two consecutive Best Actress Oscars for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937). Because of both her longevity and the fact that Turner Classic Movies regularly shows nearly all of her films, the Dusseldorf-born (some sources say Vienna) Rainer is probably better known today than at any time since the 1940s, when she last starred in a Hollywood production: Frank Tuttle's now-forgotten Paramount resistance drama Hostages (1943). Before this ongoing revival, Rainer was best remembered as the two-time Oscar winner with a four-year film career (1935-1938), while her acting was generally dismissed as several notches below subpar. In fact, to many she served as one of the prime reminders of the unworthiness of the Academy Awards. As the oft-told story goes, when Raymond Chandler got...
- 1/12/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Last weekend the folks at Disney Theatrical set me and my daughter up for a real treat. My eight-year-old, her friend and I along with other bloggers and columnists were all invited on a special preview tour of the New Amsterdam Theatre, home to Broadways Mary Poppins. This was more than a backstage tour which ps, you can get if you toss 150 into the Bcefa holiday collection bucket from now until December 4thif you are lucky enough to be seeing Mary Poppins this week, consider taking advantage of this special treat in return for supporting a terrific cause. In addition to getting to walk on the stage and stand inches from the set, we got the inside scoop from Disney Theatricals VP of Operations Dana Amendola. With a title like that, youd expect to meet someone extremely serious and buttoned up, but Dana is a larger than life, teddy bear...
- 11/28/2011
- by Erin Leigh Peck
- BroadwayWorld.com
Impressive retrospective of Judy Garland.s films will feature 31 titles including a presentation of seldom seen short films and rarities as well as a special .sing-along. screening of The Wizard Of Oz.
On the occasion of what would have been Judy Garland.s 89th birthday, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Paley Center have announced the details today for Fslc.s comprehensive retrospective of the peerless film icon.s work, All Singin., All Dancin., All Judy! which will screen at the Walter Reade Theater July 26 . August 9 and The Paley Center.s comprehensive retrospective of Garland.s television work,Judy Garland: The Television Years which will be presented July 20 . August 18.
With autumn marking the 75th anniversary of Judy Garland’s feature film debut (Pigskin Parade, 1936), the Film Society of Lincoln Center will screen 31 titles from July 26 . August 9, including each of her big-screen acting performances, to pay tribute to...
On the occasion of what would have been Judy Garland.s 89th birthday, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Paley Center have announced the details today for Fslc.s comprehensive retrospective of the peerless film icon.s work, All Singin., All Dancin., All Judy! which will screen at the Walter Reade Theater July 26 . August 9 and The Paley Center.s comprehensive retrospective of Garland.s television work,Judy Garland: The Television Years which will be presented July 20 . August 18.
With autumn marking the 75th anniversary of Judy Garland’s feature film debut (Pigskin Parade, 1936), the Film Society of Lincoln Center will screen 31 titles from July 26 . August 9, including each of her big-screen acting performances, to pay tribute to...
- 6/10/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
When the call came through from my editor to see Rio, I will admit I sighed a little. I had seen the trailers of the the blue feathered Macaw prating around and it did little for me. However, ever keen to make sure our loyal readers are in on the latest movies, I got out my best cinema trousers and prepared to hit West End London.
Accompanied by a leading expert in field of 3D animations - one of my nearly-thirteen-year-old daughters - we set off early on the fateful Sunday, driving, tubing and trotting our way to the Empire cinema in Leicester Square. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a, erm, 'delightful' set of bouncers who, despite my best efforts, seemed to be in no mood for laughter. Thankfully, our subsequent PR company was at hand, confirming our attendance before swiftly ushering us inside.
It’s Party Time
We...
Accompanied by a leading expert in field of 3D animations - one of my nearly-thirteen-year-old daughters - we set off early on the fateful Sunday, driving, tubing and trotting our way to the Empire cinema in Leicester Square. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a, erm, 'delightful' set of bouncers who, despite my best efforts, seemed to be in no mood for laughter. Thankfully, our subsequent PR company was at hand, confirming our attendance before swiftly ushering us inside.
It’s Party Time
We...
- 4/7/2011
- Shadowlocked
Mia Wasikowska is the latest in a long line of talented actresses who have portrayed Charlotte Brontë’s iconic heroine. In this photo gallery, we revisit some of the fine performers who have romanced Rochester.
Mia Wasikowska (2011): On the heels of bringing Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” to Technicolor life in Tim Burton’s reimagining of the classic tale, Mia Wasikowska plays another literary heroine opposite Michael Fassbender’s Rochester in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s latest impassioned adaptation. Photo by Laurie Sparham © 2011 Focus Features
Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996): Miramax, which built its brand partly on the power of period movies, put up this Franco Zeffirelli (“Romeo and Juliet”) production in the middle of its most successful decade — both “Emma,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and “The English Patient” also came out this year. French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, whose collaborators have included Michel Gondry, Todd Haynes and Lars von Trier, starred opposite William Hurt.
Mia Wasikowska (2011): On the heels of bringing Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” to Technicolor life in Tim Burton’s reimagining of the classic tale, Mia Wasikowska plays another literary heroine opposite Michael Fassbender’s Rochester in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s latest impassioned adaptation. Photo by Laurie Sparham © 2011 Focus Features
Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996): Miramax, which built its brand partly on the power of period movies, put up this Franco Zeffirelli (“Romeo and Juliet”) production in the middle of its most successful decade — both “Emma,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and “The English Patient” also came out this year. French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, whose collaborators have included Michel Gondry, Todd Haynes and Lars von Trier, starred opposite William Hurt.
- 3/9/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Mia Wasikowska is the latest in a long line of talented actresses who have portrayed Charlotte Brontë’s iconic heroine. In this photo gallery, we revisit some of the fine performers who have romanced Rochester.
Mia Wasikowska (2011): On the heels of bringing Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” to Technicolor life in Tim Burton’s reimagining of the classic tale, Mia Wasikowska plays another literary heroine opposite Michael Fassbender’s Rochester in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s latest impassioned adaptation. Photo by Laurie Sparham © 2011 Focus Features
Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996): Miramax, which built its brand partly on the power of period movies, put up this Franco Zeffirelli (“Romeo and Juliet”) production in the middle of its most successful decade — both “Emma,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and “The English Patient” also came out this year. French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, whose collaborators have included Michel Gondry, Todd Haynes and Lars von Trier, starred opposite William Hurt.
Mia Wasikowska (2011): On the heels of bringing Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” to Technicolor life in Tim Burton’s reimagining of the classic tale, Mia Wasikowska plays another literary heroine opposite Michael Fassbender’s Rochester in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s latest impassioned adaptation. Photo by Laurie Sparham © 2011 Focus Features
Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996): Miramax, which built its brand partly on the power of period movies, put up this Franco Zeffirelli (“Romeo and Juliet”) production in the middle of its most successful decade — both “Emma,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and “The English Patient” also came out this year. French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, whose collaborators have included Michel Gondry, Todd Haynes and Lars von Trier, starred opposite William Hurt.
- 3/9/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
I am writing this post because I feel compelled to respond to the strange resurgence of interest in — and insinuations about — something that I wrote on this site more than six weeks ago. (See The Daily Mail, The Metro, The Independent, The Telegraph — one and two — and a Tweet from one of my heroes, Roger Ebert.)
On December 5, I wrote a post entitled “‘The King’s Speech’ Targeted: Smear Campaign or Just the Hard Truth?” In it, I shared an email that was sent to me by a person claiming to be an Academy member who wanted me to know that he or she — and “a lot” of others — would not be voting for “The King’s Speech” because, he or she had read, King George VI was not the noble man that the film makes him out to be, but rather an anti-Semite who sought to prevent Jews from...
On December 5, I wrote a post entitled “‘The King’s Speech’ Targeted: Smear Campaign or Just the Hard Truth?” In it, I shared an email that was sent to me by a person claiming to be an Academy member who wanted me to know that he or she — and “a lot” of others — would not be voting for “The King’s Speech” because, he or she had read, King George VI was not the noble man that the film makes him out to be, but rather an anti-Semite who sought to prevent Jews from...
- 1/19/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Luise Rainer as Florenz Ziegfeld's wife Anna Held in Robert Z. Leonard's The Great Ziegfeld (I believe Virginia Bruce is the first girl on the left) (top); Luise Rainer in Julien Duvivier's The Great Waltz (bottom) Directed by Sidney Franklin, The Good Earth (1937) is on right now as Turner Classic Movies' first film presentation of an evening dedicated to two-time Academy Award winner Luise Rainer, who turns 101 today. [See also: Luise Rainer Turns 100 and Two-Time Oscar Winner Luise Rainer Interview on TCM.] The Good Earth is notable as one of the most expensive Hollywood productions of the 1930s ($2.8m) and the only film to carry Irving G. Thalberg's name — in a dedication at the beginning of the film. Initially as MGM's second-in-command and later as the head of one of the studio's producing units, Thalberg was responsible for dozens of the studio's films from the mid-1920s to his [...]...
- 1/13/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Dancer who became a choreographer, actor and director for stage and screen
As a dancer, Wendy Toye, who has died aged 92, was a child prodigy. Born in Hackney, east London, the daughter of a bristle merchant, she had made her first public appearance at the Royal Albert Hall by the age of four. Aged nine, she choreographed a ballet at the London Palladium and also won the women's prize, dancing the Charleston, at a ball organised by the theatrical manager Cb Cochran and judged by Fred Astaire and Florenz Ziegfeld among others. The men's prize was won by Lew Grade.
She was always grateful for the advice she received from her tutors, including Ruby Ginner, Ninette de Valois and Anton Dolin, and regretted that when she reached the next stage of her career – choreography and direction – there were no teachers. She had to learn as she went along.
During the 1930s,...
As a dancer, Wendy Toye, who has died aged 92, was a child prodigy. Born in Hackney, east London, the daughter of a bristle merchant, she had made her first public appearance at the Royal Albert Hall by the age of four. Aged nine, she choreographed a ballet at the London Palladium and also won the women's prize, dancing the Charleston, at a ball organised by the theatrical manager Cb Cochran and judged by Fred Astaire and Florenz Ziegfeld among others. The men's prize was won by Lew Grade.
She was always grateful for the advice she received from her tutors, including Ruby Ginner, Ninette de Valois and Anton Dolin, and regretted that when she reached the next stage of her career – choreography and direction – there were no teachers. She had to learn as she went along.
During the 1930s,...
- 2/28/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Jose here to commemorate Fanny Brice's birthday. The extravagant comedienne would've turned 118 today. Yes, seriously, watching her energy in films like The Great Ziegfeld (where she played herself) or listening to her vibrant musical performances it's easy to think that this woman could've lived forever.
A New Yorker born from Hungarian parents, she made a way for herself in the burlesque world and later by her association with Florenz Ziegfeld. She became a huge musical star and a popular radio personality with her Baby Snooks character.
But what remains fascinating about Brice is that she pulled off an enviable career using raw talent. Would someone like her fit in our current notions of what makes an entertainer appealing?
Sure her life was plagued with scandal (her marriage to Nicky Arnstein wasn't as tragically romantic as pop culture has us think) and that would've fit wonderfully in our tabloid loving society.
A New Yorker born from Hungarian parents, she made a way for herself in the burlesque world and later by her association with Florenz Ziegfeld. She became a huge musical star and a popular radio personality with her Baby Snooks character.
But what remains fascinating about Brice is that she pulled off an enviable career using raw talent. Would someone like her fit in our current notions of what makes an entertainer appealing?
Sure her life was plagued with scandal (her marriage to Nicky Arnstein wasn't as tragically romantic as pop culture has us think) and that would've fit wonderfully in our tabloid loving society.
- 10/29/2009
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
"People say my writing has an aphrodisiac effect," laughed Jay McInerney, "but this is ridiculous." The acerbic author was at the Montauk Yacht Club, where eye-catching Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy each read a story from his new book, "How It Ended," divulged they plan to marry in France in September, then closed down the party dirty-dancing to "Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out." Later, 150 bibliophiles dressed in white for a dinner hosted by the Accompanied Literary Society's Brooke Geahan in a compound of fantasy...
- 6/9/2009
- NYPost.com
Arts at St. Johns will explore, through a selection of songs, how the format of the Broadway musical originated in New York City in the late 1800's, through a collaboration of talented theater actors, vaudeville performers and burlesque dancers, led by the lavish producer Florenz Ziegfeld. The first popular shows, written by great American composers such as the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern, were campy, fun, and poetic, with various plots, songs, flashy costumes and, at times, risque subject matter.
- 1/30/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
The New York Film Festival has a new, temporary home. Most of the prestigious event usually un reels at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, but it is shut for renovations. So movies that would nor mally run there will be at the Ziegfeld, on West 54th Street.
One of the city's few remaining single-screen movie houses, it is named for Florenz Ziegfeld, the flamboyant Broadway impresario portrayed by William Powell in the 1936 Hollywood musical "The Great Ziegfeld."
The theater has 1,100 seats, about the same number as Alice Tully. (Last year, the smaller Rose Hall,...
One of the city's few remaining single-screen movie houses, it is named for Florenz Ziegfeld, the flamboyant Broadway impresario portrayed by William Powell in the 1936 Hollywood musical "The Great Ziegfeld."
The theater has 1,100 seats, about the same number as Alice Tully. (Last year, the smaller Rose Hall,...
- 7/20/2008
- NYPost.com
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