Speaking From the Diaphragm: 01/02/2011

MEINE FRAU UNSERE KINDER UND ICH
As part of the Vincente Minnelli festival at Arsenal I went and saw Brigadoon released in 1954 starring Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse. The film was a total flop when it was first run. For some reason I have never seen it, and I wasn’t expecting it to be that good, but it was incredible especially queeny Van Johnson who got to play the faggot that he was for the first time in his career. Ms. Johnson upstaged hunky bubble butt Gene Kelly in every scene with abandon and hilarity. His bitterness was rampant, and from all the drugs and alcohol abuse he was famous for it was very apparent on his bloated face and body. The story of the film involves a Scottish town that only appears every 100 years. The Ganymede lady Johnson become homo hysterical from all the humpy Scottish lads running around shirtless and winds up killing one in a homo stupor.
After the movie I rushed to Kreuzber g for the birthday party of the handsomest man in Europe Mr. Uli Ziemons who turned 29 but looks 19. All the Arsenal gang was there including Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Nanna Heidenreich of Arsenal Experimental with her hot galpal DJane Olga Damnitz. Uli & Olga helped me film my Cheese Endique Trifecta wall collages that will be apart of my dejecta/protecta installation performance in Los Angeles at MoCa on Jan 22nd. Can’t wait to go to Hell A and escape the freezing cold and icy Berlin conditions. Ms. Damnitz and I are also going to put on a low tech Berlinale Dorothy Arzner Party. Both of us are so sick and tired of the bad Berlinale parties that are so clueless. Also at Uli’s birthday party his heterosexual lover Guilluame and his wife and child who was dressed as a Tyranasaurus Rex, his platonic wife Nadja Talmi, the Brazillians with Michele Belague, Sandy Dennis doppelganger Bettina, Little Alex of Chocolate Grinder Kollective, British actor Alex Pettyfer with his boyfriend the hungthrob Olympic athlete Artus Was.
***
Thursday my NYU Barney Building grad students came by the Cheese Endique Trifecta for a visit. They are in town for a special 2 week exchange with NYU/Humboldt Berlin. We sat around my octagon table and drank hot toddies and ate snax until the wee hours. I love my beautiful NewYorikan students Jessica Gispert, Andy and Katherine. Sunday I am having my other grad students Carlos Reyes and Jo-ey Tang at the Trifecta.
Oh and here is the internet radio interview with Manuel Schubert of Film Highlights. Hope I copied it correctly to my old blogina.

Rising Stars, Falling Stars presented by Vaginal Davis by filmanzeiger

Rising Stars, Falling Stars - January 2011 - Vaginal Davis by filmanzeiger

And the marvelous genius that is Mark Simon of the Boyfriend who is part of my new piece dejecta/protecta sent me this letter from Anne Francis the star of TV’s Honey West from the 60s and once a film ingénue in the early 1950. She died this past week.

Dear Barbra,

It has gnawed at me for years that you have believed that I blamed you for
cutting most of my scenes from “Funny Girl.” I felt the sadness of the
misunderstanding all over again when I read a supposed quote of yours last year
saying that you had heard me blame you on a TV talk show. The only talk show I
did on the subject was on Johnny Carson, and Joey Bishop was subbing that night.
I tried to make it plain that I did not blame you, and had no idea why I was cut
from the film. To this day, I don’t know the circumstances that caused the
decision, but I am lead to believe it probably had to do with the length of the
film. The sub plot of Georgia’s histrionics with Florenz Ziegfeld was really not
necessary to the story about Fanny Brice.

In all fairness, I understand that the press believed that I felt that way
because my public relations person, who was also a very dear friend, did believe
it, and she made the statements that were attributed to me. I was caught in the
middle, and rather than point a finger at her, I did the best I could to refute
the story whenever confronted by an interviewer. The whole thing was messy and
painful. I had never been embroiled in that sort of ruckus before. I know you
were going through a lot of flack as well during those stormy days when first
you hit Hollywood (or It hit you!). I had hoped then that it would all blow over
quickly, but when I saw the quote you allegedly made recently, I felt awful once
more.

At the age of thirty five (over the hill in those days!), the role of Georgia
was a great gem for me, and I had high hopes (I had just come off of “Honey
West”) that it would do a lot for my “career.” The flashy role, along with the
drunk scene (which hit the editor’s floor) pretty much cinched the prospect of a
supporting nomination with the Academy that year. So, you can understand the
humiliation when each day a note would be slipped under my dressing room door,
“omit scene so and so.” The scene named would always be the one I had been
called in to do that day. I am not whining, dear lady. We’ve all taken our lumps
in this “Business.” I’m just sharing with you what was going on at that time
with me. You had your own problems. I marveled at how you handled yourself on
your first encounter with the alien world of the film industry.

I have had the greatest respect for your talent and for what you have made of
yourself, Barbra. You are a brilliant woman and I have always wished you the
very best. One more time, it is important for me before I leave this planet to
say, I have never accused you of having the role of Georgia cut to the quick.

God Bless,
Anne Francis

P.S. Your direction of “Prince of Tides” was superb.

______________________

Actress Anne Francis was cast as Georgia James, a Ziegfeld chorus girl and
troubled friend of Fanny Brice. For years it's been written (and repeated) that
Streisand had all of Francis' scenes cut from the film. Any writer who wanted to
characterize Streisand as a vindictive diva has repeated the myth that Streisand
cut out Anne Francis. For the record, writer Isobel Lennart tried to add the
same character to the Broadway play with similar results. The character was
dropped because the show is Fanny Brice-centric, not Georgia James-centric.

One of the quotes attributed to Francis was: “Every day, Barbra would see the
rushes and the next day my part was cut or something else was cut. Barbra ran
the whole show...She had the Ziegfeld girls’ scenes changed — one day she told
Wyler to move a girl standing next to her because she was too pretty, and the
girl wound up in the background. Eventually, the Ziegfeld girls’ scenes were
eliminated altogether.”

Supervising Editor Robert Swink had a different view. “I know the Anne Francis
role was cut down terribly,” Swink said. “But Willie [Wyler] only did it for the
sake of the picture. He had final cut. Streisand didn’t.”

In 2002 on her official website, Anne Francis wrote an open letter to Barbra
Streisand apologizing for the whole affair. She admitted her publicist
attributed the quote to her. “The sub plot of Georgia’s histrionics with Florenz
Ziegfeld was really not necessary to the story about Fanny Brice,” Francis
stated.
***
The role of Mama Rose in "Gypsy" has always attracted great divas, from Ethel
Merman to Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly to Patti LuPone.
And now comes word that the greatest diva of them all -- Barbra Streisand -- is
next in line.
Streisand is deep in negotiations to direct, produce and star in a movie version
of "Gypsy."
She recently cleared a big hurdle -- 92-year-old Broadway legend Arthur
Laurents, who wrote the book to the show.
He's also directed several productions, including the scorching 2008 Broadway
revival for which LuPone won a Tony.
"Barbra and I have been getting along very well now for some time," Laurents
told me yesterday. "We've talked about it a lot, and she knows what she's doing.
She has my approval."
Laurents shares control of "Gypsy" -- perhaps the greatest Broadway musical --
with Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics, and the estates of Jule Styne, the
composer, and Jerome Robbins, the original director.
But everybody on Broadway knows that you can't do "Gypsy" without Laurents'
blessing. And he's very particular about who plays Mama Rose and how she plays
it.
He was, I'm told, concerned that Streisand might be reluctant to embrace the
brutality of the role.
In her drive to make her daughters stage stars, Mama Rose can turn psychotic in
a flash. The real Mama Rose killed an agent by pushing him out a window.
But Streisand's a movie star, and movie stars want to be adored.
A lovable, human Mama Rose would be a disaster.
"Barbra and I have had long talks on this very subject," Laurents acknowledged.
"She had a mother who she always thought was Mama Rose. I don't want to get into
the details, but the point is she knows. She's got it in her. She's going to be
much more than people expect."
"Gypsy" was made into a movie in 1962 with Rosalind Russell as Rose. It's a much
softer version of the stage show, marred by the fact that Russell never goes for
the jugular.
Asked if he'll write the screenplay to the new version, Laurents said: "No!
Hollywood is Hollywood, and I've already been there. But I'll be around."
Laurents and Streisand have been friends for decades.
He directed her in her first Broadway show, "I Can Get It for You Wholesale," in
1962. She had a small role, but the critics raved, and her career took off.
A decade later, he wrote "The Way We Were" for her.
"We're talking about 'Gypsy' being a bookend for us," he said. "She began with
me, and this will be a grand farewell for us."

Speaking From the Diaphragm

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Tuesday, January 04, 2011