Monday, January 31, 2011

Beautiful Bodacious Babe- Portia de Rossi Has A Birthday


There is something very engaging about a beautiful woman with great comic chops. She was born Amanda Rogers in Geelong Australia. When she was just a 15 years old lesbian, she reinvented herself as Portia de Rossi, choosing the name from her love of Shakespeare & all things Italian. She was cast in the Australian film- Sirens, & then it was off to Hollywood. I first took note of her funny work as lawyer-Nell Porter on Ally McBeal.She was slyly hilarious in the much missed Arrested Development, & is the comic glue on the underrated & canceled Better Off Ted.


She feared she would jeopardize her career if she came out of the closet. When she finally did come out of the closet, many people didn't believe she was gay. She told the Advocate, "I had a hell of a time convincing people I was gay…which was so annoying! First of all, you live with the fear people might find out. Then you actually have the courage to tell people and they go, 'I don't think you are gay.'"

Besides being beautiful & funny, she was able to grab the attention of some woman named Ellen. Portia says when she first saw Ellen, she took her breath away. "That had never happened to me in my life, where I saw somebody & experienced all of those things you hear about in songs & read about in poetry. My knees were weak." Portia left Countess Francesca McKnight Donatella Romana Gregorini di Savignano di Romagna (Ringo Starr’s step-daughter) to be with & eventually marry Ellen DeGeneres (who had a birthday earlier this week).

They were married in August 2008 in a small ceremony attended by family & a few close friends. Her wedding to DeGeneres was the cover story of People, which also featured page after page of photos with breathless captions detailing their clothes, the food, & the flowers, just like any straight celebrity wedding.  That is real progress! Oprah Winfrey spent an entire hour showcasing their relationship in an episode pointedly titled Ellen DeGeneres & Her Wife, Portia de Rossi.  The De Rossi- DeGeneres' live in L.A. with their dogs. 

After All The Foolish Things That We've Been Through



You & I
Tempted by the promise of a different life
Time has fled
There's a constant battle running through my head
I don't know what to do
Because I still believe
After all the foolish things that we've been through
I will always be a man who's open to
Persuasion

Blind romance
There'll be no half measures given half the chance
But we never learn
Trusting in the fire while the cruel flame burns
& we need to rebuild
What was never there
What got left behind
After all the foolish things that we've been through
I can always make a start on something new
& I'll always be a man who's open to.....
Persuasion

& it's written in my heart
So that everybody could see it
& it's written in my soul
& I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe

I don't know what to do
Because I still believe
After all the foolish things you put me through
I can always make a start on something new
& I'll always be a man who's open to
Persuasion





I've Got A Goal Again, I've Got The Drive Again, I'm Gonna Feel My Heart Coming Alive Again, Before The Parade Passes By

It was one of my most favorite musicals growing up. I had the Original Broadway Cast album of Hello, Dolly! with today’s birthday girl, & I augmented my collection with cast recordings with Pearl Bailey, Ethel Merman, & the Japanese & Finnish casts, plus the London cast featuring Mary Martin as Dolly Levi. But nothing was better than the original with Carol Channing.
In 1921, Albert Einstein was explaining his new Theory of Relativity, Charlie Chaplin's movie The Kid was released, Babe Ruth became the home run champ, Turkey made peace with Armenia, President Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery, Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie received its premiere on Broadway, & in Seattle, on January 31st, living legend Carol Channing was born.
Channing is a singing, dancing, acting force of nature & one of our biggest stars, but even with her fabulous talent, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what Channing’s appeal is. Her face & voice are instantly recognizable, yet in her long career, she has worked in only 5 movies including the LSD comedy Skidoo (1968), often cited as one of the worst movie ever. Channing was nominated for an Oscar & won the Golden Globe for her work in Thoroughly Modern Milley. Her triumphs were always been on the Broadway stage.

Channing is a true original. She was never a bombshell, & she is rather demented without being risqué or grotesque. And she's a belter along the like Ethel Merman, but without being brassy. She has been often cast been cast as a gold digger while there is nothing seductive about her persona.


Channing’s contradictions made a little more sense when I read her engaging autobiography- Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sort. She speaks candidly about her messy break up with her husband of 41 years, Charles Lowe. Carol disclosed that she & Lowe had only ever had sex "once or twice in our 41-year marriage & that was 41 years ago.”  She stuck to her wedding vows the whole time & didn't have sex with anyone else. What opportunities did she pass up?  Lowe had spent most of her hard earned fortune, & to make matters more bizarre, the scandal reached its anti-climax when Channing broke the news that the hubby was a homo.  A camp icon with a gay husband isn’t as shocking as the 41 year dry spell.  After 31 years, even the Husband & I manage to knock one out every month or so. The memoir also reveals that her grandfather was African-American.
Even with her resilient image, Channing has had her hardships. She triumphed on Broadway as fortune hunting Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but Hollywood cast Marilyn Monroe in the film version. Monroe saw the show over & over, & borrowed Channing’s best bits. Channing really owned the role of Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!, she was the first & most famous in the role on even followed by such talents as Ethel Merman, Phyllis Diller, & Pearl Bailey. But director Gene Kelly thought casting her was too risky & gave the role to Barbra Streisand who was decades too young for the role (Streisand would be perfect now).
I love her so much in Thoroughly Modern Millie, playing a rich, madcap matron Muzzy Van Hossmere, who makes her entrance flying in a biplane, quaffing champagne. She blew my little13 year old gay mind with her 2 big musical numbers- Jazz Baby where she tap dances on a xylophone, & Do It Again which begins with Channing being shot out of a cannon.
Channing has played Dolly Levi in over 4,000 times to packed-houses around the globe without ever missing a performance. Hello, Dolly! was the first Broadway musical to play China.
In May 2003, she married her 4th husband, Harry Kullijian, her junior high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir.  They renamed the school's auditorium The Carol Channing Theatre in her honor. The city of San Francisco proclaimed a Carol Channing Day, for her advocacy of gay rights & her appearances as the host of the Gay Pride events around the country.



Kullijian: "Carol & I are looking at all the children in the United States. We often say, ‘Those children are our children. They're all Americans.' They have to be uplifted. They have to experience music, literature, poetry, theater, sculpture & paintings. It's a crime that these things are falling to the wayside. Art is the mainstay of our souls. I believe that Carol Channing is the one person in this country who can say ‘Come on folks, let’s get together with one voice & make this happen because the future of this country is at stake."


Carol Channing turns an astonishing 90 years old today. Happy Birthday!

Have You Met Miss Jones?





She's wearing Pierre Balmain.

Dance Your Shoes Off


It's Miller as Mame time!

Baubles, Bangles and Boobies

Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina in Deadlier Than the Male (1967)

An Interior Monologue

Blaze Starr at home, photographed by Diane Arbus, 1964

Delivered in a completely unintelligible language. But we kinda like it!

Note To Self: Pencil In The Gay Exorcism For Wednesday Night, Be Sure To DVR Modern Family

I had a lazy Sunday. The only task was assigned to me by the Husband: " I need for you to deal with your gigantic pile of magazines!" I spent the afternoon tearing out images from 6 months+ worth of the 12 magazines that I subscribe to. The pictures will be added to my inspiration wall. I hereby vow to never keep a magazine longer than its publication month. Really, dear Husband.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Monday Millinery

Patricia Morrison

Janis Paige

Loretta Young

Ruth Warrick

Marguerite Chapman

Sylvia Sidney

Dorothy Lamour

Winter Wonderland




If There Are Fairies at the Bottom of Your Garden...


Bea and feather 'em.

& The Actor Goes To... Stephen for Steve:Portrait Of A Slut, The Final Chapter

I love award shows & I remain open to winning any award being handed out from any guild, union or critics’ group. The SAG awards are a favorite. The Screen Actors’ Guild Awards is actors honoring actors while they have been drinking cocktails. The SAG awards are special at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia because I am a voting member of the Guild. It is a bit thrilling to watch the broadcast & know that I played an important role in how things played out with this award show.

I am very shallow. I often vote for who I think is the hottest. By that criteria, I would be handing the Best Film Leading Actor, Male to my current crush: soap opera star, grad student, filmmaker, poet, novelist, actor, lover extraordinary- James Franco. I wanted to vote for Jesse Eisenberg, because to me, that was the performance of the year. Yet, I voted for Colin Firth, who I  admire, & find sexy, because he should have won last year for A Single Man.


Attractive hot actors nominated tonight: Jeremy Renner, the very yummy Mark Ruffalo, Dennis Quaid, Patrick Stewart, Jon Hamm, & Alec Baldwin.

Which gentleman do you vote for as Hottest SAG Man?












The nominees are listed, my vote is in bold. I admit to not seeing every nominee’s work. For instance, I saw none of the nominees for TV Movie Actor, female. I voted for Catherine O’Hara, simply because I like her alot. For TV Series Actor, Male, I was stymied because Portland’s own Ty Burrell of Modern Family is my favorite character on TV right now, but I voted for Chris Colfer from Glee!, because he is, well, Chris Coofer & he is gay. I felt the same way about the super talented Jane Lynch. A vote was cast for Patrick Stewart because I think that he is hot & his vehicle was Shakespeare. My bad.


FILM


Male Actor, Leading


Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Robert Duvall, Get Low
Jesse Eisenberg
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 hours


Female Actor, Leading


Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Hilary Swank, Conviction


Male Actor, Supporting


Christian Bale, The Fighter
Jon Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech


Female Actor, Supporting


Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailey Steinfeld, True Grit


Cast in a Motion Picture


Black Swan
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network


TV


Male Actor, TV Movie or Miniseries


John Goodman, You Don’t Know Jack
Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack
Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship
Edgar Ramirez, Carlos
Patrick Stewart, Macbeth: Great Performances


Female Actor, TV Movie or Miniseries


Claire Danes, Temple Grandin
Catherin O’Hara, Temple Grandin
Julia Ormond, Temple Grandin
Winona Ryder, When Love Is Not Enough
Susan Sarandon, You Don’t Know Jack


Male Actor, Drama Series


Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House


Female Actor, Drama Series


Glenn Close, Damages
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Julianna Marguiles, The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer


Male Actor, Comedy Series


Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Steve Carell, The Office
Chris Colfer, Glee
Ed O’Neill, Modern Famil

Female Actor, Comedy Series

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Jane Lynch, Glee
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Betty White, Hot in Cleveland


Ensemble, Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire
The Closer
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men


Ensemble, Comedy Series


30 Rock
The Office
Glee
Hot in Cleveland
Modern Family

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Gilding the Lily


For nearly thirty years, Lily Pons was the principal coloratura soprano at the Metropolitan Opera. Moreover, she transcended the rarified opera world to become a bona fide movie star, a radio fixture, a major concert draw, and an international symbol of glamour, charm and grace.


Born near the turn of the century in Draguignan, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Pons first studied piano as a child. Her formal voice training didn't begin until 1925; remarkably, she made her professional debut in 1928 in the difficult title role of Léo Delibes' Lakmé. Pons continued to build her reputation and repertoire, appearing at various provincial opera houses throughout France.


At the beginning of her opera career in France, circa 1928

Pons successfully auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1930, at the urging of her mentor, Giovanni Zenatello, who, in the twilight of his stellar singing career, offered guidance to upcoming talent. As it happened, the Met had recently lost their resident coloratura, and in an operatic twist on the classic Ruby Keeler "You're goin' out a nobody, kid, and comin' back a star!" riff, the unknown Pons was quickly put into that spot, making an unprecedented Met debut in January 1931. She became, literally, a star overnight; the acclaim was extraordinary, though not without dissenters -- notably, the New York Times felt she showed more promise than actual talent. The most oft-heard criticism throughout her career was of Pons' supposedly "small" voice; although what it lacked in volume, her admirers felt it made up in delicacy and overall strength: she could hold a high "D" for one minute.

Just before leaving for Hollywood, 1935

Now firmly ensconced as the Met's new star coloratura, it was only a matter of time before Pons was courted by Hollywood. The operetta musical was at the apex of its brief popularity, making a superstar out of MGM's Jeanette MacDonald, while Pons' fellow Metropolitan soprano, Grace Moore, earned an Oscar nomination as Best Actress for Columbia's One Night of Love (1934). Pons signed with RKO, and made three moderately successful films: I Dream Too Much (1935), That Girl from Paris (1936) and Hitting a New High (1937).

With Henry Fonda in I Dream Too Much (1935)

Making music with Jack Oakie, Lucille Ball and Frank Jenks in That Girl from Paris (1936)

Hitting a New High (1937) with John Howard

Although movie critics generally praised Pons' "bird-like charm" and, predictably, her singing talents, the films were rightly assessed as mere diversions, and Pons turned her attentions back to the Met and, in 1944-45, an ambitious concert tour. Canceling her fall and winter season in New York, Pons traveled overseas with the USO, performing for the troops in such far-flung places as North Africa, Burma, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf, often under grueling conditions. The tour continued through China, Belgium, France and Germany (in a performance delivered close to the front lines), then returned to America. Pons was accompanied on the tour by her second husband, the colorful conductor André Kostelanetz, with whom she shared a 20 year marriage -- and an even longer professional union. The secret to their deep-seated affection, even after divorce, perhaps can be found in a 1942 interview. "I love cra-zee hats," Madame Pons squealed, "and it is my luck that my husband is one of the few men who love cra-zee hats, too!"



Life with André: the bottom photo was taken at the Brazilian Pavillion of the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

In spite of what would total 300 performances on the Met stage, in some of the most famous roles in history, Pons seemed to have a refreshing lack of pomposity, as well as possessing a sly, Gallic sense of humor. In 1950, at benefit for the San Francisco Opera, Pons made a splashy appearance "in a sleazy, strapless, slit-skirted and low-cut black dress," doing a burlesque pantomime to a recording of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" by Carol Channing. "I forgot some of my routine," Pons gleefully recounted, "so I just added some extra bumps and grinds!"





Well into her own fifth decade, Pons reached a new level of fame in the 1950's, thanks to the new medium of television. True to her celebrity status, and her impish humor, the diva could be seen getting folksy with Tennessee Ernie Ford, trading jokes with Jimmy Durante, playing lookalikes with Imogene Coca, or warbling with Nat King Cole. She also, like nearly every other celebrity of the day, made a memorable appearance on What's My Line?


The dawn of the 1960's brought Pons' eventual fading from public view; with the fiery, publicity-driven Maria Callas dominating the headlines and gossip columns with her tempestuous private life, and thrilling listeners with her emotional, full-blooded approach to the coloratura, the charming, dainty Pons suddenly seemed quaintly old-fashioned. Her final performance at the Met was on December 14, 1960; after that, Pons made infrequent concert appearances until finally retiring. In one last burst of virtuosity, she emerged from that retirement to give one final concert on May 31, 1972, at New York's Philharmonic Hall. The event reunited Pons with André Kostelanetz, who conducted. The reception was rapturous, and Lily Pons enjoyed one final triumph. She died, on February 13, 1976, of pancreatic cancer in Dallas, Texas.


The overwhelming choice for our Mystery Guest was Marlene Dietrich, which no doubt would have made Lily Pons giggle with delight! And, in actuality, on more than one occasion, there was a very glancing resemblance.




We'll leave you, once more, with a recipe -- for Lily Pons' Pink Party Salad! Which is, basically, turkey salad dyed pink with pomegranate seeds. "It sounds frilly and feminine, but then, why do he-men in uniform fight for it?" trilled Madame Pons. Make it and find out for yourselves! As always, thanks for playing, darlings!

Lily Pons' Pink Party Salad

4 cups diced cooked turkey
2 cups chopped celery
Seeds from 2 large pomegranates
2 cups blanched shredded almonds
2 tablespoons cream
Mayonnaise
Salt to taste
Lettuce

Lightly toss turkey, celery, pomegranate seeds, and almonds together. Add cream, sufficient mayonnaise to moisten, and salt. Serve on lettuce leaves. Serves 12.