The other day, I was listening to the classical music station KUSC-FM, and they were playing Brahms Hungarian Dance #4. My friend Rich Capparela was the show's host, so I sent him off an email to let him know (in case he didn't), that the music was used by Mel Brooks for the great opening-credit song, "Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst," for his movie The Twelve Chairs, which I posted here a while back. I wanted to send Rich a link to the song, so I did a search to track it down again. And I came across this. It's from the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Mel Brooks. If you haven't seen this, it's a joy -- a nine-minute montage of some of the wonderful Mel Brooks songs in his movies and stage musical. The particular treat for me is that it's introduced and lead into by Frank Langella, who was the star of The Twelve Chairs -- a movie I dearly love, which is among the lesser-known of Mel Brooks' portfolio. But an equally big treat in this production number is that they included "Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst" in it, a song which I suspect most people don't know. It's fun too to seeing Brooks occasionally singing along with the performers.. (By the way, when they get to The Producers and -- well, you know what song -- the performer who joins in the song mid-way through and sings his own number is Gary Beach. He's no doubt the least-known of all the people in the number, but he won a Tony Award for this part, playing the director Roger DeBris in the Broadway production of the show.) And to the credit of whoever put this together, the song they end with is surprisingly not the one you'd expect, for the Big Finish, but a small song from the stage show of The Producers which, I think, is the perfect choice. And from Mel Brooks' reaction, that appears to be the case. Along with a nice, "choreographic" touch at the very end.
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The other day, I went to my neighborhood supermarket and entered by the door that wasn't the main one. There were none of those little hand baskets there, so I walked back to the main entrance and got one there. Later, I found the store manager and made a suggestion that they place the baskets at both entrances.
It turns out that he fully agreed, but there was a reason none were there. First, a short background. There's a new law in Los Angeles (and I suspect a few other cities around the country) that grocery stores charge now for paper bags. It's a conservation effort, hoping to get people into the habit of bringing their own reusable canvas sacks. Okay, that brings us back to the present. It's a perfectly good piece of conservation. The problem is -- as the manager told me -- that what's happening is customers are taking the hand baskets. They don't have their own canvas sacks, and they don't want to pay the few cents for paper bags. So, instead, they grab the hand baskets and stick them in their cars. After all, once they get home, they need some way to get the food from theirs cars to their kitchens. As a result, the manager said that the store keeps running out of the hand baskets. He expected a new shipment in any day. Boy, howdy, talk about the Law of Unintended Consequences. Maybe because they're small and plastic, people think the baskets are cheap and fair game to steal. Maybe people don't care one way or the other, but know they have to transport their groceries. (Never mind the added costs of a few cents on top their normal bill which would give them all the carrying bags they need.) I'm not sure what the solution is, nor is the manager. Perhaps they'll design the baskets similar to how some places do grocery carts, with sensors built in that emit a piercing signal if they cross a line surrounding the store. I don't know. But it does seem a surprising problem. And I expect an annoying ones for grocery stores. I mentioned back here that my friend David Rintels had written a one-man play years back in 1974, Clarence Darrow, that Henry Fonda starred in on Broadway. And Kevin Spacey, the outgoing artistic director of The Old Vic theatre in London was going to perform it. I thought I'd update things for you. Besides, I like saying nice things behind people's backs. Especially when their friends, such terrific people, and really deserve them. I spoke with David yesterday who had reason to be in London anyway and saw the play twice. He said that Spacey was tremendous. He also commented, to his great surprise, that he always thought Henry Fonda had given the definitive performance, but that Spacey was every bit his equal. Though it was two completely different interpretations. Spacey was aggressive, while Fonda was introspective. Nice too is that Spacey interrupted the thunderous curtain call cheers to say what an honor it was for him to introduce the play's author in the audience. David said that he stood and got very nice applause ( -- the only time, he said, that he'd likely ever get a standing ovation...) Anyway, I'm thrilled for him. The Old Vic theatre isn't very big, and the review were so glowing that David heard that some scalpers were getting upwards of $1,000 a ticket.
(Beyond the acclaim for his performance, Spacey gained notoriety for something else in did on stage. As the Daily Mail reported: "During a scene in which his character is on trial, defending himself, Spacey was addressing the audience with a passionate plea for his innocence, when a mobile phone began ringing in that section.The music got louder and louder as the guilty party tried to look innocent, until Spacey finally snapped, in character shouting: 'If you don’t answer that, I will!' He received a round of applause.") But as for the actual play, here are excerpts of some of the reviews -- From The Guardian -- Kevin Spacey gives a big, barnstorming performance as the famed American lawyer, Clarence Darrow. But that is entirely appropriate for a man who was a fervent champion of the poor and oppressed and of whom it was once said, after he had been accused of corruption: "Darrow doesn't bribe juries: he just frightens them to death." Spacey has been here before. He played Darrow in a 1991 PBS film and, on stage at the Old Vic, in a 2009 production of Inherit the Wind. But David W Rintels's one-man play, first performed by Henry Fonda, makes different demands in that Darrow is looking back over his entire life. And, in the Old Vic's new configuration, Spacey is having to perform in the round. He does this magnificently. His Darrow has a slight stoop and sagging walk as if his knees were buckling under the weight of his moral indignation. But the dominant impression is one of ferocious energy as Spacey roams around the cluttered law-office set and periodically bursts out of its confines to eyeball members of the audience. From The Sunday Telegraph -- Now, as he prepares to hand over to the new artistic director, Matthew Warchus, he delivers a thrilling solo turn as the great American defence lawyer Clarence Darrow. He is clearly fascinated by the character, having already played him in an American TV film and in Trevor Nunn’s production of Inherit the Wind at the Old Vic, a play about the Scopes “Monkey” trial in which a teacher was prosecuted for teaching the theory of evolution in the American Bible belt. Here, however, Spacey is entirely alone on stage and playing in the Old Vic’s dramatically reconfigured in-the-round auditorium. How can one actor possibly hope to engage in this big house with an audience that completely surrounds him? Inevitably he must have his back turned to a large section of the audience at any one time. The answer is that Spacey prowls round the stage like a battered old prize fighter, constantly on the move as he buttonholes members of the audience, and radiates a charisma and a dramatic attack that is often spellbinding. There are moments when he seems to be speaking just to you. It is inevitably a somewhat shouty performance, as Spacey has to make himself heard all round the house, but the sheer energy and attack of this tour-de-force is exhilarating. From The Daily Express -- Kevin Spacey leaves The Old Vic after 10 years with a pitch-perfect performance as the legendary American lawyer who made his name championing the underdog Movie star, stage actor and everyone’s favourite American-in-London, Kevin Spacey bows out of his 10 year tenure at The Old Vic with a virtuoso performance as influential American lawyer and civil libertarian Clarence Darrow. There's a point to all this. But first it requires some background. Perhaps quite a bit of it. I have a bizarre and scary-good record of recommending actors when they're little known -- in some cases, virtually unknown, even to me -- and then having them go on to success, on some occasions becoming big stars. Sometimes, even I don't know much about them myself, but I'll make the suggestion just from a photo and some research. Though this odd skill had regularly surfaced even earlier, I first noticed it in the very-practical world 20 years ago when a writer friend was morose because he had a green-lit studio film with a star and director all signed, but no female lead. And if they couldn't hire someone within weeks, the whole project would fall apart. The demands of the role were difficult to cast, which was the problem. I hadn't read the script, and said I'd love to. He sent it to me, and I called up with a "You know who'd be good in this?" suggestion. Someone I think had only done two movies -- one a very small part -- and my friend had never heard of her. Neither had the director, when her name was forwarded on. But they rented the movies, loved her, recommended her to the studio who approved her, and the film got made. (For a specific reason, I'm leaving out the names.) Probably the most notable example, though, came a dozen years back or so. A friend was making a TV pilot for NBC and needed to cast the father. I suggested a small, supporting actor on a basic cable show. My friend liked everything I said about the guy, including his Second City background, but knew that the network would never hire an unknown to be the star of a series. So, they went with someone else, and the show did get on the air. A few years later, however, my suggestion was hired for a few bigger supporting roles, and eventually Steve Carell got big enough to have his own show, too. On another project, we submitted a long list of young actresses to a production company. The company vetoed half of them as being of no interest. I got so annoyed at the exclusion of one young actress that for the next eight months I kept nagging the producer about how idiotic the company was and that we should keep including the actress in our submissions because she was great and here's why. Eventually, my yammering wore him down, he became convinced, and even though she was now a "rejected name" we again started to included Anne Hathaway on our submissions. Another time, I was doing some research on some casting matter, and came across a British actress I knew absolutely zero about -- she had done nothing in the U.S. -- but I liked everything about her. She was far too unknown for the producer I was working with, but I still said we should keep an eye on on. Her name was Gemma Arterton. A year later she was a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, then the female lead in Prince of Persia, and last year starred in Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. (Just yesterday, a friend who knew my history with this sent me a news item that she was just signed to star in a musical on London's West End.) One of my favorite tales came about when watching the not very-interesting mini-series version of The Prisoner. In fact, I even stopped watching most of it. But there was a day-player who only had about 90 seconds of screen time and three lines of dialogue. Virtually a throwaway part. But I wrote to a producer I was working with that this actresses was amazingly talented and gorgeous, even in just 90 seconds, and though I knew he couldn't offer a role to a total unknown, we should at least keep her in mind. Her name was Hayley Atlwell. The next year, she had the female lead in the Starz epic mini-series, The Pillars of the Earth. A couple years later was the female lead in Captain America, She's currently filming Cinderalla as Cinderalla's mother for Kenneth Branagh, and upcoming is in the next Avengers movie. And will be re-creating her character from Captain America to star in a new series about her on ABC. (She's also done a ton of film work in England, though unknown here. She's great.) Side note: a couple years later, I brought her up again -- I love Hayley Atwell -- and one of the producers on the project dismissed her as still much too unknown. The next year, he had left the project. And a while later signed Hayley Atwell for his new film. (Though it fell through.) Another favorite example is that a project needed a young French actress for a secondary role. I knew nothing at all of that, so I just started doing research. From that online research only, no film, I came across a French actress who I'd never seen or heard of and recommended her, Lea Seydoux. The next year, she played the Parisian bookseller who Owen Wilson ends up falling in love with in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. Then she was hired for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and this year was in The Grand Budapest Hotel. She's currently filming The Lobster as the third lead opposite Farrell Rachel Weisz. There are a whole bunch of others, some particularly notable, but there's a limit to how truly annoying I think I should get. (And none of this includes writing about the obscure, goofy song "Chicken Fat" a year before Apple used it in an international TV campaign...) But I'll add just one more, since it's the point of what got me to think about all this. About six years ago, a producer friend was developing a film comedy that required a British comedian for a sports-related story. I brought up the name of someone who I said probably wasn't right, but added that he was hilarious, so much so that he could probably transcend what was needed. However, he had only just started on a basic cable show in an extremely small role, and the producer had utterly no idea who he was -- like most of America, or likely England either. So I contacted a friend on the cable show to put together a demo reel on the guy. The movie project didn't go forward, but the fellow's name was John Oliver. Which (finally...) brings us to the point. Here is a quite-wonderful 16 minutes from last Sunday's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where he vivaciously takes on Dr. Oz and the diet supplement industry. There have been a lot of fine examples of shameless gall over the last few years. Not just years, but even within the past week, like when Dick Cheney wrote an oped with his child and actually had the "Shameless Gall" wrote write, "Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many."
It would seem hard to top most of these -- and that one in particularly -- but you have to give credit to Deeb Salem, a former broker at Goldman Sachs for trying and coming close. The issue, you see, is that Mr. Salem has told the courts the he was promised a $13 million bonus, and he only got a bonus of a paltry $8.25 million.. Now, admittedly, for anyone to get almost $5 million less than he believes himself due is troubling. Even if you got $8.25 million, $5 million is a whole lot of money. Okay, sure, you might not get a lot of sympathy when you complain about it, but it's still understandable. But the problem to Mr. Salem is far worse than just the money, you see. First of all, that $13 million bonus was a cut from the previous year when his bonus had been $15 million. But the far bigger problem, I believe, is -- are you ready -- that he told his mother he expected to get the $13 million, and then he had to tell her it wasn't true. He let down his mother! Broke her heart, no doubt. By the way, this isn't just a side note I'm bringing up for ridicule -- he himself put this all in the legal papers he filed for his arbitration hearing. No, really. (His mother, you see, was living with him because her house had burned down. only weeks before -- on Christmas Day, no less. It was a pretty horrible situation. And no doubt she was crestfallen when her dear child came home with only $8.25 million. What mother wouldn't be??!!) And so Deeb Salem is suing Goldman Sachs because his bonus was just this mere $8.25 million, not the $13 million he says he was promised and by all rights is his. The thing is -- that's not the Shameless Gall of his that I am referring to. You see, Mr. Salem had previously gone to arbitration over this, seeking $16 million in bonuses, but the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority turned down his claim.. I have to admit, I love Goldman Sach's response to the new lawsuit. Usually in such high-end cases, lawyers respond with a demeanor of pure, cold, dry legalese. But Goldman Sach's couldn't restrain itself. “These claims are utterly ridiculous,” they said with scathing scorn. “Which is why they were rejected by a Finra panel, and unworthy of any further response.” But here's the thing -- even all that isn't the Shameless Gall I mean. It's this. It turns out that in 2007, an internal report shows that Deeb Salem had engaged in misconduct over his dealings with securities, and that's the reason they cut his pay in 2010. In fact, "Salem pushed the faulty securities on investors while obscuring the risks." By the way, that quote isn't from a Goldman Sachs giving their subject opinion. It's from a 2011 report from United States Senate!. So, while some people might think there's a chance they could not only get fired, but perhaps go to prison when investigated and criticized by U.S. Senate for financial misconduct -- Deeb Salem is whining and going to court because he only got $8.25 million in bonuses. Not the $13 million he told his mother. There is a phrase that is sometimes good to live by. "Take the money and run." The Shameless Gall Hall of Fame. Welcome your new inductee. Deeb Salem. This is a joy. It's from a privately made tape at a party in 1962 where Buster Keaton was attending and ended up entertaining the guests. This is just the first two minutes or so, and has the famous silent comedian singing the old song, "You Made Me Love You," with the crowd joining in, but you can hear his bass voice clearly in the lead. But then, after going through it once, he then launches into a parody version, that uses high-tones fancy lyrics in place of the original. And he occasionally sports a British accent for effect. The whole recording runs much longer, with other little songs and stories. You can find the whole thing here (it goes for 24 minutes) but this for me is one of the highlights. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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