The guest contestant on the "Not My Job" segment of NPR's quiz show, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! is actress-writer-director Greta Gerwig, whose new film is Lady Bird. Her interview beforehand with host Peter Sagal is, not surprisingly, a bit off-beat and charming, and there are some amusing stories that host Sagal gets out of her comparing the film to her real life growing up in Sacramento, as does the character in the film.
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Back in 1996, CBS produced a TV musical, Mrs. Santa Claus, that starred Angela Lansbury with a score by Jerry Herman (who had written two Broadway shows Lansbury had starred in, Mame and Dear World). It has a charming score, though not many videos of them are available. But here's the audio of the title song, at the very least. One video that is available, though, is the song "Avenue A." It's not a Christmas song, however -- though it's the big production number and very enjoyable. Angela Lansbury doesn't sing in it -- her character has just landed in New York City, and she's shown around the polyglot neighborhood by a young man played by David Norona. One little tidbit to mention: at the 3:10 mark there's a brief shot of a gentlemen in a big mustache playing a piano in an upstairs parlor -- that's a cameo of songwriter Jerry Herman. This is one of my favorite videos from the Conan O'Brien show, where he is the Secret Santa for one of the members of his staff -- Back in August, readers here may remember a couple of articles I wrote about a fellow named Felix Sater, a Mafia-connected felon who has been a senior adviser to Trump in his real estate company. (If you missed them, you can read the articles here and here.)
Well...last night, Rachel Maddow opened her program with an 18-minute segment on Sater being interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee. See what happens if you read these pages and have just a wee bit of patience?! The thing is, the story doesn't end there, because Republicans did a bit of maneuvering to keep Democratic members of the committee from talking to him, setting the interview for New York City, rather than Washington, and during the vote on the tax bill. Yes, he's that explosive. But then, that's what I said back in August. Not to worry, as I wrote then, my understanding is that Robert Mueller has already talked to him. And Sater is reported to have told friend and family that he's going to jail. And that so is Trump. Hey, as I always say, we tries nots to steers ya wrong. I tried to embed the video from Maddow's show but for some reason it doesn't want to show up. But you should be able to watch it by clicking here. Highly recommended, since she does a very good job setting up the background of who Felix Sater is and his connections to Trump -- and the mob. And to Russia. Tonight we have a sort of Unknown Harnick Festival with three Christmas songs by Sheldon Harnick that you've almost-certainly never heard. In the case of this first song, that's because it's for a musical that never made it to Broadway. The song is a particular sweet number called "One Family," and it's from a show that Harnick wrote based on none other than...A Christmas Carol. Harnick is best-known for his work with composer Jerry Bock on such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me and the Pultizer Prize-winning Fiorello! For this, though, he collaborated on the show with famed movie composer, Michel Legrand, who among many film scores wrote The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, as well as the original film version of The Thomas Crown Affair, for which he won an Oscar for the Best Song, "The Windmills of Your Mind." Though their production of A Christmas Carol never was produced on Broadway, it's had a bit of a life in community theater. This number is sung in the show by the Cratchit Family, and it's performed here by Sheldon Harnick, along with his wife Margery Gray (who had a successful Broadway career, including the show Mr. Wonderful that starred Sammy Davis Jr., and oddly enough had music by Jerry Bock before he teamed up with Harnick), and Leigh Beery, who starred as Roxanna opposite Christopher Plummer in Cyrano, a musical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac. (She comes in with her main solo at the 1-minute mark. Margery Gray follows her.) This (and the two that follow) come from the wonderful CD I've posted several selections from. Sheldon Harnick: Hidden Treasures, which you can find here. These next two Christmas songs were written by Harnick and Bock for their musical She Loves Me (which is based on the Hungarian play that the movies Shop Around the Corner and You've Got Mail are adapted from). However, they're so little-known that people who even love She Loves Me inside-out likely don't even know them. That's because they were cut from the show. The first song, "Christmas Eve," was to come at the very end of the show -- around the time when the "12 Days to Christmas" number, whose video I posted here the other day (12 days before Christmas) comes in. It's a lovely, wistful ballad, but in his liner notes Harnick writes that the song just didn't move the story forward enough and had to be taken out. It's sung here by the composers, with Harnick in the lead. And the final number is probably best-described as a show song, one that really only fits within the context of the musical. Harnick notes that it was ultimately too complex and didn't work well-enough for that, so it too was cut. But it's good fun to hear, especially with Harnick filling in the dialogue. And if you do know the show, you'll recognize that some of the lyrics were saved and able to be used elsewhere in the show, mixed in as a sort of sardonic counterpoint in the song "Ilona." Here then are Hanick and Bock singing, "Merry Christmas Bells." This is a hilarious but galling story and video of Trump's Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra slamming a Dutch journalist for "fake news" and insisting he never said what he's asking about saying -- then being shown the tape of him, in fact, saying it -- and then insisting he never said "fake news". The reporter's reaction of pure bewilderment leaps out as understandable. This is pure Trump administration. Just deny reality, even when the reality is crammed in your face, and try to tear down the press by crying "Fake news!" about anything and near-everything you don't like and lie, lie, lie, lie. You can read the story here -- and this is the video of the full exchange. |
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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