As I noted a while back, I just love, love watching old videos of the secret guests on What's My Line? It's from such a different era that they would regularly get such remarkable famous people who, today, you would never, ever get anywhere near a game show. But then, being on television was such a novelty that I guess that helped draw them. I've wasted...er, used up so many hours watching these. And from time to time, I like posting some of my favorites. This one may be their best celebrity guest of all, to appear on a game show -- albeit an adult, erudite one. It's Eleanor Roosevelt. She doesn't do a whole lot -- her voice is too familiar, and she's not actress enough to carry off a fake one at length. But it's Eleanor freaking Roosevelt, and just seeing her there is enough for me. Besides, later on, she does participate more. My favorite moment may be at the very end when she goes to greet the panelists -- and you can see that she brought her purse with her!
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Sorry about the lack of postings for a while. I've been traveling and just arrived. Back in Chicago again. It's been that kind of year. Fortunately, I love Chicago, so for that reason I'm quite happy being here. A lot of cities make the quip, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." I've even heard it said foolishly in Los Angeles, where the weather changes along the pace of a slow glacier. But for all the cities that quip it, few can match the reality of Chicago. How quickly can the weather change here? I honestly wasn't sure what to pack. Three days ago, it was 80 degrees. The next day it was 48. I remember when I was going to Northwestern, which sits on the shore Lake Michigan bordering Chicago to the north. This was late in spring quarter, probably May. It was a really nice afternoon, so I went down to the beach. The temperature was probably around 75-80 degrees. All was well. Lots of folks sun-bathing on the sand. Then, the sky started to get a bit overcast, the temperature seemed to drop a little -- and within about 10 minutes people were throwing on their clothes and racing away from the Lake. That evening, I put on the TV news, and they said it was the biggest drop in temperature in a 15-minute period in Chicago history. I can't tell you the exact figure at this point, but it was around 20-30 degrees. I think it dropped into the upper 40s. "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute" isn't a quip. They really mean "a minute." One more example. In 1998, I went with my dad to an afternoon Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I never bring a camera. This day, I happened to have a disposable camera that was half-used so I brought it along. You can see it's a bit overcast, but it's a nice day. The flags over the scoreboard are blowing a little, but not all that much. And you can see the clock on top of the scoreboard -- it's about 1:35 in the afternoon. Then it started to get windy. Papers started flying all over the place. Then it got very overcast. It started to rain. And then it got dark. Then pour. Torrential. And then it went beyond dark and became like it was the kind of pitch black you get at 3 o'clock in the morning. When you look at this next picture, keep in mind that it's about 20-30 minutes after this photo above. And that it's a little after 2 PM. The early afternoon. Yes, honest, this photo is at most a half-hour after the one above! It's a little after 2 in the afternoon. The sky was soul-crushing black. I can't impress upon you enough have all-encompassing black it was -- and it was the early afternoon. And it wasn't that the day had been dark all day and slowly progressed, but this happen in less than 30 minutes. And then maybe 15 minutes after this photo, part of the sky over Lake Michigan (in the direction you're looking) bizarrely turned green! A couple years later I was describing this to a friend who knew science really well -- I'd wondered if anyone would believe me, and it turned out that he said that it's actually a phenomenon he'd heard of that's occasionally known to happen, and when it does, it's over bodies of water. But almost the most strange thing of all is that as heavy as the rain was (and the dugouts were flooding with a foot of water), the game didn't get cancelled. They were able to clear the tarp and finish playing. And that's because about 30 minutes to an hour later -- yes, we stayed -- the weather completely cleared, the sky was crystal clear blue, and you never would have known that it had been this hellish. This last photo isn't immediately after the one above, but I took it when the game was over (about 90 minutes after play resumed). However, this is what it was like 45 minutes after the picture above. It's not that the torrential rain and all-encompassing dark cleared up a bit but was still overcast -- it's that it's even nicer than when the game began! A gorgeous blue sky.
The three photos were taken within about 2-1/2 hours of each other, one Chicago afternoon. It is just so odd that I happened to have a camera at the game that day. I don't remember taken one to a game at Wrigley...ever. I am thrilled that I had it that day. Because I don't think anyone would have believed me. Seriously, if you don't like the weather in Chicago -- wait a minute. Last week, I posted a video here of Judi Dench starring as the original 'Sally Bowles' in the original London production of Cabaret. Some people understandably expressed surprise at this, but the greater surprise might be that she has been in three stage musical (that I'm aware of). One of those, though, not only won't seem a surprise, but rather a perfect fit. That's the 1996 revival of A Little Night Music, in which she starred as 'Desiree.' It would seem near-perfect casting, and she won the Olivier Award that year for Best Actress in a musical. I suspect that that won't come as a shock. There have been some wonderful performances of the signature song from that show, and the original by Glynis Johns is up there. But Judi Dench's version may be hard to top. This is from an appearance she made on a British TV chat show. It begins with a bit of conversation with the host, Alan TItschmarsh, discussing the musical and her role, and then we see one of the best performances of "Send in the Clowns" I've seen. Making it all nicer is that it's much of the full scene, in costume with her co-star Laurence Guittard as 'Frederick' that includes dialogue within the song. Have you ever read a disclaimer on some website and feel like Alice did falling down the rabbit hole? Such things can be maniacally convoluted and filled with gobbledygook and lawyer legalese so dry it would make the Sahara Desert jealous. It was therefore with great pleasure and a big smile that I came across this from Tumblr, via Ed Bott.
This is from their Terms of Service. Be sure and read it to the end. The other day, I was invited to a screening of a new, 11-part webseries, Dude, Where's My Chutzpah?, a one-woman circus (with a lot of help from her friends) by Jessie Kahnweiler, who wrote, directed, produced and stars in the series as...Jessie Kahnweiler. The webseries will run on YouTube. The premise is that the exuberant, but unfocused Jessie has been left something in her grandmother's will, but to get it, she has to "live Jewish" for a year. Most webseries, especially those that spring from one person, tend to be fairly limited in scope. The "I have an idea and a camera" sort of thing that takes place in one or two rooms. But Dude, Where's My Chutzpah?, while clearly made on a budget is pretty expansive, roaming all over Los Angeles and then travels overseas, when she takes a trip to Israel. Each episode is only 2-3 minutes, and the series is a combination of scripted material mixed with real-world documentary, like when she goes to the West Bank and hits on soldiers patrolling the area. Ultimately, some real issues unrelated to the filming do crop up, and (as happens on-screen) they actually get tear-gassed -- which leads to her ad-libbed line to the soldiers, "I'm on a diet, could you used the low-cal tear gas?" Most of the webseries is comic, though not everything, most notably a wonderful episode where Jessie meets a real Holocaust survivor, Albert, an elderly man who's full of life, though with a harrowing story to tell. The episodes in Los Angeles are generally fun (most notably when she's invited to an orthodox family's home for a Sabbath, and the family has to keep telling her to be quiet during the service. Jessie talks a lot), but it becomes most interesting once she arrives in Israel, making her way through markets, Palestine, to the Wailing Wall and more. The series gets a little unfocused at times, though there's a liveliness, spark and rash of quips enough to overcome the lapses. Mainly, though, it's Jessie Kahnweiler who shines through. She has such an outgoing personality that it's hard not to enjoy the ride with her. The character she's crafted (and despite the similarity in names, it is a character. We've met -- her grandfather and my dad are long-time friends -- and though she's definitely outgoing, she's also far more lowkey, thoughtful and surprisingly shy) is sort of a cross between Sarah Silverman and Zooey Deschanel -- annoyingly likeable. But it's all Jessie. Adding to the charm is that she clearly has no qualms about humiliating herself, and coming across the goofball, because ultimately the jokes are almost all on her. More than just her personality and acting, though, what leaps out is how talented she is, all around. Even when everything doesn't work and needs a bit of reining in, it's clear that you're watching someone with her hand on her craft at a young age, who has a strong future. And I do suspect she has a future, because pulling this off, on all those levels, is no easy trick, for anyone, let alone a young woman in Hollywood. Pulling this off, on all these levels -- just raising the money, alone, never mind wearing all the hats -- suggests that Jessie Kahnweiler is not someone who takes, "No. Get out of my office. Guards, throw her out," for an answer. And in the end, the webseries is quite well-directed, entertainingly written and richly-produced for such a small budget, and she's a hoot on screen. I had an interesting thought while watching the full webseries. At times I found myself curious to see what subtleties of performance an established director could bring out of her. But then I think that this is someone who has a deeply strong sense of self, in what she does, what she wants to do, and how to bring that out, in somewhat the way Woody Allen in his early films knew what worked best for the character of Woody Allen. I'm not making an artistic comparison, that wouldn't be fair. But there is a connection in the process. And ultimately, it's that future that I more look forward to seeing -- an artist who has a clear idea of what she wants to do, and why, rather than wedged into someone else's view. Both can be wonderful. But Ms. Kahnweiler's view at the moment seems the most interesting to anticipate. The webseries has just gone live today with the first three episodes. The first is below. If you want to check out the YouTube channel for the series, and the other episodes, you can find it here. In an argument with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) over the federal budget, the intrepid Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on the Senate floor -- "Let me be clear. I don't trust the Republicans. And I don't trust the Democrats. And I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don't trust the Republicans and the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has gotten us in this mess."
Me, I don't trust demagogues. I know that on a visceral level, it's easy and fun to say, "Yeah, I don't trust politicians." But simplistic venting isn't reality. The traditional mantra of pointing to "a whole lot of Americans" is a meaningless and overused shield to hide behind. If one-tenth of 1% of Americans believed in something, that would be 300,000 people -- which is a whole lot of Americans. A whole lot of Americans believe that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. That's meaningless, nonetheless, because they're wrong. Just today, far-far-right wing conspiracy radio crank Alex Jones suggested that there was a government conspiracy that caused the Oklahoma tornado. (Honest.) And I'm sure a whole lot of his listeners believe him. That's meaningless, too, because they're crazed idiots. I'm sure that a whole lot of Americans don't trust the Republicans and Democrats. They're generally defined as members of the Tea Party corporations. And their reason for existence is not to trust Republicans and Democrats. There probably are a whole lot of Americans who don't trust Republicans, Democrats and members of the "Tea Party." They're most likely survivalists, or White Supremacists. Or perhaps members of the gun manufacturer-controlled NRA. So, the fact that a whole lot of Americans don't trust (fill in the blank) is meaningless. Though I'd still like Ted Cruz to show his work. After all, he's the same empty mouth who claimed there were 12 Communists teaching at the Harvard Law School. He still hasn't shown his work on that one. Besides, I dismiss Mr. Cruz's thesis outright. His complaint centered on the national debt -- and that skyrocketed during the Bush Administration -- as well as the Reagan and Bush #1 Administrations. So, though Democrats have their accountabilies, as spenders -- while being willing to tax in order to raise the revenue for what they spend -- the greater accountability is for Republicans. Who believe in spending but not taxing, and have been blocking efforts by the president to stimulate the economy which would help bring down the deficit. And none of this includes starting two undeclared wars and refused to raise the revenue to pay for them. So, no, Mr. Cruz is not correct. Shocking, I know. It is not equal that leadership of both parties "got us into this mess." Nor is it true, I am near-certain, that however many "a whole lot of Americans" are to Ted Cruz who don't trust both Republicans and Democrats outright, a whole lot more do. Me, I don't trust demagogues. And Ted Cruz has been laying his path in that direction with almost every public word he utters. |
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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