From The Book of Lists 90s Edition, here is Steve Allen’s list with the original introduction from the editors. I have taken the liberty of annotating his choices with writing credits, as well as…
Year: 2013
Blog posts
Movie Quote of the Day: Auntie Mame, 1958
Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!…
A Letter of Encouragement From OBE Glenda Jackson, Plus a Recipe for Her Nutty Date Loaf in Eating With the Stars
Though she essentially retired from acting in the early 1990s to focus on her second career as a politician, Glenda Jackson is fondly remembered today as a leading lady of great skill and charm,…
Stargayzing Mix Tape: The Most Unbelievable Cover Songs of All-Time! #9: Chér’s Cover of Paul McCartney’s “My Love”
9. Cher, “My Love” Like other legendary musical interpreters like say, Liza Minnelli, one could easily devote an entire series to bizarre Cher covers. Because of the sheer volume of viable options, choosing one…
Leon Russell’s A Song For You: When a “Song” Becomes a “Copyright”:
There is a great chance that regardless of your demographic profile you are familiar with Leon Russell’s A Song For You, one of the really towering copyrights of the last 40 years. Aside from…
Eating With the Stars: Tony Bennett’s Mother’s Lasagna
Tony Bennett is certainly one of the true all-time great vocalists and his late-career resurgance engineered by son/manager Danny Bennett has been nothing if not astonishing (especially considering that Tony’s brand of pop music…
Stargayzing Mix Tape: The Most Unbelievable Cover Songs of All-Time! #8: Barry Manilow’s Cover of Journey’s Open Arms
8. Barry Manilow, Open Arms Readers of Stargayzing know that I am an unabashed “Fanilow”, but for every musical gem Barry has recorded, for instance Mandy or When October Goes, is something regrettable like—well—like anything recorded…
Stargayzing Screening Room: What We’ve Been Watching Lately, Volume 1
1. The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) Lloyd Bacon’s slight but amiable comedy is most notable for the opportunity to see the great Lucille Ball in one of her last film roles before she commenced…
“And in The Center of it All!” All Singing, All Dancing Commercials for the Milford Plaza and Hotel Seville, circa 1980
Though it may be hard to imagine today, advertisers once sold products using Broadway musical razzle dazzle: animated hot dogs and cigarette packs danced for us; Ann Miller chaine-turned into our living rooms for…
Gloria Swanson Standing in the Rubble
I learned a few interesting things in that nanosecond it took me to research the origin of my true or untrue memory of this photograph. The 5,920 seat Roxy theater was erected in 1927 and was razed in 1960. In its day it was the most exquisite and largest of all the movie palaces. Interestingly, the choice of Gloria Swanson wasn’t random—the Roxy’s opening film was a silent Swanson feature called The Love of Sunya, which told the story of a young woman who was given the power to see into her future.
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