***Many of our hearts were broken recently when we learned that the great Valerie Harper had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. To pay a much-deserved tribute to one of our most cherished icons my friend Amanda over at the always amazing Made for TV Mayhem decided to host a blogathan dedicated to Valerie. Here is my little contribution and, needless to say, I am honored to participate and while my post might be a short one my admiration and love for this very special actress and woman is huge. So thank you Valerie Harper. We all wish you the very best and send you lots of love.
Few actors have ever been able to project insecurity, self-doubt and vulnerability better than Valerie Harper and even fewer could project these very human frailties with as much charisma, wit and warmth as Valerie. All of Harper's strongest skills as an actor and icon are on display during the terrific and touching third season episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show entitled "Rhoda the Beautiful", an episode that never fails to make me both laugh and cry throughout its 25 minute running time.
Watching Valerie Harper in her key role as the charming but neurotic Rhoda Morgenstern all these years later it is quite simply impossible to picture anyone else in the role, or even imagine the early seasons of the legendary series without her. The fact that there was initially a push-back against casting the perfect Harper for the plum role of Rhoda is absolutely baffling...who else could have brought such extraordinary honesty, natural beauty and finely tuned comic timing to the role?
The incredible "Rhoda the Beautiful" was written by one of The Mary Tyler Moore's Shows most important behind the scenes voices Treva Silverman, who was often credited as being the driving force behind the character of Rhoda Morgenstern. The episode centers on the attention Rhoda gets when she participate in a work-sponsored beauty contest after losing twenty pounds. The episode in the wrong hands could have been an exploitative disaster but Silverman (credited once by Harper as “Feminist conscience of the show”) wisely turns the focus of the show not on the pageant but Rhoda's frustrations at her inability to accept just how truly beautiful she really is.
"Rhoda the Beautiful" is a classic Mary Tyler Moore episode. It's funny, moving, wonderfully written and beautifully performed by the entire cast. Valerie Harper is especially smashing here from her early scenes with Moore, where she just can't recognize that she isn't the frumpy overweight sidekick she has always considered herself as, to her hilarious mocking of the ridiculous nature of beauty pageants to her triumphant victory at the show, which Silverman wisely doesn't show (Harper's emotional and hilarious description of the show tops any footage they could have captured).
Valerie Harper was rightly considered in the seventies (and beyond) as one of the most important role models for young women in all of popular culture. I will go that even further and say that she, and her greatest creation Rhoda Morgenstern, was important to everyone (males included) who recognized their own self-doubts, fears and insecurities in her work. She gave many of us hope and she helped us laugh off our inner demons that can cripple.
Valerie Harper remains one of our absolute great actors, icons, humanitarians and beauties. I love "Rhoda the Beautiful" for many reasons but I especially love that it acknowledges that Rhoda Morgenstern was indeed a knockout and, like Valerie Harper herself, was more importantly a knockout on her terms.
I typically don't pay any mind to the Billboard album chart listings but the news that David Bowie's magnificent new LP The Next Day might finally give the great man his long deserved spot at Number 1 in the States has me very excited. Bowie's triumphant first album in ten years is debuting all across the globe at the top of well over forty album charts but the American spot is going to be tough as The Next Day is running neck and neck with the new Bon Jovi album.
It is absolutely insane that Bowie has never had a number 1 album here in the States so I am asking all reading here to please help support Bowie and The Next Day and buy, or legally download, a copy this week or weekend. The Next Day is an absolute powerhouse and a Number 1 placing would be a glorious welcome-back for my beloved Bowie, and it just might help set in motion the much hoped tour many of us are praying for.
So, help a brother out and buy The Next Day. You won't be sorry.
The new book from my favorite writer and one of the most influential artists, and people, of my life comes out Tuesday March 12th and I am asking that you all buy it and give it a read.
Richard Hell's I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography promises to be one of the best and most important books of the year, and I do hope everyone here will support my favorite fellow Kentuckian and snag a copy of this long awaited work.
If you aren't already familiar with the life and work of Richard Hell please, for God's sake, stop reading here and go immerse yourself in his official site.
A big congratulations to Richard on his upcoming book and, needless to say, I can't wait to add it to my special bookshelf already dedicated to all things Richard Hell.
Today I am very pleased to present this new Q&A with author, film-historian and all-around great person Ryan Clark. Ryan, the author of the terrific Thrill Me blog, is currently working on a sure to be awesome book, with the noted film scribe Lee Gambin, on the making of Brian De Palma's Carrie and I am very happy to have him drop by and give us a sneak peak.
Hi Ryan,
Thanks so much for stopping by Moon in the Gutter to participate
in my Q&A series. I am extremely excited about your upcoming book BLOOD AMONG THE STARS: THE MAKING OF CARRIE, that you are working on with Lee Gambin,
and I really appreciate you doing this. To start off with, can you tell us a
bit about your background?
Thank you for having me, Jeremy.I'm a big fan of your site.
I have been a horror fan my entire life, ever since I first saw The
Ghost of Frankenstein when I was five or six years old.That's really the first horror film I
remember seeing.I've always been a
writer, too – I used to sit at the table and draw and write brief picture books
based on the films I had seen.I later
graduated to writing short stories, though I never got any of them published
and they were actually pretty terrible, but I guess they were impressive for
someone my age.So it's only natural
that I would eventually want to combine the two – horror movies and
writing!I am also passionately
interested in filmmaking, and I'm working on several screenplays.
My co-writer, Lee Gambin, is actually much more accomplished than
I am.He writes many popular articles
for Fangoria magazine, and he has a book out now called Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film, which you should all go
out and buy.
I typically ask folks here about the films that provided the
earliest influence but I also wanted to include music in the mix as I know you
are equally passionate about both. Tell me some of your early film and music
favorites.
As I said, the first horror film I ever saw was The Ghost of
Frankenstein, so the Universal horror films were really my first love.Aside from that, my mother used to record
many horror films from TV in the 80s, and she had a bunch of them that I ended
up watching, like Carrie, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Psycho
and Psycho II, The Amityville Horror – a lot of the classics.
For music, I listened to a lot of the stuff my parents were into,
like Madonna, Tina Turner, Blondie, and Michael Jackson.It wasn't until I was in high school and I
had regular access to the Internet that I formed my own musical taste.I began to explore a lot of artists'
discographies and fell in love with Nina Simone, Millie Jackson, Kate Bush,
Dusty Springfield, Curtis Mayfield, Robyn Hitchcock, and Patti Smith.My musical interests run the gamut.
So, we’ll have to do a chat sometime about how much Debbie Harry
means to both of us. I am still grateful you told me about that reissue of KooKoo a year or so ago. Debbie has been one of my great influences since I was a
kid and I was hoping you could chat her up a bit here before we delve into the
book?
Debbie Harry is quite simply one of the coolest and most beautiful
people in the world!Madonna has
admitted she was an influence, but no one can compete with Debbie.When I first heard Blondie, I only knew their
greatest hits, but when I began to delve into their albums, I discovered that
they had explored quite a range of musical styles on their album tracks –
particularly on AutoAmerican – and that intrigued me.But, as I am wont to do, I usually end up
championing the underdog albums that few people like or know about, so my
favorite Blondie album is actually The Hunter, the last one they did
before their reunion in the late 90s. I am also extremely fond of Debbie's solo career, in particular the Koo Koo and Rockbirdalbums.
Awesome, okay so the obvious question…why CARRIE?
Carrie is one of the earliest horror films I saw,
and it always stayed with me, mostly because the ending terrified me, the
shower scene baffled me (I was probably about five, remember), and I just
really loved that 70s high school atmosphere.But it didn't become my all-time favorite movie until I was in middle
school.I think the reason is
obvious:middle school is pretty much
the worst time in the lives of most children, so I really connected with Carrie
in a big way.I've been an obsessed fan
ever since, and in 2011, I decided to put my obsession to work and actually do
something with all of my passion for this movie.
CARRIE is indeed one of the great books and films of the seventies
and one of those pop-culture cornerstones that continues to resonate to this
day. How did the idea for the book first come about and how did you and Lee Gambin initially hook up to write it?
The project started when I began chatting with Terry Bolo on
Facebook.Terry had been an extra in the
movie, and she convinced me to go ahead with this book.I now realize that I probably couldn't have
finished the book if it had been up to me to locate all of the cast and crew
and persuade them to do interviews, but at the time I was determined to make
this work.I started up a Facebook page
to raise awareness of the book and make people excited about it, and I noticed
Lee joining in on the discussion.He
sent me a private message asking if he could help out, and I was aware that he
had interviewed Sissy Spacek for the then-recent issue of Fangoria.I figured he would be a great help if I
brought him on to help me write it, so I asked him if he would be interested,
and he said yes.It's really been a
wonderful experience.Lee is a great
guy, and he's been invaluable to this project.We have become really good friends even though we have never met!It's a beautiful thing.
You’ve managed to interview some truly remarkable artists for this
book. Tell us about some of them.
The first person I interviewed was Terry Bolo.She was a background player in many
well-known movies like Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Little Miss
Sunshine, and she was really helpful with stories from the Carrie
set.It was a great jumping off point
for me.She put me in touch with Edie
McClurg and Doug Cox.The three of them
were all original members of The Groundlings improv troupe, and they have
remained friends since the 70s.Several
people from that group appear in Carrie in small roles.
Lee was able to get P.J. Soles involved, and she was instrumental
in helping us get Nancy Allen and Piper Laurie.Lee and I worked together to get Stephen King.Mick Garris and Steve's lovely assistant,
Marsha, had a lot to do with that.I was
able to contact Brian De Palma through a friend and spoke to him at length
about the film.That's a fantastic
interview.These are just a few of the
many generous and talented people we've been in touch with.They have all aided us in making this book
the absolute best it can be.
Was there anyone in particular you have chatted with for the book
that particularly blew your mind and is there anyone in particular you haven’t
been able to interview that you had hoped to?
De Palma and King definitely made me sit back and go,
"Whoa!"It's really shocking
to me that we have been in touch with our heroes.
I am not at liberty to say exactly which of the major players
declined to be involved, but it's a little obvious if you look at the
contributor list on our website.We hope
that these people will come around eventually, but if not, we understand.
After immersing yourself in CARRIE was there something surprising
that came out of your research that really caught you off guard about the
making of the film or the film itself?
Well, for one thing, I was really surprised by the number of
critics and viewers who thought that Sue Snell was in on the joke.It's pretty clear when you watch Carrie
that Chris does not have Sue's allegiance anymore, yet there are people getting
paid a lot of money to write about movies who are mixed up when it comes to
Sue's motivations!It's mind-boggling.
The other thing that surprised me most about the making of Carrie
was that Brian De Palma allowed the entire cast to watch the dailies almost all
the way through the shoot.This is not
at all common.Most directors don't let
the cast see the dailies, because they don't want the actors to adjust their
performances.I think De Palma sensed
that allowing the cast to see the dailies every night would add to the
camaraderie.You're around the same
people all the time when you're in high school, and he had to quickly bring
that familiar feeling to those scenes with the students in Carrie.Obviously, it worked!
I’ve never made any secret of my love for Brian De Palma. In fact
if I was forced to name a favorite American director he would be my choice.
What are your thoughts on his other films and what are a few favorites along
with CARRIE?
Oh, I totally agree.Brian
De Palma is my favorite director, if only for his brilliant run of films from
1970-1984.No one can match his stunning
visual and musical sense – not even Hitchcock.Yes, I said it.I love Hitchcock,
but I prefer De Palma's eroticism, his warmth, his humor, and his propensity
for sleaze.He's always willing to go
much further than Hitchcock ever did.Aside from Carrie, I absolutely adore Sisters, Blow Out,
The Fury, Dressed to Kill, Body Double, and Phantom of
the Paradise.Of course, he has also
made some great films outside of his peak period, like Casualties of War
and Carlito's Way.
When can we expect the book and is there an official page or two
fans can follow regarding its progress?
We aren't sure of the release date yet.It will be out at least sometime next year,
but we may have to put it out to coincide with the remake in October.We are keeping everyone updated on our
website and our Facebook
and Twitter pages.
Okay, we’ve all got one…favorite CARRIE moment???
Do I have to pick one?I
guess if you held a gun to my head, I would pick the ending.I have never seen a more convincing portrayal
of hysteria than Amy Irving in that scene.But I also love the famous prom sequence, as well as the volleyball
scene, opening titles, and shower scene in the locker room.Pino Donaggio's music fits so beautifully
with all of these sequences.I hope De
Palma never stops working with him.
Thanks so much Ryan. This has been a pleasure and I really do wish
you a lot of success with the book. I know it is going to be amazing and a big
success!
Buried on a long out of print compilation entitled Comatose-Non-Reaction: The Thwarted Pop Career of Danielle Dax lies one of the most amazing pieces of music I have ever heard. Labeled simply as "Music from the Film Axel", this eight minute lyric-less ambient piece is quite unlike anything else the brilliant, and eternally undervalued, Danielle Dax ever recorded and it is absolutely breathtaking. Sounding like a lost chapter to the great German electronic movement of the seventies, "Music from the Film Axel" is a reminder of the visionary power of Dax, one of the great figures of the Post-Punk movement.
I have been curious to see the short film Axel that Dax supplied this remarkable piece of music to since I fell in love with it well over a decade ago so I was greatly excited to see the film recently appear as an extra on the Kino/Redemption collection Visions of Ecstasy: The Films of Nigel Wingrove, a terrific collection built around Wingrove's once banned 1989 work that the collection takes its title from.
Like Dax's extraordinary soundtrack, the dreamy Axel is a hypnotic experience that defies categorization. Shot a year before the infamous Visions of Ecstasy, Axel is the first film in Wingrove's intriguing and peculiar career and was inspired by the final work of French Symbolist writer Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. A much less-extreme work than his later films, the dialogue-free Axel stars Saskia Brandauer, Rubecca Mohamed and Sharon Robinson. While gentle and restrained aren't two words typically connected to Wingrove's filmography they are two terms that can be applied to the hypnotic Axel and Dax's droning score guides the film perfectly.
Axel is an accomplished and lovely first-film and it is one of the highlights of the Visions of Ecstasy collection, a set which also includes Wingrove's Faustine, Sacred Flesh and, of course, that infamous banned 1989 feature. Other extras include a vintage interview with Wingrove, outtakes and a featurette on Nunsploitation.
It was a pleasure finally getting to see this little film that contains one of my all-time favorite soundtracks and it reminded me how much I admire and love the work of Danielle Dax. I wish she was better-known and I wish her great back catalogue was more readily available for music-fans to discover.
Brandon Colvin's excellent debut feature Frames can now be viewed for free over at No Budge Films and I highly recommend it to everyone. Some of you hopefully remember my Q&A with Brandon here awhile back and I am glad to see his film getting more attention, as it is an extremely fascinating and thought-provoking work. So I would appreciate it if you would check out Frames, leave Brandon a tip to help out with his next film, Sabbatical, and share the link with others as well.
With its place firmly rooted in film history as one of the very first Zombie movies, 1932's White Zombie has cast a much bigger shadow than anyone would have guessed in 1932 when it failed to captivate either audiences or critics. Theatrically released by United Artists and independently financed by the director Victor Halperin's own production company, White Zombie is a flawed work marred by some poor supporting performances and, at times, a lazy script, but it survives due to its sheer audacity and verve and it remains one of the most compulsively watchable horror films of the period.
Starring the incomparable Bela Lugosi as well fascinating Madge Bellamy, White Zombie is a work steeped in strangeness and the behind the scenes stories of lost and found prints, censored versions and its inability to just fade away only adds to its allure. Creepy, atmospheric, and strangely erotic White Zombie is, despite its faults, a rather perfect opening film in what has become one of the most popular and longest running sub-genres in all of cinema.
I first saw White Zombie in my early twenties after a buddy at a record store I haunted talked my ear off about the strange power it had over him. Borrowing his copy to watch for the first time, I must admit that I had trouble seeing much beside its flaws during that first viewing. Halperin's spooky production seemed quite a weak counterpart to the Universal horror films I had seen from the period but, like my friend had warned, certain moments and images from the film kept nagging at me...images that caused me to revisit it again and again while my appreciation for Halperin's accomplishment grew more and more.
Despite its faults and missteps, White Zombie has become over the years one of my favorite films from the early thirties and I get a real kick out of seeing traces of it in the works of everyone from Lucio Fulci to Rob Zombie, who helped bring the film back to the public eye when he named his immensely popular Metal band after it.
Long a public domain staple, White Zombie has recently been reissued as a Kino Lorber Blu-ray that offers up a controversial restored print of the film and some splendid extras. To many eyes this new restoration has simply been over digitized and just doesn't look like a 1932 film anymore while others have applauded the new clarity the film contains. While I can see both arguments, my memories of having to sit through one horrid public domain print after another of this important film caused me to pleased, and even blown away at times, buy this new version. The argument ultimately becomes a bit pointless when one notices that Kino have added a fine 'untouched' print as an extra which should appease the purists who object to the new restoration. The disc also includes a commentary by Film Historian Frank Thompson, some trailers and a terrific 1932 'interview' with Lugosi. It's a fine disc and represents the best presentation yet of this haunting and unique classic.
-Jeremy Richey-
