New York Rocks

It is with great personal pride that I announce the forthcoming release of the new HBO documentary Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed

The film will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in Manhattan on June 11th, with the HBO broadcast debut following soon after. In between, there will be screenings at film festivals in Provincetown, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Participating in this project as an associate producer and consultant has been a true labor of love. Heartfelt Congratulations to director Stephen Kijak, our tireless team of producers and an extraordinary group of interview subjects.

Special Thanks to Dan Works, Keary Nichols and Alexa Foreman (of TCM) for their assistance with this production.

https://tribecafilm.com/films/rock-hudson-all-that-heaven-allowed-2023 

Judy 100

The 2022 Bates Film Festival will pay tribute to screen icon Judy Garland with a centennial celebration in Freeport, Maine on April 2nd. At 10am, Nordica Theatre screens Garland's 1944 classic "Meet Me In St. Louis," directed by Vincente Minnelli.  This acclaimed MGM musical will be introduced by Minnelli biographer Mark Griffin. 

At 1:30, Griffin hosts "Judy 100: A Centennial Celebration" at Meetinghouse Arts (40 Main Street, Freeport). Attendees will learn about Garland's life and multifaceted career, participate in a trivia contest and view memorabilia from Griffin's personal collection. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit...

www.bates.edu/bff 

https://course-wp.bates.edu/rhet391/mark-griffin/

Maine in The Movies

Join us as we celebrate Maine's 200th birthday with the 17-city bicentennial event "Maine In The Movies," which showcases 35 films with connections to The Pine Tree State.

On Wednesday, March 11th at 7pm, Mark Griffin introduces a special screening of the 1946 classic A Stolen Life at the Nordica Theater in Freeport.  Oscar-winner and longtime Maine resident Bette Davis not only starred in the film but produced it as well. Learn more and view the official festival trailer at MaineMovies200.com.

Rock of Ages

Mark Griffin's new book, All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson, will be published by HarperCollins on December 4, 2018.   Drawing on more than a hundred interviews with Hudson's co-stars, family members and former companions, All That Heaven Allows pays homage to the screen legend whose life and death had a lasting impact on American culture.

Click the link below to pre-order the book that Kirkus Reviews calls "an engrossing  and carefully documented account of a beloved film icon's life."

KIRKUS REVIEWS

Hooked on "Dolls"

In celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the publication of Jacqueline Susann’s immortal bestseller, Valley of the Dolls, Mark Griffin will introduce a special screening of the 1967 film adaptation starring Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate and the incomparable Patty Duke (as tormented superstar Neely O’Hara).  

Released by 20^th Century-Fox a year after Susann’s novel became a publishing industry phenomenon, the movie version of Valley of the Dolls is widely considered ‘The Queen Mother of Cult Classics’ and the ultimate guilty pleasure.  In addition to the three leads, the film also features Oscar winners Susan Hayward and Lee Grant and in a contractually arranged cameo appearance, Jacqueline Susann herself.  

This invitation only event takes place on Saturday, July 16^th, 2016 at the Eveningstar Cinema in Brunswick, Maine.  In addition to Griffin’s introductory remarks, this Valley extravaganza includes surprise guests, a trivia contest and a thematically appropriate luncheon served at Henry and Marty restaurant (as Lee Grant says in the movie, “I’ll start heating up the lasagna…”).    

The Best of Bond: All About 007

On newsstands now...i-5 Publishing explores the enduring influence of the James Bond film franchise in its new special edition magazine ("James Bond: The World's Most Famous Spy"). Mark Griffin celebrates "The Sound of Bond" by interviewing Dame Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon, Sheena Easton and Bond theme composer Monty Norman. Get the inside story on the most stylish secret agent in cinema history by picking up your copy today.

For The Love of Lucy

On newsstands now...Celebrate the enduring popularity of America's best-loved sitcom with i-5 Publishing's special edition tribute to "I Love Lucy."

This collector's magazine examines the unprecedented success of the series while providing readers with a glimpse behind the scenes of many of the best remembered episodes.

Mark Griffin's profiles of Vivian Vance and William Frawley reveal how these two seasoned veterans came to be cast as Fred and Ethel Mertz and why they were far from fond of one another. Pick up your copy of the magazine today. 
Up Next: 007.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

The Hills Are Alive (and Thoroughly Fabulous) at 50

Now available on newsstands nationwide…Mark Griffin interviews the cast of the Oscar-winning blockbuster The Sound of Music for i-5 Publishing’s special edition magazine celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the classic film. 

Starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer and directed by Robert Wise, The Sound of Music has been described as “the most mainstream cult film ever made.”  Released in 1965, this widescreen adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s hit Broadway musical won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.  

In addition to exploring the production history of The Sound of Music, this collector’s edition magazine pays tribute to the glory days of the Hollywood musical and also features Griffin’s articles on the making of three other 60’s spectaculars: Mary Poppins (1964), Star! (1968) and Hello, Dolly!(1969).  

Julie Andrews won an Oscar for her film debut as the “practically perfect” nanny in Mary Poppins (1964).  While Andrews and co-star Dick Van Dyke were roundly applauded for their performances, neither actor was Walt Disney’s first choice in terms of casting.  The magazine reveals who Disney initially had in mind to play Mary Poppins and her friend Bert, the amiable chimney sweep and street performer.  

After their shared Sound of Music triumph, Julie Andrews and director Robert Wise reunited for an ambitious musical biography of the “thoroughly fabulous” theatrical legend Gertrude Lawrence.  Entitled Star!, the movie boasted elaborate production numbers built around songs written by Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin and Lawrence’s quick witted confidante, Noel Coward.  In the magazine, Griffin recounts how Star! was subjected to some studio tampering and reckless editing after its initial release in 1968.

 

Hello, Dolly! (1969) seemed to have it all...An impressive Broadway track record to build from, an infectious title tune and the most exciting musical star of the era.  With Barbra Streisand headlining and Gene Kelly directing, how could a movie version miss?  20^th Century-Fox pulled all the stops out and Dolly - which was nominated for seven Academy Awards - still stands as one of the costliest musical extravaganzas ever produced.  And by all accounts, it was one tough shoot.

To learn more, look for i-5 Publishing’s 50^th Anniversary tribute to The Sound of Music and the last of the great Hollywood musicals.

Faithful Companion

by Mark Griffin

[Please note that this review originally appeared in the Spring 2014 issue of The Baum Bugle]

The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75^th Anniversary Companion

By Jay Scarfone and William Stillman

Harper Design/HarperCollins Publishers, 2013. 

Cover image courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers

I’ve long harbored this fantasy that in the summer of 1939, some subversive MGM janitor – fed up with sweeping the cutting room floor – decided to “preserve” some of the scraps of celluloid that he found after the editors on The Wizard of Oz had knocked off for the night. 

Allowing my fantasy to take full flight, I imagine that this crafty custodian managed to rescue the choicest cuts.  What if he had salvaged scenes deleted from Oz that have obsessed movie buffs for decades?  We’re talking about the mother lode here:  The "Jitterbug" number, “The Triumphal Return” to the Emerald City (following the Wicked Witch’s unforgettable liquidation) and a poignant reprise of “Over The Rainbow.”   As my wishful thinking would have it, my insubordinate janitor not only saved the most significant excisions but he stashed these treasures in his worn-out steamer trunk.  Said cache is now sitting in a downtown Burbank consignment shop, just waiting for someone to peer inside that battered trunk and make the cinematic discovery of a lifetime.

The point of all of this is to express a fervent hope that there is still something new that remains to be seen in reference to everybody’s favorite movie.  That kind of hopefulness envelops The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75^th Anniversary Companion by Jay Scarfone and William Stillman.  This is the same duo responsible for the 1989 bestseller, The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50^th Anniversary Pictorial History (co-written with John Fricke) as well as its lavishly illustrated follow-up, The Wizardry of Oz, which followed a decade later.  You’d think that by now the cupboard would be bare in terms of excavating any unseen Oz ephemera. 

Apparently not.  In their latest effort, Scarfone and Stillman promise the reader material “rarely seen or previously unknown since 1939” as well as “new, uncovered quotes and fresh facts.”  Do they deliver?  Pretty much.  Or as well as can be expected considering that The Wizard of Oz has been exhaustively analyzed, annotated and footnoted like no other film in history. 

So what new information have the authors uncovered?  The most exciting discoveries in this anniversary companion are the visual elements.  On page 38, we’re treated to a fascinating glimpse of the Oz that almost was:  An image of an uber glam Judy Garland, decked out in a blonde wig and looking far more Lana Turner of Beverly Hills than Dorothy Gale of Kansas.  The authors inform us that this is “the only color photograph known to have survived from Richard Thorpe’s tenure as [the film’s original] director.”  As none of Thorpe’s footage has surfaced, this kind of intriguing artifact becomes all the more important.  The photo also bears evidence of producer Mervyn LeRoy’s original vision – his Oz was initially conceived as a highly stylized production, like an animated cartoon come to life.  In this way, the movie would serve as Metro’s answer to Disney’s groundbreaking blockbuster Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

  

Another rare visual is an arresting sepia-toned image of the Gale farmyard, looking every inch like a Walker Evans photograph of the Dust Bowl in the midst of the Great Depression.  This still image allows one to fully absorb just how meticulously detailed this production was.  To the best of my knowledge, this shot hasn’t turned up in any of the previous books on the film’s production history.   Same would be true for a series of captivating thumbnail photos that reveal how the Great and Powerful Oz’s disembodied head appeared to float over the throne room long before the advent of digital technology.

The book has been beautifully designed by Paul Kepple and Ralph Geroni of the Philadelphia-based Headcase Design.  The elegant, Art Deco style on display is reminiscent of MGM in its voguish hey day.  The visual style of the Companion reminds us that Oz emerged from the same sleek universe where Joan Crawford was gowned by Adrian and William Powell and Myrna Loy solved murders between sips of champagne.

Text-wise, the style is straightforward and restrained, though the narrative is upstaged by the outstanding artwork throughout.  Purists will undoubtedly take exception to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Mighty Miracle Show” being repeatedly referred to as “Turner Entertainment Co.’s The Wizard of Oz,” which sounds an awful lot like a corporate takeover talking.

The glut of commercial tie-ins whipped up to cash in on the 75^th anniversary of Oz ranged from the embarrassing  (Julep’s Oz-inspired nail polish…”Give Tin Man a try…It’s a silver, holographic shade that reminds us of the man without a heart”) to the lackluster (the recent Warner Home Video re-packaging of the film).  Compared to these letdowns, the Scarfone-Stillman collaboration achieves the appropriate balance.  Their Anniversary Companion is reverent yet fun and the determination to scrounge up some new material for die-hard Oz fans is admirable.  So skip the holographic manicure and celebrate in style.     

The Good Life: An Interview with Tony Bennett

"I could have retired fifteen years ago but here I am still going at it," says Tony Bennett.  At 87, the legendary vocalist has certainly earned the right to stay home and spend time with his seventeen Grammy Awards and a roomful of hit records that come in shades of triple platinum and certified gold.  Nevertheless Bennett prefers to keep looking forward.  "I'm 87 and believe me, I feel like I'm just starting out and learning so many new things," says Bennett, who has now been performing for seven decades.  He's worked with all of the greats - from Sinatra to Streisand, Garland to Gaga.  He's hit the top of the charts dozens of times and did so while fully clothed and without ever once using a wrecking ball as a means of transportation.

After racking up honors from the Kennedy Center, the United Nations and Billboard, most performers would be content to spend their days hitting the links at Pebble Beach but not Bennett, who is currently in rehearsals for his Waterfront Concerts appearance at Merrill Auditorium in Portland on April 19th.  Bennett says that the program will include many of his favorite standards.  And is it any wonder that one of our country's most gifted singers would find inspiration in the Great American Songbook?

"In America, we're very privileged to have produced this extraordinary group of composers - George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and of course, Cole Porter, who was better than all of them," Bennett says.  "All of these artists were part of a great renaissance period in music...You just swoon when you hear songs like "Embraceable You" or "Night and Day."  These songs don't sound old to me in any way.  In fact, after years of performing these songs, I'm completely convinced that in about fifty years, they'll be called 'America's Classical Music' and not just referred to as 'light entertainment.'"

Several of the songs Bennett performs in concert are featured on his new Sony Legacy compilation, "The Classics."  This career-spanning anthology allows the listener to hear Bennett transition from a youthful, full-bodied belter to a more mature and nuanced interpreter.  The collection kicks off with his 1951 breakout hit, "Because of You," and concludes with "Steppin' Out With My Baby," his 2012 duet with Christina Aguilera.  Listening to the various tracks, its easy to see why record executives determined early on that Bennett had "undeniable crossover appeal."  After all, it's a rare performer who can claim both AARP members and Phi Kappa Sigma members as part of their fan base.

Bennett believes that his widespread and enduring popularity is at least partially attributable to some advice he received at the beginning of his career.  "When I was at the American Theatre Wing, I had this wonderful vocal coach, Mimi Speer, and she gave me some terrific advice," recalls Bennett.  She said, 'Don't imitate other singers because you'll just end up in the chorus if you do that...You always have to remember to be yourself.'"

After signing with Columbia Records in 1950, Bennett says that he never picked songs based on their Top 40 prospects.  "I never tried to get a hit song.  I just tried to find intelligent songs that were built right musically and that have beautiful lyrics," says Bennett.  "I was taught at the American Theatre Wing to never compromise and to sing quality all of the time.  If you find a song that's well written, then you try to record the definitive version of that song.  You know, it's a lot like fishing.  Some days you can catch a whole barrel of good fish and other days, you can't get any of them.  But you go for it anyway and you give it your best shot."

When it was released as a single in 1962, "Once Upon a Time" was expected to be Bennett's next chart topper but disc jockeys preferred the song that had been relegated to the "B' side.  Bennett's wistful longing "to be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars" turned "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" into a career milestone.  "I had a musical director, Ralph Sharon and he found that song for me," Bennett remembers.  "He had some friends that wrote that song and one day when we were trying different tunes out, he just said to me, 'How about this one?'  We had no idea that it was going to go through the roof...I can't think of a better signature song to be associated with because the city is a very romantic city and it's really beautiful.  It's not that Maine isn't beautiful because that's an incredible place also but there is a spirit about San Francisco that is very unique."

The 60's proved to be a particularly fertile decade for Bennett.  "I Wanna Be Around," "The Good Life" and "This Is All I Ask" all soared to the top of the charts and several of the albums he recorded during this period (When Lights Are Low, Alone Together) are considered among his finest.  As Bennett recalls, "I had a wonderful arranger, Marty Manning, who never blew horns about his career and never wanted his name mentioned or anything like that but I remember when I was a young singer he said to me, 'Just know that whenever I do an arrangement for you, it's going to be just right for you...'  Lo and behold, every time we had a hit record and I had quite a few of them, it was Marty Manning who had done the orchestrations.  He'd never take the credit but Marty Manning was the one who wrote the music so that it would be an absolute perfect fit to whatever I was singing."      

As for today's music, Bennett believes that art has taken a backseat to the bottom line and that the tide began to turn with the man behind the candelabra. "Liberace was the first one.  He was playing the Waldorf but at the same time he was saying,'I'd like to play Madison Square Garden,'" Bennett recalls.  "He was the first one to fill 35,000 seats.  Every producer in town said, 'This kind of thing can make us a ton of money...' and suddenly you had performers doing their acts in these enormous stadiums.  I resented it because I sing intimately and acoustically.  I'm not in any race to try and be bigger than another act or something like that...It means more to me to have a composer come up and say, 'Nobody performed my song better than that.'  That's the game I play, you know?"

Bennett's eldest son, Danny, has been responsible for many of his father's most successful recording ventures including Tony Bennett Duets: An American Classic. "He was the one who came up with that idea of having all of the young artists record an album with me," Bennett says.  In terms of future projects, there's a highly anticipated collaboration with Lady Gaga being released later this year.  "I think people are going to be shocked because we did all of these great American standards and Gaga has a wonderful Ella Fitzgerald quality on this album," says Bennett.  "I think people are going to be surprised and very impressed."

After his appearance in Portland, Bennett is back on the road with performances scheduled everywhere from Pittsburgh to Kansas.  Between engagements, he keeps up with his other passion - painting.  "It's not that I want to do it," Bennett says.  "I have to sing.  I have to paint.  I never want to stop learning until the day I die, you know?  I just want to keep trying to explore and improve.  I'm just going to keep going for it, you know?"

[Mark Griffin is a writer for the Boston-based organization Laughter With a Lesson]

Go and Do:

What:  Tony Bennett in Concert (One Night Only)

Where:  Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle Street, Portland

When:  Saturday, April 19.  7:30pm

Tickets: $140.75, $110.75, $80.75 at tickets.porttix.com or 207-842-0800.

Funny Business: Mark Griffin Interviews Joan Rivers

photo credit: Charles William Bush

She is New York City in a dress.  She's fast talking, all revved up and unapologetically in your face.  Joan Rivers is an inexhaustible powerhouse who has built her long and multi-faceted career on telling it like it is and letting it all hang out.

"For me, the fun of being on stage is that I can say everything that everyone else is thinking but wouldn't ever dream of saying aloud," says Rivers.  "Being on stage gives me the opportunity and the privilege of saying, 'Are you crazy?  Come on, this one is a bitch and this one is a tramp and exactly who are we kidding here?"

Outrageous and unsparing, Rivers is packing up her trademark pink boa and heading for the last place you'd expect to find a Phi Beta Kappa turned Vegas headliner turned QVC queen: Southern Maine.  When Rivers lands at Merrill Auditorium on November 22, her appearance will be the highlight of a diverse season of Portland Ovations presentations.  But how will audiences accustomed to the likes of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain respond to the uncensored Rivers at full throttle?

"Sweet, darling, tranquil Maine has cable and everyone there is part of the audience that's watching me on Fashion Police or tuning in to Breaking Bad," Rivers says.  "So I'm not worried for a second about how I'll be received.  Maine has gone universal and everything has become so global now.  In fact, I'm sure there's a great bagel shop somewhere in Portland, Maine.  And I'll bet there's someone eating sushi in Maine right now as we're talking.  Everything is so one world now that it's frightening.  I find it hilarious that when I'm in some remote place like Peru, someone will rush up to me and say, 'Oh, we love you, Joan!' and I'm thinking...Peru? The whole world has now become like one small village."

photo credit: Charles William Bush

Rivers, who turned 80 earlier this year, is a self-described "small industry."  She regularly rakes celebrities over the coals on the E! Channel hit Fashion Police. "God bless the Kardashian girls.  God bless Rihanna.  God bless Miley Cyrus," Rivers says of the tabloid fixtures that have inspired some of her most memorable zingers.  Never one to sit still, Rivers teams with her daughter, Melissa for the WE-tv reality show, Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which was recently renewed for a fourth season.  And Rivers's no holes barred web chat show, In Bed With Joan, has her hitting the hay (so to speak) with everyone from RuPaul to Carmen Electra.  If all that weren't enough, next year the comedian embarks on her highly anticipated "Before They Close The Lid" tour.  So what makes Rivers run?

"I'm in a business where there is no guarantee on anything," says Rivers.  "A friend of mine literally didn't know that his television series had been cancelled until his agent called him up and said, 'I'm sorry but it's already in the papers...' There is no security in our business, unless you're very lucky like a Jerry Seinfeld and you own a piece of a humongous hit...But I've been lucky, too.  I'm one of those few people that found what they love to do and I've been doing it all my life and I never stop enjoying it."

For Rivers, the road to multi-media domination has been long and winding.  After graduating from Barnard College, the demure English lit major from Larchmont who dreamed of being an actress realized that she had a gift for making people laugh.  Rivers began refining her stand-up technique in seedy nightclubs ("We'd pass the hat and sometimes the hat wouldn't come back") and strip joints, where she was billed as "Pepper January - Comedy with Spice." 

In 1959, Rivers appeared in an off-off Broadway play entitled Driftwood.  Also featured in the show was an aspiring young actress from Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School named Barbara Streisand.  "It wasn't so much off Broadway.  It was actually above Broadway, as in six flights up," Rivers remembers.  "My poor parents had to climb six flights to see this terrible play.  The playwright had turned his living room into a theatre on East Forty-ninth Street.  And I was there with my little friend, 'Babsie' Streisand.  She was still Barbara Streisand then, with all three a's in her first name and I was still Joan Molinsky.  It was such a bad play.  They had originally offered it to Geraldine Page, who was then married to an actor named Ralph Meeker. Both of them could read, so they turned it down.  Then the director started to look for smaller names - a lot smaller - and they ended up with Barbra, who was still a senior in high school and they couldn't get anyone to play the male lead.  I read the script and I said, 'Can't we make this about two women?  Turn them into lesbians!'  And this was very edgy for the time.  So I became Barbra Streisand's lover in Driftwood."          

Rivers next became a "girl writer" for The Ed Sullivan Show and Candid Camera.  In 1965, after what Rivers describes as "seven years of rejection and humiliation," she made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and the host predicted on air: "You're going to be a star." 

Eventually Rivers would become the first and only permanent guest host of The Tonight Show and she says Carson taught her an important lesson about holding back until show time.  "He believed you should always 'save it for the screen.'  He'd walk right past you in the make-up room and barely say hello to you before the show,' Rivers recalls.  "He wanted all of that energy out there on the set.  Because if you've already blown all of the good stuff like 'How's your wife?' or "I heard your dog isn't well...' then what are you going to talk about on camera?"

photo credit: Charles William Bush

Rivers says Carson never spoke to her again after she left The Tonight Show to launch her own ill-fated late night venture on the Fox Network in 1986.  Only months after Rivers was ousted from her own show, her 62-year-old husband-manager Edgar Rosenberg, committed suicide in a Philadelphia hotel room.  Though devastated by the tragedy, Rivers soldiered on.  "I had bills.  I had professional commitments.  Though what truly pulled me through was my obligation to my daughter, Melissa," Rivers says. "I had to be there for her.  What a legacy that would have been otherwise.  'Surprise, surprise.  Your daddy killed himself and look, now mommy killed herself, too...Now go out and have a good world.'  I just had to keep going for her."

The day after her Portland Ovations appearance, Rivers will headline back to back shows at Boston's Wilbur Theatre.  Carol Ann Small, a motivational humorist based in Melrose, Mass., bought her tickets minutes after they went on sale.  Small, the founder of Laughter With A Lesson, is hoping to meet her idol backstage between engagements.  "As a funny lady and a fellow blonde - notice that I didn't say 'natural blonde' - Joan Rivers has always been an inspiration to me," says Small.  "To this day, Joan continues to pave the way for women in comedy and I'm thrilled that she's finally being recognized as a pioneer."

So does Rivers see herself as a trailblazer?  "I see myself as a desperate woman trying to slap Kathy Griffin and Whitney Cummings out of the way so that I can get back on the stage," Rivers admits.  "I feel so competitive.  Whenever another comedian says to me, 'You're an icon' or 'You're a legend,' I want to say, 'And darling, I can still take you with one hand tied behind my back.'"

Rivers says that's she counting on two things when she arrives in Vacationland: "I'm delighted to come to Maine and I bet it's going to be filled with snow, which I'm very excited about.  Also, they tell me that I'm going to have the equivalent of the gay men's choir up there, which I hope is true."  Rivers readily acknowledges that the gay community has always been a key component of her fan base.  "I think they like me because I'm outspoken and then on a serious level, I was the first performer to come out fighting against AIDS when it was still being called 'Gay Pneumonia.'  I did the first benefit and we got such hate mail that we had to have armed guards on stage.  We even got death threats.  I think somehow the community remembers that I lived through that with them. And beyond all of that, I just think that I am a gay man living in a fat Jewish woman's body."

"The Band Wagon" Is Back...and Better Than Ever!

Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire in
"The Girl Hunt Ballet"
from Vincente Minnelli's musical The Band Wagon

It's been called "the greatest of movie musicals" and now The Band Wagon is returning to the big screen.  Join Vincente Minnelli biographer Mark Griffin as he introduces a special 60th anniversary screening of Minnelli's acclaimed masterpiece at the Museum of Modern Art Film Center (11 W. 53 St., between Fifth and Sixth Avenues) on September 5th at 8pm.  Originally released in the summer of 1953,The Band Wagon stars Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Nanette Fabray. The film features such timeless tunes as "That's Entertainment," "By Myself" and "Dancing in the Dark" and boasts an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Widely considered one of MGM's finest achievements, The Band Wagon is capped with the sly and stylish private eye spoof, "The Girl Hunt Ballet."  In later years, director Minnelli would single out The Band Wagon as a personal favorite, telling an interviewer, "We all pitched in and it all came together wonderfully."  The critics concurred.  In reviewing a reissue of the film, Pauline Kael conceded, "There have been few screen musicals as good as this one."   For further information on this event, please visit www.moma.org. 

Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan performing
"Triplets" in The Band Wagon
(1953) directed by Vincente Minnelli

Coming Attractions...The Best of Bergman

Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn in The Visit

Coming in 2014...Mark Griffin will introduce three films featuring the incandescent Ingrid Bergman, including her rarely screened 1964 drama The Visit, co-starring Anthony Quinn (who also co-produced the film).  Winner of three Academy Awards, Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) captivated audiences with her unforgettable performances in Intermezzo, Casablanca, Gaslight and Notorious.  During her long and celebrated career, the actress worked with many great directors including Michael Curtiz, Alfred Hitchcock, George Cukor and Vincente Minnelli.  In The Visit, Bergman plays an extraordinarily wealthy woman who returns to her poverty-stricken hometown hellbent on revenge.  Directed by Bernhard Wicki, The Visit was out of circulation for many years but it has now become the "in" film among Bergman buffs.  The forthcoming screenings will include special guests and take place at your favorite Boston-based revival house.  Stay tuned for further details on this exciting three part tribute.  

Ingrid Bergman and her pet panther in The Visit

      

Gigi for Valentine's Day

What better way to welcome Valentine's Day and Oscar season than with one of the most romantic Oscar-winning movies ever made? "Gigi" Introduced by Vincente Minnelli biographer, Mark Griffin 2/14/13 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm Emerson College Paramount Center Bright Family Screening Room "Gigi" (MGM, 1958), winner of nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, this sumptuous musical stars Leslie Caron as a precocious Parisian girl groomed to be a kept woman, who comes to realize she'd rather marry for love instead. Laced with some of Lerner-and-Loewe's finest songs ("Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "The Night They Invented Champagne") and considered to be the last great MGM musical, this luxurious production crowned the career of acclaimed director Vincente Minnelli. "Gigi" will be introduced by Emerson graduate Mark Griffin, author of "A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli" (Da Capo Press). Before the main feature, Griffin will screen a compilation of clips from some of Minnelli's other movies including "Meet Me In St. Louis," "An American in Paris" and "The Band Wagon." Read more in Arts Boston HERE. Sponsored by Department of Visual and Media Arts. For more information please contact: Anna Feder

Mark Griffin Reviews John Fricke's new book, "Judy: A Legendary Film Career."

[Please Note: This review originally appeared in the Spring 2012 edition of The Baum Bugle] Judy: A Legendary Film Career by John Fricke Just as there have been great stars, there have been great fans. There was the mysterious, veiled "Lady in Black," who made an annual pilgrimage to the grave site of silent screen legend Rudolph Valentino. As the story goes, this shrouded figure would appear at Valentino's mausoleum and leave behind a single red rose in a poignant tribute to 'The Great Lover.' Then there was the farmer in the Midwest who reportedly bequeathed his entire fortune to the divine Greta Garbo...despite the fact that his closest encounter with 'The Swedish Sphinx' more than likely occurred while he was occupying a seat in the third row of his neighborhood movie house. All well and good. But if Judy Garland was the greatest star of them all (as anyone who can quote directly from Andy Hardy Meets Debutante will readily attest) then doesn't she deserve the most reverent disciple of them all? Well, naturally. And Garland's most proactive supporter is unquestionably John Fricke, who has now earned the title as The Most Faithful Fan in The History of The Entire Universe. Bar none.

With an unwavering commitment bordering on religious zeal, Fricke has devoted his entire career to paying tribute to 'Miss Show Business' and along the way, he has elevated Judy-worship into an art form while creating something of a cottage industry. Fricke has now paid homage to Garland in the form of several Emmy Award-winning documentaries (By Myself; Judy: Beyond The Rainbow), acclaimed audio compilations (Judy Garland: 25th Anniversary Retrospective), live tributes (including a pair of high profile Carnegie Hall concerts in 1998), a number of bestselling books (Judy Garland/World's Greatest Entertainer, The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History) and liner notes for every occasion. In other words, this is I Can't Give You Anything But Love...and then some. With each of these meticulously researched projects, Fricke seems intent on deflecting attention from some of the tabloid aspects of Garland's chaotic personal life and re-directing the focus on her extraordinary artistry. Judy: A Legendary Film Career (Running Press, $30) is Fricke's latest act of canonization and it's a sumptuously produced, visually rich reminder of Garland's impressive cinematic legacy. Where Garland's film work is concerned, Fricke has an embarrassment of riches to work with. Just consider the fact that Judy not only starred as the most beloved heroine in the history of cinema ("I'm Dorothy Gale, from Kansas...") in The Wizard of Oz but she played everything from Broadway headliner Marilyn Miller in the 1947 musical biopic Till The Clouds Roll By to a tortured German hausfrau in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961).

While most movie stars who died more than forty years ago are barely remembered today, Garland's stature and legend have only grown since her death in 1969. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed Garland at #8 on their list of all-time greatest movie legends, ranking her above such heavyweights as Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. With this kind of high-level endorsement, it would appear that the rest of world has finally figured out what Judy's legions of followers have always known - that she is thoroughly unique even among the upper echelon of superstars. Whether she was portraying a Ziegfeld Girl or a Harvey Girl, Garland "radiated the soul of show business," as film historian Leslie Halliwell once put it. Judy's electrifying performance style and uncanny ability to connect with her audiences were evident from her earliest film appearances. She's the best thing about her first feature, the otherwise forgettable Pigskin Parade (1936). And by the time she sang "You Made Me Love You" to a scrapbook full of Clark Gable in Broadway Melody of 1938, the fifteen year-old Garland was already performing like a seasoned veteran. In 1939, immortality would arrive in the form of MGM's heavenly adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. Judy's Oscar-winning Oz lyricist, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg would later marvel at Garland's ability "to sing into your soul...she was the most unusual voice in the first half of this century." What Cole Porter described as Garland's "prodigal voice" would continue to wow moviegoers until Judy's final film appearance in I Could Go On Singing in 1963. But that magnificent voice was only one of Garland's gifts. There was her complete sincerity and utter believability: "Never have I caught her in a lie. And never have I caught her 'acting,'" says Broadway legend Elaine Stritch. There was also a seemingly inexhaustible supply of inspiration: "I never underestimated the range of her talent [and] she was an extraordinary talent. Very unique in pictures," said Garland's second husband Vincente Minnelli, who directed her in five films. Perhaps the most important quality that distinguished Garland from some of her equally talented colleagues was the fact that she needed to perform. "I somehow feel most alive when I'm singing," Garland's Esther Blodgett confesses to James Mason's Norman Maine in A Star Is Born (1954). So it was with Judy Garland. She always gave her all - not only because audiences wanted her to but because she felt compelled to. As Fricke insightfully points out, it was "as if singing and dancing were the natural extension of her persona." It's been awhile since Garland's fans have been treated to a comprehensive exploration of her filmography. For many years, Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein's The Complete Films and Career of Judy Garland, was the go-to text for those who needed to know what Time magazine thought of Meet Me In St. Louis ("A musical even the deaf should enjoy...") or which of Garland's co-stars in Everybody Sing launched his career by doing imitations of wallpaper (Reginald Gardiner). Published the same year that Garland died, the Morella-Epstein tribute was both heartfelt and straightforward but it wasn't the pull-all-the-stops-out extravaganza that MGM's greatest asset truly deserved.

Two decades later, Emily R. Coleman's The Complete Judy Garland: The Ultimate Guide to Her Career in Films, Records, Concerts, Radio and Television, 1935-1969, arrived in bookstores (remember those?). Despite the ambitious title, Coleman's collection is more of a cataloguing of film credits, personal appearances and recording dates. So leave it to John Fricke to come through with the most scrupulous, spectacular and engaging exploration of Judy Garland's film career to date. Without question, this is the volume that Garland's fans have long been clamoring for. Like some of Fricke's previous efforts, Judy: A Legendary Film Career, re-defines the term "lavishly illustrated," with rare and beautifully reproduced photos and artwork appearing on virtually every page. In addition to revisiting Judy's blockbusters (St. Louis, Easter Parade), Fricke also reviews the umpteen screen projects that Judy was scheduled for but did not appear in - the most notable being Annie Get Your Gun (1950) and the most notorious being the camp masterpiece Valley of the Dolls (1967). And just imagine Judy starring in a big budget movie version of Jerry Herman's smash Broadway musical Mame. In so many ways, Judy was Auntie Mame, the flamboyant free-spirit with the tinselly laugh that novelist Patrick Dennis brought to life in 1955. Garland would have worked wonders with Herman's score, which includes the poignant "If He Walked Into My Life" and that exuberant anthem to living life to the fullest, "It's Today."

Although Judy as Mame never came together, the kind of roll-the-rug-up celebration that the queen of No. 3 Beekman Place preferred can be found within the pages of John Fricke's splendid tribute. This book is a big, loud party in honor of a national treasure and that's what best fans are for. - Mark Griffin

"Paris" at The Paramount

The Paramount Center marquee in scenic downtown Boston (Photo: Keary Nichols). "Paris" at The Paramount...More than 60 years after it was first released, Vincente Minnelli's "An American in Paris" completely captivated audiences when it recently screened at Boston's Paramount Center. As part of the Paramount's film series, "Gotta Dance: The American Film Musical (1929-1953)," Minnelli biographer Mark Griffin introduced a restored print of the Oscar-winning musical starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron and Nina Foch (coincidentally, the evening of the screening - April 20th - would have been the late, great Nina Foch's birthday).

Among those attending a post-screening book signing event (left to right): Rebecca Meyers (Director of Film Programming, Paramount Center), Carol Ann Small (Founder of Laughter With a Lesson), Mark Griffin (author of A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli), Neil Davin (Technology Support Services Manager at Emerson College), Mary Ann Cicala (Interim Director, Alumni Relations, Emerson College). The week prior to the Paramount Center event, Mark Griffin was the guest on two Boston-based radio programs. On April 14th, Griffin discussed Vincente Minnelli's life and career with "Standing Room Only" host Johnny Q on WERS (88.9 FM). The following day, Griffin was the featured guest on "The Jordan Rich Show" (WBZ-AM 1030). This special tribute to Minnelli also included beautiful musical accompaniment by pianist Jeffrey Moore (jeffreymoorepiano.com), who played selections from "Gigi," "Kismet" and "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever."

Griffin Honors Minnelli at Paramount Center

Please join us on Friday, April 20th at 6:30pm at Boston's beautifully restored Paramount Center for a very special event. Mark Griffin, the author of A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli, will introduce a screening of Minnelli's beloved 1951 musical An American in Paris. Winner of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the film stars Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron and boasts a superlative score by George and Ira Gershwin. "An American in Paris is one of the most imaginative musical confections turned out by Hollywood" (-Variety). This landmark musical has never looked better, thanks to a meticulous restoration by Turner Entertainment and a pristine print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive. A book signing will follow the movie.

This special screening of An American in Paris is part of Paramount's film series Gotta Dance: The American Movie Musical 1929-1953, which will also include a screening of Vincente Minnelli's The Band Wagon (1953) on April 28th. The Paramount Center is located at 559 Washington Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Tickets are $10, $7.50 for Members and Seniors. Contact the Box Office at 617-824-8400. More information at this link.

Mark Griffin interviews John Waters on How to Get Through Christmas

'The Pope of Trash' Comes Clean: Director John Waters on Portland, Pink Flamingos and How To Get Through Christmas
by Mark Griffin

First comes the good news: John Waters, who is without a doubt one of the most intriguing individuals in our solar system, agrees to an interview. I am beyond elated. The world is suddenly full of wonderful things like bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Then comes the bad news: due to an overloaded work schedule, 'The Bard of Bad Taste' has only ten minutes to spare.

Ten minutes? Can one truly interview "The Pope of Trash" in less time than it takes for the average ATM transaction? After all, this is the director of some of the most noteworthy and notorious cult classics of all time including the landmark Pink Flamingos ("one of the most vile, stupid and repulsive films ever made," raved Variety), Hairspray (which spawned a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical in 2002) and Serial Mom (in which homicidal homemaker Kathleen Turner does an especially obnoxious neighbor in with a leg of lamb).

Ten minutes seems scarcely enough time to discuss Waters's unique contributions to cinema, let alone his holiday-themed stage show, A John Waters Christmas, which will be the hottest ticket in town when it hits Portland's State Theatre on December 11th. And ten teeny minutes leaves us next to no time to cover Waters's superlative collection Role Models (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a highly addictive page turner in which 'The Sultan of Sleaze' pays tribute to his idols - everyone from Tennessee Williams to Little Richard to Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West. I appeal to Ian Brennan, Waters's promoter, for additional interview time. Alright, truth be told, I subjected Ian to a supreme diva tirade and demanded at least an hour. The unflappable Ian has apparently dealt with relentless, conniving journalists before: "John speaks very rapidly...You'll get everything that you need," he assures me. Ten minutes it is.

With one eye on the clock, I ask the first question. In a culture dominated by the likes of Casey Anthony and The Real Housewives of New Jersey, does the John Waters vision still have the capacity to shock? "My audience gets younger as I get older and Pink Flamingos still works. I promise you. It didn't get nicer," says Waters. "I go to colleges all the time and Pink Flamingos still gets eighteen year-old kids who think they've seen everything. It still makes their jaws drop and I'm very proud of that."

With nary a nanosecond to spare, we dash off to the next question. If Waters is capable of putting Johnny Depp, Iggy Pop, Traci Lords and Troy Donahue all into the same movie (as he did with 1990's Cry-Baby), what on earth will he do to our most sacred holiday in A John Waters Christmas? "I actually love Christmas in a non-ironic way," says Waters. "But I understand that there are people in Portland, Maine - as in everywhere - that hate Christmas. I'm sure there are people in Portland, Maine who do not agree with it religiously. They go their families' houses and they are tortured. And they hate the enormous financial burden of Christmas. So, with this show, I try to speak to everybody. It's a self-help group. How To Get Through for Christmas. No matter if you're a convict, a thief or a fashion casualty, this show has something for you. It's all about mental health at Christmas."

We're seven minutes in and I've only asked two questions. With no time to lose, we rip into the next topic. Which of the thoroughly original role models profiled in Role Models had the greatest impact on Waters's own life? Was it Baltimore's infamous "angry stripper" Lady Zorro? Or maybe it was velvety-voiced pop legend Johnny Mathis? Never one to play it safe, Waters opts for the most controversial candidate in the book. "I would say Leslie Van Houten, because the one thing I would like to do is help her get out of prison before I die," Waters says.

In 1969, Van Houten was a 19 year-old follower of the infamous ex-con Charles Manson. Along with other Manson 'Family' members, Van Houten participated in the gruesome murders of a Los Angeles couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Waters believes that Van Houten, now 62, is a completely rehabilitated woman - one light years removed from the cult-indoctrinated 'trippie' who killed while under the influence of LSD and Manson's brainwashing. "Her case is probably the only thing I've ever written about that was serious,' Waters says. "There are no jokes in there. I also know that there is no fair answer to the question that her chapter in the book asks...What happens when you've done something so terrible when you're young? How can you ever begin to make up for something like that? So, that is a subject that will continue to interest me forever."

Twenty minutes have flown by but who's counting? While no one's looking, I sneak in another question. When can we expect the next John Waters extravaganza at the neighborhood cineplex? "You know, I started out making underground movies and then midnight movies and then I guess what was called independent movies...and now I can't get a movie made," says Waters. "In the forty years that I've been involved with it, I would say that independent film is having the toughest time right now. They want you to make a movie for $500,000 or $100 million now. Years ago, there used to be ten distribution companies that I could pitch to and there's only about two now. But I've got a development deal for this children's Christmas movie that I'm trying to make called Fruitcake. So, I'm still trying but in the meantime, I write books. I'm on stage. I tell stories. Luckily for me, there are many different ways to tell stories."

In recent months, Waters has been touring the world with his acclaimed one man show. "I actually just came back from doing seven or eight cities in New Zealand and Australia," Waters says. They couldn't get enough of him in Perth and Waters's demented brand of humor went over remarkably well 'down under.' So what accounts for his success in even the remotest parts of the globe? The answer, like the rest of our interview, comes quickly: "Bad taste - I promise you - is international."

[Mark Griffin is the author of A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli]

Minnelli at MoMA

Meet Me in St. Louis just screened at MoMA this weekend. The MoMA blog has a lot of notes and insight about the film including this mention from Mark Griffin's recently published biography, A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli.

We featured Mark Griffin’s A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life of Vincent Minnelli in an Auteurist History of Film special event last year. Mark’s book is scrupulously scholarly, but he confesses his devotion to Minnelli on the first page, based on his first viewing of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever at the impressionable age of 16. Regarding Meet Me in St. Louis, Mark presents a reasonable appraisal of Garland: “Freed from Andy Hardy, Busby Berkeley, and her outmoded ugly duckling image, a new Judy Garland emerges…and she’s a beauty.” Mark also quotes Minnelli’s own assessment of the film: “It’s magical.” So, I’ll buy into that and hold my ambiguity and qualms in check at least for Meet Me in St. Louis, The Pirate, An American in Paris, and The Band Wagon. Musicals are supposed to be magical.

Mark Griffin interviews Jacques d'Amboise

If your exposure to the world of dance has been limited to Ralph Macchio's killer foxtrot on Dancing With the Stars, it's time to get acquainted with the illustrious Jacques d'Amboise. Widely considered one of America's preeminent classical dancers, d'Amboise was a principal with the New York City Ballet for over thirty years. While under contract, he became a protege and confidante of the legendary choreographer George Balanchine.

After captivating audiences around the world with his performances in Balanchine's ballets, Apollo and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Hollywood beckoned and d'Amboise starred in such celebrated screen musicals as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Carousel (1956). In 1983, d'Amboise became the subject of the acclaimed Oscar-winning documentary, He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin', which focused on his work teaching dance to schoolchildren through his non-profit organization, the National Dance Institute.

In his revealing new memoir, I Was a Dancer (Knopf, $35), d'Amboise looks back at a life spent as "a would-be explorer - of ideas, cultures and people." Mark Griffin, the author of A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli, recently spoke with d'Amboise regarding his longtime association with Balanchine, his appearances in several four star films and how he manages to get things done -- his way.

NOTE: An excerpted version of this interview ran in the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Mark Griffin: You are a certified living legend. Was it your family ties to scenic and fashionable Lewiston, Maine that launched you on the road to success?

Jacques d'Amboise: Of course. Lewiston is where it all began for us. That's where my [mother's] family settled when they first came here. In those days, there was this whole slew of French-Canadians emigrating from Canada. That's why you have all of these neighbors with beautiful sounding last names like Goudreau, Levasseur, Larochelle and d'Amboise. Our family moved to Lewiston because there was this special feeling of community there.

MG: Your mother was a real pistol, whom your father nicknamed "The Boss." If it hadn't been for her all-consuming interest in the arts, would you have had this extraordinary career?

Jd: My mother was determined that all four of her children were going to be well educated. That was her dream -- that we should be able to recite poetry, play an instrument or dance She was unstoppable. In fact, except for my brother John, who ended up in Okinawa during World War II, the rest of us - my other brother Pat, my sister and I - we all ended up in the precursor of the New York City Ballet. "The Boss" saw to it that we all went in that direction. As I say in the book, my mother could have taken the whole family into the Canadian woods naked in midwinter and seen to it that we all came out by the end of the season fatter and dressed in stylish furs.

MG: How did it feel to be the great Balanchine's muse?

Jd: I knew that when I was dancing on the stage, I was representing him. When I lifted a ballerina and held her in my arms, I was standing in for Balanchine in a way. He used me vicariously to make love to the ballerinas. Sometimes, he'd come back after a performance and say, 'You two were so beautiful together...' I'd be standing there - exhausted, dripping sweat and he still wouldn't let me go. He was on a high and he couldn't calm down because he had sat in the audience and inhabited - in his mind - my arms and legs and body...If you listed all of the great Nobel Prize-winners in the arts - throughout the entire 20th century - Balanchine would be right there leading the list. I have a friend named Francis Sackett, who wrote me a very sweet, wonderful note and at the very end of it, he said, 'How lucky we were to be able to grasp hold of the tail of the comet that was Balanchine...' And I called him up and I said, 'Francis, can I use that quote in my book?...' No one, I think, started on that tail earlier and stayed longer and was closer to the heart of the comet than I was.

MG: As one of Balanchine's charmed proteges, what was the most important thing that you learned from him?

Jd: I would say good manners. He would never say, 'I want you to do this...' He would always say, 'Do you think maybe that you'd like to dance this role for me?' Meanwhile, he knew very well that no one was going to say 'no' to George Balanchine. He had this beautiful courtesy. It was an old world courtesy based on chivalry and romantic ideas that I guess influenced him. His manner was very old world and kind of formal. And that always impressed me. Another thing...oh, my god - when he came in first thing in the morning to teach company class -- he'd walk in and go directly to the piano and greet the pianist and if there was a cup of coffee on the piano or an ashtray, he wouldn't say anything. He'd simply pick it up and he'd walk to the back of the room where there was a wastepaper basket and empty everything into it. All of this without saying a word. And then he'd turn around and snap his fingers and say, "Let's begin!" He would never say, 'Don't put your coffee cups on the piano...' or anything like that. It was always teaching by example. I remember asking him about this once when we were dining together -- he liked to eat Greek olives and feta cheese and drink Beck's beer - and he said, 'Look at the piano. It is beautiful. It is a sculpture. It is an instrument of percussion but it's also a string instrument. It crosses two places of music and it comes to life...this beautiful, wooden sounding board. It's an intricate mechanism -- so that a person with their brain and craft and skill can take their fingers and transport you out of this world...How can you put a cup of coffee on such a work of art?' So, now every time I see a piano and there's something on it like a ballet bag or a newspaper or a cup of coffee or something that someone left behind, I clean the piano. I don't say, 'Who's bag is that on the piano? Get it off!' No, I just take it and quietly put it to the side. That's what I learned from Balanchine...good manners.

MG: During your time in Hollywood, you were cruised by Rock Hudson and nearly killed by Julie Newmar. So when did you find time to appear in one of the greatest musicals ever made?

Jd: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was one hell of a movie and a great learning experience...except, if you look closely, I'm not actually in the last few scenes. The shooting schedule ran over and I didn't want to miss the premiere of The Nutcracker back in New York...So, they slapped a red wig on the assistant choreographer, gave him a duplicate of my costume and he filled in for me in a couple of scenes. Nowadays, they'd just take my photo and digitally morph me into the movie.

MG: What was it like being at MGM - the Rolls Royce of the Hollywood studios - when it was still going strong in the early 50's?

Jd: I never thought that with MGM or 20th Century-Fox or Universal that there was this kind of hierarchy. In those days, I thought of it all as just a bunch of sets out in Culver City that I had to report to. I was lucky, though, that on my first film I got to work with [choreographer] Michael Kidd and [director] Stanley Donen. I turned eighteen on the set of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but I was emotionally fourteen. Coming from New York and the ballet, I thought that some of the movie people didn't have the same kind of discipline that we had. When they said, 'Alright, at eight o'clock, be ready to go...' I would be there at six-thirty or seven to warm up so that at eight o'clock, I'd already be dripping sweat as though the curtain's going up and you have to get ready to appear on stage. It was very different with movies. I couldn't even get on to the sound stage at seven because it was all locked up and I remember thinking, 'I must be in the wrong place...' I'd wander around for a while and then someone would say, 'What time is your call?' and I'd say, 'Eight o'clock...' And they'd say, 'Oh, well, they probably won't open everything up until about ten minutes before eight.' It was just a very different world from the one I knew.

MG: While you were working on Seven Brides..., did you have the feeling that you were working on a project that was shaping up as something extra special?

Jd: There were interesting things going on in every studio but the buzz was out about Seven Brides...but I have to say that there was even more of a buzz when I did Carousel (1956) and that was for 20th Century-Fox. I'd be in rehearsal and you'd see Dan Dailey or some of the other stars -- when they had a break on their own set, they'd come over to our set to see what was happening. They were all very curious. Same thing with The Best Things In Life Are Free (1956). We always had various stars popping in to watch what we were doing. That was going on all the time. But I was out of it. I was just a kid. I didn't understand all of that.

MG: In reference to Seven Brides..., can you talk a little bit about how the division of duties worked between Stanley Donen and Michael Kidd? Who was in charge of what on that picture?

Jd: I've never doubted that the two of them came together like Siamese twins on that movie but the direct influence on me was Michael Kidd. He was the choreographer, so that was "The Boss" for me. I do think they collaborated terrifically and fabulously. When Michael died several years ago, I called Stanley and asked if he would come in and talk to all of the children that I teach -- there was a group of maybe two hundred of them. So, on a Saturday afternoon, Stanley Donen came over and we projected scenes of Michael Kidd and Dan Dailey and Gene Kelly dancing together in It's Always Fair Weather (1955), which Stanley directed and choreographed [with Kelly]. We showed them that amazing sequence where they dance with garbage can covers attached to their feet. I mean, they were simply fabulous -- all three of them. But in some crazy way, Michael Kidd stole it for me. He really had it, you know? He was a New York street guy. A tough little bantam rooster...After we showed the film, I asked Stanley to talk about Michael a bit and about his own work as a director and choreographer but Stanley was very modest and mostly talked about Michael.

MG: Did Balanchine object whenever you pulled out of the ballet to appear in a Hollywood production?

Jd: I always did exactly what I wanted to do. After Balanchine died, I remember [New York City Ballet's general manager] Betty Cage said to me, 'I once asked George why he let you do anything you wanted and he said, 'Well, when I was seventeen, no one could tell me what to do...So, I'm not going to tell Jacques what to do either.' And Balanchine had been dead several years before I heard that. I was just spoiled rotten. For example, Balanchine would carefully prepare a ballet for me and it would be scheduled to premiere at the beginning of the season. Meanwhile, my agent would have gotten me a television show or an appearance in Miami. So, I'd go to George and say, 'Hey, Mr. B., I can't do the opening of the ballet. I'm going to be away shooting a movie for a few months...Is there any way that we can solve that?' And he actually let me do this kind of thing. And I was on a full, year-round salary with New York City Ballet and I'd say things like, 'Hey, I'm doing a movie, I'll be gone six weeks...' And then I would even take some of the ballerinas with me when I was doing shows all over the country. I'd be doing Balanchine's ballets - his own choreography - and I never even asked his permission. I just did it. And when I'd come back, I'd say, 'Hey, Mr. B., when we were in St. Louis, we danced this ballet of yours and the audience really loved it...' And I was talking about Balanchine's ballets! He just let me do anything I wanted. My wife used to say, 'You are so spoiled...you have no idea.' And I was spoiled. Very spoiled.

MG: The National Dance Institute is, of course, one of Jacques d'Amboise's greatest accomplishments. As the creative nucleus of something as vital and meaningful as NDI, it must be disheartening to you that so many federally funded arts programs are being slashed?

Jd: They are now trying to cut the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts again. When they threaten to do things like that, I always think of Germany after the war. The first thing they did amid the rubble is build their opera house back up again. The first thing. It was the center of the expression of their culture. The emotional center of their community was their opera house. I'm afraid we don't view things in quite the same way in this country. First of all, we don't have a culture that is mono-cultured. Our culture includes a little bit of everything. It's French. It's Italian. It's Chinese. We're this hodge-podge of a global nation in our own laboratory testing out the possibilities of a future...Also, the live performing arts are being - little by little - eradicated by television and technology. Why should someone go to a concert now? They can put a plug in their ear and listen to some gadget twenty-four hours a day and ruin their eardrums...So, the arts - at least in terms of public performance - are changing. But there is still nothing like attending a live performance. I have a friend - a dentist - and she's mad about the opera and she always gets the best seats right in the front row. And she invites me. I like opera but over the years, I rarely went because it does cost a lot of money and I was usually performing at night myself. When I did go, it was just amazing. When you see opera like that, you realize that kind of grandness cannot be realized in a tiny little place. It really needs the opulence of an opera house In other words, you could be this very elegant person but unless you know how to dress elegantly, the public doesn't realize your inner worth. When you sit there with Wagner and Verdi and Donizetti and Puccini and these incredible productions with these fabulous singers, you are instantly transported. It's live performance at its best.

MG: As a frequent visitor to Vacationland, what does Maine offer you that you can't find in midtown Manhattan?

Jd: Everybody needs a foot in the marketplace and a foot in the wilderness...One thing that's been lost today is this idea of embracing silence and making time for contemplation and reflection, which is something you can still achieve in Maine...I was on a plane recently and I was talking to [Eliot Cutler] who had run for governor of Maine and he'd lost by less than 10,000 votes. We were talking about how extraordinary Maine is. We also got on the subject of China, because he had been in Beijing for a few years and I was impressed with the fact that he had a global outlook and I thought, wow...if he runs again, I'm going to tell all of my relatives in Maine to vote for him.

MG: Were there skills that you acquired as a dancer that proved to be helpful to you in terms of getting through everyday life?

Jd: I wish that I could say that the discipline of the dancer and the hours they put in translates to the way I live my life now but it's not so. I'm disordered. I'm mercurial. And I depend on other people...I once had a dalliance with a young woman and I asked her, 'Why are you so interested in me?' because there was almost a twenty year difference in our ages. And she said, 'Oh, aside from the physical stuff, I don't know anybody better at getting people to do what you want...and I want to learn how you manage it so that I can do it, too.' And I realized that I'm spoiled. I've always had assistants helping me. I do what I want -- but I get everybody to help me do it.