I was going to post this on Mothers Day, but the video I was trying to embed -- for reasons which I'll explain below -- wouldn't work. And try as I might, I just couldn't get it embedded. However, yesterday, I figured out a way to get it done! And rather than wait a whole year for next Mothers Day, I decided to post it today, as a bonus of sorts. Because I've been trying for years to get this posted. And now, I can. O huzzah! This is a terrific song written for the original Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie, but never saw the light of day. The problem was that Kay Medford, the actress hired as the guilt-inducing mother of Albert (the character played by Dick Van Dyke), was a wonderful performer but couldn't sing, so they cut the song. And the same thing happened for the movie version with Maureen Stapleton. However years later when the did the remake for television in 1995, Tyne Daly had starred on Broadway in the musical Gypsy, and sang very well -- and was a big TV name, having starred for a long time in the series Cagney and Lacey. So, the song was put back in, not only because it was so good, but also I'm sure to give the actress more to do which would attract her to the part. And it's since been put back in the official version of the stage show where it is now performed in college, high school and community theater productions -- "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore." Alas, there is no video of the TV movie scene available on YouTube. So, for years I only posted the audio recording. And also some community theater videos -- but those weren't what was needed, not just for the performances (which were fine, but not Tyne Daly -- but even more, didn't have the great, whimsical orchestration of the TV film which I dearly love. It has a sort of honky-tonk feel to it, and a wonderful, albeit brief use of a clarinet solo as counterpoint). But good news! Though there is still no video of the scene on YouTube, the TV movie got repeated on television couple months ago -- something that is very rare, in fact I don't believe I've seen it in 30 years. However, if I recall correctly, TCM was airing a day filled with very good TV movies. So, I recorded a video of the song on my mobile phone. The quality isn't A+, but I think it's pretty good and a joy to finally include with this years Mothers Day tributes, however belated. In this TV production, Tyne Daly sings it her son played here by Jason Alexander. The problem I had posting it is because the file size was too big for the Weebly platform (that runs this website) to handle. It kept freezing halfway through the upload process. But I found online software that will compress a video's size. The quality is slightly degraded, but I checked it out, and it looks pretty close to what I originally recorded. And so, finally, after all this time -- and a five-day added delay -- here 'tis.
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This is a very interesting interview (and often funny) that Larry David did with Joe Scarborough for Morning Joe. It not only covers Larry's career, starting with floundering as a stand-up comic and briefly a writer for Saturday Night Live, but also has a lot of background footage about how his show Curb Your Enthusiasm is made. Most fun -- and surprising -- is hearing Larry talk about things in his life and career, and then seeing clips of Seinfeld for how they much later turned into episodes. This was quite a find and will be a tremendous treat for people who watched the recent PBS three-part series Nolly, which starred Helena Bonham Carter. If you haven’t seen it, there’s still a lot to like in this (and I’ll give some background), but again, for those who did see the show, it may blow you way. A friend highly-recommended I watch. While I wasn't bowled over by the show, I definitely enjoyed the first episode enough to keep watching, and liked the second episode even more. It was very well-produced, Helena Bonham Carter was wonderful, and it had some excellent supporting performances -- but -- it was the third episode that totally won me over. That finale episode was truly superb, on a lot of levels. And made it all highly worth-while. Nolly is the true story of Noelle Gordon, who was a wildly popular soap opera star on British television of a show called Crossroads, the queen of British soaps for 18 years – until she was fired with no explanation, sent off into the sunset, as it were, sailing away on the QE2, waving to her show’s ‘daughter’ on the dock. It was a huge national controversy at the time, she was such a beloved personality for so long. She had been on the ATV network for 26 years, and not just as an actress but was the first woman to interview a prime minister on television, and in fact was the first woman broadcast on British TV in color when it was just experimental. And how she dealt with the firing and humiliation, including going on to appear in well-regarded production of Gypsy and handling all the questions of why was she sacked, is the focus of the third segment – which has two particularly superb monologues/scenes in it. (I don’t want to describe them more, in case anyone does decide to watch the show.) For those interested, the whole thing is only about 2-1/2 hours, and you can watch it on the PBS Passport site, which you can see here after signing in with a PBS subscriber account. Here's the trailer. Which brings us to "the find", and the point of this all. This video is an appearance by the real Noelle Gordon on a British chat show that took place less than one week after her final episode aired on Crossroads. The next episode hadn’t even been shown yet. It’s a fascinating interview, open and honest, gracious and pointed, and talks with host Russell Harty about her plans ahead (including working on Gypsy!). There are also a few unexpected moments I won’t give away, but will say it is surprisingly moving at times. At one point, too, she tells a story about auditioning in front of composer Frederick Loewe for the British production of Brigadoon – a story they use in the series, and she adds more detail here. (She got cast in the show, by the way.) She even sings a couple of songs during the interview. If you watch, stick around to the very end, because it looks like they kept the cameras running even after the broadcast was over. Unfortunately, I'm unable to embed the video on an outside website, but you can watch it here on YouTube. For my taste, the PBS Masterpiece mini-series, "Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office" (based on a true national scandal) is every bit as great as its reputation and huge success that it had in England. An ensemble cast, but starring Toby Jones. Usually he plays offbeat, quirky characters, sometimes villains, but here he's quiet, low-key, down-to-earth. That's much the way the series is -- but very personal, involving and often-deeply moving. Crushing at times as you witness deeply-decent and innocent people being rolled, many with lives ruined, some wrongly imprisoned, all for reasons they don't understand by a government behemoth. Yet, appalling and tragic as much of the story is -- it's also about the fight back and is very much uplifting, as well. The story is about small-town sub-postmasters (sort of like a step-up from people who run Mailbox Etc. stores) who are prosecuted for major theft, each told they were the only one with the problem they were claiming, when it turns out it was a systemwide computer error. That simple description only because to do justice to the building emotion of everything. Though the series does a great job in focusing the story in a manageable tightness, it actually is still somewhat going on after 20 years, and 160 million pounds in restitution have (so far...) been paid. Two episodes down, two to go. If you subscribe to PBS, you can catch up on the series on PBS Passport. In fact, all four episodes are available there, including a short follow-up featurette on the true story. Here's the short trailer from when it aired in England. It only touches the surface. As it says, "The largest miscarriage of justice in British history." I've enjoyed the first two seasons of the documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham. That's the show about the low-level soccer team bought by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElheney. In fact, for the past two years, I've tangentially followed how the team is doing, so I'm more prepared for when the TV show airs, rather than be surprised. The new season of the show premieres on May 2 on f/X. This year's soccer season ends in about a week, so anyone who watches the show and does NOT want to know how the Wrexham Red Dragons did this year -- you should stop here. Consider this a SPOILER ALERT. Just as a reminder, England has four tiers in what are considered "English Football League" play. The top two are the Premier League and the Championship League. The other two are known as League One and League. Below that are the non-official leagues. Wrexham had been in the next tier, known as the National League. They hadn't been in official English Football League play for 15 years. The way this all ways, in general, is that the top two or three teams (depending on the league) get "promoted" to the next tier up. And the bottom two or three teams get "relegated" down to the tier below. In the first season of Welcome to Wrexham, the team had their best year in a long time, but just missed getting promoted. In the second season, Wrexham actually got promoted finally -- after decades -- to compete this year in League Two. That's where things stood at the end of last year's series. And where things stand as of today, with Wrexham having two games left in the season -- they are right now in second place and, after winning 6-0 (with the M.K. Dons losing, Wrexham has actually clinched getting promoted up to League One next season!! This is very uncommon for a team to get promoted two years in a row. Usually, it's something they have to build to. In fact, it's not uncommon for a promoted team to get relegated back down the next year. Or to add perspective, this is the first time that Wrexham has had back-to-back promotions in the team's 159-year history. So, for those who watch, just know that the coming season of the documentary, which begins on May 2 -- it has a happy ending. And as sort of advance preview, here's phone-camera footage the end of today's game, played at home at the Wrexham Racecourse stadium, and the mass of fans rushing onto the pitch to celebrate. The rush begins around the 4:30 mark, if you want to jump to it. Last year, a one-man show played in Los Angeles, called Alex Edelman: Just for Us. It got raves reviews, and friends who saw it said it was great. I'd heard of it -- it began off-Broadway, and then transferred to Broadway, again to rave reviews. But I didn't see it. For several reasons, most notably because I'm still not going to the theater as much as before the pandemic. I was sorry I didn't go -- but thrilled when I saw that HBO recorded the show, and is airing it now. And for my taste, it was as terrific as its reputation. It’s very funny, but it’s not a comedy act. Rather, it’s a long, true story (with him playing many characters) about the night he decided to go to a meeting of neo-Nazis in New York City, but with a great many, long diversions into him talking about his life growing up in a very Ashkenazi Jewish household, anti-Semitism and more. I had heard Alex Edelman interviewed at length on the Naked Lunch podcast which I'd posted here, and he was funny and interesting. So, I was very glad when I saw HBO had recorded the show. (What I didn't realize until I tracked down the podcast, is that he briefly appeared on another of the Naked Lunch podcast. That was the one with guest Hannah Einbinder, who starred in the excellent HBO Max series Hacks. She and Edelman were dating at the time (and may still be, as far as I know -- or not), and host Phil Rosenthal called him up during the interview.) The Just for Us special is available On Demand, and HBO will be airing it again. At the moment, I counted 10 airings ahead. It runs about 85 minutes. If you do decide to watch, my only recommendation is that Edelman talks very fast (which he actually addresses, having ADHD), so I put on close captions so I could check if I missed a laugh. It’s not necessary, but it definitely helped. If you're interested, whether before watching the special to help decide if you want to watch, or afterwards if you enjoyed the special, here's the link for hour-long interview he did for the Naked Lunch podcast. This is the minute-long trailer, which will give you a very brief idea of the show, though it’s much more diverse and textured than this. |
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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