MEOW!
I love Julie Newmar who was purrrfect as Catwoman on TV’s camp classic Batman, but I think the catnip has finally affected her brain. Click here to see an interview she did recently in Boston at a celebrity autograph show. She looks great but comes off amusingly spacey.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO TINA and CAROL
Regarding my previous post, some gossip. Per Gail Gerber, David Amram was once romantically involved with none other than Tina Louise. And who lives next door to Rip Torn in his Malibu bungalow? The one and only Carol Lynley. They have been friends for years according to Angelica Torn. Carol starred opposite Rip in the direct-to-TV movie Cotter in 1968 and then she co-starred with his then wife Geraldine Page in the hit Broadway comedy Absurd Person Singular in 1975.
SMOOTH JAZZ ON A COLD AUTUMN’S NIGHT
Last night I went to the Cornelia Street Cafe with Gail Gerber, actress Angelica Torn starring off-Broadway in the acclaimed The Edge, and my partner Ernie DeLia for dinner and to catch acclaimed musician/composer David Amran’s last performance there for the year. With his 5 piece combo he did a tribute show to Jack Kerouac in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of On the Road. It was an ecletic night as in between some great music David enthralled the audience with stories of Greenwich Village in the late 50s and early 60s where he hung out with Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Terry Southern, etc.
A highlight of the show were the guest performers. John McEuen of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with his son Jonathan jammed on the group’s hit song “Mr. Bojangles.” Then in homage to the beat poetry jazz sessions of the 50s a few poets read their work but the most impressive was actor John Ventimiglia who played Artie Bucco on The Sopranos who intensely read from Kerouac’s novel.
Finally, Gail Gerber returned to the stage to read some of Kerouac’s poems and in her own typical scattered style had the audience in stitches. First, she reminded the crowd about The New York Public Library’s exhibition on Kerouac. She said, “I thought he was just another drunken writer. So I was surprised to learn that he was more than that.” Then after reading two short poems, she quipped, “Wow, this stuff is pretty good. I should read it some time.”
CINEMA RETRO
Click here to read the latest posts from my friend columnist David Savage. He pays tribute to the singing talent of Karen Black and the underrated Smile (1975) starring Bruce Dern, Barbara Feldon and such ’70s starlets as Joan Prather, Annette O’Toole, Colleen Camp, Melanie Griffith, and Denise Nickerson.
Trivia: Karen Black won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as the tacky waitress girlfriend of concert pianist dropout Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces (1970). Carol Lynley was offered the role of Catherine, the sophisticated financee of Nicholson’s brother who has more in common with Jack. According to Carol herself, she wanted the flashier waitress role and since the producers were only paying scale she turned the other part down. “Big mistake,” Carol exclaimed to me. Susan Anspach took Carol’s role and had an affair with Nicholson which produced a son named Caleb.