Old School - FishbowlLA

The Delightful M.O. of Octogenarian Gene Wilder

Richard Horgan — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:30:19 +0000

Gene Wilder, who turns 80 today, refuses to somersault into the 21st century. Fitting for a man whose stage name was inspired by the works of long-ago novelists Thomas Wolfe and Thornton Wilder.

What appears to be Wilder’s official Twitter is delightfully stalled at the January 2, 2013 mark. Last Thursday, the actor was absent from the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony at the Dolby Theatre honoring Mel Brooks, delivering instead a brief video message. And it’s hard to imagine a Hollywood star memoir being further from the boiler-plate norm than Wilder’s 2006 tome Kiss Me Like A Stranger.

Wilder has gone on to author three novels and a collection of short stories. His latest, Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance, is set during World War II and tells the tale of an American corporal chasing across Europe after a mysterious Danish woman.

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Shout! Factory Extends Roger Corman, Judd Apatow Shelf Life

Richard Horgan — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 06:45:44 +0000

Any Hollywood company that can claim a 25-30% annual profit jump for the past five years and gross annual revenue growth of five to 10% deserves a media shout-out. This morning, Shout! Factory gets just that from TheWrap senior writer Brent Lang.

Two key assets in Shout! Factory’s retro-DVD arsenal are Judd Apatow‘s short-lived Freaks and Geeks series and the films of B movie maestro Roger Corman. For the former, company execs nimbly worked around some music licensing issues while, for the latter, they beefed things up with old-school DVD Extras featuring interviews with the likes of Jonathan Demme and Ron Howard:

“The DVD market was slipping when we made the deal, but, on the other hand, the slippage of DVD sales isn’t a cliff, it’s sort of a slope,” Corman said. “The hill is sloping downward, but it’s not dead. There’s still money to be made and Shout! has done just that.”

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Magazine Editor Smokes Out True Origins of Hemp Slang ‘420’

Richard Horgan — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 18:00:45 +0000

Everyone knows The Dude from The Big Lebowski. Now, thanks to a post by 420 Magazine editor Rob Griffin, the reputation of “The Bebe” seems set to ascend to similar pop culture heights.

Exactly 42.0 years ago, The Bebe – a.k.a. Brad Bann – coined the term “420″ for marijuana while attending high school in San Rafael, CA. The slang was subsequently appropriated by and later credited to another school group, The Waldos. But after due journalistic diligence, Griffin is delighted to be able to finally set the record straight. From an email by Bebes group member Bone Boy:

Quite simply, the birth of 420 occurred at precisely 4:20 in the afternoon to begin a bedroom bong session at the house of Du and Puff on a Saturday in October of 1970. The Bebe along with the brothers began preparing to “bong out”, when Bebe glanced at the clock on the nightstand and said, “It’s 4:20, time for bong loads.”

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That Time Gore Vidal Made Ben-Hur a Gay Movie

Pandora Young — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:36:49 +0000

As a script doctor for the 1959 film Ben-Hur, Gore Vidal felt politics was an insufficient reason to explain a central plot point, the acrimonious falling out between dear boyhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and Messala (Stephen Boyd). So Vidal created a back story, a teenage love affair between the two, one that Messala was keen to rekindle and Ben-Hur was not.

The film’s director, William Wyler, approved the story, and Boyd used the homosexual history to inform his acting, but it was agreed that Heston would not be told about any of it. That little bit of gay subtext wasn’t revealed till 1995, when Vidal was interviewed for the documentary The Celluloid Closet. In the clip below you can see parts of a scene written by Vidal that include the homosexual plot line. You can also see Portuguese subtitles, and we’re working on that.

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After 32 Years, Matt Groening Retires ‘Life in Hell’

Pandora Young — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:51:48 +0000

The weekly comic strip by Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening once ran in 379 newspapers. But “Life in Hell” was a victim of severe cutbacks in the print industry, and now runs in just 38 papers. The last new strip ran Friday, and reruns will continue through July 13.

“Life in Hell” was born in Los Angeles, and helped launch Groening’s television career. From Poynter:

It started running in Wet Magazine in 1978, then moved to the now-defunct LA Reader, where Groening worked. The strip eventually made its way to LA Weekly. Its popularity grew, amassing a client list of more than 250 papers, when producer Polly Platt noticed “Life in Hell” and showed it to actor/producer James L. Brooks.

Brooks contacted Groening and wanted him to develop a series of “bumpers” based on “Life in Hell” for “The Tracey Ullman Show.” Groening was a bit apprehensive at the thought of handing over the rights to his characters, so he created the Simpsons to fill the slot.

Check out the full Poynter article here. It quotes yours truly, so naturally it’s an excellent read.

And an interesting factoid gleaned from a USA Today article on the subject – Groening used to be roommates with LA Weekly managing editor Jill Stewart! Please, Ms. Stewart, dish.

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Stan Lee’s Social Media Origins Story

Richard Horgan — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:55:00 +0000

Score one for Westwood, CA comic book fan Manny Redruello. It was his question submitted to mashable.com that elicited a most memorable response from Marvel maestro Stan Lee.

Redruello wondered how Lee might have used Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the social media pantheon if these tools had been around during the early stages of the latter’s remarkable career. Answered the man who can also be found @TheRealStanLee:

“Well, I didn’t have Twitter, but I had my column and we had letters pages in the comic books, where readers would write letters. You know the reason I wear glasses now? Because I strained my eyes! I read every damn letter and answered as many as I could. I was writing to them and they were writing to me, and it felt like I had a million friends all over. So that was my Twitter in those days.”

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Matt Groening Donates $500,000 to UCLA

Marcus Vanderberg — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:37:44 +0000

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has donated $500,000 to the UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT).

Groening, 57, will fund The Matt Groening Chair in Animation. The endowment will allow the TFT animation program to bring in visiting professors and working professionals to teach classes and work with students.

“Matt Groening is recognized globally as a preeminent and pioneering animator, storyteller, cartoonist, writer and producer,” Dean Teri Schwartz said in a statement. His groundbreaking animated series have truly changed the landscape of television and have become a gold standard for animation and great storytelling throughout the entertainment industry.”

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USC Annenberg Announces 2011 Getty Arts Journalism Fellows

Matthew Fleischer — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:42:50 +0000

USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism announced the recipients of this year’s Getty Arts Journalism Fellowhips this week. The winners are all fellowship alumni and will combine efforts on a pop-up newsroom called Engine29. Fellows will publish work on Engine29.org during the week of Nov. 4 to 13–corresponding with the arrival of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 exhibit. Annenberg already experimented with the pop-up newsroom model earlier this year, with its Engine28 project to cover the blizzard of theater festivals that arrived in Los Angeles this summer.

Los Angeles freelancer Ariel Swartley and LA Times pop music critic Randall Roberts are LA’s representatives to the Engine29 team.

Update: Duh, GOOD’s Alissa Walker is from LA too. Sorry we missed you Alissa.

Full list of fellows after the jump.

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Celebrating ‘Under the Big Black Sun’ Exhibit with MOCA

Pandora Young — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:30:50 +0000

“Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980″ officially launched over the weekend, and FishbowlLA kicked off the six month exhibition series with an opening party at MOCA for “Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981.” The series takes its name from the album by the L.A.-based punk band X.

Guests had a chance to preview the exhibition, which centers around a particularly turbulent, experimental period in the city’s art scene. Appropriately, the turbulent, experimental Henry Rollins DJ’d the party.

A wall of Black Flag concert flyers, drawn by Raymond Pettibon.

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Detroit Resident Street Hustles for LA Tuition

Richard Horgan — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:00:51 +0000

Times are tough all over. But with a little ingenuity and a lot of gumption, many of those stuck in depressed America can usually find a way.

Today’s shining example of this approach, via WXYZ-TV Channel 7, is 21-year-old Detroit native Remington Devereaux. To try and help cover his tuition this fall at the Los Angeles Film and Recording School (part of the LA Film School at Wilcox and Sunset), he is operating an adult version of the kiddie lemonade stand and soliciting drive-by customers:

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Marilyn Monroe Dress Sells at Auction for $4.6 Million

Pandora Young — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:08:47 +0000

The white silk dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in The Seven Year Itch sold for $4.6 million over the weekend, setting a record for movie memorabilia. And that isn’t including an additional one million for commission fees. The buyer of the iconic dress bid over the phone and remains unidentified, but there’s one thing we know for sure – we’re jealous as hell.

Monroe’s dress was one of hundreds of items from of Hollywood’s history that actress Debbie Reynolds had been collecting for decades, in the hopes of someday opening a Hollywood memorabilia museum. But that plan fell through, and Reynolds sold off her collection this past Saturday at an auction in Beverly Hills.

Other notable auction sales include Judy Garland’s dress from The Wizard of Oz for $910,000, and the ruby slippers for $510,000, and Audrey Hepburn’s ascot dress from My Fair Lady for $3.7 million. A full list of sales from the auction can be viewed here.

Previously on FBLA: Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic Seven Year Itch Dress Up For Sale

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LA Losing Foothold in TV Pilot Production

Matthew Fleischer — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:21:11 +0000

It’s been a banner year for television production. During the 2010-11 development cycle, a record 169 shows developed pilots. Cable TV was cranking out two and half times as many pilots as the previous cycle. Normally that would be good news for the LA production world. Just six years ago, 82 percent of all pilots were shot in LA. According to a new report from the non-profit group FilmL.A., however, that number shrank to 51 percent this cycle. As a result, despite the banner year for TV production, less pilots were shot in LA than in 2004-05 cycle.

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Catalina Museum Exhibit to Showcase Marilyn Monroe’s Life as a Teenager on the Island

Pandora Young — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:57:41 +0000

The Catalina Island Museum will unveil an exhibit in August about the year a young Marilyn Monroe spent on the island. Monroe was still known as Norma Jeane when when she moved to Catalina in 1943 as a teenage bride. Her husband Jim Dougherty, whom she married to escape life in foster care, was sent to the island by the merchant marines.

Many of the photos from the period will be familiar to Monroe fans — indeed, the photo to the right of Marilyn standing on Catalina’s Descanso Beach is often used by biographers to illustrate the terrible perm she was sporting when first discovered by modeling agents.

From the museum website:

“Before She Was Marilyn: Marilyn Monroe on Catalina Island” is the first major exhibition documenting the year Marilyn Monroe lived on Catalina Island. Although a brief period that is often ignored by historians, this candid and often disturbing exhibition brings to light documentary evidence and photographs that reveal the pivotal importance of this period in understanding the troubled psychology of a woman who would become an icon of popular culture.

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Unpublished Marilyn Monroe Pics Bought at Garage Sale for 2 Bucks

Pandora Young — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:30:09 +0000

Back in the 1980′s, Anton Fury purchased an envelope of negatives at a New Jersey garage sale. “I thought it was just some chick in a bikini,” Fury explained to the New York Post.

Upon closer inspection, Fury realized it was two chicks in bikinis — namely, Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. The pictures are estimated to be from 1950. Monroe would have been just 24 years old.

Fury is currently working with Los Angeles art dealer David Streets in Los Angeles to learn as much as they can about the photos — including who the photographer might be. Fury would like to sell the images, but copyright law is an issue, as someone with legal claims to the photos might come forward.

CNN has a slideshow of the photos Fury has made public.

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Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic Seven Year Itch Dress Up For Sale

Pandora Young — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:30:44 +0000

The white halter dress that blew over Marilyn Monroe‘s head in The Seven Year Itch is being offered for sale by none other than actress Debbie Reynolds. The dress is part of an extensive collection of Hollywood memorabilia, which Reynolds originally intended to turn into a museum. But after numerous false starts, the museum dream fell through, and now the 79-year-old is selling off her treasures in a Beverly Hills auction on June 18.

“Basically, what Debbie has is what’s left of Hollywood,” Profiles in History auction house president Joe Maddalena tells the New York Post.

The pending sale of Monroe’s famous white dress has moved a number of Hollywood history enthusiasts to start a campaign to rescue the garment from a life of obscurity in a private collection. The SAVE-THE-DRESS Project is attempting to raise funds to acquire the dress so that it can be placed on permanent, public display.

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