Posts Tagged ‘Barbra Streisand’

[Editor's Note: The following, never-before-published interview (Part 1 here) was conducted via telephone on December 23, 1993 by the late Jim Mitteager. The tape, part of a much larger collection bequeathed to Hollywood private eye Paul Barresi, was only recently discovered and graciously provided to FishbowlLA. Our thanks to Barresi for allowing us to share this great bit of nostalgia with our readers, on the anniversary of Clark's April 18, 2012 death.]

Mitteager: Has MTV impacted in a negative way on talent? There’s a lot of packaging that’s going on now that involves skills other than the ability to sing and write good songs. Is it impacting on new talent as opposed to the old days?

Clark: I wouldn’t blame it all on MTV. I’d blame it on the consolidation of the music business, between five or six nationally owned companies. You’ve got all of these big debts that they’ve got to pay. They’ve got them on a timetable, and that includes videos and personal appearances and promotions and all of that. So some new guy, it makes it very difficult to get launched. That’s the whole thing about what’s wrong with the business these days. It’s tough to break through.

Mitteager:  What would be your best advice to an aspiring artist out there that is in that pickle right now, that have no representation and has some talent?

Clark: I would try to get to one of the cities where people find talent, LA, New York, Nashville, Seattle… Get out there and showcase yourself.

Mitteager: I want to rack your brain about people that got there start on Bandstand, or with you in general and have now become award winners on the American Music Awards.

Clark: New Edition, they debuted on Bandstand.

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Once again this holiday season, they’re everywhere on the American pop culture firmament. Martin Short hosted SNL’s Christmas show; Seth Rogen is road-tripping on the big screen with Barbra Streisand; and Cirque du Soleil is winding down Iris at the Dolby Theatre.

To celebrate the contributions of these and many other south-of-the-border entertainment industry Canucks, the British Columbia duo of Ian Ferguson and Leslie Bland are preparing the 2013 book and documentary double whammy Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood. As they recently explained to a reporter for their Victoria hometown newspaper the Times-Colonist, the goal with the doc is to have fun:

In lieu of typical talking-heads footage, they plan to shoot conversations with stars engaged in activities, such as potential sequences in which Lost star Evangeline Lilly would point out Canadian stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. If he’s available, Short might speak while shooting pool, or Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek could chat while slapping pucks around.

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Tony Award-winning playwright Arthur Laurents died yesterday of complications from a bout of pneumonia. He was 93.

Laurents was perhaps best known for his work on the stage, most famously penning the book for West Side Story. But he had an extensive film and television career as well. He produced and wrote the screenplay for the Robert Redford/Barbra Streisand love story The Way We Were as well as the Shirley MacLaine/Anne Bancroft film Turning Point. Both film were nominated for multiple Oscars, although neither won. Laurents’ other screenwriting credits include Alfred Hitchcock‘s Rope, and Anastasia, starring Ingrid Bergman.

RIP.

According to the old adage, Hollywood’s greatest actors are ones who can triumph even if the script is a phone book. In Marlon Brando‘s case, Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills has the next best thing this weekend – the late actor’s actual personal phone book.

The starting bid for this item is $500, and while many of the numbers may no longer be in service, it’s still a great dinner party conversation starter:

A burgundy leather three-ring binder telephone book circa 2003 containing hundreds of Brando’s personal friends and business contacts worldwide. Some names include Michael Jackson, Johnny Depp, Alec Baldwin, Johnnie Cochran, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Jane Goodall, Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda, Madonna, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, John Travolta, Barbra Streisand as well as noted scientists in various fields of study, press contacts and the United Nations and many other noteable entries.

If that’s not good enough, you can also bid this weekend on a Golden Globe the actor refused to accept for his portrayal of Don Corleone in The Godfather.

There are some bonafide music industry legends lined up for Sunday’s Grammy show – Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand. But towering above them all, per usual, will be current Sony Music maestro Clive Davis, whose Saturday night party at the Beverly Hilton is a bigger deal for the artists than the show itself.

Earlier this week, the New York Times did a brief Q&A with the 78-year-old Davis on the occasion of the Grammy Museum in downtown LA christening a 200-seat auditorium in his name. Along with explaining how hard it has become to say no to some of those who want to attend his party (“This year I really can’t go out to public restaurants”), Davis had some interesting thoughts on the state of the music industry. He says while the singles industry has come back with a vengeance, the radio end of things is in bad shape:

What I do find challenging is that radio is more restrictive these days, in changing Top 40 to rhythm, almost totally and exclusively. It’s fine to have dance music, it’s fine to have rhythmic music. But we must have our troubadours. We must have our poet laureates. We must have our new Dylan’s and new Springsteen’s.

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Nikki Finke reports and we confirmed that Lee Solters passed away early this morning at the age of 90.

Solters was the pub for people such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson and many others.

“Marley and Me,” starring a very-much-alive Owen Wilson, proved that the movie business, to renew an awful pun, is truly going to the dogs, box office analyst Steve Mason confirmed to FBLA.

The film, which took in $14.5 million on Christmas day, beat out Paramount’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Sony’s Tom Cruise affair “Valkyrie” and Disney’s Adam Sandler film, “Bedtime Stories,” to capture the Christmas crown.

The performance was a bit of an X-mas present for Fox, which grabbed the second-highest Christmas day performance, more than $5 million behind the Ben Stiller hit “Meet the Fockers.”

My guess is that “Marley and Me” needed to cast Barbra Streisand, or at least use a song of hers.

Not that we at FBLA like to support this crap, but we had go give it to the boys over at Newsmax for finding an all-new way of chastising Hollywood liberals.

The so-called news magazine is issuing a free “Deck of Weasels,” or in other words a deck of cards with images of all their favorite Hollywood types interspersed with politicos, including Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, Jacques Chirac, Barbra Streisand, Teddy Kennedy, Kofi Annan and many more.

In as many ways as you want to interpret it: Gag Me With A Spoon.

Jon Peters, the hairdresser-turned-producer who went on to co-chair Sony Pictures Entertainment with Peter Guber, may be headed for a small stint in jail, Page Six reports.

The Hollywood powerhouse behind “Superman Returns,” “Batman” and “Ali” is charged with multiple violations of his parole stemming from a drunk-driving plea. The Ventura County district attorney’s office says Peters is due in court on Jan. 16 to answer charges he failed to complete an alcohol-education program, or report to his probation officer, or complete community service.

What’s more, sources say, a document submitted by the four-times-divorced filmmaker is being examined for alleged forgery, as it shows he did a required 40 hours of community service – when he had really finished only four hours.

Peters pleaded no contest to DUI after dozing off on the 101 Freeway in Ventura on Feb. 11, 2006. He agreed to a sentence of three years probation and community service with Homeboy Industries, which helps ex-gang members go straight.

“[A] proof of completion was submitted to the court,” the source told Page Six. “When the charity was asked to confirm Jon had completed 40 hours by the deadline, they confirmed he had only done four . . . [The] Probation [department] has threatened to revoke his probation.” Homeboy Industries did not return repeated calls. A rep for Peters had no comment.

If Peters is found guilty of parole violation, he could be sent to jail.

It’s the latest legal woe for the onetime boyfriend of Barbra Streisand. He’s also being sued by two former female staffers who claim Peters sexually harassed them. In one, Blanca Hernandez claims Peters touched her breasts and buttocks, tried to push her onto his bed when he was naked, tried to kiss her breasts, and offered her money for sex. Peters denies the charges.