February 5, 2008
Several fannes have written to suggest that we should have something like a FAnnevention at some central location. Not a bad idea. I've jokingly suggested Bancroft, Michigan as a meeting point, since it's not too far from me, although I have no idea what the town is like! Here are Paul's thoughts on the matter:
I think the idea of meeting fans is great! I'm all for it... and at some point we should seriously consider some kind of conference. It's worth doing. I know I have lots to say. I've been a fan since I was a child (I'll be 40 next month). It made it worse since my family is Italian, knew her family (as I mentioned to you before) and I have an aunt who resembles her bigtime.
I don't know if I mentioned that I feel one regret was that Inside the Actor's Studio didn't do a segment with her. Unless they did and it did not air. I was sure they would do it at some point.
Thanks again for the site.
Thanks, Paul. I've mentioned the shocking oversight of Inside the Actor's Studio previously at this website, and since my thoughts on the subject were too inflammatory for me to publish here, I linked to another blogger at Jump the Shark who said it best a few years ago (that site has recently been redone, so I had to go hunt it down):
There are many great women performers who have yet to be interviewed on Inside the Actor's Studio. Shelley Winters (the Queen of the Actors' Studio), Elizabeth Taylor, Gena Rowlands, Angela Lansbury, Maureen O'Hara, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine, Anne Bancroft, Celeste Holm, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Judi Dench are only a few of those who would have an extraordinary amount of theatrical/film history and general thespian wisdom to share. They are all still with us, but may not be much longer. (As we all know by now, Katharine Hepburn got away.) So who does James Lipton choose to interview? Drew Barrymore. That's right. The producer of the two Charlie's Angels movies, an insult to women and lovers of good movies everywhere. The kid who bottomed out on booze and drugs at 13. The blot on her family name. Lipton's interview with Barrymore was one of the most compellingly painful TV experiences I have ever sat through, like watching a slow-motion train wreck. It was hard to say which was worse (or better): Barrymore's total vapidity or Lipton's vacillation between sick embarrassment and shameless brown-nosing. After this, I guess we can all look forward to Lipton's interview with Anna Nicole Smith.
While I was over at Jump the Shark, I found a few more nice entries from guests. Here is one, regarding I, Claudius:
I have just ordered an "I Claudius" DVD set from ebay and intend to tie my family down and force them to watch it when "Rome" is over -- or maybe I'll just break out the candy. By the way, everybody should give Anne Bancroft a break. Alistair Cooke was paid to bloviate (in his inimitable fashion) on all Masterpiece Theater episodes because the BBC doesn't fill the entire hour so that it can sell its product in countries with commercial TV. (In some cases,like the Sherlock Holmes series, Cooke was filling in where the commercials would have been on Britain's Grenada Television.) Moreover, the PBS version of "I Claudius" was edited because certain scenes were deemed too violent or sexually explicit for American audiences. When "I Claudius" moved to syndication in America, space had to be made for the re-introduction of commercials. This (and copyright issues) eliminated all of Cooke's commentary. Nevertheless it was felt that ill educated Americans would have no idea of what was going on without someone telling them what they were seeing. Fortunately, the sensibility of American commercial TV required further editing of the series, opening just enough time for Ms. Bancroft to tell us, in thirty seconds or so, that everything we would be seeing "actually happened". What more could Alistair Cooke have done in the same time frame?
and someone who enjoyed Anne & Mel on Curb Your Enthusiasm had this to say:
I loved the Producers finale. It really tied the whole season together. The Mel Brooks-Anne Bancroft re-creation of the classic Zero Mostel-Gene Wilder scene ("Anne?" "No way out." "Anne?" "No way out." "Anne?" "No way out.") was brilliant. And David Schwimmer's self-parody of a spoiled, self-indulgent, petulant megastar was extremely courageous and very well done. I'm really looking forward to next season.
Tess sent an interesting news item about Mel with this sweet bit:
So this widower, he'll ever try marriage again? "Please. Nothing's worse than an old Jew dating. You really think I could listen to somebody ask me, 'What's your sign?'
"Absolutely not dating. I have grandchildren, dear friends, my show, that's all I want."
Saw an interesting item in the Chicago Tribune, 'Adult' Movies You've Taken Your Kids To (link). Loved this entry:
A few weeks ago, I suggested to my wife that our then 9-year-old granddaughter, Rachel, was old enough to watch "The Miracle Worker," the movie in which Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), after much travail, finds a way to communicate with and teach the young Helen Keller.
Rachel watched the movie and was fascinated. Later that day I asked her what she had learned from it. Her answer was succinct and right on target: "Never give up."
--Laurence P. Feldman, Highland Park
Interesting item about New York Yankees' Ray Negron:
[Reggie] Jackson lived on the corner of 79th Street and 5th Avenue. Negron was friendly with the neighbors, who included Cicely Tyson, Mel Brooks, and especially, Anne Bancroft, who used to chat with him in the lobby during the afternoons when she wasn't working. Negron had the keys to Jackson's place, which he looked after when the Yankees were on the road. He brought friends like Jimmy Madorma and Omar Minaya, a fellow infielder from Stan Musial baseball, to Jackson's pad and the Yankee clubhouse, even got them out on the field shagging flies during bp.
source
Nice blog item from Anna Pearce, better known to us as Patty Duke, here. Well worth reading it in its entirety. This is great:
Playing Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker” was a kid’s dream — I got to beat up an adult and people laughed. Acting in that role was when I first began to understand what it meant to transcend connection with another actor. Between actress Anne Bancroft, who played Annie Sullivan, and I, the biggest miracle was us together.
Sad, but interesting:
An actress with as commanding a presence as [Kathleen] Turner, Mercedes Ruehl, will star as sculptor Louise Nevelson in Edward Albee's The Occupant at the Signature Theatre Company beginning May 6. Few saw the premiere of this play in 2002 because star Anne Bancroft was ill and only did a few performances. Ruehl starred in Albee's The Goat a few years back. Pam McKinnon directs.
source
January 08, 2008
Happy New Year! Can it be possible that Delgo is finally on its way? Here's a trailer.
A new book is coming out today that may be of interest to fannes -- a sequel to The Graduate that is not fan fic, but is in fact a creation of Charles Webb himself:
Here's a review from the NY Sun:
Post-Graduate Life
by Stefan BeckFour decades ago, a directionless young man named Benjamin Braddock graduated from college, went home, and landed in the clutches of that predator modern taxonomy has dubbed a "cougar." She was a dangerous crossbreed of hot-blooded desire and reptilian calculation — nature, red in lip and claw. She had killer legs. And she was old enough to be somebody's mother.
Charles Webb unleashed Mrs. Robinson on the reading public in 1963. The film version of "The Graduate," with Anne Bancroft in that famous role, followed in 1967. Mike Nichols's adaptation is full of iconic images, not least of which is its closing shot of Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross), and Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) staring blankly as a bus delivers them to the great unknown.
What happened next? It may be a question for the kind of person who writes fan fiction or devours Star Wars novelizations, but the cover of Mr. Webb's new novel, "Home School" (Thomas Dunne, 250 pages, $22.95), promises that the book is the "long-awaited" answer to all our nagging questions. It's a shame from the get-go. Whether one prefers the ambiguous ending of Mr. Nichols's film — evocative of the anxiety and uncertainty of a turbulent decade — or the happier one of Webb's novel, it's no fun having the story's grip on the imagination loosened by a sequel. Elaine and Benjamin used to embody a kind of adventurous romance; now they're smug, self-indulgent — if nevertheless likable — yuppies.
A decade post-"Graduate," the couple is homeschooling their pair of young boys, Jason and Matt, in Westchester County:
[A] child's natural learning impulse must be allowed to develop freely, unfettered by direction from above any more than is strictly necessary . . . if this freedom is permitted, innate curiosity will guide the child to the objects of greatest interest and relevance to its life, resulting in an absence of those inhibitions derived from forced institutional learning . . .
Oh, saw you dozing off there. Thought you might appreciate a swift kick in the teeth. Throughout the novel, Mr. Webb alternates between delivering quicksilver dialogue and quicksand exposition, so that the reader never knows whether to chuckle or slip into a coma. The plot is zany but half-baked: Jason and Matt are homeschooled, but the sinister, lubricious principal of their old school wants this to stop, for reasons which never really become clear. The apparent solution is to recruit "Nan," aka Mrs. Robinson, to seduce the principal so that Benjamin can blackmail him.
Much more at the link. Doesn't sound like my cup of tea, even though it hails from Webb himself, because for me, The Graduate ended where it ended. I cannot fathom the Braddocks establishing any sort of relationship with Mrs. Robinson thereafter. However, in fairness, I have not read this book -- perhaps one of you can do so and get back to us with your opinions.
Note: let's hope that the
reviewer's description of this new book as pre-fab dialogue for an
intended movie passes under Hollywood's radar!
Tess (a very devoted Anne fanne) sent this nice article about Alan Alda in which he mentions Anne with such kindness, such a small memory, but so very dear!
In 2005, you lost three close friends, the actors Ossie Davis and Anne Bancroft, and the anchorman Peter Jennings. How did you handle their memorial services?
I was asked to speak at all three memorials. Looking back to what I said, I talked very little about their professional accomplishments. What interested me was who they were to me. I picked small personal moments. I remembered Peter for the fact that I never left his house without a book, and he gave me a copy of the Constitution to carry around. With Anne, I remember her holding beach glass she had collected. With Ossie, I thought he was going to live forever. I remember his goodness and generosity in little moments. The fact I connected with them had effect on me, not their accomplishments.
Thanks, Tess!
Academy Gallery to Be Filled with “Who’s Who” of Hollywood
A “who’s who” of Hollywood, including Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie and Sophia Loren, will be showcased in “Freeze Frame: 5 Decades of Photographs by Douglas Kirkland,” a new exhibition opening on Friday, January 18, in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Grand Lobby Gallery in Beverly Hills. Admission is free.
“Freeze Frame” will feature more than 125 color and black-and-white images of classic and current motion picture luminaries including Anne Bancroft, Antonio Banderas, Drew Barrymore, Warren Beatty, Mel Brooks much more
Monster Career
by Mark Singer for The New Yorker
Oct 16, 20071959: Guy walks into a bar in Greenwich Village. Spies a friend, Tom Meehan, a twenty-seven-year-old staff writer for this magazine. Guy tells Meehan he’s just come from a party where the actresses Uta Hagen and Ina Claire happened to be present.
Three years later, Meehan wakes up one morning with an idea: “Uta . . . Ina . . . Hmm.” He compiles a list of euphoniously named luminaries: Ava Gardner, Yma Sumac, Oona O’Neill, Abba Eban, Ida Lupino, Aga Khan, Eva Gabor, etc. The result, “Yma Dream,” an instant-classic piece of short fiction, is published in The New Yorker, February 24, 1962.
Another nine years pass. Meehan gets a call from Martin Charnin, who is directing a television special starring Anne Bancroft. An “Yma Dream” admirer, Bancroft wants Meehan to adapt it as a comedy sketch, which he proceeds to do. Along the way, he becomes friendly with Bancroft’s two-thousand-year-old husband, Mel Brooks, who asks Meehan if he’d ever like to collaborate on a movie. Meehan replies, “Yes!”
Much more at link -- original story is here.
Forever version is here.
My thanks to Jody H. for sending me this article!
Make sure you bookmark this new link at TV.now so you will always be able to see very quickly which AB movies are coming up on telly this month.
You'll find Anne mentioned in the strangest places -- here at the Sports Illustrated website:
[Sidney] Crosby has won a lot of things in his still short life, but he has not yet qualified for The Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker Trophy. In the absence of Ryan Malone (infected leg), Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien was forced to saddle Crosby with wingers who are hardly qualified to take advantage of the captain's exceptional passing skills.
more
Carol Wior, famous for her slimming swimsuit designs, has a new swimsuit for this summer -- the Mrs. Robinson. Check it out here!
October 16, 2007
Anne's mom is 100 years old today... how wonderful is that?
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Italiano!
October 5, 2007
Nice French blog item about The Miracle Worker here, with a few terrific shots from the film.
Only hard-core fannes will
sympathize when I tell you that I was actually craving to see The
Hindenburg this past week. Probably the only person on the planet with
such a craving. I had not seen it in quite some time. I'm guessing that I
must be the only fanne who actually cries during the opening credits?
David Shire's music always gets to me. His theme is so perfect for that
beautiful ship. I bought the LP when I was 15-16 years old and used to
play it frequently while studying in my room. (Note: it occurs to me that
I believe I can hum every theme song from almost every AB movie. Nice
little parlor trick, eh?)
I've read numerous books about the explosion, I honestly don't know if it was natural causes or a bomb. I tend to lean towards a bomb, considering the political climate of the time, but good cases have been made for natural causes. Either way, it breaks my heart every time. I always am convinced that Col. Ritter can get to the bomb in time! Just like when I watched United 93, there was a part of me thinking that the passengers could rally and the flight would not crash.
Robert Wise did an exquisite job with this movie, in my opinion, especially when you consider the technical expertise of the time. It's a gorgeous, gorgeous movie. One of my favorite lines: "He's with the Winthrop National Bank, and I can assure you, Major, he is NOT the doorman!" Annie's fannetastic as always.
Also, Charles Durning is always one of my favorites. To see him and Annie together in The Hindenburg is so much fun when you know that just a few years later, they'd be having a whopping good time in To Be or Not To Be!
September 17, 2007
Thanks to Turner Classic Movies for showing AB movies today in honor of her birthday! So far they've had The Miracle Worker, The Pumpkin Eater, The Slender Thread, with Seven Women the current feature, to be followed by The Elephant Man. Add a little ice cream and you've got yourself an event, my friends!
September 11, 2007
The Graduate 40th anniversary edition DVD is out today!
From imdb:
Revisit the story of aimless and shy Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), sexy seductress Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), and comely Robinson daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross) with the new 40th Anniversary Edition of the Oscar-winning classic The Graduate, now available on DVD. This two-disc DVD set contains a wealth of extras, such as two commentary tracks -- one with actors Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross, another with directors Mike Nichols and Steven Soderbergh -- screen tests with video introductions, the featurette "Would You Like Me to Seduce You?: The Seduction Scene Revisited" and a CD of the Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack.
If any of you get this, please let us know what you think! Remember, if you buy it through the above link, Amazon throws a few nickels at FAnnetastic!
Yes, I actually added a few
new photos over at the Photos
page -- two of them are unknown as far as date/event, but I bet if any of
you out there can look through other known photos and compare what Anne
& Mel are wearing, you may be able to deduce exactly what event those
photos came from. It would be a great way for you to contribute to this
site!
Interesting item I came across, but I have no information about it. I'm wondering if it's from Alika Cooper's collection of work?
From the mailbag:
May I ask you a question about Anne Bancroft please?
I noticed on your web site that she won the Golden Key Award in 1952 for her first film, “Don’t Bother to Knock,” as one of Hollywood’s most promising potential stars.
I have never heard of that award – the Golden Key. And this is the only time I’ve seen it attributed to Anne Bancroft (or anyone). I can’t find anything else about it on the web but I’m not the best internet surfer so maybe I missed it.
What group gave the award, do you know?
That award is mentioned in the book about Anne & Mel, "Seesaw." No further information is given, leading me to speculate that it was one of those awards given out by a media group, perhaps, or some publication at the time. I find no evidence that such an award exists at present. I'd love to know more myself, so if you ever find further info, don't hesitate to send it on!
