For one who died in 1989, Irving Berlin is still surprisingly present. On and off he seems to have never left us. For six decades he contributed songs and scores to more than 50 productions. Currently, at the amazing New York Public Library for the Performing Arts there’s an exhibition entitled “Show Business! Irving Berlin’s Broadway.” (I think a better title would have been “The Amazing Irving Berlin!”)It’s a joyful exhibition. In addition to copious photos and much memorabilia there are earphones to use to listen to many of the delicious Berlin songs sung by stars like Ethel Merman (man, she could belt!) and Ethel Waters. It boggles the mind to think that just one man wrote both the music and lyrics to musical jewels like “Easter Parade,” “White Christmas,” “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “God Bless America” (and God did bless us and Irving Berlin who lived to 101!).
The full-fleshed show at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts runs through May 26 and, happily, it is free. However, if you can’t get there before May 26 don’t let that stop you from visiting this library at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza in Manhattan. Something of interest is always going on and admission is always free. The library has one of the world’s most extensive collections of materials in the field of the performing arts. Here are some of the facts and figures: a circulating collection of more than 350,000 items covering music and recordings, theater, dance and film, a research collection of more than 9 million (yes, million!) items, online services, 163 computers for public use, a 203-seat auditorium, and much more. This library presents concerts, lectures, films, play readings, panel discussions and dance demonstrations. It all leaves me happily humming – a Berlin tune, of course.
Here’s a P.S.: At the Berlin exhibition I learned a new word, “interpolations.” (It’s fun to learn new words.) It means songs written for performances in a musical comedy, when the actors would step out of character and face the audience to sing songs that often had little to do with the show’s plot. Irving Berlin’s first successes were vaudeville specialties and Broadway interpolations. Aren’t you happy to know that? I was.
“Friends With Money” has a fine cast: Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack and Jennifer Aniston. It has a fine idea for a movie: How would three well-off married women living in Los Angeles sustain a friendship with a woman who is a single, broke, working as a housekeeper and given to meaningless relationships with jerks? Can you picture Jennifer Aniston in that last role? I couldn’t accept my television “friend” as a gal with no drives, no hopes, no ambitions. Her character in “Friends With Money” is uninteresting. The three other actresses all have juicy parts and are enjoyable to watch. Jennifer Aniston was not even good to look at. You might like this film. I didn’t.
I did enjoy “Thank You For Smoking” (a perfect title!). My grandson, Zach, just graduated from Boston University and one of the careers he is considering is that of a lobbyist. With that in mind, I suggested he go to see “Thank You For Smoking” where the protagonist, Nick Naylor, is the chief spokesman for the tobacco lobby in Washington. Handsome and likable (and that’s my grandson!), Nick knows that his arguments in favor of smoking are rubbish, but he enjoys the game of spin too much to give it up.
I found this movie funny, well acted and smart. It’s better than some reviewers are saying. The comic highlight of “Thank You For Smoking” is the regular lunch sessions that our hero holds with the lobbyists for the alcohol and firearms industries – the three of them boasting of the lethality of their respective clients.
If Zach decides to become a lobbyist, I only hope he chooses something that we can all benefit from. “Thank You For Smoking” is the best piece of anti-smoking work I’ve seen.
Next, if there’s such a word as “legal dramady” that word would fully describe “Find Me Guilty.” It’s a wisecracking, almost one-man show, based on a true story of the 21-month trial in 1987-1988 regarding the Luchese crime family. This is Sidney Lumet’s first feature film in seven years. At 81, he doesn’t let us down.
Vin Diesel is an actor I was not aware of, but I am now. He plays the wisecracking wise guy and as the goombah antihero he is sensational. A real cutup he crows, “I’m no gangster – I’m a gagster.”
“Find Me Guilty” merges fiction and reality successfully. Vin Diesel’s “Jackie” entertains his jury and entertains us. He adds comedy to menace. In spite of profanity and scenes of violence, “Find Me Guilty” is interesting – especially watching the courtroom ritual. Most of the dialogue was taken from court transcripts, and is believable. I was entertained.
For starters, I had trouble pronouncing the name (the elevator operator at the Met tried to help me!). What boggles the mind is that a woman ruled Egypt as king. Someone asked, “Can a queen be a king, too?”
Amazingly, we’re talking about a woman who was often considered the first female head of state known to history. Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for two decades (especially amazing – we’re talking about B.C. – yes, 1479-1458 B.C.) and her impact on the history, culture and art of ancient Egypt is magnificent – though unsung.
When you enter the Met the first sight of Hatshepsut is in the museum’s Great Hall. A humongous sphinx of her sits pointing toward the information desk. It got me thinking, what is a sphinx? In ancient Egypt, a sphinx was a part-human, part-lion creature that sometimes included the body parts of other animals, too. Why were they made? They were guardians connected with both the king (pharaoh) – who was thought to have the power of a god – and other gods, especially the sun god. Sphinxes usually are found at temple sites, perhaps to protect them against intruders.
There is too much to see and describe for a single visit to this exhibition at the glorious Met. It includes many objects from the museum’s extensive holdings along with jewelry, pottery, furniture and other artifacts.
As more attention has been paid to the role of women in power, understanding the legacy of Hatshepsut has increased. If learning more about the woman who ruled Egypt as king – not queen – interests you, you have time to see this exhibition. It is on view through July 9.
June can be reached at intunejune@optonline.net.