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Amber Holley: When Hollywood Calls Morals Into Question: A Lesson From the Book of Jon

2009-11-07T20:17:30Z

Sometime last week, I stumbled across a short story describing a man who was being publicly accused of walking -- or, more accurately, sprinting -- down a path of indecency and inappropriateness that offended "social conventions or public morals." The man was specifically condemned for committing no less than three of the Seven Deadly Sins and then breaking a commandment or two, to boot. However, unlike a biblical allegory, there was no indication of the man's proposed countermove. No metaphorical slingshot. Thus, at the end of my read, I asked myself: WWJD?

In my story, though, the "J" stands for Jon. Gosselin, to be precise. And the controversy described above refers to a recent lawsuit filed by Discovery Talent Services, LLC, a talent agency which secures the services of individuals who appear in TLC's programming, against Gosselin and his loan-out company, JKIG Inc. Although the complaint alleges that Gosselin breached certain provisions of his contract with the agency by, among other things, making unauthorized television appearances, public statements, and press releases, the more interesting -- and, hence, blog-worthy -- part of the complaint is its statement that Gosselin was contractually obligated to refrain from "inappropriate conduct," including "acts of dishonesty or public intoxication, or other conduct that offend[s] 'social conventions or public morals or decency' or that [brings]...TLC 'into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule.'" According to Discovery Talent Services, any breach of this provision by Gosselin would be grounds for the agency to seek an injunction or restraining order, as well as indemnification for legal fees and other expenses. The discernible inference from the agency's pleading is that Gosselin violated this morals provision when, in the spring of 2009, "photographs of and stories about Defendant Gosselin at bars and nightclubs, apparently intoxicated and in the company of women other than his wife, began appearing regularly in various national and local media outlets and across the internet."

Gosselin is, of course, not the first person to have a morals clause embedded somewhere in his commercial agreement. After all, these restrictive provisions, which prohibit certain (typically unethical, criminal, or otherwise reprehensible) behavior in a person's private life and allow the enforcing party to terminate if the conduct is detrimental to that party's interests, have a long history in the entertainment industry. For example, morals clauses were employed by movie studios during the McCarthy Era in order for them to "lawfully" part ways from directors, producers, actors, etc. who allegedly espoused Communist beliefs. While a studio or other entity would find it next to impossible these days to rely on a morals clause to validly terminate someone based on his or her political views, morality-based terminations are still alive and well. Just ask Kate Moss, Chris Brown or Carrie Prejean.

So to answer the question "WWJD" when faced with a claim for breach of his morals clause, well, Gosselin might start by providing the court a primer on pop culture. Specifically, it seems to me that an obvious problem for Discovery Talent -- and, in my view, a key defense for Gosselin -- is that this conduct (i.e., boozing, womanizing) is insufficiently "amoral" so as to constitute a violation of the contract. Tellingly, we live in a day and age where Hollywood marriages last about as long as the time between scheduled oil changes, where hit TV shows include names like Hung, Weeds, and Californication, and where sex tapes are the launching pad, not the nail in the coffin, of one's "celebrity." Heck, no one even bats an eye at intoxication these days -- that is, unless it yields a sensational mug shot, difficulty eating a burger, or a racist, sexist and/or anti-Semitic tirade.

Second, Gosselin should avoid attacking the morals clause as impermissibly vague. This argument was a non-starter in a case involving an actor who, after being arrested for selling coke to an undercover cop, was fired from his television role pursuant to a morals clause. In rejecting the actor's contention that the contractual language was too ambiguous to constitute an enforceable standard, the Court stated that "[m]orals clauses have long been held valid and enforceable ... "

Finally, there is seemingly little evidence that Gosselin's behavior caused any harm to TLC. More than likely, the photos and rumors served to actually benefit the network. Just look at CBS, whose ratings aftermath following David Letterman's public disclosure of multiple sexual affairs with female staff members was decisively positive.

To be clear, I'm not advocating for Gosselin or condoning his post-Kate behavior. [For all I know, Gosselin wanted out of his contract and the late nights at the local watering hole presented a preferable alternative to posing for Playgirl.] What I am saying is that, absent unlawful conduct or a situation involving sex and/or nudity (or some racy combination of all these things), it is quite challenging for a company to justify termination of a contract under its morals clause. However regressed our mores might be from years past, I think most folks know amoral conduct when they see it, and sorry, Discovery Talent, this ain't it.

Kristi York Wooten: How David Hasselhoff Toppled the Berlin Wall: Music Memories From November, 1989

2009-11-07T20:05:00Z

One crisp autumn morning after a long night of Wildbrau beer and Spaetzle noodles, I awoke atop an Ikea bunk bed to find David Hasselhoff hovering over me, wearing nothing but his "Baywatch" bikini. I was disoriented. He was tan and hairy, with a smile the size of Stuttgart. When I leaned in to have a closer look, we bumped noses. Lucky for me, he was just a magazine pinup taped to the ceiling. (Darn the low clearance in these Hanseatic-era houses!) I heard a muffled giggle from the bunk below, then I remembered where I was: spending the weekend in Hamburg with a friend's family and her five younger siblings.

The Hasselhoff-on-the-ceiling prank was but one in a long line of pop-cultural awakenings I experienced in the fall of 1989 during my semester abroad in the land of eternal Oktoberfest. In those days, a still-divided Germany lay at the crux of tradition and tackiness. Sure, the West had the historic part down pat: Albrecht Durer's self-portrait in Munich's Alte Pinakothek and the Cologne Cathedral were proof plenty of that. Yet even if the East (where government-run TV and radio were stuck in the 1950s) was much worse off, the idea of "Knight Rider" as West Germany's top-selling singer and posterboy was hard to swallow.

On a certain level, it made sense. As revolutions multiplied across Eastern Europe -- and the globe -- the West German pop charts offered respite from the turmoil in the form of kooky confectionery such as "Swing the Mood" by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers or Kaoma's "Lambada." There was good stuff, too: inside the big-box retailer World of Music (WOM), I broke-in my new emergency-only American Express card with the Gipsy Kings' Mosaique, Paul McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt, Lisa Stansfield's Affection, and -- one of my favorite albums of all time -- Tears For Fears' The Seeds of Love. The latter, with its sweeping orchestrations and politely defiant lyrics, captured both the bombast of 1980s and the fragility of what Time magazine labeled "1989: The Year that Changed the World."

A little more than halfway through my semester in Germany, it was time for our group to visit The Wall. Armed only with our Sony Walkman cassette players, passports, and naivete, my classmates and I boarded a bus one frigid November night to make the trek from Munich to Berlin. The trip had been planned for months, yet none of us could have predicted that the East German government would collapse before we got there, or that we'd have our very own chance to chip away at history. We were just 19-year-old Yanks who'd been fed a steady diet of Rocky IV Cold War hype for years. So, who knew if some crazy version of Ivan Drago was waiting in the wings to push the big red nuke button the moment the first chisel hit the Wall?

We were, admittedly, a bit afraid. On that overnight ride, as we crossed borders and snowflakes lit the way, I took shelter behind my headphones and the soothing synths and lilting flugelhorn in Tears For Fears' end-of-the-world ballad, "Famous Last Words":

Hand in hand we'll do and die
Listening to the band that made us cry
We'll have nothing to lose
We'll have nothing to gain
Just to stay in this real life situation
For one last refrain

When we finally got to the Berlin Wall, we were relieved to witness a glorious, curious dichotomy. There were guards with machine guns and scary-looking military uniforms. There were street vendors selling everything from bootlegged Michael Jackson videos to sugar-coated almonds. On one side of the Brandenburg Gate, life had all the vibrancy and momentum of Keith Haring's famous dancing-figure murals; on the other, even the weather seemed consumed by a gray pall. Yet for all the beauty on both sides of Berlin's crumbling concrete divider, the artsy city that would later become the birthplace of U2's 1991 rock masterpiece Achtung Baby couldn't deny that, on this November day in 1989, its star was not the Wall, but rather the smorgasbord of sounds streaming through it.

We watched for hours as East Germans flowed into the West, lined up at banks for their "Begrussungsgeld" (welcome money), and left stores with bag after bag of electronics. It was liberation by boombox: Big-band swing. Brazilian samba. Bad ballads. As twilight fell, thousands queued up to go back to their homes in the East, satisfied that the battery-operated gadgets they now hoisted above their heads, John Cusack-style, would get them one step closer to the coveted Western lives they'd been missing.

We took photos. We hammered out our own pieces of the Wall. We celebrated with folks from East and West. At the end of the day, we were but tourists in the whole charade. Yet one American fit right in: David Hasselhoff. His "Looking for Freedom" may have been an unlikely anthem for such an auspicious moment in history, but I'll never forget its catchy refrain blaring proudly from every radio as we watched so many reunited Germans shoulder up their country's #1 song.

David Hasselhoff participated in the MTV Europe Music Awards on November 5, 2009 in Berlin.

Regina Weinreich: Remembering Tennessee Williams

2009-11-07T15:34:36Z

Playwright John Patrick Shanley referring to Tennessee Williams as a "gorgeous unstoppable beast," recounted an incident in a restaurant when he, a budding writer, maybe thirty feet away from the master dramatist, could not bring himself to say hello. Such is the power of "influence" that any person in theater would stand in awe of this writer of poetry, short stories and the extraordinary body of plays for which he is best known. Shanley was among two dozen speakers who paid tribute to Tennessee Williams at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on Thursday evening, themselves a Who's Who of American theater: Vanessa Redgrave who had originated the role of "Lady" in "Orpheus Descending" read from "Not About Nightingales," Marian Seldes who created the role of Blackie in "Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore," Sylvia Miles performed her role, Mrs. Wire, from the 1978 London production of "Vieux Carre." Tandy Cronyn presented a postcard Tennessee had sent her late mother Jessica Tandy, the original Blanche DuBois, from Italy, reveling in how Blanche would love Rome. Her father Hume Cronyn had been instrumental in keeping the young starving playwright alive, optioning his 9 one-acts. Eli Wallach performed a scene from one with his daughter Kathryn. Eli and Ann Jackson who was in the audience met doing that play. Olympia Dukakis read from "Milk Train," and John Guare read "As I stood in my room tonight." David Kaplan, curator of the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, read from an essay Tennessee had presented at the cavernous Saint John the Divine in 1971, "We are Dissenters Now:" protesting the Vietnam War; overall, Williams proclaimed, "love for humanity will prevail." On Sunday, Tennessee Williams will be inducted into the Poet's Corner, among Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, and other American literary giants, becoming the first poet/ playwright to be so honored

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Reality TV Weddings: The Touching Vs. The Terrible

2009-11-07T13:46:37Z

Khloe Kardashian's 2-hour wedding special airs Sunday night, even though she's not legally married. Khloe and Lamar Odom aren't the first real-life couple to exchange vows in front of rolling cameras, and they won't be the last. The question remains if the union will last, as some below split and others are still going strong.

You can see a preview of Khloe and Lamar's wedding, where the two share a wet tonguing at the altar, here.

What real TV wedding seen below was your favorite, and which left you with a bad taste in your mouth?

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Adam Duritz Told To Leave Karaoke Bar

2009-11-07T13:43:16Z

When the dreadlocked rocker entered McDonaugh's with his girlfriend, movie starlet Emmy Rossum, the excited crowd was primed to hear a real professional. And Duritz was willing to perform. But he was told to come back some other night.

Freida Pinto And Dev Patel 'Soul Mates': Director Danny Boyle

2009-11-07T13:37:23Z

"Slumdog Millionaire" beauty Freida Pinto is so in love with co-star Dev Patel, she snubbed a string of admirers in LA on Thursday night.

Rachel Lee, 19: Celebrity Burglar Bunch Mastermind

2009-11-07T12:48:11Z

LAS VEGAS — A 19-year-old woman was the driving force behind a youthful burglary ring that preyed on Hollywood's rich and famous, often brazenly walking into unlocked homes to make off with cash, jewels and family heirlooms, authorities said.

A suspect turned informant, Nicholas Prugo, told Los Angeles police detectives that Rachel Jungeon Lee spearheaded the break-ins, motivated by a desire to own the designer clothes and jewelry of such celebrities as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, according to a Las Vegas police search warrant obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

Prugo, 18, told police Lee would suggest a target, then Prugo would trawl the Internet for information about where they lived and when they would be away from home. Las Vegas police were involved because Lee lives there.

Officials said Lee was booked on a charge of possession of stolen property and released after posting $3,000 bail. Prosecutors in Los Angeles asked police to investigate her further.

Police say the Lee and Prugo were part of a group of at least six that stole from October 2008 until September.

After watching a house, they would break into poorly protected properties, often by simply walking through unlocked doors.

Prugo said they removed cash, narcotics and thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, including family heirlooms.

Acting on a tip, police arrested Prugo on Sept. 17. He initially refused to talk to police, but on Oct. 6, he and his attorney met with detectives and Prugo "provided a full confession, and implicated several other suspects," court documents state.

"Prugo admitted to committing all of the burglaries and that Rachel Lee was with him during the residential burglaries of the homes of Audrina Patridge, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and the Hilton family," the search warrant states. "Prugo stated that it was Lee who would suggest a target and that he would surf the Internet to learn where the celebrity lived as well as the target's travel itinerary."

Prugo said Lee wanted to "own the designer wardrobes of the Hollywood celebrities she admired."

There was no answer at a Las Vegas number listed for a Rachel Lee. No listing was available for Prugo, and police in Los Angeles and Las Vegas reached Saturday had no information on an attorney for either suspect.

Lee, Prugo and at least four others have been arrested in the case. The four others, most between the ages of 18 and 20, have been charged with felony burglary.

The search warrant states Prugo told police he and Lee broke into Hilton's house several times. At the Lohan house, the burglary crew gained entrance by prying open a window with a screwdriver, then swiped luggage, clothing and jewelry including a Rolex wristwatch with a blue face, Prugo told police.

He said expensive watches were also a target at Bloom's house, and several were stolen along with artwork and clothing.

A search of the Las Vegas home Lee shared with her father turned up a piece of paper with the names of her accomplices. Las Vegas Detective Ethan Grimes confirmed those people were the other subjects identified in the crime ring.

Police also found three photos of Paris Hilton, designer jeans, three computers, a Korean passport, 204 $100 bills and less than one ounce of marijuana when they arrested Lee at the home in northwest Las Vegas on Oct. 22, according to the warrants.

___

Watkins reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon and Andrew Dalton contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

Jennifer Lopez Sues Ex-Husband Over Tell-All Sexual Movie

2009-11-07T12:20:08Z

In the lawsuit, filed today in L.A. County Superior Court, JLo claims Ojani is planning to release a movie called "How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The JLo and Ojani Noa Story" -- which Lopez claims is a direct violation of a confidentiality agreement they signed a few years back.

Chris Brown Wishes Rihanna Had Remained Silent About Beating

2009-11-07T12:05:08Z

Chris Brown has heard what Rihanna has said about her beating -- and while he supports her right to speak out, he wishes she had kept quiet.

Jon Chattman: Bob Saget Means Well: A Huffington Post Interview

2009-11-07T00:20:20Z

Bob Saget is probably the only man alive who could pull off a fundraiser for a debilitating disease one night, and sing a tune like "My dog licked my balls" the next. In both capacities, he kills. It's all part of who the comedian is: a wonderful walking contradiction.

Saget's arguably best known to family audiences as fun-loving dad Danny Tanner on "Full House" and as the good-natured host on "America's Funniest Home Videos," but everyone knows by now that away from family-friendly TV and nut shots, he's one of the dirtiest comedians ever. On Monday, Nov. 9, the comedian will continue his split-personality street cred by dropping F-bombs and drawing laughter for a cause that hits close to home.

That evening, he will host the Schleroderma Research Foundation's "Cool Comedy -- Hot Cuisine" Fundraising Gala at Carolines on Broadway. The comedian will be joined by fellow funnymen Jeff Garlin, Seth Myers, and Colin Quinn as well as Dana Delany, James Smith, and the always-beautiful John Stamos.

The Scleroderma Research Foundation was founded in San Francisco in 1987 by scleroderma patient Sharon Monsky, who Saget befriended. Monsky lost her battle to the disease seven years ago. This marks the 20th year that the event will take place (there are three a year- for more on the event and disease, check out www.bobsaget.com), helping raise funds for medical research and improved therapies for the hard skin disease. "I've had friends I've lost, and my sister...it's a hard disease," Saget said earlier this week. "We want to help. A young lady who was at the event last year is gone already. 'Im sorry, I wish it were funnier."

It's not, but he is. After the fundraiser Monday, Saget is embarking on an all-new tour. I spoke to him about that as well as new television projects he's working on.

Geez, this is a serious interview.
Sorry, I'll turn it around.

Can you fart into the phone or something?
My farts don't make a sound. My friend Dave Coulier said a fart is nothing more than holding a piece of poop in your hand and blowing air across it. That's disgusting.

That is. I have to ask are you the same off stage as you are on?
Actually, I speak only in Polish. I change my entire personality. English is my third language.

Do you think there are still people out there who don't know you are the way you are on stage?
I think they have an idea now. I don't even think of myself as dirty. It's so funny. It's just because I was Danny Tanner, and it was like watching "Mrs. Doubtfire" for eight years. Then you look at the video show which is clearly a blooper show that puts people in your living rooms. It's just the shock of a guy you don't think is going to be there doing that. Now the shock is gone so now I just have to be funny. I think they've seen enough stuff whether it's being roasted on Comedy Central, my hour-long HBO special, or doing another "Entourage" [episode.]

Seeing your standup, and your "Entourage" appearances, I always envisioned you doing a more "Curb Your Enthusiasm"-type show centering on your specific comedic style...

You're dead-on to be honest. That's kind of the newest thing I'll be working on, which is just me. I'm 53, I go to therapy...I mean I was on the 'video' shows and 'Full House' that alone will put you on the couch. I hesitate to say I'm doing it. It's strictly a developmental embryo right now, but I want to have that voice and that dynamic of my life. How I have three daughters, and I want to date, and I work hard... I work hard to meet women and a lot of them are young. It's a strange mix. It's a schizophrenic existence: one minute it's almost a 'Full House' moment without the synthesizer strings coming in like I'm talking to my 16-year-old daughter for an hour then I do an improv show and sexy young girls go up to me afterwards are like "oh my god I grew up watching you...come here."

It's a very interesting thing and very fun to play. I've been courting this for years. I also have a new show on A&E that I'm very excited about. We shot it in the Ukraine, and it's a documentary-comedy. It's another outside-the-box kind of thing. It doesn't look like something I've done before. My energy is more real.

Did you say the Ukraine?
The A&E show is a really bizarre thing. The whole show is about subcultures. It's me in the Ukraine, talking to people. It's my Bill Maher/Michael Moore kind of thing but it's completely real. Each episode will be different.

I've spoken with several "Full House" castmembers throughout the years, and they all say you're all still tight like a family. Is this true?
It's really interesting. We all have different relationships with each other. You go through different ups and downs, but there isn't anybody I don't talk with. I mean I changed [Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's] diapers. I just changed one and put them on the other ones. I don't want to see that in print but you've got to do your work and I can't stop you from doing your work.

We hear you on "How I Met Your Mother" each week, can we ever expect you to be on the show?
It's a wonderful show. They don't know who the father is. They get cute with it. If I was Colby Smulders' husband on the show. If it turns out I was the reason she had a baby I'd like to do a scene with her where we actually do have sex with each other in the street.

Let's get to the stand-up itself. How do you switch it up night after night?
The new stuff I've been working on -- it's been a couple months. I know it'll evolve into something. I do change it up though. I become a chameleon for wherever I am. I don't censor myself but I don't want to force my sick-skewed version of world either. If I go off on a young guy in the audience telling him he shouldn't be doing anything physical with animals and I hear people gasp in horror, I'll probably [pauses] take a couple more shots at it and go away. I don't want to dive too much into the belly of beast though. My job is to entertain people. I really love making people laugh. It's a relationship I've been doing 35 years. It's a real thing, why not enjoy it?

Kim Morgan: Words From the Saint, Eva Marie

2009-11-07T00:19:25Z

In her first movie, she kissed Marlon Brando. And then she won an Oscar. How many actresses get that kind of a debut? But then, how many actresses are as wonderful as Eva Marie Saint? A performer (and woman) of elegance, vulnerability, charm, beauty, intelligence and great wit, Miss Saint remains, not just a movie star, but a real actor, one of the innovators. And she's still a powerful presence on screen.

A woman who has worked with talents ranging from Kazan to Wenders, Brando to Shepard, Preminger to Mulligan, Frankenheimer to Singer, Hope to Segal, Clift to Beatty, Grant to Grammar and then, a man named Hitchcock, Miss Saint has enjoyed sixty years of experience, and more to come. With the 50th Anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's suspense, action, sex-tastic classic North by Northwest, the funny, personable Miss Saint took the time to talk to me about her beautiful, brilliant career. And shopping with Hitchcock. Now that would be something.

Where do I start, Miss Saint?

"Take a deep breath..."

On North by Northwest remaining so timeless:

"When I think of North by Northwest as 50 years old, I just can't believe it. It seemed to me, 20 years ago. But 50 years ago is half a hundred! One reason it seems timeless: Hitch had this thing with not coming to work with what people were wearing at the time. He thought that it dated the movie. And at the time, we were wearing these dresses without any belts; I think we called them sheaths. I went to rehearsals, went to the studio that way. And he sent everybody home. I think it was the auction scene, and they scheduled that day for another shooting and another scene because it dated the film. He said, 'Come back with a more classic look, a suit, a sweater, a skirt.' Ladies were wearing trousers...so anything that I wore even the red dress or the black dress with the roses could be worn today. People ask me, 'Did you get that black dress?' I said, 'No. It's a little like maternity clothes -- once you get out of them, you don't want to go back, and I was in that dress a long time.' [There was hair and costume] but Hitchcock, he did oversee everything, of course. And the makeup, and the jewels and the shoes and the bags, and the dresses. I loved it! Because he had this idea about this sexy spy lady and it helped me compose my character and all of that. It's not only the internal, but the external always helps. Costumes are of such importance to an actor."

Working with Hitchcock:

"I'm not sure what he saw me in, where he saw me as a sexy spy. I don't know...well she's a human being first... I did a program a few years ago; they should have taped it or filmed it, and all the Hitchcock blondes were there, and Suzanne Pleshette too [from The Birds]. And all of us were on the stage taking questions and talking about him and our experience working with him. And everyone had a different story. I couldn't believe we were talking about the same man! And I remember in the middle of the discussion, saying to the audience: 'I really feel like we're all talking about the same husband -- and all of us are the different wives.' And you know, Tippi was very vulnerable at the time when she was shooting with him, but I was married. I had just given birth a few weeks back, it was my second child. I was very happily married, still am (I just had my 58th wedding anniversary last night). And so I was at a different place from the other actresses."

Shopping with Hitchcock, Vertigo style:

"I called him my sugar daddy. I did! I've never called anyone my sugar daddy, not even my husband. [Laughs]. He wasn't happy with some of the clothes they had given me [on the movie] so he took me to New York, took me to Bergdorf Goodman and we sat down and he had arranged some clothes he had seen and picked them out. The beautiful models came out and I'd say [in an excited hushed voice]: 'Oh I do like that black dress with the red roses!' And he'd say [imitates Hitchcock's famous voice]: 'Fine. Wrap it up in this case.' And that was the beginning of that famous dress. [Laughs] That was quite a shopping trip. I have never had it before and I have never had it since." [Laughs]

On working with so many different actors through the years:

"I'm from the Actor's Studio. You don't depend on anyone else but yourself and all the other actors you're working with. With On the Waterfront, the Kazan set was pretty much closed -- it was very quiet. He would whisper in your ear when he had a bit of direction which was very precise and just the perfect few words. You never heard him talk to other actors, he would whisper in their ears. But then I stepped on the Bob Hope set [for That Certain Feeling] and the first day we were filming, I saw a whole football team watching [laughs]. I mean, right on the set. I saw this out of the corner of my eye and sort of swallowed hard and thought, 'OK, this is going to be a challenge.' But it was fine! And the days we didn't have people watching, I missed the audience! But I went from Marlon to Bob Hope and that's what you're supposed to. You're supposed to work with different people, you're supposed to find what you like about them, what you don't like about them and just work with them. Now, with Cary Grant, it was hard to not find things to love about him."

So...working with Cary Grant:

"Whatever you think about him is correct. He was larger than life and beautiful and wonderful. And he was very, very kind and sweet. He himself said he created himself, he started in the circus! He created Cary Grant... Before he died, he was giving back. He was going around the country with his wife to little theaters and wonderful audiences would clamor to see him in person. He wasn't living somewhere on a hilltop, he was giving back. He was an amazing man."

Her famous ingénue debut as young Edie in Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront:

"I had done theater and mostly live television and again, I was from the Actor's Studio, so I wasn't intimidated. I was intimidated by making a movie because I had never made a movie. And I remember, my husband and I, we lived on 29th West 9th Street in the village, and as I was leaving, they were picking me up to go the set -- I was crying! Because I had never made a movie. It all seemed a little overwhelming. And my dear, sweet husband put his arms around me and said: 'Honey you're in good hands. Kazan is directing. Marlon is in it. You know all of these people. Lee Cobb, Karl Malden, Nicky [Nehemiah] Persoff, you know them, you've seen them at the Studio, you're going to have a wonderful time!' So by the time they opened the door and whisked me away to Hoboken, I was feeling really good about it all. My husband was absolutely right, and so the first day I felt very comfortable and had a wonderful time."

On winning an Oscar for her first movie role:

"Young actresses ask me 'Oh did you know that you were going to get an Oscar?' And I say, 'My god, you're just there to do a job and do the best you can and you don't think about those things!' And no one does."

That glove scene with Brando and how it remains of cinema's sexiest moments:

"I know, I know, I know! I could just see Marlon and hear him right now. The way Kazan worked, you were always rehearsing on set, so none of the actors were left to their own devices....we were always rehearsing in another room for the next scene up. And Kazan would be still filming a scene and when they were doing the lights, he would leave that scene and watch what we were working on for the next scene. It was a difficult scene. Why the girl from the Waterfront? Why the girl from the convent, the Catholic School and all that? Why would she stand there? Well, in the rehearsal, I dropped my glove. [Says slowly and delicately] Marlon picked up the glove, put it on his hand, started sort of fondling the glove, and it was very sensual. Edie had to get the glove, she had to go on her way, and so that sort of detained her. We could play the scene. We told Kazan how it happened and he loved it, and so he said 'Keep it in.'"

On Brando the actor:

"He was always in the moment, while rehearsing or on the set. We both were. And that's from the workings of the studio. It really is. [The glove scene], it showed what a brilliant actor Marlon was. Most actors would have picked it up in rehearsal, given it back to me and then we would have started from the beginning. He didn't do that. You just use all of these wonderful things that happen -- you don't disregard them. You don't take the straight line. He was one of the best actors we ever had. I don't know what happened. I think he was in wonderful spirits when we made the movie. And some people change, and things happen in your life, and I think he lost the joy of acting. I still have it. Even at my age, after all these years. But he seemed to lose it."

The great, under-seen movie, John Frankenheimer's All Fall Down:

"It's one of my favorites! And when people come up to and say 'Oh! Miss Saint. There's a movie...' And I always say, 'I know. All Fall Down.' Everything is timing in this business and I guess we had competition for bigger, more money making movies, whatever they were. And so it didn't get the publicity. But look at the cast! I mean Angela Lansbury, Karl Malden, Warren Beatty, Brandon DeWilde. Johnny Frankenheimer directed us in that (I also worked with him in Grand Prix), and it's such a dear, sweet movie. He was a very nice man, he died too early."

Montgomery Clift in Edward Dmytryk's Raintree County...his shyness, his eyes:

"He was very, very quiet. Except when we had the dialogue on the set. And I remember in one of the dressing rooms over at MGM (we all had our own dressing rooms) and so I invited him to lunch and to go over lines. And we were sitting there waiting for them to bring the lunch from the commissary. He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. It was very quiet. He was so shy. And I used to be shy....but I'm Episcopalian and Quaker and I can be shy. So we didn't say a word. I didn't get to know him. I didn't get to know anything about him. With someone at that time who was that painfully shy, I would fall right into being painfully shy too. And nowadays, if someone is shy, I try to help them and to bring them out. However, Elizabeth [Taylor] and Monty were very close, and they were such a beautiful team. She adored him, he adored her. If Elizabeth had been there for the lunch, it would have been a whole different situation. Although, when we were working, and I looked into his eyes, he looked a little frightened. Not from a scene, not from acting. But, as a person...maybe he had demons. His eyes. Haunted. I can see it in my mind's eye right now as we speak. Haunted. Maybe not troubles, maybe not demons, haunted is the word."

The notorious Otto Preminger:

"I only worked once with him in Exodus and that was a huge undertaking...all those people! Preminger did do an incredible job keeping it all together, and it was not easy because it was like 115 degrees. I have never been so hot. But he had a temper and it would come maybe once a day, so before it came people were a little nervous and then after the explosion, people were nervous. He never yelled at the stars (Paul, yes his eyes were that blue...). He would scream down at the extras if someone was doing something incorrectly, or not the way he liked. There were a lot of extras and many of them had been on the real Exodus and they said that that was easier than working with Preminger!" [Laughs]

Sam Shepard's tooth:

"Oh yes, I loved playing that lady [In Wim Wenders' Don't Come Knocking]. I met Sam and Wim and he said, 'Well do you want to do this?'And I said, Sam Shepard, I'm so happy but I don't feel like your mother!' He's so attractive. [Laughs] And one day at set, he was smiling and I said, 'Now about that tooth.' And he said, 'What about that tooth?' And I said, 'Oh come on! What do you mean about that tooth? That's the sexiest thing I've ever seen!' [Laughs] and it is! I said, 'Don't ever have that fixed!' He's a very interesting man."

How have movies changed?

"I don't want to sound cranky. Once in a while, there are some wonderful movies but I think the menu has changed. I loved Up. Look how brave they were to have a wife die. And the movie had so many qualities of real life, and yet it was funny and visually it was exciting. As far as dramas, you know once in a year, maybe there will be one or two that are really wonderful. But there's just so much violence. I don't know which comes first? Does the audience want the violence? Or do they accept the violence because that's what the studios want? It's the chicken and the egg. There's so much violence in the world now. You pick up the paper and you just shudder before you read the headlines. The violence. Our boys being killed. Oh my god almighty how awful that is! There's so much violence, why do people want to see that in movies? Especially when we're just trying to find a little peace?"

Watching movies as a girl:

"My parents loved going to the movies! When I was younger, every Saturday night that's what we did. I loved Charles Boyer and Ronald Colman, those were my heroes. But those were movies we could all go to. Now the world has changed, I know, and you can't go back..."

Words of wisdom based on her mentor:

"My mentor was Lillian Gish. We did The Trip to the Bountiful together, we did the play, that's where Kazan saw me and thought of me for On the Waterfront. Lillian, she never married, she loved my husband, and she loved my children. And when she was getting older and frailer, she said she was proud of me for handling a career and family and she was never able to do that. But she always looked ahead, she never looked back, she was never cranky about, 'Oh my God, it's not like it was in the silent movies!' That's why I say, I don't want to be pessimistic. Today is a beautiful day -- in California anyway."

Read more Kim Morgan at her site, Sunset Gun.

Fred Karger: Will NOM's Maggie Gallagher Fire Carrie Prejean?

2009-11-06T23:25:06Z

Californians Against Hate

November 5, 2009

Ms Maggie Gallagher
President
National Organization for Marriage
1100 H Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005

Dear Maggie:

Are you going to fire Carrie Prejean? Donald Trump did.

I was shocked and dismayed to hear yesterday that your lead spokeswoman, the "future of our movement, and the future of America*" according to you, has starred in a sex video, as reported by TMZ.

Carrie dropped her $1 million law suit yesterday against the Miss California USA Pageant, as soon as news of her sex video was exposed. She filed her law suit back in August claiming, of all things, "religious discrimination." Sound familiar?

Are you going to keep her as a paid consultant, Maggie? Are you going to keep her photo and that praise that you heap upon her all over your National Organization for Marriage (NOM) web site?

Does she still represent the true "family values" that you and your NOM Executive Director, Brian Brown espouse.

What does your high powered Board of Directors think? What does your largest backer, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) think of this scandal?

Carrie has been a big fund-raiser for NOM, a speaker, you've flown her all over the USA, you have even shared the stage with her, and now this news comes out.

I read that San Diego's own Charles LiMandri, who was your General Counsel on the Yes on Prop 8 campaign, is also Carrie's lawyer. Bet he was surprised to hear about that sex video, too. He usually has a lot to say, but yesterday only said that, "it's a confidential settlement, and he can't discuss it."

I feel sorry for Carrie. She is just a young woman trying to make something of her life.

It will be interesting to see how you handle this one, Maggie. Will you be a voice of reason and compassion, or will you toss her to the sharks?

I would hope that you will reflect on this moment in history.

Will you embrace someone whose life is so different from your beliefs? Or will you demonize, bully, rip apart and treat Carrie like someone who has less rights than you have.

Time will tell.

Sincerely,

Fred Karger
Founder
Californians Against Hate

* From Maggie Gallagher's September 18, 2009 introduction of Carrie Prejean, at Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council sponsored Voters Value Summit in Washington, DC.

Stephanie Seymour Gets Naked In Vanity Fair (PHOTOS)

2009-11-06T23:20:22Z

Supermodel Stephanie Seymour, who is embroiled in a bitter divorce with estranged husband Peter Brant, has taken her clothes off for Vanity Fair.

Brant is a multimillionaire businessman and polo pony breeder who is seeking sole custody of the couple's three children because, he claims, Seymour is hooked on drugs and booze and has repeatedly cheated on pee tests to hide it. He also claims his estranged wife's shopping habit costs $257,000 a month.

Seymour, 41, accuses Brant of trying to turn their children against her and ordering the domestic staff to keep her away from them. Also, there is a dispute over a Maurizio Cattelan bust of Seymour said to resemble either a hunting trophy or the figurehead on a ship's bow.

Is getting naked the best revenge? Here is one photo and you can see more and read the Vanity Fair story here.

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Tasha Gordon-Solmon: Melrose Place: Episode 8 Recap and a Fond Farewell

2009-11-06T22:58:20Z

Over the past couple weeks, Melrose Place took a mini hiatus and so did I. Ashlee Simpson and Auggie's (Colin Egg-something if you care) imminent departure from the show has been tough on us all. I cried in my room for days, just listening to Ashlee Simpson music like--um, you know, that song she sings? Uh... Right. Anyway, after a few days of that, I decided to take action. I got in my car, drove all night to LA, and arrived at Ashlee's house at midnight in the pouring rain. I banged on the door and held a boom box over my head until she finally came outside.

"Come back to Melrose place!" I sobbed, "We need you to come back!"
"Give me one good reason!" she replied.
"I'll have no one to make fun of in my blog. It will feel so empty!"

Well, apparently that was not the reason Ash was looking for, and the whole thing ended with my driving back to New York, singing along to "Free Falling" at the top of my lungs. Or maybe it was Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA," I can't remember.

Anyway, somewhere along my drive (perhaps as Miley's DJ was going to make it all okay) I realized that the life of a series is never certain. We can't know when cast members will be fired or shows will be canceled after 2 episodes (may The Beautiful Life rest in peace). And for now, Melrose Place is still alive. David will keep searching for a storyline, Ella will keep trotting along in her pink power suits, Dr. Dirty will keep having sex for money...and that's really all anyone can hope for, right?

So, with new found peace and optimism, I bring you this week's episode recap.

Jonah and Riley Make Me Want to Claw My Eyes Out: A Love Story
Hot on the heels of finding out Riley kissed Auggie, Jonah is out with a film development exec-- who also happens to be gorgeous, sexy and possibly his soul mate. (You like movies? I like movies! We both like movies! Romance!)

Jonah tells a hilarious story about a doberman and Sexy Film Exec kisses him...and he kisses back! But then he tells her he's engaged. The next morning Jonah and Riley wake up and Riley wants to know where we went the night before. Suddenly, Jonah gets a text from his business partner whom we've never heard of before. Slacker Business Partner is bailing on the wedding Jonah's filming that day and Jonah is screwed. But wait - Riley offers to help.

As they set up for the wedding, Riley keeps trying to talk to Jonah, she can tell something's wrong but he won't tell her. So instead, they argue about whether a DJ or a band is better.

During the wedding, the couple's vows are all about honesty and it inspires Jonah to tell Riley the truth about Sexy Film Exec. Jonah gets all moral because at least he felt compelled to tell her the truth - as opposed to how she hid the Auggie kiss. Riley apologizes again, and Jonah storms off, "I've got a reception to shoot..."

After the wedding, Riley shows up at Auggie's restaurant and tells him they can't be friends anymore because it's ruining her relationship. She goes home and tells Jonah, hoping it will make things better. Jonah's like: whatever I have to go meet my sexy development exec. It's my job.

Riley is all upset: she just broke up with one of her closest friends to show Jonah how much he mattered to her! What is happening to them? How can she save their relationship? Jonah wishes he could erase everything that's happened, but he can't. Riley wonders aloud: where do we go from here? They silently look over the balcony, and then Jonah walks away. Eyeballs. Fingernails. Go.

Ella and Dr. Dirty Go Moral
After weeks of Lauren leaving late and coming back early, Ella suddenly has the insight to ask where she's going, all dressed up, night after night but Dr. Dirty blows her off.

At work the next day, Ella's boss tells her their biggest boy wonder client has OD'ed and is in the hospital. Damage control time! No one can know! Luckily he's at ULA, the fictional hospital where her roommate works. Ella asks Lauren to tamper with hospital records so they say Boy Wonder just had allergic reaction. Lauren's like, that's wrong and immoral. Ella even offers her a thousand dollars but Lauren still won't. Back at work, Ella's boss tells her to offer Lauren much, much more.

Ella goes home to find Lauren, looks in her closet (just to check if she's hiding under the shoe rack) and finds expensive lingerie and an envelope full of $100 bills. Just then Lauren comes home and Ella confronts her with a Pretty Woman reference. Lauren is all denial, "It's from my dad....I won it playing poker." Ella then offers Lauren $50,000--she could pay for school on her own--but Lauren won't. Her career comes first and she won't compromise her doctor-in-training ethics.

When Ella tells her boss Lauren is a no-go, Caleb suggests she find dirt on her friend and bribe her. But Ella says no. She has a brilliant PR idea: the truth! They let boy wonder come clean, he gets to go to rehab and then "the baby-faced tweeny-bopper turns into a leading man."

PR crisis averted, Ella goes home to apologize to Lauren. She promises not to bring up the occupation that-shall-not-be-mentioned-again, but lets Lauren know she's always there to listen. Lauren hesitates but then says there's nothing to talk about. Everything is fine and happy again.... on the outside.

David Cries Twice in This Episode
David's busy making out with a lady in the Melrose courtyard, with lots of awkward camera-close-up tongue, when that pesky detective shows up and salts his game! This week, he wants David to rat out Ella and admit they had no alibi.

Cue Flashback 1! (No, we're still not done with these.) David cries at his mom's grave, sobbing lines that are too embarrassing to even quote. Sydney shows up out of the blue and is all nice to him. They exchange names and decide to get breakfast. Cut to: some slow motion sex to dramatic music.

Back to the present. The detective tells David that if he doesn't rat out Ella, he'll look into how David is living his trust-fund lifestyle- even thought he hasn't been getting any
deposits in his bank account. (Ie: he'll find out about David's high class burglary habit.)

David goes to Ella's office and tells her the detective told him how she was with the PI that night. Why did she lie to David about sleeping with a high profile client, what's the deal? Ella tells him she thinks the PI did it, and that would make her an accomplice. David tells Ella the PI didn't kill Sydney, he thinks he might have. He blacked out that night, and he was so angry....

Flashback 2! David and Sydney are fighting the night of her murder. David: I was in love with you! You just used me to get back at my father! You're a pathetic whore! Flashback three: David wakes up in Sydney's bed with a bloody knife in his hand. How did that get there? Naturally, he goes to bury it in a landfill.

Back to the present: David runs to the landfill and stars digging furiously for the murder weapon. How did it disappear? How did David know the exact spot where he buried it months ago? Why did he know it was gone after only digging one hold is the middle of a huge lot?

At the detective station, someone comes in and is like, "Hey look, some construction worker just turned in this bloody knife to us!" Back at the graveyard, David cries over a grave, just like when he first met Sydney. Only this time, it's Sydney's grave.

Ashlee and Auggie: The Long Goodbye Begins
I do like how Ash and Aug's storylines have been paired together lately, so one day in January, their D story will get so small, it'll just disappear into the ether.

At the restaurant, Auggie is experimenting with a new dish. Ashlee gives it to head chef Marcello to try--Auggie wants to get his recipe on the new menu--and Marcello shuts it down. But later, Marcello pitches Auggie's dish to the big boss, and passes it off as his own--right in front of Auggie! Ashlee is furious (or I think that's what her vaguely perplexed look is supposed to mean) about the "cooking-plagiarism!" Auggie tells her there's a hierarchy, and there's nothing he can do if he ever wants to move up in the restaurant.

Then, Riley shows up to have the friend break-up and when she leaves, Marcello keeps saying salacious things about her tush. Ashlee- sorry "Violet" - stands there like an idiot.

Later, Ash-let (Ooh! New nickname!) shows up at his apartment and he answers the door topless. Glistening and topless. Ashlet brought those knives that he left at the restaurant (possible origin of the murder weapon much?) and is like: screw the restaurant for firing you, they're stupid! (...just like the CW! I hate them! I HATE! I mean...uh....the "restaurant" Auggie, I meant the restaurant.)

Auggie is worried; how could he have just lose control like that? He beat up his boss! (And is possibly a murderer). Before they inevitably make out (he's topless, she's got a case of knives, what else are they gonna do?) Ashlee sees a boo-boo from the fight and asks Auggie, "Does it hurt?" Yes Ashlee, it hurts.

Scott Mendelson: HuffPost Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

2009-11-06T22:28:52Z

The Men Who Stare At Goats
2009
90 minutes
Rated R

The Men Who Stare at Goats is a miserable misfire, completely draining any and all life from the rather astounding narrative that it is trying to tell. I have no idea if the stories contained are true, and that frankly shouldn't matter. The movie fails as a vehicle to uncover true life conspiracy of the zaniest order. It also fails as a tale of absurdest comic fiction. It is a flat and often dull drudge of a film, a low-water mark for most involved (it's George Clooney's worst film ever, yes worse than Batman & Robin). The film is so bad that it may in fact be a conspiracy, a concerted effort to nullify the truth of Jon Ronson's tale by trapping it in a film that will teach us little and entertain few. After all, as Lex Luthor famously said in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Strikes Back, "Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing; especially when no one is listening."

A token amount of plot - Based on an allegedly non-fiction book by Ronson, this is a tale of the fabled 'New Earth' US Army battalion, founded in the early '80s to create warrior monks/super soldiers. Journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is attempting to prove his manhood and save his crumbling marriage by losing himself in the drama of the Iraq war. Stuck in Kuwait, he stumbles upon Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who claims to be a former member of a pioneering Special Forces unit of psychic soldiers who were training in order to acquire literal super powers and end armed conflict the world over. Through flashbacks, we see how the unit was founded by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) and then corrupted and destroyed from within by the devious Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey).

The idea that the US government would attempt to turn its fighting forces into the equivalent of the Justice League (with the powers of invisibility, walking through walls, telepathy, etc.) is an amusing one. But the film itself gives only tiny, fragmented details of how this program actually operated and what skills they attempted to acquire. The present-day narrative is completely pointless to the eventual story and we keep wanting to return to the past, which is where the far more worthwhile storytelling is being conducted. But even there, the film is crippled by the stilted, overly expository voice-over from Ewan McGregor. While McGregor gives one of his worst performances, he is not helped by the voice-over dialogue, which is easily the worst of its kind since James McAvoy spelled it all out for us over and over again in Wanted.

The rest of the acting is adequate, but Bridges and Spacey are constrained by the archetypes that they represent, which is in itself the film's cleverest gimmick. While Clooney immediately refers to himself as a Jedi, we realize about 2/3 of the way through the picture that the film is literally following the story arc of the first four Star Wars films. Imagine if A New Hope was interspersed with flashbacks from Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, and you'll have a general idea of how the movie plays out. To a certain extent, the film uses the Star Wars angle to contrast the hippie generation and their peaceful ideals with more hawkish 'dark side' that eventually corrupted the 'New Earth' work. The irony of having the former Ben Kenobi portraying a variation on Luke Skywalker is not lost on me, but it does not excuse the otherwise fatal miscasting.

Still, while I concede that the film eventually has something to say, it's a heck of a long slog through those first 70-minutes to get to the final reel. Even with the amusing gimmick and the last act that rather shockingly ties the story into modern-day history and politics, the film is undone still by an obnoxious and inexplicable final scene. But the film's biggest sin is that it really doesn't teach us anything about this legendary experiment in peaceful war-making and it is so lacking in basic entertainment that most moviegoers will be reluctant to learn more. The film eventually takes note of a stark reality of modern journalism, that the media often does not hide the truth so much as deliver it in a fashion that will cause everyone to lose interest. Oddly enough, The Men Who Stared At Goats is a shining example of just that kind of cover-up. Like Spacey's equally odious anti-capital punishment thriller The Life of David Gale, Clooney's latest vehicle is a leftist political film that is so bungled that one wonders if its creation was a right-wing conspiracy.

Grade: D+