Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: January 17, 2021
By: Laura Deni
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MARTIN LUTHER KING'S INFLUENCE ON STAR TREK'S CONTROVERSIAL KISS

William Shatner as Capt. Kirk and Nichelle Nicholsas Lt. Uhura kiss in Star Trek. Photo: NBC

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year. This year the event falls on January 18, 2021. King's birthday is January 15.

The play The Kiss by Gareth Rubin, directred by David Beck tells the behind the scenes story of the first interracial kiss on American television - one between Star Trek's William Shatner as Captain Kirk and Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura who defy orders from studio executives and become the first inter-racial couple to kiss on an American TV series.

Recorded live at The Pleasance King Dome (fluffs and all!) as part of the Wireless Theatre ‘Couples Who Changed The World’ season at Edinburgh Festival 2014.

Starring: Ishia Osbourne, Micheal Bodie, Adam Hall, Nina Millns, Brandon Carter.

In 1966, Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry decided to cast Nichelle Nichols to play Lieutenant Uhura, a translator and communications officer from the United States of Africa. In doing so, he made Nichols the first African-American woman to have a continuing co-starring role on television.

William Shatner who gained worldwide fame as Captain Kirk and Nichols conspired against NBC brass, and the show's director, have their characters kiss.

Nervous about how southern television viewers would react, NBC executives closely monitored the filming of the kiss between Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner.

On Nov. 22, 1968, an episode of Star Trek titled Plato’s Stepchildren broadcast the first interracial kiss on American television.

The word most frequently used to describe the episode’s plot is "bizarre": Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens compel Lieutenant Uhura and Captain Kirk to embrace. Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens lasciviously look on.

The smooch is fast and not even romantic. The kiss itself is obscured by the back of Nichols' head. But in 1968 to show a black woman kissing a white man was a daring move.

The episode aired just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision struck down state laws against interracial marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that fewer than 20 percent of Americans approved of such relationships.

After the first season of Star Trek concluded in 1967, Nichols considered quitting after being offered a role on Broadway. She had started her career as a singer in New York and dreamed of performing on a Broadway stage.

As Matthew Delmont, Professor of History, Arizona State University pointed out:

But at a NAACP fundraiser in Los Angeles, she ran into Martin Luther King Jr.

Nichols would later recount their interaction.

“You must not leave,” King told her. “You have opened a door that must not be allowed to close…you changed the face of television forever…For the first time, the world sees us as we should be seen, as equals, as intelligent people.”

King went on to say that he and his family were fans of the show; she was a “hero” to his children.

Unbeknown to many, the assignation of Dr. King played a pivotal role in the production of that famous - and controversial Star Trek kiss.

In this recording of The Kiss,the story of that smooch is told from the point of view of Shatner and Nichols.

As Shatner and Nichols - who is pondering returning to Broadway - discuss incorporating a kiss into the Star Trek dialogue, news breaks that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been shot.

Suddenly, a kiss takes on massive political proportions.

The actor's voices are convincing as Shatner and Nichols.

Extremely interesting use of actual portions of Dr. King's speech and scripted interjections from an NBC newswoman to delineate the scenes add importance and depth to the production.

King has been shot and riots are erupting.

The director needs to gain the network's kiss approval, which scotches any possibilities for an interracial kiss. The director informs Shatner and Nichols that he loves his job, his title, the ability to pay his children's tuition, medical premiums and house payments. He intends to keep his job. Re-writes have been done. He refers to the situation using a few Star Trek phrases which results in slap backs from Shatner, informing him he's been watching to many of the shows.

As an aside, until only a decade or so ago, Shatner openly thought people who were so wrapped up in Star Trek that they began living and breathing everything Star Trek should "get a life," as I heard him say on a television talk show. It wasn't until he discovered how profitable attending Star Trek conventions could be for creatives and performers that he began to embrace cos-play.

In this audio airing, filming begins on the re-written no-kiss scene.

Shatner deliberately blows every take.

In the meantime, rioting, looting and setting of fires engulfs the nation as protestors react to the death of MLK. Dr King's dream has gone up in flames as 10 cities are on fire.

The violence results in Nichols' character harboring two of the demonstrators - Katie who calls herself Aretha in honor of Aretha Franklin and Marcus who is injured. Their views on racism, violence and Black Power engulf The Kiss. By willingly engaging in an interracial kiss Aretha accuses Nichols of betraying her race - by giving herself to a white man.

Aretha aligns herself with the Black Panthers while Marcus is more middle of the road.

Shatner and Marcus verbally square off. Marcus calls Shatner Jew boy and Shatner lets it be known he doesn't cotton to that phrase. Marcus has a bit of the world-owes-him-a-living attitude. Live has afforded him several opportunities, which he has wasted.

Shatner points out that some people need help while others have done things that no longer give them the right to ask for help.

Shatner, a Canadian, attended college studying business/economics, played football and his first acting roles were as a trained Shakespearean actor. Law abiding, with the ability to reason well, Shatner doesn't believe in harboring criminals is a good idea. Getting the man who has been injured medical attention needs to transpire, but not aiding and abetting.

Along the way the perplexed director is fed up with Shatner ruining the production takes. It's pointed out that last season's ratings dropped and the series could be cancelled. The director threatens to again rewrite the scripts, this time doing it himself - and to solve the problem suggests that Spock should kiss Uhura since "no one cares a Goddamn about an alien kissing a black woman."

He's determined that a kiss-less episode will be filmed. Later he is exasperated when he discovers that in every scenes where Shatner doesn't kiss Nicol, he has crossed his eyes - making the scene unusable.

Eventually, the kiss happens.

Nichols later said that after that kiss was broadcast, the worst reaction they got was a letter from a man in the South which said Southern viewer, which said: “I am totally opposed to the mixing of the races. However, any time a red-blooded American boy like Captain Kirk gets a beautiful dame in his arms that looks like Uhura, he ain’t gonna fight it.” It’s quite sweet really.

So you have this radical act of people coming together, set against a backdrop of the assassination of Martin Luther King – a man who believed in peace and togetherness above all else. I thought it was an astonishing time and a fascinating subject for drama.” – Gareth Rubin.

Intriguing and captivating well told story about a historical entertainment and sociological event which changed television.

Available on Wireless Theatre Company.

Lighting and live SFX by Gareth Brown. Interesting live music written and perfomed by Jacky Fong.

Editing and post production by Malcolm Thorp.

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In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

THE ORIGINAL DALI MUSEUM opened in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1982 after community leaders rallied to bring A. Reynolds and Eleanor R. Morse’s extensive collection of Dalí works to the area. The Dalí’s stunning new building opened on January 11, 2011.

Designed by architect Yann Weymouth of HOK, it combines the rational with the fantastical: a simple rectangle with 18-inch thick hurricane-proof walls out of which erupts a large free-form geodesic glass bubble known as the “enigma.” The Enigma, which is made up of 1,062 triangular pieces of glass – each a slightly different dimension – stands 75 feet at its tallest point, a 21st century homage to the dome that adorns Dalí’s museum in Spain.

Official 10th anniversary celebrations included a procession of a 40-foot loaf of bread, paying homage to one of the greatest and most enduring symbols featured in Dalí’s works.

Inside, the Museum houses another unique architectural feature – a helical staircase – recalling Dalí’s obsession with spirals and the double helical shape of the DNA molecule.

The Dalí houses more than 2,400 Salvador Dalí works, originating from the Morses’ collection.

The Dalí Museum Store features the largest collection of Dalí-inspired merchandise in the world. Café Gala offers Spanish-themed light fare with both indoor and outdoor seating.

The Dalí Museum center for the Avant-garde is a unique resource for scholars, art professionals, collectors and students studying Salvador Dalí, Surrealism and the Avant-garde.

Avant-garden -On the waterfront of Tampa Bay, The Dalí’s garden creates a unique environment of learning and tranquility. The Mathematical Garden allows students to experience the relationship between math and nature, and a labyrinth in the southeast corner invites exploration and well-being.

The garden is inspired by Dalí’s fascination with the duality of art and nature and features sculpted stones that are a nod to Dalí’s homeland on the Costa Brava.

THE De YOUNG MUSEUM IN SAN FRANCISCO has issued their year end report. During 2020 they opened our museum doors to the public for 122 days.

During that time, we welcomed 262,664 of you on-site to enjoy internationally acclaimed exhibitions like Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983.

We displayed 1,549 loaned artworks and objects in our galleries, including a treasure trove of Frida Kahlo's personal belongings.

We had a total of 2,584 permanent collection works on view at the de Young and Legion of Honor, which range over 4,000 years of human history.

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SPREADING THE WORD

ENTERTAINERS FOR JOE BIDEN'S INAUGURATION have been announced. Lady Gaga will sign the national anthem at Joe Biden's presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol when Biden is sworn in as the nation's 46th president next Wednesday. Jennifer Lopez will give a musical performance. Other entertains include Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, and JonBon Jovi.

Other participants will include Leo J. O’Donovan, a Jesuit priest and former Georgetown University president who will lead the invocation, and Andrea Hall, the first Black woman to be named captain with the South Fulton Fire and Rescue Department in Georgia, who will lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

There will be a poetry reading from Amanda Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate, and the benediction will be given by the Rev. Silvester Beaman of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Del.

Tom Hanks will host a 90-minute primetime TV special celebrating the inauguration of Joe Biden as president of the United States.

MOME (NEW YORK MAYOR's OFFICE OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT) AND THE OFFICE OF NIGHTLIFE will present a Town Call for NYC Arts, Entertainment and Hospitality operators and businesses on Thursday, January 21, 2021. Representative from SBA-New York and SBS will provide the latest information about PPP loans and other assistance programs. Owners and operators of small theatres, live performance and music venues, dance clubs, comedy clubs, and bars and restaurants are encouraged to register at: bit.ly/janbusinesstowncall.

OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL and artEquity have announced the launch of Talking Back, a six-part digital series available both on O! and artEquity.org, hosted by artEquity founder and executive director, Carmen Morgan. Created and produced in collaboration with OSF’s director of equity, Sharifa Johka, "this breakthrough web series brings artEquity’s practice of facilitating hard and necessary conversations to a broader audience."

The collection of conversations captured in 2019, pre-Covid pandemic and in the months before the racial justice uprisings of the past year, reveals the growing movement for equity, diversity, and inclusion across the national regional theatre through conversations with today’s leading Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) artistic leaders. Through engagement with founding artistic directors, newly appointed leaders, and activists who have operated at all levels of leadership in arts organizations across the US, viewers learn what it takes to transform not just an institution, but an entire field.

Episode 1, BIPOC Theatres: Inherently Political, is now available to stream on O!, OSF’s digital platform and at artEquity.org. Join four leaders of BIPOC theatres as they discuss the rewards and challenges of helming their theatres in today’s social and political landscape. Artistic directors Wren T. Brown (Ebony Repertory Theatre), Julia Cho (Artists at Play), José Luis Valenzuela (Latino Theater Company), and Torange Yeghiazarian (Golden Thread Productions) talk candidly about what it takes to support their communities, attract audiences, find funding, and navigate the perilous landscape of partnering with traditionally white theatres and foundations.

Episode 2 - New BIPOC Leaders, New Leadership Models – Available on January 24 BIPOC artistic directors helming predominantly white institutions discuss balancing their new positions of power within organizations that continue to struggle with structural racism. Participants: Eric Ting, Hana Sharif, Jacob Padrón, Nataki Garrett.

Episode 3 - BIPOC Leaders Are Changing the Rules – Available on February 7 BIPOC leaders of color and BIPOC leaders of white institutions gather to discuss radical partnerships. Participants: Eric Ting, Hana Sharif, Jacob Padrón, José Luis Valenzuela, Julia Cho, Nataki Garrett, Torange Yeghiazarian, Wren T. Brown.

Episode 4 - BIPOC Fatigue – Available on February 21 BIPOC leaders in US theatre discuss the common stressors and fatigue experienced by BIPOC artists and administrators who work with and in predominantly white institutions. Participants: Gabriel Barrera, Leslie Ishii, Mica Cole, Seena Hodges.

Episode 5 - White Fragility/White Activism – Available on March 7 White leaders in US theatre discuss the challenge of white fragility and the responsibility of white people to demonstrate their antiracist values with actions. Participants: Merilee Barrera, Michael Robertson, SK Kerastas.

Episode 6 - Movement Building: Creating What Didn’t Exist – Available on March 21 Leaders across US theatre discuss their individual contributions to diversify the field. Participants: Dafina McMillan, David Stewart, Evren Odcikin, Rebecca Novick, Tirzah Tyler.

The full Talking Back digital series can be streamed for free.

THE 92Y SCHOOL OF MUSIC has announced new cabaret programming for 2021, led by award-winning cabaret historian and performer, Michael Kirk Lane.

CABARET CONVERSATIONS

Monday, January 25: Jinkx Monsoon - Kicking off the new year, Cabaret Conversations is joined by world-renowned performer and winner of season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Jinkx Monsoon. They are a 6-time MAC Award-nominee, winning in 2020 for Major Drag Artist. Their debut cabaret show, alongside performing partner Major Scales, The Vaudevillians, played over 100 performances at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick, before going on an international tour.

Monday, February 22: Telly Leung - Next on the hot seat, Broadway performer, recording artist, producer, and theater arts teacher, Telly Leung joins the conversation. His Broadway and national touring credits include Aladdin in Disney’s Aladdin, Rent (final Broadway company), Wicked (Boq, original Chicago Company), and television audiences will remember him as Wes the Warbler on Glee.

March 22: Lennie Watts & Amy Wolk - This duo features 16-time MAC, 5-time Backstage Bistro, and 3-time Nightlife Award-winner Lennie Watts and performer, writer, host, director, singer, and current President of MAC,Amy Wolk. Recognized as an outstanding vocalist, director, producer and booking manager,Lennie Watts has been active in the New York cabaret scene for 30 years and was recently named one of “The 50 Most Influential People in New York Cabaret” by Nightlife Exchange. 4-time MAC Award winner, Amy Wolk, was the recipient of the 2014 Bistro Award for Outstanding Musical Comedy for her show A Wolk on the Wild Side. Amy has won 2 MAC Awards for her cabaret performances, including the 2011 MAC for Musical Comedy, and the 2004 MAC Award for Best Female New York Debut for her show, Different for Girls. Her solo shows include A Wolk in Progress; We Can Wolk It Out, and Wolk This Way.

CABARET HISTORY AND GREAT PERFORMANCES

Tuesdays, 6-7 pm ET, February 2-25 - In four sessions, using video and audio recordings of influential performers throughout the decades – including Mabel Mercer, Bobby Short, Julie Wilson, Baby Jane Dexter, Nancy LaMott, and many more, the series will explore the history of the art form and where it is headed into the future.

CABARET PERFORMANCE: CONNECTING TO YOUR LYRIC

Begins Monday, January 25, 8-9:15 pm ET - This 8-week class will help performers of all levels find a new connection to interpreting lyrics in the cabaret performance style. Cabaret is a unique style of singing and musical performance that is known for its intimacy and the emphasis it places on the lyric. It is also an art form that allows performers of all levels to find a stage. Whether the audience is full of friends and family, or a room full of strangers, that audience becomes the performer’s silent scene partner. The performer’s own connection to and interpretation of the lyric, engages with the intimate audience. In this virtual class, students will bring in songs they are familiar with and work to find their unique and honest take on the lyrics and how to communicate their meaning and intention with an audience, whether in person or through a camera. The class will culminate with a live streamed performance.

Note: these programs all take place remotely. If you register, you will receive an email with details of how to access the program. As these are remote online classes, enrollment is open to participants worldwide.

MY RISE TO THE MIDDLE written and performed by Brad Zimmerman explores a man’s lifetime struggle to make it as an actor in New York City. In the tradition of his off-Broadway sensation My Son the Waiter, a Jewish Tragedy, "Brad’s comedic stories of his childhood, education, loooonnnnng tenure as a waiter, and of course his loving somewhat overbearing mother and his misbegotten love life all she’d light on how a career breakthrough in his mid 50’s made him one of the go to opening acts for comedy legends Joan Rivers and George Carlin. A very funny, very poignant and very easily identifiable story that will inspires as much as it entertains."

January 22 – 23 at 8pm Strictly limited, socially distanced audience performance. Masks must be worn the entire performance. Other COVID precautions will be in place. January 22-23 at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA.

THE FOUNTAIN THEATRE has received approval from the City of Los Angeles to install a temporary outdoor stage for the purpose of presenting live performances and other events during the pandemic.

“Pandemic permitting, we hope to open our first outdoor production by late spring or early summer,” says Fountain artistic director Stephen Sachs. “We’re planning an exciting Los Angeles premiere that dramatizes urgent social issues using the Fountain’s signature bold and theatrical approach.”

Installed in what is now the theater parking lot, the new performance area will be able to accommodate 50 to 84 audience members. It will feature seven rows of chairs, each six feet apart, as well as 12 high-top tables positioned six feet apart for use by patrons from the same “bubble” households. Every aspect of the outdoor performance area will meet COVID-19 safety guidelines.

For three decades, the Fountain has earned acclaim and admiration nationwide, been honored with more than 200 awards for artistic excellence and is a leader in the L.A. theater community. The organization is proud to count L.A. City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, and Mayor Eric Garcetti as supporters, reflecting the company’s successful history of partnering with City government. In addition to being a Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs grant recipient for decades, the Fountain launched a groundbreaking program that brings celebrity actors to L.A. City Hall to perform one-night free public readings in the City Council chambers.

EXTINCTION a new play by Australian playwright and newspaper columnist Hannie Rayson about the urgent need to combat man-made climate change to protect biodiversity. Martin Jarvis directs.

Sarah Drew, Seamus Dever, Joanne Whalley and Darren Richardson star in the L.A. Theatre Works state-of-the-art audio theater recording of Extinction.

In Extinction, a zoologist in Australia gets funding to save an endangered species from the very company that threatens its existence. Will this deal with the devil allow her to save the species, or will it destroy her entire life’s work?

Extinction is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series of science-themed plays, with lead funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.

The world's leading producer of audio theater, L.A. Theatre Works stands apart in its approach to making great theater widely accessible and affordable, bringing plays into homes and classrooms of millions of theater lovers, teachers and students each year. LATW’s syndicated radio theater series broadcasts weekly on public radio stations across the U.S. and daily in China on the Radio Beijing Network. The L.A. Theatre Works catalog of over 500 recorded plays is the largest archive of its kind in the world.

MUSIC HELPED GABBY GIFFORD REGAIN HER VOICE

Ten years ago this week then U.S. Rep Gabby Giffords was shot in the head. Music played a crucial role in helping her regain her speech according to an editorial in the Khalee Times penned by Philip E. Stieg Neurosurgeon-in-Chief of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and host of the podcast This Is Your Brain.

According to the editorial:

When Giffords woke up after the incident, she was partially paralysed and unable to speak. She understood what others said, which meant that her speech and language centres were not beyond repair. But how to retrain her brain to allow her to speak again?<,br>
Enter Maegan Morrow, a music therapist at TIRR Memorial Hermann, a rehabilitation hospital in Houston, where Giffords was transferred to be near her husband, former astronaut (now US Senator) Mark Kelly knew that the remarkable way music is processed in the brain allowed her to use it to help Giffords re-learn how to speak.

Unlike speech, which is concentrated in two highly specialized areas of the brain, music is processed by a much wider range of brain structures. Music involves so many of the senses — it’s an auditory experience, of course, but it also involves emotion, memory, rhythm, and language. Importantly for Giffords, lyrics are processed with those language centers in the left hemisphere but sounds and music are interpreted in the right hemisphere. The centrally located hippocampus controls memory, including song lyrics (which is why we sometimes have trouble coming up with a common word but can remember every line of the theme song from our high school prom).

Neuroscientists have long observed that many individuals with aphasia (meaning those who cannot speak) are remarkably able to sing songs even though they could not form those same words otherwise. Children who are speech delayed, patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and those with brain injuries like Giffords’s — all have been known to sing even if they cannot speak.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

THE LATINO THEATER COMPANY has entered into a contract with the City of Los Angeles to extend the terms of its agreement to manage the City-owned Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown L.A. for an additional 30 years.

Now in its 35th year, the Latino Theater Company has operated the Los Angeles Theatre Center since 2006, when it was first awarded a 20-year lease to provide an anchor schedule of first class theater, dance, musical and other live performing arts presentations, as well as educational programming, in the building’s five theater spaces. In addition to programming, the company has been responsible for all building maintenance and expenses.

In 2013, an amendment was added by the City recognizing the company’s first seven-and-one-half years of operation as “effective first-class theater center operations.”

Since then, the Latino Theater Company has remained steadfast in its dedication to provide a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future.

At the end of last year, the City of Los Angeles and the Latino Theater Company executed a second amendment to the agreement that cements the company’s tenancy at the LATC for an 30 additional years, through 2056, as considered and approved by the City Council in 2018.

“We are incredibly honored that the City continues to put its trust in the Latino Theater Company,” says artistic director José Luis Valenzuela. “We understand the responsibility this represents, and are thrilled to know we have a home and can continue our diverse cultural programming for the next three decades.”

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LIVING LIKE THE ONE PERCENTERS

PHYLLIS McGUIRE'S LAS VEGAS HOME

Phyllis McGuire's home seen through the bottom of the Eifffel Tower replica. Photo: Top Ten Real Estate

which has a 44-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower's base in the middle of the house, is up for sale.

Previously for sale in 2017 at $6.5 million, Phyllis’s home and her collection of art, jewelry, fine furniture and the glamorous costumes used in the sisters’ performances were exceptional. With the house not selling, she lived there until her death at age 89.

Phyllis enjoyed a life of glamour in her Las Vegas mansion which was built for her in 1967 by the boyfriend who succeeded her affair with mobster Sam Giancana: high-rolling-gambler and oil-man Edward “Tiger Mike” Davis. In addition to her wealthy boyfriends, Phyllis claimed to have made some good investments in the oil business and amassed a fortune in jewels, art, antiques, the mansion, valuable furnishings and an expensive lifestyle, which continued until her death. Married and divorced only once at a very young age, she had no children and never remarried.

Phyllis’s home is a 9 bed, 28,000-square-foot structure on 2.25 acres in the city’s upscale Rancho Circle neighborhood. Open floor-plan, ballrooms, plus numerous bars, sitting rooms and even a beauty salon. Palatial front room, Arc de Triomphe base replica, 45-ft. Eiffel Tower. Chandeliers from Bombay, French decor. Master suite, four room-sized closets. Two formal dining rooms, two chef's kitchens. Hand-carved statues, two swimming pools. Billiard room, tennis court, cafe, and garden. In addition the home has bulletproof windows, and electric shutters that close instantly at the touch of a button. There is also a guest mansion, a lagoon, and Phyllis’s Place with grill, ice cream bar and soda fountain. The public part of the interior is sectioned into the French Room, Oriental Room and downstairs Cabaret, all massive to hold hundreds of guests, which included the occasional sit-down dinner for 500 where Phyllis used her own china, crystal and silver. Many of the major stars of the 1960s partied there, a home away from home for them when in Las Vegas.

Phyllis McGuire was the last living member of The McGuire Sisters trio popular in the 1950s and 1960s. She died at her Las Vegas mansion at age 89 on December 29th.

The listing agent is Gene Northup of Synergy Sotheby’s International Realty, Las Vegas.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

FINAL OVATION

ED KRIEGER photographer noted for capturing performances in Los Angeles died December 16, 2020.

The Fountain Theatre will host “L.A. Theatre Pays Tribute to Ed Krieger,” a virtual memorial for longtime theater photographer Ed Krieger, on Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 2 p.m. PT.

“The Los Angeles theater community has lost a dear friend,” says Fountain artistic director Stephen Sachs. “For decades, through the lens of his camera, Ed chronicled the production history of local stages throughout Southern California.”

Born in Chicago, Krieger photographed the Southern California theater scene for more than 30 years. His production stills captured the essence of live performance at such venues as the Fountain Theatre, Skylight Theatre, Boston Court, El Portal, Laguna Playhouse, Rubicon Theatre, Downey Civic Light Opera, Ford Amphitheatre, Hollywood Bowl and many more. His images appeared in the Los Angeles Times; New York Times; Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.

American Theatre magazine highlighted Krieger in its 2015 feature on nationally recognized theater photographers.

The tribute is scheduled to run 90 minutes and will include a slideshow of Ed’s photos as well as live and pre-recorded testimonials by members of the L.A. theater community. The Fountain is requesting that organizations who worked with Ed each submit two of their favorite photos.

SIEGFRIED FISCHBACHER one half of Siegfried & Roy, the duo who astonished millions with illusions. died at his home in Las Vegas on January 13, 2021 from terminal pancreatic cancer. He was 81.

His show business partner, Roy Horn, died last year of complications from COVID-19 at a Las Vegas hospital.

In 1989 started a 14-year run at the Mirage that transformed the duo into a singular tourism draw. Their $30 million production at the hotel sold out nightly.

Fischbacher is survived by his sister Dolore Fischbacher, a nun in Munich, Germany, who spoke with her brother about 30 minutes before he died.

SHELDON ADELSON the longtime CEO and chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp., died Monday, January 12, 2021 at his home in Malibu, California, from complications related to the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was 87.

He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited, which operates The Venetian Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. He owned the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom, the Israeli weekly newspaper Makor Rishon, and the American daily newspaper the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

His burial took place in Jerusalem, Israel.

Adelson was a strong supporter of Jewish causes. In 2006, the Adelsons donated $25 million to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust shrine in Israel, marking the largest private donation in its history. The following year, the couple established the Adelson Family Foundation to “strengthen the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” according to its website. It gave more than $400 million to Birthright Israel, which finances free educational visits to Israel for Jewish teens and young adults. The foundation is believed to be the largest of all donors to Jewish and Israeli causes, giving about $200 million annually. He is survived by his second wife Dr. Mirian Adelson and 5 children.

PHILIP J. SMITH former chair and Co-CEO of The Shubert Organization died January 5, 2021. He was 89.

Beginning as a box office treasurer he enjoyed a 63-year career in the theatrical industry, rising to the top. He retired in June 2020.

In 2011, Smith was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in recognition of his contributions to the theater industry. "We may live in smartphones and iPads, but nothing will ever replace the magic of Broadway. I'm so proud to be a part of it," he said at the time.

When he was inducted in the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2015, Tony Award-winner Bernadette Peters was chosen to honor Smith. "It's no secret you have always been head-over-heels in love with Broadway. You share the excitement we all feel about putting on a show. You have a magic touch that makes all of us feel nurtured and protected," she wrote.

He is survived by his daughters, Linda and Jennifer.

Next Column: January 24, 2021
Copyright: January 17, 2021 All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary, Photographs or Graphics from any Broadway To Vegas (TM) columns may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, utilized as leads, or used in any manner without permission, compensation and/or credit.
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Laura Deni

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