The annual dog and pony show that trots box office stars has completed another successful
presentation to the industry that wields make or break power - the theater owners.
JIM CARREY referring to his Oscar shut
out said "F--- the Academy."
Jim Carrey was named Male Star of the Year. He accepted his award by playing a bogus
answering machine recording that informs the caller "F--- the Academy!" referring to the shut out
Carrey received for his portrayal of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon.
Carrey, whose life has been riddled with anger and humor, was cuddling up to his current
significant other Renee Zellweger. They fell in love during production of Irene, although
things didn't take a turn for the serious until Halloween when Renee had a pumpkin carving party.
ANNETTE BENING about to give birth any day now
blamed her husband Warren Beaty for her outward appearance
A very pregnant Annette Bening attended and looking radiant assured those who were concerned that she hadn't
flown commercial coach, but received the star treatment on the company's private jet. Since the
flight was only 47 minutes each way her physicians had approved the trip. The wife of Warren
Beaty took home the Female Star of the Year Award. In accepting her award she thanked her
husband "who's responsible for not only the shape I'm in on the outside but for helping me to
enjoy and celebrate these kinds of moments."
Also in a birthing mood was Ving Rhames who announced that his girlfriend, Debra, was going to
make him a father in six months.
DREW BARRYMORE says great-grandfather John
watches over her.
Drew Barrymore was celebrating her Comedy Star of the Year Award. The lass who has had a
troubled past, referred to her great-grandfather John Barrymore, saying "He looks over me. I
really think he's happy."
The actress looked relaxed and happy with her new guy, actor Tom Green. She said what
attracted her to him was his "gift of laughter."
Matt Damon was pitching his new movie and Arnold Schwarzenegger took time off from his
current production, The Sixth Day flying in from Canada to promote The Sixth
Day.
VING RHAMES announced he is going to become a
father
Muhammad Ali attended proving that he was still able to verbally spar with the best of them. The
three-time world heavyweight boxing champion, who used to live in Las Vegas when he was
Cassius Clay, had a few sassy thoughts on Will Smith portraying him in the new autobiographical
movie Ali which will be made this year.
"He can't fit my shoes - or my boxing gloves,"
quipped Ali.
It wasn't all a star parade. Serious business was discussed. New Line Cinema announced it was
returning to what made it famous - urban appeal comedy and mayhem.
The Time-Warner studio
showing no less than 17 lengthy clips from as many pictures while parading around Adam Sandler, Harvey
Keitel, Patricia Arquette, Jimmy Smits and that Austin Powers 1 Mini-Me, Verne
Troyer.
MUHAMMAD ALI may not be able to "float like a
butterfly," but he can verbally still "sting like a bee."
Expect online movie ticket sales to skyrocket by Memorial Day.
Movie theater owners
including chains Loews, Regal, Cinemark, General Cinema, Edwards and Century have
determined that the Internet is how to sell tickets.
A popular seminar was Marketing
Movies and Moviegoing On Line.
Another hot topic was digital cinema including seminars and daily cinema digital
demonstration.
Even though the cost is awesome - even by Hollywood standards - costing about $4 billion
just to
install digital systems in this country's 37,000 cinema screens, the advancement is
touted as the
only way to go.
The bottom line was; If it isn't digital - don't do it.
Chicago tints their river green and the New York cops dip their Irish wolf hounds in green
food color, then strut them in the St. Patrick's Day parade. Even the Empire State Building has an
Irish history. Ex-governor of New York, Alfred E. Smith, an Irish-America of legendary
magnetism was as president of Empire State, Incorporated, the highly glamorous front man for
the construction of this world famous tower. Construction was set to begin but Smith requested
that requested that the ironworkers, who were ready to set steel on March 8, delay the start until
St. Patrick's Day, in honor of the mayor's Irish heritage
ST. PATRICK
St. Patrick is the missionary credited with converting the Irish to Christianity. However, his real
name was Maewyn Succat who picked up the Patrick moniker when he became a priest. Born in
373 A.B. he wasn't Irish but either Scottish or of Roman British lineage -the Romans left Britain
in 410A.D. Far from being a saint, until he was 16, he considered himself a pagan. At that age,
he was sold into slavery by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. During his
captivity, he became closer to God. After escaping he went to Gaul where he studied in the
monastery. He almost didn't get the job of bishop of Ireland because he didn't exactly ace his
exams.
No matter the background or intelligence, the gent is the man behind a holiday that causes
everyone to become Irish once a year.
In America the first St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in Boston in 1737. This year in Boston the
Irish Tenors will perform at Boston's Fleet Center
Maybe it's been too many centuries of too much green beer, but Patrick carries with him a
truckload of fokelore baggage. It's said that Patrick raised people from the dead. He also is
credited with giving a sermon from a hilltop that drove the snakes from Ireland. He's the one
who put the shamrock on the fast track to fame, by using it to illustrate the Trinity.
TOO MUCH CELEBRATING Photo By: Laura
Deni
The United States boasts three cities named Shamrock. They're in Florida, Texas and
Oklahoma, whose Shamrock once boasted 12,000 during the 1915 oil boom. That has shrunk to
149 but on St. Pat's Day they all turn green with enthusiasm hosting everything from a parade to a
freckle contest.
Shamrock, Texas puts out a tall Texas tale that has enough blarney in it to make the place seem
authentic. If you believe the spiel, in 1898 a secret decree was issued by a representative of St.
Patrick himself, stating that a spot in Texas should prosper and be called Shamrock and that a
great piece of the Blarney Stone be planted there. That mystical stone kept appearing and
disappearing so many times it was enough to tire out even the most diligent leprechaun. The stone
was finally recovered, cleaned off and is used as a cornerstone in The Irish Village in Shamrock.
The town has a delightful gazebo in the middle of the square, in among murals painted on all the
surrounding buildings.
THE IRISH VILLAGE in Shamrock,
Texas.
In 1959 another piece of the Blarney Stone was brought over from Ireland, placed in Elmore
Park, so that all may kiss the stone for good fortune and the "gift of gab."
Shamrock's biggest day of the year is - of course - St. Pat's Day which causes the entire town to
celebrate in their annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration which this year is March 17-19.
St Patrick, Mo. Is the only place in America that has a post office for the saint. The entire town
celebrates and a cottage industry has taken root mailing St. Patrick's Day cards in designated
envelopes from the Shrine of St. Patrick that includes a stamp, special post mark and a shamrock
cachet designed by Fr. Francis O'Duignan in 1936.
Church volunteers address the envelopes, write the senders return address, sign the cards with the
person's name and mail them. Any day between March 17 and March 30 can be placed on the
special postmark and mailed that day. Only about $1.20 each. Send orders to: Shrine of St.
Patrick
Box 34, St. Patrick, MO 63466 or call (660)754-6028
The town's Shrine of St. Patrick, fashioned after St. Patrick's Memorial Church of Four Masters
in Denegal, Ireland recalls in motif and design the Golden Age of Celtic Christianity in the round
tower belfrey which may be the only one America, the semicircular recessed doorway, the central
rose window and the Celtic crosses - plus 37 stained glass windows - all made in
Dublin.
And if anyone forgets St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City they will probably be struck by
lightening. Kicking up their heels in New York City is Riverdance at the Gershwin
Theatre. The production with an international cast of 80, has original music and lyrics by Bill
Whelan and stars world champion Irish dancers Pat Roddy and Eileen Martin.
COOL CAT WITH A HOT HORN
He was a cool cat with a hot horn. Louis Armstrong infused the musical bloodstream with a
treble that expressed America's emotion. The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, led by Jon Faddis, salutes
this musical icon with Louis Armstrong: One Hundred Years on March 16, Carnegie Hall, New
York City.
LOUIS SATCHMO ARMSTRONG
The man beloved as Satchmo spent his entire life thinking he was born in 1900. Twelve years after
his death it was discovered he was really born on August 4, 1901.What has never been disputed
is that he came into this world on the poor side of New Orleans to Mayanne and
William Armstrong, who congratulated his wife on the birth of their son by deserting the
family.
Grandmother Josephine Armstrong came to the rescue, taking in the infant, raising Louis until he
was five. He returned to live with his mother and sister Beatrice "Mama Lucy." They existed in
stark poverty in a two-room house in Jane Alley.
His first foray into the world of performing came at age six when Louis and three of his friends
formed a quartet singing on street corners for tips. The Karnofskys, a family of Russian Jewish
immigrants who owned a junk yard hired Louis to work on their junk wagon. Impressed with his
interest in music the Karnofskys loaned him the money he used to purchase his first
cornet.
The hard working kid was surviving until he got carried away with celebrating New Year's Eve,
that December 31, 1912. The eleven-year-old fired a pistol into the air to welcome in the New
Year. His action was seen by a police office who arrested the lad. The following day Louis was
sent to the Jones Home for Colored Waif's, where he remained until June 16, 1914.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG at Waif
House
During his Waif stay band director Peter Davis saw the budding talent and offered Louis music
lessons.
After release from the home Louis delivered coal and sold newspapers to support himself his
mother and his sister. Joe Oliver, one of the finest trumpet players in New Orleans tutored
Armstrong. Soon Louis was getting gigs on the honkey tonk circuit. He palled around with the
prostitutes that frequented the place and in 1919 he also married one, Daisy Parker.
His reputation began to flourish and in 1922 he divorced Daisy and moved to Chicago to join
Oliver's band - now called The King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. Along with way he fell in love
with the group's piano player, Lil Hardin, whom he married in February of 1924.
Two years later they moved to New York where Armstrong joined the Fletcher Henderson
Orchestra and began recording with blues singers including Sipple Wallace, and Clara
Smith.
In reflecting back on her husband's Hot Five recordings, Lil Harden Armstrong had said:
"We had no idea in the beginning that jazz was going to be that important, that someday people
would want to know how we got started, what we did, what records we made, and it's amusing
to read in books people telling why we did this. I'm glad they know, because we didn't."
He may not have known what drove him but Louis was anxious to front his own band and in 1925
stepped out into the main spotlight. He also met the man that would become his best friend -
and years later manager him - Joe Glaser.
ARMSTRONG with his HOT FIVE
Armstrong made his Broadway bow in 1929 appearing in Hot Chocolate. Within another
two years his marriage to Hardin ended and Armstrong appeared in his first film. 1931 was also
the year that Armstrong recorded what would become his signature song, When It's
Sleepytime
Down South.
On June 28, 1928 he recorded West End Blues which has gone down in history as one of
the most famous recordings in early jazz.
In 1931 Armstrong headed towards Europe where he became the toast of the continent. Over
10,000 people greeted him at the railway station in Denmark. Enjoying the first class treatment
that was denied him in segregated America, for most of 1934 Louis called Paris home.
In 1935 he returned home and Glaser became his manager, a position that he would hold until his
death.
His portrait of a bandleader in the 1936 motion picture Pennies From Heaven with Bing
Crosby earned him an even bigger following. But what skyrocketed him into the musical
stratosphere was his recording of Swing That Music in which he hit 42 high C's followed
by a high E Flat.
Satchmo had climbed the mountain and the view was now his.
If his professional life was hitting the high notes his personal life was in a minor chord. In
October, 1928 he married Alpha Smith, a union which quickly ended. In October, 1942 he tried
the wedded state for the fourth time to Lucille Wilson. That union would remain intact for the
remainder of his life.
In 1955 he recorded Mack The Knife for Columbia Records. The following year he was
reunited on film with Bing Crosby in High Society which also starred Frank Sinatra,
Grace Kelly and Celeste Holm
LOUIS ARMSTRONG backs ROBERT MERRILL in Las Vegas
at the Sands Hotel with the famed Copa Girls in the show's finale. Sophisticated opera star Merrill
singing Honeysuckle Rose while Satchmo wails on the trumpet. The year was
1954.
Armstrong first appeared in Las Vegas in 1954 in a show called High Hat and Low Down.
The presentation was considered a coup for the Sands hotel. In a cutting edge booking,
Metropolitan Opera star Robert Merrill and Armstrong co-starred in a two-week gig.
Ten years later the boy born into abject poverty in New Orleans was given the key to that
city.
He made his first tour of Africa performing before 10,000 at the polo grounds in Accra. Even
Edward R Murrow made a documentary on the entertainer Satchmo the Great. By the
following year the waif from the poverty streets of New Orleans had risen to the ranks of those
with political muscle. He flexed his against racial injustice. In protest of the refusal of Little Rock
Arkansas to integrate its schools he canceled his tour of Russia. He kept busy by recording with
Ella Fitzgerald for Verve Records.
A regular on the Newport Jazz Festival scene his appearance was captured in the motion picture
Jazz on A Summer Day.
In 1959 he was briefly hospitalized in Spoleto, Italy after suffering his first heart attack.
In 1961 his only collaboration with Duke Ellington took place in the recording studio.Said
Ellington: "Louis Armstrong was the epitome of jazz and always will be."
In 1963 Hello Dolly was the Number One hit and Armstrong returned to the Las Vegas
stage. It was the height of the Twist dance craze and Armstrong and Marlene Dietrich
demonstrated the dancing during a 1962 appearance at the Riviera Hotel.
Riding that crescendo, Armstrong recorded What A Wonderful World for ABC in 1967.
By the following year it was a world wide hit.
SATCHMO and MARLENE
DIETRICH at the Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas.
1969 was the year Satchmo spent from February to April in Beth Israel Hospital with heart
problems. Compounding his faulty ticker problems was his emotional heart ache at the death of
his longtime friend Joe Glaser, who had been his personal manager since 1938.
Armstrong managed to travel to London to record the soundtrack for Her Magesty's
Secret Service.
In 1970 the Newport Jazz Festival honored Satchmo with a tribute that featured Mahalia Jackson,
Dizzie Gillespie, Bobby Hackett, and the Eureka Brass Band.
In the den of his Corona home he recorded the poem The Night Before Christmas which
was his last commercial recording. His last live performance was a two-week gig in the Empire
Room of the Waldolf Astoria hotel in New York City.
On July 6, 1971 while asleep in his home Gabriel blew his horn, and signed Satchmo on for a
heavenly gig."When I go to the Gate, I'll play a duet with Gabriel," Louis had said. "Yeah, we'll
play Sleepy Time Down South, and Hello, Dolly!. Then he can blow a couple that
he's been playing up there all the time."
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THE MUSIC GOES ROUND AND
ROUND
CRYSTAL GAYLE has released
an album saluting Hoagy Carmichael (See Broadway To Vegas March 5, 2000) called Crystal
Gayle Sings the Heartland Soul of Hoagy Carmichael on Platinum Records. The album
includes 15 classic songs from the great American composer including Stardust, Georgia On
My Mind and Heart and Soul.
CHRISTOPHER McGOVERN
composer and coauthor of Lizzie Borden, which starred Alison Fraser, is thrilled over
her new solo CD Men In My Life. McGovern produced it and says it contains two
previously unrecorded Bill Finn songs - one of which he sings with Alison. McGovern terms it
"very fun."
Musicians include Sean Harkness on guitar. Men In My Life will be released March
23.
DOUG FLUTIE best known for
quarter backing the Buffalo Bills and winning the Heisman Trophy along with his Flute Gang
entertained last Friday at Sunset Station in Las Vegas. The group recently released its first CD,
Ramblin; Scramblin' Man, and is actually on a cross country concert tour to promote it A
portion of the CD proceeds goes to the Doug Flutte Jr. Foundation for Autism.
OTHER PEOPLE'S
MONEY
THE MGM GRAND GOBBLES UP MIRAGE RESORTS probably won't make much of a difference to Las Vegas visitors wanting
an upscale hotel room, but there are some entertainment changes.
Even before the merger offer was tendered and accepted, rumors were flying that the Jerry
Herman Miss Spectacular musical set to open next year wasn't such a sure deal. Also in
limbo is the massive Art Collection currently housed in the Bellagio. That assortment of artistic
treasures drew 650,000 people last year who anted up a $12 admission charge. The MGM may
keep some and sell some of the artworks as part of liquidating unwanted property. The Bank of
American Corp. Is providing $4 billion in credit to finance the MGM Grand purchase of Mirage
Resorts.
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY Y2KLA!
ELLEN MARGUILES portrays The Tony Award
winning legend Bernadette Peters and Mark-David Kaplan perform Stayin' Awake. Photo
By: Carol Rosegg
offers folks on the other side of the Mississippi a chance to see what's been
entertaining New York audiences for eons.
Being skewed in Forbidden Broadway means you've made it. If some of the spoofs are well worn
that doesn't mean the show is stale. In the Los Angeles version, Susanne
Blakeslee's turn as
Barbra Streisand is a golden vintage barb. That doesn't signify that the current crop gets
a free
pass.
If you qualify to be pummeled then stand back. Recently, New York's Forbidden
Broadway has added Annie Get Your Gun to the kidding on the square revue, which
can be enjoyed at the Stardust Theatre. In Los Angeles the musical dig is at the Tiffany
Theater.
TRUE WEST a revival of the
Sam Shepard play stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly in what they term - the secret
acting fantasy to play all of the leads. They do. The two actors switch roles every three or
four
days. To determine who went first, and in which part, they flipped a coin. This isn't some cheap
promotional gimmick. It's a strong innovative casting concept that wins in this story of two
brothers - one a systematic Hollywood screenwriter and the other a snarky outcast. This isn't the
first time Hoffman and Reilly have worked together. They first met in Reno, Nevada when they
were both filming a movie. True West co-stars Robert LuPone and Celia Weston.
Matthew Warchus directs the production which is at Circle In The Square, NYC.
A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN stars Cherry Jones, Gabriel Byrne and Roy Dotrice. Daniel Sullivan directs.
Walter Kerr Theatre, NYC. Limited engagement only thru June 18.
AMERICAN BUFFALO the
David Mamet revival starring William H. Macy at the Atlantic Theater Company NYC has been
extended a month thanks to recording breaking ticket sales. The production is now in to May
21.
SAVION! THE CONCERT
starring Tony winner Savion Glover opens March 29 at the Wilshire Theatre, Beverly Hills, CA.
Show co-stars tap legends Jimmy Slyde and Buster Brown. Performances through April 2nd.
ROLLIN ON THE T.O.B.A. by
Ronald Smokey Stevens and Jaye Stewart (see Broadway To Vegas columns of February 1, 1999 and
Feb 22, 1999) El Portel Center for the Arts March 14-April 9, Los Angeles.
SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE STARRING GLADYS KNIGHT
swings into Las Vegas with a Shimmy contest Wednesday noon at
Planet Hollywood with the curtain going up that night. Gladys and the gang will be yakety yaking
it up at Caesars Palace through June 11. Following the current entertainment contract obligations,
a major entertainment shift will ensue.
THE BLUE MAN GROUP
officially opens Tuesday at the Luxor in Las Vegas. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the big cheese at
Dreamworks, is expected to attend. During previews the odd-ball group made Las Vegas Mayor
Oscar Goodman part of the act. Wonder what they'll do to Katzenberg.
WHO'S WHERE
AUDRA McDONALD in her first
concert tour is at the Saroyan Theater in Fresno, CA on March 12, then on to the McCarter
Theater in Princeton, NJ on March 10. The following night she is on stage at the New Jersey
Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J.
SYLVIA McNAIR will be making
her Carnegie Hall debut on March 15. The famed soprano will perform the world premiere of a
work by John Corigliano.
LILLIAS WHITE opens at Arci's
Place, NYC March 14 through April l.
B.B. KING brings along his guitar
Lucille when he plays the feel good blues Wednesday at the House of Blues, Las Vegas. The 74
year old Las Vegas resident has a new album Let the Good Times Roll in which he salutes
Louis Jordan, the guy who fused jazz and the big band sound to create the jump blues. Tickets
$48-$78.
ELTON JOHN may end up with
writer's cramp. The entertainer/composer is slated to sign autographs for two hours on Tuesday
at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. He doesn't need practice signing his name.
He's promoting his new release The Road to El Dorado which is his musical
accompaniment to the animated film which opens March 31. The movie producers - that would be
Dreamworks - must have a lot of influence, since this will be John's first in-store
appearance in
five years. Expect the line to be around the block.
CHRISTINE ANDREAS through
April 1 at the Algonquin's Oak Room, NYC.
TOM JONES at the Brooklyn Center
for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, March 18. Tickets $30-$45.
MARC ANTHONY The Tabernacle in
Atlanta, GA on March 19. Tickets $30-$38.
BOB DYLAN returns to Omaha, NE
and tickets have gone on sale for the May 4 performance at the Civic Auditorium Arena. Dylan's
first Omaha performance in 978 sold out the 9,808 arena in two hours with tickets going for $7
to $10.50, with scalpers raking in as much as $1,000 per ticket. In 1992 Dylan didn't sell out, but
did draw a respectable 2,200 at the Orpheum Theater. This time there are 6,500 seats up for the
taking with ducats priced at $33.
STEPHEN SONDHEIM at the 92nd
Street Y on March 18. Ned Rorem hosts. Tickets $35.
LANCE BURTON takes a vacation
from performing at the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas to work magic at the Cerritos Center for
the Performing Arts, CA. Four shows March 17-19
D.L. HUGHLEY brings his comedy to
the Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, N.C. on March 18. $25.50-$27.50.
BLUE COLLAR COMEDY TOUR
starring Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engall with special guests Ron White and Craig Hawsley, March
17, Carlson Center, Fairbanks, Alaska.
PILAR RIOJA dubbed "The Queen
of Spanish Dance" returns to the Gramercy Arts Theatre for a one month engagement March 21
through April 23rd, in a program made possible in part by the Dance Program of the New York
State Council of the Arts. The famed dancer will also offer special daytime student
lecture-demonstrations which are also open to the public.
TOM ANDERSEN the 1999 MAC
Award winner for Outstanding Male Vocalist and Recording of the Year - The Journey -
makes his Washington, D.C. debut March 30 at The Kennedy Center as part of the Millennium
Stage series.
THIS AND THAT
OUTHOUSE RACES
Low Cost Printing Nationwide
where participants are anxiously squirming to go. The annual Chatanika Days event has the final flush
today with participants competing with their commodes, pushing those privies from the Chatanika
Lodge - which does boast indoor plumbing - down as far as a roll of double ply toilet paper will
travel - or at least one mile. The overflowing event has a line waiting to get to the outhouse. The
quickest to reach the finish line got the job done in 5 minutes, 27 seconds. All of the fun isn't
confined to the pre-Crapper invention. The festival also includes a Snow machine
tug-of-war.
BARNUM & BAILEY'S GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
first opened on March 18, 1881.
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Next Column: March 19, 2000
Copyright: March 12, 2000. All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary,
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