Funny Girl Press Release: The 1968 Best Picture nominee Funny Girl will be screened as the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Great To Be Nominated” series. Director William Wyler’s only musical will be shown on Monday, June 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater from an IB Technicolor Stereo print. Anne Francis, who portrayed Georgia James in the film, and Maury Winetrobe, one of the film’s three Oscar®-nominated editors, will participate in a panel discussion following the screening.
Funny Girl is the story of comedienne Fanny Brice from her early years on New York’s Lower East Side through the aftermath of her stardom with the Ziegfeld Follies. The film received eight Oscar nominations and earned a leading actress Academy Award® for Barbra Streisand, in her film debut, as Fanny. Streisandaward was in fact tied with Katharine Hepburn, who also received a statuette that year for her performance as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter. Funny Girl also was nominated for Best Picture (Ray Stark, producer), Actress in a Supporting Role (Kay Medford as Rose Brice), Cinematography (Harry Stradling), Film Editing (Robert Swink, Maury Winetrobe, William Sands), Score of a Musical Picture – original or adaptation (adaptation score by Walter Scharf), Song – original for the picture (“Funny Girl,” music by Jule Styne; lyrics by Bob Merrill) and Sound (Columbia Studio Sound Department).
Oscar-nominated cartoon short The House that Jack Built (Wolf Koenig and Jim MacKay, producers) and Oscar-nominated live action short The Dove (George Coe, Sidney Davis and Anthony Lover, producers) will be shown prior to the screening.
Passes for “Great To Be Nominated” are still available at a cost of $30 for film buffs wishing to see the rest of the series. A $5 discount is available for those who wish to renew their passes from Parts One and/or Two of the series. Inclusive of Funny Girl there are 9 screening dates remaining in Part Three.
Tickets for each individual screening may be purchased at a cost of $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid I.D. Tickets may be purchased by mail, in person at the Academy during regular business hours or, depending on availability, on the night of the screening when the doors open at 6:30 p.m. Curtain time for all features is 7:30 p.m., and pre-show elements will begin at 7 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.
‘Labyrinth’ at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Press Release: An evil goblin king, a talking door knocker, fairies and a colony of goblins will join producer/director Brian Henson and members of the Jim Henson Creature Shop at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 20th anniversary screening and onstage discussion of Labyrinth (1986) on Thursday, July 20, at 8 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
A post-screening conversation featuring the creative team behind Labyrinth, including Henson, who is the voice of Hoggle and co-CEO of the Jim Henson Company, will offer the public a rare opportunity to hear from animatronics specialists both behind and in front of the camera.
Starring David Bowie and Oscar®-winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Labyrinth follows the fantastical adventures of Sarah (Connelly) as she attempts to rescue her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud) from being transformed into a goblin by Jareth, the goblin king (Bowie).
Labyrinth, a milestone in the development of animatronic technology, utilized a very early version of what would ultimately become the Henson Performance Control System, which in 1991 received a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy for allowing a single puppeteer to remotely control up to 32 isolated facial movements in an animatronic character. The technology made it possible to express complex emotions through the character and simulate a live performance in real time.
The Academy’s current exhibition “It’s Alive!: Bringing Animatronic Characters to Life on Film,” which contains original animatronic puppets from the film, will be open for viewing immediately following the screening.
Tickets to Labyrinth are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members. Doors open at 7 p.m. Seating is unreserved.
The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Free parking is provided in the garages located at 8920 and 9025 Wilshire Boulevard. For additional information, call (310) 247-3600.
Photo: © A.M.P.A.S.
The Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills will present a “retrospective of the early films of the first ‘film town,’ Fort Lee, New Jersey.”
Additionally, a series of films will pay tribute to New Jersey-born comedian Lou Costello‘s centennial.
From Studio Screenings:
“Greetings From New Jersey” at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills presented by the Fort Lee Film Commission
“GREETINGS FROM NEW JERSEY”, JUNE 23-26
A Film Retrospective from the Garden State
Friday, June 23rd @ 7:30pm
Robin Hood (1912 – Eclair)
Restoration Premiere, 27-min
Introduction by Film Historian Richard Koszarski
The earliest existing Robin Hood film, starring Robert Frazer and Barbara Tennant. First screening of the Fort Lee Film Commission’s 35mm color restoration.
The Vampire
Kalem Studio, 1913, 43-min
Bert French and Alice Eis perform their notorious “Vampire Dance” in the prototypical “vamp” film.
He Did and He Didn’t
Triangle-Keystone, 1916, 21-min
A nightmarish romantic slapstick with the great Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Mabel Normand.
*Musical Accompaniment by Fort Lee’s own Jeff Baker.
Saturday, June 24th @ 2pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm
Ft. Lee Film Festival
No passes, no Guild cards accepted
Auteurs from Ft. Lee featuring:
For His Son
Biograph, 1912, 15-min
In the most bizarre of D.W. Griffith‘s hundred Fort Lee productions, Dopokoke sweeps the nation.
White Fawn’s Devotion
Pathe, 1910, 15-min
One of Pathe’s first American productions, a Palisades western directed by James Young Deer.
A Girl’s Folly
Paragon-World, 1917, 65-min
While suffering from nitrate damage, this complete print of Maurice Tourneur‘s vision of Ft. Lee filmmaking is a revelation.
Forgotten Classics featuring:
His Wife’s Mistake
Triangle-Keystone, 1916, 21-min
Speed, slapstick and satire in one of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle‘s most politically incorrect comedies.
Phil-for-Short
World Studio, 1919, 76-min
A startling screwball comedy featuring a cross-dressing farmerette and a woman-hating classics professor who share a love for Sappho in the original.
-Musical accompaniment by Ft. Lee’s own Jeff Baker
Centennial Tribute to New Jersey Born Film Comic Lou Costello – Program I featuring:
-Appearances by Lou Costello’s daughters Chris and Paddy, celebrity guests and the teens of the Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center
Lou Costello – Happy 100th Birthday Tribute Short
Sirk Productions, NYC, 7-min
This tribute reel shows highlights from the professional and personal life of comic legend Lou Costello.
10,000 Kids and a Cop
1948, 20-min
Premiere of restored 35mm print of this Lou Costello produced short film. This was shot on location at the Lou Costello Jr. Youth Center in East Los Angeles. Bud Abbott & Lou Costello appear along with actors William Bendix and Jimmy Stewart as well as the kids of the center.
The Lou Costello Project
Mary Pickford Institute, Fort Lee Film Commission, 20-min
This centennial tribute film was shot by the teen group of the present day Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center in East Los Angeles.
-All proceeds go towards the Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center in East Los Angeles
Sunday, June 25th @ 2pm, 6:15pm
The Fort Lee Film Festival
No passes, no Guild cards accepted
A Centennial Tribute to New Jersey Born Film Comic Lou Costello – Program II featuring:
In the Navy
Universal Studios, 1941, 85-min
Originally titled “Abbott & Costello and Dick Powell in the Navy” this follow-up to the Abbott & Costello blockbuster Buck Privates teams Bud and Lou with film crooner Dick Powell, Dick Foran and their singing sidekicks from Buck Privates the Andrews Sisters. Lou wreaks havoc on the seven seas in one of Bud & Lou’s early Universal releases.
Hold that Ghost
Universal Studios, 1941, 85-min
Hold that Ghost was actually filmed prior to In the Navy but based on the blockbuster status of Buck Privates Universal decided to send Bud and Lou into Uncle Sam’s service as sailors. Hold that Ghost (originally titled “Oh Charlie!”) was released in August of 1941 following the My release of In the Navy. This was Bud and Lou’s first haunted house comedy and teamed them with comidienne Joan Davis. The Andrews Sisters are featured in two numbers.
A Centennial Tribute to New Jersey Born Film Comic Lou Costello – Program III featuring:
Ride ’em Cowboy
Universal Studios, 1942, 86-min
At the time of the release of Ride ’em Cowboy in February, 1942, Abbott & Costello were voted the number three box-office attractions of 1941 by exhibitors. Universal sends the boys out west to a dude ranch where they perform the classic “crazy house” routine. The boys also assist Ella Fitzgerald (in her screen debut) with her hit tune “A Tisket A Tasket.”
Hit the Ice
Universal Studios, 1943, 82-min
Bud & Lou portray newspaper photographers Flash Fulton and Tubby McCoy. The fun starts when gangster Sheldon Leonard mistakes them for two hit men from Detroit. Shot at Sode Springs, California, in January 1943, the film features big band singer Ginny Simms as Lou’s love interest. “Hit the Ice” contains two classic Abbott & Costello routines. “Pack and Unpack” and “All Right – the Piano scene.”
Monday, June 26th @ 7:30pm
The Fort Lee Film Festival
No passes, no Guild cards accepted
A Centennial Tribute to New Jersey Born Film Comic Lou Costello – Program IV featuring:
In Society
Universal Studios, 1944, 75-min
Plumbers Bud & Lou are plumbers who masquerade as society types. Singer Marion Hutton portrays Lou’s love interest Elsie Hammerdingle who warbles the tune “My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time.” Arthur Treacher and Thomas Gomez add to the antics. This film features the classic burlesque routine “Floogle Street” where Bud & Lou search in vain for the Susquehanna Hat Company.
Here Comes the Coeds
Universal Studios, 1945, 88-min
Bud & Lou join basketball player “Miramar Molly” at Bixby College where their boss is Lon Chaney Jr. This film allows Lou to show how he bacame the basketball foul shoot champ of the state of New Jersey. Another sidelight is that Bixby College is on the same Universal Studio “Courthouse Square” back lot set as was the 1962 film To Kill A Mockingbird, the 1985 film Back to the Future, and Jim Carrey‘s 2003 hit Bruce Almighty.
1 comment
Jim Henson’s The Labyrinth, (it’s twin of sorts) The Dark Crystal, The Witches, and another non-Henson film The Neverending Story are the last great fantasy children’s films before the age of computer generated graphics and blue screens. Although none of films was a runaway hit at the time perhaps because of the dark nature of all of the films it is important to see that in the age of media blaming that there was a time when children were able to experience darker themes in films without the heavy handed “family” organizations labotomizing the cinematic experience for children. True there are dark themes in The Lion, the With, and the Wardrobe, and the Harry Potter flicks, but films are so obviously fanstasy that the messages of valor and courage in the face of darkness no longer resonate. Because Jim Henson’s creations were tangible and not pixels in a computer they had more weight with children. The 80s was a truly wonderful time for children’s films and will never be repeated. Marcus.