I so cannot wait! In production right now is, "G-String Mother" based on the book "Gypsy and Me: At Home and on the Road with Gypsy Rose Lee" by her son, Erik Preminger. This is a terrific book. Erik is your usual teenager, sneaking out to drink, smoke a cigarette or get laid. Gypsy is so not your usual mother. Strict and demanding, her son's antics are not well received. Gyp needs money and is uber cheap so that when she plays out of town, she drives there herself! She's got her kennel of chinese cresteds (and Erik detests them) and everything but the kitchen sink crammed into the Rolls. I know Sigourney Weaver will do a fabulous job as Mom, but they'll never be able to fit all the great stuff in that memoir into the movie.
I watched the two available pieces of Gypsy video at the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC a few years ago. Both clips were from "The Gypsy Rose Lee Show". One was a promo with Judy Garland and Robert Goulet. (That had been on Youtube, but is now gone..grr.) The other was a segment from the show with Gyp's only guest, Ethel Merman. It was fascinating watching Ethel and Gypsy interact. If only Gypsy's show had been filmed. Betch you'll never guess what her TV show's theme song was?
Remember near the end of the film "Gypsy" when Harvey Korman (who was uncredited) comes into Gypsy's dressing room after she and Mama have had another quarrel? Korman's character turns to Natalie Wood and says, "Come on Gyps, show us your talent!" and Gypsy turns to the photographer and comes alive. In the film, Louise is presented as having no apparent talent until burlesque knocks on her door. Do you get what's bugging me? Here she has finally found her talent, she's a rising star in burlesque. Why would her agent (Korman) say that? I wonder, where did this come from? Gypsy's own memoir? Was this line in the stage production? Is it merely there as a judgement on striptease? Am I an idiot for posing this question?
I'm of no help in answering your question about Harvey Korman.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in a feeble attempt to form some sort of coincidental link, I do know that Carol Burnett was BORN on April 26th.
I thought it always was an allusion to her ability to turn on the glamour when it was time to perform - exactly what Mama Rose expected from June and later Louise. You know, whatever happens off stage is just life, but when you are on its "SING OUT LOUISE!" time.
ReplyDeletesure, you're right stu, it's just that the line is very demeaning. i should try and write arthur laurents a letter before he dies.
ReplyDeleteActually Norma I think it's just a black and white assessment of the facts.
ReplyDeleteThe business part of show is, of course, the selling of a product based on the artist's individual talent. As example: Clapton's product would be his guitar combined with the abilitly to get great solos out of it.
So Gypsy's product (Talent) was her body combined with her ability (through the strip tease) to display it to it's most alluring advantage.
No different really than a salesman pulling his best sample piece out of the case and setting it on the counter in the light.
I may have oversimplified, or I may be way off base, but one thing's for certain; I've seen this movie a million times (own a copy) and I never realized that it was Harvey Korman!
thank you felix! i'm larry david-like and can sometimes get caught in a whirlpool of minutiae. i'll probably go to my grave with this craziness in my head. i just wrote steve hayes (tired old queen at the movies)...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYrVLnPDRVI
...who is WONDERFUL and asked him his opinion. like he has time for me. i found something online that portends to be the stage script of gypsy. if it is (and i doubt it) the line i speak of isn't there, so that means it was written by leonard spielglass, who did the film script. i need to find out where the fuck he is, & i have a feeling he's entombed, someplace.
here's what the tired old queen said(!!!)
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I can only give you my own personal interpretation. Yes,I think it's definitely a slight and it's put there on purpose to jar you. It's supposed to be a jolt of realism. Because, in those days, Burlesque was considered the lowest rung on the show biz ladder. It's not only a comment on Gypsy's lack of talent, but a realistic reminder, that indeed, Gypsy had "No REAL talent" as her mother interprets it. Gypsy's real "talent" was in doing exactly what the strippers advised her, she got a gimmick and she made good with what she had.
I wish Harvey were still around, his thoughts would be fun to include!
ReplyDelete