The Glorious Corner

THE FABELMANS — Steven Spielberg’s 32nd movie is his long-awaited personal portrait of his growing up tagged The Fabelmans. Now I am a fan of his for sure. I haven’t seen them all but he’s made some transcendent masterpieces like ET, Saving Private Ryan; Schindler’s List and my favorite of his, The Terminal.

As this movie began to open, the response from the media was huge. Was it because he was Spielberg; or was this really a gem of a movie? Even moody Pete Hammond from Deadline gave it a huge kiss. The script was also by Tony Kushner who did one of my personal favorites Angels In America, but the script is far too formulaic for me. I wanted more intrigue and a more compelling story-line.

We saw it this weekend and though Michele Williams is amazing and even Paul Dano rises to a new high; we found it a tad disappointing. I loved the scenes of young Sammy (nee Steven) discovering the magic of film-making and when he began to shoot movies, they were indeed rather fabulous and innovative. You see scenes that would become hallmarks of his movies, from ET on down.

Spielberg’s parents eventually divorced and  his mother went onto a life with family friend, played by Seth Rogen. Rogen was an interesting choice too, as he never struck me as a leading man, but he does do a serviceable job here for sure.

There’s a final scene in which Sammy meets the director who inspired him, played by a wild Hollywood legend whose name I will not reveal and it is terrific. As you may have heard, 87-year old Judd Hirsch has a small scene wherein he almost steals the movie. Kudos.

Its not the grandiose tale that some reviewers would have you believe and I’m quite sure at Oscar time it will score numerous nominations. But, it is solid and fun and a valid origin story. I’d definitely recommend it.

SHORT TAKES — We watched the first two episodes of Welcome To Chippendales on Hulu.

I have a particular interest in this as the long-gone disco Magique (61st and First in NYC – http://www.disco-disco.com/clubs/other-clubs.shtml) – after a brief run at the top, changed to a Chippendales club, run by the Rogers brothers there. Steve Banerjee, of Indian-descent, first came up with the idea in Los Angeles and was assisted by none other than Paul Snider and Dorothy Stratten. Stratten as you may recall was a huge to-do with Playboy; her husband Snider was a rude and combative person who eventual killed Stratten and himself. I never knew of his involvement and was actually quite surprised. Apparently is is true, but after the first episode you hardly hear of them both. It is suggested that Stratten herself came up with the white collar and bow-tie that the bartenders would wear. Murray Bartlett, from White Lotus (season 1), plays the choreographer who fine-tunes the production that eventually brought fame to the club, There’s also a meeting between Stratten and director Peter Bogdanovich.

There’s also a huge confluence of LA history (that I loved), with such locales as Chasen’s and L’Escoffier (both tremendous restaurants) referenced throughout. Though the story is actually compelling, the production on the whole looks somewhat done on the cheap. IMO had they spent a few more dollars, this would have looked and worked much better. We’ll see what develops. Here’s an interesting item from IndieWire: https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/welcome-to-chippendales-dorothy-stratten-inventor-1234783550/…

Charles Koppelman, long a future in the music business, passed this weekend, He began to make his mark at CBS, then SBK Records where he was a partner; and finally at EMI, A giant for sure. One of the last true-record men. Check out this remembrance from Hits: https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=333871&title=CHARLES-KOPPELMAN-1940-2022

… Just watched the Marcus Mumford/Willie Geist interview on the latter’s Sunday NBC show. Surprising that they didn’t mention who did the new video for Mumford: Steven Spielberg …

19-year old sensational Ashley Suppa will be part of the pre-Z100 Jingle Ball event at the Hammerstein Ballroom on December 9 …

Remember Kjertsi Long? She has a new track out called “Boys In Jersey” that’s absolutely delicious. A great video to. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxuHJ2wlnuI

I wonder if her father Jeremy helped out with this video production (as he has major cabbage); its slick and perfect for her developing audience. Don’t know whether she’s still on Van Dean’s Broadway Records; but this could be a major, major smash … RIP Irene Cara and Happy Bday Mark Mazur!

NAMES IN THE NEWS — David Adelson; Mike Sigman; JB Carmicle; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Steve Leeds; Wayne Avers; Marty Ostrow; Doug Morris; Perry Cooper; Anthony Noto; Robert Funaro; Joanna Bonaro; Kip West; steve Walter; Peter Abraham; Eppy; Randy Alexander; Paul Iorio; Rusty Cutchin; and CHIP!