Sally Draper Is A Child Psychologist To The Stars

I may be late to the party on this, but I just found this clip of Kiernan Shipka (the child actress more well-known by her role as Sally Draper in MAD MEN) playing a child psychologist to various child stars. It's very funny and Sally (I mean, Kiernan) is becoming a young actor to watch for sure.  Even better is that she is a rising star who seems to have a pretty healthy sense of humor about the absurdity of show business.

Child Star Psychologist with Kiernan Shipka from Kiernan Shipka      

SATURDAY SPECIAL: Hollywood Classic SINGIN' IN THE RAIN Is 60

At the end of March 1952, just a few weeks after Gene Kelly's film AMERICAN IN PARIS won a heap of Oscars, another Kelly movie opened in New York City called SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. The film did well commercially (though not as good as AMERICAN) and was generally well reviewed but did not garner raves. It received just two Oscar nominations and didn't win one golden statue.  Now, 60 years later, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is considered by many to be the best Hollywood musical of all time, including myself. :)

I was reading all about this fantastic movie today on a blog by film critic/enthusiast Edward Copeland (which I found by way of Roger Ebert's great Twitter feed).  Copeland has all sorts of interesting behind the scenes details and stories about the film.  But the most surprising to me was that in this film which is all about voice doubles at the start of the sound era, Debbie Reynolds herself had her singing voice dubbed for the "Would You" number!  Apparently, the studio brass thought that Reynolds' beautiful singing voice didn't quite match the look of Jean Hagen. So they hired a voice from Disney's DUMBO which was a bit deeper, a woman named Betty Noyes, to do the honors for this one song in the film.

Below are the two clips so you can compare and contrast; the first is the official released version of the film with the dubber and the second clip has the recording of Reynolds singing. All other songs in the movie, though do utilize Debbie Reynolds voice though, notably, none of them are solos.

The Return Of A Missing Child Mystery To My Neighborhood

Yesterday on my way home from the subway, I was surprised to see all these police cars and FBI vans parked on Prince Street with barricades blocking the road. Just a few blocks from my apartment, a missing child mystery more than 3 decades old was back in the news as the search was on for remains in a building that is now a fashionable Lucky jeans store.

The NY Times has an interesting article today which talks not so much about this missing case but the neighborhood itself and how it has been radically transformed in the 33 years since Etan Patz disappeared in his way to the bus. They describe how it was quiet area, filled with artists and machinists and not high end tourists. At night, it was apparently so empty that couples would have sex in darkened doorways. My favorite quote from an old timer in the hood: "It wasn't seedy. The docs were sleazy. [Soho] was gritty." Okay!

As investigators dig into the basement at 127B Prince, they are (as they article points out) digging into the neighborhood's quiet and almost small-town past.  In my play WTC VIEW, one character reminisces about playing football on Broadway in the '70s...a speech that was based on a recollection of someone who grew up here back when it was, well, a neighborhood.  Even when I got here, 20 some years ago, it had that feel, especially on my block which was filled with old Italians and Portuguese families.  Anyway, I find it interesting to see how much has changed and how the reopening of this tragic case is bringing all of that into relief.

Trending: Mad Men Inspires More Drinking At Work

There's an interesting piece over at NPR.org today that caught my eye about an apparent increase of on-the-job drinking.  They tie the story in the popularity of MAD MEN.  The real reason, however, is not to ape Don Draper and Co. but to keep employees who are working ridiculously long hours somewhat happy by including a bar on the premises. It's the same reason some hi-tech companies have elaborate cafeterias or ping pong tables or basketball courts (see Pixar); its' all to keep their employees from leaving.

Overall, the NPR piece states that there is a new and much more relaxed attitude toward drinking at work in recent years. Additionally, they do make the argument that drinking leads to creative breakthroughs, which is something that has been seen on MAD MEN. The NPR piece also discusses an academic study that apparently showed an increase in creativity and problem solving for people who were drinking.  Conversely, there is also the problem of executives peeing themselves from drinking too much at the office (see Freddie).

Below is a fun/scary montage of all the boozing on the 60s show, courtesy of New York Magazine's VULTURE site. Cheers!

Help Me Tupac Shakur, You Are My Only Hope

A week after Easter Sunday, a different sort of resurrection took place at the Coachella music festival out in Palm Springs. Rapper Tupac Shakur was brought back from the dead as a "hologram" that was projected onto the stage of the festival where he performed a song that stunned the audience.  

When I first heard about this, I was skeptical thinking that the majority of the audience at Coachella is already in a somewhat altered state and could easily mistake some smoke and mirrors for an act of God. But having seen a few versions of the video (one posted below), it truly is stunning and, even more remarkable, it is an entirely digital recreation of the rapper and not a digitzation of archival footage. 

Digital Domain, the company responsible for this technological marvel, has admitted that the image is not actually a hologram but a projection onto a glass screen that was onstage but appears invisible. (This same trick, dating from the 19th century magic shows and known as Pepper's Ghost, can currently be seen on Broadway in the musical GHOST, of course!)  There are now rumors today that Dr. Dre, who conceived the whole Tupac stunt, will be taking this virtual star on tour across the country. Will people pay to come see the resurrected rapper? I would say yes as it truly is a remarkable and bit of digital wizardry. 

Space Shuttle Discovery Ready For Its Final Flight To Smithsonian

The space shuttle Discovery will make it's final flight tomorrow atop a special 747, traveling from the Kennedy Space Center to the Smithsonian's Air & Space Hanger at Dulles International Airport.  The Washington Post has a cool little animation today about the shuttle's final journey and how they got it on top of the 747 above.  On April 19th, they will tow the shuttle in to it's final resting place at the Udvar-Hazy Museum, as it replaces the space shuttle Enterprise which will be coming to New York City this summer for display at the USS Intrepid.  

I remember when they flew the Enterprise around the Beltway on it's journey to Dulles back in 1985 and I actually got to see it on top of the 747.  This time, though, NASA is not releasing the exact flight plan due to security concerns. It's too bad as it was so cool to see the shuttle flying, even if it was on the back of a 747.  I think it was extra exciting too because it was like a real life version of the opening scene from the James Bond film MOONRAKER, minus the disastrous fate of the 747 when the shuttle is fired up and stolen by the bad guys! That was awesome...if totally unrealistic.

SATURDAY SPECIAL: Anderson Cooper's Giggles And Gets In Trouble With Buffalo

Anderson Cooper may be the hottest journalist on TV. But he is fast developing a reputation as the silliest one as well. For the second time in recent months, he had a full-blown on-air giggle-fit over a story about Dyngus Day.  This happened during his live CNN show and then the video got so viral that the residents of Buffalo, who celebrate this holiday, got a bit miffed over Anderson's less than serious take on their annual ritual.  They are now referring to Cooper as the "Pussy-Willow Prince" and have invited him to take place in next year's celebration. Knowing Coopers' taste for any sort of publicity, my bet is he'll probably show with Kathy Griffin at his side.  Afterall, he'll need a "Pussy-Willow Princess"...

Beach 105th Street Is The Loneliest Station In New York City

The MTA released a ton of data this week about ridership figures for 2011. Basically, ridership across the system is up, recording nearly 1.6 billion passengers last year. It's the largest number to travel the system since 1950.

The figures have been parsed and examined over at the transit blog Second Avenue Sagas. However, there was one particular statistic that SAS pointed out that I found interesting.  Times Square, with nearly 190,000 riders a day, is not surprisingly the busiest station in the city. But the quietest station is Beach 105th Street, way out in the Rockaways, with an average of just 255 passengers a day. That is an incredible disparity.  The reason is that Beach 105 is served by the S shuttle line, which only runs to Broad Channel and back with an additional 10 express A trains for commuters.  Also, there is not much immediately around Beach 105th Street...just a Key Foods and some industrial sites.  I actually have been there, shooting a student film back in the 90's and I can say that part of the reason we were out there is that there were absolutely no people...especially in the middle of February. Brrrr.

I decided to look up the history of the lonley little station and, surprisingly, it is older than the actual NYC subway system. The original station opened in 1880, was called Seaside, and served as a stop on the Long Island Railroad.  After the station burned down four times (something that apparently happened a lot out in the windy Rockaways), it was finally replaced with a concrete viaduct that remains today. The MTA took over Beach 105th Street in 1956 and incorporated the line into its subway system.

The Titanic Lives On In New York Today

One of my favorite local blogs Scouting NY has an extensive 2-part post this week about New York City and it's link to the Titanic. New York was the destination of the doomed ship, which sank 100 years ago today. As such, there are a surprising amount of memorials and remnants of the Titanic disaster scattered about the city.

One thing I didn't know about which he features is a Titanic memorial down by the South Street Seaport. I had seen this structure many times but never realized it was a memorial to the nautical disaster. This tower was on top of a building over on the west side for many years then relocated to the seaport. I wonder if anyone will leave flowers there this weekend. Also, Scouting NY has some detailed pictures of the White Star dock where the Carpathia came in with survivors, now an empty pier near 14th Street. You can still read the company's faded name on the steel beams!

Below is a photo of the headquarters of the White Star line.  The building still exists on lower Broadway but the entrance where thousands gathered for word of their loved one's fate in the days after the sinking is now a Subway and a Radio Shack store.  That's a sign of the times if I've ever seen one!

The Devotion Project Debuts New Film & Fundraising Campaign

This week, my friend and fellow filmmaker Tony Osso debut's his latest film from The Devotion Project, a series of shorts about gay and lesbian couples in committed long-term relationships.  This latest short is especially touching, about a couple in Oakland dealing with the challenges of a chronically ill child.  In this moving film, Tony has done it again, telling the story of this beautiful couple in a way that is both honest and touching too.

With the release of this 3rd film in the series, Tony has also started a fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo to keep the project going. You can click here to see a special video starring Tony himself as he explains The Devotion Project and how your donation of even just a few dollars can help.  In a year when marriage equality is being challenged with referendum votes in states like Washington, Maryland and North Carolina, it's important to show the real gay families that are out there and the challenges that they face. Rather than "destroying" marriage as some people claim, all they are doing is loving each other while trying to care for and support their unique families.