REMEMBERING ORDINARY PEOPLE

Mary Tyler Moore was shocked by Robert Redford's offer that she portray Beth in "Ordinary People" (1980), especially given her sunny, warm and highly connective screen persona. Moore stated that, in response to her surprise, Redford confided that he'd had her in mind for the role since the first time he'd read the novel. Lee Remick and Ann-Margret were both suggested for the role of Beth, but Redford said in interviews that he had seen Moore alone on the beach that bridged their properties one morning. He said that Moore, who looked like she was in a contemplative, stricken state, was precisely who he envisioned when he read the book, and while he considered other actresses, he was never able to shake that image, and eventually offered Moore the role.

 
Redford said he was drawn to filming the novel because it reminded him of the cultural inarticulation and missed signals of his own upbringing. Both Moore and Redford said the character of Beth reminded them of their respective fathers.

According to the Entertainment Weekly article on the making of this movie, Moore was cold, snobbish and uncommunicative with Timothy Hutton on the set, to assist her in mastering the aloofness so essential to her character.

On both of her sitcoms, Moore was famous for her ability to cry comically. Moore admitted that, during the filming of this movie, her voice would occasionally start quavering in a quintessential Laura Petrie/Mary Richards manner ("Oh, Rob!"). Redford would shout "Cut!" and they would have to reshoot the scene.

Moore admitted that she became annoyed with the would-be compliment, "Boy, you were a b!tch in that movie!". She said that she didn't see it that way. She thought of Beth as a victim, that she was brought up being taught to do things a certain way...

ON THIS DAY - JANUARY 15, 1972

On January 15, 1972, Don McLean's song "American Pie" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It remained at the top for four weeks. "American Pie" is a folk-rock ballad that laments the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "the Big Bopper" Richardson on February 3, 1959. McLean called this day "the Day the Music Died".

The song has become a cultural touchstone, symbolizing the loss of innocence and the disillusionment of the 1960s. McLean wrote the song to capture his view of America at the time, and how he imagined it might become....

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: ANN-MARGRET

 Here is the still beautiful Ann-Margret at The Hollywood Show in Burbank, California. It is amazing that the actress will be 84 years old this year. This photo is from January 12, 2025...

CAB CALLOWAY: THE HI DE HO MAN

In 1931, Cab Calloway recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher". It is the first single song by an African American to sell a million records. The Old Man of the Mountain", "St. James Infirmary Blues", and "Minnie the Moocher" were performed in three Betty Boop cartoons: "Minnie the Moocher" (1932), "Snow White" (1933), and "The Old Man of the Mountain" (1933). Through rotoscoping, Calloway performed voice over for these cartoons, but his dance steps were the basis of the characters' movements. He scheduled concerts in some communities to coincide with the release of the films to take advantage of the publicity.

When Calloway originally recorded "Minnie The Moocher" in the 1930s, the chorus lyrics were simply "Ho-dee-hody" rather than the lengthened "Hody-hody-hody ho". In an interview, Calloway explained that one time when he was singing the song, he suddenly forgot the words, so he immediately shouted "Hody-Hody-Hody-ho!", and carried on the song that way. That proved to be more popular with fans than the original, so he had been singing it that way ever since.

As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher", Calloway became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man". He performed in the 1930s in a series of short films for Paramount. Calloway's and Ellington's groups were featured on film more than any other jazz orchestras of the era. In these films, Calloway can be seen performing a gliding backstep dance move, which some observers have described as the precursor to Michael Jackson's moonwalk. Calloway said 50 years later, "it was called The Buzz back then." The 1933 film "International House" featured Calloway performing his classic song, "Reefer Man", a tune about a man who smokes marijuana.

Calloway remained a household name through the 1960s due to TV appearances and occasional concerts in the US and Europe. In 1961 and 1962, he toured with the Harlem Globetrotters, providing halftime entertainment during games., and was cast as Yeller in the film "The Cincinnati Kid" (1965) with Steve McQueen, Ann-Margret, and Edward G. Robinson. In 1967, he co-starred with Pearl Bailey as Horace Vandergelder in an all-black cast of "Hello, Dolly!" on Broadway during its original run.
In 1978, Calloway released a disco version of "Minnie the Moocher" on RCA which reached the Billboard R&B chart. Calloway was introduced to a new generation when he appeared in the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers" performing "Minnie the Moocher". When recording the soundtrack, he was needed to record his hit "Minnie the Moocher" in better quality than his original album. When he came into the studio, he was prepared to do the disco version, which had just been released. The filmmakers asked for the original version, which Calloway reluctantly gave them....

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: GEOFFREY OWENS

‘Cosby Show’ actor Geoffrey Owens still ‘struggling’ to make ends meet after he quit Trader Joe’s gig over ‘attack on my privacy’

“Cosby Show” actor Geoffrey Owens said he’s still struggling to make ends meet after he was forced to quit his job at a Trader Joe’s grocery store amid an “attack on my privacy”

Owens, known for his role as Elvin Tibideaux on the six-time Emmy-winning series, claimed he’s “not much better off” today than he was when a customer snapped a photo of the actor working behind the grocery store register in 2018.

“Even today, right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living,” Owens told Atlanta’s V-103 radio station on Dec. 18. “I struggle every day to make my ends meet. And people can’t get their heads around that because they see me in movies.

Geoffrey Owens still struggles to make ends meet as a working actor. Getty Images

Owens’ residual checks “were never particularly wonderful” because he only acted in “maybe 20% of shows” on the hit series.

“People have a false impression of what the average middle-class actor makes and their ability to make a living in the industry,” Owens said.

The Yale University graduate and son of former New York congressman Major Owens took a “regular” job and went mostly unnoticed until he was photographed working at Trader Joe’s.

“At first, there was some negative stuff about basically the job shaming. A ‘where is he now’ kinda thing,” Owens told V-103. “But then, very soon after that, there was all this support and encouragement from all over the world.”

Owens was worried about his invasion of privacy, so he left the job before this new gig went public.

“It was strange because someone had been in the store taking pictures,” Owens recalled. And I was like, now that this is breaking I’m not going to feel comfortable working in this store wondering who is around with a camera. It would just be too weird. I’m a very private person.

“It wasn’t like I quit knowing I would be making a lot of money soon or anything. I just felt like I wasn’t going to be able to handle that kind of scrutiny and attack on my privacy.”

When the news broke, an outpouring of support came his way.

Owens is most known for playing Elvin Tibideaux on “The Cosby Show.” Everett Collection

Nicki Minaj sent him $25,000 but Owens donated the money to a charity because it “didn’t feel right to keep it” without working for it.

But he gladly accepted work in dozens of projects including acting gigs with powerhouses like Tyler Perry on the show “The Haves and the Have Nots” and the 50-Cent produced show “Power” and “Power Book II: Ghost.”

Owens currently stars on the CBS sitcom “Poppa’s House,” starring Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr.

The actor admitted that after the headlines calmed down, he went back to Trader Joe’s while acting and asked for more hours because money was — and is — still tight.

Owens has appeared in dozens of projects since the image of him working at a grocery store went viral. 

Bill Cosby, the star of the titular sitcom, and his fall from grace after numerous allegations of sexual misconduct led the series to be pulled from syndication and affected Owens’ bottom line, he said. The three-time Golden Globe-winning “The Cosby Show” was pulled from syndication on several networks back in 2014 after Cosby was accused and eventually convicted of sexual assault — which he denied.

Owens was impacted financially when “Cosby Show” was pulled from syndication due to Bill Cosby’s sexual assault scandals. The man formally known as “America’s Dad” served three years of a 10-year prison sentence until Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2021.

“Yes, it impacted me financially. At the time that the show was pulled, that did make a difference in our income,” Owens told People in 2018.

During his V-103 interview, he reiterated that his residuals were “gone” after Bill Cosby’s scandal...

HOLLYWOOD TIDBITS: THE SHINING

Danny Lloyd was selected for the role of Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980) because of his ability to concentrate for extended periods of time. Because Lloyd was so young, and since it was his first acting job, Stanley Kubrick was highly protective of the child. During the shooting of the movie, Lloyd was under the impression that the film he was making was a drama, not a horror movie. In fact, when Wendy carries Danny away while shouting at Jack in the Colorado Lounge, she is actually carrying a life-size dummy, so Lloyd would not have to be in the scene. He only realized the truth several years later, when he was shown a heavily edited version of the film. He did not see the uncut version of the film until he was seventeen, eleven years after he had made it.

The idea for Lloyd to move his finger when he was talking as Tony was his own. He did it spontaneously during his very first audition.

Lloyd grew up to be a professor of biology at a community college in Elizabethtown, Kentucky...

GUEST REVIEW: THE TOWERING INFERNO

To ring in the new year, here is the late great Bruce Kogan with a review of this disaster epic...

Although some like to compare The Towering Inferno to The Poseidon Adventure because Irwin Allen that master of disaster brought us both, in point of fact The Towering Inferno is more like a landlocked Titanic than anything else.

It has to be remembered that the Titanic was on its maiden voyage and was ballyhooed as an unsinkable ship when the tragedy occurred. The building that William Holden built, that Paul Newman designed was also on its maiden voyage so to speak. The 135 story building in San Francisco was being dedicated and there was going to be a big blowout on the top floor with all kinds of VIPS in attendance. Little does Holden suspect that his son-in-law Richard Chamberlain cut quite a few safety corners in the electrical wiring. When the whole tower gets lighted up, a fire breaks out in one of the circuit junction boxes and the party gets cut short.

Paul Newman and Steve McQueen as the fire battalion chief head an impressive cast list of name players put in harm's way by Chamberlain's avarice. Fred Astaire got an Academy Award nomination for playing an elderly conman who tricks his way into the VIP gathering to fleece wealthy widow Jennifer Jones. This was Jones's farewell performance on screen, she retired right after that to become just the kind of wealthy society matron she plays here.

The film got an award for Best Cinematography deservedly so, the shots are quite vivid and also the best song of 1974. During the party scene, Maureen McGovern who had introduced the popular There's Got To Be A Morning After in Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure sings We May Never Get To Love Like This Again. It won for best song, but certainly didn't have the lasting popularity of the other.

The most vivid moment of the film for me besides the climax is the illfated rendezvous of Robert Wagner and Susan Flannery. They agree for a boss secretary rendezvous in his apartment there and Wagner turns off the phone so word cannot reach them of the fire. The death scenes of both will tear you up.

According to the Films of Steve McQueen the reason for the joint production by Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox is that when two studios put out two Harlow films, both cut each other up at the box office and no one made out. Warner Brothers purchased The Tower and Fox bought the Glass Inferno screen rights. Rather than have competing disaster films, they made an historic interstudio agreement to have a joint production.

I think it worked out well all around.

BRUCE'S RATING: 7 out of 10

MY RATING: 10 out of 10