By popular demand - The Defenders!

I posted this about 2 weeks ago, since then it's become even more timely. Please share it, post it, repost it, spread it around far and wide. As one of the producers, I'm glad that this is catching on, but I am also sad that it had to be made in the first place. The message is clear and is needed to be heard now more than ever. Thanks!

Ann Magnuson: Back Home Again

This is where I'll be Saturday night...
A Surreal Romp through the Hills and Hollers of 'Almost Heaven' West Virginia

The Cavern Club Theater in Los Angeles is proud to host a workshop production of "Back Home Again (Dreaming of Charleston)", a new one-woman performance piece by writer, performer, Silver Lake resident and West Virginia native Ann Magnuson.

The show is a loving (if often twisted) reminiscence of growing up in WV with all of its hopes, dreams, good times, sad times and crazy times as well as notes from the long and winding road that took her from Charleston to London, New York, Los Angeles and nearly every continent in the world, always to return 'back home'.

"I have to return to West Virginia at least once every year," Ann has said. "Not only does it give me much needed perspective on this myopic business we call Show, it's a beautiful and often bizarre place that yields a treasure trove of material. And I'm not talking about the hillbilly stereotypes. There is much more to the place; something so unique, strange and, yes, even mystical about them thar hills and hollers that keeps me in its thrall. Like the mythical Brigadoon, Charleston is nestled in a difficult-to-reach valley and exists in its own special world with a colorful cast of characters who feel that they can never leave. Oxycontin abuse and mountaintop removal notwithstanding, "Almost Heaven" is often just that. It is one of the most beautiful states in the nation, yet it can also produce nightmares. Those two states of mind weave themselves into one doozey of a double helix and it's that particular wild 'n wonderful dream state that this mountain mama aims to explore on stage!"

In addition to those dreams, the show will include original songs (including a few Bongwater classics), poetic reveries, comedic monologues and music referencing everything from Disney to Debussy to The Moody Blues to Mae West. To enhance your down home psychedelic experience, Los Angeles- based musician Alexander Rannie will provide a suitable soundtrack with his heavenly harp.

Get tickets here.

Take the Good, Take The Bad

So today I found out that the California Supreme Court has decided that my gay marriage is still legal - only because I got married BEFORE a slim majority of voters decided to vote away the rights of others. Meanwhile, dear friends of mine who were married AFTER election day are instantly divorced. Is this America? I've said this before...human rights should not be left up to a popular vote. My right to marry is not a singing contest or a reality show. Unfortunately the only way to overturn Prop 8 now is another damn ballot measure. Just imagine if all the money that has gone into both sides of this debate was used to help sick or poor people??? It just makes me sick that people who call themselves Christian would rather prevent two people who love each from marrying than feed and clothe people in need. Really, what would Jesus do?

The Boys : The Sherman Brothers' Story

I had the opportunity to see a great feature-length documentary film this past weekend. If you're like me grew up in the 1960s or 70s, chances are real good that you’ve been singing along to songs of Richard and Robert Sherman Brothers’ songs. With unforgettable songs tunes from Disney classics like “Chim Chim Cher-ee” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from MARY POPPINS; "Let's Get Together" from THE PARENT TRAP; “I Wanna Be Like You” and "Trust in Me" from THE JUNGLE BOOK and even theme park favorites like “It’s a Small World (After All)” and "In The Tiki Room". Their work beyond Disney, includes the memorable hits CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, SNOOPY GO HOME and Hanna-Barbera's original CHARLOTTE'S WEB..
While Dick and Bob's songs were cherished by both audiences and Walt Disney himself, outside the public eye, the boys’ personal relationship with each other was far less harmonious. In the film, a wide array of celebrities from Julie Andrews to Ben Stiller, join Disney peers, family and friends, as well as the brothers themselves to tell the story Shermans’ incredible prolific and tumultuous career. It's a powerful story of talent, teamwork, loyalty and estrangement. I highly recommend it to any one who has an interest in Disney, music and dysfunctional families.For more info on the film go here.

As a special treat, here's Siouxsie & The Banshee's incredible cover version of "Trust in Me."

Last year, I blogged about two poorly recieved Disney musicals from the 1960s that featured some less memorable Sherman tunes, THE ONE AND ONLY ORIGINAL FAMILY BAND and THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE. Life isn't alway full of successes.

The Douglas Michael Show with Juul Haalmeyer

SECOND CITY TELEVSION or SCTV in all it’s incarnations (in syndication, on NBC and on Cinemax) is remembered as one of the funniest TV series of all time.This outrageous Canadian sketch comedy import launched the careers of such greats as John Candy, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara, Harold Ramis, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty and a few others – including Juul Haalmeyer. Chances are if you've ever seen a SCTV sketch, you've seen Juul's work.Juul Haalmeyer was SCTV's resident costume designer, who was also featured on the show as the choreographer of Melonville's top dance troupe, the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers, a pathetically incompetent ensemble of variety show dancers made up mostly of writers and crew on SCTV. I consider Juul one of my comedy heroes and a unsung TV legend!!!Over the years, Juul also worked as a costume designer for many movies, TV shows, theatre and concert productions. He's done all the classics from ALL MY SONS to LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, his designs have dressed everyone from Jack Lemmon to Alice Cooper, from Shari Lewis to Jethro Tull, from Dolly Parton to Anne Murray, from Bobby Vinton to Bobby Bittman! It is with great honor that I welcome my guest, Juul Haalmeyer!!!
DOUG: Hi Juul, first of all let me say thank you for all the laughter you and the folks at SCTV have given me over the years. The show is a true classic. I watched it from the very first episode (on WOR TV channel 9 in New York) to the very last Cinemax episode. In fact I subscribed to Cinemax just to watch SCTV! Now exactly when did you join the show?

JUUL: Well, unfortunately I didn’t do the first season because there just wasn’t enough money; and I thought that there was way too much material to get out per week for me to be able to handle. It just looked too scary and daunting and I thought I’m not going to kill myself over a show! That’s my biggest regret with SCTV because it did turn out to be the most rewarding and enjoyable experience of my career.DOUG: Well, thankfully you we able to join the show for season 2. I read somewhere that it took 100 hours a week to make one of the 90-minute NBC shows. Is that true?

JUUL :Yes it did, and sometimes more. It was a real slog, and after each three month cycle, you just had to scrape yourself off the floor and pray the next cycle would be easier. But it never was; it just kept growing bigger!DOUG: Bigger and BETTER-If you ask me! So who was your favorite character or player to design for?

JUUL: ALL OF THEM! The cast of course were all very special people and each one of their characters were very endearing. The challenge came in the situations they wrote for themselves as to how complicated the sketch would become from a wardrobe point of view. Could not have done it without the incredible help of Luigi, the head cutter at Malabar costumes, Eva Richter, who always had an impossible shopping list, and my mother, Trudy Haalmeyer, who cut and sewed everything on set.
DOUG: With all the crazy folks that passed through the doors of SCTV - was there any character that stands out as being the most creatively challenging? I somehow think John Candy as Divine must have been a case where you had to top what the real Divine was already wearing!

JUUL: Again, it was my support staff that saved my ass on everything; whether it was "Shake and Bake" (twenty nine period costumes in primary colours in three days) or Edith Prickley as Queen Elizabeth (the first with two days notice),Divine as Peter Pan, or Divine On Ice; You name it! The challenge was always the time frame within which we had to get it together, and again, my team deserves all of the credit.

DOUG: That Divine On Ice number - Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me is still one of the most hysterical things I've ever seen. And you and the boys are featured prominently in that segment. So, how did the Juul Haalmeyer dancers come about?

JUUL: Well, you can’t hire people to be as bad as we were, so when Lola Heatherton needed dancers she (Catherine O'Hara) remembered that I had done musical theater. But they would let me sing, turn the light off, and yank me offstage, because I just didn’t move well, as you’ve seen. It became a group of writers, sometimes cast, grips, propmen, whoever was available that day. God, it was fun though. Nice to know that anytime you need a bad actor, loud singer, or really lousy dancer, you can depend on someone on your crew to come through! Voila!

DOUG : Did you ever have any formal dance training?

JUUL: What are you smokin' dude?????? Of course not! I did take a Dancercise class one year to get some excess poundage off, which worked, at The Roland and Romaine Academy of Dance,but they always made me move to the back of the class because I always farted with the first bend down in the warmups!
DOUG: That's hysterical. What makes you think I was smoking something while watching SCTV? LOL. It's great that people all over the world are rediscovering the magic of Juul Haalmeyer!JUUL: I'm on Facebook now (I had never heard of it before), and guess what turned up? A Juul Haalmeyer Dancer fan club based in ICELAND! I hope they're not just now getting SCTV! I have gotten more notoriety from the bad dancing than anything I have ever done as a costume designer in the last 40 years.
DOUG: Iceland! How cool is that? Do you keep in touch with any of the cast members?

JUUL: Not really. It was great to see all of them at a very generous 'Benefit of Laughter' reunion show they did last year to set up an SCTV alumni fund for ailing participants of the show. I did get to work on the Disney film COOL RUNNINGS (1993) with John–which was a real privilege and an absolute blast. Ten weeks of poker and dominos in the sun!DOUG: Aside from the charity performance, do you think there would ever be a SCTV REUNION SPECIAL? And if so, would the Dancers come out of retirement?

JUUL: I don’t think that’s in the cards, with everyone’s careers as diverse as they are, but it would be nice. As for the dancers, I don’t think we can get enough day passes issued out of retirement homes at the same time to let all of the dancers come together again! Although I hear that Ellen Degeneres wants to challenge us to a Dance Off!

DOUG: LOL - I'd love to see you and Ellen go at it! So, what have you been up to since SCTV left the air? Are you still doing wardrobe these days?

JUUL: In a way. I still have my costume company, Homemade Tarts, and I rent out vintage clothing to the movies, but I don’t do any designing anymore; couldn’t handle the stress of it all. Back in those days they were all wonderful people to work for who appreciated your craft, but now the shows are mostly in the hands of bean counters, who just want to get it done as cheaply as possible, to heck with creativity. I stopped about nine years ago after I won an Emmy for NODDY AND FRIENDS, a childrens show for PBS.DOUG: That's awesome. Belated congratulations on that Emmy! And lastly, is there any truth to the internet rumor that you are going to be on DANCING WITH THE STARS?

JUUL: Ha Ha! That was a very clever and funny piece someone posted and I got over one hundred e-mails from people who actually believed it! Had a lot of fun with that one! Found the guy who wrote it and he’s just a big fan of the show.

DOUG : Well, you never know with internet rumors. Once something is out the in the universe, it could very well happen! Thanks again for being a guest and being so entertaining!
JUUL: Thank you, It’s been great talking with you!

Who Killed Teddy Bear?

WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR (1965, directed by Joseph Cates, THE FAT SPY) is a film which I've been dying to see for close to 15 years. After devouring H. Paul Jeffer's 2000 tome Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder and Mystery this week - I sought out and found a rare (aka bootleg) copy of the film on dvd.While I was always familiar with Sal Mineo and his tragic story, I now have a slight obsession with the attractive, baby-faced, twice Oscar nominated actor.WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR is psychological thriller written by Arnold Drake (creator of DC Comics' DOOM PATROL and DEADMAN-who would have thunk?). The noir-ish film is notable for it's frank sexuality and it's rare objectification of the male body–but at it's heart it's mainly a sordid tale about the wacky staff of a popular midtown Manhattan danceclub. By the way, this post is chock full of SPOILERS.The film opens with a great theme song (sung by Dougsploitation favorite Leslie Uggams) a blurry shot of a two half-naked people in a compromising position groping at each other and the credits continue over this sexy scene until a little girl screams, drops her teddy bear and falls down a flight of stairs! Oopsie!We see a male in tighty whities (apparently the first time briefs, not boxers, were shown in a somewhat mainstream film).Suddenly a alarm clock rings, we see a tawdry book titled When She Was Bad among this guy's belongings. There is implied masturbation(!) It's 6AM - time for Norah's first obscene phone call of the day. She tells him to “go sober up.” Norah Dain is played by leggy dance diva Juliet Prowse. We soon learn that this naïve waif is new in the city, just having moved from Rochester, NY and working as a disc jockey at the club while she looks for showbiz jobs. Unfortunately it seems like she only has one record, a song called "Born to be Bad". The crowd seems to enjoy it, over and over again.
Sal plays a waiter named Laurence who works at the same club. Larry is a bit shy and a bit insecure around women, despite the fact that his sexy good looks could melt an iceberg.
The club is managed by tough-as-nails Marian (played by Broadway legend and recurring 30 ROCK guest star Elaine Stritch). Norah tells a concerned Marian about the obscene phone calls she's been getting. The hunky mute bouncer is played by future HILL STREET BLUES star, Daniel J. Travanti! Mute? But could he be faking it to make dirty phone calls?Vice detective Dave Madden (played by Catskills comedian Jan Murray) is soon on the case- and he tries to impress Norah by rattling off a list of different kinds of sex offenders that he's familiar with. He stops at necrophilia. Don't they always?Oh by the way, Norah seems to be quite the exhibitionist - undressing in front of any available open window. I'm just saying. It's okay, her apartment only faces a brick wall.

Norah goes on a few auditions and takes a walking tour of the NY Theater district, taking time to check out a poster for ANY WEDNESDAY starring Sandy Dennis (insert Sandra Bernhard joke here). Norah winds up at the Hudson Health Club were she goes for a swim. He phone caller is there - he's officially become her stalker now!
We see that Detective Madden is obsessed with perverts. He has a collection of books and magazines about fetishes, S&M and other kinky topics and he listens to tapes of victims' testimonies in his apartment while his precocious daughter Pam (played by Murray's real life daughter) sleeps in the next room. Maybe he's the 6AM dirty wake-up caller???

Back at the club, the same couples dance to the same song as Norah gets one of those annoying calls at work! He knows where she lives! He knows where she works! He knows her name! Marian tries to convince Norah to go home with her for the night, but Norah resists.
But when she arrives home she find a teddy bear with it's throat slashed and calls Madden.

After Madden helps himself to her booze, he reveals to her that he knows everything she's done that day. She then freaks out and calls him a "dirty, disgusting animal". Then he tells her about how his wife was raped and horribly mutilated after going to see a matinee–and the killer was never caught. So that's why he's obsessed with perverts! Then her phone rings - it's the stalker!!! Madden then invites her to spend the night at his place - with him and his daughter.

We then see that the stalker is watching her from across the way through binoculars from his apartment window. And when he lights a cigarette - it's revealed to be Larry! Duh - who else could it have been...Elaine Stritch?

Suddenly we see Larry with a female, who is revealed to be his mentally challenged sister Edie. It's her 19th birthday and he gave her a dress and not the new teddy bear he promised her. After an uncomfortbale hugging scene, we get a flashback–where we see Larry is coaxed into having sex with an unidentified woman (a hooker? his mother? Auntie Mame?) as young Edie (with her teddy bear) walks in on them. Frightened by what she saw, Edie slips and flies down a flight of stairs, leaving her brain damaged. This explains the opening montage.

The next day, Pam asks her father if Norah is a hooker - and then they all trip head to the zoo for an outting, where they awkwardly run into Larry and Edie! Small world, isn't it? Later, back at his room with a view Larry chastises his sister for dressing up like a whore. A mentally challenged whore, but a whore nonetheless. Meanwhile, Larry is wearing the tightest white pants. FYI - Sal Mineo's ass was awesome!Oh yeah, and the pants are so tight he is  also sporting "V.P.L." - Visible Penis Line.Here, look again. Very impressive.Larry's pants get him (and us) all very horny, so he heads to Time Square for some window shopping.  We follow. Then he flips though some nudist magazines and goes to see a porno double-feature. I wonder if CALL GIRL '77 was a real film? I need to see it!Meanwhile, Marian accompanies Norah home for the evening and the gals are having a sapphic slumber party. Marian tries on Norah's fur, literally, saying “I dig soft things.” Then the phone rings. Marian wants to answer it but Norah won't let her. Norah then freaks the fuck out and begins sobbing in Marian's arms. Marian tries her best to calm Norah down, and it seems to be working until Norah gets the feeling that Marian is beginning to feel her up. Norah lets lesbi-phobia get the best of her and demands that Marian leave at once!Marian, totally offended, tells Norah that she thinks there's something wrong with HER–that maybe the telephone voices are all in her head. She leaves wearing Norah's fur. Larry sees the coat and thinks that she's Norah, running after her - eventually catching Marian and... apparently kills her! Nice going, psycho. She's your boss!!! Don't you think you're gonna get fired for that?I guess in 1965 the lesbian had to die.

Meanwhile, Dave's obsession with sexual psychopaths is getting in the way of his job. He's becoming one of them! Maybe. “Dave, you’ve gone over the line. You’ve joined them.”

Back in Sal town, Larry is in his undies gyrating on his bed, rubbing himself. HOT. He's having a hard time sleeping (after killing his boss), so he decides to go to the gym - where the camera lingers on Mineo’s muscular body.

No complaints here.

Turns out Norah's at the gym too - so Larry changes into his snug black Speedo and chats her up. Only he doesn't listen to a word she says. Rather he fantasizes about swimming with her. Awww, what a sweet psycho killer. There is rumored to be a censored scene here where he pops a boner and makes a quick getaway.That evening at work, they brush off Marian's murder as if she was totally expendable. You'd think Norah would be freaked out that her boss was murdered outside her apartment wearing her fur coat!!! But no, she says "business as usual, better than usual". After the club closes, Norah decides to show Larry how to dance (to her favorite song).

This sweaty scene is a hoot and totally suggestive-with Larry wearing a sexy midrift-bearing jacket. 

When the dance ends Larry tells her that he loves her. Wrong move.

Instead of talking about it a bit, or telling him that she's flattered - she instantly rejects him and he then viciously attacks...and possibly rapes her (through their clothes - after all it was the mid-1960s).Gulp!

Meanwhile, Madden realizes, with help from his daughter, that the stalker was using a mirror to watch Norah. I don't know–it made sense when he said it.He goes to Larry's apartment and finds Edie hiding in a closet. Meanwhile back at the disco, Larry and Norah share an awkward moment.Madden immediately shows up at the club where he smacks the shit out of Larry. While Dave tends to traumatized Norah, Larry gets up and runs through the streets of NYC. Through a strobe effect he imagines a different life - one where he and Norah frolic in the snow. Then he his shot dead by the cops in front of the Hotel Astor. The End.

The movie was beyond awesome. I was not disappointed in the least. 10 out of 10 on the Dougsploitation scale. Sure it was sleazy and totally politically incorrect, but come on–for 1965 it was incredibly suggestive and progressive. Sal Mineo is my new hero, I think it took balls to appear in a film like this and expose himself the way he did. He was far ahead of his time. Imagine the body of work that lied ahead if he wasn't murdered in 1976. Very sad indeed.