The Ed Sullivan Theater Goes Dark

Stephen Colbert signed off The Late Show last night and now, after 33 years, one of the big 11:30 PM talk shows is gone. I attended a taping of the show back in 2018 and blogged about it at the time.

It's sad to think that all of the talent and energy I saw that day is now gone. Colbert and this show deserved better but the monsters who now run CBS decided, in the most cowardly way possible, to censor him for political reasons.

So it goes.

The Late Show ran for all 33 years from The Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway and 53rd Street. The theater was, in many ways, the first sign of the theater district and the entire Times Square area. When you came upon it you it was like the theater was welcoming you to the cultural heart of NYC -- and America.

I didn't spend a lot of time in the theater district as a kid but I remember that when I was there I would pass The Ed Sullivan Theater which, at the time, had a big black and white marquee. It would announce various taping for various shows -- including the 1980s sitcom Kate & Allie. Often the theater would lie empty and it looked a little run down. It just seemed to sit there -- it's amazing history as the place where Ed Sullivan changed the culture with the Beatles and numerous other artists long in the past.

Then, in 1993, it found its second life.

David Letterman started The Late Show that year and it once again became a massive cultural hub, basically the nerve center for NYC cultural hub. I was in high school at the time and it was really exciting! The theater screamed "New York!" to the rest of America -- and the rest of America loved it. 

And now it's all over.

The Ed Sullivan Theater is once again just sitting there empty. It's gone dark. So far there are apparently now plans to use it for anything again. That would be tragic. It's a beautiful space in the heart of Manhattan and it let it wither would be criminals. But since our country is being run and owned by criminals, I don't hold out hope.

Light a candle for the Ed Sullivan Theater. It needs the love.

Letterman and Colbert Bid "The Late Show" Adieu ... with Wanton Destruction

What Does AI Think of Mr NYC?

Last year I asked Chat GPT to describe this blog. You can read it here.

And now I've asked Grok and Google AI to describe this blog and got the following:

Google AI:

The blog mrnyc.blogspot.com is a "fun, upbeat, and thoughtful blog about this great city". It aims to capture the "soul of the world's greatest city" and is described as "part of the NYC underground". The blog appears to cover various aspects of New York City life and culture. The author, sometimes identified as [REDACTED], maintains an active presence on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @MrNYCBlog and Facebook. The blog has been running for almost two decades and has reached a considerable milestone, having been clicked on over a million times.

Grok:

The website https://mrnyc.blogspot.com/ is a blog titled "Mr NYC," dedicated to capturing the spirit and culture of New York City. It describes itself as "Blogging the soul of the world's greatest city. Part of the NYC underground. Feel free to comment!" The blog covers a wide range of topics related to NYC, including its history, culture, media, politics, and notable figures, often with a personal and opinionated perspective.

Key points about the blog based on its content: 

• Focus: It explores various aspects of NYC life, from apartment living and late-night television to local politics and cultural events. Posts often reflect on the city's unique character, its underground scene, and its historical significance.
  
  
• Content Style: The blog combines personal anecdotes, cultural commentary, and critiques of current events. For example, it discusses the significance of NYC in late-night TV history, the impact of apartment living, and political developments like the NYC mayoral race.
  
  
• Recent Posts: As of July 31, 2025, recent posts include discussions about Awkwafina and Marc Maron talking about Queens, the history of NYC apartment living, the decline of late-night TV in NYC, and political commentary on the NYC mayoral election.
  
  
• Social Media Presence: The blog has associated social media accounts, as mentioned in a post encouraging readers to explore its "multi-tentacled" digital presence.
  
  
• Tone and Perspective: The author often takes a critical stance, particularly towards political and economic issues, as seen in posts criticizing corporate influence in politics and media, and expressing frustration with figures like Mayor Eric Adams and former Governor Cuomo.

The blog is hosted on Blogspot and has been active for years, with posts referencing earlier writings (e.g., a 2018 post about a Stephen Colbert show taping). It positions itself as an independent voice in the NYC cultural landscape, often highlighting lesser-known or nostalgic aspects of the city.

NYC Makes & Late Night Takes

I remember it well: in early 1993, shortly after Bill Clinton took office as President, David Letterman dramatically announced his departure from NBC and his 12:30 AM show Late Night to go host the 11:30 PM Late Show on CBS.

America waited with baited breath: would the quintessential NYC late night host pull up stakes and move his new show in a better time slot on another network to LA?

In the end, Dave stayed put, moving into the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway and making NYC a late night powerhouse for the first time since the 1960s -- and for the next 32 years. 

Part of the reason he stayed is that then-NYC Mayor David Dinkins moved heaven and earth to keep the Letterman show here. And when Letterman retired in 2015, CBS was bribed to keep his replacement Stephen Colbert in NYC with generous tax breaks. The same thing had happened in 2014 to move the Tonight Show back to NYC. 

We, the taxpayers of NYC, basically financed late night TV. 

And now ... the show has been cancelled, late night TV is in freefall -- and got stuck with the bill! All of that revenue that might have come into NYC without these tax breaks are gone -- and can never be recovered.

So when we hear scary stuff about "socialism" just remember -- we already have socialism but it's for the rich and big corporations ... and not for the rest of us.

Late Night in Winter

Late night television was born in NYC.

When the Tonight Show with Steve Allen premiered in 1954, it created a whole new world, not only for television, but for the entire culture. Late night TV was a America's bedtime story. During his 30-year reign as host of the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson was the nation's comforter-in-chief. In the years and decades since, so many other late night shows and hosts have come and gone that it's hard to keep track. And, of course, late night TV extended for beyond NYC, into "beautiful downtown Burbank" and the West Coast.

But late night TV has always been, at heart, a New York City thing. Like the city itself, it's always been a little edgy, a little nasty, a little smartass, a little offbeat, and yet always had a big welcoming heart.

Think Letterman. Think Jon Stewart. 

So it's a sad occasion that the Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been cancelled. In May 2026 it will end completely. Its network, CBS, is getting out of the late night business altogether. The reasons for this cancellation are, according to CBS, purely financial. But it's entirely possible that it was done to help grease the wheels of a huge merger that is taking place between CBS and Skydance. Skydance is owned by ultra-Republican billionaire Larry Ellison and Colbert used his show daily to bash Trump. Ending the show not only saves CBS money but also appeases the FTC to approve the merger, as well as Larry Ellison's ego (it's rumored that he'll turn CBS into another Fox News).

The financial and the political are, let's face it, one and the same. One hand washes the other. Power speaks to power. 

Also, the economics of late night TV awful: the Tonight Show is down to four nights a week, Late Night lost its band, other late night shows have been cancelled and not replaced, it's a shrinking, dying breed. People would rather watch streaming or YouTube or watch their phones. Who needs late night TV?

But it's a sad moment for late television, for the culture, and for NYC. Something has been lost, never to be replaced. We'll remember late night TV the same way some people remember cigarette ads on TV or other cultural ephemera. Gone, but not forgotten.

P.S. the Colbert show is the only late night show that I went to a taping of, and I wrote about it briefly in 2018. 

Remembering "Night After Night with Allan Havey" (1989-1992)

The late night television talk show has been a staple of American life ever since Steve Allen launched The Tonight Show in NYC in 1954. Over the decades the names of late night hosts became staples of American culture: Carson, Letterman, Leno, and Stewart ruled the late night airways collectively for over half a century, and their replacements -- Fallon, Kimmel, Colbert, and ... Stewart -- have all dominated late night TV for over a decade now. 

In those same decades there have been lots of other talk shows that have come and gone -- Merve Griffen, Dick Cavett, Conan, Corden, and many others. Up until a few years ago there was a glut of late night shows until economic pressures led to many of them being cancelled. Even the big late night shows are in decline -- their ratings are way down, their doing fewer shows per week, their losing their bands, and they no longer have the kind of agenda-setting, social currency that they used to have.

But thirty-odd years ago, the late night landscape was very different. It was the time of the big transition from the 30-plus year reign of Johnny Carson to the duopoy of Leno and Letterman.

It was also the time when Arsenio Hall -- young, loud, black, and wild -- challenged the white-guy late night establishment and created memorable TV moments, including then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton playing the saxaphone and then getting elected president. Late night TV was a hot place, and it seemed like it was the pulse of American culture.

One totally forgotten late night show from that time was Night After Night with Allan Havey. It ran on Comedy Central (first called the Comedy Channel) from 1989 to 1992 and was really different and quite original. 

Coming several years before the start of The Daily Show, Night After Night was a largely tradditional talk show except for some big differences. Allen would begin each show sitting at his desk and, instead of the regular monologue, he'd just talk and riff. It was more like the opening to a radio show than a TV show but he did it really well and was very funny. Then he'd interview his guests and the conversations were much more interesting than anything you'd hear on the late night shows. This show obviously ran many years before podcasts but his interviews were more in-depth and podcast-like than anything else at the time. Also, he played a constant gag on the audience -- his studio audience literally consisted of one person, his "audience of one", usually someone visiting NYC.

Night After Night was a calm, smart, funny show that was, quite frankly, a relief from the raucous, loud, and sometimes quite dumb late night shows. And it was really New York, almost like a late-night Manhattan cable access show brought into the mainstream. 

I remembering watching this show in high school and enjoyed it a lot. I remember on the night that Johnny Carson retired in 1992, they simply paused the show so that everyone else could watch it, and instead just showed an advertisement for Tabasco the whole time. I remember he interviewed the lady who played (and still plays) Lisa Simpson who talked about how many times she had turned eight on the show. And I remember this episode from 1992 when he interviewed an actress/comedien named Stephanie Hodge who was the star of a Saturday night sitcom on NBC called Nurses (a spinoff of another show called Emptyness that was itself a spinoff of The Golden Girls). It aired in the summer of that year, just before I started 10th grade -- and just months before Night After Night was cancelled, and Stephanie Hodges was fired from Nurses. 

Many other late night shows have obviously come and gone since Night After Night was cancelled -- and Allan Havey has gone on to have a great career as an actor, including appearing on Mad Men. But there's never quite been another late night show like this, a really funky NYC show, and so Mr NYC is happy to remember this little piece of NYC late-night culture from a very different time.

Interview: Jean-Pierre Dorleac, International Costume Designer, on His Career and "Quantum Leap"

“Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime … "

In the early 1990s, when I was a youngster, the Golden Age of Television had yet to arrive. There were no streaming shows and cable television didn't have many original (or good) shows then. The big networks still ruled absolutely. Hit shows were watched by twenty to thirty million people each week, and even lesser-rated shows got around ten million or so viewers. The audience sizes back then are unimaginable today. This was the era of LA Law, Doogie Howser, thirtysomething, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Growing Pains, Dallas, etc. -- shows about lawyers, doctors, cops, families, etc. which were mostly boring to me and my fellow adolescents. But there was one show that was a huge exception, standing out and shining brightly like a star, a show that my friends and I were utterly obsessed with – Quantum Leap.

Quantum Leap was one part science fiction, one part history lesson of the second half of the twentieth-century, and one part buddy comedy. It’s about a brilliant scientist named Sam Beckett who, in the late 1990s, builds a time machine called Project Quantum Leap and finds himself “leaping” into the bodies and lives of different people at different places in the past. Sam is accompanied on his leaps by his friend from the future, Al – a cigar-chomping, quip-a-minute retired Navy man who appears as a hologram (Al steps into something called an imaging chamber at Project Quantum Leap linked to Sam’s brain, and only Sam can see and hear him – except for, as we learn, small children and the mentally disabled). In each episode, Al tells Sam what history he must change, what he needs to “make right that once went wrong” so that Sam can then “leap out” and into a new adventure or – as is always teased – back home to the future.

And for a show about time-travel, it’s fair to say that Quantum Leap was way ahead of its time. When Sam landed in a new place and time each week, the episode would hook the viewers in with the music and clothes and scenery – and that would brilliantly set the stage to introduce the characters and, more deeply, force us to confront much that was uncomfortable in our recent past. Years before #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, Quantum Leap made Americans reckon with their county’s ingrained racism and sexism. While the stories and characters might be sentimental, it was always brutally honest: yes, the South in the 1950s was racist as hell; yes, the New York City corporate world of the 1960s was sexist as hell (this was more than 25 years before Mad Men felt the need to remind us week after week); yes, the military was deeply homophobic; yes, the Cuban Missile Crises and Kennedy Assassination made everyone nuts; and yes, the Vietnam war was a tragedy that haunts our country, even to this day. Yes, the second half of the twentieth century in America was a wild, crazy place -- and Quantum Leap dramatized it so well and so originally.

Quantum Leap ran from 1989 until 1993 and each week was a masterclass in writing, acting, and production Along with shows like Twin Peaks, Larry Sanders and The Days and Night of Molly Dodd, it paved the way for the Golden Age of Television that we enjoy today.

As I mentioned, for a show that jumped around several decades between the 1950s and 1980s, the costumes were extremely important. And the costumes on Quantum Leap were brilliant – they accentuated the characters, gave them a dimensionality beyond the story and script, rooted them not only in the time and place they were living in but also were extensions of who these particular people were – and helped us understand what was going wrong with them so that Sam could set their lives to right.

Almost all the costumes on Quantum Leap were the work of one man, Jean-Pierre Dorleac, a name that popped out every week in the opening credits. Jean-Pierre has had a truly legendary career in show business, designing costumes for the original Battlestar Gallactica in the late 1970s and other classic shows like Max Headroom, Airwolf, and Jake and the Fatman as well as movies like The Blue Lagoon and The Only Thrill. He’s won an Emmy and worked in theater and opera as well, all over the world. His long and successful career is a tribute to his great talent and eye for how the costume can help make the character.

Jean-Pierre has a lively Twitter presence and, while he had a long and varied career in many mediums, it’s clear that his time on Quantum Leap was very special to him. He was the costume designer for almost every episode (except the last five) and he probably had the biggest, most challenging, and most enjoyable costume design job in all of television history. That’s why it was AWESOME that Jean-Pierre was kind enough to answer some of Mr NYC’s fanboy questions about his career, his work on Quantum Leap (especially some of the NYC episodes), and what he thinks the legacy of the show is in the 21st century, almost 30 years since it went off the air.

Thank you so much for doing this interview Jean-Pierre. 

First, I would like to say thank you very much for your interest in my work, especially “QUANTUM LEAP.”

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you became a costume designer.

I have been in show business since I was 10 years old, when I was featured in a review in England (where I received my formative education) singing and dancing to a popular song of the era. “Keep Your Sunny Side Up.” My performance, which turned out to be quiet entertaining and captivating, launched me on the road of entertainment.

I went on to perform in stage productions, radio and eventually television and film as an actor. Sometimes, due to restricted budget, I made my own costumes from scratch. In the sixties when I was studying for a degree in Historic Apparel, I went to work for various designers in Paris as a workroom assistant, shopping textiles, making patterns, and helping in fitting (by handing the designer pins at first). Dior, Cardin, and Givenchy were amongst the notable designers I worked for. I was still doing theater at the time, which at times, required my participation in the costumes I wore. One of the plays I did, “Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m feeling So Sad,” lost its costume designer to illness, and I volunteered to take over. My work created such sensational reviews, I thereafter concentrated more on the designing aspect of entertainment than on being a performer. Soon, because of my special knowledge in 18th Century apparel, I was asked to be the historical consultant to the costume designer for the Royal Shakespeare’s production of Peter Weiss’ bizarre play, “Marat/Sade” concerning the aftermath of the French revolution as performed by the inmates of a mental institution outside Paris. It won many awards and brought me to New York when it opened there, and consequently to Los Angles where the east coast world premiere was staged. I won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award for the costume designs in 1973.

Fate had a very funny, supplementary hand in its success, which is fully explained in my book, “The Naked Truth” available at Amazon.com, eBay, and at my website www.jean-pierredorleac.com.

In time, I realized through my experiences in the making of costumes for the theater, and the expertise I have developed in couture creations, it had culminated in an ability to create costumes that had an underlying, subliminal message, placing them apart from just being attractive and in sync with the narrative.

Within three years I did another two dozen well-known plays in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Paris, Berlin, London, and Hawaii. And through them, I caught the attention of Edith Head, who then mentored me. Before long, renowned actress, Nancy Walker, requested me to do her costumes alone for her new series in 1977, “Blansky’s Beauties.” Through this, I was inducted into the entertainment’s union, The Costume Designers Guild, that opened more doors to other venues, like my first feature with Henry Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan, “The Great Smokey Road Block” (a terrible title on a badly shot film with a sensational cast, that bombed).

Although I had become pigeon-holed as mostly a period costume designer, Universal recognized my special talents in fantasy and I was offered Battlestar Galactica in 1978, for which I went on to win an Emmy. I, of course, jumped at the chance to do the show, mainly because it would offer a different aspect of my abilities to the industry as well as the public.

You worked on lots of TV shows and movies over the decades but, on Twitter, it seems like your work on Quantum Leap remains close to your heart. How did you end up working on the show?

One of the associate producers on Battlestar Galactica was Don Bellisario. Matter of fact, he wrote the script for which I won my Emmy. Following the series demise, Don produced a wonderful show entitled The Tales of the Gold Monkey. During its run, he asked me to do a spinoff series from Magnum P.I, that never was aired, but I did become his favorite designer. So, years later, when Quantum Leap was done, he called me in after they shot the pilot episode, to redo a lot of the scenes in it, specifically an entirely new wardrobe for Dean Stockwell, playing a very sybaritic fellow named “Al.” I stayed and did EVERY show in all the season thereafter, except for the last five when I left the production to do Heart and Souls in San Francisco with Robert Downey, Jr., Kyra Sedgwick, Elizabeth Shue, Charles Grodin, and Alfre Woodard.

For nearly every episode you had to design costumes for a different decade between the 1950s and 1980s, as well as for a different part of the country. It must have been a both big creative joy and challenge. How did you approach creating costumes for not only a specific era but also for totally new characters each time?

By the time Quantum Leap came along, I had developed a knowledge of the 20th Century that surpassed all the other earlier periods. I don’t think you could fill half-a-page of what I DON’T KNOW regarding the trends in fashion for the last hundred and fifty years. Therefore, QL came easy to me. I didn’t have to do much research for any of the episodes unless I was looking for something that was out of the ordinary. The one thing that comes to mind immediately was the 18th Century stylization for the wedding dress in “Sea Bride”. I wanted to design something lovely, because it was a wedding dress, yet something comical at the same time, so that Beverly Leech has to struggle with it in the opening scene when she has to hide in the ship’s small stateroom closet. I remember combing old 1957 magazines to find that Dior had used a pannier for some of his gowns at that time, and that gave me the idea for the design I needed. Everything else in that show, including the drop-dead red tango dress, and all the shows, thereafter, just came off the top of my head.

Character costume ideas come from the script. They are born when I begin to read it and then grow into a full figure by the end. Having learned from past endeavors, I want the character to blend with the other actors so there is continuity within their scenes yet have some unique characteristic that sets them apart. It requires imagination, especially with men, as they aren’t as bedecked as women.

There is an adage that goes, “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.”

I saw on Twitter that in one episode you had to create KKK outfits and that it was a hard and painful thing to do. What were some of the hardest costumes you had to create as well as some of the most fun?

Having lived and worked on five continents in the same number of decades, I have tried to learn as much as I can about people. One, it helps me incorporate character in my design, and two, I learn about diversity and how it brings individuality to everyone. Each person has something wonderful to express in how they dress, no matter how much someone else thinks differently. Everyone’s ideas and concepts matter. The two things I abhor are bigots and fabulist. I have a hard time with titles as well, as I have always felt they cover a lot of sins. I’ve met as many people with an academic, medical, engineering, theatrical, artistic, and other degrees, as I have met people who know more by experiencing life and learning the hard way through vocational training. I believe the value of someone’s abilities lie in the merit of their work, not how much they can attract the public’s fancy by being a flash in the pan with a glorified handle.

Having to generate a faction of history by making KKK robes, as there were none from the 50’s in existence, mainly due to changes in design, I was faced with having to create the actual monstrosities, including The Grand Dragon in red. It upset me very much, just in knowing how abhorrent the sight of them would be to many people that were my friends, especially in the south, where the episode occurred. In other episodes of QL, over the years, I had to come up with Nazi and Russian uniforms, but they were ordered from costume houses. They were not of my creation. But the KKK robes that I watched being constructed, really left me sick.

On the other hand, there were many fun things I did for the show that left me elated. There was “Play It Again Sam,” (with the widow who couldn’t help it, if she looked good in black), “Sea Bride,” “One Strobe Over the Line” (glamor, glamor, glamor)“A Single Drop of Rain,” “Glitter Rock,” (Rock the Redhead), “Miss Deep South” (especially the silly Carmen Miranda get-up for ‘Quanta La Gusta’), “What Price Gloria” (Sam’s dinner ensemble with the quivering feather hat), “Private Dancer,” “Southern Comfort” (all those wanton women in lingerie) and “It’s a Wonderful Leap,” among many.

Okay, let’s get to the NYC part. You designed the costumes for the brilliant episode “What Price Gloria” where Sam becomes a secretary dealing with sexual harassment. What are your memories about that episode and the challenges of making Scott Bakula an attractive, dignified professional woman in 1961 NYC?

It didn’t start with Sam. Nothing ever did. It started with Gloria, who you are supposed to be seeing. She was a gorgeous woman. It’s always easy to dress gorgeous women as everyone looks at their faces, not what they’re wearing. And if she were curvy and appealing, it was even easier. I choose simple sheaths that weren’t revealing in anyway at the office, with smart but subtle jewelry. As the story progressed, I selected more feminine styles when we realized that it wasn’t how Gloria presented herself that was making the wolf howl, it was his vain glorious believe in himself. I tried to choose designs that were very reminiscent of the early 60’s and especially chic because it took place in New York City’s business world. I was helped in keeping the look light by the fact that it took place in October of 1961, in the Big Apple. Having lived there at the time, I knew what the weather could be like.

One of the best episodes of Quantum Leap, as well as maybe the best NYC episode, is “Private Dancer” where Sam becomes a Chippendales’ dancer in 1979 and saves a deaf lady from a horrible fate. That episode is both one of the most hilarious and poignant episodes of TV I’ve ever seen on any show (the beginning of the episode, where Sam leaps into the dancer mid-jump, with screaming women all around, Kool and Gang’s “Ladies Night” blaring in the background is one of the funniest things ever). Also, it was probably the most realistic portrayal of late 1970s NYC I’ve ever seen, the costumes are clearly from the 1970s but don’t have a “paper-dollish” look and seem to capture how these struggling dancers at that time would have really dressed. What do you remember about working on that episode?

Well, it wasn’t about putting Sam in next to nothing as the Zorro dressed dancer! That was fun. What was a lot of work, were the dresses to be used in the dance sequences. I had seen Debbie Allen’s choreography in other films and knew I was going to have to have outfits that twirled, floated, and looked seductive, yet classy. They also couldn’t look expensive as these dancers had no money and when they bought things, they tended to stay with styles similar to workout/rehearsal garments.

Debbie Allen’s white gown, at the disco, was little more than four panels of triangular shaped wedges of white matte jersey with self-string straps, belt, and a self-wrapped turban. And the red handkerchief dress worn for the final audition by the young girl was silk jersey with a minimal scattering of sequins at the V-neckline and at the edges of the numerous skirt panels. I wanted simplicity at its best for these scenes as the dance was supposed to be the center of attention and where your mind should linger.

The last NYC episode I’ll ask about is “It’s a Wonderful Leap” that takes place in 1958. In that episode you had to turn Scott Bakula into a Jewish cab driver. His costume and look in that episode, especially the glasses, is quite memorable (so much so that Stephen Colbert referenced that episode in 2015 because, sadly, it includes a child Donald Trump). I also remember all the costumes had a vibrant, 1950’s feel about them. Was that a fun episode to work on (Trump excluded)?

Funny, but I have blanked out tRump being in it! God knows why…ha ha ha ha!

Yes, “It’s a Wonderful Leap” was a wonderful show. After the various times I had spent in NYC, I was quite knowledgeable regarding Hell’s Kitchen, so Sam’s costume was quite easy to put together. I think I only bought one hat to the fitting as I knew it was perfect with the turtlenecks, scarf and beaten jacket of a cabdriver. The glasses were something I picked out from a selection that Props had, as they are a prop item on a shoot.

Most of my time was spent with my old, dear friend Liz Torres. I had known her since 1975 when she had appeared at the Backlot Room of Studio One, in Hollywood.

Liz is one of the most talented actresses in the world who can sing like a bird, dance like a ballerina, and realistically act the hell out a scene. I knew I didn’t have to create much of a character for her as it would all come from her. So, I went for a magical look in whites and grays that didn’t grab your attention, giving away the fact that she was ghost from the 20’s. We made everything, including her hat, shoes, coat, and dress that was beaded. I found old garters and we rolled her stockings down to just below her knees and rouged them…very de rigueur for a flapper of that period.

Longshots on television are rare, so when Liz found out there was going to be one on the street, she spoke with the director first, and then improvised the Charleston dance step so the audience could see our efforts with the stockings and garters. She was definitely one of my favorite actresses of all the ones that I’ve ever worked with.

The rapport between Sam (Scott Bakula) and Al (Dean Stockwell) was amazing, they worked brilliantly together. Did you ever get to watch them work and create that magic?

Yes, many times. I went to the set every day when they were on the lot, and many times when they were on location as well. A major part of my job as a costume designer for film or television, is being on the set to establish a new costume that has never seen before, not even by Dean. Having been in the business for so many years, Dean didn’t like to deal with fittings. So, he and I established a look for him at the beginning. I also had the studio tailor take all his sizes. After a month, we were so in sync, I simple designed his outfits without anyone’s input, and took them to the set the day they worked. He would put them on in his motor home, and then come out with his cigar and parade around the set where all the grips, lighting technicians, sound, camera men and props would ooh and ah about how crazy they were. He loved showing them off as much as he did acting in them.

He and Scott worked together in tandem as they were both extremely professional and didn’t mess around; it was always a business, that they made appear like fun. But they always knew their lines and hit their marks right on time. No one had to wait for either of them.

Finally, even though the show’s been off the air for almost 30 years, my friends and my wife still love it. What do you think is Quantum Leap’s legacy? Was it one of the shows that paved the way for the later Golden Age of TV?

I think its legacy was the great scripts. I don’t remember too many that didn’t hold my interest all the way though. I loved the fact that they also taught some moral responsibility amidst all the foolery. Plus, even though it was achieved though writer manipulation, there was usually a pretty rewarding and uplifting ending that sometime was quite nostalgic.

I’m very rewarded by the followers on Twitter, who, for the most part, didn’t see the show when it was first released, but have becomes fans over the decades from the many times it has aired. That is very unusual for a TV series; it hasn’t been that way with the many other shows I’ve done. But I’m forever getting a residual check for the episode I appeared in, “Shock Theater,” so I know the show is always airing somewhere in the world.

And I’m grateful after all these years that it has become the phenomenal cult hit it is. Between it, “Somewhere in Time,” and “Battlestar Galactica” my costumes have been exhibited all over the world and I have lectured as much as I have done. Examples of my creations have been exhibited worldwide. Benefits for AIDS Project Los Angeles have celebrated my work, as have The Mannequins Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Southern California where an hour long, dazzling fashion show paraded my creations. The Los Angeles County Museum of Arts showcased my costumes and sketches in their exhibition and book, HOLLYWOOD AND HISTORY: COSTUME DESIGN IN FILM, as well as exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; La Palais de la Civilization, Montreal, Canada; and La Place Vendôme, Paris, France. Recently, ATAS exhibited thirteen examples at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, in a presentation of award-winning television costumes. 

What a career! What a legacy! Thank you so much Jean-Pierre!

Make sure to visit Jean-Pierre’s website and check out his book at the links above. Also, delve into Mr. NYC’s QL fandom here.

Ronan On The Rampage

A year-and-a-half ago I went to a taping of the Stephen Colbert show which I blogged about here. What I realize now is that I forgot to mention that muck racking reporter Ronan Farrow was also a guest on that particular show -- talking about how ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had sicced former Mossad agents on Farrow in an attempt to stop his reporting on Weinstein's bad behavior.

Now Ronan Farrow has written a book called Catch and Kill about his reporting on Weinstein and also on former Today show host Matt Lauer -- and the whole sleazy cabal of lawyers, executives, PR flaks, and others who tried to suppress stories about the misbehavior of these famous and powerful men (they eventually, obviously, failed). 

Farrow documents stories of threatening phone calls, attempts to bribe reporters and others with book and movie deals, secretive pay-offs and non-disclosure agreements, bad-faith arguments about how stories weren't "ready" for publication when in reality they were being suppressed to keep people happy and in their jobs, and lots more. What Farrow's reporting -- and the whole wave of reports about the bad private behavior of prominent men in the last couple of years -- is that now we're seeing what goes on behind the scenes with the rich and powerful -- behind closed doors, late at night, on the phone or in emails and texts, when other people who might be able to stop it aren't around or are ignorant of what is going on around them, just out of sight and mind. Farrow and his fellow reporters are shining a light not only on bad -- sometimes criminal -- behavior, but also on the dark chasm that exists between men and women, the powerful and the powerless, the abusers and the abused, the rumors and whispers that float in the air, unproven and unconfirmed -- until now.

They're showing us the grime and dirt beneath the shiny surfaces -- the ultimate, ugliest of reality shows.

I'll be honest -- I'm not a huge fan of Ronan Farrow personally. During his Colbert appearance I found him impossibly smug and arrogant (I guess winning a Pulitzer Prize will do that to you) and I dislike this personal jihad he has against Woody Allen, his maybe father. That said, his reporting on this subject of institutionalized abuse is important and, if it has any value beyond pure gossip, is that hopefully it will make men in power change their behavior for the better -- if only so that they don't become future subject for reporters like Ronan Farrow, future victims of his rampages.

April 24, 2018

The day of Tuesday, April 24th, in this year of our Lord 2018 anno domini, was not a day of earth-shaking history. But let it be recorded here that, in New York at least, some history was made.

First, a disclosure: for the time ever, your truly attended the taping of a late night show, specifically The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

It was a fun time, with the warm-up act Paul Mercurio doing some very funny stand-up, including having fun with some British tourists and a very impressive older married couple from New Hampshire (one of whom was ex-military) who both happened to be women.

When Mr. Colbert took the stage he, as always, "killed." I was in the balcony and saw the great man himself do his monologue right in my elevated site-line. Then he brought on his first guest: Hank Azaria, the talented actor who has done, according to his estimate, up to 30 voices on The Simpsons during his multi-decade run on the air. Lately there has been much controversy over the character of Apu, the lovable Indian convenience store clerk who Mr. Azaria has voiced for the shows entire run. Many people feel Apu is an offensive stereotype and that the non-Mr. Azaria shouldn't be doing the voice. And Colbert, fearless as he is funny, asked Azaria about this.

Little did I know when I got my tickets a while back that I'd see history being made: Hank Azaria, before my very eyes, before the rest of the world learned about it, said that he'd be willing to step aside from doing the voice of Apu. I've been watching The Simpsons since I was a little kid so to see him say this made it feel like a part of my childhood, and American culture, was ending and changing before my eyes. It was an amazing moment and Hank Azaria was very heartfelt. It's worth watching here because it's something I'll never forget.

And then, a few hours later, more history!

A bunch of special elections were held in New York state yesterday, including here in NYC, and they resulted in the first out-right Democratic majority in this state in years. It's should be an amazing moment, a moment of true Resistance to the horror of the Trump presidency but ... but ... an awful State Senator named Simcha Felder says that he'll keep sitting with the GOP because they've done the most to bribe. Felder is a revolted opportunist so this isn't surprising but, still, these elections send a signal that New York is fighting the Trump agenda tooth and nail.

Rarely is history, the right side of history, made on an otherwise normal night. 

NYC is Thriving

As the great comedian Stephen Colbert once told us, reality has a well-known liberal bias. 

Ever since liberal Democrat Bil De Blasio became the Mayor of New York City two years ago, the media and special interests in this town have pilloried him. They've been trying to make the public believe that the city has descended into chaos and poverty, that crime is rampant, that businesses are evaporating, that the "bad old days" are here again. Oh, no, heavens to Betsy, the sky is falling! The sky is falling!

And, of course, what they hope is that all of this fear mongering will force De Blasio's defeat in the 2017 election. They hope that a Republican or at least a non-liberal Democratic will be elected in his place.

They better not get their hopes up. Not yet anyway. 

As this New York Times article indicates, NYC is thriving like never before. Private sector job growth is flourishing. Crime continues to fall. Public school graduation rates are increasing. The quality of life is great. And De Blasio? He's more popular than ever.

Oops. Looks like that well-known thing called reality is really messing up the haters' plans! It was supposed to be like this! Oh no, they were gonna keep telling us how awful De Blasio was, how the city would fall apart, and they'd be proven correct. Sadly (for them, not us), the haters have been proven wrong (again and again and again). Remember, these are the same people who thought we should invade Iraq).

Naturally, NYC still suffers from one big problem: the lack of affordable housing. This is and should be De Blasio's main focus over the next two years. More people than ever want to be New Yorkers. Which sort of contradicts the idea that this city has become a hell hole that people want to flee. No, the problem is that too many people want to live here. And that won't be an easy problem for De Blasio or any mayor to solve ... ever.

Stephen Colbert at the Al Smith Dinner

Interview: Kurt Andersen, New York Writer, Broadcaster, and Entrepreneur

In the world of multi-media competition, few have thrived so successfully at it as Kurt Andersen. Host of the weekly radio show Studio 360 (where he interviews anyone and everyone in the arts), writer of the regular Imperial City column in New York Magazine (where he dissects American politics with surgical skill) Kurt has also worked in theater, television, the movies, and on the web. In addition, he's written the novels Turn of the Century and Heyday which examine American society past and present.

Oh, and if that's not enough, he's one of the founders of the vastly influential Spy magazine that was a full decade or two ahead of its time (what Jon Stewart and The Onion are doing today, Spy invented in the 1980s).

Kurt's resume goes on and on, and you should check out his website to see the full extent his accomplishments. He is one of those only in America, only in New York success stories: a Nebraska boy turned New York legend, a sophisticated urbanite who feels the pulse of the heartland. Kurt was generous enough to share Mr NYC readers his thoughts on his work as well as on writing, politics, and, of course, New York City.

You've written books and for magazines, television, theater and the movies, you host a a radio show on NPR, launched websites, curated exhibits, and hosted documentaries and TV shows (please let me know if I'm missing something!). How do you juggle your time working across so many different media? Are you the true King of All Media?

I've done a lot of things because I've been lucky, and I'm eager to try to do things I'm not absolutely sure I know how to do. And I'm able to do a lot of things because I'm pretty disciplined with my time. When I'm working on a novel (or screenplay or theater piece), my writing time of 8:30 to 1:30 is pretty inviolate, and my journalistic work -- Studio 360, my monthly New York magazine column, the very occasional other magazine or newspaper piece -- happens after lunch. Also, I don't watch sports, never have, so that gives me an extra 6 or 10 hours a week right there. (For the record, Studio 360 is not technically an "NPR" show; it's a public radio show, but not produced or distributed by NPR.)

What are the special challenges of jumping back and forth between writing for print and broadcast, fiction and non-fiction?

I don't see it so much as a matter of "special challenges" as I do a good opportunity to give each of the different sets of writing and imagination muscles a good workout. Novel-writing is its own, splendidly solo, long-term adventure; the non-fiction I do is short, generally engaged very much in the present moment; and radio is entirely collaborative. The different parts of my writing life feel complementary.

You were one of the co-founders of the great Spy magazine in the 1980s. Tell us about Spy and if you think The Onion, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report owe it a debt.

Spy was insanely fun to do, and remains a proud, um, er, legacy. And yes, I'm happy that we were pioneers of a certain kind of satirical journalism and journalistic satire, and happy too that bits of the Spy DNA seem to be thriving in the cultural gene pool.

The 2008 Presidential election is shaping up to be the most expensive, divisive, and historic one in American history. In a nutshell, tell us your thoughts about it and what it says about America in the 21st century.

I'm not sure it's so divisive. As of 1:03 pm on January 14th, at least, the favorites to win the major-party nominations are centrists, relatively speaking, John McCain and Hillary Clinton. Either of whom would probably make a fine president. Although I'm an Obama man. And might perhaps be persuaded to vote for Bloomberg. I've been saying for years that 2008 would be the most interesting presidential election of my lifetime, and so far I'm more right than I could've imagined.

You grew up in Nebraska, went to Harvard, and now live in Brooklyn with your family. What brought you to NYC and how has it changed or stayed the same over the years?

Growing up, my mental gyroscope was somehow pointed northeast by the time I was 10 or 11; my Nebraska-born parents raised their four children to live on the coasts -- not consciously or deliberately, but that was the de facto result of a house full of books, music, and smart conversation. Sometime during college, I came to know, lemming-like, that New York was my destination. I remember the first time I visited the city, when I was 16 going on 17, and it (the subways, the Village Voice, the signage ) seemed so thrillingly smudged and gritty and dense and strange. And it's still all those things in comparison to most of the rest of America. The big changes -- the remarkable drop in crime, the gentrification -- have more or less tracked with my own embourgeoisment, so I can't say I'm one of those people full of regret about the spiffing-up of places like Times Square and the Lower East Side.

What do you love most about New York City?

The vastness and density in all senses. That it makes boredom and complacency difficult and inexcusable.

Tell us about any upcoming projects and something about Kurt Andersen we might not know.

I'm working on a new novel, and (with some cultural heroes of mine) on the book for a musical theater piece. And I have become a huge fan of a certain species of electronic music -- Harold Budd, Kieran Hebden, Boards of Canada, etc.

Thanks Kurt!