Culture Uncovered!

One of the reasons I love history is that it's the gift that keeps on giving. There's so much of it, and so much to learn, that as much as you know or think you know, there's always more .. and more ... and more ...

I love learning about people who lived in the past who might not have been the most famous and powerful people of their times but who nonetheless lead interesting lives that sometime intersected with history. And as we get older, we start to see how much of our lives have also, at very times, intersected with history. 

And sometimes history can be wacky ... literally.

Recently I came upon some cultural history that, for decades, has been suppressed but that recently has become freely available ... thanks to YouTube. And boy is it wacky! 

In 1975 the Maysles brothers made the classic documentary Grey Gardens about Edie and Edith Beale, the reclusive cousins of Jackie Kennedy who were living in squalor in the Hamptons. But it turns out that a couple years earlier, in 1972, Jackie Kennedy's sister Lee Radziweil and her then-boyfriend, the photographer Peter Beard, went out to the Hamptons to visit the Beales and filmed them.

The result was a documentary that came out in 2016 called That Summer, and it's a fascinating, new look at these two legendary eccentrics in a context that is both familiar from Grey Gardens yet also humanizes them more than that documentary did. This was a part of the past that we thought we knew but, once this footage was uncovered, we literally saw and learned even more about these two cultural icons. 

And then ... there's Martin Lawrence. Yes, in the early 1990s, Mr. Lawrence was the star of his hit sitcom Martin! and he was on top of the world. Naturally he was invited to host Saturday Night Live in 1994 and, uh, let's just say that he brought a bit of a "Def Comedy Jam" mentality to the whitest comedy show on TV. He did the usual monologue and it went off the rails when he started talking about the recent John Wayne Bobbit case (the guy who got his weiner cut off) and then it becomes about Mr Lawrence's beliefs about the important of feminine hygiene.

It was so raunchy that it was edited out of the West Coast broadcast and all subsequent broadcasts. But, uh, well, now we can see if for ourselves. And it's naaaaasty! But it's a piece of forgotten cultural history that is now uncovered (you can see the edited and unedited versions below).

By the way, the musical guest for Martin!'s episode was the Canadian band Crash Test Dummies. They had a huge hit at the time with the song "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm", and it's a rather bizarre contrast to have had an aggressive black comedian host like Martin Lawrence with a superwhite band like Crash Test Dummies. 

While we rightly think we're living in bizarre times, when you uncover the cultural of the past, we should realize that the bizarreness was there all the time. 

"Metropolitan" @ 30 and "Grey Gardens" @ 45

American society venerates wealth.

We love money. We are a capitalist and Calvinist people -- we believe that accumulating dough is a smart and moral thing to do; that people who have "made it", who have "lived the American dream" possess not only intelligence and talent but also a kind of virtue, an inherent goodness -- because, of course, all of their wealth came from "hard work."

Yes, this is the big lie we tell ourselves when it comes to wealth in America -- that it is mostly gained through effort and diligence, through "grit" and perseverance -- not luck or privilege or anything else. As a relatively young country, we Americans love to hold ourselves apart from other older nations and societies where wealth was attained so long ago that no one remembers how it was gotten in the first place and that is simply passed down from century to century without merit. No, in America we earn our money -- and anyone who doesn't recognize our "hard work" and virtue in attaining it, any government that seeks to tax it, and anyone who dares criticize it is "anti-American." 

Case closed! 

What's also, I'm sure to some, "anti-American" is losing wealth, of having all your hard-won money and its residual privileges fade away. No, in America we believe that wealth should beget more wealth (it often does), that making more and more and more and more money is the only way to go -- it's not enough to live the American dream once, oh no, you and your family must keep living it over and over and over again ...

The America dream, this virtuous pursuit of wealth, is endless -- and exhausting. 

So at the risk of seeming "anti-American", at the risk of going against our country's mythology, I will state proudly that I love stories about decaying wealth and privilege -- of fallen status, of dissipation. Why? Perhaps because I have a tragic sense of life. Perhaps because stories of failure are, in so many ways, more interesting and revealing about human nature than stories of success.

This is a long way to say that this troubled year marks the odd anniversaries of two very different but nonetheless brilliant films about decaying American wealth and privilege -- the documentary Grey Gardens from 1975 and the comedy Metropolitan from 1990.

Both are about white people who grew up in wealth and have seen or are seeing it slip away. Grey Gardens is about Jackie O's cousins the Beales, a mother and daughter living in squalor in their once gorgeous Hamptons home. They spend their days remembering their time as grande dames of New York society, anger and rage and confusion at their plight popping up every so often. Metropolitan is a much more genteal but nontheless honest look at NYC debutantes who are increasingly aware that the wealth and privilege they grew up in, the glowing world they expected as children to inherit, might not always be there for them -- and they don't know what to do about it (one character says he'll solve it by marrying a rich woman).

Although both films are over a quarter, and almost a half-century, old, in this age of deep income inquality, of white rage and diviseness, of institutionalized racism and sexism finally being held to account, of the horizon of the American dream shrinking, they feel more prophetic and relevant than ever before about how wealth and privilege ultimately lead to a kind of insanity and misery. 

I've blogged about both before so, instead of doing so again, I'll include links to my previous posts as well as recent profiles of the films and people involved here and here and here and here.

This is anti-Americanism as its very finest -- and funniest. It's the dark and darkly comic side of the American dream, of the emptiness of money and materialism and status, and of how the gaping whole of need that exists within all of us can never be filled by them. 

Lee Radziwill RIP: American Royalty

We don't have royalty in America -- after all, our entire nation, our constitution, was founded in complete opposition to monarchy, and we are the first real and most successful modern republic since Rome.

But still, there are some people who, if we had a monarchy, would certainly qualify as royalty.

No one defined American royalty more than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Gorgeous, glamorous, patron of the arts and good causes, she was the First Lady of the United States, wife of the handsome, doomed President John Kennedy, a woman who knew great joy and tragedy in her life. After JFK's death, she moved to New York, married again (badly), and then, towards the end of her life, worked for a living as a book editor. She lived, she loved, she reached the heights of glamorous, money, and power, and she worked -- Jackie Kennedy was certainly "royal" in many ways but she was as American as a person can get.

Her sister Lee Radziwill almost did her one better -- she actually married into royalty and, like her sister Jackie, was a patron of good causes, the arts, and NYC. She was a pillar of society, a grande dame of NYC, and, now that she has died, the last of her kind -- the final connection to Camelot. 

Also, she and Jackie were cousins with the Beales, the wacky old lady and her daughter featured in the brilliant documentary Grey Gardens.

Review: "The Book of Mormon"

Recently the wife and I hired a babysitter (also known as grandma) and headed out to see "The Book of Mormon" i.e. that Broadway musical by the South Park guys (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and one the of the Avenue Q guys (Robert Lopez). It opened last year to great reviews and won 9 Tony Awards. Since then it's become the hottest ticket in town, with a nearly $40 million advance. Fortunately we were able to get tickets and, I'm happy to report, it's as good as the hype.

Set in the present, "The Book of Mormon" concerns two young, rather dull witted 19 year old Mormons named Elder Price and Elder Cunningham sent on their two-year mission to Uganda. Idealistic, naive, and not really understanding the word of God they have been sent to propagate, the two missionaries find themselves trying to save the souls -- and lives -- of a group of Ugandans in a tiny village who are under siege from a horrible warlord. Racked by doubts and insecurities, Price and Cunningham do all they can to convert the poor Uganda while also questioning the very faith they have been raised in and sent to spread. Needless to say, much hilarity ensues and the show has a sweet, very satisfying ending. 

While a send-up of the Mormon religion, "The Book of Mormon" is not an anti-religious screed. Quite the opposite. It is an exploration of the nature of faith, what it means to worship something bigger than ourselves, and how this gives us the power of love, understanding, and forgiveness.

"The Book of Mormon" is big hearted show, one that loves and respects its audience. It has an amazing cast and great, hilarious songs. Josh Gad stars as Elder Cunningham, an awkward, shy young man who has problems with the truth. Elder Price is played by the amazing Andrew Rannells who begins the show as a cocky missionary but undergoes a most humbling transition. Also great is Nikki M. James who plays Nabulungi, the young Uganda girl who falls under the spell of Price and Cunningham. Her loving, protective, and gut-bustingly funny father is played by Michael Potts who I had the pleasure of seeing a few years ago in Grey Gardens. The rest of the supporting cast is great too, their singing and dancing skills the best I've probably ever seen in a show (and I've seen the original A Chorus Line and The Producers). You can tell that the cast loves the show and the joy they produce is infectious. 

Some of the show's best songs are "You and Me (But Mostly Me)", "Hasa Diga Eebowai", "I Believe", "American Prophet", and "Spooky Mormon Hell". You can find them YouTube.

The show came under some scrutiny when it opened last year because it is, in a word, a little dirty. There's some cursing, some very un-PC humor, and some disturbing subject matter. But, if you can handle that, "The Book of Mormon" is well worth seeing.

And remember, tomorrow is a Latter day. 

Grey Gardens

What if Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, or Nancy Reagan had crazy cousins who lived in squalor in a rundown, over-sized house?

Such was the case for perhaps our most glamorous First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Her cousin Edie Bouvier Beale and Edie's mother Edith were the grand dames of Long Island society in the 1940s but, by the early 1970s, they were literally living in their own filth in a giant dilapidated Southhampton home, acting strangely. The decaying estate that housed these decaying souls was called Grey Gardens, and it was the name of the groundbreaking 1975 documentary that featured these two eccentric, fascinating ladies.

Long before reality TV, Grey Gardens showed that truth was WAY stranger than fiction and it something that had to be seen to be believed. It's a story about mothers and daughters, mental illness, and regretting what might have been. Rumor has it that, in the early 1940s, Edie was briefly engaged to Joseph Kennedy Jr., JFK's older brother. Rumor also has it that Edie's mother caused Joe Jr. to break off the engagement, leaving Edie heartbroken and dependent on her mother. Then, of course, Joe Jr. died heroically in World War II. (Again, this is all rumor but in the musical this engagement and its sudden end is treated as fact). Of course, Edie's younger cousin Jackie went on to marry Joe Jr.'s younger brother and the rest is ... Had the engagement not been broken, and had Joe Jr. lived, and had he fulfilled his father's dream of becoming president (which then fell on JFK's shoulder), then believe it or not Edie Beale would have ended up as First Lady of the United States!

Fate doth have a sense of humor.

Grey Gardens was turned into a wonderful Broadway musical in 2006 and, in one of my first blog entries for Mr NYC, I gave it a short rave back in 2007.

Now it has been turned into a feature film starring Jessica Lange as Edith and Drew Barrymore as Little Edie. I can't wait to see this movie, it looks great. As this clip shows, they had great source material to work with.

The Play's the Thing ... on Broadway

Interesting article in today's New York Times by Ben Brantley about the "comeback" of dramatic theater on Broadway this year.

A Dramatic Comeback for the Play

It's quite true: this has been a great year not just for plays but for serious, sometimes disturbing drama on Broadway. This year alone I saw "Journey's End", "Talk Radio", "Frost/Nixon" and "Cyrano", "Grey Gardens", none of which were feel good shows. And I still want to see "The Farnsworth Invention", "Rock N' Roll", and "August: Osage County."

If anyone out there has seen any really good plays this year, please let the Mr NYC readers (both of them) know about it.

Let's hope 2008 is as good!

Reviews: "Journey's End" and "Frost/Nixon"

So far this year I have been lucky enough to see quite a bit of Broadway theater ("Company", "Grey Gardens") and now "Journey's End" and "Frost/Nixon." Here are my quick reviews:

"Journey's End": sadly this play will close soon but it was a heart wrenching account of the boredom and sheer horror that is war. Set in a British trench during World War I, we see men of various ages trying to keep sane and maintain their dignity and honor while faced with almost certain death. One of the most powerful plays I have ever seen. If you can't see it, try to find the script to read. Words can be more devastating then violence.

"Frost/Nixon": this (hit) play is a "behind the scenes" look at the famous 1977 interviews between British playboy journalist David Frost at the 37th President of the United States Richard Milhouse Nixon. The play shows how Frost tried to revive his career by interviewing the disgrace former President and how Nixon used the interviews to rehab his rep. Wonderful performances by Michael Sheen as Frost and the legendary Frank Langella as Mr. Nixon. You might think this serious, heavy stuff but au contraire: any play about raging egomaniacs is automatic fun.

Reviews and Theater Going Etiquette

This year my beloved and I went to two Broadway shows and we have plans on going to a third, ("Frost/Nixon") as well. In January we saw the wonderful revival of "Company" and in March the incredible "Grey Gardens." Both shows were delightful and very different: "Company" was a light-hearted, very funny "romp" while "Grey Gardens" was one of the best dramatic musicals I've ever seen. It didn't have any of that Cameron MacIntosh/Andrew Lloydd Webber BLARINGLY OVERMIKED synthetic music but instead told a sad, powerful story through spare, haunting songs. Both shows are definately worth seeing.

A few suggestions from this veteran theater-going that you may find either obvious or helpful:

1. How to deal with difficult audience members: It never fails that I'm seated in front of someone who insists upon talking during a show. At "Grey Gardens" some guy was commenting loudly about the action and it was very distracting. The way to deal with rude people like this is not to tell them to shut up since that just adds to the infraction. Instead, simply give them a death stare, a look that says "If you keep talking, I will kill you and every court of law will deem it justifiable homicide." This tactic, I have found, works wonders (the same goes for people who don't turn off their cell-phones although usually the entire audience registers dissapproval).

2. Join TheaterMania for ticket discounts. Do not even consider paying full price unless it is not listed on TheaterMania. The average discount ticket costs about $65 which is roughly equal to the price of Off-Broadway tickets these days.

3. If you like Chinese food, the best deal for dinner before or after a Broadway show is Ollie's on 44th and Broadway (right across from the Nokia). The restaurant is huge (so there aren't long waits) and the prices are dirt cheap for 'hood. Also, they have huge tables which can accommdate large parties. Most importantly, the food is pretty good so Ollie's is a MUCH better deal than those overpriced and mediocre joints on Restaurant Row. Ollie's closes around 11:30 so if you go to a show that gets out around 10, it's perfect for after-theater dinner. It's really one of the best deals in town.

If you've seen any good shows lately, on on or off Broadway, please post a comment and let everyone know.