Sci-Fi Con Memories

Program from the DoctorWho Event 85
which I attended nearly 40 years ago

Writing up my experiences at the LIWho Doctor Who convention attended last weekend brought back memories of similar events I used to frequent in the 1980s and '90s. Apart from the occasional comic book show, this recent pop-culture gathering was the first one I had been to in about 35 years. The first one I ever attended that I can remember was a Star Trek convention in Philadelphia. Except for the Big Three-Shatner (Kirk), Nimoy (Spock) and Kelly (McCoy)--it seemed the entire Enterprise crew was there. I have no evidence or pictures from that event since I did not stand in line to get autographs, but I remember having fun which was the main purpose. In college I rented a car along with two other students and drove from Pittsburgh to NYC to attend another Star Trek con. Shatner was at this one and I asked him what it was like starring in the TV version of The Andersonville Trial and being directed by George C. Scott in a role he originated on Broadway. I don't recall the answer. I do remember seeing Forbidden Planet there for the first time.

My first Dr. Who event was in Valley Forge, PA with numerous Doctors and companions including Jon Pertwee and Nicola Bryant. There were no autographs given out and my chief memories were of watching Dr. Who episodes not yet available on our PBS stations. According to broadwcast.org, there was a Who event on Feb. 23-24, 1985 at the Valley Forge Convention Center as part of the Whovian Festival tour and the only guests listed are Colin Baker and John Nathan Turner. The website lists additional tour stops in Gainesville and Tallahassee, Florida, Portland, Oregon, and San Jose, Calif. There is also a DW event called Spirit of Light in Valley Forge on Aug. 31-Sept. 2 listed so it could have been that one that I attended. Now I look further and it was probably the WhoEvent 85, held Oct. 18-20 at Valley Forge. This one lists Pertwee, Bryant, Colin Baker, Anthony Ainley (The Master), John Levene, Janet Fielding, Terry Walsh and Carol Ann Ford as participants. I do remember there being a lot of guests, so this was probably the one I attended. Upon further digging through my collection of theater programs (none of which I have thrown out), I found the program (see picture). By now DW shows with Tom Baker were being broadcast on WHYY, the local Phila. PBS station with narration by Howard Da Silva and I was hooked. 

Book Review: Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life

(Bought at the Strand Bookstore) I picked up Delia Ephron's memoir because she is adapting it for the stage and it will open on Broadway this fall. The book starts out as a romantic story as her husband passes away and she meets a new man. Just as everything is going great, things take a radical left turn. Like her late sister Nora, Delia is diagnosed with leukemia. Her illness takes over her life and her new relationship. Ephron writes expressively about finding love after 70 and the burden of toxic parents. She points out that anxiety and negativity have become her comfort zones because that's what she learned from her alcoholic dysfunctional parents (the writing team Henry and Phoebe Ephron) who had movie and Broadway hits, but a troubled marriage. As her illness progresses, she despairs, but her new love pulls her out of depression and into a new life. A beautiful memoir. I'm looking forward to the play and how it will work on stage. 

Doctor Who on Long Island, Part 2: Sunday

By the third day of the LIWho Dr. Who convention, I was relaxed and into all the Who-related events. My cold was pretty much gone and I was among like-minded fans. On Friday, there wasn't much happening and I began to wonder, "What am I doing here? Did I waste $89 for an entrance fee and $300 for a hotel room?" But by Sunday, I was starting to have fun because I got to interact with the other Doctor Whovians. The first panel was devoted to the Peter Cushing Doctor and the two Dalek-dominated movies he starred in. The presentation was called Peter Cushing: The Forgotten Doctor and Chris DeLuca presented a plethora of info and artifacts. The Daleks were so popular they spawned the movie Dr. Who and the Daleks and its sequel Daleks Earth Invasion: 2150 AD, both starring Cushing. There was talk of a third but it never came to fruition. 

Chris had an extensive slide show which also included artwork from when the first film was released in the States. Dr. Who was unknown here at the time, so many theaters booked it as a part of a double drive-in feature with Night of the Living Dead. He also had the trailers for both movies and (best of all) clips from the Rifftrax guys commented on both of the films (Two of my worlds--Dr. Who and MST3K collided and I was in heaven.) A radio series was proposed, but was never picked up. Boris Karloff was offered the role, but he turned it down. Cushing, the third choice for the role (we don't know who no. 2 was),was set but the network failed to follow through. The script still exists and Chris played a very professional-sounding fan production of it. The two Dalek films are so deliciously camp, it was delightful to go over them.

Doctor Who on Long Island, Part 1: Fri. and Sat.

I hadn't attended a sci-fi convention in many years (except for the occasional comic book show). But the LIWho convention in Holtsville, Long Island, focusing on Doctor Who was nearby, relatively inexpensive and sounded like a lot of fun. So I bought a weekend pass for the entire three-day event, booked a cheap hotel in nearby Ronkonkama (which I only knew from train announcements), loaded my four Dr. Who books into a suitcase, and drove off last Friday. This brought back memories of numerous cons from my past, several highlighting Star Trek and Dr. Who and even one for Dark Shadows. The main difference between now and then is that the celebrity guests charge for autographs and photo ops. At the cons I attended back in the 80s and 90s, you paid an entrance fee and waited in line for autographs. Now it's an extra fee for each celeb to sign your book or pix and to stand next to you for a photo. This probably started when sports figures charged money for signing items and then actors started it in the US and it gradually migrated to the UK. It's understandable that the performers would want to make some extra money and the cash acts as an incitement to get on a plane to an obscure corner of NY from England, but if you're a fan, it could run into hundreds of dollars. The Doctor Who guests on Long Island were asking anywhere from $20 to $40 a pop for autographs and $60-$80 for a photo standing in front of a TARDIS. If you wanted these tokens from all of the guests (see the poster), you can do the math, but it would break the bank for many.

I had a bad cold on Friday and debated with myself whether to go to Long Island at all. But, fortified with Theraflu and Cold-Eze, I surged ahead. There weren't many events that first day at the Holtsville Holiday Inn. The trading room was small and no guests were doing panels. I had to content myself with watching DW-related clips and a documentary called Doctor Who Am I, featuring the screenwriter of the 1996 Dr. Who TV movie and his journey into the world of the fans. The film was interesting. The author, Matthew Jacobs interviews fans at cons as well as the stars of the 1996 movie--two of whom, Daphne Ashbrook and Ye Jee Tso were appearing at LIWho. He also revealed that his father was an actor who had appeared as Doc Holliday in the Gunslingers episode of the William Hartnell Who.

The Campaign of Vibes and Feelings

This Presidential race will not be won on policy, but on vibes and feelings. Trump won in 2016 because he made MAGA supporters feel seen, even if his policies didn't impact them particularly or made them actually richer or safer. He made them feel their concerns and fears were justified. Hillary couldn't do that. Obama made a connection with voters that Romney didn't. Right now as the Democratic National Convention turns into a dance party celebration, Harris is selling hope, and perhaps more importantly, normalcy. Walz's description of their opponents as weird is striking a chord. Trump and Vance's extreme stances on abortion and family life are outside of the mainstream. But, this does not guarantee a win for Harris.

There is still a sizable chunk of voters who like Trump and how he makes them feel. CNN recently profiled a cross-section of Iowa voters who were for Halley, but are now resigned to voting for Trump. They were interviewed by John King and they sounded as if this were a normal election, weighing the positions of each candidate. King did not ask them about Trumpy attempting to overthrow a legal election and instigating a violent mob to invade the capital. To them, Trump best represented their interests. One farmer said she felt the people in Washington didn't care about her or listen to her, but Trump did. He made her feel seen. I don't want to speak for her, but it seems she didn't care about his being a threat to our democracy, or she didn't believe he is.

I have also heard of some Jewish voters turning away from the Dems and towards Trump because their children are the subject of anti-Semitic attacks at college from their pro-Palestinian classmates and they feel the universities' administrations are not doing enough to protect them. They feel Trump will make their kids safe.

Harris' joyful vibe might be enough to counteract Trump's fear-filled rage. The first two nights of the DNC have been an ecstatic love fest as opposed to the RNC's cult of American carnage. Trump's advisors keep telling him to stick to the issues, but what has he got? He killed the bill to strengthen the border because it would have made Biden look good. Violent crime is lower now than when Trump was in office. Employment and stocks are up and inflation is down. But those people in Iowa feel he is there for them. Harris must convince enough people in the middle she is the one for them. Hopefully, this sugar-rush of Dem excitement will continue until the debate (apparently there is only one both parties have agreed to) when she will crush him (I pray).

Book Review: The Conspiracy To End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy

(Bought at the Time and Space Limited Store in Hudson, NY): Former GOP campaign strategist Stuart Stevens lays out the sad slide of his previous party into anti-democracy. He details his disillusionment with the Republicans going from the party of espousing character and decent values to the transactional, grievance-filled, race-baiting mob of today. He argues that Trump is not the cause but merely a symptom. Trump tapped into the racist irrational fear that aggreived white voters will have rights taken away if minorities gain political power--and how the GOP, seeing no other way to maintain dominance, exploited that fear. Rather than reach out to make their tent bigger, like Reagan kind of did, they are stacking the deck with voter suppression and other tactics to institute an autocracy. The five ways of the subtitle are addressed in the five chapters: Propaganda, The Support of the Party, The Financiers, Legal Theories, and The Shock Troops. He offers plentiful evidence the Repubs tried to overturn the 2020 election and are getting ready to do the same thing--or more effectively--in 2024. Stevens paints a bleak picture of greedy entrepreneurial idealogues like Peter Thiel buying influence and installing proteges like JD Vance in high positions so they can play them like violins. I don't believe that every single Trump voter is a racist or doesn't care that he'll be a dictator. I think they've been taken in and Stevens makes a convincing case that the only way to break the Trump stranglehold on his former party is for them to lose soundly and repeatedly.

Book Review: Who the Hell's In It: Portraits and Conversations

(Bought at a used bookstore near Hudson, NY for 50 cents): Peter Bogdanovich’s 2004 collection of profiles and interviews of 25 film stars is a total delight. Even at almost 500 pages, it’s a fun, fast read. The author has worked with most of the subjects as a director (Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, Sidney Poitier), or had long, admiring friendships with them (Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart). He analyzes their style and appeal with precision and objectivity, though he goes a bit overboard on Jerry Lewis, devoting 70 pages to the manic comic director-producer-writer-clown. Lewis was never one of my favorite, but Bogdanovich’s profile offers explanations of his juvenile appeal and surprising masterful technical mastery behind the camera. Many of the pieces had appeared in journals and there is some overlap in stories. Several include the tantalizing prospect of a Western to be directed by Bogdanovich, written by Larry McMurtry and starring John Wayne, Stewart and Henry Fonda. When the project failed to materialize, McMurtry turned his screenplay into the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove and continued with many prequels and sequels.   

I most enjoyed the snapshots of the stars at work. An on-set visit to Jack Lemmon during the filming of Billy Wilder’s Irma La Douce was my favorite for its intimate capturing of the actor’s day-to-day life. I just viewed Bogdanovich’s first film Targets and his portrait of its star Boris Karloff takes us into the changes in Los Angeles, the movies and the actor’s checkered career. The recent death of Gena Rowlands gave the chapter on her husband John Cassavetes an added melancholy and a strong desire to rewatch their quirky, intense films.

The volume is bracketed with portraits of two screen goddesses of different eras and influences whom the author briefly encountered in real life: Lillian Gish and Marilyn Monroe. Gish was the first movie incarnation of innocence and Monroe the last avatar of sexiness in the Hollywood studio system. Both chapters give us the director’s insights into what the movies give us and how its stars filled our dreams.

Like his hero Orson Welles, Bogdanovich never quite recaptured the stunning success of his first feature (The Last Picture Show, one of my favorite movies), but this book imparts his lifelong love of cinema and its stars. 

Note: The American edition is subtitled Conversations with Hollywood's Legendary Stars. I bought the British edition which is subtitled simply Portraits and Conversations. Instead of William Holden and Audrey Hepburn on the cover, mine has Marilyn Monroe in the Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend number from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

B'way Upate: Purpose; Gilded Age Cast

The cast of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins'
Purpose in Chicago.
Credit: Michael Brosilow

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tony-and-Obie-winning author of Appropriate, returns to Broadway with the Steppenwolf Theater Company production of his new play Purpose. Previews begin at the Hayes Theater on Feb. 22 prior to an opening in mid-March. Tony winner Phylicia Rashad (A Raisin in the Sun, Skeleton Crew) directs. The cast will be announced at a later date.

For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home to Illinois with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black radicalism. Spirited, hilarious and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama from one of the country’s most celebrated voices.

(Top row) Bill Camp, Merritt Wever,
Leslie Uggams, Lisagay Hamilton, 
(Bottom row) Paul Alexander Nolan,
Hattie Morahan, Andrea Martin and
Jessica Frances Dukes join
Season 3 of The Gilded Age.
Credit: HBO

Gilded Age 3rd Season Cast: Speaking of Phylicia Rashad, she will joined in the third season of HBO's The Gilded Age with a slew of additional New York theater actors. Emmy, SAG, and Tony nominee Bill Camp (Lincoln, The Night Of, Presumed Innocent), Emmy winner Merritt Wever (Unbelievable, Godless, Nurse Jackie), Tony winner Leslie Uggams (Roots, Deadpool), LisaGay Hamilton (The Dropout, Winning Time, The Practice), Paul Alexander Nolan (Water for Elephants, Bright Star), Hattie Morahan (Operation Mincemeat, Fool Me Once), Tony winner Andrea Martin (My Favorite Year, Pippin, Evil, My Big Fat Greek Wedding), and Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark, Earth Abides) have all been cast in the third season of the HBO period drama.

They join new Season 3 cast members Rashad, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Victoria Clarke and Jordan Danica and original cast members Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Denée Benton, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Louisa Jacobson, Taissa Farmiga, Harry Richardson, Blake Ritson, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Simon Jones, Debra Monk, Kristen Nielsen, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Kelli O'Hara, Jack Gilpin, Patrick Page, Ben Ahlers, and Michael Cerveris.

Binging on John Ford: Part 4

The fifth season of TCM's The Plot Thickens podcast focuses on Ford and I recently finished the last episode. The series exposed more details about the complex father figure. A beloved bully. A raging alcoholic who often drank to avoid dealing with his problems. (In later-life interviews, he would slur his words.) He would often chew on a handkerchief on set like a baby with a security blanket. His infamous fist fight with Henry Fonda on Mr. Roberts came about through a lack of communication. Fonda had played Mr. Roberts on Broadway for over a year and knew where the laughs were. Ford was racing through the dialogue and Fonda felt the audience would cover too much of the words with laughter. (If you notice several film versions of hit stage comedies have long pauses to allow for moviegoers' giggling reaction. Auntie Mame comes to mind.) Fonda grumbled between takes. Ford called him to his office and asked if his star had any complaints. The actor began by praising Ford and telling him how he was perfect for this picture due to his Navy experience, but the star objected to racing the dialogue. As soon as Fonda began stating his objections, Ford sucker punched him, knocking a surprised Fonda to the floor. Ford evidently could not handle an actor challenging his absolute authority and rather than discuss the situation calmly, he resorted to violence. 

After that, Ford did apologize but was soon replaced by Mervyn LeRoy, allegedly for health reasons. (Ford did have a gall bladder operation and showed his incision to Betsy Palmer.) The close relationship between the director and the actor, who worked together on Young Mr. Lincoln, Drums Along the Mohawk and The Grapes of Wrath, was shattered. They were also pals off-screen, Fonda being a frequent guest on Ford's yacht. The two did not speak for decades, but did reconnect towards the end of Ford's life. There are different versions of the background of this incident. Ben Mankiewicz of TCM points out on The Plot Thickens that Fonda fought to have Ford helm Roberts, while Peter Bogdanovich in Who the Hell's In It says Ford equally insisted Fonda repeat his Broadway role when the studio didn't want him. 

To continue with viewing Ford's oeuvre, I found a DVD collection of five Ford films for Columbia Studios on Ebay for $20 and several of his works are on YouTube in their entirety. 

The Iron Horse (1924, YouTube): The silent film that put Ford on the map and established many of the repeated tropes of the Western genre--the cattle drive, the Indian attack, the cavalry to the rescue, even Abe Lincoln makes an appearance. The visuals are exciting and transcend the script's melodrama. 

Three Bad Men (1926, YouTube): Another silent work dripping with sentiment, but brilliantly paced so that you fall for the obvious manipulations despite yourself. A trio of desperadoes are transformed into guardian angels by the charms of a young girl whose father is killed in an attempted robbery. The Iron Horse focused on the building of the transcontinental railroad, here the centerpiece is the Dakota Gold Rush. The highlight is the mad dash of settlers racing to stake a claim. Hundreds of extras, horses and covered wagons recreate the mayhem of gold-lust. In one famous shot, a baby is right in the path of a frenzied frontier mob about to be run over, only to be snatched to safety in the nick of time by a stunt rider. Ford placed an actual infant in harm's way in order to get this breathtaking shot. This shows you where his priorities lay, with the picture, not with safety. 

B'way Update: Glengarry Glen Ross

Bob Odenkirk, Kieran Culkin and Bill Burr
will star in the fourth B'way production of
Glengarry Glen Ross.

David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize winning play of ruthless real estate salesmen, Glengarry Glen Ross, will return to Broadway for the fourth time in the spring of 2025. Emmy and SAG Award winner Kieran Culkin (Succession), Emmy and SAG winner Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul), and Emmy and Grammy nominee Bill Burr (Immoral Compass) will star. Tony and Olivier winner Patrick Marber (Closer, Leopoldstadt) directs. Odenkirk and Burr are making their Broadway debuts. Culkin previously appeared on Broadway in This Is Our Youth in 2014. Additional casting, dates, and a theater are to be announced.

“In 1983, I saw the original production of Glengarry Glen Ross in London,” Patrick Marber said. “I was just nineteen. The play blew my young soul away. It was one of the reasons I wanted to work in theatre. Forty years later, I am so thrilled to be directing it on Broadway with these incredible actors. I will do my utmost to ensure that this great American play brings audiences the same great pleasures it brought to me.”

Glengarry premiered at London's National Theater in 1983. It opened on Broadway in 1984 starring Joe Mantegna (Tony Award) and Robert Prosky; with revivals in 2005 with Tony winner Liev Schreiber, Alan Alda, and Jeffrey Tambor and in 2012 (with Bobby Canavale, Al Pacino, Richard Schiff and David Harbour). The 1992 film version starred Pacino (Oscar nomination), Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce, and in a role written especially for the film, Alec Baldwin.

This depiction of ruthless capitalism is perfect for the current Trumpian moment. Hopefully, we'll have Harris as President by the time this show opens. There had been talk for years of an all-female production to be directed by Amy Morton, but so far such a version has not materialized.

B'way/Off-B'way Update: Whoopi Goldberg in Annie; Particle Fever

Whoopi Goldberg on ABC's The View
Credit: ABC

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner Whoopi Goldberg will play the delightfully mean orphanage mistress Miss Hannigan in the New York City stop of the upcoming national tour of Annie, the beloved musical based on the comic-strip character Little Orphan Annie. The tour begins in Chicago and will then will play the Theater at Madison Square Garden for the holiday season from Dec. 4-Jan. 5, 2025. The tour will then play more than 25 cities including Baltimore, Indianapolis, Costa Mesa, Milwaukee, Austin, Birmingham, and more. Goldberg will play the role only for the MSG engagement. Additional casting will be announced at a later date. 

Annie opened on Broadway with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics and direction by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan, in 1977, won seven Tony Awards and ran for 2,377 performances. There were Broadway revivals in 1997 and 2012. Another national tour briefly played MSG in 2006. A sequel, Annie Warbucks, played Off-Broadway in 1993. A previous attempt Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge, closed disastrously out of town in 1989. The 1982 film version was directed by John Huston and starred Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Tim Curry, Ann Reinking, Geoffrey Holder, and Aileen Quinn. A 1999 TV-movie remake featured Victor Garber, Kathy Bates, Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, and Alicia Morton. In 2014, Will Smith produced an updated remake for theatrical release with Jamie Foxx, Rose Bryne, Cameron Diaz, and Quvenzhave Wallis.

This production will be directed by Jenn Thompson who played the role of Pepper, one of Annie's fellow orphans, on Broadway when she was 10 and who also directed the 2022-23 Annie tour.

B'way Update: Stranger Things; Another Shot

Stranger Things: The First Shadow
in London.
Credit: Manuel Harden

Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stage prequel to the hit Netflix series which is a smash in London, will transfer to Broadway next spring. Previews begin March 28 at the Marquis Theater prior to an April 22 opening. Winner of two Olivier Awards including Best Entertainment, this production is brought to life by a creative team including director Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliot, The Inheritance, The Hours, The Reader) and co-director Justin Martin (Prima Facie, The Inheritance). Based on an original story by the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne (Tony winner for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and Kate Trefry, and rooted in the mythology and world of the Netflix global phenomenon, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a new play written by Kate Trefry, a staff writer for the series.

According to Deadline, two more Stranger Things plays are in the works at planned two-to-three-year intervals.

Book Review: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

(Bought at the Strand book stall in Central Park for $10) Harriet Jacobs' narrative of her enslaved life is a powerful record of the conditions endured by African-Americans before emancipation. in refined prose, Jacobs details the sexual harassment she endured from her lecherous master who promised her a house and light labor if she would consent to be his mistress (a common practice in the slaveholding South). Her travails include hiding in her free grandmother's house for seven years until she finally had the opportunity to escape to the North. But her troubles don't end there as the Fugitive Slave Law comes into effect and her former master and his family attempt to reclaim her. This is a fascinating true account of what slavery was like and how black people tried to live their lives with dignity and family despite the enormous hardships placed on them. 

B'way Update: Reeves, Driver; Cast for MACNEAL; Etc.

Where's Godot, Dude?
Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves will
reunite for the Beckett play.

Keanu Keeves and Alex Winter, co-stars of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and its two sequels, will reunite for a Broadway revival of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, to be directed by Jamie Lloyd (Sunset Boulevard) in the fall of 2025. This will be Reeves' Broadway debut. Winter appeared as a child actor in 1970s revivals of The King and I and Peter Pan. 

“It is a real honor to be collaborating with the brilliant Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter on Samuel Beckett’s sublime masterpiece—one of the greatest plays of all time," says Lloyd in a statement. 

“We’re incredibly excited to be on stage together and work with the great Jamie Lloyd in one of our favorite plays," add Reeves and Winter.