Showbiz History: Pal Joey, Taye Diggs, Maria Callas

5 random things that happened on this day, January 2nd, in history...

1788 Georgia becomes the fourth state in the modern US. We're counting on Georgians to save our democracy by giving the Democrats control of the Senate in 2021. Volunteer or donate to Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossof to make this happen. We just did again despite a frighteningly empty bank account.

1952 A revival of the Rodgers & Hart musical Pal Joey opens on Broadway...

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Showbiz History: Way Down East, Valerie Perrine, Kalifornia

8 things that happened on this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1838  Legendary abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. Where's his biopic? Seriously.He shows up briefly as a supporting character in both the miniseries North and South and the feature film Gloryin the 1980s but since then, no films or TV about him, apart from documentaries?  

1920 Way Down East starring Lillian Gish as a wronged young woman premieres...

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How had I never seen... "M" (1931)?

Series Debut! As a kind of dark mirror to our "Over & Over" column, we've invited  Team Experience to fill in some of their most shameful film history gaps and tell us about their experience. We all have gaps in our viewing with over a century of film history behind us! To kick things off here's a 'Lang-delayed' encounter for Mark. - Editor

by Mark Brinkerhoff

I first became aware of M, Fritz Lang’s seminal 1931 German thriller, while flipping through Vanity Fair’s Hollywood, a weighty, sumptuous 2000 coffee table book. Therein, opposite a cuckoo photo of Doris Day with half a dozen dyed poodles, is a haunting photo of actor Peter Lorre with the following caption...

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Mindhunter (S2) Pt 2: Fierce mothers and closeted sexuality

previously on Mindhunter

by Ginny O'Keefe

Episode 3
The infamous BTK killer is spending some hard time at the library sketching some things he really shouldn’t be sketching in public. Every time he comes on screen I scream, “Man, I can’t wait for them to catch this guy!” Then I remember that he doesn’t actually get caught until 2005 [spoiler]. 

Nancy is still shaken up after the dead body that was found at her open house and wants Bill to take down her information on the “For Sale” sign. Bill is reelingsince it definitely has something to do with his family. Holden will interview serial killer William “Junior” Pierce alone and tells Bill that he can handle it. But Agent Tim Barney of Atlanta will be assisting him to which Holden responds with “Oh yeah the Black guy you like!” Dear God, I know this is the early 80’s but please don’t let that be this man’s only label...

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Horror Actressing: Sigourney Weaver in "Copycat"

by Jason Adams

Something I look forward to every single year, Film at Lincoln Center's annual week-long "Scary Movies" series, is hitting here in New York this forthcoming weekend -- check out the entire stellar run of films at this link here. While I'm most excited for Ari Aster's "Director's Cut" of Midsommar, which runs half an hour longer than the one we saw in theaters, they're mixing up showings of brand new flicks and old under-screened classics in ways that really set my toes to tingle. 

In that vein I was tempted to use this week's edition of our "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" series to talk about a performance not very many people have seen yet -- that of Maeve Higgins in Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman's horror-comedy Extra Ordinary, which I saw this past month thanks to the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal (here's my review) and which is screening this weekend at FLC. Maeve, in her first leading lady role, absolutely shines. 

But we'll save that for when the very funny movie gets a proper release. Especially since FLC is also screening Jon Amiel's terrifically under-valued 1995 serial killer flick Copycat, starring two of our great actresses, Holly Hunter and today's focus-of-post, Sigourney effing Weaver...

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