Today in Showbiz History: Oklahoma!, Martha & Missy, JLaw's Ascendance

On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1873 WC Handy famous musician is born in Alabama. The first credited use of his music in a movie was in the original Scarface (1932). That same song "St Louis Blues" is his most popular with Hollywood and has been used in dozens of movies since including The Aviator and The Great Gatbsy recently.  But Blue Jasmine got all feisty and went with "Aunt Hagar's Blues" instead.
1889 Playwright George S Kaufman is born. He wins two Pulitzers and his work has been adapted to films many times including classics like You Can't Take It With You, Dinner at Eight, The Man Who Came to Dinner and Stage Door.
1907 Oklahoma becomes the 46th State...

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Laura Benanti Predicting "Supergirl" in 2013

We're celebrating 1979 this month so let's talk about one of its most underused / overtalented showbiz babies: LAURA BENANTI.

She's a Tony Winner (Gypsy) with great pipes, Broadway's Queen of Twitter (giving her 71 thousand followers more joy with hilarity than you can fathom if you don't follow her), and this decade she's been making inroads to television stardom with recurring characters on several shows including "Nurse Jackie" and "Nashville" but she's still without a big leading role which she more than obviously deserves!

She'll next be seen as Supergirl's birthmother in the pilot of "Supergirl" (2015) - currently having pirating problems -- so add psychic to her many gifts. See, In 2013 she stripped down into Supergirl costume at a Skivvies* concert! See the video after the jump...

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Christopher Plummer Honored

Anne Marie providing your concrete connection to TCM Classic Film Fest.

Besides the Oscars, there may be no symbol more Hollywood than the handprints outside the TCL Chinese Theater. As legend goes, Norma Talmadge walked through wet cement while theater entrepreneur Sid Grauman was finishing construction on the Chinese Theater, and the accident gave the showman a rock-solid idea. Whatever the tradition's origin, ever since the Chinese Theater opened in 1927, thousands of starstruck tourists and Hollywood hopefuls have made their way to the theater's courtyard, where they can marvel at the timeworn hand-and-footprints of everyone from Bette Davis to Tom Hanks to the cast of Harry Potter.

Yesterday morning, Christopher Plummer joined the ranks of cemented cinema stars. [more]

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TCM Classic Film Festival Presents The Sound Of Music's 50th Anniversary!

Anne Marie counting up her favorite things from opening night of TCM Classic Film Fest.

The Hollywood Hills were alive with The Sound Of Music last night. Turner Classic Movies kicked off the 6th Annual TCMFF with a 50th Anniversary screening of 20th Century Fox's musical blockbuster at TCL Chinese Theater. Dame Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer walked the red carpet (under umbrellas because they agree with me that it is hot out for March), before settling down for a special discussion with former Academy president Sid Ganis before the film. 

It's amazing that after fifty years apart, two screen stars can still have such beautiful chemistry. Andrews and Plummer affectionately bantered. At one point, Plummer worried that the love story could have been "too mawkish," to which Dame Andrews replied, "You made it less saccharine." (This is possibly not an opinion shared by the audience, as many mooning sighs echoed through the theater when Captain Von Trapp sang "Something Good.")

Seeing how Andrews and Plummer are on the tail end of a whirlwind promotional tour for the film's semicentennial, fans were a little nervous that the two legends had run out of stories to tell. Fortunately, it turns out that not only could they surprise us - they could still surprise each other. While discussing his theater career, Christopher Plummer mentioned that he'd been offered the Broadway show before the movie started casting. Dame Andrews, as disbelieving as the audience, could only ask, "Really??"

After the discussion ended (to a standing ovation), 20th Century Fox's new digital 4K restoration screened. Like last year, TCM chose a major Rogers & Hammerstein musical with a storied restoration history. The Sound Of Music has always been treated well by the people who carefully restored it, but certain small controversies crop up. How dark is the gazebo scene supposed to be? What color is Maria's party dress? ("Very dark because the actors were laughing," and "light blue," for the record.) Small details add up, but the army of people who worked on this latest restoration managed to have it both ways. By using the DP-approved restored 65mm print, they were able to conform as close as possible to the original look. But by adding digital technology, they were able to remove color anomalies and print fading. The result is a look so good that gazebos cast soft shadows, Maria can dance in a soft blue dress, and when she splashes in the fountain, you can actually see the drops of water.

If you couldn't make it to Hollywood to celebrate, never fear. 20th Century Fox is releasing a special edition Blu Ray later in the month. And for true fans of The Sound of Music, the beautiful 4K restoration shown at TCMFF last night will be screened in theaters on April 19th and 20th.

For more updates from TCM Classic Film Festival, follow Anne Marie on Twitter. And don't forget to vote for the movie you want her to cover!

With Songs They Have Sung (For a Thousand Years?)

Every couple of days while staring at my computer and trying to write about __ or __, I realize I want nothing more than to write about 19 more articles on The Sound of Music after our HMWYBS kickoff in March (join us for the next eppys!). Maybe that's because I realized I didn't own the film (?) when my article was due so I purchased it and now it's just sitting here politely asking with perfect Andrews enunciation to be rewatched daily. Should we just talk about The Sound of Music every week forsaking all else?

Dame Juli, between takes on location. Tired? Annoyed? Over it?