Today's 5: 'You do an eclectic celebration of the dance!"...
Thursday, May 11, 2017 at 11:20AM Five Life-hacking / mood-boosting / homework assignments -- whatever you want to call them -- pulled from showbiz history each day. Here are your assignments for May 11th!
2007 It's the tenth anniversary of Georgia Rule, which featured Lindsay Lohan as the wayward granddaughter of strict religious Jane Fonda, the last time Lindsay would lead a reputable mainstream film (whatever one may think of its actual quality). She was just 20 years old...
In its honor today: Remember that Jane Fonda tried to warn Lindsay Lohan that you only get so many golden opportunities. (She was costarring with legends like Streep, Tomlin, and Fonda at the time!) Lindsay was too f***ed up to listen, so don't be like her. Don't waste the opportunities that come your way today.
1985 "Crazy for You," from the movie Vision Quest goes #1. It's Madonna's second #1 (just six months after her first "Like a Virgin") and the first of many movie song classics she wrote which were then ignored by the Academy.
1989 "Dynasty" ends its 9 year decade-dominating blockbuster run on television with its 220th episode "Catch 22"
In its honor today: Playfully slap the Krystle to your Alexis (or vice/versa). Remember that all TV shows eventually end. (Oh wait, they don't now, do they? Will & Grace, American Idol, and Roseanne are all about to come back and they aren't even the first wave of the returns. Never mind)
Madonna and Calvin Klein with Martha Graham in her last public appearance 5 months before her death1894 WHERE'S HER BIOPIC? Martha Graham born in Pennsylvania. Inspired by Hidden Figures we like to highlight women and other minorities who deserve biopics. So it's worth noting that May 11th is the birthday of revolutionary modern dance icon Martha Graham, whose legend burned so bright that Time Magazine named her "Dancer of the Century" after her death, people understand punchlines about her work like that choreography scene in The Birdcage (1996) and Madonna's enthusiasms and photoshoot tributes were not obscure cultural references.
In her honor today: in your mirror before going out today/tonight..
You do an eclectic celebration of the dance! You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!... but you keep it all inside.
1888 Irving Berlin, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, born in Imperial Russia. He immigrates to the US at age 5 and has his first international hit "Alexander's Ragtime Band" by the time he's 23. Curiously he only won one Oscar (for "White Christmas" from Holiday Inn, 1942) despite his constant presence in movie musicals
In his honor today: Sing yourself any one of his classics, you probably know the words without even realizing it. Will it be "What'll I Do?," White Christmas," "Puttin' on the Ritz," "God Bless America," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "I Love a Piano," "I"ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," "Cheek to Cheek"? Your choices are veritably endless.
OTHER BIRTHDAYS
Surrealist Salvador Dali, Dame Margaret Rutherford (The VIPs), Handsome frencman Benoît Magimel, Frances Fisher, Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Shohreh Aghdashloo, the late Natasha Richardson, Jeffrey Donovan, and four time Tony winner and Broadway reliable Boyd Gaines (who came to fame as "Michael" in Fame, 1980) all share May 11th as birthday
OTHER ANNIVERSARIES
"Joyride" by Roxette hits #1 in 1991. Poet Robert Frost won the Pulitzer in 1924. Dark Shadows (2012) with Depp & Pfeiffer, 28 Weeks Later (2007), A Knight's Tale (2001), Firestarter (1984), The Natural (1984), and a 1979 movie I've never heard of called Winter Kills (which has a huge all star cast including Jeff Bridges, Anthony Perkins, Liz Taylor, Toshiro Mifune, Sterling Hayden, and Dorothy Malone... WTF ?!??) all opened on this day in movie theaters.
Reader Comments (24)
Nathaaaaaniel!!! Kathleen Turner is next to Madonna in that picture. How dare you cutting her off?
Such a shame about Lindsay Lohan... she was really good in Mean Girls and a big deal back then. I wonder if she had kept her head on straight if she would've landed the type of roles like ROOM or LA LA LAND. She has no one to blame but herself though !
Pegggy Sue -- i did not know that. that's the picture as i kept seeing it online.
I love the way Jane Fonda is looking at LL in that pic.
I just popped a Xanax. I love you just the same.
Lindsay being alive is all that should concern people concerned about her. Infamy is enough fame for a lifetime.
David - I love Mean Girls and I love The Canyons (against my better judgement!)
That said, history is filled with promising young stars who DIDN'T ruin their livelihoods with substance abuse and still failed to become major actors... though if she had managed to pull herself together, she may just have pulled off a Drew Barrymore! Now we'll never know, presumably...
Actually, "White Christmas" won the 1942 Original Song Oscar from the movie Holiday Inn. Berlin was nominated for the 1954 Best Song Oscar for "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" from the movie White Christmas.
DAVID - Oh, I definitely think Emma Stone is one of the beneficiaries of Lohan's downward spiral. Room is another interesting possibility.
Is LL done as a film actress.
Rick -- THANKS. oopsie. I fixed it in the post.
Kermit -- this is true but considering how dazzling she was in PARENT TRAP and MEAN GIRLS I think the talent was definitely there to build on. Plus she was beautiful which usually helps child stars transfer to becoming real movie stars... (some of them don't age into true beauties after all)
Doesn't Lindsay Lohan play the granddaughter in Georgia Rule and Felicity Huffman the daughter?
I always manage to forget how much Madonna has contributed to film soundtracks over the years. She's not nearly as associated with them as, for instance, Whitney Houston.
Shohreh Aghdashloo -- a name I wish I heard more of. Great when she's given a substantial role, but usually criminally underused and undervalued.
I can't believe the Lohan worship. She's not the female equivalent to River Phoenix. OMG she would have been so interesting in these Oscar winning roles. Get real. She was hag before 25. She's lived more life than Huppert. Again her being alive is what counts. Because she could easily switch places with young people who are no longer with us.
/3rtful -- enough with the misogyny. I'm serious.
When I googled Boyd Gaines I found out he's the guy with a classic scene with a very young and brunette before Sex and The City Kim Cattrall in a 80's classic Porky's. Also he is in some pictures with Queen of Broadway Patti Lupone. Boyd is one of the kings. Recently Patti said that Madonna is a "movie killer" and "dead behind the eyes" and so and so...
Troy -- yes. i meant to type granddaughter. OOF. FIXED.
I LOVE 28 Weeks Later. My intro to both Rose and Renner.
Lindsay Lohan could've had a solid career as a bankable comedy actress but she blew it. Now she's just a has-been.
I don't think Lindsay could've reached Natalie Portman/Scarlett Johansson/Reese Witherspoon-level acclaim, but she could've been a solid comedic actress, with an occasional "against type" dramatic role. She displayed impeccable comic timing in Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, but I thought her dramatic performances were always lackluster (Georgia Rule and the dreadful I Know Who Killed Me...yes, I actually saw that garbage in theaters).
What happened t o Lindsay Lohan is a sad story, indeed, but much more criminal is Hollywood's misuse of her costar Felicity Huffman, whose turn in Transamerica did not propel her to a better movie career (not even in indie films). Sure, she's got many TV gigs and has been acknowledged by the TV Academy for her work in Desperate Housewives and American Crime, but, beyond the realm of television, she's not been given any other starring vehicle of notice or even a meaty supporting role.
Same goes for Jane Fonda. She had that back-burner of a scene in Youth, but since returning to the big screen in Monster in Law, she's made no secret of the fact that she's hungry for a new act in her career, she's still as sharp as ever, dedicated, professional and as riveting a performer as ever. And yet, the response is... crickets!
Television or bust for these ladies, and that, much more than Lohan's downfall (which was largely brought upon by herself), is a doggone shame!
Re: Madonna, she's had great musical contributions to movies but I find it curious that it was one of her very worst (Masterpiece) that won her a Golden Globe for original song. At least that funky tune for Austin Powers won her a Grammy, so it sorta balances itself out. Of her soundtrack work, I think my favorite is I'll Remember, from With Honors (I'm not considering her work in either Evita or Dick Tracy, only the stuff she wrote herself), though Crazy For You and This Used to Be My Playground are classics too.
Oh, and that scene of the eclectic celebration of dance is my favorite scene in The Birdcage, and there are SO MANY hilarious scenes in that movie. Robin Williams at his finest.
Lohan can still pull a Drew Barrymore, I think. Look, Robert Downey Jr is okay know! Go, Lindsay!
I'd like to say that Lindsay Lohan is a mystery, but she is not; she's herstory. It's not Hollywood, per se, that grounded her and grounded her out, it's her family/herself. She had such talent, such promise, but her personal demons were far more potent. A pity, really.
For what it's worth, I like Madonna's "Masterpiece" a lot.