Great Moments In... Truth Telling

#41 (Octavia Spencer in The Help, 2011)

Morning Truth Tell: Child Actors Give Good Quote

Sometimes it's really fun to listen to child actors talk about their work. They're not yet guarded or practiced about how to talk about working with directors or the constantly-discussed art of acting. Here's "Little" himself from Moonlight (Alex R Hibbert) telling it like it is.

My face just went with what was going on and then BAM!

Morning Truth Tell: Tom Hanks...

Tom Hanks is giving way better performances recently (Captain Phillips, Bridge of Spies) than the ones he used to win Oscars for. 

Truth Tell: Barbara Harris is Underappreciated

A Happy 79th birthday to Barbara Harris. She hasn't acted in such a long time but she was often just wonderful on the screen with unique rhythm, energy and comic ability.

I'm not sure that anything about Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot (Hitch's last feature in 1976) totally works but if you could argue that any of it does it's either the cemetery scene or anything involving Barbara Harris's performance as a con-artist psychic. The movie is frustrating since it feels half formed and its inarguably flabby:  every time you need the editing too tighten it up which would have made everything, including the memorable actors (Karen Black and Bruce Dern are also on hand), pop. It just keeps the scene going.

Barbara Harris's largest claim to fame these days is her Golden Globe nominated work in the original Freaky Friday (1976) wherein she switched bodies with her tomboy daughter Jodie Foster but my favorite Harris performance ever is her role as "Albuquerque" in Robert Altman's masterpiece Nashville (1975)

It don't worry me.
It don't worry me.
You may say that I'm not free. It don't worry me ♫ 

 I'd be okay with the entire 1975 Supporting Actress Oscar lineup just being ladies from Nashville, all told. 

Exit Music. Here's Barbara Harris doing bits from "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," a role she originated on Broadway in 1965 to the tune of a Tony nomination before Barbra Streisand took over in the film version five years later.

Morning Truth Tell: All Hospitals Need Thelma Ritter

Don't be alarmed but I spent last night in the Emergency Room*. It won't surprise you to hear that they continue to be horrible nightmare places.

One woman had been there for 9 hours when we walked in and had yet to be treated. She was crying her eyes out and dizzy with  'is this real life? will i ever leave this room?' kind of existential despair. It did not bode well for the rest of the visit.

Because few things are treated like emergencies in emergency room, you're left waiting for hours for any kind of human interaction let alone problem solving. Your mind has plenty of time to wander (harmless and unavoidable) and horribilize (harmful and likely when you're in pain). I kept thinking of Thelma Ritter's "Clancy" . Sometimes all you need is someone to hear your out, put a hand on your shoulder, and talk you through it. Someone to fetch a distracted doctor with a prescription pad at least. Nobody was doing that!!! Every hospital needs a Thelma Ritter. Thirty of them, even, but they're in short supply.

Live this truth. Be your best Thelma Ritter for a loved one who needs you this week. Offer a firm kind hand and listening ear. When needed set your internal timer to redirect their self-pity if it gets out of hand. Be that steadying Supporting presence. You won't win an Oscar for it, true, but public adulation isn't everything. Private gratitude is also golden.

*I am fine. As you may have figured, I was playing the poor man's Thelma Ritter role in this scenario. It's harder than it looks!