Tune in to TCM: What Ever Happend to Baby Peggy

Before even Shirley Temple, there was Baby Peggy, the movies' first child star. Born Diana Serra Cary in 1918, by age five she had starred in over 150 shorts (most of them now, sadly, lost), had legions of fans, and was earning over a million dollars a year (thus earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby"). But fame, especially for young stars, is indeed fleeting, and by the 1930s she was flat broke and working as an extra.

In later years, Peggy became an author, silent film historian (along with Carla Laemmle, Mickey Rooney and Lupita Tovar, she is one of the few surviving stars from the silent era) and children's rights advocate, specifically for child actors. Working conditions for child actors at that time were shockingly atrocious; for example, Peggy worked eight hours a day, six days a week, and had to perform her own stunts, such as when she was held underwater until she fainted(!).

The life and career of Baby Peggy is examined in the new documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room, which will premiere tonight on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Watch the trailer below:

Reverend’s Reviews: The President and The Spy

This presidential election season has already given Americans plenty to laugh — and cry — about.  Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group is weighing in with their local premiere production of David Mamet’s 2007 satire, November.  Now running at the Mark Taper Forum through November 4^th, it is a scattershot but frequently amusing work… so long as one can tolerate Mamet’s generous use of the F-word.

Ed Begley, Jr. headlines the LA production as President Charles “Chuck” Smith.  As Smith’s failed first term is drawing to a close, he’s less interested in being re-elected than in ensuring he has enough cash with which to build and furnish an impressive presidential library.  When Smith learns he only has $4,000 in his library fund, he begins to concoct far-fetched fundraising schemes with the help of his closest advisor, Archer Brown (played by Rod McLachlan).  Their most immediate target becomes the National Association of Turkey and Turkey By-Products Manufacturers, whose chief representative (the very funny Todd Weeks) happens to be waiting at the moment outside the Oval Office along with two turkeys waiting to be pardoned for Thanksgiving.

   

Smith also enlists the help of his longtime speechwriter, Clarice Bernstein (former Desperate Housewife and Transamerica Oscar nominee Felicity Huffman), to craft an alternate Thanksgiving Day mascot and menu item should the turkey rep fail to meet the President’s extortionist demands.  Bernstein is an out lesbian who has just returned with her partner from a trip to China, where the pair adopted a baby girl.  She also may have brought back an infection with highly-contagious bird flu.

While November is full of ripe ingredients for an effective satire, Mamet’s dish ultimately feels under-baked.  The cast works hard (especially Begley, who suffered a frog in his throat and some resultant poor delivery during his first scene on opening night but triumphed through the remainder of the performance) and Takeshi Kata’s Oval Office set is excellent, but too much of the play’s humor is dependent on unoriginal swipes at Jews, the Chinese and, yes, GLBT people.  Huffman is a hoot in the final scene, wherein she sashays about in a lavish wedding dress waiting for the President to marry her and her partner on national television (an arrangement she has herself extorted), and the play ends up taking a strong stance for same-sex marriage.  GLBT members of the audience, however, have to endure more than a few references to gay love as “disgusting” and “unnatural” along the way.

November is minor Mamet and hardly a play for the ages, unlike most of his other works.  If the satirically-minded among us aren’t getting enough kicks out of the current debates, though, this big-name LA production may be just the ticket to comedy heaven.

Speaking of presidential elections, the last time a James Bond adventure hit the big screen was just after Barack Obama's victory in 2008.  Now, 50 years after the debut of Dr. No -- the first feature movie adapted from one of Ian Fleming's classic novels -- and just prior to next month's premiere of the Sam Mendes-directed Skyfall, there is a terrific new documentary detailing the long-running film series' history.  Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 is now playing theatrically in the UK and on the EPIX satellite channel here in the US.

Writer-director Stevan Riley (Fire in Babylon, Rave Against the Machine) expertly distills five decades' worth of backstage and onscreen drama into 98 rapid-fire minutes.  He incorporates interviews with Fleming and those who knew him, including distant cousin and horror film star Christopher Lee, who played the villain Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun; footage from Fleming's home movies; snippets from the 22 Bond features; and, most effectively, excerpts from the various Bond movie scores as the documentary's soundtrack.

"Fleming put his own struggles on the page," says current Bond Daniel Craig, while another commentator refers to the British superspy's creator as "a man of infinite contradictions."  Whereas Bond actually made his first appearance off the page in an American (and Americanized) TV adaptation of Casino Royale, it was producers Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and former circus showman Harry Saltzman who transferred Bond to the silver screen in 1962, and in the iconic form of Sean Connery.

Everything or Nothing (which was Broccoli's and Saltzman's motto as producers, the initials of which — EON — composed the name of their production company) recounts the Connery years, as well as the one-time appearance of George Lazenby in the role.  Lazenby gives a great interview in the doc, during which he reveals that he had to convince Broccoli and Saltman he wasn't gay since his only prior experience on camera was as a male model.  Subsequent Bonds Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan also give illuminating interviews.  

Saltzman eventually had to sell his share in the franchise in order to pay off debts, which made Broccoli the sole proprietor behind the Bond films from 1976 until his death twenty years later.  His daughter, Barbara, and son-in-law Michael Wilson are the current custodians of the Bond name.  "Cubby," Wilson states, "never took the audience for granted."  This shows, I believe, in the series' remarkable consistency and endurance.

Moore's last appearance as Bond in 1985's A View to a Kill is strangely omitted, but Everything or Nothing is otherwise a thoroughly, captivatingly comprehensive tour of 50 years of cinema and cultural history.  It's also one of the best, most uniquely crafted documentaries I've seen this year.

Reverend’s Ratings:

November: B

Everything or Nothing: A-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Family Affair

While it is being advertised as a real-life version of The Kids Are All Right, last year's Oscar-nominated movie about a lesbian couple raising two teenagers conceived with the help of an initially anonymous sperm donor, it may disappoint some prospective viewers to learn that Donor Unknown only briefly acknowledges the two pairs of same-sex parents included. The documentary will premiere tonight on the PBS series Independent Lens (check local listings for time and channel).

Rather, the focus is on young JoEllen Marsh and her search for the man she knows only as "Donor 150" via the California Cryobank. Once she learns his true identity is Jeffrey Harrison (a former Playgirl model and dancer in a male revue who now lives in an RV with his dogs and a pet pigeon), his biography and JoEllen's effort to meet him fuel the film's narrative drive. Along the way, JoEllen and viewers meet 14 known people fathered by Harrison, who made contributions to the Cryobank as many as four times a week during the 1980's. Theoretically, thousands of young people living today may owe their conception to Harrison and he may still be fathering children through the donations he made 30 years ago. (An amusing mention is made that the California Cryobank is today the 6th largest user of Fed Ex in the Golden State.)

Donor Unknown offers insight into a fascinating, ongoing saga, even if Harrison strikes one as a less-than-desirable father in many respects. The documentary raises the enduringly pertinent question, "What is the importance/meaning of a father?" As some of JoEllen's half-siblings conclude once they connected with Harrison, he represented "the death of a dream" as a result of both their idealized notions and the sad state of his life.

Harrison, however, doesn't seem to regret his free-spirited past or present. He refers to himself as "a fringe monkey" who, like some wild primates, is alienated from the rest of the tribe but ultimately serves as its protector and warns the others when danger is approaching. While I don't see Harrison fulfilling that responsibility as well as he thinks he does, his analogy nonetheless provides an interesting consideration of the roles outsiders like him play in our society.

Directed with a truly objective eye by Jerry Rothwell, Donor Unknown is a glimpse into another dimension of the ever-evolving institution we call "family."

Reverend's Rating: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Preview: From Chastity to Chaz

Even though I was just a few years older than she was, I vividly remember little 2-year old Chastity Bono sending all us viewers a good night kiss at the end of her parents' hit 1970's TV show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Her mother, of course, went on to become an acclaimed solo singer and Academy Award-winning actress. Her father was a sometime actor (including a role in the original Hairspray) before serving as mayor of Palm Springs and, a few years later, dying tragically in a ski accident.

And little Chastity? Well, she is now a he in the wake of successful gender-reassignment surgery and hormone therapy that began in 2009. Having legally changed his name to Chaz Salvatore Bono (the middle name was his father's birth name), the now-son of Sonny and Cher is the subject of an eye-opening documentary, Becoming Chaz. It is scheduled to premiere on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network tomorrow night, but Reverend got an advance look at the film.

"I've hated my body since puberty," Chaz says on camera of his pre-op state. "In high school, I often went to bed praying I would wake up as a boy." He started considering transitioning from female to male in the late 1990's as he saw cultural acceptance growing, partly due to the acclaimed movie Boys Don't Cry. Chaz gratefully recalls Sonny encouraging him to dress and act like a boy following his parents' divorce when Chaz was four years old.

Years prior to the decision to transition, Chastity had come out publicly as a lesbian. Jennifer Elia, Chaz's longtime partner, plays an integral part in the documentary. A recovering alcoholic, Jennifer's sobriety is put to the test during the "exhausting process" of Chaz's surgery and recovery. Chaz's own, 10-year addiction to prescription painkillers proved its own challenge, resulting in a low tolerance to the drugs intended to give him comfort during and after his initial operation and following six years of abstinence.

"I believe this happened when it was meant to happen," Chaz says of his transition. The post-op Chaz appears much happier in the documentary than he does before surgery, whether he is playing video games with good friend RuPaul, buying a suit for the premiere of his mother's movie Burlesque, or serving as a role model/consultant to trans children and their parents. On bravely going public with his decision to transition, Chaz reveals, "I'm doing this to try to put a public face on a serious issue."

Becoming Chaz also helps to answer a long-standing question on the lips of many: what has been Cher's reaction to her only daughter's decision to become a male? (She has a biological son by fellow singer Greg Allman.) Cher was initially silent but allows this film's accomplished directors, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (who previously made 101 Rent Boys, Party Monster and the wonderful The Eyes of Tammy Faye) to interview her extensively.

"I wasn't happy," Cher says of her first reaction to Chaz's decision to go public. She later recounts hearing Chastity's (female) voice for the last time on her answering machine. "That's when it hit me." Whereas Jennifer does call Cher from the recovery room following Chaz's surgery to assure her everything had gone well, Cher apparently couldn't bring herself to be there personally.

One scene in the film shows Chaz watching his mother's appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in late 2010, and being moved by Cher's first public or private reference then to Chaz as a "he." Cher clearly continues wrestling with her child's decision but seems to be coming along. Be sure to watch through the end credits of Becoming Chaz to see Cher's and Chaz's face-to-face reunion at the Burlesque premiere.

Immediately following tomorrow's broadcast of Becoming Chaz on OWN, Rosie O'Donnell will interview Chaz and the filmmakers about their experience making it on The Doc Club with Rosie O'Donnell.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

MD Poll: All Hail the King

With just over a day until the "real thing", it's time to take a look at the final results of our latest MD Poll and see what movies and performers would win the top Academy Awards If You Picked the Oscars:

At close to 30% of the vote, The King's Speech was victorious as your Best Picture pick. However, second place went to Black Swan over the heavily favored The Social Network, which placed third. Inception and Toy Story 3 round out the top five.

Just as expected for tomorrow night, Colin Firth easily topped the Best Actor race, with Oscar co-host James Franco coming in a distant second for his performance in 127 Hours.

The Black Swan herself, Natalie Portman, triumphed as Best Actress, with her closest competition, The Kids Are All Right's Annette Bening placing second.

As for the supporting categories, one film delivered two knockout performances that you chose as the champions. With over half of the votes, The Fighter's Christian Bale was named your Best Supporting Actor. But it wasn't without a fight, as The King's Speech's Geoffrey Rush earned over half of the remaining votes.

The closest race, here and in reality, was for Best Supporting Actress. With just 0.5% of a difference, The Fighter's Melissa Leo squeaked past The King's Speech's Helena Bonham Carter for the win. Also making an impressive showing was True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld.

See the complete results in the comments section below, and be sure to tune in to the actual Oscars tomorrow night on ABC to see how well we matched the actual winners!