M O N D AY, A P R I L 0 3 , 2 0 0 6Surfing Through "A Star Is Born" (1954)Saw the Judy Garland/James Mason A Star Is Born for the first timethis weekend with fellow IRA member Andy.</p><p> Thoroughly enjoyed it,though I was thrown off by the finale -- for some reason, I had it in myhead that Garland would reprise "The Man That Got Away," so whenshe finished with the clearly iconic line "I'm Mrs.</p><p> Norman Maine," Iwas slightly let-down.</p><p> The "rehearsal" numbers were great, especiallythe late night club "Man" and the solo performance for her husband intheir living room.</p><p> But the full production numbers looked pretty tacky,whether it was the big finale of the movie she filmed that we saw at apreview or the one she was filming wearing the ugliest, mostunappealing costume imaginable. (Very few of her costumes for theroles she was playing were attractive.) But great work from Garlandand Mason.</p><p> Other than the late night version of "The Man That GotAway," Garland's peak for me was when she is on the set, broken downover her husband but immediately turns it on for a closeup.</p><p> For Mason,it was the scene where he signs for a package and the once-famousactor isn't even recognized by the delivery person.</p><p> With his back to us,Mason shows Norman breaking down silently.</p><p> Andy insists feminists inthe 70s decried the finale (imagining that Garland was being the dutifullittle wife and giving up her identity, rather than simply making a nicegesture to the man she loved that just killed himself), but that's too sillyto even think about.</p><p> Now I have to check out New York, New York towatch Liza follow in her momma's footsteps. *** 1/2 (out of 4)P.S.</p><p> And as an embarrassing aside, Andy and I argued over the finalyear that The Carol Burnett Show ran on CBS.</p><p> He said it was 1978, theyear after The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended.</p><p> I thought he was crazyand that it lasted into the early 80s.</p><p> He was absolutely right.POSTED BY MICHAEL IN NEW YORK AT 1:15 PM 2 C O M M E N T S :Anonymous said...This post has been removed by a blog administrator.1:36 PM Next Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Surfing Through "A Star Is Born" (1954)http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/04/surfing-through-star-is-... 1 of 37/29/09 2:16 AMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SBiboyMichael in New YorkAaron POPSURFING.COM: Surfing Through "A Star Is Born" (1954)http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/04/surfing-through-star-is-... 2 of 37/29/09 2:16 AMPOPSURFING.COM: Surfing Through "A Star Is Born" (1954)http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/04/surfing-through-star-is-... 3 of 37/29/09 2:16 AM
