MEDIA COOL
Most of the revelations in this well-researched, very readable book aren’t all that shocking— drug abuse, overblown egos and even Gilda’s bulimic problems were never that closely guarded —and nothing here reads as sensationalistic as Bob Wood-ward’s Belushi tome.
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MEDIA COOL
This Month’s Media Cool was written by Bill Holdship, Wayne King, Jeffrey Morgan, and Richard Riegel
SATURDAY NIGHT: A BACKSTAGE HISTORY OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad (Beech Tree Books)
Most of the revelations in this well-researched, very readable book aren’t all that shocking— drug abuse, overblown egos and even Gilda’s bulimic problems were never that closely guarded —and nothing here reads as sensationalistic as Bob Woodward’s Belushi tome. What’s shocking is that its portrayal of the corporate television hierarchy almost makes the sharks in the music and/or publishing industry look like genius-saints by comparison; NBC didn’t seem to understand what a great phenomenon they had with the original SNL. Every detail is covered, from the show’s roots {National Lampoon, Second City, etc.) through its rise, decline (the Jean Doumanian debacle) and present status. Reading this book and watching the show’s current incarnation is akin to listening to, say, the Rolling Stones’ (who figure predominantly in one chapter) Between The Buttons and Undercover back-to-back. In other words, isn’t it time to call it a day before any more fine memories get tainted? Despite a few critical miscalls, this is an intriguing book for TV history, rock ’n’ roll and SNL fans alike. B.H.
DREAMCHILD
(Universal)
A beautifully subliminal film, loosely based on real incidents surrounding the writing of Alice In Wonderland. Mrs. Alice Hargreaves, 80-years-old and a cranky relic of Victorian England, visits New York in 1932 for a Lewis Carroll tribute. Seventy years before, she had been Alice Liddell, the juvenile obsession of Rev. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and the model for his fictional “Alice.” Hounded by’reporters and opportunists, she is forced to recall her past in a series of flashbacks. She also has horrific, symbolic nightmares that place her in “Wonderland” (brilliantly created by Jim Hensen’s puppets), warn of her impending death, and make her finally come to terms with Dodgson’s “forbidden love.’’ There’s been much speculation about the shy Dodgson/Carroll’s obsession with prepubescent girls, but Dreamchild basically sidesteps the pedophilia issue to become a film about fulfilled love, complicated but pure. B.H.
ALAS SMITH & JONES/ RISING DAMP (Syndicated TV)
I don’t know if these shows necessarily belong " together, but they’re both British half-hour comedies, and the Arts & Entertainment Network shows them back-to-back at 8 p.m. on Sunday. Alas Smith & Jones (not to be confused with Alias Smith And Jones, a Western on CBN) is 10 years newer than Rising Damp. The more recent show is a collection of skits featuring Mel Smith and Grif Rhys Jones, who demolish numerous contemporary popculture icons (including heavy metal) with Pythonesque blasphemy each show. Rising Damp is a 1975-era situation comedy that’s equal parts All In The Family and Fawlty Towers. Each episode has the perpetually irascible landlord Rigsby ranting & raving about the “permissive society,” as more or less practiced by his hippie tenant Alan, a kind of Limey Lester Bangs, and his liberated pals. Rigsby ends up the recipient of a new variety of humiliation at the close of each episode. Just think of these two clever shows as British reparations for inflicting the permanently radioactive Led Zeppelin upon us. R.R.
THE OFFICIAL HONEYMOONERS TREASURY by Peter Crescenti &
Bob Columbe (Perigee/General) “Greatness survives whether it’s Jimi Hendrix or The Honeymooners. ” Dick Clark said that earlier this year, and he’s right. Sure, Hendrix could play guitar behind his back, get plaster casted and kick it in the head in his late 20s—but that’s nothing compared to the daily life of Ed Norton in the sewer or Ralph Kramden driving his Gotham bus through Brooklyn. Hell, Jimi’s come and gone, but there’s only one Ed and Ralph, and this book is a worthy tribute to them. Three hundred pages filled with hundreds of trivia facts and questions; deleted scenes and dialogue which never appeared in the final on-air versions of the first classic 39
episodes; interviews with all the cast and crew; and sketches from a Honeymooners cartoon series which never made it into production. The joy of reading the script excerpts is that they don’t lie flat on the paper; the become infused with the personalities of Ralph, Alice, Ed and Trixie—so strong are the characters fixed in our minds. So, sheesh, don’t be a grouch— this book is strictly va-va-vavoom all the way. J.M.
ROCK WIVES by Victoria Balfour (Beech Tree Books)
Rock Wives offers some insights in its portraits of 17 wives/ widows/lovers past and present, plus one boyfriend. But outside of a skimpy introduction, Balfour never addresses the central question here: do performers’ relationships with others affect the way we look at their art, and should they? Also, the stories of Anita Pallenberg, Angie Bowie, Hendrix girlfriend Monika Dannemann and Morrison lover Pat Kennealy have all been told as well elsewhere (Myra Lewis even put out her own book on Jerry
Lee a few years back). And Claudette Robinson is the only black woman represented, a major flaw given the fixation with and treatment of women in black music (a few ladies from the metal world would have made sense, also). All of which is too bad, because some of the interviews are revealing; Bebe Buell’s ongoing obsession with Elvis Costello is sadly fascinating. In light of the postpunk upsurge in female artists, and their long-time prominence in country and R&B, the whole of Rock Wives would make, at most, a few interesting chapters in a history of rock ’n’ roll women. W.K.
