Wednesday, June 3, 2026

“Jersey Boys” Has 2 Sopranos and One Child Star from “My Three Sons”

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Clint Eastwood’s “Jersey Boys”– which I found very moving– is full of little treats. The well-cast musical, opening tomorrow, of course has lots of music and all of the Four Seasons hits. Audiences tend to sing along, I know mine did.

But a couple of people to  look out for: I don’t know why but whenever I see Barry Livingston in a movie, I can’t get barry livingston as ernieover it. He played Ernie Douglas on “My Three Sons” in the 1960s. He was a huge child star, brought into the Fred MacMurray series when the show needed a new infusion of youth. He was around 8 back then. Now he’s 61. He looks pretty much the same, except in “Jersey Boys” he has a beard. Of course the irony is that Ernie and his brother Chip were probably doing their homework to Four Seasons songs on the radio. Barry Livingston, according to the imdb, works all the time. Bravo!

Sopranos alert: I thought there would be more Sopranos in “Jersey Boys” since Tony and his gang were the later, more violent non singing version of the Four Seasons. But be on the lookout for Kathrine Narducci and Steve Schirippa in early scenes of “Jersey Boys.” Kathy memorably played Charmaine Bucco, wife of restaurateur Artie, and good friend to Carmella. Schirippa, of course, was Bobby Bacala, Janet’s genial husband, Uncle Junior’s pal.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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