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Pete Bennett, Famed Promo Man for the Beatles, Dies at 77

Roger Friedman
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Pete Bennett, Famed Promo Man for the Beatles, Dies at 77

I just heard that Pete Bennett died on Thanksgiving. What a shame. He was a great guy, an original, the real thing. He was one of those people who really made the Beatles what they were in the US. I’ll never forget Pete showing up at Westbury Music Fair in 1999 and helping us film for “Only the Strong Survive.”Also Pete gave me a bootleg DVD of “The Concert for Bangla Desh” long before one was really available. He knew everything, and had everything.

Here’s what his office sent:

The man Billboard Magazine named “World’s Top Promotion Man,” Pete Bennett, 77, died suddenly of a heart attack Thanksgiving day in Connecticut.

Bennett, born in the Bronx, NY is credited for propelling the careers of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor and many others.

Described by Paul McCartney as “the promotion man responsible for getting the Beatles on the radio,” Bennett was named Director of Promotion for the Beatles’ Apple Records label in 1968.  After the break-up of the group, Bennett guided the promotional efforts to radio for the solo releases by John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and McCartney.

Over the years in interviews when Bennett was asked why his services were in such demand, he would say “I make unknowns into stars and stars into superstars.”

Among his many legendary achievements, Bennett, working side-by-side with Harrison, produced the world’s first global charity event, “The Concert for Bangladesh,” at Madison Square Garden in 1971.  The former Beatle requested Bennett to use his clout and relationships to secure some of the biggest rock stars of the time, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell and Billy Preston.

In 1975 when Michael Jackson and his brothers were looking to leave Motown Records, Bennett orchestrated a deal to bring the Jacksons to Epic Records.

Well known for his eye for talent, Bennett is recognized as the first music executive to discover Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler, when he was in a Yonkers, NY band called Chain Reaction.

As impactful as Bennett’s accomplishments were in the music industry, his long list of relationships spanned a who’s who of politics, sports, television and movies, including Bob Hope, Muhammad Ali, Richard Nixon, Elvis Presley, Dick Clark, Nat King Cole, John Wayne and Bobby Vinton.

Bennett is survived by his wife of 47 years, Annette, and his two sons, Peter and Joseph, all of Connecticut.  Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the American Heart Association.

Barbara Eden on Larry Hagman: “The Texas Tornado”

Roger Friedman
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Barbara Eden on Larry Hagman: “The Texas Tornado”

Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden splashed down onto TV back in 1965 as astronaut Tony Nelson and his genie in “I Dream of Jeannie.” (Larry, it should be noted, was the first “Master” long before Philip Seymour Hoffman!) Eden also appeared on “Dallas” toward the end of its run. Over the weekend, Eden sent out a couple of Tweets on the passing of Hagman, recalling him as the “Texas Tornado.” She also put up a statement on Facebook. Here it is:

“As I received the news this evening and as you read this I still cannot completely express the shock and impact from the news that Larry Hagman has passed. I can still remember, that first day on Zuma Beach with him, in the frigid cold. From that day for five more years, Larry was the center of so many fun, wild, shocking… and in retrospect, memorable moments that will remain in my heart forever.

“He was such a key element in my life for so long and even, years after I Dream of Jeannie; our paths crossed many times. Throughout various productions I had the pleasure of watching the Texas Tornado that was Larry Hagman. Amidst a whirlwind of big laughs, big smiles and unrestrained personality Larry was always, simply Larry. You couldn’t fault him for it, it was just who he was.
“I am so thankful that this past year I was able to spend time with him and experience yet again ‘Larry’ in all his Big Texas bravado.I, like many others believed he had beat Cancer and yet we are reminded that life is never guaranteed. My deepest condolences go out to his wife Maj, his son and daughter and his grandchildren, as well as his friends in this time of his passing. I can honestly say that we’ve lost not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure Americana.Goodbye Larry, there was no one like you before and there will never be anyone like you again.”
-Barbara

Rolling Stones Kick off First London Set with Beatles Song

Roger Friedman
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Rolling Stones Kick off First London Set with Beatles Song

The Rolling Stones opened what could be their farewell tour in London last night with a Beatles song– “I Wanna Be Your Man.” Lest the Beatles vs. Stones arguers forget, the Stones covered the Beatles in their early days before taking off on their own. The Stones show– the first of two at the O2 Arena before venturing here in December–are sold out despite the extremely high prices. And they feature former bandmates Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor, along with guests Jeff Beck and Mary J. Blige. PS Only one song from the post-1981 “Tattoo You” — “Out of Control” from “Bridges to Babylon.” I’d rather hear “Out of Time.” But we’re out of luck, my baby…

Here’s the set list from the opening show:

I Wanna Be Your Man
Get Off Of My Cloud
It’s All Over Now
Paint It Black
Gimme Shelter (with Mary J. Blige)
Wild Horses
All Down The Line
Going Down (with Jeff Beck)
Out Of Control
One More Shot
Doom And Gloom
It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (with Bill Wyman)
Honky Tonk Women (with Bill Wyman)

Band Intros

Before They Make Me Run
Happy
Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor)
Miss You
Start Me Up
Tumbling Dice
Brown Sugar
Sympathy For The Devil

ENCORE
You Can’t Always Get What You Want (with choir)
Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Eddie Redmayne, Not Russell Crowe, Could Be Oscar Contender from “Les Miz”

Roger Friedman
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0
Eddie Redmayne, Not Russell Crowe, Could Be Oscar Contender from “Les Miz”

The Oscar race tightened up this weekend with the screenings of “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Les Miserables.” You can now pretty much call it for ten films that should make the cut off plus a few others that could shake things up. Mind you, things will be much different for things like the Golden Globes and even the SAG Awards.

But here’s a list that should get people talking: “Argo,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Les Miserables,” “Lincoln,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “The Master,””Flight,” “The Life of Pi,” “Amour,” “The Sessions,” plus “The Intouchables,” “To Rome with Love,” and “Anna Karenina.” Still to be seen: “The Hobbit” and “Django Unchained.” For the Globes, I really like “This is 40.” Also, “The Guilt Trip” with Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen is said to be hilarious. Count me in as a fan of “Cloud Atlas,” but I don’t get the sense that Warner Bros.– very busy with “Argo” and “The Hobbit”– is supporting it.

There are also so many documentaries to watch– from “Searching for Sugar Man” to “Central Park Five” — a surfeit of excellent choices. As far as actors go, Academy voters, and everyone else, should keep an eye on  some new names in the mix, from Scott McNairy in “Killing them Softly” to Jennifer Ehle in “Zero Dark Thirty” to John Hawkes in “The Sessions.”

And watch out for Eddie Redmayne in “Les Miserables” as Marius. He’s more likely to make Best Supporting Actor as Marius than Russell Crowe as Javert. Redmayne literally lights up the screen with this performance, and he can sing. Stay tuned…

More this week…

Review: Kathryn Bigelow “Zero Dark Thirty” Exposes Bin Laden Hunt and Kill

Roger Friedman
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Review: Kathryn Bigelow “Zero Dark Thirty” Exposes Bin Laden Hunt and Kill

If anyone worried that Kathryn Bigelow’s movie about the killing of Osama bin Laden would be a political statement promoting Barack Obama they can relax. Bigelow and Mark Boal have made a very focused and harrowing thriller that centers on the real life female CIA agent who was obsessed with catching and killing bin Laden. Jessica Chastain leads a huge cast, and puts herself right into competition with Jennifer Lawrence of “Silver Linings Playbook,” for Best Actress in a Drama. And even though it’s a military movie, “Zero Dark Thirty” really stars Chastain and Jennifer Ehle, with the men of the film–played by Mark Strong, Joel Edgerton, James Gandolfini, Kyle Chandler, Mark Duplass and Harold Perrineau– taking secondary but important roles.

The most interesting thing right off the bat is that “Zero Dark Thirty” is not political. President Obama makes a brief appearance seen off a TV and it’s not necessarily positive. While American intelligence is water boarding prisoners, Obama is seen saying he doesn’t believe in torture. The whole first fiften minutes of so is taken up with the waterboarding of a prisoner. Once you see it, you’ll be writing to your congressman to prevent it from happening again. But Obama disappears after that. And the CIA and the military take over.If Bigelow and Boal got secret access to the Situation Room from the time Osama bin Laden was killed, you don’t see it.

What you do see is the CIA doing something successful after many botches and tragedies in the war against terrorism. One scene that stands out is a meeting in Washington of the principle CIA players. Mark Strong, who’s great, comes in starts screaming at them there is no “secret” other group working on the problem. They’re it, and they’ve got to produce results.

Initially, with the torture scenes and the introduction of Chastain as Maya, the red haired take no prisoners agent, you do feel like you might be watching “Homeland: The Movie.” But Bigelow is a consummate filmmaker. Her movie grows and flourishes from that point on. Boal’s screenplay isn’t so much about backstory for the characters (there isn’t any) but making them interesting enough to follow through this crusade. It’s to his and Chastain’s credit that Maya gets richer and develops more layers as the film progresses, particularly once Ehle’s very brilliant agent exits the story. (I don’t wan to give too much away.)

So for now: “Zero Dark Thirty” is a likely Best Picture nomination, with kudos to all involved. Chastain and Ehle are the standouts. And there will much discussion of this film as we come through the week…

Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” Also a “Lonely Girl” from 1970

Roger Friedman
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Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” Also a “Lonely Girl” from 1970

Alicia Keys’ new hit “Girl on Fire” is catchy, catchy, catchy. But like a lot of Keys’s songs, it comes with ingredients from past hits. The credits do include a nod to “The Big Beat” by Billy Squiers, upon which the whole drumline is apparently based. There’s another sample that doesn’t seem to be credited anywhere unless I’ve totally missed it. In the middle of the song, Alicia sings a couplet or so from Eddie Holman’s 1970 classic “Hey There Lonely Girl.” The song was written by Leon Carr and Earl Shuman, who are both gone to rock and rock and roll heaven.

“Hey There” was first recorded by Ruby and the Romantics in 1963. But it was Holman’s wonderful recording that became a once in a lifetime hit. Keys only uses two seconds of the original, but it helps make her record. It’s not the same as when she remade The Main Ingredient’s “Let Me Prove My Love to You” into “You Don’t Know My Name,” but it’s still prominent for anyone who grew up during the classic era of R&B.

Do they teach this sampling stuff at Juilliard?

Hey There Lonely Girl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3lscp1GCjUQ#!

Girl on Fire (“Hey There” at 2:26)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J91ti_MpdHA

A list of some of Alicia Keys’s samples: http://www.whosampled.com/artist/Alicia%20Keys/

Michael Jackson: ABC Cut 30 Minutes from Spike Lee Doc, Including Sensual Dance with Sheryl Crow

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson: ABC Cut 30 Minutes from Spike Lee Doc, Including Sensual Dance with Sheryl Crow

Ok, so no one bothered to send the actual full version of Spike Lee’s “Bad 25” documentary. The 90 minute version aired on ABC on Thanksgiving night. On Friday morning, the DVD of the complete movie arrived (thanks to the Critics Choice Awards). It clocks in at 123 minutes, at least 30 minutes longer than the ABC version.

And seeing it, I now understand what ABC did: they chopped this thing up and took out a lot of really great stuff. Among the missing items: all of the interviews with Stevie Wonder, including the legend at the piano and reminiscing about recording with Jackson; a very young Sheryl Crow in 1987 on tour with Michael, performing a sensual dance to “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and Sheryl’s racy recollection; attorney John Branca insisting that he and Michael did not steal the Beatles catalog out from under Paul McCartney; and many instances of Michael directing his videos or recordings. There’s also one interesting moment at 1:05 in which it’s clear that Michael is healing unselfish-consciously from facial surgery on his cheeks and nose.

Also missing from the ABC version but on the DVD is a fun stretch showcasing a bunch of celebrities who were filmed for Jackson’s “Liberian Girl” video.

Spike Lee also included one five second piece of video of Frank DiLeo right at the beginning of “Bad25,” but he never mentions him again as the guiding force behind “Bad” or the tour that followed. Too bad considering there are a number of people featured who didn’t even know Michael Jackson, including Justin Bieber (I have no idea what he’s doing or what he’s talking about) and someone named Joseph Vogel, who’s credited as author of a book that’s just come out and has sold has badly as the Randall Sullivan book. I would rather have seen Randy Taraborelli, who at least is an expert on this part of Michael’s life.

Also, plenty of people, like Quincy Jones, are only shown in footage from the “Bad” era and not now. The fact that DiLeo died in 2011 wouldn’t have precluded his being in the film. There’s a lot of archival interview footage.

Well, it’s too bad. Who cuts Stevie Wonder out of a documentary, anyway? ABC should have just shown “Bad25” in its entirety. They cheated Michael’s fans and the audience at large.

“Les Miz” Star Anne Hathaway: “I Can’t Sing Like Susan Boyle”

Roger Friedman
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2
“Les Miz” Star Anne Hathaway: “I Can’t Sing Like Susan Boyle”

by PAULA SCHWARTZ, Special to Showbiz411–Anne Hathaway’s haunting and raw take of “I Dreamed a Dream” as the tortured waif Fantine in “Les Miserables,” Tom Hooper’s follow-up to “The King’s Speech,” is not the version Susan Boyle sang to international stardom on English television.

In a Q&A following the 7 p.m. screening Friday at Alice Tully Hall, Hathaway said, “Part of the reason why it’s not the song Susan Boyle sang is because I can’t sing like Susan Boyle.”

Hathaway, a shoo-in for a supporting Oscar nod, said the nicest thing she did for herself was that she didn’t listen to Patti LuPone’s version until she was finished filming. “And I’m so glad I didn’t because it would just have been too much. The bar for this song has been set so high by so many incredible vocalists that there’s just no way that I was going to be able to match it, so the only thing I could do was to do it differently and do it really real and really get inside of it.”

In a move that may not please “Les Miz” purists, the actress added that she thought it “was a really cool decision” by the director and the film’s writers to place the song after she’s had her first experience as a prostitute as opposed to after she’s lost her job, “because you can really get inside the pain and see the beginning of that rage she has and watch this woman shut her heart down. Victor Hugo described her as having a heart of stone with only one bit of light left at the bottom and she kept the light for her daughter, so to be able to get into the song from that perspective, I was excited about getting to do it like that.”

When asked how many takes it took to do the scene, Hathaway said 2 ½. At one point she had an earpiece problem. “I was hearing myself so loudly in this quiet space,” she said, and “everything was too close, so I just put them in so I couldn’t hear myself anymore and I let it rip, and I think that’s the one that’s in the movie.”

“Performances are often patchwork quilts of many different takes, whereas in the central songs all the songs,” Hooper said, “are one take.”

Also, if you were wondering, Hathaway’s hair–er, Fantine’s hair– was hacked off in real time.

Hooper said his experience of watching Hathaway’s hair coming off was a “slightly difference experience” from that of the actress. The make up man, an experienced and talented hair stylist, dressed as the crone, started working and Hooper said, “I watched before my eyes the most gorgeously crafted pixie cut appear,” he said, while “Annie was acting like it was a terrible trauma of her hair cut, and I was thinking this is just a creation of a lovely short haircut.” Hooper said he gave the hair guy a pep talk and told him to give Hathaway “a savage haircut. You have to make it ugly.”

Hathaway’s misery in that scene is real. “I put it up there with the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do, which I wasn’t expecting. I didn’t think I was that vain.”

During the 15-minute costume change she took a first look, where she was bald up front. “It was the worst moment ever actually, come to think of it,” she laughed, “and then it was done, and it was done, and I took a few beats and looked into the mirror and called my husband,” Hathaway said. “I said, ‘I honestly look like my gay brother.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larry Hagman, the One and Only J.R. Ewing, Dies at Age 81

Roger Friedman
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Larry Hagman, the One and Only J.R. Ewing, Dies at Age 81

Larry Hagman has passed away at a Dallas hospital at age 81. The one and only J.R. Ewing, star of “Dallas,” looked like he wouldn’t make it much longer during the last few episods of the “Dallas” re boot. But she was still shooting new episodes until recently. I must confess to loving the original “Dallas” and Hagman especially. I was so happy to sit and talk with him and his wife Maj a few years ago in Malibu. I asked Maj about Larry’s famous tradition of staying silent one day a week. She said it drove her nuts. Larry was as charming as ever.

The son of Broadway star Mary Martin, Larry Hagman had his first hit on TV with “I Dream of Jeannie,” where he was underrated on the silly show for his physical comedy and stamina. He’s in almost every scene of the show. He appeared in various other shows and miscellaneous movies through the early 1970s, but it wasn’t until “Dallas” in 1977 that he became a household name. And then “Who Shot JR?” put him and the show on the map. My personal favorite scenes were Larry with Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes. JR took such delight in torturing Cliff, and Hagman was a genius at it.

It’s a sign of Hagman’s influence on “Dallas” that even though the reboot was supposed to be about the new generation, it eventually came back to J.R. Hagman, looking gaunt, persevered, and made the new series delicious as ever. It’s the death of a real star, and a real loss. Condolences to his family and fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luN5-O5WDAE&feature=related

 

First Review: “Les Miserables” Comes to Movies with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway

Roger Friedman
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140
First Review: “Les Miserables” Comes to Movies with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway

Cheers and a standing ovation this afternoon at the first screening of the film version of “Les Miserables.” Tom Hooper, Oscar winner for The King’s Speech, has made a thrilling, sensational epic of the legendary Broadway show. This now becomes the “Titanic” of this year’s awards season, the epic film to beat. Hugh Jackman is a triumph as Jean Valjean, Anne Hathaway sings the heck out of the film’s big numbers, and Samantha Barks just about steals the film. Russell Crowe makes for a solid Javert. And the many supporting players, especially Aaron Tveit, Eddie Redmayne and Amanda Seyfried, are top notch.

Universal Pictures with help from Peggy Siegal put on two blockbuster screenings this afternoon and this evening at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Anne Hathaway, husband Adam Schulman, and Anne’s parents Gerry and Kate sat right in front of me. It was the second time this week that Anne, who plays Fantine, sat down and watched the film all the way through. Hooper gives her the first of his many signature closeups as she sings “I Dreamed a Dream” and brings down the house. As Fantine, Hathaway breathes life into the tortured waif whose saga spurs Jean Valjean through the post-French Revolution years and student uprisings of he 1830s. She will be a Best Supporting Actress nominee. And with any luck she’ll sing on the Oscars.

Jackman and co-star Crowe were not present tonight, but Hathaway, Redmayne, Barks and director Hooper sat for a Q&A with Columbia film professor Annette Insdorf. We learned that there was no lipsynching–everything was sung live, and you can feel it. Barks and Tveit, however, are the Voices with a capital V in this film. There is no denying their accomplishment in this inordinately well cast film.

The other pair who stand out are Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, straight out of Tim Burton’s film of “Sweeney Todd.” (“Les Miz” diehards won’t like this, but much of this show is influenced, ahem, by “Sweeney Todd” and Stephen Sondheim.) HBC and SBC are absolutely hilarious and wily together. They also get to sing “Master of the House,” the comic number with loads of nods to “More Hot Pies” from the other musical. As Cossette’s guardians, and parents of Eponine (Barks), they are indelible fun.

And then there’s Hugh Jackman. He’ll be nominated for Best Actor and will likely win. The movie hangs on him, and he carries it from beginning to end. It’s his best work ever, the pinnacle for him as he combines his musical and dramatic talents. Hooper said in the Q&A he wouldn’t have made the movie if Jackman didn’t exist, and he’s right. This is the role of a lifetime, like Robert Goulet in “Camelot.” Wolverine may have to break out in song in his next film.

Tom Hooper steered this ship, and it’s a massive cruise liner. The thing Hooper does so well is bring history to life–whether it’s John Adams or Queen Elizabeth I or the stuttering King George. In the “John Adams” miniseries, there’s a great breakfast scene in which John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin all get together in Paris. It’s as if we’re eavesdropping on these famous but inaccessible people. In “Les Miz,” Hooper pulls off just this trick. The canvas is broad but the characters are intimate and so well drawn that you feel you know them, and their French revolt, by the time the end comes.

I went to the 25th anniversday show of “Les Miz” at the O2 Arena in London a couple of years ago. People from around the world are devoted to this show. These armies of “Les Miz” fans will not be disappointed by this film. Something tells me they will see it three and four times.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2010/10/03/nick-jonas-unlikely-les-miz-star-at-25th-anniversary

 

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