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Anna Crouse, Grandmother of “Girls” star Zosia Mamet, Creator of TKTS Booth, Dies at 97

Roger Friedman
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Anna Crouse, Grandmother of “Girls” star Zosia Mamet, Creator of TKTS Booth, Dies at 97

Anna Crouse, widow of playwright Russel Crouse and mother of actress Lindsay Crouse, has died at age 99. So far only a couple of paid for obits have turned up in the New York Times. Amazing. Anyway, Anna Crouse was 23 years younger than her husband.

Russel Crouse wrote a bunch of hit plays with Harold Lindsay including “Life with Father.” They wrote the book for “The Sound of Music,” and won a Pulitzer for “State of the Union.” They also wrote the book for Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes.” Crouse died in 1966 at age 73.

The Crouses had two children–Lindsay, a formidable actress, and, Timothy, wrote the famous book “The Boys on the Bus” about traveling in an election year with presidential candidates.

Anna Crouse, to a younger generation, is the grandmother of Zosia Mamet, star of the TV show “Girls.” Zosia’s parents are Lindsay Crouse and playwright David Mamet.

But Anna Crouse is even better known for her work in the New York theater. She is considered the engine behind the TKTS half price ticket booth in Times Square. She gave years of service to TDF, the Theater Development Fund, serving as Chairwoman and a Trustee, all between 1968 and 1993. In the TDF’s paid obit, the current execs wrote: “it is fair to say that without her it would not have happened; her influence and support extended beyond TKTS to the entire fabric of the organization.”

No one thinks about the TKTS booth and how it changed New York life. You think it’s always been there; it hasn’t.

There’s a great obit on playbill.com. According to an article in the Times, Zosia Mamet is estranged from her mother. Too bad. Anna Crouse sounds like she was amazing. Rest in peace.

 

it is fair to say that without her it would not have happened; her influence and support extended beyond TKTS to the entire fabric of the organization. – See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=anna-crouse&pid=168850474#sthash.SKLXjFLW.dpuf
it is fair to say that without her it would not have happened; her influence and support extended beyond TKTS to the entire fabric of the organization. – See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=anna-crouse&pid=168850474#sthash.SKLXjFLW.dpuf

Producers Guild Noms Include “Hustle,” “Gravity,” “Wolf” “Dallas” “Slave”

Roger Friedman
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Producers Guild Noms Include “Hustle,” “Gravity,” “Wolf” “Dallas” “Slave”

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle

Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)

Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)

Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

Producers: Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter

Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman

Her (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Producers: Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay

Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)

Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa

Saving Mr. Banks (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Producers: Ian Collie, Alison Owen, Philip Steuer

12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Producers:  Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner

Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

Producers: Riza Aziz, Emma Koskoff, Joey McFarland

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Croods (DreamWorks Animation)

Producers: Kristine Belson, Jane Hartwell

Despicable Me 2 (Universal Pictures)

Producers: Janet Healy, Chris Meledandri

Epic (Twentieth Century Fox)

Producers: Jerry Davis, Lori Forte

Frozen (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Producer: Peter Del Vecho

Ø  Monsters University (Pixar Animation)

Producer: Kori Rae

The television nominees are:

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:

American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)

Producers: Brad Buecker, Dante Di Loreto, Brad Falchuk, Alexis Martin Woodall, Ryan Murphy, Chip Vucelich

Behind the Candelabra (HBO)

Producers: Susan Ekins, Gregory Jacobs, Michael Polaire, Jerry Weintraub

Killing Kennedy (National Geographic Channel)

Producers: Mary Lisio, Larry Rapaport, Ridley Scott, Teri Weinberg, David W. Zucker

Phil Spector (HBO)

Producers: Michael Hausman, Barry Levinson

Top of the Lake (Sundance Channel)

Producers: Philippa Campbell, Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman

The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini-series.

In late 2013, the Producers Guild of America announced the Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture, Television Series and Non-Fiction Television Nominations; the following list includes complete producer credits.

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

A PLACE AT THE TABLE (Magnolia Pictures)

Producers: Julie Goldman, Ryan Harrington, Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush

FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY (First Run Features)

Producers: Brad Bernstein, Rick Cikowski

LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM (HBO Documentary Films)

Producers: Andrea Nix Fine, Sean Fine, Miriam Weintraub

WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS (Focus Features)

Producers: Alexis Bloom, Alex Gibney, Marc Shmuger

WHICH WAY IS THE FRONT LINE FROM HERE? THE LIFE AND TIME OF TIM HETHERINGTON (HBO Documentary Films)

Producers: James Brabazon, Nick Quested

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:

Breaking Bad (AMC)

Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett

Downton Abbey (ITV – United Kingdom;  PBS – United States)

Producers: Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge

Game of Thrones (HBO)

Producers: David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, D.B. Weiss, Christopher Newman, Greg Spence, Carolyn Strauss

Homeland (Showtime)

Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm

House of Cards (Netflix)

Producers: Joshua Donen, David Fincher, Karyn McCarthy, John Melfi, Eric Roth, Kevin Spacey, Beau Willimon

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:

30 Rock (NBC)

Producers: Jack Burditt, Robert Carlock, Luke Del Tredici , Tina Fey, Matt Hubbard , Marci Klein, Jerry Kupfer , Colleen McGuinness, Lorne Michaels, David Miner, Dylan Morgan , Jeff Richmond , Josh Siegal, Tracey Wigfield

Arrested Development (Netflix)

Producers: John Foy, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Mitchell Hurwitz, Dean Lorey, Troy Miller, Richard Rosenstock, Jim Vallely

Big Bang Theory, The (CBS)

Producers: Bill Prady, Chucke Lorre, Steve Molaro, Faye Oshima Belyeu

Modern Family (ABC)

Producers: Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeffrey Morton, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker

VEEP (HBO)

Producers: Simon Blackwell, Christopher Godsick, Armando Iannucci, Stephanie Laing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Tony Roche

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:

30 for 30 (ESPN)

Producers:  Bill Simmons, John Dahl, Erin Leyden, Connor Schell

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN)

Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig

Duck Dynasty (A&E Networks)

Producers: Deirdre Gurney, Scott Gurney, Mike Odair, Hugh Peterson, Adam Saltzberg, Charlie Van Vleet

Inside The Actors Studio (Bravo)

Producers: James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz

Shark Tank (ABC)

Producers: Mark Burnett, Becky Blitz, Bill Gaudsmith, Yun Lingner, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Skowlund, Max Swedlow

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:

Colbert Report, The (Comedy Central)

Producers: Meredith Bennett, Stephen T. Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Matt Lappin, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart

Ø  Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

Producers: David Craig, Ken Crosby, Doug DeLuca, Gary Greenberg, Erin Irwin, Jimmy Kimmel, Jill Leiderman, Molly McNearney, Tony Romero, Jason Shrift, Jennifer Sharron, Josh Weintraub

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

Producers: Hillary Hunn, Lorne Michaels, Gavin Purcell, Michael Shoemaker

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

Producers: Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, Matt Wood

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Producers: Ken Aymong, Erin Doyle, Steve Higgins, Erik Kenward, Lorne Michaels, Lindsay Shookus

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:

Amazing Race, The (CBS)

Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark Vertullo

Dancing With The Stars (ABC)

Producers: Ashley Edens-Shaffer, Conrad Green, Joe Sungkur

Project Runway (Lifetime)

Producers: Jane Cha Cutler, Desiree Gruber, Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea, Colleen Sands

Top Chef (Bravo)

Producers: Tom Colicchio, Daniel Cutforth, Casey Kriley, Jane Lipsitz, Erica Ross, Nan Strait, Andrew Wallace

Voice, The (NBC)

Producers: Stijn Bakkers, Mark Burnett, John de Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Audrey Morrissey, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Nicolle Yaron, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker

The following programs were not vetted for producer eligibility this year, but winners in these categories will be announced at the official ceremony on January 19:

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:

24/7 (HBO)

Hard Knocks (HBO)

Monday Night Football (ESPN)

Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

SportsCenter (ESPN)

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:

Dora the Explorer (Nickelodeon)

iCarly (Nickelodeon)

Phineas and Ferb (Disney Channel)

Sesame Street (Sprout)

SpongeBob Squarepants (Nickelodeon)

The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:

Burning Love (http://screen.yahoo.com/burning-love/)

Epic Rap Battles of History (www.epicrapbattlesofhistory.com)

Lizzie Bennet Diaries, The (www.youtube.com/lizziebennet)

Ø  Video Game High School (http://www.rocketjump.com/category/vghs)

Wired: What’s Inside (http://video.wired.com/series/what-s-inside)

In 1990, the Producers Guild held the first-ever Golden Laurel Awards, which were renamed the Producers Guild Awards in 2002. Richard Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck took home the award for Best Produced Motion Picture for DRIVING MISS DAISY, establishing the Guild’s awards as a bellwether for the Oscars. Last year, the PGA awarded ARGO with its Darryl F. Zanuck Outstanding Producer Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures, marking the sixth consecutive year the Producers Guild has presaged the Motion Picture Academy’s choice.

Sponsors of the 2014 Producers Guild Awards include Cadillac, an official automotive partner of the PGA; Delta Air Lines, the sponsor of this year’s Producers Guild Visionary Award; Panavision, the sponsor of the cocktail reception; PRG, Production Resource Group, an annual sponsor of the PGA; and Tiffany & Co.

About the Producers Guild of America (PGA)

The Producers Guild of America is the non-profit trade group that represents, protects and promotes the interests of all members of the producing team in film, television and new media. The Producers Guild has more than 5,900 members who work together to protect and improve their careers, the industry and community by providing members with employment opportunities, seeking to expand health benefits, promoting fair and impartial standards for the awarding of producing credits, as well as other education and advocacy efforts such as encouraging sustainable production practices. Visitwww.producersguild.org, www.pgagreen.org, www.pgadiversity.org for more information.

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Justin Bieber UPDATE Film Flops, New Album Sales Collapsing

Roger Friedman
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Justin Bieber UPDATE Film Flops, New Album Sales Collapsing

10PM WEDNESDAY: The box office disaster of Justin Bieber’s “Believe” album is spreading to other parts of his career. His new “Journals” album has dropped on the iTunes album chart to number 12 after less than a week. The failure of the film has infected the album sales. When numbers for album sales are counted on Monday, there are going to be surprises galore about what went on during the two week holiday.

As I noted last month, Bieber has no support at radio. His records aren’t played. His sales of albums was based purely on teen pop stuff– magazines, gossip columns, the internet. “Journals” debuted to no radio play. None of the tracks broke out as singles. And now the weight of the thing is pulling it down. Also, as I’ve noted too, the fan base is aging. They are letting go and moving on to the next step.

Watch for Bieber’s sales numbers, as well as Britney Spears’, to cause much noise on Monday…

 

EARLIER: Yikes! Not to bead a dead horse (or a dying one) but Justin Bieber’s New Year’s Day box office is seriously serious. According to an estimate send out by Open Road, “Believe” will make $195,181 by the end of today. That makes its cume still less than the $5 million they claim it took to make. And of course that’s ridiculous right there, or just inventive accounting. Open Road had to spend at least that on advertising and prints. “Believe” is about to disappear entirely after a one week run. Fame is fleeting! That $195k is quite a fall off from the day before, at $460K.

Sad News: James Avery, Father from “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Dies at 65

Roger Friedman
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Sad News: James Avery, Father from “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Dies at 65

James Avery, the genial actor who played the father on “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” has died at age 65. The cause, reports TMZ and other outlets, was complications from open heart surgery. He played Philip Banks, the wealthy uncle of Will Smith, on the hit show, for seven seasons from 1990 to 1996. After that Avery never stopped working on TV. He was about as continuous of a presence as he could be. I met him several times at various events and he was just the nicest guy, very articulate and funny. Alfonso Ribero, who played his son on “Fresh Prince,” has already posted something on Facebook. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from the whole cast soon. RIP.
PS Avery’s death comes one week after the unexpected death of “Fresh Prince” producer and co-creator Jeffrey Pollack at age 54.

Happy New Year 2014! (Video)

Roger Friedman
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Happy New Year 2014! (Video)

Justin Bieber’s Amazing Shrinking Grosses for Flopumentary

Roger Friedman
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Justin Bieber’s Amazing Shrinking Grosses for Flopumentary

We were told to “Believe.” But something went very wrong. Here’s the layout for Justin Bieber’s flop documentary, as reported by Open Road Films. That poor little company must be wondering what the heck went wrong. Answer: constant police reports on TMZ, bodyguards being arrested, drug use, spitting on fans, the whole enchilada. Watch numbers get smaller and smaller. If the trend continues, by Friday the theaters will be empty. As it is, 52,000 people in the US went to see this movie yesterday in 1,037 theaters. They must have been lonely.

Monday 12/30/13 Gross:              $416,188

 

Wednesday       $1,250,000

Thursday             $1,012,500

Friday                   $790,022

Saturday              $680,179

Sunday                 $537,366

Monday               $416,188

 

Cume Thru Monday 12/30/13:  $4,686,255

Oprah’s Politically Opposite Billionaire Republican Pal, Harold Simmons, Is Dead

Roger Friedman
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Oprah’s Politically Opposite Billionaire Republican Pal, Harold Simmons, Is Dead

Harold Simmons, the right wing Dallas billionaire who underwrote both the John Kerry Swift Boat effort and the anti-Obama Bill Ayers campaign, is dead at age 82. I wrote about him in 2008 because it turned out that Simmons and his wife were best pals with Oprah Winfrey. Huh? Yes. Simmons donated $5 million to Oprah’s South African Leadership Academy for young women. Winfrey and the Simmonses are neighbors in the extremely posh Montecito, California. How Oprah managed this friendship tells a lot about how engages power, period. Simmons, — a self made billionaire from savvy investing– leaves behind an eponymous charitable foundation now run by his daughters. The Harold Simmons Foundation seems to have taken a sharp turn to the left. The daughters are to be commended. Condolences on their loss.

I wrote in 2008:

Winfrey is very close friends with Dallas billionaire named Harold Simmons, a leading Republican donor and supporter of John McCain.

This past August it was revealed that Simmons was the single donor to a 527 committee called American Issues Project. Its only issue: to run ads linking Obama to William Ayers, the political activist who was once part of the Weather Underground. Simmons paid $2.9 million to try and make Ayers the Obama campaign’s “Swift Boat,” an issue that might have sidelined permanently the Illinois senator’s chances and advance John McCain — Simmons’s candidate — to the White House.

Nevertheless, Winfrey has cultivated her friendship with Simmons on many social fronts since 2001, resulting in his being second only to her in donating funds to her Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to the 2006 federal tax filing for the Oprah Winfrey Operating Fund, Winfrey accepted a $1 million donation to the school from Simmons. That amount, The Dallas Morning News reported in 2007, was only part of a $5 million pledge to the Academy. Simmons is considered Dallas’s leading philanthropist to worthy causes. In this case, though, it might have been unnecessary, since Winfrey herself has donated over $60 million to the school.

It’s not like Simmons is a new Republican donor. He gave over $100,000 in the 2007-2008 election cycle to Republican candidates, separate from his Ayers campaign. He has always been an active Republican. In 2004 he was a major donor to the Swift Boat Veterans, the group credited with destroying the campaign of John Kerry for president.

Winfrey has long been close friends with Simmons and his wife Annette. She’s their neighbor in Montecito, California, having bought the estate next to them in 2001. As recently as two weeks ago, Oprah mentioned the couple on her show during a telephone discussion of the Montecito fires with another neighbor, actor Rob Lowe.

(Winfrey was not available for comment, according to her representative. Simmons, who doesn’t have a press representative, did not return our call.)

The Dallas Morning News—thanks to the dogged byline of Alan Peppard — is full of stories over the years documenting Oprah’s friendship with the Simmonses. They are often at each others’ homes and parties. When Oprah’s significant other, Stedman Graham, spoke to a group in Dallas, it was noted that he dined with the Simmonses. In April, 2006 — two years after the Swift Boat scandal was revealed — Oprah sent a camera crew to a Dallas luncheon hosted by Annette Simmons showcasing the thousands of tulip bulbs surrounding the lake on her property.

10 New Songs from Old Faves That Radio Didn’t Play in 2013

Roger Friedman
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10 New Songs from Old Faves That Radio Didn’t Play in 2013

All these great artists had new albums out in 2013. Radio used to LIVE on these people. They ignored these tracks and the albums. Instead, we got a lot of junk in our ears.

Paul McCartney “Looking at Her”

Elton John “Voyeur”

Gladys Knight

Elvis Costello

Garland Jeffreys

Julia Fordham

Sting

Mavis Staples

David Bowie:

Mariah Carey:

TV Ratings: Only 7 Million People Will Watch Jazz, Opera, Fine Arts on A Network Show

Roger Friedman
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TV Ratings: Only 7 Million People Will Watch Jazz, Opera, Fine Arts on A Network Show

The ratings are in for last night. The Kennedy Center Honors pulled in 7 million viewers, almost none of whom weren’t on breathing machines or getting their pills before sleep. I thought it was the best show in years, with amazing jazz and opera performances, a great tribute to Billy Joel, an entertaining segment on Shirley MacLaine.

But I did think that during the tribute to opera legend Maria Arroyo almost everyone would leave. And they did. I thought they might come back for Billy Joel. They didn’t.

The Herbie Hancock section should win some kind of prize, it was so amazing. Wayne Shorter, everybody! But NFL Football just wiped them out, right off the tube.

There are only 7 million people left in the U.S. who care about the fine arts. If CBS hadn’t had football first between 7 and 9pm they would have gone out of business. I give Les Moonves credit for sticking with the Kennedy Center and the Tony Awards.  And for not having the foul “Raising Hope” on his network.

At Last: Bono to Get Sonny Bono Award at Palm Springs Film Festival

Roger Friedman
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At Last: Bono to Get Sonny Bono Award at Palm Springs Film Festival

At last, a connection has been made that’s been in the works for 30 years. Bono and his group U2 are going to get the Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival next week. You can only imagine the “Bono-Bono” jokes being readied by the comic they’ve hired to emcee the show. Bono, of course, pronounces his name BONNO. Sonny was BONE-O. But still, how many times have you started to say one of their names aloud the wrong way? Even Cher may have had that problem.

“We normally present the Sonny Bono Visionary Award to a director, but for our 25th anniversary we wanted to take the occasion to celebrate U2, a visionary group and the world’s premier rock band, for their unparalleled humanitarian work against extreme poverty, disease, and social injustice,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner.  “Their latest song ‘Ordinary Love’ from the film Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom is an ode to Nelson Mandela, who had such a powerful impact on our world, and a man whom the band worked with in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.  The Palm Springs International Film Festival is honored to present the 2014 Sonny Bono Visionary Award to U2.”

You know that loquacious Bono will talk admiringly about Sonny’s Phil Spector years and records like “I Got You Babe.” U2 may wind up covering “A Cowboy’s Work is Never Done.”

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