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Fans of “Ryan’s Hope,” the beloved (and Emmy winning) ABC soap opera from the 70s and 80s, may not realize it, but there were real Ryans.
The soap concentrated on an Irish American family on the Upper West Side, the Ryans, who owned a bar. Their children included a writer and a politician. The writer was named Mary Ryan, played by newcomer Kate Mulgrew, who was incredibly popular and has had an enormously successful career including playing the commander of a Star Trek spaceship and playing Mrs. Columbo.
The real Mary Ryan was a person. Sadly she has died at age 82. She was writing partners with her best friend, Claire Labine, who created the show and borrowed the Ryan name (and a lot of their story) for the soap.
Mary Ryan Munisteri was a headwriter on “Ryan’s Hope” for many years, and also worked as headwriter on other shows like “Guiding Light,” “General Hospital,” “Love of Life,” and “As the World Turns.” According to her biography, she earned a dozen Daytime Emmy awards on writing teams. She also won a best writing Emmy Award for the short film “Mandy’s Grandmother” (starring Maureen O’Sullivan), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film.
On a personal note I never knew Mary Ryan Munisteri. But her name was spoken in our house in the 1960s and 70s because her mother-in-law, Inez Munisteri (Mary later divorced her first husband) was great friends from the 1930s on with my grandmother, Marion Davis Becker. Small world. I hope they’re all catching up and having a good time in the cosmos.
At last, Mary Wilson is vindicated as the great singer of The Supremes.
A new Supremes collection, called “The Motown Anthology,” features 14 solo tracks from Wilson, redefining her role in the group and in pop history. It arrives on March 4th.
Mary died last year suddenly from a massive heart attack. She was 76, and one of my favorite people. I featured her in the documentary, “Only the Strong Survive,” as she toured endlessly, cut off from the Supremes legacy by Diana Ross and Berry Gordy for telling the truth of her life in her memoir, “Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme.”
This new “Anthology” showcases Mary. There are no solo tracks from Ross, who cut the final Supremes single, “Someday We’ll Be Together,” without Mary or Cindy Birdsong but using studio singers. Mary didn’t even know the song existed until she heard it on the radio in 1969. But on tour– as we recorded in the documentary– she sang and made it her own.
A 44-page booklet comes with the CD package and offers detailed track annotations, and exclusive tributes to Mary from such fellow stars, notables, and admirers as Dionne Warwick, Darlene Love, Otis Williams, Duke Fakir, Martha Reeves, Claudette Robinson, Brian and Edward Holland, Paul McCartney, Rita Coolidge, Merry Clayton, Brenda Russell, Blinky Williams, and RuPaul. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has written a special appreciation for the unique release.
Mary triumphed over the Motown PR machine in the end. She worked tirelessly for artists’ rights, and for the rights of all musicians who’d had their legacies taken away in legal disputes over names of famous groups like the Supremes, Platters, Drifters, and so on. She was so smart, too: Mary kept all the Supremes’ gowns and lent them out as a museum exhibit on a very popular national tour.
Mary was fiercely independent and knew her worth. When Ross wanted her to join a Supremes 40th anniversary Mary declined because she’d be paid a fraction of what Diana was receiving. She was never going to be second fiddle. When Gordy latched onto Ross as the Supremes’ lead singer, knocking Mary to back up status, Supremes records were mixed to highlight Ross’s voice. But years ago a new CD of Supremes songs was released in which the original intended mixes brought out Mary’s contribution. Now this collection offers alternative mixes that really demonstrate Mary as a power house.
The full tracklist of the 2CD edition is:
Disc 1
Pretty Baby (Mono Single Version) – The Primettes
Baby Don’t Go (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
The Tears (Stereo Mix) – The Supremes
Our Day Will Come (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
Come And Get These Memories (Alternate Mix) – Diana Ross & The Supremes
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (Live at The Frontier January 13, 1970) – Diana Ross & The Supremes
Falling In Love With Love (Live at The Frontier January 13, 1970)- Diana Ross & The Supremes
Send Him To Me – The Supremes
If You Let Me Baby – The Supremes
Son Of A Preacher Man – The Supremes
Witchi Tai To – The Supremes
Touch (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
Floy Joy (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
Automatically Sunshine (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
I Keep It Hid (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
Can We Love Again (Outtake) – The Supremes
Early Morning Love (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
You Turn Me Around (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
You’re What’s Missing In My Life (2021 Alternate Mix Edit) – The Supremes
Don’t Let My Teardrops Bother You (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
Till The Boat Sails Away (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
I Don’t Want To Lose You (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
Disc 2
We Should Be Closer Together (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
You Are The Heart Of Me (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
Anytime At All – Mary Wilson
Red Hot – Mary Wilson
I’ve Got What You Need – Mary Wilson
You Make Me Feel So Good – Mary Wilson
(I Love A) Warm Summer Night – Mary Wilson
Pick Up The Pieces – Mary Wilson
You’re The Light That Guides My Way – Mary Wilson
Midnight Dancer – Mary Wilson
Save Me (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
Love Talk (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
Green River (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
You Danced My Heart Around The Stars (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
Why Can’t We All Get Along – Mary Wilson
Red Hot (The Eric Kupper Remix) – Mary Wilson
This is a belated obit, but one that’s necessary. I had just read about the death of John Koss, the man who made stereo headphones popular in the 1960s. I wondered what had happened to Dick Sequerra, one of the trailblazers in audio hifi equipment. It seems he died without an obituary or funeral back in October 2021. He was 92 years old.
Sequerra was a legendary name in the audio business. He didn’t give many interviews, but you can read the one he gave to Stereophile in 2009 here.
Dick was famous for being a boy wonder in the business when audio hifi was just becoming a thing. In the 1960s he worked with Saul Marantz to make Marantz Electronics a household name. Dick was already famous for his speakers and his tuners. Back before there was satellite radio and streaming, etc. people heard music from radio stations on FM tuners. Sequerra invented Marantz’s 10B, a famous tuner that plugged into home pre-amps and integrated amplifiers. Now besides record albums and cassette tapes, you had a way of bringing the FM signal into your house through high end audio.
Sequerra left Marantz in the 1970s. He started and lost his own company. called Day Sequerra. Then he started R Sequerra Audio. His home speakers, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to many thousands, became cult favorites. In 1989, my friend Bruce MacDonald– who 33 years later is a veteran audiophile, wrote to Dick about getting a pair of his rare ribbon speakers. That’s when I first heard the name. We became two of his many devotees. Bruce still has three piece set, handcrafted by Dick, and I still use my Met 7.7’s which have a glorious full sound.
I got to know Dick in the 2000s, visiting his home in Connecticut and his factory. He was a real life Mr. Wizard at time when more and more people were moving toward small speakers, portable systems. iPhone type music heard through little earplugs. As the systems shrank, so did the music. But it was Dick who was responsible for building nd maintaining the studio at New York’s classical premier music station WNCN.
With the return of vinyl, it’s possible the new generation will want to hear their music properly. Alas, there isn’t much left of Sequerra stock (I asked wife, Ilene, about it- there may be some errant pieces coming available this year). You can look on ebay or audio swap sites and find Dick’s Met 7 speakers at bargains. Buy them. They will blow your mind. Even the little ones.
Dick leaves his wife, Ilene, and two adult children. I don’t think there’s an Audio Pioneers Hall of Fame, but there should be. Back before digital, we worshiped the names on name plates of stereo equipment. This was when you sat and listened to music, from classical to jazz, to Broadway show, crooners, big bands, and complex rock and roll recordings (there is no such thing now). Dick Sequerra was at the top of that list.
SUNDAY UPDATE: “Moonfall” total $10.5 million, “Jackass Forever” made jackasses of us all with $23 million. “Spider Man: No Way Home” now bearing down on number 3 all time box office record. Will happen next week.
SATURDAY Imagine Adele singing”it’s the moonfall, the moonfall!”
Well, the sky fell last night when “Moonfall,” the Roland Emmerich sci-fi space opera, took in just $2.7 million. Adding Thursday previews the opening total is $3.4 million. This movie cost at least $150 million.
To the moon, Alice!
Contrast that with $8 mil Friday for “Jackass Forever,” a movie made by jackasses for jackasses. And everyone seems to like it. Total for the opening is $9.6 million. So the producers are themselves no jackasses.
Here’s my one Johnny Knoxville anecdote: I was coming down on the elevator at the Soho Grand hotel, mid 2000s. Doors opened and Johnny Knoxville gets on. He’s not really dressed for public consumption. And he’s holding a big wad of sheets in his hands. We get down to the lobby, doors open, he runs out in front of me through the hotel doors and out into the street. I thought he was headed for a limo, but instead he turned and ran up West Broadway into the night.
Did he kill someone? Was that the evidence? Was there a body part in the sheets and he was trying to get rid of it? One thing’s for sure, there were no cameras around. It wasn’t a stunt for his TV show. If anyone has a clue, give me a holler at showbiz411@gmail.com
Maybe it was millions of box office dollars.
Anyway, “Moonfall” is a bust. It won’t make $10 mil for the weekend. The sky is really falling.
Just now, beloved and unique actress from “The Farewell,” Awkwafina, posted two notices. One was an editorial but the next one seems to have been her own farewell — to Twitter
“Well, I’ll see you in a few years, Twitter – per my therapist. To my fans, thank you for continuing to love and support someone who wishes they could be a better person for you. I apologize if I ever fell short, in anything I did. You’re in my heart always”
The editorial is below.
Since Nora Lum, her real name, has erased all her Tweets going back two years, I don’t know what happened to hasten her exit. But obviously it was something bad, which is no surprise on the rough and tumble platform. What a shame. Lum is a sweetheart, and so talented. Someone owes her a big apology.
PS Lum just DM’d me: “I just need a social detox.” Hey don’t we all? Very healthy plan!
“Jeopardy!” almost sank last year after Alex Trebek died and multiple guest hosts had terrible ratings. At one point, the guest hosts had weighed the show down to just 4.7 million viewers. The regular fans were tuning out.
But then came Amy Schneider. Her 38 game winning streak, with greatest of all time player Ken Jennings hosting, was the miracle “Jeopardy!” needed.
Last week, when Schneider’s run came to an end, the game show finished with 6.6 million viewers. That was 2% higher than the previous week, and a 12% increase year to year. “Jeopardy!” may finally have shrugged off the dark days of random hosts and bad publicity. Jennings has proven himself after former Executive Producer Mike Richards nearly destroyed the franchise.
The Schneider effect helped “Wheel of Fortune,” the sister show of “Jeopardy!” The latter came in at 6.0, a great number for them.
In the rest of the syndicated, all remains status quo. “Dr. Phil” and “Kelly and Ryan” remain at the top of the heap. “Judge Judy” reruns are still fetching 4.9 million viewers per day. The fans don’t remember the shows, so it all seems new!
And just like that, “Sex and the City” the reboot no one wanted has ended its first season with rancor.
In interviews with Variety and Deadline, showrunner Michael Patrick King and star Sarah Jessica Parker have dissed former cast members Kim Cattrall and John Corbett pretty thoroughly.
They now say that Cattrall was never considered for the series and will never be asked in the future. They also say that Corbett– who led press to believe he’d be in the new series– was never asked to return.
No one knows what the ratings or viewership were for this series because HBO Max is a streamer and not monitored publicly. But it’s likely the show will return since it’s a WarnerMedia brand, it may have had more viewers than a CNN show, and all the relevant parties seem to have agreed on this already.
But does anyone want more of Sara Ramirez’s Che? Or Miranda, a successful attorney in New York not knowing what a “TV pilot” is? Or Carrie texting a phantom Samantha who we know we’ll never see? Also, they’ve sent poor Willie Garson’s Stanford to Japan forever without mentioning him again?
Also, these episodes portrayed people at age 55 like they were 75. I’m over 55 and I felt like they were my elders. Their medical problems, and constant complaining, their inability to have adult thoughts, their lack of interest in anything cultural in New York, and the annoying woke-ness whether it was language or current cultural obliviousness. I’m surprised none of them said, “Back before we had these dang phones…”
PS Aside from Mr. Big having a much older brother (James Naughton is nine years older than Chris Noth). none of the main SATC women has any family whatsoever. Parents, siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews. Is this possible? Are they all dead or estranged? Is that why they’re all friends?
Today in 1977 Fleetwood Mac released “Rumours.” It was the follow up to the “Fleetwood Mac” album of 1975, the first with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
That was 45 years ago today.
Last week, “Rumours” sold 15,900 copies and was in the top 40 on all albums charts. This week looks about the same.
“Dreams,” one of the singles from “Rumours” is still on the charts as well. Last year it went top 5 again thanks to a TikTok video.
The other singles from the album, “Go Your Own Way” and “Don’t Stop,” remain top hits on oldies radio. Worldwide, “Rumours” has sold 40 million copies, putting it not far behind “Thriller” and “The Eagles Greatest Hits.”
It was the pinnacle for the Mac, which subsequently released the much admired but lower selling “Tusk” and a couple more albums before breaking up and regrouping several times.
Me? I prefer the ’75 album. When “Rumours” was released in 1977, it was right in the middle of New Wave and punk. Fleetwood Mac was the epitome of corporate rock gone crazy. No album would equal its sales or importance in mainstream pop until Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall” in 1979.
But in ’77, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Blondie, the Ramones and Steely Dan’s “Aja” were far more interesting to me. And now, 45 years later, they’ve all lasted.
I guess the lesson is, Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.
Susan Sarandon is apologizing for jumping the gun when she saw something on social media. She criticized the police funeral in New York for Officer Jason Rivera. I know Susan, and I know she is heartfelt in this apology. Let’s move on. But we can learn a lesson to count to a thousand before reacting and posting on social media.
The $150 mil sci-fi epic had a bad night: just $700,000 in 2,300 locations. The morbidly curious were the ticket buyers.
“Moonfall” will probably be a massive write off for Lions Gate. They expected it, believe me. They’ll be fine.
But for director Roland Emmerich, stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Michael Pena it’s a space disaster.
For perspective, the latest “Jackass” movie made $1.65 million in previews– more than double “Moonfall.” But “Jackass” is made by idiots for idiots. “Moonfall” was supposed to be smart.
I’ve never seen reviews quite like the ones for “Moonfall.” The Emmerich film has 42 on Rotten Tomatoes. Even the “fresh” reviews mention that the movie is terrible but a lot of fun its awfulness. The Rotten Tomatoes editors themselves wrote under “Critics Consensus”: “Whether Moonfall is so bad it’s good or simply bad will depend on your tolerance for B-movie cheese — but either way, this is an Emmerich disaster thriller through and through.”
But you know, if you’ve seen “Spider Man” a few times and would like to see something new, “Moonfall” might be for you!
I got to know Dick in the 2000s, visiting his home in Connecticut and his factory. He was a real life Mr. Wizard at time when more and more people were moving toward small speakers, portable systems. iPhone type music heard through little earplugs. As the systems shrank, so did the music. But it was Dick who was responsible for building nd maintaining the studio at New York’s classical premier music station WNCN.
