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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

May 14, 1987


Welcome to another edition of the Tuesday Timeline. For this week's look back in time, we're not going back in time that many years, but the subject of today's look back through time could have been considered a true Hollywood legend.

Confused yet? Don't be.

Of course, we have some other things to discuss before we get to the main subject of this blog for today. Like celebrity birthdays, for instance.

There's a lot of people who are indulging in birthday cake and other treats today. Among them are Al Porcino, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, David Byrne, Tom Cochrane, Tim Roth, C.C. DeVille, Danny Huston, Pat Borders, Raphael Saadiq, Cate Blanchett, Danny Wood (New Kids on the Block), Sofia Coppola, Sabryn Genet, Gabriel Mann, Shanice, Anais Granofsky, Natalie Appleton, Martine McCutcheon, Ada Nicodemou, Mark Zuckerberg, Olly Murs, and Miranda Cosgrove.

And, as always, we're going to be looking at some of the other events that have taken place on this date in history beginning with...

1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France after the death of his father, Louis XIII

1796 – The first smallpox vaccine is administered by Edward Jenner

1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois

1863 – The Battle of Jackson takes place during the American Civil War

1925 – Virginia Woolf's “Mrs. Dalloway” is first published

1936 – American singer Bobby Darin is born in The Bronx, New York

1939 – Lina Medina is confirmed the world's youngest mother, having given birth at the age of five

1940 – During World War II, the Netherlands surrenders to Germany following the Battle of the Netherlands

1961 – The Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed in the vicinity of Anniston, Alabama, and civil rights protesters are attacked by an angry mob

1963 – Kuwait joins the United Nations

1973 – Skylab is launched into orbit

1992 – American football player Lyle Alzado passes away from brain cancer at the age of 43

1998 – American singer and actor Frank Sinatra passes away at the age of 82

2003 – American actor and “Unsolved Mysteries” host Robert Stack dies at the age of 84

And, now for today's peek through time. So, what year will we be visiting this week?

Well, how about twenty-six years ago?



The date is May 14, 1987. Cutting Crew had the #1 song on the Billboard Charts with “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight”, “Gardens of Stone” was the newest film to be screened in theatres, and the founder of Facebook was just turning three years old.

(Note to self: I'm suddenly feeling very old.)

But May 14, 1987 was a very sad day in the world of Hollywood royalty, as one member of that elite group lost her battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She was a woman who had appeared in over sixty films over almost four decades, and she received the 1977 National Screen Heritage Award.

And, hey, she was one of the sixteen celebs that Madonna name dropped in her 1990 hit “Vogue”. That's got to count for something, right?

Of course, you might not recognize the name Margarita Carmen Cansino at first. You see, that was our starlet's birth name. She was born on October 17, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York to two professional dancers, Eduardo Cansino Sr, and Volga Hayworth.

Remember her mother's last name, people.

Anyway, young Margarita's father really had high hopes of his little girl becoming a dancer just like him, while her mother wanted her to become an actress. Little did both of her parents know that they would both get their wish!

She attended dance classes that were held at Carnegie Hall (taught to her by her uncle, Angel Cansino), had her first public performance at the age of six, and by eight had already appeared in her first motion picture, “La Fiesta”. Granted, the film appearance was a short, but still, it helped the little girl get noticed.



Over the next few years, Margarita continued to appear in bit parts in several movies including 1934's “Cruz Diablo” and 1935's “In Caliente”. But it took a chance encounter with Winfield Sheehan to get things moving along. Sheehan was the head of the Fox Film Corporation, and he happened to see her dancing at the Caliente Club. He arranged for Margarita to do a screen test a week later, and was impressed by her natural ability. He immediately signed her on for a six month contract at Fox. Of course, with the signing came a name change, as he felt that Margarita was not Hollywood sounding enough.

Hence came the name Rita.

Now, going under the name Rita Cansino, she did appear in five films while signed onto Fox Film Corporation, but nothing too notable. And when Fox merged into Twentieth Century Fox, Rita's contract was not renewed. However, salesman/promoter Edward C. Judson was still convinced that Rita would become a star as she had the star quality necessary to succeed. With his assistance, Rita screen tested with Columbia Pictures and was promptly cast in 1935's “Dante's Inferno”, and 1936's “Human Cargo”.

TRIVIA: Judson would become the first of five husbands for Rita!

At first though, Rita was often typecast in roles that called for a Latina character or foreign-born. And Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn was troubled by this. He was concerned that Rita was limiting herself because she looked a little too Mediterranean, and with some encouragement from Cohn and Judson, Rita dyed her naturally black hair to a reddish-brown colour, and started going by her mother's maiden name.



And, that is how Margarita Cansino became Rita Hayworth!



The first film that Rita Hayworth starred in under her new stage name was 1937's “Criminals of the Air”. But that certainly wasn't the last. She would appear in such Columbia Pictures classics as 1940's “Angel Over Broadway”, 1944's “Cover Girl”, and 1946's “Gilda”. She was also one of the most sought after actresses from other movie companies as well, with one of her most famous appearances coming from the Warner Brothers produced “The Strawberry Blonde”, a 1941 film starring James Cagney and Olivia de Haviland. Warner Brothers was reportedly so impressed with Hayworth's performance that they offered to buy Hayworth's contract from Columbia Pictures! Of course, Cohn was not about to part with his rising star, and no deal was made.



Hayworth also became quite a popular sex symbol as well. How could she not? After all, she was absolutely stunning in her prime. In an August 1941 issue of Life Magazine, there was a pin-up photo of Hayworth relaxing in a black-lace negligee. That photo more or less cemented her as one of the top pin-up girls that could be found in the barracks of many American soldiers fighting in the second World War. And her appearance in 1946's “Gilda” caused some controversy back in the day when she performed a one-glove striptease.

Well, in 1946 that was considered very racy, anyway.

It is also erroneously reported that Rita's image was also presented on the side of what was then known as one of the first atomic bombs to be tested at Bikini Atoll. The word “Gilda” was painted on the side of the bomb along with a picture of Rita, which was meant to symbolize her bombshell status. However, Rita was absolutely furious over her image being used for such a thing and made her want to speak out against it. But, it was later proven that only the name “Gilda” was stamped on the bomb. There was no picture.

Consider it an urban legend, so to speak.



Now, Rita Hayworth stayed with Columbia Pictures until 1948. After her first two marriages (Judson and legendary actor/director Orson Welles) fell apart, she took a gamble on love once more with Prince Aly Khan, whom she married in 1949. The marriage caused Hayworth to break her contract with Columbia so she could live with her new husband in France. Of course, the wedding received huge press, as Hayworth had already cemented her status as a Hollywood icon by then. But the wedding was also considered scandalous because at the time she was still legally married to Orson Welles (with whom she had a daughter with). Regardless, Hayworth became the first Hollywood actress to become a princess, and exactly seven months after their wedding, Rita gave birth to her second daughter, Yasmin.

Unfortunately, the marriage fell apart two years later, and Hayworth returned back to America and back to Columbia Pictures by 1952. But although she had a comeback of sorts when she returned to Columbia, she had admitted later on in her life that the relationship that she had with the company was not the greatest. The movie company refused to let Hayworth sing in any of her films (the voices were dubbed over), even though she really wanted to perform. Because she refused to appear in a film, she was once suspended for nine weeks without pay, and she felt as though the company prevented her from trying new things, causing her resentment to grow even more.

It also didn't help that all five of Rita's marriages ended in divorce, with irreconcilable differences and mental/physical abuse being the main factors.



By the 1970s, it became apparent just how much the stress surrounding her personal and professional life had taken its toll. Rita only appeared in one film during the 1970s, and her performance in 1972's “The Wrath of God” exposed some of her poor health problems, with reports that they had to record Rita's lines one at a time because she could not remember them. It ended up being her last film appearance.

With the deaths of her two brothers within a week of each other in 1974, Rita's depression worsened. While Rita had always had a problem with alcohol, the alcohol use escalated following the deaths of her brothers. It all culminated in an infamous incident in 1976, when Hayworth was booted off of a plane following an angry outburst on board.



What many people didn't realize was that at the time, Hayworth's alcoholism disguised the fact that she was really suffering from the effects of Alzheimer's Disease. And, it was complications of the disease that silenced Rita Hayworth forever on May 14, 1987 at the age of 68.

So, to end this piece on Rita Hayworth, I thought I would repost the statement that former American president Ronald Reagan made following her passing;

Rita Hayworth was one of our country's most beloved stars. Glamorous and talented, she gave us many wonderful moments on stage and screen and delighted audiences from the time she was a young girl. In her later years, Rita became known for her struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Her courage and candor, and that of her family, were a great public service in bringing worldwide attention to a disease which we all hope will soon be cured.

This is kind of eerie, given that Ronald Reagan would also fall victim to Alzheimer's Disease, losing his battle in June 2004.

At any rate, Rita Hayworth was a real legend. Her performances with such actors and entertainers as Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly earned her the adoration and love of fans. Yet her personal life was filled with heartache and stress.

In a way, Rita's life would have made for the classic Hollywood tragedy. She was a woman who appeared to have it all, but as we all know from this article, looks were deceiving.

And, that's our look back on May 14, 1987.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Back to the Future


I am so pumped about this week's edition of the Monday Matinee. In fact, I am so excited about it that I'm spreading the joy over the next three weeks! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, this feature is going to be a three-parter beginning Monday, May 13, and ending Monday, May 27.

I bet you know what that means. For the rest of the month of May, I'm featuring a movie trilogy. For this week's edition, we're going to go back to where it all began.

But first of all, I want to ask all of you a question.

Have you ever considered traveling back in time to a different era? Seriously, have you?

Think about it. Wouldn't you like to travel back to the year 1969 so that you could experience the Woodstock music festival? I know I would have loved to have had the opportunity. I wouldn't have cared about the mud and the hot sun. The opportunity to hear great bands and feel the spirit of the festival...that would have been absolutely amazing.

Or, have you thought about going back in time to the Roaring Twenties, where you could dance along with the flappers and jazz artists?

Or maybe you would go back in time sixty five million years to the time in which dinosaurs ruled the land? I always wondered what a living, breathing dinosaur looked like, and I think it would have been cool to have come into close contact with one.

(Well...a plant-eating dinosaur, anyway.)

At the same time, take heed in this warning. If there ever comes a time in which technology allows one to warp the very fabric of time and space and we can actually go back into the past (which in our lifetimes at least is an impossibility), you have to be very, very careful. Even the slightest disturbance in the past can create irreversible happenings in the future. Even if you do something as innocent as killing an insect in the past, it could mean all the difference in the future.

That's definitely the lesson that one young teenager discovered way back in 1985.



The teenager's name was Marty McFly, life-long resident of Hill Valley, California...and his encounter with an eccentric scientist sends him back in time thirty years with Marty trying to find a way...



BACK TO THE FUTURE”!

(You like how I set that up, huh? Not really? Well, I thought it was clever.)



Bad introduction aside, today's topic is the wildly popular 1985 film “Back to the Future”. It was a film that cemented Michael J. Fox as a future Hollywood legend, it was a film that was so successful that Ronald Reagan referenced it in a presidential speech, and it was a film that spawned this #1 single by Huey Lewis and the News!



ARTIST: Huey Lewis and the News
SONG: The Power of Love
ALBUM: Back to the Future: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
DATE RELEASED: June 29, 1985
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 2 weeks

The movie was released just a few days after “The Power of Love” began climbing the pop charts, debuting in theatres on July 3, 1985. The film was one of 1985's biggest blockbusters (although to be fair, 1985 was an excellent year for film in my honest opinion). It made almost $400 million at the box office, and was the film that helped establish the credibility of director Robert Zemeckis.

The film also boasted a really talented cast, which in addition to Michael J. Fox included Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, and Claudia Wells.

But, what was interesting about the cast was that with the exception of Fox, most of the other cast members were NOT the first choices of the production staff...and even securing Fox as part of the cast was a challenge. But, I'll tell you more about that headache in the trivia portion of this blog entry.

For now, let's talk plot development.



Marty McFly (Fox) is your basic 17-year-old protagonist who lives in the community of Hill Valley. And, to say that Marty is frustrated with his family would be a complete understatement. In the first few minutes of the film, we are introduced to Marty's father George (Glover), a man who is completely pushed around by his supervisor Biff Tannen (Wilson), while Marty's mother Lorraine (Thompson) is wasting away in Margaritaville.

Seriously, Lorraine is a down-on-her-luck, physically unfit alcoholic.

Marty's two siblings are no prizes either. Linda (Wendie Jo Sperber) is unemployed and also undateable, as she has absolutely no idea how to attract the guys, while his slacker brother Dave is a slacker who pulls in shifts at Burger King in order to make a less-than-perfect living.

At least you can say that Marty is trying to make something of himself. He's gotten himself a nice girlfriend named Jennifer (Wells) and he's assembled a band to play at the high school dance. Unfortunately, his band is promptly rejected by the dance committee, but Jennifer keeps encouraging him to keep his dreams alive.

(Mainly because in 1985, Marty is really the only one in his family to HAVE dreams.)



After having dinner with his family (in which Lorraine tells the family how she met George after her father accidentally hit him with his car), Marty takes off to the local mall, where he happens meet Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown (Lloyd). Apparently it isn't the first time that the two have met, as it appears as though the two have crossed paths before. Anyway, Doc Brown is a rather eccentric inventor, and his latest project is a time machine that is made from a 1981 DeLorean.



(Confession: I always thought that DeLoreans were awesome cars.)

Anyway, Doc explains to Marty that the time machine was powered up via plutonium, and whenever the time machine reaches a speed of 88 miles per hour, the car will send whoever is inside to the date that is programmed into the computer. The problem is that before Doc could show Marty a demonstration on how to use the time machine, Libyan terrorists arrive at the mall to confront Doc, who apparently swiped his plutonium supply from them. The terrorists shoot at Doc, and Marty, fearful for his life drives off in the DeLorean as fast as he can, not realizing that the dial on the car is set to November 5, 1955.

Well, you can guess what happens next. The car surpasses 88 miles per hour, and within a matter of seconds, Marty finds himself warping back in time thirty years.

And, of course, Marty screws up his potential future right from the start. He finds HIMSELF as the person that Lorraine's father knocks down with his car, not George. And, it is Marty who is brought back to Lorraine's house to be nursed back to health. And, in a rather incestuous kind of twist, Lorraine ends up falling head over heels in love with Marty, not realizing that she will be giving birth to him just thirteen years later!



Of course, to Lorraine, Marty is known as Calvin Klein. It was written all over his underpants, after all.



But this poses a huge problem. Because Marty accidentally caused George and Lorraine to miss crossing paths, there's a possibility that Marty may cease to be born in the near future. In fact, the family photograph that Marty happens to be carrying with him at the time begins to fade into nothing. The positive side to all of this is that Marty does meet the 1955 Doc Brown, and he and Doc try to come up with a way to get Marty back home to 1985...but before he can do that, he has to find a way to get George and Lorraine back together again.

Now, as you've figured out already, the fact that two more Back to the Future films were made should tell you that the ending of the original film was more or less happy. Let's just say that if there were any irreversible changes that took place within the McFly household, the vast majority of them were positive ones.

And, now for the trivia portion of this blog.

01 – You'd think that a hugely successful movie like Back to the Future would have a decent video game adaptation. Unfortunately, the Back to the Future video game for the Nintendo was listed as one of the worst video games every made. I even said that it was horrible in a previous blog entry! Awful!

02 – According to the production staff, they reportedly wanted Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly from the very beginning. Unfortunately, Fox was heavily committed to “Family Ties” at the time, and because Meredith Baxter-Birney was pregnant, Fox was unable to make the commitment as creator Gary David Goldberg couldn't spare him. As a result, Eric Stoltz was initially cast in the role. However, after a few weeks, Zemeckis and Bob Gale (the screenplay author of the film) realized that Stoltz just wasn't right for the part. At that time, Meredith Baxter-Birney had come back from maternity leave, and Fox was then able to sign on to the movie. The rest as we say is history.

03 – Michael J. Fox did not sing one note in the film. His part was dubbed by Mark Campbell.

04 – Contrary to rumour, Michael J. Fox did not learn how to skateboard for the film. He already had the skills. That said, he did also have a stunt double for the really complex skateboarding scenes. That stunt double was Per Welinder.

05 – Because the same actors were used to play the 17-year-old and 47-year-old versions of George and Lorraine McFly, there were some rather interesting age differences. There's only ten days difference between Michael J. Fox and Lea Thompson, and Michael J. Fox was actually three years older than Crispin Glover!

06 – Crispin Glover and Claudia Wells did not return for the two sequels. Their parts were recast.

07 – The Twin Pines Mall is a real-life mall. It's actually the Puente Hills Mall in Whittier, California. It's more or less looking the same, minus the fact that JC Penney no longer exists there.

08 – The first draft of the screenplay for the film began in 1981.



09 – Believe it or not, a Canadian rock singer screen-tested for the role of Marty McFly. Corey Hart!

10 – C. Thomas Howell was also briefly considered for the role of Marty.

11 – Christopher Lloyd was not the first choice for the role of Doc Brown. Initially, John Lithgow was on the production team's radar for the role, but as Lithgow had a previous engagement at the time, he could not accept the part.

12 – The film marks the first film appearance of actor Billy Zane. He plays one of Biff's thugs in the 1955 scenes.

13 – Claudia Wells almost left the project due to scheduling conflicts. In fact, he role was almost recast with Melora Hardin. But Wells came back after Hardin was let go...for being taller than Michael J. Fox!

14 – Bob Gale came up with the story for the film after looking through his father's yearbooks and wondering what it would be like if he could befriend his teenaged father.

15 – Three DeLoreans were used in the making of the film.

16 – Lea Thompson spent three hours in the make-up chair each filming day she had to portray the 47-year-old version of Lorraine McFly.



17 – One of the judges at the audition that Marty and his band perform at is Huey Lewis, who performed two songs on the soundtrack.

18 – The Hill Valley clock tower set was almost destroyed in a fire in June 2008.

19 – The date of November 5, 1955 really did occur on a Saturday! Check it out for yourselves!

20 – Tim Robbins was considered for the role of Biff Tannen.

21 – The original script was rejected over 40 times!

22 – Back in the days in which Eric Stoltz was cast as Marty, he didn't exactly have a great working relationship with some of his castmates. In particular with Thomas F. Wilson, who played Biff. Apparently, Eric almost broke Thomas' collarbone in the scene in which Biff and Marty were to fight in the cafeteria. Thomas reportedly asked Eric to tone down the aggression, but he didn't really heed that advice. Eric was let go from the project shortly after that, though not because of that confrontation.

23 – Eric also insisted that the crew members and cast refer to him as Marty imn between takes.

24 – Apparently Crispin Glover had to redub some of his lines as nerves had caused him to come down with laryngitis in some key scenes.

25 – While Crispin Glover has claimed to only seen the film once, Christopher Lloyd has said that if he stumbles upon the film while channel surfing, he will sit down and watch the whole thing!

Coming up next Monday...Back to the Future, Part Deux!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mama, My Friend


First things first, I wanted to take the opportunity to wish every mother out there in the world a Happy Mother's Day!



I'm aware that depending on your country of birth, your Mother's Day festivities might occur a little bit earlier in the year, or a little bit later, but in Canada and the United States at least, the day falls on the second Monday in May.

(Or, anytime between May 8-14, if you want further clarification.)

Anyway, for today's blog, I decided to make the entire entry pink in commemoration of the big event. And, since Mother's Day always falls on a Sunday, I'm under extra pressure to come up with a suitable topic for the Sunday Jukebox.

Problem is, there's not a whole lot of songs out there that celebrate moms.

I thought about using the song “A Song for Mama” by Boyz II Men...until I remembered that I used the same song LAST Mother's Day. And, Tracy Bonham's “Mother Mother” just seems a tad bit...what's the word...inappropriate for the day.

That said, I did come up with a song to talk about today. And, well, it happens to be by the British girl group who irritatingly inserted the words “Girl Power” in every single conversation and interview they had.



The surprising thing for me is that this isn't the first time that I did an entry on the Spice Girls. I did a feature on them in December 2011 back in the days when I still did the “Across the Pond and Beyond” feature.

To say that I wasn't the biggest Spice Girls fan would be sort of an understatement. I didn't exactly despise them with the heat of a million suns though. I was just disinterested in them. That said, I will admit that there are a couple of songs of theirs that I don't mind that much, and for what it's worth, I think that once the band went their separate ways in the early 2000s, they were much stronger as their own individual units (I'm particularly looking at Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton and Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm as my two examples here).

Still, the Spice Girls were hugely popular between 1996 and 2000, having several hit singles in both their native UK as well as the USA and Canada. After a seven-year-long hiatus, the band reunited in 2007 for about a year for one more tour, and most recently performed together at the 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony in London.

And, for today's Sunday Jukebox feature, we're going to take a look at one of their many singles. Maybe this single wasn't as well known as “Wannabe”, “Spice Up Your Life”, or “2 Become 1”, but it's one of the best examples of a song honouring the spirit of Mother's Day that I can think of spur of the moment.



ARTIST: Spice Girls
SONG: Mama
ALBUM: Spice
DATE RELEASED: March 3, 1997
PEAK POSITION ON THE UK MUSIC CHARTS: #1

NOTE: “Mama” was, at least to my knowledge, never released in the United States. Though, I'm almost positive it was issued in Canada, as I remember seeing the music video on MuchMusic some fifteen years ago. Not sure how well it did here in Canada, though.



Whatever the case, this was a single that was released as the band's fourth single in March 1997 (funnily enough right around the time that the Spice Girls were beginning to invade American territory). Appropriately enough, the single's original release was timed with the United Kingdom's “Comic Relief” telethon, as well as the country's own version of Mother's Day, which is known as “Mothering Sunday” (which in case you're wondering falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent).

This song was also particularly special for the Spice Girls because it was their fourth consecutive single to reach the #1 position. This was a big deal because at the time, no other band had achieved that feat. And, this was despite the fact that the single at the time of its release received mixed, or mediocre reviews.

And, I can probably see why some people thought that about the single. It's one of those singles that is so cheesy that it could put a lactose-intolerant person in the hospital for a few hours! But, if you listen closely to the lyrics, you'll hear that they are quite deep and profound.

The song itself was written in a collaboration between the five members of the Spice Girls and their longtime songwriting partners Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe. According to an interview that Rowe gave around the time of the single's release, the song's concept was courtesy of Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown. The songwriting process consisted of Brown, Bunton, Chisholm, Victoria “Posh Spice” Addams-Beckham, and Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell going to different areas of the studio to jot down a little verse of the song, and then putting it all together with backing from a gospel choir for the song's chorus.

Interestingly enough, the songwriting for “Mama” came at a time in which Brown was going through a rough patch with her own mother. That being said, she also said that no matter how many battles you might get into with your mother throughout the years, she'll always be at your side and be there thick and thin.

And, well...I'd like to think that's true in a lot of ways. My own mother and I are for the most part quite close, but there are still some instances in which she can have me wanting to hop the next train out of town to get away from her nagging and complaining!

I mean, let's face it. We all have those moments.

That said, all of our mothers are getting older. And, sadly for some of us, the memories of our mothers are all that we have to hold on to. I know that there are times in which I get quite frustrated with my mother...and to be fair, there are probably times in which she has gotten equally frustrated with me! But, at the end of the day, we have always made up, and we have always kept that bond of love alive.



What makes the video for the single very cool are the five special guests who dropped by the Ealing, London studio where the clip was taped. Did you get a glimpse of the black and white snippits where there are women holding a picture of one of the Spice Girls? They happen to be the Spice Mamas!

No, seriously, all five mothers of the Spice Girls make an appearance in the music video. The photos that they hold correspond to the Spice Girl they gave birth to.

All five mothers also appear in the audience of the studio where the video was taped. You can easily point them out because they just happen to be the oldest people in the studio (the rest of the concert audience are made up of preteens and teenagers.)

That being said, the childhood montage which show all of the Spice Girls as real little girls playing together and performing? Sadly, those clips were not of the real Spice Girls. The Spice Girls did not know each other as children, as the group was formed in the mid-1990s. But, it was a nice added touch, even if the real story behind it wasn't exactly accurate.

Oh, and another interesting fact about “Mama” was that when it was released, it was released as a “Double A-Side”. The accompanying track, “Who Do You Think You Are” can be seen below.



And, despite the fact that the song didn't do so hot in Canada or the United States, the song was huge in the United Kingdom. I would actually think that part of the reason why “Mama” also sold well in the UK, but that's just a theory I had.

Anyway, in conclusion to this entry on “Mama”, I just wanted to once again wish all mothers in the world a very Happy Mother's Day. And, to my own mother...who in all likelihood will never read this entry as she is incredibly computer illiterate...I love you, and I hope that you enjoy your special day.

Thanks for reading everyone.  

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Celebrating Cartoon Moms


Today is the day before Mother's Day, and I thought that I would take the opportunity to prematurely wish everyone who is a mother a very happy Mother's Day.



And, because this weekend is all about celebrating mothers, grandmothers, and stepmothers all over the world, I thought that I would make today's blog entry mother themed as well.

Truth be told, in the world of cartoons and animated series, there have been dozens of cartoon moms introduced into our living rooms through the television set. Many of them are zany, crazy, kooky, and have voices that may appear as though they like to suck back the helium whenever nobody is around. But one thing that they all seem to have in common is the fact that they happen to be great moms.

Sure, each of them may have their very own distinct methods of parenting, and some of them might appear to know more about how to raise a child than others, but you know what? They did their best. And, as far as I could tell, their kids were all the better for it.

So, I thought that for this, the Saturday before Mother's Day, I would put some of these cartoon moms in the spotlight, talk a little bit about their personality traits, and how they were at raising children. Sometimes they slip up, and sometimes they might not have the right answer, but most of the time, they were heroes to their children.

So, let's start with one of the earliest animated moms of all time.



Wilma Flintstone was originally designed after the character of Alice Kramden from The Honeymooners (played by the delightful Audrey Meadows), and as a result, Wilma was portrayed as being strong-willed and level-headed, and is often chastising her husband Fred every time one of his schemes blows up in his face.

But when baby Pebbles is born, Wilma's personality softens somewhat, and she instantly becomes engrossed in her new role as stay-at-home mother. She also has help from her next door neighbour and best friend, Betty Rubble (who herself becomes a mother to Bamm-Bamm). Throughout the series, we see Wilma enjoying being a mom to Pebbles from infancy all the way to adulthood. And when Pebbles becomes a mother herself, Wilma embraces the fact that she has become a grandmother.

Really, Wilma Flintstone is the perfect example of a cartoon mom. She's passionate about making a happy home for her family, she is completely devoted to Pebbles, all the while maintaining her strong exterior and never back down attitude.



Next, we have the character of Mary Andrews. And many people might not know who Mary Andrews is. I can tell you that she happens to have red hair, bakes a lot, and these days balances a career with her homelife. But she wasn't always this way.

When her son, Archie Andrews came along, Mary doted on Archie...maybe sometimes a little too much. I mean, think about it, Mary Andrews always made sure that Archie was well-fed, she struggled (and more often than not lost) with Archie to make sure that he got to work on time, and in the early days of Archie comics, she was perfectly content with being the happy homemaker. It's only in recent years that Mary Andrews re-entered the work force as a part-time employee.

But here's the thing with Mary Andrews. Even though having a son like Archie Andrews can't be the easiest thing in the world, she really does love him. After all, he is her only child. And, Mary is also a great mom because she will usually be the first one to call Archie out on his bad behaviour (mostly treating Betty Cooper like yesterday's leftovers whenever Veronica Lodge batted her eyes). She's loving and caring, but at the same time not afraid to issue a dose of tough love every now and then. I think Archie was probably the better for it, anyway.



Since we're on the topic of Archie comics, I also want to single out Betty Cooper's relationship with her own mother, Alice (and, yes, Betty's mother's name really is Alice Cooper) for being one of the most touching mother-daughter relationships ever presented in comic history. There's one particular story that can be found in Betty's Diary #2 that showcases this bond brilliantly. It may seem like a typical mother-daughter day at the mall, but it evolves into something deeper.



Another brilliant example of a cartoon mother is the blue haired pork chop making lady known as Marge Simpson. And, to be completely honest with all of you, my own mother reminds me a lot of Marge (well, minus the blue hair of course...though my mom did rock the beehive hairstyle back in the day. No pictures though, she would kill me if I did post one!)

Seriously, Marge is one hundred per cent devoted to her family. And, you have to give her a lot of credit. Not only does she have to rear three young children, but if you take into account that her husband Homer has done some questionable things in his own life, it seems like Marge has four kids to keep an eye on!



But, she does it all. She makes sure that all of her kids have their lunches without pimentos. She microwaves their underwear on cold days so that they are comfortable. She even manages to find a way to cook an entire four course meal in just minutes! This is a woman who loves her family.

The only negative thing about Marge is that more often than not, her family doesn't seem to be appreciative of everything that she does for them. Marge literally bends over backwards to want to spend time with her family, and more often than not, they give her the shaft. I mean, granted, sometimes Marge goes a little bit overboard when it comes to protecting her family, but her intentions are always good.

And, whenever someone has the audacity to mess with her family, the claws come out! Bonus points for Marge in that regard.



Another woman who really deserves a medal for motherhood was Alice Mitchell, the mother of Dennis the Menace. It's a wonder that her hair didn't go prematurely gray with all of the antics that her son got into.



Thing is that Dennis the Menace was not a bad boy. He was really one of the sweetest kids in the whole world. He would do almost anything for anybody. The problem was that more often than not, his solutions ended up creating more problems...especially for next door neighbour George Wilson!

Regardless, Dennis was always the apple of his mother's eye, and although she did have to dole out some punishment for his worst behaviour, most of the time, she kind of overlooked it, believing that Dennis would eventually grow out of his mischievous phase.



You know, sometimes a woman doesn't necessarily have to be a mom in order to show motherly tendencies. Does anyone remember the television show, “Muppet Babies”? In that series, you saw the junior versions of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Animal playing together in a nursery. And, the head of the nursery was a woman named “Nanny”. 



Of course, Nanny's face was never seen. All we saw were great big green and white socked legs. But, that was all that we really needed to see because we could use our imaginations as to what we thought she looked like. I always saw her as a grandmother type figure, but for all I knew, she could have been a Muppet!

The fact that Barbara Billingsley (who played one of the first sitcom moms, June Cleaver on “Leave it to Beaver”) voiced her was an added touch.

Nanny was cool though. She popped in every now and again just to see how the toddler Muppets were doing, but she also took care of them by bringing them snacks, listening to them talk about things. She even went out of her way to repair Gonzo's stuffed chicken when it got torn accidentally. What a great lady!

Of course, sometimes there are instances in which the mother figure is not around. In most cases, we're lead to assume that they live in another town, or they are just simply never seen. It was a bold move to actually kill off a cartoon character for good, especially a mother figure.



But yet that was exactly what happened in the television series, Jem, when the mother of Jerrica and Kimber Benton was killed in a plane crash. Of course, those of you who were regular watchers of the show know that the likeness of Jerrica and Kimber's mother was programmed into the supercomputer known as Synergy (designed by their father Emmett). And, as many people know, Synergy was the machine behind the creation of Jem and the Holograms.

But Jerrica really wanted to do something special to honour her mother, especially since the last conversation they had was one filled with anger and hurt feelings. She tried to get the master tapes of a live performance that her mother did just before she died, but when Eric Raymond destroyed them, she thought everything was lost. But then the Holograms believed that Emmett had programmed the concert into Synergy's memory banks, and when the accessed Synergy's memory, they found the video of the concert, which they then released on a record.



I guess you could say that “Starlight” was the first example of a YouTube video! Not bad, considering that it predated YouTube by about fifteen years!

Those are just a few of the cartoon moms that I can recall off the top of my head. Now, I turn the discussion over to you.

Who are some of your favourite cartoon moms? Is it one that I already mentioned, or is it someone else? I'd love to hear from you!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Roseanne


This is the second of five entries that will feature sitcom mothers in the spotlight for the month of May, and looking back on the two years that I have written this blog, it boggles my mind that I have not done a single blog entry on today's show. It was a show that ran for almost a whole decade, and for years was ranked as one of ABC's highest rated sitcoms. And, the star of the show was a female comedienne who had quick wit, fantastic comic timing...and, a little bit of controversy on the side.

But, hey. Controversy sometimes adds an extra bit of flavour to otherwise bland television programs.

Not saying that this sitcom was by any means, bland. The show frequently pushed buttons, and got people talking. Many people said that the family that was featured in the show was the perfect representation of the average blue-collar family. As someone who grew up in a similar sort of background, I could definitely see some similarities between my family and the family featured in today's blog spotlight. Heck, even the birth order of the children on the show was the same as it was in my own family!

So, I hope you'll join me on a trip to the fictional community of Lanford, Illinois and drop by the Connor family residence. Just try not to be fearful of the lady of the Connor manor. She may appear to be boisterous, sarcastic, and a complete battle-axe, but trust me...she's a really great mom when she needs to be.



Today we're going to shine the spotlight on the television sitcom “Roseanne”, which starred Roseanne Barr Pentland Arnold Thomas. But, you can call her Roseanne, if you like. And, before she decided to go nuts, she starred in one of the most successful sitcoms of the 1990s. Seriously, when the show debuted on October 18, 1988, it didn't take long for the show to rocket to the top of the ratings, actually ranking at the top of the Neilsen ratings scale during 1989-1990. And, even though the show eked out a nine season run before concluding its run on May 20, 1997, the finale attracted a respectable sixteen million viewers.



So, the premise of Roseanne deals with the trials and tribulations of an American working class family, which at the time of its 1988 debut was quite daring. I mean, let's face it. When you go back in time 25 years, one thing that you might have seen in sitcoms back then was the fact that most sitcom families were at least living a middle class lifestyle. The parents all had good jobs, they lived in beautiful homes, the women were clad in size 4 outfits, and everyone was decked out in the finest 1980s fashions.



Not so with Roseanne. Roseanne was a heavy-set, trash-talking, flannel wearing kind of gal who lived in a house that wasn't very fancy, but looked surprisingly cozy.

Because Roseanne was set in a small town in which the vast majority of the residents had to work jobs in the manufacturing and retail fields, Roseanne and her husband Dan (John Goodman) worked whatever jobs they could to provide for their kids.

In the nine years that the show was on, Roseanne worked a variety of different jobs. She started off the show working for a plastics manufacturer, but when she walks off the job following a battle with a new foreman, she took on a variety of other odd jobs, including telemarketing, secretarial work, bartending, and sweeping hair from the floor of a salon. She also works as a waitress at a diner within a department store, and when that business folds, she teams up with her sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), her mother Bev (Estelle Parsons), and her friend Nancy Bartlett (Sandra Bernhard) to open up the Lanford Lunch Box.

Wow...from a line worker at a plastics company to owning her own business. Now that is a real role model for working class mothers all over the world, wouldn't you say? I guess it shows that with enough determination, anybody can open up their own business.

But hey, the fact that Roseanne was willing to go out into the workplace and try new things just showed us how awesome she was. Sure, she could have stayed home and did the household duties while Dan brought home the bacon, but as we saw on the show, sometimes this wasn't always feasible. After all, Dan seemingly had just as hard of a time keeping a job as well. Truth be told, I don't think that Roseanne would have been content being a stay-at-home mom.

In fact, the show was also unique in that Roseanne was always portrayed as a strong matriarchal figure. If anyone wore the pants in the Connor household, it sure as heck wasn't Dan most of the time! Roseanne ruled the roost, and that was exactly the way that she liked it.



Of course, Roseanne's children caused her many frustrations as well, which likely aided in sculpting her overly cynical personality. Son D.J. (Michael Fishman) was the youngest child of the Connor family for many years (prior to the birth of youngest Connor child Jerry Garcia towards the end of the series), and he often got busted for mischievous behaviour and playing tricks on his older sisters. Believe me, I could relate to D.J. Connor a lot. In fact, Michael Fishman and I were born the same year, so it was kind of like watching myself on screen sometimes!



Middle child Darlene (Sara Gilbert) could be considered a junior version of Roseanne). She was loud, she was crass, at times she got into screaming matches with her siblings, and she would rather be seen in football jerseys than sundresses. Darlene does have her good moments though. Contrary to what some might think, she actually acts as the voice of reason within the sometimes dysfunctional Connor family. She also has a keen interest in art, and her dream throughout the whole series is to get out of Lanford so she can make a career out of her art in a larger city.

And, eldest child Becky was the child that probably gave Roseanne and Dan the most ulcers. On the surface, she did seem to be the perfect child. She was intelligent, she was beautiful, and she had the whole world on her shoulders...until she met her boyfriend Mark (Glenn Quinn), left home and eloped in Minnesota.



Oh yeah, there was that annoying thing with Becky being played by two different actresses. For the first four seasons of the show, Becky was played by actress Lecy Goranson. Then beginning with season five, Canadian actress Sarah Chalke took over for the next three years. Lecy Goranson returned to the show for season eight, but on episodes in which she wasn't available, Sarah Chalke filled in. Finally by season nine, Lecy had left once more and Sarah Chalke filled in for the remainder of the series.

No wonder Becky caused headaches for Roseanne and Dan. You never knew which one would show up!

CONFESSION: While I liked both Becky's, I actually grew to like Sarah Chalke's portrayal slightly better than Lecy Goranson's. Maybe it's because Sarah brought a little bit more warmth to the character. I could be the only one who feels this way though.

But you know, I have to give Roseanne Connor a lot of credit. She did her very best to see that her children were fed, clothed, and had a warm place to sleep...even if they didn't necessarily show their gratitude all that much.

Like...take D.J. Connor for example. Roseanne sometimes had to tread very lightly around D.J., as he was somewhat sensitive. When Darlene told D.J. that he was an accident, Roseanne eased his worry by telling him that he was a “surprise” (which prompted Dan to admit bluntly that Darlene was a disaster!).

And there was one episode in which D.J. stole a car and Roseanne reacted by giving him a spanking, which opened up a huge discussion about how Roseanne's father used to discipline her and Jackie the same way. It also opened up a frank discussion about abuse in the household, and the way that Roseanne and D.J. talked it out was not only groundbreaking, but honest. I thought that it was an ingenious way to tackle the subject, and Roseanne's remorse over what happened showed exactly how much she loved her son.

Roseanne also had a rather difficult relationship with Becky as well. In many ways, Roseanne and Becky had kind of a love/hate relationship, especially in the days when Lecy Goranson played her. Becky and Roseanne were like oil and water, clashing every step of the way. And, when Becky began dating Mark, it only served to increase the tension between mother and daughter. Take a look at this instance in which Becky wants birth control.


But here's the thing. Roseanne was there for Becky in many ways. Roseanne tried to help Becky deal with the embarrassment of passing gas during a speech she was making at the school. It didn't exactly work out all that well, but at least she tried. When Becky elopes with Mark, it takes Roseanne some time to adjust to the news, but she eventually welcomes Mark into the family, no questions asked. And, Roseanne is very supportive of Becky when she begins to have second thoughts about the life she has chosen for herself. Sure, Becky and Roseanne's relationship may have been a bit rocky, but deep down inside, they love each other.

And, you can also say the same about Darlene. Part of the reason why Roseanne and Darlene butted heads so much was because they were too much alike. And, Darlene certainly caused Roseanne stress, from handing in a term paper that Becky actually wrote to arguing with her in almost every single episode of the earlier seasons.

However, Darlene's boyfriend David (Johnny Galecki) helped bring mother and daughter closer together, oddly enough. It all began when Darlene spent the day at David's house and witnessed his mother being abusive towards him. Darlene was genuinely concerned about David's welfare, and asked Roseanne if David could move in with them. Of course, Roseanne was completely against the idea, and refused to hear Darlene out.

That is until Roseanne saw how bad things were for herself...



Needless to say, David moved in with the Connors, became an honourary family member, and enjoyed an on-again, off-again romance with Darlene for the remainder of the series. And, I should note that Roseanne's kindness towards David seemed to rub off on Darlene, as their fights were less and less frequent.

Maybe David was the Prozac that kept the family together.

I'm not exactly saying that Roseanne Connor would ever win the “Mother of the Year” award, but given the circumstances, she tried her best. None of her children ended up dying, or getting severely punished by the law. They actually ended up somewhat normal! And, I credit that to the fact that Roseanne laid her feelings out on the line, and was open and honest about everything. She never sugarcoated anything. Instead, she offered up doses of tough love and sarcasm to teach morals and ethics...and for the most part, that bizarre formula worked splendidly.

But, of course, there were some lapses in judgment along the way. And to close off this entry, I thought I'd post one final clip of one of Roseanne's...um...less than finest moments.



Oh, and just to keep in the spirit of Mother's Day, click on this link to watch the episode where five classic sitcom moms pay Roseanne a visit!