Tribute: Miep Gies

Posted on January 12, 2010 at 10:39 am

Miep Gies was a brave woman who tried to hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis. After they were discovered, it was she who found Anne Frank’s diary and kept it, hoping to give it back to her one day. Anne died in a concentration camp, but Gies gave the diary to her father. It is now one of the most widely read books in the world: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Gies appears in Anne Frank Remembered and is portrayed by Pat Carroll in the best scene in Freedom Writers.

Here, in a Dutch interview (no translation, sorry), Gies shows the bookcase that hid the secret annex.

Her memory will continue to be an inspiration and a blessing.

Related Tags:

Tribute

Tribute: Brittany Murphy

Posted on December 20, 2009 at 6:25 pm

The news about actress Brittany Murphy is shocking and very sad. She died today at age 32.
Murphy made her first real impression as the suggestible Tai who got a makeover from Cher (Alicia Sliverstone) in “Clueless.” She had an engaging openness and, when she sang along to a Mentos commercial, a surprisingly supple singing voice. She had better luck with small roles in movies carried by others (“Sin City,” “Girl, Interrupted”) than in films where she had the leading role (“Uptown Girls” and “Little Black Book”). But even in her lesser films like “Don’t Say a Word” she always showed commitment and a certain fearlessness in her portrayals. I know the movie is too dark for younger children, but I am fond of “Happy Feet” and enjoyed her voice as the penguin, Gloria, especially when she performed the Queen song, “Somebody to Love” and Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland.” That’s how I am thinking of her now.

Related Tags:

Actors Tribute

Tribute: Soupy Sales

Posted on October 23, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Kids’ television pioneer Soupy Sales died this week at age 83. Back before there were whole channels devoted to children’s programming, and back way before children’s television was certified wholesome and educational, Soupy Sales was just plain deliriously silly, pie-in-the-face fun with some first-class jazz accompaniment, and the children of the 1960’s loved his anarchy and the way he left a lot to the imagination (we only saw the paws of some of the characters). He said he had been hit with more than 25,000 pies. And it was funny every time.

Related Tags:

Television Tribute

Tribute: Patrick Swayze

Posted on September 14, 2009 at 10:43 pm

Patrick Swayze died today as he lived and performed, with class and grace.

Swayze’s association with iconic appearances in Dirty Dancing, Road House, Point Break, and Ghost
are so towering that we forget sometimes what range and skill he showed as an elegant drag queen in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, as a motivational speaker with a dark side in Donnie Darko, and as an eager finalist for a job as a Chippendale’s dancer on “Saturday Night Live.” No one could say that line about putting Baby in the corner and make us believe it like Swayze. He was a superb performer and a class act. He handled his illness with dignity and courage. I wish there was a psychic like the one Whoopi Goldberg played in “Ghost” who could bring him back for just one more dance.

Related Tags:

Actors Tribute

Tribute: Larry Gelbart

Posted on September 12, 2009 at 6:50 pm

Larry Gelbart, one of the most acclaimed and prodigiously productive writers of almost seven decades died this week at age 81. If you’ve laughed since the 1940’s, you almost certainly know his work. He got started as a teenager writing for Danny Thomas’ radio show and went on to work with Neil Simon, Woody Allen, and Mel Brooks on the legendary writing staff of the Sid Caesar show. He went on to co-create the television version of “M*A*S*H,” to co-write the script for “Tootsie,” and to write the Broadway hits “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (made into a movie with Zero Mostel) and “City of Angels” (now being adapted into a film).

And as this lovely tribute by Bob Elisberg notes, he was also a man of great principle and kindness.

There may have been more renowned writers in a single medium, but his versatility was breathtaking, and so he may have been the most successful and best writer ever in America who wrote in all three major media — the theater, movies and television.

Be sure to read Elisberg’s piece, especially the quote at the end from Gelbart about being a writer.

Here is Gelbart, talking about how television has changed society and how he’d like to be remembered.

Here is my favorite scene from “Tootsie” (second on the American Film Institute’s list of the hundred funniest American films of all time).

And here is the trailer for the hilarious “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

NPR’s Scott Simon also has a fine essay about Gelbart, describing him as “a great wit, who wrote with great heart.” It’s good to know that we still have another movie from him to look forward to.

Related Tags:

Tribute Writers