Friday, November 13, 2009

"Hollywood's message reconsidered"...

My latest commentary http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/13/hollywoods-message-reconsidered/ re: Hollywood's "incomplete message" on the war on terror, most recently reflected in "The Messenger," starring Woody Harrelson, premiering tonight (a limited release) followed by release nationwide next Friday, November 20. Yet, some small independent films such as The Divided, which premiered at the 2009 GI Film Festival ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH54Uz8S8Zo give a fuller picture, representing a hopeful trend.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Upcoming 70th anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" -- stay tuned...

Working on my next article... this one commemorating 70th anniversary of the release of The Wizard of Oz on September 29, 2009...

Meantime, here's the piece I wrote, titled "The Strings of Judy Garland's Heart," commemorating the 40th anniversary of this legendary star's death... http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mckendall/2009/06/22/the-strings-of-judy-garland%e2%80%99s-heart/print/

Amazingly, Judy died just a week before the 30th anniversary of the premiere of "Over the Rainbow." On June 29, 1939, she sang this classic song for the very first time in public, during the 60 minute NBC radio show "Good News of 1939" in the episode titled "Behind the Scenes at the Making of The Wizard of Oz." The host was Robert Young; his guests, in addition to Judy, included Ray Bolger, Harold Arlen ("Over the Rainbow" composer), Hanley Stafford, Bert Lahr, Meredith Willson and The NBC Orchestra, E.Y. Harburg ("Over the Rainbow" lyricist), Fred Stone, Frank Morgan, and Fanny Brice.