December 28, 2006 |
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"OLD SOLDIERS never die, just young ones," goes the Graffito now appearing again all over the world.
TO TAKE my mind off of that horrible thought on Christmas Eve morning I was invited to attend the Rev. Jack Madry's church in New London, Conn. I have always admired this charismatic African-American minister and his enthusiastic congregation, which includes numbers of whites, disillusioned perhaps with their own preachers. (Rev. Madry's group coexists in a friendly spiritual relationship with the more posh First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.)
Rev. Jack's church boasts a host of freelance jazz musicians and a great choir that galvanizes its congregation to stand, clap and dance in the aisles. That morning they performed an unusual rendition of "Silent Night" - it just beat anything I've ever heard. Then, Rev. Jack gave us a rousing sermon about "that one solitary life" - the life of Jesus - and he begged us to opt for joy, adventure, and even taking a new route to work to break our routines in the future. I was there as the guest of some Old Lyme friends, Diana Atwood and her husband, John Johnson. They have helped endow Rev. Jack's work and consider him to be an important part of the revitalization of the New London community.
Some years ago, meeting Rev. Jack who came to play piano at a party in Connecticut, I had given him a big doll of the great James Brown. It sang, performed and made all the moves. As I left the church on Christmas Eve, Rev. Jack put his arms around me and said, "I still have my James Brown doll. I refuse to take it out of its original wrap. It is so gorgeous!"
I got into my car. I then learned that James Brown, the hardest working man in show business, had died of congestive heart failure. This was synchronicity at its most stunning. And it was spiritual synchronicity. There will never be another like James Brown who was so vital, still intending to work on when he was taken from us. Now - it's a "Man's Man's Man's World" in heaven.
THE ORIGINAL "Law & Order" is beginning to show the effects of so many cast changes with not always up-to-par replacements. The loss of Jerry Orbach and the inevitable grind of almost 20 years on the air are taking a toll.
But give "L&O" credit - they are still staying current with stories "ripped from the headlines." The other night it was Britney Spears and what's-his-name that she's dumping who got the treatment. Oh, the blonde in the "L&O" episode was an actress not a pop singer, but we got the drift. The scriptwriters weren't subtle. One aspect of the plot involved the actress - given to partying and dropping her children - taking drugs while pregnant.
Then I pick up an issue of Star magazine and it's all about how Brit's ex is claiming - among other things - that she drank while expecting her last child. Maybe a failed rapper and hanger-on to a pop princess can land a job writing for "Law & Order"? Maybe he already has?
MARY-KATE OLSEN, one of the perilously skinny Olsen twins, had a role in the upcoming film "Factory Girl" that was as thin as her thigh. In fact the role was so small, Mary-Kate put her bony little foot down and refused to do any press junkets for the movie. Oops! As George Sanders said in "All About Eve" to Anne Baxter: "You're too short for that gesture."
Harvey Weinstein, whose company is producing "Factory Girl," just up and cut what there was of Mary-Kate right out of the movie. That's Mary-Kate's story, anyway. Don't mess with Harvey; you'll never come out ahead. (But maybe he was just messing with her tiny head, and she's still there, in all her wispy glory?)
"Factory Girl," which stars Sienna Miller as the tragic Andy Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick, will go into limited release in time for Oscar consideration. Sienna is said to be sensational. Sienna will do the press junkets.
Sienna does not wish to cross Mr. Weinstein and end up in a movie called "Factory."
BOOK BUZZ: Anna David's "Party Girl" coming out in June. The book tells the tale of a hardcore, hard-drinking, hard-drugging celebrity journalist who is hired to document her shallow sobriety-challenged daily life, just as she is trying to clean up her act. It very roman a clef and the fun will be in trying to figure out who is really whom. But in the end, we're advised, it's an inspirational story - a triumph over the red carpet, instant intimacy with celebs and an open bar . BARRICADE BOOKS is bringing out David Brown's "Brown's Guide to the Good Life Without Tears, Fears or Boredom" .. "Roosevelt and the Holocaust" by Robert Beir, and Geoffrey Mark's "Ethel Merman: The Biggest Star on Broadway." The eclectic Barricade is also celebrating the movie-rights deal to "I Escaped From Auschwitz" the harrowing true-life memoir by Rudolf Vrba, who passed away nine months ago - a real hero of a war that took millions of lives. But it was a war that had a point, as much as any war can have a point. When the spouses, parents and friends of soldiers who fell during the Second World War said, "They died protecting our country and the world," there was no doubting the reality behind that sentiment.
(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)
©2006 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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