Plot
An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the Minister of War goes public, threatening their lifestyles and their freedom. Based on the real Profumo scandal of 1963.
Keywords: 1950s, 1960s, bare-breasts, based-on-true-story, british, cigarette-smoking, class-differences, doctor, female-nudity, female-to-male-foot-in-crotch
The Story That Seduced The World Is Now The Most Controversial Film Of The Year.
It Would Be A Scandal To Miss It
In 1960 Christine Keeler met Mandy Rice-Davies. Three years later they brought down the British Government
John Profumo: I have nothing to hide.::Stephen Ward: Come off it John, we all have something to hide, what a boring life it would be if we didn't.
Stephen Ward: All Russians are spies, it's how they're brought up.
[Mandy is being cross-examined in court]::Mervyn Griffith-Jones: Are you aware that Lord Astor has denied impropriety in his relationship with you?::Mandy Rice-Davies: [smiles] Well, he would, wouldn't he?::[crowd in gallery roars with laughter]
Plot
High up in Actors' Heaven---where those actors who have taken their final curtain on earth still maintain a lively interest in theatrical activity---there is a bell which has been named Minnie. When a struggling young actor on Broadway has sufficient faith in himself---if he believes strongly enough in his ability and talent---then Minnie rings out clearly, signaling that the time is right for an angel to leave Actors' Heaven and go down to earth to help a worthy, but-as-yet-successful actor or actress. When versatile, young Karen James refuses to be discouraged by her rejection by producer Rodney Lloyd, Minnie rings out loudly and clearly. Phineas Aloysius Higby, who was a magician before he was called to Actor's Heaven, begs to be allowed to go earthward to help Karen and is finally assigned the job. Phineas rents a room in the theatrical boarding house run by Madam Della, an ex-prima donna who has never gotten over it. Karen also lives there, as well as David Randall, a young artist. David conceals his love for Karen because he believes she loves Paul Blake, an advertising writer who pretends, for Karen's sake, that he has playwriting ambitions. Phineas befriends Karen and David and accompanies them to another audition for Rodney Lloyd, who rejects Karen again but is entranced by Phineas' magic and tries to sign him up. Phineas consults Sir Henry Bushnell, head man of Actors' Heaven, and secures his permission to pretend to be a producer in order to encourage Karen. Phineas then promises to produce a show to be written by Paul (who can't write)and to star Karen and her friends, Tiny , Rosie, Susie , Kay , Barbara, and others, all theatrically ambitious, talented kids now working in a department store. David dreams up several production numbers, and even Madam Della's maid, Theresa, who also sings in a night club, and her accompanist and agent, Cliff , join in with a hot number of their own. But complications arise and, before long, Phineas has created many problems and soon has Minnie the Bell ringing constantly and boisterously.
Keywords: 1940s, actor, actress, advertising, angel, audition, b-movie, boarding-house, borough-name-in-title, broadway-manhattan-new-york-city
Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describe film or theatre stars who are adored to the point of adulation by their fans.
The term almost exclusively refers to male actors. Invariably the adulation was fixated on the actor's looks rather than performance. It differs from "sex symbol" (and is also faintly derogatory) in that it suggests the star's popularity came from the afternoon Matinée performances rather than the "big picture" evenings and, hence, a less discriminating audience.
Now a somewhat old-fashioned term, the phenomenon reached its height during the period from the 1930s to around the 1960s, a period extending from the beginning of the "talkies" to the development of pop culture. As a concept it was supplanted by the more music-led term, "teen idol".[citation needed]
The Matinee Idol is also the title of a 1928 Frank Capra film, a 1933 UK film and a Rufus Wainwright song, which is supposed to have been written about River Phoenix, as well as countless articles and biographies concerning film and theatre actors.
River Jude Phoenix (August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American film actor, musician, and activist. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix. Phoenix's work encompassed 24 films and television appearances, including the science fiction adventure film Explorers, the coming-of-age film Stand By Me, the action sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the independent adult drama My Own Private Idaho.
Phoenix began acting at age 10 in television commercials. He appeared in diverse roles, making his first notable appearance in the 1986 film Stand by Me, a hugely popular coming-of-age film based on a novella by Stephen King. Phoenix made a transition into more adult-oriented roles with Running on Empty (1988), playing the son of fugitive parents in a well-received performance that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination, and My Own Private Idaho (1991), playing a gay hustler in search of his estranged mother. For his performance in the latter, Phoenix garnered enormous praise and won a Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, along with Best Actor from the National Society of Film Critics. He was listed by John Willis as one of twelve promising new actors of 1986.
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter and composer. He has recorded seven albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written a classical opera and set Shakespeare sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson.
Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III. His parents divorced when he was three, and he lived with his mother in Montreal for most of his youth. Wainwright has dual US and Canadian citizenship. He attended high school at the Millbrook School in New York (which would later inspire his song "Millbrook"), and later briefly studied piano at McGill in Montreal. He began playing the piano at age six, and started touring at 13 with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family", a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna. His song "I'm a-Runnin'", which he performed in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller at the age of 14, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award for Best Original Song. He was nominated for a 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year.
Robben Ford (born December 16, 1951) is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison and KISS. He was named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine.
Ford was born in Woodlake, California and raised in Ukiah, California. He began playing the saxophone at age 10 and the guitar at age 14. Ford and his brothers Mark (harmonica) and Patrick (drums) created a band and named it the Charles Ford Blues Band in honor of their father.
Ford has received four Grammy Award nominations and was named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine.
At age 18 Ford and the Charles Ford Blues Band were hired as a backup band for Charlie Musselwhite. The band also recorded two albums The Charles Ford Band and Discovering the Blues. Ford recorded two albums with the Witherspoon's called Live and Spoonful'. The Ford Blues Band reunites periodically, and released live albums in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1970s, Ford branched out into jazz fusion, and joined the band, L.A. Express , led by saxophonist Tom Scott in 1974. That same year the band supported George Harrison on his American tour and Joni Mitchell's on albums, Court and Spark, Hissing of Summer Lawns and Miles of Aisles.
This is the day
The day of the death
The death of the matinee idol
Still so beautiful as the angels
As the angels came down from high
So sweet and so soft
So charmingly daft
So young was the matinee idol
Lips of crimson, slightly open
As the flash and all fame put to rest
Walk along that wall
No it is not from the academy
Walk along that wall
From this moment on
You'll cease to be the undying love of the public eye
And so goes one more away from the maze
Away for to sit at the table above babel
Far from this world
While standing on the boulevard
Walk along that wall
No it is not from the academy
Walk along that wall
From this moment on
You'll cease to be
But still
Whomever has looked at beauty is marked out already by death
Still so beautiful as the angels