Holliday bitch 'n' moan

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Jennifer Holliday, 46, the original "Effie" in the Broadway production of Dreamgirls, is whining to L.A. Times writer Greg Braxton that she isn't getting enough coattail action off the forthcoming movie version, and that there's too little respect/acknowledgment from the filmmakers and publicists behind the Dreamamount film. Gee, that's tough.

There's a reason that Holliday, 200 pounds lighter than she was during the original play's run, sounds like only a slightly tamer version of the well-known handful she was 25 years ago. She's older and presumably wiser, but let's face it -- leopards don't change their spots.

"She has worked steadily over the years but has never come close to matching her glory days as Effie," writes Braxton. "Post-Dreamgirls,Holliday's professional career and personal life could produce enough material for several Broadway shows: A suicide attempt at 30. Bankruptcy. Two failed marriages. Bouts with clinical depression.

"She dropped out of the public eye for years, drawing a startled reaction when she showed up in 1997 -- 200 pounds lighter due to gastric bypass surgery -- on Ally McBeal in a recurring role as a choir director.

"Although Dreamgirls has not had a major stage production for more than 20 years, Holliday said she had been the only one keeping the torch burning, performing 'And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going' at the private parties, corporate dates and engagements at gay nightclubs that have been her key source of income.

"Why is it necessary for them to wipe out my existence in order for them to have their success?" Holliday says of the Dreamamount team. "It's scary that they can be so cruel. I know it's business, but why do they have to go to this extreme? I'm a human being. I need to work too. Why do I have to die to make them a winner?"

"Some speculate that the filmmakers fear that comparisons to Holliday may dull the glow surrounding the performance of Jennifer Hudson, the former American Idol contestant who plays Effie in the film. Hudson has been considered an early favorite for an Oscar nomination.

"Wrote New York Post columnist Liz Smith: 'Life is imitating art now. Jennifer Holliday, who was so incredible onstage in Dreamgirls as the original Effie, has incurred the wrath of Paramount for being uncooperative and not helpful in publicizing the movie. Word came down to omit any photo of her from the publicity for the movie version.'

Holliday "lives in Harlem and admits she is a bit of a recluse -- she doesn't go out much, doesn't have a cellphone, doesn't do e-mail," Braxton relates.

"She is a ferocious reader of newspapers and magazines, loves courtroom shows on TV and watching movies -- primarily musicals -- until the sun comes up ('"I am definitely not a morning person'). Holliday handles her own career -- no agent, no publicist, no manager."

These last two graphs say everything. Staying up all night watching movies, not getting up until noon or early afternoon, living on her own planet sans internet access and any sort of professional representation...forget it! She obviously wants to hide away, be excluded....lose.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 13, 2006 at 6:21 AM

comment #1

FNG says ...

I hope she makes a comeback. She is obviously more than just a recluse; she has so many apparent signs of depression.

Posted by FNG at December 13, 2006 7:32 AM

comment #2

corey3rd says ...

This is starting to remind me of the guy from Scorpio Rising and his beef with Kenneth Anger

Posted by corey3rd at December 13, 2006 7:43 AM

comment #3

le corbeau says ...

Hey, tell it to Ethel Merman, Zero Mostel, Richard Kiley, Mary Martin...

Posted by le corbeau at December 13, 2006 7:52 AM

comment #4

Alan Cerny says ...

I'm sorry Holliday had a rough life, but Jennifer Hudson took that song and made it hers, forever. It's Fred-Astaire-dancing-in-the-rain iconic.

Posted by Alan Cerny at December 13, 2006 7:53 AM

comment #5

dixiedugan says ...

Do you mean Gene Kelly there Alan?

Posted by dixiedugan at December 13, 2006 8:27 AM

comment #6

Alan Cerny says ...

FUCK. I'm still punchy from BNAT. Sorry about that.

Posted by Alan Cerny at December 13, 2006 8:29 AM

comment #7

RoyBatty says ...

I'm usually a "root for the underdog" kinda guy, but this story seems more about lashing out at Fate than any true sense of "she was wobbed." Had the movie been made 20 years ago and she was passed over for the role, she would have a case for us all to feel some sort of moral indignation at the person most identified with it losing out.

But it's a quarter centuary on and this is a FILM that has to stand on its own merits. The vast majority of those who will make this film a hit have not in all likelihood even seen the stage version.

Yes, it's a shame that the person most people in the future will think of when it comes to this role isn't the person who first put her mark on it. That's just life. Considering that the filmmakers kinda went out on limb by casting such a novice unknown, it was even kinda stupid for Paramount to want Holliday involved at all in the publicity. Had Jennifer Hudson been only adequate in the role, she would have suffered by the comparison.

Posted by RoyBatty at December 13, 2006 9:07 AM

comment #8

Mr. Peel says ...

Fred-Astaire-dancing-in-the-rain iconic is a fantastic line.

Posted by Mr. Peel at December 13, 2006 9:31 AM

comment #9

christian says ...

more importantly, peter boyle has passed on.

Posted by christian at December 13, 2006 9:34 AM

comment #10

Fred Mounts says ...

Depression is a beast to overcome, one that I've battled for 10 years now. The fake it till you make it plan works for some, not others. Of course, macho man Wells can overcome any obstacle life throws his way.

And yes, I'm one of those so-called losers that is just shy of 30, single, and hasn't become CEO of a corporation in order to support my wife and our 5 kids.

Posted by Fred Mounts at December 13, 2006 9:58 AM

comment #11

VedaPierce says ...

Jennifer Holliday and Diana Ross should throw their own Oscar party.

Posted by VedaPierce at December 13, 2006 10:03 AM

comment #12

Argen says ...

Like Buscemi said in ESCAPE FROM L.A., "This town loves a winner." Holliday is a loser. How dare she take the luster off of the winners making this film by whining about her life being in the toilet.

Posted by Argen at December 13, 2006 10:24 AM

comment #13

Webster says ...

What a heartless bunch you are. If there had never been a Jennifer Holliday, no one would give a shit about Dreamgirls 25 years later. Glad the film was made, but there was a real missed PR opportunity of one actor passing the torch to another here. I'm rooting for Hudson, but have nothing but compassion for Holliday.

And for what it's worth: My sister battled depression and lost. I know a thing or two about this subject.

Posted by Webster at December 13, 2006 10:32 AM

comment #14

AH says ...

I read the article and since then have been thinking about Ms. Holliday's beef is? Is it that she hasn't got enough publicity from the movie? I don't keep up with musicals and didn't even know who she was till, in reading about this movie in various articles, read nothing but good things about her performance. So she did get publicity from the movie?

Is her beef that she wasn't invited to the premiere? Weren't her other co-stars also invited and didn't they show up? It would be weird for Paramount to invite the other two cast members and not her.

So, what is her beef?

Posted by AH at December 13, 2006 10:32 AM

comment #15

Mike Schaefer says ...

"Jennifer Holliday and Diana Ross should throw their own Oscar party"

Veda, that's genius -- charge big bucks and donate it to charity. Every gay man within 100 miles would show up.

Posted by Mike Schaefer at December 13, 2006 10:50 AM

comment #16

dre says ...

Our Laremy Legal wrote an article on this today as well, dissecting the time article. http://ropeofsilicon.com/news.php?id=4876

Posted by dre at December 13, 2006 11:07 AM

comment #17

Craig Kennedy says ...

I'm with AH. I wouldn't have known who she was if it wasn't for the movie and just about every mention of Dreamgirls I read refers to Hudson in the context of Holliday's supposedly amazing performance.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at December 13, 2006 11:32 AM

comment #18

Thrudvangar says ...

I'm no fan of musicals and will probably never see this movie but my life is quite similar to Jennifer's. I don't know if that means anything. I just woke up.

Posted by Thrudvangar at December 13, 2006 11:35 AM

comment #19

jeffmcm says ...

One more, I never heard of her except for this movie - I was only vaguely familiar that there was a musical at all, before they announced it was going to be a movie.

Posted by jeffmcm at December 13, 2006 6:07 PM

comment #20