Day: October 7, 2012

Dr. No (’62) will always be my favorite 007 film, in part because Sean Connery has a leaner frame and a narrower face in this than in any 007 film, and because he’s not wearing a toupee. (The first rug appeared two years hence in Goldfinger.) Please notice the black windowbox bars, which create the 1.66 aspect ratio. 1.66 is the correct a.r. for this and From Russia With Love, as they were framed according to British standards. The series went 1.85 with Goldfinger.

About a half hour ago Deadline‘s Mike Fleming reported that veteran publicist Lois Smith, 85, died today at 2 pm in Hebron, Maine, where she had gone to honor her husband, Gene, who was being honored by his alma mater, Hebron University. She fell and hit her head and suffered a brain hemmorhage, Fleming reports. Hugs and condolences to friends, family, colleagues and former clients. I’m very sorry.

Lois was one of the co-founders of Pickwick p.r., which began in 1969 and later merged with Maslansky/Konigsberg to become PMK, which was the big high-powered agency in the ’80s and ’90s with all kinds of hotshot clients. The big PMK triumvirate was Smith, Pat Kingsley and Leslee Dart (who now runs 42West). It was always more pleasant to deal with Lois on stories than Kingsley, who was PMK’s bad cop to Lois’s good cop. But Smith really wasn’t a “cop” at all — she was too alpha-minded and compassionate for that. And she was always calm and collected whatever the story was, and she never barked at me or threatened and she always took time to talk to me as a human being and not as an enemy reporter.

Lois was always fair and honest with me. She sometimes told me stuff I didn’t want to hear, but she was a good person. I liked her. I’m sorry she’s gone.

Lois Smityh (r.), daughter Brooke Smith.

Incidentally: Joe Leydon has pointed out that in their story/obit, TheWrap initially ran a pic of actress Lois Smith (East of Eden, etc.) instead of the publicist. TheWrap currently has a correct photo running.

Today is a nice lazy Sunday with sunny skies. I recorded a podcast this morning, and I’m doing a little column-writing now. The usual weights-and-treadmill ordeal awaits, and then two movies — Summer Window, a 2011 German film with Barbara‘s Nina Hoss, at the American Cinematheque at 5:30 pm, and then Bernardo Bertolucci‘s The Sheltering Sky (’90), which I haven’t seen for a good 15 years, at Santa Monica’s Aero.

Meanwhile in other regions of the city, people are actually paying money to see Taken 2 with Liam “paycheck” Neeson, and The Paperboy, which opened limited. I don’t know what to say about this except that different people have different tastes and priorities. I know for a fact that I live in a more enlightened (or at least enlightenment-seeking) realm than those who are taking out their wallets and paying money to see Taken 2, which has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 20%, but what of it?

Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neil and I kicked it around this morning. Les Miserables and the mysterious “Snuggle 4.” The Zero Dark Thirty vs. Argo situation (i.e., similar covert-mission plots, Middle Eastern milieus, hoodwinking Islamic authorities). Feelings and conclusions about Spielberg and Tarantino. Here’s a stand-alone mp3 link. New Saul Bass-styled Oscar Poker art by Mark Frenden.

According to a 5.3.12 article by Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, the actual corporate-elite-vs.-working-schlub pay ratio in the US is 231 to 1, and not 475 to 1 as the below graph (which has been circulating for roughly a year now) alleges. So wealth distribution is actually a lot fairer and more equitable in this country than previously believed…hah!

What is the average low-information voter’s response to this data? Is it “Jesus, this country has gone all to hell…we ought to vote on behalf of our own economic interests and get rid of all corporate-fellating Congresspersons and try to make things a little fairer”? No — the typical low-information voter’s response is, “Jeez, I wish I could be one of those guys making all that big dough. Well, maybe if I vote for Romney my chances will improve.”

“From 1978-2011, CEO compensation grew more than 725 percent, substantially more than the stock market and remarkably more than the annual compensation of a typical private-sector worker, which grew a meager 5.7 percent,” Mishel reports.

A year ago Politifact‘s Truth-o-meter reported that the above graph was “done as a class project by three students — Adam Choate, Dana Rowzee and Jerrod Tinsley — in a graduate class back in 2005.” The 475 to 1 ratio is unsubstantiated, in short, but the 231 to 1 ratio is apparently reliable.