Costas Knows All, Sees All

Bob Costas on LeBatardShow three days ago: “Kamala Harris is not an ideal [presidential] candidate, and [she] may have to grow into the job if she wins it. But this is not a political question — it’a a moral question, and it would be [this] no matter who opposes Donald Trump.

“There is nothing wrong with being a Republican or a conservative. Nothing wrong with that. I read George Will on a regular basis, and Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal. I’m like Bill Maher. I’m a center-left guy, a classic liberal, who is troubled by the distortions of [woke] leftism, which is different than liberalism, and some of that is an anchor around Kamala Harris’s neck now. Because she can’t distance herself from the worst of it, even if she doesn’t fully embrace it. Over the years excessive [voices] on the left have handed Fox News their talking points on a silver platter. Or, in this case, the Trump candidacy points.

“So I can understand people having serious misgivings about Biden’s record, and about how the Dems kinda gaslit the public about Biden’s fitness, both as a candidate and [his ability to handle] a second term as president. There are some policies that can’t be defended. You cannot defend what has gone on for a long time at the [Mexican] border. You can certainly defend attempts to reform the police and the justice system, which has historically been tilted against African Americans and other people of color.

“[But] the Trump candidacy is about a man who is a liar, a lunatic and an ignoramus. So it’s a moral question such as we have never seen, not in my lifetime and maybe ever…a presidential candidate with so many of those who are rock-solid Republicans and conservatives, and who worked closely with him and whose credibilty and credentials cannot be questioned…all of these [veterans of the 2017 to 2021 Trump administration] saying the same word — unfit. He is unfit to hold any position of public trust, let alone the presidency.

“So there are millions of people who may have misgivings about aspects of Kamala Harris’s candidacy, but at the same time cannot stomach the idea that somebody whose entire being is antithetical to actual patriotism, to American principles, to common sense and common decency…that, to me, is the deciding factor.”

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HE to Domingo: Kim Never Did Nasty with Sammy

Late to this but bear with me: Colman Domingo will reportedly make his feature directorial debut with Scandalous, a late 1950s period drama about an alleged romance between Kim Novak (Picnic, Vertigo, Bell Book & Candle) and singer-dancer Sammy Davis Jr., and the brutal, bigoted intimidation (Harry Cohn, Johnny Roselli, Mickey Cohen) that the pair faced once their relationship made the gossip columns.

Sydney Sweeney and David Jonsson are “in talks” to play Novak and Davis.

Just one problem: In March ’21 Novak told THR‘s Scott Feinberg that she and Davis never actually got down. Davis had the hots for Novak and certainly pursued her, an effort that resulted in at least one special date when Novak attended a Thankgiving dinner at the home of Davis’s parents, followed by Davis paying an impromptu visit to Novak’s family home in Chicago a few weeks later.

But there was never an “affair” to speak of…no sliding salami action, no D.H. Lawrence-level passion, no heavy breathing, no splendor in the grass, no making out in the car…nothin’.

Why would Novak, now 91, lie to Feinberg? In 2021 the Davis boogaloo had happened 64 years earlier.

Novak told Feinberg, in fact, that Davis may have done a Bill Cosby on her (i.e., fucked her while she was unconscious) after Tony Curtis, a close Davis pal, slipped her a Mickey Finn.

Davis was pressured by Columbia honcho Harry Cohn, or more specifically by mobsters Johnny Roselli and Mickey Cohen at Cohn’s request. Wiki excerpt: “The one-eyed Davis was threatened with the loss of his other eye or a broken leg if he did not marry a black woman within two days. Davis sought the protection of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana, who said that he could protect him in Chicago and Las Vegas but not California.”

In 1960 Davis and actress May Britt (still with us at age 90) not only had an actual interacial affair but got married. Like Jim Brown, Sammy obviously had a thing for white women.

Britt’s and Davis’s late daughter Tracey Davis (’61 to ’20) alleged in a 2014 book that the marriage to Britt resulted in President Kennedy‘s staff refusing to allow Davis to perform at JFK’s 1961 inauguration. The snub was confirmed by director Sam Pollard, who revealed in a 2017 American Masters documentary that Davis’s invitation to perform at the inauguration was abruptly canceled on the night of JFK’s inaugural party.

Davis and Britt divorced in 1968 after Davis admitted to an affair with singer Lola Falana.

And then, of course, Davis hugged Richard Nixon on the Republican National Convention stage in 1972.

I chatted with Davis at a late-night party in 1983. No charm or smiles, dark mood, not a happy camper.

John Updike’s “Wabbit Won”

Posted on 2.9.15: “Doggone, you wabbit…waaaahhhh!”

Elmer Fudd was one of my first impressions. I wasn’t great at it but I wasn’t half bad. 

“I was just remembering that one of the first big laughs I got from classmates was when I recounted a chat with a 7th-grade substitute teacher, whose name was <strong>Mr. Hilse</strong>.  He was Swedish- or German-looking…slim, fair-haired, medium height. Kind of a dweeby type. Had a reedy, crackly voice and a very slight speech impediment — he had trouble with the letter “r.”

“Anyway the kids in Hilse’s class were all walking down the stairs one day and I, ever the exhibitionist, decided to hop down. Hilse: ‘Walk like a human being and not like a rabbit.’ Later that day I entertained my pallies by doing Hilse as Fudd: ‘…and not like a wabbit.’

“This was one of the most glorious moments that happened to me in seventh-grade, as I was pretty bad at paying attention or getting decent grades, and I was a complete failure with girls.  I had begun to find my voice. Diminish authority figures with derision, jokes…anything that made them seem small or petty.

Old-Fashioned Bass Weejuns

Did you know that classic, generic, old-fashioned black loafers — the kind that were sold everywhere for decades — have all but disappeared these days? 2024-styled loafers are sold online, sure, but they’re butt-ugly. It took me almost a full hour to find a seller that has old-time loafers. Either you get the classic coolness of these shoes or you don’t.

I Confess

29 years ago the word-of-mouth on Cutthroat Island was so bad that I never saw it. Never streamed it….nothing. The reason was director Renny Harlin — his handling of Cliffhanger had convinced me he was a flash-banger, and wasn’t very interested in internals. Even now I don’t want to see it.

“Anora” and “All We Imagine As Light” Aside, Gotham Award Noms Are Mostly Identity-Driven

And are therefore a joke to Joe and Jane Popcorn. Outside of elite, off-the-planet wokesters, nobody and I mean nobody cares about the Gotham Awards and especially their bullshit, trans-kowtowing, gender-neutral acting categories.

That said, all hail Anora‘s Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov, who have been nominated in lead and supporting, respectively.

Best Feature

Anora
Babygirl
Challengers
A Different Man
Nickel Boys

Best International Feature

All We Imagine As Light
Green Border
Hard Truths
Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell
Vermiglio

Best Documentary Feature

Dahomey
Intercepted
No Other Land
Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane
Union

Best Director

Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine As Light
Sean Baker, Anora
Guan Hu, Black Dog
Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw The TV Glow
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys

Best Screenplay

Between The Temples
Evil Does Not Exist
Femme
His Three Daughters
Janet Planet

Breakthrough Director

Shuchi Talati, Girls Will Be Girls
India Donaldson, Good One
Alessandra Lacorazza, In The Summers
Vera Drew, The People’s Joker
Mahdi Fleifel, To A Land Unknown

Outstanding Lead Performance

Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Saoirse Ronan, The Outrun
Justice Smith, I Saw The TV Glow

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw The TV Glow
Natasha Lyonne, His Three Daughters
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
Katy O’Brian, Love Lies Bleeding
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Adam Pearson, A Different Man
Brian Tyree Henry, The Fire Inside

Breakthrough Performer

Lily Collias, Good One
Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside
Maisy Stella, My Old Ass
Izaac Wang, Dìdi Y
Brandon Wilson, Nickel Boys