MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

[nakanosunplaza]

Does anyone know when or why Ellen Burstyn changed her name? She hadn't hit it big when I first saw this so I didn't know who she was (or would be) at the time.

She married Neil Burstyn in 1964,divorced 10 years later,he was mentally ill...Her original name was not McRae something like Gollolly whatever,,,,

[kingrat]

Does anyone know when or why Ellen Burstyn changed her name? She hadn't hit it big when I first saw this so I didn't know who she was (or would be) at the time.

According to Wiki:

--1932: born Edna Rae Gillooly [now you know why she changed her name!]
--flunks out of high school her senior year; works as a dancer and model under the name Kerri Flynn
--1955-1956: as an "Away We Go!" dancer on the Jackie Gleason Show, she uses the name Erica Dean
--After that, she decides to become an actress and chooses the name Ellen McRae
--1964: she marries her third husband, Neil Burstyn, and decides to use his last name

I would guess that she kept reinventing herself and didn't want a trail back to a comparative lack of success. She kept at a career long after many would given it up, and her career took off at an age when other women might have had more difficulty finding roles.

[txfilmfan]

Does anyone know when or why Ellen Burstyn changed her name? She hadn't hit it big when I first saw this so I didn't know who she was (or would be) at the time.

According to Wiki:

--1932: born Edna Rae Gillooly [now you know why she changed her name!]
--flunks out of high school her senior year; works as a dancer and model under the name Kerri Flynn
--1955-1956: as an "Away We Go!" dancer on the Jackie Gleason Show, she uses the name Erica Dean
--After that, she decides to become an actress and chooses the name Ellen McRae
--1964: she marries her third husband, Neil Burstyn, and decides to use his last name

I would guess that she kept reinventing herself and didn't want a trail back to a comparative lack of success. She kept at a career long after many would given it up, and her career took off at an age when other women might have had more difficulty finding roles.

Whew! I'd have to write that down to keep it all straight. What am I going to call myself today???

[Andree]

I give GC an MA rating--mildly amusing, and even that's a bit of a stretch.
I believe the Mankman called it a zany comedy. I'll give him the zany part.
I'm neutral on Debbie Reynolds, but she did do a good impression of a
Marilyn lookalike. It just wasn't very funny, which is especially bad in a flick
that is almost two hours long. And just as one thinks things can't get much
duller enter Pat Boone, then again and again, as a rich momma's boy. How
original. As expected 1964 gender bending is pretty sedate. One good thing,
Balzac is still on a roll, if only as a phone number.

[Bronxgirl48]

No one enjoyed Walter Matthau as Sartori?

I'm crushed, lol. But seriously, I guess I'm still the only one around there who really likes GOODBYE CHARLIE. Oh, well!

At least there were no p.c. lectures at the intro or outro! That's always a good thing!

[Bronxgirl48]

Check out Debbie this evening in WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? She is terrific as the brittle, self-absorbed, ambitious Adele. A very charismatic performance and I think one of her best!

Not so crazy about THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN. Reynolds can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned but I've never cared for the movie -- no memorable songs or production numbers -- everything is frankly a galumping (is that a word?) bore, lol.

HOW SWEET IT IS. Avoid...at...all...costs.

THE RAT RACE. I don't know which is more overheated -- the brassy, life-is-tough SOME CAME RUNNING-ish score or Don Rickles as "Nelly", dance hall owner and pimp. Tony Curtis is supposed to be from Milwaukee, the same way Sinatra is from Indiana in THE TENDER TRAP; both do not even try disguising their New York/Jersey accents. In a vain attempt to convince us he's a Midwesterner, Tony tries to be soft-spoken and polite but it really doesn't work. Debbie at least is a tad more believable as the more cynical of this pair. Thank goodness for good old Jack Oakie -- best thing in the film.

[Swithin]

Check out Debbie this evening in WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? She is terrific as the brittle, self-absorbed, ambitious Adele. A very charismatic performance and I think one of her best!

Not so crazy about THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN. Reynolds can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned but I've never cared for the movie -- no memorable songs or production numbers -- everything is frankly a galumping (is that a word?) bore, lol.

HOW SWEET IT IS. Avoid...at...all...costs.

THE RAT RACE. I don't know which is more overheated -- the brassy, life-is-tough SOME CAME RUNNING-ish score or Don Rickles as "Nelly", dance hall owner and pimp. Tony Curtis is supposed to be from Milwaukee, the same way Sinatra is from Indiana in THE TENDER TRAP; both do not even try disguising their New York/Jersey accents. In a vain attempt to convince us he's a Midwesterner, Tony tries to be soft-spoken and polite but it really doesn't work. Debbie at least is a tad more believable as the more cynical of this pair. Thank goodness for good old Jack Oakie -- best thing in the film.

Bronxie, when I was about ten-years-old, I went to see The Rat Race at the Burnside Theater on Burnside Avenue, between the Concourse and Jerome. I was never so bored in my life. The Rat Race is not a film for ten-year-olds! (I haven't seen it since.)

[Bronxgirl48]

I remember the Burnside Theatre, Swithin!

THE RAT RACE isn't for anyone, lol.

[Bronxgirl48]

I wanted to stay awake for THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY (apart from Debbie, an odd cast -- Lili Palmer, Fred Astaire, Gary Merrill, Charlie Ruggles...) but nodded off about thirty minutes in.

TAMMY AND THE BACHELOR -- the Tammy song always makes me cry, it's so wistful (like Moon River). I used to warble it as a young'un. Debbie is wonderful! (as always)

[txfilmfan]

No one enjoyed Walter Matthau as Sartori?

I'm crushed, lol. But seriously, I guess I'm still the only one around there who really likes GOODBYE CHARLIE. Oh, well!

At least there were no p.c. lectures at the intro or outro! That's always a good thing!

Call it your guilty pleasure. Mine is Divorce American Style. It's a bit silly - their grounds for divorce seem to be that they have grown to irritate each other purposefully, apparently, and the scheme to marry people off to relieve husbands of alimony responsibilities is straight out of sitcom-land, but the scenes with all the divorced parents losing track of the various stepkids is kind of funny, and I like the hip hypnotist, Pat Collins, at the end. Reminds me of my youth watching her on TV...

There's also a small role by Shelley Morrison, who would become more famous some 30 years later as Karen's smart-tongued housekeeper/confidante Rosario on Will & Grace. (She was had a recurring role as a nun on The Flying Nun, too, BTW)

[Bronxgirl48]

Yeah, I guess GC would qualify as a guilty pleasure for me....even if I don't really think of it as such....(that would be something like BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA -- yes, it's a real movie)

I've got DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE on, mainly because I'm waiting for WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? which follows -- it's one of my favorite Reynolds' roles and performances.

Paul Douglas is the heart and soul of THE MATING GAME. Everyone else feels incidental to his wonderful performance, even at times Debbie and Tony Randall. Hard to believe, but true!

[Dargo]

I wanted to stay awake for THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY (apart from Debbie, an odd cast -- Lili Palmer, Fred Astaire, Gary Merrill, Charlie Ruggles...) but nodded off about thirty minutes in.

Yep Bronxie, I could see why this movie might induce drowsiness and after my first watch of it last night.

In my case, I just couldn't get the idea that a young woman whose father had abandoned her as a child would welcome him with open arms when he finally turned to her, and that she instead wouldn't have greatly resented him. It WAS very nicely produced though I must admit, and felt Astaire, Reynolds, Charlie Ruggles and even Tab Hunter were pretty good in it. I thought Lili Palmer mugged a bit too much in it, however.

I felt the beautiful shots of and scenes set in early-'60s San Francisco were a major plus in it as well, and might have been the best thing about it.

(...and in fact had me thinking the next time "San Francisco" is someone's "next" in the "First Movie To Come To Mind" game here at SSO, I think this movie might now replace 'Vertigo' and/or 'Bullitt' as my first thought in this little game we have around here)

[Bronxgirl48]

Oh yeah, I forgot about Tab Hunter....interesting casting all around.

As for San Francico, unfortunately by the time I got there in the early 1970's, it was hippie-scruffy, no elegance at all. That's why I feel sad when watching VERTIGO, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER or PAL JOEY. Heck, even 1968's YOURS, MINE AND OURS showed a city still "old-school".

[Dargo]

Yeah, I guess GC would qualify as a guilty pleasure for me....even if I don't really think of it as such....(that would be something like BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA -- yes, it's a real movie)

Well, OF COURSE it is, "a real movie" that is, Bronxie! I mean, who could ever forget the comedy team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, I ask?!

(...and as much as Jerry Lewis, ESPECIALLY, hoped people would, and evidently did his best to make that happen)

I've got DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE on, mainly because I'm waiting for WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? which follows -- it's one of my favorite Reynolds' roles and performances.

I've always liked this movie quite a lot as well Bronxie, as it reminds me of the Los Angeles of my youth. And no, and don't mean bickering parents here, but just the city and its environs at that time.

However, every time I've watched it, I'm always reminded of the concept of Monetary Inflation, and, especially during the parts in it when Dick Van Dyke throws the idea in Debbie's face that their big upper-middle class home cost them a "staggering" $49,000, AND also during that scene were Dick asks Martin Gabel (the marriage counselor/shrink) is that all he's gonna get for his 20 bucks?

[Bronxgirl48]

Everyone, WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? is coming up next! Do not miss! (I know, I said this about GOODBYE CHARLIE....) But I think everyone will love HELEN -- as it is in the great hagsploitation tradition of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, HUSH,HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE, etc. Of course there is nothing hag-ridden about Debbie Reynolds here; however, Shelley Winters as the title character is another story, lol.