The times keep on a'changin'. Or do they? Now that Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal, media insiders say that in no time, photos of young, lithe, topless gals of major brokerage houses, draped in pinstripe jackets, will appear daily on Page Three of the WSJ. These nude pictorials have worked so well over the years for the Fleet Street tabloids ... The cult movie cognescenti were among the nearly 100 fans who showed up at Amoeba on Haight Street on Bastille Day to meet the immortal Tura Satana, star of Russ Myer's classic Faster, Pussycat, Kill, Kill! "She has fans of all ages," gushed Brent Jones, Amoeba's kiosk guy. "Even little girls were dressed up like Tura in that signature low-cut black cat suit." Ah, to be a parent today. Ms. Satana, now a lively 69 years old, signed copies of her new DVD, and later had a spot of lunch with a few other cinema luminaries -- John Waters ... Mink Stole ... and Siouxzan Perry. ...
She transcended cult status. Only in America could you have a Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, who died last month.
Five years ago, at one of Robert Pritikin's legendary Labor Day bashes, I sat with Tammy Faye on the sofa and chatted. She was bubbly, of course, and dressed in black slacks, a black turtleneck, Chanel black suspenders, and a gold Chanel belt. Too bad Tura Satana wasn't there. Tammy Faye was very sweet, very self-effacing and quite funny. With her silent husband, Roe Messner, by her side, she talked to everybody -- even Karla La Vey, of the Church of Satan, though I don't think Tammy Faye knew who she was. But she talked a lot about redemption. She told Larry King, the Mortician of the Culture, just days before she died: "After everyone had abandoned me & Jim when the scandal happened, I had absolutely nothing -- but it was the gays who came to my rescue and helped me so generously." In Pritikin's backyard she sang gospel numbers with the 40-voice Jubilee on Fire choir from San Jose. Pritikin, who also wrote a book titled Christ Was an Adman, handed out wristwatches as party favors. The face of Jesus was on the face of each watch. In honor of Tammy Faye, Christ was depicted with false eyelashes. As for the millions she and Jim Bakker squandered, it reminds me of the line from the film, Laura, when Clifton Webb, as the Broadway columnist Waldo Lydecker, smirks to Gene Tierney, "It may be lavish, but it's home." ...
Netta Fedor would know that movie. In fact, she knows them all. Netta is the wife of Michael Fedor, owner of It's A Grind coffeehouse on Polk & Washington. Netta saw over 325 movies last year. Not on DVD, not on cable, but at the movies. She's been a film fanatic since she was a kid. Oh, yes, she has a job, and an important one. She raises money for something called That Men May See Inc., which raises money for the ophthalmology department at UCSF. If Netta's eyes get tired from all the movie-watching, she knows whom to consult. ... Writer/broadcaster Diane de Castro is back from a couple of weeks at Oxford for a few fresher courses on art, history and literature, and reports that a new movie version of Brideshead Revisited was being shot on site.
When she wasn't shopping in all corners of San Francisco, Andrea Marcovicci, the Queen of Cabaret, was rewriting her boffo Rodgers & Hart show that played the Plush Room last month before she takes it to New York. Andrea has to shave a half-hour off the show's length. The performance lasts ninety minutes but it really seems much shorter. Pat Kelley, the doyenne of the Marina, agreed. La Kelley said the anecdotes & the stories about Lorenz Hart, the tragic "Poet of Broadway" -- all researched and written by Andrea -- sets it apart as a cabaret show, succinctly-paced. "Well, all the same, it will have to be an hour when I take it to New York," Andrea explained over lunch at the Balboa. "The Algonquin is very strict about these things. It's a dinner show, and the waiters need time to turn the tables over." Now we know who really runs the world. That reminds me of the faster-than-a-speeding bullet waiters during the halcyon days of the Fairmont's Venetian Room, the premier dinner house of S.F. But all nostalgia has been banned from this column.
The Fairmont Hotel is celebrating its centennial right now, and one of the goodies on hand is a Monoply board game with Fairmont properties instead of the traditional landmarks. "It took us forever to get permission from Parker Bros. to do this," said Michelle Heston, of the Fairmont's Sonoma Mission Inn. But the games cannot be sold. They're for promotional use only. So insists Parker Bros., which has a monopoly on Monopoly. ... If famed S.F. writer Barnaby Conrad III appears larger-than-life these days, that's because he's editor-at-large of Forbes Life magazine, the mag that's delivered to one million millionaires. His boss is his old friend, Christopher Buckley. ...
Sara Jobin is also a class act. She made headlines three years ago when she became the first woman to conduct the mainstage subscription series at the S.F Opera. She's just back from a conducting gig at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia. On Oct 24 she'll conduct a performance of the world premiere opera by Philip Glass, Appomattox, at the S.F. Opera. What does this young, talented woman do for fun? She sings with the Glide Memorial Choir on Sundays. "Glide is different," says Sara. "I'm accessing my brain from another direction. It's a positive charge for my spirit. We get 'it' at Glide, and we also get 'it' at the Opera." ... Douglass Fitch, formerly a preacher at Glide, is speaking at Grace Cathedral Aug. 5. Pastor Fitch has made some big changes in his life. He recently retired from Glide, and is now preaching at a much smaller church, Hamilton Methodist on Waller Street -- and Pastor Fitch just got married. "She's a beautiful and very kind woman named Angel," says Allyson Stinchfield, a singer at Glide. Yes, Angel. I cannot make this stuff up. ...
Earl Darny is making his dreams come true by finally opening his own bakery, Lotta's, at 1720 Polk Street, at Clay. Earl's a first-rate patissier. A graduate of the California Culinary Academy, Star's restaurant, and Bay Wolf, he's also been a Russian Hill resident for over twenty years. Why call it Lotta's? "It's my drag name," explains Earl. Of course. Wy didn't I think of that? It's also an homage to Lotta Crabtree, the famous San Francisco actress of the 19th century. "Miss Lotta, the San Francisco Favorite," was a protege of the great Lola Montez. Miss Lotta, no cream puff, also knew how to invest her money. When she died in 1924, her property in The City was valued at four-million dollars. ... I admire both Miss Lotta and Earl Darney for their practical sense. I'm afraid I don't have it. I was just invited to the Wisdom Festival Conference at Ft. Mason, Sept, 15 & 16. I expect the invitation to be rescinded as soon as they get wise to me. ...
Bruce Bellingham's book is called "Bellingham by the Bay." He's concocting another memoir called "The Angina Dialogues," which should be completed in a heartbeat. Tell Bellingham what he ought to know at bruce@northsidesf.com
####
No comments:
Post a Comment