Joseph Planta's Commentary - thecommentary.ca

Sunday, 13 February 2005

The biggest show on earth

By Joseph Planta

VANCOUVER - A highlight every year is picking up Premiere magazine's Oscar issue where Steve Pond provides a blow-by-blow account of the previous year's Academy Awards told from his unique and extraordinary access backstage. Pond may be the only journalist to have such unusual access to the planning of the show, right through to Oscar night, when the business of show gathers for perhaps its biggest night. His pieces each year are wonderful insights into the logistics of the show, as well as dishy in the gossip he provides about the producers of the telecast and the celebrities who appear on it. In The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards, Pond's output for the past decade is culled together.

The Academy Awards are a culture unto themselves. No other award show garners as much scrutiny and attention than the Oscars; and second to the Super Bowl no other cultural institution is as widely viewed-whether one is a film viewer or not. What Jim Carrey once called the 'lord of all knickknacks,' the Oscar is a reflection of the cultural life of the year that was, as suggested by Gilbert Cates, one of the more prolific telecast producers in the last decade and a half.

Each chapter of the book is an extensive essay on the ins and outs of the politics surrounding the Oscars, the winners and losers, and the telecast itself. The last ten Academy Awards years are featured and the narrative is book ended by the tragic tale of Allan Carr. The flamboyant producer of Grease 2 had put together the pre-eminent post-Oscar party, the Academy's Governors Ball in 1978. He pined for the chance to produce the big show, the Oscar telecast, and got to do so ten years later. Pond provides a rather unflattering portrayal of the rotund Carr, who would saunter around his home office in colourful smoking jackets or robes. So large is Carr, Pond reports that thanks to the constant ferrying around associate producer Michael Seligman had to do of Carr in the run-up to the telecast, he had to replace the front passenger seat to his Mercedes SLC.

Carr's vision for the Oscar telecast, which had failed to find its footing after the Bob Hope and Johnny Carson eras of hosting, was a big time, old style showbiz Oscar show. After the run of shows hosted by Hope, Carson had done the hosting of the telecast for a handful of shows. After, there was no real successor, thus the telecast languished with multiple hosts or other contrived schemes. Carr didn't bring on a host in 1988 when he produced the telecast, and filled the show with a slew of stars of Hollywood's past, present, and yes future. The show opened with a much panned opening number that featured Merv Griffin singing "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," and an unknown named Eileen Bowman made up as Snow White singing "Proud Mary" with heartthrob of the moment, Rob Lowe. As for Hollywood's future, he featured a bunch of burgeoning talent in a 15-minute number called "I Wanna Be an Oscar Winner," which Pond calls regrettable considering the stars so featured. Besides those that suffered the tragic ignominy of being fameless, the skit starred Corey Feldman doing a Michael Jackson impersonation, Christian Slater sword fighting with Tyrone Power Jr., and other young talent like Holly Robinson, Blair Underwood, Joely Fisher, and Chad Lowe, who hasn't won an Oscar yet, but was featured in a telecast some years ago weeping as his wife, Hilary Swank won. (Perhaps a reprise of that could be had this year, as Swank is a strong contender for her turn in Million Dollar Baby.)

As for Carr, his production was considered a fiasco, though former President Reagan enjoyed it, as did Michael Ovitz, Hollywood's super agent. Generally, the show was panned, and in an extraordinary move, former Oscar winners like Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, and Billy Wilder wrote in to denounce the efforts of the flamboyant Carr, calling the show "an embarrassment." The actor, and former Academy president Gregory Peck went so far as to say that he was willing to return his two Oscars should the Carr episode be repeated. The Academy acted, and soon struck an investigative committee to look into how to redeem itself. Gilbert Cates was charged with the task of looking at what Carr did wrong, and as it turned out the theatre maven, and occasional film producer, was tapped to produce the telecast the next year. He said he would only produce the show once, but it turns out, he's done it now for 11 of the past 14 years, returning this year.

Backstage tales like this are of course masked by the glitter and glamour that we see each year on ABC. Gil Cates's format is one that's been used ever since the Carr fiasco, and the other producers who've done the show in Cates's off years. Pond's contention that it was Allan Carr who shaped the show as much as Cates is buyable. Chuck Workman, an Oscar winner who produces some of those short films we see on the telecast, says that some good did come from Carr's efforts. What's incredulous however is how he compares the Carr legacy to the killing of four students at Kent State.

The insight that Pond gives into the mechanics of the Oscar telecast is particularly appealing. Pond writes about the diva antics of some celebrities, and dishes about the demanding and pretentious, as well as feature some of the more low maintenance of stars. Steve Martin was perhaps the lowest maintenance of stars, while Madonna was considered one of the more rancorous. Not to mention, Whitney Huston, who failed to show on the 2000 telecast, after one producer realised just "how fucked up" she was. Some celebrities also make demands, such as presenting higher profile awards. Ben Stiller for example in 2001 wanted to present a better award than the short film trophies he had to present. Producers had to placate him by allowing him nearly carte blanche to punch up his rather inane dialogue. As well, the efforts of producers to line up surprises provide lessons in meticulous planning, covert secrecy, and sometimes out and out lying. Laura Ziskin, who produced the 2002 telecast, scored a huge coup in getting Woody Allen to appear. He presented a package of clips lauding New York City in the first Oscar show after September 11th. The planning of the congregation of past Oscar winners at the Academy's 70th annual presentation is worthy of a documentary itself. Actually, we learn that a documentary crew was to have filmed the past Oscar winners arriving at rehearsal prior to the show, and the requisite schmoozing they do, right up to their vaulted position on the four level riser that was wheeled out on the actual Oscar show, where upon seeing it, Alec Baldwin in the audience was seen to mouth, "Oh my God," in disbelief. Gil Cates and others vetoed the idea of a documentary, lest it take away from the grandness of the situation.

Another theme that is subliminal in the books theme is the decline that the Oscar telecasts have had in the last few years. Year after year, producers scramble to nab big stars or more hipper acts to perform. We can see that this year the producers are working towards that, with Chris Rock as host, hoping to catch that younger demographic, as well as the booking of Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Beyoncé to perform musical acts. (Josh Groban is also booked to perform, but I don't know if that's a discernable move to court a younger demographic.)

The Big Show by Steve Pond is an extremely readable book. The insight into what really is Hollywood's biggest night is terrific, as he gets to see things that few even in his line of work get to see. The gossip is delicious, and the anecdotes are both examples of why people hate Hollywood phonies, as well as why some just can't get enough of celebrity culture.

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The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards (ISBN: 0571211933) by Steve Pond is published by Faber and Faber, and is $36.50 CDN ($26.00 USD).

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Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and whether you celebrate it or not, a terrific evening is set to be had at the River Rock Casino in Richmond. Dal Richards will play sets 7.00 to 11.00 pm, with the 10 Cents a Dance Girls. Do check it out. Dal is great, and it sounds to be a great show. Call 604.247.8900 for details.

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Beginning next Saturday, 19 February 2005 at the Metro Theatre at 1370 S.W. Marine Drive is the comedy, Sylvia. It runs until the 19th of March. Tickets are $16 and $13, and they're available, as well as information, at 604.266.7191.

The Big Show High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards® by Steve Pond. (Faber and Faber, 2005)

Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Big Show

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