Chicago – John C. McGinley will probably always be known for the classic TV character Dr. Perry Cox on the long-running “Scrubs.” But through his character actor career, he has taken on a variety of roles, including the portrayal of Red Barber, the play-by-play man for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the recent film “42.”
McGinley plays an integral part in that Jackie Robinson story, as Red Barber was the man announcing the history as it happened in 1947, the year that Robinson broke the color line in baseball. McGinley took meticulous care in recreating “The Ol’ Redhead” (as Barber was nicknamed), inflecting the character with a perfect imitation of the announcer’s unique style, which was both nostalgic and in the present context of the Robinson story.
Calling History: John C. McGinley as Red Barber in ’42’
Photo credit: Warner Bros.
John C. McGinley has proved time and again that he is much more than Dr.
McGinley plays an integral part in that Jackie Robinson story, as Red Barber was the man announcing the history as it happened in 1947, the year that Robinson broke the color line in baseball. McGinley took meticulous care in recreating “The Ol’ Redhead” (as Barber was nicknamed), inflecting the character with a perfect imitation of the announcer’s unique style, which was both nostalgic and in the present context of the Robinson story.
Calling History: John C. McGinley as Red Barber in ’42’
Photo credit: Warner Bros.
John C. McGinley has proved time and again that he is much more than Dr.
- 4/30/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – One of the strangest problems in the United States, the richest country in the world, is “food insecurity.” Millions of Americans, lost in economic or working poverty, can’t keep pace with their food needs. The new documentary “A Place at the Table” dissects this social problem, and is co-directed by Kristi Jacobson.
Using telling statistics and personal stories, Jacobson – with her co-director Lori Silverbush – sheds light on a problem that seems to be expanding rather than in control. Several problems associated with food insecurity – including obesity, inadequate school lunch programs and general nutrition – are increasing in an America that subsidizes corporation farming, but slashes aid to the poor.
Actor and Activist Jeff Bridges in ‘A Place at the Table’
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures
Kristi Jacobson is a veteran producer, and also directed a notable documentary in 2006 on her grandfather, the legendary New York City tavern owner Toots Shor...
Using telling statistics and personal stories, Jacobson – with her co-director Lori Silverbush – sheds light on a problem that seems to be expanding rather than in control. Several problems associated with food insecurity – including obesity, inadequate school lunch programs and general nutrition – are increasing in an America that subsidizes corporation farming, but slashes aid to the poor.
Actor and Activist Jeff Bridges in ‘A Place at the Table’
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures
Kristi Jacobson is a veteran producer, and also directed a notable documentary in 2006 on her grandfather, the legendary New York City tavern owner Toots Shor...
- 2/25/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
New York -- "Mad Men" fans, it's time for a cocktail.
The return of the AMC show March 25 after a hiatus of a year and a half is cause for celebration, and there's no better place to raise your glass than in Manhattan at one of Don Draper's favorite haunts.
While many of the places name-dropped in "Mad Men" no longer exist – Lutece, the Stork Club, Toots Shor's – there are plenty that do, among them P.J. Clarke's, the Roosevelt Hotel and Sardi's. Some Manhattan bars, clubs and hotels are even offering packages, drinks or viewing parties to mark the show's return.
Of course, the series is filmed in California, so what you see on TV are well-researched sets, not real Manhattan bars. But "Mad Men" fans will not be disappointed by reality: Many of the establishments that turn up on the show retain a classy, retro vibe in real life,...
The return of the AMC show March 25 after a hiatus of a year and a half is cause for celebration, and there's no better place to raise your glass than in Manhattan at one of Don Draper's favorite haunts.
While many of the places name-dropped in "Mad Men" no longer exist – Lutece, the Stork Club, Toots Shor's – there are plenty that do, among them P.J. Clarke's, the Roosevelt Hotel and Sardi's. Some Manhattan bars, clubs and hotels are even offering packages, drinks or viewing parties to mark the show's return.
Of course, the series is filmed in California, so what you see on TV are well-researched sets, not real Manhattan bars. But "Mad Men" fans will not be disappointed by reality: Many of the establishments that turn up on the show retain a classy, retro vibe in real life,...
- 3/9/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
One of the most cinematic cities in the world has been showcased in literally hundreds of movies. We gave Guardian film editor Andrew Pulver the unenviable task of choosing just 10 great films set in the city
As featured in our New York city guide
Manhattan, Woody Allen, 1979
"He adored New York City. He idolised it all out of proportion." Woody Allen could never be accused of ignoring his native city, returning time and again to eulogise the virtues of its buildings and its inhabitants. With this black-and-white story of faithless lovers and nervous courtships wending their way through major art galleries, celebrated restaurants and picturesque landmarks, he came closest to the perfect love letter to the place. Filmed in jazz-age black-and-white, and opening with a stunning montage set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Manhattan is suffused with an affectionate, excited nostalgia.
• Queensboro Bridge; Guggenheim Museum; Museum of Modern Art...
As featured in our New York city guide
Manhattan, Woody Allen, 1979
"He adored New York City. He idolised it all out of proportion." Woody Allen could never be accused of ignoring his native city, returning time and again to eulogise the virtues of its buildings and its inhabitants. With this black-and-white story of faithless lovers and nervous courtships wending their way through major art galleries, celebrated restaurants and picturesque landmarks, he came closest to the perfect love letter to the place. Filmed in jazz-age black-and-white, and opening with a stunning montage set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Manhattan is suffused with an affectionate, excited nostalgia.
• Queensboro Bridge; Guggenheim Museum; Museum of Modern Art...
- 6/1/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
The quintessential moment for me in Mad Men -- the AMC series on the verge of a season three finale -- arrived when Don Draper, determined to end his downward spiral, emerges from the New York Athletic Club (Nyac) after a swim and stars to smoke like a chimney. Were Don Draper a real and not a fictional character, he no doubt would have known my father, who belonged to the Nyac at precisely that point in time and considered a workout to be an hour spent in the steam room after a three-martini lunch. They would have bumped into each other at "Toots Shor's" and "21" and, of course, on the commuter train home to the suburbs. Mad Men c'est moi -- from the start this series has been my autobiography as a child growing up in New Rochelle, New York,...
- 10/12/2010
- by Michael Conniff
- Huffington Post
Filed under: TV Previews
Monday, July 12
'Rizzoli & Isles' (10Pm, TNT) series premiere
'Law & Order' and 'NCIS' fans will be happy about the pairing in this new crime drama, as 'L&O' vet Angie Harmon and former 'NCIS' star Sasha Alexander are BFFs Jane Rizzoli, a Boston cop, and Maura Isles, a medical examiner. Despite the fact that their respective jobs find them working on the same cases, Rizzoli and Isles couldn't be more different, which adds to the fun of this 'Cagney & Lacey'-meets-'Quincy, M.E.' (with just a splash of 'Laverne & Shirley' thrown in to kick up the quirkiness) drama. In tonight's opener, Jane and Maura are trying to track down a serial killer, who might actually be a copycat of another serial killer. Either way, it's personal, since he once tried to kill Jane.
'Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated' - Like, zoinks, Scoob: Matthew Lillard...
Monday, July 12
'Rizzoli & Isles' (10Pm, TNT) series premiere
'Law & Order' and 'NCIS' fans will be happy about the pairing in this new crime drama, as 'L&O' vet Angie Harmon and former 'NCIS' star Sasha Alexander are BFFs Jane Rizzoli, a Boston cop, and Maura Isles, a medical examiner. Despite the fact that their respective jobs find them working on the same cases, Rizzoli and Isles couldn't be more different, which adds to the fun of this 'Cagney & Lacey'-meets-'Quincy, M.E.' (with just a splash of 'Laverne & Shirley' thrown in to kick up the quirkiness) drama. In tonight's opener, Jane and Maura are trying to track down a serial killer, who might actually be a copycat of another serial killer. Either way, it's personal, since he once tried to kill Jane.
'Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated' - Like, zoinks, Scoob: Matthew Lillard...
- 7/11/2010
- by Kim Potts
- Aol TV.
Hollywood producer with a string of hit films, including Jaws
For a man who went to Hollywood late and without much enthusiasm, the career of the film producer David Brown, who has died of kidney failure aged 93, was spectacular. He was responsible for putting on screen some of the most memorable and profitable film classics of recent times, including The Sting, which won an Oscar in 1973 for best film; Jaws (1975), which broke records and established its director Steven Spielberg; the highly praised Cocoon in 1985; Driving Miss Daisy, which won an Oscar for best picture in 1989; A Few Good Men, nominated as best film in 1992; the director Robert Altman's critically acclaimed 1992 Hollywood satire The Player; and Chocolat, nominated as best film of 2000. For the last of these, Brown was well into his 80s when he supervised filming on location in France.
Before going independent with his producer partner Richard Zanuck,...
For a man who went to Hollywood late and without much enthusiasm, the career of the film producer David Brown, who has died of kidney failure aged 93, was spectacular. He was responsible for putting on screen some of the most memorable and profitable film classics of recent times, including The Sting, which won an Oscar in 1973 for best film; Jaws (1975), which broke records and established its director Steven Spielberg; the highly praised Cocoon in 1985; Driving Miss Daisy, which won an Oscar for best picture in 1989; A Few Good Men, nominated as best film in 1992; the director Robert Altman's critically acclaimed 1992 Hollywood satire The Player; and Chocolat, nominated as best film of 2000. For the last of these, Brown was well into his 80s when he supervised filming on location in France.
Before going independent with his producer partner Richard Zanuck,...
- 2/2/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
A newspaper film critic is like a canary in a coal mine. When one croaks, get the hell out. The lengthening toll of former film critics acts as a poster child for the self-destruction of American newspapers, which once hoped to be more like the New York Times and now yearn to become more like the National Enquirer. We used to be the town crier. Now we are the neighborhood gossip.
The crowning blow came this week when the once-magisterial Associated Press imposed a 500-word limit on all of its entertainment writers. The 500-word limit applies to reviews, interviews, news stories, trend pieces and "thinkers." Oh, it can be done. But with "Synecdoche, New York?"
Demise of the ink-stained wretch
Worse, the AP wants its writers on the entertainment beat to focus more on the kind of brief celebrity items its clients apparently hunger for. The AP, long considered obligatory...
The crowning blow came this week when the once-magisterial Associated Press imposed a 500-word limit on all of its entertainment writers. The 500-word limit applies to reviews, interviews, news stories, trend pieces and "thinkers." Oh, it can be done. But with "Synecdoche, New York?"
Demise of the ink-stained wretch
Worse, the AP wants its writers on the entertainment beat to focus more on the kind of brief celebrity items its clients apparently hunger for. The AP, long considered obligatory...
- 11/27/2008
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Web-based independent film distributor IndiePix has announced the launch of biopic "Toots." The film, which tells the story of famed saloonkeeper Toots Shor, will feature rare footage of his celebrity patrons.
The late Shor, one of Manhattan's most iconic restaurateurs during the 40s and 50s, had been entertaining famous faces in his Toots Shor's Restaurant in the city's West 51st Street for 30 years.
The film will include footage of celebrities in his establishment such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Joe Dimaggio, and former presidents Nixon and Eisenhower among others. Shor had narrated the film himself, two years before his demise in 1977.
Ryan Harrington, Head of IndiePix Studios, said, "We're delighted that Toots is finally available to film lovers after so long. It is a fantastic, true-to-life portrayal of how things really were in the 40s and 50s - when Gangsters and Politicians were world famous, and all eyes were on New York.
The late Shor, one of Manhattan's most iconic restaurateurs during the 40s and 50s, had been entertaining famous faces in his Toots Shor's Restaurant in the city's West 51st Street for 30 years.
The film will include footage of celebrities in his establishment such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Joe Dimaggio, and former presidents Nixon and Eisenhower among others. Shor had narrated the film himself, two years before his demise in 1977.
Ryan Harrington, Head of IndiePix Studios, said, "We're delighted that Toots is finally available to film lovers after so long. It is a fantastic, true-to-life portrayal of how things really were in the 40s and 50s - when Gangsters and Politicians were world famous, and all eyes were on New York.
- 10/8/2008
- icelebz.com
The Paley Center for Media's PaleyDocFest, which runs from Oct. 16-27 in New York, will kick off with Kristi Jacobson's "Toots," a documentary about the celebrated saloon keeper Toots Shor. Jacabson, Gay Talese, Periane Conerly and LeRoy Neiman will take part in a Q&A accompanying the film.
The fest will include the New York premieres of "Johnny Cash's America," "Running the Sahara" and "American Masters: Jerome Robbins - Something to Dance About."
It will also include a special preview of "Sweet Dreams."
"The Paley Center for Media has a deep commitment to documentaries. We believe in the power of this art form to inspire and to tell stories in a way that captures the imagination and expands our horizons," Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of The Paley Center for Media, said. "In our vast collection of documentaries, we offer some of the most well-known and celebrated documentaries...
The fest will include the New York premieres of "Johnny Cash's America," "Running the Sahara" and "American Masters: Jerome Robbins - Something to Dance About."
It will also include a special preview of "Sweet Dreams."
"The Paley Center for Media has a deep commitment to documentaries. We believe in the power of this art form to inspire and to tell stories in a way that captures the imagination and expands our horizons," Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of The Paley Center for Media, said. "In our vast collection of documentaries, we offer some of the most well-known and celebrated documentaries...
- 10/2/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Menemsha Films
NEW YORK -- Kristi Jacobson's documentary about the legendary saloonkeeper Toots Shor makes one immediately want to enter a time machine.
Toots affectionately and vividly recalls a bygone New York era, one in which life was simpler (if not more innocent, as one interview subject points out) and celebrities and ordinary folk could be in close proximity without hulking bodyguards getting in the way. The director is, in fact, Shor's granddaughter, but her portrait, while obviously loving, doesn't shy away from dealing with the darker aspects of her subject's life, from his ties to the mob to the self-destructiveness and stubbornness that ultimately reduced him to impoverishment before his death in 1977.
But Toots is by no means downbeat. Documenting her grandfather's rise from Prohibition-era bouncer to the owner of one of New York's most-famed watering holes in the 1950s and '60s, the filmmaker presents an evocative portrait of a vanished era.
As the film well depicts, Shor's eponymous restaurant on Manhattan's West 51st Street was a meeting place for the rich and famous, where a wide-ranging collection of celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Gifford, mob boss Frank Costello and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, among many others, all held court. It also was an unofficial clubhouse for the newspaper journalists of the time (especially sportswriters and gossip columnists), who found plenty of fodder for their columns on the premises.
Employing an oral history recorded by Shor two years before his death, interviews with such former habitues as Walter Cronkite, Nick Pileggi, Peter Duchin, Gay Talese and copious amounts of fascinating archival footage and photographs, Toots is a glorious exercise in nostalgia.
NEW YORK -- Kristi Jacobson's documentary about the legendary saloonkeeper Toots Shor makes one immediately want to enter a time machine.
Toots affectionately and vividly recalls a bygone New York era, one in which life was simpler (if not more innocent, as one interview subject points out) and celebrities and ordinary folk could be in close proximity without hulking bodyguards getting in the way. The director is, in fact, Shor's granddaughter, but her portrait, while obviously loving, doesn't shy away from dealing with the darker aspects of her subject's life, from his ties to the mob to the self-destructiveness and stubbornness that ultimately reduced him to impoverishment before his death in 1977.
But Toots is by no means downbeat. Documenting her grandfather's rise from Prohibition-era bouncer to the owner of one of New York's most-famed watering holes in the 1950s and '60s, the filmmaker presents an evocative portrait of a vanished era.
As the film well depicts, Shor's eponymous restaurant on Manhattan's West 51st Street was a meeting place for the rich and famous, where a wide-ranging collection of celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Gifford, mob boss Frank Costello and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, among many others, all held court. It also was an unofficial clubhouse for the newspaper journalists of the time (especially sportswriters and gossip columnists), who found plenty of fodder for their columns on the premises.
Employing an oral history recorded by Shor two years before his death, interviews with such former habitues as Walter Cronkite, Nick Pileggi, Peter Duchin, Gay Talese and copious amounts of fascinating archival footage and photographs, Toots is a glorious exercise in nostalgia.
- 10/9/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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