Woody Allen: October 2011

MOVIE: A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)

In A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Woody Allen mixes Shakespeare, Ingmar Bergman, and the music and art of the turn of the century. Allen plays Andrew, an inventor, whose listless marriage to Adrian (Mary Steenburgen) has lost all erotic zip. He welcomes two pairs of friends to his country home: college professor Leopold (José Ferrer) and his fiancée Ariel (Mia Farrow), and dentist Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his suffragette nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Before long, everyone's lusting after everyone else's partner, and the plot twists and turns to a happy and magical conclusion. It's a light and airy film, perhaps a deliberate break from Allen's previous production, the caustic Stardust Memories; but the tone may also be due to his new relationship with Farrow, who went on to star in Allen's films for the next 10 years. --Bret Fetzer

MUSIC: Randomize Soundtrack List II

In the Mood - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra

Opus One - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra

If You Are But a Dream - Frank Sinatra, Axel Stordahl & His Orchestra

Goodbye - Benny Goodman

DOWNLOAD THIS LIST (15 mb)

A lot of things have happened in my private life recently that I thought we could review tonight.
I feel sex is a beautiful thing between two people. Between five, it's fantastic.
A fast word about oral contraception. I was involved in an extremely good example of oral contraception two weeks ago. I asked a girl to go to bed with me, she said "no."
Basically my wife was immature. I'd be at home in the bath and she'd come in and sink my boats.
I was in analysis. I was suicidal. As a matter of fact, I would have killed myself, but I was in analysis with a strict Freudian and if you kill yourself they make you pay for the sessions you miss.
I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.
I tended to place my wife under a pedestal.
I'm not a drinker — my body will not tolerate spirits. I had two Martinis on New Year's Eve and I tried to hijack an elevator and fly it to Cuba.
When I was kidnapped, my parents snapped into action. They rented out my room.

From Standup Comic

Dianne Wiest

Arguably her most beloved role came as Peg Boggs, the kindly Avon Lady who discovers the titular Edward Scissorhands (1990). Wiest returned to Woody Allen in 1994 for Bullets Over Broadway (1994), a superb comedy set in 1920s New York, winning her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her magnificent portrayal of Helen Sinclair, a boozy, glamorous and neurotic star of the stage, who could made the words "Don't speak!" the funniest sentence ever captured on film. Recently enjoying great success with witchy roles in the film Practical Magic (1998) and the TV mini-series "The 10th Kingdom" (2000), Dianne Wiest lives in New York City with her two adopted daughters, Emily and Lily.

Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton was a California native who studied Drama at Santa Ana College before dropping out to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. After appearing in summer stock for several months, she got her first major stage role in the Broadway rock musical "Hair". As understudy to the lead, she gained attention by not removing any of her clothing. In 1970, Woody Allen cast her in his Broadway play "Play It Again, Sam", which had a successful run. It was during this time that she became involved with Allen and appeared in a number of his films. The first one was Play It Again, Sam (1972), the screen adaptation of the stage play. That same year Francis Ford Coppola cast her as Kay in the Oscar-winning The Godfather (1972) and she was on her way to stardom. She reprised that role in the film's first sequel, The Godfather: Part II (1974). She then appeared with Allen again in Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975).

Mia Farrow

Janet Margolin

Pretty, demure-looking Janet Margolin was born in New York City in 1943 and educated at the New York High School of Performing Arts. The long-haired brunette was discovered for films by director Frank Perry as she was making great strides as a teen on Broadway. He saw her in the play "Daughter of Silence," for which she earned a Tony nomination, and took her immediately to Hollywood, casting her as the schizophrenic lass in David and Lisa (1962) opposite Keir Dullea. She bowled over the critics. The movie, which was praised for its handling of delicate, mature subject matter, should have paved the way to stardom for Janet but strangely didn't. She churned out uneventful second leads in such notable fare as Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), andNevada Smith (1966). Though she had better luck with her ingenue roles in Enter Laughing(1967) and Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run (1969), the offers starting drying up by decade's end and she turned to TV work. Woody used her again, albeit briefly, in Annie Hall (1977). After a brief first marriage, Janet met and married actor Ted Wass of TV's "Soap" (1977) and"Blossom" (1990) fame. Janet was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died at age 50.

Tony Roberts

Versatility and ability to portray a variety of characters over four decades on stage, screen, and television have made Tony Roberts one of the busiest actors in America. He is a graduate of the High School of Music and Arts, which merged with the High School of Performing Arts to become LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, where he majored in theater and studied acting with Alvina Krause. Tony is the son of Radio and Television announcer Ken Roberts, one of the founding members of AFTRA, and has himself served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Screen Actor's Guild and Actor's Equity Association. He is currently the President of Theatre Authority - an organization established by the entertainment unions to oversee benefit performances. Tony has appeared in dozens and dozens of films including Stardust Memories (1980),Star Spangled Girl (1971), The Million Dollar Duck (1971), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Popcorn (1991), Amityville 3-D (1983),Key Exchange (1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987) and Switch (1991). His theater credits included "Sugar", "Don't Drink the Water", "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "South Pacific".

Julie Kavner

Julie went in to audition for a guest spot on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. They loved her, but felt she wasn't right for the part. When 'Rhoda' was created, they knew they wanted her for the part of Brenda. The role was written with her in mind.Graduated from San Diego State University along with actor Carl Weathers in 1971.Made her first great personal hit in Los Angeles "Little Theatre" in Robert Patrick's "Cheep Theatricks" singing a mock-ecological song called "Don't Poison the Piranhas".Attended Beverly Hills High School. Went to the same High School as Angelina Jolie, Michael Klesic, Nicolas Cage, Corben Bernsen, Lenny Kravitz, David Schwimmer, Jonathan Silverman, and Richard Dreyfuss. Will not allow cameras to film her doing the voices of the Simpsons characters. Attended Camp JCA in Barton Flats, California for several summers. Is frequently cast in films by Woody Allen. Has lived with producer David Davis since 1976.

Woody Allen