Cabaret Musical - Opening Night At The Folies Bergeres

Liza Minnelli poses with actors Claire Perot, Fabian Richard, Catherine Arditi and Patrick Mazet at the musical "Cabaret" opening night at The Folies in Paris, France. In a moment like this I always wonder what people are thinking. Actors wanting to please Liza; Do I measure up? What was it like to be in the original? When will you stop looking like Sally Bowles in "Cabaret" Liza? How much cocaine did you really snort? Luckily none of them need to stoop to my level.

Marisa Berenson with Liza and dear Roman Polanski (one of the best auto-biographies ever written is 'Roman by Polanski'. Its a whole different can of worms but I'll discuss this at a later date). Anyway, Liza seems to pull in the crowds despite everything. If you think I'm being hard on dear Liza, you need to stay with me a little longer. See I remember when she used to be a babe and almost an innocent one at that. Yes, Liza.

Here she is when she looked hot. I know she has a strange sort of beauty but who cares. She looks amazing. Oversized eyes and lips. Everyone is trying to implant that now as we speak. She echoes a sort of Christina Onassis persona. No wonder Peter Allen fancied her despite his sexual orientation.

Boy I wonder what really went on in their relationship. I find them to be an intriguing pair. Did she know at first? Did she care? And what about her mother? Every tranny across the globe either wanted to be Judy Garland or be some sort of relation even if it was her son in law.

I see these two as almost sisters. They lived such parallel lives. The drugs, the booze and the talent.

Much love.

I had to put in this coupling. Robert DeNiro with Liza in New York, New York. What's great about this photo is that it represents nothing about who these two really were. And yet the staged innocence of it is remarkably moving.

Here we go. Now this is when she must have been hitting the scene really hard. Here she is with Uri Geller, Alice Cooper and Uri's dear ol' ma.

This one's for you Nash. (Some know it all from South Australia finally bought that Warhol book on ebay!)

Now this is where everyone thinks Liza's fortune went pear shaped. For me it was a delightful union of like minded souls.

Apparently all was not well in the marital bed. That dirty bird Gest has accused dear Liza of giving him herpes. What about all the lergies she sucked out of his waxy mouth? Oh Liza, I wish you all the best.

Rome Film Festival - "Actors' Studio" - Red Carpet

Ellen Burstyn, Martin Landau and Lee Grant attend the Actors' Studio red carpet on the sixth day of Rome Film Festival. These three were there to comment on scenes screened from Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Detective Story and Ed Wood before a audience made up mostly of Italian actors. The foundation of the Actors Studio is the Stanislavsky Method, the expression of one's psyche and inner world: "We are not psychoanalysts. If while attending the Actors Studio actors realize they need one, we advise them to go to a professional!" said Grant, instantly provoking rowdy applause. When asked by somebody in the audience; "What is the one thing an actor should never do?", Ellen Burstyn replied: "Give up". The consensus was that it was an 'emotional' encounter.

Here's Martin Landau in Space 1999. I really loved him in that - I mean really loved him.

Lee Grant in Shampoo who really stole the show from Julie Christie. I have to say though most of her films are pale in comparison to When Are You Comin' Back Red Rider?

Ellen Burnstyn doesn't do much for me but she certainly took a gamble and won with The Exorcist.

Who can forget this moment when dear Linda Blair crawls backward down the stairs!

Frieze Art Fair In London

A man replicates the pose of an art installation to his left entitled 'Playtime' by artist Paul de Reus at the annual Frieze Art Fair in London. The Frieze Art Fair showcases modern installation, sculptures and paintings and video art by over 1,000 international artists.

Its great to act like we don't give a damn. To have that confidence to go in to a gallery and bend over and put your bum in the air should be encouraged. I find that one of my public faux pas is to just burst out laughing for no apparent reason. I can't help myself sometimes. Its not one of those nutty laughs that insane people do walking down the street, scratching their head and then slowly taking off layers of clothing. It's more like a ridiculous flutter of memory that has no way of escaping except through the gaping cavity in my head. It can happen anywhere and anyhow.

A still from the compulsory viewing film The Idiots.

Warren Beatty Ridiculously Re-Runs 'Reds'

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening attend Paramount Home Entertainment's special 25th anniversary screening of Reds at The New York Film Festival in New York City. Its great to see these two out and about but the thing is they haven't been able to make a good movie in years so they run Reds again which I thought was just so so and Beatty seems to be really proud of it but I think he's done much better than that.

Take for instance Bonnie and Clyde. It stands up well to the test of time even though its naive in its portrayal of the two bank robbing scoundrels. Don't get me wrong, I love naivete. As a matter of fact I can be quite naive. Their relationship with family and friends, their sexuality, their sense of self are all exposed in this film with the same vigor as the tale of their bank robbing arrogance. I love this film. The stand out performance is by Michael J. Pollard and their bumbling, country bumkin side kick.

Here's Beatty as he would like to be remembered. As George in Shampoo - the sexy, traveling, cut and blow wave guy, who is just there when you need a house call for a home hair disaster. See when I saw shampoo, I just fell in love with Warren Beatty. He's just an idiot in the film but who cares? I just thought he was a modern day cowboy who would root his way to the top. I was impressed. The thing is though, Warren Beatty still thinks he's the main guy that Carly Simon sings about. I once saw him interviewed on 60 minutes. This was just a few years ago. You could barely see him because he had requested special dim lighting to hide any resemblance he had to being an old man. Its just that he was squinting so hard to see the interviewer, the interviewer was squinting so hard to see him and everyone who was watching was squinting so hard that I completely forget anything he talked about. Your right, he is soooo vain.

What about when he went out with Madonna for a few months? What was that all about? She is just about as boring as he is so they were a great match. When Madonna opens her mouth you better run.

Here's a little ray of sunshine, Beatty with his sister, Shirley MacLaine. She's nuts but at least she's more interesting than her poor ol' bro.

Its hard to imagine that the two are even related. Just look at them.

One of my favorite MacLaine films is ofcourse, Terms Of Endearment. Come on don't roll your eyes, you love it too. Apart from that, my other interests in MacLaine lie with her off the planet ravings and her relationship with one of our politicians, Andrew Peacock. He's a slimy ol' bastard. The only interesting thing he really did was hook up with her.

I tried getting a better photo of the two of them but this will have to do.

Norman Gunston seems to pop up at pivotal moments in history. Only he could interview MacLaine and have Andrew Peacock pop up in the background. Here he is with my favorite band when I was 14 - KISS.