The BEST American Playwright

Tennessee Williams 3/26/1911 - 2/25/1983 Lyricist, Source Material, Writer - The Glass Menagerie; You Touched Me (Montgomery Clift, Edmund Gwenn); A Streetcar Named Desire; Summer & Smoke; The Rose Tattoo; Camino Real; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Orpheus Descending; Sweet Bird of Youth; Period of Adjustment (Barbara Baxley, James Daly, Rosemary Murphy); The Night of the Iguana; The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore; The Seven Descents of Myrtle (Brian Bedford, Harry Guardino, Estelle Parsons); Out Cry (Michael York, Cara Duff-MacCormick); The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (Betsy Palmer, David Selby); Vieux Carré (Sylvia Sidney); Clothes for a Summer Hotel; Garden District; Not About Nightingales (Finbar Lynch, Corin Redgrave, Sherri Parker Lee, James Black)[loved this play]

This show was suppose to open for my 7th Leap Year birthday but it was delayed during its out of town try out but I did get to see it a week after it opened--it remains one of my top 5 experiences seeing shows on Broadway!!

1964 Barbra Streisand becomes "the biggest star" when she opens on Broadway in her signature show, Funny Girl, and debuting her signature song, "People" by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill.

It's no secret that I am a big movie fan--I don't rememebr ever missing the annual Oscar broadcast--whether on TV or before that on radio! I have seen all the winning movies and performances listed below.


1958 - The RKO Pantages Theater, Los Angeles, was the scene of 30th Annual Academy Awards celebration. The show was hosted by Rosalind Russell, James Stewart, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Bob Hope and Donald Duck (on film). There were several memorable films produced in 1957, but two blockbusters shot it out this night, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Sayonara. The Bridge on the River Kwai (Sam Spiegel, producer) took Oscars for Best Picture; Best Actor (Alec Guinness); Director (David Lean). Meanwhile, Sayonara (William Goetz, producer) won for Best Supporting Actor (Red Buttons); Supporting Actress (Miyoshi Umeki). And, lest we forget, Joanne Woodward won the Best Actress Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve. The prize for Best Music/Song went to James Van Heusen (music), Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for All the Way (the classic Sinatra song)from The Joker Is Wild.




1990 - Host Billy Crystal kept us smiling for the 62nd Annual Academy Awards, staged at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) members voted Driving Miss Daisy the Best Picture of 1989 (Richard D. Zanuck, Lili Fini Zanuck, producers). The Best Director Oscar was won by Oliver Stone for Born on the Fourth of July. Best Actor was Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot and Best Actress was Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy (the 80-year-old actress was a favorite to win). Oscars for Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role went to Denzel Washington (Glory) and Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot), respectively. Best Music/Song winners were Alan Menken (music), Howard Ashman (lyrics) for Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid. Other popular 1989 films that were honored as nominees or winners include: Field of Dreams; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Back to the Future Part II; Lethal Weapon II; Batman; Dead Poets Society; When Harry Met Sally; and Sex, Lies, and Videotape.

1996 - The 68th Annual Academy Awards show was held at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. Actress/comedienne Whoopi Goldberg was the hostess with the mostest this night. The Best Picture (of 1995) was Braveheart (Mel Gibson, Alan Ladd Jr., Bruce Davey, producers). Mel Gibson also won the Oscar for Best Director (Braveheart). The flick won three additional Oscars; however, none were in the Acting categories. The Best Actor was Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas. The Best Actress award went to Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking. Best Supporting Actor was Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects and Best Supporting Actress was Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aphrodite. The ’toon Pocahontas was a winner in the tunes categories: Best Music/Original Musical or Comedy Score to Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz and Best Music/Song: Alan Menken (music), Stephen Schwartz (lyrics) for Colors of the Wind from the animated film.

2000 - It was a beautiful evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. And, inside, everything was beautiful, too, as the film, American Beauty, captured Best Picture (producers: Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks) at the 72nd Annual Academy Awards presentation, hosted by comedian Billy Crystal. The picture, nominated in eight categories, received four more Oscars: Best Director (Sam Mendes), Best Actor (Kevin Spacey), Best Original Screen Play (Alan Ball). Although Hilary Swank received the award for Best Actress in Boys Don’t Cry, Annette Bening, nominated for her performance in American Beauty, was stunningly beautiful as the lady-in-waiting. Bening, who gave birth to her fourth child, a girl, sixteen days after this Oscar ceremony, congratulated her husband, Warren Beatty, who was presented with the Irving Thalberg Award for his career as a movie-maker. Another beauty, Angelina Jolie, received the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Girl, Interrupted. Michael Caine gave the most beautiful acceptance speech of the night (Best Supporting Actor: The Cider House Rules). The film, a seven-time nominee, also won for Best Screenplay Adaptation (John Irving). And, as always, Phil Collins made beautiful music. His You’ll Be in My Heart (Tarzan) captured the Oscar for Best Original Song.