Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Blue-Eyed Tiger, Dept.

Sobsister favorite Betty Garrett passed on to the Big Screening Room in the Sky on Feb. 12.  She lights up the screen in On the Town despite sharing screens with Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller, Gene Kelly, Vera-Ellen and Jules Munshin, not a shrinking violet in the bunch.  Her man-hungry lady cabdriver is the center of most of the best comic action in the film.  Through most of the film, she eyes Sinatra the way a cartoon cannibal eyes a missionary on the hoof.

So, here's her big number from the aforementioned, "Come Up to My Place," a witty bit of classic Comden and Green.  Sexy, sassy and smart.  The kind of triple-threat movie star not much seen any more.

aav.
Where Are They Then?, Dept.

Watching New Rose Hotel recently--an excellent William Gibson adaptation, btw, with standout turns by stars Christopher Walken and the stunning Asia Argento--I noticed, during the closing credit crawl, a semi-familiar name listed as providing craft services.  Rachel Uchitel, now best known for being numbered among the four-score-and-seven women who boinked sex addict and sometime golfer Tiger "Itchypants" Woods, apparently fed the cast.  It's the only time she's credited as such, according to IMDB, and her only foray onto the silver screen, big or little, excluding her appearances on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

9/11-semiwidow, VIP lounge wrangler, celebrity knobpolisher, reality TV exploitee.  There's a resumé you don't see every day.  Unless you live in Los Angeles, I suppose.