NYC Mixed on paper 2025

 

The Lady From Shanghai 1948

 

1948 was a great year for Film Noir. I was one year old and my Noir life hadn't really begun. My dark noir family life, the fights, the slug fests between parents, the fires they started the cars they crashed, the gambling, the speed and pills, my beautiful mother in her high heel shoes and black dyed hair. I thought my mom was Jane Russell or Ruth Roman. But I digress. Meanwhile Hollywood was slugging out these dark movies and in 1948 alone they threw at movie audiences Berlin Express, The Big Clock, Cry of The City, Force of Evil, Key Largo, The Naked City, He Walked By Night, Road House and many others. One of my favorite little B Noirs of that great Noir year was a real rhinestone “I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes” and if you can find it fucking see it. The title alone deserves stardom, and can serve as a by line, a slogan, a pitch for all the above films, I mean for Christs sake I wouldn't want to be in any of these anti heroes shoes.

And then there was Orson. Who could even fit into his shoes let alone wear them, and I don't think he even wanted to be in his own shoes. So here he is in 1946 or around there trying to get more moola for his failing big musical Broadway extravenganza “Around The World In 80 Days” that he was doing with that other huckster Michael Todd. It had music by Cole Porter. So according to stories he's in a phone booth in some Whelans in Times Sq. giving a yell out to his beautiful wife's boss Mr. Fuck face Harry Cohn. Begging Harry for 50,000 bucks so he could pay for his costumes for that trip around the world and he temps the cruel crud with the tempting temptation of making a movie for him that he would also write and star in along with his gorgeous wife and Harry's big time contract movie star. Now I'm talking big. I'm talking Rita Hayworth still in her prime, still a great big beauty with her lush red hair and oh how Rita moved. No one moved like Rita, and no one still moves like her. Harry listens. He sees flashing before his beady blood shot eyes another “Gilda” another Put The Blame on Mame” another big blockbuster Radio City Music Hall movie. Oh says Harry so what is this picture about? Orson freezes up for a minute but his eye falls on the rack of cheap paperbacks, those rough detective yarns with all those babes in arms, those lurid lurids that my mom loved so much and would leave around our apartment that was a feast for my eyes and sexual imagination when as a pre teen as I would skim the browning pages for the “good parts.”

Orson sticks his hand outside the phone booth and grabs a a paperback “If I Die Before I Wake” by Raymond Sherwood King from the rack and reads the blurbs and plot synopsis on the back of the paperback to Harry. Harry he yells into the phone, the movie I want to make is “If I Die Before I Wake” and Harry plotzes in Hollywood Ca. That title has got to go Orson, and go fast. So Harry gives Orson the 50,000 to save his 80 Days except that it closes after 75 performances and so it goes and goes and goes. The screenplay also goes and goes and goes with several writers including William Castle yes that William Castle working along with Welles adding changing and stomping out the story now called “The Lady From Shanghai.”

Film history is made at night and in the early mornings and Orson is ready to take on his troubled wife and his troubled marriage with this far out story that has a few similarities with the original novel. The first thing Orson does is cut off all of Rita's long lush red hair that launched a billion fantasies and die's it blonde. Holy shit Harry freaks out, but Rita kinda likes the look and hell she would look great bald.

So now its time for Orson to cast the rest of the movie and he has a great time doing this, using some of his old pals from Kane and also from his Mercury Theatre group and introducing a few to films for the first time including the great Ted de Corsia.. He also gets Everett Sloan to play the key supporting role of Rita's “crippled” corrupt lawyer husband Arthur Bannister and Glenn Anders a little known Theater actor as Bannister's sinister law partner George Grisby who is sweaty, creepy and I finally realized after several viewings is probably gay in a late 40's way. This is an Oscar worthy performance by Anders and no doubt if it was made yesterday he would have one on his mantle, he is that good. He sweats and so do we. Welles cast himself as the lead, a wandering Irish merchant sailor named Michael O'Hara with a questionable Irish accent who is swept up like trash to be the pawn in their corrupt and sick plot.

The film opens with Welles/O'Hara narrating his woes as he flashbacks to a walk in a deserted central park set where Hayworth comes rolling along in a horse drawn carriage better known as a hansom cab that wants us to think New York City. A deserted 1948 New York City void of people cars or life. “Its only a paper moon just as phony as it could be, as the song sings.

O'Hara that black Irish son of a bitch plays and flirts with Hayworth trying to pick her up but she plays hard to get,at least for a minute. He offers her a smoke. “But I don't smoke” she coyly says. Yeah right and you don't fuck either, he is probably thinking. After this somewhat realistic scene everything begins to get weird and weirder as Hayworth gets attacked by some thugs and Welles comes to her rescue. Not much is made of this offense but we wonder who they were and why did they attack her.

Later on (off screen) she pushes her husband the “cripple” to go looking for Welles in a Merchant sailor hiring hall to get him to work for them on their luxury yacht on a voyage to Mexico. Let me out of here, I think to myself, strange doings are coming, the luck of the Irish is not a thing here so I buckle down for the ride. The yacht is real, belonging to none other than Errol Flynn who has lent or rented it to Welles for the filming maybe for a song and a dance and maybe for a cameo that some say you can spot him in the background of a scene or two. I didn't so I guess I will have to watch it again.

These on location Mexico scenes are beautiful really they are. Rita sunbaths on a cliff as Grisby drools and sweats over her through a pair of binoculars or is he drooling over Welles? There is an elaborate picnic that Sloan arranges that is a nod to the one in Kane, only somewhat more exotic and sinister and the plot thins or thickens depending on your mood. More strangeness is coming and man can Welles pack it in with a running time of only 87 minutes. Now its told that the original film was 2 hours but Harry cut it down and as it goes, the cut footage is gone, missing and never to be seen again lost with The Magnificent Ambersons in that great trashcan in the sky.

Grisby always sweating and bleating offers O'Hara a big payment of $5,000 to do something for him. Should I say what that is? Maybe I will, give me a few minutes to make up my mind, but in the meantime The feast of visual delights and ideas flow out through Welles in a rush of extraordinary cinematic images and sequences. There is a trial sequence that would make Lewis Carroll blush with envy, a chase on location in San Francisco's Chinatown that ends in a theater and the pounding jaw dropping shootout in an abandoned amusement park's chamber of horrors hall of mirrors. This is the loaded pistol, the winning hand, the art in the work of art, the scorching imagination of Welles the artist that brings this fantastic ending to this remarkable work of movie art. I will finally mention that the Kino transfer is superb, I thought I would fall into it, its that smooth lush and beautiful. I was nervous because the other Kino Welles flick that I got along with the lady was “The Stranger” which looked like Lassie had walked all over it. Not nice so I was nervous, but man I'll tell you this was the best 10 bucks I've dropped in a long time. The Best film, director, supporting actor, cinematography of 1948.

2 more notebook collages 2025

 

2025 mixed on paper

 

2025 mixed on paper

 

Three More Recent small notebook collages 2025

 

Felice Picano 1944-2025

 

more small notebook drawings

 

David Ehrenstein 1947-2025

 

Athol Fugard 1932-2025

 

Separate Tables 1958

 

The most lasting impression that I have and carried for years in my back pocket of the movie “Separate Tables” had nothing to do with my seeing the film. Instead It goes back to a cold night in December of 1958 when I was 10 years old and me, my mom and my cousin Daniel's fiance Gloria were rushing back to Brooklyn in our spanking bright red 1957 Pontiac after spending time in the diamond district where my mom was helping Gloria pick out an engagement ring.

Driving fast through Times Sq. my mom stopped the car at a red light and it was there that I looked out the back seat window to view the huge Astor Theater billboard advertising the movie “Separate Tables.” I like to think that my love of movies and art came together at this moment as I looked at the billboard with spellbound jaw dropping attention at this dramatic and to my 10 year old eyes amazing creation. The images of the stars of the film loomed over me and everyone else bustling through the Sq and I probably did not register the fact that these portraits were indeed paintings, hand touched and unique.

I wonder if Jim Rosenquist worked on them during his billboard painting career. Early pop meets British somber. Set against a bright orange background this was what remained of the movie for me for years and years. I probably did see the film sometime in my youth but It remained a shadow an impression a memory until the other night when I watched the film on Tubi.

The film is based on 2 short plays by Terence Rattigan who had a good run of attention and success in the british theatre of the 1950's with such plays as “The Winslow Boy”, “The Browning Version” “The Deep Blue Sea” and his most famous work “Separate Tables” that takes place in a shabby run down seaside hotel in Bournemouth called the Hotel Beauregard and the group of people who are staying there.

The two plays had a good run and reputation both in London and on Broadway where it was produced by Hecht and Lancaster who would later turn into a movie. Not an easy task as they had to combine the two plays into one screenplay which they successfully did when Rattigan with John Gay and an uncredited John Michael Hayes did the job.

The story was not exactly Hollywood hot time, and to boost the chances of the movie going anywhere they cast the four major roles with big movie star names including Burt Lancaster along with Deborah Kerr, Rita Hayworth and David Niven. In the play the two main characters were played by One actor and actress playing the leads in both short plays but of course this couldn't work in a Hollywood movie.
In the good supporting role and to me the best performance in the film was the great Wendy Hiller as the hotel owner and manager who won the supporting actress Oscar. Her remarks on winning the Oscar deserves a note here: “Never mind the honor, though I'm sure its very nice of them. I hope this award means cash, hard cash.”

The two main stories focus on Deborah Kerr as a sad young spinster and her awful pushy mother played by Gladys Cooper in another one of her awful mother roles that she had being doing for years most famously in “Now Voyager.” Here she berates her timid daughter from the start and doesn't let up until Kerr turns on her in the climax of the film. It's a forced turn of the spinster, and it doesn't ring altogether true. How Kerr comes to her senses has to do with her realization that her beloved Major David Angus Pollock another resident of the hotel is a fake Major and a molester of women who he harasses in dark movie theatres. Rattigan a somewhat out gay man (in theatre circles anyway) originally had the Major picking up sailors but of course that would never do in the conservative 50's and it was changed to the more acceptable sexual harassment of women. In later revivals it would be changed back to the original situation involving the homosexuality of the Major.

Played by David Niven in a best actor Oscar winning performance that was more of a supporting role and not to my liking I have to say. He was usually cast as a suave debonair lay about who never got the girl in many light weight romantic comedies of the 40's sort of a second class Tyrone Power or Cary Grant. In Tables he was cast against type and plays a sad pathetic man who gets arrested for his transgressions against women and then is arrested and exposed in the daily newspaper that Gladys Cooper uses against him to rid him of his remaining dignity and his residence at the hotel where he holds sway over her wilting daughter.

The second stringy story involves Burt Lancaster who is a writer and an alcoholic who is having an affair with Wendy Hiller, until his former wife played by a nervous Rita Hayworth comes to the hotel to try to reignite their failed marriage. Both actors are uncomfortable in their roles especially the fragile Hayworth who plays a woman terrified of aging and being alone.

Directed by Delbert Mann who had a fling with fame when he won a directing Oscar for “Marty” and was known mainly for his 50's television work that he brings to play in the filming of “Tables” which has a Playhouse 90 look to it. No doubt this has to do with the choice to film it on a sound stage in Hollywood which gives the black and white film a black and white t.v. look especially in the fake looking landscape that surrounds the fake looking hotel. Tacked on the opening credits is a title song warbled by Vic Demone that so upset Mann who was not told about this that he swore he would never work for Hecht again. In 1983 John Schlesinger did a filmed version of the play that starred Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Claire Bloom and Irene Worth, now that is one that I would want to see.

Mixed on paper. 2025

 

Hard Truths 2024

Another marvelous chamber piece from the great director Mike Leigh focusing on ordinary lives lived out and around In London. The ordinary lives of “Hard Truths” are two sisters, one light and happy, the other dark and miserable. Our time is mainly spent with the dark and miserable one played to perfection by the wonderful Marianne Jean-Baptiste who lives a desperate life with her sad plumber of a husband and her overweight sad downtrodden 22 year old son who spends most of his time in his bedroom headphones on, reading young adult and children books on airplanes and fondling his plastic airplane models. When he's not isolating himself he takes long lonely walks head down sometimes being accosted by local neighborhood bullies. They live in a nice neat but sterile and unfeeling house in a Caribbean neighborhood somewhere in London. The film opens with Marianne whose name is Pansy waking up from sleep and letting out a piercing scream. This might be the background sound of the film.

She is a tortured soul, nasty and complaining about everything and her day consists of errands that end in hostile confrontations with anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross her path including store clerks, doctors and dentists and of course her poor husband and son not to mention her sweet hairdresser sister played by Michele Austin who loves her but is torn by her erratic and terrible behavior. I didn't know whether to laugh (indeed some of her confrontations are so horrible and outrageous that I did indeed laugh at some of them, shame on me) or cringe.

Her sister is the complete opposite of Pansy, kind loving, fun to be around and a cherished mom whose two grown up daughters live with her and behave more like friends than mother and daughters. Pansy is especially nasty to her husband played with sorrow and defeat by David Webber and their poor son Moses who is the brunt of most of Pansy's anger. It's hard to watch. Her behavior is so appalling and gross that I found myself hating her for most of the film's running time.

The shank of the film resolves around two events: mothers day and a visit by the two sisters to their mother's grave which fills in some details of the sadness of Pansy's life. But Leigh doesn't let us off easily, he doesn't give us any resolves or resolutions no happy fade-outs or easy truths here. Baptiste is brilliant and should have gotten another Oscar nomination for her performance to go with her supporting actress nomination she received for “Secrets and Lies” another great family drama many moons ago.

This is Leigh's first film that focuses on the lives of black families and he brings the same complex direction and attention that all of his previous films have. I've seen all of his movies except for “Peterloo”from 2018 due to no fault of my own since it is nowhere to be found either on dvd or streaming that I know of.

He works on his films over long periods of time, allowing his cast to find their own paths and this gives his films a spontaneous feel. They almost feel improvised and immediate and most of his films have sometimes embarrassing and awkward family gatherings including “Hard Truths. His long years of working with a steady group of actors also helps to bring comfort and joy to his stories and they make up a who's who of great British actors including Imelda Staunton, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis,Brenda Blethyn, Alison Steadman (who he was married to for a time) Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan, many of whom have appeared over and over in his films.

He also broke away from small to large in two magnificent films one about the theater and the other about the life of an artist. The great 1999 epic story of Gilbert and Sullivan “Topsy Turvy” and the equally magnificent 2014 “Mr. Turner” about the great 19^th century painter J.M.W. Turner, are both to my mind arguably the best films ever done on the theater and the life of an artist. Both are expansive, rich with characters and compelling in plot and both are gorgeous to look at.

Animated short film on my life and art by Wayne Nelsen

"I first became aware of Ira Joel Haber's childhood art on Facebook. It was astounding. As a kid, he seemed to have some kind of vascular connection to the zeitgeist of Hippy Era Madison Avenue. I imagined he was a love child of Susan Sontag, or that he camped out for a summer in the Museum of Natural History. My regards for Ira's art inspired me to make this short film about him. The narrative and images are from Ira, and the music is from a childhood friend, Bill Reichelt. I did the animation."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F08A2qkg2SE

mixed on paper 2025

 

Some more small notebook drawings and collages

 

David Johansen 1950-2025

 

Small notebook drawings. 2025

 

Gene Hackman 1930-2025

 The Great Actor has passed. 

February 2025. Mixed on paper

 

Roberta Flack 1937-2025

 

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. 2017-2023

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. This is one of nuttiest series I have ever seen, its also one of the best. Its a vibrant take on a young woman played by Rachel Brosnahan who is recently divorced by her husband and on the make to make it as a stand up comedian in the 50's. She comes from a privileged upper Jewish middle class upper west side upbringing with intelligent but very eccentric parents played with delight by Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle. In fact every member of the cast is great and play their roles with glee and outrageousness like the frequent Over stuffed pastrami sandwiches that appear with regularity.

As I said the large cast also overflows with fast talking, hell very fast talking New York type characters many in show biz both high and low that push the boundaries of stereotypes into new levels of levels. Best among them is the great Alex Borstein short unorthodox butch foul mouth and pushy as the manager of a low down Village nightclub who becomes the manager and best friend of Mrs. Maisel and pushes her to levels of stardom but high and very low. Also wonderful is the great Caroline Aaron sweet, loud and clueless as her ex mother in law.

Other members of the great cast are Jane Lynch who makes appearances here and there as the pushy nasty and annoying stand up comedian who I couldn't place in real time. Was she based on Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller or some complete made up character. There is also a black singer who Mrs. Maisel opens up for in Las Vegas who is no doubt based on Johnny Mathais closet and all, and a real life Lenny Bruce fictionized and important to Mrs. Maisel's life and career.

There are late night talk hosts, riotous borsch belt comedians, (The eposides set in a 50's Catskill resort will have you rolling on the floor) gangsters, lots of loud family arguments one unbelievably on the Coney Island Wonder Wheel, and a strong taste of upper class Jewish family life in the 50's including several excursions into real synagogues on the high holy days, where outbreaks of hysteria break out. I could go on and on highlighting the many pleasures of this show including a jazz club run by her ex husband in Chinatown, the garment center factories, the early days of live t.v. And much more.

Also notable are the many sights and sounds of the real New York City that this wonderful series actually filmed on location and to my critical New York City eye were done with beautiful details and accuracy. They even got the film on the marquee of Radio City Music Hall correct. The other spectacular thing are the beautiful costume and clothes of the period that was a sight for these eyes. Brilliant, poignant and funny.