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Steve Rothaus

Steve Rothaus' Gay South Florida - for and about (but not just) LGBT people

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We’ve moved! Steve Rothaus’ Gay South Florida is now a section on the new MiamiHerald.com

new GSF

Click here for all the latest LGBT stories, photos and videos at Steve Rothaus’ Gay South Florida.

Update your bookmarks. The quick link: www.miamiherald.com/gay

We’re now a full section at the new MiamiHerald.com, including local, national and foreign stories of interest to the LGBT community.

From now on, all Gay South Florida content will be fully visible on any device, including smartphones, tablets and desktops.

Also, you’ll be able to comment directly to Facebook from any story posted to Gay South Florida.

This blog will no longer be updated, but will remain available to quickly find earlier stories.

If you have any questions, contact me at srothaus@MiamiHerald.com.

Thanks for visiting!

September 18, 2014 in AIDS and Health, Arts, Bisexual, Books, Bullying, Business, Census, Crime, Current Affairs, Fashion, Film, Florida, Food and Drink, Fort Lauderdale & Broward County, Gay, Immigration, Key West & Monroe County, Lesbian, LGBT, Marriage, Media, Miami & Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach, Military, Music, Obituary, Palm Beach County, Pets, Politics, Religion, South Florida, Sports, Television, Theater, Transgender, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs, Wilton Manors, Workplace, Youth | Permalink | Comments (4)

‘I Love Lucy Live On Stage’ celebrates Miami run with free cocktail party at Arsht Center

Euriamis Losada (Ricky), Thea Brooks (Lucy), Lori Hammel (Ethel) and Kev...

 

Caption: Euriamis Losada (Ricky), Thea Brooks (Lucy), Lori Hammel (Ethel) and Kevin Remington (Fred), in I LOVE LUCY® LIVE ON STAGE - Photo by Ed Krieger

BY ABRAHAM GALVAN

agalvan@MiamiHerald.com

Calling all Vitameatavegamin girls. And boys.

I Love Lucy Live On Stage is soon coming to town and to celebrate the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts will host a free community cocktail party 6 to 9 p.m. Friday.

Featured events at the party: performances by Miami Gay Men’s Chorus (each member dressed as Desi Arnaz’s TV alter ego, Ricky Ricardo) and a Lucille Ball/Lucy Ricardo lookalike contest – open to all genders.

“I encourage men to enter the contest also,” said Morgan Stockmayer, promotions manager for the Arsht Center. “I am actually looking forward to seeing them.”


Miami Gay Men’s Chorus will perform two 20-minute sets of their own repertoire, along with musical numbers featured on I Love Lucy, which ran on CBS from 1951 to 1957.Male or female, the contest winner will receive a package including I Love Lucy Live tickets and a pin-up style photo shoot by Terribly Girly Photography’s Janette Valentine. Judges are local fashion experts Gino R. Campodonico of The MANnequin Party, Kalyn James from Fashion Style Miami, and Annie Vasquez of TheFashionPoet.com.

The gay men’s chorus opens and closes the reception. “We do a set really early in the happy hour and then in about an hour or so come back and do another set,” artistic director Anthony Cabrera said.

For the past three months, the chorus has been preparing at its regular rehearsal location, All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Miami Beach.

“We try to perform to the highest caliber because when we go out to perform we give it our all,” chorus member Brandon Stephenson said.

The cocktail party, part of DWNTWN Art Days 2014, will be hosted by 101.5 Lite FM morning personality Julie Guy and showcase classic cars from Dezer Collection Auto Museum and Event Space. Photos and footage from the current HistoryMiami exhibit, American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music, will also be featured.

The signature cocktail of the night will $5 Mojitos, along with other “Tropicana nightclub” drinks.

I Love Lucy Live On Stage runs Sept. 30-Oct. 5 at the Arsht Center, where Miami audience members can imagine themselves as a 1952 I Love Lucy studio audience watching Ball, Arnaz, William Frawley and Vivian Vance perform as Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel.

IF YOU GO

▪ What: ‘I Love Lucy Live On Stage’ Cocktail Hour

▪ When: Friday, Sept. 19

▪ Where: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts: 1300 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132

▪ Cost: Free admission; $5 mojitos and other drinks.

▪ Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1463657213892490

September 17, 2014 in Arts, Bisexual, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Florida, Food and Drink, Fort Lauderdale & Broward County, Gay, Key West & Monroe County, Lesbian, LGBT, Media, Miami & Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach, Politics, Religion, South Florida, Television, Theater, Transgender, Weblogs, Wilton Manors, Workplace, Youth | Permalink | Comments (0)

‘Orange is the New Black’ writer Lauren Morelli leaves husband for actress who plays Poussey

BY LISA GUTIERREZ
THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Talk about a major plot twist.

Lauren Morelli, a writer for “Orange is the New Black,” is divorcing her husband to pursue a new relationship with Samira Wiley, who plays Poussey Washington on the show.

Morelli revealed in May that she realized she was gay while working on the Netflix hit series. And fans shouldn’t be surprised that she’s found love with Wiley. The two appear in several photos on Morelli’s Instagram account, including pictures of the two going to the Emmys together last month.

Now, TMZ reports that Morelli and her husband, Steve Basilone, have filed for divorce and have split amicably.

Morelli wrote that she realized she was gay in the fall of 2012, “one of my first days on the set.”

“I went through it all on set: I fell in love with a woman, and I watched my life play out on screen,” she wrote. “And now, as we are gearing up for the release of Season 2, it feels liberating and appropriate to live my life in front of you.”

#NetflixEmmysPartyBus w/ @lomorelli! #turnup pic.twitter.com/pfiJN64Edg

— Samira Wiley (@samirawiley) August 25, 2014

September 15, 2014 in Arts, Bisexual, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, Media, Politics, Religion, Television, Theater, Transgender, Weblogs, Workplace, Youth | Permalink | Comments (0)

Music legend and ‘Fifth Season’ Bob Crewe dies at 82

kicksKaren Ocamb of FrontiersLA.com reports that Four Seasons music legend Bob Crewe died Thursday at age 82.

Two years ago, Crewe’s brother, Dan, posted online that Bob suffered from dementia and lived in a Los Angeles nursing home.

Crewe, a gay man, ironically wrote the big ‘60s hit, Music to Watch Girls By.

Two years ago, I interviewed actor Jonathan Hadley, who toured for years playing Crewe in the national company of Jersey Boys.

Here’s my article about Crewe published Jan. 11, 2012:

'Jersey Boys' pals sing praises of unsung Fifth Season, songwriter-producer-performer Bob Crewe

BY STEVE ROTHAUS
srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Known in the music business as “the Fifth Season,” songwriter-producer-performer Bob Crewe is the creative talent behind Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Lesley Gore and a legion of ‘60s American pop stars.

“He was responsible for that signature Four Seasons sound. He’s an unsung hero,” says actor Jonathan Hadley, who for four years has portrayed Crewe in the touring company of Broadway’s Jersey Boys, now at the Broward Center for Performing Arts.

Crewe produced the Four Seasons’ 1962 breakthrough hit Sherry, written by Bob Gaudio, and co-wrote (with Gaudio) Big Girls Don’t Cry, Rag DollandWalk Like a Man. All were No. 1 hits that catapulted the Seasons — Valli, Gaudio,Tommy DeVitoand Nick Massi — into superstardom.

“[Crewe’s] an artist. He’s got the best ears in the business,” says Rick Elice, who in the early 2000s co-wrote Jersey Boys with Oscar-winner Marshall Brickman (Annie Hall).

Elice, whose play Peter and the Starcatcher (based on the Peter Panprequel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson) is being readied for a spring opening on Broadway, says it was Crewe’s concept to overdub Valli’s falsetto on early Four Seasons recordings.

“He’s very hip to new producing techniques,” Elice says.

In his prime, Crewe also produced music for Michael Jackson, Bobby Darin and Patti LaBelle (he co-wrote Labelle’s Lady Marmalade). In 1967, he scored three big successes: co-writing Valli’s No. 1 Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You: scoring Jane Fonda’s film Barbarella; and performing the No. 2 instrumental Music to Watch Girls By.

Now 80, Crewe suffers from dementia and lives in a Los Angeles nursing center, according to a recent blog post by his brother, Dan, president of The Bob Crewe Foundation for aspiring artists, AIDS research and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.

In the early days, Crewe quietly identified as bisexual, Hadley says.

“We knew something was different about this guy but, back then, we thought Liberace was just theatrical,” says Hadley, 47, who is gay.

Right from the start, Jersey Boys is up front about Crewe. “My first line in the show is, ‘Watch your mouth Toto, we’re not in Newark anymore,’ Hadley says. “Right away, the audience says ‘Gay.’”

Elice says he and Brickman consulted with Crewe, Valli and Gaudio while writing Jersey Boys.

Crewe believed that in the early days, no one knew his sexual orientation. Wrong, according to Valli and Gaudio, who told Elice that “if you looked up gay in the dictionary, you’d see Bob.”

“It just didn’t matter to them. You’d think they’d be the kind of guys that it would be a problem. But they didn’t give a s--- if he was gay, straight or whatever,” says Elice, whose partner, actor Roger Rees, recently starred on Broadway in The Addams Family — book by Elice and Brickman.

Elice, 55, says Crewe made only one request of the Jersey Boys script: “That he not be represented as a screaming queen.”

“He’s not a screaming queen,” Elice says. “And Jonathan doesn’t play him that way.”

September 11, 2014 in Arts, Bisexual, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, Media, Music, South Florida, Television, Theater, Transgender, Weblogs, Workplace, Youth | Permalink | Comments (1)

'Gone With the Wind' to celebrate 75th anniversary with theatrical screenings, new Blu-ray edition

Because we still give a damn: Long considered among the greatest films ever made, Gone With the Wind starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland celebrates its 75th anniversary this month.

TCM will present screenings of Gone With the Wind on Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 in movie theaters across the nation. The film gets a new boxed set Blu-ray anniversary edition on Sept. 30.

Here are the details from Fathom Events, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and TCM:

gwtw

Scarlett O’Hara won and then lost Rhett Butler, Atlanta burned and the antebellum South was shown in all its splendor and decimation in one of cinema’s most treasured and most successful films, “Gone With the Wind.” And now, as part of the festivities to mark the 10-time Oscar©-winning film’s 75th anniversary, Fathom Events is joining with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Turner Classic Movies to bring “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” back to its original home in select theatres nationwide and presented in its original aspect ratio so audiences can experience it as it was originally shown 75 years ago. The film will be exhibited on Sunday, September 28 and Wednesday, October 1 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time.

Tickets for “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. The event will be presented in more than 650 select movie theaters around the country. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

In addition to the classic film, which starred Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Olivia De Havilland as Melanie Hamilton and Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” will include a specially produced introduction by  TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne.

“Gone With the Wind” was released in 1939 and won the best picture Oscar© for that year. It has been re-released nine times since, but “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” will offer audiences their first opportunity to see the masterpiece in its original 1:37 aspect ratio since its initial re-release in 1947.  It will also be shown in that format when shown on TV and distributed on Blu-Ray format as part of the all-encompassing celebration of the classic’s 75th anniversary.

“Fathom Events is honored to be part of the multi-faceted commemoration of the 75th anniversary of ‘Gone With the Wind,’ and especially to give fans the chance to see it in the format and venue it was made for,” Fathom Events CEO John Rubey said. “There’s no better way to appreciate the grandeur or beauty of this film than in cinemas, with top-of-the-line projection and sound quality.”

“ ‘Gone With the Wind’ is one of the most celebrated and iconic films in the WB Library,” noted Jeff Baker, WBHE’s Executive VP and General Manager, Theatrical Catalog. “We are very selective about re-releasing classic films from our library, theatrically and this is certainly one that warrants the limited re-release. Deservedly, 75 years later, it remains the domestic box-office king at nearly $1.7 billion (adjusted for inflation).”

On September 30, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s “Gone with the Wind 75th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition” arrives on Blu-ray™ and Digital HD with UltraViolet. It will be fittingly presented in limited and numbered sets, with new premium packaging, new special features and new collectible memorabilia.  For more information, please click here.

"We're thrilled to be teaming up with Fathom Events and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as we bring ‘Gone With the Wind’ back into the spotlight for its 75th anniversary," said Dennis Adamovich, senior vice president of digital, affiliate, lifestyle and enterprise commerce for TCM, TBS and TNT. "This is a great chance for fans to experience this monumental classic on the big screen."

As any fan of classic films or American literature surely knows, “Gone With the Wind” is the Epic Civil War drama about spoiled southern belle Scarlett O'Hara. Starting with her idyllic life on the plantation Tara, it traces her unrequited love for Ashley Wilkes, her tempestuous relationship with roguish Rhett Butler and her struggles as Atlanta burns, her family home is decimated and she vows to never go hungry again. As has been evident from the enduring devotion that fans have for the story – on film, on the pages of Margaret Mitchell’s original novel, on TV and home entertainment formats – frankly, they DO give a damn about Scarlett’s triumphs, travails and ultimate will to survive.

September 05, 2014 in Arts, Business, Current Affairs, Fashion, Film, Media, Television, Theater, Weblogs, Youth | Permalink | Comments (1)

‘Lady Valor’ Kristin Beck, a transgender retired Navy SEAL, is the anti-Barbie

BY STEVE ROTHAUS
srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Kristin Beck worries about the safety of other transgender women, not so much for herself.

“Once a week, one time per week a transgender woman is killed,” says Beck — formerly named Christopher — a tough, retired Navy SEAL who still battle trains former co-workers. “Between 50 and 60 women are killed per year for not being Barbie. Because we’re not Barbie, we’re allowed to be killed? And nobody really cares. And that’s something that needs to stop. They don’t kill Barbies. They kill girls like me.”

Beck, who for years risked her life fighting foes like the Taliban, is on a new mission: raising awareness for men and women whose birth bodies don’t match their gender identities.

“I just moved very recently to the Washington, D.C., area, so I could be closer to the Capitol, closer to Congress, to continue my advocacy work for equality, for transgender equality,” said Beck, who relocated from her home in Tampa. “Civil rights activist, that’s my new title.”

Beck, 48, has another new title: TV star. Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story about her former life, transition and new start airs 9 p.m. Thursday on CNN.

Even as a child, Beck knew something was different: Young Christopher secretly dressed as a girl when the rest of the family wasn’t home.

“I never had a label because I never saw it,” says Beck, who is divorced with two sons. “I thought I was the only person in the world who ever did this. I was alone. That’s common among transgender people. You just think you’re all by yourself, there’s nobody out there who would ever identify with me. Nobody would ever love me. I’m not worthy because I’m a frickin’ weirdo.”

Beck is perhaps the least politically correct LGBT politician in Washington. And she doesn’t care.

“I’m Kristin Beck every day. I’m not flamboyant. I try not to be too loud. I’m just a regular person,” she says, frustrated that the media fixates on beautiful transgender women like actress Laverne Cox, who in May appeared on the cover of Time.

“I’m proud, it’s awesome,” Beck says. “I love everything Laverne is doing. But it’s still not a regular person. It’s not the girl from West Virginia who dresses like she’s driving a bulldozer. A trans girl who’s driving a bulldozer is not being represented. What you’re representing is that Barbie mentality that we all need to fit a certain image, and everyone else doesn’t count.”

Beck says she’s anything but Barbie.

“Try to walk around the airport and not have everyone looking at you. Try to get punched in the back of the head when you’re walking down the street,” Beck says. “The Barbie models, they don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. They’re Barbies. Everybody loves Barbie.”

Sandrine Orabona, co-director of Lady Valor, greatly admires Beck.

“She could have lived a private life. The fact that she’s choosing to be in the spotlight or out there, that’s her personal choice because she feels like she fought for the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Then she looks at what’s going on, and she feels she still has to do that,” says Orabona, who grew up in Coral Gables and graduated from University of Miami’s film school in 1997. “She operates with grace … and she’s made a career of diplomacy, not just in Washington but in the middle of a dusty desert in Afghanistan.”

August 29, 2014 in Bisexual, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Florida, Fort Lauderdale & Broward County, Gay, Key West & Monroe County, Lesbian, LGBT, Marriage, Media, Miami & Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach, Politics, Religion, South Florida, Television, Transgender, Weblogs, Wilton Manors, Workplace, Youth | Permalink | Comments (6)

Nathan Lane as 'The Nance' returns Saturday through Monday at Coral Gables Art Cinema

From Robert Rosenberg, director of Coral Gables Art Cinema:

NATHAN LANE RETURNS FOR ENCORES OF “THE NANCE” SAT 8/30 TO MON 9/1 AT THE GABLES CINEMA

the nance

The hit Broadway play starring two-time Tony Award-winner Nathan Lane, The Nance, returns to the Gables Cinema for encore presentations on Saturday, Sunday & Monday, August 30 to September 1 at 1:00 pm each day. In the 1930s, burlesque impresarios welcomed the hilarious comics and musical parodies of vaudeville to their decidedly lowbrow niche. Douglas Carter Beane's The Nance recreates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque's heyday and tells the backstage story of Chauncey Miles (a gay man in his personal life) playing a headliner called "the nance," a stereotypically camp gay man and master of comic double entendre - usually played by a straight man, and his fellow performers. At a time when it was easy to play gay and dangerous to be gay, Chauncey’s uproarious antics on the stage stand out in marked contrast to his offstage life. When the mayor of New York tries to end burlesque, Chauncey must fight in court for his freedom of expression. Performances are captured live and presented in high quality 2K Digital Cinema Projection that brings Broadway to the Gables. Tickets are $20 and under and are available in advance through the Cinema’s website www.gablescinema.com and in person at the box office during regular screening hours. The Cinema is located at 260 Aragon Avenue, directly across from Books & Books, in downtown Coral Gables.

August 29, 2014 in Arts, Bisexual, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Florida, Food and Drink, Fort Lauderdale & Broward County, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, Media, Miami & Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach, Music, Politics, Religion, South Florida, Television, Theater, Transgender, Weblogs, Wilton Manors, Workplace | Permalink | Comments (0)

Video | Ellen DeGeneres and Chelsea Handler's Nude Shower Fight! | Chelsea Lately

On YouTube:

Ellen is hopping mad about never being invited on "Chelsea Lately"--but is it because she's a lesbian? Watch Handler and DeGeneres' shower fight!

August 27, 2014 in Arts, Bisexual, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, Media, Politics, Religion, Television, Theater, Transgender, Weblogs, Workplace, Youth | Permalink | Comments (0)

Video | Broadway, TV star Kristin Chenoweth joins HRC’s Americans for Marriage Equality campaign

From HRC:

Kristin Chenoweth Joins HRC’s Americans for Marriage Equality Campaign

Emmy and Tony Award winner cites her Christian faith in video supporting marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples

WASHINGTON – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, released a video ad featuring Emmy and Tony Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth for the group’s Americans for Marriage Equality campaign. In the video, Chenoweth states, “The bottom line is that regardless of how you were made or who you love, you should be able to get married if you want to get married.  I truly believe it’s that simple.” The video can be viewed online at hrc.org/marriageequality.

“We are incredibly grateful to Kristin Chenoweth for lending her legendary voice to the fight for marriage equality nationwide,” said Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Charles Joughin.  “Like Kristin, a majority of Americans already support marriage for gay and lesbian couples.  And thanks to her and countless others across the country, it’s only a matter of time before a state border no longer dictates your ability to marry the person you love.”

Emmy and Tony Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth effortlessly transitions between stage, screen and an accomplished singing career. Many remember her show-stealing, Tony-winning performance in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and her triumphant star turn when she originated the role of Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked, which earned her a Tony Award nomination.  Chenoweth has explored numerous and diverse roles for film and television, including “Pushing Daisies,” for which she received an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, “The West Wing,” and “Glee,” which earned her Emmy and People’s Choice Award nominations.

Chenoweth has completed production on the Universal film “The Boy Next Door,” alongside Jennifer Lopez, “Opposite Sex,” an indie teen drama entitled “Hard Sell” and the Disney Channel’s live-action original movie “Descendents,” in which she will play the classic Sleeping Beauty villain Maleficent.  This fall, Chenoweth will host the PBS Arts Fall Festival, featuring classic Broadway hits, music from around the country and theatre performances. The festival will include her own concert performance, “Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home,” where she will perform a career-spanning concert in her hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.  The concert will be released as a live CD and DVD in November. And in early 2015, she will return to Broadway, playing the glamorous film star, Lily Garland, in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 20-week limited engagement of “On the Twentieth Century.”

This is the sixth video released for the re-launch of HRC’s Americans for Marriage Equality Video campaign. Previous releases include videos from Anthony Bourdain, Colbie Caillat, Tony Hawk, Susan Sarandon and Demi Lovato.

Same-sex couples can legally marry in nineteen states and the District of Columbia, while 31 states have a law or constitutional amendment restricting marriage to the union of one man and one woman.  However, polling continues to show Americans moving inexorably in the direction of supporting equality for same-sex couples, and there are over 70 court cases across the country challenging bans on marriage equality.

Nationally, Gallup puts support for marriage equality at 55 percent – an astonishing 15 points increase from just 5 years ago – with other polls showing support at even higher margins.  And support for same-sex marriage rights continues to grow in virtually every demographic group.  According to ABC News / Washington Post, 77 percent of adults under age 30 favor marriage equality.  40 percent of Republicans – an all-time high and jump of 16 points in under two years – now support marriage for gay and lesbian couples, while the number of Catholics supporting marriage has grown to 62 percent, according to the New York Times.  These numbers continue to grow, with no indication that support will slow down. 

HRC’s Americans for Marriage Equality campaign seeks to advance marriage equality nationwide and provide up-to-the-minute information for lawmakers, legal experts, media, and grassroots supporters. Following the defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 last year, new marriage equality battles are underway in the courts, at the ballot and in public education campaigns.  The campaign’s video series will draw from a cadre of supportive professional athletes, film and music celebrities, and political and civic leaders speaking out in favor of marriage rights for same-sex couples nationwide.  For more information on the campaign or to see the videos, visit http://americansformarriageequality.org.

August 21, 2014 in Arts, Bisexual, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, Marriage, Media, Politics, Religion, Television, Theater, Transgender, Weblogs, Workplace, Youth | Permalink | Comments (0)

Disney classics including 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks,' 'Ichabod and Mr. Toad' on Blu-ray

BY STEVE ROTHAUS
srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Disney Blu-ray has released several high-definition catalog titles ranging from 1940s animated classics like The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad narrated by Bing Crosby and Basil Rathbone to 1971's Bedknobs and Broomsticks starring Angela Lansbury.

ichabodIchabod and Mr. Toad (made in 1949 and the inspiration for Disneyland's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride) runs 68 minutes and comes paired with Disney's Fun and Fancy Free, a 1947 collection of short subjects including Mickey and the Beanstalk, which marked the final time Walt Disney himself voiced the famous mouse. ($37)

Both films look and sound great. Hidden away on the Blu-ray as a bonus feature is the 1941 Disney feature The Reluctant Dragon, a black-and-white and color film that mixed live action and animation. The live action sequences star Robert Benchley, a popular New Yorker humorist at the time who later became known as grandfather of Jaws author Peter Benchley.

The Reluctant Dragon is set at Walt Disney Studios and offers a unique glimpse at how the company produced such films as Bambi and Dumbo.

bedknobsBy the late 1960s, Walt Disney was dead and several post-Mary Poppins films were already in preparation. Among the better known: Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which utilized many of the Mary Poppins creators, including songwriters Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman, screenwriters Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi and director Robert Stevenson. The Lansbury film even co-starred Poppins' David Tomlinson, who in the 1964 Julie Andrews classic played the children's father, Mr. Banks.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks isn't quite in Poppins' league, but actually is quite entertaining and a bit darker than the earlier movie. It is set in 1940's England during the London Blitz in World War II, and the villains are Nazis.

Bedknobs ran nearly 2 1/2 hours hours when it originally premiered in 1971, but Disney quickly shorted the film to 117 minutes for its general release. That's the version most people remember, but nearly 20 years ago the studio restored much of the edited footage for home video. The film's new Blu-ray contains the shorter general release version, along with the edited footage as bonus material.

Disney Blu-ray has also released Tarzan (1999), Hercules (1997) and Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004). Each retails for $30 and all films (except the Ichabod and Mr. Toad/Fun and Fancy Free package) include digital copies.

August 18, 2014 in Arts, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Media, Television, Theater, Weblogs, Youth | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Recent Posts

  • Weve moved! Steve Rothaus Gay South Florida is now a section on the new MiamiHerald.com
  • I Love Lucy Live On Stage celebrates Miami run with free cocktail party at Arsht Center
  • Facebook gallery | World Outgames Miami 2017 reception - Sept. 16, 2014
  • Aqua Foundation scholarships help young lesbian, bisexual, transgender women succeed
  • Miami-Dade County commission gives early OK to transgender-protections law
  • Transgender protections come before Miami-Dade commission again
  • Orange is the New Black writer Lauren Morelli leaves husband for actress who plays Poussey
  • Man wins fight to get same-sex union recognized in Arizona
  • Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi appeals several gay-marriage rulings statewide
  • Joan Rivers executive producer speaks at Stonewall museum screening in Fort Lauderdale
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