#Billy Rose

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Reginald Marsh, Cabaret, 1938. Tempera and pencil on gessoed panel.

The painting’s subject, Casa Mañana, was a nightclub at 50th Street and Seventh Avenue, equidistant between Times Square and Carnegie Hall in the center of the theater district. In 1938, the Club was owned and operated by the flamboyant entertainment impresario Billy Rose. Fortune magazine commissioned Reginald Marsh to paint a picture of the interior during a performance for a full-page illustration in its planned article, “Put Their Name in Lights,” an examination of the very substantial business of the William Morris Agency, the “oldest theatrical agent in the U.S.” The article ran in Fortune’s September 1938 issue. …

Fortune accompanied the illustration in its September 1938 issue with a text explaining that vaudeville, “with its old-time acts has almost vanished. But variety as an entertainment form lives and thrives in theatre restaurants like Billy Rose’s Casa Mañana … The roster of artists who passed through Casa Mañana in its brief year-and-a-half run (it closed in May 1939) illustrates Rose’s ability to present the talent that the people wanted to see: Helen Morgan, Abbot & Costello, the Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, Bert Wheeler, Betty Hutton, Louis Armstrong, and Millie Picon among many others with orchestras led, at various times, by Vincent Lopez, Louis Prima, and Paul Whiteman. …

In classic Marsh fashion, the artist focuses his attention on a few figures of special interest. In the left foreground, a waitress leans over in conversation with a male patron. Behind her, a waiter makes his way through the crowd, holding aloft with one uplifted arm a tray with food and drink balanced high over his head, an acrobatic feat as much a part of the nightclub show as the activity on the stage. Two women and a man share a table near the stage, all watching the show intently. A bottle in an ice bucket sits adjacent to the table, the economic engine that made this whole scene a working business model. The patrons are dressed neatly in street clothing, the ladies with everyday hats. They are decent but there is no show of finery. While Billy Rose was famous for glamorous showgirls and as much bare skin as the law would allow, he also had an enduring fondness for vaudeville-style family entertainment. The two performers on the stage appear to be some version of acrobatic dancers, the excitement in their performance the result of breathtaking agility and grace with nothing to arouse either the libidos of the audience or the attention of the licensing authorities.

Photo & text: Hirschl & Adler Galleries

[stud-u-like]

Billy Rose 🇬🇧

Follow him on X

[oldshowbiz]

June 1962.

The Tonight Show with guest host Steve Lawrence and featuring Billy Rose, Mort Sahl, Jim Backus, and Frankie Avalon.

[unwelcome-ephestion]

I’m currently watching Funny Lady, which is the film sequel to Funny Girl. It’s not regarded as as strong as the original - it certainly lacks the tragic propulsion that gives Funny Girl its magnetism. But it’s good, and has a strong score by, of all people, Kander and Ebb, mixed in with a lot of early 20th century popular songs.

It’s only a film (so far), and just like it lacks Styne and Merrill who composed and wrote lyrics to the original, it also lacks William Wyler, the original director, who is replaced by Herbert Ross, who staged the original film’s musical numbers. Streisand finally agreed to do it after seeing the script, thinking it was more than a half-baked sequel, and she’s right - Fanny feels more mature than the original, like it’s real character development.

It’s an underrated gem, I think! Maybe not a knockout, but Streisand is great, and the Kander and Ebb score is better than most. Fred Ebb in particular finds the maturer, more cynical, sarcastic voice of Brice in his lyrics . It also has pretty much all diegetic music, unlike the original, possibly because in the seven years between the films, musicals were out and music films were in. Streisand does a Brice impression that is much more recognisable as the late era Brice who was captured on film and tv than her early, more innocent years, which most people are unfamiliar with, and it really feels like she’s making an adult performance in the role, and shows her talent for comedy maybe even better than the original. A shame that so many songs are montaged, but Spotify gives you them in full!

This song, I Found A Million Dollar Baby (in a five and ten cent store), sees Barbra absolutely radiant in a top hat and tails, but was also originally written by Harry Warren, Mort Dixon and Billy Rose - the latter one of the characters in Funny Lady!

[bobcatblahs]

I CANT BREATHE

[nipuni]

Bad Wolf Bay

[tvc12]

Rose Tyler’s Interstellar Nokia 3205

[cool-stuffandthings]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THEY'RE BACK!!!!

[bylrndgm]

DOCTOR WHO (2005) 1.10 The Doctor Dances

[sentientsky]

how could anyone hate rose tyler. the woman ran around starting unions, killing FUCKING SATAN, travelling between not only time and space, but dimensions, and becoming LITERAL FUCKING GOD. and she’s a symbol of irrepressible guilt and agony and love and light and resilience and courage. all rose haters can go eat mud

[yousharknotpass]

edition 2005.

i knoooooow Rose collects all the alien vogue and cosmopolitan (guess WHO'S buying)

[evan-buck]

DOCTOR WHO The End of Time: Part II

[emerald-worldsfinest]

As a DW fan I’m tearing up at this pic🥹 my fav Doctor with three of my fav companions

[shutbhubs]

not totally finished but didn’t feel like working on this much more 😓 so yeah here’s the one and only rose tyler‼️