L. Frank Baum’s 1899 novel may be in the public domain, but Warner Bros. still owns, and profits from, the classic 1939 film. With Disney’s Oz, the Great and Powerful on the way, the studios have begun legal battles over both copyright and trademarks.
Tag: 02.13.12
Kentucky Opera Hires Non-Union Orchestra; Conductor Quits
The company normally uses the Louisville Orchestra in the pit, but that financially troubled organization is still in a longstanding contract dispute with its musicians. So, for its season-closing production of The Merry Widow this weekend, Kentucky Opera assembled a non-union pit band from local community orchestras – whereupon company music director Joseph Mechavich backed out.
We’re In A Golden Age Of Documentaries (So Why Don’t We Celebrate Them?)
Of the more than 800 feature films released theatrically in America last year, more than 300 were documentaries. (At premiere marketplace festivals like Sundance and Toronto, the ratio is similar.) Yet at the Academy Awards, where the film industry lavishly celebrates itself, all of those films compete for one measly award: best documentary. By comparison, dramatic features get 20 chances for an Oscar.
“Halftime In America – Political Metaphor
Set to music and narrated by the nation’s last living cowboy, “Halftime” has considerably more rhetorical pow than the prosaic platitudes of Obama’s 2011 State of the Union speech: “We’re the nation that puts cars in driveways.” Indeed, Eastwood’s manager couldn’t resist representing the spot as a personal statement from his client: “Chrysler just sponsored what he had to say.”
The Agony And Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs Now Available For Free – As Download Or Performing Script
“On Monday, after nearly 200 performances, the monologuist Mike Daisey was to release a theatrical transcript of his latest one-man show … through his Web site, mikedaisey.blogspot.com. It will be free to download and in a rare twist, if an aspiring performer should want to mount a production of the show, Mr. Daisey will not ask for payment.”
David Finckel Leaves Emerson String Quartet After 33 Years
The 60-year-old cellist, “who has been multitasking of late in ventures with his wife, the pianist Wu Han – as co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center … and Music@Menlo in California, and as co-producer of the record label ArtistLed – is leaving to pursue ‘his personal artistic endeavors’.”
How Charles Dickens And America Fell In And Out Of Love
“On his first visit to America in 1842, English novelist Charles Dickens was greeted like a modern rock star. … But a visit which had started so well quickly turned into a bitter dispute, known as the ‘Quarrel with America’.” (It seems author and country loved each other not wisely, but too well.)
Faith Ringgold Removes Her Name From New Harlem Children’s Museum
The artist and author, known for her painted story quilts, had been enthusiastic about the planned Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling attached to an affordable housing development in her old neighborhood. Then, two months ago, she cut all ties with the project, saying that the developers hadn’t provided for art insurance, security or storage. The developers counter that it’s too early in the process – construction hasn’t yet begun – to finalize such arrangements.
Ban On Tintin In The Congo Thrown Out By Belgian Court
“A Belgian court has rejected a claim that Tintin In The Congo is racist and tossed a request to withdraw the controversial comic book.”
Old Hat: Toys Based On Movies. New Hotness: Movies Based On Toys.
“Hasbro has long been known for making toys and games based on movies and TV shows. Lately, the multinational toy company has been making movies and TV shows based on its toys and games.”