Very sad news…one of the English papers is reporting that Paul Newman may be near death, from lung cancer.

I have known for about a year that he was ill, as his wife Joanne Woodward began curtailing various activities to stay close to his side. He has been treated for cancer here in NYC.

Joanne Woodward, as you may know, is a die-hard Nelson Eddy fan. She saw Naughty Marietta about 15-17 times and loves to tell the story about how she met Nelson at a restaurant after she won her Best Actress Oscar for Three Faces of Eve. She went over to him and gushed how much she enjoyed his films, how many times she’d seen Naughty Marietta, etc. – to Nelson’s amazement. Woodward said her hubby was amused and tolerant of “the other man” in her life.

When I first met her a few years back, I gave her one of our Nelson Eddy Centennial tote bags … filled with a few items I thought she might like. She was giving one of her wonderful film screening afternoons – a tribute to Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. She spoke to the audience and with tears in her eyes, said it was one of the most wonderful gifts she had ever gotten. And that when she got home with the tote bag Paul Newman had taken it from her and looked at its contents, laughing at how she still adored Nelson Eddy after all these years.

Like many of you women whose long-suffering husbands have been tolerant of your “addiction” to Nelson Eddy – well, it was amazing to know that Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman had a similar scene at home! (Movie stars…they’re just like us!)

I have always found Ms. Woodward to be a gracious and kind lady, with a sense of humor, honesty and courage in speaking out about the Jeanette MacDonald–Nelson Eddy romance even when it wasn’t the politically correct topic of discussion. I have met several people who know the Newmans, or have worked with them, and they only have laudatory things to say about them – especially how they’ve used their fame and money to help others.

My heart goes out to them.

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Update: Martha Stewart posted several pictures of herself taken with Paul Newman at one of his charity events last weekend.

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…I was shocked to learn yesterday,that in association with the German embassy in Estonia, there is a huge tribute to Ernst Lubitsch’s films in the middle of the Pöff film festival in Tallinn…

I don’t know whether I was more shocked about the fact that I was missing it,because it was into  it’s third day, so it was too,too late for me to even comprehend the event-after all,I’m a devotee of the master with ‘the touch’ and would kill to see his works on the big screen-,or because of the fact somebody actually had the guts to come out with classic films in the middle of that god-forsaken hipster event!

And not only that,but Estonia is probably the last place on earth they show classic films anyway. Anything produced before the late 60’s is a taboo around here. I say,thank god for cable TV with it’s shabby European TCM schedule and the Internet,because these are the only sources for classic movies around here.

Even getting DVDs  is a pain-unless you’re willing to pay about 769860886780 crowns to buy off Amazon or Ebay and don’t forget to add the shipping prices!

Not to mention-people couldn’t care less.There isn’t even a small fan-base for those movies.Whereas in Russia or Latvia,or probably every other ex-soviet country, there are large vintage communities of all sorts,delighting in the movies and music of the past.

Anyway,the Lubitsch retrospective is a big break.I’m sad I will miss it,and wish I would have found out earlier,because I haven’t seen more than a few of the movies that are scheduled, but I’ll live through it.

….I love Lubitsch,really I do.There was this man who had the divine ability to mix rather low-brow humor with sparkling sophistication,and he did it ever so effortlessly.His ‘Trouble In Paradise’ and ‘Design for  Living’  are amongst my ALL TIME favourite comedies and I quite enjoy the insane opperettas and Weimar silents he directed.In fact,I love every single movie of his, I’ve seen so far. And he was also a fascinating man in other ways-one of the few ‘darling ‘ directors in Hollywood and genuinely good-natured and witty.

In conclusion: it’s good that his work gets attention around here, but  I doubt many people will care and…ah…who are we kidding…I’m actually damn mad at myself, I didn’t hear about the event about two weeks ago or so.

…Lubitsch seized upon the advent of talkies to direct musicals. With his first sound film, The Love Parade (1929), starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, Lubitsch hit his stride as a maker of worldly musical comedies (and earned himself another Oscar nomination). The Love Parade (1929), Monte Carlo (1930), and The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) were hailed by critics as masterpieces of the newly emerging musical genre…. Whether with music, as in MGM’s opulent The Merry Widow (1934) and Paramount’s One Hour with You (1932), or without, as in Design for Living (1933) Lubitsch continued to specialize in comedy. He made only one other dramatic film, the antiwar Broken Lullaby (also known as The Man I Killed, 1932)….

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