A L A N K
I N G:
Bringing Movie Legend
Samuel Goldwyn to Life
on the Stages of New York
by J.C. Johnson / Comedy Profiles
Editor
T a l k i n g C o m e d y . c o m |
A
lan King has been called the entertainer who can fit 36
hours into a 24-hour day. For decades he has been doing standup comedy
on television — he's appeared over 1,000 times on virtually every
variety show in the annals of TV. King has kept busy during his long and
lustious career in all the mediums one can think of. He's authored five
best-selling books including his autobiography, Name-Dropping - The
Life and Lies of Alan King, and starred in and produced the Broadway
hit The Impossible Years in the 1960s. His movie career took off
in 1955 with the film Hit the Deck and since his acclaimed starring
performance as a harried business tycoon in Lumet's Just Tell Me What
You Want, King has kept very busy, with solid supporting roles in
Author! Author!, I, the Jury, Lovesick, Cat's
Eye, Memories of Me (filmed at
Kaufman-Austoria Studios which King co-owns),
Enemies, A Love Story, and Night and the City.
The 74-year-old King is not
slowing down one bit these days, either. He
was in last summers box office smash Rush Hour 2.
“I did a picture with Jackie
Chan so I'd know my grandchildren would go see it,” says King with
a laugh. He is just completing his latest
book, The jewish Wit, for Crown publishers. He
continues to perform his comedy live across the country; has a long running
Comedy Central TV show, Alan king: Inside the Comedy Mind; is an
owner and member of the executive board of Kaufman-Austoria Studios; pioneered
Manhattan's ‘Toyota Comedy Festival’ now in it's tenth year;
and runs the ‘Laugh Well’ program which has brought the healing
power of laughter to Tri-state area hospitals for half a decade…
and the list just goes on and on. “That makes it great… so I'm
busy,” continues King, ”I've had a lot of fun and I keep doing
it all.”
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A
L A N K I N G…
T A L K I N G
C O M E D Y
F E S T I V A L S
& M O R E
Alan King,Toyota and Friends
Laugh Well Together…
About a decade ago actor/comedian
Alan King began tossing around the idea of starting a comedy festival
in New York City. He had just been honored at Montreal's ‘Just
For Laughs’ Festival in Canada. And upon returning home the
thought came to him… "so what made Montreal the comedy
center of the WORLD?" New York had Broadway… it had many
well known comedy clubs… wasn't New York the hometown of some
of the greatest names in the world of comedy? But for all that New
York had, one thing it didn't have was a comedy festival of it's
own. So, Alan King thought …And why not? …Why not have
a comedy festival right here in New York?
King called George Wein, who would become one of the co-producers
of New York's annual festival and the two of them went to several
sponsors to pitch the idea. Toyota bought it and thus was born the
‘Toyota Comedy Festival’. This metropolitan area event,
now in its tenth year, has become America's biggest comedy celebration.
Every year the festival kicks off the summer with an all out assault
on the public's funny bones showcasing hundreds of comedians at
many different venues during its metropolitan area week and a half
long run.
"Each year…" says King, as he recalls highlights
from the past nine years, "we do a free concert at Bryant Park
every day. Which is great fun and we always have a great crowd."
Fast becoming another festival favorite is the annual comedy cruise.
"That came out of the blue," says King of its beginnings
four or so years ago. "We have a wonderful staff of people,
young people, who know what's going on. And all of a sudden we were
talking about what else we could do and someone said let's do a
comedy cruise. Let's put some comedians somewhere where they can't
get off… and torture them around the city of New York,"
relates King with a hearty laugh. "Everybody says it's great
fun. It's very popular."
"There were so many interesting things that have happened over
the course of nine years. I think some of the highlights would be
Carol Burnett, Whoopi Goldberg, Sid Caasar, Ray Romano and (Don)
Rickles … Oh my God, it goes on and on and on… George
Carlin and Jon Stewart and…" continues Alan King as he
looks back. Ray Romano headlined Carnigie Hall as the Toyota Festival's
main attraction in 2000 but six years earlier he had to audition
with festival staff to play one of the comedy clubs. "We've
had quite a few guys like that… Kevin James, from ‘King
of Queens’… Kevin auditioned and Martin Lawrence and a
bunch of others. Over the years we look back and see some of these
youngsters that were just waiting to audition back then …and
now, now they're big television stars. So that's nice. That's always
nice to see."
When the comedy festival is over for the year Alan King's ties with
Toyota and laughter keep going on and on. "Five years ago,"
says King, "Toyota was looking for something very civic to
do for the community, and I pitched the Laugh Well program."
The idea for Laugh Well came about one day after Alan King had received
a letter from a woman asking him to do a benefit for a hospital
she claimed had saved her life. " I started thinking about
bringing comedy to the hospitals," recalls King. Soon his thoughts
turned from raising money for hospitals to raising the spirits of
the patients within them. The idea of Laugh Well was born…
a charitable program that raises both money and peoples spirits
with the help of humor. The idea seemed like a natural match for
Toyota and Alan King. "We've sent out maybe 60 or 70 comedians
to senior citizens homes, hospitals and children's hospitals and
in each the sponsor is the local Toyota dealer," explains King.
He is thrilled to add… "We've been doing it very successfully."
For
information on this year's Toyota Festival visit
www.toyotacomedy.com
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He certainly does keep doing it all! And it may not be long before
Alan King becomes known as the entertainer who can fit 38 hours into
a 24-hour day because King is adding yet another project to his
list… he's bringing to life, on the stages of New York, the story
of one of the movie industries all time greats… Samuel Goldwyn."It's
a great legend… a great character," says King of the role
he is truly excited to have the opportunity to play.
With 86 films to his credit, including the first silent feature
length film in 1913, Sam Goldwyn's story is the story of the great early
years of film. "It's a terrific history of one of the founding
fathers of Hollywood. I thought maybe just older people would like it.
But the younger people are such film buffs now…with Bravo and AMC
and all that… and they're fascinated by it," says King, excited
over the diverse audience the project is attracting.
"It takes place in Sam's office," says Alan King of the play,
which is set in 1952. "So it's basically a one man show but it
also has one woman," continues King. Actress Lauren Klein plays
Goldwyn's secretary. Comedian Alan King, of course, portrays Samuel
Goldwyn… who thinks in Yiddish, dresses British and mangles the
English language. The legendary Hollywood producer was known for English
mangling ‘Goldwynisms’ such as… “Gentleman, include
me out”. But as recently departed director and writer Billy Wilder
once said of his friend Goldwyn… “You don't get to be Sam
Goldwyn just by saying, ‘Include me out.”
"It's wonderful material…the words! … the dialogue!"
adds King enthusiastically. Mr. Goldwyn, as the play is called,
was written by Marsha Lebby and John Lollos and directed by Gene Saks,
who directed several Neil Simon successes including Brighton Beach
Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound, as well
as the musicals Mame, Half a Sixpence and I Love My
Wife.
In 1947, just 5 years before the plays setting, for the first time
the World Series was broadcast on a new invention …television.
Across the country matinee audiences plunged fifty percent. The handwriting
was on the wall. Within a few years the major movie studios would become
bare whispers of their former selves. By 1952 it had been 5 long and
difficult years since the last major box office hit for Goldwyn's studio.
From inside his office Goldwyn searches for an idea… an answer
to his problems. And while he searches, right outside his office window
…and the offices of all the great movie moguls of his time…
a forest of TV antennas are growing thicker by the day. This ‘Forest
of the Future’ is a visual reminder of the devastating effect television
is having on the motion picture industry. Even the great Goldwyn, known
for his Golden touch …er-r-r-r-r, or should I say ‘Goldwyn
Touch’, as it was known in his day… even the great Goldwyn
is worried.
In the past… whenever the words "Samuel
Goldwyn Presents" came up on movie screens it was simply understood
that you were seeing the very best that Hollywood had to offer. The
press believed that. The public believed that. Even the industry believed
that. But if Goldwyn's studio was going to survive and prosper, in the
coming age of television … reasoned Goldwyn … then the best
had to simply get even better! 
While many other studios tried to weather the storm by pandering to
the new teenage audience, Goldwyn was convinced a great family film
would put him back on top. So Goldwyn decided to put Hans Christian
Anderson into production in 1952 confident that if done right this
was the movie that would bring him back. Many in Hollywood predicted
disaster but Goldwyn turned out to be right. Hans Christian Anderson
was an enormous hit and is now considered a movie classic. The business
may have been changing all around him but Goldwyn hadn't lost his touch.
"If anything it's the words," says Alan King of the project,
"it's wonderful material. But we have a few gimmicks, too. We show
film clips from some of his pictures." During the play, from inside
his office walls, Samual Goldwyn talks over the problems facing the
movie industry with his secretary. As Goldwyn talks he looks back on
his career and watches moments from some of his many movies go flashing
and flickering across those very same office walls. By doing this within
the play King feels it offers a great opportunity for movie buffs to
view some of Goldwyn's actual movie masterpieces.
"He made 86 films," concludes Alan King of Goldwyn's career.
"You know he made the first feature silent film in Hollywood in
1913," referring to The Squaw Man. Only six months before
making that film Goldwyn had been a glove salesman. Once released the
movie became a hit and the movie business quickly became the passion
of Goldwyn's life. Goldwyn, who died in 1974, produced such celluloid
classics as Stella Dallas, Hurricane, Wuthering
Heights, The Pride of the Yankees, The Best Years of
Our Lives and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It's not just
a story of a man's work, of a man's passion… "it's a terrific
history of one of the founding fathers of Hollywood!"
Mr. Goldwyn is running at off-Broadway's Promenade Theatre, 2162
Broadway New York, NY 10024 (at West 76th Street). For more information
or to buy tickets online for Mr. Goldwyn visit www.telecharge.com
Photo Credits:
Main Article: Photos from ‘Mr. Goldwyn’ by:
Carol
Rosegg ©
2002
TalkingComedy.com
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