The Wiz Revisited

[sansradio]

[QUOTE=TheMotownManiac;463596]

Jet Magazine was for many years a major source of African American news related to politics, life and entertainment. The magazine was highly respected in the community and for good reason as it spotlighted major issues affecting the Black community, issues that were often not reported on in other major news sources. It was also a great source for features on Motown artists from the 60s on, many of whom made the cover. I realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there is no way I'm going to allow a equation between such an esteemed publication as Jet and that shitty ass rag called the National Enquirer stand without a counter viewpoint. I'm hoping you've mistaken the magazine you meant to mention. People Magazine perhaps?[/[QUOTE

You are absolutely right - it’s been so long since I saw an Enquirer, I forgot it was the type to run headlines like “Aliens Inhabit The Soul Of Jayne Mansfield” several of my buds got Jet so I saw it every week for about 15 years and while I took some of its editorial with a grain of salt, it was an important magazine. Every single black friend I had got Jet delivered every week to their homes. It WAS more like People, but sometimes they ran articles that seemed very close to press releases I had read. Been years since I’ve seen one - do they still print them?

Jet is currently digital only. RanRan and you are right; although some of its subject matter was decidedly fluffy, for decades it was the only national source of African-American weekly news and, as such, tremendously important.

[Jaap]

The "failure" of The Wiz [[an enjoyable film that could have been much better) is indeed mostly because of some choices made by the director Sidney Lumet. For a musical, the direction is way too detached from the performances, particularly because of the overuse of long shots. But perhaps even more important, the film is too damn serious, best exemplified by Diana Ross's performance [[but also by the others). Although I understand the criticism that Ross was too old, a much bigger problem is that Lumet didn't let Diana Ross be Diana Ross. Mahogany is far from a cinematic masterpiece, but the fun of the film lies in the vibrant performance by Ross; she literally has pizzazz [[as shown by the scene in which she tells Brian that he needs pizzazz!). That's totally absent in The Wiz. I think Donald Bogle summed it up nicely in his pivotal book on black actors in American film [[Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks): "As for Ross, she was much too hip and sophisticated for the timid little dodo she's playing. Here is a woman who rose to fame during her days as the lead singer with The Supremes as well as in her first two films by having such drive and daring that she always looked as if she could do anything. When she turns weepy and whiny, you want to shake some sense into her. Audiences have always both loved and hated her aggressiveness. But a nonassertive Diana Ross is not Diana Ross at all" [[p. 265).

[midnightman]

Sooooo true, Jaap! So true. I always wondered how Diana REALLY felt about filming The Wiz. I can imagine Sidney yelling obscenities at her and all of that. I know that she had injured her cornea during a scene because Sidney made her look into the light too long in one of the scenes.

[thommg]

Sooooo true, Jaap! So true. I always wondered how Diana REALLY felt about filming The Wiz. I can imagine Sidney yelling obscenities at her and all of that. I know that she had injured her cornea during a scene because Sidney made her look into the light too long in one of the scenes.

That would be the scene with the big Wiz head. Talk about unimaginative! Diana does have a sound stage named for her at Kaufman-Astoria Studios in Astoria, NY because The Wiz brought filming back to those stages. I walked by the plaque one day, never even knowing it was there!

[Coppelia-Birdsong]

I think an interesting performance would be Diana playing Dorothy as a very shy, awkward, lonely, childlike young woman who has been repressed so long she keeps all her drive inside. The Wiz could have been Dorothy transforming from Dorothy and into Miss Ross by the end. It would be amazing to go from socially stunted, shy, stammering womanchild to diva Diana who takes no stuff off nobody.