By Mike Thomas
The Motion Picture Academy
has been on a roll as of late, presenting some of the finest  exhibits and
screenings in its fabled history. The year began with a tribute to Academy
founder Douglas Fairbanks featuring legendary film scholar Kevin Brownlow. In
April there was a tribute to Milt Kahl, “The Animation Michelangelo,†that
featured Brad Bird and others paying tribute to one of Disney’s premier
character designers. Currently, there is an excellent display of cells and
sketches highlighting the Japanese form of animation, “Anime!†(The Academy is
to be commended for their continued celebration of that frequently neglected art
of film-making). And last week, there was tribute to Joseph Mankewiecz, one of
the finest screenwriters who ever lived whose name wasn’t Billy
WIlder.
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But for shear star power and
emotion, it would be tough to be last Friday’s tribute to  the songwriting team
of Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Emceed by longtime friend and associate, the Mighty
Q - Quincy Jones - got things off to a rousing start by urging the sold-out
crowd to party and the lovefest continued for the  next three
hours.The clips began with the
memorable Bergman/Marvin Hamlisch collaboration, “The Way We Were,â€Â  and it
explored the hits, the neglected gems and triumphs of this talented and enduring
partnership. One of the dramatic highlights of the evening was when Alan Bergman
and Michel Legrand at the piano performed the Oscar-winning, “The WIndmills of
Your Mind,†while images of Steve McQueen in a glider unspooled behind
them.That particular song was
written at the behest of Norman Jewison who felt a song was needed to depict the
character’s inner turmoil, and Alan Bergman took pains to note, that was the
defining task of every song, to delineate the emotional core of the character in
that particular context.
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Other performance highlights
included such overlooked gems as “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?â€
from the Richard Brooks drama, “The Happy Ending,â€Â  “How Do You Keep the Music
Playing?†(which Quincy Jones called his favorite song) from the Burt
Reynolds/Goldie Hawn film, “Best Friends†as well as some of the more celebrated
numbers like “It Might be You,†from “Tootsie†and “In the Heat of the Nightâ€
from the Oscar-winning picture of the same name. After such many tributes
from Marvin Hamlisch, John WIlliams and Norman Jewison (all on videotape) and
performances by Patti Austin, Michel Legrand and Dave Grusin, there was a special
desert (which apparently Alan Bergman doesn’t eat, he is more of a Postum kinda
guy) in store for the sold-out audience - la  Grandest Diva of them all, Miss
Barbra Joan Streisand.Although recuperating from a
cold and unable to sing, she was unabashed in her love and admiration for the
Bergmans and revealed she was to record an entire album of their songs as a
tribute. Some home movies were shown of Marilyn Bergman assisting Babs in
rehearsing “Yentl†and the evening closed with clips from that film, a labor of
love for all concerned.
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Ellen Harrington produced the
event and she deserves her own special Oscar for the level of excellence this
special evening as well as all the many other events she has prepared for the
Academy. And fellow Academy producer, Randy Haberkamp, is also doing
Oscar-worthy work on the ongoing series “1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year,†and
with such upcoming events as the tributes to Hal Ashby in store, in the annals
of the Motion Picture Academy presentations, 2009 may prove to be the Academy’s
greatest year.