"SUCCESS OFTEN comes to those who have the aptitude to see far down the road," said Laing Burns Jr.
SANDRA BULLOCK has always seen far down the road. She's never skidded, even when people were saying, "Has Sandra Bullock peaked?" This intelligent woman stayed the course. And now she is reaping the rewards of her patience and diligence.
Bullock just made movie history. Her film "The Blind Side" has passed the $200 million mark domestically. It is the first movie with only one female star top billed to pull in money like that. Sandra's "The Proposal" was also a smash. (Both were surprises. Nobody expected much from either film. Except perhaps Miss Bullock.)
She is up for two Golden Globes, against the likes of Marion Cotillard, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. On Jan. 17, when Sandra makes her entrance at the Beverly Hilton, she will be the biggest female star in the world; she'll be experiencing the pinnacle of her career, so far. It's gonna be a mob scene, honey. You'll love it! And you deserve it.
HMMM ... now that we've recovered from the surprise news that Sam Mendes will be directing the next James Bond film -- the 23rd in the apparently inexhaustible series -- let's ponder this. Kate Winslet as a Bond girl!
Miss Winslet is married to Mr. Mendes, and it might be fun for them to work together on something less agonizing (material-wise) than "Revolutionary Road."
Also, it would be a nice change of pace for Winslet -- she could wear really sexy clothes, brandish a gun, and utter absurd dialogue. She wouldn't have to take any of it seriously.
Sleep on it, you two.
I HAVE no doubt that the divine Liz Rosenberg, queen of Warner Records publicity, will land on her tiny feet (tootsies usually encased in some kind of amusing shoe) if WR can't "afford" her anymore. Liz could become a free agent and work for the label as a consultant. I find it hard to believe her list of superstar clients, to whom she devotes body and soul, would let her leave them. I do mean Cher, Michael Buble, Stevie Nicks, Paul Simon, Chrissie Hynde and rising stars, blonde bombshell Katherine Jenkins, and Filipino sensation, Charice.
As for Madonna, it beggars the imagination that she won't compensate Liz, now that La Ciccone has left Warner Bros. (The Big M's "Sticky and Sweet" tour took in more than $400 million. She ain't hurting.)
I am fond of Madonna and certainly she has talent. But I do not think she could have achieved and maintained her 25-year career -- so full of Rosenberg-controlled Sturm und Drang -- without the brilliant advice and hard work of Miz Liz. And I am not alone in believing that.
THIS WEEK, the elegant Cafe Carlyle re-opened its magnificent doors to its most talented leading lady in residence -- Elaine Stritch -- in her latest drop-dead stunning presentation, called, improbably "At Home at the Carlyle: Elaine Stritch Singing Sondheim ... One Song at a Time."
To which I can only utter Wow! What an evening!
You can dismiss my lifetime of raves for Miss Stritch with the all-knowing that I am writing about one of my best friends, someone who was already a big Broadway star back in 1953 when I first met her.
But there are so many other adoring fans who really matter.
At the opening, none other than Mike Nichols, James Levine, Nora Ephron, Nick Pileggi, Patty Bosworth, Barbara Cook, Anne Reid, Arlene Dahl, Marc Rosen, Dana Taylor, Pat Kiernan, Rosie O'Donnell, Natasha Lyonne, Robert Osborne, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld and Christine Ebersole. (The latter will follow Stritch onto the Carlyle stage in February.)
I don't know if Sondheim's major music arranger Jonathan Tunick -- who did Elaine's orchestrations -- was present, but if he was -- well, he and Mike Nichols as a twosome solidify their position in show biz as being among the eight "most talented in all the land." This is Newsweek's estimate of the only big talents alive who have won entertainment's grand slam; that is to say -- Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys.
It is totally correct that Elaine Stritch be the one to open this month's tributes to the master Stephen Sondheim, as he celebrates his 80th birthday in March. Miss Stritch opens with "I Feel Pretty" and she's only 85 and means it. Of course, in the process, she also sings "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Steve's 1970 hit musical "Company." She fills the evening and the tiny stage with many more of Sondheim's best and least known numbers. She is totally tantalizing. One of the greatest performers of the century.
I want to congratulate the Carlyle for its handsome printed program presenting Miss Stritch as she really is -- with fabulous photos of her career -- in a role where she should have won the Tony, "A Delicate Balance" and with the master, Noel Coward, as well as her late husband John Bay. My favorite? Elaine singing "Bongo, Bongo, Bongo" from way back in 1949's "Angel in the Wings." If Alec Baldwin, who plays Elaine's son in the current "30 Rock," had been present, it would round out the Stritch career! But I don't believe it can be rounded out; she will just go on and on.
You must not miss this show. It will dazzle through the end of January.
(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)
Original Post : http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/sns-201001061658tmslizsmittr--x-a20100107jan07,0,7823838.story
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