Jim Beckerman

3 days ago | northjersey.com | Jim Beckerman

Ruth Elizabeth Davis (she got the "Bette" from the Balzac novel "Cousin Bette") of Lowell, Massachusetts, arrived in Hollywood in 1930 to instant non-acclaim. She became known for the series of tense, tough, hard characters she played in films like "Jezebel," "The Letter," "The Little Foxes," "In This Our Life" and "Beyond the Forest."She was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Anyone can do Bette Davis.

2 weeks ago | northjersey.com | Jim Beckerman

When it was first released, critics loved "The Great Gatsby" — but it went over the heads of readers. The story had better luck as a Broadway play, in 1926. The green light in "Gatsby" has a whole pack of emotional associations — both for Gatsby, and for the reader. It means hope. It means spring. It means possibility. Among the events planned are a range of Gatsby experiences at the Plaza Hotel, including a stay at the Plaza's "Gatsby suite," and a "Gatsby dining experience" at The Palm Court.

2 weeks ago | northjersey.com | Jim Beckerman

One famous easter egg: a carved representation of C-3P0 and R2-D2 among other Egyptian hieroglyphics in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."In "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), Humphrey Bogart, as detective Sam Spade, walks past a poster advertising a Humphrey Bogart film. How many viewers of "The 39 Steps" (1935) have noticed the poster in the railway station for Hitchcock's previous picture, "The Man Who Knew Too Much"? Easter eggs are good.

2 weeks ago | sooeveningnews.com | Jim Beckerman

One famous easter egg: a carved representation of C-3P0 and R2-D2 among other Egyptian hieroglyphics in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."In "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), Humphrey Bogart, as detective Sam Spade, walks past a poster advertising a Humphrey Bogart film. How many viewers of "The 39 Steps" (1935) have noticed the poster in the railway station for Hitchcock's previous picture, "The Man Who Knew Too Much"? Easter eggs are good.

3 weeks ago | northjersey.com | Jim Beckerman

The satire was — comparatively — mild. But the point was clear: Politicians and their handlers will do anything to get elected. The keynote song "Mine," with its two contrapuntal melodies and its two overlapping meanings — it's about both love and political power — is as good as anything the brothers wrote. A musical about a second-term president who attempts to overturn the election results, overthrow the government, and establish a dictatorship.