Mickey Rooney

We all grew up watching Mickey Rooney, in one way or another.  I have two major memories.  One is his work in "The Black Stallion", a film that came out when I was 5, and in which he figured prominently.  The other is as one of the ensemble in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, in which he played one of the desperate treasure hunters who ends up on a plane with a drunk pilot.  He was a great talent.  He started making movies at such a young age that he really was a final link to a bygone era.  Here are the words of the LA Times' Kenneth Turan:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-mickey-rooney-appreciation-20140408,0,4196162.story#axzz2yCxWDN5a

20 Feet From Stardom

I have always been entertained and fascinated by anything about the history of Rock and Roll.  This documentary (which just won the Oscar for Best Documentary a few weeks ago) not only is about Rock and Roll, but it tells a great story as well.  It examines the lives and careers of several people (mostly women) who have served as background singers to major stars.  Some of the people we hear from are people whose voices we have heard for years, but we have not had a name and a face to match the voice.

The principle character in this film ends up being Darlene Love, who ended up becoming a star in her own right, after years of being not only a background singer, but also being used by Phil Spector for her voice, all the while pushing other a "artists" who lip synced using her vocals.  Darlene Love has gone on to be a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has become a legend as a solo artist.  The other singers about whom this film focuses all have had varying levels of success with solo artistry, and the movie does a good job of showing their different stories.

Merry Clayton rose to fame being the female vocalist on the Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter".  She tells a funny story about how she sang the vocal with curlers in her hair.  Anyone who has heard the song and the words of her vocal can get a chuckle out of the notion that she sang the words with curlers in her hair.  Merry dreamed of having a solo career, but despite several efforts to make her dream come true, her solo work never sold albums.  She seems to be fairly comfortable in her own skin, but one cannot help but see some of the disappointment she still feels about not having more success with her solo career.

The most interesting person that I learned about in this movie was Lisa Fischer.  As is the case with everyone in this film, her vocals are familiar to me (she has worked with Sting, and now, she tours permanently with the Rolling Stones, and has for years), but I did not know her story.  Fischer was able to make it as a solo artist.  She won a Grammy in the early 90's for her solo work, but she opted instead to work in relative obscurity as a background vocalist.  She explains at one point in the movie that one of the reasons she does what she does is that she wants to be able to go to restaurants and not be recognized.  Fischer comes across as someone who is quite comfortable in her own skin.  She has tasted fame and glory, and is comfortable using her amazing voice in a way that takes the spot light off of her.

Judith Hill (a fellow Biola Eagle) rose to fame by working side by side with Michael Jackson on "This Is It."  She was working closely with him when he died, and the movie uses her in a way that is different from the other artists.  Since she is still young (the age when the other singers were doing their most famous work), she is at the stage where she is figuring out where she wants to go with her career. She wants a solo career, because that has been her dream.  Since she presently is pursuing that, the viewers don't know the end of her story.  Her story ends up reminding us that this dynamic is current as well.  As long as the need for background singers remains, there will be highly skilled people who can fill that role.  Furthermore, as long as the role of background singer remains, there will be singers who dream of being in the lime light.

I have written before on this blog about the fact that the best documentaries are not so different from other kinds of movies.  They tell a story that is every bit as engaging as fiction, and they use real life to tell their story.  The artistry that is brought to this film is effective because it gives us real people whose life has real drama.  Though we might not view these singer's plight as the tragedy that they do, their humanity shines through and we do feel sympathy for them.  The movie allows us to walk a mile in their shoes, and anytime we can do that, it is a credit to the film maker.  I walked away from this film feeling genuine sympathy for the singer's who have been ignored.  There is a great scene wherein Darlene Love talks about hearing one of her most famous songs on the radio while she was cleaning a house.  She had begun cleaning houses to make ends meet, and when she heard "Christmas (Please Come Home)", she realized she wasn't doing what she was supposed to be doing.  To me, it wasn't that cleaning was beneath her dignity.  It was more that she had been given a voice and an opportunity to use it that others would die for.  To see her go back to her craft and pursue it was great, and her story makes up a major part of the heart of this wonderful story.