Passages

[Roger Ryan]

Film critic, author and all-around wunderbares Monsterkind, David J. Skal and his partner were tragically killed by a drunk driver on New Year’s Day.

And, of course, Skal is the star of Criterion's recent Tod Browning set, providing commentaries for two of the films, an introduction to the third, reading the short story that inspired Freaks, and appearing in that film's extensive "making of" doc. A dream project for Skal, I'm sure, and I'm glad he lived to see it's release; the set would have been much poorer without his contributions. RIP.

[Cash Flagg]

Unfortunately he did not live to see this week's release of a newly-expanded edition of his seminal Tod Browning biography, Dark Carnival.

[colinr0380]

Actress Tisa Farrow, 72, younger sister of Mia Farrow. Best known for her performance in Fingers (1978).

Reported on Wikipedia & Instagram by Mia Farrow.

She's probably just as well known for her Italian grindhouse days.

Particularly as star of two of the most notorious Italian horror films, Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh-Eaters (NSFW) and Joe D'Amato's Anthropophagous (aka The Grim Reaper) (very NSFW!)

[GaryC]

Anne Nightingale, UK DJ and broadcaster, aged 83. She was BBC Radio 1's first female DJ, and its longest-serving one, broadcasting there until last month. On television, she was a regular presenter on The Old Grey Whistle Test and once co-presented Top of the Pops in 1982 (along with the other then Radio 1 DJs, for the station's fifteenth birthday), making her just the second woman to present TOTP*. She also has an IMDB acting credit, playing herself in the mockumentary The Life of Rock with Brian Pern. On a personal note, her Sunday night request show was essential listening for me in the early to mid 1980s, and I can't begin to count how much I heard for the first time there.

*Lulu was the first, co-presenting in 1968. That episode is lost but is certain not to be shown if it's ever found again, as her co-presenter was Jimmy Savile.

[hearthesilence]

A wonderful tribute from Annie Mac:

Annie Nightingale was a trailblazer, spirited, adventurous, fearless, hilarious, smart and so good at her job. This is the woman who changed the face and sound of British TV and Radio broadcasting forever. You can’t underestimate it.

Before Annie Nightingale came on Radio 1 it was legitimately believed by BBC bosses that people didn’t want to hear women’s voice on the radio. Radio DJs were seen as husband substitutes for the wives who listened at home. God forbid British women might want to listen to other women. Annie Nightingale was the only female DJ for TWELVE years on Radio 1 before Janice Long joined. From presenting The Old Grey Whistle Test to playing the deepest cuts on late night Radio 1 she smashed through all the sexist stereotypes of what kind of broadcaster a woman should be. And she didn’t stop. She kept going, her very existence as a older woman playing underground music on Radio 1 was subversive.

She was always the epitome of ‘cool’, relentlessly curious and enthusiastic and hungry to learn. She always had the messiest desk in our office, the best outfits and the most outrageous stories to tell. She was so sound.

I hope stages and festivals and awards will be named in her honour for decades to come.

Queen of breaks! Annie Nightingale you absolute legend, may you always be ‘on One’.

I didn't realize Annie Nightingale was well into her 80s, mainly because I knew her exclusively through my imported DVD box set of selections from the Old Grey Whistle Test. I don't think it ever aired here in America, but what I was able to see from it - showcasing music that wasn't embraced by bland "mainstream" programming in America - seemed invaluable. All of this was hated by my parents who generally disliked pop music in general and had cultural affinities that made the 1940s look like the 1960s. And yet they were substantially younger than Nightingale. It just seemed like a lesson in how to age, not to be culturally isolated and to be always open and curious as to what was happening and changing in music and culture.

[Feego]

Horrible news about Skal. I’ve always enjoyed his commentaries, and his book Hollywood Gothic, chronicling the story of Dracula from Stoker’s writing through the various film productions, is excellent. He certainly left us a great gift with his scholarship.

[GaryC]

Aboriginal Australian actress and dancer Lillian Crombie, on 3 January, aged 65 or 66.

[hearthesilence]

Washington Post television critic Tom Shales

[Orlac]

Horrible news about Skal. I’ve always enjoyed his commentaries, and his book Hollywood Gothic, chronicling the story of Dracula from Stoker’s writing through the various film productions, is excellent. He certainly left us a great gift with his scholarship.

I saw news footage of the crash on the news and really wish I hadn't. What a terrible loss.

[hearthesilence]

Peter Crombie whose role as "Crazy" Joe Davola during Seinfeld's breakthrough season was enough to land him an eye-catching obituary on the NY Times' homepage, a testament to the show's cultural presence 30+ years later.

[okcmaxk]

Washington Post television critic Tom Shales

Infamously held no punches in reviewing Conan’s first show, but never knew he was on as a guest.

Late to hearing about Skal, so awful. Checked out my university’s copy of Dark Carnival after any online seemed to go for hundreds—an all-timer director book, worth the late fees.

[Cash Flagg]

Checked out my university’s copy of Dark Carnival after any online seemed to go for hundreds—an all-timer director book, worth the late fees.

There is a new expanded edition as I noted/linked above, but it is $150 plus shipping.

[Fred Holywell]

Joyce Randolph, 'Trixie' on "The Honeymooners," at age 99.

[MichaelB]

Janusz Majewski wasn't a director who made much impact outside his native Poland, but he had an immensely long (mid-1950s to early 2020s) and sometimes genuinely interesting career. His best known film internationally is probably Lokis - Professor Wittembach's Manuscript (1970), a rare example of an authentically Polish horror film, in which capacity it was recently included in Severin's All The Haunts Be Ours folk-horror box set.

[DeprongMori]

“Phill Niblock, Dedicated Avant-Gardist of Music and Film, Dies at 90
Making music with no melody or rhythm and films with no plot, he became a darling of New York’s experimental underground.”

[DeprongMori]

Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) has left us.

Among his multitude of works, he composed the soundtrack to Silent Running.

[brundlefly]

Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) has left us.

Among his multitude of works, he composed the soundtrack to Silent Running.

My father loved popular classical music and corny comedy, so I was exposed early and often. There are beats of this that are in my blood. I knew "Iphigenia in Brooklyn" before I knew who Iphigenia was. I cannot hear the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth without immediately thinking, "And they're off!"

"But the lute looks nice." I still say this, all the time.

[hearthesilence]

Mary Weiss, lead singer for the Shangri-Las. One of the great girl groups, “Leader of the Pack,” “Great Big Kiss” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” are three of the greatest singles EVER.

[Blutarsky]

Mary Weiss, lead singer for the Shangri-Las. One of the great girl groups, “Leader of the Pack,” “Great Big Kiss” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” are three of the greatest singles EVER.

You forgot “Out in the Streets”, which made teen melodrama an audio art form.

[flyonthewall2983]

Later a big influence on Springsteen on his classic 70’s records

[Red Screamer]

One of the greatest bands ever, pure and simple. I would say that I'll crank their records today in tribute but I'm always doing that anyway.

[beamish14]

Benedict Firzgerald, screenwriter of Wise Blood and Jonathan Kaplan’s underrated TV miniseries adaptation of In Cold Blood

[dwk]

David Emge (Flyboy from Dawn of the Dead)

[beamish14]

Norman Jewison

I would argue that founding the Canadian Film Centre is his greatest legacy. A rare Canadian filmmaker who went to Hollywood but gave back to his homeland in a big way.

Remarkable to think that him and Glenn Gould were high school classmates

[TechnicolorAcid]

Horrible news, to honor his legacy I will watch Moonstruck tonight. A remarkable talent and imo, one of the most interesting directors to come out of the New Hollywood movement.