Funny Ladies of Film

On April 1, Movie Addict Headquarters salutes the following funny ladies of film: Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Debbie Reynolds and Gilda Radner. Comedian Nancy Lombardo, host of Comedy Concepts on BlogTalkRadio, plans to join in the festivities. This fun episode includes: testimonials for Tina Fey; Cloris Leachman’s comedy ambush; Debbie Reynold’s humorous comments about men; Madeline Kahn’s terrific interview by George Bettinger; Gilda Radner’s famous tap audition; and some amusing surprises!

Nancy Lombardo appears frequently on “Saturday Night Live” and has released a very funny CD titled “Color Me Crazy.” She also performs her hilarious standup comedy act at numerous venues and is the host and creator of MOMEDY™, part of the International Mamapalooza Festival held every May in New York City.  She’s been featured as a writer and performer on radio, network and cable television, including Comedy Tonight, Nickelodeon and the Comedy Channel. As the leading member of the award-winning comedy troupe The First Amendment, Nancy performed with such stars as Robin Williams and Bruce Willis. She also served as a comedy consultant to John Leguizamo's Off-Broadway hit Mambo Mouth and wrote additional material for his HBO Special, The Talent Pool.  It’s no surprise that Nancy was named a winner of the Toyota Comedy Festival’s "Laughter in Motion” Award and received a Cable Arts Insight Comedy Award.

“Funny Ladies of Film” airs on BlogTalkRadio at 4 p.m. Eastern Time (1 p.m. Pacific Time) on Tuesday, April 1, 2014. During the live show, listeners are invited to call in and to participate in a chat. An archived segment will also be available.

CALL-IN NUMBER: 646-478-5668

LINK: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/movieaddictheadquarters/2014/04/01/funny-ladies-of-film  

My Irish Grandmother

Each year as St. Patrick’s Day draws near, memories of my courageous Irish grandmother come flooding back to me. When she was only 14 years old, she stowed away on a boat (all by herself) to come to America from Ireland. Later, as a young mother, she was left with four children to raise when her husband died after being run over by a crane at the CF&I steelworks. 

Grandma used the company’s settlement to establish a number of businesses on Bay State Avenue, a street adjacent to the mill where her husband suffered that fatal accident. Surviving Prohibition and the Great Depression, Josephine Bridget Donahue became known as the “Duchess of Bay State.” No one messed with her. Maybe it was that charming brogue – but, more likely, her brave approach to dealing with the problems at hand that kept enemies at bay and friends so close.      

I’m very happy Grandma never lost that Irish brogue. It was always such a treat listening to her interactions with employees, customers and family members. I have to add that she made the best scones in the history of the world! Wish I had one of those delicious scones right now.

Although Grandma Donahue passed away many, many years ago, I still miss her every day.     

Frozen Wins Two Oscars!

One of my Oscar wishes came true last night when Frozen won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film of 2013. I also cheered when this delightful musical also took home a golden statuette for the Best Original Song, “Let It Go,” which Idina Menzel belted out so brilliantly during the Academy Awards show.

Although my wish that Gravity would win all 10 of its nominated categories didn’t pan out, that groundbreaking movie earned 7 Oscars – more than any other nominee -- and ended up with a very important Best Director nod for Alfonso Cuarόn. That made me very happy.

12 Years a Slave won Best Picture, which indicates that Academy members still prefer honoring a good story over technical achievements -- and that’s not a bad thing. Right?

As host, Ellen DeGeneres kept things moving along in her own amusing and nonchalant way. However, her pizza delivery gag seemed inappropriate for this event.

For me, the highlight of last night’s festivities involved the gorgeous tribute to The Wizard of Oz featuring Pink’s wonderful rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” delivered in front of a huge screen showing scenes from that classic 1939 movie. Whoopi Goldberg gave a touching intro and introduced Judy Garland’s three children. I absolutely loved it!