Starting last spring, I decided I would get more disciplined about sending out Tiny Letters on a regular basis. That didn't happen, but the letters I did send out have a lot of movie-related content. Since I know most people reading here aren't subscribers, I thought I'd share here, too.
The May 2020 letter featured a bunch of streaming picks:
The Outrageous Sophie Tucker: I honestly didn’t know that much about Sophie Tucker before I wrote about her for the Mothers Day edition of my column. So when I saw that there was a fairly new documentary about her, I clicked immediately. Though Sophie built her career on (presumably) heterosexual innuendo, one of the revelations of the movie was her lifelong romantic relationships with women. Alongside her unconventional lovelife, her defense of African-American showbiz colleagues, and her flagrant Jewishness, was her close friendship with J. Edgar Hoover. Sophie lived a life full of verve, and contradictions. All hail the red hot Yidishe mama.
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (PBS or Netflix) An absolutely riveting story of an American icon. Even if you don’t listen to jazz, you will learn something about American history, and music.
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage Again, you don’t need to be a fan to enjoy the documentary, this one about the Canadian rock band Rush. The movie explores a different kind of rock and roll story- three young guys who made it big with their band while holding on to their families and their health. Rush’s success was always a fan phenomenon. Critics generally looked down their noses at the band. Existing between categories, the band fearlessly grew their musical vision and it makes for a fascinating story about the nature of artistic growth.
AKA Doc Pomus: How a Jewish boy named Jerome Felder became the internationally beloved songwriter Doc Pomus, writer of Viva Las Vegas, Lonely Avenue, This Magic Moment and a million other hits. There’s so much to love about this documentary, but one thing makes it feel particularly timely. Felder contracted polio as a child and was disabled for the rest of his life. Living in a disabled body colored the way he moved through the world and shaped his lyrics, consequently shaping American pop music. I promise you'll hear these songs in a whole new way.
The Green Girl Susan Oliver appeared on a million TV shows over the decades. But perhaps her most famous role was as the ‘Green Girl’ in the credits to the original Star Trek. But there was much more to Oliver than her career as the consummate Hollywood day player. Among other things, she was an accomplished amateur aviator. The Green Girl is a terrific, and heartbreaking, story about sexism in Hollywood and how talented women dealt with its frustrations.
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