Word: showbiz
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...more than ever recognizable to Americans as the work of, well, Americans -- Hispanic Americans. Paintings and music that spring from Latin sources are being filtered through a north-of-the-border sensibility. As in La Bamba: its story of Chicano life is told through myths of immigrant struggle and showbiz martyrdom that were born in the U.S.A. Increasingly, too, Hispanic artists and entertainers are courting the mass audience in English. Many of the nation's Latino theaters perform in English only. "I don't want to be a good Hispanic theater," says Max Ferra, Artistic Director of Manhattan's predominantly...
...born in?" Gorbachev asked him. 1940). Walter Cronkite would have looked more mature, Dan Rather more aggressive (though when he feels the need to, Rather can play respectful). But Brokaw can be fast on his feet, and was well prepared. His usual interviewing style, honed in years of showbiz chatter on the Today show, is to be friendly, ingratiating, nonthreatening. In Moscow, Brokaw was so uncharacteristically solemn that he sometimes covered his mouth as if determined not to grin back at Gorbachev's smiles. Brokaw's behavior was remarkably self-effacing, and for the occasion quite appropriate...
What accounts for the surprising impact of the televangelists? In part, showbiz flair: outsize personalities, sermons carefully shaped around themes that pull audience response, dramatic personal stories of life-changing events, and toe-tapping music. But broader cultural forces are surely at work. "Everybody thinks the TV preacher is doing a number on people," says Armstrong, "but it's the viewer with his hand on the dial who controls the system." People who hope TV Gospel will fade when today's stars are gone, says Armstrong, "do not understand that the real key is grass-roots people, dying for personal...
...gingerly with an old pal, croaks a song or two and returns without warning to the attic of reverie. Look behind the electrified hair and the cunningly garbled consonants of Murphy's Buckwheat, a resurrection of the character from the Our Gang comedies, and you will find a showbiz paradigm: the exploitation of a smile and a conspicuous lack of talent into big bucks. Whites are not immune either. He can metamorphose into Gumby, the '50s cartoon character who has somehow aged into a carping Catskills comic; or a late-show pitchman, peddling Galactic Prophylactics and the Funeral...
...into the script, and there's little that he can do to overcome it. Joseph Bologna, Jessica Harper, Bill Macy, and Adolph Green are all fine character actors, but in this case, we've seen the characters too often before. Most of them are in the well-worn uptight-showbiz mold; the Yiddish momma schtick at Benjy's Brooklyn home is an excruciating parade of old cliches. Only one memorable move emerges from this stew of reheated vaudeville; when Benjy announces: "We Jews know about two things suffering, and where to get great Chinese food...