Cartoons Sunday--and a Miller's Tale
A personal look at "Lee" plus this week's hot political potshots.
Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books including “The Tunnels” and “The Campaign of the Century” and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre” (up for an Emmy). You can still subscribe to this newsletter for free.
I’ve noted in previous posts that I am friends with writer Tony Scherman, who lives in my town, Nyack, but we go back to the late 1970s in NYC—when he wrote for us at Crawdaddy. I’ve previously reprinted or directed you to his Substack for his lengthy interviews with the likes of Paul Simon, Ry Cooder and Robbie Robertson.
But this weekend he is writing about his father, David E. Scherman, with the belated release of the new bio-pic “Lee,” starring Kate Winslet as the model/muse turned great war photographer Lee Miller. David was Lee’s mentor and lover for a time and took the famous photo of Miller in Hitler’s bathtub. Tony wrote a piece for AirMail and this newsletter post yesterday (you might want to subscribe). Brief excerpt:
Three times Hollywood has set out to portray the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, as Elizabeth Miller of Poughkeepsie was known in the late 20s. The earlier projects, first with Nicole Kidman, then Cate Blanchett, fizzled, but Lee, starring and co-produced by Kate Winslet, will be released on September 27. The comic actor and Saturday Night Live alumnus Andy Samberg plays my father….
“I looked like an angel, but I was a fiend inside,” Lee Miller once said.
and:
I saw the film with my daughters at a private screening in New York last November. Winslet, who is in virtually every scene, is splendid; hers is an Oscar-worthy performance. Samberg has a tougher job and doesn’t make out as well. Granted, as Dave’s son, I’m biased; this is not, moreover, my father’s film. But Dave Scherman was a sui generis character, who, the filmmakers fail to indicate, taught Miller photojournalism. If the writers had accurately portrayed the wise guy and minor genius, Samberg would have walked away with the film.
I may see the movie, which has gotten generally lukewarm reviews, today but for now the trailer:
Cartooning
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