The wry, poetic genius of Fran Landesman, foul mouth and all, is part of the St. Louis International Film Festival in "Almost a Legend," a delightful 37-minute documentary, one of
four films to be shown today at 5 p.m. at the Hi-Pointe Theatre. Produced by Terhi Kylliainen, directed, written and filmed by Mia Vuorlo Ringwald, it's a splendid piece of work.
Mostly, it's a lengthy interview by Pierre Ringwald of Jay and Fran in their London home, with visits from friends and performers and sequences of Fran performing. Many old photos of the New York-born poet, lyricist and performer, with family, friends and Jay, her husband of more than 50 years, add a charming touch.
The film is divided into sections of her childhood, living in a luxurious apartment on Central Park West in Manhattan; morphing into the Queen of Gaslight Square in her St. Louis period, when her lyrics, to the music of Tommy Wolf, became classics on the cabaret circuit; concluding with her life in London as Gaslight Square faded and London became the Swinging City.
There are interviews with Tommy Smothers, who played the Crystal Palace with his brother, Dickie; Dave Moon, who worked as an electrician and designer backstage at the Palace; Bob Dorough, who played the hero, Dove Linkhorn, in her second big musical, "A Walk on the Wild Side," based on a Nelson Algren novel; Simon Wallace, her composer during the London years, Peter Cook, a London entertainer and long-time partner with Dudley Moore; Carolyn Cassady, widow of Neal Cassady, friend to Hunter Thompson, Jack Kerouac and Ken Kesey, founders of the Beat Generation; and English cabaret singers Sarah Moule and Gwyneth Herbert, the latter with a splendid portrayal of "Ballad of the Sad Young Men."
Fran and Jay talk about meeting in New York (in Washington Square Park, of course) and of highlights of their years together.
It's a charming film, better, of course, to one who spent a great deal of time with them in the Gaslight Square days, but it's a great chance to reminisce and to recall the stories that didn't make it into the film.
The other three parts of the program are hands-on documentaries, all featuring people who were key figures in the events. "Cohen on the Bridge" is a story of the famed rescue at Entebbe, where Israeli commandos rescued every hostage, is a highly dramatic tale related by a former soldier who took part. "Sister Wife" is a simple, powerful story of a Mormon woman who becomes a sister-wife when her husband takes her younger sister as a bride. "Jennifer" is Stewart Copeland's tribute to his mother, a teacher in rural Tennessee who motivates her class to build a radio that allows them to contact astronauts soaring in a space module far above them.
"Individuals," four documentaries about interesting people, today at 5 p.m. at the Hi-Pointe Theater.
–Joe