{"id":1169,"date":"2005-07-13T09:17:07","date_gmt":"2005-07-13T16:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2005\/07\/does_judy_got_a_gimmick\/"},"modified":"2005-07-13T09:17:07","modified_gmt":"2005-07-13T16:17:07","slug":"does_judy_got_a_gimmick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2005\/07\/does_judy_got_a_gimmick.html","title":{"rendered":"DOES JUDY GOT A GIMMICK?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Judith Miller grandstanding? When she went to jail rather than testify about her confidential sources in the Plame case, did she go as a matter of principle or because she thought it was a good career move? Only Judy knows. But put the question that way — some of Miller’s critics have<\/strong><\/font><\/a> — and you get into Ethel Merman territory, i.e.: David Ehrenstein’s riff<\/strong><\/font><\/a> on “Rose’s Turn,”<\/strong><\/font><\/a> from “Gypsy.”<\/strong><\/font><\/a>
\n\"GYPSYcoverMERMAN.jpg\"<\/a>
\nDavid E. adjusts the lyrics (with apologies to Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim) and calls the number “Judy’s Turn.”<\/strong><\/font><\/a> It’s clever, and funny, and my staff of thousands thinks it’s apt. But you have to hear Merman sing the original<\/strong><\/font><\/a> and know where David E. is coming from<\/strong><\/font><\/a> to fully appreciate the riff.
\nNow comes Chris Schneider, a Straight Up reader, putting more “Gypsy” material to Miller-ite purposes. This time the lyrics have been adjusted from “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,”<\/strong><\/font><\/a> which was performed in the original Broadway show by Faith Dane. Schneider writes, “Since David’s reaction to it was very positive, I thought I’d take a chance and pass the results on to you.”
\nSo here tiz, untitled (but copyrighted):
\nYou can pull all the stops out
\nTill Bill Goldman pops out,
\nMake with the mouth till you’re blue …
\nBut Ya Gotta Look Like Redford
\nIf you wanna get your due.
\nYou can activate your aggro
\nTill they start a S.A.G. row,
\nSpiel till they reel at Elaine’s …
\nBut Ya Gotta Look Like Redford
\nJust to justify your pains.
\nYou can “blah,” you can “blah,” you can “blah blah blah”;
\nThat’s how “Front Page” got made.
\nSo you “blah” and you “blah” and you “blah blah blah …”
\nAnd just hope<\/strong> that you’ll get paid.
\nPut your trust in Pakula
\nAnd pray you look spec-tac<\/strong>-ulah
\n(Not like that head in Nichols’ “Heartburn”);
\nJust radiate like Redford
\nAnd p’raps they’ll call it “Judy’s Turn.”<\/I>
\nPossible interlude for Nora and Delia Ephron:
\nJudy,
\nYou’d best take our tip,
\nYou’re not built like Cher,
\nYou haven’t Streep’s zip.
\nJudy,
\nThe press corps won’t<\/strong> flip.
\nWe’ll warn you, we’re fair …
\nJust button your lip.<\/I>
\n© by Chris Schneider
\nSchneider calls himself a “writer on the performing arts” — “read: theater critic whose job was pulled out from under him” — currently working as “a dramaturge and all-purpose know-it-all” for a theater company in San Diego. He’s also “a bass-baritone, a jazz enthusiast, and someone unashamed (almost) of his love of musical comedy.” He claims Cole Porter was “one of the three fairies surrounding [his] cradle, ‘Sleeping Beauty’-style.” His “Higher Power” is listed under the name “Sarah Vaughan.” And he was born on the same day as Gloria Grahame in the same town as Dennis Cooper — “both of whom have been role models for safe ‘n’ sane behavior ever since.”
\nJust for the record: I part company with my staff of thousands. I think Miller is doing something right by going to jail. Even if<\/I> it is a good career move, even if<\/I> she secretly were to regard her incarceration as penance for the propagandized reporting she did on WMD in Iraq, which the regime used to justify the Iraq invasion, and even if<\/I> the sources she’s protecting are, ironically, high government officials who are liars serving a rotten U.S. regime, her willingness to go to jail still stands for the principle of a free press. And yet … and yet … the Miller tale keeps getting curiouser and curiouser<\/strong><\/font><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Judith Miller grandstanding? When she went to jail rather than testify about her confidential sources in the Plame case, did she go as a matter of principle or because she thought it was a good career move? Only Judy knows. But put the question that way — David Ehrenstein’s riff on “Gypsy.” “Judy’s Turn.” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-iR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}