Rambling Reporter Moma's Sothern Accent Speaks Highly Of Legend

NEW YORK -- Has there ever been a better actress-comedienne than Ann Sothern? Doubtful. Nor has there been a more under-appreciated one. But Mary Lea Bandy, chief curator of the Department of Film and Video at the Museum of Modern Art, is taking giant steps to correct the latter fact. And, hallelujah, maybe the delightful Ann will start getting some of that focus she's deserved for years. On Friday, MoMA will begin a 10-day, 11-film Sothern mini-festival, emphasizing her talents in some of her most famous films, a la Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1949 "A Letter to Three Wives" and MGM's long-running "Maisie" series (to be repped by 1941's "Maisie Was a Lady" and 1942's "Maisie Gets Her Man"). Said fest will also include some of her least seen but best performances, as in MGM's little-known 1950 chiller "Shadow on the Wall" in which Ann S. had one of her rare chances to play wicked and nasty; also Curtis Harrington's 1973 "The Killing Kind" in which she's a shrewish, suffocating mama-from-hell. There will also be samples of her time spent in movie musicals (1935's "Folies Bergere" with Maurice Chevalier and 1941's "Lady Be Good" in which she sang the year's Academy Award winner for best song, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "The Last Time I Saw Paris"). There will also be showings of Ann S.'s last feature to date, 1987's "The Whales of August," the Bette Davis-Lillian Gish co-starrer that earned Sothern her one and only (so far) Academy Award nomination ... Ann S., who resides in Ketchum, Idaho, won't be in Manhattan while this event is underway, but she'll be well-repped by something besides the sampling of comedies, dramas, musicals and mysteries that she breezed through so memorably during her 70-year career. (Her first film: Warner Bros.' 1929 "The Show of Shows" in which she appeared under her real name, Harriette Lake.) Preceding Friday's kickoff of the MoMA salute will be a 50-minute screening of a feature documentary on Sothern that's in the works from producer-director Mike Kaplan. Kaplan also produced the aforementioned "Whales"; he calls this new inspection of Sothern's life and career "The Sharpest Girl in Town."



This week's main destination for Broadwayites: "Do Re Mi," the final "Encores!" presentation of the season, debuts tonight for five performances through Sunday at the City Center. Front and center will be Nathan Lane in the role created by Phil Silvers in 1960, and Randy Graff, stepping into shoes once occupied by Nancy Walker; they'll be joined by Brian Stokes Mitchell. The esteemed Paul Gemignani will be the guest musical conductor ... The award-giving continues through the weekend: On Friday, Martin Short hosts the Drama League's 65th award luncheon at the Grand Hyatt and on Sunday evening, the Drama Desk awards will be dispensed at Lincoln Center in a show hosted by Bernadette Peters ... "Ragtime" began its second year on Broadway; its cast includes John Rubinstein and LaChanze, along with Judy Kaye, Donna Bullock and Alton Fitzgerald White ... This is the last week on Broadway for Judd Hirsch, George Wendt and Joe Morton in "Art"; as of Tuesday, Buck Henry, George Segal and Wayne Knight (Newman from "Seinfeld") take over.



Robert Osborne is the primetime host and anchor of the Turner Classic Movies television network.