My Favorite Year
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My Favorite Year is a 1982 comedy film which tells the story of the early days of television, and a flamboyant film actor who is shepherded by a young intern through a week of overdrinking. The film was later turned into a musical version on Broadway. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell and Gloria Stuart.
The movie's background was based on the Sid Caesar show Your Show of Shows and its love story is about how a Mel Brooks-like comedy writer Benjy Stone woos and wins an upper class young lady K. C. Downing as his Anne Bancroft, with the assistance of the drunk yet aware Alan Swann as an Errol Flynn-ish charmer. Joseph Bologna's character, "King Kaiser," invokes the charm of Sid Caesar. The characters learn they are as brave as they need to be.
Plot details
Benjy Stone (Linn-Baker), who serves as the narrator of the story, tells of the summer he met his idol, Alan Swann (O'Toole). Benjy was working for NBC Studios in the mid 1950s as a writer for a variety television show starring 'King' Kaiser (Bologna) (a not-so-subtle reference to shows like Sid Caesar's — Kaiser meaning 'Caesar' in other languages like Dutch and German, for example). As a special upcoming guest, they get the famous movie star Alan Swann (whose films seem to be cut from the same cloth as those of Errol Flynn's). However, when they realize that Alan is a roaring drunk, Kaiser is ready to just dump him — until Benjy intervenes and promises to keep him sober during the week leading up to the big show.As Benjy tails along with Alan, they learn a lot about each other — including the fact that they both have family they try to hide from the rest of the world. In Benjy's case, he tries to hide from his Jewish mother (Lainie Kazan) who is married to a former Filipino bantamweight boxer and his other various relatives. In Alan's case, he has a young daughter named Tess whom he hasn't seen in years, but he continues working to stay in America so he can secretly keep tabs on her.
A side story involves Kaiser's run-ins with Karl Rojeck (Cameron Mitchell), whom he parodies on his variety show as 'Boss Hijack'. Rojeck makes some not-so-subtle threats to Kaiser, and accidents start happening while they're rehearsing for the show. Another side story involves Benjy trying to win the affections of his co-worker K.C. Downing (Jessica Harper).
On show night, Alan suffers a panic attack when he finally realizes that millions of people will be watching him live (he's used to working with a small crew and getting many takes to get his parts right). Running away from the show, Alan resorts to getting drunk again, but is confronted by Benjy, who angrily tells him that despite his faults, Benjy always thought of Alan as being the swashbuckling hero he sees on the big screen. As Benjy puts it when convincing Swann that he has courage inside him, "Nobody's that good an actor". As they walk off, they see that Rojack's men are beating up on Kaiser during the live broadcast of the show (where Kaiser is supposed to walk out as 'Boss Hijack'). Swann grabs a rope and swings into action (being dressed as a Musketeer for a skit later in the show), saving the day in front of a surprised audience. The movie ends with Benjy narrating how Alan finally got the nerve to see his daughter Tess the next day while Alan waves to the audience and takes a bow.
Cast
- Peter O'Toole .... Alan Swann
- Mark Linn-Baker .... Benjy Stone
- Jessica Harper .... K. C. Downing
- Joseph Bologna .... King Kaiser
- Bill Macy .... Sy Benson
- Lainie Kazan .... Belle Carroca
- Anne De Salvo .... Alice Miller
- Basil Hoffman .... Herb Lee
- Lou Jacobi .... Uncle Morty
- Adolph Green .... Leo Silver
- Tony DiBenedetto .... Alfi Bambacelli
- George Wyner .... Myron Fein
- Selma Diamond .... Lil
- Cameron Mitchell .... Karl Rojeck
Nominations
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor (Peter O'Toole).Broadway Musical
Lincoln Center Theater produced a stage musical version of My Favorite Year in 1992. The score for the musical was written by Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics); the libretto was adapted from the film screenplay by Joseph Dougherty.
Lainie Kazan reprised her role from the film on stage as Belle Steinberg-Carroca, Benjy's mother. Other cast members included Tim Curry as Alan Swann, Evan Pappas as Benjy, Lannyl Stephens as K.C., Tom Mardirosian as King Kaiser, Josh Mostel as Sy, and Andrea Martin as Alice.
The plot followed that of the film fairly closely, the most major change being that the character of Boss Rojeck and the accompanying gangster sketch subplot were dropped. A musketeer sketch for Swann replaces it. Additional plot threads were also added concerning King Kaiser and the show's writers, Alice and Sy.
The musical opened on December 10, 1992 and closed January 10, 1993, after 32 performances. Despite this short run, the show has since become a somewhat popular choice among community and high-school performing groups.
A recording of the score featuring the original cast was released on the RCA Victor label.
The songs include:
- "Twenty Million People"
- "Larger Than Life"
- "The Musketeer Sketch"
- "Rookie In The Ring"
- "Manhattan"
- "Naked In Bethesda Fountain"
- "The Gospel According To King"
- "Funny/ The Duck Joke"
- "Welcome To Brooklyn"
- "If The World Were Like The Movies"
- "Exits"
- "Shut Up And Dance"
- "Professional Showbizness Comedy"
- "The King Kaiser Comedy Calvacade" theme
- "The Lights Come Up"
- "Maxford House"
- "My Favorite Year"
External links
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