Not to beat a dead horse, but that's a little bit how this auction display felt. A huge parade of mannequins dressed in beaded and sequined ensembles dominated the 2 floors -- every color of the rainbow, but otherwise nearly identical in silhouette, and nearly all from the 1970's. Lovely as some of them were, I swear there was much more to Liza's career than those 10 years of sequined glory, wasn't there? Weirdly even her Lucille ensemble from Arrested Development featured one more hip-length beaded jacket with padded shoulders and 70's patterns covering it in sequins. There was one lone cabinet full of photos, a few scripts, personal letters and other mementoes. I prayed for something from FLORA THE RED MENACE, THE RINK, or even her surprise subbing for Gwen Verdon in CHICAGO, but alas no.
And then came the screening of LIZA WITH A Z. Dear God, we've seen crisper videos watching old bootlegs of FOLLIES on youtube channels. For the first minute or two, the picture was fine but the audio skipped every 4th second-- just painful to hear. So then they switched to a blurry video image for the rest of the screening but at least the sound was true. And this from the PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, formerly the Museum for Television and Radio Arts! Poor Liza, our patron saint of survival against all odds, deserved much much better.
Updated On: 4/8/18 at 02:03 PM
