Fifteen Years...."Quicker Than A Ray of Light"

Tomorrow, March 2nd, 2013, marks fifteen years since I first heard Madonna’s Ray of Light, a day before its official U.S. release. I do not know if any words can convey how highly anticipated this album was by her fans, nor how much excitement it generated in those early years of internet buzz. In 2012, I honored its fourteenth anniversary with a commemorative post, featuring my memories of that especially bright spot in Madonna’s career as well as YouTube clips of alternate, extended, and instrumental versions of the tracks that comprised her most celebrated record. This year, I thought I would once again employ the services of YouTube to provide further insight into “The Ray of Light Era” and Madonna’s creative process. For those who can relate to my nostalgia, as well as those who have never seen these TV appearances before, here are some of my favorite Madonna interviews, performances, and awards ceremonies from February 1998 through February 1999. That this represents only a portion of the ROL press tour speaks to just how busy Madonna kept herself during the twelve months that would redefine her music career and elevate her legend.

The weekend before the release of Ray of Light, MTV broadcast a slew of videos and vintage TV specials, along with this episode of UltraSound. It featured not only an interview on the set of Madonna's "Frozen" music video but also a fascinating, truly unprecedented look at Madonna in the recording studio.

Shortly after the release of Ray of Light, Madonna made her second of three memorable appearances on her BFF's The Rosie O'Donnell Show. It was the only time she ever performed on the show, but it's Madonna and Rosie's hilarious yoga session that makes this one my favorite episode! 

 

Madonna sat down with Oprah Winfrey for the second time in May 1998 in one of her most relaxed and entertaining interviews. It was the only time she performed on Oprah, delivering the first-ever televised performance of "Ray of Light" and, to date, the ONLY live performance of "Little Star". 

Madonna made her only appearance at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 1998. I'm not sure if she was there because Rosie O'Donnell was hosting, because she was now a Mom, or because she was honoring the "tween" market that was digging her new material. I have to admit, that day, I was sorely jealous of the generation born after me: I SO wished Madonna made this appearance when I was still young enough to be a Nickelodeon viewer! 

A classic interview taken on the set of Madonna's iconic "Ray of Light" video, which marked her first collaboration with friend and Swedish film genius Jonas Akerlund. Akerlund would go on to direct her "Music" and "American Life" videos as well as the Grammy-nominated backstage documentary I'm Going To Tell You A Secret and the Grammy-winning The Confessions Tour: Live From London. 

A short but sweet and especially memorable pre-taped message that was broadcast to celebrate Tony Bennett's fifty years in show business during a live-by-request TV concert the legendary crooner performed in 1998. Bennett, a vocal and avowed Madonna fan, had been begging Madonna to record a duet for years. Fingers crossed that that dream collaboration comes true one day!

Click to hear Madonna's message to Tony!

In September 1998, once again, Madonna stole the show at The MTV Video Music Awards. The show opened with what remains her ONLY televised performance of "Shanti/Ashtangi" and ended with superfan Geri Halliwell (making her first post-Spice Girls appearance in the U.S.) handing Madonna the trophy for Video of the Year. Excerpted here are the opening performance of "Shanti" and "Ray of Light", with the latter song featuring Lenny Kravitz and many of the dancers featured in the video. I was quite thrilled to find that two pre-show segments now live on in YouTube Land: a hilarious promo with Ben Stiller and Guy Oseary, and one of Madonna's last sit-down interviews with Kurt Loder. The interview is especially memorable because Madonna reveals that she doesn't know who Jennifer Love Hewett is....which made it particularly awkward when Hewett presented Madonna with an award later that night! 

Madonna made a splash at another awards ceremony shortly after the VMAs, when she gave her only live performance in America of "The Power of Good-Bye" and scooped up a handful of trophies at The 1998 VH1 Fashion & Music Awards. Madonna was being honored for her ever-changing appearance, including a lifetime achievement award from Donatella Versace for her immortal stylishness. So it should come as no surprise that Madonna wore three different outfits over the course of the night. Nor should it come as a surprise that her briefly infamous Hindi-inspired apparel was spoofed when Joan Allen portrayed Madonna the following weekend on Saturday Night Live. 

Madonna gave her only UK performance of "The Power Of Good-Bye" on this 1998 appearance on Top of the Pops--quite a stark contrast to her TOTP debut singing "Holiday" in 1984! It was one of the last times she ever performed the song live, having scrapped plans to sing it the following December at The 1998 Billboard Music Awards and seemingly barring it from every subsequent tour. Fingers crossed it finds its way into a future setlist, as it remains one of Madonna's most gorgeous and affecting ballads. 

(For those of us in the U.S. blocked from seeing the above performance, here's another live rendition from Fall '98!)

Madonna finally appeared on Larry King Live in January 1999, spending an hour discussing her life and career. The interview got off to an odd start, with King applauding Madonna for being so brave as to release her first album minus a last name (?), but despite a string of familiar questions the rapport between King and The Queen is warm, funny, and ultimately revealing. (Much to my disappointment, it appears only the first half of this interview is on YouTube.)

Had Madonna ever attended The Grammys prior to 1999? She had been nominated for eight Grammys, including Record of the Year for "Like A Prayer" and "Best Long Form Music Video" for her Blond Ambition Tour LaserDisc, the latter being her lone Grammy win for the first sixteen years of her career. I know she didn't show up in 1996 when Bedtime Stories was her first-ever album to be nominated for "Best Pop Vocal Album". But in 1999 Ray of Light would win the award in that category, the first and thus far only Madonna LP to do so. It was also the first and thus far only Madonna album ever to be nominated for "Album of the Year", which it lost to Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.  The single "Ray of Light" was Madonna's second of three (thus far) to be nominated for "Record of the Year". It lost in that category, but won the first-ever trophy for "Best Dance Recording", as well as giving Madonna her only win for "Best Short Form Music Video", a category in which she has been nominated four times. That year also marked the first time she ever performed at the Grammys and the last time she ever performed under the direction of her brother, Christopher Ciccone. As outlined in his infamous tell-all Life With My Sister Madonna, Christopher Ciccone had been Madonna's closest and most frequent collaborator from her New York days through directing The Girlie Show, which he acclaimed in his book as the respective peak in both of their careers. After The Girlie Show, however, his collaboration seems to have been limited to directing her only live performance of "Bedtime Story", at The 1995 Brit Awards, and her only live performance of "Nothing Really Matters", at The 1999 Grammy Awards. One hopes that their collaborations won't end there. In addition to that performance and Madonna's triumphant win of the "Best Pop Vocal Album" Grammy, you'll also find a snippet of Madonna's backstage flirtation with Ricky Martin. It came about shortly after Martin's performance that night of "La Copa De La Vida" preceded a Grammy win and instant superstardom. It lead to the collaboration "Cuidado Con Mi Corazon", a Madonna-William Orbit song written as a solo for Madonna but re-worked into a memorable Madonna-Martin duet for Ricky Martin's mega-successful 1999 album Ricky Martin. The final YouTube gem pairs coverage from both Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight of Madonna's post-Grammy high. It's Madonna at her giddiest and least reserved, truly as happy as she's ever been on camera. For those of us who had been on the journey with her from the album's release to the Grammys' redemption, it was euphoria as infectious as it was thoroughly deserved.

Queen of the Small Screen: Bette Davis on TV

There’s something about Bette Davis that always feels very present. Even when you’re watching a movie made in the early years of sound cinema, she feels way ahead of her time and far more accessible to future audiences than any of her co-stars. This comes through in all of the work she did on the big screen, but also in much of the work that she did for television, either as an actress or as a major star. In honor of Bette Davis Day 2012, I offer twelve examples from 1957-1987 of JUST what I’m talking about!

All of these clips are taken from my YouTube channel, but I don’t own the rights to any of them, so please don’t tell on me! I’m not making any ad money with these clips and frankly I wouldn’t dare: I’m doing this to honor Miss Davis, not to profit off of her. None of this footage is available on DVD, and until it is, I hope it can remain in a place where my fellow fans can enjoy it as I do.

Happy Bette Davis Day 2012!

General Electric Theater: “With Malice Toward One”

The First Lady of the American Screen headlines this crackerjack episode of General Electric Theater about an aspiring author who is determined not to let a high-minded professor crush her dreams..no matter to what lengths she must go to stop him. Broadcast on March 10th, 1957, “With Malice Toward One” was written for television by Hagar Wilde from a story by Vivian Fletcher and helmed by Golden Age TV director Jules Bricken.

Telephone Time: “Stranded”

Miss Bette Davis gives a memorable dramatic performance in “Stranded”, a suspenseful episode of the anthology TV series Telephone Time that was broadcast on May 9th, 1957 and based on a true story. Although Bette Davis was not fond of the finished product, her fans will cherish this most accurate portrayal of what Bette Davis might have been like as a schoolteacher forced to protect her children against the forces of nature! This chestnut of TVs Golden Age was helmed by Allen H. Miner, who also directed Bette Davis and then-husband Gary Merrill in the pilot Paula, which became the Studio 57 episode “The Starmaker”.

Suspicion: “Fraction of a Second”

The outstanding 4/21/58 episode of the anthology series Suspicion, "Fraction of a Second", is based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier and stars The First Lady of the American Screen in one of her most memorable TV performances as a woman who steps outside of her house to see her daughter off to school and returns to find a very different home inside....

Studio 57: “The Starmaker”

Miss Bette Davis and her fourth husband and All About Eve co-star Gary Merrill made their fourth and final appearance before the cameras together in this rare piece of TV history that was originally conceived as a pilot for a proposed series called Paula. In the semi-autobiography Mother Goddam, written by Whitney Stine with the aid of Miss Davis, Bette dismisses the pilot for Paula as proof that her career had sunk to an unbearable low. But for fans of the palpable onscreen/offscreen chemistry of Miss Davis and Mr. Merrill, this pilot is a gem. The show that would have been Paula was re-titled “The Starmaker” before it aired as an episode on the anthology series Studio 57 in March of 1958, and I hope that you will all relive the sparks that flew between The Merrills onscreen and find out how the masterful Bette could elevate seemingly inconsequential material to an empowering characterization.

Hollywood Palace: Appearing with Olivia De Havilland!

Film legends and lifelong friends Bette Davis & Olivia De Havilland appeared on the November 7th, 1964 episode of Hollywood Palace to promote what would be their final film together, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and to perform a dramatic reading that is truly unforgettable. The performance is a stunner, but be sure to watch what comes right after, when Bette and Olivia spoof Miss D’s larger-than-life image with guest host Gene Barry!

I’ve Got A Secret: Appearing with Olivia De Havilland!

Screen legends Bette Davis and Olivia De Havilland guested together on TV legend Steve Allen's I've Got A Secret on March 1st, 1965 to promote their soon-to-be-classic new film, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte.  In the first segment, comedian Barbara Heller proves to be the secret of Miss Davis and Miss de Havilland from a panel that includes Buddy Hackett and Betsy Palmer. In the second segment, Bette makes one of her rare TV musical performances singing the Oscar-nominated "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte", which became a Top 10 hit for singer Patti Page.

Hollywood Palace: Hosted By Bette Davis!

Bette Davis made her second of three appearances on the vaudeville-inspired 60s TV show Hollywood Palace on February 20, 1965. In addition to opening the show with a live rendition of her current record, “To Be Single”, and serving as hostess of the evening’s festivities, Miss Davis co-starred with the legendary actor/vaudevillian Bert Lahr in a skit called “Jealousy”, which Miss Davis had previously starred in in 1952 as part of her Broadway comeback, Two's Company. Enjoy this rare one-two punch of singing and sketch comedy from The First Lady Of The American Screen!

Milton Katselas’s Strangers: The Story of a Mother and a Daughter

The First Lady of the American Screen, Bette Davis, cemented her additional contributions to the television medium when she earned the 1979 Best Actress Emmy Award (Prime Time, Limited Series or Special) for her work opposite Gena Rowlands in the made-for-TV classic Strangers: The Story of A Mother And Daughter. Rarely been seen since its May 1979 broadcast, it marks a vital point in the career of Hollywood's greatest actress as it is one of the high points of Miss Davis's "Silver Age", when she was afforded rich roles in some of the most acclaimed television productions of the 70s and 80s. Three decades after its broadcast and two decades after Bette's passing, "Strangers" remains a superb and resonant human drama, deservedly comparable to Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata and the James L. Brooks Best Picture winner Terms of Endearment.

Jackie Cooper’s White Mama

In the last years of her life, Bette Davis spoke lovingly of her Emmy-nominated performance in White Mama, a favorite of her latter-day films, and considered it part of her “Silver Age” of television films in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During this period, Miss Davis felt that she was being given some of her best roles since her Warner Bros. Golden Age. This period produced a small but ever-watchable cluster of films which gave Bette a platform to expand the horizons of women’s possibilities on film over the age of seventy, all the while introducing a new generation to her mastery of the acting craft.

George Schaefer’s Right of Way

All-time Hollywood icons Bette Davis and James Stewart united for the one and only time in what would be the last film before Miss Davis had her debilitating stroke. The story of a woman coming to terms with her parents’ decision to take their lives together, Right of Way was deemed too controversial for its intended network television broadcast and instead became a successful original HBO movie, earning Cable ACE Award nominations for both leads in the Best Actress and Best Actor categories. Broadcast exactly fifty years after Bette’s first top-billing Warner Bros. star vehicle, the less esteemed Ex-Lady, Right of Way is also a treat for fans of the equally immortal James Stewart. This priceless pairing is afforded a worthy film thanks to writer Richard Lees, director George Schaefer, and co-star Melinda Dillon, who plays the adult daughter of Davis and Stewart.

Good Morning America: The 1981 David Hartman Interview!

Bette Davis was interviewed for by David Hartman in May 1981 for a five-part segment on Good Morning America. In my book, it is tied with Bette’s classic 1971 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show as possibly her best TV interview, thanks to her warm rapport with Hartman and a non-stop barrage of classic Bette moments. The timeless appeal of this interview is aided by the fact that it aired just as the Kim Carnes classic "Bette Davis Eyes" was climbing to the #1 position on the Billboard chart: it would spend nine weeks there before eventually winning Grammys for "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year".

The Late Show With Joan Rivers: The OTHER Bette And Joan!

Bette Davis comments on her mistreatment at the 1987 Academy Awards and reflects on everything from her massive stroke to her favorite films in this positively classic sit-down with Joan Rivers. This is the star whom I fell in love with in the 80s at her most ageless. Despite her jarring post-stroke appearance, here Bette is sharp, witty, and continuing to prove why she was arguably the most consistently appealing talk show guest of the 20^th century.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS DAVIS!!! WE LOVE YOU ETERNALLY!!!! XOXOXOX