ts & Entertainment
„
FEN/SMALL SCREEN
Early Bird
Special
Naomi Pfefferman
Jewish Journal
of Greater Los Angeles
A
t 15, director Susan
Seidelman set her alarm
for 2 a.m. and sneaked
out her bedroom window to party.
At her suburban Philadelphia high
school, she was suspended more
than once for wearing oh-so-short
miniskirts. At her Reform syna-
gogue, she and her pals ditched
confirmation class for socials in a
rough part of town.
"We'd dance like crazy for two
hours but return in time for car-
pool: the quirky, affable filmmaker
said from her Manhattan home.
No wonder Seidelman grew up
to direct rebellious punk classics
such as Desperately Seeking
Susan as well as the pilot and
early episodes of HBO's taboo-
busting Sex and the City.
Boynton Beach Club, sched-
uled to open Friday, Sept. 29, at the
Landmark Maple Art Theatre in
Bloomfield Township, seems an
unexpected turn for a filmmaker
best known as a chronicler of hip
1980s youth culture.
The comedy-drama revolves
around a grieving Jewish widower,
Jack Goodman (Len Cariou),
who experiences a personal and
sexual awakening in his Florida
retirement community, where he
encounters singles preoccupied
with "early bird specials, sex [and]
sex after early bird specials',' as
Fort Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel
said. Goodman gets his share of
both as one of the few males in
this demographic.
So why did the edgy filmmaker,
now 53, spend years scraping
together the funding for this movie
about 60- and 70-somethings?
"Part of me is a nice Jewish
suburban girl, but the other part
is a free-spirited nonconform-
ist who wants to perpetually
reinvent myself;” she says. All
her characters also reinvent
themselves, from Susan's bored
Jewish housewife-turned-bohe-
mian to Boynton's reserved wid-
ower-turned-ladies' man.
Seidelman's new movie marks
what is perhaps her most dramatic
transformation — from wild
child to good girl — at least for •
those familiar with her early work.
She closely collaborated with her
mother, Florence, on Boynton,
avidly listening when mom sug-
gested the story several years ago.
Seidelman's now 75-year-old
mother proposed a film loosely
based on her shy widower friend,
David Cramer, who became extro-
verted after he joined bereave-
ment groups run by Alpert Jewish
Family & Children's Service in
Florida. Florence was tickled by
his descriptions of senior dating
rituals: For example, the phrase
Susan Seidelman directs Boynton Beach Club.
"I can drive at night" was a major
turn-on in personal ads, and
women handed men their "card"
as a demure way of offering their
phone number.
The filmmaker was so taken
with the idea that she suggested
mom buy a screenwriting book.
and write a first draft of the movie.
While the director ultimately re-
wrote the script with a partner, she
made her mother a producer and
harmoniously lived with her dur-
ing the Florida shoot.
Seidelman says that as she has
aged, so have her characters. And
if her 1980s movies have become
somewhat iconic, she's hoping
Boynton will, too — at least by
joining the smattering of recent
films (think Something's Gotta
Give) that depict seniors in bed.
Seidelman says most producers
reacted "with horror" when she
pitched Boynton, perceiving the
over-50 set to be commercially
unviable.
"So I think my latest film is, in
its own way, as subversive as the
others',' Seidelman says.
Rebellion, whether subtle or
overt, has always been in the
filmmaker's blood. Her mother,
Florence Seidelman, recalls
that while the young Susan was
popular and creative, she simply
couldn't be trusted.
"I knew she could tell a good
story, because she told so many to
me Florence says with a laugh.
When Susan was 19, she was
supposed to spend just the sum-
mer abroad, but finagled a longer
stay when she phoned her mother
from Israel. "She said, `I'm spoiled,
so the [kibbutz] life would be
good for me. And as a Jewish girl, I
should get closer to my roots:" her
mother recalls.
Mom promptly sent more
money — only to learn that Susan
had traveled to Turkey and that
she would not return home until
December.
It's a hustle one might have
expected of one of the director's
early protagonists, who were
inspired by people she met while
attending Ramones concerts in
tight black spandex and observing
the East Village arts scene.
After her 1982 debut feature,
Smithereens, made it to competi-
tion at Cannes, she received offers
to direct "lots of dopey Hollywood
teen films, but declined every-
thing until she read Desperately
Seeking Susan around 1984.
At the time, she says, she was
desperately seeking her own inner
Susan, confused about her direc-
tion and identity as an artist. The
story's fictional Roberta Glass
(Rosanna Arquette) gets knocked
on the head, develops amnesia and
adopts the persona of a bohemian
hustler played by Madonna.
Seidelman underwent her own
hard knocks when She-Devil
fizzled at the box office and her
film career flagged for a time.
Fifteen years later, potential buyers
snubbed Boynton.
Rather than give up, the scrappy
director decided to market the
movie herself in heavily senior
neighborhoods; as she called
newspapers to place ads, her
mother handed out fliers and
plastered delis with posters, the
Hollywood Reporter said.
Festival screenings in cities
such as Sarasota, Fla., and Palm
Springs, Calif., ensued, along with
mostly good reviews. When the
comedy out-grossed blockbust-
ers at a Florida mall, distributors
came around and bought the film,
Seidelman says.
So was the director rebellious
while living in her parents' Florida
vacation home during production?
"My mother sometimes had
to tell me to make my bed': the
director recalls. "But she actually
asked me to leave the house one
weekend because my presence was
interfering with her sex life'
Boynton Beach Club is
scheduled to open Friday,
Sept. 29, at the Landmark
Maple Art Theatre in
Bloomfield Township.
(248) 263-2111.
Behind The Scenes At Macy's
A
s Michigan shoppers
get used to the Macy's
experience, they are
invited to take a peek behind the
scenes with a new reality televi-
sion series: Unwrapping Macy's.
The eight-episode program
spotlights employees and their
work — from deciding on prod-
uct lines to planning the annual
Thanksgiving Day Parade, which
has been held in New York City
since 1924.
The first show, airing 10
p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, on WE
(Women's Entertainment network),
lets viewers see how fashions and
accessories are selected for the
selling floors of stores in the chain.
The camera will follow Macy's East
Coast fashion directors and buyers
as they make their choices.
"The idea is to deconstruct this
world that people take for grant-
ed," the New. York Times was
told by Steven Weinstock, Emmy
Award-winning producer of news
and documentary shows and co-
founder of True Entertainment,
the company that is putting the
series together.
Weinstock is working with
Glenda Hersh, co-founder of True
Entertainment and another veter-
an of TV news and documentary
programming.
The series will include seg-
ments on the development of
the men's active wear catalogue,
responsibilities of the special
events staff in New York and Los
Angeles and the process needed
for dressing up store windows to
draw people inside.
The store publicists, security
guards and balloon handlers
— among many other employ-
ees — will be seen as they work
to enhance the world's largest
department store with a 150-year-
old history. The camera will move
from Macy's flagship building at
Herald Square in New York City to
outlets across the country. 11
- Suzanne Chessler
Unwrapping Macy's debuts
10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30,
on the WE network.
September 28 200$
49