| Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend | |
|---|---|
| Based on | Short story |
| Written by | Oliver Hailey |
| Story by | Marilyn Cantor Baker |
| Directed by | Russ Mayberry |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Billy Goldenberg |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | George Eckstein |
| Cinematography | Chuck Arnold |
| Editor | Jim Benson |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 5, 1981 |
| Related | |
| Love, Sidney | |
Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend is a 1981 American made-for-television drama film written by Oliver Hailey and directed by Russ Mayberry. The film is based on a short story by Marilyn Cantor Baker. It stars Tony Randall, Lorna Patterson, Kaleena Kiff and David Huffman. It premiered on NBC as a two-hour pilot for the NBC series Love, Sidney on October 5, 1981. Oliver Hailey and Marilyn Cantor Baker won a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Anthology - Original or Adapted and it was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special. [1] [2] The movie was one of prime time's first depictions of a gay man on television, and was protested by conservative organizations. [3]
When we first meet Sidney, a reclusive illustrator, his mother has recently died, and his live-in lover Martin has left him. Then on a rainy evening, Sidney befriends Laurie Morgan, who spends the night in his apartment due to the rain. Laurie very quickly identifies Sidney's sexuality from his longing gaze towards a man's photo on the mantle. Since Sidney can no longer afford his apartment alone, he invites her to move in. She eventually finds work in commercials, and later on a soap opera. Sidney is a jealous roommate though, and Laurie resents his constant complaints about her being too promiscuous. When Laurie learns she is pregnant and her boyfriend is married, Sidney comforts her. She then decides to have an abortion, but Sidney begs her not to. Laurie agrees to keep her baby, and Sidney helps out with parenting responsibilities and financial support. Flash forward five years, and they are seen as a happy family. But when her new boyfriend Jimmy proposes marriage, Laurie accepts and announces they are moving to Los Angeles. Sidney objects and files for joint custody of the child. When Sidney and Laurie meet with Judge Wilcox, Sidney makes an impassioned plea to keep the child, but ultimately, one of them must say goodbye to Patti. [4]
In late 1979, Randall was approached about a made-for-TV movie, based on a short story by Marilyn Cantor Baker. The project was still in development, and since he liked the premise of the story, he immediately expressed interest. [5] Randall later explained the reason behind his involvement in the project was because he "fell in love" with the character Sidney. [6] Randall liked the idea of a lonely middle-aged man achieving something he always wanted, the unexpected gift of a family. With Randall on board, Warner Bros. Television took on the project, which they planned to offer to CBS. They hired writer Oliver Hailey, best known for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman , to adapt Baker's short story into a screenplay. Hailey worked closely with Randall and together they developed an acceptable script. When they eventually took it to CBS, they rejected it, despite cautious treatment of its potentially controversial theme. Randall told The Advocate , the rejection couldn't be related to the homosexuality, because television had already covered that subject. [5] They approached Fred Silverman next, president of NBC at the time, and according to Hailey, he "went apeshit" over the script. [6] Silverman bought it, and quickly put the film into production. Russ Mayberry was hired to direct, Lorna Patterson was cast as Laurie Morgan, and Kaleena Kiff was selected to play Patti. The movie was taped in New York, and was completed in the fall of 1980. [5]
Hailey later revealed that many of his ideas for the movie were vetoed by Randall, whose contract allowed him creative control of the project. [6] Hailey wanted to provide details about Sidney's doomed relationship with his ex-lover Martin, and also proposed that Martin might return and clash with Laurie. However, his suggestions were overruled by Randall. He insisted that Martin would only be represented by a photo of him on the mantelpiece. According to Hailey, Randall wanted Sidney's sexuality to be specified, but it would be solely through inference, neither gay nor homosexual were to be spoken aloud. [6] [5]
After it was completed, the broadcast premiere was postponed for almost a year, despite NBC being pleased with the results. When Ronald Reagan won the election in 1980, conservative organizations like the Moral Majority, founded by Jerry Falwell, and Donald Wildmon's National Federation for Decency, coordinated massive letter-writing campaigns and boycotts against TV networks that broadcast any programs that they perceived as immoral. [7] Wildmon was quoted as saying, "networks make a mistake when they try to legitimize a homosexual lifestyle". [6] Letters protesting the project started to arrive at NBC even before shooting had finished on the movie, and after filming had wrapped, NBC received hundreds more protesting its broadcast. Alan Shayne, president of Warner Bros. Television, was still passionate about the movie, despite the pressure from conservative organizations. Early in 1981, Shayne decided to ignore the pressure groups and take them on directly. He would develop the project into a weekly series and treat the film as its pilot. The decision was green-lighted by Silverman, and achieved a television breakthrough by featuring a TV program built around a gay character, played by an established star. [6] When Grant Tinker took over at NBC after Silverman's departure, he said Jerry Falwell is "just another viewer", and he "won't do my job for me". [6] For his part, Randall was quite vocal in response to the backlash against the film and series being developed, he flat out replied "screw 'em". [7]
When the movie finally premiered in 1981, it was greeted with mixed but mostly positive reviews, with Randall receiving some of the best reviews of his career for his performance. [6] It also scored well in the ratings, drawing 40 percent of the viewing audience in New York City, while drawing 28 percent nationally. [6] Oliver Hailey, who stayed on with the series as a story consultant, called the movie's premiere "a timid groundbreaker". [6] Opposition to the film came from an unlikely source, Newt Dieter, of the Los Angeles-based Gay Media Task Force, bluntly called the film "a piece of shit". [6] He stated that "Sidney was a plausible character", but was still disappointed, because the "man's sexual identity was so understated as to be irrelevant. Why, Dieter asked, was he even made a homosexual in the first place?" [6]
Lorna Luft is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Sidney Luft, the sister of Joey Luft and the half-sister of Liza Minnelli.
Anthony Leonard Randall was an American actor of film, television and stage. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in the 1970-75 television adaptation of the 1965 play The Odd Couple by Neil Simon. In a career spanning six decades, Randall received six Golden Globe Award nominations and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning one Emmy.
The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. It opposes LGBT rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy goals. It was founded in 1977 by Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television series that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to May 4, 1976. It starred Robert Young as the title character, a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, who made house calls and was on a first-name basis with many of his patients; James Brolin as his partner Steven Kiley, a younger doctor; and Elena Verdugo as Consuelo Lopez, Welby and Kiley's dedicated and caring nurse/office manager.
An Early Frost is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film. It was the first major film with major motion picture stars, Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, and Sylvia Sidney, broadcast on a major television network, NBC, to deal with the topic of AIDS. It was viewed by 34 million households in its initial airing, the highest rated show of the night, even beating Monday Night Football. It received 14 Emmy nominations, winning 3 including Best Original Teleplay, a Peabody Award, as well as multiple Golden Globe nominations, including one for Sylvia Sidney who won for Best Supporting Actress. It was a major breakthrough into mass culture, as it was the first time an American audience of that size saw a film about a gay man who had AIDS, which up until then was considered a gay disease.
Sarah Kate Silverman is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live during its 19th season between 1993 and 1994. She then starred in and produced The Sarah Silverman Program, which ran from 2007 to 2010 on Comedy Central. For her work on the program, Silverman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Love, Sidney is an American sitcom television series which aired two seasons on NBC, from October 28, 1981, to June 6, 1983. It stars Tony Randall as Sidney Shorr, Swoosie Kurtz as Laurie Morgan, and Kaleena Kiff as Patricia "Patti" Morgan. It was the first program on American television to feature a gay person as the central character, although his sexual orientation was carefully downplayed for most of the series' duration.
Donald Ellis Wildmon was an American ordained United Methodist minister, author, radio host, and founder and chairman of the American Family Association and American Family Radio.
Lorna Patterson is a retired American film, stage and television actress. As an actress, her best-known roles were as Randy, the singing stewardess, in Airplane!, and as the lead in the television series Private Benjamin.
The Sarah Silverman Program is an American television sitcom, which ran from February 1, 2007, to April 15, 2010, on Comedy Central starring comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, who created the series with Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. The Sarah Silverman Program faced cancellation in 2009 when Comedy Central and the producers were unable to reach an agreement for the show's per-episode budget. LGBT-interest cable channel Logo stepped in to co-produce the third season.
Sidney Fields, born Sidney Hirsch Feldman, was an American comedic actor and writer best known for his featured role on The Abbott and Costello Show in the 1940s (radio) and early 1950s (television). He was sometimes credited as "Sid Fields" or "Sidney Field".
That Certain Summer is a 1972 American made-for-television drama film directed by Lamont Johnson. The teleplay by Richard Levinson and William Link was considered the first sympathetic depiction of gay people on American television. Produced by Universal Television, it was broadcast as an ABC Movie of the Week on November 1, 1972, and received a number of television awards and nominations. The movie was also recognized as being the first network drama to depict a stable, same-sex couple; the first to depict a gay parent; and the first gay themed show to win an Emmy, with Scott Jacoby winning for his performance. A novelization of the film written by Burton Wohl was published by Bantam Books.
The Lost Language of Cranes is a 1991 British made-for-television drama film directed by Nigel Finch. It was adapted for television by Sean Mathias, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by David Leavitt. The film was produced by the BBC for their Screen Two series and aired on 9 February 1992 after being shown at the London Film Festival in November 1991. It stars Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, Angus Macfadyen, Corey Parker, Cathy Tyson, John Schlesinger, René Auberjonois, Ben Daniels and Nigel Whitmey. Cox was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.
Kaleena Kiff is an American actress, producer, and director. Kiff is known for her roles in the sitcoms Love, Sidney and The New Leave It to Beaver.
Robert La Tourneaux was an American actor best known for his role of Cowboy, the good-natured but dim hustler hired as a birthday present for a gay man, in the original Off-Broadway production and 1970 film version of The Boys in the Band.
Russell Bradley Mayberry was an American television director.
Janice Gadsden Pendarvis is an American singer, songwriter, and voiceover artist. She has worked with artists such as Sting, David Bowie, Steely Dan, Peter Tosh, the O'Jays, Philip Glass, Jimmy Cliff, Laurie Anderson, the Naked Brothers Band, and the Rolling Stones.
This Is Us is an American drama television series created by Dan Fogelman that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents and their three children in several different time frames. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan, Ron Cephas Jones, Jon Huertas, Alexandra Breckenridge, Niles Fitch, Logan Shroyer, Hannah Zeile, Mackenzie Hancsicsak, Parker Bates, Eris Baker, Faithe Herman, Lonnie Chavis, Melanie Liburd, Lyric Ross, Asante Blackk, Griffin Dunne, Caitlin Thompson and Chris Geere. This Is Us was filmed in Los Angeles.
Oliver Hailey was an American screenwriter and playwright. Hailey's television writing credits include episodes of Bracken's World and McMillan & Wife. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for writing the 1981 television film Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend. As a playwright, Hailey wrote over 20 plays, three of which were produced on Broadway.
