Happy Joi Lansing Day!

Joi Lansing Day starts one day early this year—April 6 is Lansing's birthday, but I want to give you plenty of time to see this year's sample of Joi: the quirky Orson Welles 1958 TV pilot "The Fountain of Youth." Produced around the same time that Rod Serling pitched The Twilight Zone and Welles made his movie Touch of Evil, "The Fountain of Youth" constituted a leading role for Lansing, who played a bit part in the opening of Touch of Evil. Also appearing in "The Fountain of Youth" is Nancy Kulp, best known for her role in The Beverly Hillbillies, in which Lansing would make five appearances as Lester Flatt's wife.

Previous Joi Lansing Day coverage featured Lansing's Scopitones: "The Web of Love," "The Silencer," and "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else."

And now, without further ado, "The Fountain of Youth."



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Hest Fest at Lincoln Center

You just can't keep Charlton Heston down. He died in April, but this coming week, when his beloved Republicans will be convening in Minneapolis, he'll be the subject of a Lincoln Center tribute.

I found much of Heston's politics to be despicable, but at times he did stand up for civil rights and appear in numerous films noteworthy for their artistry and/or camp value. So it's appropriate that the program at the Walter Reade Theater includes the "classic" Touch of Evil as well as the camp classics Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes, and Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Also programmed: Major Dundee, Ben-Hur and El Cid (supposedly a stunning widescreen accomplishment) as well as Will Penny, The Omega Man, The Greatest Show on Earth, and, um, Earthquake (not in Sensurround, alas).

A lot of films are not included (no The Ten Commandments!), but I think the most regrettable omission is The Naked Jungle, which deliciously mixes the artful and the campy in a Buñuelesque tale of an uptight couple and a marauding swarm of killer ants!!!

I still haven't found YouTube video of The Naked Jungle, so you'll just have to settle for this view of New York City in the year 2022.



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THE GENIUS OF ORSON WELLES

It's a weekend of Welles at The Loew's Jersey, the grand movie house (with a recently restored organ) at 54 Journal Square in Jersey City. It's a great chance to appreciate details in Citizen Kane, which opens the weekend. Admission is $6; $4 for seniors, students with ID, and pre-teens.

Here's the schedule.

Fri Feb 1 8:00 pm Citizen Kane
Sat Feb 2 3:00 pm The Lady from Shanghai
Sat Feb 2 6:30 pm The Magnificent Ambersons
Sat Feb 2 8:40 pm Touch of Evil (new print)

Here's a recent video tour of the landmark theater. I still haven't been there myself!



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