Education – Page 176 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Who wrote The Monkees? – “Success Story” by Bernie Orenstein

Who wrote The Monkees? – “Success Story” by Bernie Orenstein Part 1 of an on-going series

The Monkees episode Antenna TV will air this weekend is “Success Story” – written by Bernie Orenstein, a freelancer who wrote two other episodes: “Dance, Monkee, Dance” and “Monkees à la Carte”.

This 5 minute interview focuses on his memories of writing for The Monkees .

His more full time writing was on the variety show The Hollywood Palace which showcased Hollywood talent such as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. He later produced Sanford and Son. In our interview I asked Mr. Orenstein if he was part of the youth culture and he said with a laugh, “My wife accuses me of missing the sixties entirely, and I’m afraid she’s right. I avoided the ‘emerging counter-culture scene’ mostly because I didn’t know there was one going on.” He has taught in the MFA program for Writing and Producing Television at Long Island University in Brooklyn.

Rory Williams – Family Man Part 2 from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (1:08)

Dr. Rosanne Welch presents “How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity: A Study of the Doctors and their Male Companions“ at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library. Dr. Welch teaches in the IGE (Interdisciplinary General Education) program.

Watch the entire presentation here

Transcript:

Of course, along the way, he gets to be a full family man because…he and Amy have a baby! I think it’s very important. There’s a photography of him holding his child. It’s not just her always holding the baby and taking care of it, this is a shared parenting which is part of the modern generation. You all are probably lucky. Your Dad’s were probably more involved, but if you get back to my generation’s Dad, there the folks that went to work, came home, had dinner, watched TV qnd never talked to their kids and that was what men did. Right? And over the course of a couple of generations, parenting has become a co-job and you can see a Dad just as easily taking his kid to the doctor or going to a school function and helping out. it’s become a definition of men in this new generation to be family caretakers — to be involved — to go to the soccer games even if their not coaching , right? And to go to the birthday parties at school when you have to hand out little cupcakes with candles in them. That’s become a new definition, right? You all are probably more used to that, but it’s not something that happened in the past.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Vagina Monologues 2016 – Rosanne performs “The Flood”

The Vagina Monologues 2016 – Rosanne performs “The Flood”

On Tuesday February 16th the Women’s Resource Center of CalPoly Pomona presented their 15th annual performance of Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues“.

My colleague Peg Lamphier and I joined a cadre of talented students in performing one monologue together. Then a student dropped out and the director asked me to cover for her so this is my rendition of a monologue entitled “The Flood”. It came from Ensler’s extensive interviews with women over the age of 65, many of whom were not able to say the word ‘vagina’ out loud.

The best thing about the evening (besides ‘acting’ on stage again!) was watching all the students create a bond over the material – and watching those who had sat shyly in the back of some of my classroom discussions suddenly shouting “Vagina!” or impersonate moaning… We had to stifle our laughter backstage during most of the show. But seeing all these female students become sisters through theatre was the best.

Link: Cal Poly Pomona Women’s Resource Center

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Finding Diversity in Television History in the David Dortort Archive at the Autry Museum

Today we thank Shonda Rhimes for bringing color blind casting to television when she casts a diverse array of ethnicities in lead roles on her shows. But she didn’t invent the idea. On our visit to the Autry Museum of the American West I was reminded of a show I used to watch on television but that disappeared too quickly (I didn’t then know why) and didn’t reappear in reruns as much as the more successful, longer-running program also created by the same writer (Bonanza).

The show I only vaguely remembered was The High Chaparral – the story of a Mexican woman married to a man of European descent (then controversially considered an inter-racial marriage) who owned a rancho in the West post the Civil War. I remembered it for its diverse cast and honest portrayal of the discrimination played out against minorities in the West.

Special Projects Archivist Mallory Furnier wrote the blog post, “Casting Actors as People” highlighting the archives of The High Chaparral in the David Dortort Archive, where she noted:

“Though The High Chaparral faced untimely cancellation, its four seasons embodied a step away from tired, inaccurate stereotypes and a movement toward greater respect for actors and characters, regardless of race. As a June 16, 1970 NBC memo instructed, “let’s cast actors to play people and, in so doing, give the ‘minorities’ a break.”

In a second blog post, “Finding Aids and Places”, Furnier discussed her trip to the Old Tuscon Studios in Arizona, site of some of the exterior filming of the show.

As always, I found it fascinating to wander around in the papers (old, handwritten first drafts of scripts, typed rewrites ready for production meetings, cast lists, shooting schedules, etc) and see the inside ideas of a show I had only seen from the outside all those years ago.

One of the papers was even a 1971 letter to Dortort from then U.N. Representative George H. W. Bush saying he sympathized with the producer over the cancellation of such a quality show and would do what he could to communicate that to those who had made that decision. Fascinating.

Listen to the High Chapparal Theme Song.

High Chaparral Script Cover

Rory Williams – Family Man from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (1:13)

Watch the entire presentation here

Transcript:

How can we not talk about Rory when we talk about family men. Rory being, before Danny, the most recent male to travel with The Doctor. Think about Rory. We meet him and what’s his profession? He’s a nurse. He’s not a doctor. He’s a nurse. That is gender-traditionally a female job. So we have Rory who’s a nurse. That’s a definite choice. Right? Macho is not nurse, except maybe 20 years form now. And yet, when Amy keeps getting the chance to choose between men – ooo The Doctor or Rory — she continually chooses Rory. Who, to her, is the manliest man, because he’s dedicated to her and their family. In fact, as we know, he’s so dedicated to her, he spends 2000 years guarding the Pandorica to keep her safe. 2000 years waiting to make sure no one can harm her. You can’t get better than that and that makes him a Warrior, as well, but a Warrior for the purpose of protecting a member of his family. That’s how deeply a family man he is and I think that is so cool.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Screenwriting History Books: The Books I Use to Teach Screenwriting History

Here are some of the books I use to teach the History of Screenwriting in the MFA in Screenwriting Program for Stephens College. I’ll touch base on each of these books individually – their strengths and weaknesses (as I see them and as the students have reported them to me in class discussions) over the next few of weeks.

What are your favorite screenwriting History books? It’s a trick question because few film history books focus on screenwriting. They mostly focus on business moguls, directors and actors. But because this is an MFA in Screenwriting, the program Director, Ken Lazebnik, and I decided the writers who come through the program ought to have a deep understanding of the screenwriters who came before them.

Mickey’s Masculine Choices from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (1:00)

Watch the entire presentation here

Transcript:

When he (Mickey) made the choice to stay in the alternative universe, he didn’t choose that just because it meant that he was going to continue to fight bad aliens, which is the Warrior part of him. He chose to stay there because, in the real world his grandmother, who he lived with was already dead. In the alternative universe she was still alive and so he chose to stay there so he could continue to kno his grandmother. THAT is a family man. That is a man making a choice about what’s useful and beneficial to his family above and beyond any of the other things that masculinity would require. I think that’s adorable. It’s not like he was staying with his grandfather to manhood from him. It’s staying with his grandmother who needed somebody to take care of her and who he still needed in his life for that influence that she had. And I think that’s a really, really, beautiful part of Mickey and where he grew.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Rosanne speaks in Cal Poly article, “Vagina Monologues’ Seeks to Empower Women and Inform Campus”

Come one! Come all – (if you live near Cal Poly Pomona) and see my colleague Peg Lamphier and I perform in this year’s Vagina Monologues tomorrow (Tuesday the 16th) at 7pm on campus. Tickets are $10.

Click below for an article about the event – and our participation – with quotes. Support a student journalist and give it a read! And, yes, some video will be posted after the show is over..

“Auditions were open not only to students, but to staff and faculty as well. After noticing that on a poster, Professor Rosanne Welch, who holds a doctorate degree in American social history of the 21st century, was inspired to audition.

“Peg Lampher and I are really big feminists and we talk a lot about it with our students,” she says. “I went over to her and said, ‘We should put our money where our mouth is.’ ”

After auditioning, the pair was cast in one of the last monologues of the show. Welch says it is perfect for them because the topic is childbirth, and they are both mothers.

Throughout the experience, Welch’s favorite part has been watching the students take control.

“I was proud to watch them, but I was also a little bit sad because a certain number of them have had things happen to them in their past which brought them to work with the Women’s Resource Center,” she says. “The fact that they are able to put on this presentation and take control of the night is a beautiful gesture.””

Read the entire article, Vagina Monologues’ Seeks to Empower Women and Inform Campus

Please tell your local librarian about my book, Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection

We know our new 4-volume encyclopedia Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection is not the kind of thing an average person purchases based on size and cost (though I remember a pre-internet time when door-to-door salesmen still hawked the Encyclopedia Britannica and my mom bought a copy to help me do well in school and get to college).

In this modern world, if you want to help Peg and I (and all the students who can benefit from learning about all these wonderful women who helped shape American culture) consider passing a copy of the attached flyer out to your local public or university librarians (in print and/or via email) and ask if they will order a set for their branch.

Thanks!

Click to download the PDF flyer, ready for printing or attaching to an email

Mickey Smith and Martha Jones from How Doctor Who Redefined Masculinity [Video Clip] (0:38)

Watch the entire presentation here

Transcript:

When I think about Mickey Smith and I want to think about masculinity, he suits a lot of little places. A lot of these definitions. You would think we can talk about him as a warrior, because, in fact, he did become one. He’s probably the man who grew the most in his knowledge and his time with The Doctor. He went from a little puppy dog boyfriend of Rose who was dumb and she wasn’t liking him any more. Then he found his way to being a hero in his own life and so much so that, of course, as we know, he ended up marrying Martha (Jones) who is really a very, very powerful female character I believe.

A clip from this 5th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who presented by Dr. Welch. You can find Dr. Welch’s other Doctor Who talks using the links below.

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS