That Catered Affair

Last week I was using Google Image to find a cast picture of A Catered Affair, the new show on Broadway featuring Tony nominee John Schneider, and this little thing popped up - The Catered Affair. What a difference a definite article makes! A quick trip down the knuckerhole of Wikipedia (Nicholson Baker would be so proud!) gave me the 411.

In 1956 Sir Gore Vidal adapted the Paddy Chayefsky TV movie (which starred the original Wanda Sykes, Miss Thelma Ritter!) for the silver screen. This was almost three decades before his bestseller Myra Breckinridge was made into a film - and at least six decades before it makes sense. The plot? Academy Award winner Miss Bette Davis is married to Academy Award winner Mr. Ernest Borgnine - she's a hausfrau, he's a cab driver! They live in the Bronx and calamity ensues when they have only a weekend to plan the fancypants wedding for their daughter, Academy Award nominee Debbie Reynolds.

I am going to start a petition on Amazon so that this, my new favorite movie, will be released on DVD.

I should have known after he starred in Grand Hotel, The Musical! that John Schneider only trod the boards in shows with rich source material. Long live the Dukes!