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      Dawn Wells, Mary Ann on ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ Dies at 82

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeHoliday TVBest Netflix DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTHOSE we’ve lostDawn Wells, Mary Ann on ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ Dies at 82Her character on the ’60s sitcom radiated all-American wholesomeness and youthful charm. After her TV career cooled, she focused on theater acting.Dawn Wells as Mary Ann Summers on an episode of “Gilligan’s Island” in 1964. Her character and her look — Gingham blouses, short shorts and double ponytails — personified the girl next door.Credit…CBS, via Getty ImagesDec. 30, 2020Updated 6:35 p.m. ETDawn Wells, the actress who radiated all-American wholesomeness, Midwestern practicality and a youthful naïve charm as the character Mary Ann on the hit 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” died on Wednesday at a nursing home in Los Angeles. She was 82.Her publicist, Harlan Boll, said the cause was related to Covid-19.Debuting on CBS in 1964, “Gilligan’s Island” followed an unlikely septet of day trippers (on a “three-hour tour,” as the theme song explained) who ended up stranded on a desert island.There, shipwrecked alongside a movie star (who spent most of her time in evening gowns), a science professor, a pompous, older rich couple, and two wacky crew members was Mary Ann Summers (Ms. Wells), a farm girl from Kansas who had won the trip in a local radio contest.The character had a relatively scant back story — it was said that she worked at the hardware store back home and had a boyfriend — but Mary Ann’s persona alone made her memorable. Gingham blouses, short shorts, double ponytails and perky hair bows were all parts of her signature look.The first version of the show’s theme song mentioned five of the characters “and the rest,” but the lyrics were soon changed to name the professor (Russell Johnson) and Mary Ann as well. The others in the cast were Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale Jr. (the Skipper), Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer (as the couple Thurston Howell III and Lovey Howell), and Tina Louise (as the actress, Ginger). Ms. Louise is the last surviving member of the original cast.That the premise of “Gilligan’s Island” was pretty much implausible and its humor simplistic made no difference to the show’s millions of fans or its producers, who would discover in the years to come that they had spawned a cultural phenomenon.Though “Gilligan’s Island” lasted only three seasons, canceled in 1967, it hardly slipped from the horizon. Endless reruns ensued, and the cast members had a series of encore performances. Ms. Wells, for one, reprised her role as Mary Ann in three reunion TV movies: “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island” (1978), “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island” (1979) and “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island” (1981).In 1982, she did the voices of both her character and Ms. Louise’s movie star for “Gilligan’s Planet,” an animated spinoff series. And she went on to play Mary Ann in episodes of at least four other (unrelated) shows: “Alf” (1986), “Baywatch” (1989), “Herman’s Head” (1991) and “Meego” (1997). “Gilligan’s”-themed episodes had a certain camp value.The cast of “Gilligan’s Island” from a reunion television movie in 1978: sitting, from left, Bob Denver, Ms. Wells and Russell Johnson; standing, from left, Judith Baldwin (replacing Tina Louise in the movie star role), Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer and Alan Hale Jr.Credit…CBS, via Associated PressEven her career as an author related directly to the series. “Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook,” which included Skipper’s Coconut Pie, was published in 1993. “What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to Life,” a memoir she wrote with Steve Stinson, appeared in 2014.Mary Ann’s advice in the book included this thought: “Failure builds character. What matters is what you do after you fail.” The San Francisco Book Review called the book “a worthwhile mix of classic values and sincerity.”Asked decades later about her favorite “Gilligan’s Island” episodes, Ms. Wells mentioned “And Then There Were None,” which included a dream sequence in which she got to do a Cockney accent. She also cited “Up at Bat,” an episode in which Gilligan imagined that he had turned into Dracula.“I loved being the old hag,” she said.Dawn Elberta Wells was born in Reno, Nev., on Oct. 18, 1938, the only child of Joe Wesley Wells, a real estate developer, and Evelyn (Steinbrenner) Wells. Dawn majored in chemistry at Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., then became interested in drama and went to the University of Washington in Seattle. She graduated in 1960 with a degree in theater arts and design, having taken some time off to win a state beauty title and compete in the 1960 Miss America pageant.“Big deal,” she said in a 2016 interview with Forbes, making light of her Miss Nevada win. “There were only 10 women in the whole state at the time.”For the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, her talent performance was a dramatic reading from Sophocles’ “Antigone.”A 1961 episode of the drama “The Roaring Twenties” was her screen debut. When she was cast on “Gilligan’s Island,” she had appeared onscreen only about two dozen times, mostly in prime-time series, including “77 Sunset Strip” (multiple episodes), “Surfside Six,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “Bonanza” and “Maverick.”Ms. Wells in 2015. After her television career cooled down, she returned to her first love: theater acting.Credit…Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesAfter her television career cooled down, Ms. Wells returned to her first love: theater, doing at least 100 productions nationwide. Her last television role was in 2019, as the voice of a supernatural dentist on the animated Netflix series “The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants.”Her last onscreen appearance was in a 2018 episode of “Kaplan’s Korner,” about actors running an employment agency. Her only soap opera appearance was in a 2016 episode of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” in which she played a fashion buyer from a wealthy family.Ms. Wells’s marriage in 1962 to Larry Rosen, a talent agent, ended in divorce in 1967, the same year “Gilligan’s Island” went off the air. She is survived by a stepsister, Weslee Wells. Ms. Wells went on to operate charity-oriented businesses. She was a prominent supporter of the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, the nation’s largest natural habitat refuge developed for African and Asian elephants.She also taught acting, creating the nonprofit Idaho Film and Television Institute while living at her ranch in the Teton Valley. But a screen career was never her childhood dream.“I wanted to be a ballerina, then a chemist,” she recalled in the Forbes interview. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d go into genetic medicine.”Alex Traub contributed reporting.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      When Is a Comedy Special Also a Corporate Synergy Message?

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn ComedyWhen Is a Comedy Special Also a Corporate Synergy Message?Two year-end shows from Amazon and Netflix deliver some laughs, yes, but also serve as veiled ads for the streaming services themselves.Samuel L. Jackson in “Death to 2020,” a new Netflix comedy special.Credit…Saeed Adyani/NetflixDec. 30, 2020, 11:00 a.m. ETAt the start of “Death to 2020,” a reporter played by Samuel L. Jackson sits alone in an abandoned office listening to a disembodied voice explain he’s looking back at the past year. “Why would you want to do that?” Jackson responds, with an additional curse for emphasis.The question haunts the next hour. One reasonable answer is that hearing Samuel L. Jackson swear is one of the finest pleasures in popular culture. Another: Where else are you going to go for some new jokes by famous people right now? The last week of the year is traditionally rich with live comedy events, but the pandemic has sidelined beloved annual shows from Sandra Bernhard and Dave Attell. Two streaming services have tried to fill the void by creating their own new genre. With talent-rich one-off specials, “Death to 2020” (on Netflix) and “Yearly Departed” (on Amazon) are comedy’s answer to journalism’s year-end lists.“Death,” slickly produced by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, the pair behind “Black Mirror,” is a fake documentary starring a fantasy team of actors, while “Yearly,” a more stripped-down affair hosted by Phoebe Robinson, imagines a funeral for things lost in 2020 attended by a cast of superb female comics. But both conceits are essentially thin pretexts to throw a bunch of jokes together recapping recent news under socially distanced conditions. Some of the bits are solid, others aren’t. But they never add up to more than fine diversions.“Death to 2020,” which lists no fewer than 18 writers, presents an array of talking heads, all caricatures, quipping about a highlight reel of news events: Tom Hanks getting Covid-19, Trump talking about injecting bleach, Biden in the basement and more of the greatest hits. There isn’t a strong perspective here outside of ugh, this year, can you believe it? And there’s fun to be had with these performances, including Hugh Grant playing a foppishly pretentious academic with impeccable condescension.Phoebe Robinson is the host of “Yearly Departed,” on Amazon.Credit…Nicole Wilder/Amazon StudiosGrant, who has aged into a masterful player of villains, always begins in seriousness before veering into dumb absurdity. Describing the fires that ravaged many parts of the world early in the year, he states: “It left these areas utterly inhospitable,” before pausing for the punchline: “Even to Australians.” Then there’s: “People think democracy is permanent and unchanging,” he says. “In truth, it’s something you must perpetually nurture like a woman. Or a professional grudge.”Many of the actors don’t play new characters so much as version of ones that have been popular elsewhere. As Dr. Maggie Gravel, Leslie Jones alternates between abrupt rage and pleading lustfulness. And in a turn that will delight fans of “The Comeback,” Lisa Kudrow turns a pathologically lying White House aide into hilarious cringe comedy.My favorite is Cristin Milioti’s Kathy Flowers, the ultimate Karen, whose series of monologues add up to the closest thing to a fleshed-out character arc here, starting in placid suburban normalcy before the internet radicalizes her, shifting into eye-bursting, conspiratorial madness. It’s silly sketch comedy performed with the commitment of an elite actor. More often in this special, the joke takes precedence over character, and the monologues have the feel of a collection of punch lines doled out like cards at a table.“Yearly Departed” also looks back in anguish, but instead of actors playing types, standup comics act as eulogists, taking turns at a lectern to pay their respects. Tiffany Haddish bids farewell to casual sex, and Natasha Rothwell speaks about giving up on “TV cops.” Everyone appears to be together, watching each other, but they were all filmed separately and cut together with reaction shots. The resulting feel is oddly uncanny.Not only are there seasoned stars like Sarah Silverman, but they mix in some new breakouts like Ziwe Fumudoh and up-and comers like Patti Harrison, who delivers one of the funniest, most acutely observed eulogies on the obsolescence of “rich girl Instagram influencers.” With mock poignancy, she asks: “Who could forget your surface-level love for photography, which you tried to get people to call ‘memory remembering,’ a term you coined.”The guest “eulogists” include Patti Harrison mourning the loss of “rich girl Instagram influencers.”Credit…Nicole Wilder/Amazon StudiosThe comic Natasha Leggero has a sharp set on the death of her desire to have kids, where she speaks for many parents during the pandemic saying: “I love my daughter, but I love her in the same way I love LSD. In microdoses.”Along with the stand-ups, some actors made cameos including Sterling K. Brown, laying on the floor to illustrate the span of six feet, along with Rachel Brosnahan, perhaps to remind you that “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” can be seen on Amazon. Her flat set about the death of pants is a reminder that playing a stand-up is not the same as being one. “Yearly” is hit or miss, but so are most stand-up sets at clubs, and by showing us a well-curated collection of female talent, there were more good jokes than in “Death to 2020.” And fewer stale ones.And yet watching both these shows repeatedly bemoan the miseries of the past year, I couldn’t help but think how the streaming services producing them actually did very well. Just as the pandemic has disproportionately hurt marginalized and disadvantaged groups, it has devastated small theaters and clubs while benefiting digital behemoths.That Jeff Bezos made $90 billion during the pandemic goes unmentioned on Amazon’s “Yearly Departed.” And while the script for “Death to 2020” points out how people stuck at home during lockdown spent more time on Netflix, name-dropping the reality shows “Love Is Blind” and “Floor Is Lava” amid the tragic news events makes you wonder if this was self-mocking comedy or corporate synergy? Spoiler alert: It’s both.In our ever more consolidated culture, where product placement is the norm and only a few companies produce the vast majority of large-scale entertainment, Netflix covers all the bases, pumping out escapist content for an audience stuck at home, then poking fun at themselves for doing it. “Death to 2020” was billed as a departure for the creators of “Black Mirror,” a comedy instead of a haunting vision of technology gone awry. And yet, seen from a different angle, it might be their darkest dystopian production yet.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      This Year’s Standout Moments in the Arts

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      The Best of This Year in the ArtsThe Culture DeskLooking back on 2020 ��Natalie Seery/HBOAround the world, museums, theaters and galleries were closed, and concerts and festivals canceled; still, many artists continued creating indelible work.Here are our critics’ highlights → More

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      What’s on TV This Week: ‘Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President’ and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat’s on TV This Week: ‘Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President’ and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’A recent documentary about Jimmy Carter airs on CNN. And the 13th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” debuts on VH1.Jimmy Carter, left, and Willie Nelson as seen in “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President.”Credit…Courtesy The Jimmy Carter Presidential LibraryDec. 28, 2020, 1:00 a.m. ETBetween network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Dec. 28-Jan. 3. Details and times are subject to change.MondayA CHUMP AT OXFORD (1940) 8 p.m. on TCM. Here’s a summary of an early scene from this black-and-white comedy: As part of a moneymaking scheme, Stan and Ollie (the recurring characters played by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy) pose as a maid and butler at a banquet. Ollie pops a bottle of champagne. He loses control of the cork, which flies into the host’s glass. The host eats the cork. Then Stan walks in dressed in underwear, because the host had asked him to serve salad “without any dressing.” The host runs to the kitchen, grabs a shotgun, and chases Stan and Ollie out of the house. This all happens in under two minutes. There are plenty more gags where those came from, both in the rest of “A Chump at Oxford” (the plot eventually finds Stan and Ollie among English academics) and in the many other Laurel and Hardy films that TCM is showing back-to-back on Monday, from the early afternoon through the night. These include TOWED IN A HOLE (1932) at 2:40 p.m., BUSY BODIES (1933) at 4:15 p.m. and TIT FOR TAT (1935) at 6:45 p.m., which find Laurel and Hardy trying their hand at fishing, laboring in a sawmill and opening an electrical repair business.TuesdayTHE YEAR: 2020 9 p.m. on ABC. For the past decade, ABC has aired annual editions of “The Year,” a program that does exactly what it sounds like it would: It looks back at the events of a given year. The 2020 edition, hosted by the journalist Robin Roberts, gathers a roster of guest commentators including the actors Eugene Levy and Kal Penn; the former N.F.L. linebacker Emmanuel Acho; and the country singer Brad Paisley. Given that it will be covering the events of 2020, the special should give Roland Emmerichs’ 2004 disaster thriller THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (airing at 9:30 p.m. on Syfy), a run for its apocalyptic money.WednesdayJohn Cazale, left, and Al Pacino in “The Godfather: Part II.”Credit…Everett CollectionTHE GODFATHER (1972) and THE GODFATHER PART II (1974) 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on AMC. In a recent interview with The New York Times, the director Francis Ford Coppola recounted the philosophy that the film studio Paramount had after the first “Godfather” became a hit: “You’ve got Coca-Cola, why not make more Coca-Cola?” Coppola ended up making more of a Pepsi with “Part II”: Similar yet distinctive, with popular opinion split regarding which is the greater product. Wednesday night’s double feature on AMC is a timely opportunity to see both films before watching Coppola’s newly re-edited cut of the third movie, “Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone,” which is now available for purchase and rental on digital platforms.ThursdayPatti LaBelle in “United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America.”Credit…Dan Chung/Mount Vernon Ladies’ AssociationUNITED IN SONG: CELEBRATING THE RESILIENCE OF AMERICA 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Patti LaBelle, Yo-Yo Ma, Audra McDonald, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, Denyce Graves, Josh Groban and other performers appear in this prerecorded New Years Eve special, which was shot at the Mount Vernon historical landmark in Virginia and at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The show begins with LaBelle performing “Lady Marmalade” in front of George Washington’s Mount Vernon mansion, with members of the American Pops Orchestra playing behind her, masked.FridayRUPAUL’S DRAG RACE 8 p.m. on VH1. The New Year is guaranteed to get off to a challenging start, but at least there’s the debut of a new season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” to add a potpourri of positivity to New Year’s Day. The competition show’s 13th season kicks off with a new group of drag queens. Their first challenge involves intense lip-syncing.SaturdayChadwick Boseman in “21 Bridges.”Credit…Matt Kennedy/STXfilms21 BRIDGES (2019) 11:15 p.m. on Showtime. The just-released film adaptation of the August Wilson play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” with Chadwick Boseman, takes place almost entirely within the confines of a single building. In “21 Bridges,” a crime thriller directed by Brian Kirk, Boseman has the entirety of Manhattan as his stage. Boseman plays Davis, a New York homicide detective tasked with catching a group of cop killers. To do that, Davis orders a blockade of Manhattan — turning that most famous of melting pots into a deadly pressure cooker in the process. “It’s a big, blunt, battering ram of a movie, but it’s not dumb,” Jeannette Catsoulis wrote in her review for The Times. “The stunts are sharply executed, the actors (including Sienna Miller and J.K. Simmons) unimpeachable and Paul Cameron’s lively camera turns the streets of Philadelphia into a credible-enough Manhattan.”SundayJIMMY CARTER, ROCK & ROLL PRESIDENT (2020) 9 p.m. on CNN. At one point in this novel political documentary, the 39th president of the United States discloses, with a mischievous smile, this information: one of his sons smoked marijuana with Willie Nelson at the White House. Directed by Mary Wharton, the documentary offers a strange brew of government and culture, looking at Jimmy Carter’s love of rock ’n’ roll music and how Carter used rock as a political tool (the Nelson anecdote is typical of the film). Contemporary interviews with Nelson, Bob Dylan, Bono, Nile Rodgers and several other rock stars combine with Carter’s own recollections to make an “engaging” documentary, Glenn Kenny wrote in his review for The Times. Wharton “makes good on her hook,” he wrote.MASTERPIECE: ELIZABETH IS MISSING 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Glenda Jackson stars in this film adaptation of a novel by Emma Healey. Jackson plays Maud, an aging grandmother trying to track down her missing friend. That premise could have made for a straightforward mystery-thriller, but for this detail: Maud is struggling with dementia. So her search becomes something more.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      A ‘Great Cultural Depression’ Looms for Legions of Unemployed Performers

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyA ‘Great Cultural Depression’ Looms for Legions of Unemployed PerformersWith theaters and concert halls shuttered, unemployment in the arts has cut deeper than in restaurants and other hard-hit industries.Soon after the pandemic struck, a year’s worth of bookings vanished for the acclaimed violinist Jennifer Koh, who found herself streaming concerts from her apartment.Credit…Elias Williams for The New York TimesDec. 26, 2020Updated 5:32 a.m. ETIn the top echelons of classical music, the violinist Jennifer Koh is by any measure a star.With a dazzling technique, she has ridden a career that any aspiring Juilliard grad would dream about — appearing with leading orchestras, recording new works, and performing on some of the world’s most prestigious stages.Now, nine months into a contagion that has halted most public gatherings and decimated the performing arts, Ms. Koh, who watched a year’s worth of bookings evaporate, is playing music from her living room and receiving food stamps.[embedded content]Pain can be found in nearly every nook of the economy. Millions of people have lost their jobs and tens of thousands of businesses have closed since the coronavirus pandemic spread across the United States. But even in these extraordinary times, the losses in the performing arts and related sectors have been staggering.During the quarter ending in September, when the overall unemployment rate averaged 8.5 percent, 52 percent of actors, 55 percent of dancers and 27 percent of musicians were out of work, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. By comparison, the jobless rate was 27 percent for waiters; 19 percent for cooks; and about 13 percent for retail salespeople over the same period.In many areas, arts venues — theaters, clubs, performance spaces, concert halls, festivals — were the first businesses to close, and they are likely to be among the last to reopen. “My fear is we’re not just losing jobs, we’re losing careers,” said Adam Krauthamer, president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians in New York. He said 95 percent of the local’s 7,000 members are not working on a regular basis because of the mandated shutdown. “It will create a great cultural depression,” he said.The new $15 billion worth of stimulus aid for performance venues and cultural institutions that Congress approved this week — which was thrown into limbo after President Trump criticized the bill — will not end the mass unemployment for performers anytime soon. And it only extends federal unemployment aid through mid-March.The public may think of performers as A-list celebrities, but most never get near a red carpet or an awards show. The overwhelming majority, even in the best times, don’t benefit from Hollywood-size paychecks or institutional backing. They work season to season, weekend to weekend or day to day, moving from one gig to the next.The median annual salary for full-time musicians and singers was $42,800; it was $40,500 for actors; and $36,500 for dancers and choreographers, according to a National Endowment for the Arts analysis. Many artists work other jobs to cobble together a living, often in the restaurant, retail and hospitality industries — where work has also dried up.They are an integral part of local economies and communities in every corner of rural, suburban and urban America, and they are seeing their life’s work and livelihoods suddenly vanish. Terry Burrell, an actor and singer in Atlanta, saw the tour of her show “Angry, Raucous and Gorgeously Shameless” canceled after the virus struck.Credit…Lynsey Weatherspoon for The New York Times“We’re talking about a year’s worth of work that just went away,” said Terry Burrell, whose touring show, “Angry, Raucous and Gorgeously Shameless,” was canceled. Now she is home with her husband in Atlanta, collecting unemployment insurance, and hoping she won’t have to dip into her 401(k) retirement account.Linda Jean Stokley, a fiddler and part of the Kentucky duo the Local Honeys with Monica Hobbs, said, “We’re resilient and are used to not having regular paychecks.” But since March hardly anyone has paid even the minor fees required by their contracts, she said: “Someone owed us $75 and wouldn’t even pay.”Then there’s Tim Wu, 31, a D.J., singer and producer, who normally puts on around 100 shows a year as Elephante at colleges, festivals and nightclubs. He was in Ann Arbor, Mich., doing a sound check for a new show called “Diplomacy” in mid-March when New York shut down. Mr. Wu returned to Los Angeles the next day. All his other bookings were canceled — and most of his income.Mr. Wu, and hundreds of thousands of freelancers like him, are not the only ones taking a hit. The broader arts and culture sector that includes Hollywood and publishing constitutes an $878 billion industry that is a bigger part of the American economy than sports, transportation, construction or agriculture. The sector supports 5.1 million wage and salary jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. They include agents, makeup artists, hair stylists, tailors, janitors, stage hands, ushers, electricians, sound engineers, concession sellers, camera operators, administrators, construction crews, designers, writers, directors and more. “If cities are going to rebound, they’re not going to do it without arts and cultural creatives,” said Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and School of Cities.Steph Simon, a hip-hop artist from Tulsa, had been booked to perform at South by Southwest when the virus hit and eliminated the rest of his gigs for the year. Credit…September Dawn Bottoms/The New York TimesThis year, Steph Simon, 33, of Tulsa, finally started working full time as a hip-hop musician after a decade of minimum-wage jobs cleaning carpets or answering phones to pay the bills.He was selected to perform at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, played regular gigs at home and on tour, and produced “Fire in Little Africa,” an album commemorating the 1921 massacre of Black residents of Tulsa by white rioters.“This was projected to be my biggest year financially,” said Mr. Simon, who lives with his girlfriend and his two daughters, and was earning about $2,500 a month as a musician. “Then the world shut down,” he said. A week after the festival was canceled, he was back working as a call center operator, this time at home, for about 40 hours a week, with a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant on the weekends.In November, on his birthday, he caught Covid-19, but has since recovered.Performers on payrolls have suffered, too. With years of catch-as-catch-can acting gigs and commercials behind her, Robyn Clark started working as a performer at Disneyland after the last recession. She has been playing a series of characters in the park’s California Adventure — Phiphi the photographer, Molly the messenger and Donna the Dog Lady — several times a week, doing six shows a day.“It was the first time in my life I had security,” Ms. Clark said. It was also the first time she had health insurance, paid sick leave and vacation.In March, she was furloughed, though Disney is continuing to cover her health insurance.“I have unemployment and a generous family,” said Ms. Clark, explaining how she has managed to continue paying for rent and food.Many performers are relying on charity. The Actors Fund, a service organization for the arts, has raised and distributed $18 million since the pandemic started for basic living expenses to 14,500 people.“I’ve been at the Actors Fund for 36 years,” said Barbara S. Davis, the chief operating officer. “Through September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 recession, industry shutdowns. There’s clearly nothing that compares to this.”Higher-paid television and film actors have more of a cushion, but they, too, have endured disappointments and lost opportunities. Jack Cutmore-Scott and Meaghan Rath, now his wife, had just been cast in a new CBS pilot, “Jury Duty,” when the pandemic shut down filming.“I’d had my costume fitting and we were about to go and do the table read the following week, but we never made it,” Mr. Cutmore-Scott said. After several postponements, they heard in September that CBS was bailing out altogether.Many live performers have looked for new ways to pursue their art, turning to video, streaming and other platforms. Carla Gover’s tour of dancing to and playing traditional Appalachian music as well as a folk opera she composed, “Cornbread and Tortillas,” were all canceled. “I had some long dark nights of the soul trying to envision what I could do,” said Ms. Gover, wholives in Lexington, Ky., and has three children.She started writing weekly emails to all her contacts, sharing videos and offering online classes in flatfoot dancing and clogging. The response was enthusiastic. “I figured out how to use hashtags and now I have a new kind of business,” Ms. Gover said.But if technology enables some artists to share their work, it doesn’t necessarily help them earn much or even any money.The violinist Ms. Koh, known for her devotion to promoting new artists and music, donated her time to create the “Alone Together” project, raising donations to commission compositions and then performing them over Instagram from her apartment.The project was widely praised, but as Ms. Koh said, it doesn’t produce income. “I am lucky,” Ms. Koh insisted. Unlike many of her friends and colleagues, she managed to hang onto her health insurance thanks to a teaching gig at the New School, and she got a forbearance on her mortgage payments through March. Many engagements have also been rescheduled — if not until 2022.She ticks off the list of friends and colleagues who have had to move out of their homes or have lost their health insurance, their income and nearly every bit of their work.“It’s just decimating the field,” she said. “It concerns me when I look at the future.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      How Canada Has Become a Pilgrimage Site for 'Schitt's Creek' Fans

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeHoliday TVBest Netflix DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCanada Dispatch‘Schitt’s Creek’ Fans Arrive in GoodwoodThe hamlet that was the backdrop for the hit television series Schitt’s Creek has become a pilgrimage site for fans, to the joy and consternation of locals.Chantel Lambe, 29, in front of a building in Goodwood, Ontario, that was used as the Rose Apothecary in the television show Schitt’s Creek.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesDec. 24, 2020Updated 7:04 p.m. ETGOODWOOD, Ontario — Joe Toby was recently giving a young couple a tour of his workshop, when the man sprinkled rose petals on the concrete floor and got down on one knee.The woman was a big Schitt’s Creek fan, it turned out, and was ecstatic to get engaged in the building, which doubled as a mechanic’s garage in the series, he said.“And here I was thinking it’s just my workshop,” said Mr. Toby, a retired machine maker who uses the space to build specialty beds for disabled children. “I guess it is special.”A satire about a fabulously wealthy family that loses all its money and is forced to settle in a town the patriarch bought as a joke because of its name, Schitt’s Creek has become a cult hit for its quirky humor, haute couture costume design and the fictional town’s unlikely embrace of gay love. It won a record nine awards at the Emmys, including one for best comedy.Nowhere has its sudden popularity been felt more intensely than Goodwood, a sleepy commuter hamlet 28 miles north of Toronto that was the main location for filming over six seasons.The hamlet feels like a postcard from antiquity, with heritage homes on less than a dozen streets and farmland on either side. The last census put its population at 663 — mostly retirees and young professionals with families who commute to the city for work.Downtown Goodwood, with the building, right, that doubled as Café Tropical. The blue building served as Bob’s Garage.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesBefore Schitt’s Creek, Goodwood’s claims to fame were decidedly more pedestrian — potatoes grown on nearby farms, and the surrounding gravel pits, which produce the raw material to build highways and downtown buildings.Now, it has become a pilgrimage site of fans, who call themselves “Schittheads” and arrive in droves to the hamlet’s main intersection to take selfies in front of the buildings that served as the series’ set. Some arrive in character, dressed as Moira, the dramatic matriarch who has named her precious wigs like children, or Alexis, the socialite daughter. They spend money at the local bakery and general store, but also peer into windows, clog parking spots, and in a few cases, walk into homes, locals say.“They are rude,” said Sheila Owen, whose house doubled for the home of the supporting character “Ronnie.” “They come and expect us to be the same people portrayed in the show — that we are hicks who are stupid.”That feeling is not universally held. Eleanor Todd, 87, got dressed up with her granddaughter to stroll up to the now-famous corner and take photos like all the tourists. It’s the busiest that intersection has been since Goodwood’s glory days, when it boasted two hotels, four general stores, a skating arena and both a cobbler and tailor. That was in 1885.“I’m getting a kick out of it,” said Ms. Todd, a former teacher who wrote and self-published the hamlet’s authoritative history, “Burrs and Blackberries from Goodwood.”Joe Toby, a retired machine maker, speaking with Schitt’s Creek fans outside his workshop, which was the set for Bob’s Garage. Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesDevelopment in the hamlet has been greatly limited because it sits on ecologically sensitive land, the Oak Ridges Moraine. As a result, it has retained its quaint smallness and avoided the sprawl afflicting so many towns in southern Ontario. That’s what attracted Schitt’s Creek creators, Eugene and Dan Levy, according to their location manager Geoffrey Smither.“They liked that feeling — here’s the town, there’s the country,” said Mr. Smither, who toured 28 small towns scouting for the perfect backdrop to the show. “None of them arise and depart like Goodwood.”When he appeared before the local township councilors to ask for a filming permit, they burst out laughing and agreed.“It was going to put us on the map,” said Bev Northeast, a former longtime councilor who lives in Goodwood.Locals says fans started to appear in 2016, a year after the show premiered on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national broadcaster, but really ramped up after Schitt’s Creek was taken up by Netflix in 2017. By the summer of 2019, two chartered buses arrived to the intersection, spilling out people in matching T-shirts and lanyards that said “SchittCon.” (That’s short for Schitt’s Creek Convention.)Schitt’s Creek, created by Eugene, left, and Dan Levy, swept the Emmy’s in September.Credit…The TV Academy and ABC Entertainment, via Associated PressBut no one was prepared for the deluge of fans that descended after Schitt’s Creek swept the Emmys in September.So many people streamed into the local bakery, Annina’s, that the owner, Marco Cassano, hired two security guards to do crowd control. Since Annie Murphy — who plays Alexis, the socialite-daughter-with-a-heart-of-gold — told the late-night talk show host Seth Meyers about the bakery’s delectable butter tarts, he’s been fielding orders from across the United States.“It’s meant I stayed open throughout Covid and kept most of my staff,” said Mr. Cassano, who catered for the crew over five seasons.Across the street, Mr. Toby was inspired, by the crush of Schittheads asking for tours of his workshop, to build a donation box by the front door. In one weekend, he raised $270 for the local hospital and historical center, he said.“For years, I was the best kept secret in Goodwood,” said Mr. Toby, 75, who is a natural storyteller and enjoys holding court. “Nobody knew what I did in here.”Samantha Kenyon, 24, center, serving customers at Annina’s. The bakeshop has seen a surge in sales since the cast member Annie Murphy talked about the store’s butter tarts on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesHe knows some of his neighbors feel differently, and in part that’s because of the pandemic. In the window of the building across the street, a residence that was transformed into a cafe for the series, a handwritten message is taped in a window: “Please stay off property during pandemic, we are immunocompromised.”At the beginning of the pandemic, the show’s co-creator Dan Levy pleaded for fans to keep away. “The towns where we shot Schitt’s Creek were so lovely and accommodating to us,” he tweeted. “Please show them the same respect. Visiting right now is a threat to the residents’ health and safety.”That didn’t stem the pilgrimage any more than the mounting layers of snow.Marilyn Leonard owns the building that for more than a century, was Goodwood’s general store. In Schitt’s Creek, it was transformed into the hipster “Rose Apothecary,” selling body milks and cat-hair scarves. Ms. Leonard decided to shut it permanently last month.“It’s too exposing for me,” said Ms. Leonard, 74, who plans to convert the space into an appointment-only gallery. “I need to stay away from people.” Marilyn Leonard inside her building, which was used for the Rose Apothecary in the show.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesThe motel that served as the set for the family’s new residence in the series is not in Goodwood, but in Mono, about 50 miles west. One day, so many people crowded around the motel that the owner called the police.“At least 100 cars an hour were trying to get in,” said Jesse Tipping, pointing out that his motel, which hasn’t been operational for years, has garnered dozens of satirical reviews on Google maps. “ At one point, I saw somebody on the roof. They were stealing numbers off the doors, taking the welcome mats.”Mr. Tipping, who is currently selling the motel, said he asked Dan Levy about selling paraphernalia at the site. The show, however, has signed an exclusive merchandise agreement with ITV Studios in London.That means no one in Goodwood is getting rich off the sudden fame. Plans to run a Schitt’s Creek tour on the local heritage railroad were scuttered by the pandemic. The 145-year-old yellow brick town hall, which hadn’t hosted a council session in almost 50 years, would have the perfect place to host tours, conceded Dave Barton, the mayor of Uxbridge Township, which includes Goodwood. Unfortunately, the township sold the building a year ago to a couple who is converting it into a private home.“Nobody expected that Schitt’s Creek would be the most famous Canadian show in forever,” Mr. Barton said.Simona Taroni, left, and Rebecca Farronato taking a selfie in front of a motel in Mono, Ontario, which served as the Rosebud Motel from the television show Schitt’s Creek.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Jerry Harris Pleads Not Guilty in Child-Pornography Case

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyJerry Harris Pleads Not Guilty in Child-Pornography CaseThe 21-year-old fan favorite on the Netflix series “Cheer” pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges, including soliciting sex from minors.Jerry Harris has been held in Chicago. His trial date has not yet been set.Credit…Jim Spellman/Getty ImagesDec. 24, 2020, 11:15 a.m. ETJerry Harris, the 21-year-old breakout star of the Netflix series “Cheer,” has pleaded not guilty to federal child pornography charges and accusations that he solicited sex from minors.Mr. Harris was arrested by the F.B.I. at his home in Naperville, Ill., on Sept. 17 on a child pornography charge and has remained in custody without bond at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since.He faces seven charges regarding five minor boys, including four counts of sexual exploitation of children, one count of receiving and attempting to receive child pornography, one count of traveling with the attempt to engage in sexual conduct with a minor and one count of enticement. The acts took place in Florida, Illinois and Texas, according to the indictment.Mr. Harris entered his plea in an arraignment hearing held by telephone to a federal court in Chicago on Dec. 17, according to court records.If he is convicted, the four sexual exploitation counts and the child pornography charge carry a sentence of at least 15 years each in prison, and the enticement charge carries a minimum of 10 years.In a voluntary interview with F.B.I. officials in September, Mr. Harris acknowledged that he had exchanged sexually explicit photos on Snapchat with at least 10 to 15 people he knew were minors, had sex with a 15-year-old at a cheerleading competition in 2019, and paid a 17-year-old to send him naked photos.Mr. Harris’s lawyers had filed a motion for pretrial release in October, arguing that his previously clean record did not merit continued detention and that he would not be a danger to the community. But a judge denied it on Oct. 16.No trial date has been set.Todd Pugh, Mr. Harris’s lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.“Cheer,” which won an Emmy for outstanding unstructured reality series in September, follows a national champion cheerleading team from Navarro College, a small-town Texas junior college.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More