Cantara’s (Social) Notebook

San Francisco native Margaret Cho is among my favorite performers/artists and one of the funniest people in the world. I’ve been waiting nearly two years to get the opportunity to see the movie she wrote—now it looks like her worst fears have been confirmed. But hey Margaret! There is an audience out there in DVD World grateful to be able to enjoy your work (and the works of a few others I can name) even on the home screen. Here’s her 14 October 2005 blog posting : Tickets for our Los Angeles AFI screening are available, and if you can come support our film, I would really appreciate it. We are showing the film to potential distributors, and if we can prove that Bam Bam & Celeste has an audience out there, it might actually get to a theater near you. The film world is a notoriously racist and sexist place. “Admit one only” goes not just for the ticket, but for the different levels of “minority” you might qualify for. You can be a woman, just don’t be a woman of color. You...

[Caricature of Lew Wasserman by David Levine] Last night’s showing of the documentary The Last Mogul on Showtime reminded me that, humble as my station was at the time—I was Rouben Mamoulian ’s private part-time secretary—I actually did get the chance to meet Wasserman, although by this time it was way past the peak of his power over Hollywood. Being young and callow, I had no idea who this imposingly tall, well-tailored, skinny old man was. I also had no idea what the difference was between him and all the other old men he arrived with one afternoon to pick up Mamoulian to take him to a funeral (never found out whose). This was the only time I ever saw Mamoulian in anything besides a dressing gown and carpet slippers. Also! I managed to hitch a ride in their limousine with them down from Schuyler Road to the closest bus stop. For a review of The Last Mogul , go to Slate . The character of Leslie Braverman in my mystery novel, Cold Open , is based a little bit on Wasserman.