I've started on it and I don't think I can take it.
Doing some research. They made it again? With Patty Duke as the teacher? Wasn't once a fucking nuff?
and no wonder Patty Duke developed mental problems playing that part night after night after night on Broadway, over God knows how many months, just a young girl...then the film!
I just don't think I'm cut out for this sort of movie.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 56 | December 31, 2018 11:06 PM |
Look at you, seeing [italic]and[/italic] hearing things. Must be nice.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | December 28, 2018 12:34 AM |
[quote]They made it again? With Patty Duke as the teacher? Wasn't once a fucking nuff?
They made it a third time. Disney had to put their mark on it.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 3 | December 28, 2018 1:48 AM |
You’re missing out op. The Bancroft Duke version is wonderfully done and very emotional. Ugh go back to watching Transformers 56 I guess.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | December 28, 2018 1:55 AM |
Abigal Breslin did it on Broadway but it closed quickly. Rumor was she had trouble remembering her lines.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | December 28, 2018 1:57 AM |
I agree that it’s a very emotional movie. I cry like a baby at the wah wah scene every time.
That said, it’s all fiction. The real Helen Keller understood and was picking up words on the first day of meeting Ann.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | December 28, 2018 1:59 AM |
I can’t watch movies where they spit food. Or pee on the ground.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | December 28, 2018 7:24 AM |
[quote]I agree that it’s a very emotional movie. I cry like a baby at the wah wah scene every time.
I'm going to hell; I always laugh. High camp.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 28, 2018 7:39 AM |
"...and no wonder Patty Duke developed mental problems playing that part night after night after night on Broadway, over God knows how many months, just a young girl...then the film!"
Hilarious!
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | December 28, 2018 8:10 AM |
You have to make it into the big lunch fight scene.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | December 28, 2018 9:00 AM |
[quote]You have to make it into the big lunch fight scene.
You mean it will be straight sailing from then on?
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | December 28, 2018 9:07 AM |
Didn't they make a version where Mare Winningham played an adult Helen who gets fucked for the first time.
Annie thought she had regressed when she heard strange noises coming from Keller's bedroom.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | December 28, 2018 10:50 AM |
[quote]OP=Helen Lawson
According to the old thread (which was awesome), she starred in the unsuccessful musical version "It's Water, Helen!".
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | December 28, 2018 11:19 AM |
R7 not according to Helen's memoir THE STORY OF MY LIFE, on which the play was based.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | December 28, 2018 12:42 PM |
R3 speaking of Disney, when I was a kid, I was hoping that they would do an animated musical version and used Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" as its anthem.
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'cause you believed
I'm everything I am because you loved me
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | December 28, 2018 12:47 PM |
R7 other bios have stated that Helen was practically a 'feral child' who had been spoiled rotten by her parents who felt sorry for her, which is why Annie had a hard time teaching her simple things like table manners and didn't get through to her until the water pump incident a month after Annie's arrival. Like in the play/movie, Annie had to eventually take Helen to a cottage nearby so her parents wouldn't keep interfering.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | December 28, 2018 12:57 PM |
Patty visited the real Helen. Can't remember what she said about the experience though.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | December 28, 2018 1:01 PM |
THE MIRACLE WORKER was originally a 1957 television presentation of Playhouse 90 with Teresa Wright as Annie Sullivan and Patty McCormack as Helen Keller.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 22 | December 28, 2018 1:13 PM |
I have seen the second one and it is good.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | December 28, 2018 1:19 PM |
TRIVIA: Duke's managers/guardians, the Rosses, renamed her 'Patty' after McCormack hoping she would replicate her success. (McCormack was a recent Supporting Actress nominee for THE BAD SEED.) Ironic that Duke would actually win the Oscar for a role McCormack originated on TV.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | December 28, 2018 1:23 PM |
"Rhoda Penmark IS Helen Keller!"
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | December 28, 2018 1:41 PM |
McCormack frantically signing "GIVE ME THOSE SHOES!"
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | December 28, 2018 1:47 PM |
I saw a touring production of this near San Bernadino in the late '60s, Ann Miller was playing Annie Sullivan and they incorporated a tap dance number into the show.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | December 28, 2018 3:36 PM |
[quote]Doing some research. They made it again? With Patty Duke as the teacher?
Patty really knew how to milk a project.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | December 29, 2018 7:29 PM |
The remake was just a tv movie and totally forgettable, even if Duke won an Emmy for it. I don't remember if she did, but I wouldn't be surprised.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | December 29, 2018 7:33 PM |
[quote]The remake was just a tv movie and totally forgettable
Like much of her career.
I LOVE her, but it's the truth.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | December 29, 2018 7:36 PM |
The Miracle Worker (the movie) , Patty's performance was great, very realistic... and the scene in the dining room with Sullivan trying to get her to use a spoon, with the fight.. wow. I didn't know about the remake with Patty Duke as Annie Sullivan. I think it was her best performance.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | December 29, 2018 7:54 PM |
[quote] I didn't know about the remake with Patty Duke as Annie Sullivan. I think it was her best performance.
Are you SURE?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 32 | December 29, 2018 7:56 PM |
"I agree that it’s a very emotional movie. I cry like a baby at the wah wah scene every time.
That said, it’s all fiction. The real Helen Keller understood and was picking up words on the first day of meeting Ann."
Source?
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | December 29, 2018 7:58 PM |
The '70s TV remake with Patty Duke as 'Annie' and Melissa Gilbert as 'Helen' was ridiculous because Gilbert towered over Patty who was only 5' as an adult.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | December 29, 2018 8:58 PM |
Also because they steered away from the original text when during the famous kitchen fight scene, Annie pulled out a shitbra!
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | December 29, 2018 9:00 PM |
One thing that bothered me about Annie's depiction in all the film versions is that they give her an Irish brogue, as if she just stepped off the boat. Her family may have come from Ireland a generation before (during the famine), but she was born and raised in Massachusetts. What's more, her mother died when she was 8 and her father abandoned her and her younger brother not long after, so they became wards of the state. Where would she have picked up that Irish accent?
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | December 29, 2018 9:22 PM |
The second version was produced by Melissa Gilbert's production company. It was at a time when Mel was trying to become the world's greatest dramatic actress. She played Helen Keller. And she also did a tv production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Thank the sweet Baby Jesus she left Anne of Green Gables and Romeo & Juliet alone.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 38 | December 29, 2018 9:31 PM |
Melissa must've been so jealous of Kristy McNichol's Emmy-winning dramatic ability and brief movie career.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | December 30, 2018 10:27 PM |
Did Helen know about cocks?
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | December 30, 2018 10:54 PM |
R40 she was always flirtatious with men, even as a child. At one point, she had a secret beau, Peter Fagan. She was in her mid-thirties and he was late twenties. He became Helen's private secretary when Annie became ill and had to take time off to recoup. Helen fell hard for him and apparently the feeling was mutual. He proposed, she accepted, but her family forbade the whole affair. They attempted to elope, but he was chased away. Helen was crushed and always lamented what might've been.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 41 | December 30, 2018 11:21 PM |
DL Fave Mike Doyle played 'Peter Fagan' opposite Moira Kelly's 'Helen Keller' in the '90s TV movie MONDAY AFTER THE MIRACLE, which details this period of her life. It's based on William Gibson's sequel to THE MIRACLE WORKER.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 43 | December 30, 2018 11:31 PM |
[quote] not according to Helen's memoir THE STORY OF MY LIFE, on which the play was based.
I just remember starting, but never finishing, this massive book on Helen where she was quoted as saying she was headstrong and probably difficult, but the writer also wrote that she understood stuff right away. It wasn't her autobiography though. I guess the book was wrong or I am misremembering it.
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | December 30, 2018 11:33 PM |
R44 she learned to mimic Annie's hand gestures but didn't know they had meaning until the water pump incident a month later. That was her epiphany which was dramatized in Gibson's play.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | December 31, 2018 12:06 AM |
I bet she faked the whole thing just to get attention.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | December 31, 2018 1:54 AM |
I visited her house in Alabama. It looked nothing like the movie versions.
I also visited Anne Frank's attic. It, too, looked nothing like the movie versions. And the most recent Broadway revival tried to put it out in the press that their set resembled the real attic. Not even close.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | December 31, 2018 4:38 AM |
Not even the drum set, r49???
| by Anonymous | reply 50 | December 31, 2018 4:44 AM |
R49 do you just randomly drop by dead strangers' old homes?
| by Anonymous | reply 51 | December 31, 2018 4:52 AM |
OP the original Miracle Worker 1962, if you do not see it ( in full), you are missing out on two of the greatest film performances ever. As for the TV movie version where Patty Duke plays Annie, it too is a great performance. I do agree with one of the above posters, that the height difference between Patty Duke and Melissa Gilbert did make it a little strange for lack of a better word. But as someone mentioned, it was Melissa Gilbert's production company that own the rights, so Melissa had to obviously be in it LOL
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | December 31, 2018 10:02 PM |
And by the way Patty Duke did win an Emmy award for her performance as Annie in the TV version of The Miracle Worker.
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | December 31, 2018 10:05 PM |
[quote][R49] do you just randomly drop by dead strangers' old homes?
Only if they are stately homes. There aren't enough hours in the day to visit every dead person's home.
And the Anne Frank set was missing Shelley Winters' Oscar. It's the period details that matter.
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | December 31, 2018 10:51 PM |
