Los Angeles Times - 02.10.2019

‘Sisters in Law’

and on the stage

RBG (played by Tovah

Feldshuh), O’Connor

are the focus of a new

Wallis production. E3

Antihero at

the box office

Amid controversy,

‘Joker’ is likely to give

Warner Bros. a much

needed boost. E2

A disrupter’s

‘Sound & Fury’

Sturgill Simpson was

in fine, rebellious

form Sunday at the

Troubadour. E4

Comics...................E6-7

What’s on TV..........E8

Kevin Parry

CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR

E

Several people in the cast and crew of “Creepshow,” Shudder’s se-

ries adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King-written horror movie, claim to have been personally

affected by the film. But writer Joe Hill is in rare company, having actually contributed to both.

“I was a child actor in the first film,” said Hill, the son of the prolific horror author and an ac-

complished genre writer in his own right. “I played a little boy named Billy, who uses a voodoo

doll to get even with his abusive father for stealing his horror comics.”

While shooting the original, George Romero-directed “Creepshow,” Hill spent a week in

the care of legendary special effects artist Tom Savini, who served as a mentor of sorts to

the young actor.

“Tom Savini is like the godfather of gore. He’s the original master of gross-out special make-

up effects,” said Hill. “He was like my first rock star: He had this badass leather jacket and biker

boots and eyebrows kind of like Spock from ‘Star Trek.’ I spent the whole week watching him

disfigure movie stars and create memorable monsters, and by the time I left, that’s what I

wanted to do. I just wound up doing it on paper instead.”

Closing the circle on that strong first impression, both Hill and Savini are back for the TV

version of “Creepshow,” and in the same episode, no less: Hill lent his

“CREEPSHOW’S”six-episode first season on Shudder includes a twisted “The Man in the Suitcase.”

Shudder

Have a chuckle

with the creeps

The new horror series is unafraid of being fun

BYSONAIYAKELLEY>>>

[See‘Creepshow,’E8]

Martin Bernheimer, mu-

sic critic for the Los Angeles

Times from 1965 to 1996, was

a Pulitzer Prize winner who

attacked philistinism with-

out fear wherever he saw it.

He heralded the virtuous.

He was outrageous. He was

loathed, and he was loved.

He was very funny. He had

an immediately recogniz-

able style. He covered up, be-

neath layers of ferocity, what

was said to be (and was now

and then exhibited as) a

heart of gold.

Most of all, he was read.

He was talked about and still

is by older-timers in, to use a

Bernheimerism, the land of

the plastic lotus. He was a

criticism legend in his time.

His death Sunday in New

REMEMBRANCE

A critic who transformed criticism

MARTIN BERNHEIMER,who died Sunday at age 83, celebrates his 1982 Pulitzer for criticism at L.A. Times.

Larry BessilLos Angeles Times

Martin Bernheimer

was a law unto himself

for 30 years as The

Times’ classical writer.

MARK SWED

MUSIC CRITIC

[SeeCritic, E2]

The Los Angeles Philhar-

monic announced Tuesday

its new chief executive is

Chad Smith, formerly the or-

chestra’s chief operating of-

ficer. He takes his new post

immediately.

“The L.A. Phil has been

my creative home for the last

17 years and I am honored to

be stepping into this role,”

Smith said in the announce-

ment, citing the orchestra’s

music and artistic director,

Gustavo Dudamel. “Sup-

porting the expansive vision

of Gustavo and his deeply

held commitment to serving

the whole of the L.A. com-

munity has never been more

important, and I continue to

strive to support that work.”

Smith, 48, a native of Get-

tysburg, Penn., studied Eu-

ropean history at Tufts Uni-

versity and earned bach-

elor’s and master’s degrees

in vocal performance from

the New England Conserva-

tory. He joined the L.A. Phil

in 2002 but then left for a

stint at the New York Phil-

harmonic. In 2006 he re-

turned to the L.A. Phil as vice

president of artistic plan-

ning, and in 2015 he was

named COO.

Dudamel called Smith

“an exceptional colleague,

partner and friend.”

“We share the same vision

of excellence for the future of

our institution, and I have

complete faith that he will

help me deliver on our im-

mense dreams and responsi-

bilities to the next genera-

tion — artistically, educa-

tionally and musically.” L.A.

Phil board Chairman Thom-

as L. Beckmen said Smith

had done “years of brilliant

work in advancing the L.A.

Phil in every aspect of its

mission, from planning and

commissioning our extraor-

dinary presentations of new

music, to heightening the or-

chestra’s profile at the Holly-

wood Bowl, to overseeing our

crucial educational pro-

grams and helping to launch

YOLA.”

Smith’s rise to CEO

marks the second time the

organization has named a

The orchestra’s COO,

Chad Smith, steps into

lead role with support

from Dudamel, others.

By Deborah Vankin

[SeeL.A. Phil,E5]

L.A.

PHIL

PICKS

INSIDER

If President AS CEO
Trump were
a whistle-
blower, he’d
be the
greatest
whistle-
blower ever.
It’s a
detail Stephen Miller
forgot to add when
he inadvertently blew
the whistle on Trumpian
doublespeak Sunday.
“The president is the
whistleblower,” the White
House senior advisor told
Chris Wallace on “Fox News
Sunday” as Wallace
attempted to get him to
answer a few perfectly rea-
sonable questions, such as
why Trump told the presi-
dent of Ukraine to talk to
Rudolph W. Giuliani,
Trump’s personal attorney,
about launching an investi-
gation into former Vice
President Joe Biden and his
son Hunter.
“The president of the
United States is the whistle-
blower,” Miller repeated for
emphasis. He went on to
characterize the person who
authored the recently
released seven-page memo-
randum alleging that
Trump used “the power of
his office to solicit interfer-
ence from a foreign country
in the 2020 U.S. election” as
“a saboteur.”
Funny, I thought Giu-
liani was the whistleblower.
Mainly because he had, just
two days before, told Poli-
tico that “I am the real
whistleblower,” adding for
dramatic effect that “if I get
killed now, you won’t get the
real story.”
So many whistleblowers,
so little time.
Watching Miller attempt
to doublespeak Trump into
what Miller himself called
the “honorific” of whistle-
blower status felt like a Big
Moment, one that, in a
scripted drama, would have
been underscored with a
pregnant pause and per-
haps an anxious oboe. Many
people have been waiting for
someone to blow the whistle
on Trump’s tactics pretty
much since he took over the
Republican debates by lying
about things easily fact-
checked and insulting any-
one who tried. His cam-
paign and his presidency
have been a master class in
semantics and anti-seman-
tics — “there is no ban,”
“catch and release,” “very
fine people on both sides,”
[SeeWhistleblower,E4]

Double

talking

on fake

news

MARY McNAMARA