Films set to reign in Queens MORE grandmother stuff. Lawyer Orin Kurtz, who has tangled with Wells Fargo, had a grandmother in East Hampton. There was an event. Jackson Pollock called to say he’s en route. Under the influence, driving his Rory Olds conver
PHONE rings. “I’m Mary Beth Peil.” Tony nominee, Obie winner, now in “Anastasia” on Broadway, she says. “Reporters usually call me. Now I’m told to call you. No idea why.”
Overwhelmed by this warmth, I discovered she’s in Kew Gardens’ cinema festival. Next month, Queens Boulevard becomes the Croisette.
She said: “I don’t know Kew Gardens. My eyes would cross if I had to say where it was. I’m from Iowa.”
It’s Aug. 3 to 12, 110 films. Premiere’s in Forest Hills’ UA Midway Stadium 9. July 31’s pre- event is “A Midsummer Night’s Feast” at Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. With Yelp, Edible Queens and 30 vendors, for $15 guests may snack. It partners with Regal Entertainment.
This Long Island Cannes opens with “The Song of Sway Lake” starring
and Mary Beth Peil who says: “It’s a kind of old-fashioned European film. It’s family relations and takes place in a country estate. A feud between grandson and grandma. I’m the grandma. Like a Catherine De
neuve. In my early 70s. And this Russian kid in his 20s falls in love with me.”
So could or did maybe such a maybe thing ever happen to her in real life maybe? “Maybe.” Watching this alone could maybe be worth more than $15.
Pollock’s last talk Thick ’n’ thin
TO shed weight this summer so your last year’s hammock can still stretch over your this year’s buttock? Baby food. Aniston did it. Gwyneth tried it. Now
Gaga’s goo-goo over Gerber’s pureed carrots. Annapolis’ US Naval Academy has another shtick so you don’t get thick. Leftovers aren’t allowed. At mess (everyone’s served in 20 minutes) the order is: “If you put food on your plate — you must eat it.”
O’Reilly makes another ‘Killing’
BILL O’Reilly’s killing series is now poised to kill off competi- tion on the best seller list. Coming at us is “Killing the SS.” Subtitle: “The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History.”
This eighth killing book is truly a killer. Up all night and a day reading a proof version, I was overcome and actually paused at one point. He takes us inside the Third Reich. Inside Nazi brains. Inside SS headquarters. And inside Auschwitz he describes an infant’s discarded empty shoe.
We see “Angel of Death” Josef Mengele who performed hideous medical experiments; Martin Bormann, Hitler’s brutal personal secretary; cruel “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie; plus inch by inch the capture, trial — I have since sat in that exact courtroom — and death sentence of the worst of all: Adolf Eichmann.
It’s all there. The Führer. The Holocaust. The Final Solution.
GREAT pro golfer Gene Sarazen gave a club engraved with his name to a foursome pal, who then gave it to his kid. Now senior, she uses it as a walking stick. Only in New York, kids, only in New York.