Tomorrow morning at 4:30 AM Eastern Time, Turner Classic Movies is running Norman, Is That You?, a 1976 comedy starring Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey. It was directed by George "Laugh-In" Schlatter and was, I believe, the first major motion picture to be shot on videotape and then transferred to film stock. It's the story of a businessman who is horrified to discover his son is gay. At first, he tries to "cure" the wayward lad but eventually…well, if you watch it, you'll see what happens. As if you couldn't guess.
The movie is based on the 1970 play of the same name by Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick, which starred Lou Jacobi in the role Mr. Foxx would later assume with Maureen Stapleton in the role that Ms. Bailey would play. It opened on Broadway that year, got panned by the critics and closed after 12 performances. Ordinarily, that would have been the end of it…but an odd thing happened. Unlike most 12 performance flops, Norman, Is That You? had a very healthy afterlife. Other productions sprouted, including a long, lucrative run at an inner city theater in Los Angeles that did it with a black cast. That seems to have been what inspired Schlatter to do it that way.
I'm a bit vague on this but I believe Clark and Bobrick have stated that they came to be very happy that their play closed so swiftly in New York. In most contracts for new plays, there's a clause that states that the producer or production company shares in the film and subsequent stage rights of a play…but only if it runs a specified number of performances on Broadway. If it closes quickly, all rights revert to the author(s). Well, Norman, Is That You? reportedly closed rapidly enough to make that happen. If it had run a few more days, the producers would have shown a huge profit while Bobrick and Clark lost a fortune.
You will note that I am not saying this is a great movie or even a good one. There's a reason for that.
I'm actually only mentioning it because of one other cast member. My collaborator Sergio Aragonés has a brief but tidy role as a hotel desk clerk. Sergio has done a number of acting roles (he recently performed a voice for an upcoming Futurama) and you might want to tune in or TiVo just for him. If you do and you should meet him some day, be kind. Don't tell him how unconvincing his Mexican accent is.
My thanks to Doran Gaston, who wrote in to remind me to tell you about this. I'd forgotten.