There were a couple of shown bizzier figures in my daily tickler I might have written about today, but, hell, it's Pride Month, and I've scarcely done anything to observe it yet this year, so we give priority to Holly Near (b. 1949).
Besides, Near turns out to have an fascinating show biz footprint anyway (otherwise I wouldn't foist her upon you) -- and if you must have a show bizzier fix I refer you to my previous June 6 posts on Ted Lewis; Maria Montez; Shirley Mason; May Wirth; the Ponselle Sisters; Helen Ford; Leo Dryden; Jans and Whalen; and others. I encourage you to explore the blog as a regular matter of course. In fact, I encourage you to spend all day, every day reading it. That's pretty much what I do!
Anyway, sorry, Holly Near! Near is best known as a folk-singer and activist. I probably first heard her name because she made a record called Watch Out! with my ex-brother-in-law John McCutcheon in 1984. (I just saw his sons at my son's wedding two days ago -- very top of mind, at the moment). Over the years Near has collaborated with Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, Arlo Guthrie, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, et al. Some of her tunes have entered the modern folk canon and have been used in movies. She's anti-war, anti-nukes, pro-feminist, pro-LGBTQ, pro-worker, and anti-poverty, plus she sings pretty. She was the subject of a 2018 documentary called Holly Near: Singing For Our Lives, which aired on the PBS show American Masters in 2019.
But, as much as I love folk music, I became much more jazzed about Near (pun intended) when I learned about her short but mighty trippy acting career, the bulk of which occurred between 1969 and 1974. I've already written about a couple of her early movies: the jaw-dropping Robert Thom rock musical Angel, Angel Down We Go (1969) with Jordan Christopher and Jennifer Jones; and the exploitation film The Todd Killings (1971). Near has an especially big role in the former film, basically a co-starring part. She has a lot of scenery chewing to do in this strange film, and she attacks it with vigor. Interestingly, at the time she was on the zaftig side, a fact I don't ordinarily point out, except as far as I know she's never been plump since. But in the movie, it's kind of a Georgie Girl idea, with a soupcon of Mama Cass, Totie Fields, and, I dunno, Patricia Krenwinkel. Apart from those two movies, Near's also in Don Johnson's first film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970); as well as John Cassavetes' Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) with Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel; and George Roy Hill's screen adaptation of Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). She was also in episodes of the TV shows Room 222, All in the Family, Mod Squad, and The Partridge Family.
In 1970 she toured with the road company of the musical Hair. The following year, she toured with another show that has a surprising vaudeville angle:
Or if you prefer, an anti-vaudeville angle, but definitely IN DIALOGUE with vaudeville. In 1971 Jane Fonda spearheaded a live touring show that was meant to be a sort of response to Bob Hope's popular U.S.O. tours then crisscrossing Vietnam. Obviously, this show had an anti-war agenda; this was "Hanoi Jane", later to star in Coming Home (1978). FTA was originally an army recruiting slogan "Fun, Travel, and Adventure". Yeesh! Disgruntled soldiers turned it into "Fuck the Army". This being 1971, the promoters of this tour asserted that it stood for "Free the Army". People on the tour included Fonda herself, her Klute co-star Donald Sutherland (then fresh from M*A*S*H), comedian Dick Gregory, Peter Boyle (then fresh from Joe), Country Joe McDonald (from Woodstock) and others, with direction by Alan Myerson of The Committee and skits by Jules Feiffer, Herb Gardner, and Barbara Garson (who wrote the LBJ takedown MacBird!). This show actually toured military bases in the U.S. and abroad. A concert film of the performances was released in 1972.
Near returned to acting in 1991 with an appearance on L.A. Law and a good supporting role in Nancy Savoca's movie Dogfight (1991) with River Phoenix and Lili Taylor. Her most recent screen role was in the movie Heartwood (1998) with Jason Robards and Hillary Swank.
For more on the variety arts, including vaudeville, please see my book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous. And please stay tuned for my next book Vaudeville in Your Living Room: A Century of Radio and TV Variety, coming November 2023.
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