I love Xanadu! Especially the music, Jeff Lynne of the Electric LIght Orchestra produced most if not all the music in the film, great stuff. Really enjoyed the guest today.

Said by: JimmyDe at November 7, 2006 02:52 AM

I just thought of a new question to ask - whose laugh do you like the best? And my answer is - HILARY CARLIP's! What an absolutely CHARMING interview!

Said by: Patricia Fernós at November 7, 2006 09:29 AM

Marc / Fausto;

I'm not an experto on the Filmography of Olivia Newton John BUT I know she was in Sordid Lives (Dell Shores) and she was amazing as th trailer trash bar singer with subliminal Lesbian overtones. You should see it.

EricM
60707

Said by: Eric M at November 7, 2006 01:17 PM

Funny we have that on DVD. Our Republican listener in Texas sent it to us. Now we will definitely have to watch it.

Said by: Marc at November 7, 2006 01:35 PM

Xanadu was not Olivia Newton-John's last movie role.

She and John Travolta did another movie together, *Two of a Kind*, which at first seemed like it would satisfy fans' desire to see the two reunited on the silver screen. Unfortunately, the script was sophomoric at best. God (voice of Gene Hackman) comes back from an extended vacation to find the group of angels he has put in charge have made a mess of things. He initially plans to flood the world and start all over again, but puts his plans on hold after an appeal from the angels: if a couple of strangers (Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta) can do something completely unselfish for each other within a time limit, the world will be saved. Unfortunately, an extensive cast of big-name character actors and a rocking sound track were not enough to save this trite script.

Interesting that you mentioned that Olivia predated Kim Cattrall playing a mannequin coming to life in the movie *Mannequin* , because her next starring role was just that. In *A Mom for Christmas* Olivia plays Amy Miller, a department store mannequin who comes to life in order to fulfill a young girl's wish: having a mother for Christmas. The script borrows many plot elements from *Mannequin*, but since it was a family-oriented film, the romance between Amy and Jim is more chaste.

IMDB lists a couple of British and Australian productions, *A Christmas Romance*, and a recurring role on *Snowy River: The McGregor Saga". I haven't seen any of these, so no comments on them.

The next movie in which Olivia starred was called *It's My Party*. In this movie, Nick Stark (Eric Roberts) finds out he has Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), an opportunistic brain infection which strikes people with AIDS. Nick knows this disease progresses quickly and will ultimately leave him in an Alzheimers-like state, so he decides to invite his all of his friends to a party after which he will kill himself to spare all of them the agony of watching him deteriorate.

According to IMDB, the movie is based on a true story, and most of the actors knew the real person who threw the party. The cast includes Olivia Newton-John, Margaret Cho, Lee Grant, Sally Kellerman, Marlee Matlin, Greg Louganis, Bronson Pinchot, George Segal, Christopher Atkins, Roddy McDowell, and Gregory Harrison.

In this movie, Olivia plays Lina Bingham, a close friend of Nick's and the mother of a gay teenage son who has looked to Nick as a role model, and she laments the loss she and her son will both feel. She is joined by all of the others whose conversations with each other reveal their relationship with Nick. As an aside to the FOF listeners, Margaret Cho is absolutely adorable in her part, playing a wisecracking, cynical Korean-American fag hag--in other words, herself.

The movie is poignant to the point of a complete tear-jerker, and it is unfortunate that it did not get as much publicity as it deserves.

Since then, she has done some TV work, playing the unnamed Female Storyteller in the Mannheim Steamroller production of *The Christmas Angel: A Story on Ice". I've never found out if Olivia was used as a model for the "Christmas Angel" character used in all of the promotional materials, as well as the CD and DVD cover art, but the angel does bear a striking resemblance to pictures of Olivia when she had longer hair.

There were two other TV roles cited on IMDB, but I haven't seen those either.

I'd love to hear an interview with Olivia some time on the show, and that one would definitely be burned to CD.

In the meantime, great show as always!

Said by: David at November 7, 2006 01:38 PM