Impact (Mar 1972)

with Michael York, and I’m supposed to pick up two three-leaf clovers and tear two leaves off one and put them together, so it looks like a four-leaf clover, and hand it to him. It was a disaster. One time he got a three-leaf clover and a fingernail.” She shook her head ruefully. ‘“That picture is really authentic. I mean Fosse wouldn’t even let the girls shave under their arms, and they just hated it! That’s how you can tell that I’m the star, because I’m the only one who doesn’t have hairy armpits.” A knock on the door heralded the stage manager “with a few friends who want to say hello.’’ She shrugged and nodded, and he brought in two women and a well-dressed man. ““We saw you in Miami and we just loved you.”’ Liza smiled politely. ““Thank you.” The other woman leaned forward a little. ““How can you sing after you’ve danced like that, and at the same time!” Liza smiled again. “Actually I-find it helps. Opens up the chest cavity, so I get more air for singing.”’ The man smiled this time. ‘“Well, we just wanted you to know that we think you’ re terrific — and that has nothing to do with your mother.” Liza blinked. There was an awkward silence, and she turned to the first woman. “‘I just love your coat — did you get it here?’’ After a few minutes of chatter about good places to buy coats the man said, ‘“We’ll go, because we know you must be busy.” Liza smiled again, thanked them for coming backstage, and closed the door firmly behind her with a sigh. “They think I’m terrific but it has nothing to do with my mother?” she asked her reflection in the mirror. ‘“Wouldn’t my father be surprised to hear that! ‘When Dad saw Cabaret he really flipped. Geoffrey Answorth, the cinematographer, did some pretty fantastic things with it. Cabaret was one of those fantastic experiences when everything was important, not just this number or that scene. It’s really a stylized documentary, and authentic!” She rolled her eyes. “‘It doesn’t look like our idea of what the thirties was like. It looks like The Thirties! ‘‘My father is an incredibly gifted man. I think he’s tops, naturally, but some of his films are so sensational.’’ She has trouble choosing her favorite Minnelli musical — “‘that’s so difficult. Meet Me In St. Louis, Gigi, An American In Paris — TI really don’t know. What made his films so distinctive was that he was the first one to make songs part of the story in a musical. Until he changed the style of musicals, people always played singers or dancers, and all the musical numbers were done on stage or around a rehearsal piano. But he had people sing whether they were on a boat or under the Arc de Triomphe. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons he got such a kick out of Cabaret, because we return to the old style of stopping dead and doing numbers that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the plot.” Liza’s father is not the only one who adored the film. The producers believe they have a potential Oscar champ in the picture, and have delayed its release until 1972 for that reason. At this time there is only one other musical scheduled for °72 release, Man of La Mancha. (A ’71 release would have to compete with The Boy Friend and, more important, Fiddler.) ‘“They also didn’t want me to have to run against Jane Fonda again,” Liza added with a chuckle. She and Fonda were strong contenders in 1970, when Liza was up for Best Actress for The Sterile, Cuckoo and Fonda was nominated for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? By mid-’71 the Cabaret brass decided Fonda was a shoo-in for a nomination for her work in Klute, and decided to keep the film under wraps. “Anyway,” said Liza Minnelli, “‘that stuff’s not important. The important thing is the picture, right? And it’s good. I mean, I think it’s good. Gee, I hope you like it. I do.” 27