Farewell To The Star Of A Classic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            I am telling you, darlings, they are dropping like flies!!!!!!!!!!!  No sooner had I heard of Christopher Lee's passing, then I hear about Ron Moody!  Now, Moody did many things--he was in Mel Brooks' movie, "The Twelve Chairs,"-- but his signature role, which he did many times, on stage in London and New York, and on film, earning an Oscar nomination for it, was as Fagin in the musical "Oliver!"

                           Now, I remember "Oliver!" when it was on Broadway first time out, with Davy Jones of The Monkees, playing the Artful Dodger!  Oh, and Alice Playten, as Bet!!!!!!  I wasn't as Dickens versed, by then, but I sure knew the song "Consider Yourself!"  And I could belt it out to beat Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            Yet, "Oliver!" was never one of my all-time favorite musicals.  It had some favorite moments, most notably, the lovely "Who Will Buy?," but it wasn't something I would listen to over and over.

                               But, when the film was released, at the end of 1968, the critics went crazy!  I had this dream that it won the Oscar as Best Picture Of The Year.  And, because I was Academy mad at that stage of life--I had to see EVERY Best Picture winner!!!!!!!--I bugged my parents about seeing this movie, until, one Saturday morning, we bussed into Manhattan, to the Loews State One on Broadway, to see it!  You know what was playing at Loews  State Two, then?  "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!!!!!!!!!!"

                               I thought "Oliver!" was the best stage musical put on film--then!  Seeing it again, it does not quite hold up--BUT the "Who Will Buy?" number is still the single best number ever captured on film!!!!!!!!!!!   I will try to show it as a tribute!

                                "Oliver!" led the Oscar race that year, with 11 nominations!  Two went to Ron Moody, and young Jack Wild, who played the Artful Dodger!  He did not win the Oscar (neither did Ron) but Jack went on to fame as "H.R. Pufnstuff!!!!!!!!!"   He predeceased Ron, tragically, due to tongue and throat cancer.in 2006.  He was only 53.

                                  I saw Ron do "Oliver!" again, for myself, on Broadway, when, in the late 80's, a revival was done at the Mark H
ellinger Theatre on Broadway.  A post-"Evita" Patti Lu Pone played Nancy, and those two were pure gold!  Ron was every bit as mesmerizing on stage, as he was on film!

                                    Sad to see him go, but making it to the nineties is no small accomplishment!  Many actors will go on to play Fagin, but none with the style and panache of Ron!

                                      Rest In Peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!