Ep. 95 The Crown and The Clown, I Mean the President

I have some good news for you.  The majority of this episode doesn’t involve politics!  I know, right?  A breath of fresh air.  Also, my guest is NOT the Senator!  How about that?  My guest is my OP from my radio days and like you she is coming out of  quarantine/ hibernation and like most of you… probably… she’s watched a little more television, I’m sorry, streaming content in the last year and change than usual.  And we settle on talking about “The Crown” on Netflix.  Yes, it’s been on for years but since when has this show ever been cutting edge about anything?

Personally, I’m on season 4 of The Crown, which brings in Princess Diana and I’m finding it a bit hard to watch.  I remember my mother waking up at 4 or 5 am in the Summer of 1981 to watch the wedding.  I never knew my mom gave a hang about that stuff but there she was with the TV on.  I heard the TV on so I went in and watched it with her.  I do remember how wildly popular Princess Diana was and The Crown gives a look behind the curtain of the royal family and in many, many instances it’s not pretty.

In fact, speaking of being behind things like curtains, if you’ve watched any amount of The Crown, my observation is that the producers and directors really want you to know that these people are imprisoned as much as they are entitled.  I have found there to be lot’s of camera angles depicting a solitary Queen Elizabeth in shadowed profile, lot’s of long shots of the queen through hallways sitting alone at a desk or fancy chair and many shots of Royals looking out a window at what is going on at the gates of whatever palace they’re in or who might be pulling up, but always looking out the window and the window panes might as well be prison bars.

So, Princess Diana… I’m finding it uncomfortable to watch some of this as she was part of my generation.  She would have turned 60 on July 1st of this year.  But in season 1 we find out about a very young, soon to be Queen Elizabeth.  Much sooner than she ever could have imagined and she probably didn’t imagine it at all because it was her uncle who was King.  King Edward VIII.  

About 13 minutes in my guest mentions The Wallace Simpson affair.  This is the reference to the woman who King Edward fell crazy in love with to the point he abdicated the thrown.

So why wasn’t King Edward allowed to marry Wallis Simpson?  Well she had been married… twice.  Once was enough to put her out of the running back in the pre World War II era.  During her first marriage she was touring China and while in Beijing she had an affair  with a man, got pregnant and had a fouled up abortion, which left her infertile.  How’s that for hot gossip?  I guess it’s not very hot when it happened almost a hundred years ago huh?

Anywho!... the guy she had an affair with?  An Italian diplomat named Galeazo Ciano, who would later go on to become the son-in-law of… Benito Mussolini.  I guess she had a thing for dictators.  Bottom line, she was bad news to the Royal family and King Edward absolutely could not marry her.  But she had him hooked big time.   You might think of her as the Yoko Ono of the Royals.

So we do talk quite a bit about “The Crown” as it pertains to history and the great actors in the series.  Then we have a quick phone interview, our first, with... a politician.  My OP used to be a news director and she still has some contacts into that world so… that’s all I’m going to say for now.  Call it a surprise.

We talk about the Crown and talk to a Clown… on the Modern Moron… I just did that ‘cause it rhymed.

CLOSE - I’m not sure how to close this episode as I’m still processing that.  Um… maybe this is what we needed to get the Modern Moron to the next level?  I don’t know.  My thanks to my Old Partner and by Old I don’t mean in years but my old radio partner and thanks to her for her old journalism connections.

Oh! Here’s how we’ll wrap up since we spent most of our time talking about The Crown on Netflix.  Production has ramped back up and I believe they plan to begin shooting this July so, buy the time you get to this, they could be shooting Season 5!  There will be a new Queen Elizabeth as they have changed every two seasons.  For Season 5 Queen Elizabeth will be played by Imelda Staunton.  While that may not be a household name in the U.S., Imelda Staunton has won at least 3 Laurence Olivier Awards for either best Actress or Best Supporting performances.  The Laurence Olivier Award in Britain is the equivalent to a Tony Award over here.  In 2005 you may remember she was also the lead in a film called Vera Drake for which she was nominated for an Oscar.  Hillary Swank won that year along with Clint Eastwood as director for Million Dollar Baby.

If you haven’t seen Vera Drake, and you like films about the commoner, they everyday person and you don’t always need special effects in your films, you will not be disappointed.  The director is Mike Leigh who was also nominated that year for Best Director and for Best Original Screenplay.  Mike Leigh is sort of a director’s director who relies on improvisation and that film required 6 months of rehearsal before they began shooting the film.  

You WILL remember Imelda Staunton however, from the 5th Harry Potter film “The Order of The Phoenix” where she played Delores Umbridge who took over the school to replace Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts?  Remember how hideous she was?  Watch that performance next to Vera Drake and you’ll be as big a fan of hers as I am.  Can you tell?

Okay, thank you again to my OP and to you for tuning into another episode of the Modern Moron.  In fact, if you liked this episode, while you have this open… forward it to someone.  That’s easier than liking or subscribing right?  Or not, just a thought.