CELEBRATING THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF “FOOTLOOSE” AND GENGHIS COHEN!

[Dave Monroe]

CELEBRATING THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF “FOOTLOOSE” AND GENGHIS COHEN!
April 17, 2009


I read in Variety online, “Paramount has announced plans to fast-track
a remake of Footloose, with plans to start filming in the spring of
2009, with Dylan Sellers, producer of The Replacements, and the
original producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron as co-producers. Derek
Hough, of “Dancing With The Stars”, is said to be a front-runner for
the lead role”

Wow…It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since the original
“Footloose” starring Kevin Bacon, was released. It’s also hard to
believe that Genghis Cohen, the trendy Chinese Restaurant which I
named and hosted off and on for nine years, is celebrating its 25th
Anniversary!

What do the two have in common? Kevin and his girlfriend Tracy Pollen,
who also was in the movie, were two of our first regular customers.
They turned Sarah Jessica Parker (who was also in “Footloose”), and
her boyfriend Robert Downey, Jr., on to the restaurant. It wasn’t long
before Academy Award winning songwriter Dean Pitchford,
“Fame”(Pitchford/ Gore), who collaborated on the nine-song “Footloose”
score with songwriters Eric Carmen, Michael Gore, Sammy Hagar, Kenny
Loggins, Tom Snow and Bill Wolfer, was coming into the Chinese
restaurant as well.

One night Dean brought in his “Fame” collaborator, Michael Gore who
I’ve known since he was 15, when I administered his sister Lesley
Gore’s publishing companies. Dean also introduced me to the producers
of the film, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Being an amateur
musicologist, I was excited to meet Craig who wrote a biographic book
of composer Stephen Sondheim entitled “Sondheim & Co.” in 1976.

There were nights when everybody from the film would show up at the
same time, which made me feel like I was on a movie set (fortunately I
was wearing taps on my shoes!)

Recently I reconnected with a pal from the past, producer/writer John
Madera (“At The Hop”, “Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay”, “You Don’t Own
Me”), who told me about a new film he’s been working on “At The Hop”,
which is a story of life and love in Philadelphia set in late fifties,
when it’s music and artists, dominated the charts. The more he talked
about it, the more I started thinking. Then I offered to pitch it to
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who have become two of the most successful
movie musical producers of all time, with “Chicago’ and “Hairspray”
under their belts.

The next few weeks should be very exciting…so stay tuned!

http://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/celebrating-the-25th-anniversary-of-footloose-and-genghis-cohen/

a: 94, b: 75 - Genghis Cohen, philatelist

Philately is the study of Revenue or Postage Stamps.

See Philately Gone Wild

    In 1966, the novelist Romain Gary accused Pynchon of stealing the
name Genghis Cohen from one of his books. Pynchon penned a humorous
reply in a letter to the editor of the New York Times Book Review.

http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_4

The New York Times Book Review
17 July 1966, pp. 24, 26

To the Editor:

In a recent letter to the editor, Romain Gary asserts that I took the
name "Genghis Cohen" from a novel of his to use in a novel of mine,
The Crying of Lot 49.  Mr. Gary is totally in error. I took the name
Genghis Cohen from the name of Genghis Khan (1162-1227), the
well-known Mongol warrior and statesman. If Mr. Gary really believes
himself to be the only writer at present able to arrive at a play on
words this trivial, that is another problem entirely, perhaps more
psychiatric than literary, and I certainly hope he works it out.

Thomas Pynchon,

New York City.

http://web.archive.org/web/20000824131346/pynchonfiles.com/cohn.htm
http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_cohen.html
http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/cl49/GengCo.html

Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1965)

http://books.google.com/books?id=vp2Sv9KO1VUC