Friday, October 25, 2013

The Karen Carpenter Story...

I remember when this film first came on TV back in 1989...

I couldn't wait to see it.  I have watched it over and over again, despite the cheesy wigs Cynthia Gibb and Mitchell Anderson wore.  What I really think is interesting is the trivia surrounding this movie.  Richard Carpenter was the producer and in charge of the music.  The musical selections in the movie are great, but from what I understand, this was a very whitewashed version of the Carpenters' story.

The person who uploaded this movie on YouTube posted this in the "About" section.  I see now it comes from Wikipedia's article about this movie.

The Karen Carpenter Story is a TV movie that aired on CBS on January 1, 1989, telling the story of the rise and fall of the brother-and-sister pop music duo, The Carpenters. It was directed by Joseph Sargent. Richard Carpenter served as a producer for the film as well as the musical score.

The movie was very popular in the ratings; it was the highest-rated two-hour TV movie of the year and the third highest rated such program on any network during the 1980s. Although the film's attempts to show the life of Karen Carpenter are usually accurate, there are a few minor dramatic factual inaccuracies. This movie was not easy to make. The idea for a movie based on Karen's life had been floating around since about 1985 or 86. However, it was impossible to find someone to write the script for it. Once it had been approved by the studio and Richard Carpenter, there where daily script "rewrites or entire scenes were removed" according to Cynthia Gibb and Mitchell Anderson, in an attempt to soften the image of Agnes Carpenter by her son in real life. The final movie in, Gibb's opinion, gives a "white-washed" account of Karen's life. Gibbs also said that a lot of the information in it was "watered down or removed altogether" at the demand of Richard Carpenter.

A further example of this appeared in an article in 1988 where it's mentioned Richard produced a bag containing Karen's musty clothing and ordered the actress playing her to wear them then demanding Cynthia Gibb lose the required weight in order to fit into these clothes. Cythia Gibb states: I lost weight as Richard wanted and he was there watching over me in every scene. It was unnerving having to wear Karen's clothes, right down to her clingy T-shirts and crumpled bell-bottoms. I donned a wig and used Karen's make-up. By the time I was finished I felt I WAS Karen.

She was also quoted as saying "there was no time to research and I had my drum lessons during my lunch hour". Even though she had starred for two years in Fame, she said it was still insisted upon her to take voice lessons to do the lip synching.

A crew member talks about the experience: Frankly, we were very glad he (didn't play himself). He was a pain in the backside, so oversensitive and close to the action he almost screwed things up. When we spotted him on his knees praying to Karen he was saying: "Forgive me, forgive me..." The misgivings he had were painfully obvious. You could almost see him wrestling with things in his mind. It was as if he felt that Karen would never have approved. He whispered to one of the boys: "I'd give my right arm if she were here now." The guy just hasn't been able to let go (and now) the film lacks an independent balance.


I have also read the books about the Carpenters and they verify that Cynthia Gibb wore Karen's clothes and Richard was constantly telling her how Karen would say or do things. At the beginning of the movie, when Karen is shown being carted off in an ambulance, the actual guys who picked up the real Karen Carpenter were cast as the paramedics.

Richard has said that he's sorry he ever got involved with the TV film, even though it was a very popular made for TV movie. Frankly, I think it would be interesting to see their story retold in a more objective manner. Based on what I've read, the Carpenter family was quite rigid and there's probably a lot of psychology that could be explored in an interesting way.

I do think Louise Fletcher was a great choice to play Agnes Carpenter. They should have let her have a little more artistic license with that role.




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