PRESENTS

Welcome to the Grapevine News. This section of the Mathis Chronicles contains my views about anything I find or am sent about Johnny Mathis on the 'net and elsewhere, that isn't being discussed by any "official" sites. Occasionally, I report on things not directly related to Mathis but have a connection, may even make up a question to ask myself and try to answer. Readers are welcome to share their news here also. So enjoy and thanks for coming.

VOL. 1 NO. 5

OH, WHAT A NIGHT: Halle Berry officially became a legitimate actress on Oscar Night, 2002 and deservedly so. In winning she honors other legitimate actresses who came before her, like Diana Ross and Cicely Tyson, who in my opinion were denied the best actress statuette due to the color of their skin. If they ever do a movie on the great Lena Horne, they can't go wrong with Ms. Berry for the role. If they one day do a story on Halle Berry, however, they'll have their work cut out for her in the casting department.

Denzel Washington won his second Oscar last night while practically standing in the shadow of screen legend and director Sidney Poitier. Now, I didn't appreciate the talk about Washington's award being the result of a backlash against the "true" winner, Russell Crowe. Such talk is a two-sided slap-in-the-face. First, it implies that Denzel Washington's performance in "Training Day" was not top-drawer enough to merit the top award. Second, it suggests that an actor gets the award on the basis of who his friends are as opposed to the actor's talent and performance.

Implications such as these aren't fair to either actor, and I'm hoping they aren't true. After all, now that awards such as the Grammys seem to have been rendered worthless by politics, one would hope that the Academy Awards still had their legitimacy intact. I'm hoping ALL of the winners got their awards because it was indeed deserved.

There is no question in my mind that the great Sidney Poitier is deserving of every award he could possibly get. This stately and dignified living legend still stands tall, speaks eloquently and truthfully, even as he is now in his mid-70's. The man from Cat Island is true (North) American royalty.

I once tried to make a comparison between Sidney Poitier and Johnny Mathis based on his book, the Measure of a Man. Although I abandoned the project, I know that Mathis and Poitier have a lot in common. They are both dignified in public, they are revered in their fields by both their Black and White audiences, both have a huge, diversified body of work, both men are consummate professionals. But as men how do they compare?

I think Johnny Mathis does his best acting on stage. Most singers who don't write their own songs come off as actors, but when Mathis is doing the so-called romantic songs, he's got to stand up on stage and deliver an Oscar-winning performance, one that has women believing he's singing to them! The audience, of course, sees relatively little of the real person, they see a man playing a role. I always feel a little sorry for him when he has to do these songs, but the fact that he was marketed in that direction is no fault of his. If the emphasis had been elsewhere, I've no doubt things could have been different for him, and it would have been a healthy difference.

As an actor, Sidney Poitier is not so easily pigeonholed. The roles he plays of course are very real. He says in his book, "Acting isn't a game of 'pretend'. It's an exercise in being real." When discussing where life and art intersect, Poitier notes, "You simply can't fake your way through good work. But even the purest devotion to an art or craft doesn't take place in a vacuum. We work with others, with people often very close to our hearts, so convictions that are firmly held can cost a pretty penny indeed."

How long will it be before the Oscar for Best Director goes to a man or woman of color? I think what Robert Redford said may hold the key...studios have to be more willing to take risks and not rely upon the sure thing. It sounds like it's not all that different from the music business, where they sell what's already been sold, instead of investing in creative experimentation.

DOVE AWARDS: Johnny Mathis up for a Dove Award? Not exactly. However, Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Extraordinaire, featuring Johnny Mathis on the song O Tannenbaum, and which far and away outsold any other holiday recording this past season, is nominated for a Dove Award in the Instrumental Album of the Year category --- putting yet another potential trophy in the lap of American Gramophone creator Chip Davis.

The 33rd Dove Awards will be presented Thursday, April 25th, 2002.