Bel, Tina and Gene

May 27, 2023

Bel, Tina and Gene

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed English actress Bel Powley for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Bel currently stars in A Small Light, a fascinating new limited series from National Geographic on Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who helped hide Anne Frank from the Nazis until Frank was discovered and sent with her family to their deaths. Amazingly, Gies survived the war. [Photo above of Bel Powley as Miep Gies in A Small Light, by Dusan Martincek, courtesy of National Geographic for Disney]

You may know Bel best as Kelsey, Pete Davidson's girlfriend in The King of Staten Island (2020). She also is superb in Carrie Pilby (2016). My interview was done by Zoom in London, and I can tell you Bel is as precious as she seems—and just as funny.

Here's Bel in The King of Staten Island...

Here's Bel talking about how she learned to speak Staten Islandese for the film...

Here's Bel in the trailer to Carrie Pilby (2016)...

And here's Bel in the trailer for A Small Light...

Also in the WSJ, my Tina Turner appreciation essay for the Arts in Review section (go here). Here's Turner singing the James Bond theme to GoldenEye (1995). Not much of a song by Bono and the Edge, but Tina does her best...

Happy Birthday, Gene DiNovi! Gene turned 95 on Friday. The photo above was taken at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street in the fall of 1948. It was sent to me by Carl Woideck. Pictured from the left is clarinetist Stan Hasselgard, bassist Clyde Lombardi, pianist Gene DiNovi, drummer Max Roach and guitarist Chuck Wayne. As you may recall, I interviewed Gene several months ago here. In tribute to Gene, here he is playing Speak Low...

Bill Mays video. The Bill Mays Trio just returned from a tour of the American Northwest and Northeast. Here's a video of Bill at Brooklyn's Soapbox Gallery, with Dean Johnson on bass and Ron Vincent on drums...