Cher: Strong Enough and 1970s Variety Shows

The new Cher biography has finally arrived, Cher Strong Enough by Josiah Howard. From what Cher scholars have been telling me, this is an interesting read with a particular focus on the variety shows of the 1970s.

Which is why I'm holding off reading it for a few weeks, as freakin' hard as that is, because I want to finish watching the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour/Sonny & Cher Show shows so I have a good idea of all the minutia I might catch in this scholarly area. Then I can watch The Cher Shows if they are referenced in the book (although I only have a few of those and cut to a half hour at that). 

From two really juicy two backstage photos that appear in the inserts of the new book, I'm sure this is the right strategy (albeit obsessive and crazy). There's a photo of Cher being costumed in a big snake head outfit and one in a Shakespearean outfit. Those are from Vamp sketches in the same episode (#23, aired 10/6/72, guests were Tony Curtis and Barbara McNair). I know this because I just watched that episode two days ago! I was thinking how unattractive that Scheherazade snake outfit was and how beautiful the Lady MacBeth outfit was (one of my favorite costumes from the show). I thought it was ironic to see the worst and best in one Vamp segment.

I'm enjoying the show so much more this round than I did the last (second) time I went through them in the late 1990s. I think this is because I've watched so many foreign and independent films since then and am much more attuned to subtext and a slower variety skit pace (unlike the speedier skit comedy I was enjoying then on Mad TV).

My favorite thing so far has been Cher's impression of Mary Hartman (which I caught yesterday).

When Cher was co-hosting for TCM and doing a night of war movies, she talked at length about Van Johnson who had a brief appearance in The White Cliffs of Dover. Which reminds me: why does Jimmy Cliff reference the white cliffs of dover in "Many Rivers to Cross"?

Anyway, I wonder if Cher remembers that Van Johnson made a cameo appearance on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (episode #26, aired 10/27/72 guests were Rick Springfield and William Conrad, "Headlines in the Papers" segment) where Cher buys Van Johnson in a Hollywood studio auction. I couldn't find a picture of the segment but here is a handsome shot of Van Morrison with Elizabeth Taylor.