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The Los Angeles City College Lacc Theatre Academy and Kritzerland Entertainment present the world premiere of Levi, a classic fit new musical based on the life of Levi Strauss, with a book by legendary cult film writerdirector Larry Cohen and Janelle Webb Cohen, and music and lyrics written by Disney's most celebrated Oscar-winning composers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang, Charlotte's Web, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and more.

If years were musicals we'd be about to hear  the 11th hour showstopping numbers before the climax in December when Oscar Fever and List Mania truly begins. Consider that in two days two of the best films of this already great year emerge in theaters: Carol, Mustang and then the Thanksgiving blockbusters hit. But for now some highlights from the month's first half since we don't want you to miss anything! We're illustrating with Slave Girl Princess Leia because we reject any corporate attempts to erase popular culture touchstones because people are so easily offended. Slave Girl Leia turned her chains into weapons and defeated the patriarchy Jabba the Hut and should be celebrated not covered up. 

Grey Gardens Manuel's HBO Lgbt retrospective season reached this eccentric gem

Female Directors diversity in director's chair is the hot topic of the year 

Charming Sir Ian at the Brit brunch party for...

I saw "Babe" 20 years ago when I was nine, and aside from the fact that it was a movie my grandparents tolerated, here's everything I remembered about it:  -The mice were cute. -Christine Cavanaugh, the late voice artist behind Chuckie on "Rugrats" and Dexter on "Dexter's Laboratory," voiced "Babe."  -It was nominated for Best Picture and Cavanaugh carried a pig-shaped purse to the Oscars. This was, of course, the beginning of my certifiable obsession with the Oscars.  -I was so, so embarrassed and sad at the part where the farmer's granddaughter hates the dollhouse she gets for Christmas. I wanted to reach out to Farmer Hoggett and say, "She's being a brat. I hope you know that, and I hope your feelings aren't hurt." Damn, remember when you'd evaluate kids in movies as your peers? -James Cromwell's face was a long, solemn, Easter Island-type granite block. Strangely,...

Today, we're featuring Paul Lynde, circa 1981. A noted character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie - both the stage musical and the film-version. He was also the regular 'center square' guest on the game show Hollywood Squares from 1968 to 1981 and was the voice of Templeton the gluttonous rat in the Hanna-Barbera productions Charlotte's Web and The Hooded Claw in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

Hope you're still enjoying the bundle of joy that is Logo's Wednesday night Bewitched block. Obviously Elizabeth Montgomery and Agnes Moorehead are treasures, but never overlook the deeply funny, unendingly wicked, quite obviously gay Paul Lynde. He never publicly came out, but the fact is, his penchant for racy punchlines and hammy crudity was relatable specifically to gay viewers the world over. He is irreplaceable. Here are ten elite-level facts that all great Paul Lynde fans should cherish.

1. We love him in Bye, Bye Birdie, but don't forget his even funnier cameo in Son of Flubber.

In just a few short lines, he establishes that he's funnier than Fred MacMurray ever was.

2. He graduated as part of one of Northwestern's most esteemed drama classes with Cloris Leachman and Patricia Neal

Lynde, a vaunted stage actor at Northwestern, graduated in 1944 along with his peers Patricia Neal (the Oscar-winner for Hud), Charlotte Rae...

On March 5th, Robert Sherman, one half of the Sherman Brothers songwriting team (with his brother Richard) who did much to shape and define the "Disney sound," died at the age of 86. Chances are, even if you have no idea who Robert Sherman is, you can sing one of his songs with minimal mental strain, or can call a moment from your childhood that was structured exclusively around one of his songs. Sherman was a brilliant and beautiful songwriter, crafting indelible tunes for movies like "Mary Poppins," "The Jungle Book," and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," but he was also responsible for something deeper and more profound – he helped shape popular culture through songs that were sweet but never saccharine, optimistic but never too sunny, and meant for children but universal enough to make grown adults cry (and sing along). His impact cannot be overstated.

Robert Sherman served in World War II.

When I came in from work today, Jubbers told me I'd better sit down. She knows I don't deal well with celebrity deaths, and she knows I take the deaths of the ones who meant the most to me especially hard. I've never been all that emotional when it comes to real life stuff, but music and movies can really set me off.

Robert B. Sherman was music and movies. I've been obsessed with the music he and his brother made for most of my life. "Mother Earth and Father Time," from 1973's Charlotte's Web, is the first song that ever made me cry. A kid doesn't forget a thing like that.

Many kids aren't likely to forget the songs of the Sherman Brothers--even if they don't know the Sherman Brothers by name. Consider some of the movies that featured their music: Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Snoopy Come Home,...

Robert B Sherman, who has died aged 86, was part of one of the most unusual songwriting teams of all time. He and his younger brother Richard may not be as well known as other pairs of composers and lyricists, but they will for ever be remembered as the writers of Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and a swath of other productions from Walt Disney Studios.

Their score for Mary Poppins (1964), the movie that introduced Julie Andrews to filmgoers, secured them a place in popular musical history and made them multimillionaires. Featuring songs including Jolly Holiday, Let's Go Fly a Kite and Feed the Birds, it won them two Oscars. It also included the classic A Spoonful of Sugar and the song with the one-word title that they used when they accepted the Academy awards: "All we can say is 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'.

Robert Sherman died on Monday in London. The Academy Award-winning songwriter behind "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from "Mary Poppins," as well as such Disney classics as "It's A Small World (After All)," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "A Spoonful of Sugar" was 86.

Sherman's son, Jeff, passed the news of his death along via Facebook.

"I have very sad news to convey," he wrote. "My Dad, Robert B. Sherman, passed away tonight in London. He went peacefully after months of truly valiantly fending off death. He loved life and his dear heart finally slowed to a stop when he could fight no more."

Born in 1925, Sherman fought in World War II and became a songwriter upon returning home. He helped write "Tall Paul" with his brother, Richard, which became a top-ten hit for Annette Funicello. The attention got the Sherman brothers a staff position at Walt Disney Studios, where they wrote "It's a Small World...

Robert Sherman died on Monday in London. The Academy Award-winning songwriter behind "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from "Mary Poppins," as well as such Disney classics as "It's A Small World (After All)," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "A Spoonful of Sugar" was 86. Sherman's son, Jeff, passed the news of his death along via Facebook. "I have very sad news to convey," he wrote. "My Dad, Robert B. Sherman, passed away tonight in London. He went peacefully after months of truly valiantly fending off death. He loved life and his dear heart finally slowed to a stop when he could fight no more." Born in 1925, Sherman fought in World War II and became a songwriter upon returning home. He helped write "Tall Paul" with his brother, Richard, which became a top-ten hit for Annette Funicello. The attention got the Sherman brothers a staff position at Walt Disney Studios, where they wrote "It's a Small World...

Every year, the Academy Awards honor the members of the filmmaking community that passed away over the course of the year. This year's memoriam reminded viewers of some of the most prominent deaths over the year including Patrick Swayze, David Carradine and Michael Jackson -- but there were more than a few curious absences as well.

After the jump, we've remembered five of the motion picture professionals that died in 2009 but were absent from the Oscar's memoriam segment.

Bea Arthur: Best known as Dorothy Zbornak on "Golden Girls" and Maude Findlay on "All in the Family" and "Maude," Bea Arthur passed away in 2009 at the age of 86. She was two weeks away from her 87th birthday. Arthur's body of film work includes "Mame," "Lovers and Other Strangers" and a bit role in "History of the World, Part I."

Captain Lou Albano: WWE wrestling icon Captain Lou Albano...

The gallery of colorful character actors has lost another one of its most reliable members. Don't feel bad if you don't know the name Henry Gibson, because I suspect that a "supporting" player like Mr. Gibson would take your ignorance as a compliment. Actors like Henry Gibson generally show up 7th or 8th in the opening credits, if they show up there at all, but they excel at two things: Providing flawless support for a lead actor or a big star, and giving movie-watchers a nice comfortable vibe of "Ohhh, this guy! He's been in a dozen flicks I've seen before. No idea who he is, but I'm glad to see him again."

That was Henry Gibson. The frustrated "Illinois Nazi" from The Blues Brothers. The confused grocer in Innerspace. The goofy preacher from Wedding Crashers. He was in Nashville, The Long Goodbye, The Nutty Professor, Magnolia, and The 'Burbs.

Henry Gibson, a wry comic character actor whose career included "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," "Nashville" and "Boston Legal," died Monday at his home in Malibu after a brief battle with cancer. He was 73.

Gibson's breakthrough came in 1968 when he was cast as a member of the original ensemble of NBC's top-rated "Laugh-In," on which he performed for three seasons. Each week, a giant flower in his hand, he recited a signature poem, introducing them with the catchphrase that became his signature: "A Poem, by Henry Gibson."

The poems proved so popular that they led to the release of two comedy albums, "The Alligator" and "The Grass Menagerie," as well as a book, "A Flower Child's Garden of Verses."

After "Laugh-In," he played the evil Dr. Verringer in "The Long Goodbye" (1973), the first of four films in which he appeared for director Robert Altman. Their second collaboration came in "Nashville" (1975), in which...

Paramount Pictures is preparing to bring the legendary E.B. White children's book Charlotte's Web to the big screen in a live-action/CGI feature to be penned by Erin Brockovich scribe Susannah Grant. Originally published in 1952, Charlotte's Web takes place on a farm in Maine and concerns a pig named Wilbur and his devoted friend Charlotte, the spider who saves his life. While there is no director yet attached to the project, City of Angels director Brad Silberling is believed to be the studio's top choice for the assignment. Silberling is attached to helm the studio's upcoming Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, so if he were to take on the Charlotte project, it would likely come after Snicket wraps. Paramount previously adapted Charlotte's Web in 1973, when the studio produced a Hanna-Barbera animated take on the classic tale. Paramount production co-president Karen Rosenfelt is overseeing the project for the studio. Grant, who earned an Oscar nomination for her Brockovich script, also penned the Cinderella story Ever After and the animated Pocahontas. She is repped by CAA.