PETER ALLEN: THE BOY FROM OZ Wednesday, Oct. 15 TRIO, 8 p.m., 9 p.m.
One day before actor Hugh Jackman (THE X-MEN) steps on the Broadway stage to star as songwriter/performer Peter Allen in the much anticipated musical THE BOY FROM OZ, digital cable / satellite channel TRIO airs this 1995 documentary, which profiles Allen, a small-town Australian boy who overcame a tragic childhood to become an internationally acclaimed songwriter and performing star. Interviews include Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, Bernadette Peters, Harry Connick, Jr., and Ann-Margret.
The best moments involve Liza and Judy. Liza was 18 when she married Allen.
Black and white TV clips of Liza and Judy singing TOGETHER are cleverly intercut with b/w TV clips of Allen and his early singing partner singing the same song.
DAILY NEWS front-page coverage of Garland’s death and funeral are also shown (Headlines: “JUDY GARLAND DIES IN LONDON” and “JUDY WAS THE STAR IN FINAL ROLE”).
Former A&M Records publicist Bob Garcia talks about Allen’s reception as a gay recording artist. “There were an awful lot of fag jokes (at the marketing meeting), and we knew what those were about. They were about Peter. (A&M head) Jerry Moss kind of got wind of some of this paranoia and just said, ‘Peter Allen is an artist. He is a great singer/songwriter, and he is going to be on A&M for a long time, and everything else is incidental. His lifestyle is his own. It’s not yours, it’s his.’ And that was it. I’m not saying it stopped, but I’m saying it wasn’t as manifest, as publicly stated.”
“He was the first gay artist on A&M that proclaimed himself as gay,” Garcia said. Among his songs hinting or dealing with his sexuality were “Bi-Coastal” and “I’m Not the Boy Next Door.”
As a songwriter, Allen was best known for “Arthur’s Theme, “I Go to Rio,” and “I Honestly Love You.” The doc follows Allen’s career until his death from AIDS in 1992.
