Madonna

As mentioned in Shadows and Fog, Madonna was taking time out after Truth or Dare so that she could craft the media to surround her next persona. While Truth or Dare was being released at Cannes, she auditioned for A League of Their Own, and filmed it that summer, to be released in July of 1992.

On the music side, Madonna’s last full-length album of completely original material was Like a Prayer in March of 1989. In between, she had released the mostly-Sondheim-written I’m Breathless and The Immaculate Collection, both with original singles to tide the fans over (Vogue and Justify My Love, respectively). Still, 3.5 years is a long time to go without releasing your own material.

The only single to actually come out between The Immaculate Collection and Madonna’s next album was from the soundtrack for A League of Their Own, This Used to Be My Playground. It’s one of Madonna’s finer ballads (my mom loves the song), with a video directed by Truth or Dare director Alek Keshishian.

It’s almost cheap of me to link A League of Their Own to a song off its soundtrack, being that they’re both supposed to sell the same product: the film. But, Madonna’s next album, Erotica, wouldn’t come out until October 1992, and the ballad Rain wouldn’t be a single until 1993. Still, Rain is reminiscent of This Used to Be My Playground which recalls Promise to Try from 1989’s Like A Prayer. Playground is kind of a centerpiece in a quadruplet of ballads that ties together two eras that are otherwise sonically disparate (the fourth being Bedtime Stories’ Take A Bow).

Besides that, everything about the upcoming Erotica-era Madonna has almost nothing to do with A League of Their Own, A PG-rated film about 1940s women’s baseball directed by Penny Marshall. In its own way, however, her character in A League of Their Own, All-the-Way Mae, represents the attitude that Madonna was selling with Truth or Dare, only in a 1940s version. All-the-Way Mae was an open tramp who would sleep with guys when she wanted to and embraced her sexuality. If that isn’t a succinct summary of what was coming down the line in October, I don’t know what is.

Julius
I saw this movie in theaters, probably because my parents were trying to nurture me to embrace sports or something. That didn’t work out so well. I was still only a fifth-grader, which seems insane at this point. We’re two months into this thing, and I’m still only going into the 6th grade.

A League of Their Own existed as the border film between comedic Tom Hanks and recognized Tom Hanks. The next year, Tom Hanks would star in both Sleepless in Seattle, and get his first Oscar win for Philadelphia. That was later, and when we saw it, it was still the same Tom Hanks that starred in The ‘burbs and Joe Versus The Volcano.

Madonna was still regarded as a draw, for some reason. At this point, I think Madonna had it in her contract to be on the poster if she even spoke a line of dialogue in the film. Last week’s Shadows and Fog was a less obvious sign of that, since that era Woody was all about putting everybody on the poster. Madonna wasn’t just mentioned on the poster, she was one of the three main stars. Which, as we’ll see, is a big stinking lie.

Madonna
This marks a first and only for Madonna. In A League of Their Own, Madonna is neither star nor cameo. She doesn’t drive the plot. Instead, Madonna is solely comic relief, and  frequently as part of a team with Rosie O’Donnell. In fact, Madonna was a last minute replacement by Penny Marshall when Lindsay Frost had to leave because her pilot, Nightmare Cafe was picked up by NBC.

I’ll let that settle for a minute. Madonna got a role as comic relief because the original actress was in a pilot for a horror tv show.

Astute minds will remember that Madonna’s role in Desperately Seeking Susan was also more of a bit part than a starring role. The role of Susan was arguably in a space between full co-star, comic relief, and music video performance. League‘s All-the-way Mae has no such pretension. Madonna is simply comic relief who takes a back seat for large sections of the movie. For many of her scenes, she’s giving equal time to Rosie O’Donnell, who frequently gets the funnier lines.

The second most quoted line of the movie, “You think there’s a man in America who hasn’t seen your bosoms?”,  is directed at Madonna, exploiting her off-screen persona.

Note that it’s Rosie who gets the punchline. Madonna was introduced in the whole movie as connected to Rosie, and rarely leaves her side. Her first scene is also her worst.

Penny Marshall, in the commentary, said that Madonna is a hard working woman, but that Penny had to get Madonna to fight against her acting instincts. Madonna’s instincts were generally wrong, and had to fight against them to get a good performance. This adds weight to the idea that Madonna needs to have a very very strong and patient director in order to pull a halfway decent performance out of her.

Marshall admitted that the main reason she hired Madonna was because she needed a dancer for the Road House scene, where Madonna swing dances with a couple of guys. Madonna dancing is amazing, but the best part of the scene is that Penny finished the scene with Madonna tripping and holding up the cast’s speedy exit.

These represent the meatiest of the Madonna scenes in A League of Their Own. She has one more great scene as comic relief, and it immediately precedes the road house scene. She gets pissed off with a kid, and chases him around the bus with a baseball bat.

Penny Marshall said Madonna once commented that she came into the movie a star and was delegated to just a side note. There are also little hints that Madonna was a bit of an ego trip off camera. The unpaid extras in the stands had to sit outside in 100+ degree weather while the crew was changing sets. The rest of the cast would come around and entertain the extras in between scenes, but Madonna refused to perform any of her songs, leaving the other stars to perform renditions for her.

Penny Marshall commented that she had planned on closing the movie with the Carole King song that opens the movie. Instead, Madonna recorded Playground, and Marshall makes it sound like she had no option but to use Madonna’s song at the end of the movie.

Rosie commented that Madonna came on set the first day with a boombox, and told people that if anybody broke it, they would have to buy her a new one. Rosie chastised her, saying that Madonna was worth as much as some third world countries, she can afford to buy another boombox.

These stories of Madonna’s offscreen ego are of note because they foretell stories of ego interfering with her cinematic career. Here, for whatever reason – maybe it was because she realized she was a small part of the movie, or because Penny Marshall was a woman who knew how to manipulate Madonna – her ego doesn’t interfere with her scenes. Madonna’s actually funny for the most part. Her role is somewhat nuanced, and she gets into the nuances. Between this and Desperately Seeking Susan, signs point to Madonna shining in small comic parts, but faltering once she has to hold a camera for more than a minute at a time.

Julius
Interesting side note is that the 2004 special edition has a commentary featuring Lori Petty, Penny Marshall, and Megan Cavanagh. Neither Madonna nor Geena Davis was anywhere to be found. There was also a documentary where Madonna made some behind the scenes interviews. In both cases, it felt like everybody was being forced by gunpoint to come up with stories about working with Madonna, and casting her in the best possible light.

It should also be noted that not only was Madonna on the poster, Lori Petty, the film’s co-star, did not make the poster. The three headliners of the film poster are: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Madonna. The marketing always seems to give Madonna priority, and this seemed to cheese Penny Marshall a little. It would cheese me if I was Lori Petty, at minimum.

Madonna’s ego is shining through in these contractual obligations. But, they wouldn’t be anything close to what happens with next week’s Body of Evidence.

Results
Good Actress – Average Actress – Bad Actress: 4 – 1 – 3

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Body of Evidence