Wednesday, 30 March 2022

Miles Davis - Ascenseur pour l'échafaud - Lift to the Gallows (Full Album) / Miles Ahead, a 2015 American biographical-drama film




Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is an album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It was recorded at Le Poste Parisien Studio in Paris on December 4 and 5, 1957. The album features the musical cues for the 1958 Louis Malle film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.

 

Background

Jean-Paul Rappeneau, a jazz fan and Malle's assistant at the time, suggested asking Miles Davis to create the film's soundtrack – possibly inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet's recording for Roger Vadim's Sait-on jamais (Lit: 'Does One Ever Know', released as: No Sun in Venice), released a few months earlier in 1957.

 

Davis was booked to perform at the Club Saint-Germain in Paris during November 1957. Rappeneau introduced him to Malle, and Davis agreed to record the music after attending a private screening. On December 4, he brought his four sidemen to the recording studio without having had them prepare anything. Davis only gave the musicians a few rudimentary harmonic sequences he had assembled in his hotel room, and, once the plot was explained, the band improvised without any precomposed theme, while edited loops of the musically relevant film sequences were projected in the background.

 

Release and reception

In Europe, the soundtrack was originally released as a 10 inch LP on the Fontana label. In America it was released by Columbia as side one of the album Jazz Track (CL 1268), with the second side filled by three new tracks recorded with his regular sextet (later to be re-released on the 1958 Miles CD). Jazz Track received a 1960 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance, Solo or Small Group. The CD edition, released internationally by Fontana/Polygram in the late '80s, contains the original soundtrack material, versions of the original album tracks without the reverb that was added to the initial release, and several previously unreleased alternate takes.

 

In the opinion of Romina Daniele, the musical mood and characteristics of the soundtrack immediately preceded and introduced Miles Davis's subsequent records Milestones (1958) and Kind of Blue (1959).

 

Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Review by Michael G. Nastos  [-]

https://www.allmusic.com/album/ascenseur-pour-l%C3chafaud-original-motion-picture-soundtrack--mw0000203518

 

Jazz and film noir are perfect bedfellows, as evidenced by the soundtrack of Louis Malle's Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud (Lift to the Scaffold). This dark and seductive tale is wonderfully accentuated by the late-'50s cool or bop music of Miles Davis, played with French jazzmen -- bassist Pierre Michelot, pianist René Urtreger, and tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen -- and American expatriate drummer Kenny Clarke. This recording evokes the sensual nature of a mysterious chanteuse and the contrasting scurrying rat race lifestyle of the times, when the popularity of the automobile, cigarettes, and the late-night bar scene were central figures. Davis had seen a screening of the movie prior to his making of this music, and knew exactly how to portray the smoky hazed or frantic scenes though sonic imagery, dictated by the trumpeter mainly in D-minor and C-seventh chords. Michelot is as important a figure as the trumpeter because he sets the tone, as on the stalking "Visite du Vigile." While the mood of the soundtrack is generally dour and somber, the group collectively picks up the pace exponentially on "Diner au Motel." At times the distinctive Davis trumpet style is echoed into dire straits or death wish motifs, as on "Generique" or "L'Assassinat de Carala," respectively. Clarke is his usual marvelous self, and listeners should pay close attention to the able Urtreger, by no means a virtuoso but a capable and flexible accompanist. This recording can stand proudly alongside Duke Ellington's music from Anatomy of a Murder and the soundtrack of Play Misty for Me as great achievements of artistic excellence in fusing dramatic scenes with equally compelling modern jazz music.


Miles Davis: from buttoned-down Ivy League to Issey Miyake flamboyance





New biopic Miles Ahead celebrates the life of one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. But the jazz trumpeter was also a huge style icon, going from birth of cool preppy chic to Gucci-style glasses via a leather jacket that saved his life ...

 



Alfred Tong

Wed 20 Apr 2016 15.53 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/apr/20/miles-davis-from-buttoned-down-ivy-league-to-issey-miyake-flamboyance

 

Blue is the colour of the sky – and also of cool and melancholy understatement. So naturally, it’s synonymous with jazz, especially through 1959’s A Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the bestselling jazz album of all time.

 

According to the 2008 BBC documentary British Style Genius, soon after the release of Milestones in 1958, every cool cat in London, including a young Charlie Watts before he became the Rolling Stones’ drummer, was wearing a green button-down shirt. Back then, jazz album covers (especially those by artists such as the Modern Jazz Quartet, Chet Baker and Miles Davis) doubled up as fashion plates, communicating a new style and attitude to the first generation of London mods.

 

The improvised, laid-back elegance epitomised by Davis’s new take on jazz was reflected in the way he dressed. Gone was the regal swagger, broad lapels and even broader shoulders of earlier band leaders such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington, and in came the narrow lapelled, soft-shouldered jackets and slim-cut, flat-front trousers of the American Ivy League. These were worn with Bass Weejun loafers and button-down shirts and knit ties from Brooks Brothers. It was a look that combined low-key American conservatism with a comfortable fleet-footedness.

 

“It was the new culture coming in after the war,” says Simons, a shop that pioneered this look in London. “Visually, it was a uniform that went hand in hand with music and art, particularly abstract art. It was new and interesting and in it’s own way egalitarian. Everyone could avail themselves of this look.”

 

During a flashback to this period in the forthcoming Davis bio pic, Miles Ahead, starring Don Cheadle, Davis describes himself as dressing “as clean as broke dick dog”.

 

Today, almost every commercial menswear brand, from J Crew and Uniqlo to Ralph Lauren and Gant, serves up a version of what the original jazz modernists wore in the 50s. The Ivy League look also spread to Japan, where brands such as Beams, Kamakura and United Arrows make clothes to the same exacting specifications as they were in the US.

 

That alone would have been enough to carve out a place for Davis on the Mount Rushmore of men’s style. But instead, in a move that would appall jazz purists, Davis flew headlong into the late 60s and early 70s with a new sound and look that jettisoned cool modernism in favour of a wildly flamboyant bohemianism, in part inspired by his friend Jimi Hendrix.

 

The albums Bitches Brew and In a Silent way are emblematic of this era, and his signature look comprised loose Indian shirts, suede pants from the young African-American designer Stephen Burrows and dashikis. Later on, he wore huge bug-eyed sunglasses, optical art for the face that reinforced his otherworldly charisma. All of which can be seen in one form or another on the men’s and women’s Gucci catwalks.

 

Miles Ahead catches up with Davis in 1979, and the clean-cut elegance of the 50s and 60s seems not only like another time, but from an entirely different planet. However, it is one that is relevant to men’s fashion in 2016.

 

“We’re seeing men loosen up again after a period of strict conservatism in menswear,” says Timothy Everest, a tailor who counts the Rolling Stones as clients: “The 70s are an easy decade to knock, but lots of what was happening then had very precise historical references but done in a very exaggerated, pimped out way. I like Miles Davis’s look during this period; it’s a kind of dysfunctional tailoring.”

 

Davis arguably invented hip-hop swagger before Puff Daddy et al were even born. In his 1989 biography, co-written with Quentin Troupe, Davis describes being pulled over by the police outside the Plaza Hotel, ostensibly for not having a registration sticker. However, Davis believes the real reason may have been because: “I was sitting in my red Ferrari, dressed in a turban, cobra-skinned pants and a sheepskin coat, with a real fine woman.”

 

Davis also survived a drive-by shooting in 1969 in the same red Ferrari. This time he was rocking a loose-fitting suit made out of leather: “If it hadn’t been for that leather jacket and the fact they shot through the door of a well-built Ferrari, I would have been dead.”

 

Fortunately he lived long enough to make a comeback in the 1980s, dabbling in the nascent hip-hop culture and discovering Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake and Kohshin Satoh, for whom he modelled with Andy Warhol in 1987, before his death in 1991.

 

Joe Casely-Hayford of the father-and-son design duo Casely Hayford says: “He was always changing and evolving. He was well versed in culture and this enabled him to constantly create and develop different aspects of his persona. I’ve been influenced by his lack of creative boundaries. His album covers or paintings provide as much inspiration as his wardrobe.”

 

And perhaps it’s this ability to switch it up that is his true legacy and inspiration. “I love the way he could redefine himself for each decade and this is a trait I have aspired to. He will continue to present a new and relevant signature style for each generation. The mark of a true genius.”



Miles Ahead is a 2015 American biographical-drama film directed by Don Cheadle in his feature directorial debut, which Cheadle co-wrote with Steven Baigelman, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson, which interprets the life and compositions of jazz musician Miles Davis. The film stars Cheadle, Emayatzy Corinealdi, and Ewan McGregor, and closed the New York Film Festival on October 11, 2015. The film takes its title from Davis's 1957 album.

 

Cheadle took a free-form approach to the film's narrative. Skipping around in time, it depicts Davis' attempts to get his career back on track following a period of inactivity and drug addiction in the 1970s, fictional adventures with a journalist (played by McGregor) who wants to profile him, and his troubled marriage to a former dancer (Corinealdi). The film's score covers, in non-linear fashion, Davis' actual recordings throughout his career, beginning with Agharta (1975) before jumping back and forth in scenes featuring Kind of Blue (1959), Someday My Prince Will Come (1961), Bitches Brew (1970), and We Want Miles (1981), among others.

 

Miles Ahead received mostly positive reviews from critics. Reviewers generally praised Cheadle's direction and performance, although some were critical of the plot. The film has grossed over $5 million.


Monday, 28 March 2022

VIDEO: Watch the uncensored moment Will Smith smacks Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars, drops F-bomb /Oscars condemns Will Smith slap and launches review / Will Smith: can his career survive – or is the Fresh Prince finished?/ Could Will Smith be stripped of his Oscar? Academy faces pressure to respond after disgraced star broke Code of Conduct drawn up in wake of MeToo Movement

Should the Academy accept this kind of Violence on stage !?

There are calls for the Academy to strip Will Smith of his Best Actor Oscar after he walked on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock who was presenting an award on stage, after making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's hair.

The Academy, in its code of conduct, is known to take a very a dim view of violence of any kind.


Could Will Smith be stripped of his Oscar? Academy faces pressure to respond after disgraced star broke Code of Conduct drawn up in wake of MeToo Movement

 


Actor Will Smith stormed the Oscars stage and struck comedian Chris Rock across the face for joking about his wife

The moment left attendees and viewers stunned with calls for the Academy to strip Smith of his accolade

Assault violates Academy Code of Conduct set up in wake of Me Too Movement

LAPD said no reports of assault had been filed but was 'aware of an incident'

Rock cracked a joke comparing Jada Pinkett Smith's tightly cropped hair to Demi Moore's appearance in the film 'G.I. Jane' and suggested she appear in a sequel

 

By JAMES GORDON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 06:59, 28 March 2022 | UPDATED: 08:23, 28 March 2022

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10658739/Academy-faces-call-address-comedians-assault-not-seen-condone-violence.html

 

There are calls for the Academy to strip Will Smith of his Best Actor Oscar after he walked on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock who was presenting an award on stage, after making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's hair.

 

The Academy, in its code of conduct, is known to take a very a dim view of violence of any kind.

 

After the award ceremony was over it tweeted: 'The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.'

 

 The Academy reestablished its Code of Conduct in 2017 during the Me Too Movement.

 

'Academy membership is a privilege offered to only a select few within the global community of filmmakers,' AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson wrote to members following various scandals in the industry.

 

On Sunday night, in the Dolby Theatre, there was complete bewilderment in the moments after the assault with took place with those present initially wondering if the punch was part of a stunt. 

 

It took a few moments for the normally unflappable Rock to process but the colorful language from Smith quickly confirmed it wasn't any kind of joke at all.

 

The punch threw the entire Oscars broadcast into chaos as producers were frantically forced into deciding how to deal with the on-air assault, with Smith still yet to receive his Best Actor statuette.

 

Could Will Smith be stripped of his Oscar? The Academy faces pressure to respond after the King Richard star broke the Academy's Code of Conduct drawn up during Me Too Movement

 

Under normal circumstances, Smith would have almost certainly have been removed by security guards and escorted out of the auditorium for the attack, but the slap came moments before the award for Best Actor was to be announced.

 

Only three people in the building knew that Smith was to receive the coveted prize including the show's producer Will Packer and two accountants from Price Waterhouse Coopers who oversee the tabulating of the Oscars results before the winning envelopes are handed out and opened onstage.

 

Producers were therefore placed in an impossible situation as to how to deal with the assault. 

 

Smith's rep could be seen rushing to be by his side as the actor sat back down next to his wife, while the producer of the entire Oscars show, Packer, was also seen racing to Smith's table and said something to him.

 

The LAPD were also informed of what had occurred on stage but revealed later that no complaint had been filed.

 

During the commercial break which followed, Will Smith was pulled aside and comforted by Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry appeared to motion for him to brush it off.

 

Smith's publicist continued speaking with him during the final commercial breaks of the Oscars broadcast which were quickly inserted into the broadcast while producers dealt with the panic behind the scenes.

 

Backstage the academy told gathered journalists not to ask any of the actors present about the slap seen around the world, but it was all that anyone was talking about at the Oscar parties that take place after the show was done. 

 

Fifteen minutes after the assault, Smith who appeared shaken picked up the biggest accolade of his life as he collected the Best Actor award making a tearful speech in which he attempted to link his outburst to his character in King Richard as someone who 'defended his family.'

 

He also took a moment to issue an apology to the Academy and to his fellow nominees, but that may not be enough with calls for him now to be stripped of the award.

 

'It's basically assault. Everyone was just so shocked in the room, it was so uncomfortable' one executive told the New York Post.

 

'I think Will would not want to give his Oscar back, but who knows what will happen now.'

 

Director Judd Apatow was appalled by the behavior he witnessed onstage.

 


'He could have killed him. That's pure out of control rage and violence. They've heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind.'

 

Director Apatow was appalled by the behavior he witnessed onstage

 

Smith could be seen appearing to wipe tears from his eyes as Denzel Washington later walked him back to his front row seat.

 

Smith revealed during his acceptance speech Washington had told him 'that at his "highest moment, that's when the devil comes for you".

 

'In this business, you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. You've got to smile and pretend like that's okay,' Smith said.

 

'I want to be a vessel for love. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena. Thank you for entrusting me with your story. That's what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love, and care and concern.'

 

The Academy's CEO Dawn Hudson highlighted values the Academy valued at the height of the Me Too Movement including 'fostering supportive environments, and respect for human dignity.'

 

'In addition to achieving excellence in the field of motion picture arts and sciences, members must also behave ethically by upholding the Academy's values of respect for human dignity, inclusion, and a supportive environment that fosters creativity.

 

'There is no place in the Academy for people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates recognized standards of decency. The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, or nationality. The Board of Governors believes that these standards are essential to the Academy's mission and reflective of our values,' Hudson detailed in a statement as reported by Variety.

 

Legally, Smith may have got away with it. Late on Sunday night, the LAPD released a statement saying that no police report had yet been filed.

 

'LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report.

 

'If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.'

 

Many users on Twitter stated that they wanted to see Smith stripped of his Best Actor gong

 

The Academy has taken action against members in the past.

 

Disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein was stripped of his membership in the organization after he was was found guilty of decades of sexual misbehavior, including allegations of rape.

 

In 2017, Greg P. Russell, a sound mixer on 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, was been stripped of his Oscar nomination after he was caught phoning his fellow members from the Academy's Sound Branch 'to make them aware of his work on the film.

 

The calls were a 'direct violation of a campaign regulation that prohibits telephone lobbying,' a statement from the Academy said.

 

In 2014, the song Alone Yet Not Alone from the little-known film of the same name had its nomination for Best Original Song rescinded after composer Bruce Broughton, an Academy member and former governor, contacted fellow branch members by email, breaking Academy rules.

 

 GUARDIAN:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/27/will-smith-punch-chris-rock-wife-joke-gi-jane-video-oscars


( ...) “Following the ceremony, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed in a statement that it was “aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report.”

 

“If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report,” the statement concluded.

 

Shortly thereafter, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued their own statement: “The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.”



Will Smith: can his career survive – or is the Fresh Prince finished?

For three bravado-filled decades, he was box office dynamite, pulling in $9 billion. How will the star now win back the public’s esteem – and keep Hollywood onside?

 

Steve Rose

@steverose7

Mon 28 Mar 2022 17.10 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/28/oscars-and-slap-can-will-smith-career-survive-or-is-the-fresh-prince-finished

 

It is not often an actor experiences both the high point and the low point of their careers on the same night, but you can always trust Will Smith to push the boundaries of movie stardom. His win as best actor ought to have been the cherry on top of one of the most successful film careers in history – except Smith himself had already sabotaged the moment, the night, and possibly his future when he got up on stage 40 minutes earlier and slapped Chris Rock for an inappropriate joke about his wife. Smith could spend the rest of his life looking back on Sunday night as the best of times and the worst, but which one will prevail? Is Smith big enough to survive such a jarring incident – or is the Fresh Prince past his sell-by date?

 

The unique nature of both the incident and the actor have us grasping for precedent. In 2017, Casey Affleck went through the similarly awkward motions of accepting best actor Oscar, for Manchester By the Sea, even as allegations of earlier sexual harassment resurfaced, turning what should have been a huge career bounce into a damaging trial by public opinion. Affleck denied the accusation but his reputation has never really recovered. He’s a rising character actor, though. Will Smith is in a different league, arguably one of his own.

 

Richard Williams, the character Smith played in King Richard, drew up an 85-page plan for how to turn his daughters Venus and Serena into tennis champs. It worked. Similarly, in the early 1990s, Smith drew up a plan to become the biggest movie star in the world, analysing box-office numbers and movie formulas. That worked too. He has ruled Hollywood for over 30 years, his films grossing over $9 billion at the box office, and he has an estimated net worth of at least $350 million. He is one of the few actors whose name can open a movie and usually guarantee a $100m box office (King Richard has performed far below that, but then it was released simultaneously on HBO Max). Smith’s projects in the pipeline include slavery thriller Emancipation, for which Apple paid $120m for the rights, a sequel to the Netflix sci-fi Bright, a travel series with National Geographic and Bad Boys 4. Is Smith simply too big to fail?

“I don’t think anybody’s too big to fail,” says film publicist Charles McDonald. “Not in this day and age.” In recent years, entertainment figures once considered unassailable have been swiftly dethroned, McDonald points out, not least by the #MeToo movement. Harvey Weinstein was, after all, considered a fixture of the movie industry. “I don’t think it’s a question of size,” says McDonald. “I think it’s just a question of who you are, what your position is, and how you’re thought of. I think probably Will Smith can surface – if he does the right thing, in the right time.”

 

You have to show proper contrition … then behave in such a way that people don’t believe it’s going to happen again

 

There is a crisis-management protocol to situations like this, says Bumble Ward, another seasoned film publicist. “The steps are always the same. You have to show proper contrition. You have to apologise to those you’ve hurt. And then you have to behave in such a way that people don’t believe it’s going to happen again. But it has to be a proper apology. I think he did a lot of that work in his speech.”

 

During the commercial break between the actor slapping Rock and his acceptance speech, Smith’s publicist Meredith O Sullivan was spotted in discussion with Smith at his table, as was Denzel Washington. When he went up to collect his award, Smith clearly did not give the speech he’d originally planned. He cited Richard Williams as “a fierce defender of his family”. He relayed Washington’s advice to him moments earlier: “At your highest moment, be careful – that’s when the devil comes for you.” And he professed that “love will make you do crazy things”. He also apologised to the Academy and to his fellow nominees but, pointedly, not to Rock himself.

 

Another industry insider, who did not wish to be named, predicted that Smith would be making a public apology to Rock pretty soon. Rock would likely reciprocate and apologise to Jada Pinkett Smith. The event would then be swept under the red carpet as quickly as possible. That process was already under way on Sunday night. Host Amy Schumer made light of the event, saying: “Did I miss anything? There’s, like, a different vibe in here.” Presenting best actress, Anthony Hopkins also seemed ready to move on. “Will Smith said it all,” he said, to nervous laughter from the audience. “What more can be said? Let’s have peace and love and quiet.”

 

But there is quite a lot more to be said. This crisis is by no means over. The Smith brand has not looked entirely rock-solid in recent years. In fact, it has been in recovery mode. His 2016 movie Collateral Beauty, an excruciating self-help tearjerker, was the biggest flop of his career. More damaging still was 2013’s After Earth, a self-funded sci-fi movie designed to showcase the talents of the entire Smith clan: Will and Jada co-produced, Will co-wrote, and reportedly co-directed, with M Night Shyamalan. He also co-starred alongside his son, Jaden, who was parachuted into the lead role.

 

Sometimes it felt less like a film and more like an exposure of the Smith family’s weaknesses and weirdnesses, compounded by a series of bizarre interviews (the Smith children’s contemptuous comments about traditional schools made them seem out of touch) along with revelations about the Smith parents’ not-so-private life. In 2020, Will and Jada opted to air their relationship issues in public on Jada’s talk show Red Table Talk, where she spoke of their separation and her “entanglement” with another man – rapper August Alsina – as Smith nodded along.

 

At the same time, there has always been a messianic aspect to Smith’s public persona. He has self-belief and bravado in droves, from his rap career to his portrayal of Muhammad Ali in 2002, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. As last year’s memoir Will laid out, Smith has been on something of a journey lately, re-examining his childhood and his father’s abuse of his mother, but also going on ayahuasca trips in the Amazon. Smith evidently believes in his own sense of purpose, as he made clear in his Oscars speech. “In this time in my life, in this moment,” he said, “I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. I’m being called on in my life to love people, and to protect people, and to be a river to my people.”

 

Who is actually calling upon Smith to fill this role, and is he living up to it? That is open to question. The public might easily find such pronouncements off-putting. Showbiz careers live and die by public opinion. Some are wondering if Smith’s career might now be at a tipping point. Others expect this to blow over. “I think he can survive,” says McDonald. “I think people have a great affection for him. You can’t resort to violence like that, obviously, and the language he used afterwards, despite the provocation. But I think there will be sympathy for him.”

 

Other Oscar-winners on the night might not be feeling much sympathy for Smith right now, given that his actions effectively drowned out their moments of glory. As for Smith’s own achievements, he might well have cancelled out what should have been the greatest night of his life.




Oscars condemns Will Smith slap and launches review

Published11 hours ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60908869?fbclid=IwAR3lebC_4oOdFznQFjrBf4fvWagQY7ACyLuemywxQln-FdCyYcwF9N8qb9A

 

The Oscars film academy has condemned Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock at Sunday's ceremony, and has launched a formal review of the incident.

 

A statement said it would "explore further action and consequences" in accordance with California law, and the body's standards of conduct.

 

Smith slapped Rock in the face on stage after the comic made a joke about the actor's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

 

Moments later Smith won his first ever Oscar - for best actor in King Richard.

 

Rock took aim at Pinkett Smith's shaved head, a result of the hair-loss condition alopecia.

 

The incident cast a pall on what should have been Hollywood's biggest celebration and overshadowed others' achievements, one member of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences - which organises the Oscars ceremony - told the BBC.

 

"I woke up so bummed out about what Will Smith did," said the member. "To me, he stole the limelight. I don't think that was the place to be so violent. Most people were shocked. There were children there. It was a place to celebrate." She asked not to be named.

 

Monday's statement from the organisation behind the Oscars said: "The Academy condemns the actions of Mr Smith at last night's show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law."

 

Shortly after Sunday night's incident, Smith was seen apparently being comforted by actors Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry.

 

Actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish, who co-starred with Jada Pinkett Smith in the 2017 comedy Girls Trip, described the exchange to People magazine as "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen". She said Smith had stood up for his wife.

 

However, many said Smith was wrong to use violence.

 

Marshall Herskovitz, a film producer, tweeted early on Monday morning: "I call upon the Academy, of which I am a member, to take disciplinary action against Will Smith. He disgraced our entire community tonight."

 

Roger Ross Williams, a black member of the Academy's board of governors, told the Hollywood Reporter that the confrontation drove him to tears because "it reinforces stereotypes about black people and it just hurts me to my core".

 

Actor Wendell Pierce, whose credits include HBO's The Wire and Treme, said he was hoping for "a public act of contrition" from Smith.

 

But he pointed out that Rock once produced a documentary on how black hairstyles are tied to identity.

 

"That film showed an appreciation for Jada's, and Black women's, struggle with the disease of alopecia. The joke did not. It insulted and provoked," he wrote on Twitter.

 

On social media, some users suggested Smith's actions could have violated the Academy's code of conduct and wondered whether Smith would be asked to return his award for Best Actor, which he collected onstage shortly after slapping Rock.

 

The code states the Academy is "categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination", including members acting "in a manner that violates standards of decency".

 

It also reserves the right for the Academy board to suspend or expel those in violation of the code.

 

However, Hollywood insiders like actor Whoopi Goldberg have said it is unlikely Smith will lose his award.

 

"We're not going to take that Oscar from him," she predicted. "There will be consequences I'm sure, but I don't think that's what they're going to do."

 

Smith earned the award - his first - for his portrayal of Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, in the film King Richard.

 

In a tearful acceptance speech, he apologised to his fellow nominees - but not to Rock - and said "love will make you do crazy things".

 

His wife has previously described hair loss due to her autoimmune disease as "terrifying".

 

She looked unamused when Rock quipped to her: "Jada, can't wait for GI Jane 2," in an apparent reference to her shaved head and a 1997 film in which the titular character sports a buzz cut.

 

Moments later, Smith walked on stage and struck Rock before returning to his seat and shouting: "Keep my wife's name out of your [expletive] mouth."

 

Comic Kathy Griffin said the slap sets a dangerous precedent.

 

"Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theatres," she wrote.

 

Rock declined to press charges and has not commented publicly about the slap.

 

In the moments after the altercation, he quipped that it was probably "the greatest night in the history of television", before presenting the award for best documentary.

 

With reporting from Regan Morris in Los Angeles


Friday, 25 March 2022

Smoke Over London and Gray Flannels / Fumo di Londra



Fumo di Londra (internationally released as Smoke Over London and Gray Flannels) is a 1966 Italian comedy film written, directed and starred by Alberto Sordi.
Dante Fontana is an antique dealer of Perugia, and is infatuated with British culture. But he is always thwarted by his wife and relatives, who see him as a silly dreamer who gets lost in stories rather than doing serious work. But Dante does not lose hope, and plans a vacation to London to learn more about the habits of the British so much that make him mad. However, Dante is hard to settle in, and often makes typical Italian blunders, gaining the scorn of the highly educated and refined British public. After taking part in a fox hunt, Dante is invited by a rich English nobleman who shows him an ancient Etruscan statuette. Dante says that the object is a fake and shatters it. Then chased away by gunfire, Dante takes refuge with a group of young flower children and with them, takes part in a riot. Arrested, Dante is sent back to Italy where he resumes his monotonous work.


Dante Fontana is an antique dealer from Perugia infatuated with the culture of the British upper classes. His wife and relatives mock him and snub him, seeing him as a silly daydreamer doing no serious work. Unfussed, Dante plans a vacation to London to learn more about the culture he so admires. However, once in London, he struggles to fit in, is awkward, often makes mistakes betraying his Italian origins, attracting the scorn of the British upper classes he would like to impress. After taking part in fox hunting, Dante is invited to the house of an English aristocrat and showed a supposedly ancient Etruscan statuette. Dante says the object is fake and breaks it, provoking the angry reaction of the English who open fire on him. Terrified, Dante hides with a group of hippies and joining them in a demonstration. Arrested, Dante is sent back to Italy where he resumes his monotonous routine.


Tuesday, 22 March 2022

Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons / VIDEO: Books in focus: Natasha Solomons discusses her book Mr Rosenblum's List





Mr Rosenblum’s List

WRITTEN BY NATASHA SOLOMONS

REVIEW BY JANET HANCOCK

https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/mr-rosenblums-list/

 

All Jack Rosenblum wants is to be English. He and his wife Sadie, and one-year-old daughter, disembarked at Harwich from Nazi Germany in 1937. In London’s East End he becomes wealthy through the manufacture of carpets, and lives according to rules set out in a pamphlet given to all refugees – 1. Learn English and its correct pronunciation – annotating and expanding the list with his own observations, buying marmalade from Fortnum and Mason, and a bespoke suit from Savile Row. Sadie is at a loss to understand Jack’s obsession, his reverence for Winston Churchill – in spite of being interned during the war – John Betjeman, and the BBC weather forecast. She tries to keep alive Jewish customs and rituals from ‘before’, cherishing her mother’s recipe book, cooking soups, casseroles and cakes that taste of home.

 

The last item on Jack’s list of Englishness is membership of a golf club. When every club around London turns him down, he relocates to rural Dorset in 1952 to build his own golf course, determined the first game shall be played on the morning of the Queen’s coronation the following year. It is this comic adventure which informs the narrative of the author’s debut novel, inspired by the experience of her grandparents, who settled in Dorset. The recipes are authentic and she has a feel for the rhythms and legends of rural life, threatened by so-called progress, evoking seasons and times of day in luminous prose. Other passages, however, become weighed down with adjectives and adverbs. I did not find the characters engaging, many of them thinly drawn, with the exception of Curtis, the centenarian villager, for some while Jack’s only friend. The pathos and the immigrant experience, the very real desire to belong, often get lost amid comedy and bumpkin stereotypes.

 



Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons

This debut novel offers a subtle portrait of the dilemma of identity faced by immigrants to Britain

Edmund Gordon

Sun 18 Apr 2010 00.06 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/18/mr-rosenblums-list-book-review

 

The publicity people at Sceptre have decided to present this first novel as a whimsical paean to Englishness: it is subtitled "Friendly Guidance for the Aspiring Englishman" and the cover of the hardback edition is dominated by a watercolourish picture of wildflowers, butterflies and a tweedy figure in plus-fours, and a description of the book as "utterly charming". All this creates a somewhat misleading impression. Although the narrative is not altogether free from whimsical elements, they are of marginal importance to what is, at heart, a subtle and moving examination of the dilemma faced by immigrants to modern Britain.

 

The story follows Jakob Rosenblum, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, who arrives in London determined to fit in. Presented with a leaflet entitled "While You Are in England: Helpful Information", he resolves to follow its guidance unswervingly: he gives up speaking German, even to his wife, Sadie, except "at moments of extreme stress"; he refrains from criticising the peculiarities of his adopted country and from expressing any political opinions. But when he is arrested as a "class B enemy alien (possible security risk)", he decides that he must still be doing something wrong.

 

As soon as he is released, he makes his own list of English characteristics to emulate. The list contains observations such as: "The British housewife makes a purchase of haddock on Friday mornings" and rules such as: "Don't gesture with your hands when talking." With its help, Jack, as Jacob has by now restyled himself, begins to feel that he has lost the imprint of his foreignness.

 

But when he reaches the final item on his list – "An Englishman must be a member of a golf club" – he finds that despite his careful mimicry of native mannerisms and mores, no club will accept him. The casual antisemitism that prevents Jack from ever feeling at home in Britain is convincingly drawn. As one golf club president says in response to his offer of complimentary carpeting: "They think they can buy their way in anywhere, don't they?"

 

Sadie, meanwhile, is less keen to relinquish her Jewish identity, and resents her husband's eagerness to do so. She begins keeping a list of her own – "Remember to keep the sabbath, remember to keep the dietary laws" – and cooks exclusively from her mother's recipe book. But these observances only heighten her sense of estrangement and she begins to feel increasingly isolated.

 

Jack finally decides to build his own golf course in the Dorset countryside and the second half of the novel is dominated by his attempts to do this. It is a curious project and its ultimate value, the narrative suggests, is more in its conception than its execution. In The Knox Brothers, her group biography of her eccentric father and uncles, Penelope Fitzgerald describes "the patient, self-contained, self-imposed pursuit of an entirely personal solution" as the "characteristically English" way to approach a problem. Even if he never quite passes himself off as an English gentleman, Jack's devotion to his "unique and solitary calling" implies a level of assimilation he never knows he has achieved. In its attention to the ways immigrants can become alienated from both their native and their adopted countries, Mr Rosenblum's List has much more to it than the nostalgic vision of Englishness suggested by its cover.


Saturday, 19 March 2022

Colourful hedge fund boss Pierre Lagrange is claiming taxpayers' money to furlough staff at his Savile Row tailor, despite having a personal fortune of £240million / The unfair attack on Savile Row hero Pierre Lagrange / VIDEO:Shooting with Huntsman, with Pierre Lagrange and Nick Foulkes


EXCLUSIVE: Colourful hedge fund boss Pierre Lagrange is claiming taxpayers' money to furlough staff at his Savile Row tailor, despite having a personal fortune of £240million

 

Pierre LaGrange, 48, used taxpayers' hand-outs to pay some of the 65 staff at his upmarket clothes firm, Huntsman

The Belgian-born former hedge fund boss, 48, who is famous for his colourful love life, lives in Monaco and has homes in London, New York and Mustique

He was involved in an amicable £160million divorce from the mother of his three children in 2010 after coming out as gay

After falling for a flamboyant male fashion designer, he took a former US Presidential aide as his husband

Huntsman supplied outfits for Earl Grantham in TV's Downton Abbey and for the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

As well as furloughing staff at Huntsman, it is believed other workers were made redundant last year

 

By NICK CRAVEN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 07:15, 18 February 2021 | UPDATED: 07:48, 18 February 2021

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9262917/500million-Pierre-Lagrange-claiming-taxpayers-cash-furlough-staff-Savile-Row-tailor.html

 

A multi-millionaire has been claiming public money to furlough staff at his Savile Row tailoring firm.

 

Belgian-born Pierre LaGrange, who lives in Monaco, London and New York has used taxpayers' hand-outs to pay some of the 65 staff at his upmarket London company Huntsman, which inspired Matthew Vaughn's blockbuster Kingsman spy movies.

 

But former hedge fund boss LaGrange, famous for his colourful love life, and whose estimated worth is around £240m, will face fierce criticism for using the bail-outs from the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme, which lists H Huntsman & Sons Ltd as having claimed in December.

 

Ironically, in 2019, LaGrange moaned to the Financial Times about Britain's high taxes compared to 30 years ago, saying: 'The taxes have risen here dramatically in a way that has killed the economy.

 

'Britain was the most competitive place in Europe in attracting talent. It's lost a lot of that.'

 

LaGrange paid a record £160m divorce settlement to ex-wife Catherine Anspach after falling in love with a flamboyant male fashion designer and recently took a former US Presidential aide as his husband.

 

The latest company accounts showed a loss of more than £10.4m for 2019, but also included a statement from LaGrange pledging to continue to support the business - one of the oldest on Savile Row - as a going concern.

 

After he split from his former wife Catherine Anspach, Mr LaGrange came out as gay and eventually married former White House adviser Ebs Burnoughtaken in Ibiza, Spain in 2019

 


When super-rich hedge fund boss Mr Lagrange separated from his wife of 20 years, Catherine Anspach (pictured), in 2010, the split cost him a record-breaking £160 million

 

As well as furloughing some of its 65 staff, it is believed Huntsman, which supplied outfits for Earl Grantham in TV's Downton Abbey and for the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, also made other workers redundant last year.

 

In 2019, his MD Phil Kirrage said: 'Since Pierre took the helm at Huntsman, we have run the business with a start-up mindset, taking risks and making investments that will secure the esteemed tailor's success for the next 170 years.'

 

Before acquiring Huntsman in 2014, LaGrange co-founded GLG Partners, criticised for short-selling shares in stricken Bradford and Bingley at the height of the banking crisis, and acquired by Man Group in 2010, netting him £340m.

 

He sold his London mansion alongside Kensington Gardens to Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich for £90m in 2011, having bought it for just £19m seven years earlier.

 

LaGrange also owns a fabulous five-bedroomed bamboo beach-house on the exclusive Caribbean hideaway of Mustique, which he rents out for up to £30,000 a week.

 

Set in acres of 'lush gardens with unparalled sea views' the 'ultimate party house' also boasts a butler, chef and two housekeepers.

 

When Pierre and Catherine, the mother of his three children, split amicably in 2010 after he came out as gay, they marked the occasion by exchanging Ferraris, said to be worth a total of around £450,000.

 

LaGrange began a relationship with British-born Sudanese fashion designer Roubi L'Roubi.

 

LaGrange told the FT: 'When I realised I was gay I was terrified. It was an extraordinary moment. I was terrified that people would not love me anymore . . . and that people who trust me would not trust me anymore.'

 

'I had lived as a straight white successful male, married to a woman I loved and with kids I loved and having just a perfect life.'

 

He described the transition as 'nearly overnight', adding: 'I was thrilled that aged 48 I had finally admitted to something that I had buried, not knowing what was buried under there.'

 

In 2019, after the relationship with L'Roubi ended, LaGrange tied the knot with his new boyfriend Ebs Burnough, a former White House aide to President Barack Obama. Naturally, LaGrange wore a Huntsman blazer for the nuptials in Ibiza.

 

He has regularly invested in movies, and been credited as executive producer onKickass and the Kingsman movies: The Secret Service and its sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

 

Huntsman, which was honoured with royal warrants by Edward VII and Queen Victoria, supplied outfits for Earl Grantham in Downton Abbey and for the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

 

LaGrange now lives with his husband Ebs Burnough between Monaco, London, Hampshire and New York, but it's not clear in which jurisdiction he pays tax.

 

In 2019 after becoming the first Savile Row tailor to establish a permanent presence in New York, LaGrange enthused about Huntsman's traditions.

 

'Go down to the shop,' he told Knightfrank.co.uk, 'and you'll see some of what's there is the same as 100 years ago, and that's really important. It's about perfection, process, repeatability and sustainability – doing the same thing again and again but better and better.'

 

A spokesman for Huntsman told MailOnline: 'As with the other tailors across the Row, Huntsman's UK business has been dramatically affected by the COVID pandemic with evaporating footfall and significant losses.

 

'During this unprecedented time, Huntsman has actually elected to keep as many staff as possible working from home, including providing logistical costs for them to do so. While they have furloughed a small number of staff with the Coronavirus Retention Scheme, in fact the government compensation covers less than five per cent of the business losses.

 

'In an effort to keep as many staff in place, Mr LaGrange has been carrying significant personal losses to ensure this landmark heritage brand survives the pandemic.'

 

The spokesman declined to answer questions about where Mr LaGrange pays tax.



The unfair attack on Savile Row hero Pierre Lagrange

22 February 2021, 6:50am

From Spectator Life

WRITTEN BY

Tom Chamberlin

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-unfair-attack-on-saville-row-hero-pierre-lagrange

 

The Daily Mail has a new target – Pierre Lagrange. The enormously successful hedge funder has found himself in the cross hairs because he claimed money from Rishi Sunak’s furlough scheme for some of the staff at Huntsman – the All-Blacks of Savile Row tailors – which Pierre bought in 2013. As hit-jobs go, it is as ill-advised as it is misinformed, so I thought I’d explain why.

 

The clickbait premise by journalist Nick Craven was that Pierre should have paid all the staff out of his own pocket rather than get support from the government. He backed up Lagrange’s evil-hedge-funder status by saying that he was 'famous for his colourful love life' – whether by 'colourful' he meant being gay, divorced or currently one half of an interracial marriage, I will leave Craven to elaborate. It’s too icky an adjective for me to want to look too closely at.

 

There was one factor that was entirely omitted by this article, which was that despite the shaky start – some tailors left unsure of the new direction it may take – Pierre Lagrange is one of the heroes of Savile Row and British tailoring. A declining interest in bespoke clothing – this was before people were not allowed outdoors – could be levelled squarely at an industry unable to find a modern heartbeat for those who see clothes as romantic. The intervention by Lagrange has injected a new interest in British tailoring from domestic and international clients as well as Hollywood’s opportunistic eye. As Covid has hit, it is creative businessmen like Lagrange who can find innovative solutions to complex problems.

 

Let’s begin with his mission to take the message of British tailoring abroad (note I don’t say just Huntsman but British tailoring as a whole). In 2015 Nick Foulkes hosted an exhibition for Savile Row in Washington D.C at the U.K. Ambassador’s Residence. Pierre helped to fund the operation and went to great lengths to make sure that it was as good as it could possibly be, which included flying in Buffalo Bill’s overcoat (made at Henry Poole) from Wyoming in a climate-controlled container.

 

This is just one of countless instances where Pierre has shown himself to be a champion for the street’s future viability, celebrating a set of craft skills that the government is doing nothing to help. Nick says that 'Savile Row is lucky to have him. I think you’d have to be fairly curmudgeonly to not say that he has been good for the street.' Master Tailor Terry Haste of Kent, Haste & Lachter – who incidentally was one-time head cutter and MD of Huntsman – agrees. He says: 'We were all delighted when Pierre was running the Savile Row Association, as there was so much more happening, there was real energy. It was sad to see him leave the post.'

 

Within Huntsman the innovations are setting the tone for what tailors need to be doing to survive. While the article did not specify how many of the 65 staff were furloughed – 'some' Nick Craven says – the notion of a tailor employing 65 people in the first place is remarkable. A bespoke suit requires several artisans to create, but not 65. You don’t hire that many people for a tailor’s shop unless you’re trying to achieve something extraordinary and whatever the motives may be, that is 65 jobs in a struggling industry that he has been paying for, as the article states, covering annual eight-figure losses himself.

 

Furthermore, he’s invested in technology for the company which remains a tough pill to swallow for a 'handmade' industry. The ability for someone to create their own tweed is indulgent for sure but it is innovative and helps not just Huntsman but the mills in Scotand that create the tweed too. Mr. Hammick, the robot which is sent round the world to help with international fittings (Colin Hammick is the houses most famous head cutter) has meant the incumbent head cutter, Dario Carnera (son of legendary shoe maker John Carnera), can keep processing orders to clients who aren’t able to visit London. Huntsman are in fact currently touring America, there is a permanent foothold in New York (thanks to Pierre) but the appetite for British tailoring has allowed for a tour of the major American cities by the Huntsman tailors.

 

Should Savile Row be relevant at all in the next 20 years, while one can also mention Anda Rowland, Gaziano & Girling, Thom Sweeney (who have opened up round the corner), a great chunk of that credit can go to Pierre Lagrange. The bespoke suit, is of course an expensive, indulgent, luxury item, but it is an icon of Britain’s cultural history. Money from China had helped bolster the financial standing of Savile Row back in the noughties, but several of the houses bought up by Chinese finance have padlocked chains on the door handles and the shops have been gutted. Over half of the shops on Savile Row have no tenancy because businesses can’t pay the bills, but Huntsman manages to inspire a soon-to-be trilogy of films and exports the good name of British tailoring almost better than anyone else. While the Government have been great with protecting jobs during the pandemic, part of the reason Rishi Sunak is popular no doubt, their efforts to protect British heritage brands has been woeful, and that pre-dates Coronavirus. It has required people like Pierre Lagrange to keep the pulse steady, the street would be in even bigger trouble without him.

 

WRITTEN BY

Tom Chamberlin



2013–2015

Since taking over the company in 2013, Owner and Non-Executive Chairman Pierre Lagrange has introduced a number of developments which differentiate Huntsman from the majority of Savile Row tailors. Under Lagrange's direction, Huntsman launched its 'Archive Collection' in 2013, a capsule collection of ready-to-wear tailoring, shirting and accessories, returning a ready-to-wear product to Huntsman. The collection focused on both rejuvenating some aspects of Huntsman's traditional block, but also sought to integrate true menswear classics into the collection, as inspired by Huntsman's extensive historical archives. E-commerce was introduced at the same time, allowing for the ready-to-wear collection to be purchased online. Huntsman's website states that newly appointed Creative Director Campbell Carey is responsible for overseeing the ready-to-wear collection. The house's new General Manager Carol Pierce (formally the head of Dunhill's bespoke division) was also appointed in 2015 to oversee the house's bespoke operations.

 

Alongside regular visits to the east coast of America, visiting clients based in New York City, Boston and Washington (as well as Chicago), the house also undertakes regular west coast tours, visiting San Francisco and Los Angeles. Huntsman is also the first Savile Row tailor to open a permanent location in New York, a move that was announced in May 2015. An Asia tour has also been scheduled for September 2015, including a trunk show in Seoul and visits to Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.

 

Additionally, Huntsman is the sponsor of selected initiatives in the world of professional Polo. In June 2014, the Huntsman Polo Team was formed and won bronze, silver and gold cups in the Land Rover International Polo Tournament. In November 2014, the house partnered again with another team led by His Royal Highness Prince Harry, dressing his 'Huntsman Sentebale Polo Team' for the Sentebale Polo Cup in Abu Dhabi. A limited number of exclusive polo shirts were available to purchase after the tournament, with a percentage of the proceeds going to Sentebale.[39] Huntsman also designed a unique lining for the contest, featuring a motif of forget-me-nots, a mark of respect to those children which the Prince's Sentebale charity (the motif of which is also the forget-me-not) works to protect from poverty and disease.

 

Huntsman was one of five founding members of the Savile Row Bespoke Association - Savile Row's protective trade body.

 

2016–2017

In February 2016, Huntsman became the first Savile Row tailor to open a permanent location in New York, with a location at 130 West 57th Street. American clientele now enjoy a permanent home in the States in a pied-à-terre in New York with antique Huntsman tweed covered furnishings and historic photographs from Huntsman's past adorning the walls.

 

Alongside regular visits to the east coast of America, visiting clients based in New York City, Boston and Washington (as well as Chicago), the house also undertakes regular west coast tours, visiting San Francisco and Los Angeles. Huntsman expanded its trunk shows, pioneering visits to different corners of Asia, including a trunk show in Seoul and visits to Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.

 

With daytime fashion in mind, 2016 featured a busy social calendar for Huntsman. The house participated in the polo and racing seasons with the highlights being Huntsman's Royal Ascot residence on the Rosebery, as well as the house's post-racing party. 2016 also saw Huntsman taking on more modern projects including cutting bespoke tweed driving suits for Marc Newson and Charlotte Stockdale in the 2016 Mille Miglia Race.

 

Huntsman's Savile Row premises play host to a variety of exciting events, including charity auctions for several worthy causes, which have raised up to £80,000 in donations. Exhibitions for artists such as Cecil Beaton, Alex Talbot Rice and Gray Malin were hosted by the house, as well as whisky tastings, private lunches, and book launches

 

In 2016, over half a million people tuned in live to learn all things bespoke from Huntsman owner Pierre Lagrange at an event in Beijing. In February, Huntsman even graced the London Fashion Week catwalk as a part of the inspired Gareth Pugh show. The ‘Treasures from Chatsworth’,[52] a miniseries presented by Huntsman and produced by Sotheby's, was launched in 2016 too - detailing the magnificent collections of the Cavendish family whilst also putting a spotlight on how contemporary Huntsman's age-old bespoke craftsmanship is.