Hi everyone,

As you may recall, the British Film Institute recently released Rita's 1969 film "The Bed Sitting Room" on DVD and Blu-ray.

In connection with this release, the BFI Southbank hosted a screening of "The Bed Sitting Room" on 21 May 2009, with Rita and director Richard Lester as guests.

I haven't personally received any firsthand accounts from anyone who attended the BFI screening, so I lifted the following account from an attendee who wrote about it in his blog, at
http://stewarthomesociety.org/blog/

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"During the panel discussion after the screening, Lester said that while he had no issues with the cast when making the film, their respective agents proved rather argumentative about billings. His means of resolving this problem was to list the actors by height, from shortest to tallest, as can be seen in the introductory credits -- a device that fortuitously provides Rita with top billing."

"Lester dominated the panel discussion although he'd been joined for it by Rita Tushingham, with BFI curators Will Fowler and Vic Pratt moderating. Lester mixed some entertaining anecdotes with an unbelievably superficial take on events in Paris in May 1968. He seemed to view the entire year - and in particular the occupations movement in France - as a bit of a downer, largely because these political events disrupted his travel plans. Unfortunately Rita didn't get to say much, but she's an old pro and having known Lester for around forty-five years appeared both used to and unflustered by his habit of hogging the conversation."

"Tushingham is in incredibly good shape for a 67 year-old, and while she now appears a little older than in her 1960s prime, her distinctive looks are still very much with her. Afterwards in the corridor as I was making my way towards the private party, I was nearly knocked over by a group of men who were mobbing Rita for autographs. I haven't seen a celebrity creating that amount of havoc at the BFI since Jane Fonda was in the building signing copies of her autobiography back in 2006."

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I mentioned this blog item to Rita, including the author's opinion that Richard Lester dominated the conversation, and she replied, "I was very happy with the Q&A at the BFI, I have been trying to get Richard to attend events and was delighted that he agreed to come to the evening so therefore I was happy for him to take the floor, hopefully it has encouraged him to attend other events , he has such a following here and has so much to say about film."

Rita also said, "I played a small part in the Dora Bryan tribute at Her Majesty's Theatre, we did not get to talk to her as she is very frail and confused but I heard she loved the evening, she has given so much to the profession."

I hadn't heard about this tribute to Dora Bryan, so I searched the Internet to find more info. Here is some relevant info that I found:

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There was a tribute to Dora Bryan at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, on 31 May 2009. Dora, who co-starred with Rita in Rita's first film, 'A Taste Of Honey' (1961) is now 85 years old, wheelchair-bound, and lives in a council-funded room in a nursing home in Hove, near Brighton. "She is extremely frail and hardly eating at all," said tribute organizer Tony Hardman.

The show opened with Zoë Tyler leading the cast in their rendition of a classic from one of Dora's many musical turns, 'Hello Dolly'. Comedian Johnny Casson, West End Star Rosemary Ashe, and new face of musical theatre Mark Joseph then took to the stage, followed by a performance from Anita Harris.

The second act kicked off with Sir Cliff Richard performing an intimate solo set. (Cliff has not forgotten how at the height of her popularity in 1967, Dora played his mum in a best-forgotten piece of screen propaganda, 'Two A Penny', produced by evangelist Billy Graham.)

Rita Tushingham appeared to reminisce on her starring role alongside Dora in the movie followed by the keyboardist Bobby Crush and comedienne Mia Carla. Jill Martin delivered a few anecdotes about her time working with Dora before the all star finale, 'Before the Parade Passes By', once again lead by Zoë Tyler, supported by the GSA students and the E3 dancers.

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Cheers,
Robert