“A little madness in the Spring/ Is wholesome even for the King/ But God be with the Clown/ Who ponders this tremendous scene/ This whole Experiment of Green/ As if it were his own!” wrote Emily Dickinson about the month of April.

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Barbara Walters can get the answers anytime she wants to venture a question. She asked Donald Trump on her radio show if his daughter, Ivanka, is getting married. Then, she persevered:      

Donald: She’s not getting married, she’s not engaged. But she does have a great relationship going with a very nice guy. But she’s never told me she’s getting married.

Barbara: I have heard … that she is studying to convert to Judaism.

Donald: Well, she has a boyfriend who is Jewish who is an absolutely nice guy and a very smart guy. I guess they have something in mind, but they haven’t formally announced anything.

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We’re always talking up Doris Day here. She’s the singing movie sweetheart of the ’50s and ’60s and, like we keep saying, she deserves an Oscar Lifetime Achievement award more than most who get one.

Come April 7, Warner Home Video and Turner Classic Movies will showcase their “TCM Spotlight: Doris Day Collection.” This features five new-to-DVD titles, focusing on Doris’s golden years at Warner Bros where her film career began. I’m talking "April in Paris," "It’s a Great Feeling," "Starlift," "Tea for Two" and "The Tunnel of Love." There are even bonus features like classic cartoons and vintage shorts.

 

Doris Day/Wikipedia

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I like to joke that if you have even visited Texas or passed through Lubbock or “thought” about Texas, that’s good enough for the Texas Film Hall of Fame to take you for their own.

This happened to Arkansas native Billy Bob Thornton. He became an official Texan recently, receiving the Tom Mix Honorary Texan Award from the Film Society.

When Dennis Quaid called him a native “of Northeast Texas – that is, Hot Springs, AR,” Billy Bob quickly reminded him of all the Texas-centric movies he has made, including “The Alamo,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Armageddon.” Billy Bob also boasted that he has lived in both Austin and Tomball, TX. (This is good enough for the Film Society.)

Honored along with Billy Bob were Larry Hagman, born in Fort Worth; Powers Boothe, a Texas State University graduate and native of Snyder, TX; the director of “Twilight,” Catherine Hardwicke, who is from McAllen, TX.

But if you even know where Texas is on the map, the Film Society may claim you. This year the festival highlighted the “Spider-Man” director Sam Raimi’s work-in-progress version of his horror film “Drag Me to Hell.”  

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If you love movies, you’ll love a stunning and unusual memoir, Love Child, written by Allegra Huston. Simon & Schuster is high on this one! Allegra is the daughter of legendary director John Huston and the Italian American ballet-dancer-model Ricki Soma. 

Ricki died in a car accident when Allegra was only four and the little girl became a nomad in her own life – shuttling between Ireland, Long Island, Mexico  and Hollywood. Allegra grew up with her siblings Anjelica, Tony and Danny Huston, and was variously cared for by nannies, stepmoms and friends. In time she discovered that her biological father was writer John Julius Norwich, a British blueblood.

This didn’t change her complicated life and Allegra has written with tenderness, candor and bewilderment about finding her identity. The word picture she gives here of the famous John Huston is brilliant. You can practically see him, hear the voice he used in “Chinatown,” and this is simply a wonderful book – part mystery, part journey, part heartbreak.