At Republican Forum, McDonald Promises to Make the Economy His Focus

George T. McDonald, a Republican candidate for mayor, can be an uneven performer in public. He likes to explain his economic plan by arguing that the Bronx should produce more applesauce, and he sometimes jokes about commuting by skateboard.

But at a forum in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night, Mr. McDonald, 68, sought to use his quirky manner to his advantage as he portrayed his two Republican opponents as out-of-touch plutocrats.

Calling himself the “poorest guy sitting here,” Mr. McDonald, who lives in a $1.6 million apartment on the Upper East Side, said he would make reviving the economy a centerpiece of his administration.

“The recession didn’t pass over New York City,” said Mr. McDonald, who runs the Doe Fund, a nonprofit job-training program for the homeless. “It may have passed over your friends.”

Mr. McDonald then turned to a Republican rival, John A. Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of the Gristedes grocery chain. “If you think that money alone is going to win an election,” he said, “go to Connecticut.”

Mr. Catsimatidis grinned, reaching for the microphone. “I’m a man of all the people,” he said. “I’ve been to the South Bronx. I never saw you there.”

It was a striking back-and-forth at a forum largely free of disagreement. Nearly 100 people attended the event, which was sponsored by the New York Young Republican Club.

The other Republican contender, Joseph J. Lhota, former chief of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, largely stayed out of the fray. While he praised Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s handling of city affairs, he sought to distance himself from some of the mayor’s policies, saying he did not support the emphasis on standardized testing.

Near the end of the forum, in fielding a question on how to reduce poverty in New York, Mr. Catsimatidis said he would put Mr. McDonald in charge of homeless programs.

He looked to Mr. McDonald, who was staring into the distance, seemingly unaware of what had been said.

“George, I complimented you,” Mr. Catsimatidis said. “You’re very capable.”

At the Met, an Author’s Legacy Lingers

Benjamin Norman for The New York Times Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s “The Triumph of Marius,” 1729, overlooks the staircase at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that appears in the 1967 children’s novel by E. L. Konigsburg, “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.” Mrs. Konigsburg died last week.

Mrs. Konigsburg won the American Library Association’s John Newbery Medal for distinguished children’s literature for her book about a brother and sister who camp out at the museum.

Walking up the granite stairs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Great Hall on Tuesday, Alison Watts immediately thought about how she had taken the same steps as the luckiest brother and sister duo in literature.

“What was that book where the kids stayed overnight at the museum?” she wondered to herself. She is 30, and read the book when she was 8, growing up in Minnesota. And then the memories, like fantasies, flooded back.

“From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” the Newbury Award-winning novel that E. L. Konigsburg wrote in 1967 continues to dance in the imagination of children and adults alike, transforming any museum trip into an adventure. Mrs. Konigsburg died on Friday at age 83, and for museum visitors who had not heard, but had read the book once upon a time, the news drew a mournful “oh,” followed by a bright grin.

“I loved that book!” was the refrain echoing from the Great Hall to the museum offices, where Brittany Prieto, a staff member, was opening letters from a fourth-grade class reading the book in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“It’s one of my favorite, favorite books, not just kids’ books, but one of my favorite books,” said Jan Farrington, 61, from Fort Worth, near the museum entrance, recalling how Ingrid Bergman played “Mrs. Basil E.” in the 1973 film.

She read the book as a mother, and her three children did, too. “I thought Claudia and Jamie, the characters, were so real; their relationship as brother and sister was great.”

A brief summary: Claudia Kincaid, 12, decides to run away from her suburban New York home, and enlists her brother, Jamie, 9, in the covert operation. She packs clothes in a violin case, he in a trumpet case, walking up the stairs in broad daylight. They hide their clothes in a museum sarcophagus and urn. They climb on toilets to hide until guards leave for the night, pluck coins for income from the fountains, where they also bathe and wash their clothes.

In the ensuing days, they are intrigued by an Italian Renaissance statue of an angel sold to the museum for just $225 by Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (the narrator). They set out to solve the mystery â€" whether Michelangelo sculpted it â€" arriving at Mrs. Frankweiler’s home in Connecticut where they sort through her files to get their answer.

Many of the specific works of art in the book, like the bed and the Fountain of Muses, are no longer part of the museum. But there is a bathroom on the first floor. And there is an Egyptian cat statue. There are plenty of rooms that have “fine French and English furniture” in the museum. “It was here for sure that Claudia knew she had chosen the most elegant place in the world to hide,” Mrs. Konigsburg wrote.

Carolyn Treible, 33, took her fifth-grade class from the Travell Elementary School in Ridgewood, N.J., to the museum on Tuesday. Next week they will start reading “From the Mixed-Up Files.” “The kids love it every year,” Ms. Treible said inside the museum shop, which continues to sell a hardcover version of the book. (Since July 2012, it has sold 398 copies).

The museum published an essay on its Web site by Ms. Konigsburg, explaining how a visit with her children one day sparked the book. She had seen a piece of popcorn on a blue silk chair. She began researching with her three children, taking Polaroid pictures and forming a narrative from a 1965 New York Times article about the statue.

She wrote about Claudia’s and Jamie’s experience:

“And while they were there â€" while they were ‘insiders’ in every sense of the word â€" they could discover the secret of the mysterious statue that the Museum had bought for $225. And then, I thought, while away from home, they could also learn a much more important secret: how to be different inside their suburban crust â€" that is, different on the inside, where it counts.”

Isabella Crane, 16, a 10th grader at Choate Rosemary Hall, from Lawrenceville, N.J., still seemed captivated by that secret.

“I loved how the kids survived by themselves,” Isabella said, on a trip with her Arabic class. “When I read it, I had no idea that was a possibility, and even though of course you can’t live in a museum, it just opened up a new world of possibilities of what you can accomplish without an adult.”

Her classmate, Lily Sawyer-Kaplan, 17, was an intern at the Met last summer. “Every time I’m here, I fantasize about doing what they did,” she said.

Despite requests, and thousands of letters sent each year from students, the Met, however, will not oblige 45 years of young people’s fantasies. There is no Mixed-Up Files Night at the museum â€" because of the expense, and what would likely be an overwhelming demand, said Jacqueline Terrassa, the education director for galleries and student programs.

Besides, Ms. Terrassa added, “some things are better imagined.”

‘Flashdance’ on Broadway Is Delayed Again

The Broadway-bound musical “Flashdance,” based on the 1983 movie about a female welder who wants to be a dancer, is being delayed again as its producers continue to work on the show. The musical, which has received mixed reviews in cities on its current national tour, was scheduled to have a $12 million production on Broadway starting in August, after being delayed twice earlier.

One of the musical’s producers, Thomas Viertel, said on Tuesday that the musical is now being aimed for Broadway later in the 2013-14 season. “Broadway is and has always been a tough place for new shows to succeed, and we want to get this right,” he said. “We have an incredible title and several established songs from the movie, but there may be a few too many subplots, and moments that haven’t been weighted correctly.” He said no one on the creative team is being replaced; the musical features a book by Tom Hedley and Robert Cary, music by Robbie Roth, lyrics by Mr. Cary and Mr. Roth, and direction and choreography by Sergio Trujillo (“Jersey Boys”).

Mr. Viertel said he and his longtime producing partners â€" Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, and Steven Baruch - were being cautious in light of their recent Broadway flops, the musicals “Chaplin” and “Leap of Faith.” “You hope you’ll learn from your experiences,” he said of those two shows. (The producers have also had many hit musicals, like “Hairspray” and “The Producers.”)

Last month Mr. Viertel and his partners also announced a postponement for another new musical, “Prince of Broadway,” a retrospective of the career of the producer and director Harold Prince, which had been aiming for the fall. Mr. Prince said recently that the musical would have a run in Japan and was still aiming for Broadway, but Mr. Viertel said he had no information about an eventual New York run for “Prince of Broadway.”

Theater Program For Youth Who Stutter Will Expand

Our Time, an arts organization in Manhattan for children and teenagers who stutter, announced on Monday night that it will expand to offer more after-school theater programs and speech therapy this fall and open new locations in Westchester County, Long Island, and northern New Jersey.

The nonprofit, founded in 2001, now serves 60 young people between the ages of 8 and 18 with programs on Fridays and Saturdays; the expansion aims to eventually serve hundreds more, by extending activities to five days a week and offering them at its new locations. The New Jersey programs will take place at Montclair State University, while the Westchester and Long Island locations are being determined.

The organization also runs a summer camp in North Carolina. Our Time, which provides many programs free of charge and helps its members express themselves through playwriting, songwriting, acting, singing, directing and designing - work that was showcased on Monday at the annual gala, where Broadway stars like Kelli O’Hara, Victor Garber, Anthony Rapp, and Jeremy Jordan performed alongside some of the Our Time members.

Theater Program For Youth Who Stutter Will Expand

Our Time, an arts organization in Manhattan for children and teenagers who stutter, announced on Monday night that it will expand to offer more after-school theater programs and speech therapy this fall and open new locations in Westchester County, Long Island, and northern New Jersey.

The nonprofit, founded in 2001, now serves 60 young people between the ages of 8 and 18 with programs on Fridays and Saturdays; the expansion aims to eventually serve hundreds more, by extending activities to five days a week and offering them at its new locations. The New Jersey programs will take place at Montclair State University, while the Westchester and Long Island locations are being determined.

The organization also runs a summer camp in North Carolina. Our Time, which provides many programs free of charge and helps its members express themselves through playwriting, songwriting, acting, singing, directing and designing - work that was showcased on Monday at the annual gala, where Broadway stars like Kelli O’Hara, Victor Garber, Anthony Rapp, and Jeremy Jordan performed alongside some of the Our Time members.

National Park Sites Are Free This Week, but Two Remain Closed

This week, all of the National Park Service sites in New York City are free to visitors - except for the two best known to most of them.

The park service has posted a video on YouTube that promotes various monuments and other sites around the metropolitan area, providing little-known facts about them. “Did you know Hamilton Grange National Memorial was placed on a truck and moved down the street?” it asks.

The occasion for the posting is National Park Week, an annual event when admission fees are dropped. This year, it runs from April 20 to 28.

But tourists and New Yorkers who had been waiting for a chance to visit the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island free will have to wait until next year, at least. Both of those sites have been closed since they suffered significant damage from Hurricane Sandy. The statue is scheduled to reopen by July 4 . But the park service has not said when the museum on Ellis Island will be ready for visitors again.

Tribeca Film Festival: ‘Dark Touch’

Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival Marina de Van, director of “Dark Touch,” at the Tribeca Film Festival.

From “Carrie to “Firestarter,” the horror genre is filled with girls who have special powers â€" to move objects, or ignite flames â€" that can be used for good or evil. In the film “Dark Touch,” an 11-year-old  named Neve, the only survivor of a massacre that killed her parents and brother, finds she has similar powers. What she does with them, and who she turns them against, makes the film more of a grisly revenge story than a tale of supernatural chicanery.

“I had this idea that the horror genre was a good one in which to experience the problem of child abuse,” said Marina de Van, who wrote and directed the film, part of this year’s Midnight Section of the Tribeca Film Festival. “Usually when you see children growing up in comfortable neighborhoods you have his feeling that they are happy. It hides the violence inside of the family.”

Ms. de Van recently spoke with ArtsBeat about her film. Following are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Q.

Why have a little girl as your protagonist?

A.

Since I’m a girl, it’s easier for me to pretend to feel how the girl feels. It’s frightening because a young girl is associated with sweetness. She’s less frightening than a boy. A sweet little girl becoming a killer was more frightening for me than a boy.

Q.

She is also a victim of abuse. What interested you about taking the story of an abused child and making it into a horror film?

A.

Kids who are damaged enough not to be able to be touched in an easy way â€" I wanted to show that it was a dead end once they were molested and damaged. They couldn’t handle relationships with other people and adults. Love is not enough.

I also wanted it to be more than a horror movie, more of a psychological movie about a girl discovering her own emotions at the beginning, but then she finds that when objects start to kill, she’s not aware of her own anger and pain.

Q.

It sounds similar to “Carrie.”

A.

I love “Carrie.” The girl is a little older in that film, but she’s still trapped with a mother who is completely crazy and oppressive and abusive.

Q.

There’s a creepy scene in your film where a girls are at a garden party, and all of a sudden the dolls they are playing with catch fire. Thanks to Neve.

A.

It’s like a kind of metaphor of the strength of girls. On one hand it’s a way of using the sun and the power of the girl’s gaze, and in another way it’s a metaphor for the feeling the dolls could feel if they were alive, this fire burning inside them.

Q.

Do you consider your film a horror movie?

A.

I consider it a thriller rather than a real horror movie. It’s horrific yes, there are horror scenes but it’s more of a thriller. I’m not a fan of horror movies. I don’t know the genre well. But it’s useful to feel fear, to feel the shock of blood and of death. It’s a feeling we have to be confront with in life. It’s cathartic.

Q.

What was it like working with Marie Missy Keating, who plays Neve?

A.

It was very pleasant. She was easy. It was her first job and she did well. She wasn’t scared. On a set when you see furniture moving with some wires pulling them, when you see actors with a piece of glass in their feet, it’s not dramatic it’s funny.

Barbra Streisand, at a Gala and in Memory

Charles Sykes/Invision, via Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Barbra Streisand at the gala in her honor.

“What am I doing here?” a smiling former President Bill Clinton asked the plush, volubly appreciative crowd packed into Avery Fisher Hall on Monday evening. He may have been the effective warm-up act for his friend, Barbra Streisand, whom he was about to present the 40th annual Chaplin Award. Yet when Mr. Clinton sauntered in, taking over host duties with the silky ease of a man accustomed to working the biggest stage in the world, there was no doubt who the biggest star in the room was. For almost anyone else, he would have been a tough act to follow.

But this was her night and soon after Ms. Streisand took the stage, this very special FOB (friend of Barbra) slipped into the shadows behind her, perched on a seat like a sideman waiting for his next cue. That came when a little later Mr. Clinton introduced Tony Bennett, whose warmly embracing rendition of “Smile” turned the hall into an intimate club, capping an evening that included Wynton Marsalis‘s playing “Hello, Dolly!,” the very tune Louis Armstrong crooned with Streisand in the 1969 movie of the same title. Mr. Marsalis brought the cool, Mr. Bennett brought the warmth. But it was Alan Bergman, who with his wife, Marilyn, wrote some of Ms. Streisand’s signature songs, who brought the tears with his gently personalized rendition of “The Way We Were.”

Ms. Streisand didn’t sing, though really the faithful in attendance were just happy to see and hear her when she finally took the stage for a diverting, fairly brief ramble down memory lane, one she ornamented with career highs and lows (she said the studio insisted she couldn’t make “Yentl” unless she sang in it) and interspersed with blown kisses to friends like Liza Minnelli. (Ms. Minnelli powered through a couple of songs, seemingly with little more than heart and ferocious show-business drive.) Ms. Streisand even joked about her reputation for being difficult, picking up a motif that had been teasingly threaded by other guests, like Kris Kristofferson, who starred with her in “A Star Is Born,” and Pierce Brosnan, who was in “The Mirror Has Two Faces”

The mix of banter and old stories gave the sold-out theater an intimate, we’re-all-just-old-friends vibe, which is crucial for glittering affairs like this. One of the tricks to producing successful galas is making attendees so happy, so pleased and even grateful to be there, that they forget (or simply don’t mind) just how much money they paid to be there in what is, effectively, a fund-raiser. (Most tickets for the gala ran from $200 to $500, while a seat at the after-show dinner ran from $1,500 a ticket to $100,000 a table.) The Film Society of Lincoln Center created the award in 1972 and since then it has honored several dozen directors and performers, two thirds of them men, an imbalance reflecting the movie industry’s pervasive sexism.

In her 20 or so onstage minutes, Ms. Streisand drew attention to her hyphenate status - her Web site calls her an “actress/singer/director/writer/composer/producer/designer/author/photographer/activist” - though not her status as a feminist role model. But she was, and is. Like a lot of women, I suspect, I fell in love with her while watching “The Way We Were,” the 1973 Sydney Pollack romance about two college students - she plays a fiery leftist and Robert Redford is her coolly apolitical goy-toy, i.e., “gorgeous goyisher guy” - who meet in the 1930s, fall in love but are driven apart by their differences. Their misty reunion years later in front of the Plaza Hotel, during which she tenderly brushes his hair across his forehead, exquisitely captures the enduring heartache of loving the wrong man.

“The Way We Were” has a lot to recommend it, including its weaving of the political and the personal. Watching it for the first time as a 12-year-old, though, I didn’t pay any mind to the politics. Rather, I was wholly mesmerized by her, by that famous nose, yes, a signifier of so much, but also her voice and mouth and especially her mouthy-ness, a tremendous inspiration for smart girls, like me, who liked to talk, and were sometimes told, even protectively, to shut up. In a mostly sympathetic her review of the film, Pauline Kael got at that quality when she wrote about how the role was tricky for Ms. Streisand because it showed the world “that element in her own persona which repelled some people initially: her fast sass is defensive and aggressive in the same breath.”

What Ms. Streisand also did, indelibly, historically, was turn a Jewish woman into a sex symbol. The judiciously chosen clips that played during the tribute illustrated that metamorphosis, though they only suggested the larger story of what it meant in 1968 - the year after Dustin Hoffman ran away with Katharine Ross in “The Graduate” - for a film star to look like Ms. Streisand. That year she appeared in her first film, “Funny Girl,” playing the young Fanny Brice, who, when she’s told that she doesn’t “look like the other girls,” belts out “I’m the Greatest Star” (“I’m the greatest star/I am by far/but no one knows it”) with a heavy New York accent and a hint of Yiddish. Before long, she’s dolled up in fur and popsicle orange and warning the world “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”

It didn’t, at least for a couple of decades, as the clips continued to play on Monday and highlights from effervescent delights like Peter Bogdanovich’s neo-screwball comedy, “What’s Up, Doc?,” lighted up the tribute. The images were carefully chosen, and if they tended to emphasize the earlier work over Ms. Streisand’s later movies, including the three features she directed - “Yentl,” “The Prince of Tides” and “The Mirror Has Two Faces” - that was to be expected. This was a celebration, not a roast, despite the occasional, very gently delivered tweaking, and everyone onstage and off was there to cheer rather than jeer. For Ms. Streisand, who turns 70 on Wednesday, it was a night to be gloriously Barbra. As she said, with a voice that rose for all to hear: “Here’s to bossy women!”

Musical’s Writer Is Called to Star Onstage

Joel Ryan/Associated Press Ayub Khan Din.

At least he knows the part really, really well.

Ayub Khan Din, writer of the book and lyrics for “Bunty Berman Presents…” and a co-composer of the music, is replacing Erick Avari in the title role of the new musical comedy.

Last week, Mr. Avari left the production from The New Group because of an injury he suffered during a near-fall at a rehearsal.  That led to the cancellation of seven shows, after previews that began on April 12. But performances resume Wednesday with Mr. Din, also an actor (“Sammy and Rose Get Laid”) stepping into the role of a movie producer at an unsuccessful 1950s Bollywood studio. Opening night is May 9 at the Acorn Theater.

“You couldn’t have written this if you had tried,” Mr. Din (whose previous plays include “East is East” and “Rafta, Rafta”) said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “I trained as an actor but I haven’t been on the stage in 20 years. Everyone has been incredibly patient with me, after being the writer behind the desk. Everyone else has had six weeks of rehearsal but I started rehearsing last Thursday.”

“For the past 15 years that we’ve been collaborators, I’ve tried to get him onstage,” Scott Elliott, the director, said of Mr. Din in the cast change announcement. “That it’s happening at this moment, in the first musical he’s written, is thrilling to me.” He seemed not to be able to resist adding: “I truly think he’s written himself the perfect part.”

Rivals Challenge Quinn on Term-Limit Stance That Helped Bloomberg

Ángel Franco/The New York Times Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, again found herself on the defensive on Tuesday for helping lift Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s term limit.

As the Democratic mayoral candidates meet at near-daily forums leading up to the September primary, the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, is increasingly finding herself on the defensive over her 2008 decision to support lifting the term limits law and allow Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to seek a third term.

On Tuesday morning, at a forum on small business issues organized by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and held at St. Francis College, the public advocate, Bill de Blasio, said he saw an increasingly punitive attitude by the Bloomberg administration toward small businesses in the third term, when, he said, the administration had increased fines on businesses.

“It became a very focused effort to get revenue the wrong way,” Mr. de Blasio said.

He added, “So you can thank Speaker Quinn and those who believed in giving Michael Bloomberg a third term by changing the term limits law for the fact that small businesses were under attack for this last four years.”

When the moderator, the ABC 7 political correspondent Dave Evans, asked Ms. Quinn to respond, she at first skirted the issue, saying, “I think the public advocate’s point is about challenges for small businesses,” and going on to enumerate actions the Council had taken to relieve small businesses from excess fines and penalties.

“I’ve done something about it, not just talked about it,” she said.

When Mr. Evans pressed her to respond specifically to the implication about her role in lifting term limits, Ms. Quinn said, “As I’ve said many times, I believed at that moment in time, given the very extreme, challenging economic times we were in â€" I hope we don’t see those again â€" that it was appropriate to give the voters a choice of consistency.”

Another candidate, William C. Thompson Jr., who, as Mr. Bloomberg’s Democratic opponent in 2009 made the mayor’s about-face on term limits a major campaign theme, was not going to let this go by, however. When it was his time to speak, he criticized Ms. Quinn’s explanation.

“In all due respect, we change presidents in the middle of wars,” Mr. Thompson said. “We don’t change the Constitution to go back and say, ‘Let’s give somebody a third term,’ because the economy’s bad, because, you know, the sky â€" because it’s cloudy today.”

“It was wrong â€" let’s just acknowledge that â€" this bad term that we’re living right now,” he said, at which point members of the audience began to applaud.

Mr. de Blasio was right, Mr. Thompson continued, in saying that the fines against small businesses had increased in the third term.

Echoing Mr. de Blasio, he said, “To be honest about it, Speaker, we have you to thank for that third term,” at which some members of the audience clapped again, and others laughed or emitted oohs.

Later, Mr. de Blasio returned to the issue, saying, “I can’t ignore Speaker Quinn’s tortured logic that she gave Mayor Bloomberg a third term, then he did bad things to small business, then she â€" quote unquote â€" ‘did something’ about it.”

“I want to use a phrase from retail, Speaker Quinn: ‘You broke it, you own it,’” he continued. “He wouldn’t have the opportunity to have done what he did to small business if you hadn’t helped him to have his third term.”

The discussion later turned to subjects including bridge tolls, bike lanes, and whether regulations on street vending should be made uniform throughout the city, but no issue appeared to stir as much interest - or, at least, as vocal a response â€" from the audience as the scuffle over term limits.

Three other candidates, John C. Liu, the city comptroller, Sal F. Albanese, a former city councilman, and Erick J. Salgado, a minister, also participated in the forum.

Maybe ‘Mad Men’ Lawyers Knew More Than Lindsay’s

David A. Grossman, a Lindsay-era budget official, moved to Queens against his initial wishes because of a residency requirement that might not have applied to him after all.

Last week, we reported that the “Mad Men” character Henry Francis’s new job as a deputy mayor of New York City did not put him at odds with residency laws, because the city had no such laws in 1967 and 1968, when the new season of “Mad Men” is set.

But then we heard from David A. Grossman, who was hired as a (nonfictional) assistant budget director under Mayor John V. Lindsay in that era.

Mr. Grossman told us that his plan to live in New Jersey had been thwarted by the city’s head lawyer, Corporation Counsel Lee Rankin, who advised him that the City Charter dictated that he live in New York City. Mr. Grossman and his wife settled on a house in Forest Hills, Queens.

City Room, perplexed, reopened its investigation.

Stephen Louis, an avid “Mad Men” watcher who also happens to be the present chief of the legal counsel division in the city’s Law Department, provided us some clarification, though it applies more to Henry Francis than to Mr. Grossman.

While New York City had no residency laws for its employees in 1967, the state’s longstanding public officers law does require officials to live in the districts or municipalities they represent. The state law doesn’t clearly define who is and isn’t a public officer, but in New York City, elected officials like the mayor and city agency heads who have “legally defined powers and responsibilities” fall into that category, Mr. Louis said.

Someone like Henry Francis, a high-ranking official whose powers aren’t set in statute, would not have been considered a public officer, Mr. Louis said. “He’s not a commissioner; he probably negotiates stuff for the mayor,” he said. Ross Sandler, the founding director of New York Law School’s Center for New York City Law, told us substantially the same thing.

Score one for “Mad Men”’s historical accuracy, which took a hit this week when the Joan Harris character offered to make a reservation at Le Cirque, which did not open until 1974.

Both Mr. Louis and Mr. Sandler were stumped, however, by the tale of Mr. Grossman. An assistant budget director would not have been considered a public officer in 1966, Mr. Louis said. Lee Rankin, the city lawyer who made the decision, is deceased, so the logic behind his decision is lost to time.

As it turned out, Forest Hills was not such a picnic for the Grossmans. One evening, as they tried to host a dinner party, their neighbors picketed outside their house in opposition to Mayor Lindsay’s plans to build public housing in the neighborhood. (One of their invited guests, a Fire Department analyst, was detained by the police after a detective deemed him too short to credibly work for the Fire Department, Mr. Grossman recalled.)

We shared our findings with Mr. Grossman, who informed his wife, Hanna Grossman, after all these years, that perhaps the city had erred when it blocked them from moving into their New Jersey dream home.

“When I told her about this,” he said, “she hit the roof.”

Mixed Martial Arts Gets a Lift From Cuomo

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press A mixed martial arts fighter, Chad Mendes, being restrained by a referee at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match in California on Saturday. The sport remains illegal in New York State, but Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo put in a good word for it on Tuesday.

ALBANY - After years of being knocked around - and knocked out - of legislative sessions in New York, mixed martial arts seemingly got a little shot of good news from the governor’s corner on Tuesday.

Speaking in a radio interview, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo gave a light embrace to popular and often bloody sport, saying the state - one of only two to ban professional mixed martial arts events - needed jobs, no matter how pugnacious they are.

“I think we need economic activity, especially in upstate New York,” said Mr. Cuomo, speaking on WCNY-FM’s “Capitol Pressroom.” “I think this is a major endeavor that is televised, that is happening all over the country at this point. You’re not going to stop it from happening. And I’m interested in the potential economic potential for the state.”

Mr. Cuomo added that he understood “this theoretical debate” about the sport’s violence and other objections to it, but seemed more interested in the hard-as-knuckles bottom line.

“I’d like to know what is the economic impact for the state and are we talking about significant economic advancement,” he said. “And if we are, then I think its something we should take seriously.”

The governor’s remarks came as the Assembly mulls whether to take up the legalization of mixed martial arts this session, after several years in which such legislation was proposed but not acted upon. The current version of the legislation has more than 60 co-sponsors, including nearly half the members of the Assembly. (The State Senate has already given its approval.)

On Tuesday, Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the powerful Manhattan Democrat, would say only that “we still need to discuss this with the members of the Assembly Democratic conference.”

Both supporters and opponents of the sport were in Albany on Tuesday to press their case with legislators.

A collection of women’s groups strongly objected to what they see as the sport’s inherent sexism and violence. In a statement, Connie Neal, the executive director of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said that legislators and the governor should not “condone the negative attitudes and beliefs about violence against women that are glorified in professional human cage fighting.”

But Lorenzo Fertitta, the chief executive of Ultimate Fighting Championship, was also working the halls, flanked by four beefy fighters (and several less well-built executives). Later Tuesday afternoon, the U.F.C. was also promising a demonstration of some of their athletes’ skills at the nearby Times Union Center, where mixed martial arts events might be held, if the sport is legalized. Mr. Fertitta said the people of New York - who he said are responsible for about one in every eight dollars spent on mixed martial arts pay-per-view events - deserved to see the face-smashing, body-pounding sport in person.

“Obviously it’s not for everyone,” he said, noting its violence. But he added that he thought “there’s an overwhelming majority of the Assembly that would vote for this bill. If they had a chance.”

Sentencing Postponed in Lauryn Hill’s Tax Case

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters Ms. Hill outside the court on Monday.

A federal judge scolded Lauryn Hill for failing to pay back taxes on Monday but put off for two weeks her sentencing for tax evasion, The Associated Press reported.

Ms. Hill, 37, a Grammy-winning singer, rapper and songwriter, pleaded guilty last year to failing to pay taxes on $1.8 million in income earned between 2005 and 2007. Though she promised at the time she would pay about $554,000 in restitution before she was sentenced, she has only paid about $50,000 to date.

“This is not someone who stands before the court penniless,” said United States Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox. “This is a criminal matter. Actions speak louder than words and there has been no effort here to pay these taxes.”

An attorney for Ms. Hill, Nathan Hochman, said the singer would borrow money against two houses she owns to pay the tax bill before sentencing on May 3. He said Ms. Hill has a recording contract but has yet to receive revenue from it.

Ms. Hill started out as the lead singer of the Fugees and received critical acclaim in 1998 for her first solo album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”

Midsummer Night Swing Announces Lineup

This year, the organizers of the Midsummer Night Swing concert series at Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center are taking few chances with the program: they have announced a lineup heavy with New York’s established big bands, including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks and Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Jazz Orchestra.

The concert series, now in its 25th year, will run for 15 nights from June 25 through July 13, with shows and dance lessons every night of the week except Sunday and Monday. Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will start off the series.

As in past years, the performances will include some nights devoted to soca, salsa, tango, R&B and even disco, with one night being set aside for a Loser’s Lounge tribute to Donna Summer on July 11.

Other bands performing this year include the salsa dura group Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the jump-blues band Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s, the soul band Urban Guerilla Orchestra and the Tobago-born calypso singer Calypso Rose. A full schedule can be found at the Midsummer Night Swing Web site.

In Performance: Michael Urie of ‘Buyer & Cellar’

In Jonathan Tolins’s one-man play “Buyer & Cellar,” Michael Urie plays Alex More, a struggling gay actor who is hired to work in Barbra Streisand’s Malibu basement. In this scene, Alex’s boyfriend Barry, also played by Mr. Urie, gets worked up about Ms. Streisand’s relationship with her hometown, Brooklyn. The show continues through May 12 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

Recent videos include Nathan Lee Graham in a scene from “Hit the Wall,” Ike Holter’s play about the Stonewall uprising, at the Barrow Street Theater, and Adam Kantor singing a number from the Second Stage revival of Jason Robert Brown’s musical “The Last Five Years.”

Coming soon: Alan Cumming as Lady Macbeth and Deborah Cox singing a number from “Jekyll & Hyde.”

As Murder Rate Falls, Suicides Outnumber Homicides

In 2012, for the first time in nearly 50 years, more people apparently killed themselves in New York City than were murdered, a byproduct in part of the city’s plunging murder rate.

And while men died in disproportionate numbers from both causes, the victims of homicide and suicide come from very different universes.

Typically, most murder victims are young and black. Most suicides are older and non-Hispanic white.

“There’s no explanations that I think are fully satisfying and explain what accounts for the contrast,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“What you’re seeing is a reflection of the context in which homicides and violence are endemic,” he said. “The myth of the unexpected homicide occurring to a wealthy person in a wealthy neighborhood is vanishingly rare.”

“The vast majority of suicides are known to have had some psychopathology, and although the literature is muddy, depression is more common in majority groups,” Dr. Galea continued. “The second reason may well be that there are different coping mechanisms among minorities that are more externalism than internalizing. But there’s an interesting paradox: If we know that adverse living circumstances are associated with greater risk of depression why aren’t minorities more prone to suicide?”

According to preliminary figures from the Police Department, 418 murders were recorded in 2012.

Among the victims, 84 percent were men, 60 percent were black, 27 percent were Hispanic, and 9 percent were non-Hispanic white. (Among the known assailants, 93 percent were men; 53 percent were black and 35 percent were Hispanic). More than two-thirds of the victims were 40 or younger.

In 2011, the city’s health department recorded 509 suicides. Though the rate for 2012 is not yet available, city officials believe that, based on recent trends, suicides outnumbered murders last year.

While the homicide rate has been declining, the suicide rate has remained fairly steady in the last decade.

Homicide was the leading cause of death among New Yorkers 15 to 34, suicide was third among 15- to 24-year-olds and fourth among 25- to 34-year-olds.

Among people under 65, suicide was the third leading cause of death among Asians, fifth among non-Hispanic whites and non-Puerto Rican Hispanic people. It was not among the top 10 causes of death among blacks. Non-Hispanic whites recorded the highest death rates from suicide, blacks the lowest.

Louis B. Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the shifting ratio of murders to suicides reflect two other factors: “A lot of suicides go unreported,” he said, “and because of the increased sophistication of emergency medical technology, people who 10 years ago would be dead from murder are now living.”

As Murder Rate Falls, Suicides Outnumber Homicides

In 2012, for the first time in nearly 50 years, more people apparently killed themselves in New York City than were murdered, a byproduct in part of the city’s plunging murder rate.

And while men died in disproportionate numbers from both causes, the victims of homicide and suicide come from very different universes.

Typically, most murder victims are young and black. Most suicides are older and non-Hispanic white.

“There’s no explanations that I think are fully satisfying and explain what accounts for the contrast,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“What you’re seeing is a reflection of the context in which homicides and violence are endemic,” he said. “The myth of the unexpected homicide occurring to a wealthy person in a wealthy neighborhood is vanishingly rare.”

“The vast majority of suicides are known to have had some psychopathology, and although the literature is muddy, depression is more common in majority groups,” Dr. Galea continued. “The second reason may well be that there are different coping mechanisms among minorities that are more externalism than internalizing. But there’s an interesting paradox: If we know that adverse living circumstances are associated with greater risk of depression why aren’t minorities more prone to suicide?”

According to preliminary figures from the Police Department, 418 murders were recorded in 2012.

Among the victims, 84 percent were men, 60 percent were black, 27 percent were Hispanic, and 9 percent were non-Hispanic white. (Among the known assailants, 93 percent were men; 53 percent were black and 35 percent were Hispanic). More than two-thirds of the victims were 40 or younger.

In 2011, the city’s health department recorded 509 suicides. Though the rate for 2012 is not yet available, city officials believe that, based on recent trends, suicides outnumbered murders last year.

While the homicide rate has been declining, the suicide rate has remained fairly steady in the last decade.

Homicide was the leading cause of death among New Yorkers 15 to 34, suicide was third among 15- to 24-year-olds and fourth among 25- to 34-year-olds.

Among people under 65, suicide was the third leading cause of death among Asians, fifth among non-Hispanic whites and non-Puerto Rican Hispanic people. It was not among the top 10 causes of death among blacks. Non-Hispanic whites recorded the highest death rates from suicide, blacks the lowest.

Louis B. Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the shifting ratio of murders to suicides reflect two other factors: “A lot of suicides go unreported,” he said, “and because of the increased sophistication of emergency medical technology, people who 10 years ago would be dead from murder are now living.”

As Murder Rate Falls, Suicides Outnumber Homicides

In 2012, for the first time in nearly 50 years, more people apparently killed themselves in New York City than were murdered, a byproduct in part of the city’s plunging murder rate.

And while men died in disproportionate numbers from both causes, the victims of homicide and suicide come from very different universes.

Typically, most murder victims are young and black. Most suicides are older and non-Hispanic white.

“There’s no explanations that I think are fully satisfying and explain what accounts for the contrast,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“What you’re seeing is a reflection of the context in which homicides and violence are endemic,” he said. “The myth of the unexpected homicide occurring to a wealthy person in a wealthy neighborhood is vanishingly rare.”

“The vast majority of suicides are known to have had some psychopathology, and although the literature is muddy, depression is more common in majority groups,” Dr. Galea continued. “The second reason may well be that there are different coping mechanisms among minorities that are more externalism than internalizing. But there’s an interesting paradox: If we know that adverse living circumstances are associated with greater risk of depression why aren’t minorities more prone to suicide?”

According to preliminary figures from the Police Department, 418 murders were recorded in 2012.

Among the victims, 84 percent were men, 60 percent were black, 27 percent were Hispanic, and 9 percent were non-Hispanic white. (Among the known assailants, 93 percent were men; 53 percent were black and 35 percent were Hispanic). More than two-thirds of the victims were 40 or younger.

In 2011, the city’s health department recorded 509 suicides. Though the rate for 2012 is not yet available, city officials believe that, based on recent trends, suicides outnumbered murders last year.

While the homicide rate has been declining, the suicide rate has remained fairly steady in the last decade.

Homicide was the leading cause of death among New Yorkers 15 to 34, suicide was third among 15- to 24-year-olds and fourth among 25- to 34-year-olds.

Among people under 65, suicide was the third leading cause of death among Asians, fifth among non-Hispanic whites and non-Puerto Rican Hispanic people. It was not among the top 10 causes of death among blacks. Non-Hispanic whites recorded the highest death rates from suicide, blacks the lowest.

Louis B. Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the shifting ratio of murders to suicides reflect two other factors: “A lot of suicides go unreported,” he said, “and because of the increased sophistication of emergency medical technology, people who 10 years ago would be dead from murder are now living.”

As Murder Rate Falls, Suicides Outnumber Homicides

In 2012, for the first time in nearly 50 years, more people apparently killed themselves in New York City than were murdered, a byproduct in part of the city’s plunging murder rate.

And while men died in disproportionate numbers from both causes, the victims of homicide and suicide come from very different universes.

Typically, most murder victims are young and black. Most suicides are older and non-Hispanic white.

“There’s no explanations that I think are fully satisfying and explain what accounts for the contrast,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“What you’re seeing is a reflection of the context in which homicides and violence are endemic,” he said. “The myth of the unexpected homicide occurring to a wealthy person in a wealthy neighborhood is vanishingly rare.”

“The vast majority of suicides are known to have had some psychopathology, and although the literature is muddy, depression is more common in majority groups,” Dr. Galea continued. “The second reason may well be that there are different coping mechanisms among minorities that are more externalism than internalizing. But there’s an interesting paradox: If we know that adverse living circumstances are associated with greater risk of depression why aren’t minorities more prone to suicide?”

According to preliminary figures from the Police Department, 418 murders were recorded in 2012.

Among the victims, 84 percent were men, 60 percent were black, 27 percent were Hispanic, and 9 percent were non-Hispanic white. (Among the known assailants, 93 percent were men; 53 percent were black and 35 percent were Hispanic). More than two-thirds of the victims were 40 or younger.

In 2011, the city’s health department recorded 509 suicides. Though the rate for 2012 is not yet available, city officials believe that, based on recent trends, suicides outnumbered murders last year.

While the homicide rate has been declining, the suicide rate has remained fairly steady in the last decade.

Homicide was the leading cause of death among New Yorkers 15 to 34, suicide was third among 15- to 24-year-olds and fourth among 25- to 34-year-olds.

Among people under 65, suicide was the third leading cause of death among Asians, fifth among non-Hispanic whites and non-Puerto Rican Hispanic people. It was not among the top 10 causes of death among blacks. Non-Hispanic whites recorded the highest death rates from suicide, blacks the lowest.

Louis B. Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the shifting ratio of murders to suicides reflect two other factors: “A lot of suicides go unreported,” he said, “and because of the increased sophistication of emergency medical technology, people who 10 years ago would be dead from murder are now living.”

Strangers From Boston

Dear Diary:

The night of Tuesday, April 16, I indulged in a $20 bowl of soup. It would ultimately turn out to be a great bargain, though I would not determine its remarkable value until later - after I had finished eating, paid my bill, found my way to the nearby First Avenue L station, and come upon some familiar-looking strangers.

Heading through the turnstile, I observed the same father with his two children whom I had been quietly observing during my meal. Noticing that the father looked confused, I asked where the family had been traveling from and where they were now headed.

“We’re from Boston,” he said, explaining that they had been in their home city the previous morning when two bombs had gone off along the route of that city’s marathon. Escaping the ensuing commotion, they had traveled to Manhattan and at present were headed uptown following dinner in the East Village.

“I guess you New Yorkers are no strangers to this feeling,” he continued.

I guided my visitors to their destination. I explained that they had entered a one-way subway station headed in the wrong direction, but that they could ride with me and switch to the appropriate train at the next stop.

They agreed. I connected with Gary and his kids about the tragic events in their city, while trying to be a welcoming face to mine. As we arrived at my stop and they thanked me for my help, I felt a tangible value to our meeting - a value unforeseen when I had first ordered my soup next to a father eating dinner with his kids.

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via e-mail diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

Tribeca Film Festival Q&A: Whoopi Goldberg

Tribeca Film Festival Whoopi Goldberg, left, is the director of “I Got Somethin’ to Tell You,” the documentary about the comedian Moms Mabley, right.

Looks  at the lives of Richard Pryor and Gore Vidal, a peek inside the creative process of the Broadway actress Elaine Stritch â€" several documentaries at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival focus on notable figures in  arts and entertainment. These include a name that may not be as well known but whose cultural impact was significant: Moms Mabley.

The comedian’s signature toothless grin, floppy hat and tell-it-like-it-is persona gained her mainstream attention late in  life, though her career  spanned more than 50 years. She rose to fame through her work on the chitlin’ circuit,  the collection of stages around the country that employed black entertainers during segregation.

With “I Got Somethin’ to Tell You,” the comedian, actress and talk-show host Whoopi Goldberg goes behind the camera to chronicle the life of Moms Mabley. Ms. Goldberg talks with several artists who were influenced by Ms. Mabley, including Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Sidney Poitier, Jerry Stiller and Harry Belafonte. Last week, HBO acquired the rights to the documentary and plans to broadcast it later this year.

In an interview at the Tribeca Film Festival ahead of her film’s premiere, Ms. Goldberg spoke about how she first discovered Moms Mabley, the influence Ms. Mabley had on her career, and what a filmmaker does when there’s very little footage of her subject. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Q.

You’ve had so many different jobs in the entertainment world, but this is the first time you’ve directed a feature. Why hadn’t you done it before?

A.

I hadn’t wanted to. I was never interested, because I really have no attention span.

Q.

How did you  come to know about Moms Mabley?

A.

I was first introduced to her work as a kid. I knew there were records in the house that you weren’t supposed to touch. And then she would be on Ed Sullivan, and my mom would let us watch. And somehow she flew into my mouth. I don’t know how it worked, but she’s in there.

Q.

What challenges did you come across when making the documentary?

A.

They didn’t film black performers back then. So most people don’t know Moms until the ’60s when they saw her on “Playboy After Dark” or the Smothers Brothers or Mike Douglas. There are recordings, but there’s no footage of her performing except for two movies she’s in.

Q.

So you end up using animation segments that you pair with her recordings. How did you come to that decision?

A.

Everything for me is visual. That’s just how my head works. I knew there was not a lot to work with and that we were going to have to make it fun. I love animation, so I said, we’re going to make a cartoon! But others questioned it. People gave me the stink eye for animation. But it was the only thing we could do. Otherwise, you’re  looking at a blank screen.

Q.

You used Kickstarter to fund some of your documentary. As a celebrity, why did you go that route?

A.

I think you mean to be saying, “You seem to have enough money to do this. Why are you asking for help?” Because I needed it. I didn’t have enough money to do it and run our company and take care of all the other things. I’m the only one working. [Whispers] And I’m not Oprah. So I went to Kickstarter.

Q.

Were there many new discoveries about Moms Mabley you made in the process?

A.

I didn’t know all the things I discovered while making the documentary. I didn’t know any of it. We discovered she was the first female standup, because, in trying to find comparable, there was no one for 40 years. And when she was performing at the Apollo, she was the highest paid entertainer. She made crazy money for the time.

Q.

What was your research process like?

A.

I knew where all the albums were. And I knew what material I wanted to use from them. We figured the Apollo would have some things and the Schomburg Center would have something. And we collected from everywhere. We had several researchers who worked with us, because it was a lot. When you don’t have the stuff that is normally accessible, you gotta really go looking, under rocks, in corners.

Q.

How did you amass the number of interview subjects you had in the film?

A.

I simply asked people, do you remember? And I had friends asking, just to find out who had any connection. And when it shook down, it was quite a wonderfully eclectic mix of people.

Q.

What was the element of Moms Mabley’s work that was most influential to you and the comedian you became?

A.

The storytelling. It’s the same thing with Richard Pryor. It’s the stories. I don’t have to be bam, bam, bam, funny when I’m working. I can tell stories and there’s some funny IN them. But they move around. But the two of them in particular gave me that freedom.

Q.

How do you think she managed to hone her craft?

A.

All those years on the chitlin’ circuit gave her the art of the story. So as she went through life and saw how things were evolving, I think she began to talk about them as they related to her. When she did that and made herself the butt of the joke, it made people more able to listen because she wasn’t laughing at them, she was laughing at herself. And it enabled people to laugh at her as well.

Tribeca Film Festival Q&A: Whoopi Goldberg

Tribeca Film Festival Whoopi Goldberg, left, is the director of “I Got Somethin’ to Tell You,” the documentary about the comedian Moms Mabley, right.

Looks  at the lives of Richard Pryor and Gore Vidal, a peek inside the creative process of the Broadway actress Elaine Stritch â€" several documentaries at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival focus on notable figures in  arts and entertainment. These include a name that may not be as well known but whose cultural impact was significant: Moms Mabley.

The comedian’s signature toothless grin, floppy hat and tell-it-like-it-is persona gained her mainstream attention late in  life, though her career  spanned more than 50 years. She rose to fame through her work on the chitlin’ circuit,  the collection of stages around the country that employed black entertainers during segregation.

With “I Got Somethin’ to Tell You,” the comedian, actress and talk-show host Whoopi Goldberg goes behind the camera to chronicle the life of Moms Mabley. Ms. Goldberg talks with several artists who were influenced by Ms. Mabley, including Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Sidney Poitier, Jerry Stiller and Harry Belafonte. Last week, HBO acquired the rights to the documentary and plans to broadcast it later this year.

In an interview at the Tribeca Film Festival ahead of her film’s premiere, Ms. Goldberg spoke about how she first discovered Moms Mabley, the influence Ms. Mabley had on her career, and what a filmmaker does when there’s very little footage of her subject. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Q.

You’ve had so many different jobs in the entertainment world, but this is the first time you’ve directed a feature. Why hadn’t you done it before?

A.

I hadn’t wanted to. I was never interested, because I really have no attention span.

Q.

How did you  come to know about Moms Mabley?

A.

I was first introduced to her work as a kid. I knew there were records in the house that you weren’t supposed to touch. And then she would be on Ed Sullivan, and my mom would let us watch. And somehow she flew into my mouth. I don’t know how it worked, but she’s in there.

Q.

What challenges did you come across when making the documentary?

A.

They didn’t film black performers back then. So most people don’t know Moms until the ’60s when they saw her on “Playboy After Dark” or the Smothers Brothers or Mike Douglas. There are recordings, but there’s no footage of her performing except for two movies she’s in.

Q.

So you end up using animation segments that you pair with her recordings. How did you come to that decision?

A.

Everything for me is visual. That’s just how my head works. I knew there was not a lot to work with and that we were going to have to make it fun. I love animation, so I said, we’re going to make a cartoon! But others questioned it. People gave me the stink eye for animation. But it was the only thing we could do. Otherwise, you’re  looking at a blank screen.

Q.

You used Kickstarter to fund some of your documentary. As a celebrity, why did you go that route?

A.

I think you mean to be saying, “You seem to have enough money to do this. Why are you asking for help?” Because I needed it. I didn’t have enough money to do it and run our company and take care of all the other things. I’m the only one working. [Whispers] And I’m not Oprah. So I went to Kickstarter.

Q.

Were there many new discoveries about Moms Mabley you made in the process?

A.

I didn’t know all the things I discovered while making the documentary. I didn’t know any of it. We discovered she was the first female standup, because, in trying to find comparable, there was no one for 40 years. And when she was performing at the Apollo, she was the highest paid entertainer. She made crazy money for the time.

Q.

What was your research process like?

A.

I knew where all the albums were. And I knew what material I wanted to use from them. We figured the Apollo would have some things and the Schomburg Center would have something. And we collected from everywhere. We had several researchers who worked with us, because it was a lot. When you don’t have the stuff that is normally accessible, you gotta really go looking, under rocks, in corners.

Q.

How did you amass the number of interview subjects you had in the film?

A.

I simply asked people, do you remember? And I had friends asking, just to find out who had any connection. And when it shook down, it was quite a wonderfully eclectic mix of people.

Q.

What was the element of Moms Mabley’s work that was most influential to you and the comedian you became?

A.

The storytelling. It’s the same thing with Richard Pryor. It’s the stories. I don’t have to be bam, bam, bam, funny when I’m working. I can tell stories and there’s some funny IN them. But they move around. But the two of them in particular gave me that freedom.

Q.

How do you think she managed to hone her craft?

A.

All those years on the chitlin’ circuit gave her the art of the story. So as she went through life and saw how things were evolving, I think she began to talk about them as they related to her. When she did that and made herself the butt of the joke, it made people more able to listen because she wasn’t laughing at them, she was laughing at herself. And it enabled people to laugh at her as well.