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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – The Triplex Cinema announced a special screening of “Dory Previn: On My Way to Where,” honoring the life of the late Berkshire singer-songwriter, on Saturday, Aug. 17, followed by a panel discussion with co-director Julia Greenberg and animator Emily Hubley.
The film, which recently premiered at the SXSW Film and Television Festival, uses archival footage along with animation to illustrate the complicated and creative life and work of Dory Previn. Tickets are available on the Triplex website. The screening will take place on August 17 at 4 p.m.
According to a press release:
Born in New Jersey in 1923, Previn began her career as a dancer in a dance troupe as a teenager. In the late 1950s, she was discovered by famous MGM film producer Arthur Freed and began working as a studio lyricist, collaborating with child prodigy and composer Andre Previn. Soon after, she recorded her first jazz album, “The Leprechauns Are Upon Me,” for Verve Records. Together with Previn, whom she married, she wrote two Oscar-nominated songs: “The Faraway Part of Town,” sung by Judy Garland in the film “Pepe,” and “A Second Chance” for the film “Two for the Seesaw” in 1962. As a duo, the Previns wrote songs for many of the leading artists of the 1960s, including Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis, Jr. Leontyne Price, Tony Bennett and many others.
In 1967, Previn’s music for the hit film “Valley of the Dolls” helped the soundtrack album stay on the Billboard charts for six months, and in 1968 she received a third Oscar nomination for her own music for “Come Saturday Morning” from the film “The Sterile Cuckoo,” starring Liza Minelli.
After her separation from Previn over an affair with actress Mia Farrow, Previn launched a solo career as a singer and songwriter, releasing seven critically acclaimed albums in the 1970s, including On My Way to Where, Mythical Kings and Iguanas, and Reflections in a Mud Puddle, all in the early 1970s. During the 1970s, Previn continued to record music, perform publicly, write screenplays, and publish two autobiographies. Although she performed at the same time as fellow singers Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Laura Nero, Previn was not as popular because her work dealt with brutally honest dark and difficult subjects that were inaccessible to pop radio audiences. Nevertheless, a cult following developed around Previn, in part due to her willingness to write and sing openly about her struggle with mental illness. On My Way to Where makes it clear that Previn “anticipated a modern neurodiversity movement.”
In the 1980s, Previn’s work turned to politics and she worked in television. In 1984, she won an Emmy Award for “We’ll Win this World” and was nominated for an Emmy for “Home Here.” She continued to work in a variety of fields, including publishing plays, short stories, and lectures on song lyrics. In 1995, Previn oversaw the publication of “The Dory Previn Songbook.” In 1997, she collaborated again with Andre Previn, producing a piece for soprano and ensemble called “The Magic Number.” The piece was performed by the New York Philharmonic, with Andre Previn conducting and Sylvia McNair singing the soprano part.
Previn left Los Angeles in the early 1980s and moved with her husband, actor and artist Toby Baker, to Southfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, where she continued to work and be an active member of the creative community until her death on Valentine’s Day 2012.
Previn is considered one of the greatest American songwriters of her time, yet her life and work were overshadowed by her famous ex-husband Andre Previn. Dory Previn: On My Way to Where seeks to put Previn’s life and work back where it belongs and tell the story of a pioneer and artist who was ahead of her time, writing openly and bravely about her sexuality, women’s issues and her own well-documented mental health struggles. On My Way to Where is a magical story of perseverance, creativity and love.
Julia Greenberg is a singer, songwriter, and now documentary filmmaker. Greenberg wrote the music for the off-Broadway hits “People Are Wrong” and “Cavedweller” and has released two albums of original music. Greenberg interprets the music and manages the archives of Dory Previn to share the magic of this little-known genius with the world.
Emily Hulbey is a well-known animator whose work has been featured in the documentary Blue Vinyl and the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, among others. Her first feature film The Toe Tactic premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in 2009 and was released on DVD by Kino International.
