Sissy

I am here with my friend, Kathy Garver.

Kathy, what was the best part about being Sissy on Family Affair?

That she's still around.

We're celebrating our 60th anniversary this year.

Patrick Labber Show,

he's the one you gotta know.

Okay, you know her as Sissy from Family Affair and also The Ten Commandments, which is like a great credit, and over 100 other projects.

I know her as my Comic-Con convention buddy and fellow cast member of Spider-Man the Animated Series.

Exactly.

What does Hope's jailmate, Sissy, insist on getting? Oh, no.

I don't know.

I remember the character.

and check me out on social media girl linked wherever somewhere in the description now today's movie is titled give me pity this from 2022 and we were lucky enough to get a screener for this when it first came out shout out utopia films i did not know what to expect we went in totally blind and this movie blew me away entirely.

Directed by Amanda Kramer, Give Me Pity follows Sissy St. Clair as she graces the small screen for her first-ever television special, an evening full of music and laughter, glamour and entertainment.

But Sissy's live event quickly begins to curdle into a psychedelic nightmare of vanity, insecurity, and delusional ambition provoked by the glowing presence of a mysterious masked man now that synopsis comes right from letterboxd and i think it is it really does tell you exactly what this is about now this is technically a comedy musical but it does have horror elements and that's why we are talking about this movie today and sophie von hasselberg carries this movie on her back her role as sissy st claire is one of the most dedicated performances i have ever seen and i will talk more about her later on but this movie takes the idea of the televised celebrity special and turns it on its head Sissy is a fictional pop star hosting her big Saturday night TV event complete with elaborate costumes, backup dancers, musical performances, cheesy choreography, and an incredibly theatrical production design.

They really went so far with this movie.

Everything feels so... true to the to the year to the genre of time they were trying to encapsulate it feels like you stumbled across some bizarre lost television special from the 70s or 80s it's so watchable it had me glued to the screen the whole time but underneath all of the glitter and obvious fake smiles things become strange and uncomfortable What initially feels like a campy throwback to old school variety TV gradually turns into something much darker and much more psychologically unsettling because Sissy is performing this very carefully constructed version of herself.

And as the special progresses, the polished persona starts to crack.

And the movie becomes less about watching a celebrity perform and more about someone watching someone completely unravel while still desperately trying to cling to and maintain the perfectly curated performance.

Like I said, it's more like a 70s variety show mixed with a musical performance art and also kind of a psychological nightmare all mashed up together.

David gets, there's a scheme.

Do you want to describe the scheme of a woman who is named, hold on everyone, especially the gays, Sissy Topping.

Oh my God.

Topping.

Yeah, rich kids.

The rich kids.

Anyway, so Sissy comes to rich guy and he's like, my mom is upset.

She won't let me marry Jill.

Something like that, you know? And that was played by Sebastian Cabot.

The three kids were Sissy and twins Boy Jody and girl Buffy.

Buffy had a doll, Mrs. Beasley, that she carried all around that they actually put out a toy, a Mrs. Beasley toy.

Oh, how monkeys of them.

And then in 1982, Angel and the Reruns put out their novelty song, Buffy Come Back.

Buffy, Buffy, come back to me.

Why'd you have to go N.O.D.? What about Uncle Bill, Jody, and Sissy? I was the number one fan of Family Affair.

But since Buffy's gone, I don't really care.