In a land of sunshine where the palm trees sway, there's a special show to brighten up your day.

From rockin festivals to Broadway dreams, Tune in with Bonnie G.

It's a desert scene.

The Desert Scene with Bonnie G.

Beat the stars and feel the beat from the Coachella Valley is the place to be for all the cultural fun and harm the desert sea.

Yeah.

With Bonnie G.

Mutual Broadcasting welcomes you to the desert scene.

Featuring conversations with the people who make culture, art and entertainment happen in the Coachella Valley.

From local theater to live music, art exhibits to cinema and beyond, the desert scene is presented by El Portal Mexican Restaurant in Cathedral City.

Now here is your host, Bonnie G.

And welcome to the desert scene.

So happy to have you here and very happ an honor to welcome to the show Academy Award nominee Kathy Moriarty, who's going to be in Palm Springs doing a fun play called I'll Eat yout Last.

A Chat with Sue Mengers at the.

At the Bent Theatre.

Hi, Kathy.

Thank you so much for being here.

Really appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

So wonderful.

I love your little song leading in.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Yeah, it's my little jingle.

It's fun.

So I was reading about you.

I did not realize that you were just 19 when you were cast in Raging Bull as Vicki LaMotta.

And then I got an Academy Award nomination.

Wow, that's just amazing.

What kind of an experience was that at that age for your first big film role with Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, and then you get an Academy Award nomination?

That must have just kind of blown your mind.

It was a wild ride, that's for sure.

I was 17 when I met them.

18 and 19 while we shot the movie.

It took a year and I was 20 when it came out and wow.

Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

And I'm kind of glad I didn't realize the importance of anything.

Yeah, I.

Maybe, maybe if I did, it would have been different, but it was mostly the best learning experience that any human being could ask for.

They were so kind and generous and caring and protective of me.

So I will forever be grateful to them.

That's what I was gonna ask, what it was like working with them.

I mean, that's pretty intimidating stuff.

I mean, those two.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If I had to do it now, you probably wouldn't have gotten the part.

I would have had too much fear.

Yeah.

But at 18, I just was like, oh, this is good.

Yeah.

How did, how did they find you?

How did you end up getting cast?

It's just A stupid, weird story.

I wanted to become an actress.

And I come from a very large Irish family.

My parents came over on the boat in the 50s, and I was at a club and, oh, I don't know, I did some stupid contest, and they saw my pictures, and it was right by the Bronx where Joe Pesci was.

And they're like, you know, you really look like the lady Vicki lamotta.

You should send your headshot in.

Which, of course, I didn't even know what a headshot was, but so I just sent a picture in and they called me to come down and read Sis Corman, who actually, it's so funny because it's like full circle now, because Sis Corman was such good friends with Sue Mengers, who I'm playing in I'll eat you last at the Bench.

And so I went down and this was like September, October.

And I started, and they kept calling me back and kept calling me back.

And anyway, that was that.

And for months and months, I just figured I was getting college for free because I applied for a grant.

And they told me they didn't consider asking a profession back then.

Why don't you be a nurse and explain to them, I'd like to play a nurse, not be a nurse.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And anyway, I ended up screen testing in February, months later, and I got the part.

Wow.

That is just.

It's just.

Yeah.

And the adventure began.

And we were supposed to shoot most of it in New York, but, like, the first week, they're like, you know what?

We're gonna all go to California.

So I off to California.

I went in April and.

And worked all the way through.

It was right before Christmas.

We finally rocked.

And it was a year before it came out.

Yeah.

Did you know much about Jake.

Jake and Vicki LaMotta at that time?

No, I knew nothing.

Okay.

I knew absolutely nothing.

You know, but I learned about them very quickly, didn't I?

Yeah.

And then to get an Academy Award nomination, what was that like?

My goodness.

Oh, boy.

I did not know the importance of it, really.

So you know how smart I was at 19 or 20 years old.

I decided to leave for Europe that day for six weeks.

Not my best choice.

Not my best choice, but I really did have fun.

Yeah.

And I ended up going on a Tour with Becky LaMotta.

Wow.

We went to Europe for six weeks.

I should have stayed put.

I know.

But that was a once in a lifetime opportunity as well.

What was.

What was she like?

Oh, she was a wonderful woman.

I wasn't.

I was never Allowed to meet her while we were filming.

And so after I finished the movie, and we had sent letters to each other and all kinds of stuff, and when she came to California to come on set, they would send me back to New York.

So I just thought that she just didn't want to meet me.

Finally, I was in Florida working on something else.

Not even a movie.

I went back to the garment center or something, and I finally got in touch with her, and I ended up staying in Florida.

I finished work on a Friday, and we finally connected, and I went down and I stayed with her for the weekend at her house.

Wow.

And it was an experience that I'll never forget, but I keep it close to my heart because it was kind of for me.

Yeah.

And we stayed friends for years and years.

That's great.

And then they had the 25th anniversary of Raging Bull.

I guess that's 20 years ago now, too.

And because they never had a premiere or anything for the movie.

So I was expecting to see her that night, but she had passed away three days before.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Ye.

I was heartbroken.

Yeah.

Absolutely heartbroken.

But then she even moved to New York.

So we actually became little filmmakers and really good friends.

It was a dynamite woman.

Just, you know, had a.

She never complained about it, but she didn't have the easiest life.

Yeah.

Didn't have the easiest life.

A wonderful human being.

When you did meet her and get to know her, did you see at that point, was there some essence of her that you thought, oh, okay, that.

I see that.

That's.

I sort of.

That's what they saw in me.

Did you have any kind of recognition like that?

I think I was really looking more for justification because the movie was shot through Jake LaMotta's eyes.

Until I finally grasped that, because there were certain things I was like.

I don't think Vicki would have said that.

And Mr.

Scorsese had explained to me, and he was so kind, and he would storyboard and, yeah, he knew I really.

I had no.

Really great experience.

I had no technical experience whatsoever.

Still trying to figure out camera left, Camera right.

Yeah, that's okay.

But when he explained, he goes, she probably didn't say that, but it's what Jake heard.

The whole movie was how Jake perceived his life, his paranoia, his, you know, manic.

So then it was okay.

But I had the opportunity to.

I guess I was apologizing to her if I portrayed her in a way that wasn't true to her own self.

And she was like, I know all about it, Kathy and then she actually did come to the screening in New York.

They didn't have a premiere or anything.

And I was with my family and she was with her and she just came out.

She gave me the biggest hug and a kiss.

She goes, you make me proud.

Oh, wow.

Make me cry.

Oh, my God.

You couldn't ask for more than that.

All right, let's.

And then she ended up moving down to Battery park and coming to New York, and we'd see each other at least once a week.

That's great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She was wonderful.

Absolutely wonderful.

I want to take a really quick break and then we'll come back and talk about Ali Last and Sue Menger.

So we'll be right back with Kathy Moretti on the desert scene.

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And we're back with Kathy Moriarty on the desert scene.

So let's talk about Sue Mengers because I'm looking at this.

So she saw you in Raging Bull and then thought helped kickstart your career after that?

Is that how that all happened?

She had pursued me then I was starting to work.

But for a year after I did Raging Bull, it took a year for it to come out.

I still didn't even have an agent.

And then sue is one of my first agents, I think, because I stayed in New York for a while.

So I went with them.

Johnny Franco first and then sue got me.

And I loved Sue.

Sue was a very unique, unique, woman who was just wonderful.

She was bigger than life.

A little tiny thing, but bigger than life itself.

And she just, you know, she'd shoot straight from the hip.

She was sue, and I just, I adored her.

But she was like, you're coming with me.

And she goes, I think you got it.

I believe in you, so let's take the ride.

And I did for many years.

Well, she did.

Was.

She did.

Did some people perceive her as difficult?

I don't know that much about.

I know she was very, like he said, larger than life.

But could she be difficult with.

With people sometimes.

I guess, sure.

I mean, it's such an icon.

People were scared of Sue.

People listen to Sue.

Yeah, she ran the show.

You know, she ran the show.

I mean, I had the privilege of being invited to some of her little dinner parties, and, boy, they were pretty amazing.

Very intimate, very calculated.

It was kind of like going to work from work.

They all about work that night.

Who was invited, who was placed where, why they were invited the same night that you were invited.

It was.

She put a lot of work, and she lived for her Jenna parties.

Yeah, she was wonderful.

Even in her office, all of her secretaries and assistants, she was shoemakers.

And really all I can say.

So being able to play her, knowing her, I mean, I was like 21, maybe 22 when I was with sue.

And I was with her for quite a while.

And then, you know, I stayed with the agency.

But then they kind of dwindle you down to the.

To the other agents.

But I remained friends with sue even after she didn't represent me anymore.

He's down Mulberry Street Pizzeria.

And she would call me on a Sunday at home, Cat.

And she'd be with David Gessen.

They were very good friends.

And come on.

The guys would tell me, they're not going to deliver to me.

I'm out of your range or something.

So she's like, call them.

Tell them.

Deliver to me.

So I stayed in Dutch with Sue, really forever.

And it came down to pizza at the end.

There you go.

But, you know.

Yeah, she'd just call me at home, call them, cassette.

And I did.

And she'd get her pizza on a Sunday.

So let's talk about the play.

I'll eat you last.

Interesting title.

A chat with Sue Mengers.

How did.

How did you hook up with the bench?

And tell us a little bit about the play.

The play is absolutely divine.

It's delicious.

It's wonderful.

And I thought it was going to be so much harder, but I'm so enjoying it.

I just got here yesterday to Palm Springs, and I've been meeting with Terry Wray, who's producing it, and Steve Rosenbaum, who's directing, and I've been talking to them for months now.

At first, I Never even got the email asking me if I'd be interested in doing it.

Then I get an email one morning saying, listen, they need to know by the end of today.

So what are you talking about?

I said, we've never discussed this.

I guess an email got lost in translation, or I guess basically somebody didn't do their job right.

Yeah.

Anyway, I said no.

Then they were like, well, we'll just pass for you.

I said, don't pass.

Let me read it.

Yeah.

And I read it, and I fell in love.

And I guess nobody expected me to say I would do it.

And then I did a little research, and Stephen, Terry made themselves so available to me.

I was like, you know what?

I think I might be interested.

Excellent.

And now that is my new family.

We had our first rehearsal yesterday, and I'm just.

I'm madly in love with them.

They're so talented.

The theater, which I have not been to, but I got to see it.

It's just this wonderful little quaint theater, this town down here.

Yeah.

I lived in LA for 30 something years, and I think I only came to Palm Springs like, once or twice, and I went to dinner with my daughter last night, and I just.

I'm, like, gonna start looking at real estate.

I just love it here.

It happens a lot.

Yeah.

It is so serene and clean.

It's beautiful.

Just lovely.

I mean, it's absolutely.

Just really wonderful.

So let's talk about this.

The show, the play as runs Fridays through Sundays from December 6th to the 22nd at the Bend, Palm Springs only LGBTQ theater.

And you can get tickets, I believe, @thebent.org now, is this is one woman show?

Is it a small cast or is it just you, or are there a couple other folks in the.

In the.

I really think it's just me.

And there might be a little guest that I call up every now and then.

Okay.

But, yeah, it's 90 minutes of listening to myself, I guess.

But you'll be listening to my version.

Do you think sue would.

Sue would like it?

Do you think sue would like it, the play, if she saw it?

I do.

Yeah.

I do.

Ten years ago, the fabulous BET Midland did it on Broadway.

And this is my version of it, though.

But, yeah, it's just.

It's written by John Logan, and it is so brilliant, and it just flows so smooth.

Yeah.

So hope to God I can be able to memorize 90 minutes of sue, which I will.

And I'm just.

It's just working with my new family for the next six weeks, and I'M already just so happy and comfortable and at ease.

Yeah, that's important.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We finished work last night around 7.

And my daughter, who's helping with the play as well, we went just for a bite to eat.

We were starving.

And she goes, you look relieved, happy.

Yeah.

And comfortable.

Because I was like, ah, that's important.

I just.

These people, they do so much for the community and they're just absolutely wonderful.

And I'm, I'm just, I'm so honored to be here.

Well, to be asked to do this, that they believe in me, that I can do it.

And.

Well, I didn't get fired yesterday, so I guess I'll see everybody at the Bent, right?

Yes, absolutely.

Well, Kathy Moriarty, she's starring in I'll Eat yout Last, a chat with Sue Mengers at the Bent, which takes place at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

Tickets to thebent.org thank you so very much.

I hope you do find some real estate here.

It's a wonderful place to live.

And thank you so very much for being here today.

Really, really appreciate it.

You know what?

Thank you.

It's very kind of you.

And I really do love your single.

Okay.

I hope you at the Bent.

Okay, I will.

All right, Kathy, thank you so much.

And we'll see the rest of you the next time.

On the desert scene.

The Desert Sea with Bonnie G.

Meet the stars and feel the beat from the Coachella Valley is the place to be for all the culture, fun and harmony the desert seems.

Yeah.

With Bonnie G.

The desert scenes where you belong with Mutual Broadcastings.

Bonnie G.

Just sing along.

Just sing along.