Will ‘Song of the South’ Be Next?

Otto Preminger’s controversial “Porgy and Bess” (1959), which has been almost totally unavailable for decades, will play a two-day run at the Ziegfeld beginning on Sept. 26, the 109th birthday of composer George Gershwin, TCM host Robert Osborne reveals in his Hollywood Reporter column. The last flick produced by the legendary Sam Goldwyn, “Porgy” stars Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey and Dihann Carroll. The Gershwin estate was reportedly unhappy with the film, or at least critical sniping about racial stereotypes, and refused to re-license rights after they ran out following TV showings in the 1970s, though they did permit the Brooklyn Museum to show it a couple of years ago. The Ziegfeld, a 3000-seat homage to movie palaces of yore that opened in 1969, has increasingly turned to revivals to fill the time between bookings of animated flicks and musicals that have become its mainstays, along with studio premieres. Next Friday, it’s booked a one-week, 20th anniversary run of “Dirty Dancing,” to be followed by a 30th anniversary revival of “Saturday Night Fever.” And in October, the Ziegfeld will host a pre-DVD booking of Ridley Scott’s last (he promises) version of “Blade Runner.” The Ziegfeld’s sister Clearview house, the Chelsea, has a one-week run of “Mahogany” with Diana Ross opening on Friday, and will do the honors for a pre-DVD run of the notorious “Cruising” on September 7.