Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got

Anchored by an incisive interview with its then 72-year-old subject, Artie Shaw: Time is All You’ve Got looks back on the five-decade career of “King of the Clarinet” Artie Shaw (1910-2004), one of the most popular stars of the 1930s and ’40s Swing era. Born Arthur Arshawsky in 1910 in New York City, Artie Shaw leaves home to tour as a musician at the age of 16 and slowly rises to national prominence, becoming as famous for his eight marriages as for his musical skill, which earns him comparisons to Benny Goodman. Shaw discusses his musical and cinematic career, and his many interests (fly-fishing, astronomy, psychoanalysis, aviation, and literature, to name a few).

In an era of separate white and Black bands, Shaw broke the color barrier by hiring legendary African American musicians like Billie Holiday, Hot Lips Page and Roy Eldridge for his bands. Shaw’s restlessness and intellectual curiosity (he’d author four books of fiction and non-fiction) led him to shun celebrity and retire from show business in the late 1940s, with only occasional comebacks after. Known also as a ladies’ man, Shaw’s eight wives included actresses Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Doris Dowling, Evelyn Keyes, and novelist Kathleen Winsor, author of the notoriously racy bestseller Forever Amber.

Brigitte Berman’s film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1985, and is screening in a new 4K restoration. Featuring: Artie Shaw, Polly Haynes, John Wexley, Lee Castle, John Best, Helen Forrest, Buddy Rich, Mel Tormé.

Unfailingly entertaining.

Glenn Kenny, New York Times

Superb… A documentary masterpiece… Big-band leader and clarinet virtuoso Artie Shaw’s life story is told sensitively and in detail: He talks about growing up poor and Jewish in New York; his intensely serious approach to music; his love-hate relationship with show business; and his ambition to be a creative writer. A brilliant portrait of a difficult man, an artist who was never happy with himself or anyone else.

Judy Wolfe, POV Magazine

Berman makes history live.

LA Times