The 11 minutes that ruined Hollywood producer Allan Carr's career forever 

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION: From over 30 years ago - The infamous opening song and dance number to the March 29, 1989 awards show, with Rob Lowe singing to Snow White, dancing tables and so much more. This bombed so badly that the show's producer, Allan Carr (who made the movie GREASE) found himself shunned by Hollywood, and spent the next decade in relative seclusion until his death from liver cancer in 1999. Here is an excellent article from Los Angeles Magazine: www.lamag.com/longform/snow-job/ Allan Carr's story is also told in the new documentary film The Fabulous Allan Carr, which is based on the excellent book Party Animals by Robert Hofler. Used paperback copies can be found at amazon for under ten bucks. You may also want to check out the very interesting Hollywood Reporter article about actress Eileen Bowman's experience playing Snow White on this show. (Google her name and Hollywood Reporter). During rehearsals this opening number also featured the dancing Nicholas Brothers and an appearance by Mayim Biyalik, but both were cut before the ceremony's broadcast because the segment was running much too long. One point of confusion that keeps appearing in the comments section here is people who think that Rob Lowe's sex tape scandal had already occurred when he did this telecast. It did not. This telecast happened approximately 6 weeks before the scandal broke, but since it occurred so close in time people remember them together. While the tape with the under-age girl was recorded July 17, 1988 in Atlanta, the public didn't learn about its existence until the girl's mother's attorney, J. Hue Henry, filed suit against Lowe on May 12, 1989. (This telecast was March 29, 1989.) List of names of the opening number dancers, according to a rehearsal call sheet: Steve Merritt, D'Vaughn Pershing, Albie Berk, Eileen Bowman, Holly Vonk, Cheryl Baxter, Paula J. Belis, Pam Klinger, Tricia McFarlin, Edna R. Chew, Andrea Moen, Linda Sabatelli, Carla Earle, Christian Hanson, Debby Harris, Val Diamond, Shelly Werk, Lillian Colon, Barry Bernal, Tim Bond, Robert Brady, Tony Burrer, Steve Cooper, Ed Forsyth, Michael Fullington, David Giugni, Michael Higgins, Erik Hyler, Jim Kolb, Ken Miller, Felix Montano, Trish Ramish, Scott Musgrove, Regan Patno, Jamie Pisano, Nathan Prevost, Craig Raciawski, Gavin Ryan, Blane Savage, Christopher Solari, Todd Jenkins, Tina Bells, Tina Bradley, Karen Christenberry, Susan Conner, Carla Earie, Julie Morrical, Andrea Paris, Jody Peterson

People come here expecting a disaster, and they then find out it's nowhere as bad as they've been told. It's actually better than recent Oscars.

Apparently this was the actress who played Snow White's first role in Hollywood and, if she's to be believed, she didn't know what she was auditioning for until after it was done and was told "Congratulations, you're opening for The Oscars"... I genuinely have massive respect for her for just running with it.

To blame the lead? She didn’t write it, choreograph it, or conceptualize it. Well I’m glad hundreds of snobs had a horrible night. She did a great job with what she was given.

I don’t see the problem, it’s big, tacky, and surreal. It’s Hollywood.

Lowe said it best “I’m a big fan of you too Snow”. It was the 80’s you know

And THAT was the end of the 80s

The best part was when the tables got up and started dancing. Imagine telling your grandkids," look theres me,the table ."

7:40 - when the camera pans across the audience, the look on Robert Downy Jr's face is fantastic.

This is me having to write a 8 page essay at midnight

This is really one of those "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." numbers...

It’s not necessarily badly done, it’s just bizarrely disjointed.

Giving icons of Hollywood’s golden era a nod.

I knew one of the guys who was a dancing table. When he told me what he was doing I couldn’t stop laughing. He sheepishly said he needed rent money very badly...

Why does Snow White sound like Betty Boop lol? I'm surprised Rob Lowe worked again after this. Leave it to a legend like Lilly to help it recover!

It was too long, campy as hell but not as horrible as they claimed.

I’m reading the book Oscar Wars by Michael shulman, and he has a chapter that explains this Oscar telecast, Alan Carr produced, and how they found the beautiful actress for Snow White. Great book! I remember seeing this back in the day and thought it was awful. But watching it now, I actually liked it a lot, in all it’s crazed hallucinogenic staging! So bizarre but entertaining, with lovely tributes to the stars of yore.

I feel so bad for snow white. What a trooper to power through this thing, it's like an anxiety dream brought to life.

I've seen a lot worse. But it does feel endless.

I don't know why it would have ruined his career. The Star Wars Holiday Special didn't ruin George Lucas.

Gotta give props to Snow White, y'all. I never saw her tremble, her voice never cracked, and she danced perfectly in time with everyone. She did good. I'm not sure what the fuss is.

That time the Oscars caught amnesia and thought it was the Tonys.

I never attend any event unless it has dancing tables.

I asked my mom if she remembered seeing this live and her only reply was: “...My God...”

Cyd Charisse looks amazing here 3:34. At 68 years old, her movements are so eloquent still, and her legs!!

Robe Lowe recently talked about this on a podcast. An absolute disaster. He walks back stage, and Lucille Ball called him to sit with her. She complimented his singing talent and held his hand. The watched the Oscars together backstage. What an act of kindness.

After everyone saying how this was the worst Oscar moment of all time, my expectations were set pretty high, and I honestly don't think it's that bad. I think the campy cheesiness is intentional, and if the same exact performance was done by Neil Patrick Harris in the Tony awards today, people might say it was a little technically lackluster, but nobody would call it a massive embarrassment. It is OKAY to not take yourself so damn seriously all the time.

7:45 Robert Downey Jrs face says it all.

Honestly, as someone who was not born when this happened, why this was such a big deal is 100% lost on me.

This isn't as bad as legend would have it. It's a well executed production number. The problem is its (largely) lack of relevance to the Oscar ceremony.

This Oscar telecast was also the last public appearance of the great Lucille Ball. She and Bob Hope introduced another revue starring the future stars of Hollywood. A few weeks after the show, Lucy was taken to Sinai Hospital for emergency surgery. She passed away in the hospital a few days later. She looked wonderful in a black evening gown and took a few bows to a standing ovation. A fitting send off for the Queen of Comedy.

If no one else liked this, Baz Luhrmann obviously did.

Dayum! Cyd Charisse, who was 67 here, still had it! 🤩 She passed on in 2008, at the age of 86.

Me when the video started: Eh, this isn’t that bad Me after Rob Lowe finished his verse: What the hell is this trash?

I suddenly understand so many Simpsons' jokes I never got before...

Three thoughts: 1) I actually kind of like this. 2) During his next hosting gig, Neil Patrick Harris should parody this, with NPH playing Snow. 3) I think my parents may have had this playing near my crib, because I'm pretty sure it's what turned me gay.

Well, this is no longer the worst moment in Oscar history--not after last night...

7:44 Iron Man is like “WTF is this?!”

It's not that bad actually, the only things is, I think the production was more appropriate in Tony awards rather than in Oscars. 'Cause this opening number was more of a theatrical performance.

“this cannot possibly get any worse- DO THOSE TABLES HAVE HEADS??”

Bear in mind its a pretty flawless Snow White impersonation. The actress did her part and was just hoping for her big break.

Eileen Bowman's Snow White performance was spot on, she got Snow White's mannerisms down perfectly. Even better than the ones that actually work at Disneyland. Unfortunately, Snow White had no business being at the Oscars. It's like putting Hello Kitty at a WWE Death Match, it just doesn't go.

*Me, before watching video:* "I wonder what made this so bad it was a career ender." *Rob and Snow singing a parody of "Proud Mary"* Me: "Now I understand."

Apart from the terrible singing and the truly ghastly atmosphere, none of it makes any sense?

It started out I was like “Oh is not that bad” and then as it progressed it got more and more confusing and by the time rob lowe started singing Tina turner I was like “wait, what the fuck is this”

They should have used Dorthy if they were going for the “Follow the Hollywood Stars” shicht

Well, give her credit...she sounds like the movie Snow White.

How is this a flop? It seems like a big fun Hollywood romp. Everyone is doing a good job. It’s a shame this ruined someone’s career. The audience seems to love it.

Imagine if this happened today? Twitter would loose it’s goddamn mind. Think of the MEMES

That poor very young actress, thinking this was her big break... and instead, she gets blamed for this turd and run out of town. Yeah, like she could possibly have saved it.

If she married him, she'd be Snow Lowe.

1. When Robin Williams is like WTF, you know its bad 2. Cyd Charisse still had amazing pair of legs

This is one powerful acid trip

A love letter to Hollywood of the 1920's and 30's. Wasn't as bad as they say it was.

There’s a lot of good stuff to see in this train wreck. The performer playing Snow White worked her butt off for this big moment. It’s not her fault this was a mess. Seeing all the dancers breathing heavy while dancing, I wish I could dance like that.

I don't care what anyone says, I enjoy this every time I see it. It's fun!!

Seeing all the older actors from the Golden era of Hollywood was cool. Things went south after that, lol

The entire opening was based on the San Francisco show Beach Blanket Babylon. Allan Carr was a huge fan of this show, so when he was asked to do the Oscars, he hired Steve Silver, the creator of BBB, to basically recreate his show as the opening of the Oscars. Beach Blanket Babylon involves Snow White looking for her prince, and on the way bumping into a lot of off-the wall characters, mostly culled from modern pop culture. It's all hip and amusing in a small club, but considerably less so when millions of people are watching it on television.

I like how they got the next year's "In Memoriam" section out of the way during the act.

7:46 Robert Downey Jr looking like “God I need a drink!”

I can just hear Lorelai Gilmore: “Oh, come on... What’s next? A kick line?!”

still far more entertaining than the past six or seven Oscar ceremonies

But what does Snow White have to do with any of it? Like it’s not terrible it just doesn’t make sense. Edit: I just saw the Rob Lowe part. Not a singer

Lily Tomlin at the end was the best- basically like, "Well, that was certainly a thing that just happened"

"Proud Mary" didn't deserve this.

Seeing this footage almost 30 years later, it is not that bad.

Cocaine is a helluva drug!!!

I absolutely love this! Miss the old Hollywood!❤❤❤❤😊Clearly they where aware of children watching with their parents!❤😊

My favorite part is when they introduced famous people who couldn’t walk or dance unsupported and the instantly got them off stage.

*This reminds me of those dinner shows they have every 30 minutes on cruise ships 🛳* 🤣🤣.... Not bad just Cheesy!!

if only they have Twitter back then, it would be hilarious to see all those live tweets lol.

Unfortunately, this is the best thing I've ever seen.

It's hard to believe that a production number that wasn't (That Bad), ruined somebody's career!

1:19 Sigourney Weaver's like, "I knew I shoulda stayed home..."

Are we sure that this isn’t actually from a Mel Brooks movie?

Like everyone else, I had my expectations pretty high for how bad this was. I thought something was gonna go wrong in the middle of the show. As I’m watching, I noticed that the staircase was closing back into one, and Eileen was behind it. For a minute I thought she got crushed and that’s what went wrong and what made the show a disaster. It is very cringy but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

This is like leaving the house with your whole jewelry box on your neck. Take at least one accessory off, you can't wear 'em all.

Finally we know where they got the inspiration for Katy Perry and Her Fabulous Dancing Sharks at the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show.

Rob Lowe: "I'm a big fan of yours, Snow." If only we knew he wasn't talking about the princess.

Okay but this would absolutely KILL today. Imagine Twitter with this 😂😂

I've heard about this for years- mostly Rob Lowe singing with Snow White- but this is the first time I've seen it. I kinda LOVE it! Sure its really, really over the top (really), but that's part of the fun, especially when they salute the stars of Old Hollywood.

Family guy should recreate this for an entire episode 🤣🤯

1:19 - Sigourney Weaver: Don't you dare come close to me Snow White.

I don't care how cringy this was.....the fact that River Phoenix was at this even makes it wonderful.

Vincent Price being in this (even just for a few seconds) makes this a lot better. And then I heard Rob Lowe's singing. YIKES.

Cyd Charisse at 3:37 was the best part of this - and she was 67 at the time.

Apart from this endless and painful effort, there was another lengthy musical segment meant to showcase "stars of tomorrow" (including Patrick Dempsey, Ricki Lake, Molly Ringwald, and Corey Parker--who was Dempsey's STEPFATHER ffs!). But one innovation Carr created still lingers today. He insisted that when the envelopes were opened, all presenters would no longer say "And the winner is ..." but, instead, they would say, "And the Oscar goes to ..."". This has been done in all subsequent Oscarcasts right up until this year. So Carr had influence beyond the debacle that was that evening.

A Max Bialystock production, Springtime for Hollywood. 7:44 Robert Downey Jr's face says it all.

Why is this a scandal? It’s a fun, over the top, tongue in cheek, take off on 1930s musicals. It’s a lot better than what they do now. What Rob Lowe did has nothing to do with this, nor did they know about it at the time this was done. Hollywood is ridiculous sometimes.

That was the best 11 minutes of my life. It was terrible. But god I loved it

Heaven help me, I actually like it for the things that make it so terrible. It's insanely tacky and garish, it's disjointed and nonsensical, it's stupid and almost aggressively awful. I love it.

Bruce Vilanch, who worked as a writer for the 1989 Oscars talked about for the Archive of American Television. He implied that the backlash against this opening number probably wouldn't have gotten as big as it had gotten had 1) The late Frank Wells, who at the time, was the president of The Walt Disney Company had not made a big stink over the usage of the Snow White character. Even though Snow White is within the public domain, Wells thought that the character as portrayed by Eileen Bowman shouldn't have been used without appropriation by Disney. 2) About two weeks after the show, Rob Lowe's sex tape surfaces. And his "disastrous" appearance with Snow White at the Oscars was the most recent point of reference that the media had. So you can already see right away, how it grew into something bigger and bigger. 3) At the time, the Academy wouldn't allow any current movies be advertised during the Oscars ceremony because they didn't want to imply an endorsement from the Academy. At the time, Disney was opening a theme mark in Florida. The Academy wouldn't allow them to have commercials. So they did an end-runaround and made a deal with Chevy for commercials that were shot at the Disney-MGM Studios. After the Snow White number ended, the first thing that you saw was Snow White's castle at the Disney studios with Snow White coming out of a Chevy. That according to Bruce Vilanch, was the real reason why Frank Wells was so incensed.

Wasn't bad, but it felt overly surreal to the point it felt like a fever dream.

As soon as Rob Lowe got to: ... to grumpy and sl*HHHHLEEPY* ... i threw my head back and laughed maniacally

My understanding is that one of the biggest problems was that the use of Snow White's image was not authorized. I think the Academy had to trash the opening and Carr to distance themselves from it. My guess is that Carr's "banishment" was more about a legal than artistic breach. But as these things go, it was a fun, insane romp. Yeah, Lowe can't sing -- but I wasn't expecting him to. The very beginning of the opening was the most cringeworthy part, but the rest was silly fun. Not great, but not horrible.

Poor Eileen Bowman. She probably thought this is a good career move

Lol when they pan by Robert Downey Jr. He looks so unimpressed I love it haha

Merv Griffin sings "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts". At the Oscars. The question marks just explode from there.

All the way through the entire 11.:31. I kept asking myself, "The terrible part is probably coming up next, because this really does not seem all that bad yet." It's not the best thing ever seen on broadcast television but definitely NOT horrible. According to the actress playing Snow White, the production was based on an over-the-top stage play called "Beach Blanket Babylon" that was running at the time.

the worst part was at the beginning when she goes into the audience the terror in the eyes of Tom Hanks and Dustin Hoffman etc. who were all thinking "get the fuck away from me!" & cringeing with embarrassment