It will be a pleasure to watch Roberta Colindrez play Latina pitcher Lupe García in the TV series A League of Their Own based on the 1992 movie by the same title directed by Penny Marshall. Her casting, as well of that of Chanté Adams, who played the author in A Journal for Jordan (2021) directed by Denzel Washington, signals increased commitment to inclusivity on the part of Hollywood studios.
I had been a fan of this queer actress since seeing her in I Love Dick (2017) by Joey Soloway, then in season two and three of the Latinx series Vida set in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, so I asked for a one-on-one interview, and wrote it up in two different articles for Cultural Weekly (now Cultural Daily) and for the Golden Globes website. Click on red links to read.
When Penny Marshall passed in 2018, I wrote an obituary for the Golden Globes website and an article for Cultural Weekly where I quoted a review of her 1992 movie A League of Their Own that I wrote for Venice, Los Angeles Arts and Entertainment Magazine, where I served as Film Editor from 1990 to 1999.
As a teenage girl who played professional volleyball in Italy in the 1960s, I learned to appreciate the character-building value of playing team sports from my father, Enzo Leonelli, founder, player and coach of the Minelli team from Modena, Italian volleyball champion in the 1950s.
I wrote in 1992: “A League of Their Own is a reflection on the true value of sports, which should be an affirmation of individual abilities in the context of a healthy competitive environment, where camaraderie and team spirit prevail. It reminds us of why baseball continues to have such an important role in the formation of our American and human values; especially now, when children of all races and colors are finally allowed to play the sport together, boys and girls alike, without sex bias, since Little League Baseball has been integrated.”
Elisa Leonelli with Geena Davis (c) HFPA
This week I wrote an archival post quoting Geena Davis saying to HFPA journalists in 1992 that women should be allowed to play baseball again, as they did from 1943 to 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Davis played the lead in the movie, a role played by co-creator Abbi Jacobson in the TV series. She is the writer-comedian co-creator of the comedy series Broad City (2014-2019).
I am looking forward to the contemporary angle on this chapter of women’s history that the TV series will present. In the meantime you may watch the trailer here.
Key art courtesy of Amazon Studios