Jean Doumanian
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Jean Doumanian (born c.1934 as Jean Karabas in Chicago, Illinois) is an American producer. She is most widely known for a brief stint as the executive producer of Saturday Night Live (SNL) and later, as a producer for several Woody Allen films.
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[edit] Saturday Night Live
Show creator Lorne Michaels resigned as producer of SNL at the end of its fifth season and the entire cast and writing staff followed. Doumanian, who was an associate producer for the first five seasons of the show and produced a special for Michaels in 1978, was one of the few who stayed around. She was offered Michaels' job running SNL and took over the show for the 1980 season, hiring a completely new cast and new writers (many people refused to go near the show because of loyalty to Michaels). The show was plagued by problems from the start.
The first episode, renamed "Saturday Night Live '80", appeared on November 15, 1980. Charles Rocket was groomed by Doumanian to be the show's biggest star, while Eddie Murphy, who would become the most successful member of that season's cast, received little air time. The new season was quickly panned by the critics.
Doumanian nearly lost her job in a battle with NBC executives over a sketch she wanted to insert into the December 6, 1980 episode. The sketch, named "The Virgin Search", portrayed NBC executives looking for a woman who's never had sexual intercourse to be SNL's newest castmember. The main objection to the sketch was the sequence where the NBC executives visit a convent and meet a nun (played by Gail Matthius) who had sex with Father Guido Sarducci. NBC executives threatened to ban this episode and air an episode from Lorne Michaels' tenure as executive producer if Jean Doumanian didn't back down. The controversial sketch eventually aired two weeks later, on December 20.
On the February 21 episode, Rocket said "fuck" on air at the close of an episode. In addition to firing Rocket, NBC soon fired Doumanian, replacing her with Dick Ebersol. The period is now widely regarded as being the worst in SNL history.
[edit] Woody Allen
Doumanian had a nearly 40-year friendship and professional relationship with Woody Allen. He is said to have called the SNL studios regularly during her brief tenure there, and cast member Ann Risley had had a bit role in Stardust Memories. She taught him how to dance in the 1960s, defended him through various scandals, and he saved her life in 1992 when she was choking on a piece of bread.
After leaving SNL, she was an executive producer for several of his films:
- Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
- Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
- Deconstructing Harry (1997)
- Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
- Small Time Crooks (2000)
She was also a producer for a 1994 made-for-television film Don't Drink the Water and the 1997 documentary Wild Man Blues, a film about a tour undertook by Allen's jazz band.
In May 2001 many were stunned when he filed a lawsuit against Doumanian and her partner Jacob Safra, claiming their production company had skimmed $12 million of profits off of the movies. She countersued, claiming he had cheated them out of $19 million. The two sides settled in 2002, but the friendship was shattered.
[edit] Broadway
In 2002, Doumanian was a producer for a Broadway revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2004, Doumanian was a producer of the Broadway premiere of the play Democracy by Michael Frayn.
