Well, dear readers, I have survived another Disney/ASCAP workshop, and I am here to tell the tale. But before I tell the tale, perhaps I should tell the tail. The tail of the White Dog. No, I’m not ready to tell that tail or tale yet. So, perhaps I should tell the tale of Sweeney Todd? No, most of us know that tale. Perhaps I should tell the tale of Ed Sullivan and How He Loved and Helped Broadway musicals. No, I’m not ready to tell that tale yet. Perhaps I should just tell The Story. Perhaps it’s finally time for The Story, but The Story is going to take an entire week to tell, so perhaps I shall not start The Story today. Look at all those tale possibilities. I don’t mean to keep wagging all those tales in front of you like prime USDA beef, and yet that is exactly what I am doing. Do you know what is really interesting? Well, I’ll tell you what is really interesting because, frankly, why should I keep what is really interesting from you when you have the right to know what is really interesting. What is really interesting is that whenever I have a header title like “Telling Tales” strangers show up immediately and search for things. All manner of things. Isn’t that really interesting?
Oh, I can also tell the tale of Who Is The Highest Winner of our handy-dandy trivia contest. And, just where the hell is Mr. Donald Feltham and just what the hell is his radio show about this week? Of course, I could just go listen to the damn thing, but I like to know in advance what it is I’m listening to. I’m just one of those kinds of people. In any case, since there are a few tales to tell, perhaps we should all click that horrid little Unseemly Button below so we can get on with these notes, tale-wise.
So many tales, so little time. Let’s start with The Tale of the Disney/ASCAP workshop. I’ve done eight of these, I think, and I always enjoy doing them. Although, that said, every time I get up to do the panel it’s like I’ve never done it before. Last night’s musical was entitled Ivory Joe Cole. I eventually found out it was supposed to be loosely based on Othello, but transplanted to Florida in the early 50s. There was lots of good music, big band variety and a terrific cast of performers, led by the incredibly talented Norm Lewis. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but as with most of these workshops, the real problems always lie with the book. What story are the authors trying to tell? Why do they want to tell it? Certainly, that was the big problem here – one never knew who the characters were, or why they wanted what they wanted, and the whole thing lacked focus and momentum. Also, four numbers in a row had no endings, which drives me crazy. For once, my fellow panelists and I were all on the same page, as was Stephen Schwartz, who moderates these things, and who is very smart indeed. This is one of the few shows I’ve seen at the workshop that I think feels like it could be a real show (well, one other – the one time I did the panel in New York, I saw Swing Alley, which evolved into The Rhythm Club – or was it the other way around?) – the setting is interesting and there are lots of possibilities for a good and dramatic story to be told.
And now, The Tale of the White Dog. White Dog started life as a story by Romain Gary, very controversial – about a dog who’d been trained from when he was a puppy, to kill Black people. In the early eighties, the very interesting director, Samuel Fuller, turned it into a film. He wrote the script with Curtis Hanson. It starred Kristy McNicholl (and where is she today?) and Paul Winfield, as the trainer who tries to undo the racist hatred that’s been instilled in the dog, like a cancer. The film was to be released by Paramount, but they got cold feet and shelved it. It’s a very strong indictment of racism, so why they got cold feet is beyond me. In any case, the film got two or three airings on an LA pay cable station called Z Channel, and I was lucky enough to tape it. I think it’s been officially shown once since then, at some Fuller tribute. Well, when I was rummaging through boxes trying to find the cut musical number from Nudie Musical, I found several interesting Betamax tapes, including White Dog. Because the cut number from Nudie was on Beta, I had to bring my old Beta machine to Image Entertainment, and they were kind enough to transfer several other Betas over to VHS for me. So, I saw White Dog again, for the first time in fifteen years. It’s a great film, heavy-handed at times, but with a powerful message. The titular white dog gives a rather incredible performance – part of the horror of this film is that the dog is totally lovable until he sees a Black person. It really winds you up inside, because obviously you want such a dog killed immediately, but you also want him to be cured, because he’s beautiful and loving to sweet Kristy (who accidentally nicks the dog with her car, and then adopts him). She’s great, and so is Paul Winfield, and Burl Ives is colorful as always. Great score by Ennio Morricone, too. I’d recommend it, but you’d have to come to my house to see it.
The other thing I found out recently, is that a friend of mine at Image, has a person who transfers VHS to DVD. So, I began the process of transfering things that I really want to save – so, therein lies the Tale of Ed Sullivan and How He Helped the Broadway Musical. Ed was on the air for over twenty years, I believe, and in those twenty years he was the best friend the Broadway musical ever had. His show was incredibly popular, every Sunday night – one simply did not miss Ed Sullivan. He was so goofy and amateurish, but totally charming, and every time he could, he would have the casts of current musicals on, to do numbers from their shows. Several years ago, they pulled highlights from twenty years worth of Sullivan Broadway musical moments and did a two hour show (or was it one hour?). But they were just snippets, really, and merely whetted the appetite. However, I was, at the time, one of the producers of the Fox TV show, Totally Hidden Video, and one of the other producers knew the producer of the Sullivan special. The point being that he managed to get us just about every single Broadway musical number ever done on the Sullivan show, right off the master tapes (with time code burned in, unfortunately, although it’s not bothersome). Now, over the years, others have gotten copies of this, but their dupes of dupes of dupes. My tapes are the best, he said, gloatingly. So, I am having them all transfered to DVD right now – that’s seven two-hour VHS tapes, or fourteen hours of material. Such amazing stuff – twenty minutes of the original cast of The Most Happy Fella, Gwen Verdon doing the complete If They Could See Me Now, Turkey Lurkey Time from Promises, Promises (alas, not with the original cast), the entire opening of 1776, a good deal of Man of La Mancha, West Side Story, Do Re Mi, and on and on, a virtual encyclopedia of musical theater greatness. I’d recommend it, but you’d have to come to my house to see it.
My goodness, these are the longest notes in blog history. Now, it’s time for the Tale of Who Won The Trivia Contest. Apparently, my question, what did the first four Bay Cities original cast album reissues, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Chicago, Golden Boy and Woman of the Year, have in common. Apparently, with the internet, these things are too easily researchable – hence, the fact that everyone answered correctly. The answer, of course, is:
All four shows had settings by the brilliant and wonderful Tony Walton.
Our High Winners are Robert Armin, Hapgood, William E. Lurie, Michael Shayne, Jeffrey Kauffman, Paul Fairie, Arnold Brockman and Steve Gurey. After putting all those names into our handy-dandy electronic hat, our Highest Winner (chosen at random) is: Arnold Brockman. Congratulations to all and all. If Mr. Brockman will send his handy-dandy address he will receive his handy-dandy prize. Our other prizewinners from several weeks ago, should be on the lookout for their handy-dandy prizes, which are now in the mail.
I had many requests to give out the recipe for Wacky Noodles – one of our dear readers found a copy of the recipe on the internet (what can’t you find on the internet?) and printed it in the Unseemly Comments section of yesterday’s notes. So, merely click on the Unseemly Archive Button and you will be whisked away to Wacky NoodleLand. One thing, though – in the interest of less fat and less calories, use three ounces of sour cream rather than eight. Eight is overkill, sour cream-wise.
Well, frankly, I am taled out. But tomorrow I will have more tales. For example, while I was at Image yesterday, I got an advance copy of the Fosse DVD. And so, tune in tomorrow for the Tale of the Fosse DVD.