Well, dear readers, last night was quite a lot of fun. As you might recall, I went to a screening of the motion picture entitled Bye Bye Birdie at the Alex Theater in Glendale. They have a film society there, and they show films once every month or two. First, my friend Nick and I went and ate dinner, at a very nice Italian place a few door down from the theater. I had an excellent Caesar Salad and Pasta with peas, prosciutto and thick heavy cream sauce. It was all very yummy indeed. Then we paid a little visit to a bookstore called Bookfellows, a few doors up from the Alex. That is where I will be doing my signing in August, and they now have a lovely display in the window, as well as a whole display in the shop. They’ve already sold some books, I was told. They we moseyed over to the Alex where they had a theater group dressed in Birdie garb, doing a little pre-show in the forecourt of the Alex.
First they showed a Mr. Magoo cartoon, which was truly funny (one forgets how much fun it was to have a cartoon before a feature). Then they brought their guests on stage for a little chat – they included a few dancers from the film, including Bobby Banas, Pete Menefee, a lady whose name I couldn’t understand (maybe Alina or something), and the fellow whose mother had taken home movies during the shoot. It was great fun to hear them all reminisce. You would recognize Mr. Banas immediately because he was in the film of West Side Story – he also worked with Jerome Robbins for many years. It was great to see Pete Menefee up there – when I did a play at the Mark Taper Forum back in 1973, Pete did the costumes (by then he’d given up dancing and become a leading costume designer). He was amazed, even back then, that I recognized him immediately from Mary Poppins. I knew he’d been in Bye Bye Birdie, but for all these years and as many times as I’ve seen the film, I did not know that he was Harvey Johnson in The Telephone Hour. How could I not have known that? He’s in later scenes, too, not as Harvey Johnson. They showed the home movies, which were remarkable. Then they introduced the one and only Onna White, who was in the audience, looking pretty damned good. Onna White was the choreographer of the film of Birdie and, of course, she choreographed the original Broadway The Music Man (film, too) as well as the film of Oliver! (for which she won an Oscar).
Finally, they showed the film. It was an excellent new print and was it great to see it on the big Alex screen. What was not great was the sound, which was simply inexcusable and hideous. Tinny, distorted, low, compressed and ugly as all get out. If they’re going to have a film society and have these screenings, they really need to address this problem right now, and I’m going to write them a letter about it. These screenings are not free (8.50 to the general public, a bit less to members), the house was sold out, and they need to spend a bit of money to upgrade and have decent sound. Or, the Alex should, but I will not go back there if that’s what the sound is going to be like. The film of Birdie is odd – they changed it quite a bit from the show, but I’ve always been fond of it. Watching it on DVD a few months ago, I was amazed at how forced and slow the last twenty minutes was. However, I was instantly reminded why it’s more fun to see movies in the theater, because suddenly those forced and slow minutes were really funny – everyone was laughing and applauding and it all came back to me that when I first saw it (at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood – now the El Capitan) that that section of the film got huge laughs. Even the dated humor got laughs.
It’s also bittersweet for me to watch the film because I knew quite a few of the kids who were in the chorus of Honestly Sincere. They’d scoured all the high schools back then, and several from mine were in it, including Debbie Stern and Sherry Gold from my drama class, and a girl named Steffi, with whom I had just been in acting school. Where is she, I wonder. I don’t remember her last name at all, and of course as was the practice back then, they didn’t credit any of the kids. But you can’t miss her because she’s in a green dress with the reddest hair you’ve ever seen. And somewhere in the large group of kids in the film is Stephanie Gorman, who I’ve written about before.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Anyway, it was a lot of fun and Nick and I both ran into people we knew. Well, shall we all say Bye Bye to this section and click on the Unseemly Button below?
Well, it is a lazy Sunday, but perhaps that is because we are smack dab in the middle of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. I feel like writing lazy notes today. Yes, I shall write lazy notes and languid notes and limpid notes. Yes,
I’m feeling
quite
lazy and I can’t
even
be bothered to write a complete
sentence on one
line.
Perhaps I’ll even take a lazy, languid and limpid walk later whilst I sip on a Mint Julep or a Lime Rickey, or an Orange Crush. Perhaps I’ll sit on the veranda with a fan and watch the passersby. Perhaps I’ll even see Mrs. DuBose. Oh, I am feeling so lazy and languid and limpid. Perhaps I shall fry an egg on the sidewalk. Perhaps I shall read poetry aloud to the singing bird, whilst whittling on a piece of wood. Perhaps I’ll mosey along to the corner store and buy some Mike and Ike’s Watermelon-flavored chewies. What the hell am I talking about?
I know, maybe I’ll find someone named George and see if they want to spend Sunday in the park with Bruce. Now, wait just a darned minute – that is a very good title for a musical, isn’t it? Sunday in the Park with Bruce? That would just make a fine musical I should think.
I feel I should sing Cole Porter’s marvelous song, The Laziest Gal In Town, as immortalized by Miss Marlene Dietrich in Mr. Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright. Or maybe I’ll just sing Lazy Afternoon, even though it is the morning. Oh, well, perhaps we should just call an end to today’s notes because we need to be lazy and languid and limpid and even reading takes too much fershluganah energy. No, we want to lounge in our lounging pajamas, and then put on our various and sundried bathing outfits (I, of course, in my Speedos) and sit out by the pool. Of course, if you don’t have a pool, you could sit by the sink.
Well, dear readers, let us not take the day for the day is too lazy to take. Let us sit back and relax and enjoy the beginning of a brand spanking new week. There’s a new radio show to listen to, and today of course is free-for-all lazy day, topic-wise, so you can post about anything your heart desires. I shall be back to take part in whatever those topics might be. Post away, my pretties.