Well, dear readers, what a weekend we’re going to have here at haineshisway.com. Those who miss out will not be in. Yes, Virginia, those who are in with the in crowd, with it, happening, cool, man, cool will be here the whole weekend through. As “the count” has been kindly pointing out every day, tomorrow is my very own birthday. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, tomorrow belongs to me – oh, a Kander and Ebb reference. Therefore, I will be donning my pointy party hat and putting on my colored tights and pantaloons and I hope you will, too. I shall be plattering the cheese slices and ham chunks and I shall be preparing to do the Hora and also the Pachanga. Oh, what fun we shall have – we will party until we drop or, at the very least, we shall drop until we party. I do hope everyone will show up for the festivities.
The Unseemly Interview with Mr. Max Preeo, he of Show Music Magazine, is up and running and it’s a corker so do peruse it and then post your thoughts. Also, Donald will have a brand spanking new radio show up tomorrow night, and our very own Unseemly Live Chat will be Monday night (I’ll be doing it live from the office, as David Wechter is taking me out for my birthday). Therefore, we’re going to start a little earlier than normal, say six-thirty Pacific Mean Time. I’ll post complete information on Monday. We also have an Unseemly Trivia Contest up today so check it out and make your best guess.
Remember yesterday I was humming/singing The Glory of Love all the livelong day? Well, this morning I woke up and all I can hum/sing is the beautiful song Emily from The Americanization of Emily. It’s firmly entrenched in my brain and it won’t go away. I’m not even that fond of the lyric, frankly, but that melody slays me and I just sing it over and over and over again. Emily, Emily, Emily. Thank you, Johnny Mandel for one of the most glorious movie themes ever.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button right this very minute, because there are answers to excellent questions and all manner of whatnot in the next section.
I’ve got Emily on the brain, I’m afraid. It’s simply Emily, Emily, Emily all the livelong day. Like The Glory of Love it just plants itself in your head and that’s it, over, finito, it’s all you can hum/sing for hours and hours. Well, perhaps if I answer your excellent questions, another song will supplant the planting of Emily in the garden known as my brain. My goodness, that was poetic, wasn’t it? The garden of my brain is filled with flowers that blossom – some wilt and die, but some put forth a beautiful aroma and look splendidly splendid. Sometimes I plant a radish in my brain – oh, a Schmidt and Jones reference. Enough with the garden in my brain, I’ve got excellent questions to answer.
Jrand55 asks why the Annette Funicello song “I’ll Never Change Him was cut from the video and DVD release of Beach Blanket Bingo? I really can’t say, but sometimes there are just weird music publishing issues on older films and lots of times source music has to be replaced because they can’t come to terms – maybe that’s what happened with that one song, although it seems peculiar.
Robert Armin asks of all the lost scores that have never been recorded, what is the most significant score that I would like to see given a full studio cast recording, like what I did with Drat! The Cat! There are a few I’d planned to do, but then another record producer threw a monkey wrench into the plans (that is that particular fellow’s m.o.) – Lolita, My Love (I’d already cast the leads and had the blessing of Liza Lerner, but this fellow went to John Barry and the whole thing got mucked up and, of course, it’s never been recorded even though the fellow promised Mr. Barry it would be (that was two years ago). I was also going to do The Yearling, but the same thing happened. And I really wanted to do Smile, and would have, but Mr. Hamlisch wasn’t interested.
Philip Crosby asks what my favorite Comden and Green lyric is. It has been and always will be The Party’s Over, one of the most sublimely beautiful bits of wordplay ever. Perfection, in my opinion (IMO, in Internet lingo). Emily, Emily, Emily – damn them, damn them all to hell – I thought The Party’s Over would supplant Emily but Emily keeps finding her way back into the windmills of my mind).
William E. Lurie asks if Friday (yesterday) was my last day at work does that mean I’ll be keeping Luckie full time. Well, as it turned out my last day is next Friday and then Luckie will be mine full time. Will there be a gathering of Hainsies/Kimlets on my next New York trip? Absolutely. William E. Lurie is reading Miss Carol Channing’s book and since I recorded her in the revival of Hello, Dolly! he’d like to know what she is really like when she’s not playing Carol Channing. Well, since I am never less than honest, I will only say that I did not care for the experience of working with her. When I first met her she was all “Carol”, funny and charming. In the studio she was a bit of a monster – always complaining, always annoyed with this or that, never listening to anyone (and believe me, she should have, for her own good) – I turned to Jerry Herman at one point and said, “How do you deal with it?” and he said, “I’ve been dealing with it for thirty-five years.” She was never terrible to me personally, but she just held all of the people in the booth in great disdain, and at one point she said (and I have on tape), “Oh, they’re just electricians, they don’t understand actors.” When we had to go to Buffalo to do some vocal pickups, she was even worse, and I finally told her to stop it or I would stop the session. She behaved after that. All that said, she’s a true trouper and I adored her in the revival.
Arnold M. Brockman asks what happened to the photos taken at the New York soiree. Mr. Mark Bakalor, who is apparently too busy for the likes of us, has them and hasn’t bothered to do anything for this here site in ages. We will be meeting over the holidays to discuss that very issue and I hope that meeting will result in a brand spanking new Unseemly Photo Gallery.
Jed asks what I think of the Coen Brothers’ films and do I have any favorites. Well, they’re a mixed bag, aren’t they? I love Raising Arizona and I really like Fargo, and I liked O, Brother Where Art Thou pretty well. The others – well, I like bits and pieces. What is my favorite Steve Martin movie. Oh, Pennies from Heaven maybe. And his bit in Little Shop of Horrors. What is my favorite Dustin Hoffman role? Ratso Rizzo, his finest hour. What is my favorite Jack Nicholson role? A tie between Terms of Endearment and Chinatown.
Laura asks if I’ve ever been called for jury duty. No, I haven’t. How many pounds have I lost on my Eileen and Chet Atkins Diet? I haven’t weighed myself in three weeks – at that point I’d lost eight pounds. I don’t feel much lighter than then, but I’ll weigh myself soon and find out. Have I ever flown in a really small plane and did I like it? Yes and no.
Kerry asks what project I worked with Elaine Stritch on. She was on my Drat! The Cat! recording. I liked her very much and enjoyed working with her. She, too, can be a bit caustic, but she really liked me and trusted me and we had a very good time. What are my three favorite Christmas songs? Well, number one is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I like Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire (The Christmas Song) and I like White Christmas.
Michael Shayne mentions that there is a photo of me with singer David Campbell on his website and also in the photo is Chris Denny. Who is Chris Denny? Chris is a very talented musical director, and he musical directed both of my Brent Barrett album productions. Michael also saw a poster for the show The Good One (starring myself, Penny Peyser, Gail Edwards, Debbie Zipp and Rick Waln) and would like to know what it was and my thoughts on it. The Good One was the first non-musical I wrote (although it had a handful of songs, as the leading character was a songwriter) – a three-act comedy about a fellow who’s just had a bad breakup with his girlfriend and who takes personal ads and lies about himself (differently in each act). Each act is devoted to the girl he meets from the personals. It was well-received here in Los Angeles, had a nice run at the Coast Playhouse and won a Dramalogue Award for Ms. Edwards, who was quite brilliant in it (as Tura, an S&M leather queen). It was the most fun I’ve ever had on stage and let me tell you it wasn’t difficult to keep weight off during the run of that show – I was literally never off the stage for two hours. When I did The Partridge Family episode that takes place on a cruise ship, did I know that the title of the episode, The Last of Howard (my character’s name) was a play on the Sondheim/Perkins The Last of Sheila title? Yes, I knew and so did the writer of the episode. What is my favorite song where the instrumental version is better than the vocal version? Emily. Emily, Emily, Emily, and we fade to a marvelous view… I like the sung versions, but none of them compare to the instrumental versions from the film, and there are several beautiful jazz versions as well. If I were to record a classic Broadway musical with today’s technology, which musical would I choose and why? Well, it depends what you mean by “classic” but I’d certainly love to rerecord Li’l Abner, as I’ve never really liked Edie Adams on the cast album (the rest of the people are sublime) – I do love the album, but I’d also love to do one of my own. Also, I’d love to do my own Promises, Promises. Finally, is there a certain length sound bites from websites must be in order to not pay royalties? I’m sure there is, but I’m sure people pay no attention as no one really polices that kind of thing unless it’s a big rock star.
Brandon asks who is Luckie? Luckie is my new dog, although she isn’t mine full-time yet, but she will be soon.
Jose asks if there’s any replacement cast member of a Broadway show that I would like to see recorded? Yes, Reba in Annie Get Your Gun for sure. And the Merm in Hello, Dolly! Joel Grey in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. Have I ever seen a replacement cast member who I thought was better than the original? Well, let’s see – I thought Reba was a hundred times better than Bernadette Peters in Annie Get Your Gun. I liked Jerry Lewis much better than Victor Garber in Damn, Yankees.
George asks what non-theatrical singers and groups do I like to listen to? Do I have a favorite where I just have to own everything they’ve ever recorded? Well, I love Petula Clark, I love Astrud Gilberto (and have everything she’s done, pretty much), I love Randy Newman (his pop albums), Perry Como, lots of girl groups, Carole King, and on and on. Want to know some guilty pleasures? Peter Skellern and Gilbert O’Sullivan. I really like Eric Carmen, too. And Simon and Garfunkel. What do I think of The Manhattan Transfer. I really like them and always have. I’ve met Janis Siegel and Laurel Masse, and they’re terrific.
Well, we’ve had the answers to your excellent questions, and now we have an Unseemly Trivia Contest question for you to answer. This week’s question is courtesy of dear reader Arnold M. Brockman:
An off-Broadway show that was based on a famous novel which was later turned into a famous movie. The play starred someone who would be the co-star of a popular TV series. The sets were by someone who would become a multiple winning Emmy Award Producer and the Lighting for the play was by a multiple Tony Award winning Lighting Designer.The Play was Co-Produced by one of our own Kimmlet-Hainsies.
Name the Novel,Movie,Play?
Name one of the stars of the play and the TV series he co-starred in?
Name the Set Designer that became an Emmy Award winning Producer?
Name the Lighting Designer rhat became A Tony Award winning Lighting Designer?
Name Our own Kimmlet/Hainsie who Co-Produced this Play Off-Broadway?
Remember – DO NOT POST YOUR ANSWERS TO THE SITE. Please e-mail them to me at bruce@haineshisway.com or by simply using the unseemly Ask BK Button located on our unseemly Home Page.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must drive over hill and over dale and then, just for a change of pace, over dale and over hill. I hope hill and dale don’t mind being driven over, but that is, after all, their lot in life. Do you know that until last evening not one person had called to celebrate my birthday. Isn’t that weird? But now, I shall be going to my friend Grant Geissman’s house for a birthday dinner. Whew. Of course, the real party will be going on here, and that’s where I want to be because that’s where it’s happening, baby. Today’s topic of discussion: What album or CD have you played to death – I mean, what album or CD have you played more times than any other? I’ll start – my guess is Bill Evans with Symphony Orchestra or Bill Evans’ Conversations with Myself, although Claus Ogermann’s Gate of Dreams might be right up there, and so might the soundtrack to A Patch of Blue and the cast album of Follies. Your turn.