Well, dear readers, here it is, Saturday, a fine day for doing errands, doing demos, doing our various and sundried things. My dog is currently wolfing down her breakfast (why isn’t she dogging it down?) – she’s very amusing when she eats; her bowl is directly in front of the dishwasher, which has a reflective surface, so she likes to take a bite of food and then watch herself eat it. Then she’ll look over to where the double ovens are (which also have a reflective surface) and she’ll take another bite and walk over there to watch herself eat. Occasionally she’ll lick the reflection of herself. This seems to be very interesting for her, for she does it every meal.
What an interesting day we had yesterday. I lunched with our very own Brent Barrett, and we had a fine time catching up and telling tales. He told me all about the taping of Kiss Me Kate, which is set to air on PBS next month. He had much to say on a variety and also a Hollywood reporter of topics. He was quite candid, oh, yes, he was quite candid. I cannot even repeat some of the things he was quite candid about, even though I’d like to. He’ll be doing a long and unseemly Unseemly Interview for us next week in which we will be even more candid and we will be bringing out heretofore unknown details about everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask. I am not afraid to ask and this interview promises to be brutally frank and perhaps even brutally howard.
On the way back to my car (I was about to drive BB to a car rental place) I noticed on the ground behind my car a wallet. Naturally, I picked it up and found that it belonged to a twenty-two year old girl. There was a bit of cash, two credit cards, her license and various and sundried other items. Rather than leave it in the street for some lowlife to find, I called both credit card companies and asked them to please leave her a message that I’d found her wallet and to call me. Since we’d been in a store called Amoeba, we phoned them and had them page her but she wasn’t there. By seven at night, I still hadn’t heard anything, so I called back one of the credit card companies and they tried her again, getting no answer. They suggested I leave the wallet at my local Bank of America branch (the credit card issuer) and that they’d let her know. That was the plan, but an hour later I got a call from the girl who was quite grateful I’d found her wallet and managed to get the word to her. She and her boyfriend came over a couple of hours later to pick it up. It’s a good thing, too, because she was about to fly back to Maryland (where she’s going to college) and she would have had a devil of a time at the airport without her ID. They brought me a cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory as a thank you gift. There is no worse feeling than losing your wallet and I’m only glad that I found it rather than some turkey who would have stolen her money and credit cards. So, it was a happy ending to her lost wallet story.
Wasn’t that a heartwarming story? Wasn’t that just too too? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got more stories comin’.
Last night I finished watching Imitation of Life. Folks, they don’t make ’em like that anymore. Can you imagine a youth of today watching Imitation of Life? In any case, what a movie. While the motion picture top-bills Miss Lana Turner, who looks lovely in all her gowns, the real stars of the movie are Miss Juanita Moore and Miss Susan Kohner as mother and daughter. Miss Moore gives a great performance and I sat there thinking she should have been up for an Oscar and I thought the same thing about Miss Susan Kohner and by gum and by golly if they both weren’t up for Oscars. They didn’t win, but they were up. It’s wonderful trashy fun, splendidly directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by the queen of this sort of film, Ross Hunter. John Gavin co-stars along with Dan O’Herlihy and Robert Alda (if there has ever been a sleazier performance of someone playing an agent, I have yet to see it).
Then I watched The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. It has some fun stuff, but in making it a total star vehicle for Burt and Dolly it just becomes turgid and endless in terms of their material. Also, I do love Dolly but Miss Carol Hall really did not need her help in terms of the score. And there is far too much of Mr. Dom de Luise of whom a little goes a long way. Charles Durning does a delightful Side Step, and there are some energetic dances by Tony Stevens (none of which equal Mr. Tune’s much more inventive ones). You never get to know any of the girls, the movie’s biggest flaw, in my opinion. And they’ve rearranged the music, some of which is okay, and some of which isn’t. I hate the reharmonization of Hard Candy Christmas, for example.
Well, dear readers, you won’t believe it. I barely believe it myself and yet, as you are about to find out, it is true. We are having an Unseemly Trivia Contest this week and that’s all there is to it. It has been far too long. So, without further ado or even without further ado annie, here it is.
A play by a well-known and successful playwright and screenwriter, later (much later) turned into a film. This play featured a very interesting cast. One of its players would go on to star in a classic musical comedy, the film of said musical comedy and a beloved sixties television series. Another of its players would go on to play the second banana in a classic seventies television series. The play also featured several musicians, including a well-known pianist and a well-known sax player. The well-known sax player would later be the subject of a film that was loosely based on his life – said film directed by a major motion picture director and starring two major motion picture stars.
Name the play and the playwright.
Name the two stars of the much later film version of the play.
Name the actor who would go on to star in a classic musical play and film, and classic 60s television show.
Name the actor who would play a second banana on a classic 70s television show.
Name the sax player and the film loosely based on his life.
Remember, DO NOT POST YOUR ANSWERS TO THE SITE. Send them to me at bruce@haineshisway.com or simply use the unseemly Ask BK Button. You may submit answers up until Monday at midnight Pacific Mean Time. Good luck to one and all and also all and one.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must lay piano tracks for demos, I must drive hither and thither, I must bring my manuscript to one of my handy-dandy editors, and so forth and so on and also so on and so forth. Now, we all know what today’s topic of discussion is and I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing your plethora of posts today – share with us one of your favorite recipes so that all us Hainsies/Kimlets can try out some brand spanking new dishes. Post away, my pretties, and I’ll be back with my own recipe when I return.