Well, dear readers, we had a most lively and sparkling chat last night, despite a number of errant and truant Hainsies/Kimlets. April must be one of those months when folks are off doing other things and being idle, haineshisway.com-wise, because I noticed the same thing happened last year in April. Perhaps next year we shall simply skip April and go directly to May. Yes, people are being idle – beware the Ides of March, and beware the Idles of April. Maybe we could do a new television show called American Idle. In any case, it is a beautiful April day, the singing bird is warbling Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine, and the gardeners are mowing and pruning, not necessarily in that order.
I don’t really have any stories for today, although I suppose I could relate the tale of The Randy Vicar and the Bowling Ball. It’s quite a randy tale but perhaps I’ll save it for a rainy day. I will tell you that I went to ship something at the post office yesterday, and the line was almost a block long. The Studio City post office is notorious for this, but it is worse than ever and I believe that fifty percent of the long lines there can be directly attributed to eBay and amateur sellers. And do you know what I say, dear readers? I say, damn them, damn them all to hell.
Urban Cowboy continues to limp along with papered houses and many posts on other boards, either from shills or people who say things like, “I know it’s not very good, but the cast is up there giving it’s all and I love it” as if that reason alone was cause for a Broadway show to run. If that were a cause for a Broadway show to run very few shows would ever close because most casts give it their all. Again, I don’t think they were ever going to close after the first week – I believe the high drama of the last minute reprieve was a carefully orchestrated bit of hucksterism and ballyhoo to get a ton of press. When David Merrick did this sort of thing it seemed like fun and it was done with some chutzpah, but then again David Merrick knew when to close a show or keep it open. David Merrick was a responsible producer who did not want to incur further losses for his investors or himself on the off-chance a show might run for a few months to save his ego. Not all shows deserve to run, not all shows are hits. But it’s a different world today, isn’t it, producer-wise. It’s all about “saving face” and ego, no matter what the losses are.
My goodness, I went off on a tear there, didn’t I? Oh, well, thank heaven we don’t have those sorts of posts here at haineshisway.com. We have posts about excellent things like food, and theater, and merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. We’re the most civilized place and soon we will be the most popular site on all the Internet, although apparently not in April.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below before I go on another tear.
Yesterday, I lunched at one of those trendy Eyetalian restaurants (I posted about this yesterday, but am writing about it here, too) in Westwood. I had a salad with chicken and when it arrived it was a bunch of shrubs that looked like they came from my yard, with three lonely strips of chicken, and the whole concoction swimming in balsamic vinaigrette. It was gross but I ate it. I hate that kind of food – so dainty and not very good tasting. The person with whom I was lunching had a pasta dish which looked specious to me, but he ate it all up and so I assume it was at least decent. I was so hungry after the chat that I went to Gelson’s and got some baby back ribs, which were yummy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must travel both near and far, I must do both mundane and important tasks, and I must do everything merrily while I roll along. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite comedians, both old and new? I’ll start – Jack Benny, first always. George and Gracie, Shelley Berman in his prime, Louis Nye, Mal Z. Lawrence (so funny in Catskills on Broadway that I thought I would literally die from laughing so hard), Moms Mabley, and yes, Virginia, The Three Stooges. Your turn.