Well, dear readers, it’s Saturday, and I don’t have a bloomin’ thing to do all the livelong day. I have two count them two bloomin’ offers for the evening – one, to see a silent film entitled Noah’s Ark, at a neighbor’s screening room (in 35mm, I believe), and the other to see Fever Pitch. However, any interest I might have had in the latter is pretty much dissipated by knowing that the directors are the Farrelly brothers. So, it will probably be the blommin’ silent film, which will be preceded by some bloomin’ dinner. What’s with all the bloomin’ bloomins? What am I, cockney all of a sudden? Next I’ll be saying “Here, guv, let me have some fish and chips, will ya?” Speaking of fish and chips, I had a very nice day yesterday. Of course, I missed the first few hours of the day by uncharacteristically sleeping until noon. The last time that happened was in the late eighties when I was pulling all-nighters on Totally Hidden Video. I must have really needed the sleep, and the fact is that once I woke up I felt grand and glorious and bloomin’ blimey great. I paid a visit to the Cingular store and made a little purchase, and finally became an “official” Cingular customer – I was AT&T, and, of course, they were bought by Cingular. But, they still differentiated us, so now I’m Cingular all the way with the latest phone (a good deal with a new two-year plan). I mean the latest phone, the really slim one they use on Alias. I already love it, but shall not be using it unnecessarily. I can take video with it, and photos (the camera even has a zoom). I then went to Mr. Grant Geissman’s home environment, where we added piano to five tracks (Grant has done piano on most of the tracks, but these were too difficult for him). John Boswell blazed through the tracks and I was very impressed with his playing and his ability to adapt to whatever style we threw at him. We ended the session with him playing a two-piano version of the final song chosen for the album (not the final song on the album, though). I love the sound of two pianos (we’ll add a bass, as well) and it worked great for this song. I then came home, ate some foodstuffs and settled down to some bloomin’ gor blimey movies.
Last night I watched another film in the Doris Day set – Lullaby of Broadway. It’s really a B-film in A-film clothing. It’s a mere trifle, but a very entertaining one for much of its running time. It completely loses steam and dies a boring death in the last twenty minutes. Doris is divoon, however, and Gene Nelson is a terrific dancer and a decent leading man for Doris. His singing is dubbed, which is too bad. Nelson has a pleasant voice and they should have used it. I mean, no one ever accused Gene Kelly of having the most beautiful voice in the world, but he made it work for him and audiences accepted it and loved it. The film is a fine showcase for that fine character actor, S.Z. (Cuddles) Sakall. He’s really the lead, in a way. The transfer is reasonably fine, with okay color. There are five or six trailers for other early Doris films included, and those are in great shape. I’m in the midst of Young Man with a Horn right now, and all I can say is that so far it’s another great Michael Curtiz film, and I’m just loving it. And, if you look closely you can see a very young Julius Wechter in one of the early scenes.
Well, why don’t we all click on the bloomin’ Unseemly Button below so we can bloomin’ get to the next section, ducky.
Quite some months ago I got a very nice e-mail from the mother of a young girl who wanted to sing Joshua Noveck in a competition. It was right around the time of the closing of What If. She asked if I could provide the music and if I could put her in touch with Denis Markell, the song’s lyricist. I gave her his e-mail and suggested she write him, get permission, and have him send the music. Apparently, my recording of Joshua Noveck has made that song into a bit of a standard with young girls in competitions. But Denis didn’t get back to her and she was growing concerned. I told her about the song I’d just written and put in What If – Annie (which Tammy did in the show). I said I thought her daughter would love it and I sent her the lyric in an e-mail. The daughter loved the lyric, so I sent them off the music. That was a lucky decision because, as it turned out, several other girls were doing Joshua Noveck. Flash forward: The competition was this past week, I gather, and the girl’s mum sent me an e-mail last night. I reprint it for you here:
Hi, Bruce, I am so excited to email you and let you know that Caitlynne placed first in her class with your song “Annie” receiving a Gold and a $100 scholarship. She has been asked to perform it in the musical theatre showcase tomorrow night, which is the “best of the best” in the musical theatre portion of the Festival.
We send our hearty congratulations to Caitlynne and mum. They’ll be sending me a tape of the performance in a week or two, and we’ll see if we can get it up as a sound clip.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must bloomin’ relax, like a gazelle on a chaise lounge, I must do some bloomin’ errands, ducky, and I must eat some bangers and mash and perhaps some Yorkshire pudding. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite British films and plays and musicals. We’re all about Brit today at ‘aines ‘isway.com. I’m droppin’ me bloomin’ aitches, ain’t I? Let’s ‘ave loads of lovely posts, eh ducky?