Well, dear readers, I must hurry and write these here notes if they’re to be posted by midnight. Oy, what a day and evening I had yesterday. That sounded very Jewish, didn’t it, and well it should. The Ray Courts show was a bit of a disaster yesterday – very low attendance, but I had fun nonetheless, and you can read all about it in my posts of yesterday (along with nifty photographs). I then came home, rested, and then toddled off to Passover dinner. It took place in my old neighborhood of Beverlywood. I arrived to find that this was a small Passover gathering of about twenty-five people, none of whom I’d previously met (and that includes the hosts of the party). I had no idea what I was in for. Truth be told, I shouldn’t have gone, because there was no way for me not to talk the entire time I was there, and talk I did. The people were all very very nice. The event, however, is what I was not prepared for. This was a Jewish Passover with an emphasis on the Jewish. I believe it was a Kosher Passover. The pre-dinner service took over an hour and many Jewish songs were sung, and many bitter herbs were eaten. The host and his wife were sweet, and I spent most of my time talking to the host (who is a composer). We finally started eating at around nine. There was gefilte fish, there was matzo ball soup, there was roasted chicken and potatoes and kugel, but all Kosher. I wanted to put salt on everything, but there was none to be found. The food was tasty but quite different from anything I’ve ever had at Passover. I finally had no voice left at all and took my leave. I feel so damnably Jewish now. Oh, and one funny thing: I excused myself to go to the bathroom. Upon my return, the entire table said, in unison, “What is it, fish?” I think the amazon sales rank of my book is going to zoom up this week, because everyone there wanted to buy it. I feel so damnably Jewish now. Perhaps I’ll eat some chopped liver today whilst I kvetch.
Last night I watched a non-Jewish motion picture on DVD entitled Broken Lance, a Cinemascope film from 1954 (the first year of Cinemascope), starring Mr. Spencer Tracy, Mr. Robert Wagner, Miss Jean Peters, Mr. Hugh O’Brian, Miss Katy Jurado, and my neighbor, Mr. Earl Holliman. I thoroughly enjoyed the film – it’s not masterpiece or anything, but it’s a quite good oater with excellent performances (I really like Katy Jurado), good direction by Edward Dmytryk, and a rousing score by Leigh Harline. The transfer is most impressive – very sharp (especially for early Cinemascope, which can sometimes be wonky), great color, and wonderfully wonderful stereophonic sound. An unexpected treat.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst we nibble on a latke.
Have I mentioned that I’m feeling damnably Jewish right now? I am. I have the urge to eat borscht, that’s how Jewish I’m feeling right now.
Don’t forget, Donald has a new radio show up, so give it a listen, why don’t you? And eat some herring whilst you’re listening to it, as this is now Jewish Day here at haineshisway.com.
Now wait just a darned minute. Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slickes and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Gefilte Fish, because we’ve got us a haineshisway.com birthday to celebrate, and that birthday belongs to Joey. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader Joey. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER JOEY!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I do hate to make this section so brief, but I must get my beauty rest and then I must toddle off the the throat doctor first thing in the morning. I must then return to the home environment, do some writing, perhaps have luncheon, then I’ll see if I’m up for a screening of Porgy and Bess. Today’s topic of discussion: If you had to choose five books to pass down to someone, what books would you choose and why? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we all dance the Hora and eat some fatty corned beef on rye with a pickle whilst saying, “Oy, what a day I had today.”