Well, dear readers, my throat has finally started to feel better and I, for one, say hoo and ray. I’ve got a lovely wheezing cough, but I do believe I’m finally on the mend. I must be healthy because there is just so much happening right now, and I cannot and will not be slowed down by such inanities as illness. I did fight the good fight and I was smart, which I’m usually not, illness-wise – I stayed home most of the time, rested and relaxed even when I was writing and proofing, and loaded myself with emergenC’s huge amounts of vitman C. And that is today’s health report. Yesterday, aside from coughing and clearing my throat endlessly, I got quite a bit of work done. With much help from our very own David Levy, we’re setting up all our online accounts, and we’ve also set up accounts with CD Baby and iTunes. I’ll be taking our store orders by the end of this week, and I’m hoping we move some decent numbers on these first two titles. If they do well, then that simply means I’ll be able to do more albums right away, and I’ve got several ideas percolating in my head. I’m fairly certain I know what our next release will be, and I just have to see if I can wrap up the details about it. It’s one I know that folks would enjoy. I’ve been getting tons of e-mails from people who’ve seen the site and loved it (I sent out a mass e-mailing yesterday), and orders have been coming in steadily. I managed to find someone who’ll be handling the shipping, so that’s a big load off my mind. I ordered shipping labels, and have been buying padded envelopes and all the stuff he’ll need. We had a little bug to work out with the International shipping, and by the time you read this I do believe everything will be fine. My designer said doing the International thing involved a very complex series of code writing for paypal, but she told me she’d finally figured out what the bug was, and has done what was needed to fix it. I hope the several International hainsies/kimlets who tried to order yesterday will give it another try today. And that is today’s Kritzerland report. Last night I attended a meeting at LACC. It looks like I’ll be co-directing a huge benefit for the Theatre Arts department, which will play two performances in early December. I’ve decided to do it for a number of reasons, and I hope it will be fun. I’ll be handling all the segments of the show that have to do with music and song, which will be a good deal of it. My co-director will be handling any scenes or monologues, but I will try to insure that there aren’t too many of those, as I think they’re problematic in this sort of an evening. I hope to get some of our illustrious alums involved – folks like Cindy Williams, Diana Canova, Linda Hart, Mike Lembeck, Annette Cardona (Charles), Mark Hamill (doubtful), and Robert Vaughn. I’ll keep you posted as to the progress as we merrily roll along. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Hustle, starring Mr. Burt Reynolds and Miss Catherine Deneuve, directed by Mr. Robert Aldrich. It’s not my favorite Aldrich picture, although my memory tells me that it was a hit at the box office. In truth, it’s just not very good – it’s rough around the edges, has some extremely poor dialogue, and the scenes between Reynolds and Deneuve just go on and on. Ben Johnson and Eileen Brennan are both excellent, as are a number of supporting actors, including my muse Margaret’s daddy, Dave Willock. I must say I find Reynolds almost unwatchable in his ’70s films – he’s just too self-aware and smarmy for my taste. The film, like all of Aldrich’s ’70s films, looks coarse and grainy, which the transfer replicates perfectly. And that is today’s DVD report.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because the day is young (which is more than I can say) and I must do many things.
One of the many things I must do today is to lunch with Miss Tammy Minoff. I do hope to be able to tell you what these endless lunches and meetings are about very soon. Another of the many things I must do today is visit Teddy to get a haircut. This I need badly. I think there are twenty other things that I have to do today, and maybe even one I have to do tonight, but I have no memory of what they might be. Hopefully, people will remind me. Oh, another thing I must do today is begin a new short story.
We had a few correct guesses for our Unseemly Trivia Contest, but this one was harder for most people than the ones we’ve been having. Here was the question:
It was an incredible season on Broadway. No less than 10 plays and musicals that debuted that season were made into films. When was the last time that happened? In any case, one of the hit plays, by a well-known playwright, was turned into a film – but only one of its cast members would go on to recreate their original role in said film. In fact, the leading role in the film version of the hit play would go to another person who was starring in another play on Broadway at the exact same time. While that person got to play the leading role in the film of the hit play, that person did not get to recreate their role in the film of the play they were appearing in. Are we clear? Now, the person who played the lead in the hit play did go on to co-star in a classic film (and in that classic film was one of her co-stars from the hit play). That classic film was based on a novel by someone who also had a hit play on Broadway that season. With me so far? One of the co-stars of the hit play would, a few years later, go on to star in one of the most controversial and great plays of the 20th century. Oh, and the hit play would soon have another claim to fame. So –
Name the hit play?
Name the cast member who would recreate their role.
Name the person who played the leading role in the film version of the hit play, and name the play they were appearing in at the same time as the hit play.
Name the person who played the lead in the hit play, and name the classic film they would co-star in (to great acclaim). Name the co-star from the hit play who also appeared in the classic film, and name the author of the novel the classic film was based on, and the hit play that the author had on Broadway at the same time as the hit play of our contest.
What was the hit play’s other claim to fame?
And here are the answers (including the one I forgot to actually put in the list):
The Matchmaker.
Robert Morse as Barnaby Tucker
Shirley Booth played Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi in the film of The Matchmaker. At the same time The Matchmaker was on Broadway, Miss Booth was starring in The Desk Set.
Ruth Gordon, Rosemary’s Baby, Phil Leeds, Ira Levin, and No Time for Seargents
Arthur Hill, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Matchmaker’s other claim to fame was, of course, the musical Hello, Dolly!
Our winners were: FJL, Ron Pulliam, Dan the Man, MatHough, and Michael Shayne. We put all our winners’ names into our Electronic Hat, which chose, completely at random, our High Winner: Michael Shayne. If Michael Shayne will send his address, we will send him a sparkling prize. We’ll have another mind teaser this coming Saturday, in honor of our July 4th weekend celebration.
All right, I guess we’d all better put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, I guess we’d all better break out the ham chunks and cheese slices, I guess we’d all better dance the Hora or the Samba, because today is Mr. Mark Bakalor’s birthday. Mr. Bakalor designed this here site, so he deserves his birthday wishes. So, let’s all give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to Mr. Mark Bakalor. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO MR. MARK BAKALOR!!! Hopefully, he’ll see our wishes – if not, hopefully they’ll make their way to him by osmosis.
Osmosis. Now, there’s a word. Look at that word – osmosis. That is just one wacky word, is it not? It just sits there like so much fish, looking completely idiotic. It doesn’t look much better backwards, either – sisomso. Osmosis, Osmosis, Osmosis – didn’t Anne Baxter say that in The Ten Commandments? Have you dear readers actually read today’s notes, or did you get them by Osmosis?
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do many things in many ways, so let’s just leave it at that, shall we? And might I just say osmosis? Today’s topic of discussion: Here’s one I don’t think we’ve ever done – what are your all-time favorite flowers. My number one: A rose. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we? And may I just say one final time – Osmosis.