Well, dear readers, it is mere days until our New Year’s Rockin’ Eve bash. It is mere days until the year 2006. 2005 will soon be a memory – for some, a good memory, for some, a memory best forgotten. For some, memories are made of this. Some say thanks for the memories. In any case, it is mere days until the turning of the calendar to our brand spanking New Year. For me, personally, the year 2005 has been incredibly creative and productive, not necessarily in that order. The year 2005 was also frustrating and annoying and also annoying and frustrating. I’m hoping 2006 will take the creative and productive bits from 2005 and couple them with faboo and wondrous other bits. Don’t we love the word “mere?” That’s a real Arthur Treacher word, isn’t it? Mere. Let’s all put on our best Arthur Treacher voices and say mere, shall we? On the count of three: One, two, three – mere! That was excellent. You know, I have somehow taken a hop, a skip, and a jump from New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, memories, 2005 vs. 2006, and I’ve somehow ended up with us all doing our impression of Arthur Treacher saying mere. If there is a more outré site than haineshisway.com, I have yet to find it. Speaking of outré, yesterday I awoke at three-thirty in the morning, nauseous beyond all repair. I dealt with it as best I could, and I’m happy to say I did not actually vomit on the ground or anywhere else. I eventually got two hours of sleep – I did this by turning on a DVD in the bedroom environment, and I nodded off immediately. So, I was fairly lethargic all the livelong day. I finally got my appetite back around three, and I had a couple of bagels, lox, and cream cheese for my meal. I did a few errands, picked up one little package, shipped several packages (amazon and Footlight both keep reordering The Last Starfighter almost weekly), and tried to relax during the afternoon hours.
I then attended rehearsal, our first since last Friday. Last night was the first “off-book” rehearsal, and everyone did just fine – oh, there was some paraphrasing, some word changes, and that sort of thing, but they all got through it without having to call “line” too many times. However, they now all need to get it word-perfect, because I wrote the dialogue with certain rhythms, and even changing a were not to a weren’t hurts those rhythms. For example, a line like, “No, no I am not” does not work when it is said as “No, I am not.” The rhythm is gone. Luckily, my assistant noted each and every infraction, and we’re going through it line by line with the actors. One actor has the daunting task of a four-page monologue – we’re going to go over that separately, because even adding an extra “and” or “the” or “I mean” hurts it. As you’d expect for a first off-book rehearsal, the acting went out the window – low energy, sloppy blocking, and missed moments by the handful. As we rehearse this week, we’ll have to get each and every moment back, and the blocking will have to be tight and perfect. I adjusted one scene in act two, and it’s much better, blocking-wise. I will continue to hone the blocking right up through opening night, I’m quite certain. Of course, I’m now chomping at the bit to get into the theater to start rehearsing on the set. The set is being loaded in starting Wednesday morning, and it will be fully operational by Friday, in time for our little video shoot. I’m sure there will have to be lots of little adjustments once we get in there, and we’ll have to go over the blocking for the two major set pieces very carefully and slowly. I love driving up Lankershim and seeing the splendidly splendid El Portal marquee read “Bruce Kimmel’s New Thriller, Deceit. I’ll take a photograph of it one of these fine days, so you all can see it.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Sons and Lovers, starring Mr. Trevor Howard, Miss Wendy Hiller, Mr. Dean Stockwell, and Miss Mary Ure. I hadn’t given this film any thought for the last forty years – but when I saw that it had come out on region 2 DVD, I picked it up. It’s fascinating – very few people have thought about this film in the last forty years, and very few people remember it. It is rarely revived, rarely shown on TV, and it’s almost a forgotten film. What is amazing about that is that this film, which came out in 1960, was nominated for seven Academy Awards (taking home the prize for photography). I’m talking about seven major awards – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Photography and Best Art Direction. What is also fascinating is that practically every other Oscar contender or major film that year is much more well-known and well-remembered. Films like Elmer Gantry, The Magnificent Seven, Psycho, The Apartment, The Sundowners, Inherit The Wind, Butterfield 8, Never On Sunday, Spartacus, Exodus, Tunes of Glory, It Started In Naples, Can Can, Midnight Lace, and many others, are all known and remembered today. I even think another multiple film nominee is better known – Pepe. Sons and Lovers is a superb film, written lovingly by Gavin Lambert and T.E.B. Clark, with wonderful performances from the entire cast, but especially Hiller and Howard (both of whom were nominated). The film has a lovely score by Mario Nascimbene (a beautiful theme), and it is very well directed by the brilliant cameraman, Jack Cardiff – also nominated). I gather from doing a bit of research, that Mr. Cardiff was not loved by the actors – both Miss Hiller and Mr. Howard have said they basically directed themselves. Where the film really shines, however, is Freddie Francis’ unbelievably gorgeous Oscar-winning photography. They just don’t know how to shoot or light films like this anymore. It’s all in the computer now – why even have a cameraman, when a colorist is going to manipulate everything, including the color and the lighting? When you look at the skies in Sons and Lovers, you’re seeing the skies, not some computer-generated version of the skies. And how about comparing that list of 1960s films to ones released this year – you want to see how far the film business has fallen, just do a little comparison. I’m sure this film will eventually have a region 1 release, but for those with multi-region players, I recommend this wholeheartedly.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, so that we can be transported to a new section in mere seconds. Quick, on the count of three: One, two, three – mere!
My goodness, I am thirty minutes late in getting these here notes posted. I started writing them in plenty of time, but for some reason it too much longer than usual to finish them. Actually, I haven’t finished them – I’m projecting ahead. It is actually only twenty-three minutes late at the moment, so I must hurry if I’m to get them up thirty minutes late.
Today I’ve got several important errands to run, packages to pick up, and telephonic calls to make. I’m also supposed to be seeing our very own Miss Juliana A. Hansen today at some point. And, of course, then I have a rehearsal this evening.
Have I mentioned that were mere days from our New Year’s Rockin’ Eve? Mere, I tell you, mere.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must go hither and thither and most likely yon, I must eat bland foodstuffs, I must not eat any sweets, and I must try and have a lovely and long beauty rest as soon as these here notes are posted. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your ten favorite books you’ve read this year? Also, since it could also be Ask BK Day, do feel free to ask any questions you like, and I shall feel free to answer. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we?