Well, dear readers, if you can’t take the heat get out of the frying pan. Is that the expression? I thought there was something about “fat” in the expression. Like, if you can’t take the heat get out of the fat. But, that can’t be right. Or is it, if you can’t take the fat get out of the frying pan. But then where’s the heat? If you can’t get out of the frying pan take the heat and also the fat. Or maybe there’s no frying pan at all, maybe it’s a fire. If you can’t take the heat get out of the fat fire. No, that can’t be it. If you can’t take the fat get out of the heat. I don’t know – it’s something with fat and a frying pan or a fire and some heat. You know, when I wrote the first line of these here notes I had a point. Of course, I no longer have a clew as to what that point was because I went off on a tangent. So, basically, I have no clew as to what this whole paragraph means – it’s just sitting here like so much fish, isn’t it? Speaking of fish, I got a reasonable amount of sleep yesterday, and I got to putter around the home environment lazily, up until the time I left for the theater. I arrived at the theater an hour before show time, said hello to Miss Tammy Minoff, gave her one little nitpicky note to adjust a line reading, and then went off to meet with the producers of the show. It was a tense meeting, but by the end of it they understood my position and I understood theirs, and I am now taking the time to make my final decisions about certain matters pertaining to the extension of the play. After that, it was show time, and I went in and found my pal Miss Jessica Rush, and I decided that instead of sitting in the back of the theater like I always do (behind the last row of seats, on a stool), that I’d just sit next to Jessica in a real seat. That was a good idea and very pleasant. Just before the show started I noticed my old pals Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill were sitting across from me. I went and said hello (haven’t seen them in a couple of years), and then the show began. There was a silly technical problem after the house lights went down, a stage manager malfunction (the second time it’s happened – and the last time it will happen) – he forgot to take out the backstage light so that Tammy can slip onto the set unseen. The first time it happened, she just finally came out and was seen, which was really stupid. Yesterday, she just waited. The stage manager did the first lighting effect (lightning) and then realized he’d screwed up, turned the backstage light off, did the lightning again, and we were off and running.
The first act went very well – one of the best performances we’ve had – lots of laughs, and lots of tension. At intermission I visited with Mitzi and Charlie. Act two started off with the other actor actually getting two laughs in a row. This must have thrown him into a tizzy because he then proceeded to blow the next two laughs because his vocal energy dropped so low you couldn’t even hear the lines – literally. I just rolled my eyes. The rest of the act went fine, and then Jessica and I went out to have a bite to eat, and had a splendidly splendid time. After that, I came home, answered some e-mails, made some telephonic calls, and then settled down on my couch like so much fish.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly if you can’t take the frying pan then heat the fat and throw it into the fire. Or something like that.
Yesterday, I managed to watch three count them three motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled The Savage Innocents, a film of Nicholas Ray, starring Mr. Anthony Quinn, Miss Yoko Tani, and Mr. Peter O’Toole. It’s a fascinating film about Eskimo life – very colorful, with wonderful performances. And it’s a chance to see the young Mr. O’Toole before his nose job just prior to filming Lawrence of Arabia. He’s also completely dubbed by another actor. If you are weak of stomach, it might not be the film for you, since part of an Eskimo’s existence is killing and eating animals, which they do several times. The transfer of the region 2 DVD is okay, a bit muddy-looking, and the color’s not perfect, but as I understand it, the film is almost a lost film, and to finally have it in its proper scope ratio is very nice. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled The Incredible Shrinking Man. I’ve always loved this film, since the first time I saw it at the Wiltern Theater. I find the performance of Grant Williams really touching, and the effects are just wonderful, even now. This is also a region 2 DVD, and there’s a bit too much grain in the non-effects shots, which means there is a lot of grain in the opticals, more than normal. Hopefully, they’ll remedy the problem if it’s released here in the USA. But it’s swell to have the DVD in its proper ratio and enhanced for widescreen TVs. I then watched the new Special Edition of Dog Day Afternoon. I actually hadn’t seen the film since it came out, and it’s still wonderful, and maybe even more wonderful just because there is no way that a film of this quality and caliber could be made today. There would be too much studio interference, it would be filled with terrible editing and sound and it would have wall-to-wall bombastic music, along with clearly delineated act breaks, character back-stories and arcs and journeys and the actors of today. But, gloriously, we get Mr. Al Pacino, Mr. Charles Durning, Mr. James Broderick, Mr. Chris Sarandon, and a host of other amazing character actors. I give special mention to the absolutely superb performance of the late John Cazale. Other than a song that plays over the opening credits, there is not a note of music in the film. The transfer is terrific, perfectly replicating Victor Kemper’s gritty and not very pretty photography.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Last night I got a call from Miss Linda Purl, and she said the show went very well, although they hadn’t been told they only had an hour, so they had to cut about twenty minutes of material. So, I’m glad I didn’t go.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, toddle off to Vinnie’s to work on the mix for the STAGE benefit CD, I must write, I must do a bunch of errands and I must attend to some shipping matters. Today’s topic of discussions: Since you know sayings are so important to both myself and Minnie Kritzer in the Kritzer books, what are your favorite wacky sayings? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and don’t forget, if you can’t take the fire get out of the heat in the frying pan with the fat.