Well, dear readers, I shall dive right into these here notes because I had such an interesting day and evening yesterday and I want to write about it whilst it is still frest in my mind. Has anyone noticed that I accidentally typed frest instead of fresh? I think we’ve invented a new word here at haineshisway.com. Frest. A combo platter of fresh and first – I like it. It gets the job done. So, whilst it’s still frest in my mind I shall write about my interesting day and evening yesterday. Actually, on reflection, the day wasn’t all that interesting. Oh, I got up early, I jogged, I did some errands, I sat at the piano and hammered out another two lines of lyrics, and I began writing something, although it’s too soon to talk about and if I don’t like where it’s going I’ll abort it soon. But, it’s actually the oldest of the ideas I’ve had and if I end up going with it it will actually be a rather short thing to write. We shall see. I ate some tuna pasta salad, although I didn’t finish it, which turned out to be a wise thing. Then, our very own Mr. Nick Redman arrived and we toddled off to the Director’s Guild of America’s tribute to the Movie of the Week. I will say that the DGA knows how to put on a tribute. We got there early and got great seats. The place was jammed, completely sold out (well, not sold – it was a free event, open to us DGA members and a few others). The evening began with speakers speaking – first, our host Betty Thomas, then Ed Begley, Jr. (very funny), Joe Mantegna (funnier), CCH Pounder and Peter Fonda (an unlikely and strange duo), Frank Pierson, and Helen Mirren. They all spoke lovingly about directors and the movie of the week and mini-series format. We also had someone from ABC (he looked like he was twenty and had gone to the Young Man’s Gay School of Speaking), and an HBO executive. Then they showed a clip reel prepared by Mr. Chuck Workman. I wish they’d stop going to him for these things – this one was particularly ill put together, with no shape to it and no point, really. As you all know, I think there always has to be a point and a point-of-view to anything and everything. The problem was that he chose to concentrate mostly on mini-series rather than MOWs, and he tended to dwell on the recent ones rather than the classics from the early seventies. Some of the best weren’t represented at all, like Tribes. It was disappointing. In fact, it was more about mini-series than MOWs, which was annoying. At the end of the presentation, they had everyone in the audience who’d directed an MOW or mini-series stand up, and it was amazing how many people there were who’d done so. After that, there was a gala reception in the lobby, with very strange and exotic-looking foodstuffs (which Nick and I did not partake of), and lots of mingling. Highlights for me: Having a really nice chat with Mr. Henry Silva. Having Nick go up to Walter Grauman, who looked lost (of course, the younger generation of directors don’t have a clew who he or a lot of others are, nor do they care). He told him he loved Lady In the Cage, and we talked about his other work (he directed many, many MOWs, not one of which was in the clip reel), including his two years directing the first two seasons of The Fugitive. He told Nick that Nick had made his day. Also wandering around with no one talking to him was one of the great mini-series directors, Jerry London (Shogun). I went right up to him and asked him if he remembered me. He said, “I do – an actor, right? We worked together.” I told him it had been on The Partridge Family and that I’d always had a great fondness for the episode he did (the one where I stole Laurie’s diary). It was really nice seeing him again. Also wandering about was Graeme Clifford, who directed the strange The Omen, Part III, and, more importantly for certain hainsies/kimlets, Frances, the story of Frances Farmer. Also in attendance was Mr. Roger Young, who did a horrid job in bringing dear reader Pogue’s Hercules to the small screen. I thought about decking him, but I refrained and restrained and contained and remained calm and cool. I couldn’t find Ed Begley, Jr. to say hello. During the presentation, we were sitting next to a Brit lady who Nick recognized immediately as the woman who was in The Ruling Class – Caroline Seymour, I believe was her name. All in all, we had a splendidly splendid evening. Afterwards, we zoomed over to Marie Callendar’s, where I had a salad and a sandwich (BLTA) – I probably shouldn’t have eaten that much, but I was hungry, and hopefully I jogged enough for it not to matter.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below and let’s do so whilst it’s frest in our minds.
Here’s a little trivia for you: Does anyone know what was meant to be the very first movie made especially for TV?
Yesterday, I finished watching yet another film on DVD by Yasujiro Ozu, an absolutely wonderful little movie entitled Record of A Tenement Gentleman. I have no idea what that title means, however. The film is about a young boy in postwar Tokyo – his father has either lost or abandoned him, and he’s found by a man who’s a fortune teller. The man can’t keep the boy, so he asks everyone he knows. No one can keep him. He finally asks a middle-aged woman to keep him – her response? “I hate children.” But she agrees to keep him for a couple of nights. She’s a complete curmudgeon, scowling at the boy, yelling at him for wetting the bed, and not having any patience for him. The film basically and gently follows their relationship, and her growing to realize that she likes having him around. It’s a film of beautifully realized moments, told simply (as always with Ozu), and it’s also very, very funny. The actors, especially the woman and the boy, are superb. I loved every frame of the film, and only wish the transfer (region 2) was better. Next up in the Ozu collection – The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice.
Today, I must do many things, but most importantly, at four I’ll be heading over to the editing room to finish the Kevin Spirtas video. I’ll spend the first hour working on synch problems (easy to fix), and then Kevin will arrive and we’ll go through everything. Like most actors, he has a lot of little nitpicky notes he’d like to discuss (mostly he was thrilled with my choices, though) – some we’ll do, some we won’t. Then, when we’ve finished that, we’ll record our commentary track.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, do errands, eat a little something, work at the piano, write, and make a few telephonic calls, then head over to the editing room. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old thing you like, and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers, and even though we’ve done it before, let’s talk about our favorite MOWs, shall we?