Well, dear readers, it’s Monday, the start of a very busy week, and I am ready, willing, and able to meet it head on or, at the very least, I am ready, willing, and able to meet it foot on. Every day will be jam-packed fun fun-filled or, at least, filled. I have meetings, I have auditions for the fundraiser, I have work sessions, I have meals, I have errands, I have telephonic calls, things to approve and a whole plethora of this and that and also that and this. Ready, Willing, and Able – that sounds like a CPA firm, doesn’t it? Or a comedy team. Or the title of my next novel. I will try to remain calm and even-keeled and if that doesn’t work then you can blame it on the bossa nova. As some of you know, I have been on a real bossa nova kick. Every day, I take out my bossa nova CDs and kick them to and fro and also fro and to. I’ve been trying to broaden my horizons rather than my girth, and to that end I’ve been sampling all sorts of bossa nova. I’ve discovered the wonderful recordings of Miss Sylvia Telles, have gotten just about every Jobim CD available, some Luiz Bonfa, a compilation of Robert Menescal music, several compilations, the Getz/Gilberto CDs, Sergio Mendes and his various and sundried groups, and a whole slew of well-known and more outré recordings. It’s music that just makes you feel good, and I find it soothing and relaxing and I just want to put on suntan oil and a big white hat, a white suit, white shoes, and I want to stroll down the beach with a long, tall, cool glass of Diet Coke on ice. I suddenly want to go to Brazil, where the nuts come from. What the HELL am I talking about? Oh, yes, the bossa nova and how it’s keeping me calm and even-keeled. Speaking of calm and even-keeled, yesterday was a nice, relaxing day for the most part, except for the little problem of our costume designer deciding she couldn’t do our show for various and sundried reasons. So, we’re now back on the prowl for a costume designer and we’re still looking for a sound designer. I gather this sort of thing happens with NYMF shows all the time. Otherwise, I just sat around the house in my lounging pyjamas, my smoking jacket, my leopard-spotted dickie, and my bunny slippers. Oh, I had dinner with my friend, Miss Jessica Rush, and I did a few other things, but mostly I just sat here like so much fish listening to the bossa nova rhythms of various and sundried artistes.
Last night, I did manage to watch two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Act Of Violence, another film noir, this one starring Mr. Van Heflin, Mr. Robert Ryan, and Miss Janet Leigh, directed by Mr. Fred Zinneman. It’s a pretty decent film, but not a great one. Mr. Ryan, however, is always great to watch and this is a good role for him. Nice photography by Mr. Robert Surtees and a decent transfer. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Illegal, starring Mr. Edward G. Robinson, Miss Nina Foch, and Mr. Hugh Marlowe, as well as a lot of the supporting cast that would be used in North By Northwest a few years later. What this film is doing in a noir box set is anyone’s guess, since it’s about as noir as a Doris Day musical. It’s competently directed by Lewis Allen, and the script is co-written by W.R. Burnett, but the whole affair, especially Edward G’s courtroom antics, is preposterous and ultimately I just began to wish the film would be over, which, eighty-eight minutes later, was. This is the only transfer in the set that is 1:85 and anamorphic, as all the other films were pre-widescreen. Illegal dates from 1955 and is shown as it was in theaters – which is why The Bad Seed, a full-frame transfer from the same year, is not in its theatrical ratio, and yet no one complains because it’s Warner Bros. and we all know it is heresy to complain about Warner Bros., the studio that can do no wrong and yet frequently does. Having now watched all ten movies in this new set, I’d say that eighty percent of them are very enjoyable and worth watching, with only The Big Steal and Illegal not really measuring up.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because the bossa nova is wafting its way from the bedroom CD player to the kitchen and I want to get up and Samba the rest of the night away.
Today, I have a work session for a couple of hours, then Mr. Nick Redman and I will drive out to pick up his auction item from last week, and then I shall return to talk to performers for the fundraiser, my general manager in New York, and I’m hoping and praying we have good news about the offers that are out to potential cast members. I’m also hoping to find out if we have a replacement for the costume designer and if we’ve found a sound designer (most urgent).
Tomorrow, I have an early morning meeting at LACC, and then an audition for our little ensemble for the fundraiser. I really want to get a little further along with performers and material – it’s so daunting trying to catch up and deal with people’s schedules, but it all must be done in the next ten or eleven days.
I gotta tell you I blame it on the bossa nova. I guess maybe I’ll watch Black Orpheus – I will shamefully admit I’ve never actually seen it, despite owning both laserdisc and DVD. I may start it tonight after the notes are posted.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a work session, take a long drive, and then deal with telephonic calls and e-mail responses. Today’s topic of discussion: When did you first discover the bossa nova? What song was it, where were you, and did you become a convert? And what are your favorite bossa nova tracks and who are your favorite bossa nova artistes? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I Samba to the beat of the bossa nova.