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August 11, 2007:

THE BRAVO AND THE RASPBERRY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry, for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon, and on top of that, I have a raging headache, thanks to a very stressful yesterday. In fact, until the evening came, yesterday was one annoying thing after another, but I’m getting ahead of myself, which, of course, is better than getting aknee of myself. Speaking of myself, yesterday, as noted, was one screwy day. I did manage to get a really good night’s sleep, so that was nice. But once I was up, it was instantly apparent that the day was going to be a difficult one, and let me tell you, for a day that was supposed to be a day of rest for me, I never stopped. It began with an annoying telephonic call. I then packaged up a few things and got them shipped out. I then picked up some mail. And when I returned, I found that the actresses’ agent still hadn’t returned the various and sundried phone calls, I went ever so slightly ballistic. There followed a flurry of phone calls, which finally resulted in the agent getting back to us with the most preposterous crap I’ve ever heard. When it was told to me, I finally realized that I’d been laying the blame at the wrong feet – that kind of thing only emanates from the talent. To say that I was done would be an understatement. And even though the agent had the temerity to say that the actress was passing, we made it clear that that wasn’t necessary because our offer was formally withdrawn. About ten minutes later a new offer went out to another actress, and now we have to play the waiting game again – I just wish I’d gone with my instinct and ended the madness with the actress days ago. Then we had a flurry of insane e-mails with our design team. I nipped all that in the bud with an extremely strong e-mail. Our general manager talked to them right after they’d read my e-mail, and all was calm and several nice e-mails followed. There were other annoying things, too, but I’m trying to block them out so my headache doesn’t get worse. Finally, the day was at an end. I had one final chat with my casting guy, who, I think, felt pretty bad about the whole actress thing – I think what finally happened today was as nauseating to him as it was to me. We discussed a few other names, I called a couple of people from my stable of talent to see what their schedules are, and then I finally went and had a nice dinner at Stanley’s, where, calories be damned, I had cream sauce on my pasta. After that, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I did manage to watch one count them one motion picture on DVD entitled Christmas In July. I’m just getting around to watching the contents of the Preston Sturges box set, and I’d only seen this particular film once before. It’s one of my favorite Sturges films, even though it’s pretty lightweight. It’s laugh out loud funny, and the cast couldn’t be better. Dick Powell and Ellen Drew are about as adorable a couple as you’ve ever seen. But it’s the Sturges stable of regulars that’s the real joy to watch – there are just no character actors like these anymore, and there haven’t been for years, and Hollywood is a lesser and stupider place because of it. The film is extremely short, clocking in at about sixty-four minutes, but every one of those minutes reeks of Preston Sturges, and that’s a good thing. The transfer was very nice indeed.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below so I can tell you why the evening had a happier end. And if that isn’t a cliffhanger, I don’t know what is.

The evening had a happy end because my set designer sent me some images to look at – this girl is amazing. I could not picture in my head what she was getting at at our meeting, but the minute I saw her rough sketches, I knew exactly what she was getting at, and it’s great. The problem that has to be solved at NYMF shows, is storage for the set and costumes, as you’re provided a VERY small space to store everything. Shows with a lot of money behind them totally cheat and hire many stagehands to cart the set into a van and then to a storage facility. Well, we don’t have a lot of money behind us, so we actually have to use our noggins to figure it all out. It becomes very difficult, because the cheaters find all sorts of ways to get around the rules and because of it the audiences begin to expect these shows to have production values, when that is clearly not the point of NYMF – but, sadly, the cheaters have made it the point, so we all have to step up to the plate with creativity so that we don’t look barren by comparison. I’m not going to tell you what her brilliance is because frankly I don’t need to have some other show read about it and “borrow” the idea, but I’m over the moon about what I saw and I think it’s going to look great – completely different than the LA production design, but one that allows me to keep the LA staging, while making some adjustments for a couple of things, that will actually be fun to play with. I wrote her a big thank you e-mail response capped with the word BRAVO!

Today, I really, really don’t want to do anything at all. Oh, I have to mosey around for a couple of hours whilst she of the evil eye cleans the home environment, but then I’m comin’ home and sitting on my couch like so much fish.

Monday, our very own Nick Redman and I are driving out to the auction house so he can pick up his item. I also have other meetings on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday. I’ve got calls in to more talent for the fundraiser, and I hope to hear back from them soon.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, leave, return, pick up mail, and watch a DVD or four. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first live show you saw that received a spontaneous standing ovation – not like the obligatory standing O’s of today, but the real kind of old. And what film received the loudest and longest applause at the end? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let me say once again to my set designer, BRAVO, for coming up with something so simple and clever, and a big RASPBERRY to actors who play games.

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