Well, dear readers, January is already flying by, like a gazelle in a girdle. Does anyone still wear a girdle? Or a hat? Do they even make girdles anymore? Do they make them and just call them something else? For those who’ve read Benjamin Kritzer, they know that my mother was all about girdles and that I used to occasionally try them on, just because they were amusing to me. I know garter belts are still around, although I have never tried on one of those. Perhaps now is the time. But I haven’t seen or heard of a girdle since the 1960s. I think we should have a history of the girdle, don’t you? I’m sure one of our dear readers will find one and post it this very day. A History Of The Girdle – that’s the title of my next novel, a story of a frolicsome hermaphrodite who wins an all expense paid cruise to Acapulco in 1943, where he becomes the first hermaphrodite to wear a girdle and eat a taco at the same time. What the HELL am I talking about? Why am I going on about girdles? Don’t I have notes to write and shouldn’t I be posting them about eight minutes from now? I do, I do, so I shall now get to the task at hand or, at the very least, the task at leg. Speaking of the task at hand, yesterday was a productive day in which I did a few productive things such as get up. It was just too chilly for me to do the long jog, so I took the day off, long jog-wise. I had a lot of stuff to attend to in the morning hours. I had a long telephonic call, and then I made the five phone calls I had to make, and got responses to all but one, which I suspect will have a response today or tomorrow, as there was no urgency. I also read about forty more pages of the script I’m reading (very slow going), and I wrote a page of the new novel. I then went to Gelson’s and got some chicken tenders – the deli was very crowded and frankly I just don’t understand it. It’s never crowded at the hour I was there. I discussed it with a nice lady who saw the disgusted look on my face, and she, too, has noticed how crowded it’s been recently. I did get my tenders and a small thing of righteous red potato salad – I’m sort of obsessed with the latter. I also bought a package of biscotti – different types. I had no mail at all at the mail place. I came home and sat on my couch and ate my tenders and potato salad and a couple of biscotti, and that was my meal o’ the day. I then wrote four more pages and I’m now on the final page or so of chapter two. I then had a couple of other long telephonic calls, and then the work day was done and I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched two count them two motion pictures, one I TIVOd and one on DVD. The first motion picture was the one I TIVOd entitled The Killer That Stalked New York, a rather lurid title to a film I’d never even heard of. It’s strictly a poverty row film, but I must say it was very well done – very tense, a good story, and terrific character actors, and an excellent and very raw performance from Evelyn Keyes. Obviously, the film takes place in New York, and there are location shots, but a lot of it is back lot stuff, and the entire finale of the film was shot on location in downtown LA – you can see two classic cheapo downtown movie houses, including the classic Cozy Theater. All in all, a good little thriller. I then watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Rose Of Washington Square, a film I’d managed to miss all these years. I’m not a huge fan of some of these Fox musicals – some are fine, but many are just too weak for my taste. Rose Of Washington Square is a fictionalized version of the Fanny Brice/Nick Arnstein relationship, here played by Alice Faye (about as Fanny Brice as Jayne Mansfield), and Tyrone Power. The other star of the film is Al Jolson, who gets to do a whole slew of his signature songs, which I found a lot of fun. Alice Faye is fine, but she’s never been one of my favorites. Tyrone Power is dashing, as always. William Frawley and Joyce Compton are fun in supporting roles. The film’s best sequence is the title song’s production number, which has some rather astonishing legerdemain involving cigarettes – really well done and very clever. The transfer is terrific at times and at times a little blurry. The film was directed by Gregory Ratoff, although in the outtakes the name on the slate is not Ratoff’s but Del Ruth, as in Roy Del Ruth, so apparently he directed a few things (the cameraman’s name on the Del Ruth slates is Karl Freund). The film does move right along at a brisk eighty-six minutes. The little featurette on the making of the film is simply horrible – filled with some of the most unappetizing-looking people you will ever see in one featurette, and that includes Dr. Drew Casper, who is his usual self.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I think it’s high time we have a history of the girdle and perhaps there’ll be one in the next section.
Nope. No girdles here. Today, I shall get up early and definitely do the long jog no matter how chilly it is. A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do and by gum and by golly and buy bonds I shall do it. I shall also finish the long script, and I shall write at least three to five pages, and then I’ll be having a late lunch with Lauren Rubin, after which I’ll come home and watch yet more DVDs. I must say, the large pile is now much more manageable. I’m expecting the Michael Powell set, so I may watch A Matter Of Life and Death.
Tomorrow, Cissy Wechter’s friend Doug, who is a handyman, is coming by at ten and he is going to totally reorganize my garage, which it really needs, since I can barely walk in there right now. Since that’s where I normally do most of the Kritzerland shipping and keep our stock, I really have to have it be neat and organized. I’m sure this is a two day job, because he’s going to pull all the boxes and everything out of the garage, clean it, and then put everything back in a very organized way. I’ll be going through each box to see what’s there and if I need to pull anything, and also telling him which boxes are the least important, so those can be put away first. I think it’s going to be VERY helpful.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get up, do the long jog, finish the long script, write, have a late lunch, and watch DVDs. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite 20th Century Fox musicals – I’m especially interested in your choices from the 30s and 40s. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we avidly await the history of the girdle.