Well, dear readers, I have just returned from a delightfully delightful evening at the Gardenia, seeing Miss Julie Wilson. My only experience with Miss Wilson prior to this evening was attending a wonderful dinner party at which she was a guest, along with Jason Graae, Charles Busch, Judy Blazer and my very own self. I found her a wonderful person at that dinner party and we all had a grand time. That had to be between eight and ten years ago. But I’d never seen Miss Wilson perform, although I had heard her sing on a CD. Miss Wilson is now something like eighty-two years old, but she comes out and takes the stage and never lets it go. True she speaks lyrics as much as sings them these days, and true she’s occasionally given cues by musical director Chris Denny, but none of that matters because Miss Wilson is a legend and the real deal. Whether singing or speaking a lyric, she FEELS that lyric, she lets you know what the lyric means, she is all about the lyric. This is a brand new show for Miss Wilson, a tribute to Lady Day, Miss Billie Holiday, who was and is Miss Wilson’s favorite singer. Miss Wilson’s stories are charming and funny and the show moves along quickly. Chris Denny is the perfect accompanist for her – he’s right there every step of the way. It just goes to show you that if you love what you do and you keep doing it it gives you LIFE and this woman is filled with the joy of living. It was a treat to be in her presence and to see her perform and if anyone is here in the LA area I cannot recommend strongly enough that you get down to the Gardenia to see her (she’s there next Thurday, Friday, and Saturday). I was surprised and happy to see my pal Brent Barrett there, and we’re going to get together and have lunch very soon. I hadn’t seen Chris in a long time, so it was nice to chat with him, too. The most amazing thing for me is that Miss Wilson remembered both the dinner and me, even remembered my name. A wonderful evening.
Prior to that, I managed to do the long jog, managed to write seven pages, had two visits, did errands and whatnot, and also had time to watch a motion picture on DVD.
Yesterday I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Magnificent Obsession, starring Miss Jane Wyman, Mr. Rock Hudson, Mr. Otto Kruger, and Miss Agnes Moorhead. The film is one of Douglas Sirk’s Universal weepies, and no one was better than he at this type of film. It’s not my favorite genre of film, but Mr. Sirk makes the whole thing so pleasurable to watch that you just don’t mind the treacle and the syrup. Mr. Hudson is very good, and Miss Wyman is terrific. I always enjoy Otto Kruger and Miss Moorhead is unusually subdued and quite excellent. And then there’s the lovelier than lovely Barbara Rush, who I just adore. The transfer is pretty terrific for the most part. The contrast is a little on the milky side, but the colors are accurate and the ratio is absolutely correct. The problem with some of the sequences is that the A and B sides of the optical dissolves are sometimes quite lengthy and therefore have more grain than the rest of the film. When there are scenes on either side of a dissolve that are that lengthy, normally the dissolves will be what they call “cut in short” that is they edit out of the scene just prior to the dissolve, and edit into the new scene just after, which is why, when they’ve done that, you see a slight “bump” in the picture as it goes back to the original photography. In any case, I really enjoyed the film a lot. I know most people prefer some of Sirk’s other films, but I rank this right up there with his best.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have been succinct and to the point in this section with none of my usual nonsense. See, it can be done.
I’m going to have a very busy morning. I’ll try to do the long jog as early as possible. Then I will try to write three pages or so, then I have to print them out and get this latest batch o’ pages Xeroxed and over to muse Margaret for her mental delectation. I also have to do a little prep work before the noon meeting with Sean McDermott. Once all that’s done, then the rest of the day is mine all mine and I shall do nothing but watch DVDs and listen to CDs.
Tomorrow, I know I have some sort of meeting at some point, but I can’t remember what it is. And I think I’ll attend a birthday partay for our very own Miss Juliana A. Hansen. The rest of the week will be filled with meetings, meals, work sessions, and, most importantly, writing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, write, print and Xerox pages, deliver pages, have a meeting, and then watch DVDs and listen to CDs. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we ask ourselves the age old questions, what becomes a legend most?