Well, dear readers, this week has flown by, like a gazelle in Capri pants. And despite being incredibly busy with this and that and also that and this, I have been so enjoying writing these here notes and sharing what I hope are interesting stories about various projects and stuff I’ve done over the years. In yesterday’s posts, a dear reader asked if I remembered The Bishop’s Company and my stint with them. I couldn’t imagine where he found such information, and then he posted a picture from 1966. I must admit I don’t often remember the four or five months I toured with The Bishop’s Company, but it really was an interesting time. I was offered the chance because the son of the man who ran the company (it was some sort of religious theater company) was a schoolmate – they wanted to do a production of a play called Do You Know The Milky Way? My memory is that I’d actually read and done a scene from the play in my high school acting class. Since it paid actual money I said yes – even though it meant going to the head of the theater department at LACC and telling them I’d be gone for about five months. It’s amazing, but they allowed it and when I returned I was welcomed back with open arms. In retrospect, I’m not sure I should have done it, but I was impetuous. We rehearsed only for about a week and it was a play with a LOT of talking and I played several different characters, if I recall correctly. I wrote a title song for the play, with lyrics – I actually remember most of the tune, but few of the lyrics. I played the song at the top of the show, and then we did the show proper. We were booked to play all over the country – one-nighters, usually performed in churches or town halls. The company had a Volkswagen bus. I made it clear right at the beginning that I would never be driving such a vehicle. The fellow, David Beardsley, and his then-girlfriend, Barbara Lightstone (who I still know and see occasionally – she’s now married to the guy who played the boy in Hans Christian Andersen), and I began our trek. I won’t belabor the whole experience, but mostly it was fun, at least doing the show was. Always being the third wheel was NOT fun, that much I can tell you. We met lots of interesting people and it was a great way to see the country. We played Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and many other States. The reaction to the play was always wonderful, and sometimes we’d do chats afterwards. We were always treated well, fed, and they usually put us up with a family in whatever city we were in.
Just a couple of fun stories. In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, I stayed with a family who had a gorgeous teenage daughter. She had dreams of coming to Hollywood and having a movie career. I encouraged her to make the move. Years later, I went to the movies one day to see a terrible movie called The Magic Garden Of Stanley Sweetheart – and there she was, playing a nice-sized role. She went on to do a lot of TV, and starred in the movie called Aloha, Bobby and Rose – her name was and is Dianne Hull. While on this tour I saw the first ever broadcast of the Tony Awards while in my hotel room in Cincinnati. Also seen on TV in a hotel room, On The Flip Side on ABC Stage 67. In Chicago, in the Loop, I went to see Fahrenheit 451 and loved the film and especially the score so much that I went back two more times that same day. We had three days off in Cleveland. I saw the film Hotel there several times, and also the roadshow of The Sand Pepples in a gorgeous theater on Euclid Blvd. While reading the Cleveland paper I noticed that Dionne Warwick was playing at a club on Euclid. Well, I loved Dionne Warwick so I booked tickets. Opening for her was a young unknown comic called Flip Wilson. I was so excited – I got dressed up and took a cab to Leo’s Casino, which certainly wasn’t located in the good section of Euclid Avenue – think downtown LA before the lofts invaded. I arrived only to find out that Dionne had canceled the show because of illness. She’d be back the following week. What a disappointment! We moved on to some other stops – Akron, Cleveland – we even stayed in a wonderful and very famous place called Lebanon, Ohio – they had a hotel there where Presidents had stayed. We ate there and I had the best fried chicken I’ve ever had anywhere. While in Columbus, I called Leo’s Casino and Dionne had been back doing the show. So, on a whim, I booked tickets again, and I flew from Columbus to Cleveland, hopped in a cab, got to Leo’s Casino and – wait for it – she’d canceled again. A year later, back in LA, I would finally see her act – at the Century Plaza Hotel.
The tour wound up on the East Coast, and I remember we drove in to spend one night in New York. My Aunt Minnie had bought me a ticket to see Mary Martin and Robert Preston in I Do! I Do! Unfortunately, we were delayed and we didn’t get in until almost nine-thirty and by the time I found the theater (it was my first time in NY) the show was well into its second act. So, I didn’t see the show and didn’t see very much of New York. I was so happy to come home, although I had nowhere to live, as I’d given up my apartment. I couldn’t stay with my mother for reasons that are interesting but a whole story unto itself – maybe I’ll tell it someday. I ended up in a fleabag hotel on Santa Monica Blvd. next to a Denny’s. It was the lowest, the bottom and thank the Lord I was only there for a couple of weeks. The rug was purple. The bathroom was so disgusting that I refused to use it. If I had to go, I went to Denny’s. Thankfully, LACC, where I’d returned, had beautiful showers in the dressing rooms, and that’s where I showered. I finally moved in with a friend to a nice apartment building near the school, thanks to a little loan from one of the teachers, and the fact that I went back to work part time at the Wallich’s Music City sheet music counter. And that’s the story of The Bishop’s Company.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must be alive and alert for our first LACCTAA event tomorrow.
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. I got up, did the long jog, and then went to pick up some master tapes for what will hopefully be the next Kritzerland limited edition soundtrack. There were not only about ten tapes, but also all the actual scores, which I looked through and which were very interesting. After that, I wrote some more questions for the Q&A (I have a little over three pages’ worth, which should be fine, because those questions can branch off into others, depending on his answers), and I began writing the Illya Darling liner notes, which I’m having fun with. I have to get all the Illya material in this weekend. After that, I had a meal at the Studio Café, and then got ready for the long trek to Anaheim to attend the Chance Theater’s party and Chancies Awards. The Brain From Planet X was nominated for three – sound, costumes, and lead actress. The good news was there was absolutely no traffic going down there, and this was Friday night at six o’clock. I couldn’t believe it. The bad news was The Brain was shut out in all three categories, just as I knew it would be. It was nice to see some of the people again, and it was a very nice party.
Today, I must get up very early so I can do the long jog, and then I must get ready to do our first LACCTAA event, An Afternoon With David Lee. I’m really looking forward to it, and if everyone who’s made a reservation shows up, we’ll have a nice-sized audience – and we’re hoping some people just show up, too. After the event, I’m going to have to come home and finish the Illya notes and get everything sent off to the webgal. If all goes according to Hoyle, we’ll announce officially a week from Monday. I’m hoping it won’t take too too long to finish the Illya notes, because I’d really just like to relax and sit on my couch like so much fish and watch a motion picture on DVD.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, do the LACCTAA event, write liner notes, get everything to the various designers, and then sit on my couch like so much fish and eat something tres amusing. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite avant-garde plays – those wild and wacky theater of the absurd oddities that dotted both the off-Broadway and Broadway landscapes in the late 1950s and all through the end of the 1970s. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I sing the title song from Do You Know The Milky Way?