Well, dear readers, as I write these here notes I’m listening to the soundtrack to The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, and that got me to thinking about titles of novels and how iconic some of them are, not to mention perfectly phrased or magical or memorable, while some titles just sit there like so much fish, and some titles are actually harmful and keep you from even picking up the book. I loved coming up with the titles for my novels, although it wasn’t always easy. Well, it was certainly easy for the first book as I knew it was going to be the lead character’s name. Of course, coming up with the name proved difficult – the first name was easy and came right away, but the Kritzer took three months and only presented itself to me when I saw a post on a theater chat board referencing Leslie Kritzer, with whom I’d just worked. The minute I saw it I knew I had the perfect name (so perfect that some English playwright just “happened” to use it as his lead character’s name – coincidence – you tell me). Kritzerland remained untitled for a while, until I hit the chapter and came up with the idea that Benjamin would be studying Switzerland and switch out the “Sw” for a “Kr”. The minute I came up with that, I knew I’d found the perfect title. Same with Kritzer Time – as soon as I made a note that I wanted to write about the stop watch I’d had as a young teen I knew that it would keep Kritzer Time, and as soon as I knew that I knew I’d found my title. Writer’s Block came to me before I’d even sketched out the entire story – I just knew it was going to be about a musical with second act trouble and murder and mayhem amongst theater folk, and Writer’s Block was simple, to the point, and evocative and there was never a doubt in my mind as to its effectiveness. Same with Rewind – since it was a book about the record business, it just said everything I wanted it to and it seemed to me a keeper from the minute it came to me. I’d come up with about sixteen other titles, but Rewind just said it all and that was that. For those regular readers of these here notes, you know the agony it was for me to choose the final title for How To Write A Dirty Book and Other Stories. In fact, I solicited opinions about it, as I could not make up my mind. I knew it would be the title of one of the stories, but I kept waffling on which title – for the longest time it was going to be The Book Scout and Other Stories, but in the end the Dirty Book was more colorful and fun and enough people told me it would make them want to pick up the book to see what it was that that was what I went with. And having made that decision it enabled Grant Geissman to create a brilliant cover for the book. Of course, now I cannot ever have imagined it being called anything else. For the three Hofstetter books, I knew instantly that I wanted them all to begin with Murder At because I love those kinds of titles and always have – and there have been a lot of Murder At books – but I knew the latter part of the titles would make them unique to this series. Funnily, even though each title suggests that the murder takes place at a certain location, the murder in each book doesn’t take place where the title says it does. I thought that was fun, too. So, what are my favorite book titles, those iconic, memorable, catchy, unique titles that made me want to pick up the book and then read it? Well, for starters, Nineteen Eighty-Four – not written as 1984, but spelled out – that just grabbed me – everything about it – so simple, yet compelling. Same with Lord Of The Flies. To Kill A Mockingbird – how could you not pick up a book with that title? And really, how perfect is it? What if Harper Lee had gone the obvious route and called it Atticus? To Kill A Mockingbird is magical and it IS the book. Same with the aforementioned The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. How perfect and beautiful. Then there’s a title that was made up by its author but that became a phrase that entered a whole generation’s vocabulary and is now, I think, in the dictionary – Catch 22. Other favorites – Farewell, My Lovely, Night Has A Thousand Eyes, The Midwich Cuckoos (retitled Village Of The Damned for its film version), Fahrenheit 451 (again, an absolutely perfect title), Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys From Brazil, A Kiss Before Dying (all Ira Levin, who always did wonderful titles), Ellen Foster (okay, I’m partial to names as titles – but this particular one pays off in the book in quite a moving and spectacular way), and so many others.
Well, I went off on a tangent, didn’t I? Don’t I have notes to write? I do, and I shall, not necessarily in that order. I finally settled on our leading man for the Nudie Musical reading – Ted Detweiler, from the TV series Sordid Lives, and someone I worked with in the Bacharach benefit and whose act I’ll be directing. He was very keen to do it, and came in and sang wonderfully and did a good reading. My only fear was having the ability to have stage energy vs. TV energy, and we had a long talk about it, and he assured me it’s not a problem. He’s the right age (that was the hardest part, I have to say) and he’s got a slightly loopy look, but is definitely leading man material, and he seemed to get the comedy. Of course, as soon as I let him know, I heard back from the first person I’d spoken to, who said he’d finally found that he’d be available. Too late, I told him. And as good as he would have been, he’s really too old for it, even though he still looks good and younger than his years (he’s in his late 40s). But part of the charm of the film is its youthful cast and I think it’s a little weird to have a lead in his late 40s – it makes the character seem, well, a little like a loser, whereas someone in his late 20s/early 30s is still idealistic (in his way) and hungry. So, now we’re down to Rosie and Dick Davis. We auditioned a potential Dick Davis yesterday – a novice with no theater experience (and not much TV or film experience either). He was very funny, actually, but as he was doing it I realized it doesn’t matter who’s doing it – it’s just funny coming off the page and it’s almost impossible to screw it up, since it’s almost all singing dirty ditties. We’re going to talk to him and see if we can trust that he understands what he’d be getting into and the commitment it requires. I’ll still be looking for others, too. I know we’ll be talking to several potential Rosies over the next few days, both here and in New York, and I’m hoping we can settle on one of them by mid-next week. Other than that, I had one rather annoying telephonic call to deal with (and today must do an errand in conjunction with said telephonic call, after which I’ll never have to deal with the subject of the call again), I had loud and obnoxious workers next door, sawing down huge trees and doing heaven-knows-what – I’m thinking they may be getting ready to tear the house down – if that’s so, I think I’m in for a year of this noise crap. The house has been sitting empty for over two years – twice there’ve been some weird people (different each time) staying there for very short periods of time. We shall see what we shall see. After our casting session, we had a meeting and all have various and sundried tasks to do over the next week. I also hired a stage manager, our very own Mr. Dale A. Cooke, the SM for What If and Deceit (and our Alex Theater benefit). He’s a good egg and does a terrific job and I’m happy to have him on board.
Other than that, I’m desperately trying to wrap up everything that needs to be wrapped up (especially in terms of the next three Kritzerland releases) so I can devote my entire attention and concentration to Nudie Musical. That means I have to finish all liner notes and get all credits and track titles to the designer, and also I must write the script for the charity event and I’m just waiting on them to get me all the information so I can barrel through it. The next four weeks will be very, very busy, and I don’t think there’s a let-up after that as we’ll be going right into the long musical’s staged reading, Ted’s act, Alet’s act, and finishing up Sean McDermott’s solo act. At some point I really want to take a weekend or even a week and maybe go somewhere. We shall see what we shall see.
Last night, I did manage to watch a motion picture on Blu-Ray (UK import, but all region) entitled The Boys From Brazil, a film of Franklin Schaffner from the novel by Ira Levin, starring Mr. Laurence Olivier and Mr. Gregory Peck. The fun of this film is not only its clever story-line, but watching Peck dig into his villain role with such relish and energy – he’s wonderful, and Olivier, who looks gaunt and not well, is equally good. And it’s wonderful to see Lilli Palmer, as well as the large supporting cast filled with excellent character actors. And just as important as the characters and story is the music of Jerry Goldsmith, which is just terrific and a lesson in how to score a film. The story takes quite a while to unfold and you don’t really know what’s going on until almost an hour in, but it’s really well done and I’ve always liked it. The DVD transfer of this film was pathetic – terrible color, dark, muddy, and not anamorphic. This UK DVD is really terrific – bright, sharp, really colorful, and it gives the film a whole new life. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m pooped and it’s already a half-hour after the notes should have been posted.
Today, I have to get up and do the long jog (didn’t do it yesterday, which was fine), then pick up a Nudie Musical script I had printed out at Office Depot, then have a lunch meeting with our leading man, Ted Detweiler, to give him said script and discuss the role and then talk about his act structure. After that, I have some packages to ship, and the annoying errand to run, and that should be that. Tomorrow, I have a lot of errands and whatnot to attend to, and even the weekend is going to be busy, but it’s a long weekend, so that’s always nice.
Next week is going to be unbelievably busy, what with wrapping up all the details on the next two Kritzerland releases, which I’m still hoping can be announced together, and writing the script for the charity event. Susan Egan and I did settle on the three songs she’ll be doing, and I think the audience will really enjoy it. I also have two big get-togethers, both film-music related, and I’m looking forward to them both.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, ship packages, have a lunch meeting, do an annoying but brief errand, and write. Today’s topic of discussion: As long as we’re talking titles, what are your all-time favorite titles of novels? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland – talk about a wonderful song title.