Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I have a very busy day and I must be rested and alert and also alert and rested for whatever comes my way and there will be plenty coming my way. But this is not the time to talk about today. This is the time to talk about yesterday. We must never talk about today in this section, for to do so would upset the order of the universe and would cause chaos and confusion and people would become disoriented and there would be much ado about nothing. Frankly, one cannot have enough much ado about nothing. Of course, on certain occasions we have much ado about something, but this in not such an occasion so perhaps one of you fine dear readers would like to tell me what the HELL I’m talking about. In any case, yesterday was a day in which things happened. One of the things that happened was that I got up after a decent night’s sleep. I left pretty quickly to go get the motor car washed and happily arrived just after the morning rush (yes, there was a morning rush of cars in desperate need of washing on a Thursday morning at nine – go know). In just a few minutes the car was clean and shiny, not necessarily in that order. I then put some gas in the motor car, and then came back home and worked for two hours with Mr. David Wechter on our new project. Once again, we worked via iChat. After that, I did some other work that needed doing, and then I headed over to the West Hollywood Hugo’s to meet dear reader Jeanne for lunch. It was a marvelously marvelous lunch, and then I headed back homeward, picked up a package, and then came back to the home environment. I had a few more things to attend to, then I answered a lot of e-mails, had a couple of necessary telephonic calls, printed out contracts and whatnot, and then went to Gelson’s for some prosciutto and melon balls. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled That’s Entertainment. I really enjoyed this film when it came out – and my young daughter (at the time) loved it, too. In fact, we saw it several times together. This type of compilation film was fairly unique back then – we didn’t have home video and the only way to have seen a lot of the films included in the compilation was if you’d caught them on TV. Now, almost thirty-six years later, we’ve been there, done that, and it’s a bit laborious to sit through, especially the blather spoken by the celebrity hosts. Some of the clips still delight (Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire especially), and it’s always fun to see some of the classic numbers. What is not fun is the MGM “masterpiece” that ends the film – if the American In Paris ballet was such a masterpiece then it shouldn’t be truncated and minus most of its footage. Do it or don’t. I had the DVD set on the three That’s Entertainment films and the upgrade to Blu-Ray is pretty unnecessary if you have that set. The quality of the clips varies wildly, with some looking okay in hi-def (but nothing looking as incredible as it should), and some looking downright soft and ugly, and that, surprisingly, includes all the newly shot footage with the celebrities. The only sequence that looks good among the new stuff is Elizabeth Taylor – that’s pretty sharp looking. I don’t know how the other two films fare, but I’ll be watching them over the next few days and will report.
I also finished watching a DVD entitled Chandler, starring Warren Oates and Leslie Caron. This film, long out of circulation, has, after all these years, finally showed up again, totally out of the blue, first on TMC, and now on one of those Warner Archive DVDs. It’s not a good film at all, but the director and producer came out publicly and apologized for the apparent hatchet job that then MGM president James Aubrey did on the film. He was, in fact, infamous for interfering and making movies worse. The director, who I’ve known for thirty-six years, was locked out of the editing room and didn’t even get his cut previewed, something that is now guaranteed by the DGA. What’s left is completely incoherent, and pretty irritating. It’s certainly shot well (in scope), and I enjoy Mr. Oates and Miss Caron and the supporting cast includes Gloria Grahame and Chales McGraw, but none of it makes a lick of sense. Perhaps I’ll do a little interview with director Paul Magwood for this here site and get his version of the story and what the film should have been. The transfer is actually quite nice.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I feel we’ve had a little too much much ado about nothing and am hoping the next section brings us much ado about something.
Today will be a very busy day and hopefully a fun one. I must get up early and be on my way to have my hair cut by Teddy – it looks quite unruly right now. I’ll also give Teddy a copy of the new book, since he makes a nice appearance in it. After the haircut, I’ll have an hour to kill, and then I have a lunch meeting at Barney’s Beanery, a classic LA joint that I’ve actually only been to once. So, that should be fun. Then I have to hurry back to the Valley and deliver books to Mystery and Imagination, then I have to pick up more Rare Tracks booklets, and then I must come home and work with David Wechter, probably only for an hour at the most. And then I head over to see Mr. Jason Graae in a musical at the Blank Theater.
Tomorrow, of course, is my book signing, and I’m praying we actually have a few people there. One thing that will definitely be there is Parisian Cake. After the signing, a few of us may go out to eat some foodstuffs. And I have no plans for the evening and will try to keep it that way.
Sunday, I’m seeing a musical version of Nightmare Alley at the Geffen – our very own Miss Alet Taylor is in it. I’m attending with Mr. Barry Pearl and his ever-lovin’ Cindy and then we’re all going out to eat after the show. I will be home by seven for the evening of Lost.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get a haircut by Teddy, have a lunch meeting, deliver books, pick up booklets and mail and hopefully a package or three, work, and then see a musical. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – Blu and Ray, Hang ’em High. CD, Mancini’s Angels, a classical CD of composer Geoffrey Burgon, and various Kritzerland projects in various stages of completion. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and do let’s have much ado about something rather than nothing.