Well, dear readers, the long and winding holiday weekend is over and it’s time to buckle down, Winsocki and work, work, work (that is three works or, to put it succinctly, the works). There is no time for shilly-shallying or dilly-dallying or vice versa or even versa vice. No, there are things that need doing and do them we shall, with no shilly-shallying or dilly-dallying, to coin a phrase. Have you ever coined a phrase? If so, which coin did you use? A penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, a fifty-cent piece? I always find that the best coin for a phrase is the old-fashioned nickel. What the HELL am I talking about, to coin a phrase? Don’t I have some notes to write? I do, and I shall, not necessarily in that order, to coin a phrase. Yesterday was the final day of the long and winding holiday weekend and for me it was a very relaxing day that went all too quickly. I got up at ten-thirty (didn’t get to sleep until one-thirty) and awoke to an extraordinary number of orders for our new release. That was very nice and I spent the next two hours printing them out. More orders continued to come in through the day, and it was especially amazing given it was a holiday. I’m hoping yet more orders will come in today as people return from their various and sundried holiday vacations. Other than that, I did a two and a half mile jog, I had an egg salad and bacon sandwich (my new favorite), I had some peanuts (which I unshelled), I did some work on the computer, I was tickled to get an order from Robert Morse, the star of Sugar, and to be contacted by the Bob Merrill family, who are all thrilled we’re doing this. I had a few telephonic conversations and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish, to coin a phrase.
Last night I finished watching a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, starring Mr. Jon Hall and Miss Maria Montez. I’m a sucker for these Arabian Nights pictures and I enjoyed this thoroughly. It’s a real Saturday matinee picture – short and sweet and to the point. And any movie with Andy Devine as one of the thieves is okay by me. This kind of film, this Saturday matinee adventure picture, simply doesn’t exist anymore. And it’s a shame. Movies were much more fun when there were tons of double bills coming out every single week in every genre imaginable, and few of them were event films or took themselves importantly – they were just quickie entertainments that served their purpose and did the job. Now everything is an event, and even independent pictures are events. You can’t just make a damn movie anymore – a good programmer – not even on TV. There are good guys and bad guys and fights and romance – and all in eighty-seven minutes with non-stop music by Edward Ward, who I’d never heard of. The transfer on this region B Blu-Ray is quite nice – very sharp, and with pretty good color.
I also watched the first episode of Thriller. I do remember these early episodes not being that hot, and certainly the first one wasn’t too good. But it was fun to see Leslie Neilsen and George Grizzard, and it was competently directed by Arthur Hiller. Yes, Hiller did Thriller. The show didn’t really get interesting till later in the run, and those are the episodes I’m looking forward to – Pigeons from Hell, Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, Papa Benjamin (from a story by Cornell Woolrich) – I do love the music from this show – Pete Rugolo and Jerry Goldsmith did some outstanding scores. The transfer was okay, but there’s something seriously wrong with the sound, music-wise – it’s totally muffled and out of phase a lot of the time – very odd.
After that, I listened to some music and did stuff on the computer. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I need a good night’s sleep and need to be up by eight-thirty at the latest, so I need to hit the road to dreamland, to coin a phrase.
Today, the helper will be here at ten and we have a few orders to ship, and then we have to figure out how many boxes to get to fill all these orders – she’ll probably take some of the invoices and however many boxes we’ve got here home to get a head start on addressing. Then we’re going to storage to pull the sheet music for the next Gardenia show, and I hope to heaven that what we need is there. Then I have a lunch meeting with a singer at two – we’re going to the Daily Grill. Then I have some errands and whatnot to do, then I may meet David Wechter briefly to do some work on our script. The evening, however, is mine all mine.
Tomorrow, I have a ton of stuff to do, and I must finish my liner notes, and then I’m going to the Mark Taper Forum to see The Glass Menagerie, which I’m really looking forward to. Thursday and Friday are also quite busy, with writing and prepping our new release and all sorts of other things.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s dance the Hora or the cha-cha, because today is the birthday of dear reader William E. Lurie, who doesn’t post very much and hasn’t for years, but who perhaps will someday join the fray again. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader William E. Lurie. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER WILLIAM E. LURIE!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, ship packages, pick up sheet music, do a jog, have a lunch meeting, perhaps meet with David Wechter, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite childhood adventure movies – those films that you actually saw in a movie theater when you were a child and which took you to different lands and exotic places and made you want to go “play” the movie. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, to coin a phrase.