Well, dear readers, I’d had every good intention of getting a really good night’s sleep. And then suddenly I heard what sounded like some idiot sitting on an idling motorcycle – you know, that droning sound. I have to have quiet in order to sleep – I don’t do well with extraneous noises. So, I got up to see what’s what, but when I walked to the front of the house the noise went away. Curious, I thought. I went back to the bedroom and that is when I noticed that the spa jets light for the Jacuzzi was lit on the remote control in the bedroom environment. Curious, I thought. Why would that be? How COULD that be? So, I went to the control panel and pushed the button, to no avail. And believe me, at one in the morning I wanted avail. I then went outside and tried using the button that’s actually in the Jacuzzi itself, to no avail. At that point I became quite irked about the no avail business. I came back to the bedroom and pushed the button again. This time it shut off, so avail was suddenly on my side. I got into bed, got comfy, when I heard the sound again, and when I looked at the control panel, the spa jets light was lit again. I got up again and pushed the button, to no avail. It would not shut off. At that point, I just got back into bed and made the best of a bad and noisy situation. I finally fell asleep about thirty minutes later. I was awakened at five in the morning by the sound of the sprinklers. So, now I had the jets and the sprinklers – if only we’d had some sharks we could have done West Side Story. I tried shutting the spa jets off again, to no avail. I went back to sleep and probably would have continued to sleep until noon had not the telephonic device rung at eight-fifty. It was a totally pointless call, since I’d given the necessary information to this person on two other occasions.
So, I got up and called the Handy Man. He doesn’t know from pools, but said he’d send someone out to shut off the pool works at the electrical breakers. I said fine. But, then I just went out there and did it myself – turned the breaker off and then on again and voila – the jets stopped. Knock wood, it’s been all quiet on the western front since. I apprised the Handy Man that his solution had worked, and should this annoying problem rear its ugly little head again, at least I’ll know what to do. And do it I shall, to avail, baby, to avail.
So, instead of a refreshing and long night’s sleep, I awoke groggy and irritable, not necessarily in that order. I then did some work on the computer, after which I went and had a sandwich and no fries or onion rings. I have to stop doing the sandwich routine for a while – I have had way too many turkey sandwiches this week. Then I picked up one small package and no important envelope, which will hopefully be here today.
Then it was time for the work session with John Boswell. That was fun, as always. We did a few arrangement things, made a couple of musical decisions and were done in an hour. We’re doing something we’ve not done before in this show – we’re having an overture – from The Fantasticks. It just seems right. We’ll just start the show cold with that, and then I’ll do my first bit of patter. I’m looking forward to working with this fine group of players, since two of them are completely new to me, and another hasn’t done the show before. Then I did the four-mile jog. After that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and promptly fell asleep for thirty minutes, after which I started the motion picture I’d begun over again.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled One-Eyed Jacks, starring Mr. Marlon Brando, who also directed. The movie is endlessly fascinating – the only directorial effort by Mr. Brando. Apparently filming was not easy, and his first cut was really long and unwieldy and, if I’m remembering correctly, he just let others finish it into its final form. Despite whatever calamities happened, I have always loved the film. First off, it’s one of the most gorgeously photographed VistaVision and Technicolor (prints by) films ever. It’s just breathtaking. Second off, it’s a good yarn and the cast is really good and includes Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens (one of his best roles), Karl Malden (he’s a bad, bad man, to quote I. Berlin), Katy Jurado, Timothy Carey (yet another of his totally weird performances), Ray Teal, Elisha Cook, Jr. and many others. And then there’s the magnificent score by Hugo Friedhofer, which Kritzerland did earlier this year – the first ever release of the entire score – that CD is one of my proudest achievements in the limited edition game. It sold out instantly. I may revisit that title at some point later this year in a one CD set, much like we did with Promises, Promises. We shall see. The film kind of lurches along, but the whole feel of it is very hypnotic. As some know, the film is in the public domain, which is why you see all those cheap DVDs around. It’s available on about twenty different labels. Back in the laserdisc days, Paramount issued it in a nice-looking letterboxed transfer, and back then that was as good as we could have hoped for – but it certainly wasn’t perfect. Some of the PD DVDs have used that as their source. There’s a release in France that was getting decent notices, but I saw it and it was awful.
So, I was very interested in this Blu and Ray from Germany. Clearly done by a public domain company, but one always hopes against hope that they somehow had a decent element to work from. They didn’t. I was slightly hopeful during the first six minutes of the film – one could see it was very faded, but one did get a little blue in the sky and it was certainly sharper than any of the PD DVDs. The print used was a French print – the main titles were in French. But as the film went on, the color got worse and worse, the clarity came and went, there was all sorts of artifacts and noise and it really looked like they got some tape transfer of the print rather than the print itself. At times it looked like they’d tried to remove all the grain and dirt and stuff and in so doing only made the image worse. And so, the bottom line on the transfer is that it’s pretty much a travesty. But I got sucked into the film and watched it all the way to the end.
After that, I did the rehearsal schedule for the Gardenia show and got that off to the performers, who hopefully will be okay with it. This show has more duets than we usually do and it’s really hard to schedule the singers when that’s the case – in this show, someone will end up having to sit around for a little while, but there’s no way around it given that the duets involve four people.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty sleep and hope that the jets are done rumbling.
Today, I will hopefully sleep in. Then I’ll get up, I’ll start the liner notes for our next release, I’ll start the contextual commentary, I’ll do the four-mile jog, I’ll hopefully pick up an important envelope, I’ll do errands and whatnot, and then at two we’ll have a rehearsal with the thirteen-year-old. We’ll run the show, I’ll give notes, we’ll run assorted things, and that will be that. Then I’ll eat something light but amusing – I think I’m due for a decent meal – I’ve kind of had a hankerin’ for the Eclectic Café’s Caesar salad with blackened chicken and sundried tomatoes. We shall see.
Tomorrow I still haven’t figured out what’s what, but no matter what’s what, I’ll have to finish the liner notes and the contextual commentary. I’m also going to get a jump on the next show, which is Frank Loesser and an all-gal cast. Next week is busy as all get out, and I think we all know how busy all get out is. Rehearsals, meetings, meals, work sessions, booking the New York trip, finishing casting, finding a camera and sound person, and having a meeting with the company who’s doing the authoring and replicating for the Nudie Musical Blu and Ray.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get a good night’s beauty sleep, I must write liner notes and contextual commentary, I must do the long jog, I must hopefully pick up an important envelope, I must have a rehearsal, and I must eat. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite performances of Mr. Marlon Brando? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall hopefully not hear the rumble of the jets.