Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle with a pompadour. Does anyone still wear a pompadour? Before I go any further (and I WILL go further), may I just point out that somehow this is the final day of July. How did that happen? And tomorrow will be a little month I like to call August and it is my fervent hope and prayer that August will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. I just tried to put my hair in a pompadour but I only have enough hair to put it in a pomp. I hate when that happens. Well, perhaps I shall write these here notes because yesterday was a very long day and I am very tired and can barely see straight although I see crooked just fine.
Yesterday was a perfectly pleasant day, although we are having a bit of Mercury in retrograde or Uranus or something, but it hasn’t been as bothersome as usual, at least not for me, thank goodness. You know, I thank goodness all the time and I can’t recall a single instance of goodness ever thanking me. Goodness, of course, sports a really nice pompadour, so that is just the icing on the cake, goodness-wise. Where was I? Oh, yes, a perfectly pleasant Monday. I was up at six to announce our new title. Then I got back in bed around seven-thirty, fell back asleep about nine and was awakened at ten by the ringing of the doorbell. I’d forgotten that someone was coming to pick something up. I hate when that happens. I then printed out quite a nice number of orders, then the helper came by and got some invoices, after which I went and had a sandwich and onion rings, after which I picked up two packages. Then I dealt with a teeny-tiny problem involving the release we announced, did some work on the computer, and received a wonderful e-mail from Ted Chapin, who wrote Everything Was Possible, the book about Follies. He was wonderfully effusive in his praise for what we were able to accomplish, and since he was there at the session, I took that as high praise. Then it was time for our rehearsal.
Rehearsal was fun – rougher than I like, but our MD has been hugely busy and hadn’t had the time to spend fixing things after our work session last week. So, things took quite some time and we were slightly behind the whole time. But what a wonderful cast we’ve got. First up, returning for his third show was Dennis Kyle. We ran his three songs, which are really a lot more than three songs – a Bacharach at the Movies medley consisting of The Blob, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Hot Spell, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, and Arthur’s Theme. Next was a put-together of two songs from On the Flip Side – It Doesn’t Matter Anymore and They Don’t Give Medals (to Yesterday’s Heroes), both previously recorded by my close personal friend, Mr. Guy Haines. His third number is a put-together of Walk on By and Anyone Who Had a Heart. He sings all of it wonderfully. Then came Danny Gurwin. Alet had recommended him many times, but the timing was never right and now it is. He was the most prepared, as he’d already performed two of his three songs. He’s doing Half as Big as Life, She Likes Basketball, and What’s New, Pussycat? He was followed by Kim Huber, who ran her three songs: Knowing When to Leave, A House is Not a Home, and Alfie. Then it was Lisa Livesy. I’ve never worked with her, and she’s just terrific. She’s doing a put-together of Trains and Boats and Plains and Come and Get Me (an Alex Rybeck arrangement we did for the NY Bacharach benefit I directed), The Look of Love, and the VERY long A Bacharach Love Story, which is comprised of Magic Moments, Say a Little Prayer, Close to You, Wives and Lovers, Make It Easy on Yourself, and Promises, Promises. Finally, it was Jane Noseworthy – her first song is One Less Bell to Answer, then she does a Lost Horizon medley comprised of The Things I Will Not Miss, I Might Frighten Him Away, Living Together, Growing Together, and The World is a Circle – way too much fun. Her last number is a duet with Guy Haines (if he’s a no-show she’ll have to do it with me) of I’ll Never Fall in Love Again. Daisy Eagan, who comes on Thursday, will be singing Whoever You Are, I Love You. So, an eclectic batch of songs and I think it’s going to be a very fun show.
After that, Juliana Hansen came over and we went to a little local Thai jernt. I had a green salad with peanut dressing and some pad Thai – too much food, but it was good. Then I came home, did some work on the computer, and then read the first fifty pages of an original Psycho script by Joseph Stefano. According to what I read online, Psycho began filming in November of 1959, but this script is dated November of 1959 and the original and revised pages go to the December 1, I really doubt it was shooting until January of 1960. Perhaps what they meant was that it was in pre-production. Because as of December 1 Janet Leigh’s character was still being called Mary Crane – it was changed to Marion. There’s many lines of dialogue that bit the dust by the time they shot, and it’s easy to see why – it was stuff that just made scenes longer and wasn’t necessary. But much of the dialogue we hear in the film is in this draft verbatim, especially the dialogue for Norman Bates. I’ll read the rest today. Also included with this lot is the original onionskin script for the film’s trailer, which is hilarious, and a two-page letter from the Breen office or whatever they were called by then, outlining what wasn’t acceptable in the script. Let’s just say that given what ended up on screen, Hitchcock and company got away with murder.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am tired and need a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today I shall definitely jog, I shall definitely eat light, I shall hopefully pick up some packages, the helper will be by to get yet more invoices, I’ll pay some Kritzerland bills, I’ll write, and then relax.
Tomorrow, I have a lot of stuff to do and must finish the two sets of liner notes I’m working on and prep the release announcements for the Baja, and the Junior High School Blu and Ray and CD and I’m supping with our MD and his family. Thursday is our second Kritzerland rehearsal and then I’m supping and seeing my pal Stacy Sullivan in her tribute to Peggy Lee. Friday there’s a lot going on, Saturday is our stumble-through and Sunday is sound check and show time.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat light, hopefully pick up some packages, pay some bills, write, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is your favorite thing to eat at a Thai restaurant or even a Japanese restaurant. Let’s Thai one on. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland – perhaps when I wake up my hair will be in a pompadour.