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December 11, 2012:

REFRIED BEANS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle eating refried beans. I wonder whose idea it was to fry up some beans and then RE-fry them. That was just genius, wasn’t it? But here’s the most interesting thing about refried beans, and you just knew there was going to be something interesting about refried beans, didn’t you? The name is frijoles refritos and over the years the prefix “re” has been used as in the American definition, which is repetition. The real meaning of frijoles refritos is “well-fried beans” not “refried beans.” So, all this time we’ve all been hoodwinked into thinking we’ve been having RE-fried beans when what we’ve really been having is WELL-fried beans. Damn them, damn them all to hell. And they say we offer nothing but drivel here at haineshisway.com. I beg to differ and I differ to beg – we offer information of substance, especially concerning the misnomer of refried beans vis a vis well-fried beans. Have I really just spent an entire paragraph talking about beans? I believe I have. And I’m jiggy with that.

Yesterday, I had no fried or refried or well-fried beans. I just wanted to put that out there so there is no confusion. I got up after a pretty good night’s sleep, answered e-mails, and then moseyed on over to the editing room to see the first cut of episode four of this season’s Outside the Box. I was very pleased with what I saw and the editor, Marshall Harvey, did a great job with it. My only issues were in the first of the musical numbers. He told me he’d struggled with it, because we’d done about nine takes of the master and it was hard to deal with all that footage – I normally never go anywhere near that number of takes. So, we tackled that first. I felt it lacked a certain energy that I wanted in terms of the cutting and the shots, a certain dynamic. But by replacing or altering about six shots it felt much better and we were both pleased with the result, very much so. The only other change we made to the other numbers was for the second, where I just had him remove two bars of music at the top so that we got to the singing faster. That number made me laugh out loud – he chose just the right shots for it and it was really funny. Then we went to work on the set-up scene – the episode ran exactly seven minutes, which is what the currently running episode ran – but I wanted to get about ten seconds out of the opening sequence and through careful cutting of some unnecessary dialogue we were able to do just that – exactly ten seconds. Because the hard drive had been picked up by the assistant editor so he could synch up the audio and video for the last two episodes we shot last week, we made a compressed version of episode four and sent it to me via You Send It. I ran it after a while and I don’t think there’ll be any further changes. We did alter one sound effect after we made the copy, so that’s already done and when the hard drive comes back, we’ll make our compressed and uncompressed locked copies. I think I’ll show it to a couple of people to see how it plays and to make sure I don’t want to do any tiny finessing.

After that, I went to the mail place and picked up four count them four packages, which was a lovely number of packages to pick up. I came home and had a nice visit with our very own Mr. Nick Redman, who brought the check discs of the new Twilight Time releases, Experiment in Terror and In Like Flint. After he left, I got ready for the LACCTAA holiday partay and then headed to the Dale of Glen. The partay was very nice – held in a Moose Lodge. We had about twenty-five people, the Costco food spread was actually really good, and everyone had a good time. I left before the partay ended and came back home and immediately sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Experiment in Terror. I first saw Experiment in Terror at a sneak preview at the Village Theater in Westwood, about five months before the film’s release. It was a full house and you could cut the tension with a knife after the first scene in the garage. I only really knew Blake Edwards from his late 1950s comedies and then from Breakfast at Tiffany’s – and, of course, Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky. I absolutely loved every minute of the film and best of all, Mr. Edwards was at the preview, as were Stephanie Powers and Harvey Evans (little did I know that close to fifty years later I’d be remixing and remastering the original Broadway cast album of Follies for CD, in which Mr. Evans co-stars – and doing an interview with him for our website in which he talks specifically about this film and Miss Powers and being at the preview).

Five months later, when the film was released, I was back and then saw it five or six times. It was then not until the 1980s when I saw it again, and it was still terrific and suspenseful, and that Mancini score really got under my skin. I was thrilled when the DVD came out, and it looked fine. But now, thanks to Sony and Twilight Time, it’s on Blu-ray and it’s a beautiful thing to behold. The black-and-white photography of Phil Lathrop comes through beautifully, and the contrast is rich and everything looks just as it should, which means the opticals are grainier and softer than what comes before and after them.

And boy does the film still work. The villain is truly creepy and upsetting, and a couple of the scenes are really uncomfortable to watch, which was the point, of course. Lee Remick is wonderful, as always, and Glen Ford is, for me, one of the most underrated actors in film history, right alongside Joel McCrea in terms of being ignored or forgotten. Both were superb film actors and both had unique looks and voices – you know, in a time when actors actually had looks and voices and you could tell them apart, unlike today’s crop of mumbling actors, who all look and sound exactly the same. Of course, we get wonderful character actors like Ned Glass and Roy Poole and others. Stephanie Powers is unbelievably adorable. The Mancini score, sparse as it is, ups the creepy factor 100%, and the main theme is one of the best he ever wrote. It’s kind of a classic, this film, and it is highly recommended by the likes of me.

We also sent in the packaging for three upcoming releases, two of which we really must get approved before everyone leaves for Christmas vacation. That gives us about a week-and-a-half, and hopefully it will get done within that time. Send your most excellent vibes and xylophones for a speedy approval to all three projects. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a good night’s beauty sleep.

Today, I have only a few errands and whatnot to do, and some notes to jot down for the new novel, hopefully pick up some packages, but mostly make final song choices for the Kritzerland show and gather up the sheet music. At six, I’m supping with a young actress and her mum, in from Canada. This is the girl who, at thirteen, won a huge competition in Canada – out of thousands of entrants she took first place, singing my song, Annie. I’m thinking Musso and Frank, but I may switch that to Bird’s, because I do love Bird’s.

Tomorrow, I’m having a post-birthday lunch with dear reader Jeanne at some jernt where Helms Bakery used to be. Other than that, it’s meetings, writing, meals, and getting singers their music.

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 all dance the Hora or the Twist, because today is the birthday of our very own beloved dear reader Ginny. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own beloved dear reader Ginny. On the count of three: One, two, three: A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN BELOVED DEAR READER GINNY!!!

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do some errands and whatnot, jot down notes, hopefully pick up some packages, choose songs, gather up music, and then sup. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Blake Edwards, Lee Remick, and Glen Ford? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to know that refried beans are really well fried beans.

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