Well, dear readers, it is Saturday. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you find such stimulating information? Nowhere, that’s where. We are simply cutting edge in that way. We are simply ahead of the curve in that way. In any case, it is Saturday and now the world knows it. Speaking of the world knowing it, yesterday was a weird little day. I was up by nine, I answered e-mails, I futzed and finessed and managed three new pages before our little rehearsal session began. That was with singer Kristin Towers Rowles. We ran through her solos and that was that. I then went and had another meatless Cobb Salad, a meatless bagel, and meatless tap tap tapioca pudding, all very good. Then I came back home. We also shipped out a LOT of CDs.
Once home, I wrote another page, then the plumber came by to see why I’m not getting enough hot water. He checked a few things out, wasn’t sure, may have to come back. In the meantime he put a new showerhead in bathroom two and he checked the water pressure valve outside. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Man in the Dark, a film in 3 Dimensions that I watched in 2 Dimensions due to the fact that my TV is in two dimensions and not three dimensions. But you can see where the fun 3-D stuff is and even in 2-D it’s fun. The film stars Edmund O’Brien and is more than a little wacky in its plot. The director, Lew Landers, isn’t one of the greats but the film moves right along and speeds through all of its seventy minutes. I love Edmund O’Brien, so he’s a big plus, as is Ted de Corsia, who’s always an amusing tough guy. There are some wonderful location shots at the studio, which was the studio that became the Francis Ford Coppola studio on Las Palmas. They do a rooftop chase there and you can clearly see the Broadway Hollywood department store sign to the northeast and above that part of the Hollywood sign. But the key reason the film is a must-have are the amazing location shots of Ocean Park Pier circa 1953. Everything I write about in Benjamin Kritzer is pretty much on display here – the fat laughing lady above the House of Mirrors, the vanilla custard ice cream stand, there may even be a fleeting glance of where my grandfather had his Wheel-O booth. There’s a long scene at the rollercoaster, the merry-go-round that I rode all the time is there, and on certain reverse shots you can see the dome of the back of the Dome Theater. The transfer is aces and I recommend it highly.
I also watched a bit of the new It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Blu and Ray from Criterion. Of course I put on the long version, the reconstruction done for this set. I’m one of those who happens to think Mr. Kramer did the right thing in shortening the film after the first four weeks of its roadshow engagement. Everyone always pines after that version, but the fact is very few saw it – if you didn’t see it in the first four weeks in 1963 then you never saw it, even if you think you did. 99% of the people who’ve seen the film saw the shortened version in what we can call the second roadshow version – it played in that version for all the roadshow engagements – 164 minutes (which included overture, entr’acte and exit music). Once it went into general release, the film ran about ten minutes shorter because they simply excised overture, entr’acte and exit music, but the picture content was exactly the same as the second roadshow version. This new version overseen by Robert A. Harris, attempts to put it back the way it wuz and all but about three or four minutes are back, albeit not in optimal quality. But it is what it is, and it gives everyone a chance to see pretty much what was on view that first four weeks. I don’t think much of the cut footage adds anything terribly brilliant, but some of it is genuinely great and/or at least interesting. Some of it is just fat and Mr. Kramer was right to trim it. The basis of the extended version transfer is, of course, the previously released MGM/UA transfer that’s already out on Blu and Ray. That looks great and Mr. Harris has done yeoman work to make the put back footage look as good as it can, but since it’s all taken from faded prints (the negative for that stuff is long lost) it is, as I said, what it is. And Criterion includes the regular version, too, so you have it all. There are lots of extras and I’ll get around to them at some point.
I then wrote another four or five pages for a total of about eight, and I took a hot shower and was surprised at how great the water pressure was, so whatever he tinkered with worked, and I also had double the hot water I’d had in the morning, so maybe he figured that out, too.
Today, it will just be writing, and maybe a little drive, hopefully picking up some packages, and more writing, right up until I go to the Smoke House for a celebration dinner and postmortem for the benefit. After that, I’ll come home and maybe ever write some more, or finish Mad World.
Tomorrow I will write, then I’ll attend the matinee of our show, which is the final performance in the theater we’re now in – we then shut down for ten days, then we reopen in their bigger space. Some of us will go out to eat after the show, then I’ll come home and relax. Next week I’m teaching a musical theatre workshop at LACC from Tuesday to Friday – Lloyd Cooper will be with me on Thursday and Friday and the kids will have an opportunity to get up and sing. I’m hoping Kay Cole can come in, too. Besides that, I have to prep our next release and write.
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 Hully Gully, for today is the birthday of our very own dear reader Charles Pogue, who now lives on Facebook with only occasional visits to the place he used to call home. Long after Facebook has been replaced by whatever else comes along, and it will, we’ll still be here and hopefully he’ll come back to us. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader Charles Pogue. On the count of three: A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER CHARLES POGUE!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, hopefully pick up packages, write, have a dinner, and write. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could go back in time and revisit your favorite childhood place that’s no longer there, what would that be? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream in 3 Dimensions but view them in 2 Dimensions.