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February 9, 2014:

THE JOY OF RUTH CHRIS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because it is very late and I must be up early to judge a singing contest at The Federal.  Therefore I must dispense with any lollygagging or even any lolly or gagging separately and just get crackin’.

Yesterday was a very long day, but a very pleasurable one.  I got up at eight-thirty.  That was pleasurable, sort of.  Then I did some work on the computer, then went and had a bagel and cream cheese before heading off to the book fair.  I ran into my pal Barbara Deutsch whilst having the bagel.  Once at the fair, I began at the other end of the room and did some more checking out of things.  The most interesting item that I hadn’t seen the day before was the original typed manuscript with corrections of Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb.  The price was a cool $22,000.  I moved slowly and was very thorough this time making my way to all the booths that interested me.  I hung out with some dealer pals and had a good time.  I did work out one trade thing – I just could not leave without doing so and it was pretty easy to do and I ended up walking out with just about the prettiest copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s that exists.  The book is not that hard to find, but it is notoriously hard to find in any kind of collector condition.  The back panel of the jacket is a sketch of Capote, black on a white background.  The white is always smudged and dirty.  The front cover is just orange with white type and the spine of the book is the same.  Even the best copies I’ve seen have a partially faded spine – frequently you can’t even see the title of the book.  I had my own copy and it was in pretty good condition, with only a partially faded spine, but you could still read the title.  But this new copy was so fresh and beautiful with absolutely not an iota of fading to the spine and a perfect white back panel.  It took only a few minutes to work out the trade, which involved my copy of the book, plus a couple of other good titles.  But I do believe I now have just about the best copy of this book in the world.  I love that.

I left about two and picked up some packages at the mail place, then came home.  I proofed a few more chapters but wasn’t able to run anything by Muse Margaret, who had a very busy day herself.  We’ll be going over things this afternoon and I’ll probably be through proofing by then.

Then it was time to go to the theater.  We were close to sold out, which was a first in the bigger theater.  Adryan Russ and Doug Haverty were there and so was singer Dianne Fraser.  I also met a nice gent who’d appeared in Leslie Bricusse’s musical Sherlock Holmes.  He’s going to try and get Leslie to see the show.  We had a very strong show and a very appreciative and demonstrative audience, with lots of laughs, which energized the cast.  There were a couple of sloppy things, so I mentioned those to the appropriate folks after the show.  But all the performances were strong.

Then Sami, her mom, Doug and Adryan and li’l ol’ me headed over to Ruth Chris steakhouse for Sami’s fourteenth birthday dinner.  Sami and I both had the New York strip steak in sizzling butter, and we ordered a bunch of sides for the table, including lobster mac-and-cheese, broccoli au gratin, fries, and creamed spinach.  Adrian and Doug both had the small filet.  I also had the salad I love, Sami had a Caesar, her mom just had a salad and Doug had some lobster bisque.  Ruth Chris, at least in this location (the Hills of Beverly) has never been anything less than superb and last night was no exception.  The steak was amazing, as always – I haven’t eaten a steak in years, probably since the last time I was there.  The lobster mac-and-cheese was beyond great, in a class by itself.  I was so stuffed after, but still found a little room for some berries and whipped cream.  Here’s the birthday girl with her birthday dessert on the table.

sami b-day

 

After that, I came home and had to write these here notes.

Tomorrow, I’ll be up by nine-thirty, then I’ll get ready and be on my way to judge a singing contest at The Federal.  I’m sure I’ll be there at least until three, after which I’ll come right home to finish proofing.  Then I’ll run stuff by Muse Margaret, then get it all entered into the manuscript.  Then I’ll relax and watch a motion picture.

Monday, I’ll print out a few copies of the manuscript and get one to one of the proofers, and a copy to someone who’ll be blurbing the book, should they like it.  I’ll also e-mail the manuscript to two others who’ll hopefully be proofing.  I want to have all comments within the week so Grant can then get the book designed and done.  I’ll also eat, hopefully pick up some packages and then I’m auditioning a potential Abner for Li’l Abner.

The rest of the week is meetings and meals, including a lunch with the divine Terri White.  We’ll probably announce the new release on Wednesday morning.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, judge a singing contest, proof, run things by Muse Margaret, enter fixes and relax.  Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them.  So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall happily reside until I arise, thinking about the joy of Ruth Chris.

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