Well, dear readers, last night I attended the opening of the Pasadena Playhouse production of Noel Coward’s A Song at Twilight. I will only say that I liked the play itself just fine, but that I simply don’t care for this director’s work – and he’s done a bunch of Noel Coward plays at the Playhouse, several of which sent me running at intermission. The actors, save for Roxanne Hart, just don’t seem all that comfortable with the play, and in the case of its leading man, it’s just not a good fit, at least for me it wasn’t. But that’s not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about – no, rant about – is the loss of the theatre curtain. Yes, I come to mourn the loss of the theatre curtain. Exactly when did this happen and become the state of things. I understand that every now and then there would be no front curtain – and in each of those rare instances there was a good reason for it. Now, no shows have front curtains – musicals on Broadway have some kind of show scrim with the title of the show on it or something like that – I find that completely irritating and inane, in that order. But straight plays – no show curtain anymore. So, one walks into the Pasadena Playhouse auditorium and sees the set. We see it for the entire duration of sitting there before the show begins. Then the lights go out and come up and we see it again.
When I saw my first straight play at the Huntington Hartford Theatre, one walked in the auditorium and took one’s seat. One looked at the front curtain, beautifully hanging there like so much fish and one wondered what magic world was behind it. Then the house lights would dim and go out, the curtain would rise REVEALING the set, which would frequently get an intake of breath or applause – we were taken somewhere and it was a – SURPRISE. The look of it, the feel of it, the lighting, all of it – a SURPRISE. But somewhere in the last decade or two, some incredibly stupid creative people decided to rid themselves of the front curtain and thereby deprive audiences of that magical moment known as the curtain rise. Dear incredibly stupid creative people: You deserve a place reserved for you in theatre HELL. Shame on you, and may some day, maybe I’ll even be in the position to do it, may some day some smart person bring the front curtain back and restore a little theatre magic. One further note to the incredibly stupid creative people: You make me want to vomit on the ground. BRING BACK THE FRONT CURTAIN! End of rant.
Prior to seeing the show, I’d gotten ten hours of great sleep. I then got up, was lazy, did some work on the computer, prepped our new release announcement, had some bacon and eggs and toast, came home, finessed some of my Kritzerland commentary and then got ready to go. At the theater I ran into my old pal Ed Begley, Jr. and he said that we, meaning he, Cindy Williams and I should go have a meal, so I’m going to try and make that happen. After the show, I skipped the after-party and came right home, where I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched another Sherlock episode – these ninety-minute shows are really fun, I must say. And they’re perfectly cast, too. Benedict Cumberbatch’s approach to Sherlock Holmes is completely his own and he’s just wonderful to watch. I’m looking forward to the subsequent seasons but will get them on Blu-ray, as I don’t like the Netflix quality much and I’m thinking this show is a keeper.
Today, I shall be up at six in the morning to announce our latest release, which is an Encore Edition of One-Eyed Jacks, a title that was a very quick sellout for us, and for which I get a lot of e-mail requests. And it gave us a chance to fix the little error on disc one – the “Alternate Main Title” – on our original release, it was incorrectly identified – it was, in fact, not by Hugo Friedhofer at all, it was the main title from The Jayhawkers by Jerome Moross. None of us caught it, but several listeners did. So, we’ve removed that, but we also found that there was, in fact, an alternate main title for the film, so we’ve included that in its place. Otherwise, everything is the same except the “Main Title” on disc two, the complete score from the three-track masters. At the time we did the original CD that one track was missing on the three-track masters so we simply used the LP main title – the same except for a lot of extra reverb. But recently the three-track main title was found, and so we’ve used that, making the complete score now completely from the three-track masters.
After I announce, I’ll probably go back to bed, I’ll try to do a jog, then I have a work session for the Kritzerland show. I may have to go to LACC after that for a little meeting, then I’ll eat, then I’ll come home and try to decide who my Abner Yokum is – I’ve narrowed it down to two people – both are really good, both are dying to do it, and I’m on the fence about which to use. But either will work fine and one of the two is REALLY hungry to do it. Neither have any scheduling problems, which is a real plus. I’ll eat at some point, and hopefully pick up some packages, and just as hopefully print out a LOT of orders.
Tomorrow we have a Sandy and Lanny work session, and I’m either mixing or seeing a reading in the evening. The rest of the week is more of the same, and we will finish this version of the mix by Thursday and then I’ll know exactly which pieces we’ll have to fix in terms of the two horns and reed at a pick-up session we’ll try to do in early April.
Before I finish these here notes I thought I’d share this photograph, which was posted on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. I asked what I was looking at and I misread the answer and could not figure out what they were talking about, until I finally went back and reread their answer to me. Once I understood that then everything made sense. This photograph is circa 1905 and what you’re looking at, astonishingly, is a little city that had, a few years before, been named Hollywood. So, this photo is looking south from the hills above Franklin, kind of where the Magic Castle and Yamishiro restaurant is now. If you look in the middle of the photo, just above center and slightly to the left, you will see a domed building. That is the corner of Highland and Sunset Blvd. and the building was the original Hollywood High School. Now, if you look dead center on the photograph and over to the right a bit, you will see a house, the one nearest the street to the west, the white one. That, unbelievably was what was on Hollywood Blvd. until they built the Chinese Theater. That is what is there. The street to the right is Orchard.
Amazing isn’t it?
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, announce our Encore Edition, jog, hopefully print out a LOT of orders, have a work session for the Kritzerland show, maybe have a meeting at LACC, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, and try to choose an Abner. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your feelings on the demise of the front curtain in theaters, and in movie theaters, too, for that matter? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall begin my busy day and mourn the day it was curtains for curtains.