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April 3, 2014:

HEEEERE’S JOHNNY!

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, we have finished phase one of And the World Goes Round – the mix.  The news wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be – we were very thorough and careful and nitpicked many nits and the result is we really can do all the fixes we need to do with the trumpet, trombone and reed in one three-hour session.  We have small sections of about three songs where we need to replace a few bars here and there – those should go very quickly.  Then we have one complete song we have to do all of – I remember it well, late in the second day and they’d all just given up by that point.  We somehow managed to save at least two-thirds of the entr’acte – I really thought that one would have to be redone in total.  And the nine-minute “Shoes Dance” has to have quite a bit replaced, but again, we did save some of it.  We’ll now book that session sometime in the next three weeks or so and wrap this up.

Prior to doing the last of the mix, I was up at nine and then had my ten o’clock meeting at a local theater – that went very well.  Then I came home and answered e-mails, then went and had a Cobb salad and a bagel for my meal o’ the day.  After that, I came home, the helper came by and got a few more invoices, and then I picked up a couple of packages.  Then I came back, did some work on the computer and then sat on my couch like so much fish.

Yesterday, I finished watching the American Masters documentary on Johnny Carson.  I found it to be one of the best from that always-interesting series – it was, thanks to a generous selection of clips, hilarious, but it was also very touching at times, and the people interviewed were all excellent, save for the two “biographers” – I can always live without that.  Watching the two hour show, one is overwhelmed at how wonderful Johnny Carson was, and how much a part of all our lives he was.  No other late night show host has come within a country mile of Mr. Carson because none of them had what he had in TOTAL – he was just one of us, a friend, and a brilliant comedian who also knew when and how to listen.  When he finally called it quits, it truly was the end of an era.  I watched Jay Leno once – and could not stomach it.  I’ve watched Letterman a few times, but that’s a whole different ball of fish and while I really like him, it’s nothing like Johnny Carson.  Jimmy Fallon?  He’s just bland and does nothing for me at all.  Conan?  He’s weird and a bit off-putting.  Johnny was like our friend, a compatriot, someone we welcomed into our homes.  He was one of a kind and just seeing those clips reminds you of that amazing way with a joke and his impeccable timing and ability to jump on any situation thrown at him.  Heeeere’s Johnny!  I have only one Johnny Carson memory.  It was in the mid-1970s, prior to Nudie Musical.  I’d done quite a bit by then.  One day, my agent called me and told me a director I’d worked with was desperate for me to come in and do one quick scene in a pilot he was shooting – no dialogue, they’d pay my day rate, and I had to be in some kind of horse costume.  I said no, of course, but they pressed the issue insisting I could make whatever the bit was funny.  I actually have no memory of what the show was or what the bit was, but eventually I caved in and said okay.  It was being shot at NBC in Burbank.  The first memorable thing was in a large dressing room, which I shared with Milton Berle’s brother, who peed in the sink.  Could not believe it.  I guess that’s what old vaudeville people did.  And the second memorable thing was waiting backstage to enter, in this stupid horse costume – I was standing there looking out the eyeholes and suddenly there was Johnny Carson standing in front of me.  He laughed, and petted my horse head and said something like, “Acting’s fun, huh?”  I was actually mortified.  How I wished I was there as me, waiting to go do a scene in a pilot, meeting him face to face.  But, alas, that never happened.

After that, I watched another documentary, this one not nearly as well done – The Last Mogul, about Universal’s Lew Wasserman.  It had some interesting things in it, but in the end I didn’t really care about anything or anyone.

Then we did the mixing, after which I stopped at Gelson’s and got four tiny teriyaki drummettes and some slaw for my snack – then I came home and ate it all up.

Today, I shall try to relax in the morning, then hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, then we have our second Kritzerland show, after which I’ll eat.

Tomorrow, I may or may not be seeing Teddy for a haircut, otherwise the day is mine all mine.  Saturday is our stumble-through, then a dinner with Muse Margaret and hubby Richard, then Sunday is our sound check and show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, relax, hopefully pick up packages, rehearse, and eat.  Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your current favorite talk show hosts.  And what are your favorite memories of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland saying, “Heeeere’s Johnny!”

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