Well, dear readers, the wonderful Mary Rodgers has passed away at eighty-three. I’d been told a few days ago she wasn’t doing well, so it was not unexpected by me. I’d met her a few times through Ted Chapin of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization – once when we recorded A Grand Night for Singing, again for The King and I recording, but mostly when I decided to record Hey Love, the musical revue of her material. I’d always loved her music, from the first time I heard Once Upon a Mattress, a show I did when I was fourteen or fifteen, I think. Every song in that show was just captivating musically. And being in the studio with her in attendance, listening to all those wonderful songs was just an amazing experience. I have a vivid memory of recording the song At the Same Time – I’d just fallen head over heels in love with the music, and when we got the final take I just went over to her and gave her a bear hug and lifted her off the ground, telling her I adored and loved her work. She was delighted by the enthusiasm, and, of course, I ultimately recorded that song again, with its original lyric intact on one of the Unsung Musicals albums. I have a vague memory that there was some drama with Mr. Sondheim, and I think I may have even had to deal with a little of it, but in the end all was fine. She loved the album we did and even though it was one of our worst sellers, I didn’t care because I felt the world needed an entire CD of her music. So, RIP, dear Mary, and make beautiful music for those lucky souls who are around you now.
Yesterday, I think I got eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, had to get UPS yet another piece of paper, then I went to a lunch meeting in the West of Wood. Many topics were discussed, I didn’t eat, and then I came back to the Valley. I did some work on the computer, and then got word that last night’s dinner plans were being pushed to tonight, which was fine by me. I then went to Hugo’s – hadn’t been there in quite a while. I had pasta papa and a small Caesar, then went and picked up one package, then came home and had to call UPS again, this time getting a new supervisor on the phone. She confirmed they’d gotten that morning’s fax and that it was proceeding to the next step. And then she made the grave error of telling me the next step was yet another search for the lost package. At that point I think it’s safe to say I went berserk on her. I told her that if this had to go through yet another many days of a useless search that I would launch an immediate class action lawsuit against the UPS because they state very clearly what the process is, but don’t state clearly all the additional steps AFTER the stated clearly process. I told her I was the one person she did not want to do this with and that I could find thousands who would be thrilled to join in on such a lawsuit. At that point, she apologized several times, said she understood my frustration. I told her I was not getting off the phone without an exact date when my check would be cut and sent to me. She hemmed and hawed, I would have none of it, and finally she said no later than next Tuesday. I told her I was writing it and her name down and that there could be no changing that date. She also said she’d put in the computer that it was a “rush” payment and that rush payments get to the person within seventy-two hours. And that was THAT conversation. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Won Ton Ton: The Dog That Saved Hollywood. I’d only seen it once before, I think, on DVD. I remember when it came out (the same year as The First Nudie Musical via the same studio, Paramount), and the reviews were horrible and it died a quick death. Watching it again, six years later, I felt a teeny-tiny bit more kindly to it, mostly because the dog was great and I do love Madeline Kahn. The movie that could have been is somewhere in this mess, squirming to get out. It’s undone by a script that wasn’t funny enough but could have been with a great director who knew comedy who could have helped the writers focus things better and make a more consistent tone. But they didn’t have that director, they had Michael Winner. Now, I like several Michael Winner films, especially Death Wish. But I don’t think there’s a scenario where I would hire the director of Death Wish to do a knock-about comedy.
While Miss Kahn and the dog are stellar, Bruce Dern is terrible casting for the lead – he just doesn’t really have a funny bone in his body and he’s just too weird and quirky to be the hero of a comedy like this. Terri Garr is wasted in an ill-defined, spotty role. Ron Liebman is okay but not great, Art Carney does his Art Carney thing and is fine. And there are a humungous number of fun cameos from the likes of Dorothy Lamour, Cyd Charisse, Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, Dennis Day, Henry Wilcoxon, Ricardo Montalban, Alice Faye, Walter Pidgeon, The Ritz Brothers, Virginia Mayo, Sterling Holloway, Shecky Greene, George Jessel, Henny Youngman, Rory Calhoun, Jackie Coogan, Aldo Ray, Ethel Merman, Yvonne De Carlo, Joan Blondell, Andy Devine, Broderick Crawford, Richard Arlen, Louis Nye, Johnny Weismuller, Victor Mature, Stepin Fetchit, Rudy Vallee, Rhonda Fleming, Ann Miller, Dick Haymes, Tab Hunter, Robert Alda, Fritz Feld, Jane Connell, Janet Blair, Mike Mazurki, Jesse White, Jack Carter, Fernando Lamas, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Huntz Hall, Edgar Bergen, Morey Amsterdam, Eddie Foy, Jr., Peter Lawford, Guy Madison, Regis Toomey, Ann Rutherford, Milton Berle, John Carradine and on and on. It’s worth a look-see just to see all those wonderful people – if only they’d been given something worthwhile to do. Mr. Winner kills every laugh in the film as if he were Charles Bronson going after the bad guys in Death Wish. He simply doesn’t have the film vocabulary for comedy – there is not one comic sequence in the film where the camera is in the right place for the laugh – it’s actually astonishing to watch. The film looks horrible, too, but that was a very bad period for film printing at Paramount, so that part didn’t surprise me. Even the production design fails the concept. If the me of Nudie Musical had been given this film, even though I was a neophyte, I could have made it a lot funnier than it is now, just because that’s the world I live in, that kind of comedy. The one thing in the film that works absolutely perfectly is the score by Neal Hefti, his usual high standard with wonderful themes and all the fun you wished the actual movie had.
I then watched a motion picture on Netflix entitled The Rainmaker, the one from the 90s, from the book by John Grisham, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and starring Matt Damon, Jon Voight, Danny De Vito, Claire Danes and Danny Glover. I’m sure I saw it back when it came out, but I really remembered nothing about it, so it was like watching it for the first time. And despite a handful of lapses in tone, I found it really enjoyable to watch, but then again I’m a sucker for courtroom dramas. I thought Mr. Damon was very good and he never mumbled his lines. Mr. Voight was oily and excellent as Mr. Damon’s nemesis, Mr. De Vito was fun, Mr. Glover was great, but it was, for me, Miss Danes who walked away with the film. What a wonderful young actress she was – I must confess that I’m not sure I’ve seen her in much since, but she was just terrific. The film has a wonderful score by Elmer Bernstein, at least it’s wonderful in the film itself. I pulled out the CD after and listened and it’s not nearly as interesting away from the film, although I suspect some of that has to do with some cues not on the CD and an order that doesn’t always present well.
After that, I listened to two upcoming projects, both by the same composer and that was fun.
Today, I shall try to watch another motion picture or two, I shall write liner notes, hopefully pick up some packages, and then have a lovelier than lovely dinner with the Staitmans. We’re going to Stanley’s – I really enjoy the food there, so that will be fun.
Tomorrow I don’t really know what’s happening and if it means just a day and evening home that will be more than fine by me. Sunday I have a lunch meeting at two o’clock and I’m waiting to hear if I’m seeing a show that night. Next week, of course, is Kritzerland rehearals and a bunch of other stuff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write liner notes, watch a motion picture or two, hopefully pick up some packages, and then have a nice supper out. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, who knows anymore? Blu-ray, next up A Hard Day’s Night from Criterion. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hum myself to sleep by singing Many Moons Ago with the wonderful music of the Rodgers that was Mary.