Well, dear readers, I must again write these notes in a hurry, for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I have a busy morning even if she wasn’t going to be here all too soon, although she is going to be here all too soon. But since the notes will be on the short side, I do have a special treat for you towards the end of them
Yesterday was an okay day save for a series of e-mails that so annoyed me that I finally just blew up and that was probably just the right thing to do because they ceased and will stay ceased. So, in that way, I guess it was a good thing. I got about nine hours of sleep, which I really needed, then answered e-mails, and the moseyed on over to Jerry’s Deli, where I had a cup of clam chowder and a sandwich. That was pleasant. Then I did some errands and whatnot, then came home. Now, here’s the funny part – I have no idea what I did for the next four hours. Oh, I had a nice telephonic conversation with a wonderful singer who I’m praying will call on Monday and say he can do the Kritzerland show. I know I must have done some work on the computer at some point. Oh, and I finally finished another song for the LA show – I had the music all done but still had to finish they lyric. Then I sent that to a writer to see if he’ll do the monologues that will weave throughout it. And then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a TV movie from 1971 entitled Incident in San Francisco. I don’t know why I like it so much, but I just do. I didn’t see it first run, but caught it one day on an afternoon movie program sometime soon after it first aired. I’ve only seen it once since then, when I actually acquired a 16mm print of it. Like most of the classic 70s TV movies, this has never been on home video, but I finally managed to hunt down a home grown DVD – I’ve been hunting for years and finally someone had it. Quality isn’t great, but I still like the movie a lot. I had no idea it was a back door pilot for a series that was to star Christopher Connelly – I had a little history with Chris and those who’ve read the first memoir know how touching it is. He plays a newspaper reporter in this one. Other stars are staples of early 70s TV – Dean Jagger, Tim O’Connor, Richard Kiley, Leslie Nielsen, John Marley, Phyllis Thaxter, David Opatashu, plus other wonderful actors like Claudia McNeil, Julius Harris, and Ken Lynch. One of the things I like most about it is a terrific musical score by Pat Williams. The whole show seems like a precursor to Streets of San Francisco in a way. Anyway, it was fun to revisit it, even in not great quality.
Then I pulled another huge batch of DVDs to get rid of – I am just in that mode and I am just overloaded with stuff I’ll never ever watch again. Obviously certain things I’ll hang onto, but I just want to free up shelf space in the garage and just get these things out of here. I ended the evening watching a few things on YouTube, and whilst watching a little clip I saw on the right that the entire Jack Benny show that is my favorite episode of his and, for me, one of the funniest half-hours in TV history was there, so I’m giving you that treat – do yourselves a favor and watch from start to finish – skip nothing. The young girl in it is so sweet and funny and Jack did the routine with her live, too, in his Vegas appearances. She’s still around – in fact, she’s on Facebook. I watched it just before writing these here notes and, as always, I was just howling with laughter.
Today, I shall be up by eight, I’ll shower, then the helper will come by to get the big pile o’ DVDs, and then I have to go to a little rehearsal with Sami, who’s singing a song from Welcome to My World at Monday’s Robby Awards. After that, I’ll come back home, do some song choosing, and I’m hoping the blurbs start arriving – one blurber has had the book for a week now. I’ll have to drop him a line today to get an ETA. Then I’ll eat something and then relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same, and then next week will be all Kritzerland show stuff, the Robby Awards on Monday night, and then hopefully getting the book to the publisher by mid-week at the latest. I also have a set of liner notes to write, so we can move apace on our next release.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get rid of DVDs, have a rehearsal, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: We’ve done it before but I always enjoy it – what are your favorite TV movies from the Golden Age of TV movies, the 70s and early 80s? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have provided you with today’s special treat, which I hope you watched and enjoyed.