Well, dear readers, yes, it’s the Attack of the Day Runners, more wacky stuff from the wacky world of me, circa back then. When last you were here we’d just finished shooting the Dancing Dildos added scene for Nudie Musical. The day after, Jerry Lewis’s long-time editor and I see dailies and then he cuts the sequence while I’m going on interviews at Universal and for commercials. Friday, January 23: See cut scene, meaning I see his first cut. I have only a couple of notes then a few days later when he’s addressed them we run it for Paramount and they’re very happy. Tuesday, January 27: Meet with publicist. Meet with Dick Fleischer. The publicist, who I would hire that day, was Stan Rosenfield. The meeting with Dick Fleischer was set up by Paramount, soon after they’d said the immortal line to me, “Bruce, there’s Mel, there’s Woody, and there’s you.” Fleischer has seen Nudie and liked it and we meet about me writing a film he’s developing – Dick Tracy. Then we mix the new scene and it goes into the cut negative of the film. Friday, January 30 I go in and read with potential Tabithas – I’ve already been cast as Adam. That night I see a sneak preview of Gable and Lombard at the Chinese, which is booed by the audience.
Tuesday, February 3, I see a screening of the new Brian De Palma movie, Obsession. They’re having a lot of trouble finding a distributor and it will be months upon months before Columbia picks it up. February 9 I see and approve the new answer print. On February 11 I see another very early screening of a new movie, this one called Taxi Driver. On February 14, Valentine’s Day, I go watch Cindy tape Mike Douglas. They show a scene from Nudie that gets huge laughs. During the break, Mike comes over to me and asks if there’s any way for him to get in on the film. At that point, there really wasn’t. On February 19, I see a release print at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. That night there’s a screening of Nudie somewhere. On February 25, I leave for San Francisco to shoot location scenes for Tabitha. On March 1 we begin shooting the studio stuff. The trades review Nudie and I see them while I’m on a break on the set. They’re disastrous, two completely awful, terrible, disgusting reviews – the two critics were shown the film at nine in the morning by themselves. I would probably have given it a terrible review had I seen it that way. It has become clear to all of us that Paramount is trying to kill the movie due to Cindy’s huge success with Laverne and Shirley. On March 3, Nudie plays its first engagements in certain cities (but not LA). They release the film without letting critics see it, so the critics have to go to the theater to see it and therefore see it with an audience. Paramount’s plan of not letting them see it completely backfires, as I’m about to find out. The Darling Daughter and I drive to the Sherman Oaks newsstand (their sign says Out of Town Papers) – I buy papers from all the cities where the movie is playing and come back to the car. As I’m opening the paper she says to me, “Daddy, I hope you didn’t want any town papers.” I turned to her and said, “Why?” She said, “Because they’re out of them.” It took about five seconds to realize what she meant and I started laughing so hard I thought I was going to die. It remains a cherished memory. I was, of course, still smarting from the trade reviews. I open the Portland paper first and it’s a rave. I open the Houston papers and they, too, are absolute raves straight down the line, and they even castigate Paramount for sneaking into town. They say it’s right up there with Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Every review I read is a rave. I’m no longer even thinking about the pans in the trades.
On March 5 I go back to San Francisco for more Tabitha. I have many commercial auditions when I return. And I shoot one the following week, the day before the Darling Daughter turns six. I have noted several meetings with publicist Dick Gutman, who I believe was handling Cindy. On Thursday, March 25: See Family Plot screening. On April 4 there’s a shower for Diana Canova. That night, Nudie is shown at the Playboy Mansion and it kills – and it becomes one of Hef’s favorite films and the only film that will be shown multiple times over the next few years. Paramount has no plans to open Nudie in LA until Cindy threatens them by saying she won’t do any publicity for Laverne and Shirley unless we open the film. They cave and the film is booked in Westwood and Hollywood, thanks to my friend Gary Burkhart, who works for Mann Theaters. Paramount allows us to do our own poster. April 16: See Tabitha.
In advance of Nudie’s opening we have hilarious adventures sneaking out in the middle of the night and postering – putting our posters up everywhere. We don’t realize that there’s a company who is paid to do that, and they poster over our posters. So begins The Poster Wars and we do the same to them and they do it back to us. On April 28, I do an interview with Will Tusher of The Hollywood Reporter – it is an interview I will come to regret doing. On May 2 Diana Canova gets married. There are several screenings noted so apparently we were screening the movie in advance of its opening. Then there’s the infamous night when Paramount previews Nudie all over town just before we open. I theater hop as much as I can, starting at the Village, going to the Vogue, and ending up at Paramount. The studio screening, which is for critics and regular folks, is so overbooked they have to move some of the audience to a different screening room and the print is bicycled from one to the other. When I arrive and approach the main screening room, I can hear the audience screaming with laughter. It was an amazing night, and after the screening we handed out the soundtrack album. On Wednesday May 5, I do an interview with Chris Ames at KNX Radio – he’ll become a pal, and that night Nudie opens with a semi-gala premiere in Westwood. We have several celebrities there. On May 15: Start reh. On May 13 I have an interview at CBS. It’s for Dinah and Her New Best Friends and Diana is in it. They hire me on the spot and I begin rehearsals two days later. We tape three days after that – thank goodness for cue cards. We go right back into rehearsal for the next show. That schedule continues for the next eight weeks. On July 4, I see A Chorus Line here at the Shubert. The show airs over the summer – it stinks but we still get decent numbers and I get quite a bit of fan mail. I become friends with cast mates Leland Palmer and Gary Muledeer, and especially Muledeer’s girlfriend, someone named Debra Winger. We hang out together all the time. Monday August 2 Stephen Nathan and I shoot a Laverne and Shirley.
I’m asked to read for a movie called Seniors, to be directed by Rod Amateau. There are a ridiculous number of callbacks, but he’s told me he doesn’t want anyone but me. I ultimately turn it down because there’s a scene where the character has to show his ASS and I wasn’t showing my ASS to anyone. On September 1 I see Bobby Short at the Roxy – he’s amazing. Because of the Dinah series I’m suddenly on the A-list at the Roxy. I’m taken upstairs to meet Mr. Short, and that will be repeated when I see Melissa Manchester and her opening act, Billy Crystal. On Sunday September 12 I see Chita Rivera – I believe this was at the Backlot – I was on the A-list there, too, and also saw Charles Pierce there. He asks to meet me after his show, and he tells me he loves me and my work. I see him many times over the next few years and we always have a nice chat. On Saturday, September 18 I see Pacific Overtures at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. On September 23 is a very intriguing entry – meet with Mark Rothman at Paramount. Some of you old-timers may remember Mr. Rothman once was a dear reader. I have several meetings with him – I know not for what. I know him from Laverne and Shirley, of course, but I never realized, nor does he, that I was up for something he was doing. On September 20 I have an interview at Fox for something called Dick and Jane – wonder if that’s Fun With Dick and Jane? On October 4 Cindy and I begin rehearsing for what will be the first of our four guest shots on The Donny and Marie Show. I have several readings for what must be a pilot called No, Honestly. I have no memory of it. But apparently I was okay because on October 27 I test for it. If I remember correctly, Mark Hamill also tested – neither of us got it. On October 28 I was at MGM reading for Neil Simon – The Sunshine Boys. My memory is I didn’t think I was so hot and I didn’t think Mr. Simon liked me. But he must have because on November 2 I have a call back and they still must have liked me because on November 4 I test for the film. You must understand, I have no memory of testing for – seeing this entry was a big surprise to me. It looks like in early December we resurrected An Evening With Bruce Kimmel (Who?) at the Matrix Theater, although this could also have been at LACC – I think the Matrix, though. In the cast – Diana Canova, Alan Abelew, and Annette O’Toole. The year ends with more commercial interviews, reading for a pilot, and a meeting at Warners. We’ll pick up with 1977, but from here on in it’s just going to be highlights. But these few years we’ve just done were so interesting to me and I hope it hasn’t been too boring and we’ll speed through the rest of these.
Yesterday was quite like the day before. I couldn’t sleep and only got about four or five hours. Once up, I read through what I’d done the day before on the LA show, saw some problems in the act two layout so I switched some things around (saving the previous version just in case). Then I went and had an omelet and a bagel. As I was leaving I ran into my pal Barbara Deutsch and we had a nice chat. Then I picked up the new paperback and it was perfect, as I assume the hardcover will be, so I placed the book order. If all goes according to Hoyle, books should be here a week from tomorrow or soon thereafter. Then the helper came over and we went through the Indiegogo stuff we could ship now, and she took all of that and will ship it out over the next few days.
Then I played through things at the piano, put all of the songs that aren’t mine on the laptop so that we can play them tomorrow when we do our little informal reading with the two alums. I went to Gelson’s and got a salad with veggies and red wine vinegar, ate it, and also finally continued watching Exodus. I forgot how long it is, so I’m approaching the three-hour point and then there’s still another twenty-eight minutes after that.
Today, the piano tuner is coming at ten. I’ll pick up the hardcover and then have a meeting with my stage manager, after which I have a production meeting. Then I’ll come back to the Valley (hopefully beating the traffic), I’ll eat, and then come home and work on the Kritzerland show. I have to finish choosing songs and get everyone their music. We’re trying to cast the last male – we now know who we want but it’s proving difficult to make contact.
Tomorrow, I’m having the two alums who are cast members over and we’re going to just read through the entire show, playing all the music as we do. I’ve got to figure out a way to get more sound out of the laptop (so weak) or maybe I’ll find my little iPod speaker thing and see if that’s working. Saturday and Sunday I hope can be ME days. Must book the signing, too – it can now be at the end of this month or it could be in early April. I do have to do the paperback show at some point (I have the bad feeling it’s on a Kritzerland performance day – if so, I think I’m no later than noon and it’s only an hour).
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a piano tuned, have a meeting, have a production meeting, pick up a hardcover, eat, work on the Kritzerland show and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Are there any moments you had in your life where you took one road, but now wish you might have tried another? Or do you sometimes think, I wonder if THAT had happened how different things might have been? I’m wondering that about The Sunshine Boys. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, now that we’ve had the Attack of the Day Runners.