Well, dear readers, the revenge of the Day Runners continues unabated. If it’s become boring you may skip the next few paragraphs, although there is very interesting stuff ahead. 1977 could not start off better – I’m offered to co-lead in a pilot called The Adventures of Freddie. That’s right – I never met anyone, I never read for anyone, I was just offered the co-lead in an network pilot, and no, I did not even have to meet anyone from the network. Could not happen today. On January 10 I’m told they haven’t been able to find their Freddie and they ask if I’ll test for that role, even though I’m already signed for my role. On January 12 I do the test, but they find my old pal Michael Burns at the last minute and I’m relieved, as I love my own role. On January 27 we read through the Freddie script. I can’t wait to start shooting. On Friday, January 28 I meet and read for Joan Rivers (I’m guessing this had to be for her awful movie Rabbit Test). We’re also doing the Bruce Kimmel (Who?) show somewhere for a couple of performances. On January 31 we begin shooting on location for Freddie. I’m scheduled all week. They’re so behind they keep not getting to my first scene. Every day I’m there and every day we don’t get to it. I find this incredibly weird. On Friday, we finally shoot something of mine – not dialogue, but just some walking scene or something. Turn the Day Runner page to Monday February 7 and one word is scribbled in large, angry letters: SICK. A line goes down that page and down the next page right through all the word “shoot” notations. You see, the Darling Daughter got chicken pox from some kids at school a couple of weeks prior. On Sunday night before the Monday shoot I notice there are red bumps on my arms and hands and I know I am screwed – yes, I’ve never had the damn chicken pox as a kid and I get it and I get it bad. Turn the page to February 16 and the line continues down that page through the word “shoot.” Yes, I have perhaps the worst damn case of chicken pox in history. I’m hyperventilating, not only because of the severity of it but because I cannot believe I am not shooting the pilot. The producers have been great and moved all my scenes to the end of the shoot, which is February 17 and 18. I’m better on at the beginning of the week – I’m over it, BUT my skin is a battlefield and the scabs are horrifying. I go in on Wednesday to meet with the main make-up guy, one of the Westmores. He does what he can, but it’s obvious I cannot shoot this the way I look. Sadly, they have no option but to replace me. So, what should have been a great start to 1977 has turned into a disaster. I am deeply depressed.
The following week the scabs are pretty much gone and I look normal enough to go out on commercial interviews – happily, I land the first one I go on. And there’s other good news – we’ve gotten Nudie Musical back from Paramount – a distributor in New York wants the movie and Paramount just gives it to them because they know we’ll sue them if they don’t, as we have absolute proof of them doing everything in their power to kill the movie. I meet with the new distributor’s publicist, Renee Furst, and she’s fantastic. On Friday March 25: Meet with Saul Chaplin. My agent, Phil Gersh, represents Saul and thinks Saul will love my new script, called Sailors, a funny riff on the MGM sailor movies. I meet him (at Bronislau Kaper’s house) and play him the songs, which he very much likes. But in an amazing show of incredible stupidity, I tell Phil I don’t think Saul is the right guy for the film – too old. It’s a shameful thing on my part and I was truly an idiot.
Over the next two months there are lots of commercial interviews and I book two. I check the new Nudie prints and they’re fine. I shoot a third commercial. I have readings at MGM, Universal and elsewhere. I don’t land anything. On June 29 I see Annie Get Your Gun at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion – Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, directed by Gower Champion – it’s really not very good. On July 5 Cindy and I go to New York to do PR for the new release of Nudie. Their publicity campaign is terrific. I come home. On July 24: Nudie opens in New York. With the exception of a smart ass review in the New York Times by Janet Maslin (her first review for the paper and she’s trying to make a statement), the reviews are all love-letters, and I especially come out well, being compared to Gene Wilder in my comic actor abilities. On July 27 I shoot a United Airlines commercial. Lots of interviews, landing nothing. For someone who’s been compared to Gene Wilder, why aren’t I landing things? On September 1, Cindy and I shoot another Donny and Marie Show. On September 13 I shoot a movie called Racquet. I didn’t want to do it and I turned it down three times – but they finally offered me star billing on my own card with my name on the one sheets, so I said yes. The day after shooting Racquet I begin rehearsals for the TV show Alice, which we tape the following week.
The rest of the year is a lot of interviews and landing none, but shooting another three or four commercials. On December 8 I turn 30. Enter 1978. We move into a new house in North Hollywood. I’ve sold the Sherman Oaks house to Charlie Martin Smith and with the profit we’re able to get a much bigger house. As omens go, having my car stolen right from the driveway on our first night there, well it wasn’t a good omen. I later find out that the people we bought it from (Joel Cox, Clint Eastwood’s editor) that the house was very bad luck for them. I wish they’d told me that before because it turns out to be the same for us.
Other than a few interviews, the pages are blank. On February 16 I have a meeting at Paramount for what must be a pilot called Big Bob. The following day I test for it. I have no memory of what Big Bob may or may not have been. I don’t get the job. On March 8 I’m finally working again – a commercial. Then it’s lots of other commercial auditions. On March 21: Interview for Clappers. On March 22, I shoot another commercial – I do seem to be popular with the commercial folks. On Thursday March 23 I read for Jimmy Komack for something – called back the next day. Whatever it is, I don’t get it. On April 3 I have a call back for Clappers, whatever the HELL Clappers is. I also have callbacks at CBS and MGM and Warners for other stuff. On April 5 it’s another call back for Clappers and I also have a callback at MGM from something I read for that morning, called Three On a Date. On May 6 I read for something called Coast to Coast, I read for the network on Three on a Date (I know the producer wants me – he was the producer of The Partridge Family), and another callback for Clappers. The next day a callback on Coast to Coast. Everyone wants me for these shows. I do not get ONE of them. And then Bob Claver, the producer of The Partridge Family, calls me and tells me why – I had the part, I’m the only one they wanted, but I am on a gray list at ABC and it’s trickled down to other networks. Remember that interview with The Hollywood Reporter I said I’d come to regret. This was the result – I took on Paramount because they were trying to kill my movie and we had the proof. I wasn’t mean about it, just truthful. Hollywood doesn’t want to know from the truth and they certainly don’t want it put on the front page of The Hollywood Reporter, and to add insult to injury, Nudie is a big, huge hit in New York and the trades are really sticking it to Paramount saying that the fact that we were a hit, and on our wide release the fourth highest-grossing film in the country was an embarrassment to the studio. And while I understand what a gray list is, to me it doesn’t feel very gray, it feels very black. My manager, publicist, and agents meet and we talk about whether we should confront the woman who’s running ABC, a former casting director. In the end, they get away with it.
I get one brief respite on April 20, when I shoot yet another commercial. And then, other than a few commercial auditions and one or two interviews for TV things and movies, nothing. Zilch. Nada. Empty pages abound until July 6, when I at least have a meeting on the sequel to American Graffiti. I end up having a callback a month later but it leads nowhere, even though I meet with the producer and Cindy. Astonishingly, given my gray list status, I have a reading at Paramount for something called Who’s Watching the Kids. I don’t get it, naturally. On August 21 I read for a Paramount movie that’s about to go into production, something called Airplane. I don’t get it. A few days later, my father has a heart attack and dies at age seventy-five. He leaves my brother and I some decent money, which is VERY helpful – the funeral is on Saturday August 28 and my family is upset because my brother and I have decided on a closed casket. Tough. On Friday September 8 I begin rehearsals for my new musical, Stages at LACC. On October 6: Opening night. It’s a great success there and a producer asks if we can move the show in a few months, and I say fine by me if you have the money to do so.
On October 26 we take the Darling Daughter to see Annie at the Shubert. On November 13 Cindy and I go to Utah to film what will be our fourth and final guest shot on Donny and Marie. On November 21 I read for Wonder Woman – I don’t get it. On my birthday I have a callback for a commercial, which I get and shoot on December 15. Thus endeth 1978, a year with so many highs and lows (Nudie’s rebirth and success down to the gray list) I don’t know if I’m coming or going.
Yesterday I had a perfectly pleasant little day. I got almost eight hours of sleep, the piano tuner tuned the piano, which is what I like the piano tuner to do, then I picked up the hardcover, which was beautiful, and they’re now printing the book and if all goes according to Hoyle we’ll have them next Friday. Then I moseyed on over to LACC. First I met with our stage manager and we set the first week’s rehearsal schedule, so that was good. It’s going to be tricky with the actors who are doing the other show, but we’re kind of figuring out how to balance it, and three of them are covered by understudies, so I’ll have those people to work with. Then we had our production meeting and that all went very well. Then I hurried back to the Valley – traffic was surprisingly heavy for non-rush hour, but then again it’s LA. I went and had a cup of soup and a sandwich, then had three copies of the LA show Xeroxed and then came home.
Once home, I did some work at the piano, had a lovely conversation with Lanny Meyers, and worked on the LA show. No time to finish Exodus.
Today, I’ll try to book the signing for April 9, which is the date that seems like it will work best. I’ll eat, hopefully pick up packages and then we’ll do this very casual read-through of the script and I’ll play my songs, and hopefully the little external speaker I ordered from Amazon will be here on time because the laptop’s speakers are horrible. The external speaker was like twenty bucks and I paid the 3.99 for overnight shipping, but so far it still hasn’t shown as shipped. Well, as I was writing that last sentence an e-mail arrived from Amazon saying it had shipped and will be here tomorrow. After the read-through I’m hoping the three of us can go out and grab a bite to talk about the show and its structure and what might be missing from it. Again, until we do this reading, I have no idea how long or short it is.
Tomorrow and Sunday are Kritzerland show planning days – we STILL don’t have our final guy and it’s so irritating to me I cannot tell you. And I haven’t talked to this new gal we’re using and she’d best be calling me this morning or I’ll replace her. I have no more time to fool around with people. Next week is all busy, busy, busy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, book my signing, eat, pick up packages, do a read-through, discuss, and relax. 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, Kritzerland stuff. Blu-ray, Exodus then whatever’s on the couch. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be done with the Revenge of the Day Runners.