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March 13, 2016:

THE DAY RUNNER

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, whilst in storage and throwing out junk, we came across a box that had all my SAG Day Runners in it. For those who may not remember, prior to our iCalendars and iPhones, we had Day Runners, in which we wrote all our appointments and things and we would carry this thing with us. The SAG Day Runners were sold by SAG (or maybe we got them free, can’t remember now) and they came in a nifty SAG case. I obviously got them from the beginning because my first SAG Day Runner is from 1971 and I’d only become a SAG member the month before when I did my first TV guest shot on The Young Lawyers. These lovely things had a place in the back for you to list all the money you got, complete with deductions and commissions. I was astonished to see I had all of them through 1985, when they stopped doing them (I had Day Runners after that, but store bought ones and I don’t seem to have any of those but the very last one I bought, which was in maybe 2000.

So, I brought home these Day Runners and what I found inside was so amazing to me. I wish I’d had them here when I was writing my first memoir – I got most of the timelines absolutely right, but there were things I had no memory of and some dates were slightly off, too. They are a fascinating document of their times and proof of what I talk about in that book – that it was a different world and a much more fun world. You can also see where the tide turns and it becomes not so much a fun world. In the late 70s you can see me not writing in these things very much, which is fascinating. Some of the way I scribbled things is hard to see and for the most part I used pencil, which makes it even harder. The first amusing thing I saw in 1971 was that dear reader Jane and Keith and my ex-wife and I got together much more than I remembered. Also, it seems like we had dinner with cousins Dee Dee and Alan two or three times a week at certain points. Over the next few days I’ll be giving you some interesting highlights from these little treasures. I would occasionally have five or six interviews a day, especially when I began doing commercials. I also found a few things that I had no memory of, the most astonishing of which was reading for the movie of The Sunshine Boys – I certainly remember reading for it and thinking Mr. Simon didn’t like me, but a week later is my Day Runner notation, “Test for The Sunshine Boys” – which means I screen tested for the movie. I have absolutely no memory of it. There is at least a two week run where I must have shot four commercials and two TV shows in that time frame – just unbelievable.

And so, the first entry in the 1971 Day Runner is actually from 1970 because they included the final week of December in this Day Runner and all subsequent Day Runners. First entry: December 28 – “start Young Lawyers.” That was my first guest shot. On the following day I have that I’m shooting the Young Lawyers AND I have an appointment with Norman Tokar at CBS in the Valley, so I must have had a half-day shoot or something. Young Lawyers continued shooting until December 31 and then picked up again on January 4. My wrap day on the show was the next day, and that same day I began rehearsals for the pilot Young Love, which was the meeting I’d had with Norman Tokar at CBS. So within a week I did my first guest shot and landed a co-starring role in a CBS pilot. Unbelievable. Soon after wrapping that there were parties at Norman’s and casting director Ethel Winant’s house. Talk about feeling like you’re in show business.

On the final day of January I met with CMA (now ICM) agent Frank Levy and signed with him as a writer. All this is in the book but I had no idea it all happened quite this quickly. Amazingly, Young Love wrapped around January 15 and on February 2 we saw a screening of it. On February 4 we moved out of my ex-wife’s parents’ house and into our own apartment in Van Nuys. And at that time I begin to present my musical of To Kill a Mockingbird to people, including Edwin Lester of the CLO! My single notation for February 9, in all caps is: EARTHQUAKE 6:00 am.

And so it continues. Frank gets me the rights to adapt The Waltz of the Toreadors and the MGM film The VIPs to make musicals out of them. I’m serious. I wasn’t sure I’d ever actually met actor Don Murray about playing Atticus – I thought he just said he’d do it. But I did meet him, several times. Another shocker on March 4 – I read for the film of Butterflies Are Free. Who knew? And so it goes. Many interviews, and I land frequently – end of March was the religious TV show This Is the Life, with director Corey Allen. Another entry says “Tape voices for cartoon.” I have no idea what that means.

A meeting with producer Bob Chartoff (of Chartoff/Winkler, producers of Rocky) about the musical I’ll start writing of The VIPs. I did write five or six songs and started the book, but it never went anywhere. I remember the title song and could probably even play it, and another song called The Appropriate. I had several meetings with producer Harry Gittes (Jack Nicholson’s character in Chinatown was named after him) – I believe this was the very early stages of The First Nudie Musical and that Cindy set up those meetings. Another wacky entry on May 8: Audition for Mother Earth. I believe that was a musical either starring or by Toni Tennile – maybe both. Monday May 10, another all caps entry: ACCIDENT 5:00. That was what could have been a life-ending accident that I walked away from without more than a couple of scratches. The next day’s entry is: Lawyer and doctor. And that began three months of physical therapy for some lower back pain, but mostly for legal reasons. Many interviews – Owen Marshall, Marcus Welby (landed the latter and still have the lovely note Robert Young wrote me) – many callbacks, too. One day MGM, next day Warners, CBS, Screen Gems, Paramount and on it went. On August 4 I saw the tour of Company at the Ahmanson. On August 18 I had an interview for some show called The Partridge Family. The following Monday I began shooting my first episode of that show.

On September 3 it says I auditioned for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – this would have been the Phil Silvers revival. I have no memory of it. On October 15 an interview at the Mark Taper Forum – fairly certain it was for their production of Godspell. October 27: Keith and Jane for dinner. Meanwhile I’d also done the first production of my musical Start at the Top and was about to do the second one, which starred Michael Burns. November 24 another interview for Partridge Family – my memory is I came in and they told me I had it right then. I’m astonished at how I could be shooting another episode of Partridge and auditioning for other TV shows on the same day, but it happens repeatedly. Like twenty interviews over the next two weeks, and another This Is the Life to shoot. I’ll continue with 1972 tomorrow.

Yesterday was just a day. Nothing really exciting or eventful. I got nine hours of necessary sleep, got up, did some work on the computer and just relaxed until I finally went and got a sandwich. Then I picked up two packages, one of which contained a fun little extra for people who ordered Patrick Bronstein Presents via the site. Then I got the audio samples to Doug for the new release, prepared the Constant Contact eBlast and realized I wasn’t in the mood to watch anything. So, I just did stuff on the computer and at the piano, and then Lanny sent me the synth mock-up of his chart for my song about the Sunset Strip. It was the third song I wrote for this revue and as Here on Earth was the key to The Brain from Planet X working for me, this song, for me, was the turning point for the LA show – it’s a seven-minute song and it’s everything I want the show to be. It will be the final song of the second act, just prior to the finale. I can no longer sing it very well because I get so emotional and I don’t really know why as it speaks of a time and place and reality that I wasn’t a part of. But whatever alchemy was at work the song is really powerful (and also funny at times) and a really great character piece – everyone who’s heard it has been moved by it. It’s not a man’s song – it only works for a woman. I was nervous about the orchestration because this song is from my guts, but Lanny just did a great job even in the awful-sounding synth version, which is horribly mixed – but you could just hear it and imagine it with real instruments. In fact, I only have one little addition to make, a little counter melody I’d like in two bars that happen twice during the song. So, that was a thrill and a relief at the same time.

I snacked on some pretzels throughout the evening, since I’d only had a fairly low-cal sandwich. And that was about it.

Today, I will work on the Kritzerland show – I’ll contact the other singers I’d like and hopefully they’ll be able to do it. Other than that, I’ll eat, work on the LA show, and relax.

Tomorrow we have a meet and greet for the LA show’s cast, then I have to do fixes on three charts before we get them to Lanny (he has plenty to work on – there are twenty songs in the show at this point), and I’ll also record the voices of the cast, which will help me assign the songs.

The rest of the week is meetings and meals and working on the two shows, a production meeting and I think there may be something to see one evening.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work on the Kritzerland show and the LA show, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, astonished at some of the things I’ve found in these Day Runners. Oh, and apparently we have to Spring Forward this evening, so don’t forget to adjust your clocks.

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