Well, dear readers, once again it is late so once again I must write these here notes in a hurry because once again I only got about five hours of sleep so once again I am tired and once again must go get some beauty sleep. I think I just exceeded our “once again” quota so once again I’ll have to retire that phrase for the balance of these here notes.
Yesterday I was up by 7:45 because some tree person was going to look around and give his estimate for all the work that needs to be done, but he never arrived – well, he did arrive at about eleven. It turns out he’d written the address down wrong. So, I could have, in fact, had eight hours of sleep instead of five. I had two visitors at ten-thirty, each a separate visitor. Their stays were extremely brief. Then I did some work on the computer, and all the mixes began arriving in the Dropbox folder – that little process took until eight at night to complete, but I listened as they came in, found one error that we fixed right away and re-uploaded. But I was very pleased hearing them again especially listening nice and loud.
I made a small batch of Wacky Noodles for my meal o’ the day and ate them all up around twelve-thirty whilst watching a motion picture on Blu and Ray, a region B release from far away France. The motion picture was entitled M – no not P or W but M. But not the Fritz Lang M with Peter Lorre. This M was the remake directed by Joseph Losey just before he was blacklisted and moved out of the country. This M stars David Wayne in the Peter Lorre role, and the supporting cast is really good – Luther Adler, Howard Da Silva, Raymond Burr, Martin Gabel, Steve Brodie, Glenn Anders, Norman Lloyd and many others. I have wanted to see it forever and the fact is I did see it about six months ago on You Tube in a horrible print you could barely see, so I didn’t really think much of it. Then a DVD came out in France and everyone raved about it but I didn’t get it. Then a Blu-ray came out and I popped for that, even though the French subtitles cannot be removed. The Blu-ray transfer was not well thought of by one “reviewer” I read, but I disagree – I thought it was very good – good detail and contrast. I can’t imagine that the DVD would be better or more filmic or whatever these people who think they know what they’re talking about think.
The surprise was how really good the film is. Again, it was so dark and murky on You Tube you could barely see anything. Here everything looks good. It’s almost all shot on location – Bunker Hill and its surrounding area, but most importantly Ocean Park. When David Wayne buys a balloon for a little girl from a blind man, that blind man is literally standing across the way from what would have been my grandfather’s Wheel-O stand. There’s a great shot of the laughing fat lady from the House of Mirrors. And then there’s an incredible series of shots on the boardwalk, with the Dome movie theater clearly shown. Then Wayne and the little girl walk the opposite way and stop outside a little fish market. Those reverse shots were worth the cost of the Blu-ray because a) that fish shop is where my grandmother bought my grandfather his beloved whitefish (with bone in) – you can even see the sign in the window – fresh whitefish. And just down the way you can just as clearly see the Hotel St. Regis, where my grandparents lived – in 1951 it was called the St. Regis Apartments. It was like going back in time. David Wayne is excellent as the sick killer of children, and I just liked the whole ambience of the film. I fully intend to watch it again soon.
Then I went and picked up some packages and did some banking. One package contained the Collier’s magazine that has my cover painting. I listened to more mixes, and at some point I realized there was no way this would fit on one CD, so we called the printer and told him not to do anything, then we made the decision to go to two CDs, because I simply did not want to start trying to lose ten minutes of material. So, it will be two forty-five minute CDs, which is fine. Then I sat on my couch once again.
Last night, I watched another motion picture on Blu and Ray, this one entitled The Member of the Wedding, a movie I’ve never seen before. Well, what a treat. It’s just a wonderful film (from the novel and play by Carson McCullers), directed by Fred Zinnemann, and staring its three Broadway leads, Julie Harris, Brandon de Wilde, and the incredible Ethel Waters. And to discover an Alex North score I’d never heard was the gravy. The transfer is rather gorgeous, transfer by Sony and released by Twilight Time. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
After that, I just relaxed and did stuff on the computer, including writing the blurb for the LA show CD announcement, which will happen tonight at midnight.
Today, I’ll hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, then I have stuff to do, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’m having a meal with our very own Lanny Meyers. Not sure where we’ll go, but maybe The Smokehouse or the Eclectic Café, both of which I have a hankerin’ for. Then we’ll announce the LA show CD at midnight.
Tomorrow is more of the same, Saturday I’m attending a concert honoring Richard Sherman at Disney Hall, and Sunday I’m working with Kay Cole and maybe attending a Father’s Day partay.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do stuff, hopefully pick up packages, prepare the new release announcement, and sup with Lanny Meyers. Today’s topic of discussion: Are there any remakes that you think hold their own against their original versions. I’m not talking about the B-movies of the 30s that were remade into A movies – I’m talking about remakes of well known films. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that I did not err and use the phrase “once again” in the rest of the notes.