Well, dear readers, it is late and I am tired and therefore I must write these here notes in a hurry so I can get a good night’s beauty sleep. I do have an admission to make right here and now and also now and here – yesterday I ate a light meal o’ the day – chopped salad with a bit of ham and avocado dressed with red wine vinegar, and a bagel. I hadn’t intended to jog due to scheduling stuff, but I did end up jogging. So, I just got back from a late-night snack – I was quite hungry so I had a bacon and cheese omelet and an English muffin. So, while I did eat more than usual, it really wasn’t, in the scheme of things, that much more. End of admission, beginning of transmission of notes, which frankly needs some transmission fluid right about now.
Yesterday was an eclectic little day. I only got six hours of sleep, then had my early morning hair appointment. New hairdresser Lydia Geissman did a very nice job of it. Then I came home very briefly to answer e-mails, and then I went and had the aforementioned salad and bagel, after which I picked up no packages. Then we had two back-to-back rehearsal sessions. First was Juliana Hansen. I’ve been working on an arrangement of the song that will end the benefit’s first act. I knew I wanted the song and her to do it, but if the arrangement isn’t right I feared it would just be corny, so I gave it a different feel (slightly, but true to the song), wrote a pretty vamp to open and close and get us from one section to the next, and I voice the chords in what I think are interesting ways. I played it and she really loved it, so that was good. The musical director immediately tried to smooth out my voicings, and I told him I wanted them exactly as I do them, so he got out his phone and filmed my hands playing the voicings and now he can write it correctly. We talked about how the kids’ chorus will function when they come in halfway through the song.
Then the wonderful JoAnne Worley arrived. She’d chosen her song, but she asked me if I’d rather have this other one she does, and having heard the two choices many times, I opted for the other one. She ran it a few times and she’s just so hilarious and delightful. And that was the rehearsals. Then I did some work on the computer, did a little work at the piano, and then it was time for movie night.
The guests arrived and none of them had seen North by Northwest and that’s what we watched. Those who’ve read the Kritzer books no my history with this film – I was obsessed with it at eleven and loved it beyond all others. I saw it several times at the Wiltern Theater, then followed it around town to its second and third run theaters, seeing it wherever and whenever I could. In those days, no video, and it wasn’t shown on TV, and there was no soundtrack album, so I went over and over, memorized the dialogue, memorized the music, and would “play” the movie in my neighborhood – pretending I was being chased by a crop duster plane or climbing Mount Rushmore.
I have seen the film countless times over the years. It was reissued in 1966, and ironically played the Wiltern, where I’d first seen it. I went opening day and I couldn’t believe how in seven short years fashions had dated so much. I’ve had the movie in every home video incarnation and was never happy with any of it, especially all the open matte versions early on. I also had a dye transfer print of the film. When the Blu-ray came out I snapped it up and could not believe how great it looked. And it still does. More importantly, it’s as fresh today as it was back then, despite having been ripped off by hundreds of lesser films over the years. The dialogue by Ernest Lehman is eminently quotable and brilliant. Hitchcock’s direction is incredible – the way he tells the story through the camera is everything filmmaking is about – his perfect angles, the camera moving at just the right time, the way he cinematically illuminates every point in the story, but all so you’re never really aware of it. He was a genius at it and one of the finest directors in the history of film. The photography by Robert Burks remains high amongst that man’s great credits, and the score by Bernard Herrmann is one of the all-time greats. The guests loved every second of it – lots of laughs, and had them in thrall the entire time.
After the movie, we had the aforementioned late-night snack at Jerry’s Deli. Apparently we’d JUST missed Jerry Seinfeld. After that I came home and began the transmission of the notes after giving the transmission some fluid.
Today, I shall sleep in, then I have some writing to do, I’m starting to do a very rough mock-up of the ALS show, which is hard since I haven’t heard some of the numbers yet and since we’re still choosing. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do a jog, then I have a work session with one of the Kritzerland singers who wants to get a jump on her material, and then after that I have an early dinner thing, after which I’ll come home, relax, and watch a motion picture.
Tomorrow I have the birthday dinner with David Wechter, and Sunday I’m not sure what’s happening but whatever it is I want it to be light so I can have a nice, relaxing day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in, do some writing, hopefully pick up packages, jog, have a work session and then a dinner thing. 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, the Elmer Bernstein Filmmusic Collection. Blu-ray, Gilda and Day for Night. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall have transmission of dreams with transmission fluid.