Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle eating a plush toy. How can it be Tuesday already when it was just Monday already? In any case, it is Tuesday and that’s all there is to that. But why speak of Tuesday when we can speak of Monday? Actually, there’s really not all that much to say about a Monday that wasn’t all that much. Oh, a couple of irritants here and there, but mostly a perfectly okay day.
I think I managed to get seven hours of sleep and once up I did the usuals – answered e-mails, did some work on the computer, and got everything ready to do the layout of the Levi act two opener. But first I went to Gelson’s and bought two hamburger patties and the fixings, came home, and rustled up two burgers on low-cal buns, with lettuce, low-cal cheese slices, pickles, and onions. Total caloric intake for both burgers, all-in, was around 850. They were most excellent, I must say, and I may do a repeat performance of that meal mid-week if the opportunity presents itself.
Then I began the layout of the act two opener. What was in the script I revised was some other version of the song, so none of that layout or lyric or music was usable. Richard Sherman told me the demo was correct, so I began there. Richard Allen and I had already addressed my major concern with the number – the tempo – too slow and lugubrious to open with – so without really changing the music I found a tempo I liked and we arranged it based on that tempo and then it all worked fine. Richard S. heard it and really liked what we’d done. So, I figured out who was singing what in it, changed a few words and simplified a couple of phrases so they’d sit on the notes better, and after about an hour I had the layout for what will hopefully be a pleasing act two opener.
Then while I was at it, I put in the lyrics for the new song where it goes, and I also added two lines to the end of the show – they’d come to me after the reading and tied up something very nicely, which I always like. After that, I had a long and lovely conversation with our very own elmore – we caught up, laughed, explained, and it was grand fun. Then I did a two-and-a-half mile jog. After all that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two more Hitchcock Hour episodes. They were both interesting to watch and I enjoyed them, but both really seemed more suited to one of those hour-long drama series so prevalent in the 50s – you know, like Loretta Young Theater or those kinds of things. Usually from the Hitchcock shows the things that work are the sardonic or weird or gothic stories, and usually with a good turnaround at the end. The first episode I watched was entitled The Thirty-First of February. The script was by Logan Swanson aka Richard Matheson – it was a very weird tale. We know from the beginning that David Wayne did not do the crime. But someone is trying to mess with his mind (he had a mental breakdown during the war). It becomes obvious who the person is about halfway through, but at the end when it is clear to everyone that David Wayne was in fact innocent, Wayne has already gone insane and the person who drove him there has been relieved of his duties. Needless to say, this tale could not really happen today and probably couldn’t have happened back then, frankly. But David Wayne is wonderful, and the supporting cast includes Bob Crane, Elizabeth Allen, and William Conrad. The most surprising thing about it was it was directed by Alf Kjellin and it wasn’t half bad.
The next episode was entitled What Really Happened, a kind of multiple viewpoints thing but ultimately just a melodrama and a pretty soapy one at that. Again, we know who perpetrated the crime from the start of the show, and that kind of makes the only point of interest whether the innocently accused will be found guilty. This, too, had a wonderful cast – Anne Francis, Ruth Roman, and Gladys Cooper and directed by the really good Jack Smight. Despite the shortcomings, it was fun to watch.
After that, I did a few more things on the computer whilst listening to the Rachmaninov piano concertos and eating a healthy amount of cashews as I needed to up the calorie count back up to 1000.
Today, I’ll be up by nine-thirty, and then I’m moseying on over to see our very own Nick Redman for a visit at eleven. I’ll probably be there around ninety minutes. Then I have to come right back to the Valley for a work session with Robert Yacko and Alby Potts, after which I’ll eat something, hopefully pick up some packages, and continue to clean up the Levi script (during the reading I made note of many typos and spacing issues). And then I hope to relax a bit.
Tomorrow and the rest of the week are mostly work sessions with Robert and Alby, some meetings and meals, and then we begin our final weekend of Dial ‘M’ for Murder, which I’m sure will be fairly full for all three performances. I’ll see the show on Saturday evening (I have a lot of friends going), and I’ll also see our closing matinee.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a visit, have a work session, have a meal, hopefully pick up packages, work on the Levi script, and also work on what I think is a funny idea for a new What If to open the anniversary show with (it’s become a tradition). Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite performances of David Wayne, Anne Francis, and Elizabeth Allen? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I try to imagine what eating a plush toy might be like.