Well, dear readers, I slept in again and I mean I slept in. I didn’t fall asleep until almost five, was up at eight-thirty for an hour, then back to sleep for thirty minutes when the doorbell rang and some kid said his cat was in the yard and so I told him to go get it. Then back to sleep and not up until after two-thirty, so I think I did get eight hours of sleep, all told. Of course, they day was pretty much done. I answered e-mails and did some work on the computer and looked at more newspapers.
This time I was jumping around a lot. I think my timeline was a little off for stuff I thought happened in early 1966 that really happened in early 1967. It was interesting to me that in the Calendar section of the Sunday LA Times that Bluth Brothers Theater was always listed, but I couldn’t find any listing for The Unsinkable Molly Brown, my first show there. High Spirits was listed, but I couldn’t find The Wizard of Oz, which I think was after that but may have been before and may not have been listed. Curious. It’s amazing how popular theater-in-the-round was in those mid-1960s years. We had the Santa Monica Civic, we had Melodyland, the Carousel in San Bernadino, the Circle Arts in San Diego, and the Valley Music Theater right here in the Valley. So many incredible stars played there and I don’t know why I didn’t go more to see them. I mean, Peter Palmer did Li’l Abner twice – where the HELL was I? As I ventured into the 1970s you can just see how the movie business is changing and how things are slowly moving to the Friday opening date. Some theaters are already closing by then. I found all the Nudie stuff – our opening day premiere ad, and the week before sneak preview in about eight theaters – all fun stuff. I found all the Forget-Me-Not Lane stuff, too. I tried to find our very first sneak preview of Nudie but couldn’t – it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, frankly, and I tried to find the preview with Love and Death – I had a pretty good idea of around when it would have been but never did find it. I may try again. My eyeballs are pretty weary and it’s very addictive, I must say.
I got food from Taco Bell and came back and ate it all up. It was already evening by then. I didn’t feel like watching anything, so I went back to the newspapers and searched for The High and the Mighty and The Tender Trap, two movies I thought I’d seen at the Village, but neither played there UNLESS we saw them sneak previewed there, which is always a possibility since we were going to sneak previews back then. But I think the likelier scenario is we saw both films where they both played – the Picwood. Since they both played there and it’s Westwood, it makes sense, I guess. I also cannot tell you how mistaken the imdb is about release dates – I think maybe one in twenty-five is correct. My free trial goes to March 22, and I will definitely cancel as of then.
I went to Gelson’s and got a couple of sweet treats and came right back home. Then I listened to some music and that was about it.
Today, I’ll be up early to hopefully get good news about the new galley and that everything will go smoothly from here on in – in order for that to happen, my gal is going to have to actually come in to work and I’m really praying she will. I do think it will only delay things a couple of days IF she’s there. I’ll make a show order and start the commentary, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, and then relax.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals and then on Sunday I do the paperback show and sign there for an hour. Grant always goes so I’ll know him, and I always enjoy looking around and I know a few of the dealers, too.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up early to deal with book stuff, do a show order, write commentary, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Did you go to summer stock shows and theater-in-the-round, and if so, who were some of the stars you saw? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be straightening out some confusing timelines.