Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to musique de France, or as we Americans like to say, music from France. I enjoy the French musique. Not all of it, but a good deal of it, from the French classical composers such as Milhaud, Poulenc, Francaix, and many others I’m too tired to name. In fact, why am I going on about this anyway. Who gives a flying Wallenda if I like musique de France or even that I’m sitting here like so much fish? Certainly, I don’t.
Yesterday, I managed to get a bit over nine hours of sleep, which was very helpful, sleep-wise. Once up, I had me a ME day and did absolutely nothing of any interest whatsoever. I listened to a lot of music, French and otherwise, and at some point I went to Jerry’s Deli, only because I got terrifically bored driving around trying to figure out what to eat. I had their excellent Chinese chicken salad along with a toasted sesame bagel and cream cheese – it was all ever so good. I ascertained that there was nothing of interest at the mail place, so I went to the nearby Arco station and filled up the motor car with something called gas. Sixty bucks bought me just under 16 gallons. Then I came directly home, even though I thought about coming home indirectly.
Once home, I did nothing. Oh, I suppose I listened to more music, and I did watch about forty more minutes of 13 Frightened Girls, kind of a teen spy comedy from Mr. William Castle. The one thing that’s absolutely certain from watching this motion picture is that Mr. Castle didn’t have a comic bone in his body – a couple of years later he tried again with the awful movie, The Busy Body. So, the movie is just a weird old thing with no laughs, clearly modeled as a Disney kind of film, but with more of an edge. The lead teen girl is named Kathy Dunn and she had a nice career as a young actress – on Broadway as a Von Trapp kid in The Sound of Music, then this film, good roles on two soap operas back then, Days of Our Lives and The Doctors. And then she simply disappears after 1965. Her iMDB bio says that she married and as of 2010 lived in Virginia with her husband of over forty years.
The film also features actress Judy Pace, who’d go on to appear in The Young Lawyers TV series in which I guest-starred in one episode. And Lynne Sun Moon, who is what I was watching this for. She’s not great in this, so it shows you the importance of what a good director can get out of young actors. Mr. Castle was not that director. I did like seeing actress Norma Varden, who was so memorable co-starring in Billy Wilder’s film of Witness for the Prosecution, as the older lady he becomes friendly with. She was, of course, also in the film of The Sound of Music. Hugh Marlowe is a bit of a stiff in this, but Murray Hamilton has some charm. But it’s a pretty leaden affair so far. Happily, it’s only eighty minutes long.
Otherwise, I had a couple of telephonic conversations, played the piano for a while, and then began my musical journey to France via Francis Poulenc. That guy really could write a tune and boy do they stick with you. I recommend highly his piano concerto and even more his concerto for two pianos.
Today, I’ll be up by ten at the latest, and then I’ll shave and shower and get ready, at which point I will mosey on over to the voiceover studio, where I’ll meet up with Miss Diana Canova, and at noon o’clock we begin recording GEE, which will hopefully get done within the eight hours I’ve reserved, although I don’t think she’s leaving immediately, in case we don’t. But I’m hoping we do because we really need to. But four hours of reading is daunting, although a lot of this book is narration, which I think will be easier. And I suspect I won’t have to stop much for corrective things and especially interpretation, as she was so on the right track when she sent her audition. After the session, we’ll get a bite to eat, and then I’ll stop at the mail place on the way home, then relax.
Tomorrow, we meet again at noon and continue until we finish. Then I’ll have them but the files onto a thumb drive and that will be that. The rest of the week is finishing choosing songs, meetings and meals, and I think I may be seeing something, although I’m not sure if that’s right or not.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, get ready, record the first half of GEE, sup, hopefully pick up packages, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite foods from France, and your favorite French motion pictures? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a necessary ME day filled with ME things.