Well, dear readers, lesson learned. And just what WAS the lesson learned? Well, I’ll tell you what the damn lesson learned was because why should I withhold such information from dear readers such as yourselves. So, here is the lesson learned: If you are invited to go say hello to a Mother’s Day mom next door, don’t leave the trunk of your car open. Now, to not beat myself up too much about doing such a thing, I only thought I’d walk over and say hi. But noooo – I sat down, and we all had fun gabbing for the next forty-five minutes or so. When I returned, I unloaded the groceries and shut the trunk. But then yesterday, when I was ready to go pick up a couple of packages from the mail place, I went out to the motor car and started it – only it didn’t start – it didn’t even make a pretense of starting. It just sat there like so much fish, dead as a doornail. It only took me a moment to figure out that leaving the trunk open that long was no different than leaving your headlights on for that long. So, I had to call the AAA and thankfully they came within twenty minutes, jumped the car, which started right up, and then I had to let it run for twenty minutes, after which I drove to the mail place and whilst quickly picking up the packages let the car keep running. Then I came home and that was a good forty-five minutes of letting it get up to full capacity, which I’m pretty sure it did. So, that was part of yesterday I could have lived without, but there’s no one to blame but my very own stupid self. Anyway, lesson learned – do not leave the trunk of your car open for forty-five minutes, lest you pay the price. Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to more Mr. Ormandy – I just finished listening to disc 83, two Roy Harris symphonies. The first selection, which was his seventh symphony in its premiere recording, was very enjoyable in its Roy Harris way. The second selection was his much better known third symphony, which has had several excellent recordings, including Bernstein’s stereo one for Columbia. I couldn’t understand why the sound was suddenly of little quality, until I read that this performance was actually a live one from 1933. For something that old, it sounded pretty amazing. I’ve always enjoyed but not loved Roy Harris’s music – we did several things of his on Bay Cities, but these really are excellent recordings. We also had some Bach, Rachmaninoff, a Mozart violin concerto, a Mendelssohn violin concerto, and other great stuff, and now playing is the Beethoven fifth – not my favorite, but I fine and unfussy performance that really moves quickly, which is helpful. I’ve uploaded up to disc 93, so I’m about ten CDs ahead and there’s now a light at the end of the tunnel for finishing this massive amount of uploads.
I also finished watching Kiss Me Deadly, which really is a one-of-a-kind motion picture – if you’ve never seen it, I can guarantee you you’ve never seen anything quite like it, from the main titles right through to the end. It’s brilliantly directed by Robert Aldrich and the script is completely wacky, by A.I. Bezzerides, who didn’t like the Mickey Spillane book and didn’t use much of it. Spillane hated the screenplay. Ralph Meeker is a fun Mike Hammer, and the large supporting cast is great. Also, quite a few LA locations of the period, especially Bunker Hill, but also an eye-opening shot of Sunset Boulevard looking east from the Hollywood Athletic Club. The “great what’sit” ending is still kind of mind-boggling. And I also watched a motion picture I’d never seen entitled The Trap, starring Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, Tina Louise, and Earl Holliman. The most surprising thing about this suspense programmer is that it’s a Panama and Frank production, directed by Panama – you know, the team that gave you several of Bob Hope’s classic comedies, as well as both Broadway show and film of Li’l Abner and, of course, their all-time classic, The Court Jester. Why is it surprising? Because The Trap is anything but a comedy. It’s a solid “B” film that runs about eighty-three minutes. It was released in early February of 1959, about seven months before the film of Li’l Abner hit screens. Widmark is always great, Tina Louise, the original Appasionata von Climax from Li’l Abner on Broadway (and who oddly didn’t do the film – odd because they cast here in this) is fetching, and poor Earl Holliman is stuck having to play a total idiot of a character. It’s also one of the only films of that era that isn’t in VistaVision – in fact, I can’t really think of another Paramount film from that year that wasn’t in it – very surprising. Maybe some of their lower-budget stuff wasn’t, though. There is no score credit, just a music supervised by Irvin Talbot credit. He has that same credit on I Married a Monster from Outer Space and this film, like that, just features assorted cues by Paramount composers from other films. I have no doubt there’s some Leigh Harline, some Franz Waxman, some Victor Young and so forth and so on as well as so on and so forth. Anyway, I enjoyed it for what it was.
Yesterday was okay. I got eight hours of sleep, answered a lot of e-mails, made myself a nice salad consisting of lettuce, salami, provolone, red onions, and two tablespoons of Bob’s ranch dressing. It was very good – and that’s the least amount of dressing I’ve ever used on a salad, but it was enough. I also didn’t use that much salami and only one piece of cheese cut up into small bits. Oh, and also a couple of slices of avocado.
After that, we had the car drama. Then I watched the movies, after which it was back to listening to music whilst proofing the CD and sheet music for Tonight’s the Night, so that’s all done now. Then I had two eggs and three small sausage links – I’d bought the fully cooked Jimmy Dean little links – they were pretty good and only take about forty seconds in the microwave. It was a very calorie friendly Keto friendly small meal. I had an Atkins candy bar, and later a few pieces of salami and a couple f pieces of cheese as a little snack. The rest you know and you know the rest, not necessarily in that order.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll try to finish writing commentary, I’ll try to book the date to organize the storage stuff, I’ll hopefully pick up some package and hope for a miracle or three. Then I may mosey on over to the Smokehouse because their Tuesday special bargain-priced dinner is the filet mignon, which I love, and it’s perfect Keto as is their great creamed spinach and I can even have a small Caesar to start. It will be hard not to partake of the garlic cheese bread, but is shall be strong. If I don’t do that, I may just repeat yesterday’s meal plan. Then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, perhaps one more Zoom rehearsal, getting videos for the May Kritzerland, and hopefully getting the organizing done.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, hopefully finish writing commentary, try to book the organizing date, hopefully pick up some packages, hope for a miracle or three, perhaps take advantage of the filet mignon special at The Smokehouse, but if not then eat something here, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Richard Widmark and Lee J. Cobb. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hopefully having learned the lesson learned.