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May 15, 2021:

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the final selection in the small Artur Rodzinski box – it’s all very good, and he does a lovely Rachmaninoff second symphony and second piano concerto, which is what’s playing now, the final movement with the famous tune (of many in this concerto) that had lyrics called Full Moon and Empty Arms. I would have written it as Full Arms and Empty Moon, just to be contrary. Anyway, there are myriad pleasures in this little box and when this final selection is done, it will be back to the Ormandy box for the final nineteen CDs. After that, I will be quite ready for some stereophonic recordings, oh, yes, I will be quite ready for some stereophonic recordings. Before that, I was able to watch a motion picture entitled Big Jake, starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Bruce Cabot, and Richard Boone, directed by George Sherman. It’s not a four-star classic, but it’s very enjoyable, with some great dialogue, courtesy of Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink, who, just a year later, would write the classic Dirty Harry. There’s one running gag that’s very funny and was ripped off wholesale by John Carpenter for Escape from New York. Wayne is Wayne and that’s okay by me, O’Hara is beautiful, and Richard Boone is always a fine villain. I don’t find the Elmer Bernstein score to be one of his best, but by that time he’d done so many of these kinds of films he was probably just coasting. The Blu-ray transfer is old but the color is great. That said, there are several weird shots that are completely out of focus – don’t know why that would be.

Yesterday was a pretty okay day. I was up at eight after only four-and-a-half hours of sleep, but at nine I went back to bed and ended up with eight hours of sleep, so that was nice. I then got it into my head to do the two major things I had to do today right then and there. So, I answered e-mails, did a few things on the computer, and then girded my loins and did the two major things, which took about two hours or so, but it’s good to have it finished and done with, although I will have to do about five minutes more at some point today, but that will be easy. Once that was done, I went and picked up one small package, then came right back home. By that time, it was already after five, so I ordered two breasts and two wings from the California Chicken Café. It arrived about thirty minutes later and as is occasionally their wont, they gave me two extra wings. I ate the two breasts and wings and saved the extra wings for later, as I was too full to eat them at that point. I do think my stomach is shrinking, so I get full more quickly these days.

I had a long telephonic conversation, I watched the movie, and then it was back to relaxing and listening to music. I am now back with the Ormandy box and just heard the William Tell Overture. It’s interesting that there are two hugely famous themes in it, but we all know what the MOST famous of the two is and I find it utterly fascinating that this fun theme would have turned out to be absolute perfection for The Lone Ranger. Who knew? I mean, you cannot hear that theme without immediately identifying it with The Lone Ranger. It was a stroke of genius on someone’s part. Hi-yo, Silver and away! Who was that masked man? Actually, that line could have been said for the entire last year, couldn’t it have?

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll have a ME day, I’ll do the five minutes I still have to do, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax because that is what one does when one is having a ME day.

Tomorrow will be exactly the same, without the five minutes of work. Then next week is very busy, getting the word out for the Kritzerland show, figuring out our new release announcements, maybe hiring a couple of fellows to reorganize my personal storage unit. Oh, and I found a whole box of Drat! The Cat! CDs, so I’ll be offering those for sale. There’s a bunch of Varese titles I still have and I see no reason not to get rid of them.

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, have a ME day except for the five minutes of work I have to do, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, I’ll eat, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, whilst the strains of the William Tell Overture rattle around in the windmills of my mind. And who was that masked man?

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