Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to an opera by Peggy Glanville-Hicks, a composer I’m very fond of. The opera is entitled The Transposed Heads. I myself have transposed some heads in my time, just for fun. Anyway, the opera is very tuneful, as is most of her music. And prior to that, I listened to a two-CD set called The Copland Collection, a collection of Copland, in case you were wondering. Most of the music is wonderful – the one piece I don’t care for at all is called Connotations. All that said, this set was released in 1991, before Sony really understood mastering and were using album masters rather than the original session tapes. So, the sound is sketchy – The suite from The Red Pony is mastered way too loud and is very harsh and unpleasant-sounding. Other pieces fare a bit better, but boy could this material use a fresh mastering, because the people doing it now are really good at their jobs. It’s surprising that Sony hasn’t, in fact, done a big Copland box. I also don’t think Copland was a great conductor, so I prefer other performances of some of his work, especially The Red Pony – Previn’s version is much better, I think. I did enjoy Down a Country Lane, Music for a Great City (adapted from his film score to Something Wild), and Dance Panels. And before that, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Left Handed Gun, starring Mr. Paul Newman as William Bonney aka Billy the Kid, directed by Arthur Penn (his first film). I tried to watch it when the DVD came out, which was a long, long time ago, but I only lasted about ten minutes. This time I made it all the way through. The party line about this film is that while it was a huge bomb and didn’t fare well critically, it’s now considered unique and influential and that it took the western to a new place. That, dear readers, is what they call a load of auteurist hooey. I’d like someone to sit with a straight face how this film was influential and what films it actually influenced. The silence would be deafening, I assure you. I would also like to know what new place it took westerns to. It took them nowhere new, I assure you. Apparently, those auteurists doing the pronouncments have never seen an Anthony Mann western. What The Left Handed Gun is, in fact, is a “method” western. There is so much ACTING going on it’s almost funny. It doesn’t work and, in fact, the film is really kind of horrible. Penn’s direction is mediocre in terms of cinema – he would come into his own with The Miracle Worker and then especially with Bonnie and Clyde. But his filmography is very hit and miss, right to the very end. The transfer isn’t very good. Not one for the ages, I’m afraid. And prior to that, I finished What’s the Matter with Helen and it’s just plain bad, any way you slice it. Amusingly, the poster gives away the ending, there are zero surprises in the film, Debbie Reynolds tries way too hard, Shelly Winters is Shelly Winters, Agnes Moorehead is Agnes Moorehead, Timothy Carey shows up for one of his patented completely wacko performances, Michael MacLiammoir is I don’t know what, other than he has the worst toupee in the history of film – in fact, all the wigs in this film are terrible – and Dennis Weaver is certainly anything but a leading man. The script was written by Henry Farrell, who wrote the novel of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane – a screenwriter he wasn’t. And Curtis Harrington, another director the auteur folks idolize, was a very nice man and an interesting director, but not in this particular film, I’m afraid. The transfer is wonderful if you like brown – it is literally brown. There is a Blu-ray – one wonders if it’s better. The film is on a DVD that also includes Who Slew Auntie Roo, a terrible movie that also stars Shelly Winters.
Yesterday wasn’t much of a day. I got ten hours of sleep to make up for the six hours of sleep the day before. Once up, I answered e-mails, and then went and got three slices of pepperoni pizza – 1,050 calories – and I came right home and ate them. They were very good. After that, I did a little bit of work on the computer, and then I began my viewing and listening, and you know all about that.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven and my original plan was to go to the storage place, but since I have to go there when the CDs come in, I may just wait a couple of days. We have to make the Kritzerland show rehearsal schedule, which is always tricky, then I have to start figuring out the Group Rep cabaret fundraises I’ll be directing. That’s daunting because it involves a lot of people and a lot of songs and will require me working with all those singers several times. And it comes up just a week and a few days after the Kritzerland show, so all the singers and song choices have to be nailed down right now. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, I’ll do whatever else needs doing, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, some meetings and meals, a work session, we’ll get the Tonight’s the Night CDs and then finish up sending out all the Indiegogo stuff – a very busy week that will be very busy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, make a Kritzerland show rehearsal, start figuring out the Group Rep cabaret fundraiser, hopefully pick up packages, eat, do whatever else needs doing, and then at some point watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorites of all the lurid thrillers that began with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? You know, the ones that trotted out the leading ladies of old. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping to never seen another method western again.