Well, dear readers, I believe I mentioned that they want to extend the Group Rep playlets by a week or two – I was ambivalent about it because I knew one of our gals wouldn’t be able to do it and I wasn’t about to start looking for someone, especially in light of what I went through for the past few days. But someone from the theater is friends with someone who she said was right for it, so I was put in touch with her, and we had such a fun conversation, and we know all the same folks and she has such a good resume, that I said okay. Her name is Charlotte Crossley (called Charlo). She was a Harlette in the 1970s, she was in the original Broadway production of Jesus Christ, Superstar, she played Motormouth Maybelle in the first national company of Hairspray (with Bruce Vilanch) and then closed that show on Broadway. So, that will be fun. Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to an album that I bought in 1963 when I was fifteen, on the Ava label. As you know, I’d already discovered jazz, via Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans, and several jazz covers of Broadway shows. Ava had released mostly soundtracks at that point, including two favorites, To Kill a Mockingbird and David and Lisa. The album was and is called Little Bird featuring the Pete Jolly Trio. I remember being in a record store and picking it up because it was on Ava, and checking out the song titles listed on the cover – and the minute I saw that it had the Theme from To Kill a Mockingbird as well as Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, which was a favorite of mine, well, I had to buy it, didn’t I? Your Honor, something compelled me, some weird sickness that made me buy whatever album looked interesting to me. Of course, I got the stereo. I played it as soon as I got home and instantly fell in love with the title tune, Little Bird, which Jolly wrote. And then there was Never Never Land, the Mockingbird track, which was great, and Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, which was also great. But the entire album was fantastic, and I played it to death. I then bought every Pete Jolly album that came out – Little Bird was a big seller, and he was signed by A&M and did a bunch for them. Flash forward to the late 1980s, and I was thrilled to see it had been released on CD here, but on some nothing label with terrible art. Of course, I bought it instantly. Your Honor, yes, the sickness of having to purchase any album that looks interesting is still strong in me. For some, the Force is strong. For me, it’s taking chances on interesting-looking albums. But what a disappointment that CD was – in mono. And bad sounding mono at that. Then I got a copy of it from another label – this one had the original art, so hopes were high, but alas, it was also mono. Then a third label released it somewhere and that one had sample tracks on Amazon. I played the samples and there it was in glorious stereo. So, I bought that one – and it was mono. I was very weirded out. Then Japan released it in one of those mini-LP covers and I took a chance on that one and finally we had the stereo, which is what I’m now listening to. And I still love it.
Prior to that, I’d finished watching A Countess from Hong Kong – it really isn’t good, and Mr. Brando looks so uncomfortable and at sea (literally, as the entire film takes place on a boat), and the dialogue is really pretty bad. The color on the Blu-ray is very good, so that’s nice. The sets are very old-fashioned but fun, but in the end it’s really quite a dud. Then I watched the first of five Bill Elliot detective films. I knew nothing of this series and only knew the name Bill Elliott from his cowboy movie days as Wild Bill Elliott. These are all very low-budget bottom-of-the-bill programmers from Allied Artists. I got the set because they all take place in Los Angeles and Allied Artists usually did a lot of location shooting for the exteriors, as they had no backlot. The first film, Dial Red 0, ran sixty-three minutes and was fun, although Bill Elliott is very laconic and laid back for most of it and, in fact, he isn’t in most of it in a major way. In this film he’s telling other people to do stuff, rather than him doing it. The most recognizable actor in this one is Paul Picerni. And yes indeed, all the exteriors were shot in Los Angeles, California. Some address numbers could be seen but I couldn’t quite get a bead on where these were. I suspect most were in Hollywood, as I did spy a Wilton street sign, which is right near where we shot Nudie Musical. But I also think the main apartment building was in West L.A. Looking forward to the other four.
I also watched Mr. Randolph Scott in the western Seven Men from Now, which is a favorite of mine. This Blu-ray came out in Japan, but all it is is the DVD upscaled to Blu-ray, complete with the DVD’s Paramount logo. That DVD transfer is serviceable – color isn’t quite right, sharpness isn’t great – but the film is really good – also very short. And then it was onto the jolly Mr. Jolly.
Yesterday was just a blur due to only getting four hours of sleep. I had a terrible allergy attack and on top of that I had terrible heartburn. It’s been so long since I’ve had any heartburn or acid reflux issues that I didn’t have any Pepcid in the house. It was so irritating that finally at six in the morning, having not slept even a minute, I went to Rite Aid and got their version of Pepcid – exact same ingredients but much cheaper. I ate one on the drive home, and another when I got home, and I’d already taken my allergy pill. I got back in bed at seven-thirty and slept until noon. But I was really out of it.
Once up, I answered e-mails, had some telephonic conversations, had Granville’s yummilicious mac-and-cheese (with asparagus and chicken) – that was great and according to the calorie count I found, very reasonable. Then I picked up a couple of packages, had to do a Gelson’s run to get some stuff for she of the Evil Eye, who, by the way, will be here all too soon so maybe I should stop yammering away and wrap these here notes up. I did get the show order done but haven’t begun the commentary yet. That will have to happen today. Then it was the movies and then the jolly Mr. Jolly.
Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty and then I’ll have a light breakfast, after which I’ll do a few things, then come home and write the commentary. I’ll mosey on over to the theater at six-thirty to work with our new actress a bit, and then the gal who’ll be replacing the other actress for the extension is coming to see the show, so I’ll stick around until I meet her. After that, I’ll come home and watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, which should be fun as we have the entire cast coming. After rehearsal, I’ll eat something fun, and then I can relax. Monday is all relaxing and resting of the voice. Tuesday is our stumble-through and then we do the show on Wednesday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty, have a light breakfast, do a few things, hopefully pick up some packages, write commentary, rehearse the actress, meet the person who’ll be doing the extension, and then come home and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who were/are your favorite actors in westerns? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happily listening to the jolly Mr. Jolly.