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July 6, 2021:

THE SILVER CHALICE NOT FROM THE PALACE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, what can one say about The Silver Chalice, the movie that introduced Mr. Paul Newman, who called it the worst movie made in the 1950s and who, prior to a TV showing took out a full-page ad in Variety apologizing for the film and his performance. It’s a legendary bad motion picture but one I’d never actually watched. I’ve had the DVD for a very long time, but other than watching the titles, I hadn’t seen a frame of it. I happened to see it sitting in the garage like so much fish, so I brought inside, where it’s been sitting on my couch like so much fish, and last night I decided it was either high or low time to watch the damn thing. So, I watched the first two-thirds of it, ninety minutes of its two-hour-and-fifteen-minute running time. And imagine my surprise that it wasn’t the worst movie made in the 1950s but was, perhaps, one of the worst movies ever made, period. Yes, there are much worse movies, but it’s still a doozy. The dialogue is so awful and risible, something, apparently, it has in common with the novel on which it’s based by Thomas Costain. Poor Mr. Newman gets the worst of it, I’m afraid, but he’s earnest and looks good in his mini skirt. Then we have young Natalie Wood as the young Virginia Mayo, complete with blonde hair. She’s only around for about three minutes, however. Then we get Miss Mayo, who is, how shall I put it – rather carnal, with wacky eye makeup. We also get a young Lorne Green, and we get Herbert Rudley and Michael Pate, who, just two years later, would appear together in a much better motion picture, The Court Jester. The plot is about a silver chalice – I figured that might be the case from the title. Now, this silver chalice, which is not in the palace and doesn’t have the pellet with the poison, has some significance as it was apparently at the crucifixion. There’s a lot of intrigue and goings on, we get Jack Palance as a magician, but most importantly, we get some of the most outré-looking sets ever put in a motion picture of this type – they’re totally surreal. It’s hard to know who was responsible – the art director was Boris Leven, but the production designer was someone else. The film does have a nice score by Franz Waxman. I’ll finish it up tonight. Oh, and I forgot to mention Miss Pier Angeli. I had a little boy crush on Miss Angeli from the other film she did with Mr. Newman, the much better Somebody Up There Likes Me. She had a most interesting life. I had no idea she had a twin sister, also an actress – Marisa Pavan. She was involved early on in her career with Kirk Douglas and James Dean. She was married to Vic Damone for a few years. She then married Eyetalian film composer, Armando Trovajoli. She died at thirty-nine due to a barbiturate overdose.

Otherwise, I found the other Eileen Farrell albums I have, so have been listening to those, even now as I write these here notes. The two I heard over the last couple of hours are Here and This Time It’s Love, both with gorgeous arrangements by Robert Farnon. Stunning.

Yesterday was a holiday so I did nothing of consequence, and I did it very well. I went to bed very late again, due to watching YouTube stuff – one just gets addicted and in this case a video popped up in the suggested pile of a judge sentencing a killer. I then went down that rabbit hole and watched about twenty of those. I got seven hours of sleep, got up, answered a few e-mails, had a telephonic conversation, then went to Gelson’s and got hot dogs and buns, came home and did the low-calorie hot dog thing – two chili dogs and one mustard and onions. Very good. I listened to some music, then watched the first ninety minutes of The Silver Chalice. After that, I went to Ralph’s – I’d had a bit under 700 calories, so needed some kind of snack. I got some beef sticks, which are low in calories – I bought this brand a couple of weeks ago and really liked it – and I got a variety pack of different kinds of chips – the small packs. I came home and ate some crunchy Cheetos and a beef stick. Then it was Miss Farrell, another telephonic conversation, and then these here notes.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I may have to go to the storage place to drop off the sheet music folios and a few other things – if I don’t, I’ll definitely have to tomorrow – I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do some banking, I’ll put some gas in the motor car, I’ll eat something calorie friendly, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is more of the same. I’m hoping we get the Tonight’s the Night CDs in so we can get all those orders out, I’ll have a meeting and meal or two, then on Saturday, I sup with Peyton and her mom, after which we’ll see the playlets at the Group Rep. That will be fun. I’m still on the hunt for one more performer, I’m almost through choosing songs, and we’ll announce the Kritzerland show via eBlast and Facebook, maybe even today.

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, maybe go to storage, hopefully pick up packages, do some banking, put gas in the motor car, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your all-time favorite female vocalists? And who are your favorite arranger/orchestrators of the popular song? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have finally taken a gander at The Silver Chalice not from the palace, although perhaps happy isn’t the right word.

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