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July 22, 2021:

THROUGH THE MILL

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, the search continues for our replacement singer. Apparently, all these people who’ve been complaining for a year-and-a-half that they can’t wait to get back to live performing are too busy for the likes of us and getting back on a stage to sing for people. I find it astonishing, actually. We have another offer out and if that fails, I think I have to ponder whether to cancel, which I’d hate to do, but I can’t deal with this kind of idiocy anymore. I can’t make a damn show order, I can’t write the damn commentary and I’m just about to be done with all of it. This was supposed to be a joyous return to live performing for the Kritzerland show, and thus far it’s been anything but joyous. End of rant. Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland and The Red Mill, the album that dear reader elmore spoke of, on Decca Records, with Kenny Baker, Eileen Farrell, Wilbur Evans, and others. It’s quite fun and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard either of these, save for maybe a couple of tunes. Very good mono sound, too. Prior to that, I listened to ballet music by Malcolm Arnold – Elektra, Rinaldo and Armida, Homage to the Queen, and Sweeney Todd. All are delightful and infused with Arnold’s great musical sensibilities and melody. Unfortunately, it’s conducted by Rumon Gamba, who I don’t care for and I especially hate the Chandos sound, which is washy and distant and is something that Mr. Gamba must like, since every single album of his has that awful sound. But I did love the music.  I also watched one-and-a-half motion pictures on Blu and Ray, the first of which was The Money Trap, a 1966 film starring Glenn Ford, Elke Sommer, and Rita Hayworth. It’s from a novel by Lionel White, the author who wrote several novels turned into films, including Clean Break, which became Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, and The Snatchers, which became Night of the Following Day. The screenplay is by Walter Bernstein and it’s just horrible, really. He certainly has written some fine films, including Fail-Safe, The Front, Yanks – but his resume also has some real clunkers like this one, An Almost Perfect Affair, and The Betsy. The dialogue tries for hard-boiled but is more scrambled or poached. I do like Glenn Ford and it’s nice to see him teamed once again with Miss Hayworth, with whom he starred in Gilda. Elke Sommer is truly awful, and Ricardo Montalban verges on being embarrassing. There are a few nice location shots of Los Angeles, mostly Bunker Hill literally just months before all that was demolished. Also, the movie boasts one of the most ludicrous film scores ever, by one Hal Schaefer. From what I can tell, he was mostly a studio musician, a pianist. This was, in fact, his first film score and he only wrote one other. The imdb has it opening here on February 2, 1966, which, of course, is wrong – it opened a week later, and boy was I seeing a lot of films and shows that week, including Where the Spies Are, Inside Daisy Clover, Rapture, and more, and on stage it was The Amorous Flea and the national tour of Luv at the Huntington Hartford Theater. Where I got the money to do any of this is unknown. And a week later, I attended the opening night premiere of The Oscar at the Egyptian, where I, and about half the audience, left halfway through. And then I watched half of Charlie Chaplin’s final film, A Countess from Hong Kong, which I saw at the Pantages a few times. The imdb is almost right on when it opened, just two days early. I knew it wasn’t good them, but it had a certain REALLY old-fashioned charm. It’s very labored and poor Marlon Brando flails away trying to be funny. Sophia Loren does pretty well, though, and looks great. Sydney Chaplin is along for the ride, and Patrick Cargill walks away with the film. This is an overseas Blu-ray and it’s actually pretty good with excellent color. But Mr. Chaplin was far past his glory days and his direction is stodgy and static and his musical score has some of the ineptest music editing ever heard. I’ll finish it up tonight.

Yesterday was another frustrating day, due to our inability to find our singer. I got up after only four hours of sleep, went back to bed and got another three, which wasn’t nearly enough and I have to get a good night’s sleep and rest my voice because every time I turn on the air it destroys my voice, but I can’t have it eighty-one degrees here, plus allergies. Once I was up, I had lots of e-mails to answer, a couple of telephonic conversations to have, then I ordered two chicken breasts and wings and some chicken pasta salad from California Chicken Café. That arrived pretty quickly, and I ate it all up and it was very good. I saved the pasta salad for later. Then it was working on getting the singer, which was frustratingly frustrating, and then I picked up a couple of packages and came right back home. At that point, I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the movies.

After the movies, I was actually able to figure out what the first five songs in the Kritzerland show would be, so I can write that commentary at least and get that out of the way. And then I listened to the ballets of Malcolm Arnold and Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland and The Red Mill. Now that I’ve heard The Red Mill, I guess I can say I’ve been through the Mill. We don’t allow groaning here at haineshisway.com. And wasn’t it just prescient of me to write about Jerry Goldsmith? Turns out it was the anniversary of his death. Who knew?

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll have a matzoh to tide me over, then we have our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which will be short, and hopefully we’ll find our singer so that I don’t have to keep worrying about it. And hopefully my voice will get stronger, although I have to turn on the air again. I had it down to seventy-five and, of course, it’s now eighty again, just two hours later. And it’s not hot outside. I just don’t get it. After the rehearsal, I’ll grab a bite to eat, then I can watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow and Saturday will hopefully be the days I can get the show order locked and the commentary written. Sunday is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, Monday I need to do nothing, Tuesday is our stumble-through, and Wednesday, heaven-willing, we’ll do our show.

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 pick up some packages, have something to tide me over until dinner, have a rehearsal, have dinner, hopefully find our singer, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Mr. Charlie Chaplin and Miss Sophia Loren? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have finally heard some of Babes in Toyland and The Red Mill, which I’ve been through.

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