Well, dear readers, it is very late and therefore I must write these here notes in a hurry so they’re not too errant and truant, not necessarily in that order. So, one big thing that happened yesterday is that our very own Hartley Powers nee Hartley Haverty, gave birth to a baby boy named Maxwell. I got the news from gramps Doug Haverty. She went into labor early and birthed soon thereafter. That wasn’t expected to happen until late next week. But apparently young Maxwell was tired of being on the inside and wanted out. He’d twisted and turned so much that his umbilical cord was tied in knots, but he came out safe and sound and healthy. She and hubby Bill and baby Max are coming home today, and Doug’s wife goes to Florida to spend a few weeks on Tuesday and Doug goes mid-month for a week, coming back just as we begin rehearsals for L.A. Now and Then. So, that was exciting news and I’m looking forward to seeing some photographs. Otherwise, whilst writing these here notes I’m listening to Puccini’s La Rondine, an opera that no one seems to love very much, and yet it is filled with lovely music, so go know. This recording from the box set is by a conductor and features a married couple that I just don’t respond to at all – Antonio Pappano, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna. Let’s just say that this recording is not a patch on the butt cheeks of the classic RCA recording with Anna Moffo. For me, that is the be-all and end-all of La Rondine. And prior to that, I was so zonked that I actually got in bed at seven and slept for two hours until nine, when the telephonic device rang and I got the baby boy news. Prior to that, I finished watching Mr. Douglas Sirk’s film, Written on the Wind, a mighty Technicolor potboiler filled with memorable moments and striking direction and photography. Rock Hudson is excellent, as is Lauren Bacall. I suppose Robert Stack is fine, but I just don’t like any of his performances prior to The Untouchables, and that includes The High and the Mighty and Sirk’s The Tarnished Angels. Miss Dorothy Malone is really ACTING up a storm in this film and it’s a big storm, acting-wise. She’s very carnal, let’s put it that way, especially her final image fondly caressing the model of a HUGE oil tower. We get it, we really, really get it. The transfer is a little odd at times – soft – but the colors are vibrant and pretty accurate. Perhaps they were using some heavier diffusion on the female close-ups, which could certainly account for the softness. Very few extras, the most interesting of which is an old program where cast members Hudson, Malone, and Stack talk about working with Sirk and Sirk himself talks about his actors.
Yesterday, I got very little sleep, about four hours. I’d been up late doing this and that as well as that and this. I got up at seven-thirty and never got back to bed until seven at night for two hours. I had a long telephonic conversation with dear reader ChasSmith about his proofing of the new book, just asking questions and discussing a few things. ChasSmith is new to the proofing family and it’s good to have him as each proofer catches different things.
At eleven, I got my haircut – first time since last September, so that was a good thing, as I looked most unkempt and now I look most kempt. Then I went and did a few errands, went to the mail place and picked up one package and one SAG screener that I’d already had from the DGA, no important envelope so I have to call AFTRA in New York as soon as I get up – they’ll have to stop payment and send a new check. This is either yet another USPS screw-up or perhaps the mail place put it in the wrong box, although I’d like to think someone would have noticed and returned it as I always do when something that isn’t mine ends up in my box by mistake. It’s really annoying when this happens. I also put gas in the motor car. I turned off the car but did not lock it, to avoid battery issues just in case. After I’d filled up the tank, the car almost didn’t start – it’s just all too much at this point. Thankfully, it finally turned over and off I went.
For food, I stopped at Taco Bell, came home, ate the food items, and then finished the first set of liner notes and got those off. Then began the second set. I watched the rest of Written on the Wind and the rest you know, save for the evening snack, which was a bowl of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup – so, for once, a really low-calorie day.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll call AFTRA in New York and see what’s what, I’ll finish the second set of liner notes and get those where they need to go, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something light but fun, I’ll hopefully hear from someone about being able to set the choreography for L.A. Now and Then, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second day of casting, so that should be fun. After, I think we’ll go somewhere for food and set our rehearsal schedule – not specifics but just the days and times right up through opening, just to get that out of the way. Sunday is a fun dinner out, otherwise it’s a ME day, but at some point I’ll start on my new sequence for the project with David Wechter. Next week will be more of that and also continuing the prep work on the 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, call AFTRA in New York, finish the second set of liner notes, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, hopefully hear about choreography, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, the last of the Puccini box set. Blu-ray, I have no idea. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy a bouncing healthy baby was birthed and happy these here notes were birthed, too.