Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the marvelously marvelous original cast recording of High Spirits, the musical version of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. I love the score, I must say, and the orchestrations are incredible. Then you have the wonderful cast, especially Tammy Grimes. Of course, I got to do the first LA production (and the first production of the show anywhere after it closed on Broadway) at Bluth Brothers Theater. What a blast that was. Sold out every night, great cast, great sets. Here’s an LA Times ad and a press piece in which I’m mentioned, the first time out of high school stuff where I’m mentioned as being in a show.
I think it would be fun to revive this, but boy would it be hard to cast Elvira. Madame Arcati would be simpler – someone like Beth Leavel would be wonderful, or even better, Andrea Martin. We didn’t have much Indiegogo go going on yesterday, I must say. Only one contributor and it was still not enough to get us to 72%, although I’m sure we’re on cusp of that. So, hopefully we can make some gains this long weekend, but holiday weekends are difficult. So, check out them perky perks and if something catches your eyeballs and it’s too pricey, just PM me and tell me what’s comfortable. One dear reader has already done that and I think said dear reader was very happy with the result. Here, as inevitable as Roscoe, is the handy-dandy linkilicious link.
How many here got the inevitable Roscoe reference? I did. I finally got around to watching Experiment in Terror last night. Most of it is really excellent. I does go on about ten minutes too long and could have been easily trimmed without losing anything. But back then, filmmakers tended to let things play longer. There are some genuinely suspenseful sequences, and one truly creepy sequence with mannequins. The score by Mancini is fantastic, and the cast is terrific straight down the line. Lee Remick is always great, a young Stefanie Powers does good work, Glenn Ford has always been, for me, a very underrated actor. I remember he hadn’t done a film in quite a while when he played Pa Kent in Superman – and he absolutely brilliant in it. And the villain, well, again, truly creepy. The actor remains unbilled until the end of the film – Ross Martin. Of course, I knew it was him because I loved Mr. Lucky, in which he co-starred with John Vivyan. The finale at Candlestick Park is not only memorable, but clearly the inspiration for a similar sequence in Dirty Harry. The transfer is beautiful, too.
Yesterday was interesting. I was hoping for a little more action, but that wasn’t to be. I got about six hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, then went and did banking. Cashing the pension check took four minutes, then I walked over to Bank of America to deposit – line of about ten people, one teller. Brilliant. So, I left and drove over to the nearby branch here and there were only four people in line and three tellers, so that went quickly, thankfully.
Then I came home and had the offer of a wonderful place to stay when I’m in NY for filming, so that got booked and I couldn’t be happier about it. I think the flight will be booked next week – I’m VERY particular about the flights and it must be booked exactly as I need it to be booked. So, that’s all coming along and now all I need to do is write nine more scripts. There were some other interesting things, but I can’t talk about them yet. Then I went to the mail place, got the second important envelope, went back to the Bank of America that had been too crowded, just to make the deposit in the ATM there. They have two. One was on the fritz and there were five people ahead of me to use the one that worked. I think I’m just about done with that branch, even though it’s mine own.
Then I moseyed on over to Vitello’s for an early dinner with Robert Yacko. It was a fun meal, fun conversation, I gave him his Tis the Season to Be Murdered, which he’d ordered, told him about the web series, and discussed the August Kritzerland show. I had a tiny Caesar salad, garlic toast, and then spaghetti and meatballs – all very good. Then we walked across the street to Aroma Café, and I got a slice of Berry Whip – kind of a cake, whipped cream, and fresh berries. Then I came home and ate said Berry Whip and it was really good. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the movie. The rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine so that she of the Evil Eye can do her thing. I’ll have a light breakfast somewhere, and then I’ll do my usual hanging out at the mall thing that’s become a good time passer for me. Then I’ll come home at noon, do some cheerleading, and then just begin my ME long weekend.
Tomorrow will be more of the same, then I’ll spend the fourth of July right here at hainehisway.com, then beginning on Tuesday, major push to the final week of the Indiegogo campaign. We’re 6K from our goal, and hopefully once we get there, which I think we will, then I’m hoping we can cover the Indiegogo feels in total and then go beyond that because the more we can rustle up the easier it will be for Kritzerland for the rest of the year, both CD-wise, bill-wise, cushion-wise, and show-wise, not necessarily in that order.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine, I must have a light breakfast, hang out at the mall, come home, do some cheerleading, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: How many houses did you live in when you were growing up up until the time you moved out? And how many places have you lived since moving out? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have listened to High Spirits, which left me in high spirits and can’t we all use high spirits right about now?