We’ll, dear readers, in breaking bombshell news, it is September. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that September will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. And power. The power went out at 11:15 and from what the DWP is saying, it could be out until 6:30, which means this was probably planned, which means they stink. There is no excuse for this. Anyway, it is much too hard to write these here notes on the phone so I’ll continue when the power comes back on, which will hopefully be sooner than later.
Well, dear readers, the first part is just sitting there like so much fish, so let’s begin again, shall we? The power has come back at approximately 1:30, the computer has restarted and loaded everything, I’ve reset the clocks and finally we have a proper start to September. Because frankly, before the power came back on I was trying to remember the kind of September when there was no power. Well, power to the people, baby, power to the people. Perhaps it’s time for this city to get its damn act together, because it’s really been falling apart for some time, which is why many friends have opted to get the HELL out of here and go elsewhere. Prior to all this nonsense happening, I did watch two count them two motion pictures on Tubi – which is free streaming if you endure three minutes of commercials every ten minutes, with no way to skip them. The first motion picture, which shockingly I’d never seen, was entitled Sudden Fear, which is how I felt when the power went out. It stars Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame, and Touch Connors, directed by David Miller. Well, it’s quite a nifty little noir and Crawford is terrific in it. And, of course, there’s no bad girl like Gloria Grahame, is there? It’s beautifully photographed and has a very effective score – in fact, it’s the third film score by someone named Elmer Bernstein and he already showed quite an aptitude for it. Anyway, very, very enjoyable. And the moral of the film is never EVER mess with Joan. The second motion picture was one of those TV movies, this one aired on CBS – Tubi has quite a few of these gems – this one was entitled Paper Man, not the best title for what this film is actually about. It stars Dean Stockwell, James Stacy, Stefanie Powers, and James Olson. It’s about computers of the 1971 kind so all that mumbo-jumbo is most amusing. I especially liked when Stefanie Powers, watching Mr. Stockwell type in something to the computer, asks, “What are you typing.” And Mr. Stockwell replies, “I letting the computer know who I am – it’s called logging in.” It’s not a great movie, but I’m partial to these things so I enjoyed it. The director was Walter Grauman, who did a LOT of TV movies of the week. Oh, and almost the entire film was shot on location in Los Angeles on the campus of – Los Angeles City College. Many shots of the theater building and certainly I was around in 1971 even though that was a very busy year for me in terms of acting on television. But I did my first musical, Start at the Top, that year.
Yesterday was another hot day and apparently we’re in for this heat for another full week. I didn’t get to be until close to six in the morning, so I slept until two, so, eight hours of sleep. Can we just look at the word “eight” for a moment? Have you ever seen more useless and pointless letters in a word? Once up, I answered a plethora of e-mails, had a plethora of telephonic conversations, didn’t choose songs, didn’t go to the mail place, had a Cobb salad, as I’ve decided for the next three weeks it’s going to be salads and protein – no bread, no pasta, no rice, and no sweets until I lose some damn weight. I’ve been eating so much bread and pasta and stuff like that that it shouldn’t be too hard to lay off it for a while. The salad was really good and actually not that filling. The press release has been revised several times now but should be ready to go out next Tuesday. Twelve actors were chosen to self-tape for the one remaining series regular to cast. I watched their reels and there are a couple who I think would be really good, especially one in particular. We’ll see how they read. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the movies. Then, before I could even write a single word of these here notes, out went the power and there was no power to the people, Sherman Oaks-wise.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ll go to the mail place and hopefully pick up two important envelopes and then presuming they’re there, I’ll go to the bank and do some banking right after picking them up. Then I’ll figure out food – perhaps another salad from Stanley’s – there are many choices for salads. I could even have my tri-salad from Art’s if I’m feeling like that. That’s all protein and all calorie friendly.
Then once I’m back here I will absolutely finish choosing the songs and get that music to the folks who need it. Then I may or may not have a Zoom with David Wechter about our screenplay, which is now astonishingly down to 120 pages. Then I’m sure there’ll be stuff to do for the web series, then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, the helper person is coming again and we’ll try to do lots more of the perky perk things so we can ship out stuff over the next few weeks. And then it’s more of the same on the weekend plus making a show order and writing commentary.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, go to the mail place, bank, eat, choose songs, maybe have a Zoom thing, do whatever else needs doing and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Miss Joan Crawford, Mr. Jack Palance, and Miss Gloria Grahame? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, thankful that power to the people has been restored and we can now go about the business of enjoying September – and it is my fervent hope and prayer that September will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.