Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to one of my all-time Elmer Bernstein scores, which we rescued and released on Kritzerland – Love With the Proper Stranger. I saw the movie when it came out in 1963, at the Village Theater in Westwood and loved it. I loved Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen was just perfect. I wasn’t really that familiar with abortions or what that meant but caught on pretty quickly. It dealt with it so honestly, in the days when you really did have to have backroom dangerous people do these things. And, of course, thanks to a Supreme Court that has lost its decency, some States are headed right back there. The supporting cast was great, too – Herschel Bernardi and Harvey Lembeck as Natalie’s brothers were both especially memorable. The direction by Robert Mulligan was simple and effective – never overdramatic and always allowing humor to temper the story. And the chemistry of McQueen and Wood is just wonderful. This was Mulligan’s follow-up to To Kill a Mockingbird – he was, at the time, one of my five favorite filmmakers because of these two films. The screenplay by Arnold Schulman is a wonder of economy and great dialogue. And Mulligan was smart enough to use his Mockingbird composer and Mr. Bernstein wrote a brilliant score – spare, with a beautiful theme that perfectly captured New York, the dilemma the characters faced, and their attempts to figure out that crazy thing known as love. The theme was one of the first things I learned how to play and sing on the piano. I so wanted a soundtrack for the film but there wasn’t one. We had to make do with Jack Jones’ wonderful version of the title song, which had a lovely lyric by Johnny Mercer. Issuing it on CD was one of Kritzerland’s happiest moments. When we did a Kritzerland show called Bernstein/Bernstein – the music of Leonard and Elmer, I sang the title song for the first time since I was a young teen. I didn’t even have to look at the lyric – it was still firmly embedded in my soul. I’ve since sung it three times, all at Henry Stanny film music concerts, most recently just a couple of weeks ago. I never tire of the melody or lyric. Anyway, I haven’t actually listened to the soundtrack in years, so it’s nice to revisit this stunning music. It’s also very late and these here notes should have been posted fifteen minutes ago, therefore I shall write like the wind, although the wind isn’t the greatest writer I’ve ever known – frequently the wind’s prose just blows by too quickly and is too stormy at times. What the HELL am I talking about?
Last night, I did manage to watch the Baz Luhrmann film, Elvis, which is surprisingly about Elvis – Presley, that is. I am no fan of Mr. Luhrmann – I find his visual excesses to excessive, busy, and non-stop. I’d watched the first ten minutes already and wasn’t looking forward to the rest simply because those first ten minutes were so loaded with Luhrmann, I thought we’d never actually get to the story. But in th end, I gave myself over to the film and enjoyed much of it. The leading man is very good as Elvis and Tom Hanks is fantastic as Colonel Tom Parker. I remember when the trailer was released, and all the online know-nothing idiots immediately started ragging on Mr. Hanks and the accent he was using – apparently these brainiacs thought Mr. Parker really was a Colonel from the South. The thought that Mr. Hanks would play a real-life character and, what, make up an accent? Anyway, he’s really good and his make-up is absolutely amazing. The character is so repulsive, and Hanks is just the perfect choice because he doesn’t play that. Of course, Mr. Luhrmann can’t help himself, so scenes from Elvis’s early years are occasionally accompanied by rap music. I mean, why? It’s just alienating and pointless. My first exposure to Mr. Presley was Heartbreak Hotel, the 45 of which I got from one of my father’s jukeboxes in one of his bars. I wasn’t crazy about the new-fangled rock-and-roll, but I did like Elvis right from the start. I bought all his 45s after that – Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, all of them. And I went to the first Saturday matinee showing of Love Me Tender at the Stadium and thought he did fine. When he hit the airwaves and I saw him, I did a pretty good impression of him, miming to his records, at my own version of the Ed Sullivan Show, The Bruce Kimmel Hour. When the Colonel began sticking him in all those Paramount movies, I lost interest, save for his MGM film, Viva Las Vegas, but that wasn’t because of Elvis, it was because of Ann-Margret. Anyway, I enjoyed almost all of the film.
Yesterday was a day without drama, thankfully. I did have a tummy issue at four-thirty and was up until six – nothing terrible, and it was the first time in two weeks, so I’m getting better, I think. I went back to bed but was awakened by the doorbell at nine-thirty – the handyman. He looked at the broken aerator and then ended up removing the piece that it was formerly attached to. That hadn’t occurred to me. He went off, and I got back into bed and slept until one. As soon as I got out of bed, the doorbell rang and it was the handyman, who was back with an entirely new faucet and all that came with it. He couldn’t find just the little piece that was needed. It took him about forty-five minutes to install and now everything is working properly again. And it’s all metal rather than having the plastic parts the original one had.
I answered e-mails, ordered a sandwich, it arrived, and I ate it, then I made the show order and wrote the commentary as well, so that’s all done now. Then I watched Elvis, all two-and-a-half hours of it. For the evening meal, I got one chicken breast and the small thing of chicken pasta salad from the California Chicken Café, and that was very good and just right. I had a little Kroger’s sherbet for dessert. Then I did a few things on the computer and listened to music.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, I have a two o’clock Zoom with David Wechter to go over the last minor things that remain to discuss in our screenplay and then we’re done with this draft and right after the first of the year it will go out to producers and studios. And then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye comes, so I’ll go somewhere and have a light breakfast, then do stuff until it’s time to come home. Then I can just do whatever pleases me and the same thing goes for Sunday. Then we’re into the short pre-Thanksgiving week, and that’s mostly just dealing with stuff and having a short work session with our musical director.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, do whatever needs doing, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, have a Zoom, 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, a CD of music I didn’t have by Yasushi Akutagawa. DVD, some screener or other. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have revisited the wonderful Love With the Proper Stranger soundtrack and to have written notes of a proper stranger.