Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, thinking about how much I love Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing. And how sad that she died just a few years after the film version came out, at forty-three. And how, if she’d lived, she would have made a heartbreaking Sally in Follies – she would have been the same age as Dorothy Collins, I think. Bells Are Ringing was my introduction to her, but I think I’ve seen all the other movies she’s made and she’s never less than wonderful – endearing, lovable, beautiful, touching, and FUNNY. I remember vividly seeing the movie at my beloved Stadium Theater on a Friday night – which would have been October 21, 1960, on a double bill with something called The Angel Wore Red, which I know I didn’t stay for. I remember walking home at around ten after the movie, breathing in the beautiful night air and trying to remember all the songs I’d loved so much. All I knew was that was smitten with Miss Holliday and was so glad the movie ended happily with her and Dean Martin finally together. I mention this because even though I own the beautiful Blu and Ray of it, it happened to have just hit HBO Max with a bunch of other interesting movies. I began watching just to see if it was the same transfer (it was) and I could not stop straight through to the end. I love the film. I’d never seen the show onstage until I finally recorded the revival with Faith Prince. I really did not like that production, but felt we should record it, which we did. I haven’t actually heard it since – I should listen to it sometime. But for me, there will never be an Ella Peterson as perfect as Miss Holliday, probably because it was written specifically for her. The film is a different animal, with an added scene, songs cut, songs added. Even though Bob Fosse choreographed and Jerome Robbins directed the Broadway production, there isn’t much of that left in the film, although I think every number Miss Holiday is in is that staging, especially the snippet of Mu-Cha-Cha – they obviously shot the entire thing, but it fades out after about a minute – a shame. That choreography is clearly Fosse and so is I’m Going Back. I prefer the movie arrangements and orchestrations (arrangements by Andre Previn, with orchestrations based on those arrangements and clearly Previnesque) – they’re just gorgeous and much better than the Broadway orchestrations – no better example of that than Previn’s new vamp for Just In Time and the chart for The Party’s Over. Back in 1960 I pretty much loved everything about it.
When I finally saw it again in the 1970s, I was taken aback by how stodgy the direction seemed, how old-fashioned, much more so than Minnelli’s other films and especially the Kelly/Donen films. But I think that’s because we’d had more than a decade of films that pushed the medium into new directions. Watching it again last night, I found his direction worked just fine. He shoots a lot in medium and longer shots, moving in close when it’s needed. In fact, there’s one thing that’s done in a long shot done in one take where they finally cut into a closer two-shot that’s an optical blow-up of the other angle – I’d never noticed it before. He lets the scenes play and doesn’t get in their way and there’s nothing wrong with that. I do love one of the two new songs, Better Than a Dream, which I gather was actually put into the Broadway production a few months after it opened, and I don’t mind the new song for Dean Martin that replaces Independent. It’s completely understandable that they cut the awful Salzburg from the show, but the filmed but cut Is It a Crime could have easily stayed in the film. Also cut was Hello, Hello There, although it’s done in the film with just dialogue. And while I love the Long Before I Knew You song, the movie didn’t really need it. Anyway, I love Judy Holliday and I love Bells Are Ringing.
Yesterday, I got twelve hours of very needed sleep. I got in bed at two, my head hit the pillow and I was asleep instantly, waking only twice to use the loo (ool, spelled backwards). I got up at two, answered e-mails, concerned that I haven’t heard from the helper in four days, then ordered food from a jernt called Kabuki, thanks to a nice discount coupon. I really wanted a good meal and I hadn’t been to Kabuki since the Hollywood location closed about four or five years ago. So, I ordered from the Burbank location – my teriyaki chicken/mixed tempura plate and some hibachi rice with chicken. It was slated to take an hour, but it took ninety minutes. I was really hungry by that time, so I tore open the bag and knew something was wrong right away – two salads, two Miso soups, and two main dishes that were both clearly beef dishes. I looked on the outside of the bag and there was the name Kristopher. I imagine he got my order. I was so irritated, so I took pictures and then went to the help page and that automatically refunded the entire cost. But that wasn’t enough, not for ninety minutes and not for the fact that I couldn’t reorder what I’d ordered because they don’t have the exact thing I ordered on the dinner menu, and the lunch stuff had passed – and on the dinner menu, everything is a few dollars more. So, I opened a chat and after some back-and-forth, they gave me another ten bucks. I thought about reordering, but I wanted what I wanted and I did NOT want to wait another hour to get it.
So, I ordered from CPK instead, using half the credit and getting my chopped Eyetalian salad. It was very good but not enough food for an entire day. So, later in the evening I ordered a slice of cheesecake and a tiny side of mac and cheese from the Cheesecake Factory, using the rest of the credit. That arrived fairly quickly but guess what? The mac and cheese was there – the slice of cheesecake wasn’t. I immediately opened a chat and told the guy that I was fed up with this stuff. He refunded me the cheesecake cost and a few extra bucks. And that was my food adventure. What fun. Not.
Then I watched the movie, and began another, something called The Tale, which I’m finding somewhat irritating due to its unnecessary and confusing fragmented structure. Just tell the damn story. It’s based on the director’s life and childhood romance with a forty-year-old man – she was thirteen. And that was it and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll continue trying to get the helper to respond, I’ll write, I’ll eat, I’ll hope for more modern major miracles, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, Thursday is Thanksgiving and I’ll be having an early meal with dear reader Jeanne, and then Friday we’re back with 70, Girls, 70.
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, write, eat, hope for more modern major miracles, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: When you were young, what actors or actresses were you most smitten with? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had such a jolly Holliday.