Well, dear readers, dear reader Jrand asked me to get in our time machine and travel back to the year 1958. I’ve chose May 29, 1958, the day after Vertigo opened at the Paramount and got a bad review in the LA Times but great reviews from other local papers. So, what else was going on? Let’s walk around and see, shall we? First of all, less than a mile from where I live, the Sylmar Palms apartments has just opened and you can get a brand new one-bedroom apartment there starting at $125 a month. It’s still there, by the way, and you can now get that same one-bedroom apartment, not so brand new, for $1,999. If you’re in the mood for a show, you’re in luck – there are several shows playing around town. Over at the Huntington Hartford you can see Mr. Cyril Ritchard in Gore Vidal’s Visit to a Small Planet. If you wait a year, you can see the film version with Jerry Lewis. If you don’t mind driving to UCLA’s Royce Hall, you can see the one and only Oscar Levant play the Shostakovich piano concerto 2. Most importantly, you can drive downtown to the Biltmore Theater to see The Most Happy Fella, starring Robert Weede and most of the Broadway company, including Jo Sullivan, Art Lund, and Helon Blount. But see an evening performance because Mr. Weede occasionally has an alternate for the matinees – Richard Torigi. Movie-wise, I know where I’ll be on Saturday – at the Stadium seeing Sayonara in Cinemascope. Over in Hollywood at the Chinese, you can see, as I did, Windjammer in Cinemiracle. Kim Stanley is in The Goddess at the Fine Arts. Playing wide around town you can see The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Young Lions, Marjorie Morningstar, or a reissue of The Ten Commandments. God’s Little Acre is over at the Fox Wilshire. Or, if you’ve been living under a rock, you can go to the Carthay Circle and see Around the World in Eighty Days in Todd-AO, now in its second year. If you want a western, there’s the just-opened Glenn Ford picture, The Sheepman. You can get some Desire Under the Elms at the Stanley Warner Beverly Hills, and if you want a more entertaining travelogue than Windjammer, just mosey on down the street to the Warner Cinerama and see the real deal, Seven Wonders of the World. Dying to see a musical – well, just get yourself to the Egyptian to see South Pacific in Todd-AO. If you want a different address, just go down the street to the Pantages and see Ten North Frederick.
Now, if you’re hungry for a home-cooked meal, go to your local Market Basket and get a 20-pound Tom Turkey for thirty-nine-cents a pound. Or, if you feel like some young tender freshly frozen rabbits, they’re cut up and ready for frying and will only cost you fifty-nine-cents a pound. Yum. There’s a new lawsuit by Johnny Stompanato’s son alleging that Lana Turner did the stabbing. Or, you can fly free to Las Vegas when you stay at the Dunes for $19.98 for the night – and you’ll see Pinky Lee in Life Begins at Minsky’s along with the Ink Spots.
In the sad news department, the wonderful Bill Hayes has passed on at ninety-eight. I met him almost a decade ago and we just hit it off instantly. He was one of the sweetest, kindest, most positive people I’ve ever met. He did quite a few Kritzerland shows and he was always a delight. He loved coming to rehearsals for them, and no one loved singing and performing more than he did. I think he did one of our final shows at Vitello’s before they closed up that room. I had him do Put on a Happy Face at an all-star ALS benefit I directed – he played the lead on the national tour of Bye Bye Birdie – and of course I had him sing Davy Crockett at a Kritzerland show. When I was going to direct Doug Haverty’s play, In My Mind’s Eye, I wanted to hear the play out loud so we did a reading at my house. I called Bill and asked if he’d like to do it and he not only said yes instantly he said, “Is there anything for Susan?” There was, and the two of them were fantastic. I don’t know a single person who ever met him who didn’t adore him. We e-mailed a lot and he came to see a few shows I directed at the Group Rep. Ninety-eight is a great run, but I’ll sure miss his smile and his gentle being. Like sands through an hourglass – these are the days of our lives.
I didn’t watch anything last night. That’s because I didn’t wake up until one-thirty after eight hours of sleep. I had to futz and finesse eighteen pages and I was not happy with five of the eighteen pages so I nuked them right the HELL out of there. I’m glad I still can recognize when I’m long-winded and making a long story longer. Then I did a quick Gelson’s run, then came right back home. I made that pink sauce pasta thing again and it was even better. Then I began writing new pages. I’ve done fourteen so far and will definitely do two more before bed.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll futz and finesse, I’ll eat (hot dogs for sure), I’ll write new pages, take a break, write more new pages, and then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll futz and finesse and then send Muse Margaret the next batch of pages, which should be around 120 if I’m counting correctly. I think Tuesday will be a meal out, then it’s just more writing, a couple of meetings and meals, and I may or may not finish the book by next Sunday or Monday. We shall see.
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, futz and finesse, eat, write new pages, take a break, write more new pages, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, sad to know that I won’t be seeing Bill Hayes put on a happy face again. But I know he’ll be singing it up in heaven.