Well, dear readers, I am giving you fair warning, which is much better than an unfair warning, that these here notes will be filled with words – not only words, but words such as thee and thou and thy. Why thy? Why thou? Why thee? Well, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, last night I watched a motion picture entitled Friendly Persuasion, a motion picture about friendly persuasion. I first saw Friendly Persuasion on Saturday, February 22, 1957, at my beloved Stadium Theater. The week prior to that, I’d seen Giant there. I was already quite enamored of Pat Boone singing the song Thee I Love from the movie. I had no idea what the movie was about, but you find out rather quickly that it’s about a family of Quakers. I didn’t know what a Quaker was other than oats. But we get the information we need within the first ten minutes and there are a lot of these, thous, and thys. I recall really enjoying the movie a lot. Gary Cooper was a favorite actor, and I also loved the entire cast, including Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Phyllis Love, and since I’d seen several Ma and Pa Kettle movies, Marjorie Main. And of course, I empathized with the child actor who played the youngest son, Richard Eyer. He had a prolific career as a child actor and just three months after seeing Friendly Persuasion I saw him in an episode of the TV show Panic, which I was a fan of. And a year later, he’d have a leading role in what would become one of my favorite childhood movies, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, in which he played a genie. I think that was the only time I saw it. I do remember annoying my mother and brother by saying thee, thou, and thy within every sentence I uttered. I bought the DVD when it came out, but the transfer quality was awful, and I couldn’t get through it. But now we have a new Blu-ray from Warner Archive and it’s a complete winner, transfer-wise, with great color and looking quite spiffy. It’s a wonderful movie still. The performances are stellar, and the Dimitri Tiomkin score works nicely and the title tune is Tiomkin at his best. As I watched, I remembered each scene as it played out. One of the smartest and best things the film does begins right at the beginning – a lot, and I mean a LOT of comedy. You laugh, you learn to empathize with the family even if the Quaker beliefs are foreign to you – in other words, you CARE. So, by the time you get to the crux of everything, the Civil War, there’s a real sense of dread as you go into the film’s final third. Will they fight back, or will they be passive? It’s a real dilemma of faith verses reality and it’s all handled brilliantly by director William Wyler. Thee might like it and so might thou, and it comes highly recommended by the likes of me.
Earlier, I’d gotten seven hours of sporadic sleep. I was in bed by one-thirty, slept fitfully for an hour, but the chicken I’d eaten would not digest and I just didn’t fee good. So, I got up and didn’t get back in bed until five. I fell asleep quickly and woke up at noon but stayed in bed relaxing for another forty-five-minutes. Once up, I answered e-mails, thought about going out, changed my mind and ended up staying in. I ordered Don Cuco for food – one beef taco, one cheese enchilada, rice and beans. It’s all surprisingly calorie-friendly, especially as I only ate the top layer of the beans, not the beans themselves. It traveled pretty well, too, and was still nice and warm when it arrived. Their beef tacos are just great. I think all in I probably topped out at 1000 calories, maybe a tiny bit above that.
After the food, I decided what the June show would be, but got the news that neither Kerry or Adrienne would be here on that date. I’ll see if there’s any other dates after that that are available and if there are, I’ll grab one. Then I watched the movie, and after that I relaxed some more but never listened to music. I’ll have to find my CD of Friendly Persuasion’s soundtrack so I can enjoy it again.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, then we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal at two. When that’s done, I’ll get something to eat and eat whatever that is. Then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I relax and rest my voice. I may have a little phone meeting with David Wechter, but that’ll be it and I might push it till after the Kritzerland show. Tuesday is our stumble-through at three, then Wednesday is sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, have our second rehearsal, eat, then 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, happy to have seen such a wonderfully warm film such as Friendly Persuasion.