Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much full fish, having had plentiful fish, which caused the full. Fish and chips, to be exact. At the Smoke House to be exact. It was just what the doctor ordered, to be exact. The doctor is always ordering the same thing I order right down to the cup of clam chowder and a ton of tartar sauce. You’d think the damn doctor would have a shred of originality, but nooooo, he orders what I order. He did tell me he had shredded his originality when he ate too much shredded wheat. That darn doctor. That Darn Doctor – that’s the title of my next novel. More about the meal in a bit. For the last hour, I went down a rabbit hole with the wonderful dancer/choreographer Peter Gennaro. In case you don’t recognize the name, he choreographed Annie, which included two of my favorite musical number ever – You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile and Easy Street – his choreography is so much fun. But I knew who he was long before that because he was a staple of both The Perry Como Show, which I never missed, and then on The Ed Sullivan Show, which I also never missed. Much later, we’d find out that he choreographed a lot of the Latin-flavored dancing in West Side Story. He also did the choreography for the first real Broadway musical I ever saw – The Unsinkable Molly Brown, via its national tour with most of the Broadway cast. His musical staging was amazing in that (he also did the movie version). But I always looked forward to his appearances on variety shows because he was so joyous when he danced, and his staging was always so much fun. And he apparently loved working with kids long before Annie. To wit, I offer up two great Christmas numbers he did on The Ed Sullivan Show. In this first one, I think you’ll be surprised and delighted as to what the song turns out to be – very unexpected and see if you can figure out who I sent it to instantly via e-mail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSufP6Fn5tk&list=WL&index=56
This next number is even better, and the little girls are fantastic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPAfO7_hlUY
He was one of the three original dancers in Steam Heat on Broadway, with Carol Haney and Buzz Miller – for some reason, he didn’t do the film version, probably because that’s when he was doing The Perry Como Show as a regular. But here in this next clip, you can see how great he must have been, and as an added bonus we get to see some of Mu-Cha-Cha from Bells Are Ringing, also, like Steam Heat, choreographed by Bob Fosse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xOPbXLb8ds&list=PL0e2Q7qRsIfyO3wXVIXPUeeriADKBhBXC
There are tons more clips of his Ed Sullivan appearances on the Tube of You. I didn’t watch a motion picture because I was having so much fun with Mr. Gennaro. Oh, and just in case you’ve somehow missed my two favorite numbers from Annie, here they are with the original company. THIS is what musical staging and choreography is all about. Not jumping and flipping and jerky movements that have nothing to do with anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDSXlNAyPvE
I ended up getting seven hours of sleep – didn’t fall asleep until almost six in the morning, then up at one o’clock. I had lots of e-mails but no book news. I wrote a long missive and copied everyone up the food chain. Within fifteen minutes, my usual gal, who’s great, called me. She’s been out all week dealing with family problems and was already on it to find out why this delay – she could see in the notes it had something to do with the cover, but I’m not sure what that would be since we made no changes. The page count couldn’t really have changed the spine of the jacket’s size as it’s only a six or seven-page difference. She’s hopeful it will get sent to the printers today. I did a few things, then got ready for the early dinner at the Smoke House. I went with Lloyd Pedersen, whose appeared in my productions of A Carol Christmas, In My Mind’s Eye, and 70, Girls, 70. He’s been reading Directed by and is enjoying it. Dinner and conversation was fun, then I came right home, went down the rabbit hole after dozing off for thirty minutes, and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll go to the mail place and pick up a small package, then I’ll shave and shower, after which I have two back-to-back telephonic meetings, which will hopefully be over by five-thirty or so. I’ll leave here at six to mosey on over to the screenplay reading. After that, I’ll get a bite to eat at a nearby jernt. Then I’ll come home.
Tomorrow and Sunday can be ME days – I just have to settle on the final two young people for the August Kritzerland show. I just really need to catch up on sleep.
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, go to the mail place, shave and shower, have two important telephonic meetings, and then attend the reading of a screenplay, after which I’ll sup. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player/streaming device? I’ll start – CD, I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you. Streaming, who knows? Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have gone down the rabbit hole with Peter Gennaro.