Well, dear readers, I think it is high time we discussed pudding, don’t you? Oh, I’m sure it’s been a hot topic of discussion before but have we ever really TALKED about pudding, philosophically. Have we talked about the glory days of pudding, the downfall of pudding, the pudding loss of popularity amongst the populace. I know, for example, I was lamenting the lack of pudding in coffee shops and restaurants. Why, when I was a kid, pudding was everywhere. If we went to a coffee shop, I could get chocolate pudding with whipped cream for dessert. I just could. Well, try doing that today, I dare you. Go into Mel’s Drive-In and say, “I want pudding,” and they will look at you as if you had one nostril. Even chocolate mousse seems to have gone the way of the damn dodo bird. So many high-end restaurants used to have chocolate mousse. Actually, I just looked it up and there are still a handful of jernts that have it, including two near me. Hugo’s is the obvious place, as I’ve had it there many times. I may have to go over there today and have it. Try and stop me. Another jernt that I could, in fact, walk to, also has it. Many jernts used to have rice pudding for dessert. Now, IF you can find it, it’s always some subversion of rice pudding, some mutant version of rice pudding, rice pudding for snobs and aesthetes. That’s not MY rice pudding, baby. Hamburger Hamlet had great rice pudding, but so did many coffee shops of my youth. Damn them, damn them all the HELL. I think we need a pudding revolution, don’t you? I think we need to tell these jernts that if they don’t get some damn pudding there will be hell toupee. Are we just supposed to sit here and TAKE this? Are we supposed to just be all docile as they take everything that was good and right and flush it down the proverbial things of the past toilet? Are we? Yes, you can buy tap tap tapioca pudding and chocolate pudding and rice budding at the market, but let’s face it, the trouble with the world today is plain to see, it’s pudding in a plastic cup. What am I, Kander and Ebb all of a sudden? Yes, you can still buy pudding in a box that you make yourself in your home environment. Jell-O still has pudding in a box that you cook and serve. Perhaps I’ll do that one fine day. That’s the kind we had for dessert at our home environment, and it was a wonderful treat. I don’t think my mother ever bought any other brand, like Royal Pudding. They even have Keto Pudding now. But it’s not the same as getting the damn pudding in a restaurant. That’s what I’M talkin’ about. Pudding in a restaurant. Do it. Do it now, restaurants. We, the people of a certain age, demand the damn pudding and if you don’t give it to us then we shall stomp our collective feet, we will picket and boycott and even girlcott. We are not fooling around, pudding-wise. The pudding revolution is coming, be prepared. What the HELL am I talking about?
My goodness, that was a page and a quarter about pudding. Perhaps a little excessive in the scheme of things, but some subjects are worth it and pudding is one of them Anyway, I did finish watching Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York. Jeannie Berlin gives a wonderful performance, and one has to wonder why she did not have a major film career after The Heartbreak Kid and Sheila Levine, although the latter was a huge flop with Paramount having no clew how to sell it. The only ad quote was from a singles group – you know the studio has thrown up its hands (no mean feat) if that’s the best they can do. Many of the contemporaneous reviews complained that from page to screen the story had lost its edge and humor because it emphasized the romantic aspect of the story. That’s pretty accurate, but in the end, thanks to Ms. Berlin’s performance and Roy Scheider’s equally terrific turn (pre-Jaws coming out – it came out just a few months later). His character is kind of a jerk but in the end is redeemed by a beautiful monologue. Sidney J. Furie, who made some fine films, would not be the first name that popped into my head to direct a movie like this – he does fine, but I think if, for example, Ms. Berlin’s mom had directed it, it might have kept more of the flavor of the book. Who knows? We cannot second guess these things. Michel Legrand’s syrupy, string-laden score is very pretty.
Prior to all that, I got a bit over eight hours of non-consecutive sleep due to ABS (Active Brain Syndrome). Once up, though, I answered e-mails and then shaved and showered. I moseyed on over to the mail place where there was no mail, then moseyed on over to the Smoke House for a belated birthday dinner with Marshall Harvey. We got a nice booth and I had a cup of clam chowder and fish and chips, both excellent and extremely filling. Marshall had the seafood brochette and he enjoyed that very much. They brought him a piece of cheesecake as a belated birthday treat and our waiter, Marco, sang a solo version of Happy Birthday. And, of course, we had the wonderful garlic cheese bread, a very good batch.
After that, I came home and finished the movie and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven at the latest, and then I have to drive over the hill to pick something up near Paramount Studios. Once that’s done, I’ll decide whether I’ll eat whilst over there or come back to the Valley to eat. Once home, I’ll do whatever needs doing and work at the piano as I’m in the home stretch of finishing this tiny project I’ve been working on. Then I can watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same plus doing early prep work for the December Kritzerland, meetings and meals, and finishing the tiny project.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven at the latest, drive over the hill, perhaps eat on that side of the hill, come back home, work at the piano, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: We want all histories of your pudding experiences, as we get ready to publish a call to action pamphlet for the pudding revolution.