Well, dear readers, what a long and fun day it was yesterday in the Land of Port. I did some sightseeing, visited Powell’s Bookstore and some CD store, and then we convened at JMK’s home environment to go over the Bacharach revue. I listened to the whole thing through, made some notes, and then we began to hack away at things that I thought could work better – that included moving around songs, doing a couple of cuts, and making endings stronger. Both Bruce and Adair are good singers, and JMK has done a good job with the arrangements, so that was all fine going in. For me, it’s just about focusing what works, and helping what doesn’t. We’ll have a really full and fun day tomorrow, where I’ll be staging things, figuring out the patter, and working with the singers on the performance of each song. I really enjoy doing this, I must say, especially with talented people. We then moved on to the reading/signing, which was also really fun. For me, it was the best reading I’ve done – I read mostly from Benjamin Kritzer – quite a few passages. I also read three short passages from Kritzer Time. I ended up not reading anything from Writer’s Block, because it had gotten late and we wanted to do questions. There were about sixteen or seventeen people there, including some nice folks who came because of the story in the local paper. One husband and wife had lived in LA and knew the areas where the Kritzer books take place. I answered some questions, and then people bought some books (more than I was expecting to sell, frankly), and that was that. A group of us then toddled off to some restaurant called Henry’s, where we partook of a plethora of foodstuffs. I, myself, had some Spinach Cheese Artichoke Dip (the table shared it), a big half-head of lettuce with blue cheese (quite yummilicous), and a weird macaroni and cheese dish with sausage, that was very good but very spicy. After the meal, I thought I was going to explode. In addition to George and MBarnum, we were joined by the delightful TCB, and the delightful and new couple, Ann and Jed, who are, I’m told, living in sin. It was great to see everyone and we all had quite a good time, told many tales, and laughed and laughed until we thought we could laugh no more, at which point we lauged again. I then came back to The Arlington Club, grabbed the laptop, and went down to the Business Center to catch up with many things online.
And now, I must write like the wind, and I think we all know how the wind writes, don’t we? I have an early day today – a long rehearsal, followed by dinner at some place called Jake’s Crawfish House or something.
Has anyone noticed I am writing like the wind? I do hope the wind doesn’t mind my aping its style. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly I must write like the wind in the next section.
Yes, here I am, writing like the fershluganah wind. But, before I continue to write like the wind, don’t we have a sparkling prize to give out. Yes, we do, because we had several correct answers to our very difficult Unseemly Trivia Contest. First came the endless question:
In this rather extraordinary Broadway season, there were no less than seven hit plays, all of which were turned into movies. Even a couple of plays that had middling runs were turned into movies. The season also produced two huge hit musicals, several less-than-successful musicals, and one fairly notorious flop musical. Now, one of the biggest of the hit plays had a leading man and woman who had something very unique in common; in fact, it may be the only time such an in common thing has occurred. The play was directed by a well-known stage and film director. He, however, did not direct the film version of the play – another well-known film director did. In the cast were two actors who would go on to appear in two iconographic and hit television series in the 60s – one a sitcom, one more of a variety show. Now, for the final fillip, one more question, so pay attention: One of the other hit plays of the season also became a hit film. However, the lady who created the leading role on stage (a well-known film star) did not repeat her role in the film version. Ironically, another young actress, a relative newcomer, who was starring on Broadway in another play at the same time, would go on to star in the film version of this second hit play. She would also go on to be a beloved movie star. Are we clear? Do we have a headache? So –
Name the first hit play.
Name the leading lady and man who had something very unique in common, and tell us what the unique thing was.
Name the director of the play, and name the director of the film version of the play.
Name the two supporting actors who would be featured in two classic 60s TV shows.
And, finally, name the second hit play, name the actress who created the leading role on stage, and name the other actress who was also doing a play at the same time, who would go on to do the role in the film version of the second hit play.
And the answers are:
Tea and Sympathy
Deborah Kerr and John Kerr – not related, but same last name (albeit pronounced differently). I can’t think of another instance where this has been the case.
Elia Kazan and Vincente Minnelli
Dick York (Bewitched), and Alan Sues (Laugh-In)
The second hit play was Sabrina Fair, starring Margaret Sullavan. The other actress doing a play at the same time who would go on to star in the film version of Sabrina was Audrey Hepburn, who was starring in Ondine.
Congratulations to all our winners, who were: Dan-the-Man, Michael Shayne, Ron Pulliam, FJL, Robert Armin, and MatHough. Jbelles got most of the question correct, but mis-identified the second hit play and star. Now, as we all know everyone is a winner who had a correct answer. After putting all the names into our Electronic Hat, the Hat has chosen at random this week’s High Winner and the winner of a sparkling prize: Ron Pulliam. If Ron will send his address, we’ll get him out a sparkling prize. We’ll have a new brain twister on Saturday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have an all-day rehearsal, I must eat supper, and I must get in some quality writing time after I return home. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Audrey Hepburn and Deborah Kerr films – two of my favorite actresses. I’ll start – Miss Kerr, Black Narcissus, The King and I, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, and The Innocents. Miss Hepburn, Wait Until Dark, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charade, Two for the Road, and Robin and Marian. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and when you post, write like the wind, for why should I be the only one who’s ripping off the wind?