Well, dear readers, I am sitting here in repose, listening to Malcolm Arnold’s stunningly beautiful Sarabande from Solitaire. What a melody. It really gets to me. Otherwise, not only am I in repose, I’m also sitting here like so much fish. I’ve been writing episode eight for the last two hours and I’m almost finished with it, but I’ll do that tomorrow and tomorrow I’ll do that, not necessarily in that order. I wonder if anyone actually talks in the way I write these here notes? That would be most amusing, wouldn’t it? I did manage to watch a motion picture last night, entitled Memory, starring Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce. Neeson plays a contract killer who’s got worsening Alzheimer’s. It’s actually a remake of a recent Belgian film based on a novel. Mr. Neeson is very good and so is the rest of the cast, but there’s nothing new here. It’s directed by Martin Campbell, who’s done a few films with Neeson and it does move along at a steady clip. Critics weren’t having any of it. Neeson seems to be having the later in life career that Charles Bronson had – just movie after movie – thrillers of little interest. It’s a shame because he’s a good actor. And now, Malcolm Arnold’s delightful score to David Copperfield is playing. Excellent music. In other news, after prematurely not dying, Tony Dow has indeed passed away. He was a wonderful person and working with him was such a pleasure. No ego, totally professional, and just exuding warmth and real. When I was thinking about who to have host my documentary, Weekday Heroes, he was the first name that came to mind and happily he accepted immediately. And in a fun twist of fate, our cameraman was the brother of Jerry Mathers. The last time I saw Tony was when Ray Courts tried in vain to bring back HIS Hollywood Show, which I did at the Marriot Hotel in the Bank of Bur. I took a break at some point and went and said hi. He remembered me instantly and told me he had a great time on the shoot and how easy it all was. He asked if I had a copy and I told him I’d had some DVDs made, so he gave me his address and I sent it to him and he and his wife sent back a lovely note. Here we all are – me, Sheriff John, Engineer Bill, Chucko the Clown, and Tony.
Yesterday turned out to be a pretty nice day in most ways. I got about six-and-a-half hours of sleep, got up, had great news about a person I wanted to do an episode of the new web series – I’ve been putting out a handful of queries to Broadway folks I like, and this one I really wanted, and it was a solid yes. So, that put me in a good mood. And I think we’ve found our cameraman, lighting, and sound people, so that’s great, too. I answered e-mails, had a really nice telephonic chat that may end up making our very own elmore very happy, then I had two tuna sandwiches on low-calorie small burger buns. It really wasn’t enough food and my hunger pangs right now are immense so I just ordered a little something to assuage the hunger pangs.
Then I wrote four pages of episode eight – I thought it would be fun to open the episode a little differently – I thought wrong, so I just moved what I wrote a few pages down and opened it the way all the episodes open, which is kind of a fun device anyway. Then I got the other great casting news – I knew it was probably a yes, but I had to make certain and yes, it’s a yes. That one I’ll reveal only to you dear readers – it is my wonderful Cindy Williams. I wrote the role for her and tailored it for her and she’s excited about it and really likes what I told her. So, that was great.
Then I watched the movie, then went back to the script and wrote another almost five pages, and then I have what I’d already written, so it’s just doing the intro to it. Then there’s the final scene and that will be the eight New York episodes. And now, Malcolm Arnold’s score for The Lion is playing. Any score to a Pamela Franklin movie is okay by me.
Today, I’ll be up at nine-thirty to have a brief conversation with my insurance person, just to get straight something that sounded very off to me, then I’ll go back to bed and be up when I’m up, which will be when I’m up. Once up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll finish episode eight, do other things, then come back to it and futz and finesse. I’ll put gas in the motor car, I’ll eat something reasonable, probably a salad of some sort, hopefully pick up some packages, and then at some point watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’m lunching with Richard Sherman – really can’t wait. Then I’ll probably dive into episode nine, the first of the two LA episodes. Then hopefully David Wechter and I can go through our script and make all the necessary adjustments and cuts.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up at nine-thirty, go back to bed, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, finish episode eight, get gas, eat, futz and finesse and get episode eight where it needs to get to, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Mexican food – haven’t done that in ages. What are your favorite South of the Border dishes – fast food, classic Mexican, Tex-Mex, and everything else? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, wishing a peaceful journey into the light for Tony Dow.