Well, dear readers, I have a very busy day ahead of me, therefore I will write these here notes in a hurry, but do not worry, before I scurry you’ll get all the news that’s fit to print as well as all the print that’s news to fit. One simply cannot have enough fitted news (swen, spelled backwards). Speaking of swen, yesterday was a day that lasted until evening. I got up early, did some Nudie work, practiced songs for both readings, answered e-mails, made telephonic calls, and all that sort of thing. I then had a lovely visitation with our very own Mr. Nick Redman. We had a nice chat about this and that and then we also chatted about that and this. After that, I had some dinner, which consisted of a less-than-wonderful chicken Caesar salad from the Wolgang Puck’s at Gelson’s. It’s never been less than excellent, but the fellow doing the preparing clearly didn’t want to be there, and instead of putting some new lettuce with the lettuce already in the bowl (the normal procedure), he just scraped the bottom of the bowl and that was that – so, I got less than usual, and the lettuce was a little too wilted for my taste. I was going to throw a little fit, but I just wasn’t in the mood, frankly. I then did more stuff on the computer, and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a documentary I TIVOd, Scorsese’s Val Lewton tribute, another of those TCM originals that aren’t very original. I must say, I found it rather tepid, with much the same information contained in the Lewton documentary in the Lewton box set. It had no real personality, just an endless succession of clips and talking heads, which just becomes a borefest after a while. I then watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Gunfighter. I’ve only seen it once previous to this time, when I owned a 16mm print of it. I remember thinking it was okay but not quite the classic everyone told me it was. Viewing it almost thirty years later, it certainly can be considered a classic, mostly for it’s terrific script and the fine performance of Gregory Peck, and the equally fine performances of a large cast of great character people. The script really surprised me – it’s filled with great dialogue, and the characters have some real meat on them, and the structure of it really works beautifully. It was written by William Bowers (a terrific writer) and William Sellers, from an idea of Bowers and director Andre de Toth. It makes one wonder if this was originally meant to be a de Toth picture instead of Henry King. I’m not a huge fan of Mr. King, but his work here is really splendidly splendid, and the camerawork of Arthur Miller is wonderful. I wish I could say the transfer was as masterful as the film, but it isn’t. It’s perfectly okay, but it’s too dark at times, and it just looks like it’s from an element many steps away from the camera negative. But, if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth checking it out, if only for Peck, Karl Malden, Millard Mitchell, the very young Skip Homier and Richard Jaeckel, the always excellent Ellen Corby and Verna Felton, and a lovely performance from Jean Parker.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I believe we’ve had all the news that’s fit to print in this particular section.
This morning I’ll be going to Mr. Geissman’s to finish the final little fixes and that will be that for the book proper. Then all that’s left are the blurbs for the back cover, and the flap copy, my dedication (always the most difficult thing for me) and the acknowledgments. As soon as we’re finished, I have to come right back home where I’ll be having a three-hour music rehearsal. First, a new guy will be learning the group numbers for the musical I’m mentoring, which has its informal reading the night after the Nudie reading. Then after that, others arrive to learn the group numbers for Nudie, which will actually go fairly quickly, since there really aren’t a lot of them. After that, I’ll have to do a few errands and whatnot and then I’ll finally be able to eat something and perhaps watch a motion picture on DVD.
The rest of the week, as I’ve mentioned previously, will be taken up with printing scripts, getting everything organized for the readings, rehearsing for the charity event with the band, doing the charity event, and attending two of the final four performances of The Brain From Planet X.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, enter final fixes on the book, have a three-hour rehearsal, do errands and whatnot and then sit on my couch like so much fish. Today’s topic of discussion: I think today should be something we haven’t done in ages – a recipe day. Post one of your all-time favorite recipes, some dish that you love preparing and that you do in a very special way. It can be a main course, an appetizer, a side dish, or a dessert. I, for one, always enjoy reading these, and I’ve been known to try out a few of them. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, now that we’ve had all the news that’s fit to print.