Well, dear readers, it is late and therefore I must write these here notes in a hurry so I can get them posted and get to bed. But may I first just say, call me madam (madam, spelled backwards). I happened to see a 35mm IB Tech print of Call Me Madam last evening, even though the fellow’s projector bulb renders all IB prints yellow so that they don’t even resemble what they should look like. You could hold the film up to the light and you’d see wonderful color. I’ve never much cared for Call Me Madam but seeing it on a nice-sized screen was fun. Ethel Merman recreates her stage success but, as anyone who’s seen any of her films knows, the camera was not especially fond of her. It happens, but was especially prevalent in her early film work. She looked much older than her years. On the other hand, there was nobody like her, so it’s great to see her doing what she did. But she’s so theatrical that she never really connects to the other actors in a way that would render anything believable. She’s funny, she’s loud, and she kind of looks past everyone as if playing to an audience of some sort. I do like some of the songs very much, especially The Hostess With The Mostess On The Ball, The Washington Rag, and You’re Just In Love, along with It’s A Lovely Day Today. The Ocarina I could live without and the ballads aren’t quite up to Berlin’s best. But there’s always something about a Berlin song that I love. Donald O’Connor is always fun to watch at that stage of his career, and George Sanders does his best with a not so wonderful one-note role. Vera-Ellen – holy moley on rye, this woman is a stick. It’s almost frightening when she does a turn and her skirt flies up to see her toothpick legs. And sure enough, a simple Google search tells the tale, that she battled anorexia all throughout the 1950s, before that disease even had a name and before doctors knew how to at least approach treating it.
Prior to Call Me Madam we were treated to the early 1950s live TV version of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, starring Miss Merman (recreating her role of Reno Sweeney), Frank Sinatra, and Bert Lahr, along with Sheree North. What a wacky adaptation – adding a roster of Porter hits for Mr. Sinatra and Miss Merman to sing, cutting it all down to fifty minutes, and just slapping the name Anything Goes on it. Obviously the live broadcast was extremely primitive and Sinatra gets some lyrics wrong and there are a couple of amusing flubs. A curio, but fun.
Prior to that, I’d gotten not enough sleep when the doorbell rang at nine. It was she of the Evil Eye – I’d gotten confused, I guess, as I thought next week was her week. So, I got up, did the four-mile jog, then went and had some matzo brei at Jerry’s Deli. I then went to pick up the important envelope but they hadn’t sorted through the mail yet, which was more than a little irritating. So, I guess I’ll pick it up today, presuming it actually arrived. I then came home and had a work session with Vicki Lewis and Joan Ryan, which was fun. That lasted only an hour, and then I had to do some work on the computer, answer e-mails, and have some telephonic calls. Then it was time to meet up with some film score enthusiasts at a Japanese jernt called Koji’s.
Some of them I’d met before, and some were new to me. We had some irreverent fun, but I really did not like the restaurant at tell. They had sushi, of course, but I don’t eat that stuff. The other main thing they do is shabu shabu, which is where they give you thin slices of whatever meat you want (I had chicken) and some vegetable, and you insert same into boiling water for a few seconds and then eat them in a couple of sauces with some white rice. The one nice thing about it is that it was obviously very calorie-friendly as the chicken was probably not even a full breast and it was boiled. I just didn’t like much of anything about it and frankly if I’m paying for a meal I want someone else to do the cooking. Blechhh.
After that, I went directly to my friend’s screening room. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am quite tired so just call me madam and let me get my beauty sleep.
Today, I shall hopefully sleep in, then do the four-mile jog, then hopefully pick up an important envelope, then write, then relax, then eat.
Tomorrow we announce our new title at six in the morning, and then I have to do a call sheet for our Friday shoot and get that out, and hopefully I’ll be printing out a LOT of orders. Then the rest of the week is insanely busy with rehearsals, work sessions, rehearsals, meals, meetings, and then shooting episode one of the web series, along with Melody’s portion of what we shot in New York.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in, do the long jog, hopefully pick up an important envelope, write, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall call me madam or, at the very least, bwana.