haines his way

04/21/2002:
"THE REVISIT"

Well, dear readers, I had to go into my storage facility yesterday, and whilst there I took home some old reel-to-reel tapes and some old cassettes that were lying in a box with them. I'd borrowed a reel-to-reel recorder and have been transfering some things to CD. None of the reel-to-reels I brought home had anything very interesting on them (although one of them had my original Nudie musical demo tracks that I gave to Rene Hall to orchestrate from), but the cassettes were an entirely different matter. I don't normally ever revisit the past, I basically find it a bore - but sometimes it is either fun, interesting, or amusing to go back and hear or see things you did many many years before. For example, on Ask BK Day, someone brought up Amanda McBroom, so I dug out my cast album of Heartbeats, which I hadn't heard since the day I finished mastering it, and I listened to it. Hearing it again, I felt it was one of the best-sounding albums I ever did - everything just worked and it made me happy to hear it. That's not always the case - sometimes I hear one of the albums and I just sit there and shake my head and think, "Oh, dear".
So I listened to a few of the cassettes (which I also transfered to CD) and my goodness was it an interesting and at times nauseating experience. I was already nauseous because I'd eaten Taco Bell (I like Taco Bell, and sometimes I go on a Taco Bell bender - luckily, I always lose weight when I eat there) and then some gummy candies, and the combination was simply heinous (heinous, do you hear me?). Never mix Taco Bell with gummy candies, that is my advice. Anyway, there I was listening to these various and sundried cassettes. Before I tell you about them, though I'll tell you about the rest of Sweeney Todd: The Concert DVD. I watched the second act last night - again, I thought George Hearn was excellent. Patty, I'm afraid, does not get better in Act Two, just more mannered and the accent just goes all over the place and is very distracting and annoying. Neil Patrick Harris does sing very well indeed, but he seems to have no idea who Tobias is. The last ten minutes of the show is brilliant, as always, just great writing from Mr. Stephen Sondheim. As I watched, every time someone got killed you'd suddenly get these "arty" TV moments, and even in some of the numbers you'd get weird coverage and angles and I began to wonder just who was doing the camera directing. As it turns out, it was Lonny Price, who should not go into a career in TV or film direction. However, it's all enjoyable ultimately, and as I said yesterday, you will be fairly blown away by the sound and the orchestral detail. I must say, major kudos to Rob Fisher. There is a "making of" documentary which runs about twenty-five minutes, and which features interviews with most of the cast and, of course, Mr. Sondheim (his interview, which takes place in the theater, is very hard to understand because there is so much noise going on). Mr. Sondheim seems to have his anecdotes down by heart - they are worded the same in every single interview I've ever read or heard. Curiously not amongst the interviewees is Rob Fisher, who should have been.
What am I, Ken Mandelbaum all of a sudden? I also watched the first twenty minutes of the new DVD of Butterflies Are Free, starring Edward Albert and Goldie Hawn (and Eileen Heckart). It's fun to see something this dated, and Goldie is just delightful. Mr. Albert is merely annoying, and ends all his sentences by curiously making them questions, but in a very Brit way. Mr. Albert, though, is not British, so I don't understand it really. Mr. Albert is a blind person trying to be out on his own. He's also a would-be songwriter and all through the beginning of the film he's "writing" and humming and singing "Butterflies Are Free" which, in reality, was written by none other than Mr. Stephen Schwartz, here credited as Steve Schwartz.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Look how long this section has become. We'd better all click on that Unseemly Button below before you-know-who sees what's going on.
Anyway, back to the cassettes. One of the most interesting ones I found was a cassette made at either the first or second screening of The Creature Wasn't Nice (aka Spaceship aka Naked Space). We made it so I could hear where the laughs were and weren't. I remembered the first screening as fairly disasterous and I know I did tons of changes the next day (from seven in the morning until ten minutes before the next screening) and the second screening was much better with much bigger and more consistent laughs. Yet, listening to this tape, I can't tell which night it was. Whatever night it was, there is a key early scene between Gerrit Graham and Cindy Williams which seems to be missing, and there are scenes and dialogue bits I haven't heard in twenty years. If I had to hazard a guess, it's the first night, although the laughs are pretty big, which is not my memory of that night. It's funny, but about fifteen minutes in I began to squirm and even though the film works in spurts after that, with some very big laughs (the musical number with the Creature literally brought the house down - they were screaming from start to finish - that leads me to believe that it's the second screening, because my memory is it didn't do that at the first screening). You can literally hear the film lose the audience, it's just amazing. Then we'll get them back for a few minutes, then you can clearly hear us lose them again. Of course, those screenings had temp-tracked music (far superior to the score that was written for the film) and no sound-effects at all, so one had to forgive it certain things. I know I did three weeks more editing after those screenings, deleting about ten minutes of material. Somewhere there's a really funny movie in there, and a good editor could probably find it (and I'd probably be more helpful now in that regard than I was then).
Then I found an old demo of songs that were from what was supposed to be my film followup to Nudie Musical, a film musical which I called Sailors!. Sailors! was about three young men from an extremely small town in the mid-west - three guys who'd fallen in love with every sailor musical movie ever made, who'd spent most of their young lives watching those movies. So, they join the Navy of 1976 (when it was written), thinking it's going to be like those movies, that they can sing and dance and have wacky adventures. Of course, the Now (then) Navy turns out to be something wholly different - none of their fellow sailors takes kindly to their singing and dancing on the ship, and their Captain, of course, wants to have them drummed out of the service. They soon get to LA where, like in On The Town, they have shore leave and meet and fall in love with three girls during their twenty-four hour stay. It was all very deconstructive and amusing, if I remember the script correctly. Anyway, I hadn't heard these songs in over twenty years, and frankly I didn't even remember half of them at all - it was like hearing totally new songs. The title song was bouncy and cute, all the girls' numbers were fun, and a couple were just downright awful. I will be stealing back the tune of one of them, called It Might Be Fun, because I really liked it (again, no memory of having written it). Diana Canova and Alan Abelew were on the demo with me. One of the girls' characters worked at Nu-Pike Pier in Long Beach, selling kisses for a living at a kissing booth (couldn't do that today! Nu-Pike is, of course, gone, and can you imagine a kissing booth in today's world?) - here's the lyric:
Oh, I kiss for a living
But I'm living for a kiss
That will show me what a kiss is all about.
A kiss with something special
A kiss to be admired.
But all my lips ever get
Is tired...
Oh, I kiss for a living
But the living's hardly bliss
It's the kind of bliss that I could live without.
Let me find a kiss with passion
A kiss to be adored
But all my lips ever get
Is bored.
Night after night they all line up
For their little thrill
Night after night I put my sign up
And pray I don't get ill
It's a job, just a job
Kissing every creep and slob
But I do my job and do it very well...
And they kiss me with a fervor
With gusto and with verve
But will my lips ever get
What they deserve?
No, not like this!
Oh, I kiss for a living
But I'm living for a kiss!
I think that's sort of fun. I did a revue of my material back then, with Diana, Alan and Annette O'Toole. Annette sang that song and she did it beautifully. Funny what comes back to you, hearing these things. Anyway, I also found a complete performance of my musical, Stages, and two complete performances of the show, Feast. I haven't had a chance to hear them yet - but I feel I should preserve these tapes on CD no matter what.
Have I mentioned that mixing Taco Bell and gummy candies is not a good idea? By the way, I have definitely lost a pound or three - it's very apparent because my pants aren't quite so tight now. I have one more week before the benefit - where I shall have to look buff and toned with abs and buns of steel - barring that, I shall have to at least be able to fit in my suit. I have two rehearsals today, plus I'm going to visit a big paperback show in Mission Hills. I shall return on the 'morrow with lots of new jottings. Today's topic of discussion: What is the very first Original Cast Album you ever purchased? And what is the first soundtrack you ever purchased (I don't mean things your parents had in the house - I mean the first one you actually went to the store and bought). My first Original Cast Album purchases were through the Columbia Record Club and were Mr. President and Subways Are For Sleeping. Isn't that funny? But the first I actually purchased in a store was The Fantasticks, which I bought because I was at Wallich's Music City and I loved the cover - just white with Harvey Schmidt's lettering of the title in purple. I took it into a listening booth, heard it, fell in love immediately, and shelled out the dough right then and there. First soundtrack, Ben-Hur. Second, Li'l Abner. Your turn.

Replies: 20 Unseemly Comments

The first original cast album I bought was probably Sunday in the Park with George, which I bought at Tower records simply because it starred the loverly Bernadette Peters, whom I'd just seen in Annie Get Your Gun. The show introduced me to Sondheim, of course, and the rest is history. (Especially the part about stumbling upon sondheim.com and THEN stumbling upon The Real A...)
The first soundtrack I ever bought was When Harry Met Sally.
I also have a question for all of you wonderful brains out there. In the movie Judy Berlin, Madeline Kahn quotes a poem or lyric, and I'd like to know the title/authors of it if possible. It goes:
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were sixteen again.
Sixteen again I'll never be
Till apples grow on a cherry tree.
:)
Posted by Lolita @ 04/21/2002 10:12 AM PST

I'm not a 100% but I think it might have been a copy of either The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins. The first ones that my parents bought I wore them out. I was five or six. (Now you do the math on how old I am today,)
Posted by Michael Shayne @ 04/21/2002 10:13 AM PST

First Broadway Cast (bought through a club): "Hello, Dolly"
Fist Soundtrack (bought through a club): "Exodus"
First Broadway Cast (bought in a store): "Cabaret"
First Soundtrack (bought in a store): "To Kill A Mockingbird"
If you REALLY want to lose weight eating tacos, eat at Del Tacos! You won't need gummy candies.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 04/21/2002 10:43 AM PST

Lolita,my love. The verse you quote is from a traditional Celtic song called THE BUTCHER BOY. It was featured in a movie of the same name directed by Neil Jordan.It was sung in the movie by,I believe,Sinead O'Connor.
I also believe thathe lyric is
"till cherries grow on an ivy tree."
Posted by Arnold M. Brockman @ 04/21/2002 11:57 AM PST

Now that I can finally read all of the notes, (Thank you, Mr. Mark Bakalor.) I can finally say that the first cast album I bought was the revival cast of Guys and Dolls, though my parents had bought me the complete Phantom slightly earlier. I now have a showtune CD collection that would be the envy of many people if any of them cared about my prodigous showtune collection enough to envy it.
Lolita, my love, do you actually post on Sondheim.com? If so, what is your name there?
Posted by Hapgood @ 04/21/2002 01:39 PM PST

First cast album, A Chorus Line, which was also the first Broadway show I ever attended. I saw it the night after it won the Tony, and nothing since has quite matched that theater experience!
Posted by Lisa @ 04/21/2002 02:08 PM PST

Thank you Arnold M. Brockman, my love, I'll look that up. In the movie Madeline said "apple tree," but she was kind of cooky so they might have done it with the wrong word on purpose.
Hapgood, my love, I do not post on Sondheim.com anymore, but I did a long time ago and I doubt that anyone would remember my contributions under the name of Seagull.
Posted by Lolita @ 04/21/2002 02:42 PM PST

The first soundtrack I bought was "Unsinkable Molly Brown." I had seen the movie and was in love with the music. I may have actually gotten it as a birthday present, but I remember begging for the record. I bought so many soundtracks after that. I used to find a great many of them in the bargain bins at Thrify Drug Store, Newberry's basement and Woolworth's. Had we not had them, I would have HAD to buy "The Music Man" and "Gypsy."
First cast album is hard to say. We had a lot of them in the house, and they were my favorites. When other kids were playing Elvis, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark Five, etc. I was bringing friends to the house to play them "Anything You Can Do" or "Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Here." Somehow, the kids in the neighborhood did not find the songs as entertaining as I had. Go figure. By the time I moved on to newer shows that my parents did not have, it would have been something like "Applause." Later I was lucky enough to know other people who liked musicals, and we would buy many of the new ones and have a listening party. I miss those days.
As to Lolita's question of the quote from "The Butcher Boy," thank God I am not 16 anymore. The thought alone sends shivers down spine. Although... if I knew then what I know now (and had my 16 year old self to work with)......
Posted by Kerry @ 04/21/2002 05:50 PM PST

Hmmmm...not exactly sure which was the first to enter my collection via my own wallet. But "Sunday in the Park with George," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and "Man of La Mancha" were certainly among the first I bought.
Posted by Jed @ 04/21/2002 07:45 PM PST

Lolita wrote:
"[Thank you] Arnold M. Brockman, my love,..."
If I can get both of you to sign over the rights, I think we have a title for a musical here.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 04/21/2002 08:13 PM PST

Oh, and I have a question for Bruce, even though it is not Wednesday and therefore not Ask Bruce Day, and I know that I shall be thoroughly bitch slapped by Mr. Mark Bakalor and the Topic Police.
Did you ever get a replacement for Nancy Sinatra? If not, I am still available, and my lecture on how to calculate interest and annuities is as dry as ever.
But to return to the main topic of discussion:
My Joe and I both wear Haynes briefs, which, according to the label, are 100% cotton.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 04/21/2002 08:56 PM PST

How exactly did we get on the subject of cotton underpants? And if they're cotton, are they briefs, boxers, or boxer briefs?
Posted by Kerry @ 04/21/2002 09:01 PM PST

Yes, Virginia (and William F. Orr) we finally did get a replacement for Miss Nancy Sinatra, a wonderful young singer named Christa Jackson, who's done quite a few shows - she was one of the many Sandys in the last revival of Grease on Broadway. She was my stage manager's idea, and she's just totally terrific and her voice really suits the songs well.
Posted by bk @ 04/21/2002 10:02 PM PST

What a strange movie was "The Butcher Boy". Good to know it had an American audience.
My first OBC album was "My Fair Lady". The first soundtrack I bought was "Athena". I think I was in love with Debbie Reynolds at that stage - before I turned my interests to Vic Damone!
"Athena" was only released as a 10" record. My first 12" soundtrack was "Carousel".
I saw a "NEW" production of "Man Of La Mancha" yesterday. The brilliant Anthony Warlow starred. The production was good - lighting and set were wonderful as was Mr Warlow. I felt that the casting of Caroline O'Connor (Mack & Mabel OLC) was very strange indeed and for me did not work at all. Imagine Mabel Norman or Mrs Lovett playing Dulcinea and you'll have the idea! What were they thinking of!
Posted by Tom from OZ @ 04/21/2002 11:00 PM PST

I have just watched a strange and entertaining sci-fi film called "The Faculty" which has a very interesting cast. I have seen it in bits and pieces over the past couple of years, but never start-to-finish until tonight.
What piqued my interest is that when I realized Josh Hartnett was in it (before anyone tried to make me believe he was a PRESENCE), along with Elijah (Frodo) Wood and, Robert (Agent Doggett) Patrick as a football coach, I decided I'd see what Maltin had to say about it. Aside from likening it to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (and hey! If you're going to model your story on something, it ought to be on something totally fantastic), Maltin was rather generous in his appraisal. And, oh yeah...he mentioned that the screenplay was based on a story by David Wechter and Bruce Kimmel.
And now for something completely different -- what, pray, is an "ivy tree"? I don't doubt its existence, but I would like to know more if anyone knows any more.
Ditto...different...but more to "on topic":
I, too, miss the days when one could find tons of theater and soundtrack titles in cutout bins in major chain stores.
At some point in the early 70s, I picked up a 2-LP mono of "She Loves Me" and carted it with me to Italy and Greece and back to Italy, along with all my other LPs, and then back to the U.S. in the late 70s. I don't think I ever listened to it (and sadly, I have quite a few in storage that still haven't been listened to). But at some point, circa 1978 or 79 -- after having been drawn to seeing Barbara Cook in a Georgetown bistro singing her lungs out and being totally overwhelming -- I remembered I had this album. I listened to both LPs straight through. Then again. And again. And I've been hooked on this fabulous score ever since. Not to mention hooked on Cook. Anyone else ever feel "homesick" (i.e., wanting your mama or just to be a kid again) when hearing her sing "The Second Star to the Right"? Sigh.
I have a great deal of difficulty understanding, actually, how "She Loves Me" could have been a Broadway flop. One would thing that "Hello, Dolly" would have been so "sold out" that "She Loves Me" would have survived on spillover. I've not seen the show....but the album is one of the theater's great glories! The CD incarnation of the OBC with Cook and Massey and Cassidy serves it beautifully.
Hell! It's Barbara Cook who elevates it!
I'm sorry to say I've feel sickie-poo all day. Have any of you felt sickie-poo lately? It's allergy season, and something is always going to be irregular -- breathing, sneezing, eyes itching, slight headache or sinus pressure from behind the eyes. But this all feels rather like symptoms are ganging up on me (and resisting medication) or I'm developing a spring cold! Yuck!
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 04/21/2002 11:27 PM PST

I wanted to comment on "Butterflies Are Free" before it slipped my mind.
Many of you may know that the play, and screenplay, were written be Leonard Gershe, who passed away a month or so ago. If the name isn't familiar to you, suffice it to say that Mr. Gershe was a man of many talents. He received screen credit for the "Born in a Trunk" number in "A Star is Born" and credits on "Funny Face," as well. What isn't well known is that Mr. Gershe was the significant other of Mr. Roger Edens who was the heart, soul, talent and class of MGM's "Freed Unit" -- the must successful musical-making film unit in Hollywood history. Author Hugh Fordin wrote a brilliant book about/called "The Freed Unit" -- and on the surface, it seems he gives all the credit to Arthur Freed. In fact, Freed was smart enough to know talent and he had no greater talent at his disposal than Edens. Freed handled the front office and Edens handled the movie projects and talent. I was told once by a friend that he had been told (yes, this is third-hand, at best, gossip) that Fordin's original goal had been to do a book on Edens, but that Gershe, executor of Edens' estate, would not cooperate. Apparently, Gershe was very protective of Edens name/reputation.
As Dr. Pangloss said, All is for the best....
Anyone reading that tome will never mistake whose contributions are always at the core of every musical the Freed Unit produce.
TTFN.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 04/22/2002 07:57 AM PST

Aw, shucks, I forgot to tie up a loose end.
I mentioned that Gershe received credit for "Born in a Trunk." In truth, I don't know what contributions Gershe made to that film. But Edens most assuredly wrote "Born in a Trunk" and did many more specialty touches for Garland. There's not a thing in Garland's repertoire that Edens didn't put finishing touches on in her lifetime. When she was braving the possibility of doing concerts, it was Edens who helped her, even though he was under contract at MGM. It was because of this that he could receive no screen credit for "A Star is Born."
Fortunately, MGM loaned Edens to Paramount for "Funny Face." And not surprisingly, Gershe wrote the screenplay. Edens wrote the non-Gershwin numbers in that musical --"Think Pink", "Bonjour, Paris," etc.
If his story ever gets told properly, his contributions to film will be seen as having a brilliance unmatched by only a few -- Chaplin, Thalberg...?
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 04/22/2002 08:04 AM PST

Too much information! And it is Hanes!
Posted by NotAHanesGuy @ 04/22/2002 08:16 AM PST

Ron-
I guess Cole Porter among others was right "Use Your Imagination"
An IVY TREE goes way back(even referred to in Shakespeare)It is essentialy a tree with Ivy growing on it.
Posted by Arnold M. Brockman @ 04/22/2002 08:18 AM PST

HANES-HAINES??
What's the dif?
As long as the shoe fits...ooops UNDERPANTS!!
Posted by Arnold M. Brockman @ 04/22/2002 08:22 AM PST

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