Posted by Mark Bakalor @ 06/27/2002 04:25 AM PST

Since this was posted so late, and Bruce's wonderful answers were posted so early, I thought I would throw this question out again:

Question: How do we feel about a "Hainsie/Kimlet" Glossary of Terms or Dictionary if you will. I'd be happy to make a compendium of expressions and words we use here on the site for the newcommers and people wishing to add such vernacular to their personal and private lives. What says you to such a "project"?

Posted by Craig @ 06/27/2002 05:04 AM PST

BK, thank you for the answers.

Look at how quick Mister Mark Bakalor is to post-not-lurk when his birthday fast approaches. Of course, when I think birthday boy, I think bitch-slapping to celebrate.

Laura’s questions for BK that I said yesterday I would answer today, even though nobody asked:

Where were you and what were you doing when:

1. Kennedy was assassinated? Not yet born or conceived. The closest thing to me at the time was my mother, who was in college and heard the news in the auditorium and then went home.

2. Elvis died? I was in the You-Name-It customized clothing (T-shirts, aprons, et cetera) shop in Winnetka, Illinois, when the news was read on the store radio.

3. The Challenger exploded? I was in the drama department at N.Y.U. and shocked and devastated.

4. The World Trade Center was attacked? I was supposed to be at work, but inexplicably I had all but not slept the nights of the ninth and tenth, a highly unusual occurrence for me. It is not unusual for me to stay up late, but it is very unusual for me to not sleep once I go to bed. I was so awake Sunday night that I actually got back up and out of bed and watched the Mike Nichols-Emma Thompson H.B.O. adaptation of Margaret Edson’s W;t. I got about an hour of sleep that night, and then Monday, too. Tuesday morning I went to bed about five-thirty and was up for good before seven. I decided that maybe I would go to work early, but I decided to vote in the New York City mayoral primary before-hand. On the way back, I checked my messages: many, strange, alarming ones, warning me that something was deeply amiss across the street from my office—so many messages I decided to stop back home to hear them all. I got home, played the messages, and briefly thought, Geez, one fire and everyone from a former-coworker-turned-friend to my father overreacts. That is, I thought so until I turned on the news and saw the live images, and the tears flowed silently and involuntarily. I decided that I should stay home and wait for the disaster to be cleared before attempting to go to work. Then the second plane it—obviously, terrorist acts. I watched the television dumb-struck, dialing madly, trying to get a line out, trying to warn my friends and colleagues to leave work and to direct them away from Liberty Street. I never reached them. Thankfully—thankfully—all escaped unharmed. My office across the street from WTC2 was literally wiped off the face of the building. I wept intermittently much of the day, unable to reach my friends and colleagues for many hours, unsure whether or not to flee the city, nor if so how to get from Long Island to the main land without going through Manhattan. Unable to go to work, unable to get a telephone line, unable to watch anything but WCBS-TV, for some bizarre reason I decided to do laundry while I could—comfort in the mundane, I suppose—something to occupy me until I could reach family, friends and colleagues. I was profoundly lucky that I was not in my office, but voting, and that my friends and nearly all my colleagues made it out alive. Tragically, one of our security guards and one of our traders was murdered, as were many, many former coworkers and colleagues who worked in WTC1 and WTC2. I know this has been a rather self-absorbed, self-involved post, but I was not going to let mention of the World Trade Center pass without responding. Literaly and figuratively, next to the World Trade Center, my office was hardest hit. Sometimes I still dream of getting off the train at my usual stop, the World Trade Center, and sometimes when running an errand I catch myself thinking, Oh, could get one on the Concourse on the way to work… I just still cannot figure out how I came so close to it all, yet missed it entirely. Damn lucky.

Posted by freedunit @ 06/27/2002 05:07 AM PST

I got to listen to Guy Sings Benjamin this morning on the subway ride to work. Very cheerful stuff. I'm going to try to get to the book this weekend -- but then I had an advance copy for several months and...

Once again I wonder if I don't have a doppelganger living in California. Three of my favorite cast albums are Sugar, Family Affair (finally found a great stereo copy) and Passion Flower Hotel. The latter show is a lost treasure that was available on CD for a little while. Worth tracking down. I've had the original stereo lp and the Pocket Books paperback of the original novel since the 60s.

I've been transferring lps to CD the last few weeks and have discovered some albums I NEVER even listened to. The Original Cast Albums of HARK!, Touch, Angel and others. Of course, one benefit of never having listened to them is that they are all in great shape for the transfer. The situation reminds me of the old joke: "My, what a library, have you read all of these books?" "No, who wants to go into a library where you've already read everything?"

I'm looking forward to more discoveries.

Posted by Robert Armin @ 06/27/2002 07:32 AM PST

For Mr. Bakalor's birthday, I propose we hold a bitch-slapping party. We could serve raw buns! Yum Yum!

One question: where do we put the candle?

I wax with anticipation!

Posted by S. Woody White @ 06/27/2002 08:17 AM PST

That is a wonderful cast for Follies! Now, let's hear some others - with current performers, as if it were going to be made this month. I'm quite certain that Mr. Meron and Mr. Zadan have at least contemplated it. That is thrilling news that we were 136 at amazon this morning. Now, all we need to do is crack 100 and I will be dancing the Hora in the streets!

Posted by bk @ 06/27/2002 08:46 AM PST

Well it took some time, but I finally was able to locate a picture of Bruce with his abs and buns of steel. You know, you can really find ANYTHING on the WWW (world wide web)if you look long and hard enough. Anyway, this picture was located on the 3rd to last website on the internet.

Posted by Craig @ 06/27/2002 10:29 AM PST

Yikes! The Amazon number dropped to 198 from 141. Maybe that's because they raised the price to $22. At any rate, they have now printed my review of the movie so sales should pick up again.

Posted by Robert Armin @ 06/27/2002 11:03 AM PST

More than two hours and no one posting! Did the world end and someone forgot to tell me?

Posted by Robert Armin @ 06/27/2002 01:40 PM PST

Robert Armin, apologies. I forgot to tell you…

Posted by freedunit @ 06/27/2002 01:50 PM PST

Freedunit-

We must remember to add Robert to our e-list for these memos. It would be unseemly to not be made aware when the world would no longer exist

Posted by Craig @ 06/27/2002 01:57 PM PST

Thanks for the belated notice. In response to your earlier post about major events --

When Kennedy was shot I was in my first year in Junior High, about to buy lunch when the PA announcment was made. I remember that the after-school dance was cancelled which sort of annoyed me. But I watched everything on TV -- through Oswald's murder and the funeral procession -- for the next several days. Still have a lot of Kennedy memorabilia (including photos of Kennedy and Jackie and the kids that the White House had mailed me before the assasination).

When Presley died I was a DJ on a country music station in Twin Falls, Idaho. The station was so pre-programmed (on reel-to-reel tapes) that we were not allowed to break rotation to play special Elvis numbers. The other stations in town (country and rock) had all altered their playlists, but not us.

I have no specific memory of what I was doing when the Challenger blew up. I'm sure I saw it on TV shortly thereafter in a replay.

As for the WTC, I caught what was probably the last E train to leave the WTC at Times Square around 9:15. Got to my office and heard coming out of the elevator that a plane had struck the WTC. Since we had 600 employees in our WTC offices, we gathered in one of the conference rooms to watch the news. I was watching live when the towers collapsed. We didn't know till a little later that all but one of our employees had gotten out, and one week later they all moved into our midtown office. I had worked at the WTC until just two months earlier.

Posted by Robert Armin @ 06/27/2002 02:08 PM PST

I was just about to commiserate with BK about his AOL problems and tell him that earthlink is much more reliable, and now the %*@! earthlink server has been booting me all morning. So I am typing up this post in WordPad in hopes that I can eventually make a connection.

I am so happy for BK and hainshisway.com for the high (posts) and low (rank at amazon.com) numbers. I wonder if the folks over at orsonwelleshisway.com realize that people are buying Citizen Kane who have no interest in it so they can get FNM and say "Uh,... no I didn't actually buy that. It came with Citizen Kane". Guilty pleasures are the best.

Robert Armin: Are you talking about the film Woman of the Year or the OCR of the musical? The OCR I have and could burn you a copy if the FBI doesn't descend on me en masse. btw (by the way in Internet lingo), did you know that my father was an FBI agent? True. And I shook hands with J. Edgar Hoover at the age of nine (me nine, him fifty-four). But we were never intimate.

I am going to pass on Follies casts for the moment and hop onto the "Where were you" thread.

1. I had gone to one early-morning class at Caltech and decided to cut the math lecture and go back to my dorm for a nap. My friend Stuart Galley had of late decided that there should always be a reason to party, so every day he posted on his door "It's ----- Day. Let's Party". The 23rd was supposed to be "Black and White Day". But the sign was missing from the door. I knocked and asked him where it was. "It's not a holiday today," he replied. The math professor had announced the news about Kennedy and dismissed class. Everyone spent the next few days huddled around the television. I was down the hall when a whoop went up at the shooting of Oswald.

2. I was never very big on Elvis. He was too much of a one-trick pony. John Lennon, on the other hand, was a creator as well as a performer, and his work was constantly evolving. Curiously, I have no idea where I was when either died.

3. I was driving to the grocery store when I heard about the Challenger on the radio. I pulled over to the side of the road and cried for about ten minutes, then headed back home.

4. I was at work when my Joe called saying his sister had awakened him with the WTC news. Then a student came in and asked, extremely apologetically, if she could be excused from class, as her mother worked in WTC. (I learned days later that her mother was all right.) I canceled my classes before the University decided to close and headed home to be with my loved one.

I didn't know anyone who perished in 9/11. Joe's sister Barbara worked across the street, and we were on pins and needles until she finally got through to us a couple of days later. My good friend Debby's brother had an appointment at WTC for 9:00 that morning--but he overslept and missed his appointment!

We didn't put up a flag like all our neighbors. If we had, we would probably do it the proper way. Not dangling in the mud or ripped and flapping from a car antenna. We even saw at Fortunoff's a flag doormat for sale. Encredible!

Enough ranting. Now to try to sign onto earthlink.net and post this before it hiccups.

Posted by William F. Orr @ 06/27/2002 02:33 PM PST

I am pretty sure that Mister Armin means the original Broadway cast recording of Woman of the Year, the original CD issue of which BK supervised for Bay Cities. It was later reissued by Arista Records and then, if I recall correctly (IIRC), Razor & Tie Records. I have the Bay Cities and Arista CD’s. I am surprised that it has become a difficult-to-find title once again, but neither Footlight nor Amazon has it. I would think there should still be some stock of the last issue around for retail sale.

I am nearly an absolutist when it comes to the First Amendment and therefore support one’s right to do with the flag as one pleases. However, flags are not doormats, clothing, or towels. They are for ceremony, not decoration. They ought not to be carelessly left to knot in the wind or displayed upside down or backwards. Using the flag in ways other than intended conveys disrespect, indifference or ignorance.

Posted by freedunit @ 06/27/2002 03:03 PM PST

William -- I had been in the WTC exactly one week earlier to sign my employment papers. I had to redo everything later, as all the papers ended up floating in the breeze. Yes, I'd like to get a copy and I don't think the FBI has a case since I have already purchased a copy of the album (on vinyl) and thus own a license to listen to the album. I'll send you my address later.

Interestingly enough, I did not know that John Lennon had been killed for at least two days. I was riding on a New York bus and saw the headline "I Shot John Lennon." Somehow, I hadn't had the TV or radio on for several days. Very unusual occurrence.

Posted by Robert Armin @ 06/27/2002 03:03 PM PST

I certainly don't think I did anything to mess up that right margin again. Blame Canada!

Posted by Robert Armin @ 06/27/2002 03:05 PM PST

Oh dear! I didn't mean to change the topic of discussion for today. Everyone has interesting memories of the events, though. I do hope I'm not in for a bitch-slapping for usurping today's topic.

Posted by Laura @ 06/27/2002 03:24 PM PST

Laura-
To bitch-slap a woman would be unseemly.

Posted by Craig @ 06/27/2002 03:38 PM PST

Craig, by which, no doubt, you mean it would be allowed, permitted, sanctioned, and, I dare say, encouraged. I agree: bitch-slapping is gender neutral.

Laura, fear not. Nothing you have done merits bitch-slapping. Only someone who might say you deserve bitch-slapping should be bitch-slapped.

Posted by freedunit @ 06/27/2002 04:07 PM PST

I think I'm going to pass on the casting of "Follies"; this deserves more thought than I give it right now to really do it justice.

I will go along with the "Where were you..."

Kennedy: I was in line at school to got lunch or morning recess, and the word spread like wildfire. This was a Catholic grade school, and they took Kennedy VERY seriously. We went home, and mother sat vigil at the TV for the next few days. I used to cringe everytime over the next 10 years when I get up and find my mother in her nightgown watching telelvision; it meant something awful ahd happened. Unfortunately there were far too many times I found her this way (Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, etc.)

Elvis: It was the one and (so far)only time I was in Las Vegas. The whole city took it VERY seriously. I was buying something at the MGM Grand when the news broke. I don't think they turned off every light on the strip for one minute, but that was general atmosphere.

The Challenger: I wantched the liftoff quickly on my way out the door. I was working at the Attorney General's office at the time. I figured it was successful. It was only after I got to work that I found out and couldn't believe it after assuming it was OK.

WTC- I had showered and gotten ready for work. I don't ususally watch TV in morning if I'm the first one up; it's always been my quiet time and the chance to gather my thoughts (sometimes they're strewn all over the front yard, and gathering them takes some time).
My partner will turn on "Good Morning America" when he gets up which drives me crazy. He, however, was out of town- getting ready to fly from Minneapolis to Philadelphia. I still had a few minutes before the drive to work, when a friend who was staying with us at the time came running out of his room saying that they were attacking New York. I told him to go back to bed and I'd talk to him later. He'd been listening to the radio, so we turned on the TV. The first plane had hit, but New York didn't really know much and still thought it was an accident. Then they showed the Pentagon, and we knew. Then while we were watching and saying how awful it was, we actually saw the second plane crash. Like everyone, I could not believe it; actually I still have trouble. I started crying for all the innocent people who had gone to work that day, grumbling about it, just like me. Only they'd never come home.
The phone rang, and I was hoping it'sd be my partner, but it was a friend calling from Australia to ask if we were OK (I'm in Phoenix, but he knew the U.S. was being bombed).
Finally , I heard from my partner. He was at the Minneapolis airport and hadn't flown anywhere. Since no one knew anything about anything at that point, he figured he'd catch a plane the next day.
I then sat and wept for the world. I tried to explain to the friend who was staying with us just what this meant-- that things would never be the same and that this might just be the beginning of something we couldn't even imagine. thsi friend can drive me crazy sometimes, but I will always be grateful to him for holding me that day while I cried and telling me of the whole situation. I wouldn't have heard it in the car, because I always listen to some Bruce Kimmel CD (go figure). And I am so grateful I knew and could weep at home and collect myself a little before facing the idiots I worked with at the time who were listening to all the talk radio shows with everybody opining about all this and not knowing a thing. I finally yelled at them not to talk about it to me until the next thing happened or until they knew something concrete. I closed the door to my office and cried again. I shouldn't have gone to work at all, but I thought I should. I drove home at lunch to hug my dog, Mazal. She was very sweet and let me hang on to her. I was afraid I'd go to work and never make it home again just like all those people in the buildings. My partner never did go to Philadelphia and finally flew home about a week later.

Wow. Enough of my rambling. I feel so much lighter now. Almost svelte (not as svelte as Bruce, though). I think I'll have cake.

Posted by Kerry @ 06/27/2002 05:53 PM PST

Jeez, that was a long post. And the typos. Oy! I accidentally hit the Post button before I could proof it. Don't bitch-slap me TOO much, OK?

Posted by Kerry @ 06/27/2002 05:57 PM PST

Kerry, just help yourself to a piece. No bitch-slapping tonight.

Posted by freedunit @ 06/27/2002 06:34 PM PST

Where are all the other Follies cast lists?

Posted by Michael Shayne @ 06/27/2002 06:56 PM PST

Michael,
You already named everyone.

Posted by Kerry @ 06/27/2002 07:28 PM PST

LOL.

Posted by freedunit @ 06/27/2002 07:32 PM PST

Follies Preliminary Casting Ideas…
Sandy Duncan (Sally Durant Plummer)
Robert LuPone (Benjamin Stone)
David Garrison (Buddy Plummer)
Michele Lee (Phyllis Rogers Stone)
Elaine Stritch (Carlotta Campion)
Placido Domingo (Roscoe)
Christine Ebersole (Dee Dee West)
Priscilla Lopez (Solange LaFitte)
Eileen Brennan (Heidi Schiller)
Pamela Blair (Stella Deems)
Kirk Douglas (Dimitri Weismann)
Kristin Chenoweth (Young Sally)
Kelly Bishop (Hattie Walker)
Debbie Reynolds (Emily Whitman)
Donald O’Connor (Theodore Whitman)

Posted by freedunit @ 06/27/2002 07:41 PM PST

FOLLIES (casting by ME)
Roscoe: Larry Raiken
Sally: Doris Day
Phyllis: Ann-Margret
Hattie: Winnie Lightner
Carlotta: Yvonne De Carlo
Ben: Cary Grant
Buddy: Bob Fosse
The Whitmans: Marge & Gower Champion
Stella: Kathy Bates
Heidi: Edie Adams
Young Heidi: Deanna Durbin
Young Ben: Brian D'Arcy James
Young Buddy: Jim Walton
Young Sally: Liz Callaway
Young Phyllis: Nicole Kidman
Solange: Petula Clark
Showgirls: Charlize Theron, Cady Huffman, Dee Hoty.
Dimitri: Walter Pigeon

of course, this casting would require a lot of time traveling...

Posted by td @ 06/27/2002 08:40 PM PST

Well, I've got to tell you. Those of you who have bought "Benjamin Kritzer," read it and enjoy it. For those of you who haven't ordered it, get it! It's wonderful. I read it last night, and I'm still smiling. And I want more.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to get another copy. Yes, Bruce, You will get even more of my money. I want to have a copy to lend (I know some people too cheap to get their own), and I'm not lending out mine!

Could I just go back and grow up with Benjamin Kritzer? Please?

Posted by Kerry @ 06/27/2002 09:23 PM PST

Thank you, dear reader, Kerry, for those nice comments. Very interesting Follies lists (all two of them). I am full of Chinese food and very uncomfortable. More about all of that tomorrow.

Posted by bk @ 06/27/2002 09:59 PM PST

Oh no Bruce, is your stomach doing a kung pow? Have you been mu shooed into the bathroom? Are your rangoons crabby? Are you all out of spare ribs? Are you filled win won ton lust for pepto?

Posted by Craig @ 06/27/2002 10:34 PM PST

Dog my cats, it's a funny old word. Haven't I posted yet? Has a day gone by? What has become of me? I wonder what became of me, indeed, as the great Mr. Arlen wrote with the great Mr. Mercer.

I have to say that I just love the song Bernadine. I have to, and I have, because I just love that song, Bernadine. I'd never heard the lovely song Bernadine before and I just love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. I am listening to it at this very moment and let me just say that I LOVE it.

Before I begin a new tangent, I'll just go.

Posted by Lolita @ 06/27/2002 10:37 PM PST

win=with

Posted by Craig @ 06/27/2002 10:37 PM PST

WooHoo! My name is in print! I AM somebody!!

Posted by Laura @ 06/27/2002 10:42 PM PST

Laura-
And a lovely somebody at that!

Posted by Craig @ 06/27/2002 10:47 PM PST

I don't know who I'd cast in all the reoles for a new production of "Follies" -- there would definitely be tryouts...or someone playing me CDs to help me imagine someone in the part.

I do know two actor/singers who would be in my show, though:

Victor Garber, and
Andrea McArdle.

My personally autographed copy of "Benjamin Kritzer" has arrived with CD to read by. It arrived along with the Criterion DVD release of "The Importance of Being Earnest" and the DVD of "Gosford Park."

I have some heady entertainment planning my weekend for me!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/27/2002 11:11 PM PST

Only two other cast lists for Follies. Let's make it a little easier then. How about Company?

Posted by Michael Shayne @ 06/28/2002 04:01 AM PST

COMPANY, tomorrow: comedy tonight!

Posted by Joanne @ 06/28/2002 05:51 AM PST

I don't know from Follies. But I'd certainly cast Rusty Ferracane.

Posted by Laura @ 06/28/2002 08:16 AM PST

Just now I got off the subway V train and saw a man on the platform with a hand-truck stacked with boxes. The top box of the stack of four was labeled in big, bold letters “TROUT,” so, of course, I had only one thought: What is it—fish?

Posted by freedunit @ 06/28/2002 08:28 AM PST