haines his way

07/19/2002:
"THE WANING OF THE DAY"

Well, dear readers, as soon as you are finished reading these here notes you must go to our brand spanking new handy-dandy The Unseemly Interview Section and read our sparkling interview with Miss Kerry Butler, who is currently starring in Hairspray on Broadway. Just click on the “New Sections” icon on the home page and you will be whisked away to New Sectionsland and once there simply click on The Unseemly Interview Section and voila. It’s all too too exciting if you ask me. We have some amazing interviews coming up – I am trying to keep them very diverse. Oh, yes, I’m keeping them very diverse because there is nothing worse than the curse of a non-diverse interview. We will not only be having a wide array of performers from all walks of life, we will also be having interviews with authors, directors, composers and lyricists and arrangers and conductors. We may even branch out (no mean feat) and have interviews with a wide array of people from all runs of life, too, because why should everyone come from all walks of life? I’m thinking that new interviews will go up once every two to three weeks, but if you have any strong feelings about how often they should go up, do express them.
Well, as you know, Friday’s notes are short and sweet and we need short and sweet after the long and sour day we had yesterday. Oh, yes, we had a long and sour day yesterday. It started off well enough, with breakfast with our very own Jason Graae. We went to a nice restaurant near his nice home and we had nice eggs – he, an omelet, I eggs over medium and bacon. It was directly after said breakfast that the long and sour part began. I do not wish to rehash it all but let’s just say I wouldn’t wish a day like that on anyone. Well, that’s not true, but I wouldn’t wish a day like that on anyone I liked. I didn’t end up getting home until five o’clock in the afternoon, and by then the day was waning. Oh, yes, the day was waning and so was I. I was a waning person. No one could have waned more than I. I was the waningest. I waned and waned and then I waned some more, until I was waned out, like a baseball game attended by Elmer Fudd. Silly wabbit.
Last night I finished watching My Favorite Year. I’ve never loved it as much as most people have, but it has its funny bits, and I must say that the reason it continues to work is almost solely because of Peter O’Toole’s extraordinary performance, which brings such humanity and warmth and humor to the piece, that you can’t help but forgive the silly bits or when it gets to shticky. He’s a brilliant actor and it’s a great comic performance. However, his most effective moment in the film is his quietest – sitting in the car watching his daughter come out of the house, unable to go to her or talk to her. His face says so much in that one minute – it’s a lesson in great acting, and just goes to show you you don’t need dialogue all the time. Richard Benjamin provides a commentary track, which I listened to, and which has some interesting things in it (and a few too many lapses).
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below before I begin to wane.

Have I mentioned that yesterday was a long and sour day, and that when I arrived home said day had waned? Did you know that the wane in Spain stays mainly on the plain? We don’t allow groaning here at haineshisway.com. Did you know that I finally had one response from classmates.com (one out of the four e-mails I sent – I guess the other people don’t wish to know from the likes of me, although they haven’t picked up their classmates.com mail yet so they don’t even know I wrote). My former classmate and friend, Miss Wendy Stuart, wrote to me. I knew Wendy all through school. She was a child actress, much like our very own Susan Gordon, although she didn’t have quite the array of credits Miss Gordon had. She did star in one fifties film entitled The Littlest Hobo. Anyway, she wrote me a very nice note – said she’d thought about writing me but didn’t think I’d remember her. I wrote her back but have had no response since. Her e-mail, however, is hotmail, and I know people don’t tend to check every day at hotmail. They do check every day at coldmail, but that’s another story.
Tonight I am supping with our very own Tammy Minoff (winner of the longest radio show award). Wherever we sup, I shall be having the onion rings, because I have been on an onion ring bender for quite a few weeks. Most onion rings are not worth eating, but when you find good onion rings they are quite wonderful, and I am ever in search of excellent onion rings.
Don’t forget, tomorrow is our handy-dandy Unseemly Trivia Contest, so do stop by over the weekend, because the party is always going on here at haineshisway.com, even when the day or I am waning. Also, Donald will have a brand spanking new radio show up on Sunday night, and perhaps he’ll even let us know what it’s going to be about. We do feel that we are very lucky to have Donald as our handy-dandy DJ, because he is the best Internet DJ there is, at least in my honest opinion (IMHO, in Internet lingo).
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must fight the great flying oafs of life, I must get in my automobile and drive hither and thither and yes, yon. All of my long and sour day problems indirectly had to do with said automobile, by the way (BTW, in Internet lingo). It is very gray outside, which is actually a pleasant relief from the relentless sunshine we’ve been having here in Los Angeles, California. Be sure to go check out the sparkling interview with Miss Kerry Butler, before the day wanes. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite British films? I’ll start – so many, so many so many (that is three so manys) – Brief Encounter, Dead of Night, Stairway to Heaven, Black Narcissus, Peeping Tom, Lord of the Flies, Tom Jones, A Hard Day’s Night, The Ladykillers, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Horror of Dracula, Fahrenheit 451 (yes, I know, directed by Truffaut, but it’s a British film), The Rocking Horse Winner, and on and on. Your turn.

Replies: 31 Unseemly Comments

I love The Lavender Hill Mob, The Lady Killers and Oliver Twist (collectively, proof of what a truly versatile, brilliant actor Alec Guinness was) along with A Hard Day's Night, Half A Sixpence (waiting for a DVD reissue) and She Loves Me (on video, but a TV movie nonetheless). Many others, of course, but that's for starters.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/19/2002 08:45 AM PST

The Red Shoes
Stairway to Heaven
Black Narcissus
Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
The 39 Steps
The Lady Vanishes
Richard III
Tom Jones
etc., etc.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/19/2002 09:00 AM PST

tell Tammy I said HELLO and that I would love for her to return for another radio show....maybe she can set a new record for longest Broadway Radio Show
as for the new radio show to be loaded on Sunday....it's the first in a new type of show I'm doing called "Putting It Together" and it will also continue our celebration of the Richard Rodgers Centennial (actually, due to a weird glitch and mistake on my part, you can actually hear a preview of the new show on this week's show -- something I will remedy when I get home tonight - one of our devoted listeners already caught the mistake)
Posted by Donald @ 07/19/2002 09:18 AM PST

She Loves Me
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Sexy Beast
Monty Python's Life of Brian, Meaning of Life, Holy Grail, etc.
Sliding Doors
Billy Elliot
Time Bandits
to name a few
Posted by Craig @ 07/19/2002 10:23 AM PST

as for British films, I highly recommend "Cold Comfort Farm" -- one of my absolute favorites of recent years (I'm also a sap for "The End of the Affair," which had me in tears by the end)
Posted by Donald @ 07/19/2002 10:33 AM PST

Brief Encounter
Both A Hard Day's Night and HELP. I love HELP. I remember seeing it in Chicago (we were on vacation there). One of my sisters and I went to see it and we were supposed to go back to the hotel and relieve my other sister of babysitting chores so she could go see Sound of Music. Well, we were bad siblings. We loved it so much we sat through it twice (remember those days when you could sit through a movie more than once). My other sister did get to see Sound of Music but at a later show
There is another British film that I remember enjoying but I can't remember the name of it. It starred Dirk Bogarde and the plot revovled around a group of children whose mother had died and they hid the fact until their father, Dirk Bogarde came back for some reason. I haven't seen it in years and years. Anyone know the name?
The Lady Vanishes,
The 39 Steps
Pygmalion w/Leslie Howard
Goodbye Mr. Chips
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Room at the Top
I know there are others I'm leaving out but I'm sure therer will be quite a few lists so I'll go back to work now.
Posted by Ben @ 07/19/2002 10:36 AM PST

The Ruling Class-another brilliant performance by Peter O'Toole as a man who thinks he is Jesus. Then he is "cured" of his delusion, and things really get bad.
Pygmalion-Leslie Howard is way better than Rex Harrison!
Richard III-Ian McKellen. Wow.
Life of Brian and Holy Grail.
I'm sure that there are more good movies, but I can't remember them now.
Posted by Hapgood @ 07/19/2002 11:02 AM PST

Ben - Our Mother's House
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/19/2002 11:08 AM PST

Robert: Yes, thank you!
Posted by Ben @ 07/19/2002 11:11 AM PST

Yes for The Ruling Class. What a performance by Peter O'Toole! I saw it the first time in college too many years ago and I still love it.
Posted by Ben @ 07/19/2002 11:13 AM PST

Lord in heaven, how could I have forgotten Village of the Damned??? Not to mention The Servant. Not to mention Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia. Not to mention Tiger Bay and the three Quatermass films. Not to mention The Lady Vanishes, 39 Steps and Rich and Strange. Not to mention Carry on Cleo (guilty pleasure) and Repulsion (Polanski - but an English film).
Posted by bk @ 07/19/2002 11:13 AM PST

Regarding the subject of today's notes, "The Waning of the Day" - I was just curious if Bruce has ever experienced a waxing of the day?
Oh.. and excellent interview BK! Pithy, entertaining, fun and look forward to reading more of them in the near future...
Posted by Craig @ 07/19/2002 11:23 AM PST

No one, and I certainly expected it from BK, mentioned MY favorite British film:
Carol Reed's TIGER BAY. It has John Mills! It has Hayley Mills! It has - pant, pant - Horst Bucholz!
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
A ROOM WITH A VIEW
HOWARD'S END
THE EUROPEANS
REMAINS OF THE DAY
YOUNG AND INNOCENT
THE 39 STEPS
THE LODGER
THE WICKER MAN
IN WHICH WE SERVE
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE
WILDE
THE FULL MONTY
EXCALIBUR
SATURDAY NIGHT & SUNDAY MORNING
SONS AND LOVERS
WOMEN IN LOVE
LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM
THE BRIDES OF DRACULA
OLIVER TWIST
BRIEF ENCOUNTER
ROOM AT THE TOP
THE ENTERTAINER
THE FAMILY WAY
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (more Hayley, adapted from the book by her mother).
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
obviously, there are far too many to mention.
Posted by td @ 07/19/2002 12:39 PM PST

oops! I KNEW this: TIGER BAY was directed by J. Lee Thompson. >>blush<<
Posted by td @ 07/19/2002 12:41 PM PST

A TASTE OF HONEY
MAKE MINE MINK (the basis for 70 GIRLS 70)
I don't think these were on anyone's list and they are two of my favorites.
Posted by William E. Lurie @ 07/19/2002 01:40 PM PST

Kerry Butler loves chocolate-chip cookies and is appearing in Hairspray. How fabulous is she!
Posted by freedunit @ 07/19/2002 01:43 PM PST

Oh, td, if you look just a few posts above yours, you will see that I did indeed mention Tiger Bay, how could I not? I, too, love The Family Way. Those Brits made some awfully good films. And while we're mentioning Carol Reed, let's add The Third Man and Odd Man Out.
Posted by bk @ 07/19/2002 02:10 PM PST

The Family Way with music by Paul McCartney. Now why doesn't he write a musical version?
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/19/2002 02:26 PM PST

Who here among us recalls a marvelous little gem of a movie called "The Virgin Soldiers"????
This one tickled me greatly.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/19/2002 03:07 PM PST

Craig: re waxing of the day, I suggest re-checking BK's answer on the subject of waxing bikinis.
BK: I am sorry my ever-lovin' der Brucer and I were unable to supply a question for your answer day, but we were having a wonderful meal in Burbank and didn't get back in time. Where we were having the wonderful meal was at a restaurant called The Smoke House, which has been located across the street from Warner Bros. since some time in the 1940s. I had wonderful roast pork, and der Brucer had wonderful fish. We also had their wonderful cheesy garlic bread, for which they are famous. What was especially wonderful was that the Smoke House was the first restaurant I can remember my parents taking me to when I was a wee lad of five or six, and I remember the cheesy garlic bread from those early visits. The cheesy garlic bread is exactly the same as it was then. Only fresher.
I have a question regarding today's topic. Does YELLOW SUBMARINE count as a British film? I certainly hope it does, because it is a stand-out piece of animation, and one of the few animated films that I can think of that should be attributed to the British.
Posted by S. Woody White @ 07/19/2002 03:17 PM PST

Well, BK, YOU are BK; we who post are merely minions(don't you just love that word? it makes sound like petit leeks, ne c'est-pas?) Of course, BK would love TIGER BAY! And it follows that td would also love THE THIRD MAN - Harry Lime is one of the greatest characters ever committed to film.
Another one I nearly missed remembering, and one that should be on home video is Harold Pinter's magnificent, THE GO-BETWEEN; definitely one of Julie Christie's finest few hours on film. While on the subject of Pinter and Christie, wouldn't they have made a very fine film of THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN, if it had been filmed around the same time as DOCTOR ZHIVAGO?
Does anyone else recall A KID FOR 2 FARTHINGS?
Posted by td @ 07/19/2002 03:17 PM PST

S. Woody White and der Brucer - I adore the Smoke House and eat there often. It is very much like my father's restaurant (which is featured in Benjamin Kritzer). I love their garlic bread - totally addictive - and I love their shrimp and crab louis, which is one of the greats! In fact, damn you, damn you all to hell, I may have to go there this very evening.
Posted by bk @ 07/19/2002 03:23 PM PST

I don't know from movies, so I can't add anything to this discussion.
I hope, Dear BK, that you are having a much better day than yesterday.
Posted by Laura @ 07/19/2002 03:26 PM PST

Great list of films above. Wonderful to see the mention of Dirk Bogarde and the Hayley Mills films. I wanted the musical of "Whistle Down The Wind" to be great as I think the film is wonderful. At least I like the CD (the pop version particularly). Must add "Secrets And Lies" to those all ready mentioned. The Maggie Smith film "A Private Funtion" is also great.
Posted by Tom from OZ @ 07/19/2002 03:29 PM PST

I'll second the listing of "Women in Love" as a favorite, and also state I think it one of the most brilliant films ever.
And then there's "Far From the Madding Crowd" which is extraordinarily lovely!
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/19/2002 04:23 PM PST

And was "Straw Dogs" British?
How about "The Wicker Man"?
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/19/2002 05:32 PM PST

Well, I can't think of any specifically British movies that I like, but Bruce's "waning" reminded me something that happened to me with my sister. Has anyone ever "wented"? When I'm riding in a car with my sister, she has a tendency to wait until there is much more than enough time to be able to enter an intersection without hitting any other cars. If she realizes (after the fact, while we're still waiting to enter said intersection) that there would've been enough time before the next car came along and continue on our merry way, she always says, "I shoulda went." One time, as she finally entered an intersection, I said (out loud), "We're wenting, we're wenting!" and after we got through the intersection, I said, "We wented, we wented!" She was not happy. Just had to vent about a went.
Posted by George @ 07/19/2002 06:12 PM PST

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with one of the most outstanding performances captured on film.
Murder on the Orient Express. The Best of the Christie Adaptations from that era.
Various Carry On... films (love that Brit humo(u)r. Anchor Bay is releasing CARRY ON CABBY, CARRY ON CLEO, CARRY ON CONSTABLE, CARRY ON COWBOY, CARRY ON CRUISING, CARRY ON JACK, CARRY ON NURSE, CARRY ON REGARDLESS, CARRY ON SCREAMING, CARRY ON SERGEANT, CARRY ON SPYING, and CARRY ON TEACHER. If you buy them as a collection you get That's Carry On
Does the Third Man count?
Anchor Bay is also releasing the ALEC GUINNESS COLLECTION
KIND HEARTS & CORONETS, THE LADYKILLERS, THE LAVENDER HILL MOB,THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT. THE CAPTAIN'S PARADISE I also liked Our Man in Havana.
Posted by Michael Shayne @ 07/19/2002 07:02 PM PST

For BK:
Anyone ever comment on the credit in the notes for the Buddy Bregman album: Swing. I am refering to who designed your zoot suit.
I got a great laugh out of it. Did anyone else?
Posted by Michael Shayne @ 07/19/2002 07:31 PM PST

"She Loves Me" on film/video. Wow! It certainly did not make it to TV here in Australia. Any info would be appreciated. Is it available commercialy anywhere? I love the show and saw Ruthie Henshall in it a few years back whilst in London. Who needs "You've Got Mail" when you can have "She Loves Me" and/or "The Little Shop Around The Corner". Thanks Michael for the listing of "Jean Brodie". Shame on me for forgetting. My own post above should of course be "A Private Function". (I think it won a BAFTA award as best film.)
I have been back at work this work after 18 months. The week was Long Long Long AND still another one to go. How did I ever do it for a living? Long live self funded retirement.
Posted by Tom from OZ @ 07/19/2002 07:56 PM PST

CARRY ON LUGGAGE
CARRY ON CROWS...
Oh, and seriously, Ryan's Daughter. I even like Liza Minnelli's version of the theme.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 07/19/2002 10:21 PM PST

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