Posted by Ann @ 06/24/2003 09:12 AM PST

Huzzah! FIRST POST!

Boy oh boy oh boy!

My day's gonna soar now!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 09:12 AM PST

Ann, welcome home!

You were MISSED in last night's chat.

I'm pretty danged sure it was mentioned, too!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 09:13 AM PST

Yes, by gum and by golly, it was mentioned by ME.

Posted by bk @ 06/24/2003 09:22 AM PST

My dad was self-employed and sometimes rented office space. He listened to the radio (muzak...ugh!) while he worked and my first radio (I was around 7 or 8) was a cast-off radio that had been his office radio. It had an alarm clock that I kept inadvertently setting (if you accidentally pressed in the dial that you used to set the clock, you set the alarm to go off 24 hours in the future). It might have been AM only...yeah, I think it was AM only. I really have no memory of what I listened to on aforesaid radio.

The big radio station when I was in junior high and high school was WZPL (Indy's New Apple...what happened to the old one?? And what the heck kind of fershluganah slogan is that?) 99.5 FM. We delighted in endlessly calling the station with requests, and once my cousin and I experienced paroxysms of joy when we called and were able to speak to COMMANDER HUTCH!! That's right, Dear Readers, the world-famous Indiana DJ Commander Hutch! You can imagine our state of thrilldom. Ah, youth.

I don't remember "discovering" classical music or jazz. My dad listened to a great variety of music, from the Beatles to Bach to Hank Williams, and I never learned to draw lines between musical genres the way many other people do.

Juliana's Journal sounds like a splendid idea. Isn't it lucky that the actress in question has such a mellifluous and alliterative name? Bertha's Journal doesn't have the same ring at all.

Posted by Lulu @ 06/24/2003 09:22 AM PST

The latest from Miramax is that they want to do a movie musical of DAMN YANKEES, and update it... I wonder how many movies will be promoted as being the NEXT one and which of these will actually get produced... discuss

Posted by Craig @ 06/24/2003 09:25 AM PST

I REMEMBER NOW!

It was W-O-W-O, Ft. Wayne, Ind.

You could get that station almost anywhere -- it was a beacon in the wilderness!

I could hear it at home...and then tune it in at college when I was feeling homesick. It would cheer me right up! (of course, now I feel homesick for those college days!!!).

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 10:21 AM PST

If they update DAMN YANKEES like the early 90s revisal I won't even bother seeing it. The stage version as originally produced was wonderful, but the revisal completely re-wrote the book and ruined it. Mr. Abbott was still alive but when he tried to complain he was told to butt out and collect his royalties.

I got my first radio for my Bar Mitzva. It was a "portable" that came out just before small transistor radios and was about the size of a hard cover book with the antenna in the handle. I listened to WLS (Dick Biondi) and WJJD ("Top 40 Radio"), the two top stations in Chicago at the time.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 06/24/2003 10:21 AM PST

My history with radio may not be as happy as others'. In the Central Park West apartment I lived in from age 3 to 8, there was a small room that connected to both my room and the dining room in which Dad had his stereo, but I've no recollection of it ever being tuned to the radio. He has an amazing collection of classical records, also some good old-fashioned folk, and a tiny smattering of jazz and even one rock, Let It Be. So I got to know these genres through LPs, not radio. And, of course, all I ever did was listen to albums of shows. It was always my choice to do so. Also Mom's. And, sometimes, Dad's too.

Then began a Los Angeles childhood, the stuff that novels are made on. I missed my Mets and I'm certain the first radio in my room was tuned to Dodger games, mostly in hopes of Mets news. Certainly, ever time they played the Dodgers, I listened. I was able to get the Padres games, although the signal didn't come in very well. (They were a brand new team and so hadn't yet mastered the art of the signal. Lots of botched hit-and-run plays.) After Dodgers games on KFI, there was a very funny DJ named Dave Hull. He wasn't a "shock jock," he didn't have callers, but he had a sense of how to have fun even a kid could appreciate.

Come to think of it, I probably fell asleep during dull Dodger games and when I woke after the post-game show (with Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett), there was Hull. He managed to get Dodger first baseman Wes Parker on the show with him all the time, and I was impressed that a guy could play a good first base and be pretty funny too. What I do NOT remember is whether Hull played any music. It's quite possible he didn't jockey and discs at all.

Succumbing to peer pressure, I'd occasionally listen to top 40 A.M. radio, but, even as a kid, I found the songs of the seventies infinitely inferior to my favorite show albums, such as Gypsy, How To Succeed, On a Clear Day and The Apple Tree. And now we all know that the early seventies were some sort of golden age for rock and roll. We didn't know it then.

Sometime around my graduation from college (back in New York, of course, at Columbia) I discovered the best of both worlds: Paul Lazarus' weekly radio show devoted to musical theatre. At last, Marconi's medium became the conduit for me to discover music I'd never heard and love to this day. Paul's directing career took off and he no longer had time to do the show, some time in the middle 80's. I'm often reminded of these weekly shows as I do what I'm doing now, listening to Donald Feltham's Broadway Radio Hour right here on HainesHisWay.

Posted by Noel @ 06/24/2003 10:22 AM PST

Hmmm....radio. We had one in the hallway that I listened to in the summertime....WIBC to hear the top 40 hits.

I don't think I ever owned one of my own. But I also used to like to sit up late and night and turn the dial and see how far away some of the stations were.

AM only....not much FM.

Lulu, I remember Adam Smasher on WZPL...and then of course it went DISCO!!!

WIFE was the first Beatles station in Indy...again an AM station, but I don't remember any of the DJ's. We mostly wanted to hear certain songs over and over, and they obliged us.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/24/2003 10:35 AM PST

Oh...classical music I discovered via the movies....Tchaikovsky especially in THE GREAT LIE, and in SLEEPING BEAUTY and lots of composers in HUMERESQUE.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/24/2003 10:36 AM PST

Ron, I grew up in northern Indiana and I rememeber WOWO (pronounced wo-wo) playing in the kitchen every morning as we were eating our cereal and getting ready for school. My mom always listened to Earl Finkel's weather forecast and then would complain about how wrong he was.

Ah, the memories prompted by just those four little letters.

Posted by jb-nyc @ 06/24/2003 10:36 AM PST

Oh...and remember when Van Cliburn came home from Russia, a hero?

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/24/2003 10:36 AM PST

Jrand: I listened to WZPL post-disco. :) Wasn't it called KISS-99 in the '70s?

Posted by Lulu @ 06/24/2003 10:46 AM PST

Dear esteemed, patient, lithe, dot-connecting BK,

I'm so glad to be home....you may now tear up my hall pass. Our 2 fund-raiser concerts in the greater Chicago area went pretty well, and everyone attending were generous with their applause and smiles. You were thought of often, and many fine show tunes were played, along with a smattering of other things.

I've not had a chance to go back to archives and catch up with the past week....I'll do that later today.

Today's question: Because my family started my piano lessons when I was 3 1/2, I was exposed to classical music very early. But we didn't listen to radio much at all; it was the dawning of TV in So. Calif., and so as soon as my grandparents got their 1st small TV (a 7" screen with a very large, very heavy vertical magnifying glass that you put in front of it...it was called a "bubble !"), I became enchanted with Beanie & Cecil, and a host of others.

Later on, I listened mainly to KFWB, because I knew that early on it had broadcast from the old Warner Brothers sound studio. I thought that was really exotic, and the sound studio had a big Wurlitzer pipe organ in it also ! I still remember their musical tag -- K-F-Double-U- Bee...Channel Ninety-Eight!

I was never much of a dial-twirler...I tended to listen to whole programs or segments (I still do with some things on NPR). I used to like to listen to Carl Haas do his informative "themed" classical radio programs.. he always opened each show with
"Hel-LOW Everyone, this is Carl Haas."

For the dear readers who were so nice to Kerry and I last week, regarding our little black Lab; Mazal's Shiva is over now, the living room mirror is uncovered, and we try to move forward while never forgetting. It's good to be home, and to read the Hainsies/Kimlets.

Posted by MusicGuy @ 06/24/2003 11:13 AM PST

Dear Bruce,

I want to send a VERY big thank you to you, and tell you not only how much enjoyment you gave me this past week while I was reading, but also just what a perfect tonic "Kritzerland" was for me. I had saved starting the book until I headed to Chicago, as I wanted something to look forward to and enjoy in the evenings while I was away from home. Well Sir, it just couldn't have been any better.......it was like being back in a warm neighborhood, with old friends and wonderfully eccentric characters, and yet learning new developments in their lives. I laughed out loud a number of times, even though I was reading alone, and I also teared up several times. It is simply a wonderful small slice of life from exactly the same era and area where I grew up.

Thank you, Thank you, for a sparkling gem of a book. It is masterful......and Oy, do you know how to write a cliffhanger, or what !!???

Posted by MusicGuy @ 06/24/2003 11:22 AM PST

The first radio I had I carried everywhere and listened faithfully to every Cleveland Indians game. Mind you this was the 70's when they were the farm team to the MLB. So, the station that ran the games was WWWE in Cleveland, which became my favorite station for Top 40 music. (This was a 50,000 megawatt station, and I remember during extra inning games, they would announce people in Florida could receive the signal). The main DJ I listened to was John Lannigan, who is still with the oldies station WMJI-FM. (They are now a country station with different call letters).

I discovered classical was what they were force feeding me at Thursday piano lessons, and I discovered Jazz in a book of boogie-woogie music that I learned in a week during year two of piano. (I love classical music now...)

Posted by Dave (in the Valley) @ 06/24/2003 11:29 AM PST

I cannot recall a time when music was not a part of my life, so "discovering" classical music would have been like discovering that I had feet. (Oh, is that what you call those? Huh.)

Most children were introduced to classical music and opera from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons, and I imagine that I was no different. Although I may have heard - and perhaps even enjoyed - my parent's albums on the stereo, my ears always perked up when I recognized the familiar strains of the underscoring of one of my favourite toons.

Of course, purists would wince at the notion that people think that the "Barber of Seville" was written for Bugs and Elmer, but that must be better than the generation of kids who have grown up thinking that Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is a milk commercial.

Speaking of Ludwig, how many people remember "A Fifth of Beethoven"? Yes, my older sisters were into the disco craze of the 1970's.

It got worse when my parents actually bought (and played!) a copy of "Hooked on Classics". The horror...

Posted by Dave @ 06/24/2003 12:02 PM PST

DR jb-nyc: Of course the weather forecast was wrong -- you were in Indiana. Don't like the weather there? Wait 5 minutes. It WILL change!

: )

(I lived in Indy for five years, 1979-1984)

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 12:21 PM PST

Just checking in to say hello. Things here are going swimmingly. I miss all of you very much and I'll write more when I can.

COME SEE ME IN PENNSYLVANIA!

Posted by Jason @ 06/24/2003 12:27 PM PST

KFWB! Thank you, MusicGuy, for reminding me of my favorite radio station growing up in Los Angeles. How could I forget that music tag! Ah, such memories!

Posted by Susan @ 06/24/2003 12:27 PM PST

Hi, Jason! Thanks for stopping by. We all miss you, too!

Posted by Susan @ 06/24/2003 12:33 PM PST

Things are going "swimmingly" in PA? What show is he doing? "Titanic"?

I got the expanded "Nine" yesterday. What a TREAT to hear this CD again. I don't know why I haven't played it recently, but it remains a thrilling score.

It even makes me want to get the Banderas CD!

It arrived with "The Apple Tree",
"The Secret Garden", and the expanded "Hello, Dolly" which has the most hysterical "interview" (san interviewer) with Carol Channing talking about recording the cast album. She talks about how she kicked her legs high into the air along with the "Dolly boys" (who, she said, kicked their legs up higher than "anything")while singing "Hello, Dolly" because it was the only way to approximate the feeling she needed to do the song right.

"Dolly boys," indeed! Mustn't call them "Waiters"...oh! no! "Dolly boys"!

Does Alan Alda grate on anyone else's nerves?

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 12:43 PM PST

I don't remember when I got my first radio but I know, just like Benjamin Kritzer, I loved that little transistor and kept it going all the time. I remember listening to space launches as well as music. My stations were WDGY (pronounced WEEGEE) and KDWB, Channel 63 (even though radios don't have channels, that was the tag). I discovered jazz in my teens w/Mr. Dave Brubeck. I was mesmerized by Take 5. Oh, what a piece of work. I knew classical music as a child, but didn't know what it was, so to speak. I began listening to it much more in college (in between my show tunes and movie soundtracks).

Jason, glad PA is treating you well. The rain has stopped in NY (at least for a while) and now it's hot and sunny.

Posted by Ben @ 06/24/2003 12:53 PM PST

Yes, things are going swimmingly with TITANIC. :-) And yes, the rain has stopped and its oppressively hot here in PA. Oh, well...

Oh!! I had Chik-Fil-A last night for the first time in 2 years. I was in heaven. For those of you who don't know Chik-Fil-A, well...you don't know what you're missing. I love it, love it, love it.

Posted by Jason @ 06/24/2003 12:56 PM PST

Jason - Watch the mail.

Isn't Chick-Fil that religious restaurant which refuses to open on Sundays and has to pay a penalty to the malls they are in because they won't open on Sundays?

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 06/24/2003 01:08 PM PST

Jason,

Which role(s) are you playing in SCARLET PIMPERNEL and TITANIC?

Posted by Dave @ 06/24/2003 01:13 PM PST

Thank you, MusicGuy, and am glad you enjoyed it. Don't forget to post a review to amazon even though it won't go up for ages.

Loving these radio stories. The reason it's the topic is because I just wrote about it in Kritzer 3, something almost identical to what dear reader Ben says in his post above.

Posted by bk @ 06/24/2003 01:24 PM PST

Hi Jason - welcome back! Glad all's well is summery PA.

Temps in NY in upper 90's and getting worse. Quite a swing from the mid 70's and soggy.

Postcard on its way.

Posted by Phil @ 06/24/2003 01:31 PM PST

Nobody else had Van Cliburn as a hero?

For me he was right up there with Rocky Jones and Superman.

Van Cliburn beat the Russians! With their own music. His recording of the B Flat Concerto was the first classical music I purchased. I still have it, an extended 45 rpm RCA Victor recording.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/24/2003 01:31 PM PST

And Van Cliburn was a gay icon too!

Posted by Liberace @ 06/24/2003 01:46 PM PST

Too? Whaddaya mean "too"?

You, Lee, were the icon of little old ladies with upswept hairdos who oohed, aahed and clucked at your jewels and bangled attire.

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 01:55 PM PST

Being the science nerd I was when I was little (not that much has changed) - I remember building a simple crystal radio from a radio shack kit and the joys of tuning it in to a few stations and knowing I built this little contraption that was now working!

Posted by Craig @ 06/24/2003 01:56 PM PST

p.s. Anyone else out there build your own radio?

Posted by Craig @ 06/24/2003 01:56 PM PST

I just returned from a lovely weekend trip to Victoria. We went with our son and his girlfriend.

KFWB was my favorite station. The morning show with Loman and Barclay was a great way to begin the day. It was a sad time for me when they became an all news station. I don’t know the name of the station that played show tunes in the evening. I use to listen to it every night as I went to sleep.

I can’t think of a time in my life without classical music. My older cousin introduced me to jazz when I was thirteen.

Ron, that’s what they say in about the weather in New England.

Jason, sure wish I could visit you in Pennsylvania. I have such good friends there I haven’t seen in years. Summer as you are experiencing, is not the time of year I would want to be there.

Posted by Jane @ 06/24/2003 01:57 PM PST

"The latest from Miramax is that they . . ."

They who?

Quoted where?

I'm always skeptical of quotes like this. I'm still recovering from the Vin Diesel "Guys and Dolls" rumor. Where online can I read the actual quote (from WHOM)?

"Damn Yankees" just might have some life in it yet, though. I saw a charming local college production a few years ago which added a significant detail with interesting, far-ranging implications. When the devil turned the old man into a young ballplayer, he was an AFRICAN AMERICAN!

Now, the script was unaltered from the original, and no mention was made of the race change, which actually seemed quite noble and forward-thinking.

But what if this was allowed to become a more significant issue in the script. Could this be the "edge" that would revivify (and justify) a remake?

Posted by Sigerson Holmes @ 06/24/2003 02:25 PM PST

Sigerson..

It was in Variety.. but alas, I don't have an online subscription, so I can't read the full article...

Posted by Craig @ 06/24/2003 02:28 PM PST

After clearing the fences with the movie musical "Chicago," Miramax Films co-chairman Harvey Weinstein will take his next at-bat with "Damn Yankees."
He has acquired rights to the musical and has made a deal with "Chicago" executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to produce the pic.

Weinstein previously tapped the Storyline duo for the "Guys and Dolls" remake, but the baseball tuner will come to the plate first.

The 1955 musical concerns a die-hard Washington Senators fan who sells his soul to the devil so his team can finally topple the Yankees and win the pennant. Its original incarnation, with music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, won seven Tony Awards. Wallop wrote the novel on which it was based.

Parallel lives

The original "Damn Yankees" was choreographed by Bob Fosse, who did the same with "Chicago." Rob Marshall, who directed the Oscar-winning pic "Chicago," choreographed the 1994 Broadway revival of "Damn Yankees." The musical was first adapted to the screen in 1958; that Warner Bros. pic starred Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston.

"I see us updating 'Damn Yankees,' modernizing it and really having fun with the role of the devil," Weinstein said.

Happy to face music

Co-president of production Meryl Poster will oversee the pic with veep Jennifer Berman, with execs Tim Schmidt and Charles Layton securing the underlying rights.

Miramax's dedication to musical remakes is understandable: In addition to winning six Oscars, "Chicago" passed the $282 million worldwide gross of "Shakespeare in Love" to become the studio's biggest grosser at more than $300 million.

Zadan and Meron, whose next feature will be the Frank Darabont-directed "Fahrenheit 451" at Warner Bros., also are working on a new screen version of "Footloose" for Paramount.

Posted by Variety @ 06/24/2003 02:29 PM PST

Yes, it's the same Miramax that was supposed to have Guys and Dolls before the cameras this year. They love doing this. They pay all this money, do all this hiring and act like it will be done tomorrow. There, of course, is no writer attached, no director, no nothing, so it's at least a year away from the cameras and two years away from a release and you know how trends are - if two or three come out in the meantime and tank, ta ta musicals and Miramax.

Posted by bk @ 06/24/2003 02:32 PM PST

Wow! Sounds legit!

Thanks.

Posted by Sigerson Holmes @ 06/24/2003 02:34 PM PST

You type fast, BK!

Posted by Sigerson Holmes @ 06/24/2003 02:35 PM PST

It was about three years ago that Ray Bradbury told me there was to be a remake of Fahrenheit 451, following the books original storyline more closely. He was very excited about this. I hope it doesn’t take too much longer.

Posted by Jane @ 06/24/2003 02:58 PM PST

I love DAMN YANKEES. It was one of the first movie musicals that I ever saw in the theater and I was immediately hooked on Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston, and Jean Stapleton. I would love to see it remade, possibly by Rob Marshall, and probably updated. The Yankees are still the powerhouse team in MLB, so you could substitute just about any American League team to replace the Yankees (The Mariners, The Texas Rangers).

But back to today's question:

DR Craig - I was far from a science nerd, but I do remember building several crystal radios. I was so proud of myself when I actually managed to tune in to a radio station on my first set.

The radio station of my youth was KJR, Channel 95 in Seattle. It was a Top 40 station that I listened to all the way through junior high and high school. About the time I turned fourteen or fifteen, a new station in Seattle, KOL, came on the scene and tried to become #1 in the teen market. A lot of my friends changed stations, but I remained dedicated to my beloved KJR until I went off to college. Today KJR is an all-sports station, but KOL no longer exists.

My Mother was a music teacher, so I was exposed to classical music from the time I was a tiny tot. I remember going to see concerts with my Mom throughout my youth, as well as watching Bernstein's Young People's Concerts on TV. Jazz was a different story. I have tried over the years to get into Jazz, but it has just never become a passion for me. I will listen to it, and I can appreciate the talent and artistry involved, but that is about it.

Posted by TCB @ 06/24/2003 03:02 PM PST

Most of the DJs of my childhood are dead! Radio (the Wireless) was such an imortant part of our lives. No TV in Oz until late 1956. My first radio (transister) would have been about 1960. I was top 40 addicted. I was still listening to American Top 40 in the early 70.s.
Like the central character in a certain book I was introduced to classical music at school by some wonderful teachers. I did not realise that listening to "The Moldau" was such an international school experience. I visited Prague a few years back and our home video of course now has the music as background. I am reminded of my music exam at the end of year 10 (Is that the end of Junior High?). I would have been nearly 16. (My Birthday is a few days after BK's). We had to "Sight Read" as part of our examination in musical appreciation. The only marks I received were for naming the notes! I have not improved.

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/24/2003 03:04 PM PST

So where is Freddy Cannon these days? Was Abigail Beacher more than just his history teacher? What happened to his Transister Sister? What really happened at Palisades Park?
So much to learn and so little time.

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/24/2003 03:07 PM PST

I don't mind the rash of announcements regarding possible movie musicals. I know that the majority of them will never get made, and those that do stand little chance of being successful, but the very fact that they are talking movies and musicals in the same sentence gives me hope!

Posted by TCB @ 06/24/2003 03:08 PM PST

Mark Dinning's "Top 40 News Weather & Sport" really says it all about my early radio years.

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/24/2003 03:09 PM PST

I was going to post the VARIETY article, but it was already done. I also subscribe and can send any of the articles to anyone who wants them. I just got around to reading VARIETY's review of WICKED this morning (very mixed, bouquets to Chenoweth, nice mention to Joe Mantello's direction, but barbs to Schwartz's trite lyrics and generic music - the words of the reviewer, not me).

The only pocket radio I ever owned was a red plastic one that I don't think even had an extension antenna. It was only AM, and I don't remember it lasting for more than a week. Also, as not much Broadway music got played in those days (though evening radio DJs would play legit singers like Robert Goulet, Streisand, Steve Lawrence), I preferred to listen to my show albums.

Posted by Matt H. @ 06/24/2003 03:10 PM PST

DR Craig --

Well, you struck a nerve, mentioning nerds (of the science and gadget variety) in high school. Yes, I built a crystal radio...I even built a Tesla Coil that worked to a fairly frightening degree in our garage; it was the only way to keep my putz of a stepfather to leave me alone out there. I also recall building several HeathKit projects. And yes, I ran the movie projector in the classroom, the audio system in the auditorium, etc.

At least I did NOT have either a plastic pocket protector, or bad pants pulled up into a wedgie. I like to think that, even for a nerd, I had an already developed sense of style at 14 !

Posted by MusicGuy @ 06/24/2003 03:21 PM PST

Dear Reader Jason,

We hope everything is going really well for you, and want you to know that we miss our little "Broadway Bratt" around here. Give 'em hell, sparkle lots, and sing out Louise !

Posted by MusicGuy @ 06/24/2003 03:25 PM PST

Matt H: No disrespect intended, but no Variety review(er) EVER made or broke anything, anywhere at anytime.

That review was second to San Jose Mercury News for worst review (to its credit, the reviewer was at least not mean like the Mercury News reviewer).

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 03:42 PM PST

I can remember this HUGE radio in our living room, when I was about 3 or 4, sitting on the floor in front of it, listening to Make Believe Ballroom on Saturday mornings 9am-noon.

DJ: Cousin Brucie, of course!

Posted by KT @ 06/24/2003 03:46 PM PST

VARIETY gave bad reviews out of town to HELLO, DOLLY! and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. While work was done on both shows, something had to be there to begin with when VARIETY reviewed them.

I stopped reading VARIETY when it became more about show business than show business.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 06/24/2003 03:50 PM PST

Haven't a clue when or what
my first radio was. As for radio
station of my youth, I mostly
remember listening to KQBE
103.1 in my hometown... plenty
of 80s pop, with 50s/60s on
the weekends.

Only...let's see...carry the one...
32 hours till my flight to NYC!
Think I'm looking forward to
this trip at all? :-)

Posted by Jed @ 06/24/2003 03:55 PM PST

Don't remember my first radio, but in the mid to late 70s and through the early 80s I listened to top 40.

I don't know who, what, or where I was introduced to classical music but I know that by age 3 I was standing on a chair, up high enough to reach the record player in the dining room and I would listen, over and over, to our LPs of The Grand Canyon Suite, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Walt Disney's Bambi! Later, as a teenager, I was really into Rhapsody in Blue and An American In Paris which was on an album that my parents had.

So now, I like all sorts of music...standards, Big band, classic country, 60s, 70s, 80s pop, and current top 40. At work I listen to Super70s on the internet which is all pop and bubblgum disco! Puts me in a good mood. Right now Alicia Bridges is singing I LOVE THE NIGHTLIFE.

Posted by MBarnum @ 06/24/2003 04:24 PM PST

Meant to say earlier that DRs Kerry and MusicGuy are Saints for the work they do in Chicago for their nonprofit! You are a wonderful pair and we think of you often, especially now. Much love to you both.

Posted by Ben @ 06/24/2003 04:39 PM PST

Sitting here listening to the Broadway Radio Show--those vintage recordings are so great! Keep it up, Donald!

DR Ann--welcome back--glad you had a nice, if fattening, vacation. DR Jason--Glad Titanic is going well! And congrats to DR Jose.

Hmmm...radio...I don't remember my first...it seems like I've always had my own, lol. But I really don't listen to it a lot...there's no Broadway or cabaret radio station!

I kind of grew up too with classical music because my dad always listened to it in the car, as well as to opera. It's something I can listen to but am not particularly passionate about, although I would love to see a live opera someday. With jazz, I didn't really get into it into a few years ago. My late grandfather had a lot of jazz records and he played them a lot...I listen to a lot of Fitzgerald and Vaughan...and Jane Monheit. She's awesome...better than the overrated Diana Krall, IMO.

I wonder if the Damn Yankees movie will come to pass. I saw the revival when it came to the Kennedy Center...Jerry Lewis was great. I wonder if they could get Catherine Zeta Jones to do another musical...she'd be a great Lola.

Posted by Maya @ 06/24/2003 05:03 PM PST

Oh...I forgot...I loved Fantasia as a child...especially the Pastoral Symphony sequence with the centaurs!

Posted by Maya @ 06/24/2003 05:05 PM PST

Well, I have been ridiculously errant
and truant for weeks. There was
much busyness around my
graduation, which happened June
9th. One graduation present, from
my Aunt and Uncle, was a ticket to
Bounce, the new Sondheim show at
the Goodman Theater in Chicago. I
figured that I would share my review
with all of you.

The curtain for Bounce is a stylized
map of the United States, with clever
drawings instead of place names: for
instance, on the shores of Lake
Michigan are the words “Mrs.
O’Leary” and a drawing of the cow
knocking over the lantern. This
perfectly sets the mood of the
musical, a fun, breezy romp with
Wilson and Addison Mizner through
America from 1896-1933. That’s
right, I just used the words “fun,
breezy romp” to describe a musical
by Stephen Sondheim, the king of
dark, ambivalent musicals which are
usually a welcome antidote to big,
frothy, content-free shows. Fun is
exactly what this musical is, despite
all assumptions. Of course,
Sondheim has always been in the
business of torpedoing assumptions,
and has created a musical as unlike
Sunday in the Park with George as it
is unlike Grease.
Fun, however, does not mean
shallow or sloppy. Bounce proves,
as have many other musicals, that a
show can be both “art” and
“entertainment,” and that being
entertaining is no excuse for being
stupid, a lesson which many
musicals could stand to learn.
The score has a few moments where
it echoes other Sondheim musicals.
A few of the songs which go for a
period feel, particularly “Gold!” echo
Assassins, and a few harmonies
sound similar to those in the
collaborations with Lapine (Sunday
in the Park with George, Into the
Woods, and Passion). Most of the
music, however, sounds like itself,
and only itself. Several of the songs
stand out: “Bounce” is a jaunty ode
to resilience and reinvention, and is
the most memorable song in the
show, though the fact that it was
reprised twice in the evening
doubtless had something to do with
that. “The Best Thing That Ever
Happened To Me” is an exuberantly
narcissistic love duet. “You,”
perhaps the best song in the play, is
simultaneously a love song, a sales
pitch, and a satire on the idle rich
and their houses. There several
scenes in music that advance the
story in highly entertaining style.
“Addison’s Trip Around the World”
shows how Addison lost his money
in bad business ventures and found
his skill for architecture. The “New
York Sequence” shows us some of
Wilson’s more outlandish business
ventures in a most surprising way (I
won’t give it away). “Boca Raton”
shows the boom and bust of Boca, a
city which Addison designed and
Wilson promoted, in a hallucinatory
song and dance number, with
celebrities including Causo,
Salvador Dali, and Mae West
making appearances.
Michelle Pawk, who seems to get
the best reviews of the entire cast for
any play she does, repeats the feat
here. She is a knockout. Her singing
voice is beautiful, a belt that also
caresses ballads, and is one of the
sexiest musical theatre voices
around. Her comic timing is flawless,
and she is always entirely
convincing playing a somewhat
stock character, the sexy gold-
digger. This performance, along with
her recent Tony win for Hollywood
Arms, should enshrine her among
the top actors working in the theater
today.
Richard Kind, as Addison Mizner, is
also wonderful. Kind is best known
from the sitcom “Spin City,” but he
can do much more. He has a
surprisingly strong singing voice and
perfect comic timing; he can cause
the audience to collapse into
hysterics simply by walking into a
room, taking in what is going on, and
leaving. He also makes the
character touching. Addison is the
responsible brother, the one who
isn’t as popular or funny as Wilson,
and who never quite gets Mama’s
approval, and Kind helps us all to
empathize with this. Addison is also
the first unambiguously gay major
character in a Sondheim musical.
(No debate about Bobby, please!)
Addison and his love affair with
Hollis Bessemer (an appealing
Gavin Creel) are portrayed with
sensitivity and humor. The only
question now is why it took
Sondheim this long to do.
Howard McGillin is the dashing
Wilson, and brings quite a bit of fun
to the show. He is clearly having a
blast as the sexy con man, and
shows off a gorgeous baritone. In
the New York Sequence, he shows
off quite a bit more, stripping down to
his underwear. Jane Powell is
sprightly as Mama Mizner, and looks
much as she did in her days as a
star of MGM musicals. Herndon
Lackey contributes an amusing
cameo as Papa Mizner, who dies
singing the phrase “Never say die!”
The thirteen members of the
ensemble are all delightful in a wide
variety of roles. (I was also thrilled to
realize that Kind and two ensemble
members, three of the 19 people in
the cast, were graduates of
Northwestern University, which I will
attend this fall.)
Eugene Lee’s set design is one of
the highlights of the play. Rather
than a series of naturalistic sets, the
design was based around a wide
variety of backdrops, which unrolled
from the ceiling. This enabled set
changes in record time, and several
wonderful visual jokes, which I won’t
describe, because they are just too
much fun as surprises.
The play itself is not perfect. The first
act could use sharpening, and
doesn’t have as many wonderful
songs as it could. The end of the
second act doesn’t quite work. There
are several areas of the lives of the
Mizners that could easily be more
developed, or brought on stage in a
more compelling way. However, if
the show is in this good of a state at
it’s first preview, the lengthy run at
the Goodman and a run this fall at
the Kennedy Center will put it in
great shape by the spring, when
many expect that it will come to
Broadway.
After the show, I was thrilled to get
the autographs of John Weidman,
the bookwriter, along with Powell,
McGillin, Kind (who left on his
bicycle, and was thrilled to hear that
I was on my way to Northwestern),
and Pawk. I did not see Sondheim or
Hal Prince, as I hope to, but they
have doubtless gotten much practice
in avoiding autograph hounds such
as myself.

MusicGuy, I must give a belated
condolence on the loss of Mazal,
and a thank you for the gifts. You
and Kerry have been in my thoughts.

Posted by Hapgood @ 06/24/2003 05:42 PM PST

Weeks of being errant and truant? Quick, get out the bitch-slap machine. But, you came back in style, at least, and it's nice to have a report on Bounce, even though we know it's of the first preview and that you are a Sondheim fan.

Who amongst us has tried the new Dorito Guacamole-flavored chips? I have - I find them nauseating and oddly compelling at the same time.

Posted by bk @ 06/24/2003 06:01 PM PST

So...Hapgood. Did you like it? Did you REALLY like it?

Welcome back!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 06:03 PM PST

I don't do Doritos any more.

Word of warning: Avoid the "Chicago Steakhouse" potato chips by Lays!

Each chip has about a month's worth of sodium.

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/24/2003 06:04 PM PST

After that review all is forgiven for your being E & T. Amazing Hapgood Amazing.
Thanks for sharing so much with those of us who sit and wait (and I am way past 17).
Welcome back Hapgood.
Now I have to hope that my October 2004 visit to France will see me coming home to Oz via NYC with a Wicked Bounce!

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/24/2003 06:14 PM PST

I discovered classical music via my father's radio. He was a major, major classical music buff, and the radio in our house was on all the time, always tuned to BBC Radio 3 (apart from after dinner, when my mother would listen to the Archers while she did the washing up). Dad would talk to my brother and I about the music as he listened, and by the time we were five years old my brother and I could both distinguish between all of the instruments in a symphony orchestra (neither of us were musical prodigies at that age, though we both developed musical talents later). When he died a year ago, Dad was well on the way to teaching my nephew (then three and a half) about music the same way he taught us.

I got my first radio of my own when I was maybe ten years old. I'd saved up my pocked money for months and I bought it in the duty-free shop on a car ferry back from France. It's still in my mother's house somewhere, and it still works. By that time, I had discovered pop music (this was the 80s), and I listened mostly to the major local station, Piccadilly Radio. Dad wasn't impressed, but didn't object (much) as long as I kept it within my own room.

These days I don't listen to the radio all that much. I have a radio alarm which I keep tuned to 680 News (local all-news station in Toronto), but I only listen to it in the early morning before I get up. When I listen to classical music - which isn't often, much as I love it (I put in a lot of years in choirs when I was younger, and so my listening choices tend to be other types of music) - it's on CD or at a concert rather than on the radio.

Music, in fact, is the largest part of my memory of my father. He died a year ago tonight, and it was one of his great passions. When my brother and I started piano lessons, he did as well. When I sang in a concert, he was there. And whenever I went home, the radio was on - and it was always on Radio 3.

Posted by Stephen Farrow @ 06/24/2003 06:31 PM PST

Guacamole flavour doritos? Bleurgh. Are they as bad as prawn cocktail flavour crisps?

Posted by Stephen Farrow @ 06/24/2003 06:33 PM PST

Zowie ! I loved BK's comment about the new snack food; he wrote...

"......tried the new Dorito Guacamole-flavored chips? I have - I find them nauseating and oddly compelling at the same time."

nauseating and oddly compelling -- all I can think of is the cruel outcome of a blind date. Thank God, I never went on one of those.

Posted by MusicGuy @ 06/24/2003 07:42 PM PST

Hapgood--I agree with Tom that that was an amazing review. I am so getting tickets for the Kennedy Center engagement of Bounce the minute they go on sale. Congrats on getting accepted into Northwestern--the theatre program there is supposed to be amazing. Welcome back.

Posted by Maya @ 06/24/2003 07:43 PM PST

DR Craig - not only do I share your crystal radio experience, I still harken back to the days of glowing triodes and nixie tube readouts. I've been an amateur (aka ham) radio operator since the mid-70's, now licensed as K2JPE (a vanity call sign to icnlude for my son Kyle, wife Joan and I).

How's this for an idea - an on the air HHW chatroom operated by the hams in the house?????

Posted by Phil @ 06/24/2003 07:51 PM PST

Many thanks to those who enjoyed
the review. I'd like to keep learning
about theater writing, because it
seems like something that interests
me.
It was the fourth preview, not the first,
to be nitpicky.
If you look at some of the reviews at
sondheim.com, I was not as
laudatory as a few, but much more
positive than others. The site also
has pictures of the curtain.
It's sort of fun to be humming and
singing songs that almost nobody
else has.
I will try not to be errant and truant in
the future, but I will be very busy. I
will explain why shortly.

Posted by Hapgood @ 06/24/2003 08:00 PM PST

We are all hams here at haineshisway.com.

Posted by bk @ 06/24/2003 08:15 PM PST

Some reviewers may have more power than others but for my own personal reasons, I have never, ever let a review sway me from seeing something I wanted to see or made me see something I was dead set against.

On the other hand, without reviewers, what are we left with except advertisers and their publicity? I love seeing different points of view even when they differ wildly from mine. Who cares how influential they are?

Posted by Matt H. @ 06/24/2003 08:23 PM PST

Thanks, Hapgood, for that thorough analysis of BOUNCE. Makes us all much more eager to see it than we were before, if that's possible!

Posted by Matt H. @ 06/24/2003 08:29 PM PST

Phil, I also belong to the club: I had my novice license, WN6OLL, but never quite made it to general, although I was up to the required 13 wpm in morse code. And, along with my interest in 'ham' radio, I was the first and possibly only girl to take electronics as an elective in high school. There, I made a transistor radio: not my first radio, but definitely my most prized.

Posted by Susan @ 06/24/2003 08:31 PM PST

I thought we were all ham chunks.

Posted by TCB @ 06/24/2003 08:36 PM PST

Hapgood, Congratulations on your graduation and congratulations on getting into Northwestern! Much good luck to you there!

And my sincere apologies for seemingly ignoring your friendly attempts at conversation in chat last week. (That would have been terribly unseemly of me.) I was actually away from the computer at the time, and didn't see your greetings to me until I returned, and by then you were gone. Please forgive me.

Posted by Little Me @ 06/24/2003 08:48 PM PST

Hey, we've got as many posts as there are trombones in River City.

Posted by bk @ 06/24/2003 08:55 PM PST

I realize, looking back over my
review that I said that I was a the first
preview, but it was really the fourth.
That is why I corrected bk, not
realizing that my information was
wrong.
Little Me: Thanks for the apology. I'm
sorry if I seemed accusatory, but we
had some history with people who
had strange nicknames harassing
us in the chat room, so I was
naturally suspicious. It is generally a
bad idea to stay logged in when you
can't converse-people get the wrong
idea.
At a JCC theater camp, all students
were given awards on certificates at
the end of the session. I was the
"Kosher Ham" one session.

Posted by Hapgood @ 06/24/2003 09:08 PM PST

Dear DR Hapgood: Great review. You've managed to give a good idea of your impression of the show, without giving away any of the surprises.

Now, about Addison being the first unambiguously gay character in a Sondheim musical, I do have a few points to make. First, we've come a long way in the last thirty-plus years. You're young enough not to remember how NOTHING was gay in the Seventies, not even disco! Now Canada is blowing kisses on our necks. It's a big change.

Second, an obvious point, Sondheim is not the one who writes the books for the shows. He has collaborators who do that, and they deserve a lot more credit than they get, in my opinion. In this case, Addison indeed was gay, and as this is a musical based on historical fact, it makes sense to include that fact.

Third, this is not the first time Sondheim and his collaborators have TRIED to have a character portrayed as gay. In the San Diego Old Globe run of Into the Woods, the Witch was, for some of the performances, quite clearly a lesbian. Der Brucer and I saw ITW in San Diego, and remember that aspect of her character very well. But the Witch being a lesbian really didn't add anything to her character or the story, was more of a distraction, and that part of the portrayal didn't make it to NYC. So it's good to know that, this time the character's sexual identity is likely to stay in the play.

Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'm still swamped with reading and really must get back to it.

Posted by S. Woody White @ 06/24/2003 11:00 PM PST

Good morning.

Sorry to have been errant and truant all day, but the day was just jam-packed and fun-filled - well, rehearsal-filled - which was still fun!

-First radio was a Radio Shack one. And I was in Seattle at the time, so it would have been KING, and the DJ - ???? When we moved to Connecticut, it then was WNLC... and once back in the DC area, Q107. And now in Richmond, it's WCVE (NPR/PBS).

I was and am pretty faithful to stations, but I do surf every now and then to see what's new.. and for the occasional change of pace.

As for Classical and Jazz music.. My parents had quite the record collection when I was growing up - classical, rock/pop, and a lot of easy listening (lots of Montovani and 101 Strings boxed sets!). And I loved playing with the record player - the whole mechanism fascinated me.

I guess I've always liked classical music, but really became aware of it through classic cartoons - especially Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 2, courtesy of Woody Woodpecker, I believe. I didn't really start to get into jazz until high school, and that was through Claude Bolling, Rare Silk, The Manhattan Transfer, Freddie Hubbard, etc. And once I got to college, Ellis Marsalis and fils were quite the inspiration.

Well, it's very late/early here.. and I actually get to sleep in tomorrow! YEAH!

Oh, Tom: Here's my itinerary so far: August 23-4, Sydney; 25-7, Gold Coast; 28-30, Melbourne; 31-September 3, Sydney. -I'm off the last day in each city, more or less. Would a meeting be possible? -Sorry to post this hear, but I lost track of your e-mail address.

Posted by Jose C. Simbulan @ 06/25/2003 12:20 AM PST

Jose
Have emailed address etc. (Unlisted phone number so of course you will need to memorise and eat it)!
So what are the auditions for? The Producers? ??

Posted by Tom From OZ @ 06/25/2003 01:46 AM PST

Prawn cocktail flavour crisps??? LOL! Reminds me of the British Airways flight where I received a foil packet of "Thai green curry flavour pretzel splits." Who comes up with the names of British snack foods? And are they paid by the word? ;)

Posted by Lulu @ 06/25/2003 02:45 AM PST

Yes I have tried the guacamole Doritos. The bag was more enticing than the chips turned out to be. Didn't quite finish them, won't buy them again, but it was a nice try.

Thanks for the GOLD review Hapgood....DR Kurt is going to Chicago to see the show, or is in Chicago, I am not sure which. Sounds very interesting!

All kinds of wonderful posts to read this morning.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/25/2003 03:26 AM PST

Well...Amazon says there are 9 reviews for KRITZERLAND, but I can still only see four, even by clicking on "See All Reviews"...maybe later today they will ALL show up.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/25/2003 03:55 AM PST

All nine Kritzerland reviews come up for me at Amazon.

Posted by Lulu @ 06/25/2003 04:50 AM PST

Yes...nine reviews, including two from DR Jrand. :)

Posted by Lulu @ 06/25/2003 04:54 AM PST

Did I like it?

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/25/2003 06:05 AM PST

That's what Amazon gets - for not posting my review earlier, I thought it had been rejected.

Oh...well...twice the fun! Twice the praise.

KRITZERLAND deserves it.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/25/2003 06:08 AM PST

Woody writes that nothing was gay in the 1970's - not even disco. Where I grew up, everyone said that 'disco is gay'. I guess that could have two meanings.

But everyone also knew that the Village People were gay, and it was no secret that disco originated in the gay clubs of New York.

It's worth mentioning that Billy Crystal was playing a gay character on television as early as 1977.

Posted by Dave @ 06/25/2003 06:39 AM PST

I didn't know the Village People were gay (admittedly, I was very small when they were popular...but I did skate around the roller rink with my arms over my head like a moron to the tune of YMCA, belted out the lyrics to In the Navy, etc., and never ever had a clue). Also, the film that was supposedly going to turn the VPs into an entertainment juggernaut, Can't Stop the Music, goes out of its way to gloss over the whole "gay" thing (members of the band dance with women and occasionally seem to hint at a sexual interest in the opposite sex.) Heck, the other day we saw an old Match Game where someone asked if there was some hanky-panky going on between Brett Somers and Charles Nelson-Reilly. Yes, Charles Nelson-Reilly, one of the most flamboyant men ever to grace the small screen.

Sure, you'd have to be either very naive or fairly braindead not to have "gotten" the fact that the Village People were gay, but even today you'd be amazed how many midwestern moms prefer to think "he's just the type of man who doesn't care about things like that at all" (actual quote from an older relative regarding the questionable (yeah, right) sexuality of Richard Simmons). Apparently, some people are more comfortable with the idea of someone being completely asexual than they are with the idea of someone being homosexual. Believe me, those same people (who seem, sadly, to make up the bulk of American society) would be shocked to discover that disco was rooted in the gay NYC club scene.

And yes, Billy Crystal played a gay man in 1977, but Donald Wildmon and his ilk saw to it that the character was completely defanged pretty quickly. When the show started, Jodie had a hunky football star boyfriend and was contemplating a sex change. By the time it ended, he was married (to a woman) and had fathered a child.

There are so many levels to society. Yes, there were many people completely hip to the whole "alternative lifestyles" thing back in the '70s. But there are (again, I think, though I don't have gallup polls to back me up) even more people who choose (in a semi-conscious way) to remain clueless...not just back in the '70s but continuing into the present day.

Posted by Lulu @ 06/25/2003 07:31 AM PST

Professor Plum, in the Observatory, with the lead pipe.

Posted by Colonel Mustard @ 06/25/2003 07:37 AM PST

I didn't do it!

Posted by Mr. Green @ 06/25/2003 07:51 AM PST

Lulu, I agree with you that there are a great number of people who choose not to see the blatantly obvious gay references in contemporary culture. And others who refuse to subject themselves to anything that might have a whiff of gay content. You know what they say about denial, right?

But my point was that even though people might have consciously or unconsciously ignored it, there was at least some gay content in popular culture in the 1970's. Sometimes it was open, other times it was more veiled, but it did exist.

And personally, I liked the fact that the Billy Crystal character on "Soap" (was it Jodie Dallas?) eventually married and had a son. Strange as it may sound, that is a part of the experience of a large number of gay men. I personally know men who have been married with children, and only come out later in life. Though the motivations might have been questionable, I think it was an interesting way to handle the arc of that character.

And even at that point in the show, the character did not have to deny his sexuality. One of my favourite exchanges in that show happened when social services threatened to take away Jodie's (Billy's) child:

Q. Are you a practicing homosexual?

A. I don't have to practice. I'm very good at it.

Posted by Dave @ 06/25/2003 07:52 AM PST

I never had an "observatory." I think you mean "conservatory."

Posted by Mr. Boddy @ 06/25/2003 07:52 AM PST

Just re-read my post, and remembered...I think that Jodie's character had a daughter, not a son. Anyone remember for sure?

Confused? You will be...

Posted by Dave @ 06/25/2003 07:54 AM PST

I think basically we agree, Dave. I was mainly reacting to the assertion that "everyone knew the Village People were gay." I know that I, my peers and probably most of their parents didn't "get it" either. And part of that was due to the fact that their PR did consciously walk a like that allowed the folks in the flyover states (and that's a state of mind, btw...not a geographic imperative) to keep their collective head in the sand.

Anyhoo...in related news, there's a rumor afloat that the first season of Soap is coming to DVD. That'd be nice, though I won't hold my breath (I'm still smarting over the last-minute decision to discontinue the Mary Tyler Moore Show season-by-season DVD boxsets).

My favorite Soap moment, however, came in the second season: the women-of-Soap-gathered-around-the-kitchen-table-devouring-coffee-cake-while-discussing-sex scene. Second favorite: a scandalized Katherine Helmond saying, "Mickey Mouse's dog was gay?!?" (Jody had just asserted the proclivities of Plato.)

Posted by Lulu @ 06/25/2003 08:03 AM PST

walk a like = walk a line

Posted by Lulu @ 06/25/2003 08:04 AM PST

i never liked SOAP because I didn't think Robert Mandan was funny... Oh, he tried, he tried. But he was sort of like William Daniels for me - never got the message. Same with the man who played Burt - not funny for me...and he tried even harder. I know he did some Blake Edwards movies, but he never made me laugh.

That's the way it goes. A lot of people probably think he's funny. But then Doritos sold a lot of those guacamole chips, too.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/25/2003 08:16 AM PST

Somebody say something...we will get to 100.

How are the bees today?

Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/25/2003 08:17 AM PST

Another great "Soap" moment:

Remember when Burt and Danny were playing 'cops' in the living room? Too funny.

Posted by Dave @ 06/25/2003 08:17 AM PST

I meant Conservatory....and I still think Plum did it.

Posted by Colonel Mustard @ 06/25/2003 08:17 AM PST

Jrand, I must disagree in that I often found Richard "Burt" Mulligan absolutely hysterical. Particularly the scene when he shows up drunk at Caroline McWilliams's apartment. (Jesus, I have the names of too many obscure '70s TV actors cluttering up my cranium). Robert Mandan was less funny (particularly when he went on auto-pilot and simply played "stuffy," which he did increasingly through the years), but when he lost his memory and thought he was Marlene Dietrich, he made me laugh out loud.

If there was anything I didn't really care for about Soap it was that the drama was shoehorned into the farce with icky results. Either go for pure, outrageous, Moliere-style farce or tone it down to more realism-based comedy-drama. But stuff like Elaine dying in Danny's arms immediately after knockabout goofy humor never did sit right with me.

Posted by Lulu @ 06/25/2003 08:23 AM PST

Well, Colonel Mustard, you're wrong. I did it. I killed him. I hated him SO...much...

Posted by Mrs. White @ 06/25/2003 08:25 AM PST

Lulu, I'm with you on the shifting tone that sometimes marred "Soap". Never was that more glaring than during the whole "demon possession" storyline. From the ridiculous to the ludicrous.

Posted by Dave @ 06/25/2003 08:28 AM PST

I'm Lester Plate!

Posted by Lester Plate @ 06/25/2003 08:31 AM PST

bzzzzzzzzzzzz

yOu wOUldn'T BElievE hOW HaRd iT is fOr BeEs TO TyPe So tIrED mUst rEst...

Posted by tHe BEeS @ 06/25/2003 08:37 AM PST

GADZZZ.......the thing I love about reading the early morning posts, is that for some reason the "skewed mind", non-sequitur, wonderfully disjointed, types of topic threads really take some bizarre twists and roller coaster turns.

DR Lulu -- I understand what you mean about perceptions. I was a southern Calif. boy, so early on there wasn't much question about Liberace, Paul Lynde, Alan Suess (sp?), the Village People, Charles Nelson Reilly, etc., etc.. Now, that's not to say that I didn't have to watch out for a lot of hairy-knuckled rednecks who would have just loved to bash in a little gay teenagers face, but the general public were probably a little more aware of emerging lifestyles than folks in smaller cities.

As for the British snack foods: I have had some of the most disgusting flavors I've ever encountered contained in "packets" as they are called. But I was just as surprised, and kinda scared, when on my very first trip to Australia I came down to the dinig room of my hotel in the morning to have breakfast. There, in black & white print on the menu, were 2 of the suggested main course items for breakfast...."spaghetti on toast, and baked beans on toast." I'm sure Tom (Oz) will think I'm crazy for questioning this bit of culinary inspiration, but then I could never get with Vegemite either! Do you spread it on bread, do you repair a hole in your roof with it, do you re-pave a highway....???

Anyway, special Hi to all the early morning crazies ! :)

Posted by MusicGuy @ 06/25/2003 08:53 AM PST