Happy Birthday, DR MBarnum!
Tom from Oz - Great SINGING NUN photo. Reminds me of a Debbie Reynolds story... I really admire her - aside from SINGING IN THE RAIN and all the other terrific films she's done, I admire her as a Survivor. She just keeps going, no matter what. (She was TOTALLY broke a number of years ago. I don't know if it's true, but I've heard she lived out of her car for for a while.)
A couple of years ago I wrote a Showtime film that she was in (she was wonderful - got an Emmy nomination) and we had a few really good talks about life, men, bad choices, etc. I have a lovely photo of the two of us, she in a bathrobe, sitting on the porch of a house where we were shooting - but I have no scanner, so you'll just have to take my word for how cute it is. Anyway, the point of all this is to relate the ultimate show business moment. There was one endless day shooting in a high school football field where Debbie was supposed to be watching in the stands as her grandson played football. The extras sitting around her were bored and tired and she was probably exhausted. I was doing something in another part of the field when I heard applause and laughter. Went over and discovered that between takes, Debbie would stand up, turn around and start doing her nightclub act for the extras! She was doing imitations, shtick, you name it. And, of course, the thoroughly intimidated AD was afraid to interrupt her, so he'd wait for her to finish whatever she was doing before saying, "We're ready, Miss Reynolds." Then she'd sit down, do her scene. The minute the director yelled "Cut!" she'd turn around, stand up and continue her act for the extras. That's a performer!