Haines His Way

I ended my afternoon of viewing with W.C. Fields in THE OLD FASHIONED WAY. Not as funny as YOU'RE TELLING ME, but it contains some classic Fields moments including that fabulous juggling act as The Great McGonigle, and his barker antics selling a cure for hoarseness.

And, of course, any time Baby LeRoy is present, there's always amusement.

And I like that THE VIEW is in high def so one got a much better view of the line in A CHORUS LINE.

Did they show the dancers feet?

der Brucer

Last night MusciGuy posted:

But maybe -- just maybe -- this will be the night that the wispy Sanjaya finally begins to ovulate !  

Well, its seems that he already had, before the show. On stage we were exposed to a horrible misscarriage!

Well, if it's any consolation, Sanjaya not only made little children cry, he left Simon virtually speechless.

der Brucer

IMHO Jordin put on the best performance, with Melinda second.

Yes - the director obviously knew what he was doing.

And would you support a film re-make of A Chorus Line by a "director obviously (who) knew what he was doing".

der Brucer

Why nobody really needs to drive an SUV:

http://aistigave.hit.bg/Logistics/

The was a great way to start my day!

LOOK -DHL on it's way to HHW:


der Brucer

I began my afternoon with last night's BOSTON LEGAL. A very surprising ending to the Megan Mullally storyline that I did not see coming. Constance Zimmer's storyline was also of some interest. Pretty good show and less silly than it sometimes is.

I also had no idea where Megan's storyline was going and was quite surprised by not only what her actual story was but also Alan's "deal" with her.

I just got back from lunch and had to catch up.  I went to a new place just a couple of blocks away called "Teriyaki Wok) and had their orange chicken with rice.  It was quite tasty.

Had a surprise conference call with a client about doing returns going back to 2000 and 2001!  Had to go back in my memory to remind myself what the old tax laws were then in some cases.

Lovely story, Jose!

...unless something of the original recordings has turned up that wasn't originally released, I can live easily without them.

What if they were personally delivered by Brent Barrett?

der Brucer

DR Jose, what a nice day you had! And of course anyone with any sense would be happy to have someone with such a sunny disposition playing piano for them! (quite the antithesis of the cynical piano players you would always see in those old 1930s musicals!)

LOOK -DHL on it's way to HHW:

What is it, fish?

DR Jose, have you seen the movie ANYTHING BUT LOVE, also known as STANDARD TIME? Andrew McCarthy plays a piano player playing auditions by day and lounge piano by night. He is very cute in it and it also features your friend Eartha Kitt. (I didn't see her punch Andrew...)

Here's the story from the front page of today's Sioux City Journal about the Angel of Ahlem.

Story of an 'angel'

Vernon Tott documentary premieres tonight
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer

The camera lens brings the face of a forlorn-looking young man into focus on the movie poster.

Through a second-hand camera, Vernon Tott snapped the harsh conditions of Jewish survivors of the Nazi labor camp.

Siouxland residents can see first-hand the joy Tott's pictures have brought to those men and their families.

"Angel of Ahlem," a 60-minute documentary about Tott and his search for camp survivors premieres tonight at the Orpheum Theatre. The 8:15 showing is free to the public.

It will be the first public showing of the movie, filmed and produced by the University of Florida's Documentary Institute.

"We thought we owe it to the family to show it first in Sioux City," said co-director Churchill Roberts, who with his staff has spent three years working on the film.

The movie details the final 10 years of Tott's life, time spent searching almost tirelessly for Ahlem survivors. Tott died last March at age 80 from cancer.

"It's going to be difficult (to watch), but I think it's going to be wonderful," his wife, Betty Tott, said.

On April 10, 1945, Tott and the Army's 84th Division came upon the camp just outside of Hannover, Germany. Shocked by the conditions, Tott pulled out a Kodak camera he bought in a pawn shop before he was shipped overseas and took 18 photos of Jewish men who had been worked nearly to death. They are the only photos of the liberation known to exist.

When he returned home to Sioux City, Tott put the pictures away. For 50 years, they were stashed in his basement until Benjamin Sieradzki wrote a letter to an 84th Division newsletter in 1995. An Ahlem survivor, he was looking for the soldier who took the photos.

Tott replied, and the two became fast friends. Having found Sieradzki, Tott wondered if there were more survivors. By the time he died, more than 30 had been located.

"He absolutely lived and breathed it once he got into it," Betty Tott said.

Sieradzki, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., and two other survivors will attend tonight's premiere.

Roberts learned of Tott after reading an Associated Press story about how the Ahlem survivors had Tott's name engraved at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

The survivors he helped reunite called Tott their angel. Never seeking fame, Tott was just glad to make them happy. Tott was thrilled about the movie, knowing that it could lead to the discovery of more survivors.

"He was proud to know that it was going to happen, even though he knew he wasn't going to get to see it," Sadler said.

Roberts said he thinks viewers will learn a lot about the Holocaust through Tott's eyes.

"I think there will be an enormous amount of pride that this Army veteran from Sioux City devoted the last 10 years of his life to such a noble cause," Roberts said.

When he settles into his seat at the Orpheum tonight, Sadler said, it will be sad that his father didn't live to see the film, at least not in person.

"Somewhere there, he'll be with us," Sadler said.

Angels always are.

Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.