Haines His Way

Had this morning's casting conversation and we'll see how today goes.  Our latest offer for Joyce really wanted to do it, but has an eighteen month old baby and just couldn't work out those issues.  We're moving on to another today.

I'm amazed at how difficult it is to get the leads. I would think that many people would jump at the chance to do a NY show.

First Plane Ride:  Columbia SC to Orlando FL in June 1970, going from Fort Jackson SC (military indoctrination center) to Recruit Training Command Orlando (Navy boot camp).

First Train Ride:  Naples, Italy to Vicenza, Italy with changeovers in Rome and Bologna -- March 1973 (going from Navy Support Activity, Naples, my host command, to Vicenza, Italy, my designated duty station (Southern European Broadcasting, the Armed Forces Radio Network HQS in Italy).

First Ship Ride:  Corinth, Greece to Rimini, Italy in August 1975, leaving Greece where I had been assigned in Athens to return to Italy where I would be assigned to Naples for a tour of duty.   The ship was an auto carrier.  I drove into a hold and parked.  The trip took a day and a half (two overnights).  Interesting.

Can't you buy some new ones in Brooklyn?

Tsk.  No!  It's August, you see, and all the blue silk pantaloons are long gone.  He could find some pink ones and some chartreuse ones, but they probably wouldn't show as well during auditions.

Der B, I didn't actually live in Perryville, but it was right next to Perrypoint, MD where my father was stationed. It was a big VA Hospital and my father ran the pharmaceutical depot. We used to love to drive the fork lifts around after hours!

Maybe DR Elmore will get home in time to watch the rest of THE CLOSER at 10PM...

And DER BRUCER, what are your feelings about flying these days? Any trepidation?

My first PROP plane flight:  Hmmm....I'm not sure about the dates.  It was sometime in 1976, IIRC.  I was in "Come Blow Your Horn" at Caserma Ederle (in Vicenza, Italy).  The director was station manager of the radio station to which I was assigned.  The commander of the Southern European Task Force (SETAF) (Army command in charge of Army and Air Force facilities in Italy, Greece and Turkey) asked my boss if he could arrange to "tour" the military sites of SETAF with the play.  We had a two-week tour.  All the military got special leave (i.e. it didn't cost us any personal leave time) and TDY (temporary duty allowance).  The SETAF commander sent us out in two PROP planes with pilots/co-pilots.  We were a merry band of travelers.  I was afforded an opportunity to sit in co-pilot's seat and take the controls as we neared Mt. Olympus.  It was quite a THRILL.

My first Helicopter Ride:  During the same trip, we went to one remote site in Turkey in helicopters.

Ferry across the Channel?

The "Chunnel"---underwater tunnel. A little scary, at first!

And another for DR MBarnum:

And one for DR Edi, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind, by Bruce Watson:

TOD

What was the first time you were on a plane:

1958 - Flew from Baltimore to Boston on a turbo-prop (Went to BC to represent Annapolis in a Forensics competition - won a trophy for my pairing of The Hollowmen with an excerpt from The Secret Sharer).

Train - circa 1954 - Philadelphia to Boston (My Boy Scout leader took me for the weekend - and the answer to the question is YES!)

Boat - well, I guess the paddle boats on Saylor's Lake in the Poconos don't count, so the next boat trip was in 1956 when I crewed on a Navy Ship from Philadelphia to Provincetown Mass (YES, again).

Boat wise I've been to Canada, Greenland, Cuba, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Malta, Crete, Greece, Turkey, Japan, Viet Nam (actually a helo trip from ship to share), Hong Kong, Philippines, Hawaii, Panama, Jamaica, Columbia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and lots of Caribbean spots.

Air travel adds England, Holland, Austria, Switzerland and East Germany to the list.

der Brucer

Good morning! Boy did I have a rude awakening.  I have been thinking for over a week that I have a bat in the house.  Boo has been literally climbing the windows and was doing that before I went to sleep last night.  Well, we had a bat...I say "had" because by the time I woke up, grabbed the butterfly net and ran to the hallway where I heard the cats and the screeching of the bat...the cats had attacked the bat and it was laying on the floor close to death.   That's the good news...the bad news is there was bat blood on the floor, on the walls, on the cupboard door and even on the ceiling!!!

Needless to say I'm up and not going back to sleep.  I have cleaned up the mess, put the dead bat in a plastic bag, sealed it and put it in the garage.  

The cats weren't happy that I took their prey, but I did praise them and give them treats.   Today I will call the guy who guaranteed me that I wouldn't have any bats getting into the house.  Hopefully he can seal things up again.

That's so weird!  My friend Kim (we were in Cannibal! The Musical together) e-mailed me last night that SHE had a bat in her house last night, too!  Fortunately, she and her husband were able to get the bat outside without any injuries to her, her husband, their kid or the bat.

And I can't wait for your report!!!

Neither can I!!

- and the answer to the question is YES!)