Topic: PINS AND NEEDLES (Read 31591 times)

Ben · « **Reply #30 on:** January 06, 2004, 06:32:37 AM »

Last Christmas when we were doing our usual gift bag volunteering we had to go upstairs to a little used office and bring down boxes of donated goods and any other materials that might be up there. Well, we are good volunteers and follow orders. We brought down all the boxes we could find, including one that had some CDs and other things, including the program from Jumbo. The higher ups were surprised that the box was up there. It didn't contain much more of importance other than the Jumbo program though. No other great finds. That's why I was rifling through boxes at Equity :-)

bk · « **Reply #31 on:** January 06, 2004, 06:33:02 AM »

I've been up since five-thirty, as the phone rang (I tend not to answer early-calls like that unless I instantly recognize the number, which I usually don't because I can't see that early in the morning).

I can barely see now, but am enjoying, as always, these lovely posts.

Ben · « **Reply #32 on:** January 06, 2004, 06:33:47 AM »

I'm Member Number 30 and that was Reply Number 30. Coincidence??? Perhaps. One never knows, do one (a Fats Waller reference).

Jrand73 · « **Reply #33 on:** January 06, 2004, 06:37:07 AM »

How come when I search through boxes all I ever find are Martial Arts videos and Farm Journal magazines?

MBarnum · « **Reply #34 on:** January 06, 2004, 06:48:42 AM »

Woohoo! State offices are closed until 10:00am...I think I might try to go back to bed for a few.

I only have a few playbills and they are from plays that some of my favorite performers appeared in (but not plays that I have seen). I have a couple from shows that Michi Kobi did and a few from shows that Keith Andes did, and that is about it I'm afraid.

Jennifer · « **Reply #35 on:** January 06, 2004, 06:50:52 AM »

Last night after I went to bed, DRs Laura II and George finally decided to talk about Average Joe:

Quote from: Laura II on Yesterday at 11:16:49pm
George--What do you think of Average Joe??

George wrote:
It'll be an interesting season (as any season would be). She kept the several guys that I would've kept. And I want to know if the adding of hunks this season will be the only twist. There are eight (I think) this time, and last time there were only three.

I'm glad they are doing it differently this time and bringing in the hunks early. Last time they waited till we were down to 3 and I think most viewers were upset, because it seemed unfair.

Personally I wonder if she will find any she likes among the below averages. They mostly seemed so bizarre. And I'm sorry but that little matt b guy was so creepy!

Btw, I'm glad I stopped by the chat on a whim at 11pm ET. It was great to chat with DRs Swishy, Ann from Hawaii, Emily, Maya, Laura II, Sandra, Jed, and George. And TCB showed up as I was leaving at midnight.

Jennifer · « **Reply #36 on:** January 06, 2004, 06:53:27 AM »

Hey Ben have you stopped your quest for God?

I am still hungry from last night. DR Ann how were our Hawaiin subs on the beach?

Ben · « **Reply #37 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:07:04 AM »

No, dear Jennifer. I am a mere 25 (with this post) away from God-like status. I shall achieve sometime soon. Once I get completely back into work and life in New York City I will post a picture or two and a tale or two about London and Nottingham (the Robin Hood Statue looks nothing like Errol Flynn) and I will move up the ladder, though I am afraid I will never catch up to you, dear Jennifer, unless, that is, you go on an extended vacation with limited internet access. As you approach the threshold of 1000 I will think of you as I reach 501.

Jennifer · « **Reply #38 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:09:35 AM »

But you don't get anything for 1000. So it's not the same

Emily · « **Reply #39 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:22:32 AM »

okay Ben...

since you went away Jennifer had to become a God without you.

However - WE are now on relatively equal footing.

Bwah ha ha!

*Tags Ben*

Beat you to 500!

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #40 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:25:39 AM »

Good morning!

Wow, there really was quite the BK-predicted posting frenzy last night! And, yes, I was actually in bed by midnight last night - and didn't get up until 9:00! Must be my body in post-Camelot mode. And since I don't have rehearsal until 3:00 today...

Favorite theatrical souvenirs:

Somewhere in a box - still, I hope - I have the Playbills from my first trip to NYC. Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues (signed by everyone but Mr. Broderick), and Tap Dance Kid. A couple of years ago, I lost track of some of my high school programs, and I wish I could find them again - some of the closing night "autographs" were really well written and touching and inspiring.

Otherwise, I have a couple more signed posters - usually from the March and November BC/EFA fundraising campaigns. My signed posters from the Kennedy Center's Sondheim Celebration. Oh, and speaking of Mr. Sondheim, somewhere in a box I lost track of, is a series of short letters from Mr. Sondheim, including one classically "painful" correspondence wherein he basically tells me to "F*ck Off" - of course, he never uses those exact words, so it actually had/had quite the bite. Ouch! I'm not sure if I would call that a "most treasured" item... I can't even really laugh about it today - and it's been about 10 years, so... -And it was a response to my response/reaction to the first preview performance of Passion on Broadway... Boy, did I not like the show in that time and version... Just goes to show...Even if you're asked for an opinion, sometimes...

I'm planning a major sorting and purging of my "detritus" in the next few weeks. If I come across it, I'll post it... NOT!

Emily · « **Reply #41 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:28:15 AM »

I am really not a collector - I just refuse to throw stuff out... including stuff I will probably never look at again.

Case in point: I keep almost all of the playbills/programs to any show I have ever seen. Don't ask me where most of them are, though, because I normally just toss them into the first empty drawer I see. So I guess that doesn't constitute exactly as a "collection".

Overall, I don't even have all that many in the first place. Lots from the Fringe Fest. Proof, Copenhagen (with the guy from the X-Files) and The Cripple of Inishmaan from the Centaur Theatre. And of course, my Ragtime, Wicked and Gypsy playbills from New York. All of them are nice... but quite useless.

On my wall I have the beginnings of my JRB collection. Yes, I am allowed to call two window cards (one official one for Parade and a photocopied non-card for The Last Five Years) a collection because I actually look at those occasionally

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #42 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:29:09 AM »

OH! And a tradition I picked up from one of my college professors... At the end of our last day in the rehearsal hall (before we move into the theatre), I take a small piece of the spike tape off the floor and put it on my score/script. Kind of a reminder of where it all started.

Unfortunately, I think the piece of tape I took off from the Camelot floor fell off along the way. I have a box-o-stuff to go through, and maybe it will turn up, I hope.

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #43 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:37:55 AM »

-And have any other DRs come across Stash Tea's Licorice Spice flavor? It's quite good. And just the right amount of licorice flavor - and it's also naturally sweet on it's own. I also like Stash's Blueberry Tea. Very nice.

-I know, I know, I should be working on charts...

Jrand73 · « **Reply #44 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:41:03 AM »

Oh - I forgot the signed poster from the LA Cast of SUNSET BOULEVARD!

JMK · « **Reply #45 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:44:20 AM »

Hi, all--have been so busy lately, but have still had time to occasionally visit to read. Today, as MBarnum has pointed out, is PANIC IN THE STREETS day in Oregon because we have had, Heaven forefend, SNOOOWWWWW!! (Insert screaming and ponderous "Team Coverage" newsmuzak here), so I have time to sit and lounge. I laugh at this NW panic, having grown up in the Wasatch Range outside of SLC (where my parents' home was at about 4500 feet elevation, so we knew from snow).

I have so much theatrical memorabilia it's frightening. I have of course scores from the shows I've played, a la Jose. But I also have a ton of Playbills from flop musicals, which I've collected for years. I also, as you may suspect, have a lot of stuff from my fave actress Frances Farmer, including several signed Playbills from the Broadway and National Tour runs of Odets' Golden Boy. My favorite weird autograph in that regard is the Washington DC run of Golden Boy in 1938, which has the signatures of the entire cast (Farmer, Kazan, Cobb, Malden, etc.), and then on the back cover, for some really bizarre reason, Fox starlet Arlene Whelan. Hmmm. Maybe she was the prompter that night. I also have the very rare Playbill of the Robert Ardrey play Thunder Rock, which starred FF and Luther Adler and ran for about ten minutes in late 1939.

Finally I would like to add my 2 cents worth regarding the Karma discussion here a couple of days ago--I also think it's trivial, but have to agree with those who ask why even have a "boo" button at all, if we are supposedly a big, happy family? I know that I personally was "dunned" Karma within about 10 seconds of complaining on the tech Board when I was having problems logging in. Why in heaven's name (and who, I might ask) would be so childish as to do that?

Hope all the Northwesterners enjoy their day off!!

Robin · « **Reply #46 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:46:46 AM »

Okay, here's what an anal retentive I am...

...I save not only the Playbills from every show I see, but also the torn ticket stubs from every show as well. And I also buy the damned souvenir booklets...every time. It's a compulsion. I have souvenir programs from shows that I hated, for Heaven's sake!

And in my brief theatrical career, I saved every program from every play I'd ever been involved in. I don't remember being the floor manager for a production of L'IL ABNER, but I have the proof that I did it! I understudied the part of Dracula (in DRACULA, of course), and I have the program and the little slip of paper announcing the switcheroo as well.

But my most treasured memento is directing ZOO STORY for a regional theatre in Wisconsin. I cast two very inexperienced actors, a gamble which paid off immeasurably. It was a pleasure to work on this play, made more so by the two gentle men in the cast.

Ben · « **Reply #47 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:50:34 AM »

OK, Miss Emily. You're on and may the best God-like HK win!

Emily · « **Reply #48 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:54:01 AM »

Quote from: Ben on January 06, 2004, 07:50:34 AM

OK, Miss Emily. You're on and may the best God-like HK win!

a little competition never hurt anyone

Emily · « **Reply #49 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:55:00 AM »

ugh... I am feeling so gross today. I have the nauseous cloud hanging over my head.

What better place is there to be than school at times like these?

Panni · « **Reply #50 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:55:51 AM »

Good morning. All this talk of playbills! It's ironic that I threw my treasured playbills away only a couple of months ago, thinking that's the end of that. Suddenly I've become part of a community of lovely people to whom they would actually mean something. Oh well... No use crying over spilled programs. The one thing I did recall this morning while reading about autographed programs in the posts, is that among the programs I must have thrown away was one I got as a teenager which was autographed by Helen Hayes. I'm not one for autographs, but as kid actress, seeing Helen Hayes on stage was really something. So I waited at the stage door of the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto and got her to sign my program. She was very gracious and it was a memorable moment. Then I stupidly put the playbill among all my other playbills. Who would've thunk back then that one day I'd throw them all away. Oh well... No use crying over spilled Helen.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #51 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:57:39 AM »

Thunder Rock Stage Manager: 15 minutes, Miss Farmer.

Frances Farmer: Thank you.

***********

TRSM: Ten minutes, Miss Farmer.

FF: Thank you.

**************

TRSM: Miss Farmer....

FF: Yes?

TRSM: Never mind.

Matt H. · « **Reply #52 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:58:07 AM »

I'm on my laptop which is not connected to a scanner, but later today I'll scan some of the things that I love most.

Most valuable to me, I guess, are some Playbills from the 1920s. My grandmother took a trip to NYC and saw several shows and for some reason saved the Playbills. When I came across them, I begged her for them, and she was glad to get rid of them. Said she would have thrown them away if she had known they were in her "junk room."

I used to get the souvenir books when I went to shows in NYC, but often, if you were seeing the shows after some of the original stars left, you'd get their pictures who were not whom you were seeing in the show, so I stopped buying them. I think the last one I bought was for Pearl Bailey in HELLO DOLLY.

Matt H. · « **Reply #53 on:** January 06, 2004, 07:58:47 AM »

Oh, loved the cover from GONE WITH THE WIND in London. Thanks for scanning that for us.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #54 on:** January 06, 2004, 08:01:28 AM »

What do Grant Williams and Richard Chamberlain have in common?

bk · « **Reply #55 on:** January 06, 2004, 08:03:25 AM »

They're both shrinking?

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #56 on:** January 06, 2004, 08:10:27 AM »

When I discovered eBay, I started hunting for Ethel Merman playbills. There were a surprising number of them (an awful lot of Panama Hatties) out there - "there" being every corner of the U.S. - and not always for outrageous sums. Over three or four years I managed to get one of every Ethel playbill (with the exception of Humpty Dumpty, which closed in Pittsburgh). Along the way, I met another collector (we were both bidding on Take a Chance), and we soon became friends.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #57 on:** January 06, 2004, 08:14:41 AM »

D i T that's how I met a lot of internet friends as well!

No, Mr BK, that is not what I was thinking of...although it may be true.

Jennifer · « **Reply #58 on:** January 06, 2004, 08:24:32 AM »

OMG, have I mentioned how freezing it is here today!

Oh Emily are you stealing Ben away from me

Have fun you two. And may the best God win.

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #59 on:** January 06, 2004, 08:26:40 AM »

Quote from: [size=2]bk on January 06, 2004, 12:19:27 AM

And, of course, if you have the occasional photo of something dear to you, post it, let's just not overdo the photos or Mr. Mark Bakalor will bitch-slap us from here to eternity.

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[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]Promises, Promises![/move]

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Author Topic: PINS AND NEEDLES (Read 31591 times)

Ben

Ben

MBarnum

Ben

Ben

Ron Pulliam