Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 6   Go Down

Author Topic: AIN'T WE GOT FUN?  (Read 126442 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Ben

  • Guest
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #30 on: May 12, 2004, 08:31:06 AM »

Here is page 2. I'll leave the dance to someone else.
Logged

S. Woody White

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 14695
  • The Lecture!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #31 on: May 12, 2004, 08:33:51 AM »

DRGeorge, there is no unabridged PRINCESS BRIDE; the title and editorial credits are part of Goldman's humor.
Which brings up the other novel supposedly written not by Goldman but by S. Morgenstern, The Silent Gondoliers.  Not as detailed as PB, it still stands as fine comic fantasy on it's own merits.  When I first read it, I thought it would make a great musical, with an interesting twist: the lead character literally cannot sing!
Logged
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

Noel

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1325
  • Husband (10th year), father and songwriter
    • Musings on musicals
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #32 on: May 12, 2004, 08:57:12 AM »

Success for lazy me!
I've found the fingering chart I was seeking.
Hallelujah.
...and thanks for your help
Logged
In this family, when words won't do, there's gotta be a song.

S. Woody White

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 14695
  • The Lecture!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #33 on: May 12, 2004, 08:57:23 AM »

Did any DRs catch the Dick Van Dyke reunion show last night?
Yes, der Brucer and I watched the show.  I thought the pace could have been better (which I blame on the writing), and that one of the trademarks of the original show was missing (the physical humor).  But working Richie into the story at the beginning was nice.  The Petries having a dance studio in their Manhattan home was a bit odd, given what space costs in that neck of the woods (particularly given the cost of space being part of the storyline).  Still, if they can all get together once, maybe they can get together again...and get it right!
Logged
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

Matt H.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 52338
  • Side by side by Sondheim
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #34 on: May 12, 2004, 08:58:20 AM »

I recorded THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW reunion last night, but haven't had a chance to watch it.

BTW, if anyone missed it and wants to see it, CBS is rerunning it and tonight's Carol Burnett clip show a week from this coming Saturday from 9-11 p.m. EDT
Logged
If at first you don't succeed, that's about average for me.

S. Woody White

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 14695
  • The Lecture!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #35 on: May 12, 2004, 09:00:20 AM »

Dear BK: Towards the end of yesterday's posts, you mentioned that a number of merry lurkers have been searching merrily through the site, looking for two words in particular.

Wouldn't it be fun to post those two words, with absolutely no context, every once in a while?  Just to give those merry searchers something to find?  I kind of feel sorry for them, knowing that they search and search with little in the way of results.

Or, as Bugs would say, "I'm such a stinker."
Logged
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

S. Woody White

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 14695
  • The Lecture!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #36 on: May 12, 2004, 09:08:12 AM »

KELSEY UPDATE:

Yes, the old feller is still with us.  He's eating much better, and generally doing fine, but his back legs have given out on him.  He can pull himself around when there's carpeting underneath, but so much of our house has hardwood floors, and that's where his front legs fail him.  

What he doesn't like is being alone, which I understand.  He want's to have people around, and can be very vocal when he's lonely.  I can't blame him on that.

And he still likes popcorn!  That's always been a favorite treat.
Logged
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

bk

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 136008
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #37 on: May 12, 2004, 09:28:39 AM »

Question for Ask BK Day

When you were preparing the song choices for the two duet albums with Skinner and Ripley how did you decide who would sing what when it came to solo lines and did you have to make sure the received equal amount of solo lines in each song?

We all chose the songs together.  I did the arrangements with Todd, then the girls came over and worked with Todd and figured out who'd sing what.  I left that totally to them.
Logged

bk

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 136008
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #38 on: May 12, 2004, 09:32:52 AM »


My question for ASK BK DAY:

Do we have anyone today to compare with:

Mr Danny Kaye
Miss Joan Davis
Mr Vincent Price

Not in my opinion (IMO, in Internet lingo).  I suppose some would say Robin Williams is the modern day Danny Kaye, but he's not, or Jim Carrey, but he's not.  Kaye was a true unique one-off performer.  I suppose there are some character comediennes around but I don't know that there are any with the timing of Joan Davis, except maybe Cindy Williams and she's sort of lost it these days.  No one will EVER be like Vincent Price and there is no one who even comes close.
Logged

bk

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 136008
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #39 on: May 12, 2004, 09:38:10 AM »

Dear BK: Towards the end of yesterday's posts, you mentioned that a number of merry lurkers have been searching merrily through the site, looking for two words in particular.

Wouldn't it be fun to post those two words, with absolutely no context, every once in a while?  Just to give those merry searchers something to find?  I kind of feel sorry for them, knowing that they search and search with little in the way of results.

Or, as Bugs would say, "I'm such a stinker."

Oh, I don't like to make anyone's JOB easier.
Logged

bk

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 136008
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #40 on: May 12, 2004, 09:59:08 AM »

What is this, bump on a log day?  We need some merriment and mirth and laughter and legs, not to mention questions.
Logged

William E. Lurie

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 988
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #41 on: May 12, 2004, 10:12:38 AM »

Here's a little more on a topic from a couple of weeks ago... was there or was there not an Intermission at the Roadshow screenings of WEST SIDE STORY.  Apparently Robert Wise planned it without an intermission and it opened that way, but when some theatres started adding one in in inappropriate spots Wise added one to avoid this.  Therefore if you saw it very early in the run (as I did), there was no intermission, but if you saw it after a few weeks, there was.
Logged
Years from now when you talk of this --- and you will --- be kind.

TCB

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 97748
  • Because I can!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #42 on: May 12, 2004, 10:13:03 AM »

In the original The Music Man movie, there is a River City citizen who looks very much like Joan Davis.  She doesn't have a speaking role but participates in the production numbers (you can see her very clearly as the camera pans by everyone lined up during "Wells Fargo Wagon".)  I doubt that it actually is Davis, but the resemblance is there.

I just read on IMDB that Joan Davis went through the tragedy of losing her mother, daughter and two grandsons in a fire in 1963.  That's very sad.


Dan, although it is true that Joan Davis' mother, daughter, and two grandchildren died in a fire in 1963, this was two years after Miss Davis passed away.  Her daughter Beverly Wills was also an actress, and on I MARRIED JOAN, she played Joan's sister.

« Last Edit: May 12, 2004, 10:14:27 AM by TCB »
Logged
“One thing’s universal,
Life’s no dress rehearsal….”

bk

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 136008
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #43 on: May 12, 2004, 10:18:47 AM »

No, WEL, you have merely read this on the Internet and it is not true.  Whether he planned it or not, the film opened in its roadshow engagements WITH an intermission.  I saw it one week into its roadshow run at the Chinese and saw it fourteen weeks in a row thereafter - intermission every single time.  I have checked with cast members who were in NY at the time it opened at the Rivoli and it had the intermission there.  Mr. Wise, IF he said it, is in error.  In fact, I hate to tell you this, but Mr. Wise is often in error on these commentary tracks he does, and also in print.  He's eighty-ish now so it's understandable.  I can't swear the film didn't have an intermission everywhere it played in roadshow, but it certainly did in NY and LA.  The intermission was, of course, gone when the film went into general release.
Logged

TCB

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 97748
  • Because I can!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #44 on: May 12, 2004, 10:26:35 AM »

(An unofficial) ASK BK QUESTION:

I knew that Elaine Stritch and Anthony Hopkins were good friends, but what was Megan Mullalley doing on the panel last night?

An Official ASK BK QUESTION:

George Chakiris can be seen as a dancer in several big Hollywood movies (i.e. WHITE CHRISTMAS) prior to winning an Oscar for WEST SIDE STORY; and yesterday you mentioned Donna McKechnie as a dancer in BILLIE; can you think of others who started their careers as dancers in film and then managed to build a career of their own?
Logged
“One thing’s universal,
Life’s no dress rehearsal….”

Stuart

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1123
  • No one is alone.....
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #45 on: May 12, 2004, 10:45:07 AM »

George Chakiris can be seen as a dancer in several big Hollywood movies (i.e. WHITE CHRISTMAS) prior to winning an Oscar for WEST SIDE STORY; and yesterday you mentioned Donna McKechnie as a dancer in BILLIE; can you think of others who started their careers as dancers in film and then managed to build a career of their own?

None other than Miss Gwen Verdon.
Logged

Dan (the Man)

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12645
  • Classic Dan(theMan)
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #46 on: May 12, 2004, 10:56:59 AM »

Dan, although it is true that Joan Davis' mother, daughter, and two grandchildren died in a fire in 1963, this was two years after Miss Davis passed away.  Her daughter Beverly Wills was also an actress, and on I MARRIED JOAN, she played Joan's sister.

DR TCB, are you insinuating that I did not carefully check my facts in this regard?  That I didn't take the time or bother to scan my eyes an inch or two upwards on the IMDB Joan Davis bio page and see that her date of death occurred two years earlier?  (Well, okay, I didn't do that, but I can't be expected to be both entertaining and factual!)
Logged
And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
-- Anaďs Nin

TCB

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 97748
  • Because I can!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #47 on: May 12, 2004, 10:59:07 AM »

None other than Miss Gwen Verdon.

What other films did she dance in, Stuart?
Logged
“One thing’s universal,
Life’s no dress rehearsal….”

Noel

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1325
  • Husband (10th year), father and songwriter
    • Musings on musicals
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #48 on: May 12, 2004, 11:06:19 AM »

Anton Chekov is alive and well and doing readings in Union Square:  http://improveverywhere.csbl.net/chekov/

AskBK:
Some years ago, my old pals Marcy & Zina had it in their bio that a song of theirs was going to be on an upcoming album, Broadway Bound II.

I've said before that I love the first Broadway Bound.
So, here is what I'm aching to know: (a 70 Girls 70 reference)

Was there going to be a Broadway Bound II?
What happened to it?
What songs had been selected?
Which Marcy & Zina song(s) would be on it?
How can we get there to be a Broadway Bound II album, or III or IV?
Logged
In this family, when words won't do, there's gotta be a song.

elmore3003

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 68748
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #49 on: May 12, 2004, 11:09:51 AM »

Here's a question for music expert DR elmore:  am I imagining things, or do the first four measures of Bernstein's "Ballet at the Village Vortex" in Wonderful Town sound exactly like the opening verse of "America" in West Side Story ("Puerto Rico, you lovely island, island of tropical breezes")?  To me they sound identical.  It's just a short piece of music, but it's always disheartening to me when I find a composer like Bernstein recycling.  I thought I’d plotz the first time I heard A Pray By Blecht.  Are there any other examples of Bernstein reusing his music?


I know I'm going to screw this up, but he reused a lot, and I should consult my friend Charlie Harmon, who worked for Bernstein as an assistant and Amberson, the publishing company, after Bernstein's death.  I know that the song "Ain't Got No Tears Left," cut from ON THE TOWN, ended up in one of the symphonies (AGE OF ANXIETY?), "Peter Peter" from PETER PAN was originally written as "Betty Betty" for Betty Comden, "Dream With Me," cut from ON THE TOWN, was later cut from PETER PAN.  "One Hand One Heart" began as a song originally in CANDIDE, "Chichester Psalms" inorporated music from the abandoned SKIN OF OUR TEETH project with Comden and Green.  

I don't think that's as prolific as Rodgers & Hart's, Jerome Kern's, or Jule Styne's reusage, but it's hard to let go of a good song sometimes.

Logged
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats" - Albert Schweitzer

William E. Lurie

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 988
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #50 on: May 12, 2004, 11:10:07 AM »

Gwen Verdon was in the chorus of the Danny Kaye film "On the Riveara" and the MGM Lana Turner remake of "The Merry Widow", featured in one of the "That's Entertainment" trilogy.

BK - The intermission was NOT in the print shown at the Michael Todd in Chicago.  At least not at first.  I tend to think that this was a per-theatre decision.  Even though it was reserved seats at the Todd, there were three shows a day on weekdays and four on weekends so maybe they needed the extra time the intermission would have taken up for between shows.
Logged
Years from now when you talk of this --- and you will --- be kind.

elmore3003

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 68748
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #51 on: May 12, 2004, 11:14:11 AM »

Dear BK: Towards the end of yesterday's posts, you mentioned that a number of merry lurkers have been searching merrily through the site, looking for two words in particular.


Well, what are the two words?  Are their initials F and A?  Let me know and I'll drop them liberally for the next couple of days.
Logged
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats" - Albert Schweitzer

elmore3003

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 68748
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #52 on: May 12, 2004, 11:16:58 AM »

No, WEL, you have merely read this on the Internet and it is not true.  Whether he planned it or not, the film opened in its roadshow engagements WITH an intermission.  I saw it one week into its roadshow run at the Chinese and saw it fourteen weeks in a row thereafter - intermission every single time.  I have checked with cast members who were in NY at the time it opened at the Rivoli and it had the intermission there.  Mr. Wise, IF he said it, is in error.  In fact, I hate to tell you this, but Mr. Wise is often in error on these commentary tracks he does, and also in print.  He's eighty-ish now so it's understandable.  I can't swear the film didn't have an intermission everywhere it played in roadshow, but it certainly did in NY and LA.  The intermission was, of course, gone when the film went into general release.

My memory is that WSS played Cincinnati at the Valley Theatre, where I also saw MY FAIR LADY, and there was definitely an intermission.  I was wrong about an Entr'Acte.
Logged
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats" - Albert Schweitzer

elmore3003

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 68748
  • What is it, fish?
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #53 on: May 12, 2004, 11:20:47 AM »


George Chakiris can be seen as a dancer in several big Hollywood movies (i.e. WHITE CHRISTMAS) prior to winning an Oscar for WEST SIDE STORY; and yesterday you mentioned Donna McKechnie as a dancer in BILLIE; can you think of others who started their careers as dancers in film and then managed to build a career of their own?

Harvey Evans, who was in NEW GIRL IN TOWN as Harvey Hohnecker, is one of the Jets in WSS, and Leroy Reams can be seen in the film of SWEET CHARITY.
Logged
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats" - Albert Schweitzer

S. Woody White

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 14695
  • The Lecture!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #54 on: May 12, 2004, 11:21:21 AM »

Dan, although it is true that Joan Davis' mother, daughter, and two grandchildren died in a fire in 1963, this was two years after Miss Davis passed away.  Her daughter Beverly Wills was also an actress, and on I MARRIED JOAN, she played Joan's sister.
Clearly, tragedy can strike at any time, even when caring seems beyond us.
Logged
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

Panni

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6119
  • What are men for -- if not to amuse a woman!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #55 on: May 12, 2004, 11:26:18 AM »

(An unofficial) ASK BK QUESTION:
I knew that Elaine Stritch and Anthony Hopkins were good friends, but what was Megan Mullalley doing on the panel last night?
I know I'm not bk (although I used to be "ak" - it's a long story) - but as he doesn't seem to be around at the moment and I happen to know the answer, Megan Mullally was in the short-lived "Ellen Burstyn Show" in which Elaine S played Burstyn's mother (even though she was only a few years older than Burstyn).
From TV TOME:
THE ELLEN BURSTYN SHOW: ABC Sitcom, Premiered September 20, 1986.
Burstyn plays Ellen Brewer, the head of a multi-generational household. Brewer is an iconclastic writer-in-residence at a Baltimore college. She holds seminars in the brownstone she shares with a hyperactive mother Sydney (Elaine Strich), 25-year-old daughter Molly (Megan Mullally) and 5-year-old grandson, Nick(Jesse R. Tendler).
Theme song "Nothing in the world like love" lyrics: John Bettis, music: Artie Butler

Logged

William E. Lurie

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 988
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #56 on: May 12, 2004, 11:36:33 AM »

The latest 4 Disney Treasures are being released next week WITH all Roy Disney's contributions (and signature) included.  Eisner was getting so much bad press and internet comments that he changed his mind about deleting any mention of Roy.
Logged
Years from now when you talk of this --- and you will --- be kind.

Jennifer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20385
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #57 on: May 12, 2004, 11:41:37 AM »

I am feeling a bit under the weather today. :(
Logged

Jennifer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20385
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #58 on: May 12, 2004, 11:43:21 AM »

Which is sort of weird, since I was perfectly fine yesterday.

Been eating lots of soup, which I rarely do.

Anybody have any other easy remedies if you feel a cold coming on.
Logged

S. Woody White

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 14695
  • The Lecture!
Re:AIN'T WE GOT FUN?
« Reply #59 on: May 12, 2004, 11:49:44 AM »

Harvey Evans, who was in NEW GIRL IN TOWN as Harvey Hohnecker, is one of the Jets in WSS, and Leroy Reams can be seen in the film of SWEET CHARITY.
And, speaking of Sweet Charity, Ben Vereen appears in the chorus, well before he turned "Chicken" in Roots.
Logged
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 6   Go Up