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[Jason]

MBarnum: I weighed 178 lbs. when I was born! I hope to be that "big" when I'm 40...and I'm only 5' 9 1/2". To give you an idea of how big just my legs are...

When I was being measured for my costume for CARMEN, the costume designer measured my calves. At their widest point they measured an astounding 18" circumference. And my legs are ALL muscle...no fat there whatsoever. I've been known to pull my jeans up to show people my calves and not be able to pull the jeans back down again. My friend Jennifer calls me "ham calves" and my friends Vinni and Brance used to call me "calf boy." After a performance of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, during the opening night reception, a woman came up behind me and grabbed my right calf, saying that she had wanted to touch my legs ever since I first walked onstage wearing my tights. She just couldn't believe they were real. Can you imagine a grown woman just coming up and grabbing someone's calf!?!?! The nerve of some people...

[Jennifer]

Touche.

I would hope that the six voice teachers who judged me every semester would have pointed out any pitch problems that I may have been having during my six years as a voice major. There again, I haven't had a true voice lesson in three years. I think it's time to start going again...

Hey, I hope that you didn't take what I wrote as mean-spirited.  I should have put that I know you've been in shows and had teachers and others listen to you.

[Jason]

I didn't take it as mean-spirited at all. Trust me, I asked the exact same question of myself. In fact, I ask that question most every day. I just have to rely on the idea that surely SOMEONE would have told me that something was wrong and that ultimately I have to trust my ear and do what I do and if it's bad, someone will tell me. But no...I didn't take your comment to be mean-spirited.

[Jennifer]

DR Jennifer, I put out peanuts for the squirrels in the back yard each day. Usually I do it in the morning before I leave work. They are hungry little rascals!

Freddy likes to watch them eat! Actually he likes to stalk them.

Ah, I didn't know people fed squirrels.  I really don't like them too much.  Probably cause they get into the bird feeders.

I actually tried to feed our rabbit.  Well it's not my rabbit, but a wild one that seems to come around a lot.  So weird to see a rabbit in the suburbs.  But he's been gone all week.  And he was really cute!

[Jennifer]

I didn't take it as mean-spirited at all. Trust me, I asked the exact same question of myself. In fact, I ask that question most every day. I just have to rely on the idea that surely SOMEONE would have told me that something was wrong and that ultimately I have to trust my ear and do what I do and if it's bad, someone will tell me. But no...I didn't take your comment to be mean-spirited.

Good.

Hey, if the recorder is not meant for singing, is it possible that you are singing correctly, but it is not taping it exactly right?

And I'm sure somebody in one of your shows would have said something.

I think working with a voice teacher or someone else who knows what they are talking about sounds good.  At least they could help so you aren't questioning yourself (and wondering if the machine is off or if you are).

[Jennifer]

DR Jason, look what all your talk did to the ads at the top of the page.

[Ben]

Hey, Jason. I received and just answered your PM.

Jennifer, I haven't fed them for a long time, but I used to feed the squirrels in Union Square Park here in NYC. I like the squirrels more than the pigeons, which poop on everything and fly around in packs.

My computer is SO SLOW this morning (at work) that the ads at the top haven't loaded yet so I can't see them. I've got a high speed connection and sometimes it's as slow as dial-up. Arrgghh

[Jason]

How funny... "Got calf muscle pain?"

Ben: I received and have replied to YOUR PM. Thanks...

Has anyone in NYC ever experienced the terrifying phenomenon I call "Kama Kazi Pigeons?" The ones who fly right at you and you have to dodge them in order to save your eyes? I hate them...they frighten me a little. Therefore, I see it as a good thing to continue to feed the squirrels and starve those damn pigeons to death!

[Ben]

Ah, yes. Those awful flying rats (sorry you animal lovers). They swoop down at you aiming right for your head. It's scary. In London they have gotten rid of much of the pigeon problem at Trafalgar Square and Saint Paul's by using hawks. They don't eat the pigeons, they just scare them away. The pigeons are too smart to get scared by those silly fake owls and hawks on rooftops and windowsills all over NY. You need to use the real thing to scare them away.

[JoseSPiano]

Good Morning!

The Avenue Q performance about to come up on "Regis & Kelly" so this post may take a few extra minutes to compose.  -"R&L" is on the NBC affiliate here in Richmond, and they carry all three hours of the "Today" show, so "R&L" is shown "live" and hour later.  *When the "Today" show started started running three hours, they would still show "R&L" at 9:00, but then would show the last hour of "Today" on tape delay at 10:00. -It was then that I also noticed how they don't ever really announce what time it is on "Today".

As for weight...  The highest weight I was ever at was probably around 235-238.  I hit and passed the 200 mark when I was in high school, so that's the number that's stuck with me for my adult life as my lightest weight.  It really is hard for me to imagine a time when I was below 200.  After some serious exercise and diet, I got down to and hovered around the 220 mark for a couple of years.  After some more diet and exercise two years ago, I now weigh anywhere between 210-215.  However, even though the overall weight loss has only been 5-10 pounds, I am down 4-6 inches in my waist - boy, do I wish stores carried 37" waist sizes!  I guess I did put on some muscle!  I actually have a pic of myself from two years ago - it was the opening weekend of the Sondheim Celebration - and I can really see the difference in my physical look from then to now.  I can see it in my arms even!  Especially in my face!  Even my roommate reminds of just how big I was back then every now and then - in a loving, nostalgic way.

I guess my own saving grace is that I've always carried my weight well.  No real pot belly ever, just kind of evenly distributed fat.  I've always considered myself more "big" than "fat".  About two years ago - after the Sondheim Celebration had just finished, I was casting a production of Evita with a director/choreographer I've worked with many times.  This guy is very critical when it comes to casting dancers: "She needs to lose 4 pounds", "Her legs a thick", "105, my ass!", etc., etc...  Well, after one day of auditions, we ordered some dinner and that lead to the discussion of weight and diet among the production staff.  I told him that I was in the process of losing some at the time, and that I had already lost about 15 pounds.  He then turned to me and said, "So, you're down to about 185 now?"  -And he was serious.

"No, I'm actually at 212 right now."
-"Well, your scale is wrong, there's no way you're over 200 pounds!"
"But I am."
"No way, Jose!"

Well, after a few more minutes of debating my weight... It was, needless to say, a very ego-boosting, and body-image-boosting conversation.  I haven't seen him since then, and since I actually have lost some more weight since I then, I wonder how much he thinks I weigh now?  170?  160? Hmmm...

As for the most weight lost - well, when I was sick-sick a couple of weeks ago, I lost 16 pounds in 11 days!   Oh, and there were a few days there when I would get on the scale and it would read 199, 198 - and I would start to cry.  "It's been so long!!!"  Right now, I'm in the 205-208 range, but I also need to start running and doing my Pilates again in earnest.  And stop eating ice cream and Lucky Charms and cookies every day...

OK - that's enough "true confession" time for me this morning.

The Avenue Q segment was very cute.  They did part of "I Wish I Could Go Back to College" - with Stephanie D'Abruzzo admitting afterwards that because of the clapping she couldn't hear the vamp at the top of the song - I thought it sounded a little off.  Then they came back and closed the show with the Avenue Q guys doing Regis and Kelly and Gelman in puppets.  John Tartaglia's Regis voice was very good, as was Stephanie D'Abruzzo's Kelly.  Very funny, and the puppets looked great too.

OK!  I need to get my butt-cheeks in gear.  My friend, Don, is supposed to be here in an hour, and I need to get some tidying up done before his arrival.

Laters...

[Matt H.]

Weight has always been a problem ever since I was an adult. When I started teaching, I weighed 140 (I'm six feet tall). I was embarrassed to be so skinny, and my mother started feeding me two dinners a night. I'd eat with the family (I was living at home while working on my Masters), and then around 9 p.m., I'd go in and have a plate of leftovers. If there weren't any leftovers, she'd cook me eggs and bacon (or I'd cook something for myself). It did NO good. I continued to weigh between 140-150 until I hit 35.

Then I started gaining weight even if I looked at food. Because I was doing shows and dancing a lot (also took dance class) I kept my weight about 175-180, but in the summer months when I wasn't working and sitting around not doing shows or class, I'd balloon up to 190 or so. Then, when school would start back, I'd lose what I'd gained over the summer.

But the worst was during the first year of my retirement. I ate whatever I wanted and did NO exercise at all. I got up to 230. I was disgusted with myself when I did the show BABY and saw how I looked in pictures and on tape. So, during the last week of the run and for that entire summer and fall, I started an exercise routine in the morning and I stopped snacking at night except for a cereal bowl or two of popcorn. In six months, I lost 42 pounds. I now weigh about 194. As long as I can stay under 200, I'm happy. I still exercise 5 mornings a week for about 45 minutes.

[TCB]

I agree with George.  If only the tiny petite people are going to post, then I will keep my mouth shut about actual current poundage.  The least I have weighed as an adult was probably back in 1971 when I discovered the joys of diet pills.  Around that time I got down to 150 lbs., on a 6’1” frame.  Not pretty!  Of course, it has all been upscale since.  This picture, if I can display it without putting us in Cinerama, is probably 1975, and is of me at about 165 - 170lbs (still on diet pills).  I am the one on the left.

[Jennifer]

How funny... "Got calf muscle pain?"

Yep, and all because of your sexy tights story!

[JoseSPiano]

-Addendum:  *And I think I'll just leave my various spelling errors and small word ommissions in my original post for now.  In any case...

For myself, my waist size has always been a bigger "influence" than my weight number.  When I was buying 42" jeans, I was not a happy camper.  When I tried on some 38" pants and realized they were loose(!), I really got emotional, I was so happy.  And then when, depending upon the brand and cut, I could comfortably get into 36" for a while - not too long ago - I was, again, very happy.  I even managed to squeeze myself, literally, into a pair of 35"s one time from Old Navy.  Yeah, right!  So, for now, if I can get back down to fitting comfortably into my 36"s, then I would be very happy.  *And, "happy" of course, is a relative term.  But I also bought a couple of pairs of really nice Banana Republic slacks and chinos last summer, and they're all 36"s - I WILL fit into them again!!!!  And once I'm back down to 36" - which is what my waist size was by the end of my freshman year in high school(!) - I'll be very satisfied with where I am at physically speaking - no matter what the number on the scale says when I get on it.

-I hope that all makes sense - I'm rushing...  Gotta go for real this time...

Laters!...

[MBarnum]

DR Jennifer, how could you not like squirrels, they are so much fun to watch. I work downtown in the Justice bldg which is next to the state capitol building. The two buildings are separated by a park in which a mulititude of squirrels live. They are very friendly and will come right up to you if you have peanuts for them, even eating right out of your hand.

I work on the 5th floor and we have a squirrel that comes up to my co-worker Anita's window each morning and she feeds him along with his buddy the Blue Jay who often accompanies him.

[JoseSPiano]

DR Jason, look what all your talk did to the ads at the top of the page.

Remember, we're not supposed to talk about what goes on "up there".  

[Matt H.]

A nice surprise in the mail today - the next boxed set of POIROT episodes - the "silver edition" meaning there is only one more box of six episodes to go before the entire output is out on DVD.

[Emily]

I know I have been ridiculously e and t.  I apologize and hope that I can get by without getting whipped or otherwise tortured!  

What an awful awful awful topic of the day (jk).  The least I can remember weighing at my full height of 5'8'' would probably be somewhere around 140.  Now I'm at 160 - which is less than the 175 I weighed at my heaviest.  All the same, I still wear just about the same dress size as I always have.  Which is a 10-12-14 (different stores have different sizes).

Speaking of which, I bought myself a skirt the other day and it was a size 11.  Who makes size 11s? I always thought sizes went up by twos.

I have been incredibly busy of late what with finishing up my final (thank GOD!) intensive summer course, working at my real job AND volunteering with my Member of Parliament during the federal election up here.  It has been crazy and hectic and wondeful

DR Andrea (who does still lurk when she's procrastinating studying for her GREs) left for Florence - whoops, Firenze - yesterday.  She is gone for a month and will hopefully come back spouting all the Italian words she has learned.  Good travel vibes to her ~~~~

I downloaded Sh-K-Boom's offereing pre-release of the Bare cast recording.  It's fun, but nothing spectacular.  Plus the lack of a real synopsis coupled with the fact that the songs are listed out of order makes any real connection to the show kind of hard to achieve. All the same, it makes me nostalgic for RENT and all those shows I loved as an angsty teen despite knowing perfectly well that they were flawed beyond belief.

Okay that's in for now... toodles all

[Charles Pogue]

I don't find weight an accurate arbiter of fitness simply because muscle weighs more than fat.  If you only diet you turn fat flab into skinny flab. You must also exercise and build muscle.

My heaviest was probably hovering at two thirty-five.  In the mid-nineties during Dragonheart, I lost huge amounts of weight and actually got down to 175, which was probably my college weight.  I also knew I would not stay there long.  And eventually went back to about 195-200.  I'm over that now and am working too get back to 200 again, which given my body type is a good weight.  

But then I still find the best way to check my fitness is to strip off and look at myself in the mirror.  If I look okay, screw what weight I am.

Squirrels.  My wife loves to feed them in St. James' Park and has actually struck up a friendship with several of the regular old geezers there who do it every day when we're in London.  They give her all types of tips on how to attract them and get them to brazenly crawl up your arm for them.  They're very friendly; they love Brazil nuts.  We have more pictures of us with squirrels on us.

Actually Red Ken Linvingston, the mayor of London, has declared war on the pigeons in Trafalgar.  The last pigeon-feed vendor was bought out I believe a few years ago and I think the pigeons are now fed a food that makes them sterile in order to contain them and winnow down their numbers.

[Emily]

Oooh... I almost forgot to tell you all!

Yesterday I saw the Olympic torch as it passed TWO blocks away from my house during the Montreal torch relay marathon.  

It was very exciting... especially seeing how many people showed up to cheer the runners on

[Jennifer]

Remember, we're not supposed to talk about what goes on "up there".  

Why not?

[Jennifer]

DR Emily: I think most sizes here are the 7-9-11 variety.  I guess it just depends where you shop.

I started to write a post about weight. But it was too depressing.  Right now I wear 9-10.  And that's all I'm gonna say.

[Jennifer]

That must have been very cool seeing the torch.  I was driving downtown to the St. Laurent street fair at around the time tons of cars seemed to be going to see the torch.

[Jason]

They had a big set-up in the middle of Times Square for the passing of the flame. I don't know when it happened--or if it has yet--but it looked like a big to-do.

[Matt H.]

Squirrels are cute to look at until your plants become the focus of their lives. Well, of course, they don't want to plants but the nuts they've buried in the flower pots where you're trying to get something going. I have had to start over three times this spring and summer trying to get something going in one urn on my front porch because the squirrels keep burying nuts in that urn and digging for them later tearing up anything that has started to bud in that container. If it wasn't against the law to bother them, I would have set some traps for them by now.

[Panni]

As I recall a number of you were fans of Doris Dowling. She died on Friday. It's strange, I was thinking all weekend, "I haven't checked in, really must call Doris." I'll find the obit and post it.

[TCB]

Panni -- I am so sorry to to hear about Miss Dowling.  My sympathies to you, because I know she was a friend.  I remember her well from THE LOST WEEKEND.

[MBarnum]

Panni, I am so sorry to hear about Doris.

[MBarnum]

DR Matth, I do have that same problem with the squirrels burying nuts around the yard. They often bury them in the lawn, but on occasion they will bury them in a potted plant, but not too often.

For me it is a minor irritation, I just enjoy them too much to get very upset about it. They are such cute little critters!

[Panni]

June 21, 2004

Doris Dowling, 81; Film Star in U.S., Italy
By Myrna Oliver, Times Staff Writer

Doris Dowling, the deep-voiced brunet actress who made her screen debut as the hooker in Billy Wilder's classic "The Lost Weekend," has died. She was 81.

Dowling died Friday in Los Angeles of natural causes.

Born in Detroit, Dowling began acting on stage and then followed her older sister, the late actress Constance Dowling, to Hollywood.

Doris Dowling captured major attention — even Oscar buzz — in Wilder's 1945 film about alcoholism, which earned Academy Awards for best picture, actor (Ray Milland), director (Wilder) and screenplay (by Wilder and Charles Brackett).

"Her performance as the girl in the bar in 'The Lost Weekend,' distinguished by the way she clips off words, will, it is believed, almost entitle her to academy recognition," wrote Times entertainment columnist Edwin Schallert on Dec. 2, 1945.

It didn't, but Dowling had made an impression. She was soon cast in another memorable film, the Raymond Chandler-scripted "The Blue Dahlia," starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.

Despite Dowling's quick double success, she soon found herself caught in Hollywood's postwar slump. With no scripts coming her way, she followed her sister to Rome, where both spent several years working in Italian films.

Director Giuseppe de Santis was impressed by the younger Dowling's dark hair, soulful eyes, alabaster complexion and deep voice, which colleagues saw as "the face of Italy." If she brushed up on her Italian, de Santis told her, she could become the star of his new film "Bitter Rice" — as the jewelry thief hiding among and transformed by the Mondinas, or women rice workers, in Northern Italy's Po Valley.

Like actual workers paid as extras, Dowling and co-star Silvana Mangano worked from morning to night in waist-deep water. When the film wrapped, Dowling needed time off to recuperate.

"It was frightfully humid," Dowling told The Times after returning to Los Angeles in 1950. "We really lived the life of the people who work in the fields."

The highly lauded, low-budget picture, along with "Open City" and a handful of others showing the realities of Italian life after World War II, helped rebuild the country's film industry and secure its place in international theaters.

Dowling made five other films in Italy and France, including one in English, Orson Welles' "Othello."

The actress continued working intermittently until near the end of her life. She amassed credits in a dozen feature films, numerous stage plays encompassing the works of Shakespeare and more than 100 television shows, from the live "Playhouse 90" through such series as "Bonanza," "Barnaby Jones" and "The Dukes of Hazzard." She also appeared in miniseries, including 1980's "Scruples."

She served on the board of directors of Los Angeles' Theater East.

Dowling married three times. She was the seventh wife of bandleader Artie Shaw, whom she married in 1952 and divorced in 1956. She was married to United Artists executive Robert F. Blumofe from 1956 until their divorce in 1959.

In 1960, she married publicist Leonard B. Kaufman, who survives. Dowling is also survived by one son, Jonathan Shaw.

No services were planned.