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[Ron Pulliam]

The day here in Oakland is too gorgeous to be true.

The sky is blindingly blue.

[Ron Pulliam]

Terribly nervous about approaching post number 666 - but it is coming up for me.

Don't give it a thought...just post "..and one to grow on" immediately afterward and the nervousness will dissipate instantly.

[Ron Pulliam]

This vast day looms before me.

So much to do,
so little motivation.

I need to clean.

I need to listen to CDs.

I need to watch DVDs.

I need to read.

I need HELP!

[JMK]

I'm much prettier!  And liberal.  And nice.

And alive!  

[Ron Pulliam]

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrererererererer45

[Ron Pulliam]

I don't know what that means...it just jumped out of my hand and onto the screen.

[JMK]

Off to gesticulate wildly in front of 40-odd singers (not to be confused with 40 odd singers).  Some people call it choral directing.


Choral directing joke:

How many choral directors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

No one knows, because no one's watching.

Later(s).

[Ron Pulliam]

When I was in the Navy, I was designated a Journalist (3221), which mean I was trained as a print journalist/public affairs specialist and as a broadcaster.

It was my strong believe that if you put all the journalists (print/PA) in the armed forces in one room, only half would leave alive.

If you put all the broadcast journalists in one room, no one would be left standing.

Such were the ego trips....

[elmore3003]

And alive!  

I am?  You call this living?

[Jane]

Thanks Jennifer.  It should all work out, with more time and money.

Cillaliz, I’m sure you are going to like NetFlix.

[Cillaliz]

Dear Friend BK, in the  Jerry Herman book by Stephen Citron a letter from Charles Strouse giving Herman full credit for "Parade" is reprinted.  Citron makes no mention of Strouse & Adams coming up with the title, and he says the first eight lines of "Elegance" are by Merrill and the rest by Herman.  "Motherhood March" is a bit vaguer, but he notes that it was Herman who requested it not be in the film.

I heard a Carol Channing interview recently where she said that Jerry Herman wrote "Parade" for her one night when Dolly was in previews on the road somewhere (I don't remember that part very well), anyway they were in the same hotel and he called her in the middle of the night to come down and sing it as he had just finished it . She said she believed it was the backbone of Dolly's character and tied the whole show together.   I don't remember who interviewed her, it was on XM and I was on the road.

[Charles Pogue]

TOD:  My Saturday mornings also usually started with cartoons or old "B" cowboy movies before the folks were up.  There were also the cowboy shows like Buffalo Bill, Jr., Annie Oakley; Sky King (which I never much cared for).  

As I got older, there were Saturday music lessons for me, my brother, and sister at Wurlizter's (or was it Willis'?  Wurlizter, I'm pretty sure) Music Store.  I took guitar lessons from Mr. Crady.  A half hour lesson cost $2.50.  Mr. Crady occasional subbed in the Ruth Lyons Band on TV's 50-50 Club (I have no idea why it was called the 50-50 Club).

My father usually took us and then went down the block to his office at Shillito's where he worked as an architect for Federated Department Stores.  He either would meet us at the end of the lessons or we would go down to Shillito's and met him there.  That way I got to look through the record department.

Once home, we had lunch and all watched the Bugs Bunny Cartoon Show.  My father watched with us.   After lunch, the local station channel 9 used to run a Tarzan movie, which I watched religiously.  And I usually watched whatever movie they ran after that.  It was those Saturday afternoons that got me hooked on old movies from the thirties and forties.

I have only one vivid memory of going to a triple feature kiddie matinee on Saturday...with cartoons and what-not.  It was at the Hiland Theatre in the center of town in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and the bill was Tarzan the Ape-man with my now-pal Denny Miller, Sabu and the Magic Ring, and Tarzan's Greatest Adventure with Gordon Scott.

[Michael]

It's always DRJose's fault.  EVERYTHING IS DR JOSE'S FAULT!! That alone lets you off the hook.

Dear Friend BK, in the  Jerry Herman book by Stephen Citron a letter from Charles Strouse giving Herman full credit for "Parade" is reprinted.  Citron makes no mention of Strouse & Adams coming up with the title, and he says the first eight lines of "Elegance" are by Merrill and the rest by Herman.  "Motherhood March" is a bit vaguer, but he notes that it was Herman who requested it not be in the film.

In the Lyrics of Jerry Herman, the lyrics to Motherhood and Elegance are not included as they are by Merrill. If Herman had written any of Elegance I am sure the lyrics would have been included.

As for Strouse and Adams and the parade number what I heard is that they did write the song, but Champion didn't like it and Herman reworked it. Possibly with new music and/or lyrics.

As for Motherhood, I dislike the song. They only song I skip over when listening to the score.

And while on the subject of Hello, Dolly and Herman he wrote a song that was used in the Harmonia Garden scene called Come Be My Butterfly and sometime after the show opens it was replaced by The Polka Contest.

Has anyone ever heard the song and know why it was dropped?

[TCB]

Ah yes, Heckel & Jeckel and Mighty Mouse on Saturday mornings.  But first we had a local program called Telladventure Tales hosted by Ruth Prins.  On weekdays, Ms. Prins was known to Northwest children as Wunda Wunda, the host of her own children's show.  On Saturday morning you could see Wunda Wunda minus her clown make-up, which was probably the only draw this storytelling show ever had.  After the cartoons, there were episodes of Sky King, Fury, and sometimes The Three Stooges to keep us entertained while we ate our Cocoa Puffs.

[Michael]

I heard a Carol Channing interview recently where she said that Jerry Herman wrote "Parade" for her one night when Dolly was in previews on the road somewhere (I don't remember that part very well), anyway they were in the same hotel and he called her in the middle of the night to come down and sing it as he had just finished it . She said she believed it was the backbone of Dolly's character and tied the whole show together.   I don't remember who interviewed her, it was on XM and I was on the road.

The story is also told in PBS Broadway documentary. I take it with a grain salt. Afterall Hello, Dolly borrowed liberally from another song called Sunflower. Herman was sued and shares the royalities for the song with the composer of Sunflower which if I remember correctly is Mack David.

[Matt H.]

Well, I'm back from my overnight trip and have caught up with the posts. I have to say that I like my own house, my own bed, my own food, my own LIFE.

But I'm grateful to have friends who will let me share a little of their food, homes, beds, and lives from time to time.

[Matt H.]

Yes, the LIFEBOAT DVD isn't in a boxed set of Hitchcock titles because it was a 20th Century-Fox film, not one controlled by either Warners in their box or Universal in theirs.

[Matt H.]

Just like others of my generation who post here, Saturday morning was for cartoons like HECKEL AND JEKYL and MIGHTY MOUSE and old reruns of nighttime adventure serials like FURY and SKY KING and ROY ROGERS. THE BUGS BUNNY SHOW was a favorite and so was THE ALVIN SHOW for some of those years.

In the afternoon, we'd go to whatever theater was showing a sci-fi monster movie or Martin & Lewis or occasionally something like GIDGET. There were also double or triple features with cartoons or serials (don't remember newsreels but they may have been there), and we'd just go into the theater at any time, never noting when a movie started or stopped from the newspaper. We'd just go in, see everything they had to offer, and if we came in late to the first feature, watch it until we got to the part where we came in! Amazing that we did that then.

And bk is right: you could stay and watch all day and night until the place closed on one admission. That's how I saw SLEPPING BEAUTY twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday the weekend it opened in my town.

[elmore3003]

In the Lyrics of Jerry Herman, the lyrics to Motherhood and Elegance are not included as they are by Merrill. If Herman had written any of Elegance I am sure the lyrics would have been included.

And while on the subject of Hello, Dolly and Herman he wrote a song that was used in the Harmonia Garden scene called Come Be My Butterfly and sometime after the show opens it was replaced by The Polka Contest.

Has anyone ever heard the song and know why it was dropped?

According to Stephen Citron's  JERRY HERMAN: POET OF THE SHOWTUNE (Yale University Press, 2004) there are several important quotes:
  "Mordden again mistakenly writes "Charles Strouse and Lee Adams wrote "Before the Parade Passes By' which Herman rewrote."
 
Citron also claims that Steve Suskin's comment that Strouse's unused song had the same title is incorrect.

As to "Elegance," Mr Citron quotes Mr Herman: "Bob gave me the first eight bars of 'Elegance' and those opening lines.  Then he left me to write rest of the song. . . I think of 'Elegance" as a fifty-fifty job even though I get no ASCAP royalties for the song.  David Merrick insisted on giving my royalties to Merrill, now the Merrill estate."

Citron says Mordden's other error is to credit Merrill as sole author for both numbers.

I have a copy of the Butterfly number which was set into type for the published vocal score.  The first national tour for Mary Martin replaced the number with the polka contest.  Joel Craig, the original dance captain, told me that the alteration so pleased everyone that special rehearsals were called to put the change into the Broadway production.

[Matt H.]

As for WALKING ACROSS EGYPT that I saw last nigh,. as I said earlier this week, I knew absolutely nothing about this show. I had not read the novel. I hadn't seen the Ellen Burstyn film based on it. I had never read the play script.

The show is a regional (Southern) comedy-drama featuring the eccentric characters steeped in that old time religion and where it's supposed to make people laugh when a proper grandmotherly-like character asks a 47 year old man who's dating her daughter if his sperm is intact. Makes STEEL MAGNOLIAS seem like Chekhov.

In other words, this kind of show is not my cup of tea at all though I could find no fault with the production either technically or artistically. Everyone was well cast and did his part well, and the set was superb.

But that's one show I never wish to revisit.

[Matt H.]

Since I had no lunch, I'm off now to have my only meal of the day.

WBBL.

[Jed]

Choral directing joke:

How many choral directors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

No one knows, because no one's watching.

 

[Tomovoz]

We did not have TV in Australia until 1956 and I guess probably not for a few years later at home.
My Saturday mornings would have been spent doing chores: bringing in firewood, ploughing the fields, branding the kangaroos and milking the emus. In those days was of course the family consisted of  that old mule, Old Rivers and Me.

Saturday afternoons were at the matinee in the town hall (Picture theatre): "Supeman meets Spider Lady" etc.

Evenings would have been spent listening to programmes on the wireless.

[elmore3003]

In the Lyrics of Jerry Herman, the lyrics to Motherhood and Elegance are not included as they are by Merrill. If Herman had written any of Elegance I am sure the lyrics would have been included.

DRMichaelShayne, I sent your question to Ken Bloom, co-author of the Jerry Herman lyrics book.  He says the songs were not included since they had been co-written.

[Ron Pulliam]

We did not have TV in Australia until 1956 and I guess probably not for a few years later at home.
My Saturday mornings would have been spent doing chores: bringing in firewood, ploughing the fields, branding the kangaroos and milking the emus. In those days was of course the family consisted of  that old mule, Old Rivers and Me.

Saturday afternoons were at the matinee in the town hall (Picture theatre): "Supeman meets Spider Lady" etc.

Evenings would have been spent listening to programmes on the wireless.

But...but...what on earth did growing Aussie boys do for FUN?

[Ron Pulliam]

It has been four hours since putting the chicken/bbq sauce in one crockpot and the rump roast/mushroom soup in another crockpot.

The condo smells absolutely scrumptious!

[Ron Pulliam]

I've spoken with my mom today, and we've planned a bit of my trip back to South Carolina, establishing some comings-and-goings and deciding who we'd invite to go with us.

[Tomovoz]

But...but...what on earth did growing Aussie boys do for FUN?

This is a Family friendly site DR Ron.

[Ron Pulliam]

I also have watched "Christmas in Connecticut" today on DVD.

I just love this film...primarily for Stanwyck and Sakall, but also because it is so improbably presented that it works beautifully.

And for the first time ever, I've seen the original intro, as my VHS copy never had the opening WB logo, the traditional WB fanfare and  the "invitation" teaser before the title -- at least, not that I can recall.

[Ron Pulliam]

This is a Family friendly site DR Ron.

I guess I'll simply have to use my imagination then...