Well, dear readers, it is now January of 1962. What am I, BK doing? Seeing movies, of course. In addition to Flower Drum Song and West Side Story, I’ve been watching the Marx Brothers movies on TV and gird my loins and go to a theater I’ve never been to in a neighborhood I’ve never been to – Western and Santa Monica Blvd. to the Cinema Theater, a run-down old jernt that ran old movies. Three years later, I’d be living in that neighborhood when I began LACC and I’d attend the Cinema regularly to see the “art” movies – Russ Meyer movies especially. The double bill I saw there was A Day at the Races and Go West – I and what few were there had a grand old time laughing it up with the Brothers Marx. I also went to the Carthay Circle and saw El Cid and described Miss Sophia Loren’s Super Technirama lips as being as wide as the huge 73-foot curved screen. I didn’t love the movie but did love the score. Much later, when I owned a 16mm scope print, only then did I admire how well made it was. I know I saw A Majority of One at the Village but remember almost nothing about it except I didn’t care for it and I’ve never once seen a frame of it since. I saw Mysterious Island at the Picfair, the cheapest of my neighborhood theaters. Several movies I wanted to see were in exclusive engagements and I wouldn’t see them until their wide releases. What I didn’t see and have still never seen that I could have seen but that held no interest for me – The Second Time Around, Bachelor in Paradise, and movies I wouldn’t see for many years like La Dolce Vita and The Innocents. I was still fascinated by the legit theater ads and the one I was most interested in seeing, Little Mary Sunshine, had just moved from the tiny LeGrand Theater on Cahuenga to the Music Box at the corner of La Brea and Hollywood Blvd. I never ventured that far west of C.C. Brown’s so I didn’t go to that theater until 1964, I think, when I saw Oscar Brown, Jr. there. The Music Box had 400 seats and 300 of them could be had for one dollar to see Ken Berry, Jackie Joseph, Carleton Carpenter, and Sylvia Lewis in Little Mary Sunshine. Different cast than the LeGrand, where the title character was played by newcomer Shirley Knight. The show at the Music Box only lasted two weeks and was gone. Moved into the LeGrand was Pajama Tops with June Wilkinson, who I’d get to know and like when doing the Ray Courts celebrity signing shows in the late 90s. What I missed? Jack Benny at the Shrine Auditorium and also Andre Previn at the same venue. I would get over the fear of going places I hadn’t been very soon.

I also saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s over at the Picwood in West LA. Loved every second of it, including Mickey Rooney. I’d eventually see The Children’s Hour and Judgment at Nuremburg much later, in the 1970s. And those legit theater ads were becoming an obsession. Something called Toys in the Attic was about to open at the Biltmore, but downtown was too scary. I’d missed my opportunity for The Fantasticks, as Elsa Lanchester was about to replace it. I knew her and loved her from Witness for the Prosecution and Bell, Book and Candle. Who knew that a mere decade later she’d become a really good friend and I’d be going to Sunday brunches at her house every week? Not me. That was pretty much it for January. But February was just on the horizon and one of the legit theater ads that was calling to me was for something called The Tenth Man, about to open at the Huntington Hartford Theater on Vine. I knew where it was because I walked past it when I’d go to Wallichs Music City just south of there, so that wasn’t scary at all. The ad said, “Fabulous comedy.” I loved comedy. I just kept looking at that ad over and over again. To be continued.

Yesterday was, I suppose, Monday, the big pill day. I did hear from the neurologist, and he’ll start weaning me off the Prednisone – we’re having a phoner on Thursday. I put on Facebook that I was looking for an ENT and got lots of suggestions, so I’ll just call some and the first one who can get me in quickly and who takes United Health Care is where I’ll go – locations range from Burbank to Encino, all doable. I had a chopped Eyetalian salad for food, did a lot of e-mailing, still haven’t heard back from the folks I’ve sent asks to – I will never understand people’s lack of purpose to return e-mails or respond to messages but it’s beginning to really bug me. And now we know why Applause has not arrived. Doug pulled out one of our CDs to give them the Kritzerland address and on that ONE CD he happened to transpose two numbers on the address – a little wacky since there are close to 399 other CDs where it’s correct. They now have to try and locate the package and have it re-directed or, my suggestion, send out another package overnight to my home address. At this point, all of this is just ridiculous. I did go to the mail place briefly and to the bank briefly, then back home. I watched a documentary on Dory Previn – very interesting, but I would have liked more examples of her earlier work with hubby Andre – this is mostly her post-Andre stuff. But it was interesting. I had a couple of slices of mediocre pizza for my snack, and that was about it.

Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I have a telephone meeting, I’ll eat, we’ll hopefully find out where the Applause package is and get it here, but we’ve literally just wasted the two weeks that Richard Allen had off and could have really made some progress. I’ll also call the list of ENTs I now have and the first one who can see me is the one I’m going to. They come highly recommended by people I know and distance-wise, they’re all fine. Then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is prepping our new release announcement, attending to various and sundried things, hopefully hearing from people who don’t feel the need to respond quickly, and then attending a show on Friday evening.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, have a phone meeting, eat, hopefully get the Applause package routed back here, call the ENTs until I have an appointment, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of 1962? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we continue our road trip back to 1962.