Well, dear readers, I am sitting here in front of my computer screen, listening to one of my favorite pieces by Ravel – Valses Nobles et Sentimentales in a performance that, for me, will never be equaled, especially in sound – Charles Munch conducting in the most spectacular RCA Living Stereo sound ever, circa 1963. This was my Ravel introduction, and I couldn’t get enough of it. When Sondheim’s score for A Little Night Music came out, I knew Ravel was a favorite of his instantly – and that turned out to be true. It’s a wonderful piece – I have at least ten versions, some very good, but none come close to Munch, who just is perfection, especially as he’s got the Philadelphia Orchestra for this recording. Highly recommended by the likes of me. Otherwise, yesterday was a day of little sleep, maybe three hours, maybe four – hard to tell. Once finally up, I answered e-mails, had an English muffin and pill one, then proofed until Marshall Harvey came by and we went to the Cheesecake Factory for some food at three. I had a chicken Caesar that was excellent. He got his copy of the new book, and we had fun catching up. He’s off to France next week for a little vacation. When he returns, I think we’re going to make a little trailer for the new book – we shall see. Then it was back to proofing, but I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to, unfortunately. I took a movie break and watched something I’d never even heard of from 1976, entitled Special Delivery, starring Bo Svensen and Cybill Shepherd – a very strange movie with a bank heist gone awry, quirky meet cute with Cybill, quirky comedy, unruly thugs, several people after the bank loot, and a few car chases. Most of the “downtown LA” footage was shot on the Paramount backlot, instantly recognizable from a zillion episodes of Mannix. But there are some real downtown LA shots and those are really fun. It’s an American International movie, but photographed by one of the all-time greats, Harry Stradling, Jr. The director was Paul Wendkos – interesting start to his career, but then right to TV. This is not his finest hour – the tone is just all over the place. But it’s the cast and some crew that was the interest for me, having worked with a few folks. In the supporting cast we had Ed Peck and Vic Tayback, both of whom I worked with on a TV show called The Super (also worked with Vic on Alice), and Ed Peck and I were very friendly and often saw each other at our then-mutual hangout, Du-Par’s in Studio City. One of the thugs was played by Gerrit Graham. Another was played by someone named Jeff Goldblum.
The DGA trainee was one Alain Silver, who’d go on to produce all my contributions to Likely Stories, The Creature Wasn’t Nice, The Ratings Game, and Prime Suspect. We worked together a LOT. The movie had a really top-notch score by Lalo Schifrin. Originally slated for a summer 1976 release, it was not released until January 1977 on the bottom half of a double bill. Such are the ways of the show business. And that was about it, other than having some crackers and taking pill three, and of course, I took the Prednisone after the main meal.
Today, I’m really hoping to get a good night’s sleep – I’ll try and be in bed by one or one-thirty and I’d like to get nine or ten hours of sleep. Once up, I’ll do the usual things then dive right into proofing. When hunger rears its little head I may go back to the Cheesecake Factory for food, but then again, I may just eat something here – I do have tuna and all I’d need is an onion. We shall see. I’ll proof more, and then I’ll take a movie break, proof more, and then watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is definitely wrapping up the proofing and sending the new document so they can check it out and then we can lock it. But when I’ve finished the proofing, I just want some time to myself.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully arise after a good night’s sleep, I’ll do the usual things, proof, eat, proof, watch a movie, proof, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a nice lunch out.