Well, dear readers, perhaps it is high time we speak of The Great Rains. Yes, it is high time, and I don’t mean cannabis, Mary Jane cigarettes, blunts, or doobies – I mean it is high time to talk about The Great Rains. No, it hasn’t been raining here, it’s been insufferably hot here. No, I speak of The Great Rains, namely Claude Rains, perhaps one of the finest actors who ever graced the silver screen. He gave so many wonderful and iconic performances and he was completely unique both in looks and acting. There has never, in fact, been anyone quite like him. All one need ever do is watch his performance in Casablanca – he should have won an Oscar for it. He is absolutely brilliant in the film and no other actor working at the time or any time since could have given a performance anywhere near it. Unique is the word that will keep coming up. Thankfully, he was at least nominated for supporting actor but lost to Charles Coburn, who I’m a fan of, but of the two performances, Rains should have gotten the award. Or simply watch what is perhaps his greatest performance and, for me, one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema – Notorious. It’s a beautifully written part, but the pathos he brings to it is astonishing. Once again, he was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives – no one stood a chance against Russell that year. My first experience with Claude Rains was on TV when they showed The Invisible Man repeatedly. Even though he wasn’t onscreen much, that voice was just so amazing. Then you’ve got The Adventures of Robin Hood, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Sea Hawk, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Kings Row, Now, Voyager, and even his small role in Lawrence of Arabia. I’ve never seen a bum performance from him or even a lesser one. Nominated four times, never won. We will never see his like again. Oh, I guess I should say the reason I’m writing about him – last night, I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a motion picture entitled The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, from the novel by Georges Simenon. I’d only seen the main titles and first scene, so I really had no idea what it was about. Mr. Rains played the titular “Man” and it was another great performance in a film I was quite taken with from start to finish – only eighty minutes long. It’s on YouTube for anyone who’d like to watch it. It also sports a great score from the very underrated Benjamin Frankel. Beautiful color, too.
Prior to that, I got maybe five hours of sporadic sleep, got up, answered e-mails, had a telephonic conversation about the barstools that were supposed to be delivered but hadn’t even been picked up yet due to no one from Wayfair communicating with Fed Ex and vice versa. We had to cancel the assembly people who were coming today – they’ve been rescheduled for next Saturday and I got a text from Fed Ex saying I’d get an alert when the item was picked up. No one seems to be able to do the simplest jobs anymore.
Then I got ready and then moseyed on over to Mort’s Deli, which Mort sold to the owners of the Beverly Hills deli, The Nosh, and the word was it was great, at least the word on Facebook. I met the Wechters there and we had a good deal of fun conversation and laughs. I brought David a copy of Vegas Can Be Murder, which he’ll be reading right away because the Vegas depicted in the book is his favorite era. I had my usual lean pastrami, coleslaw, and Russian dressing on rye. The pastrami was still too fatty for me and a bit tough – when you’re used to Langer’s, which melts in your mouth, all else pales. I’ll go back and try something else because their other sandwiches sound good, as do their breakfasts. After, we walked next door to the famous Bea’s Bakery – it go some cookies with dried cherry on top – my faves when I was a wee bairn, and two chocolate chip muffins – one for last night, and one for today’s first pill. The one last night was one of the best muffins I’ve ever had.
After Bea’s, I drove home but stopped at a gas station right off the freeway that was as cheap as the one I go to a little further south. The one I really wanted to go to, just a few blocks from the deli, had lines – why? Because gas there is $4.11, forty cents cheaper than anywhere else in LA. Anyway, fifty-six bucks filled up the motor car and then I finally came home. I had more telephonic calls, did a few things on the computer, and then watched a YouTube video about Gene Nelson, then the movie. For my evening snack and pill three, I had some sushi – California roll to be exact. It was nice and light and good.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll have me a ME day, I’ll eat something fun, and mostly I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll place the book order, do some banking, and make some calls about book signings and other stuff. The rest of the week will be doing whatever needs doing and probably a meeting and meal or two.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, have a ME day, eat something fun, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have seen another performance from The Great Rains.