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[bk]

Well, you've read the notes, you've had your fun and eaten it, too, and now it is time to post without lethargy.  We must have none of the lethargy of yesterday, which didn't even match the somewhat slow weekend.  Let us keep lethargy out of it, shall we?  Now, post I say - so much to post about, so little time.

[Tomovoz]

For DR Laura: Me at home with a feathered friend!

[bk]

Nice cockatoo.

We've got GUESTS aplenty.  Welcome GUESTS.  Wonder if our merry searchers are amongst our GUESTS?  And then there is Panni, sitting there like so much fish.

[Panni]

I agree with bk that there should have been much more backstage, at home, rehearsal footage in the Stritch at Liberty hybrid. There was a short sequence, for example, of Stritch with a podiatrist in London. Her toes were totally covered in bandages and she was screaming with pain as he removed them. In the next sequence she is seen dancing on stage. This says tons about the pain behind the laughter (pardon the cliche) - but it really makes the dancing sequence mean so much more than it already does. Apparently they shot from the first day of rehearsals  (ironically 9/11) -- so there must have been lots of footage. But i still enjoyed the film. And Anthony Hopkins and Liz Smith were a hoot in the Q & A.

[Panni]

Nice picture, Tomovoz!

[Panni]

George Chakiris was at the Stritch screening. He looks very good for a man of 70!

[Tomovoz]

A pastel done by Colin for a friend returning to Latvia.
Eastern Rosella, Supher Crested Cockatoo, Crimson Rosella and King Parrot. All these parrots are regular visitors to our garden and they were quite happy to post for their portrait.

[Panni]

Lovely parrot portrait. You must live in a little paradise, Tomovoz.
Time for bed. G'night!

[Tomovoz]

Thanks for the positives Panni. Yes it is a pocket of paradise.

[Michael]

Question for Ask BK Day

When you were preparing the song choices for the two duet albums with Skinner and Ripley how did you decide who would sing what when it came to solo lines and did you have to make sure the received equal amount of solo lines in each song?

[elmore3003]

Good morning, all!  It's very humid this morning on the Upper West Side, and my cleaning house continues.  When I moved into this place in July, 1980, it seemed huge.  Now when I turn around, I knock over something.  Yesterday, I organized cartons of DVDs, found several duplicates (!) and found several things missing, which may be with my goddaughter.  Today, it's my desk and work area.

DRTomovoz, beautiful birds.  I see an occasional sparrow and tons of pigeons on my fire escape.  In Ohio, the house I grew up in always had cardinals, ravens, robins, sparrows, and an occasional humming bird flitting about the yard.  I wish we'd had some of your beauties.

DRGeorge, there is no unabridged PRINCESS BRIDE; the title and editorial credits are part of Goldman's humor.

DRWEL, on BYE BYE BIRDIE orchestrations, I don't believe Rob Fisher found anything in a box, but it's good publicity.  His assistant Isaac is usually the one to do the initial research on materials at the various archives, and no one gets into the Tams-Witmark vaults but the employees and owners.  I'm sure Mr Kugel, its brilliant librarian emeritus, and his replacements Finn and Matthew knew exactly where the original cartons of orchestra parts were stored, dragged the cartons into a public space and let Rob or Isaac examine the materials.

When Jack Everly conducted the last Channing revival of HELLO DOLLY!,  he told me the original parts on file at Tams-Witmark were used for the Broadway run.  The touring reduction had been used on the road.

On a publicity digression, when Ian Marshall Fisher staged the Cole Porter-Moss Hart JUBILEE in London, 1999, which BBC-Radio 3 broadcast, the program notes and broadcast notes claimed that the original parts for JUBILEE turned up in the famous Warner Brothers Secaucus warehous, and they were being used in this performance.  Well, it's good publicity. but  this was a total lie; JUBILEE was created from scratch in 1985 by Tommy Krasker and me for the New Amsterdam Theatre Company; everything played by the BBC Concert Orchestra in those performances was arranged and scored by yours truly, and Ian Marshall Fisher knew it.  The only bit missing from Dick Vosburgh's misinformation was the fact that 100 copyists went blind copying my notes.

[elmore3003]

Dear Friend BK, I have no question for you at the moment, but I may throw one at you later in the day.  Last night at dinner, everyone was asking about the current FA situation.  My friend Elliot from Papermill says he wants you back in the studio.

[Jrand74]

Happy Wednesday!  Things are going right along, and I may go on a camping trip on Friday night, yes camping.  I am reticent, oh yes, I am reticent, but .....

I didn't buy the AT LIBERTY DVD because I had heard something about this Pennebaker documentary coming out, so that is the one I think I want.

It sounds like it was great fun for all last night, was Ms Stritch's podiatrist in the audience to see himself onscreen?

My question for ASK BK DAY:

Do we have anyone today to compare with:

Mr Danny Kaye
Miss Joan Davis
Mr Vincent Price

[Ben]

DR Tom and DR Laura: You two have the most BEAUTIFUL bird pictures I have ever seen (Tom, Colin's paintings are pretty beautiful also). Thanks for posting these lovely shots every so often.

No questions at the moment.

Johnny Guitar, a campy musical version of the Joan Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge film is closing this Sunday, May 16th. I saw it and had a good time. It's not great but it's a fun afternoon in the theatre with some good performances and a nice pastiche score. Sometimes, that's all you (or I) want.

I'm seeing Homebody/Kabul on Friday at Brooklyn Academy of Music (AKA BAM bam, bam bam - a Flintsones reference).

Elmore, we have been doing the same thing downtown. I've been in my place for almost 21 years (moved here in 1980 and moved into the current apartment in 1983). While it's OK for one person, two makes it a bit cramped sometimes so we are "thinning out" and re-arranging and moving, etc. It's funny to put things out on the street (well before garbage pick up) to see what will be gone very soon after curb arrival (NY is famous for inhabitants who have furnished their apartments using street cast offs).

[Dan-in-Toronto]

DR Ben,

I had a desk lamp that was ugly and scratched. I put it in the garbage room. Minutes later, my neighbor was displaying it on her hall table. On the other hand, we have another neighbor who lost weight. He kindly placed his clothes in the same garbage room - and my wardrobe increased as his waistline decreased. Another neighbor passed away, and neighbor number one (who got the above lamp) and I found ourselves fighting over the "Davis estate," which included some excellent sheet music.

[Dan-in-Toronto]

Do we have anyone to compare to
Mr Danny Kaye
Miss Joan Davis
Mr Vincent Price

I watch "I Married Joan" videos regularly - and they always crack me up. I'd love to see a tribute to Joan Davis. (Anyone in Indianapolis listening?) Her combination of physical humor and verbal wit is matchless.

[Dan (the Man)]

I watch "I Married Joan" videos regularly - and they always crack me up. I'd love to see a tribute to Joan Davis. Her combination of physical humor and verbal wit is matchless. (Anyone listening in Indianapolis?)

Way back in the late 70's when we first got cable, the predecessor of The Comedy Channel (I can't recall the exact name) nightly aired I Married Joan reruns.  I had never heard of Joan Davis or the show before and I first regarded it as a cheap I Love Lucy knock-off.  But after repeated viewings, it grew on me.  It was a knock-off, but Joan Davis was damn funny.  The episode which sticks in my mind was one in which her character wanted a chef's famous soup recipe.  She wound up hiding in the chef's industrial kitchen sized soup pot.  It sounds like a stupid gag, but Davis unashamedly mugged her way through it as vegetables and soup stock were tossed all over her and she dutifully scribbled each ingredient down on her note pad.  It was a great silly and funny scene.

[William E. Lurie]

Re: "Johnny Guitar", the problem is that the book is as camp as the film, but the score is more standard musical theatre, and therefore while both are entertaining, they are like being from two different shows.

[Jrand74]

Yes - to the Dan(s) - I think WEL has mentioned the I MARRIED JOAN box set that he purchased.

As has been written, several of the IMJ episodes had enough story for two or three I LOVE LUCY episodes.  But Joan was a funny physical comedienne, and she was fearless in her stunts.  

Here is your Allison Hayes picture of the week, just another day at U-I:

[Dan (the Man)]

In the original The Music Man movie, there is a River City citizen who looks very much like Joan Davis.  She doesn't have a speaking role but participates in the production numbers (you can see her very clearly as the camera pans by everyone lined up during "Wells Fargo Wagon".)  I doubt that it actually is Davis, but the resemblance is there.

I just read on IMDB that Joan Davis went through the tragedy of losing her mother, daughter and two grandsons in a fire in 1963.  That's very sad.

[DearReaderLaura]

DR Tomovoz: Thank you for the beautiful bird photos. It must be a sight to see all those gorgeous colors flying around!!

DRBen: Thank you for the compliment. I am just about to head out for my walk -- who knows what I'll see today!

[Ben]

This obit from the Times today on Virginia Capers:

Virginia Capers, an actress and singer who won a Tony Award in 1974 for her role in "Raisin," the musical version of "A Raisin in the Sun," died on Thursday in Los Angeles, where she lived. She was 78.

She died after a bout of pneumonia, said her son, Glenn Capers.

Ms. Capers was an experienced but little-known character actress when she was cast as Lena Younger, the matriarch of the struggling working-class black family in "Raisin," a musical that opened in the fall of 1973, based on Lorraine Hansberry's play. But Ms. Capers's intense stage presence captivated critics. In his review for The New York Times, Clive Barnes called her "a vast and loving Gibraltar of a woman" and said she was "tremendous in just about every sense you can use the word."

Ms. Capers won the Tony for best actress in a musical. The show, which also starred Deborah Allen, Ernestine Jackson and Joe Morton, was nominated for nine Tonys, and also won for best musical. It ran on Broadway for more than two years and had a long life as a touring show.

[MBarnum]

Tomovoz, I am amazed at those beautiful birds! Those are just wild birds that arrive in your yard?? I never get anything that colorful in my backyard!

[Panni]

It sounds like it was great fun for all last night, was Ms Stritch's podiatrist in the audience to see himself onscreen?

Yes, and he now has his own reality show: "On Your Toes" (Sorry!)

Actually, the doc was a Brit. She was seeing him while doing the show in London. Betweem sweetly abusing him and screaming in pain, she mentioned that she'd love to bring him back home with her as he treated her so well. Unless he took her up on the offer, it's doubtful he was in the audience.

[Dan (the Man)]

Here's a question for music expert DR elmore:  am I imagining things, or do the first four measures of Bernstein's "Ballet at the Village Vortex" in Wonderful Town sound exactly like the opening verse of "America" in West Side Story ("Puerto Rico, you lovely island, island of tropical breezes")?  To me they sound identical.  It's just a short piece of music, but it's always disheartening to me when I find a composer like Bernstein recycling.  I thought I’d plotz the first time I heard A Pray By Blecht.  Are there any other examples of Bernstein reusing his music?

[Panni]

One more note on the Elaine Stritch screening... There was a very powerful moment in the Q&A. Anthony Hopkins, who is a great friend of Stritch, talked about their shared past problems with the bottle. He said that to look at this film and her life now (and his life) is to see the triumph come through like a FIST. And with his face red, his eyes gleaming, he punched through the air to make the point.
On paper it doesn't read like much - but there was so much raw emotion in what he said that it was a truly revealing and extremely compelling moment.

Another interesting note about Hopkins (BTW - he is pleasingly plump, with long, wild white hair, and he wore a Hawaiian shirt - not at all the "Sir Anthony" one would imagine.): He said  -- a surprise to me -- that he had always hated the stage and wanted above all else to work in the movies and be a beach bum in Malibu. (And his dreams have come true!)

[MBarnum]

Did any DRs catch the Dick Van Dyke reunion show last night?

I have never been a huge fan of the show but I really enjoyed the reunion. I must say that Dick Van Dyke still has it! He hasn't slowed down one iota. Mary Tyler Moore was still good as well (but needs to stop having face work done! Yikes!) and Jerry Van Dyke and Ann Guilbert had me in stitches! Those two ought to have there own show!

Some of the program fell a bit flat (although the laugh track certainly found every joke hilarious!), but as the program moved along it got funnier!

Am looking forward to the Carol Burnett Show special tonight!

[George]

DRGeorge, there is no unabridged PRINCESS BRIDE; the title and editorial credits are part of Goldman's humor.

Thanks for the info!  I assumed that this was the case, but I didn't want to really assume, just in case it wasn't the case.

[Noel]

Thanks for all the responses yesterday re: the recorder.  (A lot of re in that sentence.)  Danise's 2nd suggestion came closest to what I need, http://gc-music.com/Recor.htm - a whole on-line course in recorder playing.  The trouble is, I'm looking for one fingering chart I can print out - Jose assures us the internet contains such a thing.  The on-line course contains all the answers, but it's in 10 lessons, ten pages to print out.  Yes, folks, you're listening to laziness talking.  If the recorder came with such a chart, it's long gone, as my father purchased it no later than the 1960s and probably earlier.  And, yes, we're talking All Good Gifts.

I'll be seeing the composer of All Good Gifts (Stephen Schwartz) tonight at the ASCAP workshop, which is always the educational highlight of my year.

[S. Woody White]

 The only bit missing from Dick Vosburgh's misinformation was the fact that 100 copyists went blind copying my notes.

As opposed to the "usual way," I assume.