Tuesday, November 29, 2005
ARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!I just spent over two hours composing a new post and when I went to save it as a draft....IT TOLD ME THAT THAT PAGE WASN'T AVAILABLE!!! And the next thing I knew, Blogger went Bye Bye!
Right now, I HATE Blogger! I'll try to get over it, BUT, it's the second time in two days it has done something weird, and I lost part of a post that I was working on for about three hours, the first time it screwed me over....
I'm disgusted.
I'm discouraged.
I'm dismayed.
I'm going to bed!
But first....I will post a beautiful peaceful picture, if blogger will let me, that is.....(i hate them....)
Ahhhhhh, maybe this will calm me down.....
Well, that helped...but I need something else.....hmmmm.....something else.....what could really lower my bloodpressure now?
Now that's a darling face....yes, that's it....a face to lower the Bloodpressure,
for sure....
Thank You Dear Sweetie for returning me to a little bit of sanity....
Okay, I'm done, for the moment. Maybe things will be better, tomorrow...errr.... I mean, later today.....oy!
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 1:38 AM
Saturday, November 26, 2005
THE COTSWOLDS-PART 6
Here are a few more photo's of our journey through some of the villages in The Cotswolds, and some of the things we saw, as we drove around......
This is so very English, at least, we thought so!
And so...it was now time to go to Oxford...Ray drove us around quite a bit
to see the very very beautiful buildings...many photo's were taken by one and all...and as we went down one very quaint beautiful street filled with ancient buildings, we saw something else that all of us see all the time in Los Angeles, and in fact have worked around....but seeing 'The Modern" things we saw, suddenly there in Oxford, was a very bizarre and strange thing.....What we saw were these......
And anbody that has ever worked in film or in television, recognizes these wagons and dressing rooms; it means that there is a film being shot 'on location' and these truck like Dressing Rooms and Honey Wagons line the streets wherever they are filming, All of us were laughing because, here we were in this very special and very English part of Britain, and what do we see? A Movie shoot! So of course, we all wanted to know what was filming there in Oxford. Ray stopped and ran back to where 'the company' was settled in, to find out.
When he returned moments later, he told us that it was a movie about C.S. Lewis called "Shadowlands" with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger
and was being Directed by Sir Richard Attenborough....Betty immediately said, 'Oh, I know him...Larry (Betty's late husband) and I met him many many years ago....
let me write him a note just to tell him we were near by....' So she did write him a little note and it began, 'Dear Dickie....'. We all loved that!!! Dear Dickie...
Ray took the note over to the Company Manager or someone like that, and then, we were on our way to our 'Pub Lunch'.
Ray decided that a wonderful place to take us was to The Eagle & Child,
which he told us was a famous haunt of C.S. Lewis and his fellow professors and writer's
....and that was really special to us for so many reasons, not the least of which was this Pub was filled with so much history. I don't remember what we ate, but whatever it was was very 'Pub Like' according to Ray....A few words about Ray....He wasn't just a 'driver', he was an expert guide....Without him, our Cotswold expeience would not have been the very very rich and wonderful 'happening' that it was....He was knowledgeable about evey place we went and was extremely helpful in aiding us in our decisions about where to go...He was and I assume still is, A Prince of a fellow!
We certainly were a lot of picture taking shutter-bugs, and all of us are so very glad that we have all these wonderful pictures that continually stir the memories....(even if some of them weren't the greatest photo's ever taken....still, they were our photo's).....So, here are a few more of Oxford....
This building was extrordinarily beautiful, and I'm ashamed to say, I don't remember it's name. But it was a part of one of the many colleges...of that much I'm pretty sure....
By the time we left "The Eagle & Child" the sun had gone down, and the overall look we were confronted with as we stepped outside the Pub, was not Sunlight anymore, but it was definitely still 'Daylight'.....Ray then said that we still had time to go to at least one more village, and he thought we would very much enjoy Henley. And he was correct in his thoughts!
Henley was famous, even to us, because of the Regatta's...(we all were also aware of 'the shirt' named for Henley...
called, in fact....."The Henley". A classic three button shirt, manufactured by just about every casual shirtmaker in the world....)
And here in Henley, we saw some beautiful sights of the water and some boats, as well..... 
this was a particularly beautiful place, and especially so, as the light was slowly fading....These photo's were taken while standing on a Bridge, overlooking The Thames....
It was very impressive to see the Thames with all these boats that were just passing through at that hour of the night....this was not a Regatta.....this was just life, happening in this famous village....
On the other side of the that bridge, was this startling picture....many many people, still sitting outdoors, at approximately 9:30pm, having a bite to eat and a pint, and all enjoying the lovely balmy evening with one another.....
Beautiful, Beautiful!
(Just a little bit more to come, shortly, my lovely's......)
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 3:37 AM
Friday, November 25, 2005
MY FIRST MEMENow that I know what 'meme' means, sort of....courtesy of plumkrazee and I thank you with all my heart, for that...I saw this today on mar's blog and I thought I'd try it, too....and I thank you mar, very much, for the idea....
It involves using Google Images and 8 questions....So, here they are!
NAME OF THE TOWN YOU WERE BORN IN:
GREAT NECK
This is Great Neck High School, (now called GNHS North...but back in the early days, we only had this one High School)
and this is it. My siblings and I ALL went to this school.....
THE NAME OF THE TOWN YOU LIVE IN NOW:
HOLLYWOOD
I thought this image was really nice...but I'm going to post another one, too
A postcard from 1949...! I love the history of places, don't you?
YOUR NAME:
Heart Painting
"Breakthrough" 72 X 80, Acrylic On Canvas, 1987
This painting is 6 feet by 7 feet, and has been included in 4 one-person Art Shows .
And, in a very deep way, this is a picture of me....
YOUR GRANMOTHER'S NAME:
Rose Berman
There was no photo of her, but this Rose, is almost as beautiful as she was....You can see her picture in a blog from a few days ago, 'A Few Family Photo's'....
YOUR FAVORITE FOOD:
Chocolate
Is there any other food??? (OH MY LORD!!!! does this ever look good enough to shovel right in my mouth!!!! Yum Yum!)
YOUR FAVORITE DRINK:
Water
This really is my favirite drink, and it is soooo very good for you, too!
YOUR FAVORITE SONG:
"Move On"
There are so many songs that I adore....but if I had to pick one song that means a great deal to me, it would be "Move On" from 'Sunday In The Park With Geaorge', by Stephen Sondheim.....As an 'artist', it is inspiring to me, and I'll just quote a tiny bit of it here....
Anything you do...
Let it come from you...
Then it will be new.....
Give Us More To See....
And Last, but not least....
YOUR FAVORITE SMELL:
One Picture Is Worth 1000 Words....
There is nothing like the mouth watering smell of warm--just out of the oven--Chocolate Soufle!!!! My mouth IS watering, just thinking and writing about it, right now!!!
That was a lot of fun!!!!
Just a quick addition: About World AIDS Day...I am posting this the only way I've learned, so far....and I will try to put this on every day through December 1st. We must not forget all those in need. Why don't you post this, too! (Click on the logo to find out how).
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 4:00 PM
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
A very very Happy Thanksgiving to one and all here in The States...and to all Americans in other parts of the world, as well as to all the bloggers everywhere who might enjoy sharing a Turkey, JUST cause they like Turkey!
My wishes for Thanksgiving: That all our troops, all over the world stay safe and out of harm's way and come home very very soon.
That sanity might once again reign in this beautiful, wonderous country of ours.
That all those who are suffering the terrible effects of hurricane Katrina, find homes, and jobs, and find their family's together on this Thanksgiving Day.
That good health be visited on all those who are suffering with illness.
That those of us with more, share are good luck with all those who have less, in whatever way we can.
And, finally: Eat well, love well, and drive v-e-r-y carefully!
Peace To Everyone Everywhere In The World.
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 7:35 PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The Day All The Music Died
The opening sounds you here at the very beginning of "SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY", after the house lights have dimmed to a blackout are from the traditional Folk Song "He's Gone Away"....sung acapella, without accompaniment, in the dark.
On Saturday, November 23, at the Matinee performance of 'Spoon River' at The Belasco Theatre on Broadway, (there had been no Friday night performance on November 22....no show played that night on Broadway....every theatre was dark, that night....) we waited in the wings, as we always did, Bob Elston, Betty Garrett & Hal Lynch on Stage Right, and Joyce Van Patten, Charles Aidman and me on Stage Left. It was my voice that came over the loud speakers, there in the dark...and you could audibly here the gasp of grief escape from all three of us, waiting there in the dark, before our entrance on to the still darkened stage of the still darkened theatre....to take our places on the stage, before the lights would come up. Everything we heard that day; all the poems from 'Spoon River', so filled with Americana...all of the music...the songs....took on a new meaning because of the great tragedy that had befallen our beloved country, the day before.
The day before, that Friday, I had been at a Gynocologists office, suffering with some sort of ovary pain....I left there and got in cab, and it was the cab driver who told me that John F. Kennedy, our President, had been shot in Dallas just a little while ago...I couldn't fathom this. At first I thought he was kidding; that he had for some strange reason, made this up....and I said "Is that a joke? Cause if it is..it's not funny!" He protested in such a manner that I immediately understood that , no, this was not a joke. The gravity of the situation was not really known in those few moments; we stopped at a red light...a fellow cabbie rolled his window down and shouted to my driver, that Kennedy was dead. My driver said, 'What?'...The other cabbie repeated the news, and pulled away because the light had changed to green. The tears came; and came, and came....I couldn't believe that this was happening....
I got out of the cab at the Hotel, and immediately went up to the 15th floor, where Betty's rooms were. I rang her bell...she came to the door, as stricken as I was...in tears...trying to get ready to go to an interview that had been scheduled before this unbelievable thing happened. She had to leave and I went up to the 16th floor, to my rooms and turned on the television, hoping to be told this had not happened; hoping to be told that a terrible mistake had been made...Kennedy was not dead....like the time when they announced on television that, then President Eisenhower had died after a very severe heart attack, and he hadn't died, at all! They had made an awful awful mistake. That's what I was hoping for.
I was hoping that I would wake up from this ghastly horrible dream, and find out that yes, it was just a horrible ghastly dream..nobody had been shot and killed in Dallas.
I was called by the Company Manager to be told that there would be no performance that night. And they weren't sure about Saturday yet.....that Friday evening, all of us at a loss as to what to do, huddled together sharing a hushed dinner at a very quiet subdued Sardi's Restaurant. We needed to be with each other; we needed to try to digest this incredibly awful thing that had plunged all of us, along with most of the country and the world, into unimaginable grief and hopelessness.
So, when, indeed we were told we would be playing the matinee on Saturday, everything that all of us knew about this play with music like the back of our hands, was heard through a completely different senseabilty. (I couldn't even imagine going to a play, let alone performing in one that Saturday afternoon..... But there we were, and there was my voice....)
'He's gone away.....
For To Stay, A Little while....
But He's Comin; Back, If He Goes Ten Thousand Miles......
But Who Will Buy My Shoes...
And Who Will Glove My Hand.....
And Who Will Kiss My Ruby Lips, When He Is Gone.......
Look Away....Look Away.....Over Yonder....'
I didn't think I could get through this performance. None of us did.
My voice continues, humming underneath this next voice we hear... now speaking....is Chuck's voice, (Charles Aidman, who adapted this beautiful beautiful piece for the stage and who had Directed it, too....) and we are still in the dark, moving onto the stage to take our seats....the words he speaks:
"Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom And Charley,
The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter?
All, all, all are sleeping on the hill.
One passed in a fever,
One was killed in a mine,
One was killed in a brawl,
One died in jail,
One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife --
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill....."
This whole evening is people speaking from the grave...speaking truths that they no longer are afraid to speak....all speaking after they are dead and buried. It sounds morbid, but it isn't! It is an incredibly funny and inspiring two hours that yes, had it's sad and touching moments, but morbid, no!
But, Saturday, November 23rd, 1963 at 2pm in the afternoon, it was very morbid.....and heartbreakingly sad, to say the least.
I could go on....but, the day has already gotten waaaaay ahead of me....so I'll stop, for now, and just say, if you remember this day and this time, let me know......
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 3:19 PM
Monday, November 21, 2005
THE COTSWOLDS-PART - 5
After the gloriously delicious 'proper lunch', at the Lygon Arms Hotel, we came out to the Main street there in Broadway and Ray, our driver, told us we could walk to the Teddy Bear Museum, which was right up the street from The Lygon Arms...so, off we went.
One of the many wonderful things about theatre people, and this is a generalization, but in my experience this is true of the majority of actors and creative people that I've known throughout my life, so far....the child in us is very much a part of all we are and all we do. And I mean 'childlike' and not 'childish', though of course everyone can be somewhat childish at times in their lives...my love of Teddy Bears comes from some child thing in me....and instead of trying to pretend it isn't there, I have always embraced it and probably will, till they bury me with my Teddy, (I hope)!!!....
He is the softest, dearest most squeezable Teddy I've ever seen or held or clutched...and I've given replica's of him to many many children and many many adults, too! (One wonderful extremely talented painter friend, Morris Broderson, to whom I gave one of these 'special' Teddy's, painted a large painting of him, which hangs in my living room, here in L.A....I'll take a picture of it and post it, one day...) I travel with him, as I said in the last Cotswolds post, and he is the Teddy Bear on my Hotel bed here in this photo, and at home, too, that sits closest to me. (Oh my Lord, I truly do sound like a little child....)
And I wasn't the only one of our group who loves Teddy Bears....I would say that John Mosher loved them very much and Cousin Carol, too. Charley is a collector of anything 'Giraffe', stuffed or otherwise, and Betty is crazy about all sorts of stuffed animals and she very much was ready to go see this famous Museum, and Seemah, too. So, up the street we walked, and suddenly, there it was!
We all went in and of course they had many many Bears for sale in the 'store' part of the Museum...some incredibly old ones and many many new ones, and all of us were like kids in a candy store...you know, 'I want this, and oh, look at that...I want that, too...' well, you get the picture...
I am very loyal to my long time Teddy friend, but if I see a really really soft cuddly Teddy Bear, and if he 'speaks to me'....I don't mean literally guys..., I do go ahead and get the 'new' him! (I'm not sure why, but I always think a Teddy Bear's gender is... 'he' ...). Well, surprise surprise, (not) I did see a very sweet wonderful looking Teddy person....I picked him up and ohhhh my was he ever soft and oh soooo very cuddly, and he had this Golden look to him...John Mosher saw him too, and said he wanted to buy him for his little baby grandaughter...I was rather stricken because I had already visualized him living with me in my house....luckily, The Teddy Bear Museum had two of them....(Thank God)....and so each of us was able to get one and we were very very happy about it! And everyone was very happy for us; isn't that nice? After making our purcheses, we went into the 'Museum' part of the place...(and if I'm remembering correctly there was a small fee to get in)...and they had gobs and gobs of Teddy Bears; some very very old and terribly rare...there were too many to tell you about...but suffice it to say, we were sated on Teddy Bears when we left that wonderful magical place.
(Since that time, The Teddy Bear Museum of Broadway, is no more...sad, to say...)
By this time, we realized that the day was getting away from us, and Ray had calculated that in order to get back to London in a timely fashion for that special Birthday dinner at The Ivy, we would have to get on the road in about an hour and a half; no later than two hours at the very outside.
So, we got in the car and we began traveling from one village to another...stopping here and there to take in some special aspect of that particular village. The following are not in the order we did this at all, cause I truly cannot remember the sequence, but we covered as many towns and villages as we could wit
hout feeling too terribly rushed. Besides Broadway, there were the following glorious places:
Burford; Bourton-On The Water and Stow On The Wold;
and Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter.
At a certain point, Ray began saying that we had to press on and get back on the road...Well, we were enjoying seeing this wonderful bit of England so very much that none of us were really ready to 'get back on the road', quite yet....and after finding out that during this time of year, night did not really fall until almost 10pm, the group as a whole, almost without any hesitation, decided that instead of rushing back to London for 'dinner' at a place we might get to go to on another evening, we would opt to stay out in
The Cotswolds and see as many more towns as we possibly could, til nightfall. This was so much more special than any dinner at any restaurant, to us, at this point. We wanted to see as much of the countryside as we could, cause maybe none of us would ever get back here, again, and if we did, it would not be as magical as this day was for each of us indivdually and for all of us as a group.
We were under
"The Spell"......" The Spell" of The Cotswolds, that is, for sure!...
And there was still Moreton-In-Marsh, and Henley...(yes, the famous Henley where the Regatta's take place), and Oxford....Ahhhh, there was that romantic name: Oxford...the only well known name, to all of us.
And Ray suggested that we could make Oxford our food stop, and there we could have a 'Pub Lunch, for Supper'! We were thrilled! All six of us were experiencing this feeling that we were living in a kind of dream from which none of us wanted to wake up; we wanted to make it last, as long as possible...stay in this dream-like state in this most unusual region for as long as we could.....which we were able to do......
(There IS more to come....and truly, I had no idea that when I began this Cotswold Journey it would cover so many posts...so, with your kind indulgence, I'll just keep on 'wending', and hope you'll come back to 'wend' with me.....)
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 12:38 AM
Saturday, November 19, 2005
JUST A FEW FAMILY PHOTO'S
Inspired by bighappyfunhouse.com, I am posting these photo's. They are not strictly 'Found Photo's' in the sense that Ron has found the photo's on bighappy, but they are photo's that I found among my huge collection of pictures...I know all the people in these photo's....Some of those people, are me!
This will probably be an on-going thing. Occassionally.
So, here are just a few, today.
This one is my grandma, Rose Berman, who came to this country when she was thirteen years old, alone, on a ship that took thirty days, and she was in steerage the whole time. A very brave 13 year old....a very incredible lady who taught herself to write English, when she was 54 years old! Amazing Woman!
And the other person in this photo is my late sister Robin, who died this past February...a loss I don't think I'll ever recover from....she was eight years older than me and inspired me in so very many ways, not the least of which was her encouragement and urging, at a very tender age, for me to keep writing, and not to worry about my spelling: 'Someone else can correct that, Naomi, what's important is what you have to say'.
Thank you dear sweet Robin, for that! I was about 9 years old at the time....and that is why I am still writing. I thank her for so much more...like, true unconditional love. A rarity, if ever, from another human being.
This next one is, as you can see, falling apart. I figured I better digitize this, before it's too late..(I do have other one's, but not quite like this one).
This is my brother Gordon and me. He is two years older than I am, and we were very very close as little children. He was my protector...he watched out for me and took care that no one messed with me. 
I love him dearly and we are still close, to this day.
Miami Beach, Fla.
me
The one here, was taken about the same time as all the rest...it too, was begging to be digitized before it, too, disintegrates....so, here it is. I am standing by the Bay, Biscayne Bay, to be precise.
This next one, I could write an entire short or long story on...but, for now, I'll let you make up your own story.....
Yes, this is my family, with a few of the characters un-named, as yet.
They will be, I promise.
All in good time.
(I'm working on the next installment of The Cotswolds, and it will be posted, very soon....my lovely's....)
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 4:14 PM
Friday, November 18, 2005
AND THAT RHYMES
WITH POOL.....
(DISCLAIMER: I do not smoke any more and would advise everyone to quit as soon as you can, and if you do not smoke, don't start.)
With the help of the WONDERFUL Danny Miller, who's blog is extrordinary; he was able to put this photo into my profile....and it's here to stay because I would not know how to change it, even if I wanted to....(lol)....he also taught me how to put links into the body of the post.....(I hope this new knowledge was put to good use concerning his blog, up above!)
I just wanted to say a little something about this photo...it was back in the days when everybody smoked and in my case, the cigarette holder is not an affectation, but my feeble attempt to make my smoking less dangerous to my lungs...I was a v-e-r-y heavy smoker and I must tell you, that though the holder probably helped a little bit...(it was an Aqua Filter--a water based idea that helped to catch the nicoltine in the damp filter so that it did not go into your lungs)...in the long run, it certainly did not make smoking any less dangerous to my lungs, or anyone's lungs, for that matter. But, at the time, I was completely addicted and I would have done anything to continue smoking....including using this silly filtered holder.
So, here's the genesis of this photo: There was a party at a Theatre West's friend's home on the particular evening this photo was taken of me....Phillip Abbott and his lovely wife Jane had the party to celebrate the closing night of something which I don't recall at this moment, at Theatre West.
Phil was a very very talented and completely under-rated actor who was one of the founding member's of TW. (Some of you older bloggers might remember him from the television series "The FBI")
I had worked with Phil at Theatre West in a number of capacities over the years; as a composer for his Robert Frost evening; an evening which he Adapted and Directed..."Promises To Keep"; as the Producer for Theatre West of this same project; and on the democractically elected Board of Theatre West....serving along with 5 other wonderful people as well as with Phil.
This party was one of the many get togethers so many of the members would have aside and away from our Workshop work. This terrific theatrical group was always a double thing of a professional actors workshop and and a wonderful fertile breeding ground for life-long friendships; these two things always overlapped to make for a very rich experience....so there were lots and lots of party's as well as a tremendous amount of very innovative exciting work in those most exciting early years!
Jane and Phil had a wondeful rambling house out in 'The Valley'; it was a great house for entertaining because it flowed from room to spacious room...the house itself being very spacious inside, which then flowed to a very spacious outside back yard, with the biggest privatepool I'd ever seen...a Fifty footer! They had this huge 'family room' that had a Pool Table as one of it's main features. And I loved to play pool, thoug
hI did not get much of a chance to play it then, or now.
My father had taught all of us to play pool, when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Something about the game appealed to me...the preccion of it; the colors of the beautiful balls and the ease of holding the cues...there was something very satisfying about figuring out precisely just where you had to hit a ball to 'pocket it'. I don't remember the last time I had played before this night and I did not realize nor did I remember that someone had taken photo's that night, of this particular game....and only realized it when The Abbott's sent me this photo...enclosed in the package was a note from Phil, and it said....'Dear Naomi: There's a bit of the hustler in all of us!'
I LOVE this picture because I look like I really know what I'm doing, including the squint of the eye. I look like a bar-fly-pool-shark...which is pretty laughable considering I rarely if ever drank booze of any kind and going to bars had absolutely no interest for me, whatsoever.
The only part of this photo that is shocking to me now, is to see and then remember that my need to smoke was so great that I had to keep the 'holder' in my mouth while shooting pool! Lord, what a terrible terrible addiction that is! And one that truly can do irreversable damage to one's health, plus it's a pretty disgusting and messy habit, too.
And I'm not just a reformed smoker talking here; not just a recent convert who is now against it because if I don't smoke I don't want anyone else to be able to.....that's not where my zealousness comes from at all; it comes from the problems I live with now...I am not supposed to be around any smoke at all, because the noxious fumes are very very bad for my lungs at this point in my life...And that fact has made me wonder, if at the time we all began to smoke, we had known the real dangers, would we have started to smoke anyway? I honestly do not know, and will never really know. What I do know is: I should have known it wasn't too great for you, without any 'warning labels' because the first time I inhaled, it hurt my throat so horribly I thought 'I will never do THAT again'!!!
But did that stop me? Noooooo. Back then, if you did not smoke, you weren't 'one of the guys', you know? And that may still be the case today, it's just that today, we do know how truly lethal this habit really is....
Ohhhh I'm so glad I stopped smoking when I did....and perhaps I
s-l-o-w-e-d the progress of the damage to my lungs by stopping when I did. I hope so, but I'll never know that, either.
But, given all that, when I look at this photo it does make me laugh. There is something very amusing about the picture to me. I guess because I look seriously decadent, which is truly laughable and hilariously silly, too!
Well, whatever...this photo is now my Profile Picture, with much thanks to the wonderful Danny Miller.
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 4:12 AM
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
THE COTSWOLDS-PART 4
As I was getting ready to make the trip to London, one of the things I had to do was see my Proctologist..(Don't even go there....You reach a certain age and it's maintainance, maintainance, MAINTAINANCE, you know?....)
It was this lovely man who said to me...'Oh, you are going to London? How wonderful...but you know, you really should see The Cotswolds....'
I had no idea what he was talking about and said something like..
'Well, I'm not going to have a lot of time to travel around...'.
He took me by my shoulders and looked me right in the eyes and said, 'Naomi, if anyone should see The Cotswolds, it's you!'
Well that was quite an intriguing thing to say and I thought a great deal about it and talked about it, which is my way, and the more I pondered, the more I thought....'Yeah, I think I need to do this. I think we all need to do this.'
I would be in London on my Birthday, and I always do something special for my Birthday....like give myself a party...(no presents), just for the getting together... It is a way to gather friends and any family who are around and really just celebrate each other, together.
So, when Betty said, she would think of something special to do, I told her that I knew what I wanted to do. I told her that I wanted to go to The Cotswolds. Now by this time I had learned that this was an area; a region, so to speak, that had many small villages and towns, all of which were very old and very quaint, and most all the houses and other buildings had been built with a particular stone from the area, known as Cotswold stone. There were many many villages and towns and of course we wouldn't be able to see all of them, but if we left London very early, we would be able to cover quite a few villages and then be back in London, in time for dinner at The Ivy, which was a Theatrical restaurant, comparable to Sardi's in New York, so we understood.
Through the wondefully helpful Concierge, Bob, at the Hotel,
I had found out that there were cars for hire for the day and many company's in London specialized in Day Trips for just this sort of outing. I made the inquiries and found out the details and costs and Betty had generously said she wanted to take care of this
There would be six of us, altogether, Betty and her beau John Mosher who was also her Bass player for her show, Charley Berliner, Cousin Carol, Seemah Wilder, and myself. There were other Theatre West people in London at the time, but we were the core/close group who were always celebrating each others Birthday's.
All four other people wanted to share in this car-for-hire for the day, and insisted that this would be my Birthday present. Everyone knew that I had stated I really did not want any more 'things'...I was always saying, '.....if you must give me a gift, give me a consummable! Take me out to dinner or a movie or take me to the theatre...just don't giveme things!' Not only do I feel I have enough 'things', (I am an incurable collector of stuff...), but most times people pick out things that I really do not want! So this was a perfect plan for my Birthday and all the arrangements were made and I was told our driver was to be a gentleman named Ray.
ray
My birthday fell on a Sunday that year which was perfect because it was Betty & John's day/night off, and they would not have to get back to anything other than the dinner that we all were planning at The Ivy. Most of us are Nightowls. It is almost inevitable if you work in the theatre that you are more of a night person than a day person...Betty habitually stays up till 3 in the morning, and so do I. I never have to worry about calling her too late at night because she usually is up as is her son Garrett, who is also a nightowl. He's a musician/composer, and works a lot at night because it's quiet at that time...my habits are very similar as a painter and composer/writer; I like working at night much better than during the day. There are no interuptions; no one is coming to your door to deliver something; and no phone calls...you can get a really good run at whatever it is you are working on....(like right now, as I'm writing this, it's 2:35 a.m.)
So, that Sunday morning, I had not had enough sleep, but it was fine with me, and when we went to pick up Betty and John, they were late getting down to the car because they had overslept. But, still we got a pretty early start for us nightowls. Our driver was a lovely man who's car-for-hire was a kind SUV.
meEveryone insisted I sit in the front because it was my birthday.
And in the seat behind Ray and myself, sat Carol and Seemah and Charlie; then in the third seat, Betty & John, who tried to catch a little 'cat nap' on our way out of the London area.
Betty had been in London many many times during her career, having played the Palladium with her husband Larry Parks, (and also after Larry starred in the film, "The Jolson Story", they had traveled to England and were received with open arms by the British people , and they had traveled around quite a bit because when they came to play The Palladium they also played 'The Provences', as they are called. Seemah had lived in London with her husband and four children, in the mid 70's, for an entire year, and they had traveled around quite a bit and, in fact, had been to the Cotswold town of Broadway...one of the very charming towns in this beautiful special area, which we planned to see.
And, in fact, the wonderful Ray had asked us did we want to have a 'Pub lunch', or a 'proper lunch'? Since this was a very special day for all of us, we said, 'a proper lunch'. He called ahead to The Lygon Arms, in Broadway...(a famous very old wonderful Hotel with a l-o-n-g glorious history)....and made a Luncheon reservation for the six of us. 
(Seemah and her husband Bill, had stayed at The Lygon Arms back when they had spent that fabulous year on Golder's Green in Hampstead, where Seemah was staying on this very trip, with friends she had made all those many years ago.
We drove through these incredibly beautiful areas that had us all Ooooing and Ahhhing and stopping to take pictures of these very different homes
and incredibly beautiful gardens....
and all this, was seen, on the way to Broadway.
I had read that the town of Broadway had this Teddy Bear Musem and I love Teddy Bears and have quite a big collection of them. One of my very favorite Teddy's always travels with me on any trip I take. He has been to New York 8 times or more, and Florida probably at least 5 or 6 times, and San Fransico at least twice, and Sacramento, Palm Springs, San Diego, well....you get the picture here, right? And this was his first trip to England. (He got to go one more time after that, as did I!)
So I really really wanted to see this Teddy Bear Musem, but, I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Lunch at The Lygon Arms was sublime! Great food; Beautiful service; and the setting was incredibly memorable...
We definitely were NOT in Los Angeles any more, Toto....
We had such a lot of fun, laughing and giggling over silly stuff...we were all giddy with the pleasure of being here in this beautiful area of England.... 
after lunch they served Coffee and Dessert in another room where we sat on couches and continued our racous conviviality! We did hope that we didn't seem like 'The Ugly Americans', to the lovely English people with whom we shared this smaller more intimate room....Happy? Oh, my Lord, we were like little children playing in a sand box, and I know we probably seemed drunk to the other patrons, (no one had even had one drink...), but it was just everyone's natural good great feeling about being inthis rare corner, on this beautiful summer day.
More to come...
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 8:02 PM
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
A QUICKIE...
Here is a Cactus type plant, with an extraordinary flower.
Not the greatest photo in the world but the best I have at the moment.....
If you had to name this plant, what would you call it?
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 10:03 AM
Monday, November 14, 2005
THE COTSWOLDS/LONDON SAGA-Part - 3
When I left off in The Cotswolds Part 2, we were about to actually see Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Blvd."....at it's third performance...a preview performance, which was one of the Benefit performances that had been re-scheduled after the postponement happened because of the sets 'mechanical' problems....And that was how Charley and Cousin Carol and our friend Seemah and myself were all able to see this extrordinary happening, with the fantastic Patti Lupone.
When we bought our tickets at the box office that day, we were told that it was very very important to be in our seats fifteen minutes early because of this 'special' benefit performance which was a fund raiser for The Duchess Of Kent's favorite charity.
None of us had any familiarity with the protocal of Royalty, but, in fact, the reason we had to be in our seats was that The Duchess of Kent would be the last to arrive in the theatre, and after she reached her seat (we would already be standing up for her arrival in the theatre itself,) the orchestra would play God Save The Queen, and only after that when she sat down in her seat, could we then sit down in our seats.
It was very very moving to all of us; the very playing of God Save The Queen by the orchestra would have been moving in and of itself, but here was The Duchess Of Kent, coming into the same section of the audience where we were all sitting, though we were much further up towards the top of the 'peanut gallery' as my mother use to call it, still....it was pretty awesome and made this evening just that much more special and rare for the four of us....none of us ever having experienced anything even remotely like this in our lives, and the chances of this happening to any of us ever again were, less than slim and, in reality, the chances were closer actually to 'never again' in our combined lifetimes!
And all this took place before the much anticipated show actually began!
(We were definitely not in Los Angeles anymore, Toto...)
When the show did start, it was everything one would have hoped for. It's not an easy thing to erase the memory of an iconic film like "Sunset Blvd." But this group of artists managed not to erase the memory, but to give us each a new and augmented memory, not the least of which was the extaordinary musical score of Mr. Llyod Webber. In all honesty I am not a huge fan of most of his shows, except I must say that "Phantom Of The Opera" I personally think works on every level that you would want a Musical Theatre experience to work for you. Satisfying in so many ways...not the least of which is the emotional impact of the entire experience. The Actors, The Sets & Costumes, The Music & Lyrics and The Book...all, add up to a stunning theatrical happening that lifts you and moves you and touches the heart in a very deep way. "Sunset Blvd." did this too, in every way. Stunning and powerful in it's impact, I was a basket case by the end of the first act...dissolved in tears that I could not stop.
I thought Patti Lupone was incandescent!
A powerful performer with a voice that woudn't quit! Her acting was impeccable! She completely embodied the being of the character she was playing...the infamous Norma Desmond...and it wasn't so much that she made you forget Gloria Swanson, it was the miracle of her making this Norma Desmond her own; passionate; warm; heart breaking. I mean the woman broke my heart! (Such a satisfying thing to happen to you,,,yes, painful of course, but for someone to make you feel so very much is deeply cathartic, I think...and that's the unique thing about a live theatre experience.....and Patti Lupone was brilliant. )
Sitting with Charley B. was wonderful, too...maybe because we both work in the theatre and love love love the theatre, it makes the experience of seeing a great theatre piece like this, just that much richer...I never felt I had to hold anything back... you know? I knew he felt as much as I did and so there is this sympatico thing happening without having to say one word. A lovely experience to say the least.
The second act did not disappoint....
more of the same...including the fabulous set referred to earlier....and then, the final curtain came down and the audience went crazy! We all went crazy! Screaming 'Bravo' and whooping and clapping till my hands literally were sore! And then,the audience had to leave the theatre pretty quickly because The Duchess Of Kent would be the last person to leave the theatre...security issues even then and protocal too, I think. I'm not really sure about that....
I wanted to buy anything and everything they were selling at the Merchandise counter; a mug, a key chain, etc., which I did and because we were at the merchandise counter, we were able to get a picture of The Duchess Of Kent departing...a very bad picture..but, a picture, nevertheless....
This was such an exciting evening that the four of us had to go over to see Betty at Pizza On The Park and tell her all about it....we were all so excited by this very rare and wonderful theatre experience we wanted her to get to see Patti Lupone in "Sunset Blvd." before she had to go back to Los Angeles....
(The irony of all this is that Patti Lupone had a run-of-the-play contract which means she gets paid, no matter what....she was supposed to move with "Sunset Blvd'" to New York, after the London company, and she was to 'Open' the Broadway production.
Lord Webber, fired Miss Lupone and hired Glenn Close instead, to eventually open the New York Company after Miss Close played the Los Angeles company. I saw Miss Close in L.A.
Big mistake in my view.
They say living well is the best revenge. Patti Lupone was paid a huge amount of money because of her play or pay contract. I do not know Miss Lupone, (I met her once), but this 'firing' had to be a very very painful and traumatic thing...she had workshoped this show for Lord Webber!
Well, she survived this firing and has flourished as a theatre performer, I'm very happy to say. She is on Broadway right now as I write this, in Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd", which opened last week to superlative reviews. But there was 'no contest' in my view as to who was the better/best Norma Desmond of the two 'Norma's that I saw. No contest, at all.)
More to come in part 4.....later.....
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 1:07 AM
Sunday, November 13, 2005
A SHORT POST....
Just had to tell you I saw three deer about three houses away from my house, last night, on my way back from Dr. Torture's (Back-Doctor Person...). They were as sweet as they could be....It really does my heart good that they are still up her on this hill, and as I've said before, with The Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland just a stone's throw away....well, that is a slight exageration, but you can walk there from my hill!
Everytime I see these beautiful animals I am reminded of how close all of nature still is right here in the heart of Hollywood, and I am reminded of the great great beauty that is right in front of my eyes, if I would just slow down, and stop and look.....
I'm working on part 3 of The Cotswolds/London Trip....be patient please..cause if I rush it, I make too many mistakes. I'm so happy that all this seems interesting to other people....
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 2:20 PM
Saturday, November 12, 2005
"THE COTSWOLDS" -
Part 2
The show that Betty was doing is a One Person show that she created and has done all over the United States. (Los Angeles, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Florida, Dallas, New York, etc., etc…..) The three of us had probably seen this show more than 60 times; Charley Berliner had designed the original set for Betty waaaay back when she first did the show in L.A., at Theatre West. I had taken many many ‘professional’ photographs of her show during performances in L.A. and San Francisco, and had put together a huge group of her personal photo’s as a display in a number of theatre Lobby’s, including L.A., Palm Springs and San Francisco….So you could say, we were all familiar with it and loved it very much!
It was a very thrilling experience to now see her do this terrific show in London, England! I sat there in this funny little place and thought to myself…’How great is this? Here I am in London, ME…in London, seeing “Betty Garrett And Other Songs”'... (Betty ultimately named her autobiography the very same name as that show...it's available at Amazon & Ebay, I might add)…
'WOW!' That I actually was in London was almost like a miracle to me…and only Betty could have pulled this off….funny thing is, many of us from Theatre West felt this way. Charley and Cousin Carol and myself…none of us had ever been to London before.
And this was the first night of an almost magical two weeks, which included doing many of the things that most people do their first time in this great great city….The Tower Of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, (which was very close to the Hotel), Hyde Park, (which I could see from my Hotel Room), Carol & I went to Regent’s Park,
(where I took this photo of this exquisite bird, as well as The Black Swan photo, above…, Harrods, just down the street from the Hotel. I wanted to see Kew Gardens because they have a Cactus Greenhouse, which was absolutely thrilling, and I wanted to go to The Tate Museum. This is one of the great museums of the world.And we all wanted to see as many plays and musicals as we could, particularly things we would not see in the states, if possible. Some things were truly memorable and others were truly awful. There was a musical about Leonardo de Vinci, called “Leonardo”. It was truly terrible, but still worth seeing because there was no way it would be going anywhere, at all, let alone crossing the ocean.
One of the most exciting things that four of us got to see was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, “Sunset Blvd.”, based on the film “Sunset Blvd’” with Gloria Swanson & William Holden. I’d heard a lot about this production and was determined to see it. It was opening while all of us were there in London and I had heard that tickets were almost impossible to come by because those first weeks of performances while we were still going to be in London after the show had opened, were already sold out! But through the concierge at the hotel, I was able to arrange for tickets, before ever leaving on the trip. Patti Lupone was starring in it and Charley B. was very very interested to see it because he had read about this elaborate mechanical set that they had built, that moved in a completely new way….what they had done, had never been done before on any stage. (One entire set lifted up and the second set moved out from underneath and the action of the piece was happening in each set, simultaneously, like a ‘split screen’ effect, only this was not film...this was 'live theatre'...!)
To our great disappointment the opening of ‘Sunset’ had been postponed because of mechanical troubles with the set….it seems that somehow the two way radio’s in the taxicabs going by the theatre, were interfering with the signals inside the theatre and this fantastic set was moving completely at the wrong times which was not only dangerous to the actors, but ruined the show, as you might well imagine! They had postponed the opening for two weeks!
I was truly heartsick about this because that meant that there was no possible way I could get to see this show. I was deeply dejected that we would NOT get to see Miss Lupone do her stuff as Norma Desmond, the Silent Movie Star…..but Charley was not to be denied. One day before we met up with a few of the other Theatre West-ers, he had gone by The Adelphi Theatre to see if there were any previews and if there were, could he possibly get one ticket, anywhere in the theatre. Well, he had indeed been able to get one single ticket for the only performance that was available. He told us this as we got into a cab to go somewhere…I don’t remember where, and of course I insisted that we go by The Adelphia to see if maybe possibly there might be another single ticket.
God was with us. Because of the postponement, a special Fund Raising performance where tickets were at least twice as much as the price listed on the ticket had been turned back….the people unable to go because of the change of date. So the Box Office had a couple of seats here and there, and Charley and I found there was a pair, together that they did not want to break up and which were a little better than his original single, which was not refundable. Cousin Carol bought that ticket from Charlie, and we bought the pair, and another friend bought one of the last singles available, all for that performance.
Happy? Happy as a pig in shit! We all were very excited that yes indeed, we would get to see this heavily touted production…..
(To be continued-Part 3...I PROMISE I will get to The Cotswolds.... maybe....I just get caught up in the memories, you know?.....)
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 3:41 PM
Friday, November 11, 2005
"THE COTSWOLDS"
On my very first trip to England, one of the places I had been told to go was The Cotswolds. At the time I was told this I had no idea what that even meant, let alone where this was located in relationship to London which was my actual destination.
My dearest friend Betty Garrett was playing a nightclub in London in a place called 'Pizza On The Park'. I know, it sounds like some Pizza joint...and well, I guess you could say it is, but a very high class Pizza joint with a very very pretty nightclub in the basement. 
I'd never been to England before and if anyone could get me to make this trip, it was Betty. Quite a few other Theatre West members were going...not together, but everyone was planning on meeting there in London and going to see 'our Betty'. Besides being really great friends with her, evryone going had worked with her at one time or another, and some people had worked with her many times, like myself.
I thought long and hard about making this trip; I am not a good traveler and as the years had gone on, I was getting worse! And this was a very long trip from Los Angeles. But it was so tempting I decided...YES! I will make the trip. I made my reservations and it turned out that Betty's cousin Carol was planning on going as well, and we are great friends, so we decided to fly together! A great bonus for me. I had chosen a Hotel through my travel agent and it seemed centrally located in terms of theatres in London, and the best part of it was that I could walk to Pizza On The Park in less than 3 minutes! Cousin Carol stayed there, too, and it was a glorious place! 
I was thrilled with my room, and arol was wild about her room, as well. After both of us had napped in our respective rooms on that first day or night...(who knew what time it was for our bodies!)....another great friend, Charles Berliner, a wonderful set & costume designer who had flown over from Los Angeles earlier that day, met Cousin Carol and myself, in the restaurant you see in the photo above to your left, for some dinner and then, after a glorious meal, we walked over to the Pizza On The Park nightclub to see the wonderful Betty's show!To be continued.....(I need to rest now....zzzzzzzzzz...I will get to The Cotswolds, I promise.....)
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 2:18 AM
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
"THE MISTER"
5 months old in these photo's, now 6 years old.
This is the dear one.
Sweetie.
He has many AKA'S....like...
'Mister Sweetie'; 'Sweetums'; 'Mister. Blue Eyes'; 'Dumpling'; 'The White Shadow'; 'Mister Boy'....well, you know how it is if you have a pet weather it's a cat, a dog, a bird, a gerbal, a rabbitt, or..whatever.....You find yourself inventing all sorts of nicknames without even thinking about it. His name is actually 'SWEETIE', but my friend Shawn sent me an email one day that ended with this salutation:
Love To You And 'The Mister'.....Well I loved it!
And it has stuck; especially if I am talking about him.
I will say, 'Well you know, "The Mister" is sleeping in the closet at the moment'
He truly is the sweetest, dearest cat in the whole wide world. The perfect cat for me at this time in my life. And beautiful to look at as well as beautiful in his spirit and soul. To my way of thinking, there is no pet like a cat. I like that they do not care what you want, at all! They truly only do what they want to do, when they want to do it. So I just feel lucky that The Mister likes and wants to be near me, most of the time. A true comfort, this kitty-cat is, in every way!
Here's to you, my dear darling Sweetie, you are the bestest!
(I told him he was going to be the star of my blog today. Did he care?
You tell me!)
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 1:03 AM
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
SHEREE......
The lovely and extremely talented actress, Sheree North, died on Friday, November 4th, 2005, here in Los Angeles.
I just heard about it yesterday morning. The first time I ever saw Sheree perform was in a Broadway Musical called "Hazel Flagg". She danced and sang and got great reviews and won the prestigeous Theatre World Award, and landed on the cover of LIFE Magazine, and this led to her repeating her 'wild dance' in the film version of that musical called "Living It Up" with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Sheree was originally signed by Twentieth Century Fox, as a threat to Marilyn Monroe. (Those were 'The Studio System' days and 20th was supposedly using Sheree to put pressure on Monroe to 'straighten up', so it was said.....she never talked much about those days...She was a person who was very much in the 'NOW' mode of life....God Bless Her..)
Sheree did make a lot of films; most of them not too memorable, but that was never because of her talent. And in fact, she did replace Monroe in a film called "How To Be Very, Very Popular" in which she danced alongside the much more famous-at-the-time, Betty Grable, and it was said at that time, North out-danced Grable every step of the way.
Sheree starred in films opposite Dan Dailey, Gordon McRae and Elvis Presley among others. Her career spand way over 50 years (she performed 'live' on stage, as a child). For over half a century she appeared in more than 55 films, and during this time she starred or was featured in over 70 television shows. (Some of you may remember her from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in which she played Lou Grant's girlfriend, or, more recently, in "Seinfeld", in which she played Kramer's mother and revealed that his first name was Cosmo...!)
I will always remember Sheree as she looked, not in 1955 or '65 even, but more like she looked in the 1970's. (Like that last photo up above over on the far right...at least I hope that is where it will be....).
It's a funny thing that happens as you get older, the people you know that you don't see all the time, somehow you remember them at a time when they looked a particular way...a timeless sort of way, I think...certainly a more youthful way than they maybe look now, or in the more recent past....at least, this is true for me.
I first met Sheree in the late 60's when she became a member of Theatre West. (I've mentioned this wonderful group in some of my earlier posts on the old blog, and if I knew how to put a link here, I would....grrrr!)
The thing is, Sheree was a deeply serious actress and a truly extrordinary one at that! She appeared in many stage productions---musicals and serious plays---including the very moving, Tennessee Williams play "The Glass Menagerie", playing Amanda Wingfield, and she was brilliant! Besides being devoted to 'the work' of acting, she was also a very devoted mother. Her daughter Dawn with whom she was incredibly close, is an explempary human being...all due to their relationship, I think, and Dawn is living proof that the job of being a mother was a very very important one which Sheree never ever wavered from. Her devotion to her daughter was more important than anything else in her life, including 'career'.
The last time I saw her was in a play at one of the smaller prestigeous theatre's here in Los Angeles...I don't remember what the play was at this moment. But what I do remember was that she was spectacular in the play, and that we went out after the play with her daughter Dawn, who was there that night, and spent another couple of hours just catching up an everything and everyone! We went for coffee and a bite to eat and then came back to the parking lot behind the theatre where we stood for another hour continuing to share the things friends share....Sheree was utterly interested in 'you', you know? And always made you feel that you were the most important person to her. That's a true gift, isn't it?
The film, "Charley Varrick" was one of her most memorable screen performances. If you are unfamiliar with this film, rent it! It's a really interesting and different role for Walter Mathau, and the story will keep you on the edge of your seat throuhgout the entire film, till the very last frame, I might add! The woman that Sheree played?...Oh My...see, Sheree could communicate stuff with a look; with the smallest gesture---doing very little and making the moment really important because it was rooted in truth! Her 'less is more' school of acting worked like Gang Busters in this film, and for that matter in everything she ever did because of the truthfullness of her acting. She made every character she played very real and utterly memorable. Besides Matthau and Sheree, the rest of the cast of this film is just terrific too, and I promise you, you won't be disappointed if you rent it.
Sheree North will be missed by all who knew her and she will always have a very special place deep in all of our hearts. A sweet genuine person who knew how to act, a woman who knew how to be a partner to her man, a woman who knew how to be a mother to her child, and a woman who knew how to be the kind of friend that you will never forget as long as you live.
Rest well, dear dear Sheree. And know that you made a difference in all the lives you touched while you were on this earth, leaving a legacy of love and respect and a body of work that will live on as long as there is a way to preserve film.
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 2:08 PM
Monday, November 07, 2005
"MUSICAL THEATRE-PART 1"
Captain Picard's Journal had some wonderful questions about 'Musicals'....Have you ever seen a musical, and if so how many have you seen, and do you like them, and what ones would you like to see that you havent seen? Well, you get the idea.
So I started to answer and I realized I'm not your usual person when it comes to musicals or plays or anything to do with 'live' theatre and films. Why? Because I am 'in the business' as they say, and I have seen so many performances of so many musicals that I could not even venture a guess as to how many musicals performances I might have seen in my lifetime...including shows I've been in, or in one case, a show that though not strictly a musical...there were a lot of songs used, some of which I wrote the original music for and performed in the original Broadway show, as well....(that is definitely another blog for another time, and I have to learn how to place the photo's where I want them, before I write that one!)
I began going to the theatre as a very young child, (I wrote a little bit about this in one of my earlier posts on the old blog...) then, working in summer stock where you see 8 performances of any given musical that plays every week; then there are all the shows I've seen many different productions of...sometimes 5 or 6 different times in different parts of the country with different casts!!! And on and on and on....
So I thought, maybe I should begin talking about Musicals that were so important to me that they are in my memory bank from childhood, because either they changed my life in some way, or, influenced my own growth as an artist in some way, or, I just loved them so very much that they are almost a part of my DNA!
So this may be an on going 'to be continued' type blog, as I go along, or, not! One of the very first musicals that I have some vivid memories of was the Original Broadway Cast of "Pal Joey", the Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart show. Vivienne Segal and Gene Kelly were the stars; this was before Kelly became a movie star, and in fact, this was the show that catuplulted him to Hollywood, and the rest 'is history' as they say. I was very very young, but it somehow became etched in my brain and it is one of the many shows that I saw again, the most important production in terms of the roads taken, was ten years later, (when I was an apprentice in Summer Stock), with that young an incredibly talented actor/dancer/choreographer, Bob Fosse, playing the cad, 'Joey'. And this was very much towards the beginning of his career, too.
This is where I would have loved to have put the photo that's up above, but I just cannot figure out how to make this f........ happen!!!! Sooooo frustrating to me. Anyone out there that can explain to me how to do this so that I can put pictures anywhere I want them to go...well, I will be eternally grateful to you!
Okay, now back to wherever......The woman in the photo is Carol Bruce, who was a great Theatre Star, and appeared in the very first Broadway Revival of "Showboat" (another theatrical milestone, by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein), as Julie, (Julie sings two of the greatest songs ever written.."Can't Help Lovin' That Man", and "Bill"..). Of course Miss Bruce played Vera in this summer package of "Pal Joey", and this particular production was totally responsible for the first Broadway Revival of "Pal Joey", not with these two wonderfully talented people, I might add.
Here, I would have liked to put a photo of Vivienne Segal and Harold Lang, who were the stars of that very first Revival. (Too bad, OldOldLady.....maybe another time.)
Have any of you ever seen this great inovative-for-it's-time musical, live, on the stage, anywhere?
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 1:21 AM
Sunday, November 06, 2005
A DOG IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
So, while I'm talking about my street and my neighborhood...let me share with you a few facts. Many many people that live up here on the hill have dogs. And everyone walks their dogs twice a day. And, everryone has to carry a scooper or something to pick up the poop, and a container of some sort to put the picked-up-poop in.
Some people carry a plain old plastic bag. Some people carry a Half Pint Ice Cream Container and the variations on this theme are endless and utterly fascinating when you think it is actually against the law now here in L.A. to leave your dog's poop anywhere but in some kind of container that you take home with you, and throw in your refuse containers....(the black plastic containers are the appropriate ones up here, because that is for all waste material, except greens from your garden...Your gardening clippings, leaves, cuttings and such, go in a green plastic container, and your re-cyclables go in a blue Container....We are very well trained here in L.A.
So all this is by way of telling you about some neighbors, Mr. & Mrs. K., who live down the street from me around one of those curves that I mentioned in my last post. Mr. K. or his wife have been walking their little doggie for years and years..(I understand, as of this writing, that that sweet little doggie is now in dog heaven, and his wife is not a well woman these days, either. But previous to all that, Mrs. K. walked Suzie. And then Mr. K. began walking Suzie all the time when Mrs. K. could no longer do that.
A number of times when I would be out working with my Gardener or just coming home from somewhere I would see Mr. K. with Suzie and noticed that he had a familiar looking blue bag over his arm...a very recognizable blue bag...I would go so far as to say a Signiture Blue Bag, over his arm.
I wonder if Tiffany's ever dreamed that their beautiful signiture bags would be used not for expensive jewelry....diamonds, gold, emeralds, silver and ruby baubels, etc.....but, dear reader, for dog shit?
I tried for years to get a really good picture of this, thinking, it would be a hilarious advertising gimmick for Tiffany's, if they have a sense of humor, that is....but, I didn't want a posed photo; I wanted to catch Mr. K. and dear little Suzie as they went about 'her business', sort of natural-like, you know?
What you see up above is the best I could get and unfortunately the Tiffany Bag was pretty dog earred, (excuse the expression), by this time, but, it is what I was able to catch on the fly, so I'm grateful I got anything at all.
Do you think Tiffany's would be amused?
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 12:05 PM
Saturday, November 05, 2005
COYOTE’S
Driving home from “Dr. Torture”(aka: The Back Doctor) last Saturday night—I was coming down the hill from Mulholland Drive, down Outpost Drive and then on to my street-- It was somewhere around 8pm. And there in the street, as I rounded one of the familiar curves, were two Coyote’s—one was just crossing the road in front of me as my headlights caught him—using one of the ‘crossovers’ that the deer have used for many many years—and the other one was about to cross following his buddy/mate, when the headlights of my car--plus the sound of my car scared him back up the hill behind the late Michael Jeter’s house
Here in the Hollywood Hills where I live, at 8:05pm on a Saturday night—with Hollywood Blvd. just down the hill—here were these two coyote’s.
It never ceases to amaze me that I can live so very close to “civilization”; that Grauman’s Chinese—excuse me, Mann’s Chinese Theatre is my neighborhood movie theatre and yet—I see coyote’s and deer up here and always have, all the years I have lived up here.
Unfortunately these streets now have an incredible amount of traffic, for residential streets, I mean—someone is always renovating their home or rebuilding—or new homes are being built on the very few lots that are available at this point---(this area is extremely overbuilt now --and those houses that are being built, are being erected on the most impossible inclines you could possibly imagine)—and all this building brings workmen and their cars and trucks; huge dumpsters parked for months at a time on streets that are very curvy and windy and not exactly wide---making driving up here pretty daunting.
It is so very busy all week long from early morning till after dark that one forgets that this use to be a very quiet and generally sleepy neighborhood---and one has to be even more careful when driving all the blind curves up here with so many cars and trucks parked on the streets.
I actually had begun to think that all this activity and hustle and bustle and crowdedness had sent the coyotes and the deer further up into the hills—or that maybe, even---that most of them had died out with no place to roam.
It really did my heart and soul good to see these two healthy looking coyotes that night—and the day before, Friday,—the two plumbers that had come to my home to snake out the kitchen sink which had backed-up…(it’s been quite a week of problems here in the hills what with computer crashes and pipes breaking and kitchen sinks backing up--)…they saw two beautiful deer on the street, almost in front of my house…a hopeful sign, too, I would say.
As I continued on my way down my street towards my house that night—I thought: ‘It really is fall now, here in the hills of Hollywood, now that the coyotes and the deer are here’, and I was reminded of why I wanted to live up here in the first place. Nature is right outside my front door. Wild animals still do frequent my neighborhood even though Hollywood & Highland and The Kodak Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel are almost a stones throw away.
It's a small thing maybe, but it really made me happy!
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 12:29 PM
Thursday, November 03, 2005
CHANGE OF BLOG!
Well.....I cannot get on my old blog to post because I have a NEW computer, and I cannot get anywhere with blogspot so, I'm starting a new blog with my NEW color for November!
My computer crashed and died a horrible agonizing death, late Saturday night, October 29th! I have been without my 'blankie' since then, until tonight!
And horror of horrors! My worst nightmare....NOTHING could be saved...nothing.
Luckily, I do have a huge amount of my documents on floppy's, but, I did not get a chance to save all the photo's I had been downloading on a floppy....so, I will have to start all over again with that! OY!
The greater question is: Will anyone find me here at me new blog? Hmmmmm.
I hope so.
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| posted by OldOldLady Of The Hills at 9:11 PM
x4
