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RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL:

The Genius of ROD SERLING

PART I by Susan Schnitzer

INSPIRATION

Searching my memory banks of vintage TV programs that left more than a indelible trace and a truly unforgettable impression on my young brain was THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959 – 64) and the slight, but overpowering, figure of creative genius—ROD SERLING who introduced each and every episode. With his well-tailored suits, style, polished voice, handsome mannerism, over the top comments, logic, wisdom and sure attitudes of a mysterious other dimension, he reminded me of a small screen Cary Grant. The show was presented on CBS and I felt that the logo CBS eye was a perfect segue way for the show’s long lashed doll’s eye image. Of course I loved The Adventures Of Superman, Bonanza and countless comedy and variety shows of the time, but like a good filling meal, Rod Serling’s works has stuck to my mental ribs throughout the decades. True, Mr. Serling wasn’t an actor, but an outspoken writer whose works enabled other talented actors of his time, a chance to shine forth with pearls of his script verbiage.  Mr. Serling wrote 70% of the episodes and never missed a mark in his commentary and social conscience. Though there was Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Mr. Hitchcock’s macabre sense of humor and Edgar Alan Poe type of episodes, I wasn’t impressed. Mr. Hitchcock wasn’t attractive and I didn’t find him funny or likeable. When the series became available on DVD at my local Suncoast store several years ago, I was surprised on how many episodes I remembered by just sitting lotus style on the floor and scanning the DVD covers. A funny thing occurred while I sat organizing the episodes—several customers came up to me to ask me where certain TV shows and movies where. I pointed to the appropriate aisle and commented “I don’t work here—I just look like I do.”

A LIFE SCENARIO

Rodman Edward Serling was born on Christmas Day in 1924 in Syracuse, NY. Rod was an outgoing boy who read Sci Fi magazines and was involved in high school drama. People were drawn to his charisma and self assuredness. Growing up, he had few disappointments and life was safe. He spent afternoons and summer nights with his brother at the movies. During World War II, Rod enlisted in the paratroops the day that he graduated high school and served in the Philippines. After leaving the service, he attended Antioch College in Ohio. While still a student, he sold his first script to a radio show—Dr. Christian. Afterwards, Rod was soon selling his scripts both to radio and TV shows. In 1955, he made the leap to national prominence with his TV screenplay Patterns (1956) as shown on Kraft TV Theater. It dealt with the cutthroat world of corporate business. The script won Mr. Serling’s first of his 6 Emmys and was made into a film.  At the age of 34, Rod Serling was the top writer of TV’s Golden Age. More winning scripts followed as presented live for 90 minutes on Playhouse 90:  The Comedian (1956 - Mickey Rooney) and Requiem For A Heavyweight (1957). By the end of the 1950s, Rod Serling was TV’s most esteemed and popular writer. Unfortunately, he found himself increasingly constrained by sponsor censorship.

To avoid this, he created The Twilight Zone (TZ).  His reasoning was correct and the sponsors dismissed his stories as fantasy and didn’t notice his hidden social comments. Mr. Serling even made a commercial sales pitch to the sponsors predicting the high quality of the series promising to put viewers at the edge of their seats. In turn, he was sure that these same viewers would hurry to the stores and buy the sponsor’s products (he used instant SANKA coffee as an example of an item that would “disappear” off of the shelves.)  For TZ, Mr. Serling enlisted the finest actors of the time (Robert Redford, Robert Duvell, Lee Marvin, Art Carney, Ed Wynn, Keenan Wynn and Jack Klugman, etc.). Many of these actors he met in his Playhouse 90 days. He also enlisted the directing talents of Richard Donner (TZ episode “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet” [William Shatner] and on the big screen Superman and Lethal Weapon).  Bernard Hermann composed music for the movie Citizen Kane and later was incorporated to score both the initial theme and a number of TZ episodes before he moved on to score for the films Psycho and Taxi Driver.  Rod had the insight for hiring gifted performers that brought their own specific voice to this unique show.

What attracted these talent pools was the writing and astounding variety of the series produced at a dizzying speed.  Mr. Serling sat by his swimming pool in his back yard at his Pacific Palisades, CA mansion and dictated and worked, 12–14 hours a day–7 days a week, into a tape recorder for a secretary to transcribe. Then he would make line changes by hand producing 10–15 pages of script per day. Rod wrote 70% of the 156 scripts with writers Charlie Beaumont and Richard Matheson filling in as needed.

During and after The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling continued to craft his moving and memorable work. He continued with the TV series The Loner (starring Lloyd Bridges), Night Gallery and films Seven Days in May and Planet of the Apes.

Interview with Mike Wallace

At the time TZ came to the small screen in ’59; Rod Serling was, in a cloud of shared cigarette smoke, interviewed by Mike Wallace. He started off as a staff writer, a dreamless occupation, at a Cincinnati, Ohio station. He wrote testimonial product endorsements. Totally fed up with his position, he sat down with wife Carol and decided to quit his job and to write free lance. It wasn’t just about the money—it was the battle of writing so that he could be his own man. Rod Serling loved to write about the controversy of socially relevant materials. He hated commercials that interrupted a broadcast every 15 minutes that had absolutely nothing to do with the show.

Rod was known as “TV’s angry young man” because he refused to be told what to write. There was always a sense of outrage in Rod’s writing. It showed human’s potential for evil. For a thinking human being, humanity is our business. He took on issues that the networks and sponsors were against. He wrote a TV play A Town That Goes to Dust about a black man being lynched in the south. It was butchered, emasculated and sanitized to death so much that it became antiseptic. He protested this action all the way. It was Rod’s belief that all evils grow from prejudice. Rod very clearly articulated the evils of censorship. He spoke about a lovely episode of Lassie about the birth of pups. His young daughters, Jodi and Anne, enjoyed watching the birth process as it was quite innocent. Protest letters came flooding in to the station that it was a “sex” show. In his Playhouse 90 days in Judgment at Nuremberg there was a line about gas chambers that was cut because the sponsor of the program sold gas ovens. Rod was totally against any type of sponsor interference.

In the first year of filming 18 episodes of TZ, only one line was changed by the sponsors. The action took place in England where they were serving tea. The sponsor happened to sell coffee so the line was changed to bringing in a tray of food. Rod’s half an hour dramas couldn’t probe like a 90 minute show so the writing had to be concise. The show was adult, very polished and high quality. Rod felt that a play couldn’t be chopped with an axe and took great pride and wouldn’t write beneath himself. His role was that of the tired nonconformist who didn’t want to compromise nor fight the sponsors.

When asked by Mike Wallace if he thought out of the TV box, Rod commented that he wasn’t sure that he could make it out of TV. His movies were less than spectacular and he wanted to stay in the womb. However, Rod wanted to do Requiem again as a theater play. Eventually, he would have loved to write a novel. He wasn’t ashamed of what he was doing and had turned down low quality at the sake of high pay. The Velvet Alley was part autobiographical dealing with the corruption of getting into big money and the preoccupation with status. Rod’s biggest value in life was his family but it was difficult to balance along with his overloaded work schedule. He wasn’t concerned that a contract would bring in a lot of money but would rather do a project for it’s built in challenge.

In closing, Rod felt that some TV was good and some was wonderful. TV had much promise as it’s a real art form that could be improved tremendously. From 40 rejection slips to Emmys; from a trailer park home to a mansion – Rod Serling came a long way. 

THE CREATIVE HEART OF ROD SERLING

In his pre TZ live TV plays days, Rod Serling wrote an autobiographical account of his climb and pitfall of stardom—The Velvet Alley starring Art Carney (as Ernie the writer), Jack Klugman (the agent) and Leslie Nielsen. The young writer came from the heartbeat of a big city, after countless rejections, where it took 8 months to complete a script. But in Hollywood, he fell into the Hollywood rat race of life where he had to crank out script after script at a lightening pace. In life off the page, Rod Serling came to NYC in 1954 in a world that fueled a writer for TV and a new breed of writer emerged. Rod Serling succumbed to writing and gladly had no other choice.

People came out of theater or basically nowhere to be on live TV.  Rod Serling lived every line of agony in his Playhouse 90 (The Comedian and Patterns) days. Anything could and would happen during those live TV days and Rod agonized through it all. Performers Kim Hunter and Richard Kiley both liked the moment of truth on live TV for its mad dashing around from scene to scene. While it was thrilling and invigorating; if an actor screwed up it was “curtains.” Patterns (a recurrent theme also in the TZ episode *Stop at Willoughby* was that of the push, push, push of a businessman causing him to be on the brink between life and death) was a story of a powerfully heartless boss (played by Everett Sloan) pushing out an elderly worker (Ed Begley). It’s a tale of morality vs. success at the shady side of the corporate street. It proved an overnight success for Rod Serling and pushed him into the limelight. Rod’s wife Carol Serling said that her husband dealt with success very well on the surface but he had to maintain it. Every script was expected to be a success.

Also on CBS’ Playhouse 90—Requiem For A Heavyweight,  Keenan Wynn, manager, Ed Wynn, trainee, of fighter Jack Palance on his final bout where after he was discarded and used up just like the life of a writer. Everyone feeds off of the fighter’s misery. Ed Wynn portrayed his trainer with an innocence and love for the fighter. Kim Hunter played a social worker. This proved to be a most electric work of Rod Serling and put TV ahead 10 years. It was the hit of the season and won 5 Emmys.  Rod Serling won for best writer. Serling, at this point of his career, had won 3 Emmys (Pattern, Comedian and Requiem).  

The last Playhouse 90 was In The Presence of the Enemy telling of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Rod Serling researched this piece for 8 months and many sponsors turned it down. It starred Robert Redford and Charles Laughton and was the first to deal with the subject of the Holocaust. It was taped and the sound effects were put in afterwards on an empty sound stage. After this work, live TV was history and never the same. The writers went west to further their craft.

In Los Angeles 1959, offers flooded in for Rod Serling and more scripts came pouring out. He was trapped in success. He was quoted as saying “LA is Ok if you’re a grapefruit.” Regardless, Rod loved to rub elbows with the stars but he didn’t think Hollywood would sport his The Velvet Alley style.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE 1959 – 64

At first no one wanted to buy the idea of this most unusual series. Rod Serling got the idea of the pilot Where Is Everybody (Earl Holliman) while he was walking through an empty movie studio as the story of the last man on Earth. Everything takes place in the mind of this astronaut for space research to determine if space travelers could tolerate loneliness. The episode was so reality based that the sponsors liked it immediately. It turned out to be the fastest sale of a pilot ever! From then on, Rod Serling’s imagination went beyond the twilights. Rod Serling was sharp and outspoken for a “little guy.” He saw the TZ (both as writer and co producer) as half hour well polished films dealing with fantasy and imagination with social messages “subtly” put in. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street signifies that scapegoats and prejudices can kill. This idea was taken from the McCarthy era where Rod’s friends were seared and branded as “reds.” WE are the enemy. In *The Eye of the Beholder*—what is beautiful and what is ugly? *Number Twelve Looks Just Like Me* is another example of a totalitarian society where everyone must look the same. But what exactly is lost in the transformation?  The Masks, set at a Mardi Gras party shows us the real faces we wear in life. Nothing in the Dark is when a very unlikely Mr. Death (Robert Redford) comes to the door of an elderly woman (Gladys Cooper) who is afraid to let him in. Death comes in as a loving salvation and as a whisper. All of the men in Rod Serling’s life died very young so perhaps he was preparing himself to meet Mr. Death shortly.

Jack Klugman (who was in 3 TZ episodes) revealed that Rod wrote with an actor’s sensibility in mind. The dialogue had a crisp, snap, crackle and pop sound that actors loved to speak. In Passage with a Horn, Jack plays a down on his luck horn player, an everyday person, who feels unloved, neglected, and dispossessed. His suicidal character feels that he has nothing to hold on to but is given a chance to redeem himself to start again. He had forgotten about all the good things in his life and just concentrated on the bad. *To Serve Man* is a very bizarre twist on the “good neighbor policy.” *Time Enough at Last* starring Burgess Meredith (who was in 3 TZ episodes) let’s us know to be careful what you wish for—you may get it!  This was also the theme with Mickey Rooney as a jockey not being caught short in The Last Night of a Jockey and in The Trade In where an elderly couple is willing to trade in their life’s savings for a robot fountain of youth.  

Though Rod Serling complained about all of the trappings of fame, he was a real ham in front of the camera. He loved being a celebrity and being highly recognized on the street. In a skit on the The Jack Benny Show he introduced himself as the Mayor of a small town and called himself “Mr. Zone.” Only 5’5”, being a star fed his insecurities,  

At times, he was fondly nostalgic about the simpler life he led back in Binghamton, New York as opposed to his hectic pace in Hollywood. In Walking Distance (Gig Young) a businessman goes back in time to revisit his boyhood. The moral of the story is “Can you REALLY go back again?” Enjoy that time of your life and remember it well. Daughter Jodi Serling felt that writing was therapy for her father to relieve him of his emotional pain.

The Purple Testament (Dick York) was a flash back to Rod’s paratrooping days in the Philippines of World War II. Rod had nightmares for the rest of his life due to his war experiences. Fortunately, these nightmares proved for great writing therapy. In this episode, death is shown on the faces of soldiers who wouldn’t be going home.  The nightmare of war continued with A Quality of Mercy (Dean Stockwell) during the last day of the war where the tables are turned on an American solider set to destroy Japanese soldiers.

Towards the end of the series, Rod was writing at a pace of 36 hours for each episode. In addition, he oversaw the filming of the episodes. This was a departure from his Playhouse 90 days where it took him months to complete a script. He became drained of ideas and needed 6 months to stop and replenish himself. He wanted OUT. Outspoken Rod always went to the press if he disagreed with procedure and was so harsh that CBS was up against him. So he was more than OK and philosophical when the program was cancelled in ’64.

Rod Serling went on to other writing opportunities after the cancellation of TZ. The Loner (1965 Lloyd Bridges) was a thinking man’s western. Critics and sponsors panned it because there was not enough action and violence and it wasn’t a typical western. Rod Serling wanted believable characters only.

In 1969, NBC aired a Serling-penned pilot for a new series, Night Gallery. Set in a dimly lit museum, the pilot film featured Serling (as on-camera host) introducing three tales of the macabre, unveiling canvases that would appear in the subsequent story segments. The series, which premiered in December 1970, focused more on gothic horror and the occult than did TZ.  Serling, no longer wanting the burden of an executive position, sidestepped an offer to retain creative control of content—a decision he would come to regret. Although discontented with some of producer Jack Laird's script and creative choices, Serling maintained a stream of creative submissions and ultimately wrote over a third of the series' scripts. By season three however, Serling began to see many of his script contributions rejected. With his complaints ignored, the disgruntled host dismissed the show as “Mannix in a cemetery." Night Gallery lasted until 1973. While the series has its own cult following, it was not as successful as TZ and is generally regarded, sometimes unfairly, as a pale shadow of Serling's previous series. Wife Carol Serling said that Rod should never had done the TV series because Rod acted merely as a “front” to introduce the episodes. 

Serling wrote a number of short stories in the science fiction and horror genres, which were collected into three volumes of TZ stories (1960, 1961, 1962), two of Night Gallery stories (1971, 1972) and a collection of three novellas, The Season To Be Wary (1968). Many of Serling's stories can stand as genuinely original and meritorious works of prose fiction.

Rod Serling took his craft to the large screen and wrote screenplays with a political focus. The film Seven Days in May (1964-Frederick March) was quite a superior telling of an attempted military coup against the President of the USA. Planet Of The Apes (1968-Charlton Heston), which later evolved into numerous sequels and a TV series, is a turned around world where the masters of the planet are NOT human. The Man (1964) was about the first African American President.

Serling had taped introductions for a limited-run summer comedy series on ABC, Keep on Truckin', which was scheduled to begin its run several weeks after his death; these introductions were subsequently edited out of the broadcast episodes. He also wrote the pilot episode for a short-lived Aaron Spelling series called The New People in 1969.

Serling returned to radio in 1974 as the host of a new mystery/adventure series called The Zero Hour. The show aired for two years and Serling wrote several of the scripts. It failed to find a large audience due to its radio serial format and lack of promotion. He did voiceovers for various projects and narrated documentaries featuring French undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and (uncredited) performed the narration for the beginning of the Brian De Palma film Phantom of the Paradise.

After his death, several Serling scripts were produced. In 1988, J. Michael Straczynski scripted Serling's outline Our Selena Is Dying for the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone; Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994), was a TV movie based on a Serling script and an outline for another story (the latter was expanded and scripted by Richard Matheson); In The Presence Of Mine Enemies (1997) was set in the Warsaw Ghetto; a science-fiction remake of A Town Has Turned To Dust (1998) and A Storm In Summer (2000) followed.

In his last years, Rod took to teaching writing in Ithaca College, NY where the pressure was low and he loosened up with his students. In a TZ episode Changing of the Guard (Donald Pleasance) a teacher is forced to retire. At the crossroads of his life, the teacher wonders if he left a favorable mark on his students. The same sentiments rang true for Rod Serling who didn’t trust enough in his own talent.  The TZ episode One for the Angels (Ed Wynn) dealt with an aging salesman who wants to make “one big pitch” with the angel of death before he replaces himself with a little girl dying in his building. Just like Rod Serling, he wanted to know that he achieved something of value in his life.

 Living on a diet of too many cigarettes, chewed up fingernails, black coffee, and stressful deadlines affected his creative heart. Rod Serling died of complications from open heart surgery at the age of 50 on Tuesday, June 28, 1975, thus ending his life but not his legacy as a memorable writer. Rod Serling was like a modern day Aesop who slipped some information into our pocket and then slipped away—too early. 

December 2007

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SO PROUDLY WE HAIL

(1943)

By Susan Schnitzer

World War II (USA involvement 1941 – 45) became the defining moment in the lives of an entire generation of Americans. But most accounts do not tell the whole story of the courage, tenacity, and faith of American nurses during those four terrible years. To qualify for commission as an Army nurse, one had to be graduated from an approved nursing school, be under 40 years of age, unmarried, and (presumably) female. For the new nurse recruits, the actual experience of military life was very different from the recruiting posters. Depending on their assigned locations, nurses found themselves sharing their thatched-roof communal bathroom with lizards, snakes, monkeys, and rats scampering through camp. Some nurses found accommodations more suitable but were plagued with insects, scorpions, and the diseases they carried. Writes one nurse veteran: "I wish I could forget those endless harrowing hours. Hours of giving injections, anesthetizing, ripping off clothes, stitching gaping wounds, of amputations, sterilizing instruments, settling the treated patients into their beds, covering the wounded we could not save. I had still not grown accustomed to seeing people torn and bleeding and dying in numbers like these". Another nurse relates: "Nurses had to assume a lot of responsibility...as there were not enough doctors to supervise every case at every stage". In some cases, nurses were forced to use helmets as washbasins and bedpans, rainwater for bathing and drinking, and local herbs for healing ointments. At one evac hospital the nurses joked that the water was so polluted that they were forced to brush their teeth with champagne. One nurse recalled a patient brought into her evac hospital directly from the battlefield, missing both arms and both legs; undaunted, the soldier looked her in the eye and said, "Hey nurse, how about going out with me when I get outta here?" "The words of a badly wounded man, as he looked at you giving him plasma, were thanks enough for us all.”

Truly, George Reeves was worthy of much, much more than top supporting billing. There should have been a ray of sunshine in his movie career horizon. Who is to say what would have been the outcome if director Mark Sandrich would have lived to fulfill his promise of making George a movie star. After all, leading actress Colette Colbert thought highly of him and wanted to pair him in further leading roles with her. HAIL TO GEORGE REEVES in this stellar performance!

November 2007

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They Were Afraid They'd Lose Their Jobs

By Susan Schnitzer

Has anyone ever wondered "why" no one picked up that Clark Kent was actually the one and only Superman? There were certainly enough clues and innuendos being thrown back and forth on TAOS. To coin a phrase of Noel Neil "They were afraid they'd lose their jobs" not only pertained to the staff of the Planet but also to various characters on the series. Perhaps no one wanted to wait on line at the unemployment office of the 1950's since there were no "on line" services yet on a home computer. Super Sis Gail came up with the idea for this article, while our famous Mr. X supplied us with the clue ridden episodes.

Season 2 contained the majority of clues as well as combining the dramatic noir of season 1 coupled with the comic wit and charm of future episodes.  The first episode was FIVE MINUTES TO DOOM starring Dabbs Greer (of the movie The Green Miles and other TAOS episodes such as Superman on Earth and The Superman Silver Mine, and the reverend on TV's Little House on the Prairie) as condemned death row prisoner Joe Winters. Joe is a foreman on a construction job where he physically struggles with a supervisor over inferior steel products used on a job. In the struggle, the supervisor is shot to death and Joe is blamed and sentenced to death. Did Lois ever wonder how trusting Clark was able to take Joe's pulse aka a lie detecting test which is something only machines and Superman could detect?  Joe was too emotionally distraught to pick up on this. When a henchman hitching a ride with Lois and Clark accidentally on purpose leaves his lunch box (with a bomb filling) in Lois' car, the supposedly "timid" Clark risks his life, and limbs, by jumping out of the car with the bomb saving Lois and the car.  Lois comments that Clark was mighty brave to which Clark answers "You mean just like Superman... Sometimes I think you under estimate me." I wonder IF the dark trench coat (maybe from the George Reeves collection) wasn't in the car and Clark would have emerged with half of his suit intact and half of Superman's outfit showing, would she have managed to CATCH ON?  By the way, did anyone else notice that the clock in death row had the name HAMILTON on it? Perhaps it was an inside joke of John Hamilton or a side job that he had in-between acting gigs.

PANIC IN THE SKY, according to the commentary track comments of Jack Larson and Noel Neill, is a favorite episode of comic Jerry Seinfeld. Noel brought this episode along on her college discussion trips. When Clark is in bed, suffering from amnesia after a confrontation with the deadly asteroid, he is surrounded by the Planet's staff. Jack commented that Jimmy was a bit dense and befuddled when he was looking at Clark laying there NOT wearing his glasses. There was no excuse why the learned and powerful editor of the DAILY PLANET couldn't fathom that the handsome hunk laying on the bed was the one and only powerful Superman. Perhaps a good detective (well, Candy wasn't in this one) could have figured out if George Reeves was wearing his own PJ's as it looked quite similar to the one that he wore in the late '50s clip "Roving Reporter" at the home of George Reeves. Clark was missing right after Superman's collision with the asteroid.  Then he shows up at home quite tired and out of it. When he collapses in the shower, of course without his glasses, Jimmy notices that "he must weigh a ton" (of course Super muscle weighs more than regular muscle). Jimmy also notes that Clark doesn't have a scratch on him after his mishap because "he must be the luckiest man alive." Back at the office, with the possibly that being at work will jar his memory, Mr. White asks Clark to contact Superman. Clark's answer is "Do you know what he looks like? Well, apparently "no" because everyone is staring right at his handsome super face. Jimmy still doesn't have a hint about what's happening when Clark asks him if Superman's powers come from his suit, doesn't see the bump underneath the chair cushion from the costume and is not in the least bit miffed why Clark abruptly rushes him out the door. The ending is classic and timely with the verbal exchange of Lois and Clark. Clark comments "I know who Superman is now." Lois answers ""Oh, who?" With perfect deadpan timing, Clark comes back with "Just knock me on the head sometime." Of course Lois would maim herself if she hit Clark on the head and guess what, she still wouldn't get it!

THE CLOWN WHO CRIED takes place at the circus where Lois and Clark ask Rollo the clown if he would do his act for a children's fund telethon that the Planet is sponsoring. When Clark's x-ray vision reveals that Jimmy is in trouble in a nearby tent, Clark tries to get away from Lois. The only trick that works is for him to take his glasses off in front of Lois, to dust them, and purposely step on them and ask Lois to go back to the office to bring back his second pair. Of course, in those early years, Clark's glasses were only frames but no one took notice.  He also had a spare pair tucked away in his jacket. Once at the telethon, Clark cleverly takes a meal break, when it is time for Superman to make an appearance, In a bit borrowed from season one's HUMAN BOMB, Clark trades places with the guard who has a similar hair, body and profile type as our ace reporter so that his visage can be seen in the foggy next door window. Supposedly what we see is the guard munching away, but I wonder if it wasn't actually George doing that bit. Well, once again, Clark is much too clever for anyone around and the guard didn't think that it was wrong for Clark to use his hat. After all, the guard would officially be out of uniform.

THE GOLDEN VULTURE is a 1950's pirate salvage ship adventure. Off-balanced Captain McBain's disgruntled stewart Scurvey (perhaps he didn't take his Vitamin C) sends out a help note in a bottle out to sea that is retrieved by a beaching Jimmy. Back at the office, the only person who can read the sea water smudged note is Clark (even with his non glass eye glasses). None of the ship mates are ship shape enough to catch on to Clark's super feats. Clark snaps the chains that are binding Scurvy because "they must be rusty, I guess...perhaps there are more rusty chains around." Clark poses his steel-like finger in fence Sanders back alarming Sanders to think that there actually is a gun back there.  Most likely due to George Reeves' boxing days, Clark is agile when he waivers and ducks with lightning reflexes away from hostile crew members. He just wants to get away "Stupor man, where are you?" in order to save the day. Clark has no glasses on when he is blind folded to walk the plank. No one gets the visual connection especially when Superman emerges mini seconds after Clark submerges Superman is in no rush to save Clark from the perils of the deep much to the chagrin of Lois and Jimmy.  Just when Lois may catch on to the Clark-Superman connection, he grabs her hand and she gets a dunking. "It just couldn't be, it just couldn't be" unglues that part of the puzzle.

In season 4, there is THE JOLLY ROGER which is a campy tale of descendants of a pirate family still living on a deserted island that is targeted for destruction by the navy. On the island is TAOS alumnus Leonard Mudie (Drums of Death, The Magic Necklace and Ghost of Scotland) and the serial Perry White—Pierre Watkins as the admiral. Clark takes off his glasses and is about to ”reveal all" (as Superman that is) in order to save the islanders from the bombing but reconsiders when he comes up with another plan. No one takes note of this. Also, did anyone ever notice that when Clark is challenged on his proximity to his Super pal, he smugly readjusts his glass frames?

In the last season, there was one last effort for Clark to fool everyone in THE BIG FORGET but this time he was able to get away with it thanks to Professor Pepperwinkles' anti-memory vapor spray which wipes out anything that happens within the past 15 minutes. Here's a hint, Clark tells the Professor not to try the spray on him as he may be immune to the spray but that comment doesn't register with the memory challenged inventor. When con Mugsy Maple (veteran TV bad guy Herb Vigran) gets a hold of the spray and ties everyone up in order to poison pellet them to death, Clark reveals the inevitable that he is also the Man of Steel. Only Lois sits there without a reaction and without shock as if she really knew it after ONLY 6 seasons of playing the guessing game. Perry White is astounded while Jimmy is enjoying helping Super Clark bash down the door. So both Jimmy and the Professor saved the day and Clark's identity. Gee, I wonder if Mr. White remembered to give his staff that $10 raise that he promised them or did the spray wipe that memory out, too?

**The photos were done by our Gail M—give credit where credit is due! SAS

October 2007

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A View of

FOREVER FEMALE

By Susan Schnitzer

It’s no ones guess that I’m attracted to the limelight of theater whether it be New York’s Broadway, London’s West End or Regional and Community Theater in New Jersey.  As a child living in the Bronx, mom and I would venture to the “city” of Manhattan on a Saturday for a “girl’s day out” to go to Radio City Music Hall and see the very made up (but beautiful) dancing and singing Rockettes kick their way on stage. Mom would explain to me that the average height of the Rockettes was about 5’7” but their hat feathers and dance shoes were adjusted accordingly so that they would all appear to be the same height. Mesmerized, we sat up front for this part of the show. But when the motion picture came on, we had to rush past the crowds and sit as far back as possible in the auditorium because the movie screen was larger then Yankee Stadium, or so we thought.

In 1968, after the stage show, we saw the movie THE ODD COUPLE but the auditorium was much too crowded and we couldn’t move back. Imagine the neck ache and eye strain we suffered when we had to look up the nostrils of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau for 2 hours! Before the show, we would eat lunch at the Automat (my favorite meal was the vegetable plate with pumpkin pie dessert) and then a trip to Carol Ann’s Dress Shop (a purchase was a whopping $9.99). If we had already seen the Radio City Show, there was always a $4.00 matinee Broadway show. It didn’t make a difference whether the play was a musical, comedy, tragedy, memorable or not --- we saw it all!  So when I plugged in my loaner, thanks to Green Ink Girl, VHS copy of FOREVER FEMALE (1953) my front row seat was my Magic Motion Bed and I was still mesmerized.  

Up came the opening scene of Broadway in grainy, but beautiful, black and white. Ginger Rogers (Beatrice Rogers) was a 40+ year old actress starring as a 29 year old (she’s 29 like I’m 29!!!) in a play produced by her ex-husband Harry Phillips (Paul Douglas). After the performance, Bea sups at New York’s Sardis’ restaurant. She is escorted by her boyfriend of “this season” – George Courtland IV (George Reeves) who is very conservative sporting a crew cut and Clark Kent eyewear. In fact, George is referred to as the “crew cut.” Harry introduces George to Bea’s agent as “what’s his name.”  Bea corrects him. When other people join the group seconds later, no one can recall George’s name. George’s retort “It’s a perfectly simple name” is followed by Harry’s “For a perfectly simple fellow.” An argument boils up between the men at the table as to how “well (or not)” Bea’s performance went that night. Ex-husband Harry tells Bea “If I was still your husband, I’d ask him to step outside,” …. “But now it’s up to Mr. Courtland.” George solemnly says, “Now you remember my name!”

This priceless moment was the highlight of the entire movie. George’s highly arrogant rich snooty mannerisms and dry wit was reminiscent of Jim Backus’ “Gilligan’s Island” portrayal of Thurston Howell in the 1960’s (George and Jim were the best of friends in these pre-Gilligan days, so perhaps Jim “borrowed” Howell’s character from George). This is the last time that we see George “what’s his name,” but he is mentioned several times later on in the film.

The rest of the film centers on Bea coming to terms with accepting herself as an “older” actress. Patricia Crowley (who is known as Sally Carver as well as numerous other stage names) comes in to assume the daughter part and Bea assuming the mother part. William Holden is the young playwright (Stanley “who ever”) who becomes Bea’s next “boy toy” but winds up with Sally (and her multi Sybil personalities) and Bea winds up with her ex-husband (I lost my score card along the way).

What I found MOST amusing about this film is the 1950’s perception of a woman of 50+ as frumpy, dumpy and lumpy (the evil triplets). When Bea is playing the “young” daughter character, “mature” women audition for the mother part (this was in the pre CURVES health club days). My family photo albums reveal that middle aged women looked, in the year of yester, more like senior women of today. Now when I look at photos of our Super Women of this Board, as well as my own gal pals, I realize how girlish we all are.  We must have all tapped into the fortress of youth.

September 2007

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THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE

THE ULTIMATE BACKSTAGE WORKOUT

By Susan Schnitzer 

There’s an abundance of work and preparation that goes into putting together a Broadway style show. What the audience does not see is the world behind the curtains—the world of the backstage crew. Without these unsung (and unseen) heroes and heroines there would be no show.

MILLIE was my return, after an absence of eight years, to the backstage world of theater. It was also a reunion of working with performers whom I had encountered both on stage and in the orchestra pit. To my delight, it was a reunion of working with Terry, who was my dresser last year in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. What a fun and crazy-paced time we had!!! I had 3 costume changes in less than 5 minutes (with outfits, wigs and caps that fit like Bozo the clown’s formal wear), but nimble-fingered Terry was able to swiftly, safely and modestly get me on stage in a breeze. With the intense summer heat of outdoor theater, this was quite a challenge. This year, Terry and I were teamed together, again, but in the capacity of crew members (i.e. shakers and movers of props and sets). MILLIE takes place circa 1922 NYC with sets almost as large as the Big Apple itself (and I had the black and blue marks to prove it). Assistant Stage Manager Justin is going to college this fall with a major in Stage Management so being a part of this outdoor theater experience was a big thrill for him (even if he didn’t admit to it!). Stage Manager Kim was overjoyed to have us on hand (and especially on foot) and even remembered our names as we ran from stage left to stage right and back tapping  along to the syncopated beats of the music and dance numbers.  

All backstage crew are required to wear black as not to be seen by the audience. As I found out, wearing scandals was NOT a good idea but it did give me a free pedicure! Terry and I were provided with print outs of the acts and scenes where we scribbled down activity notes—in the semi darkness! On stage right, before the show, we had to preset the unfolded (and never washed) laundry towels for the show stealing characters Bon and Chin. Stage left had the most activities as we moved the set of the Hotel Priscilla on and off a dozen times; helped Justin go under the hotel desk as we helped wheel him out; helped move the café platform, office ledger and tap dancing secretaries’ typing sets. We raced over to stage right to put the towels on the laundry table and helped Bon and Chin move the table into the cove so they could take it on stage. In between, we moved the secretary set ups into place for the tapping secretaries to go on stage, moving typewriters on and off and putting phones in place for the second act; moved in and out the glitter curtain for the speakeasy scene and helped move the jail out. Then in came the “infamous” laundry cart where we raced to put the towels back on the prop table by the men’s dressing room; doing our version of a very clumsy Indy 5000 as we raced to get the cart down the narrow hallway, constantly bumping into stored café chairs and tables, the “once” working theater fire extinguisher, and tripping on empty bottles of water. Once outside on the loading dock, we passed scenery from the MATTRESS show, tried not to hit it, went back through the ladies dressing room corridor, hitting plastic garbage cans and the prop table. Once on stage left, we left the laundry cart to the rear of the back curtain—all in time to push the secretaries and their desks onto the stage!!! All of this was done within 30 seconds (what great cardio!). Then the performers wheeled a desk and swivel chair off stage for us to put in the corridor and for Terry to take a jacket off the set to put on the boss character! Need I forget that Terry had to race back to stage right to get the winter fur coat (like anyone really needed it in August) off of the café singer and put in the dressing room.

During intermission we had to move the typewriter sets to right behind the main curtain, help move the jails to the back wall, and move the kitchen sink to the stage right wing. After this, the clumsy chaise lounge (with broken wheel) had to be dragged from the corridor right next to the Hotel Priscilla set. This took 10 minutes out of our 15 “rest” intermission. Act 2 was a bit lax for us. Mostly, we sat on the lounge and helped a dancer with her outfit change at the end. In Act I, we watched in awe as main character Millie’s outfit and wig were changed by 3 dressers in less than 30 seconds. In rehearsal this change was timed by the music cues. Millie never missed a cue or a dance beat. By the end of the run of fun, we were mouthing all of the songs, some dialogue tags and mimicked the dance routines. Sadly, during the jail scene, a baby squirrel (which looked like a mouse) dropped from the ceiling rafters and splattered onto the set. The performers didn’t respond to this until they were all in the wings. What a short career for the squirrel!  

From the wings, we watched the final bows and the great audience response. Tap dancing must enhance the niceness zones of the brain stem because the performers were the nicest people I’ve met in theater in years. They kept on thanking us (even if we got in their way). Contrary to what Terry said, we weren’t the OLDEST back stage helpers around, but the MOST SKILLED and thoroughly enjoyed tapping our troubles away.

September, 2007

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BEHIND THE SCENES:

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

By Susan Schnitzer

Believe me, at this stage of my life, it’s always a thrill and delight to be ON THE STAGE no matter how big or small the part. On my audition card, never to take the nerve wracking process of auditioning or myself too seriously, I put down that I would be happy to play the part of THE PEA (though there is no such part).  

Well, I got the part of one of the ensemble Ladies in Waiting (I’ve been waiting decades longer than most). Most ensemble ladies in this production were either high school or college aged;  one more “seasoned” lady was approaching the advanced age of 30 (the poor old dear). My claim to outfit fame is that other than being petite and easier to fit (thus my Pea Green Gown), I have a reputation backstage as being easy to get along with. A little bit of niceness with the costume shop ladies goes a long way.  At opening night, I present all of the backstage crew with trays of cookies and a freezer full of ice cream and ices treats (nothing healthy).  When it’s time for outfit repairs, mine is usually the first attended to. When I was being measured for my PEA outfit, I told the laughing costume lady that I wanted my usual garbage bag with holes but in the summer I want a paper one since it’s more breathable in the heat. I received the same kind of ROYAL treatment from the sound crew, prop people and the stage managers. The main principles of the show, from ages 35 – 60, were at ease and confident with both themselves and the production. They were a joy to work with and provided valuable input to the director as to character development.

Of course, since my background, talents and brain cells are limited, adorable choreographer David P. took special “pains” (not painful I hope) with me to go over the dance movements again and again. He even allowed hubby to videotape the “Spanish Panic” dance number so that I could go over it when I got home. I constantly apologized to my dance partner Kyle for not being the Ginger Rogers in his dance life. He didn’t mind, smiled and we joked throughout the entire dance number. In fact, our routine came out to be the funniest!!! For 7 weeks, the show rehearsed in the nearby community college. By the time it moved into Plays in the Park (the show’s final home) for tech week everything looked different. The stage and number markings on the floor were different plus we were working with set pieces and props. So dance routines and basic movements had to be reconfigured. David was on hand (and foot) to walk me through everything --- yet again! Director Art N, who laughs and jokes like veteran comedian Ed Wynn, just stared at me and said that my work was ADMIRABLE (I’m not sure if that was a compliment or not). His wife was my first voice teacher, so he knew of my limitations and was quite patient with me (before he turned away and laughed some more!!!).

  

Once on stage, all of our varied personalities came into play. As an ensemble member, we had to constantly interact with the others as if we were in real life and having real conversations. As in real life, each performance was slightly different. Since all cast members wore mics, our singing voices rang out quite strong and clear. During the second act, for the song QUIET, ensemble members had to walk, with pillows and mattresses, outside the theater, along an ill-lit field of the Park onto the rear of the outside auditorium. This was during the last several moments of intermission. Several times, audience members came up to us to ask us questions or give positive feedback on the show to which we answered in character “The Queen insists on QUIET…..” Most of the time on stage, I was paired with Nick (sort of like a young Oliver Hardy), who is the complete body opposite of me. I’m sure this was done for comic effect!!!!

Several friends and acquaintances came up to me at the end of the show to comment on how good I looked (I didn’t have any solo speaking lines) in my Pea green dress, how I was actually able to dance (surprise, surprise) and that I was constantly in view in the front line (being pushy didn’t hurt either).

Included in this chapter of my stage life, is a photo of me with the Queen (as played by Marti Bookstein of various NJ singing cabaret acts), of Nick and me, and group shots (CD ROM photographed by Rich K.) and a publicity shot of the entire production by an outside concern. Enjoy the show!!!!

August 2007

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ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

By Susan Schnitzer

The musical comedy ONCE UPON A MATTRESS opened at the off-Broadway Phoenix Theatre on May 11, 1959, and then moved to several Broadway theaters before finally settling in at the St. James Theatre. It ran for a total of 460 performances. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The original production was directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Joe Layton. MATTRESS marked the Broadway debut of stage and TV comic legend Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred the Woebegone. Also featured were Joseph Bova, Allen Case, Jack Gilford, Anne Jones, Matt Mattox, and Harry Snow. Actress Jane White played the role of Queen Aggravain, becoming the first African-American woman to portray a white character on the Broadway stage. The play was nominated for the Tony Awards for Best Musical, and Best Leading Actress (Carol Burnett).

MATTRESS was first written as a shorter play at the Tamiment Ault Summer Camp Resort and was later expanded for the Broadway stage. Initial reviews of the play were mixed. Critics and actors alike were surprised by the show's enduring popularity.

A London production of MATTRESS opened in September 1960 at the Adelphi Theatre and ran for one month. A Broadway revival starred Sarah Jessica Parker (TV's SEX AND THE CITY star), Lewis Cleale, and Jane Krakowski. Featured in the show was Plays-in-the-Park alumni Thom Warren! It opened on December 19, 1996 at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for 188 performances. This production was nominated for the 1997 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

The first television adaptation was aired on June 3, 1964 on CBS. The film, shot in black and white, featured most of the original Broadway cast.

The second television adaptation was broadcast on December 12, 1972 on CBS. This television movie, filmed in color, also included many members of the original cast (including Burnett and White) and featured Bernadette Peters as Lady Larken. In the teleplay, several songs were eliminated and characters were cut or altered (including a prologue sequence with Burnett playing a storyteller).

The third television version, which aired on December 18, 2005 on ABC in the US and was released on DVD two days later, starred Carol Burnett as Queen Aggravain, Denis O'Hare as Prince Dauntless, Tom Smothers as King Sextimus, Tracey Ullman as Princess Winnifred, Zooey Deschanel as Lady Larken, and Matthew Morrison as Sir Harry.

Strange that it took 45 years for PIP to mount this show...but it's never too late for a happy ending --- and in Mattress, everyone classically lives happily, happily, happily ever after.

August 2007

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ALWAYS A BRIDE

By Susan Schnitzer

George Reeves (Michael Stevens) has my vote not only as the underdog Mayor in this 1940 picture, but for practically carrying this 58 minute picture on his own strong shoulders. His wit, charm, charisma, believability and upbeat comic timing makes one forget that he was ONLY given second billing under Rosemary Lane (Alice Bond).  In 1939, George was first teamed with Rosemary and 2 other of the Lane sisters in “Four Wives”

Rosemary was one of the 4 talented Lane Sisters (originally named Lola, Leota and Priscilla Mullican) who first achieved success in the 1930s as a singing act. The sisters’ popularity led to a series of successful films.

George’s film nemesis for the hand of sweet, intelligent, and lovely Alice is a very thin and dark haired John Eldredge (Marshall Walker). John is well known for his 4 roles in Superman: Superman's Wife (1957) as Mr. X, The Girl Who Hired Superman (1956) as Jonas Rockwell, Shot in the Dark (1953) as Burt Burnside and Crime Wave (1953) as Walter Canby. John’s other TV appearances have been in I Love Lucy, Bonanza, December Bride, Amos and Andy...and the list goes on and on.

Aside from the billing oversight, the wonderfully campy funny script, by Robert E. Kent from a play by Barry Conners, is not to be overlooked. The men are verbally fighting for the hand in marriage of Alice. Trying to talk Marshall out of the idea of marriage, Michael smilingly tells of all the pit falls of marriage. Let’s face it, Marshall is a great catch for any woman and parents absolutely love him. He is rich, well positioned and connected but a CRASHING OVERBEARING BORE!!! Michael is the extreme polar opposite. Michael is a parent’s worst nightmare for their daughter because he has absolutely nothing to offer – he doesn’t work, he’s lazy, he’s in debt, but he’s the ultimate people pleaser (a George Reeves trait) and EVERYONE LOVES AND ADORES HIM!!!!  Alice can’t resist Michael (who can?) and she marries him under family protest.

In order to save his marriage, Michael agrees to run against the shiftless Mayor Loomis figuring that he won’t win, but all of his bills will be paid. With his honest approach to the voters, Michael wins. He not only wins the election, but the respect of Alice’s parents. According to Michael, the best part of being an elected official is that he’ll never have to work again!!!!

This movie was above adorable and I watched it twice in a row because 58 minutes wasn’t enough of watching our smiling George.

July 2007

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ARGENTINE NIGHTS

(1940)

By Susan Schnitzer

Who could forget the swinging and singing Andrew Sisters -- LaVerne, Maxene and Patty?   They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, The Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring in vaudeville with comic bandleader Larry “Dick” Rich, and Ted Mack (the 1950’s TV The Ted Mack Amateur Hour) they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts.  Their mega hit "Bei Mir Bist du Schon” (means That You're Grand)," a Yiddish tune, became a million-seller, making them the first female vocal group to achieve a Gold Record. They followed this success with a string of best-selling records over the next two years making them a household name by 1940. During World War II, the Sisters were the most beloved entertainers with their hits, that have since become standards, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. The Andrews Sisters remain unsurpassed today on Billboard, record-breaking theater and cabaret runs all across America and Europe as well as countless appearances on radio shows from 1935-1960, including their own; and guest spots on every major television show of the 1950s and 1960s.  The Andrew Sisters appeared in 17 Hollywood films. Argentina Nights was their first film, pairing them with the comedy trio, the Ritz Brothers. Universal Pictures was so budget conscious that they refused to hire a choreographer. So the Brothers taught the Sisters some of their wild and eccentric steps. So if you ever see the Andrew Sisters next film Buck Privates (starring the comedy duo Abbott and Costello) you will note that they dance just like the Ritz Brothers!!!

Brothers Al, Jimmy and Harry Ritz became known for their wide-eyed expressions when they first became a team called The Collegians in 1925 when they were managed by older brother George. The off the wall comedians debuted with a film short Hotel Anchovy (1934) and continued with Sing, Baby Sing (1936), Life Begins in College (1937), The Three Musketeers (1939), The Gloria (1939) with Bela Lugosi,  Argentine Nights (1940), and Never A Dull Moment (1943). The brothers remained popular thereafter in live performances and TV guest appearances. Jimmy and Harry appeared individually in small film roles into the mid-1970s. Harry was seen in his last feature film, Mel Brooks’ slapstick Silent Movie (1976).

Argentine Nights is a total farce, with unbelievable characters, a story line and events that don’t fit nor make sense, but it is not without some merit. Any movie that has George Reeves (even with heavy eye shadow) as a dreamy, romantic lead with pseudo Latin mannerisms can’t be all bad. He is sort of like a delectable kissing bandit (Eduardo/El Tigre) in the arms of Constance (Bonnie) Moore (who just so happens to be around waiting for him, I guess). How prudish Bonnie resists and is insulted by his advances at first, is beyond belief, but then again, this was 1940 when movie love scenes were restrained. George is humorous, conceited, devilish and impish especially when he sings his one line of Once Upon a Dream in his tuneful tenor voice. This playful criminal playboy is actually a singer in an all guy singing gaucho band (go figure!). The Ritz Brothers are Marx Brothers wannabes with loud and cheesy humor at an annual stockholders meeting. They sponsor a girls’ band (The Andrews Sisters) in route to Argentina to recoup the stockholders money. Amongst the craziness, the Andrew Sisters wonderfully sing and dance and their acting is cutely funny considering the little bit that they had to work with. To my surprise, the Brothers’ comic dancing is better than expected. The Brothers sing Brooklynonga which tells of their trekking back to Brooklyn, which is only 4,939 miles away, is somewhat amusing in a Bugs Bunny cartoon way but not rib tickling. The topical humor and gags must have meant more in its day. Perhaps Mel Brooks was a fan of the Ritz Brothers because some elements of this movie remind me of his 1981 bomb The History of the World, Part I, though not quite as bad. Marty Feldman and Gene Wilder (of Brooks’ Young Frankenstein) had the same wild facial features and expressions as the Ritz Brothers.

June 2007

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THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE

By Susan Schnitzer

 

Thoroughly Modern Millie takes audiences back to the height of the Jazz Age in New York City in 1922. Julie Andrews (Broadway's My Fair Lady and Disney's Mary Poppins) starred in the title role in the 1967 Oscar-winning film, supported by Mary Tyler Moore (TVs The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show) Carol Channing (Broadway's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Hello, Dolly) James Fox, John Gavin and Pat Morita (Arnold in TV's Happy Days).

 

Although the play is based on the 1967 movie (book by Richard Henry Morris), Thoroughly Modern Millie is almost thoroughly new. Music composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist Dick Scanlan wrote a batch of swinging melodies, while retaining a couple from the movie—including the Jimmy van Heusen-Sammy Cahn title tune and recycled some older material.

 

The Broadway version had its first big reading in New York in 1999, with Kristin Chenoweth (Broadway's Wicked), David Campbell, Marc Kudisch and Bea Arthur (TVs Maude). From there, it went on to have its premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in the fall of 2000, extending its original run and receiving enthusiastic reviews. It officially opened at the Marquis Theatre in New York on April 8, 2002. The show was nominated for eleven 2002 Tony Awards, and won six, including Best Musical, Best Actress (Sutton Foster as Millie) Best Featured Actress (Harriet Harris as Mrs. Meers the Dragon-lady),   Best Costume Design, Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations. This production closed on June 20, 2004.

 

The London production opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre on October 21, 2003 and closed right after the Broadway version, on June 26, 2004. However, the show can still be seen on national tours, one of which has been traveling the U.S. since 2003 and another one in the UK as well.

Thoroughly Modern Millie is a high-spirited musical romp that should have all of Plays in the Park audience dancing the Charleston.  Filled with frisky flappers, dashing leading men and a dragon-lady of a villainess audiences will love to hate, this musical is a perfectly constructed evening of madcap merriment.

 

June 2007

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By Susan Schnitzer

THE GREEN MILE (1999) is an amazingly moving, though at times disturbing, miracle of a motion picture marking the last film of TV/movie/stage star Dabbs Greer (the elderly Paul Edgecomb). THE GREEN MILE marked Dabbs 100^th film that ranked along side his 570 guest spots in TV programs. It surpasses anything that he had ever done previously. This movie is not for the weak, nor faint of heart. It will rip your emotions asunder just as it did both Gail’s and mine.

Joining Dabbs are the  superbly acting talents of actors who have appeared in numerous TV, movies and the stage: two time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (the younger Paul Edgecomb); David Morse ("Brutal" Brutus Howell); Bonnie Hunt (Jan Edgecomb); Michael Clarke Duncan (John Coffey); James Cromwell (Warden Hal Moores); Michael Jeter (Eduard ‘Del’ Delacroix); Graham Greene (Arlen Bitterbuck); Doug Hutchison (Percy Wetmore); Sam Rockwell (William "Wild Bill" Wharton); Barry Pepper (Dean Stanton); Jeffrey DeMunn (Harry Terwilliger); Patricia Clarkson (Melinda Moores); Harry Dean Stanton (Toot-Toot); Eve Brent (Elaine Connely); Brent Briscoe (Bill Dodge); and Gary Sinise has a cameo as Burt Hammersmith, Coffey’s public defender. Not to be overlooked is Mr. Jingles—the mouse. No creature is too small or too insignificant not to be included in this big cast list.

THE GREEN MILE is told through the eyes of elderly Paul Edgecomb who is now living in an old-age home some six decades after working as the head guard on Death Row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary during the great depression. THE GREEN MILE signifies the final walk that Death Row Inmates walk along the green colored linoleum that leads to their final destination—the electric chair.  Watching the film, one wonders who is more demented and more of a criminal—be it the gentle healing hands of convicted killer John Coffey (who feels all of the pain and suffering of the world and wants to “help” all of humankind) or the sadistic prison guard who can do no wrong because he has political connections. There seems to be a fine line. The public (relatives and friends of the murder victims) are allowed to watch these brutal executions as a form of entertainment (just think of the Roman Gladiator days in history). The Del Delacroix execution scene is just too, too, too brutal, barbaric and graphic for description. It makes one wonder how such a hardened killer can feel and show such softness and compassion to a tiny mouse. Through the gentle and down to earth soul of Dabbs Greer’s eyes, one can readily see in him the same traits as Tom Hanks. There was no other actor, other than Dabbs, who could have captured his essence. Just think of old time actors James Stewart and Spencer Tracey, who were not sexy or macho, but “real.”  This film is oh too real and signifies that we all walk our own Green Mile in our own lifetime. We just have to follow our own path.

May 2007

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BEHIND THE CRIMSON CAPE: THE CINEMA OF GEORGE REEVES
 

Susan Schnitzer - Commentary
Jan Alan Henderson and Steve Randisi's background history on the career of George Reeves is more than just hunky eye candy photos of our George in his 71 films (7 of which are from the SUPERMAN TV show). Until recently, I never knew that George had such an extensive movie career. It's always wonderful to be pleasantly enlightened and educated.

Upon pursuing the 337 pages, I first read up on the films that I have seen, reviewed and plan to review shortly (for this purpose, the well organized time table of contents is broken down into years). Under the title of each film, is a brief George character blurb (ex: 1939 Ride, Cowboy, Ride - Bandito Reeves; 1953 Forever Female, The Blink of a Broadway Footlight) that informs us just how much film time and importance George had in a particular film. The last paragraph of each film description sums up that either George was: merely wallpaper, cut from the scene, now you see him—now you don’t, a waste of his talent, window dressing, a disappointment for hard-core Reeves fans, a showcasing Reeves’ mastery of dialect, all Reeves fans should catch this flick, a terrific showcase of George’s ability to handle all types of acting in one film, a thoroughly forgettable entry in George’s film catalog, etc. Unfortunately, it seems that in most of George’s talents were wasted, too brief or cut from totally unmemorable films. The memorable films (Gone with the Wind, Blue, White and Perfect, The Sainted Sister, So Proudly We Hail, and Champagne for Two) were more than Best Supporting Actor Oscar worthy—but that was never to be. In many of his films along the way, one will note that George never forgot a character actor friend when he put them in SUPERMAN years later.

The year 1940 seems to be have been George’s banner film year (19 films); followed by 1941 (7 films) and 1943 (9 films). Sadly, World War II deeply cut into his career—never to return to its peak by the 1950s. It was the combination of the limited film opportunities due to the growing TV media and because of George’s best remembered work on SUPERMAN.

Now it’s time to mention George’s ever changing looks on the screen. In Calling Philo Vance he could have easily excelled Errol Flynn; in Ride, Cowboy Ride he looked like the Frito Bandito; in The Mad Martindales he looked like a dapper gentleman of the 1890’s; in Jungle Goddess he was the cool and sophisticated bounty hunter; in Thunder in the Pines he was a complete dufus; in The Blue Gardenia he was the sneering detective, and in Forever Female he was a buzz cut snobby, rich Clark Kent type.

It was most interesting to note the book comment that Toni Mannix promised to make George a star if he hooked up with her. Well, she must have had a strange sense of humor if her influence put her George in such films as Thunder in the Pines and The Adventures of Sir Galahad (‘nuff said!!!).

Not that I’ll ever be perfect in researching and proofreading my own works, but please take note of Some Things Fall Through the Cracks Like Elephants, but the Weasels Stole the Cheese ; OOPS, Too; How to be an Author and make yourself look more foolish than nature intended; OOPS - WE’RE NOT SUPERHUMAN! http://www.glasshousepresents.com/jan_alan_henderson_page2.htm.

I did notice some other minor typos, but I had to reread passages several times before I took notice of them.

Jan and Steve’s long overdue tribute to the film career of George Reeves deserves two thumbs up and a big cheer!

May 2007

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THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY

By Susan Schnitzer

BUDDY is the world’s most successful rock & roll musical of our time. It is a musical celebration of the young legendary singer/songwriter, Texan born Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley), who shot to stardom in 1957 only to die tragically in a plane crash 2 years later, February 3, 1959, at the age of 22. Also in the plane on that fateful day were dynamic talents 17 year old Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson (the Big Bopper.) THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY is a celebration of his all too brief life that catches the innocence, drive, humor and charm that was Buddy Holly.

Starting as a Country & Western singer in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy and his two friends formed the 'The Crickets' and with the support of a local radio DJ, Hipockets Duncan, they started to carve out a career in music.

After an inauspicious start at Decca Records in Nashville, Buddy & The Crickets signed contracts with an up and coming innovative record producer Norman Petty. Within hours of meeting they started to record Buddy's biggest hit, "That'll Be The Day", which rocketed up the chart and reached number one within two weeks. Buddy Holly & the Crickets suddenly became the hottest act in the country.

On February 3rd 1959, after a concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy broke his promise to his pregnant wife not to fly as he and the other two head-liners boarded a small plane and flew off into the night for Moorhead only to crash an hour later into a ploughed field. There were no survivors.

BUDDY introduced the concept of the rock ‘n roll musical to the east end of London open as co-written by Alan Janes and Rob Bettinson , directed by Bettinson and produced by Janes. BUDDY opened in London in l989 and has been seen, by over 20 million people in over 16,000 performances on Broadway, throughout America, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Scandanavia, South America, the Netherlands and Singapore. Since BUDDY first began, there have been 14 actors playing the title role in the West End, on tour and on Broadway. To date, BUDDY is the recipient of 18 awards and nominations worldwide and received RAVE ON reviews worldwide.

In the late 1950s, Liverpool, England and the entire UK were in love with Buddy. Buddy Holly was the inspiration for Don McLean’s 1971 ballad “American Pie.”  Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney cited Holly as the roll model of their beginning style and took the names THE BEATLES to pay homage to Buddy Holly’s backup group THE CRICKETS. THE BEATLES did a cover of Holly and the Crickets’ hit WORDS OF LOVE and the ROLLING STONES covered the hit NOT FADE AWAY. Buddy’s protégé Waylon Jennings, became a major country western star.

Actually, it took until 1969 when the music of Buddy Holly settled down when his unissued hit LOVE IS STRANGE was spliced together from a short vocal guitar recording and played. Many DJs were unaware that Holly had died ten years earlier.

The appeal of THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY is everlasting to audiences of all ages. The Buddy Holly Story is a celebration of that legend and catches that unique mixture of innocence, determination, humor and charm that was Buddy Holly and wraps it all into a package that truly deserves the billing. This was a tragedy that shocked the world. In Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, this tragic accident snatched away three of the most dynamic talents the world had known, and as the legend says: "It was the day the music died."

May 2007

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Sue's View:

WESTWARD HO THE WAGON

 

By Susan Schnitzer

George Reeves' (Wagon master James Stephen) list film, Disney's 1956 Westward Ho the Wagon, features a stellar cast with connections to Superman, The Mickey Mouse Club and other popular TV shows of the 1950s-70s.

Though the winsome singing folk song host of the Mickey Mouse Club, Jimmie Dodd ("The Mickey Mouse Club March"), wasn't in this film, he was briefly in Superman's 1952 Double Trouble episode as Jake the fingerprint man. He sang to his MICKEY MOUSE costars, several starring in WHTW: Young Mouseketeers Karen Pendleton (Myra Thompson) and Cubby O'Brien' Mouseketeers (Jerry Stephen); Doreen Tracey (Bobo Stephen); Tommy Cole (Jim Stephen); and David Stollery (Dan Thompson) was also Marty in the Spin and Marty episodes of the MMC. In addition, David was also in several episodes of I Love Lucy and Checkmate.    

The adult cast was headed off by Fess Parker (John 'Doc' Grayson). Parker is best known for his roles playing real life frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, as well as starting the children's fad of wearing coonskin caps. Fess appeared in other Disney movies dealing with the early years of Davy Crockett and also in non-Crockett parts such as Old Yeller (1957)  His last attempt in television was in the unsuccessful series Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1962).

Sebastian Cabot's (Bissonette) sonorous voice was used To Narrate Several Winnie The Pooh cartoons, The Jungle Book, The Sword In The Stone (all Disney productions), acted in Johnny Tremaine and in George Pal's The Time Machine (my personal favorite all time movie). On the small screen, Cabot made an unforgettable appearance in The Twilight Zone's episode "A Nice Place to Visit" as Mr. Pip—the devil; the suspenseful Checkmate and regal gentleman's gentleman Mr. Giles French in Family Affair.

Though the cast was stellar, unfortunately, the storyline wasn't. It took numerous viewings to determine who was related to whom and what was what in the film. To put it bluntly, it was BORING! Thank you Behind the Crimson Cape: the Cinema of George Reeves for setting my sights on a straighter path (and to Green Ink Girl who loaned me the VHS). The color visuals were very dark (even on different TV sets and settings). The film seemed to begin and end abruptly. Though George's role as the wagon master leading his wagon train group to Oregon through Indian Territory would thought to be a lead pivotal role, he didn't have much film time invested in it at all. His voice and manner were firm yet commanding and loving. He was unrecognizable at first. He was a fatherly figure not only to his group but also to his family. He appeared heavy and bloated with a moustache, goatee, and sporting his own silver locks. On page 285 of Crimson, taken around the time of filming, a mustached George is his usual trim smiling self. This proved that George was set to break his TV image and willing to appear unglamorous. Finally, I realized that George had a wife with a blue dress on and three children (Cubby, Doreen and Tommy). The young Disney stars are merely cute but didn't add or act with any kind of substance. Fess Parker gets most of the screen time as the entertaining and easy going doctor who saves the day when he heals a young Pawnee warrior. Karen and David have a much, much older sister (Kathleen Crowley) who I thought was their widowed mom. I knew that she set her cap for the shy Dr., but again, nothing was clearly explained. Sebastian Cabot had a charming French accent and ways as the cunning traitor/mediator with the Indians.

If George Reeves was to be around as the wagon master in WAGON TRAIN, this itty bitty part may not have been enough of a test to prove his worth.

May 2007

 

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EVERYWHERE I GO …..

By Susan Schnitzer

Ever since I joined the The Friendly Adventure of Superman Discussion Board the beginning of ‘07, the smiling countenance of George Reeves seems to be beaming down upon me. Perhaps these things have been happening to me for years, would have happened to me anyway or are happening to me for a reason.

On the morning that I visited with Noel Neill and Larry Ward at the NYC Gotham City Collectors Show on Saturday, March 31, 2007, in the very wee hours of the morn, I rode into the Big Apple with hubby en route to his job at one of the remaining smaller financial buildings of the World Trade Center. He introduced me to his fellow electricians who were helping him with the fire alarm system in the building. One of his “best, best, best laborers ever” was a guy by the name of George. As hubby and the guys set up their tools a