I'm a big believer in saying nice things behind people's backs. I have been known to write letters of complaint, and I feel that if I'm going to complain I have an obligation to praise when something is done well. Besides that, people really like it, they're so appreciative, and sometimes I even getting better service down the line. But mainly, I just think it's the right thing to do. And in the end, I feel good about it.
I was wondering through my local Ralphs grocery story today. (Not to be confused with Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery in Lake Wobegon.) And as I browsed the produce section, I saw a group of what appeared to management types checking it out. I've seen that on occasion here -- and for some reason it's always the produce section. The store is fine, nothing great, some things very good, some things ordinary, but they have a pretty nice produce section. It's not so much that the section itself is so great (it's definitely good), but it's very well-run and the people there are very nice and helpful. So, on those times when I've seen the Management Gaggle, I like to go over and praise the section. I sought out the person who looked best-dressed and seemed most officious. I figured that he might be from the produce division in the area or something, so I asked if he was the one in charge here. No, he said, it would be that woman -- he pointed -- she's the president of the company. Well...boy, howdy, I picked the right group to send out some praise. I went over, and asked if she was in charge. What I always love is that you can see in peoples' eyes a quick look of concern, since I'm sure most people come over to complain and ream them out, and the relief and pleasure in their faces when they realize you're actually giving praise is a true joy. So, I dive right in and don't let that momentary look of fear linger. Needless-to-say, she was very pleased by my praise. (Not as pleased, I'm sure, as the person in charge of the produce section there, and the store manager, hearing this in front of the Big Boss...) We exchanged some pleasantries, and she noted my Cubs cap and talked about that, as well -- saying it was the first time she'd ever watched all seven games of a World Series when her favorite team wasn't playing. (I said that, yes, having a 108 year wait has an effect like that on people.) And then I wandered off. But then, I realized I had a great opportunity to follow-up on something that did bug me about the store. I walked back over and said I had a request. There's a company called Mrs. Richardson's that make toppings which the store carries (like hot fudge and butterscotch). It's very high quality and wonderful. They also make a fat-free hot fudge topping that is stunning, otherworldly. I'm not a chocoholic at all, but I've sometimes eaten this by the spoonful -- it's rich, creamy, remarkably delicious, and hard to believe it's fat free. Years ago I could find it here, but not for years. I could mail order it online, but the shipping cost is deeply prohibitive, unless you order about a dozen jars. I implored them to consider ordering it for their store. They already get Mrs. Richardson's products. And they have two other fat-free hot fudge products, one from Smuckers that is tasty, but not close to Mrs. Richardson's. I said that I understood if they didn't think it was something that would sell, but I at least wanted to bring it to their attention. In fact, the store manager said, fat-free hot fudge is a good seller, and he would personally look into it and have it in the store in a week. I am not holding my breath on that -- hey, for all I know the Mrs. Richardson's company doesn't ship that product to the West Coast for some unknown reason -- but I live in hope. I do know one thing though -- if I hadn't started the conversation with a totally random praise of the produce section, my request wouldn't have been met with the same response. And it helped too that I picked the right group to ask this to, with the president of the company there... For those who aren't as fortunate as to run into the president of your local grocery store chain, and who are willilng to pay for shipping prices, you can find the Mrs. Richardson's Fat-Free Hot Fudge topping here.
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This is the penultimate episode in our Second Elisberg Industries International Film Festival presentation of Fiorello!, with a score by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock. One more to go after this -- though there will probably be some well-deserved encores. And for a very special reason, which I alluded to yesterday, this may be my favorite episode. I'll explain in a moment, but first the story. Though Fiorello LaGuardia lost in his race for mayor against the crooked Tammany Hall Machine, it turns out that a crack in the organization was in the near horizon. And a court case brought many of their illegal dealings, graft and payoffs to light. The newspapers reported all the strained explanations from the Tammany officials and regulars, down to some trying to insist that they had simply save their money and kept it safe in a "little tin box." That brought about one of the showstopping numbers in the musical, "Little Tin Box," performed by Howard DaSilva, as Ben Marino, the head of the local Republican Party who'd been pummeled for years by his rivals of Tammany Hall. As I mentioned way back at the beginning, DaSilva is admired but little-known because he had been blacklisted during the McCarthy Years and therefore was in few films and TV broadcasts. He did have an acclaimed theatrical career, though, notably starring in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma! as Jud Fry, and also years later in the original Broadway production of 1776 (whimsically for a man who had been blacklisted) as Ben Franklin -- a role he did get to re-create in the film version, though he's not on the Broadway cast album, having suffered a heart attack before the recording was made. He did open the show and later returned to it. (Not a bad achievement, by the way -- starring in two Broadway musicals that each won both the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, 1776 and Fiorello!) That brings about why this episode is so special. Last week, while searching for something else entirely, I made a completely unexpected discovery -- footage of Howard DaSilva recreating his "Little Tin Box" number in full costume, set and cast!!! It came in 1980, 20 years after Fiorello! opened, as part of an HBO special, Standing Room Only: Showstoppers. I've seen a lot of performances of "Little Tin Box" over the years -- as I said, it's a showstopping number for it's wit, charm, cleverness and pointed theme. And most of them are generally very good and done very similar. This is an uncommon interpretation among them all, unique. In most version, the character of Ben and his cronies are all being deeply sarcastic, and ridiculing the deep trouble that Tammany Hall is in. It's done as a big, broad piece of derision. Howard DaSilva takes another tack completely -- rather than looking at the troubles of Tammany Hall from the perspective of the plot, making fun of those in troubles, he takes it on from opposite end, from the personal point-of-view. He sings it as a man simply filled with utter joy that his whole life has just changed, and the criminals and thugs who have been blocking him and his party for years are at last going to jail. And he's just as pleased and quietly-giddy about it as a man can be. Here then is that performance, the original Ben Marino -- Howard DaSilva -- singing, "Little Tin Box." (You can ignore the introduction written for host Tony Randall, since it has the story completely wrong, described in a way that would instead be less convoluted for the audience and therefore seem to make sense, even if backwards. The real story, as noted, is that DaSilva and his pals are the good guys, ridiculing the criminals in court.) And just as a bonus, here below is how they did the number in the 2012 NYU production. I figured that since I've been showing so much of that version of the show here, it's only fair to Jake Kinney (as Ben) and the cast to give them their time in the spotlight. It's also a nice way to compare performances. This here is pretty close to how most versions of the song are done -- perfectly valid, though all different from how it was done by Howard DaSilva in the original. When my pal Mark Evanier has a piece on his website that falls under the heading of "Tales of..." it generally something you should put aside some time to read. Today he has a "Tales of Something or Other" that doesn't exactly fit under his normal umbrellas, but it's a particular gem.
It's a wonderful article about life as a writer in Hollywood, and is pointed, gnawing and funny (most particularly a passage when he describes a couple of producers asking him what they think he, as a possible story editor for their show, can do with the already-shot footage they show him. But mostly, it has a twist ending worthy of an O'Henry short story. You can read the thing here. Probably more than most presidential elections, this year's has had an especially significant impact on the rest of the world. Because, unlike many people who live here, the rest of the world not only has a grasp that there is a world outside our borders, but that -- being so powerful -- our actions affect them, as well. For example, the Graham Norton Show on BBC America is a very fun, lively chat show from England. The good-natured host's monologues are minimal, though during the presidential race he continual made scathing jokes about Donald Trump. This weekend was their first show aired in the U.S. following the vote. And his very first comment, after welcoming everyone was simply to say into the camera, "America. What the f**k???!!" (Yes, it was bleeped on the broadcast.) But that's just a light-heared TV show. Elsewhere, the response has been far more substantive, and significantly more serious. Last Thursday in the Irish Seanad, their Parliament, Senator Aodhán O'Riordáin stood up and made a blunt and shredding speech. It was directed at his own government's reaction to Trump being elected -- basically they'were concerned about Irish investments in the U.S. -- but the main target of his attack was new President-Elect. And as you listen and watch, remember this important point -- this is from one of our long allies. With as close a cultural tie to America as almost any country in the world. As the plot heads to its conclusion, we're coming towards the end of this Second Elisberg Industries Film Festival presentation of the prize-winning musical, Fiorello! I'm guessing that the show itself will likely be 12 parts (barring any other last-minute discoveries -- there's been one remarkable new piece I just found the other day) with perhaps a few bonus finale postings to follow. These next two parts will be quite special. (Actually, come to think of it, these final three all have something special about them.) Today's, in fact, will be new to even those who are huge admirers of the show. No matter how many times you've listened to the cast album, you haven't heard it. In fact, if you've even been one of the comparatively rare number of people (for a Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning show) who have seen Fiorello!, you likely haven't even heard it. Here's why. Despite the show's significant awards and acclaim, lyricist Sheldon Harnick always thought something was missing in the show. It centered on the fact that although the title character and star of the musical, the role of Fiorello LaGuardia has almost nothing to sing in the second act. (That was one thing that had made it difficult to attract a big name star to help mount a revival.) Additionally, there also was a very dramatic point in the second act that seemed to be crying out for a song, but one didn't exist. For years, Harnick thought that that might be the place to address both concerns. And so, 40 years after he and Jerry Bock had won the Tony Award as Best Musical and Pulitzer Prize, as a new concert version of the show was being readied for the Reprise series in Los Angeles...he had an idea how to fix things, and wrote the words to a new song. And then sent it to composer Jerry Bock to see if he thought it should be musicalized and if Bock would do it. It's important to note that, despite their huge success as a team, Harnick and Bock had broken up their partnership around 1970, 30 years earlier. They hadn't written together since -- although (it's important to add) they'd remained good friends and in regular touch. And Jerry Bock liked the new addition to their show and agreed to write music for it. At its core, the new lyric was largely a reprise of the song, "The Name's LaGuardia," though it's more than that with significant alternations, and is not a strict reprise, but closer to a soliloquy. (I believe there have been three different versions of it, as Harnick has worked it out, and oddly I've seen two of them. The first version was readied in time for the aforementioned 1999 Reprise concert version in Los Angeles that I attended, starring Tony Danza, of all people -- he was extremely good, but woefully miscast as the short, dumpy Fiorello. Then an unsatisfied Harnick edited the number some more, and it made it into a wonderful and ultimately long-running production done at the Timeline Theater in Chicago, which I went to with my dad. Still not completely content, Harnick finalized the piece on his own after Jerry Bock passed away in 2010, and it was used in the 2102 NYU production which we've been highlighting here. It's now the version in the official, authorized musical.) And so, back to the show. At this point in the story, LaGuardia's life is fraying. During his campaign for mayor, pressure from the dangerous Tammany Hall grows, and threats by their flunkies are made against his life which he barely escapes. Then, the voters rejects him in favor of Tammany's figurehead mayor, the corrupt playboy Jimmy Walker, and he loses the election. But worst of all, throughout all this, his wife's has found her energy low, making surreptitious trips to the doctor to resolve the problem with her health. But to the shock of all, most especially the unsuspected Fiorello, Thea suddenly dies. Left alone, all his hopes and plans spun out of control, and the love of his life gone, Fiorello is left alone on stage. Which brings us to the new reprise of "The Name's LaGuardia." The song features Kenny Francouer as LaGuardia -- and is a moving number on its own but which surprisingly holds a prescient and eerie connection to the world of politics today. Host Peter Sagal's guest contestant on the "Not My Job" segment of this week's NPR pop-culture comedy quiz show Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! is sportscaster Joe Buck, who most famously (okay I'm biased) called the play-by-play when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. But then it's appropriate here, since the radio show is done from Chicago. And then, it's not even all that hyperbolic because as he himself here says, calling the Cubs winning the World Series is perhaps his greatest sportscasting moment.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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