Well, I made it back. A bit wiped out at the moment, though I've unpacked, so that's done and out of the way! (I'm an "unpack right away" kind o' guy.) Focusing my thoughts rationally enough beyond this isn't going to happen tonight (for starters, I initially wrote, "isn't going to happy" -- and when writing this explanation, it was "for srarters" and "initually"), but I figured this short song from Fiorello! should suffice.
0 Comments
Heading out from Chicago this morning, and back to Los Angeles later today. I may write something this evening -- or I may have too much to catch up. We'll see. The elves taking care of the homestead have been given advance warning, so my assumption is that they'll clean up the place and leave it in the same state they found it. As we said from my days in the park service, "Leave only footprints, take only memories." Though I don't expect to see any footprints. Ahem... The trip has been excellent. I got to see some favorite spots -- the Chicago Art Institute and Chicago Botanic Garden (actually in Glencoe, long-walking distance from where I grew up) -- the Disneyland of Botanic Gardens. And I stuffed myself at my favorite spots: Charlie Beinlich's Food & Tap, Del Rio's, Walker Bros., and Chicago pizza (this time at Lou Malnati's). And of course, the Cubs at Wrigley Field. All a joy to get back to after five years away, because of the pandemic. I also spent a wonderful Mother's Day with my 96-year-old Aunt Joan (who I'm staying with) and cousin, up at the 96-year-old Deerpath Inn for their excellent buffet. Be back soon... Last week, for logistical reasons, Jon Stewart did his Daily Show show on Thursday. If you didn't see it, his "news recap" section was very funny (as well as pointed). As they write, he deals with "the media's obsession with Trump's hush money trial, while the GOP freaks out over Biden's new energy efficiency standards and a name change for the Boy Scouts. Meanwhile, Biden slows the flow of weapons to Israel, and after Trump shames Jewish Biden supporters, the Best F**kin' News Team stops by to give Jon a guilt trip." Here are a couple of videos that are offshoots of Jimmy Kimmel's "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets About Themselves." This from his show is Celebrities readings real texts from their moms. This first has gems from Kristen Bell, Will Forte, Anna Farris and more. And here's a sequel. Including, as you see below, a tweet from Gwyneth Paltrow's mother, actress Blythe Danner. And another with Elle Fanning, Emily Blunt and...well, again, more. This is one of my favorite songs about mothers -- and one of the littlest known, I'd think. It's from an unsuccessful musical, Juno, that opened in 1959 and only ran for 16 performances. But it had a pretty interesting pedigree. The show is based on the famous Irish play, Juno and the Paycock (an Irish pronunciation of "peacock") written by Sean O'Casey, and was adapted as a musical by Joseph Stein -- who in a few years would write the book for Fiddler on the Roof. And it had music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein (a protege of Kurt Weill), who had adapted The Threepenny Opera for its off-Broadway debut, and wrote the score to The Cradle Will Rock for Orson Welles. (The story surrounding that production was made into the film, Rocking the Cradle, made my Tim Robbins.) And Juno starred Shirley Booth. Shirley Booth is probably best-remembered for starring in the sitcom, Hazel, which won her two Emmy Awards playing the housemaid, though she also won a Tony Award and later an Oscar for starring in the powerful drama, Come Back, Little Sheba. She wasn't a great singer, but she stole the stage musical version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, in a supporting role. (It's later been suggested that this was, in part, the reason for that show's short run. She was so wonderful in the musical that it changed the focus of the show, and the balance of the tender story was off.) Later, she was in another flop musical, playing the Mother Superior in Look to the Lilies, a stage version of Lilies of the Field. Alas, Juno didn't last on Broadway. .But it did have several interesting songs. And most notably for me is this one -- "Song of the Ma." I'm still a bit bewildered that for all of the years I’ve been posting videos on Mother’s Day -- and for all the mentions and videos I’ve posted of Mike Nichols and Elaine May -- that I never thought of posting this. The two did a lot of mothers sketches, but this might be their classic. And happily, there’s not only audio of this from their stage show, but there’s actually video of when they performed it on TV. Interestingly, the premise came from a phone call that Nichols actually received from his mother, where she began, “Hello, Mike. This is your mother. Do you remember me?” Almost better is that even with that as her greeting, he cut the phone call off quickly and said he had to call her back – because he immediately called May to say he had the premise for a comedy sketch. Which became this -- |
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
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|