Winter in Hollywood

Three pics from the neighborhood.  We have autumn colors in winter as the days grow short.

The last week was cold for us with highs in the 50s.  It rained on the morning of Dec. 7.  Then the sky cleared.  The Hollywood sign is in the distance.  Pic below shot about noon from the upper parking level of the local Home Depot where we bought our house a Christmas gift - a new kitchen faucet!

HUMOR ABUSE AT THE MARK TAPER FORUM

LORENZO PISONI’s HUMOR ABUSE AT THE MARK TAPER FORUM

 In past years the word clown is often used as an insult – to describe a few people who make life miserable for the many.

 
However, I say it’s time to support and cheer the true clown!  True clowns make us laugh until we cry… in a healing way.  I witnessed such a clown at the Mark Taper Forum last week in the one-clown show HUMOR ABUSE.

Lorenzo Pisoni made the audience laugh, taught us about clownery, and shared stories about his father, their relationship and the days when, as a child, he was his father’s clown partner... As with many father/son stories, these times together are not always fun.  So, yes, the evening was sad, too. 

 
BUT, much of the evening was belly laugh time when you feel the surge of naturally-occurring chemicals in your own mind and body lift your spirit.  
 
I was upset when the Taper delayed WHAT THE BUTLER SAW to next season. I’d looked forward to seeing it because I’d played Geraldine in summer stock.  It’s a great farce with lots of laughs.  BUT the replacement show seemed like a dream come true for me… it was the medicine I needed to keep me working on my stories about clown dog Pebbles.  Last December I published A CLOWN DOG’S CHRISTMAS, the first of what I hope to be three books about Clown Dog Pebbles, Master Clown Beppo and their friends. There's nothing like a good play to ignite my creative self.

What the world needs now are clowns are more clowns.  I’m talking about those special ones who, with good hearts and comic talent, create pure joy.

 

Cheers and thanks to the wonderful LORENZO PISONI.

HUMOR ABUSE plays until Nov. 3 at the Taper in Los Angeles.

If it comes to your area, see it. 

A DOG NAMED HONEY WEST

Beautiful weather here.  Early afternoon, dappled sun on our deck, I brought a book outside to read.  Since Honey West doesn't know how to read, she decided to nap.  When I caught her snoozing I couldn't resist taking out my phone...

Click.  She woke up... "Hey... I'm trying to sleep here."

At a Dodger Game Last Night (8/13/13)

Lots to do  in my neighborhood of Los Angeles - but I rarely take advantage of this great and big city unless we have visitors from out of town.

But in the past week, even without visitors, I listened to Steve Martin play his banjo at a Hollywood Bowl concert, saw a funny and intriguing new play, Parallelogram, at the Mark Taper Forum downtown and... went to Dodger stadium. 

The young NY Mets pitching star Matt Harvey lost one of his few to Dodgers, 4-2.  Nephew Erik got us fantastic seats!

Below is the winning pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu in action.

Oh, and it was Dodgers Knit Cap Giveway Night!  Wow!

Straw Hat Players - Moorhead, Minnesota - 1975?

My seven years of summer theatre in Moorhead, Mn continue to influence me...  as one of my life's many neighborhoods.

As I wrote in previous blogs, the years tend to mesh as I possess few artifacts of that time... a couple of programs, a few pics from the Fargo Forum, some slides that are now digitized.

Among the pictures on the wall in front of my desk are four taken during summer theatre productions in Moorhead...one of these is of a silly, comedic version of Dracula - I'm not sure it was supposed to be that funny, but Les Sarnoff played Dr. Van Helsing.  Enough said .

(Not positive Dr. Van Helsing is the character name - Wish I could  find my old script. Probably donated years ago to the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library for one of their Saturday book sales.)

Anyway,  Sarnoff's character was a vampire expert.   And one of my favorite funny lines went something like this: "Here. Let me rub the juice of the batswort around these windows to ward them off."

It was hard to keep a straight face, but alas, as Mina, already bitten by Dracula, I was in a catatonic state, and not allowed to move a facial muscle.

In the pic above, Les is about to drive the stake into Dracula's heart. I believe the first name of the actor playing Dracula was Bruce. The character Jonathan (played by Kim Moerer, I think) is holding me back so I don't try to save the vampire. The actor in the middle of the pic is Jerry ver Dorn. 

Straw Hat Players Moorhead Mn - early 1970s? - The Miracle Worker

I'll post a couple more photos in honor of the 50th anniversary of Moorhead's summer theatre company, the Straw Hat Players - performing on the Minnesota State University campus in Moorhead.

My 7 years with the company somewhat blend together in my mind - without company lists and programs to help.   I'm not sure about the date of the photo below.

 
Above is a long shot from one of my favorite serious roles, Annie in  THE MIRACLE WORKER.
I'm lower left on pic with the young Helen Keller played by a girl named Heidi.  She was beyond wonderful.

In one scene Helen signed letters into a dog's paw.  And one night the dog in our cast walked offstage in the beginning of this scene. (Perhaps acting was not in his bloodlines.)

Mr. Keller and I continued the dialogue, knowing that soon we would reach the point when the father tells Annie that teaching Helen is a hopeless task - she doesn't know the signs are language - it's just a game... after all, she's signing to a dog. 

With no dog I wasn't sure what we were going to do... But... about two lines from the moment we needed the dog, our Helen picked up her doll from its buggy.  And she signed into the doll's hand.  Mr. Keller substituted "doll" for "dog" and we continued on as written except for that one word.

During act break Dr. Hansen asked Heidi,  "How did you think of using the doll?"   Looking surprised, as if it was no big deal, she said, "Well, the dog wasn't there."

Straw Hat Players Revisted - 1972 (?)

Photo is from production of a Neil Simon play:
LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS.

Great fun.  My character was Bobbie. The lead actor was Les Sarnoff... an amazingly funny man.

Probably from the summer season of 1972... I recognize the pantsuit... think I bought it earlier that year in Fargo or Moorhead... for an après wedding outfit, something new and something blue...   

Straw Hat Players 1975 (or 1976?)

I think the pic below comes from my 6th season with  Moorhead's Straw Hat Players, summer of 1975 -  THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, a musical based on Shakespeare's THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.

I remember this production well. And not because it was the first - and only - time I was a featured dancer in a musical [I hadn't taken any formal dance lessons since 1st grade.  But Fatima was a comic character - I could get away with not being the best-trained dancer in the company].  I got to play the finger cymbals... wow.  Our choreographer was Roger Rabey.

My memory of this production remains strong because of
the second night of performance.   Good timing and an improvised tilt of the head in my solo dance prompted an unexpected wave of laughter in the audience... for a few moments time stopped... I felt that all the people in the auditorium and I were one - melded into a single entity with the universe - a transcendental experience, I guess.  Strange, rare, crazy, wonderful, brief.  Difficult to describe, impossible to forget.

In the photo is the wonderful comedy actor Leslie Sarnoff... as a lusty wizard, I believe.  I'm next to him, mid-stage.  Other members of the harem, from left to right: Bethea Stewart, Julie Ruhland and Kristin Rudrud.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED... 1970... Straw Hat Players

2013 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Straw Hat Players - Minnesota State University Moorhead

The photo above, from Sunday's Fargo Forum - August 9, 1970, promotes A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, the final production of that summer season.

It's one of the few times I've played blond... I'm in the middle of the first row (billed as Lennarta Ramberg).  My "twin" is Ruth Schultz.  We're the only two not scantily clad.
  
The other admirers of returning soldier Milos Gloriosus, played in this production by Lowell Gytri (now Los Angeles actor Lowell Dean), starting at picture left, are: Monica Kolb, LaNita Sola, Patricia Holt and, in leopard skin, Peggy Smith. 

Still eighteen, I had just finished my freshman year at Moorhead State. It would be my first of seven consecutive seasons with the Straw Hat Players.

The 2013 summer season will also include a production of A FUNNY THING.  I hope to see it if Bill and I fly back to attend the 50th reunion, July 19-20.

GRIFFITH PARK BEAR - READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP

We drove by the Griffith Park Bear yesterday morning at 8:15. The bear was already drawing a crowd!  And for good reason.  The bear was bedecked in finery - in honor of today's Oscar Award Ceremony.

About noon, when we passed by the bear again, I had to wait my turn to take a couple pics. 

With Oscar statue, blond wig and sunglasses this glamour puss seemed delighted to pose for the cameras. 

In the past the bear has been costumed for Valentine's Day or Halloween. On time during a cold winter day, the bear wore a knit scarf and cap.

Winter in Hollywood Today...

Low 40s this morning as we arrived at the Roosevelt Golf Course in Griffith Park. 
As I walked up the fairway on the 4th, the brilliant colors prompted me to pull my cell phone out of my golf bag for a pic. The tee shot of one of my golfing buddies ended up in a pile leaves (pretty but a tough lie).

It's a 9 hole course - and by the sixth I had to shed my outer fleece layer because of the bright sun. 
Tonight it's supposed to get down to 31 - very cold for Hollywood.

Post-project Blues

With A CLOWN DOG'S CHRISTMAS finished, I set the world of Pebbles, my heroine Clown Dog, aside for now.  I leave Budapest and Sun Valley and return to Maxton Falls, the town where my Girlfriend Detectives Jade and Nettie attend middle school, prepare for a talent show... and sleuth.

 

The tricky bit is fighting through what I call the post-project blues.  When I am in the last weeks of completing a project I feel exhilarated... like I'm riding my red Flying Saucer on the steep backyard hill on 60 Banks in Silver Bay. Everything is momentum and acceleration, speed and gravity-defying...

 

Now I'm at the bottom of the hill again. I have the basic story, but I trek slowly up the hill to a better draft.  My snow boots are leaden as I climb, with false steps and a bulky jacket that hinders progress.  Like my Saucer on its rope, I lug the story, CASES OF CONFIDENCE, slowly forward. Gravity is working against me at present.