A DAY IN THE RECORDING STUDIO

John Nugent and I went into Smooth Sounds studios on Sunday, February 17th at noon and amazingly recorded sixteen of the scheduled seventeen songs in a five hour time block. The singers were amazingly prepared. They included Keith Kraft, Thomas Dolan, Tara Hadley, Lori Schroeder, Molly Summer. Karmyn Tyler, and Paul Hovannes. We recorded new songs from the various musicals that John and I are writing including SEVENLY-- our big "Spamalot" type spoof about the Seven Deadly Sins, the romantic fantasy THE RUNAWAY HEART, another Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale THE WILD SWANS and our tribute to the "Great White Way" A LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY. Robert Roth was our engineer and Jeff Urband was at the piano. We reecorded a wonderful song that we had dedicated to our dear friend Tony Westbrook called "THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY IN ALL OF US"-- a song that was inspired by a poster that he had seen last year promoting last year's pre- publicity for the 2007 Tony Awards. Our friend Tim Doran was there in spirit-- he was nursing a bad tooth and a failed root canal at home. Old friend Terry Snyder showed up with his young son Vincent and his friend Rodney. Terry wants to sing again and that was very good news indeed. He and Tony recorded some of the best songs in my library. I learned so much from these guys! Everything went very smoothly. This time we had sent the singers the material up to a month before the recording. This makes such an incredible difference. Some of the best songs recorded were "THAT'S THE WAY THE COOKIES CRUMBLE" and "MARRIAGE WAS HIS WAY OF SAYING GOODBYE" -- a song that was a bit biographical in that the subject of the song is a character who is married eight times and fails fidelity once the ring and the ceremony is over. In reality, that song was inspired by the same true life story of librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner who was married an amazing ten times. He could never remain faithful once he had comitted to a woman in a marriage cerenony. The songs that we recorded for SEVENLY were great-- especially finfding the perfect vocalist for Satan, himself in Paul Hovannes. So it was a day blessed by God and John and I are very grateful for His guidance and help and for all of the incredible singers there that day. STRANGE LITTLE TOWN was recorded for the Broadway musical and that was the toughest challenge of all. The President's Day holiday was quiet at the store and our big inventory comes up this weekend. The new car had a major electrical short and had to go in for servicing-- thank God I had purchased a bumper to bumper warranty when I bought the Ford Focus in February 2007. Well, on to the rest of the week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAROLD ARLEN

Today would have been the birthday of one of the greatest composers in the world. His name was Harold Arlen. The titles "Blues In The Night" "Get Happy", "Accentuate the Positive" and of course the absolutely simple and brilliant "Over The Rainbow" rank Arlen as one of the best music composers and songwriters of the 20th Century. In 1929, Arlen composed his first well-known song: "Get Happy" (with lyrics by Ted Koehler). Throughout the early and mid-1930s, Arlen and Koehler wrote shows for the Cotton Club, a popular Harlem night club, as well as Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. Harold also continued to perform with some success, most notably on records with Leo Reisman's society dance orchestra.
Arlen's compositions have always been popular with jazz musicians because of his facility at incorporating a blues feeling into conventional American popular songs.
Arlen and Koehler wrote several hit songs during the early and mid-1930s. In the mid-1930s, the gifted composer spent increasingly more time in California, writing for movie musicals. It was at this time that he began working with lyricist Yip Harburg. In 1938, the team was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to compose songs for The Wizard of Oz. The most famous of these is the song "Over the Rainbow" for which they won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song. They also wrote "Down with Love", a song later featured in the 2003 movie with the same title. Now here's something I really did not know Harold Arlen was a longtime friend and former roommate of actor Ray Bolger who would star in The Wizard of Oz. In the 1940s, Arlen teamed up with lyricist Johnny Mercer and continued to write hit songs like "Blues in the Night" ("My Mama Done Tol' Me") and "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive". I learned that Mr. Arlen was at Schwab's Drug Store when he was inspired to write the music for "Over The Rainbow". Well another day for colder weather and eagerly awaiting our recording session on Sunday. My store's first big inventory comes up on Saturday, February 23rd-- so it looks like I won't be missing the Oscars as I had supposed because it was originally scheduled for Sunday, Fenruary 24th. Our store will have its brand new lab soon and I am very happy about that! Wel until mext time. Hope you all had a great Valentine's day. John and I went out to a great Italian restaraunt called Bucca's at Universal City Walk -- (the best Lasagne ever-- nine layers-- yum!) and we went to see the amazing film "The Spiderwick Chronicles" in IMAX-- I really loved this film. Young star Freddie Highmore plays the part of both twin boys in the film: Jareds and Simon. Go see this movie-- it's breathtaking and scary and entertaining all in one movie!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Yes indeed, today is Valentine's Day-- the great day of love!Although it is celebrated as a lovers' holiday today, with the giving of candy, flowers, or other gifts between couples in love, it originated in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop.
For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his sexual companion during the remaining year. In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes. Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in AD 270 had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius. Bow dear old Claudius had determined that married men made poor soldiers. So he banned marriage from his empire. But Valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine, he first tried to convert him to paganism. But Valentine reversed the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When hefailed, he was stoned and beheaded. During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was taken to his death, he signed a farewell message to her, "From your Valentine." The phrase has been used on his day ever since. Now if this isn't a great idea for a Broadway musical I don't know what is!! Oh by the way, although the lottery for women had been banned by the church, the mid-February holiday in commemoration of St. Valentine was still used by Roman men to seek the affection of women. It became a tradition for the men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentine's name. The first Valentine card grew out of this practice. The first true Valentine card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time. Cupid, another symbol of the holiday, became associated with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards. John and will be going into the recording studio to record some new tunes from our latest musicals including SEVENLY (our great spoof) plus THE RUNAWAY HEART and LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY and THE WILD SWANS, a new musical from yet another Hans Christian Andersen classic story. The song "THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY IN ALL OF US" will finally get recorded by a wonderful new singer. The song is forever dedicated to my dear friend TONY WESTBROOK. Tony sang and recorded so many of my songs. I truly miss him. And speaking of an old asociation I talked with TERRY SNYDER the other day who told me that he missed singing and that he would drop by to visit us on our recording session on Sunday. I haven't seen TERRY in over three years. He is going to bring along his adopted son VINCENT and I will finally be able to meet him. Today is also the birthday of dear old JACK BENNY who was born in 1899. I still laugh at al of the old Benny material. What an incredible legend of comedy. And speaking of comedy, I tweaked the lyric to "Bit of Broadway" changing "There's a little "Felix Unger" deep inside " to "There's a Neil and Danny Simon in us all"-- a bit more universal.

ON THIS DATE WE LOST TWO MUSICAL LEGENDS

On this date in 1983--Twenty-Five years ago we lost the amazing and truly gifted Karen Carpenter. Her lyrical voice, her amazing voice made every song she sang an incredible and wonderful experience. She sang every song from the heart and you can tell that she knew every part of that lyric and melody. Who can forget "Close To You" "We've Only Just Begun" and "Sing". What we know about Anorexia Nervosa now might just prevent another gifted star from losing their lives too early. God keep you, Karen, wherever you may be in eternity. As for dear Liberace who died on this date at the age of sixty-seven-- what a showman. I got to see him once on stage in Las Vegas and it was the most exhilerating experience. He was found of saying and making famous the catch phrase "I cried all the way to the bank" and later in his career he would say "You know that bank that I used to cry all the way to-- I bought it!Liberace, known as “Lee” to his friends, was born in West Allis, Wisconsin to Frances Zuchowski, a Polish American, and Salvatore ("Sam") Liberace, an immigrant from Formia, Italy[1] He grew up in a musical family. He had a twin who died at birth. He was classically trained as a pianist and gained wide experience playing popular music. Liberace followed the advice of famous Polish pianist and family friend Paderewski and billed himself under his last name only.As his classical career developed, he found that his whimsical encores, in which he played pop songs and marches, went over better with audiences than his renditions of classical pieces, so he changed his act to "pop with a bit of classics". At other times, he referred to his act as "classical music with the boring parts left out". During the mid- and late 1940s, he performed in dinner clubs and night clubs in major cities around the United States.
In his early career days he used the stage name Walter Busterkeys.In 1943, he appeared in a couple of Soundies (the 1940s precursor to music videos). He re-created two flashy numbers from his nightclub act, "Tiger Rag and "Twelfth Street Rag". In these films he was billed as Walter Liberace. Both Soundies were later released to the home-movie market by Castle Films.He had a network television program, The Liberace Show, beginning on July 1, 1952. Producer Duke Goldstone mounted a filmed version for syndication in 1955, and sold it to scores of local stations. The widespread exposure of the syndicated Liberace series made the pianist more popular and prosperous than ever. His brother George often appeared as guest violinist. Liberace signed off each broadcast with the song "I'll Be Seeing You". This show was also one of the first to be shown on UK commercial television in the 1950s where it was broadcast on Sunday afternoons by Lew Grades ATV company. This exposure gave Liberace a dedicated following in the UK.Liberace became known for his extravagant costumes, personal charm, and self-deprecating wit. His public image became linked with one ever-present stage prop, a silver candelabrum perched on his piano. By 1955 he was making $50,000 per week at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and had over 160 official fan clubs with a quarter of a million member fans (who throughout his career were mostly middle-aged women). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his contributions to the television industry.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN NUGENT

Today is the 35th birthday of my new collaborator John D. Nugent. How do you describe a most amaing gift? What sheer chance the two of us should meet. God indeed "draws straight with crooked lines". No other person that I have ever met or worked with has the singular and amazing drive this young man possesses. We celebrated his birthday at Micelli's last night and he told it was one of the few birthdays he hasn't spent eithier being sick with the flu or alone or both. I can not begin to share with you how dearly I love this kind, endearing and simple man whose amazing heart could confort six states and the District of Columbia. He comes from Erwin, Tennessee, but has also lived in the Virgina's and all over the place. His knowledge and love of musical theatre could very well be the very band-aid the Great White Way requires for future comfort and redemption. We found each other on an ASCAP website that provides a source for possible collaborators. All I had ever gotten before in the search engine here was a host of ego maniacs, demanding artists and prima donnas. But John is a simple and most amazing young artist. After all of these years of working with guys who lost passion and gave up the dream and the talent, here is one good soul who is fueled by it. He lives, breathes and exists on the air and the creative juices of the great masters, the great composers, and the incredible lyricists and librettists of musical theatre history. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, Sondhiem and Cole Porter are revered and adored by this incredible craftsman. His musical talents absolutely blow me away. He supports me, puts up with my emotions, understands the way I think and hasn't a bad ego bone in his body. When he smiles, he makes you happy. When he laughs-- you laugh. When he writes--oh my sweet God how wonderful he writes. I have always been both the music and lyrics and now I do mostly lyrics but keep my hand strongly in the melody enough to be a true collaborator. Finally, there's in someone in my life who is not afriad of writing more than one musical at a time. I say we are working on four shows and he corrects me (in public, no less) and says out loud to the person we are both conversing with "It's seventeen"-- well, after all that's how many ideas we've kicked around since he landed here in September of last year. He gave up everything (including free rent living at home) and moved here to write with me-- how dedicated is that? He has helped me at work in ways never repay him for. And he has been here five months. What we have produced in five short months would absolutely astound you. It has me. And so, on this his thrity-fifth birthday I offer him this salute and my prayer of thanksgiving to God for what I call "The amazing gift" He is brilliant, kind, loving and one of the best friends I have ever had. I love all my collaborators-- most especially dear Tim Doran-- the other amazing gift of my life, but with John I have a true dreamer so much like me, so amazingly talented and some one who carries the dream torch as highly and as tenaciously and as forever as me. He has nothing to lose because he has been quite literally 'the starving artist" He has existed --sometimes for months on 'Top Ramen." He simply shows no fear because he has really truly suffered for his art. He has paid the muses dearly: and muses, dear friends can be very demanding. You want their help? Well, you had better be ready to suffer for the gift. It's not "just given" to anyone. I love music. I love creating it. I think any individual who has the chance to be truly trained in it is so damn lucky. My gift is in my head. I can't play piano or write down complicated notation, but with gifts like my dear Tim (and his amazing faith in me) and now the equally amazing John David Nugent there isn't anything I can't accomplish. Even at age sixty, I now have new ambitions of the highest magnitude. Thank you John and a most happy birthday. Maybe by this time next year we can celibrate in New York. Maybe two or three shows at once. Who knows? We can now take Creative Horizons and market "The Traveling Companion', "Sevenly", "The Runaway Heart", "Edgar, Alan & Poe" "The Wild Swans" and "The Ghost Who Saved Broadway" and even "Young MacDonald" to audiences all over the world. Thank you, God-- thank you for the many gifts-- including Tony westbrook, Terry Snyder, Brian Martin, Randall Louis Ames, Eddy Clement and J. Eric Schmidt, and our engineer at Smooth Sound Studios, Mr. Robert Roth. I bow in hiumble gratitude for them all. Now with John, there is an even bolder chance for it all to come true! He just might be the magic that the old creative garden has always required.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAL PRINCE, EDDIE CANTOR AND MARIO LANZA

*Today is the birthday of three great showmen: Mr. Eddie Cantor, Hal Prince and the late great and amazing Mario Lanza. I had an association with Hal while we were in negotiations with his company for adapting "Some of My Best Friends: into the musical based on that play called "Mr. Mumford's Miracle". I was adapting with "Friends*' author Stanley Hart. It was a nice friendship that all changed after 9/11. But that's another story.

Eddie Cantor was a classic performer. And he was one of my all time favorite performers. His song "Making Whoopie" was a comedy classic. Eddie Cantor introduced a *christmas song in 1934 on his radio program that had been dismissed by several fanous performers for being too juvenile and underwhelming. That song was "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" -- and after one performance by "mister "c" the song sold four hundred thousand copies of the song and 175,000n in sheet music sales. Not bad! Mario Lanza had one of the most amazing voices since Caruso. Mario of course played the part of Caruso in that amazing 1952 MGM musical. He died tragically at the tender age of thirty-eight. My favorite movie of his was "The Seven Hills Of Rome" in 1958. My only hope is that Mario is singing with the angels. The first manager's meeting with the new district manager will be Friday in Riverside. Long day's drive that day. Well, until later!!!

A TRIP TO THE "NEW" GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY

Dr. Krupp
Griffith J. Griffith

Today, my friend John Nugent and I took a little trip to the "new" yet still classic "Griffith Observatory. I hadn't been up Vermont Canyon Road or to the observatory, itself in over ten years. It was a beautiful day and the views of Los Angeles and the Hollywood Sign on Mount Lee were absolutely spectacular. The new planetarium show was incredible and the narrator of the show has the most unique performance voice I have heard in many many years. My old friend. Dr. Krupp is the director of the observatory and has been since 1974. I used to wait on the good doctor when he used to come into my old place of employment Hooper Camera on Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood. He always wanted to buy as much Kodachrome Slide Film in as much quantity as he could. He photographed all the reconstruction that went on at the observatory when it was closed to the public between January 6th, 2002 and November of 2006. The restoration is simply amazing. They have added a basement floor for new exhibit space that is wonderful. Assyrian was painted and the roof was sealed to prevent the constant leaks every time it rained. Of course it was Griffith J. Griffith (see old photo) who immigrated from Wales and made millions in silver mines who donated over two thousand acres of land and one hundred thousand dollars to the city of L0sAngeles to establish the park and build the observatory. Parking was a breeze! Unlike in the old days! The only negative thing was the restaurant that they call "The restaurant at The End Of The Universe"-- it's supposed to have food by Wolfgang Puck-- but friends, let me tell you this food tasted like it came from the "end of the universe" and "the bottom of the puck" I really think the observatory can do so much better than this! But the day as a whole was wonderful and it was a great day to take off from work!

A TRIP TO THE

FROM WAY OUT OF THE PAST

SURPRISE SURPRISE

Today from out of the bluest of the blue, I received a telephone call from a gentleman that I had not seen or talked to since I was fourteen years old. He was nineteen. His name is Leon Kaplan --( I hope that's the correct spelling)-- and he was my older sister's first boyfriend way back in 1961. Now, you may remember than I am sixty years old and he is now sixty-five. Now that me feel old fast, but it was also delightful to talk with him. He had a great life and had followed his heart to other paths. But it was really nice to talk with someone who had know n my mother and dad fondly and remembered them as being the amazing couple that they were. We talked about the Easters and the Christmases and how my dad painted and it was all very pleasant. I am happy that he likes my writing and can appreciate the hard work that goes into it all. I am amazed myself just how I got into this crazy songwriting career== the absolute sheer chance in a million that allowed me to become a songwriter. A lot of people don't understand my creativity. Sometimes my own sisters don't. But that's okay because I know I am following God's plan for my life. People are amazed that I have stuck with this for as long as I have, but I have a nickname of "Tenacity Jones"-- and that kind of explains it all. There is a great and wonderful difference between the word "stubborn" and the word "tenacious". If we are stubborn we stick with something because we are too vain to give it all up. But if we are "tenacious", we stick like glue to something because we not only hear a "different drummer" but we also hear a voice within our very souls and hearts that cries out: "Don't walk away -- the miracle is coming. That voice is God's . He whispers to our hearts and our hearts (who will never tell us a lie) shouts the joyous good news to us. So many times we don't follow the Good Lord's plan for our lives. We fight Him. We go our own way. And then after everything goes wrong, we wonder why our lives turned out as they have. I wrote once in a musical of mine a very prophetic line. That line was "God requires nothing, but desires a great deal" What God desires is for us to follow the road he has designed. Okay so we think we are on that road. And the worse happens. our hearts are broken. our spirits are crushed, our dreams don't come true. But maybe just maybe we didn't hear the message of our hearts. What we heard was our pride selling us a dream like a cheap carnival barker-- "Step right up-- take a chance-- everybody wins. I'm afraid not, If everybody "won" every contest of life, the carnival of living would soon be out of prizes. Then we'd never have a chance anyway. I wrote a song called "Listen To Your Heart" that is currently at my website: www.broadwaysongman.com. that can found in the music section. I urge you to listen to it. It might just tell you something you need to hear. I am happy that I heard from Leon Kaplan today. He has had a great life and has grandchildren and is still grateful for his days with my sister. We are who were meant to be-- sometimes by accident, sometimes by heartbreak and sometimes by a long journey in the desert of life. We must trust in our hearts and we must trust in God. Happy accidents have filled my life. One is my amazing friend TIM DORAN-- who has given so much to me over the years. he has shared and taught me so much. Another is dear sweet John Nugent whom I am now writing with. Now if John is not a walking blessing from God, then I must be blind, death and lame in all perception of living. I call him "The Gift"-- and he is. The odds of my meeting and writing with him (more at one time with than I ever have with in my life) was about one billion jillion to one. With Tim, one billion gillion and three. Why do we question the gifts in our life? Who knows? Some people not only look that gift horse in the mouth, they start counting the cavities while they are at it. All of the blessings of my life: Tony Westbrook, Terry Snyder, David Holmes, Bill Lewis and SMOOTH SOUND studios where i do all my recording. So God Bless you, Leon-- it was nice to hear from you.

CONGRATS TO JOHNNY DEPP AND STEVEN SCHWARTZ AND WE WILL BE RECORDING SOON

Congrats to Johnny Depp on his Oscar nomination for best actor on "SWEENEY TODD" --it really was an amazing adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's classic Broadway musical . Thank goodness --its very good news for musical theatre fans. Our new ad goes out for the recording of songs from the musicals that John Nugent and I are writing together including SEVENLY, a big farcical spoof, THE RUNAWAY HEART a romantic comedy based on very true events, THE WILD SWANS another classic fairy tale by HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN and "BROADWAY ANGELS"-- a most unique musical comedy. You will find the ad next week in print in BACKSTAGE WEST and online sooner. John and I are writing like crazy trying for an ASCAP grant and entering the competition for the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop directed by Steven Swartz. Steven accomplished a lot at the Oscar nominations. He and Alan Menken both received three nominations for best song for the same movie they wrote songs together for called "ENCHANTED"-- very very nice! By the way, my two year anniversary is on January 25th and this poor tired manager is taking two days off and taking the train to Santa Barbara. John and I got a new VIZIO 36 inch High definition television today-- the colors and details are simply incredible. First new thing we've bought in a while. My condolences to the family of Zippy Manus--one of the original founders of "Broadway On Sunset" where our "SKYLARK", as well as "THE INVITATION" and a "MOMENT WITH MISTER "C" premiered in the mid 1980's. She was a super lady and fought hard for original musical theatre in Los Angeles. Well until next time!

CATALINA TRIP AND A RECORDING

Well, it's been awhile since I've written here. It's been a very busy month with a new district manager coming in at work and solving all of the problems at work. The health department was out and is requiring us to fix damaged ceiling tiles and holes that may lead to the roof. it also appears that our mall has an infestation problem of mice and some roaches which all must be controlled with a non-chemical means-- glue traps and mice traps. Then the fire department came in and cited us for not having our fire extinguishers being current and lighting faulty ballasts in the neon lighting. Wow! John Nugent and I finally got a day off and went to Catalina. Peaceful! Great boat trip! I had never been there on a January day -- and it was certainly very quiet over there. John loved it. We took a city tour and then toured the famous Casino that was built by William Wrigley (the chewing gum guy) and oh what opulence. The movie house downstairs has perfect acoustics and it's art deco design is simply stunning. Upstairs in the ballroom, we saw where some of the greatest bandleader entertainers in the world played. Benny Goodman, Bob Crosby and his "Bobcats" and Count Basie. Then the next day, I discovered I had won the Christmas camera contest at work and won another expensive cam corder and another expensive digital camera. Now what the heck was i going to do with more cameras? So I discovered that Jerry Jackson wanted one of them and one of my customers at work who plays the piano wanted the other. So I traded each camera for time at the studio and the services of a piano player and got a wonderful recording of several new songs from different shows recorded including "SEVEN" which John and I have renamed "SEVENLY" (because a murder mystery musical is being made with that name plus "The Wild Swans" (another story from Hans Christian Andersen) and a third show entitled "A Little Bit of Broadway" . We got twelve songs recorded that night for absolutely FREE. You don't get any better than that. Maybe my luck is finally beginning to change. I have decided that the approach is to get as many songs recorded as possible in an evening if nothing else but to get the tracks down. Then one can always go back and fix up the problems on a smaller scale evening. Well, its off to another busy day at work!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUPY SALES

Today is the 82nd birthday of a television legend- Mr. Soupy Sales. Of course, my connection with him goes back to those glorious days when I did some of his famous character voices while Clyde Adler was recovering from a heart attack. The show was originally called 12 O'clock Comics and was later also known as The Soupy Sales Show. Improvised and slapstick in nature, Lunch with Soupy Sales was a rapid-fire stream of sketches, gags, and puns. Almost all resulted in Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.
Sales developed pie-throwing into an art form — straight to the face, on top of the head, a pie to both ears from behind, moving into a stationary pie and countless other variations. By some estimates, Soupy has been hit by over 25,000 pies.
Just in cadse you've forgotten some of those wonderful characters they are:
White Fang, "The Biggest and Meanest Dog in the USA", who appeared only as a giant white shaggy paw with black triangular felt "claws" jutting out from the corner of the screen. Fang spoke with unintelligible short grunts and growls, which Soupy repeated back in English, often for comic effect. White Fang was often the pie thrower when Soupy's jokes bombed.
Black Tooth, "The Biggest and Sweetest Dog in the USA". Also seen only as a giant black paw with white triangular felt (just the opposite of White Fang), and with more feminine, but similarly unintelligible, dialogue. Black Tooth's trademark was pulling Soupy off-camera to give loud and noisy kisses.
Hippie the Hippo, who occasionally appeared with Pookie the Lion never spoke at all.
Pookie the Lion, a lion puppet appearing in a large window behind Soupy 1950s was a hipster with a rapier wit. His repartee with Soupy was rapid-fire. For example: Soupy: "Do you know why my life is so miserable?" Pookie: "You got me!" Soupy: "That's why!"
Other regular characters were:

Marilyn Von Wolf: a takeoff dog puppet character that reminded you of Marilyn Monroe. The Little Boy Next Door, Count Dracula and Soupy's Neighbor. There was also
Peaches, Soupy's girlfriend, played by Sales in drag.
Philo Kvetch, a private detective played by Sales in a long-running comedy skit during the show's New York run (a parody of early 20th century fictional detective Philo Vance).
The Mask, evil nemesis of Philo Kvetch, revealed in the last episode to be Nikita Khrushchev, who had been deposed about a year earlier. "Onions" Oregano, henchman of The Mask, played by Frank Nastasi, who ate loads of onions. Every time Oregano would breathe in Philo's direction, Philo would make all sorts of comic choking faces, pull out a can of air freshener, say "Get those onions out of here!", etc. There was also Hobart and Reba, husband and wife who lived in the potbelly stove on set. They are never seen on screen, only their voices heard coming from the stove, saying things like, “Show me a cow dressed in rags, and I will show you a bum steer” and Hobart saying, “Cool it Reba.” Willie the worm, who flexed in and out of an apple on Soupy's breakfast table when speaking; Willie helped read birthday greetings to Detroit area viewers while the show was on WXYZ in Detroit. Oh yes, my memories of Soupy sales were grand indeed-- and the best money I ever earned in my life.

Oh yes, today is also the birthday of the king-- Elvis Presley.

And tomorrow i get to meet my new district manager for Ritz camera District 90. Fingers crossed that all goes well with that meeting.

CELEBRATION OF A NEW YEAR AND MEMORIES OF AN OLD HOLLYWOOD RESTARAUNT

Well, indeed the new year has arrived and all hopes are in place that this year -- my 60th new year-- will be better than 2007. The last year saw some hope and brought a new job, but there are big challenges ahead. My new collaborator, John Nugent and I celebrated at Miceli's Restaraunt -- a mere five blocks from Universal Studios. Here is a most festive place where the waiters and waitresses all sing and perform. one can hear anything from classic Sinatra tunes like "That's Life" to a medley of Sondheim tunes or Broadway eleven o' clock numbers like "Old Man River" from "Showboat" or "This Is The Moment" from "Jekyll and Hyde" Even a little opera. The food is wonderful and the celebration is grand. It was amusing to hear the long list of "goodbye and good night" songs that the piano player played to get the crowd into the idea that "the party was over at about 12:45 am. After all, these guys normally close at 11pm. I was reminded of a New years eve at a classic restarunt in 1980. That was at the Brown Derby, that old classic Hollywood landmark that was demolished over twenty years ago. Walt and Lillian Disney often went to the Hollywood Brown Derby and a photo of them there exists from 1939 of them enjoying a Cobb Salad and Grapefruit Cake.
The famous Cobb Salad at the Derby was an accidental creation by Cobb himself. Supposedly, one night in 1937, Bob Cobb was awakened by a drunken Sid Grauman (of Grauman's Chinese Theater fame) demanding something to eat so he could sober up. The kitchen had long been closed for the night.
Opening the huge refrigerator, Cobb pulled out whatever he could find including a head of lettuce, an avocado, some romaine, watercress, tomatoes, some cold breast of chicken, a hard-boiled egg, chives, cheese and some old-fashioned French dressing. He started chopping. He added some crisp bacon and the Cobb salad was born. It was so good that Grauman returned the next day and asked for a "Cobb Salad" and it was put on the menu.
Cobb's midnight invention became an overnight sensation with Derby customers, with people like movie mogul Jack Warner who regularly dispatched his chauffeur to pick up a carton of the mouth-watering salad.
Hollywood columnist Louella Parsons loved desserts but was on a constant diet and threatened not to return to the Brown Derby unless there was a non-fattening dessert. So Cobb came up with the grapefruit cake, he said, "because everyone knows grapefruit is slimming." No one stopped to question that the frosting contained 20 ounces of cream cheese in addition to a cup of powdered sugar with the grapefruit.
Walt and Bob Cobb were friends who also shared a love of baseball. They served together on the board of directors of the Pacific Coast League's Hollywood Stars and on the advisory board of Gene Autry's California Angels. On July 17, 1955, Cobb and his wife were the invited guests of Walt for the opening of Disneyland and stopped in at Walt's apartment over the firehouse on Main Street.
The Hollywood Brown Derby continued operation until 1985 when it was closed for earthquake reconstruction. The historic building was demolished in 1994 after further earthquake damage.

THE END OF ANOTHER YEAR APPROACHES

It's been awhile since I've written something here, but my days as retail manager have been long and hard. Christmas 2007 was a bit disappointing because my store did not beat last year's figures which I really wanted to accomplish. But we did beat a few store stores and sold 144 point and shoot digitals and twenty one digital *SLR'S. Maybe now, I will now have some time for writing. John Nugent and I are finishing songs for "The Runaway Heart" and have even done some work on "The Wild Swans"-- another story from the late great Hans Christian Andersen. Meanwhile Tim has completed the bass and guitar book for "The Traveling Companion" and we plan to go into the studio in January to record some tunes for "Seven" John goes for an interview today for Bed Bath and Beyond. All fingers and toes crossed and a special prayer to God today. With all that goes wrong in our lives, I was reminded by a scripture reading this morning of that grand old phrase "No crown without the cross" We must all bear it and get through it. More later.

A BIRTHDAY FOR BEETHOVEN AND SIR NOEL

Well, friends, today is the birthday of Ludwig Van Beethoven, the master composer. What an amazing life. Here was a master: a man who's genius came from a very troubled life. His strict father was unbelievable-- rousing the young master out of bed at night in order to practice. He dreamed of studying with Mozart at the age of sixteen only to have his mother become ill and that dream shattered with the death of Mozart, himself. The story of Beethoven's custody fight over his young nephew could make a fascinating musical all by itself. Today is also the birthday of Sir Noel Coward. And in American History this is also the anniversary of The Boston Tea Party. It also marked Lucille Ball's premiere on Broadway in 1960 with "Wildcat" ("Hey, Look Me Over!) And the final project of classic songwriter Jules Styne with "The Red Shoes". Interesting day. I am going to a family Christmas party today-- should be great fun. In honor of Sir Noel, here are some trivia facts about his work:
The character of Beverly Carlton in the 1939 Broadway play The Man Who Came to Dinner was based on Coward. He was portrayed by Reginald Gardiner in the 1942 film of the play.
In the sixth season of Frasier in an episode entitled "How to Bury a Millionaire, Niles Crane purchases a pen once owned by Coward.
In the third season of Frasier, Frasier gives a Christmas gift to his father, that he says "Noel Coward would love it, but it's not you."
Charles and Fiona (Dame Celia Molestrangler and Ageing juvenile Binkie Huckaback), characters in Round the Horne.
In the 1982 film Better Late Than Never, David Niven played Nick Cartland, an ageing cabaret artiste, whose showpiece is I've Been To A Marvellous Party.
Jon Wynne-Tyson's play Marvellous Party, about a middle-age reunion in Las Vegas of Coward and his collaborator Esmé Wynne-Tyson was broadcast by the BBC World Service in May 1994, starring Stanley Baxter as Coward and Dorothy Tutin as Wynne-Tyson.
In 1998 Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward was released. The album contains Coward's songs performed by Sting, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, The Divine Comedy, Vic Reeves, Paul McCartney and others.
Coward appeared as a regular character in the fifth and sixth series of the BBC sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart.
Coward is the leading figure in Jeremy Kingston's comedy, Making Dickie Happy, also featuring Agatha Christie and Louis Mountbatten (the 'Dickie' of the title), first staged at the Rosemary Branch Theatre in London in September 2004'
The name of the men's clothing line 'Godspeed the Well-Dressed Man' came from the closing of one of Coward's letters.
Monty Python parodied Noel Coward in the Penis Song segment of their 1983 movie, The Meaning of Life and in their album Monty Python Sings as Penis Song (Not the Noel Coward Song).
The Doctor Who novel Mad Dogs and Englishmen features a version of Coward who has allied himself with alien poodles and gained time travel technology.
The opening to the song "The Lady Is a Tramp" includes the line "Alas, I missed the Beaux Arts Ball, and what is twice as sad I was never at a party where they honored Noel Ca-ad (Coward)".
Coward's play "Private Lives" is parodied in the off-Broadway musical revue "Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know" in a short scene entitled "Private Wives."
Marcy Kahan's Noel Coward quintet for BBC Radio 4 dramatises Coward as a detective in "Design For Murder" (2000), "A Bullet at Balmain's" (2003) and "Death at the Desert Inn" (2005), and as a spy in "Blithe Spy" (2002) and "Our Man In Jamaica" (2007). The cast of the quintet includes Malcolm Sinclair as Coward, Eleanor Bron as his secretary and Tam Williams as Cole Lesley.
'Two Old Queens' (2007), Perth, Western Australia, starring Edgar Metcalf as the Queen Mother and John Michael Swinbank as Coward. A conversation between the two at the unveiling of the statue of Coward in Poets' Corner.
In the (1969) classic English film Kes a man inquires about his interest in Coward's autobiography Present Indicative.
'The Actors Nightmare' contains a scene from 'Private Lives'

MARGARET HAMILTON'S BIRTHDAY

The lyrics to that wonderful song "Young At Heart" has a line which reads "And if you should survive to one hundred and five. Think of all you'll derive, just by being alive". Well, Margaret Hamilton, aka, The Wicked Witch of The West in the MGM classic movie "The Wizard of Oz" may not have survived actually to the age of one hundred and five, but she most certainly has achieved that in all of our hearts. I adored her. I thought she had more class than many. Today would have been her One Hundred and fifth birthday! She is loved and endeared by so many fans still even today! Not even her roles as Cora, the Maxwell House housewife spokes lady surpass the fame she gained as a misunderstood green witch. And just think, the creator the Witch character, Mr. L. Frank Baum only created a minor character of her in the original book. Of course, take a look at how that witch character is endeared now. Margaret would have been happy. Lyman Frank Baum would be simply beside himself. This kind and good author was an absolute failure in his lifetime. He went totally bankrupt and lost just about everything- several times. He had never intended to write any more than one Oz story. Well so much for what we plan! Because the children of the world had different ideas. He was inundated with letters from them "More Oz!" And dear Margaret Hamilton who had wonderful memories but she very bad experiences while making the movie, never dreamed that she would forever be famous because of that ONE movie role oh so long ago. I wrote a musical back in the 1980's that depicted this entire scene. I think Margaret and L. Frank Baum would be oh so happy to see that the Land Of Oz is as popular today as it was back then. Well, it rained like hell here over night and I go to work later. being a manager is certainly different than i expected it to be. Today my youthful employees are as independent as hell. They want things their way and are willing to walk away (in unison, if necessary) if they can't. Well, I must be smart. this is Christmas, the busiest season of all for retail. I must bide my time and not allow my own pride to act. I will get more with sugar than vinegar any day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY MARTIN,WOODY ALLEN, BETTE MIDLER AND CYRIL RICHARD

Happy Birthday to Woody Allen who turns Seventy Two this day, Bette Midler who turns Sixty-two this day and to the memory of Mary Martin who was born on this date in 1913 (The same year as my dear mother) and the best captain hook of all time: Mr. Cyril Richard who was born on this date in 1897. Great performers all! Working a Christmas season in a mall again after twenty years is certainly interesting. It's amazing our store is either dead or crazy with customers. There does not seem to be a fine line between the two extremes. It turns out that the character name that is being used in the new Broadway show (the last Kander & Ebb) has a protagonist (the show business loving detective) with the last name of Cioffi. That name was the real last name of my aunt and godmother-- imagine that because Cioffi is a very uncommon italian last name. By the way take a listen to a particular song from that show called "I Miss the Music" which was written by John Kander (both music and lyrics) in loving tribute to his own late musical partner Fred Ebb. I promise you this: it will make you cry! This was a partnership of over forty years and this was the team that gave the world the Broadway "Cabaret" "Chicago" (among so many others) and a little ditty of a song called "New York, New York" Well have a great weekend!

THE STRIKE IS OVER AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK TWAIN

Three cheers! The Broadway Strike is over! The longest strike in Broadway history is over--thank God. Broadway lost two million dollars a day. I am very happy that the two sides resolved all of their many differences. As a guy who writes musical theatre I support the unions 100%. Creativity can not be compromised -- no matter what. Today is also the birthday of the great Samuel Clemens-- otherwise known as "Mark Twain". Of course, this is a special birthday because of the discovery of the lost comedy play written by this amazing genius called "Is He Dead?" The premise is so wonderful: imagine that an artist fakes his own death in order to drive up the price and demand for his own art work and paintings. It just "smells funny" as dear Danny Simon used to say. I was amused this morning about that poor teacher in the Sudan who is being imprisoned for two weeks and being deported back to England because she allowed her students to name a classroom teddy bear "Mohamed" . Now if that isn't the silliest thing I have ever heard. After all, dear friends shouldn't the Arab children have known better even to ask her to do this? Lose a gifted teacher because of that? Silly! Mark Twain said it best when he said "I think God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey" Oh well, it kind of ranks right up there with that idiot who tried to open a bank account with a million dollar bill. The government has never MINTED a MILLION DOLLAR BILL. Oh well, man is certainly the folly some creature that Mr. twain always declared that he was. Today also marks the anniversary of the opening of the huge Rodgers and Hammerstein musical called "Pipe Dream" based on John Steinbeck's "Sweet Thursday. Maybe I'm crazy, but an R&H musical that takes place in a brothel is just not going to fly-- not then -- and certainly not now. And good news, my all time favorite composers: The Sherman Brothers who had a musical called "Busker Alley" that was all set to go to Broadway back in 1995 but was doomed by its producers and Tommy Tune "breaking his ankle" will play Broadway in 2008 starring my all time favorite star-- Mr. Jim Dale-- who of course played in "Barnum" and Walt Disney's "Pete's Dragon". Well more later!

THE GRINCH WINS

YES! THE GRINCH HAS WON-- GOD BLESS HIM! The Grinches of Broadway actually decided NOT to appeal the Federal Judge's ruling. So now all the children of the world can go and see Patrrick Page as "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". Isn't it nice to know that something heartwarming and classic actual WINS at the holiday season. So come on Broadway! Let's end this silly strike!

Yes, today is "Black Friday" the busiest day in retail-- and I am managing a store in the mall for the first time in twenty years. I vowed I would never again work in a mall and here I am-- oh well, the opportunities of life are strange indeed. You need to accept things that you don't expect! Today is also the 120th birthday of dear old Boris Karloff (born in 1887) and if coincidence isn't strange enough on this very day the Broadway production of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" re-opens on "the Great White Way" despite the strike that goes on after fourteen days-- ordered to do so by a federal judge because the production had indeed made a pivotal pre-strike agreement with the stagehands union. Keep your word, boys. Of course we know that this role was made famous by the good kind and wonderful Boris Karloff. Here is some things that you might not know about the old boy: In 1931, Boris Karloff took out insurance against premature aging from his fright make-up. #2: The 1931 Frankenstein 6-sheet movie poster, featuring Boris Karloff as the monster, is considered to be the most valuable movie poster in the world. There is only 1 copy of the poster known to exist.#3 Despite his great performances in many classic horror movies, there's reason to think he never took such roles seriously. He once said, "My wife is a woman of very great taste. That's why she's never seen any of my films." #4:In the 1940's, Karloff was frequently on the radio program "Information Please", which showed his incredible knowledge for facts and trivia, as well as his pleasant personality, something never seen in his films.
#5: Boris Karloff made numerous appearances on the CBS

television program Suspense. The episode titled "The Yellow Scarf" was broadcast June 7, 1949 and "A Night at an Inn" was broadcast April 26, 1949. They are not yet available commercially on DVD. There is a public film showing at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in September 2007 in Aberdeen, Maryland. #6: Karloff always credited film star Lon Chaney with giving him the best advice of his career, when the elder Chaney told the then-struggling Karloff to "find something that no one else can do, and then do it better than anyone else can do it, and you'll leave your mark." #7: Karloff was bow-legged, had a lisp and stuttered as a young boy. He conquered his stutter, but not his lisp, which is noticeable all through his career. Due to the years of difficult manual labor in Canada and the U.S. while trying to establish his acting career, he suffered back problems all of his later life. #8 Karloff had a very soft and warm voice. A line from the play "Sir Henry at Rawlinson End" by Viv Stanshall describes a character as being "Karloff soft spoken”. #9 Boris had one daughter, Sara Karloff, by his fifth wife (b.1938). #10: Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed up as Santa Claus every Christmas to hand out presents to crippled children in a Baltimore hospital. That last fact sure did not suprise me-- but it just shows how great an actor he truly was. Happy shopping everyone!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

Today of course is Thanksgiving Day and I am so grateful to God for his many blessings. I am grateful for my health, my amazing partner John, who has stuck it out with me for the last eight years. I am also grateful to my dear friend Tim Doran-- who this year at long last has found reading glasses he can use to play the piano at night or in a dark studio--Hurray! And I am very grateful to God for allowing me to find my newest writing partner John Nugent. John is an amazing guy. He has the same passion for Broadway theatre that I do, has a memory and knowledge of Broadway history that rivals an elephant's and holds the same dreams that I do. We are working on several Broadway musicals together. WE finished SEVEN and we are finishing up THE RUNAWAY HEART, based on the story of the girl in the news two years ago who dumped several bridegrooms in a short amount of time in her rural Georgia hometown, but we also have "LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY",(with a most unique plot) "BROADWAY ANGELS" (which tells the tale of Dominican Sisters who win the lottery with heaven's help and buy a Broadway theatre, and "KNOCK KNOCK ON HEAVEN'S DOOR" which examines musically what might have happened when certain famous people of history rang the "doorbell" at the Pearly Gates. What might have been the reaction that theyu all received. And what might have been their arguments about not getting in-- at all or at first! John has a real sense of story too. Today is also the birthday of Hoagy Carmichael the composer of "Star Dust" and "Up A Lazy River" amoung many other tunes. Well, it's off to my sisters. "Black friday" in my new store is tomorrow. We open at 7:30 am-- Yikes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CABARET, AND THE PASSING OF MR. WHIPPLE

Another icon has passed away. Dear Dick Wilson, television's "Mr. Whipple" passed away at age ninety-one. How many times did I laugh at this amazing comic genius. i was reminded that Dick Wilson was also the famous drunk on the "Bewitched" television series. Whenever his "drunk character" saw something magical that the Samantha character would do, he would throw away the drink he was enjoying and swear off alcohol . Too bad that couldn't have been a real motivator. Today is also the anniversary of Cabaret, The Musical.What a grand and wonderful show that had a very successful opening production in 1966 and then went on to two new revivals. I loved anything that Kander and Ebb wrote-- they were simply magic together. God love you Fred Ebb wherever you are! John Nugent and I continue to put musicals ideas around. We're composing a new one called "A Little Bit of Broadway" and just came up with a wonderful new idea called "Broadway Angels" -- in which dear old Dominican nuns win the lottery and become the angels to a new Broadway show-- but there are complications and help arrives from a most unexpected place. I was raised by Dominicans all throughout my school days, so it won't be hard to make this real and wonderful. We are also aiming for an ASCAP grant, but we need to work out some bugs before the next deadline. Christmas fast approaches and my "big little store "in the fashion Square Mall in Sherman Oaks is getting busier and the decorations are going up! Thanksgiving will be at my sister Annette's this year. Well, off to work.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE LION KING

Well, friends, today marks the 10th anniversary of "The Lion King" on Broadway, but sadly due to the strike (now in its fourth day) there will be no 10th anniversary performance tonight. How sad, that all of these Broadway producers could not negotiate with a union that makes these amazing productions possible anyway. I was a little surprised to discover that out of seventeen songs, Elton John and Tim Rice have only written nine, without others being written by Ed Mancia and Julie Taymor (the director) herself."The Lion Sleeps Tonight" which was in the movie version seems to be excluded from the official Broadway list of the score's songs. Well today is the anniversary in 1965 of the only Broadway musical to be penned by Sammy Cahn, the great lyricist and Sammy Fain (the amazing composer. It was called "Skyscraper" and starred Julie Harris and Peter Marshall (of "Hollywood Squares" fame) and also the late lovable Charles Nelson Reily. I guess the story of a female Walter Mitty just didn't wow anybody in the cynical mid 60's as it only played 242 performances. Neither composer nor lyricist attempted another Broadway show. Well, John Nugent wasn't having any luck getting a job so I hired him, myself and put him in the lab. He seems to be adapting well here.

A SEARCH FOR A LITERARY AGENT

With strikes in Hollywood for the writers and strikes in New York City over Broadway, Tim Doran and I will begin a search for a literary agent for "The Traveling Companion" the musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story that we have written over the last two years. The music and lyrics are incredible and the libretto is now in very good shape. Perhaps now, during these strikes, we might have a chance to really pitch this to some otherwise unopen ears and minds. We recorded one additional song for this show called "It Must Be Destiny". In the meantime, John Nugent and I are working on several musicals together. "Seven" is now completed. This show is a great spoof that involves the Seven Deadly Sins, Lucifer, himself and the Seven Cardinal Virtues. We've recorded the first two songs "I Love Broadway" and "It's A Farce" both by an incredible voice by the name of Brian Martin. John and I are also now working on a second show called "The Runaway Heart" with three songs completed there and one song for the new Hans Christian Andersen musical called "The Wild Swans". John and I love musical theatre-- and even though this is my busiest time in retail, he and I found time last night to work again on "The Wild Swans". Well another busy day at work. It's amazing how many hours I have put into this job since I took over as manager of the Sherman Oaks store. But such is the life of retail. Well onward!. Today is also the anniversary of the first Lerner & Lowe collaboration in 1943: a forgettable little show with the unlikely title of "What's Up". Of course, it failed big time, but hey, even genius has to start somewhere

JOB TRAINING AND DISCOVERING ANYONE CAN WHISTLE

Today I had to attend a seminar on sexual harassment for my company as a new manager for Ritz Camera. I never knew there were that many categories of this work problem.Beware kind friends-- you are personally liable for any mistakes you might make in this arena-- and believe it or not, you can actually go to jail in certain cases. On the way there, I got to listen to a CD recorded version of a concert version of "Anyone Can Whistle" written by Steven Sondheim-- his first solo musical. This is one strange Broadway musical story. The production lasted nine performances on Broadway. The reviews were worse than horrid: people in the audience actually yelled back at cast members still performing on stage as they stormed out of the theatre. Wow! Sondheim must have been a real trooper to come back from that little fiasco. But one thing for sure, some of the songs from this work are downright brilliant. I have always loved the title tune but "Everybody Says Don't" and "There Won't Be Trumpets" are equally amazing. Also on this day back in 1926 came the premiere of "Oh Kay" written by George & Ira Gershwin. It starred the amazing Gertrude Lawrence. It is of course the "Someone to watch Over Me" musical. So the challenge of being a manager for Ritz Camera goes on and we prepare for the store's planogram conversion-- not one of my favorite things to do, but oh well.

HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY TO "INTO THE WOODS"

Twenty years ago tonight, a landmark Broadway musical opened. It was of course "Into The Woods" with the amazing songs "No One Is Alone" and "Agony". This show has an amazing twenty-six songs-- which I never realized numbered that many. So for those who have forgotten: here they are all again:\

Musical Numbers "Into The Woods"
Act I
Prologue: Into the Woods - Narrator & Company
Cinderella at the Grave - Cinderella & Cinderella's Mother
Hello, Little Girl - Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood
I Guess this Is Goodbye - Jack
Maybe They're Magic - Baker's Wife
Our Little World - Witch & Rapunzel (added during the Original London Production)
I Know Things Now - Little Red Riding Hood
A Very Nice Prince - Cinderella & The Baker's Wife
First Midnight - Company
Giants in the Sky - Jack
Agony - Cinderella's Prince & Rapunzel's Prince
It Takes Two - Baker & Baker's Wife
Stay with Me - Rapunzel & Witch
On the Steps of the Palace - Cinderella (with Jack & Little Red Riding Hood in 2002 Revival)
Ever After - Narrator, Witch, Florinda, Lucinda & Company

Act II
Prologue: So Happy - Narrator & Company
Agony (Reprise) - Cinderella's Prince & Rapunzel's Prince
Lament - Witch
Any Moment - Cinderella's Prince & Baker's Wife
Moments in the Woods - Baker's Wife
Your Fault - Jack, Baker, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood & Witch
Last Midnight - Witch
No More - Baker & Mysterious Man
No One Is Alone - Cinderella, Baker, Little Red Riding Hood & Jack
Finale: Children Will Listen - Witch & Company

In most productions of Into the Woods, including the original Broadway production, several parts are doubled. Cinderella's Prince and the Wolf, who share the characteristic of being unable to control their appetites, are played by the same actor.

Similarly, the Narrator and the Mysterious Man, who share the characteristic of commenting on the story while avoiding any personal involvement or responsibility, are played by the same actor. Granny and Cinderella's Mother, whose characters are both matriarchal characters in the story, are also typically played by the same person.

Stephen Holden writes that the themes of the show include parent-child relationships and the individuals responsibility to the community. The witch isn't just a scowling old hag but a key symbol of moral ambivalence. She is also the only character in the show who always tells the truth. James Lapine said that the most unpleasant person (the witch) would have the truest things to say and the "nicer" people would be less honest.

The show covers multiple themes: growing up, parents and children, accepting responsibility, morality, and finally, wish fulfillment and its consequences.

William A. Henry III wrote that the play's "basic insight... is at heart, most fairy tales are about the loving yet embattled relationship between parents and children. Almost everything that goes wrong — which is to say, almost everything that can — arises from a failure of parental or filial duty, despite the best intentions."The musical makes heavy use of syncopated speech. In many instances, the characters' lines are delivered with a fixed beat that follows natural speech rhythms, but is also purposely composed in eighth, sixteenth, and quarter note rhythms as part of a spoken song.

Like many Sondheim/Lapine productions, the songs contain thought-process narrative, where characters converse or think aloud.
The score is also notable in Sondheim's output because of its intricate reworking and development of small musical motifs.

In particular, the opening words, "I wish", are set to the interval of a rising major second and this small unit is both repeated and developed throughout the show, just as Lapine's book explores the consequences of self-interest and "wishing." Sondheim drew on parts of his troubled childhood when writing the show; in 1987, he told Time magazine that the "father uncomfortable with babies [was] his father, and [the] mother who regrets having had children [was] his mother."

WELL ANOTHER DAY MANAGING MY STORE-- BOY ARE THESE EMPLOYEES SPOILED BY PAST AND EASY GOING MANAGEMENT STYLES. STAY TUNED FOR MORE.

A MERMAID FINDS HER VOICE AGAIN

Well, tonight on Broadway, a mermaid finds her voice again as "The Little Mermaid" opens on Broadway tonight with all of the original songs from the animated amazing movie and about twelve new songs. Of course everyone should know the story originally written by dear Hans Christian Andersen:"a beautiful young mermaid named Ariel longs to leave her ocean home to live in the world above. But first, she'll have to defy her father — the king of the sea — escape the clutches of an evil sea witch and convince a prince that she's the girl with the perfect voice." The musical is based on both the Disney animated film (written and directed by John Musker & Ron Clements) and the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. Amazingly enough (and this shows how much writers must adapt and not adopt Hans christian Andersen, the mermaid in the original story dies. Oh my! Tim Doran and I have gone through much rewriting of Hans Christian Andersen in the last two years with our own musical "The Traveling Companion".The Little Mermaid features songs penned by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman (God love you, Howard!) for the Disney film ("Part of Your World," "Under the Sea," "Kiss the Girl," among others) as well as 11 new tunes by Menken and Glenn Slater. Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, Grey Gardens) wrote the book.
Song titles include "Fathoms Below," "Daughters of Triton," "The World Above," "Human Stuff," "I Want the Good Times Back," "Part of Your World," "Storms at Sea," "She's in Love," "Her Voice," "Under the Sea," "Sweet Child," "Poor Unfortunate Souls," "Positoovity," "Beyond My Wildest Dreams," "Les Poissons," "One Step Closer," "Kiss the Girl," "If Only," "The Contest" and "Finale Ultimo." Twenty songs in all. Today is also the 50th anniversary of the opening of "A Connecticut Yankee" by Rodgers and Hart. From that show we all received "Thou Swell" and "To Keep My Love Alive". Today is also the 47th birthday of the opening of Meredeth Wilson's "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" which features the songs "I'll Never Say No To You" and "Belly Up to The Bar, Boys", "I Ain't Down Yet" and "Beautiful People of Denver" My managership continues--wow what a challenge. It takes a lot of time, but I'm having fun too! Well, until next time!