THE JOB SEARCH GOES ON

Well, I've been out of work now exactly one week and it really feels like I'm a shoreless boat. Of course, the job hunting has gone on long before that as i knew this was coming for a month! Wow, I never thought I'd miss it that much. I have put applications all over Career Builder and have now signed up with Monster. Com. The problem is just don't get that much reply, I do have an interview tomorrow in Gardenia, Ca as a "High School Presenter" in which I would go around to various high schools and sell a "College". I have sold many things in my life, but never an institution for higher learning. There is also a job fair tomorrow and there are other irons in the fire, but man this is scary. I must trust in God-- I know for sure that he didn't bring me all the way here intending to drop me here. He just doesn't work that way. So if everyone will say a little prayer for me, i would be very grateful. I have not been out of work in almost twelve years and have only actually collected unemployment once in the 1970's-- scary thought! I continue to write and send out resumes every single day--thank God for the computer! Well, that's about it for today! Sorry that the entries this month have been pretty sparse. I saw a performance of the Gay Men's Chorus on Saturday thanks to the kind generosity of my dearest friend, Tim Doran. It was a fabulous show: a tribute to the 1970's. Heard first was "Joy To The World" authored by Hoyt Axton. It was arranged by my old partner in songwriting Mr. Eddy Clement. What a wonderful piece. Of course if you want me to cry just sing one of my all time favorite songs "The Rainbow Connection" --I think it is so beautifully written. Paul Williams is masterful. Happy week ahead!

WE REMEMBER ED WYNN

On this day in 1966-- we lost one of the greatest comedians of all times. Often called "The Perfect Fool"-- and world renown as "The Fire Chief" Ed Wynn was a classic vaudevillian performer who delighted audiences throughout the years. He was also an amazing dramatic actor who starred as Van Dussell in "The Diary of Anne Frank". He was Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins and starred in a great number of Walt Disney films. Walt is shown with Ed here on this blog entry. It's also an amazing co-incidence that we lost Walt Disney, himself in December of 1966. One of my favorite of his roles was on an old "Twilight Zone" episode in which Ed Wynn plays a salesman who cheats death because he has "unfinished business" here in Earth. Of course that "unfinished business" is as he calls it "a pitch for the angels"-- the best sales presentation of all times. The character of Ed is found in my musical "The Ghost Who Saved Broadway" -- a really wonderful tribute to "the old fire chief". On another subject, the job search goes on. I have about three more days at Ritz Camera and I will be working in the Ventura store this weekend. I have submitted resumes everywhere. So everyone--please-- say a prayer for me that I can find one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GENE WILDER

Today is Gene Wilder's 75th birthday. What an amazingingly funny and very human man. His life has had many ups and downs. Gene of course is the co-creator of "Young Frankenstein" and was a master at playing Willy Wonka.In 1971, Mel Stuart offered Wilder the lead role in his film adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Wilder was initially hesitant, but finally accepted the role under one condition:
“When I make my first entrance, I'd like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp. After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I'm walking on and stands straight up, by itself...but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause.”
When Stuart asked why, Wilder replied, "because from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth."All three films Wilder did after The Producers were box office failures, Start the Revolution and Quackser seemed to audiences poor copies of Mel Brooks films; while Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory seemed, to many parents, a moral story "too cruel" for children to understand, thus failing to attract family audiences After hearing that Wonka had been a commercial failure, Woody Allen offered Wilder a role in one segment of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). Wilder accepted, hoping that this would be the hit that would put an end to his series of flops. Everything was a hit, grossing over $18 million dollars in the United States alone against a $2 million dollar budget.
After Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Wilder began working on a script he called Young Frankenstein. When he had written a two page scenario, he called Mel Brooks, who told him that it seemed like a "cute" idea but showed little interest. A couple of months later, Wilder received a call from his then agent, Mike Medavoy, who asked if he had anything where he could include Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman, his two new clients. Having just seen Feldman on television, Wilder was inspired to write a scene that takes place at Transylvania Station, where Igor and Frederick meet for the first time. The scene would later be included in the film almost verbatim. Medavoy liked the idea and called Brooks, asking him to direct. Brooks was not convinced, but having spent four years working on two box office failures, he decided to accept.While working on the Young Frankenstein script, Wilder was offered the part of the Fox in the musical film adaptation of Saint Exupéry's classic book, The Little Prince. When filming was about to begin in London, Wilder received an urgent call from Mel Brooks, who was filming Blazing Saddles, offering Wilder the role of the "Waco Kid" after Dan Dailey dropped out at the last minute, while Gig Young became too ill to continue. Wilder shot his scenes for Blazing Saddles and immediately afterwards filmed The Little Prince.After Young Frankenstein was written, the rights were to be sold to Columbia Pictures but after having trouble agreeing on the budget, Wilder, Brooks and producer Michael Gruskoff went with 20th Century Fox where both Brooks and Wilder had to sign five-year contracts. Young Frankenstein was a commercial success, with Wilder and Brooks receiving Best Adapted Screenplay nominations at the 1975 Oscars, losing to Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo for their adaptation of The Godfather Part II.While filming Frankenstein, Wilder had an idea for a romantic musical comedy about a brother of Sherlock Holmes. Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn agreed to participate in the project and Wilder began writing what would become his directorial début, 1975's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother"

In 1975, Wilder's agent sent him a script for a film called Super Chief. Wilder accepted but told the film's producers that he thought the only person who could keep the film from being offensive was Richard Pryor. Pryor accepted the role in the film, which had been renamed Silver Streak, the first film to team Wilder and Pryor. While filming Silver Streak, Wilder began working on a the script for The World's Greatest Lover, inspired by Fellini's The White Sheik. Wilder wrote, produced and directed The World's Greatest Lover, which premièred in 1977, but was a commercial and critical failure. 1979s The Frisco Kid would be Wilder's next project. The film was to star John Wayne, but he dropped out when the Warner Brothers executives tried to dissuade him from charging the studio his usual $1 million fee. Harrison Ford, a then up-and-coming actor, was hired for the role. Happy Birthday, dear Gene! God love you for giving the world your humor.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE PORTER

Today would have been Cole Porter's 97th birthday. What an amazing composer! What a brilliant lyricist! I can only hope he is entertaining the angels tonight. My job search goes on. This is is the first time I have been out of work in twelve years and I am applying everywhere through Career Builder.com on the Internet-- which is quite good, but the responses are very slow in coming. But I have turned this over to the Lord and I need to trust Him completely. Of course I am still hoping that Ritz will find something for me to go on to. Having a store closed is not exactly the most joyful situation of my life. Our little store was doing very well. Unfortunately, "the sharp pencil boys" of Ritz see only pedantic low figures in January and February of this year. We had a terrible writer's strike and gas continues to go up. In California, gas is up to $4.35 a gallon for basic gas. Crazy! Everyone please say a prayer for me! This is one of the toughest moments of my life!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

Happy Memorial Day To all! I remember my dear Uncle Al would go out on this day and put flowers on the graves on all of the relatives-- even those related to him only by marriage. He was an incredibly wonderful man with a kind and generous heart. Well, my job search goes on. I had a great phone interview with Staples that seemed very positive. I found out that assistant managers there make about forty-seven thousand dollars a year-- pretty amazing. I also was contacted by Pacific theatres as an operations manager. Job hunting by computer is so amazingly easy. I haven't been out of work for twelve years and the last time I collected unemployment was way back in 1975-- thirty-three years ago. I've applied at Screen Vision, BMI, and Universal Pictures-- so we shall see where God leads me. He is my strength and my Light and he has always guided and protected my life. It's too bad the Ritz organization doesn't recognize great talent. All it knows how to do is to go into panic mode and close stores. They simply don't realize that people are not going to trust them any more-- they won't see store closing as great financial planning-- oh no-- they will see it as a great sign of trouble and not purchase from them. Well, I wish them well. I really tried hard at this store. More as I know it. Say a prayer for me! I wrote and recorded a great song for this day called "Some Gave All" Tony Westbrook recorded it and it really turned out wonderfully.

A DAY OF HOPE

A day of hope exists today. Even though it appears that my job will end on June 20th-- a little less than a month from now-- I do have a phone interview with the Staples people. And that call came from out of the blue from a Career Builder ad. I know things happen for a reason, and I know just how fearful that I am right now, but I need to trust God-- he has always come through in the past. He's always watching over me. So today, I'm going to trust Him. He is both my Father and my best friend and that is all that matters. Somehow, I'll get through this-- just like I got through that accident two years ago.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORIE

Today is my sister Lorie's 66th birthday. It's also a pretty historic day in other respects. Jimmy Stewart would have been 100 years old this day. Charles Lindberg took off for his historic trans Atlantic journey in "The Spirit Of Saint Louis" and Amellia Earhardt took off on this date for her fateful journey. Christopher Columbus died on this date in poverty-- alas. Today also ninety-three million people watched the last episode of Cheers in 1978. But I really want to wish my eldest sister a most happy birthday. We've had a lot of fun over the years and she has provided a lot of comfort over all these many years. One of the beautiful things about my dear sister is that she and her life is free of drama-- she is who she is-- and that's it. She tells you the truth without once hurting your feelings. She is kind, loving, considerate and I have always loved her and always will. Happy Birthday Lorie! I did get a call from a Staples Office Supply recruiter so maybe there is a glimmer of hope in my labor crisis. Prayers are certainly appreciated and welcomed. No closing signs have yet arrived-- I hope that's a good sign.

It's a scary thought when you think that job may end. We've been informed that Ritz Camera is closing my store in the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square based on results from January and February of this year: the worst months you could possibly look upon. We had a deliberating Writer's strike still going on and the economy is horrible. I think it's just terribly unfair. I have given my all to this company. At any rate, the promised "Were closing" signs have not yet arrived and that is comforting a bit, but its very scary to go looking for a job at age sixty. I haven't had to go look for work since 1996-- twelve years ago. Thank goodness for Career Builders on the computer--it does help a lot. So say a prayer for me--everybody. And while we are at it, lets have a great prayer that Tim Doran gets out of his financial mortgage mess. Please God. We both need help.

A BIRTHDAY FOR HAIR AND A GREAT BAND LEADER

Well today would have been the birthday of one of the greatest jazz composers of the 20th Century--none other than Duke Ellington who was born in Washington D.C. in 1899. Today is also the 40th anniversary of the great musical "Hair"Hair was conceived by actors James Rado and Gerry Ragni. The two actors met in 1964, when they were both cast in the off-Broadway play Hang Down Your Head and Die, and began writing Hair together in early 1965.In the Los Angeles Times, Rado described the inspiration for Hair as "a combination of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew and our own imaginations. We knew this group of kids in the East Village who were dropping out and dodging the draft, and there were also lots of articles in the press about how kids were being kicked out of school for growing their hair long, and we incorporated that in the show too."[2] Many cast members (Shelley Plimpton in particular) were recruited right off the street.In the 1960s, Ragni was an active member of The Open Theater group in New York City, which was developing improvisational and experimental theatre techniques.[8] In college, Rado wrote musical revues and aspired to be a Broadway composer in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition. Imagine that musical theatre enthusiasts! Anyway, Mr. Ragni interested Mr. Rado in the more modern styles and techniques being developed at The Open Theater. Then In 1966, Ragni performed in The Open Theater's production of Megan Terry's play, Viet Rock, which influenced his development of the book for Hair. Viet Rock, a play about young men being deployed to the Vietnam War, employed the same improvisational and workshop techniques later used in the development of Hair.Mr. Rado and Mr. Ragni brought the show to producer Eric Blau, who connected the two with Canadian pianist/composer Galt MacDermot through mutual friend and music publisher Nat Shapiro.MacDermot had won a Grammy Award in 1961 for his composition "African Waltz" (recorded by Cannonball Adderley While living in South Africa, MacDermot studied the music of the Bantu tribe, whose music stresses beats on unexpected syllables, and he incorporated this African influence into the score of Hair. MacDermot says he listened to "what they called kwellas very characteristic beat, very similar to rock. Much deeper than that Among the first songs written for the show were "I Got Life", "Ain't Got No", "Where Do I Go" and the title song "Hair"
The show was pitched to several Broadway producers and received many rejections. Eventually Joe Papp, who ran the then-named New York Shakespeare Festival, decided he wanted Hair to open his newly titled Public Theater in New York City's Greenwich Village. Chicago businessman Michael Butler, after seeing an ad for Hair in the New York Times that led him to believe the show was about Native Americans, watched the Public's production several times and decided to purchase the rights and move it to Broadway.Hair became the first off-Broadway musical to successfully make the transition to the Broadway stage. The New York Theatre League ruled Hair ineligible for consideration for the 1968 Tony Awards and the producers brought suit. but were unable to force the League to reconsider. At the 1969 Tonys, Hair was nominated for Best Musical and Best Director but lost out to 1776 in both categories. In another note, our recording session on Sunday April 27th went amazingly- we recorded thirteen songs including tunes from "Wild Swans" "Little Bit of Broadway' "Sevenly" and "The Runaway Heart" Jeff Urband at the piano was amazing as usual-- but we still miss Tim Doran- who is off this weekend for a little R&R up north. One singer could not show because he had victimized. He had answered an ad in Craig's List for an apartment to rent. He went the apartment house and found the guy- who said he was subletting his place. Our singer paid him $1200 and thought he had a new place to live. When he arrived Sunday morning "to drop off a few things" he discovered the guy had never lived there-- had only been "house sitting the apartment to feed the fish and the cat, had disconnected his cell phone and disappeared. Gone was the singer's $1200. Since his old apartment had already been re-rented-- he literally had no where to go. He has until Wednesday to solve this horrible dilemma. Please everybody-- think twice before you do anything serious investment wise dealing with Craig's List. My partner, John Nugent was also victimized after moving from Erwin, Tn last fall. He moved into a place that he was suddenly denied access to the kitchen, shared with a screaming female version of Felix Unger and had to enter the apartment after 11:30 at night to avoid confrontations with this awful woman. Then they cheated him out of his security deposit when he moved out! So if you are using Craig's List-- think twice. Subletting an apartment-- ask to speak to the landlord in a rental office before you give any of your hard earned money away. That's all for today. Plano gram meeting today for work! I hate plano grams!

REMEMBERING GALAGHER & SHEEN & WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Besides being the birthday of two of the greatest vaudevillians in history, it is also the birthday of the great bard, Himself: William Shakespeare. Any who knows me realizes that William Shakespeare was a very big character in my big musical "Skylark"-- way back in 1983. But the focus of this article is On Ed Gallagher and Al Sheen. Sheen was the uncle of Groucho Marx. The above song made them absolutely famous.Gallagher & Shean was a highly successful double act on vaudeville and Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, consisting of Edward Gallagher (1873- March 28, 1929) and Al Shean (real name Albert Schoenberg) (May 12, 1868 - August 12, 1949).
The comedians led separate careers in the vaudeville tradition, but it was when they teamed up that they gained popularity. Gallagher and Shean first joined forces during the tour of "The Rose Maid" in 1912, but they quarreled and split up two years later. They next appeared together in 1920, through the efforts of Shean's sister, Minnie Marx.-- the mother of the Marx Brothers, This pairing lasted until 1925 and led to their fame.Gallagher and Shean remain best known for their theme song , which was a hit in the 1922 Ziegfeld Follies. Bryan Foy, son of stage star Eddie Foy and eldest member of the "Seven Little Foys", claimed to have written the song, but it is officially attributed to Gallagher and Shean. The song endured in popularity and was regularly tweaked and updated with additional verses, so several different versions of the song are still extant. The song was recorded as two-sides of a 10" 78 in 1922 for Cameo. Naxos attributes to song to Irving and Jack Kaufman. The recording was extremely popular and well-remembered: a parody of it was recorded by Bing Crosy and Johnny Mercer in the late 1930s, another parody was performed by Jackie Gleason and Groucho Marx (who was Al Shean's nephew) on television in the late 1950s, and Lenny Bruce was able to make an offhanded reference to it in his nightclub act of the 1960s, all of them confident that audiences would recognize it right away.With occasional exceptions, each verse of the song ended with Gallagher speaking a punchline, followed by Shean singing "Absolutely, Mister Gallagher?" and Shean replying "Positively, Mister Shean!". This cross-talk format continues to be imitated, parodied and referenced for audiences who may have no knowledge of the original. Cartoonist Bobby London depicted his characters Dirty Duck and Weevil telling each other "Posilutely, Weevil!" "Absotively, Mr. Duck!". In the 1990s, a radio commercial for Pitney Bowes office equipment used the original tune with new lyrics: "Absolutely, Mister Pitney!" "Positively, Mister Bowes!"
Capitalizing on the post-King Tut craze for everything Egyptian, Gallagher and Shean appeared in Egyptian dress (Gallagher in the pith helmet and white suit of the tourist, Shean in the fez and oddly skirted jacket of a "native" Egyptian colonial).
In 1921, they were sued by the Shubert organization for breach of contract. According to Shubert, they could not perform for the competing Ziegfeld Follies. The case claimed that Gallagher and Shean's act was "unique and irreplaceable." The comedians' defense was that their act was mediocre and the judge initially found in their favor, although the decision was later reversed.
For a time in the 1920s, Gallagher was involved with his protegee, vivacious French-Canadian dancer Fifi D'Orsay.
Gallagher and Shean often had personal differences during their partnership (the constant backstage hostilities inspired Neil Simon to incorporate them into his successful show-business-themed comedy The Sunshine Boys).Ed Gallagher died in 1929; Al Shean worked occasionally thereafter as a solo character actor. The 1941 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical Ziegfeld Girl features a re-creation of Gallagher and Shean's act, with Al Shean in his familiar role and costume, and character actor Charles Winninger portraying Gallagher.

MAGIC WITHOUT "ABRA CADABRA"

Magic doesn't always happen because of a clever magic trick or a great illusion or a special effect in a movie. Magic without the words "Abra Cadabra" happens best when two amazingly gifted individuals come together and combine the talents that God has given them and create a song, a sound and a harmony that is unequaled. I have been a songwriter since 1980-- that's twenty eight years out of sixty-- almost half of my life. And sometimes, its hard to continue when dreams refuse to come true as we want them to. But becoming a songwriter in the first place, was a complete happy accident. I had no formal training whatsoever. At least Mel Brooks had been a jazz drummer before he took on comedy and musical theatre. I had literally stumbled into all of this because of God's sweet gift. The odds against it happening at all were astronomical. But then again Almighty God defies odds in ways that completely astound us. In 1996 my world had come crashing down with the loss of my agency and there should not have been any way that I would have written another song after that. But God had different ideas. My ability to write without training in any way depended on bar none the most amazing and talented individual I had ever met. This was Tim Doran. If Tim had gone to Juilliard instead of "having fun" touring with a jazz band, we would have never crossed paths. If Tim hadn't gotten bored writing music for a top science fiction TV series-- again, there would have been no way. But we did meet and this amazing man has helped me to create over five hundred songs since 1990. Then we lost contact completely and the only way we found each other was that Tim sold his house in Whittier, moved to a rental in Hacienda Heights and decided for the first time in his life to have a listed telephone number. So one day, when I wanted to write again, I called 411 and made an attempt to find him-- and found him-- only by the sheer grace of God. I was living in North Hollywood at the time. There he was. He looked amazing. He had gone through a regimen of health training and gymnastics.

But the next miracle came so unexpectedly, it simply blew me away. That was the accidental meeting through AOL that occurred between Tony Westbrook and myself. He had this dream of being a great singer and I was an original songwriter. I had still a lot of contacts. But the real magic happened when I decided to record some songs. Tony had sent some original songs he had recorded for other writers and I was blown away. So then the two guys (Crag and Christian) that I had allowed to open a recording studio in the office complex I was managing back in the early 90's and I struck a deal. I had let them into the complex upon their pleading even when their credit wasn't sterling and even that there was another recording studio in the complex. Be kind to others? It all comes back. They gave me fifty hours recording time gratis (because I had made that exception all those years ago) and the rest at $19 an hour. Into the studio came Tony Westbrook and we recorded an album called "Highway To A Dream". This was the winter 0f 1998 going into January of 1999. We recorded "Fly Me Home For Christmas" and two other songs and the magic began. By today's standards, it was crude. The old grand piano we used had seen much better days. And on went until we changed studios in late 1999. That was and is still today Smooth Sound Studios. But the amazing miracle was yet to come. We had decided to try and market us all by putting on a show. That show was called "I Love Those Shows" held in Hollywood. As we searched for other singers to perform in the show, by pure blessing of God, Tony Westbrook was introduced to Terry Snyder. And that pairing, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls was in two words "mind blowing" Their harmony, their simpatico, their timing and their sound together was simply astounding. Tony is an amazing singer all by himself. He has compelled this poor old writer to cry in pure joy on more occasions than I can tell you. But together: Westbrook & Snyder were so wonderful, it was like two angels had escaped heaven and found a singing gig together in Hollywood. Last night after many years, the duo was reunited and the magic was re-kindled all over again. W&S recorded a religious tune called "Open My Eyes" that I am still crying over. It is so beautiful and such a loving tribute to Almighty God. He has blessed my life in so many ways. This was my humble tribute in thanks to him for all of that. Tim arranged and created the tracks for the song and that was simply wonderful. The second song was called "Some Gave All"-- a patriotic song that again was arranged by Tim and turned out stirring and heartening. The last song was called "There's A Little Bit of Broadway In All of Us"-- a wonderful tribute to the "Great White Way"-- that almost didn't happen. Terry had thought the song wasn't quite right for harmonizing on and felt that Tony should do the song solo. By this time, it was late and his young son, Vincent needed to go to bed. Somehow (another miracle) we convinced him to go in and sing a guide version that Tony could follow with. Terry is a better sight reader and so that made logical sense. Terry went into that recording studio and in ONE take did an incredible solo performance. We hugged and Terry left. Guess what? That one take performance was so great that Tony felt it didn't need anybody else and there was nothing that he could really add to it. Oh by the way, that song was dedicated to Tony months ago. So the trooper that Tony is realized that the song dedicated to him didn't need any contribution by himself. I can only hope that Tony will visit California many more times and that the magic of Westbrook and Snyder can again one day be made again. Thank you both. Thank you Tim. Thank you to Robert (pictured here) who has been our engineer for years) Onward! Oh yes, thank you, God-- you are the word awesome in every sense of the word!

WE REMEMBER MARTIN LUTHER KING

On this day forty years ago, the amazing and gifted Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis at the Loraine Motel shown here on this page. On March 30, 1968, Dr. King had come to Memphis, Tennessee in support of the black sanitary public works employees, represented by AFSCME Local 1733, who had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment. (For example, African American workers, unlike white workers, were not paid when sent home because of inclement weather.) On April 3, King returned to Memphis and addressed a rally, delivering his "I've been to the Mountaintop" address a group at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ, Inc. – World Headquarters). King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane. In the close of the last speech of his career, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following:
"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Dr. King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The Reverend Ralph Abernathy, King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the HSCA that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the 'King-Abernathy suite. While King was standing on the motel's 2nd floor balcony, he was shot at 6:01 p.m. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveling down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. According to biographer Taylor Branch, and also Jesse Jackson who was present, King's last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch (no relation to Taylor Branch) who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." Abernathy was inside the motel room, heard the shot and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor. There is some disagreement as to whether it was Abernathy who was on the balcony with King, and Jesse Jackson who ran onto the balcony after the shot was fired. Local Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles, whose house King was on his way to visit, remembers that upon seeing King go down he ran into a hotel room to call an ambulance. Nobody was on the switchboard, so Kyles ran back out and yelled to the police to get one on their radios. It was later revealed that the hotel switchboard operator, upon seeing King shot, had had a fatal heart attack and could not operate the phones. Dr. King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m. The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 100 cities.Five days later, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a national day of mourning for the lost civil rights leader. A crowd of 300,000 attended his funeral that same day. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey attended on behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson, who was holding a meeting on the Vietnam War at Camp David. (There were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.) At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral. It was a recording of his famous 'Drum Major' sermon, given on February 4, 1968. In that sermon King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity". Per King's request, his good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at his funeral.According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60-year-old man, evidencing the stress of 13 years in the civil rights movement. After the assassination, the city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.
Two months after King's death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. He confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.Ray fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher"). He claimed that a man he met in Montreal, Canada with the alias "Raoul" was involved, as was his brother Johnny, but not he himself. Further, Ray asserted that although he did not "personally shoot King," he may have been "partially responsible without knowing it," hinting at a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had.
On June 10, 1977, shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. They were recaptured on June 13 and returned to prison. Some have speculated that Ray had been used as a "patsy" similar to the way that alleged John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was supposed to have been. Some of the claims used to support this assertion are:Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with death penalty! Ray was a thief and burglar and had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.Many suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistic tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon. Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house (which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination), and not from the rooming house window In 1997, Martin Luther King's son Dexter King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a retrial.
In 1999, Coretta Scott King, King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a wrongful death civil trial against Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that "governmental agencies were parties" to the assassination plot.William F. Pepper represented the King family in the trial. On April 6, 2002, the New York Times reported a church minister, Rev. Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson — not James Earl Ray — assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way."In 2004, Jesse Jackson, said "I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray. God rest you, Dr. King: you were a true pioneer against prejudice and hatred.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBIE REYNOLDS

Happy 76th birthday to a great show lady and Hollywood legend: the one and only Debbie Reynolds. My favorite role of hers was "The Singing Nun" and "Singing In The Rain"Debbie was quite a star in hey day during the 1950s and chalked up several hit records despite an only intermittent career as a recording artist. I love all of them! Her song "Aba Daba Honeymoon" (featured in the 1950 film Two Weeks With Love as a duet with Carleton Carpenter) was a top 3 hit in 1951. She is also remembered for her smash recording of the theme song "Tammy" which earned her a gold record and was the best-selling single by a female vocalist in 1957 and was number one for five weeks on the Billboard pop charts. Debbie also scored two additional top 25 Billboard hits with "A Very Special Love" in 1958 and 1960s "Am I That Easy To Forget", a pop version of Skeeter Davis' country hit (interestingly, Davis' real first names are also Mary Frances). During the 1950s, this amazing lady starred in numerous movies, such as Bundle of Joy (1956), with her then husband, Eddie Fisher, recorded hit songs (most notably "Tammy" from her 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor, playing opposite Leslie Nielsen, the first of the series of Tammy movies), and headlined in major Las Vegas showrooms. Her starring role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) led to an Oscar nomination, but she lost to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. She played Jeanine Deckers in The Singing Nun. In what Debbie called the "stupidest mistake of my entire career", she made big headlines in 1970 after instigating a fight with NBC over cigarette advertising on her TV show. NBC canceled the show in January of the same year. In April of 1970-- on this very date, no less, Debbie got her way. Richard Nixon signed an executive order banning all cigarette and tobacco advertising on television-- and that, dear friends was NO April fool! Debbie is still making appearances in film and television, one of the few actors from MGM's "golden age of film" (along with Mickey Rooney, Lauren Bacall, Margaret O'Brien, Jane Powell, Rita Moreno, Leslie Caron, Dean Stockwell, Angela Lansbury, Russ Tamblyn and June Lockhart) who are still active in film making. From 1999 to its 2006 finale, she played the recurring role of Grace's ditzy mother Bobbi Adler on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. She also plays a recurring role in the DCOM TV movie series Halloweentown as Aggie Cromwell. Reynolds made a guest appearance as a presenter at the 69th Annual Academy Awards Debbie has several CDs on the market of both vintage performances and later recordings. So Happy Birthday, dear lady. We still adore you!

SUPERMAN SINGS

Today indeed was interesting for Broadway history. The first thing is that today is the anniversary of Kander and Ebb's Woman Of The Year and the second is a very odd little musical that Charles Strouse and Lee Adams attempted on this date in 1966. It lasted all of one hundred and twenty seven performances. Interesting to note that Linda Lavin played the ingenue and Lesley Ann Warren played Lois Lane. The plot revolves around Superman's efforts to defeat Dr. Abner Sedgwick, a ten-time Nobel Prize-losing scientist who seeks to avenge the scientific world's dismissal of his brilliance by attempting to destroy the world's symbol of good. Additionally, Superman comes into romantic conflict with Max Mencken, a columnist for the Daily Planet newspaper, who resents Lois Lane's attraction to Superman.
The show opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on March 29, 1966. The production received generally positive reviews, but failed to catch on with the theater-going public and closed on July 17, 1966 after 129 performances. The main theme is the peril of moral relativism; as the song "We Need Him" puts it, "when the world's moral standards grow murky / we need him.
Photo stills can be seen in the documentary "Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman," as well as footage from the TV version.On May 14, 2007, the Reprise! program in Los Angeles presented a concert version of the musical with Patrick Cassidy his father's old role as Max Mencken, Cheyenne Jackson Superman, Jean Louisa Kelly as Lois Lane, Richard Kindas Dr. Sedgwick, and composer Charles Strouse in a special appearance as Perry White, at the Ralph Freud Theatre on the campus of UCLA.

THE REUNION OF WESTBROOK & SNYDER

Well put on a Happy Face for on Monday, April 7th at 8pm there will at long last be the return for about a week of Tony Westbrook from New York City. What an amazing voice! What an incredible friend and even co-writer he has been. It all started with an album project called "Highway To A Dream" the first CD put out by Creative Horizons. Tony made those wonderful songs come alive. With the equally amazing Tim Doran at the keyboard, Tony brought life to those songs recorded in an old studio in Glendale no longer standing. I dare you to listen and not cry at some of these songs: especially "If You Really Want To Know", "I'll Be Faithful" and he was the first artist to record "Wherever You Go There You Are" which is now part of the musical that Tim Doran and I wrote together called "The Traveling Companion" Tony,Tim Doran and the amazing will of Almighty God are the reasons I am still a songwriter! Then better news! I received a confirmation e mail from Terry Snyder and now there will be the reunion of Westbrook & Snyder on the same evening. Hopefully Tim will be able to join us and the magic evening will be complete. The songs to be sung will include the song that I have dedicated to Tony-- its called "There's A Little Bit of Broadway In All of Us" and a patriotic tune called "Some Gave All"-- in the vein of a song we all wrote together called "Sad Day For The USA" way back in (dear me) 2001. The third song will be "Let Go, Let God!-- a title that really fits my life and Tony's and if we get lucky a song from "The Traveling Companion" -- but that one is up in the air-- as we may opt for a rock tune or a spoof for Judge Judy called "Nothing Says I Love You Like A Lawsuit!-- inspired by a couple on the People's court who in real life and on on the program were suing each other, fiercely --even though they said they still loved each other-- just as fiercely- Judge Judy looked up at them and quirked to the audience "Well, nothing says "I love You" like a lawsuit""== the light bulb-- there was an idea for a song.
Well we will make the final choices after the first two in a few days. But to have both of these amazing gentlemen back together in a recording studio is going to pure magic. These guys are that good. More later!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

Today is indeed Saint Patrick's Day: the day of great feasting and drinking and grand celebrations and the day that I always telephone my boyhood friend Andy Alum. I have not missed one Saint Patrick's Day in forty years: a pretty good record. And so I raise my glass to my friends Tim Doran and Tony Westbrook (you look marvelous, darling) and my new writing partner John Nugent who has finally found (after a six month search) a great job with a music publisher thanks to Tim Doran.

As for Saint Patrick, himself: just in case you didn't know here's the low down on his life and times:St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints. Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461. Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints. This is also a day when everyone's Irish.
There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his real story. Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.
As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.
During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote
"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was roused, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."
Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain, where he reunited with his family.
He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more." He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years. Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland March 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.
Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick's message. Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).
Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461. He died at Saul, where he had built the first church. Why a shamrock? Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time. In His Footsteps: Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHEN SCHWARTZ AND WE REMEMBER LOU COSTELLO

Today we celebrate two birthdays. The first is for the very much alive Stephen Schwartz who turns sixty years old today. I wrote him a very nice "happy birthday" note and he responded personally. That was a very classy thing to do. Of course, Mr, Schwartz has had an amazing comeback these last seven years with smashes like "Wicked" playing all over the place. Today would also have been the birthday-- the 100 birthday, no less of the late great funny man, Lou Costello. What an amazing and brilliant comedy mind and talent. I remember seeing all the great Abbott & Costello Costello comedies as a kid. My favorite was "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" which co-starred Boris Karlof, Lon Chaney and of course Bela Lugosi. John and I had three entries for the ASCAP musical theatre workshop today which we hope they will select at least one of these for us to showcase in late April. They are "Sevenly", "The Runaway Heart" and "A Little Bit of Broadway"-- all fingers and toes crossed. I haven't been this proficient in writing in a long long time! John Nugent goes for a great job interview tomorrow-- so all fingers and toes crossed for that one too. It's getting a little busier at work--thank goodness! Well, until next time!

A READING HAPPENS AND A CAROL BURNETT ROSE

Well we had a reading of one of our shows this past Sunday. It was "The Ghost Who Saved Broadway" the song that "One Last Miracle" comes from. Everybody loved the premise and the characters, but we need to curt about 40 minutes from the show to make it acceptable to audiences. It was a beautiful day and Keith and Karmyn and Lori and the group all got together and read the show and we played what songs we had. So there it is: a great lesson learned again. In all honesty this was the first reading I had done of this show for a whole lot of years and so it was good to finally flesh out the story and the dialogue. And John and i took time to plant two roses in our garden. One was the "Carol Burnett" rose and the other was named in honor of Pope John Paul II. We shall see how well they grow and thrive in the California sun. And oh yes, thank you Tony Westbrook-- first for being the first to record "One Last Miracle and second for the wonderful list of things in his blog today. What a great list of goals to aim for each and every day. And a very big thanks to Tim Doran who brought "One Last Miracle" to life with his brilliant orchestration of the song many years ago. A great day --still cherished! Amazing still-- and always. thanks Tim. And oh yes-- after many years I saw Richard Sherman of the Sherman Brothers-- his brother Bob has now retired to London and paints--though he istill writing some lyrics.

AN IMPORTANT NEIL SIMON ANNIVERSARY

Loving Neil Simon's comedies are one thing. But loving Neil Simon and the characters that he created for the stage because you studied comedy writing with one of those characters makes it quite important and dimensional. On this day back in 1961, Neil Simon's first play "Come Blow Your Horn" opened on Broadway. Alan and Buddy Baker were the characters based on the real life episodes of Neil and his older brother Danny. I am proud to say that I spent four years studying with Danny-- and bar none it was the best money I ever spent in my life. Neil was "Buddy Baker" the kid who wanted to write for the stage and maybe television who moves into the Manhattan apartment of his older brother Alan-- who was of course dear Danny. Danny Simon was one of the funniest and most wonderful characters I have ever met. He was the real life Felix Unger. I treasure those days of his teaching. In the beginning of the play, Alan (Danny Simon) is the typical lady's man, and his younger brother (Neil) is the twenty one year old virgin who has decided to run away from home, and leave the family's waxed fruit business. As the play progresses, Alan finds out that Connie, one of the ladies that he is sleeping with, is "the girl" and without her in his life, he falls apart. Buddy, however has taken his brother's place in life, becoming the ladies man, while his brother sits around and mopes over the loss of Connie, the girl of his dreams. Hal March played the Alan Baker part and Warren Berlinger played the Buddy part. The father was played by the3 one and only Lee J. Cob. The play was made into a movie, with a screenplay by Norman Lear, starring Frank Sinatra, Lee J Cobb, and Barbara Rush. The play had a London production in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre.An offstage character in the play is Felix Ungar, later one of the protagonists of Simon's The Odd Couple. I remember when I first called Danny about his classes and at the end of the phone interview I asked him a bold question: I said "Mr. Simon, did you father really call you a bum"-- Danny's voice on the other end of the phone laughed and laughed-- boy I guess I knew the back story of these guys pretty well. Was Danny as neat as Felix Unger was in the play? The answer is "more so". We writers were invited up to his condo once which we all called "the sanctuary". It had a pure white rug and we each had to take our shoes off. We had to promise before hand to wear "new white socks". I got him twice that evening when I said "Danny, you're the only guy I know whose toaster is cleaner than his toilet!" and later I quipped "Danny, you're the only guy I know whose doilies are breaking in new doilies". Both quips got huge laughs. I met Neil Simon at Danny's class-- what an amazing guy! My sweetest memory of Danny was when I left the last class session when I said "Danny, I want to dedicate a play to you". Now one of the things that Danny harped on all those four years was "Great comedy comes from great conflict and pure honesty" Now most instructors would have answered that dedication remark with a "thank you"-- not Danny. He was using great honesty to get you to remember what fueled it in the first place. So Danny retorted "What if it isn't good enough? One of my dearest ambitions besides winning a Tony on the New York stage would be (after dedicating a comedy play to Danny) would be to tell the audience the story, hold up the Tony and announce: "Danny Simon, wherever you are, I think this makes it good enough!" So today we celebrate forty-seven years of amazing honesty and great comedy!

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!