from Bruce
Anecdotes
Flops
• Actor Sheldon Leonard once left the hit play Having Wonderful Time to star in the play Siege, but Siegeflopped, leaving Mr. Leonard out of work. Fortunately, he was not out of work long, because he read in the Personals column of The New York Times: “Sheldon, come home. All is forgiven. Cast and crew of Having Wonderful Time.”
Food
• At age 15, Percy Hammond ran away from his home in Cadiz, Ohio, ending up in Washington, D.C., with no money and little chance of employment. Starving, he made his way to the home of Ohio Senator John Sherman, brother of general William Tecumseh Sherman, who burned Atlanta during the Civil War. When Percy arrived at Senator Sherman’s door, a butler tried to refuse him admittance, but he cried, “My father and grandfather marched to the sea behind his brother,” then fainted. Senator Sherman revived him with food, then helped him find a job as a union printer. Later, Mr. Hammond became a noted theater critic in Chicago and New York.
• Gene Fowler met actress Helen Hayes after he engaged in a drunken revel with her husband, Charlie MacArthur, co-author of the stage play and movie The Front Page. Mr. MacArthur brought Mr. Fowler home and woke his wife up to meet him. Unfortunately, when the inebriated Mr. Fowler bent to kiss her hand, he toppled over. “Madam,” he said, “I beg your pardon. I grew dizzy for a moment, thinking I was five thousand feet above the canyon, in a high wind. Please charge it off to the Mexican tripe I dined on tonight in Lindy’s.
• Ralph Richardson was fastidious concerning the props that appeared on stage with him. In the George Bernard Shaw play You Never Can Tell, he carried a silver tray on which was loaded an afternoon tea, including a plateful of biscuits (or, as USAmericans would say, cookies) artistically laid out. At one performance, he said in the wings, “Oh, oh, oh! Celia Bannerman has eaten a biscuit!” His co-actor, Keith Baxter, pointed out that plenty of biscuits were left. Sir Ralph replied, “But the pattern, old fellow, the pattern! It’s gone!”
• At age 18, British comic actress Su Pollard was in a restaurant when a man left, leaving behind an untouched pork chop. Because she was hungry, she took the pork chop and ate it — and was both surprised and embarrassed when the man returned after having deposited coins in a parking meter. The man asked a server, “Where’s my dinner?” — and Ms. Pollard disappeared into the ladies restroom.
• Oscar Asche used to play Falstaff in the theater. In doing so, he was accustomed to eat an entire fowl on stage and throw the drumsticks at Bardolph, despite eating an excellent dinner before going to the theater.
Friends
• Sometimes, coordinating clothing with one’s friends can be difficult. Once, Peter Ustinov invited Wolf Mankowitz to attend a play. When they met to go to the play, Mr. Ustinov was wearing comfortable clothing, but Mr. Mankowitz was dressed up. Then Mr. Mankowitz invited Mr. Ustinov to attend a play. This time when they met to go to the play, Mr. Mankowitz was wearing comfortable clothing, but Mr. Ustinov was dressed up.
• Noël Coward frequently got into arguments with the actors and actresses in his plays, but the arguments were always sorted out later. One day, he and Gertie Lawrence were having a loud argument in a dressing room when a woman in the cast ran into the dressing room and told them, “You must stop this. I love you both and you can’t go on like this.” Mr. Coward told her, “How dare you interfere when I’m talking with my friend!”
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Buy
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Buy The Paperback
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Buy Kindle
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Buy Apple
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Buy Barnes and Noble
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Buy Kobo
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Buy Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF
Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Voodoo People"
Album: This is a one-sided single.
Artist: Los Vaccine
Artist Location: Moscow, Russia
Info:
“I'm 46, I love surf rock, and I`m from Moscow. Los Vaccine is DIY project. I get inspired Dick Dale, John Blair, Guano Padano, Messer Chups, Sailor Ksou & Seasick Surfers, Nebulas, Aqualads, and other musicians.
Price: $1 (USD) for one-sided single
Genre: Surf. Rock.
Links:
“Voodoo People”
Los Vaccine on Bandcamp
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
reader comment
News
Holy cow, todays news about lumpy (r) & the new woodward book is stunning.
I'm actually watching crappy old msnbc, & they're discussing some of the book revelations.
I particularly enjoyed what Schiff said. He'd make a great president, I think.
DJ Useo
Vielen dank', Konrad!
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Just the Abuelas and me at the laundromat-of-the-darned.
Season 47
‘SNL’
“Saturday Night Live” will kick off its 47th season with four first-time hosts, including “Ted Lasso” star and “SNL” alum Jason Sudeikis.
But you’ll have to wait a few weeks into Season 47 to get to the recent Emmy winner, as the Oct. 2 premiere episode will feature Owen Wilson as host, followed the week after by Kim Kardashian West, and then Rami Malek heading up Week 3.
As for musical guests, Wilson will be joined by Kacey Musgraves, who is making her second appearance on “SNL”; Kardashian West’s musical guest on Oct. 9 will be Halsey, returning for her fourth set on the Studio 8H stage; Malek’s paired with fellow first-timer Young Thug on Oct. 16; and Sudeikis will share the stage with Brandi Carlile, who is also making her debut on the NBC variety sketch show.
“Saturday Night Live” was the top entertainment program during the 2020-21 season among adults in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demo and took home eight Emmy Awards for its 46th season, including Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.
‘SNL’
Strikes New Deal
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg has struck a multi-year deal to stay on The View.
The star has signed a deal that will see her continue on the daytime talkshow for four years, Deadline has confirmed.
The move means that she will stay through to at least season 28 of the show, which is currently in its 25th season.
Goldberg’s deal comes as The View is “taking a little time to fill the seat” left behind by Megan McCain (R-Vacuous) and will instead welcome a line-up of conservative guest co-hosts in the coming months including Condoleezza Rice, Mia Love, Gretchen Carlson, and Alyssa Farah, among others.
Whoopi Goldberg
Playing Dives
Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks is ready to keep performing at dive bars — despite canceling his stadium shows — because the fans at those dive bars will be vaccinated, he says.
Brooks had previously announced the cancellation of the remaining five dates of his Stadium Tour in mid-August, amid concern over the ongoing outbreak of the COVID-19 delta variant. Later that month, he revealed on “Inside Studio G,” his Facebook Live series, that plans were underway for a new stop on his Dive Bar Tour, at a smaller venue in Oklahoma City, for attendees who provided proof of vaccination or the results of a negative COVID test.
Brooks elaborated on his plans for the show in Oklahoma City during the most recent episode of “Inside Studio G” on Monday.
“The dive bars are vaccinated, that’s how you get to do it,” Brooks explained of his reasoning for resuming shows at smaller venues. “So, the great thing about this is, [the fans are] vaccinated or they have to show a 3-day negative in-advance test.”
Tickets for the Oct. 11 concert will be awarded to listeners of Oklahoma City’s Jake FM radio station. Per the contest’s official rules, winners must present proof of full COVID vaccination at least 14 days prior to the concert date, or the results of a negative PCR COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the show. Attendees can also provide a negative antigen test taken within 6 hours of the show.
Garth Brooks
Netflix Buys Catalog
Roald Dahl
Netflix has acquired the works of Roald Dahl, the late British author of celebrated children’s books such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
The video streaming giant said Wednesday that it acquired the Roald Dahl Story Co., which manages the rights to the author’s characters and stories. No financial terms were disclosed.
The deal builds on a partnership struck in 2018 to create a slate of animated TV series, under which “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is getting a reboot by Academy Award winning filmmaker Taika Waititi and Netflix is working with Sony on an adaptation of “Matilda the Musical.”
The new deal paves the way for Netflix to bring all of the author’s back catalogue to screens.
Dahl died in 1990 at the age of 74 but his books, which also include “The BFG,” “The Twits” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” remain popular with young readers, with more than 300 million copies sold worldwide and translations in 63 languages.
Roald Dahl
Admits
Bannon
Steve Bannon (R-Unindicted Conspirator), the White House adviser turned accused fraudster turned podcast host, admitted on Wednesday that he conferred with Trump (R-Lock Him Up) ahead of the January 6th insurrection failed coup, with the intention of “kill[ing] the Biden presidency in its crib.”
Bannon’s activity anticipating January 6th has been well-documented, but the extent to which he spoke with Trump ahead of the insurrection was not known until Peril, a new book from Robert Costa and Bob Woodward, was published on Tuesday. Bannon appeared to confirm Costa and Woodward’s reporting during a recording his War Room podcast on Wednesday.
Bannon played clips of journalists discussing the book, which details how Bannon spoke with the then-president about the “crisis” that needed to be rectified on January 6th. “People are going to go, ‘What the fuck is going on here? We’re going to bury Biden on January 6th, fucking bury him,’” Bannon told Trump days before the insurrection, according to Peril. “We’re going to kill it in the crib, kill the Biden presidency in the crib.”
Bannon’s admission that he spoke with Trump about overthrowing the election isn’t shocking considering how he was lathering up his followers to take action on the 6th. Bannon told his podcast listeners on January 5th that “all hell was going to break loose” the following day in Washington, D.C., and later encouraged his Facebook followers to “TAKE ACTION. THEY ARE TRYING TO STEAL THE ELECTION,” according to Vice News. They did just that by marching to and into the Capitol from Trump’s rally at the Ellipse. The rally, during which Trump implored his supporters to “fight like hell,” was organized by “March for Trump,” a group with close ties to Bannon.
In the hours following the insurrection, Bannon interviewed Trump lawyer John Eastman, who bashed Vice President Pence for not doing more to prevent the certification of the election results. His frustration was cast in a new light this week after CNN obtained instructions Eastman provided to Pence, detailing the steps he needed to take in order for the election to be sent back to state legislatures. Eastman appeared on Bannon’s podcast again on Tuesday to whine more about Pence.
Bannon
World’s Oldest Twins
Japan
Guinness World Records has certified two Japanese sisters as the world’s oldest living identical twins at 107, in an announcement Monday coinciding with Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday in Japan.
Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama were born the third and fourth of 11 siblings on Shodoshima island in western Japan on Nov. 5, 1913.
They were separated after elementary school, when Kodama was sent to work as a maid in Oita on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu. She later married there, while Sumiyama remained on the island where they grew up and had her own family.
The sisters later recalled their difficult younger days. Growing up, they said they were bullied because of prejudice against children of multiple births in Japan.
Busy with their own lives for decades, the sisters rarely met until they turned 70, when they started making pilgrimages together to some of the 88 Shikoku temples and enjoyed being reconnected.
Japan
Ventura, California
Coffee
Farmer David Armstrong recently finished planting what is likely the most challenging crop his family has ever cultivated since his ancestors started farming in 1865 - 20,000 coffee trees.
Except Armstrong is not in the tropics of Central America - he is in Ventura, California, just 60 miles (97 km) away from downtown Los Angeles.
"I guess now I can say I am a coffee farmer!" he said, after planting the last seedlings of high-quality varieties of arabica coffee long cultivated in sweltering equatorial climates.
Coffee is largely produced in the Coffee Belt, located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia and Vietnam have provided the best climate for coffee trees, which need constant heat to survive.
Climate change is altering temperatures around the globe. That is harming crops in numerous locales, but opening up possibilities in other regions. That includes California and Florida, where farmers and researchers are looking at growing coffee.
Coffee
Iron Age Hoard
Denmark
An amateur treasure hunter wielding a metal detector has discovered a stunning gold hoard buried by an Iron Age chieftain in the sixth century in what is now Denmark. The stash includes lavish jewelry, Roman coins and an ornament that may depict a Norse god.
The treasure hunter, Ole Ginnerup Schytz, uncovered the Iron Age hoard on land owned by one of his former classmates in the town of Vindelev, earning the stash the name "Vindelev hoard." Within a few hours of surveying the area with his newly acquired metal detector, Schytz heard the telltale beeping of possible treasure. It turned out to be one of the "largest, richest and most beautiful gold treasures in Danish history," representatives of Vejle Museums said in a statement released Sept. 9.
The 1,500-year-old hoard contains nearly 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of gold, including large, saucer-sized medallions known as bracteates. An excavation of the site by archaeologists from Vejle Museums, in collaboration with the National Museum of Denmark, revealed that the gold valuables were buried in a longhouse, which may indicate that Vindelev was a powerful village during the Iron Age.
The town of Vindelev is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Jelling, a cultural hotspot where the first monarchs ruled when they united (or reunited) the country in the 10th century. Until now, "there was nothing that indicated that a previously unknown warlord or chieftain lived here [in Vindelev], long before the kingdom of Denmark arose in the following centuries," Ravn added.
The hoard contains several bracteates, as well as Roman coins molded into jewelry using a unique technique that hadn't been seen before, the archaeologists noted. Some of the gold artifacts' motifs and runic inscriptions likely reference contemporary rulers, but others may refer to Norse mythology. For instance, one bracteate shows a man with braided hair surrounded by images of a horse, bird and another man — as well as runes (ancient or mysterious letters) that may translate to "houa?" or "the high one."
Denmark
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
