Sondheim in Memoriam

 

He was a cultural deity, the leading musical artist of our age, always on the cutting edge of American theater, the consummate artist, his lyrics totally integrated with his music.  If Bob Dylan is deserving of the Pulitzer, seems to me that Sondheim is as well.  Although a “musical theatre” figure, he is far more, a poet whose lyrics captured the urbanity of modern life and chronicled human relations in dramas within a musical structure.  His musicals have as much in common with opera as they do with Broadway theatre (although Sondheim himself did not generally enjoy opera). 

 

If you look at one’s life as a piece of music, there may be a few long measures preceded by a rest notation.  Covid not only led to sickness and death, but also took large blocks of our lives away, experiences we can never recover.  It’s like a musical piece where, suddenly, the rest notation is unnaturally prolonged, taking up space where there should be music.  The older one is, the more that horridly mismanaged illness is a percentage of one’s remaining life.

 

Thus the pandemic marked the loss of experiences, such as the one I wrote about involving the reimagined production of Sondheim’s Company and our 50^th Wedding Anniversary.

Although we missed that moment, we had hoped there would be another, and then the following year Sondheim passed away.  After his death I learned about the letters he wrote to others, even selflessly responding to strangers like me who revered him.

 

He had an extensive exchange of letters with Robert Osborne who for so many years was the face of Turner Classic Movies.  Watching the classic movies on TCM is just about the only TV I truly enjoy.

 

Sondheim also had an intense interest in such films, particularly those of the thirties, such as ones starring Joe E. Brown, and a host of other stars from that era.  Where in the world did he find the time to watch all of these?  I think of him, steeped in nostalgia and pastiche.  He once said something along the lines that if he was on a trip and a customs officer asked him where he’s from, he’d reply, “the past.”  He wrote to Osborne, a kindred soul, formed a mutual admiration society, and obviously Osborne kept him well supplied in tapes of films mostly from that era.

 

I’ve been able to collect ten of those letters.  Eighty-five were auctioned off in London in 2018 so my collection represents only a portion of their exchanges.  I framed the ones I collected and they now grace our hallway with other Sondheim memorabilia.  I’ve transcribed the contents of the ones I have below for future Sondheim scholars. 

 

They are fascinating, such as the September 5, 2006 letter in which he says “As for Angie's interview, do you by any chance have an unedited audiotape of it? I'd love to hear what she said.”   That must have been Osborne’s interview of Angela Lansbury who originated the role of the mad meat pie maker Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and was in Sondheim’s early short-lived musical Anyone Can Whistle (1964).  Lansbury said Sweeney Todd was a huge success for her and that the show was a benchmark for Sondheim and “finally, down the road, that is the [Broadway] role” for which she’ll be remembered. (Watching that interview reminds me of the gift Osborne had, such a gentle, probing ability to get the best from an interview.)

 

The one dated Jan. 3, 2008 was on the eve of the financial (and ultimately political) crisis, and Sondheim concludes it with “Meanwhile, Happy New Year to all of us, please God” – something we were all feeling at the time.

 

Or the July 28, 2010 letter, the only one not signed “Steve,” which he signs “Affectionately Yours, Merle” obviously an in-joke, and not seeing what preceded it I’m guessing it was a reference to Merle Oberon.

 

The June 27, 2011 letter requests that Osborne send the tape of "London Can Take It;" as he wanted “Jeff to understand what went on during wartime there,” presumably Jeff being his husband-to-be at the time, Jeffrey Romley.  Or, the last Sondheim – Osborne letter I have dated June 12, 2012 requesting “Act One,” a 1963 film based on Moss Hart’s autobiography.  As he explains “James Lapine has been trying to track a copy down because he's writing a play based on the book.”  The play premiered on Broadway in 2014 to good reviews.

 

There are so many interesting references in these letters, so I’ll let these transcriptions do the talking themselves:

 

                                                                                August 31, 1998

 

Dear Bob –

 

Thanks so much.  What can I do for you?

 

                                                                                Steve  S.

 

*****

 

December 18, 2003

 

Dear Bob -

 

What I do with TCM is tape the movies and watch them days, weeks or even months later. I don't remember which Gordon Douglas, but it was in the midst of the Gordon Douglas festival a few months back.  I didn't mean to keep you awake nights when I brought this whole thing up -- my apologies.

 

You got me on "Whispering Streets.” If it's part of the TCM catalogue, make a copy for me. (I'm only up to the C's at the moment, but compiling as I go along.) And as far as Madelon Claudet and Rachel Cade go, what about Harold Diddlebock?

 

Meanwhile, have a Christmas worthy of Ann Harding and George Raft, or even Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly.

 

Best,

 

                                                                                Steve

 

*****

 

September 5, 2006

 

Dear Bob –

 

Thanks, as always, for your generosity. I can't believe the number of movies that Joan Blondell made. It seems she made one out of every two movies that were released before 1940. As for Angie's interview,

do you by any chance have an unedited audiotape of it? I'd love to hear what she said.

 

Does your visit to Telluride have anything to do with Bill Pence's resignation? When I was there so was Ted Turner.

 

Surely, these can't be coincidences..

 

That was a joke,

                                                                                Steve

 

P.S. Is "Down on Ami-Ami-Oni-Oni Isle" from "The Hurricane"? I suspect not.

                                                                                SS

 

*****

 

January 3, 2008

 

Dear Bob –

 

Thanks for the DVD. One of the things I love about the series films is that people like Audrey Totter and Dennis O'Keefe show up in them in tiny roles.

 

Meanwhile, Happy New Year to all of us, please God.

 

Gratefully,

as ever,

 

                                                                                Steve

 

*****

 

January 5, 2010

 

Dear Bob

For the thousandth time, thank you so much! When are you coming to our fair city next? Give me a little notice, and we'll have an in-depth conversation about Rondo Hatton.

 

Meanwhile, Happy New Year.

 

                                                                                Steve

 

*****

 

July 28, 2010

 

Dear Bob -

 

The new recorder didn't arrive in time, so please add the following to your list: "Eleven Men and a Girl"; "Top Speed"; "Broadminded"; "Going Wild"; Local Boy Makes Good"; "Sit Tight"; & Day Bike Rider"; "Bright Lights.”

 

I don't expect these till 2012 at the earliest.

 

                                                                                Affectionately Yours,

                                                                                                Merle

 

*****

 

June 27, 2011

 

Dear Bob -

 

Thanks so much, as always, for dredging up the movies. By all means, keep them coming if you can. I'm particularly grateful for "London Can Take It;" as I want Jeff to understand what went on during wartime there.

 

I'd like to add four more titles to the lengthy list:

“The Man with Two Faces," "Innocence," "Gates of Heaven" and "Trouble the Water."

 

What can I do for you in return? Since you're getting some evenings off, perhaps when you're in New York you'd like to come to dinner and we'll talk about Johnny Sheffield. Seriously, just let me know.

 

As always,

 

                                                                                Steve

 

*****

 

August 2, 2011

 

Dear Bob

 

The usual request: I screwed up trying to tape "On with the Show' and "Going wild," so please add them to your list.

 

You're looking more chipper than ever - maybe it was anticipating your vacation. If you spend any of it in New York, give me a call and we can have a drink at least.

 

                                                                                Steve

 

*****

 

September 8, 2011

 

Dear Bob -

 

Just to ruin your vacation, would you add the following four movies to the list of Things My VHS Machine Screwed Up: "Crooner," "Guele d'Amour," "Virtue," "No More Orchids"?

 

As always,

 

                                                                                Steve

 

*****

 

June 12, 2012

 

Dear Bob -

 

Is "Act One" in the Turner Classic Movies library? It's a Warner Bros. picture, so I thought I'd ask. James Lapine has been trying to track a copy down because he's writing a play based on the book. Can you help him out?

 

Hope you're thriving -- you certainly seem to be, in your public appearances.

 

Best,

 

                                                                                Steve

 

 

Alongside these letters is a framed Sondheim-signed sheet music of “Anyone Can Whistle”.  It reads “For Bob   Forte’” and as he dates it 10/5/91, well before TCM, perhaps this not dedicated to Osborne.  So when I play that piece I do so Forte’!

 

 

The opposite wall is devoted to Company Playbills surrounding a cast-signed New York Philharmonic poster of the 2013 production of Company which included such luminaries as Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Neil Patrick Harris, and Patti LuPone, among others. (Yes, Colbert and Cryer who we don’t think of in the context of musical theater do credible work in this production which was aired by PBS that year.)

 

We’ve made that hallway in our home a memorial to him. Thus, “Not a day goes by / Not a single day / …you're somewhere a part of my life.”

 

‘Sunday’ from Sunday in the Park with George is one of his masterpieces.  I include a brief video of my playing it as I often do with him in mind.  There will never be another Sondheim.

 

 

There Will Never Be Anyone Like Her

Doris Day is dead.  Ann and I have been dreading this moment and no sense repeating all the accolades that will be posted and written, all deserved.

But to me, a piece of me has died. The only way I can put it is I loved her public persona.  I felt the same way when John Updike passed away, one who occupied my reading life and made sense of the changes in America, decade by decade. Can it be he has been gone ten years now? 

Doris Day occupied my idealized fantasies of the girl next door during the same period, fresh, wholesome, shorn of pretense.  This is something that cannot be faked.  She was radiant, buoyant, and whenever I needed a pick me up, all I needed was to watch, yet again, one of her films as her inherent goodness was infectious. 

Her talent was peerless.  I don’t think anyone in film could match her for her ability to act, sing, and dance, especially in the comic realm.  She was the whole package, and projected a special kind of lovable personality.

One theatre/film critic, who will remain nameless, has criticized her as being merely an average singer.  Perhaps her voice was not exceptional.  Nor was Sinatra’s.  But there was that something else that made their singing extraordinary.  Sinatra’s phrasing and ability to capture his audience as if he was singing to you might be the best way to describe his gift.  Doris’ was to project her golden personality in song.  Just listening to one of her recordings, I see her radiant smile in my mind.

We’ve usually heard her with big bands but she would have made it as a cabaret singer if movie land did not appropriate her for their own in some 40 films.  One of those was a biopic where she played cabaret singer, Ruth Etting, with Jimmy Cagney, demonstrating both her acting ability and cabaret style in “Love Me or Leave Me” (1955).  Or one can hear her with pianist André Previn on the 1962 album “Duet” and appreciate her gift for singing without the silver screen prop, that sparkling personality still shining through.

In a world sorely in need of rectitude and hope another “companion” of ours has passed, but at least we have her films and recordings to remind us of what can be.  RIP Doris Day.

Fake News in La La Land

As they say, you can’t make this stuff up.  I speak of the Academy Awards’ embarrassing mistake of naming La La Land Best Picture, only to have to retract that in the middle of La La’s acceptance speech, naming Moonlight.  This is all because Price Waterhouse Coopers gave the presenters the wrong envelope.  Perhaps the Academy is shopping for a new accounting firm?  In this era of “fake news” the mistake only feeds the Zeitgeist.  Maybe it was Russian hacking?  It's one thing to tamper with the election and it’s quite another to mess with the Academy!

I have not seen Moonlight, but it does sound like award-winning material, adapted from a play.  However, I loved La La Land, particularly Emma Stone’s rendition of the song “The Audition” which I have made part of my piano repertoire.  I also admired the film as a throwback to filmed musicals of the past, albeit updated for our times. 

Our friends Betty and Claudia were visiting this weekend, both movie buffs, and they had not seen Fences (nor had we) and I was surprised to find the film being offered on pay-per-view so we watched it before the Academy Awards yesterday.  I was stunned.  August Wilson stands among the greatest American playwrights.  Although the movie rights to the Pulitzer Prize winning play were bought soon after the play opened in 1987, it was only recently produced as Wilson had insisted that the film have a black director.  His wishes continued to be honored after his death in 2005.  It was Denzel Washington, one of our finest actors, who finally was chosen to direct and star in the play – he was in the 2010 revival of the play on Broadway with Viola Davis as well.  I was surprised that Washington was not even nominated for best director, although he was up for best actor.  Until I see Moonlight, which won for the “best” film, I can’t comment, but what Washington accomplished as a director and as an actor has to be greatly admired.  Viola Davis was spectacular as well.  I will not easily forget this film, Wilson’s writing, or the performances.

When you think about it, how does one chose between a La La Land, Fences, or Moonlight – all award deserving in their own right?  It’s one of the reasons why the Academy Awards doesn’t resonate with me.  I watched part of it, but did not see the controversial ending; both Moonlight and La La Land deserved better.  But so did Fences and Denzel Washington.

I mentioned this before, but never went into any detail.  We attended the 1980 Academy Awards as a guest of the Academy.  Their Annual Motion Picture Credits Database was published by my firm at the time.  In those days, such information was in reference book form.  I used to visit the Academy and the American Film Institute searching for publishable material.

When I received an invitation to attend the Awards, I was able to combine the trip to LA with one of my editorial efforts, and, of course, Ann wanted to join me so I accepted.  Unfortunately, this is way before cell phone cameras and I thought it a little tacky to arrive with my full-size Nikon hanging from my shoulder, so I have no photographs to record the experience.

I had a rented car (not very fancy) and wore just a plain suit.  Ann was dressed nicely but no designer dress or even borrowed jewels.  A valet took our car and in spite of being unknowns (and looking the part), we walked down the red carpet to some applause.  No one asked for our autograph, though : - ).

This was Johnny Carson’s second year as host and the big film, winning most of the awards was Kramer vs. Kramer.  Coincidentally I had met the author of the book on which the film was based, Avery Corman, a year or two before.  He politely autographed a pre-production copy at the American Booksellers Association meeting after we discussed why I felt a special connection with his book: I had been divorced ten years earlier with similar custody issues.

Back to the Academy Awards, I remember standing next to Gregory Peck during one of the brief breaks, I wanted to say something, but felt it would be intrusive.  So we just stood there, admiring all the screen actors I recognized and he knew well.  It was a lot of fun to attend this major Hollywood event, but Ann and I were outsiders, looking in.

After watching the film Fences we took Betty and Claudia to our favorite Sunday night place, Double Roads Tavern in Jupiter to listen to the Jupiter Jazz Society’s weekly jam session.  Professionals play but other musicians can sit in for a set or two.  I’d like to do that myself but as most of my piano playing has been solo; I don’t have the skills for impromptu jazz accompaniment.  So, we go just to enjoy and support such a worthwhile effort.  Organizer Rick Moore, who plays the keyboard with the best of them, gathers a wide range of musicians, ones just starting out, but oh so talented, to retired and seasoned professionals who just like to jam.  It is Rick (and his wife, Cherie, a co-founder of the Society) who drive the mission to preserve jazz for future generations.  And future generations are responding.  Ava Faith, a 13 year old singer, made a surprise appearance last night after singing the National Anthem at the Marlins’ spring training game.  She already has the right stuff, a great young jazz voice and a personality that is impressive.  Wonderful to hear that generation perform the Great American Songbook and to know it will endure.  I tried to capture a brief clip with my twitter feed…

Ava Faith at the Double Roads, Jupiter! pic.twitter.com/4vOLEOxWNM

— Robert Hagelstein (@lacunaemusing) February 27, 2017

To round out yesterday, in the morning Claudia and I took a walk on the beach in Juno, watching the sun rising over the pier…

Trump’s Truman Show

Once upon a time one’s life meant having some time to oneself. Presidents were there but mostly in the background except during critical times. Now we are all exhausted from less than a month into the Trump presidency. Why? He is omnipresent; no matter where you look, to whom you speak, online, newspapers, or TV, big brother is there, “100%” as HE is fond of saying. Now we are subjected to the anxiety and ennui of Trump reporting 24-7.

I can’t help but think of the movie The Truman Show. Our existential hero of the film, Jim Carrey, is an orphan who has been raised by a corporation to live and be watched, without his knowledge, on a reality TV show 24-7 -- until he discovers this and tries to escape.  In this latter respect we’re in Carrey’s position, but this is an environment HE doesn’t want US to escape from.  As the Narcissist -in-Chief HE enjoys being watched in his own simulated reality TV show, a terrarium of which the contours are “alternative truths.”  Our role is to be spellbound.  Before I merely thought this behavior “crazy making” but it may be more --  preparation for almost anything, totalitarian rule by the Plutocracy, religious wars, the demolition of the Republic, a nuclear winter, or all rolled up into the Trumpocalypse (“the catastrophic destruction or damage of civilization following the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States of America.” -- from Urban Dictionary)

Instinctively, even if we survive we all know this will not end well.  I hope I am very wrong, and that the next four years will be bigly amazing, devoid of losers, with tremendous, terrific winners, but I fear it’s not gonna happen, zero percent.