The Crab Chronicles

Encounters With the Famous

A colleague of mine told me today she was a huge Elvis fan and saw him in person in the early 1950's at the Paramount Theater here in Atlanta. I love stories like that. I have a friend who is a professional actor (Jeff Joslin) and he has some great stories about working with celebs like Tyler Perry and others.

What I have found, generally, is that most celebrities are nice and friendly to fans. I've read that the bigger the celebrity the nicer they are, if approached in public.

I interviewed a celebrity who was on a sitcom many years ago in Knoxville, when he was in town doing a charity event. He was not nice. I was a cute little 18 year old girl and at nearly 5'4 I was taller than him, which might have had something to do with it.. I had convinced my editor to let me do the interview (this guy was not a big star at all) and wrote up a nice piece about the actor, but wow was he a jerk. I could never figure out why. His agent, who barely spoke English, mailed me a press package and addressed it to Dee Fahnsen. That was after I had spelled "Thompson" into the phone about four times.

I have only had a few other instances of being close to a celeb, in my life:

1) I saw boxer Evander Holyfield at Houston's in Buckhead in the late 90's. He was pure muscle. I followed him from the restroom back to his table and then veered off before he could call the cops and have me arrested for stalking.I was fascinated to see someone whose body appeared to be carved out of stone. Wow. I kinda understand why Evander has 11 children.

2) Many years ago I worked at the daily newspaper in Knoxville and Dick Van Dyke was in town in a touring production of Damn Yankees. I got to tag along for the interview and meet him -- they wouldn't let me do the interview as I was only 17. He was incredibly friendly and genuine, and incredibly skinny.

3) in 1983 I was in New York visiting a friend and I snagged tickets to a preview of Death of a Salesman. I was 3rd row center, no more than 8 feet from Dustin Hoffman for much of the show. Incredible performance.

4) I ran into an actor named David Keith [he is best known for An Officer and a Gentleman] in a video store in Knoxville back in the mid 80's, and he was buying copies of every James Bond movie in the store. I introduced myself and we chatted a few minutes. We knew some of the same people from his time doing theater at UT. He was incredibly nice.

5) I saw Burt Reynolds and Dinah Shore at a UT football game in the early 1970's. Spent more time looking at them than the game, which irritated my dad. LOL

6) I sang in the Knoxville Opera Chorus after college, for a few productions, and one of them was Faust. Jerome Hines was the star, and a super nice man. We sat and chatted backstage and he remembered going out with my parents in Augusta many years before, a big thrill for my mom who was an opera fan and on the opera guild board. (She could have sung opera but chose to get married instead.) I like opera but only to sing, not to sit and watch. I did a production where Roberta Peters was the star and she was a teetotal diva.

As my grandfather used to say, they put on their pants one leg at a time, just like I do. He was a major league baseball player and had met quite a few celebs. They never impressed him.

I like to think of them as regular people with strange jobs. It helps me to not deify or vilify them.

Cowgirls and My Boy

It has been a tough week for a lot of reasons but last night was a time to relax and do something fun. Michael and I went to the Horizon Theater to see their new show, Cowgirls. Great show.

I will be reviewing the play this weekend for the online publication The Edge, which is how I came by the tickets.

Michael and I have seen some terrific plays, both from local theater companies and traveling national companies. Atlanta has a thriving theater scene, with several professional companies and I think 2 Equity houses. 

I love plays and it's nice to share some mama/son bonding time with my son, even though I try not to leave Granny by herself very often. She and Lola were OK. We have very good neighbors, thank God.

I used Google maps free GPS on my phone to get there, and it routed us through a not great part of town. Glad that happened when it was still daylight, and even more glad Mike was with me.

I was so tickled with this photo. Mike is such a cutie pie and this is a real smile, not a fakey smile for the cameras.

He isn't keen on country music or classical but he said he enjoyed the show. Watching lovely ladies sing for two hours [especially a young one in hot pants] was not bad at all, he said. We were both so impressed that it was a musical comedy in which nearly all the performers played an instrument, and some played more than one. Wow.

We have a busy weekend ahead, lots to do, and rain will be moving in, so I need to get moving.

One more week of school!

Dinner Theater Diva

This is me when I was 18 years old, and I was in a dinner theater production of Hello Dolly! I had brought my costume home to launder it, I think. It's the only time I was ever allowed to bring a costume home. Dad was in his pajamas, wanting a dance. I am not much of a dancer.

In so many ways, that spring of 1980 was a pivotal time in my life.

I was finishing up high school and I only had 3 classes every day. I was in 3 plays that year, my senior year. In had done How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, at the Oak Ridge Playhouse.

I had done The Man Who Came to Dinner, a school production.

Then in the spring, the tryout for the Hello Dolly! director, Hall Parrish. I was at the peak of my singing powers but I had such a big voice, it was tough to control. I could hit a lot of high notes, though, and I had been in shows before.I auditioned and forgot about it.

A week or so later, I will never forget driving home one foggy night - I think from one of the other plays I was in - to my parents' house out on Melton Hill Lake. It was a small, twisty, hilly mountain road. When I got there and pulled in the driveway, Mother had written on a garage window, in lipstick, YOU MADE IT.

I thought to myself jeez, Mom, I am not a great driver, but it's just a little FOG, for heaven's sake...

A minute later, Mother came flying out the door and was clearly out of her mind, hollering and jumping up and down and yelling "You MADE IT!" over and over. When she finally calmed down, she said I had been cast in the chorus of Hello Dolly!

I was 17 years old. I was the youngest in the cast. The guy who ran the theater used that as an excuse to pay me HALF as much as the other performers in the chorus. I didn't care. We did shows 6 nights a week, and matinees on Sunday and Wednesday. Those two matinee days were exhausting.

I did that schedule for 6 weeks. I had to work the night of my senior prom and miss a lot of other stuff. I didn't care.

The Westside Dinner Theater was in a converted barn. Literally, a BARN. The tiny stage was in the middle. There were seats on 4 sides, and steps leading down from the 4 corners. The stage lifted up and down hydraulically.

People would come in at 5:30 or 6 and the stage area would have steam tables with food. Everyone got their food buffet style, and waiters brought drinks. I don't remember the entire menu, but there was a broiled fish, salad, and green beans, and that's what I usually ate. Dinner was part of the deal.

Then, the food would be cleared off, and the stage would be lowered.

The waiter's areas were the only "backstage" area. We had to change clothes with the waiters running in and out, pretending not to ogle us chorus girls. We learned to change without revealing anything indecent. I had a crush on one of the waiters.

One of my fellow cast members was a young actress just a year older than me, Dale Dickey. As far as I know, Dale is the only one of us to go on to a real bona fide theater/movie career, as a character actress. She's worked with Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson - just about every big star out there. She won an Independent Spirit Award for her rule in Winter's Bone, the first starring role for Jennifer Lawrence. Every now and then Dale pops up in a movie and I am startled. She has a scene in Iron Man 3, for instance. Dale is a very genuine person, and deserves her success. She still has roots in Knoxville, as you can read in this interview.

My clearest memory of Dale is sitting backstage putting her hair in hot rollers, and styling it. I was so jealous of her beautiful hair. My hair has enough natural curl that hot rollers are useless and make me look like an escaped mental patient. I tried to use them, Lord knows...

Hello Dolly! was a musical my parents saw on Broadway in the 1960's when Carol Channing was the star. They loved the show and bought the soundtrack. I used to listen to it over and over as a little girl. I knew 80% of the songs before I was ever cast in the show.

The lady who played our Dolly had a tiny role [blink and you'd miss her] in Coal Miner's Daughter, and was kind of a diva. She made the musical director transpose all her songs, which was not all that difficult for Rosemary, fortunately.She flounced around making demands. After our show I never heard of her doing anything else.

There was literally no backstage area, as I mentioned, aside from the waiters' stations. Before or after the show you had to go upstairs, where there was a sort of living area, with a dorm-like feel for actors only in town for the show - cheap living accommodations. There was also the area where the stage was brought up and "dressed" with props and the minimal set pieces we had.

A friend of mine from school, Danny, was the Stage Manager.

There are lots of funny stories from the show. Here are my faves.

One night, just before the big finale, I had to run outside to get to another entrance. [It was an old barn, remember?!] and when I ducked back inside the the tiny cramped backstage area, a bug flew up my nose. I was half hysterical trying to get it out. One of the actors, who smoked like a fiend, told me to take a drag off his cigarette to get the bug out. I tried. I didn't smoke then. I had a coughing fit. 

Then I had to run onstage and act like nothing was wrong.

By then, everyone in the cast had somehow heard "Dee had a bug fly up her nose and SHE CAN'T GET IT OUT!" and so we were all smiling and everyone was sneaking looks at me and trying not to laugh at me. I stumbled through the finale and my high note at the end. The director said after the show "WOW! Great energy tonight in the finale!" and we all laughed. Well, I didn't laugh too hard but everyone else did. Someone finally told Hall that I had a bug up my nose.

One night, two of my fellow chorus members were onstage but not in the scene. The principals were talking and singing. Wayne and Katie were joking around, talking silently to each other, as they were just background folks. Katie got so tickled, she stood right onstage and peed her costume. At the end of the scene, she walked off, and the entire audience could see the little yellow puddle she had left. I ran upstairs to hear Danny hollering "I'm NOT cleaning that up! Don, you don't pay me enough to clean that up!"

There was always a lot of joking and horseplay backstage. We were a young cast, mostly early 20's or younger, except for Dolly and Horace.

After a couple of weeks, everyone complained bitterly about being tired of the show. Not me. I loved it. I never tired of it.

My parents saw the show every weekend.

My teenaged crush on the handsome waiter, Tom, was unrequited. He never paid much attention to me and I was too shy to talk to him. He was in his 20's. I think he was in college.

Sometime towards the end of the show there was a party at the half-finished house of the theater owner, out at the lake. I recall it as a really hot, joyless occasion. Everyone was on their best behavior. Nobody drank, or swam, or had much fun.

I worked hard on that show, and I loved it all, despite the crappy pay and the time it took out of my life. I was bereft when it was over and I suddenly had a lot of free time.

The show ended and about 2 weeks later I started summer school, my freshman year of college. I was a far more confident young woman because of my Dolly experience, and I had dreams of becoming an actress.

It was a fun time in my life, 33 years ago...

Keep Calm and FInd a Doughnut

Years ago, my mother tried to get me to join AAUW [American Association of University Women]. I went to one meeting, at the home of someone who lived down a small road, and nearly got lost. Nearly wrecked the car. Had to park a mile away and walk. At night. In the dark. By myself.

Then when I got there, all the women knew each other and nobody was very welcoming to me.They discussed some weird book I'd never heard of.

I had a college degree. I could discuss books intelligently.

I hated going places by myself, at night, however. I particularly hate finding anyone's home, at night, in the car.

Needless to say, I didn't join AAUW. I just didn't think it was worth it.

As I've gotten older, I've decided I really just don't like going out at night. Not unless it's a place I know very well, near home.I get very anxious driving at night - more so if it's raining.

Last night, as Michael and I left a play, I was remimnded of all the reasons I hate going out at night. It was dark. It was raining. We were in midtown.

The good thing was that Michael was driving.

[The play, BTW, was The Book Club Play at the Horizon Theatre - really cute play. Very funny.]

I had pointed out when we were headed to the theatre that the large, full-service Krispy Kreme place was just a mile or two from the theatre, and we could get a doughnut afterwards.

So we left the theater in the rain and headed over there. Normally it would take 5 minutes to get there. It took more than twenty minutes. There was a car stopped on Ponce, with the light on to turn left. It just SAT THERE for like 15 minutes. Cars were rushing by us. We couldn't get around the idiot. Finally, the car just moved on off, out of the way. Probably re-thought that late night drinky poo in light of the complete lack of parking around the restaurant. I don't know. I just know I needed a doughnut after that. I was half hysterical.

Michael? The driver? Calm as a cucumber.He was chuckling about it later when we were in line, waiting for doughnuts. "You would've FREAKED OUT, Mom. I didn't," he teased me.

"Well good. From now on, you're my driver for all night excursions," I replied.

See this guy in the photos? That's my Uncle Don, Mom's brother.

Nothing phases him. I've never seen him not calm. I've never seen him excited about anything. Nothing ruffles his feathers. He is as slow and deliberate and methodical as a human being can be. He is a retired college administrator. The radio could announce a nuclear attack was imminent and his only remark would likely be something like "Jane, do we have any iced tea? Let's find a nice chair where we can sit and watch all the commotion."

Michael is just.like.Don. They are not related biologically. They haven't spent that much time together. They are two peas in a pod, however.

It amuses Mother and me no end.

The Lights of the City

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on the launch of The Write Rainmaker, but we also went to Kroger and ran errands. Our usual exciting Saturday.

Friday night, Michael and I went to the Fox Theater to see The Producers, a terrific show. We got there early, for once, and I discovered there is a small bathroom off the lobby, just outside the refreshment area. I didn't realize it was there and opened. The Fox has been restored over the years, which is wonderful. For a long time, you had to go all the way downstairs to the bathroom. I hate carpeted stairs. Fell down some carpeted stairs once, and they've made me nervous ever since.

The Fox is such a fun place though. It was built nearly 100 years ago. I love taking Michael to plays there. I forget sometimes how young he is. We were in the car Friday night and as soon as the lights of the city came into view he said "Wow Mom look at all the LIGHTS!" I tried to view them thru his eyes. Yep, midtown really looks like a fairyland at night, from I-85.

Anyway, we enjoyed the show tremendously.

I saw the original movie years ago and loved it.It came out on 1968 and flopped, which was so odd to me because it's hysterically funny. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder are brilliant. It's about a failed Broadway producer who teams up with a mousy accountant and they decide to raise a lot of money to produce a play they are sure will fail. Then they keep all the money.

When I was dating a lot, years ago, I used The Producers as my test of dates. If I showed them the movie and they laughed and liked it, I knew they had good taste and we'd get along. If they didn't like it, bye bye. Maybe that sounds harsh, but it proved correct many times.

This is a scene from the film:

 

I like the musical version, the play. Loved the dancing. It goes off in slightly different directions, though. It's much more campy. There's a lot more broad physical humor.

I will publish a link to my review, when it's done.

Lots going on today.

Y'all have a great Sunday!

Memphis (the musical)

Really busy, frenetic day, but the highlight was Michael and I got to see a stage show called Memphis at the fabulous Fox Theater. Wow, what a fun show! (You can see a sneak peek of it here.) I am writing a review of it, hopefully sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned for more...

A Different View

The world is a vastly different place now than when I was Michael's age, and it's changed a HUGE amount since the late 1940's when Mother was a teen.

Attitudes are more open now. There's more tolerance for people who are "different." [I put that in quotes because it's such an ambiguous term...]

I am getting tickets to plays and having a great time taking Michael, and I'm even enjoying writing the reviews. We've seen two wonderful shows at the Fox, Fiddler on the Roof and Come Fly With Me.

Well, yesterday I got offered some last minute tickets to see a much less conventional show at Onstage Atlanta, called Designing Women Live. I was a huge fan of the TV show Designing Women. Now I get to see a spoof of it, starring men in drag.

I told Mother this afternoon I was taking Michael to the show and there was a long pause. "Are you going to tell him it's men wearing dresses?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but he won't care. He just likes comedies," was my reply.

"I don't know. You better talk to him about it first," she replied, cautiously.

I flashed on the fact that if anyone had taken her brothers to see such a show when they were fifteen, they would've been VERY uncomfortable, to say the least. When Mother was 15 it would've been unthinkable to see such a show in suburban Atlanta. She was also worried Michael might be freaked out if there are a lot of gay people in the audience.

I didn't think he'd care. Nonetheless, as soon as he got home and we finished his homework, I showed him a photo from the website, and explained a little about the show. This was his response:

"Guys in dresses?! Cool! Now THAT will be funny!"

Thank God I am raising a child who is not judgmental.

I will supplement this later and give a little mini-review...

ADDENDUM

Well, it was a dramatic evening. I almost didn't find the theater in time. It's in a shopping center just off a 5 way intersection. We got there just in time, though.

The show is HYSTERICAL. The characters were tasteful, the comedy mostly tasteful, and VERY funny. Mike had never seen the old TV show Designing Women, but he thoroughly enjoyed himself. It will be an easy review to write.

Mom asked me if everybody in the audience was gay. This is not something I am qualified to determine. In my experience most gay people look just like everyone else. If I had to guess I'd say it was perhaps 50% gay. Great audience, though. Good energy. When you perform you sense the energy and enthusiasm of the audience the moment you step onstage, and it will either be a breeze or an uphill battle, rarely in between, in my experience. The audience tonight was terrific.

When we got home I showed Mike about 5 minutes of a Designing Women episode on YourTube and he was intrigued. The actors tonight were awesome mimics of the great actresses on the show.

GROWING

We get in the car to come home and Mike says he's HUNGRY. Really hungry. I was surprised, since he ate a good dinner - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and salad. Nonetheless, we whipped through the McDonald's drive thru and he got a quarter pounder. He ate it in 3 minutes flat. We pulled in the driveway and he threw the empty box on the dashboard and I just laughed.

Fly Me to the Moon

The day was amazingly long, and HOT as chicken-fried hell, but the end of the day was wonderful. I took Michael to the Fox to see Come Fly Away.

I was a bit afraid that Michael would be too tired to go because he spent all day at Whitewater, riding rides and having a blast, thanks to his friend Bart and Bart's grandma, who was game for taking 4 boys to a water park for an entire day in 98 degree heat. I guess if you have to be outside a water park IS the place to be - the only place safe from heat stroke, too, I bet.

Michael came home and told me he didn't eat lunch until 4, but he had a foot long corn dog and hot wings. He wasn't hungry.

I insisted he eat a bite of fritatta before we go to the theater. He ate a bite. Then he finished the entire thing.

I had never made a fritatta, but I've read about them and wanted to try one for years. So when I finally got home [I worked extra today so I could take off tomorrow afternoon and get Mike registered for 8th grade] I knew I wanted to try one as a quick dinner.

I also was channeling the movie Morning Glory, in which Harrison Ford, his usual snarling, grouchy self, actually makes a fritatta. I couldn't find a photo of him doing it, dadgum stupid Google idiots...

Doesn't he look charming here, though?!

Anyway, I digressed. I am exhausted. It happens.

Michael wolfed down the fritatta like it was an appetizer. It was filled with zucchini, eggs, cheese, onoins, mushrooms, garlic - all great things. He was like a magician - it all disappeared.

Ah to have the metabolism of a 15 year old boy again...

Come Fly Away was such a treat. The music of Frank Sinatra, the choreography of Twyla Tharp. Filled with energy, humor, and drama, it will be one easy review to write.

I grew up listening to Sinatra. Both my parents were huge fans.

Without being able to admit it just yet, I am slowly and carefully exposing Mike to more music than just that crap on the radio. He likes Bob Marley. He likes some Journey songs. He asked me after the show, "Did they play "Fly Me to the Moon"? and when I told him yes he grumped "Crap! I missed it!" He didn't actually, he just doesn't remember. I think the dancing entranced him.. I don't know why he likes that song, except maybe I sing it when I'm cooking dinner if I'm in a good mood.

Tired? Grumpy? Need a lift? Listen to Fly Me to the Moon - you won't be able to stop smiling.Harrison Ford should listen to it every day.

If you get a chance to ever see the show Come Fly With Me, do it. Phenomenally fun show...

Fiddler At the Fox

Sometimes it's so nice to break out of the regular routine, and go do something fun. I had not been to a play in about 5 years, but I took Michael to a play tonight at the fabulous Fox Theatre, and we had a great time.

The play was Fiddler On The Roof. It was wonderful. I wasn't expecting it to be so good, but it was excellent. I am going to write a review of it for an online magazine. No pay, but free tickets.

The seats were wonderful, orchestra seats about 14 rows from the stage. The Fox is a HUGE theatre. I love to read about its colorful history.

Michael had been to a couple of plays at the Fox with school groups, but this was his first time there with me, seeing a grownup show. It was so nice for me, because I remember going to the Fox throughout my childhood, mainly with my grandparents. It was a regular movie theatre in the 60's and early 70's. Now it shows movies, but more often there are stage plays and concerts.

When we got to our seats, Michael looked up at the beautiful dark blue ceiling with tiny twinkling lights and said "Are we outside?" I had to chuckle. The ceiling is purposely crafted to resemble the night sky.

The bathrooms are down a huge carpeted staircase and they are vast areas - the lounges with chairs and sofas, bigger than most apartments, done in an opulent rococo style popular 100 years ago. I tried to get Mike to walk downstairs and see them, but he said he didn't have to go, thank you very much. He is too young to appreciate it.

I had forgotten that Fiddler has so many funny lines, and there is a lot of dancing. The production did a great job of seamlessly blending all those elements. The backdrops were even beautiful, resembling paintings by Marc Chagall.

Fiddler On the Roof holds a special place in my heart. When I was a freshman in college, I was in Fiddler. My character had about 3 lines, so not really memorable. I was in all the chorus scenes, though. I was the only Drama major in the cast - the rest were music majors and didn't know stagecraft - so I was drafted to be the Stage Manager. By the end of the production, everyone hated me. I had to run around hissing at people to be quiet backstage, get their costume changes done on time, hurry! etc. It was a real bummer.

I'll never forget the guy who played Tevye sitting backstage during a matinee, when he had a break, and saying "Oy! I shouldn't have eaten such a big lunch! I have to fart like a big dog!"

I can't remember a thing about his performance, but that fart line has stuck in my head for 30 years! LOL

Here is a view of one small part of the wonderful interior of the Fox:

If you ever have a chance to go to the Fox, go.