May 11, 2020
It premiered 39 years ago today in London’s West End. I’ve been privileged to see it 14 times – on Broadway, at the Fox Theater, and at the Bell. I wore out two cassette tapes of the sound track. It is one of my all-time favorite Musicals – CATS.
In 1931, T.S. Eliot sent an illustrated letter to his godson Tom Faber about his cat Jellyorum. This was the beginning of what would become “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” the material which Andrew Lloyd Webber set to music.
The new movie (which I enjoy as much as the play, and a hearty ptweeetttttttttt to the naysayers) makes it clear that the individual cat songs is each cat’s claim to the trip to the Heaviside Layer, up, up, up, past the Russell Hotel.
CATS ran for 18 years in New York and for 21 years in London; a Japanese version has been running for 36 years straight. Since its world premiere, CATS has been presented in over 30 countries (I saw the billboard in Moscow, but didn’t have an opportunity to see it there), has been translated into 15 languages and has been seen by more than 73 million people worldwide.
Treat yourself to the showstopper, “Memory,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gd_ohoPzYc performed by Elaine Page, who originated the roll on Broadway.
👉 You’ve glanced at your car’s odometer, noticed the mileage figures rolling towards a significant number like 50,000 or 100,000, and thought to yourself, “I need to keep watching so I see that number.” And when you looked back, you had missed it. Well, I have been watching the number of editions of my blogs climb, and wanted to tell you when I reached 500 – which includes our cruise blogs, “Travels and Tribulations.” Yup, I missed it. This # 504. 500 was QB # 38 (commercialized face masks, Elon Musk, Alfred Jodl, TV shows and other things to do while sheltering in place, and a devotion by Linda Birchall). If you want to help me watch, we’ll reach # 1000 on September 19, 2021. Fingers crossed that we are not still sheltering in place!
👉 A recent article in Consumer Reports has some good tips about prescription drugs and pharmacies in this day of coronavirus. More people are using online pharmacies during the pandemic. But as Sgt. Phil Esterhaus said, “Let’s be careful out there.” Medications ordered from outside the U.S. might not make it to your mail box. According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, most online-only pharmacies are fraudulent. The organization notes that 96 percent of the 35,000 online pharmacies it has identified run afoul of U.S. law.
👉 You asked for it! Stories about “old time” children’s television shows.
Let’s start at the beginning. A very good place to start. When you read you begin with A,B,C. When you sing ... oh wait. I’ve side tracked myself again.
Recognized as the first children’s television program, “Ding Dong School” (1952-1956) was billed as “the nursery school of the air.” The half-hour children’s TV show began on a local station in Chicago, moved to NYC and ran for four years on NBC. At the height of its popularity, the show, which featured Frances Horwich (a.k.a. “Miss Frances”), was the most popular TV series aimed at preschoolers.
Miss Frances, who owned the rights to Ding Dong School, refused a network request to expand Ding Dong School from 30 minutes to a one-hour daily program. She felt young children should not watch television for more than a half-hour at a time (she would flitter in her drawers today!). In 1956 she refused to accept commercials from a sponsor who made BB guns, and NBC canceled the show.
This clip is 7 minutes long, so if you are in a hurry, watch the first 35 seconds, then fast forward to time marker 6:20 and be sure you listen until the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK5xsXa9LMw
Tune in tomorrow for the story of “Romper Room.”
👉 In QB 38 I wrote about the ridiculous name Elon Musk and his girlfriend, Grimes, gave to their baby boy: X Æ A-12 Musk. I learned yesterday that out there somewhere is a mother whose elevator does not go all the way to the top, she is seven fries short of a Happy Meal, and the lights are on but no one’s home. She had twins and named them Corona and Covid.
Shakespeare was probably wrong to suggest there’s little to labels. There is evidence that a rose by any other name would not smell as sweet after all. Sue Yoo of Los Angeles, grew up with people telling her, “That’s your name? You should become a lawyer.” Today she’s an attorney.
But several psychological studies suggests that giving children names which are difficult to pronounce, difficult to spell, or radically different from “ordinary” names may have drastic lifelong implications. Although parents probably think they are giving their children interesting and unique names, they may in fact be setting them up for problems later on.
What about X Æ A-12, Corona, and Covid?
👉 “So when it was evening on that same day, the first day of the week, though the disciples were meeting behind barred doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, ‘Peace to you.’” (John 20:19 – Amplified Version).
If you had asked Flavis Burroughs to describe himself, I think he would have said, “I am a Church of God preacher.” He told some of the most awful jokes and preached some of the best sermons. If he was getting ready to make a statement which was going to be bold and important, Flavis would preface it with, “Boy, howdy!”
If my dear, dear friend were alive today, I think he’d say that often about the world of 2020. But this morning, I am imagining him say, “Boy, howdy! We sure need to hear Jesus saying ‘Peace’ today!”
There could not have been a worse night for a meeting of the disciples. Jesus was executed on Friday, the disciples scattered on Saturday, and the Jewish leaders were out for more blood on Sunday. So there they were, hiding behind locked doors. Without warning, without a trumpet sound or a brass band, there stood Jesus saying, “Peace!” And they had peace.
It is tough outside these days, but we are starting to believe that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel, and not the headlamp of an on-rushing train. Still, we need to hear Jesus speak that precious word again. Listen! Did you hear it? No? Well, keep listening!
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Thanks for the memories of Ding Dong School. I had forgotten that! And the next video was Winky Dink. I got in trouble once for NOT using the special screen. Uh oh. Lol Good words today.
ReplyDeleteYou would have liked Flavis. To use the old expression, he was a bear of a man, but he sure loved Jesus! Boy, howdy!
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