Dating. Yes. I do it. Well, I try to anyway. I do it online mostly. I go through periods of not doing it. But then I go online again and re-activate those accounts just to see what will happen, Lately, I've been lucky. Or so I think.
I have a profile on OKCupid. It's free. You can interact without paying for it. But for some features, you do have to pay. I'm also on Match.com. I've been on Match off and on for years now. In fact, I originally created a profile back when it was called Love@AOL. That's right. Match used to be called Love@AOL. Way back when AOL was a thing.
A couple months ago I re-activated my dormant account. In the last few weeks, I've actually had a few interests. All within the SoCal area, which is a good thing. But two of them were a bit of a distance. Still, not so bad considering how many I've heard from in other parts of the country. One is in Long Beach, about 35 miles from me. I don't mind that. I've done shows in Long Beach. No biggie. Another in Palmdale, a lot further than 35 miles from me. When I asked him, he said it was only a 40 minute drive to Burbank airport so I thought that's great. I guess its not such a big deal to drive that distance. I've suggested several times that we meet. The last time I suggested a meet , he said after it stops raining? This has been going on for three weeks. It has yet to happen. I'll still hear from him after a few days and hear how handsome I am, blah blah blah. But no movement on his part yet. I directly ask "when can we meet?" Nothing.
Long Beach man is also very nice and texts me every couple of days. He falls asleep every night around 8. He works long hours. Weeknights are out as a result. By the time I got to him or vice versa, he'd be asleep. So I've tried on the weekends. He watches college basketball at the local pub with his friends. He goes into work. It's always something.
Both of these men are over 40. They're not kids. Why can't they commit? To a first date? What is it? They still seem interested. What is it? Its been three weeks for both of them. I guess I should be done.
Candidate Number 3 came along about 10 days ago. Sweet, handsome, 30. Yes, 30. He met me after one day of chatting. We met for coffee at 12 noon and sat there for over 4 hours. We held hands. We kissed...a little. Not much. It was sweet. He had to go to a family birthday dinner. He texted me an hour later. He texted me the next day to see how I was. And again the following day after I told him I had a headache the day before. (In fact I was prepping for a colonoscopy the next morning but didn't want to share that info with him just yet).
We had dinner a couple nights later. Again, a nice night. He told me he had found out he had six days to move out of his brother's place. So he had to go home and start packing and look for a place. He suggested dinner a bottle of wine and a movie at my place the next night. His idea. I texted him the next day to see if we were still on. No response. I texted two hours later that I hope everything is okay. No response. Its been two days. Nothing. 30 year olds!
I don't know which is worse. The older ones or the younger ones. Or it just me? Am I that vulnerable, that gullible? I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt. But I guess at this point, its time to cut my losses and move on.
There have been others who I have met in person. Ones that I've been smitten with. But its usually one of two things. They want the sex right away. Or they like me but don't want anything more than that. Twice I've gotten this line, "I'm trying to work on myself right now so I'm not ready to date just yet." Which, of course, gives me false hope. Thats right. I accept that they want to be friends. But when they say their not ready to date just now, I take that a face value and think to myself, "Soooo, there's hope!"
There's no hope. It's like Charlie Brown and that football. He knows that Lucy won't let him kick it, and yet there he is every year, going for that ball.
That's me with the online dating. No matter how many times I fail, I'm back for more. So come and come and get me. I dare ya!
Showing posts with label Charlie Brown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlie Brown. Show all posts
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Monday, June 20, 2016
The Show Must Go On - Backstage Stories or That Time I Threw Up Onstage and more
I am currently in a production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. We close this weekend. Check link below for How to Succeed in buying tickets without really trying. (See what I did there?)
Glendale Centre Theatre How to Succeed Tickets
This past weekend, our leading lady lost her voice. She went on Thursday and got through the show just fine. But Friday, we cancelled due to the loss of her voice and no understudy. Saturday she was back onstage and her old self as well. What a joy! She is an amazing performer and all around fun sweet person. But that's not the subject of this blog.
Today, I discuss some of my most memorable onstage mishaps. And I will save the best for last (my all-time number one most memorable/most embarrassing onstage moment). This weekend, in addition to the above cancelled performance we had not one, but two performances where light and sound cues went awry. At one performance, the first act went smoothly, as did half of the second act. Then suddenly, in the middle of the lead's big 11:00 number, I Believe In You, the sound went out. Then it jumped to the next cue, which was the entrance into the next scene. Only half of us were in place for that entrance. We went in,. Started the scene with half the men onstage. The others joined the scene in progress. But the lights were dimmed for some reason. Then the phone didn't ring. So the actor speaking said I'm expecting a call any minute at which point the phone rang.
In summer stock, the power went out on us due to a thunder storm about 10 minutes before the start of the show so a bunch of entertained the audience waiting for the power to come back on by performing improv and singing a capella in the generator lights. Years ago, I worked out at outdoor theater where shows might be called due to rain. Once it happened in the middle of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It started raining in the first act. By the time intermission came, the stage had puddles. We never did the second act that night.
Another time, I was in a production of Babes In Arms. I played Lee Calhoun the arrogant playwright who is performing his play at the theater and the kids plot to sabotage his show so they can put on their own show. During the course of the scene things go wrong. Fake props are given to me, an actress walks off in the middle of the scene. Well one night, said actress decided to try slamming the door on her exit from the scene. This was on the advice of someone on the crew, not the director! Well when she slammed that door, the flat next to started to fall over with a small table and lamp right in front of it. I casually walked over caught the lamp with one had as it started to fall over and stopped the flat from falling with my other had and propped it up. It all looked like a part of the scene. She never slammed that door again!
During a production of Kiss Me Kate, our Fred Graham was out on stage singing Where Is The Life That Late I Led?, when a drop came crashing down behind him in the middle of the song. He continued on. After all Lilli Vanessi was out to destroy him and his show at that point so it would make sense that a piece of scenery should come crashing down on him. Thank God it was not literally! In the same production, the gangsters made an exit though one door that went into a three-sided set piece that swiveled around. and had an exit door on the other side. Unfortunately, at the moment they went in, it was turned in such a way that they couldn't get out the other side. They got our eventually. I don't remember how.
Another production of How to Succeed, our leading man got poked in the eye towards the end of Act One. Act Two was delayed about 20 - 30 minutes. When we cam back, he was wearing an eye patch. In Damn Yankees, there was a fire in the fly space above during Two Lost Souls. In college, our production of Orpheus Descending had a blackout just before the climax of the play. I went out onstage and spoke to the audience, (I was the A.D. and the director was across campus at a faculty dinner dance), we performed the last 10 minutes of the show by candlelight. The cause of the blackout was an April blizzard! Got to love upstate NY.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee provides all sorts of opportunities for mishaps because there are audience members on the stage worked into the show. At one show, some audience members were talking. So in character as V.P. Panch, I reminded the audience that no talking was allowed at the bee as the spellers needed quiet for concentration.
Then there was the night, where I called up a young man in his 20s to spell Mexican. He spelled it Mexcian. Now mind you this is an intentionally easy word that the speller is supposed to get right. When I rang the bell to eliminate him, he looked at me very confused. The next audience member is given the word Cow to spell. It sets up a joke and leads into a number in the show. The gentleman at the mike was very confused by this and thought (I guess) that it was some sort of joke or trick. He just kept looking at me not saying anything. I kept looking at him and saying Cow. Please spell Cow. Its a Cow. And since this is a cue into a song and this theater used tracks as opposed to live musicians, we went right into the song and escorted off the stage. Suddenly, I had only one audience volunteer on stage when I typically had three. It made for a shorter show that night.
I worked once with a man who was getting on in years and would sometimes forget his lines. In one scene, he is supposed to start barking orders at my character (his goofy lazy son-in-law) to pick up a bathtub that is lying in the living room and bring it upstairs. He said nothing. And I stood there thinking why would I say anything, I'm lazy. So I sat down on the couch and picked up a newspaper. After a couple of seconds, I looked at him and said, "Well I suppose you want me to take that thing upstairs and get it out of sight?" He fumbled a bit and got back on track.
Once, in Plain and Fancy, I started to fall asleep on stage in the middle of the scene...while standing up facing upstage with my back to the audience. One of the guys facing me saw me start to go, and took a step forward which got me out of it. The next night, I decided to have some fun with him and played like I was going to go again and faked him out. He was not happy!
And now the best of all time...Stop me if I've shared this one before.
You're A Good Man Charlie Brown in New York City 1994. I was playing Charlie Brown, At our last performance I got sick in my dressing room about an hour before the show. I felt better. Thought maybe I go it all out of my system and then went on to do the show. It was going fine until The Kite Song. I started getting sick again. I got through the number but the urge to vomit was getting stronger. I continued on thinking to myself "When do I get a break? Oh Damn! I don't leave until intermission." I did a quick bit with Patty about the valentines cards and on my reaction, instead of saying I can't stand it, I ran behind Snoopy's dog house, got down on all fours, and threw up.
I then got up and walked off stage. The piano player continued to play. The cast gathered around me. (No one is on stage at this point.) What do we do? I was leaning against the wall stage right prepping myself. I took a deep breath, stood up straight and said, "Let's go on." The Doctor Is In is next . Lets just go out there and go on. I walked out on stage, saw that the set was not in place for that scene, walked off the other side of the stage and looked at everyone and said OK, here's what we're going to do, we're going to go out there and change the blocks around for the Doctor Is In, hopefully the light booth will see what we are doing and go into the light cue for that scene. And that's exactly what happened. I managed to finish the first act.
But Act Two, not so good. I got weaker as the show went on. By The Glee Club, I couldn't even stand without feeling sick, so I sat on a block next to the rest of the cast for that number. As soon as the show ended, I got in a cab and went straight home to bed where I stayed for the next two days. Here's the thing...no one in the audience had a clue that I had thrown up on stage. It was all hidden behind the doghouse and it was clear, odorless and there wasn't much of it since I had gotten most of it out of my system prior to the show.
And that is my most embarrassing moment on stage. What are yours?
Glendale Centre Theatre How to Succeed Tickets
This past weekend, our leading lady lost her voice. She went on Thursday and got through the show just fine. But Friday, we cancelled due to the loss of her voice and no understudy. Saturday she was back onstage and her old self as well. What a joy! She is an amazing performer and all around fun sweet person. But that's not the subject of this blog.
Today, I discuss some of my most memorable onstage mishaps. And I will save the best for last (my all-time number one most memorable/most embarrassing onstage moment). This weekend, in addition to the above cancelled performance we had not one, but two performances where light and sound cues went awry. At one performance, the first act went smoothly, as did half of the second act. Then suddenly, in the middle of the lead's big 11:00 number, I Believe In You, the sound went out. Then it jumped to the next cue, which was the entrance into the next scene. Only half of us were in place for that entrance. We went in,. Started the scene with half the men onstage. The others joined the scene in progress. But the lights were dimmed for some reason. Then the phone didn't ring. So the actor speaking said I'm expecting a call any minute at which point the phone rang.
In summer stock, the power went out on us due to a thunder storm about 10 minutes before the start of the show so a bunch of entertained the audience waiting for the power to come back on by performing improv and singing a capella in the generator lights. Years ago, I worked out at outdoor theater where shows might be called due to rain. Once it happened in the middle of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It started raining in the first act. By the time intermission came, the stage had puddles. We never did the second act that night.
Another time, I was in a production of Babes In Arms. I played Lee Calhoun the arrogant playwright who is performing his play at the theater and the kids plot to sabotage his show so they can put on their own show. During the course of the scene things go wrong. Fake props are given to me, an actress walks off in the middle of the scene. Well one night, said actress decided to try slamming the door on her exit from the scene. This was on the advice of someone on the crew, not the director! Well when she slammed that door, the flat next to started to fall over with a small table and lamp right in front of it. I casually walked over caught the lamp with one had as it started to fall over and stopped the flat from falling with my other had and propped it up. It all looked like a part of the scene. She never slammed that door again!
During a production of Kiss Me Kate, our Fred Graham was out on stage singing Where Is The Life That Late I Led?, when a drop came crashing down behind him in the middle of the song. He continued on. After all Lilli Vanessi was out to destroy him and his show at that point so it would make sense that a piece of scenery should come crashing down on him. Thank God it was not literally! In the same production, the gangsters made an exit though one door that went into a three-sided set piece that swiveled around. and had an exit door on the other side. Unfortunately, at the moment they went in, it was turned in such a way that they couldn't get out the other side. They got our eventually. I don't remember how.
Another production of How to Succeed, our leading man got poked in the eye towards the end of Act One. Act Two was delayed about 20 - 30 minutes. When we cam back, he was wearing an eye patch. In Damn Yankees, there was a fire in the fly space above during Two Lost Souls. In college, our production of Orpheus Descending had a blackout just before the climax of the play. I went out onstage and spoke to the audience, (I was the A.D. and the director was across campus at a faculty dinner dance), we performed the last 10 minutes of the show by candlelight. The cause of the blackout was an April blizzard! Got to love upstate NY.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee provides all sorts of opportunities for mishaps because there are audience members on the stage worked into the show. At one show, some audience members were talking. So in character as V.P. Panch, I reminded the audience that no talking was allowed at the bee as the spellers needed quiet for concentration.
Then there was the night, where I called up a young man in his 20s to spell Mexican. He spelled it Mexcian. Now mind you this is an intentionally easy word that the speller is supposed to get right. When I rang the bell to eliminate him, he looked at me very confused. The next audience member is given the word Cow to spell. It sets up a joke and leads into a number in the show. The gentleman at the mike was very confused by this and thought (I guess) that it was some sort of joke or trick. He just kept looking at me not saying anything. I kept looking at him and saying Cow. Please spell Cow. Its a Cow. And since this is a cue into a song and this theater used tracks as opposed to live musicians, we went right into the song and escorted off the stage. Suddenly, I had only one audience volunteer on stage when I typically had three. It made for a shorter show that night.
I worked once with a man who was getting on in years and would sometimes forget his lines. In one scene, he is supposed to start barking orders at my character (his goofy lazy son-in-law) to pick up a bathtub that is lying in the living room and bring it upstairs. He said nothing. And I stood there thinking why would I say anything, I'm lazy. So I sat down on the couch and picked up a newspaper. After a couple of seconds, I looked at him and said, "Well I suppose you want me to take that thing upstairs and get it out of sight?" He fumbled a bit and got back on track.
Once, in Plain and Fancy, I started to fall asleep on stage in the middle of the scene...while standing up facing upstage with my back to the audience. One of the guys facing me saw me start to go, and took a step forward which got me out of it. The next night, I decided to have some fun with him and played like I was going to go again and faked him out. He was not happy!
And now the best of all time...Stop me if I've shared this one before.
You're A Good Man Charlie Brown in New York City 1994. I was playing Charlie Brown, At our last performance I got sick in my dressing room about an hour before the show. I felt better. Thought maybe I go it all out of my system and then went on to do the show. It was going fine until The Kite Song. I started getting sick again. I got through the number but the urge to vomit was getting stronger. I continued on thinking to myself "When do I get a break? Oh Damn! I don't leave until intermission." I did a quick bit with Patty about the valentines cards and on my reaction, instead of saying I can't stand it, I ran behind Snoopy's dog house, got down on all fours, and threw up.
I then got up and walked off stage. The piano player continued to play. The cast gathered around me. (No one is on stage at this point.) What do we do? I was leaning against the wall stage right prepping myself. I took a deep breath, stood up straight and said, "Let's go on." The Doctor Is In is next . Lets just go out there and go on. I walked out on stage, saw that the set was not in place for that scene, walked off the other side of the stage and looked at everyone and said OK, here's what we're going to do, we're going to go out there and change the blocks around for the Doctor Is In, hopefully the light booth will see what we are doing and go into the light cue for that scene. And that's exactly what happened. I managed to finish the first act.
But Act Two, not so good. I got weaker as the show went on. By The Glee Club, I couldn't even stand without feeling sick, so I sat on a block next to the rest of the cast for that number. As soon as the show ended, I got in a cab and went straight home to bed where I stayed for the next two days. Here's the thing...no one in the audience had a clue that I had thrown up on stage. It was all hidden behind the doghouse and it was clear, odorless and there wasn't much of it since I had gotten most of it out of my system prior to the show.
And that is my most embarrassing moment on stage. What are yours?
Sunday, December 20, 2015
On Stage War Stories (My most memorable onstage moment)
Not long ago on Facebook I posted picture of me in two different productions of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown. In the comments section, there were references to the incident I am about to share with you.
There are many things that can go wrong in a live stage production. Props that aren't placed. Sound cues that don't happen. Lights going out. Actors forgetting lines or their entrance. I've experienced all of these things. But the single most memorable moment I ever had on stage was the time I threw up in the middle of a performance of Charlie Brown.
Picture it, New York City, December 1993. I was playing Charlie Brown in You're A good Man Charlie Brown. It was our closing performance, a Sunday matinee just a few days before Christmas. We had a cast party the night before at Brice Lloyd's house, (Bruce played Linus). The next morning I got up early to go downtown to pick up some crew gifts from the cast. As I arrived on the subway platform at 86th and Broadway, my stomach started to bother me. So I bought a pack of Tums from the newsstand and ate a few. My stomach still felt queasy.
I continued on my way. Went downtown to the South Street Seaport to a t-shirt shop and bought a couple of Peanuts themed t-shirts. Then up to the upper East Side to a Hallmark shop on Lex to buy some Peanuts cards and ornaments. Then to the theater at 54th and Lex. The Theatre at St. Peter's at Citicorp, which you enter y taking an elevator down from street level. I was early and the first one there. I went toy dressing room which was locked. I was not feeling well by this time. I curled up on the floor waiting to get in.
My friend Jane Southall showed up first. She was our light board operator. She got maintenance to unlock all the dressing rooms and the green room. I curled up not he couch in the green room as the cast crew began to arrive. I got sicker and sicker. I had someone get me ginger ale and saltines.
Eventually, I went to the bathroom in my dressing room and threw up. I seemed to get it all out of my system. I still didn't feel great, but better. I went through vocal warmups with the cast. I was still really pale. We started the show. Everything seemed fine.
I got through the Kite Song but I started felling a little woozy. After the song, Patty (played by Melissa Broder) comes out on stage with her Valentines. We have an exchange where I mistakenly believe a card with CB on it is for me. My reaction is supposed to "I can't stand it." Through my dialog with Patty, I'm getting sicker and sicker. Finally, I realize I can't hold it any longer and right at the moment when I act to her last line, instead of saying I can't stand it, I run cover my mouth and run behind Snoopy's dog house and get down all fours and, well...spew.
Poor Melissa is standing there alone and ad libs something like Poor Charlie Brow. I hope you feel better and makes her exit. I get up from all fours and go offstage. (The piano player is playing through all of this). The cast is all back stage looking at me like what do we do? There is no crew backstage. We have no headset to the booth. They're all concerned I'm going to be sick again. I remember Jonathan Bennett (Schroeder) looking for something for me to puke in just i case. I leaned against the SR wall with me head down thinking about to blow again. And then the feeling passes.
I stand up straight. I look at the cast. I say, "Let's go on. I'm fine." We're about to go into the Doctor is In scene between me and Lucy (Lizzie Yawitz). So I walk out on stage from SL. I realize that the stage is not set for that scene. So I walk back off SR. (Steve has not stopped playing underscore music this entire time by the way).
Offstage, I instruct the cast what to do. We go onstage change the set pieces around for the next scene and go on. I mange to get through the rest of the first act without incident.
During intermission, our ASM John Henderson as the unenviable task of having to clean up my mess behind the dog house on stage. Fortunately, I had gotten most of it out of my system an hour before the show. So not much came out of me and what did come out was very little, odorless and clear (I'm thinking it was the ginger ale and saltines. That's all that was left in my system.)
We go on to Act Two. I start getting sicker and sicker. Light headed. Not feeling well at all. I can't even stand up by the end of the show. I did the Glee Club sitting on a block in front of the cast rather than standing in the group. I barely made it through the how, but I did. I went home immediately after the show and spent the next couple of days in bed. It was bad. Really bad.
But the show went on. And the audience never knew. They had no idea. In fact, the kids were crawling around in the dog house right after the show.
And that is my worst on stage mishap or most memorable moment of all-time on stage.
What's yours?
There are many things that can go wrong in a live stage production. Props that aren't placed. Sound cues that don't happen. Lights going out. Actors forgetting lines or their entrance. I've experienced all of these things. But the single most memorable moment I ever had on stage was the time I threw up in the middle of a performance of Charlie Brown.
Picture it, New York City, December 1993. I was playing Charlie Brown in You're A good Man Charlie Brown. It was our closing performance, a Sunday matinee just a few days before Christmas. We had a cast party the night before at Brice Lloyd's house, (Bruce played Linus). The next morning I got up early to go downtown to pick up some crew gifts from the cast. As I arrived on the subway platform at 86th and Broadway, my stomach started to bother me. So I bought a pack of Tums from the newsstand and ate a few. My stomach still felt queasy.
I continued on my way. Went downtown to the South Street Seaport to a t-shirt shop and bought a couple of Peanuts themed t-shirts. Then up to the upper East Side to a Hallmark shop on Lex to buy some Peanuts cards and ornaments. Then to the theater at 54th and Lex. The Theatre at St. Peter's at Citicorp, which you enter y taking an elevator down from street level. I was early and the first one there. I went toy dressing room which was locked. I was not feeling well by this time. I curled up on the floor waiting to get in.
My friend Jane Southall showed up first. She was our light board operator. She got maintenance to unlock all the dressing rooms and the green room. I curled up not he couch in the green room as the cast crew began to arrive. I got sicker and sicker. I had someone get me ginger ale and saltines.
Me in my dressing room looking pale
Me and Melissa during vocal warmups. She looks a little concerned.
I got through the Kite Song but I started felling a little woozy. After the song, Patty (played by Melissa Broder) comes out on stage with her Valentines. We have an exchange where I mistakenly believe a card with CB on it is for me. My reaction is supposed to "I can't stand it." Through my dialog with Patty, I'm getting sicker and sicker. Finally, I realize I can't hold it any longer and right at the moment when I act to her last line, instead of saying I can't stand it, I run cover my mouth and run behind Snoopy's dog house and get down all fours and, well...spew.
Poor Melissa is standing there alone and ad libs something like Poor Charlie Brow. I hope you feel better and makes her exit. I get up from all fours and go offstage. (The piano player is playing through all of this). The cast is all back stage looking at me like what do we do? There is no crew backstage. We have no headset to the booth. They're all concerned I'm going to be sick again. I remember Jonathan Bennett (Schroeder) looking for something for me to puke in just i case. I leaned against the SR wall with me head down thinking about to blow again. And then the feeling passes.
I stand up straight. I look at the cast. I say, "Let's go on. I'm fine." We're about to go into the Doctor is In scene between me and Lucy (Lizzie Yawitz). So I walk out on stage from SL. I realize that the stage is not set for that scene. So I walk back off SR. (Steve has not stopped playing underscore music this entire time by the way).
Offstage, I instruct the cast what to do. We go onstage change the set pieces around for the next scene and go on. I mange to get through the rest of the first act without incident.
Lizzie an dme in the green room during intermission. Notice my skin color.
During intermission, our ASM John Henderson as the unenviable task of having to clean up my mess behind the dog house on stage. Fortunately, I had gotten most of it out of my system an hour before the show. So not much came out of me and what did come out was very little, odorless and clear (I'm thinking it was the ginger ale and saltines. That's all that was left in my system.)
We go on to Act Two. I start getting sicker and sicker. Light headed. Not feeling well at all. I can't even stand up by the end of the show. I did the Glee Club sitting on a block in front of the cast rather than standing in the group. I barely made it through the how, but I did. I went home immediately after the show and spent the next couple of days in bed. It was bad. Really bad.
But the show went on. And the audience never knew. They had no idea. In fact, the kids were crawling around in the dog house right after the show.
And that is my worst on stage mishap or most memorable moment of all-time on stage.
What's yours?
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
My Peanuts Obsession (The Comic Strip. Not the Nut. Although I do like a nice big jar of Planters Peanuts too!)
In an earlier blog, I spoke of my love and devotion to television. Today, I reveal yet another obsession of mine...Peanuts. The comic strip by Charles M Schulz. I love it. And in recent years, I have begun collecting Peanuts books, prints, decorations and other objects.
I always liked Peanuts, even as a kid. My elementary school had an annual book fair where we could buy books and I would buy the paperback reprints of old Peanuts comics. I remember going to Clapp's Bookstore on Madison Avenue next to the old Madison movie theater in Albany and buying a couple there.
When I was in the seventh grade, I bought a paperback edition of the script to You're A Good Man Charlie Brown at Waldenbooks in Colonie Center. I always loved Charlie Brown. I identified with him. But it didn't really become apparent until my junior year of college just how much. That was when I was cast as Charlie Brown in my college production of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown. Here's the thing, not only did I identify with Charlie Brown, I truly believed that I was a real life Charlie Brown. In my mind, I could do no right, no one really truly cared about me, they just felt sorry for me and I would never win at anything, ever. This is how I saw myself...really!
Years later, I had the opportunity to play Charlie Brown again. At the auditions, the director asked if I would be interested in playing Snoopy. I said no. He thought I was nuts. "It's the best part!", he said. I replied, "I know and someday I would like to play Snoopy, but I really need to play Charlie Brown." Why? Because I felt that when I played him in college I wasn't acting. I was just being me. I wanted another shot at it so I could try acting it this time. I was cast as Charlie Brown and it was a great time. And in fact one of the most memorable on stage moments of my life took place. But that's a story for another blog.
This blog is about my love of Peanuts and the art of Charles M Schulz. It started about 10 years ago when Fantagraphics began publishing the Complete Peanuts, every single strip ever published in the newspapers from the very first strip in October 1950 through the last one in February 2000 just before Charles M Schulz's death. Two volumes every year, each containing two whole years worth of strips. Every two volumes combined in a nice box set. The second to last just came out (1995-1998) last month. I got my copy today.
That means there is only one volume left 1999 -2000. Then its over. I read that strip every day in the NY Daily News right up until the last. It was a constant in my life. When he died, it was like part of my childhood was gone.
I've become a fan of Schulz's art work. Simple. If you look at the backgrounds, the trees, the grass. It's actually great graphic art. Each volume of the series features inside covers with nothing but background art, a page of rain drops, or a field of daisies. So simple and compelling. It's almost like a comfort food that brings me back to my childhood and all those books and the TV specials.
This year at Comic Con I bought some original sketches from one of the TV specials. I have books on the making of the Christmas special (one hard cover and one paperback), a book of art and special collectibles, the Broadway revival show card, a stuffed Charlie Brown, some limited edition Christmas ornaments and a couple of collectibles from Comic Con.
So now that I have the latest volume I plan to read every single strip in there. I don't collect anything else other than TV shows on DVDs. It's like I'm hanging on to a part of my childhood. I can go back and pick up a book anytime and read some of my favorite strips and it will bring me back to lying on my bed reading those old paperbacks.
Thank you Mr. Schulz.
The Complete Peanuts (so far)
I always liked Peanuts, even as a kid. My elementary school had an annual book fair where we could buy books and I would buy the paperback reprints of old Peanuts comics. I remember going to Clapp's Bookstore on Madison Avenue next to the old Madison movie theater in Albany and buying a couple there.
When I was in the seventh grade, I bought a paperback edition of the script to You're A Good Man Charlie Brown at Waldenbooks in Colonie Center. I always loved Charlie Brown. I identified with him. But it didn't really become apparent until my junior year of college just how much. That was when I was cast as Charlie Brown in my college production of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown. Here's the thing, not only did I identify with Charlie Brown, I truly believed that I was a real life Charlie Brown. In my mind, I could do no right, no one really truly cared about me, they just felt sorry for me and I would never win at anything, ever. This is how I saw myself...really!
The published script bought in the Seventh Grade
Years later, I had the opportunity to play Charlie Brown again. At the auditions, the director asked if I would be interested in playing Snoopy. I said no. He thought I was nuts. "It's the best part!", he said. I replied, "I know and someday I would like to play Snoopy, but I really need to play Charlie Brown." Why? Because I felt that when I played him in college I wasn't acting. I was just being me. I wanted another shot at it so I could try acting it this time. I was cast as Charlie Brown and it was a great time. And in fact one of the most memorable on stage moments of my life took place. But that's a story for another blog.
That's me under the bag in my college production
This blog is about my love of Peanuts and the art of Charles M Schulz. It started about 10 years ago when Fantagraphics began publishing the Complete Peanuts, every single strip ever published in the newspapers from the very first strip in October 1950 through the last one in February 2000 just before Charles M Schulz's death. Two volumes every year, each containing two whole years worth of strips. Every two volumes combined in a nice box set. The second to last just came out (1995-1998) last month. I got my copy today.
That means there is only one volume left 1999 -2000. Then its over. I read that strip every day in the NY Daily News right up until the last. It was a constant in my life. When he died, it was like part of my childhood was gone.
I've become a fan of Schulz's art work. Simple. If you look at the backgrounds, the trees, the grass. It's actually great graphic art. Each volume of the series features inside covers with nothing but background art, a page of rain drops, or a field of daisies. So simple and compelling. It's almost like a comfort food that brings me back to my childhood and all those books and the TV specials.
This year at Comic Con I bought some original sketches from one of the TV specials. I have books on the making of the Christmas special (one hard cover and one paperback), a book of art and special collectibles, the Broadway revival show card, a stuffed Charlie Brown, some limited edition Christmas ornaments and a couple of collectibles from Comic Con.
So now that I have the latest volume I plan to read every single strip in there. I don't collect anything else other than TV shows on DVDs. It's like I'm hanging on to a part of my childhood. I can go back and pick up a book anytime and read some of my favorite strips and it will bring me back to lying on my bed reading those old paperbacks.
Thank you Mr. Schulz.
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