In
1973 I played a principal role and understudied the two comedy leads in a
revival of
THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, a musical after Shakespeare's COMEDY OF ERRORS,
which the Elizabethan play scribbler stole from THE TWIN MENAECHMI by the
Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes.
The Plot: Two sets of twin brothers, separated at birth, run into each other, literally and figuratively, in the SAME TOWN, Syracuse, but not the one in New York, and hi-jinks ensue along with songs and dances. The director was Christopher Hewitt ["Mr. Belvedere", "The Producers" etcetera ] and our show was choreographed by one of the best musician/choreos I have worked with, Robert Herget, to whom I was Associate Choreographer for this production. We played the Goodman Theatre in Chicago which was connected to and behind one of the best museums in the U.S. - The Art Institute of Chicago.
I also played
Diogenes, as seen here in this one number using his name as it's title. He
was a Greek philosopher who searched the world for one honest man using
his walking stick and lantern. He never finds this guy, but these four
ladies try to convince Diogenes that one of them knows where a true blue
guy is ,and I bought the story from the lady on my left [Diogenes
didn't.].
|
There's a new page and here's the link:
|
|
THE MOUSEKANEWS
MOUSEKETEER
LONNIE'S CLUBHOUSE
CONGRATULATIONS TO LOVELY PRINCESS JACKIE!
d d d d d
In mid-summer, young filmmaker ANGELA HINTON visited to shoot my portion of the
documentary she is making
for Glen and Annie about the ANNETTE FUNICELLO NEUROLOGICAL FUND. d d d d d d
The PODCAST I taped with CUBBY and Mouseketeer NANCY Abbatte (first season) is available at http://www.tiaratalkshowpodcast.com/2011/08/10-tiara-talks-interview-with-original.html.
d d d d d d
As you now know, Annie, Glen and her care giver escaped her home of over 40 years when it burned to the ground on March 10th, 2011. None of the three suffered any smoke inhalation, nor ill effects, but stayed over night at the hospital given Annie's M.S. to make sure everything was all right. All that was saved were their two vehicles and a few scattered items. I have been working with Bill Cotter to help them find some of Annie's hundreds of pieces of memorabilia and Disney will provide many items and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce will replace her wall hanging memento of her Hollywood Walk of Fame star. They will soon leave their temporary apartment near their former home, close to Michael Jackson's family home [not the huge zoo park in Montecito, CA] in Encino, CA and live in their ranch north of Los Angeles. We are all helping out so things are going along better for them, and they will be selling the vacant lot after what is left of their house is removed. Finally, they have each other after 25 years married and that is what is most substantive!
|
MOUSEKETEER
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
In
the VERY segregated South, she writes that they once made a white
insurance agent wait on the porch while they finished watching our show!
Remember
that the original MMC was seminal and ground breaking in 1955 with
black kids on Talent Roundup Friday, two Hispanics on season one
(Mary Espinosa & Dickie Dodd - no relation to Jimmie) AND a number of
children who were Jewish and Catholic. When JFK ran for the Presidency in
1960 many said he could not be elected because he was a Catholic!!!
In
20ll we have Americamelot with President Barack Obama, his stylish,
education oriented wife Michelle and their two daughters.
MOUSEKA-MOSKVA!
Disney only refers to 18 countries and 5 languages in which our original series has run and been translated into, but I know of others from a doctor who holds dual US-Russian citizenship. "Lord Jim", his email handle, and his late wife, a registered nurse, moved to a small town in Russia after growing up in the U.S. as fans of the MMC. He was able to have his own kids become fans of our shows outside of the U.S. and then his grandchildren watched "Meeska-Mooska-Mouseketeer" black and white segments, too.
Our original series first ran in Russia (then the U.S.S.R.) in 1985-89, four years as in America, and then reran from 1989 to 1993. It went off the air, then began again in 1997 and continues in 2011. According to Lord Jim, we Mouseketeers taught an entire generation of Soviet school children to speak English! The series was broadcast in its original form with Russian subtitles.
Jim goes on to say that almost all of the old Warsaw Pact nations* got to view that first run from '85 through '89. Thus, there were a lot more nations that Disney reports and those countries brought the Mouseketeers more millions of fans.
The series was not pirated, Jim's email continues, but an "arrangement" was made between Soviet State Television and the French to rebroadcast simultaneously with only a time difference delay. The French run was seven years, the second longest in the world after Australia with twelve years, until this eight year run in Russia!
Many thanks to Jim for this little known info.
*In
addition to the Soviet Union, the countries signing the pact were Albania,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
