As some friends who follow this here blog have figured out, the last few weeks have been insanely busy for me. That is not a complaint. I feel like I used this analogy recently here but a writer who complains about deadlines is a lot like a prizefighter who whines, "The other guy keeps hitting me!" I'm not asking for your sympathy when I tell you how weary I've been; just giving you a piece of information that's key to what I felt like writing about this time.
I spent Wednesday in a recording studio where we were doing songs for upcoming episodes of The Garfield Show. And I spent most of the days before Wednesday working way into the early morning hours to write lyrics for those songs. It's dangerous, by the way, to write lyrics when you're too tired. You find yourself thinking things like, "Well, 'whim' almost rhymes with 'thin.'" I resist that kind of cheat so it takes longer than it might.
Last night, we got done about 6:30 PM and I probably should have headed home but I didn't. I figured that try though I might to avoid it, I'd wind up watching the presidential debate and I didn't really want to do that. (Actually, it wasn't so much that I didn't want to watch the debate. I didn't want to watch the spin.) I had another, almost impulse idea of what to do.
Flashback…
One of my favorite movies — at times, my favorite — is It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. There are things not to love about this film directed by Stanley Kramer. I've never really been fond of The Comedy of Injuries and much of the film, especially the ending, of the film is that. But there is so much more I do like, especially seeing so many fine comedians interacting like that.
The movie debuted in early November of 1963 at what was then called Pacific's Cinerama Dome, up on Sunset near Vine. Now, the "Pacific's" is gone from the theater that was practically built to show this movie…and what it ran throughout November was the full, uncut version. The picture was later trimmed considerably. I'm still planning to do a big blog post one of these days on just how much it was trimmed. I believe the answer is, "Not as much as some people think." There's a lot of conflicting info around about this, which means there's a lot of erroneous info around, some of which came through me. (This is not to suggest I don't regret every trim that was made. I wish you all could see it the way I first did, which was in its full, original glory.)
My parents and I saw Mad World two or three days after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Some wealthy friends had long before purchased tickets to a benefit screening that night. They were too depressed by the news to go so they offered us their seats. We, watching the same news, were so desperate to get away from what we were seeing on TV that we accepted. We wound up somehow in the front row, which was way too close for Panavision. From there, Jimmy Durante's nose was about the size of Kilimanjaro…and obviously more challenging to climb.
Still, it was a glorious night. The room was filled with people like us who'd fled the soul-numbing news coverage out of Dallas. Out of depression, some might have laughed at nothing. Out of desperation, some might have laughed at anything. As it turned out, most of us laughed at everything. There was a joy of discovery at that viewing since no one really knew where the film was going or who would pop up in it or when. Like when the Three Stooges pop up for a few seconds, the place exploded. (It says something that the biggest laugh those guys ever got on the screen came when they didn't do anything except just stand there.)
I'm hesitant to say that evening was life-changing but something changed for me that night. It was the first time I recall ever bonding with a movie like that. I became fascinated with it, reading all I could about the film, seeing it many times later in many versions, talking with folks who were in it or closer to it than I was. (Stanley Kramer's son Larry was in my class at school. He didn't know that much about it but he knew a few things and I even pestered him into relaying a few questions to his father.) The movie just plain makes me smile.
End of flashback, back to last night…
We got done at 6:30. The studio was a few blocks from where there was a 7 PM screening. And the screening was at the Cinerama Dome. I've seen the film many times since '63 but none of those were at the Cinerama Dome.
Go home and watch Barack Obama and Mitt Romney debate? Or go watch Phil Silvers drive his car into the Kern River? Boy, there's a toughie.
They had a relatively-new print…though not a very good one. They had a projectionist who didn't seem to grasp the concept of the curtain being closed for the overture and entr'acte, then open for the movie. But then they also had It's a Mad (etc.) World in its native habitat and an appreciative audience. I love when a new Familiar Funny Face comes on the screen and everyone emits that happy sound of recognition. (When you see this film in Southern California, you also hear that in response to certain locations that come on the screen.)
I had a great couple of hours away from reality…after which it was a lot easier to get back to work. And you know what? Once I got home, I think I got more done than if I'd gone right back to the computer and worked straight through. Even if I'd somehow managed to resist the debate. You want to know why I like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? It's like I said. It just makes me smile. And last night, I felt so recharged that I didn't even think of rhyming "whim" with "him."