Nanny tapes

I think these tapes were made in 1973 or earlier. 

 

My father’s mother, who we called Nanny, was quite a storyteller.  She loved telling Bible stories and family history full of blood and guts.  As a child, I was terrified of her stories.  My mother would have to calm me down after visiting Nanny because I’d been subjected to Civil War stories of amputated gangrenous feet and Jesus on the cross bleeding water from open spear wounds.  After some time my mother asked Nanny to refrain.  But she would have none of it.

 

She did however, record at least three audio cassettes of her oral history.  My brother Justin recently digitized them and I’ve been listening on my iPod.

 

They are fascinating.

 

It’s like she’s right here telling tales again.

 

I’ve cultivated a darker sense of humor since I was 3 years old.  So, now I listen with rapt attention.  The gangrene still freaks me out a little.  But, what a treasure to have this history.

 

Callaboo got a new one too! But she wouldn't sit still!

Callaboo and Sean

I finally finished Hazel's new sweater.

Grünz, where are you?

Uzi in Blue

I bought this in Asbury Park a few years ago. I love the colors and the composition. The artist, Grünz used to have tons of grafitti all over Asbury Park. But, he's been hard to find since.

Found a poster in the garbage yesterday

So, yesterday I went out for lunch, passed a bunch of garbage dumpsters, and right on top was a framed "Follies" poster.

The above image is similar to the poster. However, the poster I found has the Broadway credits on it.

A friend on Finishing the Chat sent me some information about these posters. I'm pasting what he wrote:

The color process was so expensive and delicate that blanks were printed first (with no credits). While this was started, David Byrd worked out that Triton Gallery would be permitted to sell some posters too but on paper with their trademark on them.

So the first black plate had just the cast credits with 5 supporting stars underneath (not counting Yvonne) on cardboard.

The 2nd printing was on paper for Triton and was the same except for the Triton trademark in the lower right.

You can see my #2 in the lower left corner of the photo. The rest are in order on the wall.

#3's black plate was printed after the reviews--they decided to include Arnold Moss and Sheila Smith on the supporting line as well. As well they should, why should Michael Bartlett as Roscoe have a credit when Dimitri doesn't? And I think Sheila as understudy moved up quite a bit so that was a gesture.

#4 was after the NY Drama Critics Award for Best Musical. I think the producers had SOOO many posters printed that were so expensive (like the show) and wanted to get people in by adding award credit. BUT they spelled Time Magazine Richard Kalem's name wrong on the mini-quotes above.

So #5 fixed that and added Terry Saunders to replace the left Ethel Barrymore Colt.

#6 has the same quotes but has Marion Marlowe in for Sheila Smith.

#7 has NO SUPPORTING CAST underneath but has a sticker about winning 7 Tony Awards.

There is a blank poster issued as a poster set by Byrd that included his other "head" posters like Godspell.

After the Triton paper posters were starting to sell well, they decided to print onesheets in a cheaper fashion.

Ok, so I'm late on the friendster thing

Every once in a while I get hooked on things.  Even though I set up a friendster profile a couple years ago, I never visited the site.  Recently, an email came from friendster (damn that spam!) and I checked it out.  Well, as corny as the concept is, I found several friends who I hadn’t known their whereabouts. 

There were a couple of guys I knew about 10 years ago or so, Mark and Skip.  I had an address for them in Brooklyn but attempts to send mail were thwarted.  “Forwarding Address Unknown,” etc. 

So, there I am on friendster, poking around, and I see Skip’s face.  And subsequently found Mark’s too. 

Anyway, I’ve now become a little obsessed with it, like a new toy.  I found an old room-mate and others.  So, until it wears out its novelty, I’ll be checking it often.