LOST FEBRUARY

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I was so busy going to various staged events in February; I never got around to writing about them. So here’s a brief recap. Those with dancing involved are also covered in my March/April article in Art Times Journal and on line at arttimesjournal.com.
Broke my own rule about revivals and went to see “The Road to Mecca.” It reinforces why I don’t “do” revivals generally. While I am not opposed to talky plays, the talk has to dazzle or the players have to triumph. Neither was the case in this revival there just never was a moment when the play soared off the stage.
Saw “Russian Transport” which was played more for comedy than for the underlying horror of the family business. It was lively and many of the family scenes seemed very realistic. It is a disturbing play and a good attempt at real old fashioned drama.
I enjoyed Parsons Dance presentation at the Joyce. “Round my World” had some visually stunning moments. I found the music in several of the numbers so unpleasant I prayed for earplugs and just held my hands over my ears instead. A much younger musician friend who was with me had the same reaction. “Caught” should have come with a warning for those who cannot take strobe lighting, because it is a dance of light and posing and the timing must be perfect, as it was in this performance. All the dances used the stage well, and the final “Swing Shift” was a rousing one. Dancers were fluid, graceful and athletic. David Parson choreographed 4 of the 5 numbers, and Katarzyna Skarpetowska the world premiere of “A Stray’s Lullaby” which was commissioned by the Joyce Theater Foundation with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It was a perfect fit with the rest of the program.
Was at the world premiere of a new NYC dance company, Kymera Dance at the far from small Little Flower Theater at LaGuardia High School. Company foundet William Isaac choreographed two of the dances, one of which he had done in 2011 and which used LaGuardia High School Alumni Dancers to recreate it, the other was an energetic and exciting new work. Abdur-Rahim Jackson choreographed one and Karole Armitage presented excerpts form “Three Theories” which premiered in 2010.
I also saw “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” which soared on the opening nimber due to the exquisite voice of Nikki Renée Daniels. All the voices throughout were splendid, although some of the characterizations were less stunning than I had anticipated after all the great reviews. The dancing frankly left me disappointed. Still, it is a thrill to have the opportunity to see this done on a Broadway stage. Audra McDonald certainly did not disappoint.
Must mention the loss of Howard Kissel. He was top drama critic at the Daily News when I was a press agent and I found him always a gentleman and an astute critic. He shall be missed.
I have one personal memory of Howard which embarrassed him and amused me.
I was awaiting a cross town bus at 9th Ave and 34th when Howard rushed over to the bus stop. Delighted to see him after about 4 years, I greeted him and he stooped over and pecked my cheek. Then he pulled away and apologized, saying he thought I was someone else. He was blushing. Laughing I said “I’m Francine”
and before I could finish he said, Yes, Francine Trevens, I know.” I wonder for whom he mistook me?
I made a similar mistake some ten years earlier when I was rushing to a meeting on the east side and saw an actor I recognized, although his name eluded me. Having interviewed hundreds of actors in my theater reviewing days, I greeted him with a hug and said how surprised I was to see him in New York. “What are you doing here?”
I asked, struggling to recall his name. He said was filming a movie. I wished him luck with it, said how great it was to see him and hurried on. Two blocks later it dawned on me I had never interviewed him or spoken to him before in my life – it was Michael Caine. I wonder if he wondered who the h… I was?
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In addition to my regular reading of books I can cuddle with before going to sleep, or read while dining, I have read three books for the Global Ebooks awards, being a judge again this year.
Of the three the first purported to be a mystery novel and I found it to be neither a novel or much of a mystery. The second blew me away – an historical novel that had me on the edge of my seat as I strained my eyes to read it on my computer. “Dr. Margaret’s Sea Chest” was thrilling – with its history of the underground railroad and the Indian wars with the charge of the light brigade all made up close and personal. I look forward to the sequel
Another good read was Ice on the Grapes by R.E. Donald. Took me a while to get into it but it kept moving and got more interesting as it went along. Well plotted mystery.
Smashwords, where I publish my ebooks for kids is having a special promotion so I have offered all four read to me illustrated fantasy books for half price now through March 10 – so if you have been wanting to read these gems Pixie Tales, “Elfin Tales,” “Fairy Tales Too,” and “Gremlins, Genies and Trolls, Oh My!”or get them for kids in your family get them now! You can download them to any e reader, or read as a PDF or an epub right on your computer.
The code for half price on any of the books is REW50. –



In paper format, have been reading several books. One mystery that delighted me was “Death at Devil’s Bridge” by Robin Paige (pen name of a husband and wife writing team). The mystery is set in the turbulent time when balloon travel was an uncontrollable new form of flight, and automobiles were considerate great dangers when they sped about at 12 miles an hour. Charming book.
“The Affairs of Forgotten Youth” is the first Alexander McCall Smith book which I have read which disappointed me. He is a favorite contemporary writer of mine and this book just didn’t grab me as have all his others.
Now, back to the pages of a full length play that I have been rewriting for the last two weeks. Hope to get it in shape this week and sent out to theaters ASAP. These things don’t do any of us any good sitting in drawers or on computers, do they?
As my 80th birthday creeps up, I know I must get a move on with all the projects I wish to get written before my final curtain!

NEW YEAR GREETINGS FROM OLD GAL

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Hope you had as happy a start to new year as did I.

If you had a choice between a box of one kind of chocolates or a sampler, which would you choose? If you went to a foreign food restaurant you had never tried before, would you prefer to order a single item or choose a buffet?
I’d go for the chocolate sampler and the buffet, because I like to try new things in small quantities to determine what I’d like the next time around.
So – attended a sampling of various dance companies at StamPede at Symphony Space again this year. Surprised how much more tap there was than I recall previously. The house was packed – the audience enthusiastic and the dancers terrific.
The footwork of the Chicago Tap Theatre was phenomenal, although the body work wasn’t quite up to par and the use of the vast stage left a lot to be desired. The break between first company and second was as long as a dance number and most annoying, especially since there seemed so little that had changed on stage! The Parijat Desai Dance Company presented two splendid dance numbers, with exotic overtones.
Darrah Carr Dance did some incredible work – their first piece reminded me of Mexican jumping beans which used to be playthings for kids when I was young. They zipped around each other so swuifrly you jeopt expecting a collision. Their step dancing had flair and interesting patterns. They moved with the speed of light! David Parker and the Bang Group had the audience in stitches. The many children in the audience were the first to laugh – and they laughed all the way through his first piece. Other companies also pleased the diverse audience.

My younger daughter was here for Martin Luther King’s weekend with her two eldest boys, and we went many places around town. I was astonished by the marvelous renovation made in the Historical Society Central Park West Building. Light, bright and lively. We were urged to see the short film in the revamped auditorium and the moment it began, I felt my eyes well with tears. It is a paean to the great love of my life, my home town, New York City. When we emerged my daughter laughingly asked me if I was sure I hadn’t written it, because it so fully expressed so much of my sentiment about the city.

Saw the film of War Horse, Found some remarkable photography and brilliant directorial choices which managed to show the friendship between the horses, the devotion of the young man to the newborn colt, the horrors of war, the reality of fear, and many other magnificent emotional moments. It,

Hugo

and

The Artist

are all extraordinary films. What a great year for movies!

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It also has started out as a great year for me. Cnildren’s Bookwatch finally got around to reviewing the second book in my now completed 4 volume series of read-to-me children story books. Its choice of Elfin Tales in the Fantasy/Sci-fi category thrilled me. Its actual review delighted even more.
Here is a long excerpt .
“From an enthralling series that promises more twinkling tales from magical beings, "Elfin Tales" weaves a special blend of traditional whimsey laced with pixie dust with matter-of fact narratives about three dimensional children and adults who are sometimes kind, sometimes not. It is a blend that works well to deliver a delicate message of the need for warmth and a compassionate heart. "Elfin Tales" will be eagerly listened to by children age 4-9, and/or read independently. This reviewer's favorite tale was Leprechaun or Can't, a morality fable and leprechaun travelogue that has little surprises sprinkled throughout. Fantastic little color illustrations add charm and appeal to these small tales.”
Of the six books I have read this year so far, I was most absorbed by E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View. There is a certain gentleness and charm on every page of the book.
I read what I called

the girl with series

last year, now realizing it is called The Millennium Trilogy
I learned this on the opening page of the other book which fascinated me, by Eva Gabrielsson with the ungainly title There are Things I Want You to Know About Stieg Larsson and Me.
While hardly great literature, it was a strong cry for fairness from one who feels herself betrayed. How much of it is absolutely true, only a detective can determine, but it is an unusual presentation of a situation equally strange.

I shall be a judge again in the second annual global ebook awards. Not sure yet which categories I will be judging, but know I will not judge in fantasy or children’s literature

More in February...enjoy early winter.

A Lot Like Chirstmas

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Impossible – the end of this year is so close I feel incredible relief. Everything I did all this year went askew. Nothing major, despite a heart scare and other physical ills, but everything had some little pesky problem.
I got to see the play “Stick Fly” – and suspect its title will be its undoing. It took a while to warm up to the play. Finally got into it in the second act, but still found many performances unconvincing and the plot contrived. I was annoyed by the sitcom attempts at humor. Love Dule Hill on Psych as much as I liked him on The West Wing – but on stage in this? His charisma was lost.
Also noted, as I had back in the days when I helped with publicity for Eubie and Sophisticated Ladies, that the audience had very few dark faces among the white bread crowd. I still see far more black and Asian peoples attending dance than theater.
Was delighted by BalletNY performance at Alvin Ailey. Very short program but each piece beautifully done. I loved the romantic little duos more than the full ensemble dances, but all 4 pieces were well worth seeing. Catch them in later performances when you can.

Disappointing was the film much touted in all publicity about a little boy whose dad dies in the towers on 9/11, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. While it was absorbing, far from being a 4 handkerchief film as I had heard, it never touched me at all. Thomas Horn gave a dazzling performance as the young boy, but Max von Sydow stole the film for me.
A film which absolutely captivated me from its opening to its final credits was The Artist. I knew nothing about it when I went to the screening, and was so utterly caught up in it that I felt transported. I am so pleased to see charm and peaceful pleasures restored to the entertainment world which I feel has gone too far into the gaudy, gauche and ghastly.
Was delighted to lunch with Valerie Taylor-Barnes, widow of Clive Barnes, and reminisce with her about the theater/dance critic whom I had first met in the late seventies in Massachusetts. The resulting interview will appear in Art Times Journal in the January/February issue on line and in print.
Did a reading from my book IMAGICS and other family stories at an artists exhibit which featured a literary salon a few weeks back. Very attentive and enthusiastic audience of artists and their friends. I was one of 9 readers – three of which were good, two of which were a disaster, but audience polite throughout. No books sold, far as I could see, but enjoyable experience all around.
Will be reading several stories from latest kids book, Gremlins, Genies and Trolls. Oh My! at the holiday bazaar at MCCNY in Jackson Hall 446 W 36 St, Dec. 18 every hour on the hour, if I can manage to mount the steps which will be like anyone else scaling a mountain. Joys of age and a trick knee that has gotten me down for over 60 years.

Which is a perfect segue to

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The Pleasant Dreams set of children’s read-to-me fantasy stories has been raking in raves from mom blogs all around the country. One of my favorites was the mom whose little kid wanted to see more pictures, so he wandered off, playing but listening. She was to tell him when another picture appeared. She got caught up in the reading and so he had to come over himself to see where the pictures were.
I am reading a three novels volume of William Dean Howells, a late nineteenth century author. Fascinating – his novels are written in great detail of the emotional and mental landscapes of their characters. They feel as current as any story today of responsibility, love and concern for others.
Also reading a series of plays by Thomas Bradshaw. After finishing the fourth, I feel as if I am reading the same basic play from various perspectives with people clothed in different names and occupations.
Each play bears the admonition that it should be played with utmost honesty and sincerity. A necessary note since the plays are so outrageously ironic it is hard to keep a straight face while reading them. They point out the self deception which permits most people to continue to function in the world today. I think they need to be taken in small doses, reading the body of the work gets one cross eyed…at least this one.
Also just finished reading Shelley’s Ghost a book about all the correspondence and memorabilia of thepoet Percy Bysshe Shelley, his wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her parents, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and William Godwin.
This book is a unique take on the forgeries that were passed off by collectors over a century ago, and of the editing each did to maintain the image he/she hd of th subject.
I have read several dozen books of Shelley and Byron and their friends sicne I first fellin love with the poet and his work in my early teens. I even wrote a musicalplay about him which William Gison kindly read and his ain cmment was that I did ot allow anyof Shelley’s faults into the script. But when the world saw as his faults, I saw as his strengths, so it was thus I portrayed them. Yes, I too, had my prejudicial view of the unusual young man who created such marvelous poems.
On my first trip to London over 25 years ago, I wandered around and kept ending up in some place which had strong Shellyan memories. I recall reading in the guest book at John Keats; home some years later on another London sojourn, that they didn’t know if Shelley had ever been in the house or not. I said I was sure he had not because I had no visceral reaction to the inside of the house, and I did have to all the other locales I had visited.
I was such a Shelley fanatic in my High School years that my English teacher dubbed me Lady Jane, who was Shelley’s daughter in law. Lady Jane worshipped the poet whom she had never met and established many memorials to him, including two incredible life sized works of sculpture. One at Oxford University, where a British friend of mine had purchased this book for me, the other near Boscombe Mansion in Bournemouth where his son Percy and Lady Jane Shelley lived.
I have also just begun reading Daphne DuMaurier’s Frenchman’s creek which I must have read many years ago, but which I am relishing anew.

Family and other strangers

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Went to see an old pal, the ever versatile John Glover, in new play with the deceptively poetic title of "The Atmosphere of Memory" at the Labyrinth Theater. Actually, Labyrinth would be a more suitable title; as the play got lost within its own structure and direction. Far from poetic, it is a raunchy, outrageous meant-to-shock farce with some juicy monologues. However, only one actor played all its farcical possibilities: diddle diddle dumpling my friend John!
The premise is a disturbed man wrote a play about his family to dispel his childhood ghosts. We see his stage family, their rehearsals and performances mixing dozens of old theatrical styles, much as the director Pam McKinnon does. His actual mother, a formerly well known and flamboyant star, plays the mother in the play. (She is portrayed by Ellen Burstyn) When the real life father (John Glover) shows up – an absolutely uncontrolled, unrefined self-satisfied man who was out of their lives for years, the real family delves through their outrageous past and makes of course, great revelations.
One scene which ought to have been a laugh riot, when real life sister asks to have her role removed from the play and playwright is caught between her and the love of his life who portrays her on stage, is performed for its drama, not its humorous aspects. In fact, most of the play is played more for drama than the outrageous farce of misfortune, and therein lies the flaw. A good play is buried under all the shrubbery in which it got lost.
Then saw the tact revival pf A.R.Gurney’s "CHILDREN" on a night when the author was there for a talk back. The mostly silver haired audience loved this production, Many of them were long time Gurney fans. The four character play was impeccably presented with the cool aloofness one expects of a wasp family – even when all hell breaks loose it doesn’t come close to an average family reunion in a Jewish or Italian family. Much of the subsequent discussion was about if this world of privilege and old family values still exists anywhere, and the consensus was, maybe in little pockets.
But the play had that charming agelessness of family drama – from "Oedipus" and "King Lear" through "Life With Father", "All My Sons" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" to the hectic hateful family plays currently engorging our stages.
One person wondered where the young audiences were, which gave Mr. Gurney an opportunity to talk about his work with younger writers and actors at the Flea Theater. Most delightful of all comments was by a man who had come into the wrong theater. He and his brother were supposed to be across the hall where his brother’s friend was appearing in a play – oddly, their ticket seats were empty in this theater, they were seated, and did not realize their mistake in time to move on! Gurney acquired a new fan with this production, judging by the man’s further comments. Real life comedy of errors in the audience which we all shared!

Enjoyed the innocence and charm of My Week with Marilyn in which the author recalls his early career and relationship with this iconic film star. It is a sweet tribute and not, one hopes, a falsified portrait of a real person. Personally, although I am a fan of Kenneth Branagh, I could not relate to his Sir Laurence Olivier, and the woman playing Vivian Leigh looked less like her than I do. Maybe they think no one remembers the actual appearance of these stars. As for performance, his Olivier was nobody I could relate to the screen or stage actor I remember. Never the less, much enjoyed the film

Don’t understand all the anger over Anonymous. It’s a delightful “what if” explanation of how the Shakespeare plays might have been written. It does not pretend to be history – it is supposed to be a play, and it plays well. The cast is energetic and believable even if the story is not, and it captures your interest.
Elizabeth’s costumes are magnificent and the settings seem to have the grungy look one expects of old England. My main complaint is that Derek Jacobi had too little to do.
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I am far more outraged at all the authors jumping on other people’s writing to create films and TV series of their own, as well, of course as books. GRIMM, ONCE UPON A TIME are using fairy tale plots to create TV fantasy terror these days.
Novelists are using real life people (now deceased) as well as story-created characters by famous authors such as Jane Austen’s Darcy et al to launch new tales about them. What happened to creativity from the ground up? Is it so much easier to ride on someone else’s character tails?

Lots of people in neighboring states were left electricity less for weeks due to freak snow storm - nature’s own Fall drama..
Don’t know how I could manage my biz without electricity, telephone and the all mighty computer. All my current scripts and recently printed books are on my computer. Poems in the works are on my computer. Bookkeeping is on my computer. Phone numbers are stored in my phone – don’t remember anyone’s number because never dial them. Couldn’t get check from my bank one day because computers were down and tellers did not know how to give me a bank check under the circumstances.

Thank goodness I still know how to write so I can put pen to paper and keep my brain from exploding with all the things wanting to be transcribed for my memoir, should my machine go belly-up, rather than slogging slowly along.
We are too dependent on machines. Kids use them in exams. They use them instead of thinking or working out problems. A case in point, a costume designer pal of mine, wrote me of the following incident.
“I had to visit the AppleStore yesterday to clear up a problem with the new computer and while waiting for help was fiddling around with that iPad everyone is salivating over. Clicked up "Numbers," Apple's complicated and annoying spreadsheet replacement for their former AppleWorks app, Apple's intuitive, excellent original app that I guess somebody who never did a spreadsheet felt needed improving (translation, $$$ for Apple). I spoke with 4 employees, not one could figure out how to put numbers in a couple of columns and add them together. Never mind anything more complicated. At least 40 minutes of fooling around and 4 employees' time (not to mention mine) just trying to add 2 and 2 in each of two cells and get a sum. Finally they told me they didn't know this program, based on Excel (never mind it is Apple's own software made by Apple), couldn't help, and suggested I take a workshop to find out how to input 2+2 and get a sum. I showed them a pencil and a piece of paper. So while China's young people are spending their time trying to find the cure for cancer, our engineers are creating new and exotic ways for people to attend workshops to relearn how to add 2+2. Very scary how the young people (and not just the young people) are transfixed by these gadgets to their own detriment. Pointing this out only causes blank stares with the message "unreasonable old fogey who doesn't want to learn." Does anyone doubt why America is in decline.” Judanna Lynn
I have grown grandkids who cannot tell time on a clock with hands – they expect the clock to tell them the time digitally.
Banks urge us to use on line banking. Meanwhile, in the last month alone, three pals have been hacked, and my machine’s Norton security has notified me of several critical attempts to break into mine.
I don’t want to go back to the old days – its great to take a paragraph or a page and shift it elsewhere in my manuscript with two clicks of my keyboard. But I do think our brains should store basic information, or we need paper backup. If electronics failed – could we navigate our lives?
Lightning Source is doing great business these days – couldn’t get short run book published in over two weeks. Revolting! Therefore, final and finest of my fairy tale book series, “Goblins Genies and Trolls, Oh My!” is not ready to send and orders are coming in for Christmas!
Happy Holidays to all!

Pre Holiday Post

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Saw revival of Terence Rattigan’s mid 20th century “Man and Boy” earlier this month. Guess we can thank Madoff for making this so timely.
We can also thank Alan Driver and Frank Langella for their performances as the boy and the man, and Maria Aitken for directing it at a brisk pace, which allowed little time for thought but enough time for enjoyment.
I first saw Langella many years ago at the Berkshire Theater Festival when I went up to interview William Gibson. Frank was portraying Shakespeare in Gibson’s “A Cry of Players” in its pre-Broadway run. Gibson thought him a brilliant actor but I was unimpressed. I continued not to respond to Langella until the film THOSE LIPS, THOSE EYES in which I thought him perfection. It is astonishing to realize how many years have passed since then, almost as many as have elapsed since Rattigan first wrote this play about big business frauds!

Saw The Ides of March film this month as well - again, a matter of corruption and how a naïve innocent can be turned into a martyr or a moray eel stinging those who attempted to maneuver him. Enjoyed the film and the strong performances of its talented cast.

On that political note, I am delighted to read that President Obama has finally decised to abandon his dream of a bi-partisan congress and is concentrating on doing the things he set out to do when first elected.
It bothers me so many people felt him weak because he attempted to negotiate and conciliate with a party whose main platform appears to be his destruction, rather than the reconstruction of the America we knew.
I attended a celebration of the life of one of TnT Classic Books’ authors, Doric Wilson, at the Lucille Lortel Theater on Columbus Day. A touching and humorous program assembled with all the care and love that he so richly deserved. So many familiar faces talking about their warm and humorous memories of this lovely man.
It occurred to me Doric, with his dauntless sense of humor, would have gotten a kick out of the apt choice of date. Columbus set off on uncharted seas in a supposedly flat world and discovered a continent. Doric sailed off into uncharted seas in a closed world and through TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence) revealed the world of a still prejudiced against minority. He also gave that population a strong and loving voice through his own plays, such as those published by TnT – “A Perfect Relationship”, “Forever After”, “Street Theater” and “And He Made a Her” which appears in my prize winning anthology Short Plays to Long Remember.

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Despite my distaste for authors who continually write sequels to Jane Austin’s books, I enjoyed Carrie Bebris’ The Intrigue at Highbury. Though not difficult to solve the mystery, it was a good read.

Also read Daphne du Maurier’s The Glass Blowers, which I think her best book ever. I enjoyed her writing in my, youth, but was utterly absorbed and entranced in my dotage with this family history. She so deftly recreated that long ago world, and made us care so much about the people of whom she wrote. I came to Daphne long after I had been smitten by the writing of George du Maurier, her grandfather, who favored the mystic and paranormal as much as I do.
When I, a teenager, saw her by line in a book my mom was reading and learned she was the daughter of his actor son, I immediately began reading the lady du Maurier’s books as well.
Am plowing through a book on Vita and Virginia, their relationship and influence on each other and how it is reflected in their work.

How fortunate I am to have a bibliophilic good pal who loans me half a dozen books every time I see him. Like having a personal librarian!

I have been busy writing part two of my memoir, the disruptive years when my folks dragged a kicking and screaming 7 year old me from my beloved Brooklyn to Boston, where my father had finally found a great job in those devastating years of the Great Depression.
As well as proofing the final book in the children’s series,

Gremlins, Genies and Trolls, Oh My!

am pleased to read occasional quotes of mine on other sites plus reviews of my work such as
My contribution included in a Carol Roth listing – this one is
60+ Tips for Hiring Your First Employee http://www.carolroth.com/unsolicited-business-advice/?p=7423 I’ve moved up in her world – my suggestion is number 17. The last several times she quoted me I was much further down in her listings.
More significantly a mom blogger has given me another great write-up about my children’s read-to-me fantasy book series – read her comments at
http://www.emilyreviews.com/2011/10/pixie-tales-elfin-tales-and-fairy-tales-too-by-francine-l-trevens-giveaway.html.

I really believe that the bedtime story habit can help young people learn to love books, can give some much needed private parent/child time and help fight illiteracy because children can realize the powerful joy of using their imagination as they listen or read for themselves, not to learn, but to experience and enjoy, with learning an unexpected and often unrealised by-product.

FALL IN

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Paul Dexter, who has three short plays in Short Plays to Long Remember, just heard that his play FEEDING FRENZY won first prize in the Ohio State U. playwriting contest -- out of 300 entries! Congratulations to this dedicated and hard working author.

Saw a unique entertainment Dublin by Lamplight at 59 East 59. Meticulously directed by Tom Reing, Michael West’s white faced romp moved with the precision of clockwork and enchanted and surprised constantly. Not sure I got all the message, but enjoyed it all the same.

Am involved in an unusual Greater New York Independent Publishers Association book launch on a boat no less this Saturday, Sept. 24 from 4- 7 PM on board the Lighthouse Tender ship Lilac, an historic vessel, docked at Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 at West Street. Readings which start at 5PM include river and sea poems from award winning Perry Brass; veteran playwright/novelist Norman Beim’s novel ZYGIELBAUM'S JOURNEY; Bob Apuzzo thrills with tales of sunken ships; illustrator Maggie Cousins shows her art, plus Andrea Troy reads from Daddy, An Absolutely Fake Memoir. I’ll MC the readings and discussions of writing, editing, publishing and illustrating , and read selected kids stories from PIXIE TALES and ELFIN TALES with youngsters selected to help read; (kids who help get free copy of books!). During this free family event, Light refreshments will be served, you can see the 9/11 exhibit, and take a tour of the boat. Great chance to get autographed books and ask authors about inspiration, etc.

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Read a huge multi biography by Michael Holroyd about the families of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry called A Strange Eventful History, A terrific read for anyone involved with or in love with theater and its former greats.

Also read Brooke Astor’s Footprints in which you get her slant on her life’s story. And what a story it is.

Am polishing and rewriting the final book in the read to me series, Gremling, Genires and Trolls, oh My! Which is my favorite of the four. Maggie Cousins is slowly providing terrific illustrations for the book, which has 5 read to me fantasy stories and one to grow on which presents a real surprise.

Have returned to work on my childhood memoir about growing up during the great depression – which has lots of similarities to today. You get the feeling the Republicans of that day were ready to say “let them eat cake” rather than try to alleviate the working man’s suffering.
Prejudice was as rampant then as now, only then it was concentrated on the Jew haters who tried to keep Jews out of clubs, restaurants, jobs, neighborhoods, etc. It’s amazing to me that I was a Republican most of my adult life, because I favored their economic policies – until the Bush Leagues took our surplus and threw it into wars. I remember many of those depression years clearly as my Italian, Irish and Jewish neighbors all struggled to survive.
I was accused of killing Christ and being as, what sounded to me like Dirty Chew Basket – which is the title of the memoir. Then, during the war which ended the depression, it was those very Italians who were hated and feared by many of the people we lived amongst. And these people were all supposedly so religious!

I thought we had progressed. Interracial couples were as condemned and feared then as gay couples today - My family is now both black and white. It raised a few eyebrows but not the storm of protest and law breaking it would have been in the thirties.
Why is it people need to find someone to hate, someone to whom they can feel superior? Someone they can prevent from having the same rights they enjoy? That is the supreme unanswered question of my life. Maybe looking back at the stupidities of the past will awaken some to the stupidities of the present? One can only hope.

History and politics

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A unique and impressive ceremonial dance event is scheduled for the Plaza at Lincoln Center starting at 8:20 and ending at 8:46AM Sept. 11, 2011, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center devastation.
100 dancers will perform THE TABLE OF SILENCE PROJECT conceived by choreographer Jacquelyn Buglisi and Italian artist Rosella Vasta.
I was privileged to see a rehearsal for this spectacular and moving site specific FREE dance event featuring an international array of dancers.
It will perform again at Syracuse University October 22 and in Italy October 26. Other venues are also planned.
If you can, make it a point to start that day early and attend this stirring demonstration of tribute and prayer for peace, for you will long remember this stunning work of physical expression of the hope of our world..

S

Photographer Paul B. Goode’s shot of The Buglisi Dance Theatre leads 100 dancers in rehearsal of "The Table of Silence Project,"
For further historic connections, I again expand stages to include films.

I did not read “Sarah’s Keys” but found the film most moving and engrossing. So many films and books are emerging now of the horrors of the holocaust. It is fascinating to see the changes in morality since the mid 20th century.

On that same score of changes in morality, did read The Help and just saw the film. Each worked well in its own milieu. Both made their points and acting in the film was memorable.

What is happening today with prejudice against gays is so reminiscent of the fears of integration of those days. I guess people will always have to find some group to deem lesser and hate because they fear them.

Adapting a book to screen or stage is an art in itself. Authors who try to stay too true to the novels from which they work do themselves a disservice. It is called adapting because each is a different art with different needs. Being detail by detail true to the book when adapting can destroy dramatic moments and dull the experience of the viewer. Visuals are not words – but if they convey the same emotions and intentions, adaptations can work brilliantly. A book can meander introspectively, a film or play must give us drama, move with a steady building of tension. Pity the adaptor who does not know or cannot achieve that. Both these films did achieve it.

Of course, authors of the original work are often horrified by changes made. William Gibson did not like the film of “Miracle Worker”, and dreaded seeing the script of “Seesaw”, because he feared it would drastically change his “Two for the Seesaw”. He was right – but both those films worked in their own way, despite many changes in characterizations and details.

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A sea adventure without leaving the dock from Greater New York Independent Publishers Association - a book launch at sea! FREE
Get on board the Lighthouse Tender ship Lilac, a historic Coast Guard vessel, built in 1933 docked at Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 at West Street, at the end of North Moore Street (Franklin Street Stop on the 1 Train), Saturday, September 24, from 4 PM to 7 PM.
I’ll be MC for the event and will be reading from PIXIE TALES and ELFIN TALES about a pink and purple leprechaun and a shrinking violet sylph – with a couple of youngsters selected to help read; and illustrator Maggie Cousins to show art. Other books being read are more adult. Wear lilac and get a free book.

I judged some books in the first annual Global e-book awards on several categories. One tween book was so far superior to anything else I read for that contest I feel compelled to mention it. Dragon Cloud about Earth, and an alternate dragon universe which are interdependent, are saved by a young dragon and two young humans. Every chapter is full of action and danger. It moves rapidly and the characters evolve as “the plot thickens.” A real nail biter, it should thrill even youngest readers and still entertain older ones.
Yes, it is the old fight of good and evil and is a quest for a magic ring, and many of the elements are not new – but the facility and clarity of the writing and the fact that it is for younger readers make it a gem.

Enjoyed Douglas Kennedy’s Moment. In which the past is unraveled with the delicacy of one handling aged manuscripts.
Very pleased that, although the third book, Fairy Tales Too in the set of my Pleasant Dreams stories is now on e-book, Pixie Tales, the first in the set, finally got noticed. It is extolled on the August on line Children’s Booklist. Here’s a short quote from the review “filled with charm, surprises, and magical spunk.”
Fairy Tales Too will be released in paper officially October 17. For those who have e readers, the e-book version is only $3.99 and paper version $9.99. No e-book reader? The smashwords version, http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/79703, can be downloaded right onto your computer, complete with Maggie Cousins’ colorful art.
As a kid, after WWII, I felt the world had lost its élan and actually wished for more turbulent times. I guess my wish was granted, because the entire world seems to be in an upheaval – politically, economically, ideologically and religiously. Of course, being as ancient as I feel, it is not surprising to have lived through so many wars, upheavals, economic crises and such a change in the tenor of a writer’s life – from writing by hand, to typewriter, to electric typewriter, to computer, etc.
Unfortunately, people have not changed. They are still as impatient as ever, still quick to place blame, slow to take blame and still using religion to hide their prejudices behind.
One reason I am eager to get back to writing my memoir of growing up during the great depression and World War II is to remind people it took 10 years to recover from the depression – it took royal battles between Roosevelt and the Republicans to establish the very programs the Republicans are still fighting to stymie. Roosevelt was accused of being a communist because many of his causes were socialistic. But how else help the disenfranchised people in this country? How else spread the wealth when so many of the wealthy believe themselves above the law and above the need to pay their fair share to support this country?
I was a Republican most of my adult life because, despite being a liberal, I believed the Republicans had the right cautious fiscal outlook. No more – I realize now their greed and disregard for the needy which caused this world crisis.
I willingly served 6 months on the Tyco trial to see how big corporations legally steal from investors. How the nice guy bosses forgave millions in debts for their employees – debts which were paid for by investor’s dollars. The bosses gave themselves bonuses even as the business was failing. Just like our congressmen giving themselves a raise in the midst of this economic turmoil. “Me first” has turned into “me only” for too many people.
OOPS – didn’t mean to rant – but I am so tired of people second guessing how they would run the country. It is a world crisis, and we are a major part of the world. We cannot come out of it alone, even if much of the cause is the fault of international companies lodged here.
What an exciting period this will be to write about for many years to come.