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Let us mourn today Lee Pockriss, the songwriter who popularized the bikini!

Thank you, BDB; I remember that. Interesting story... though I don't think I would go so far as to mourn--- not about the girl with gooseflesh--- I mourn that I can remember a piece of tripe from the Top Forty that last aired 51 years ago, yet have never so much as heard the name of better composers.

It makes you wonder whatever happened to paper dresses. Remember them? They used to say, "You don't wash them, you throw them away."

No connection, of course.

If you haven't seen this thread in the ABF about the Marion McPartland sound-alike playing in a hotel lobby, treat yourself.

the link

Love the Piano Lady story! Good for you, LB, for discovering her and taking the time to listen.

As Fred Rogers once said to me: "Someone is always listening . . . " I've found this to be 100% true. At exactly the moment I think I've turned into cocktail lounge/wedding reception wallpaper, someone will come to the piano from a faraway corner and tell me the music has made a difference in his/her life.

But the key, you know, to sounding good in that situation, is to really enjoy your own playing. That's obviously the case with the Piano Lady.

Marion McP told me she learned a lot playing her "bar" gig for seven years at NYC's Hickory House. It's not a bad thing to learn to play for yourself!

I've just finished a bunch of pressure cooker concert gigs (with listening audiences!), but I was happy to return to the piano corner at the hotel-castle where I work. There is something joyful about just sitting down and playing without any expectations from anyone except myself.

On another note, Jeff, I once met Dolly. She was teeny-tiny and adorable, and had a waist the size of a tea saucer.

Re: my fairy play— I can't fire the rabbit—she is really really good—a former gymnast who can hop about ten feet in the air. Yesterday's rehearsal went well and marital relations between the tree and the rabbit seem to be in order. There were no diva fits. The tree's name, by the way, is Alabaster Epiphany Quixotico Baum. He is 838 years old—an oak. He plays a mean piano.

The fairies are a fun bunch: Faxana, Faitigue, Farteeno, Flip, and Flop.

It is truly a ridiculous play, but kids seem to like it.

I ended up mourning a much more serious occurrence today. I was supposed to have dinner tonight with my friend who is the police chief in Vallejo at our club and celebrate his birthday this month. Instead, I got a call from his wife that one of his officers was shot and killed today, so he could not come. We observed a moment of silence for the fallen officer, not even a plate rattling in a room with over 300 diners.

Unusually respectful for such a large party, especially with food in front of them. I saw the story on TV this morning--- terrible thing.

Speaking of terrible things: that drattted wedding is tonight, across town, in rush-hour traffic, with a rainstorm forecast. Maybe I could tell them I was detained by a wreck--- it doesn't have to be me, personally. Traffic was stopped dead just day before yesterday by FOUR wrecks on 280, in broad daylight, with perfect weather, on the best road we have. So I was late for the dentist in San Francisco. That did not save me, however.

I should not be so mean as to repent of accepting this kind invitation, and it is not so terrible as being shot to death by a bank robber. It is not even so terrible as the losing effort to keep a straight face when you hear the bride say, "Oh! A gravy boat! Just what I was needing. Thank you so much uh...uh..." for of course, the bride does not know who I am, and I will have to sneak a look at the invitation to know her name as well. If you give the gift of gravy, there is no point in warning the bride about the dangers of pork chop grease; it is as sure, though not as fast, as a bank robber's bullet. So maybe there is room for repentance, after all.

I asked the favorite dog, Buddy, if he would like to go, invited or not, warning him that he would have to wear a tie. Of course I knew good and well that I have none that would fit him. Then I thought--- a bow tie. Then I thought--- one of those outfits like they dress up those Chippendale exotic stud-muffin dangers dancers, with just the collar, bow tie, and shirt cuffs. He might steal the show right out from under the bride, especially if, being intact, he tries to mark the church pews or wherever they have it. (He never does this at home, but he sees other places as fair game, and has been a repeat offender at the vet's office.)

What a shame that it takes a bit of a head start to fabricate such an ensemble. Well, too late now. In the future, I shall decline all invitations where my dog is not welcome, and that will take care of most of them. If someone says, "We're getting married," I'll ask, "What channel is it on?"

______________________________
Clef

PS- I am just reading through the short stories of H.H. Munro, and it's noticeable that he's been a bad influence on my personal attitude and outlook. As if I needed any more bad examples to emulate! Yet it's extraordinary, the kind of storyline he can limn out in just eight paragraphs.

His last words, spoken as he took cover in a shell crater on a WWI battlefield, were, "Put that bloody cigarette out!" And that is a perfect example, isn't it.

i was wondering.

Welcome back Robin.

"Today in Wedding History:"

1947 – The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London.
1992 – In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.

"Happy Anniversary my you-know-what," the Queen was overheard to observe.

And Today in Wedding History:

The film, Some Like it Hot was released sixty-two years ago.

Marilyn, to prospective millionaire husband:
(Breathlessly) Are you married?

Joe E. Brown:
Oh, I've been married seven or eight times.

Marilyn:
Don't you know?

Joe:
Oh, Mama keeps track. My last wife was an acrobatic dancer. She could smoke a cigarette while doing a handstand, holding it between her toes. But Mama broke it up.

Marilyn:
But why?

Joe:
Mama didn't approve of girls who smoke cigarettes.

In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Some Like It Hot as the greatest American comedy film of all time. Written (and directed) by Billy Wilder and co-writer, mathematician IÅ£ec Domnici, it was credited with helping to sink the Production Code:

"Some Like It Hot received a "C" (Condemned) rating from the National Legion of Decency (formerly the Catholic Legion of Decency). The film, along with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and several other films, contributed to the end of the Production Code in the mid-1960s. It was released by United Artists without the MPAA logo in the credits or title sequence, since the film did not receive Production Code approval."

However, it won Oscars for Best Costume Design, Best Writing and Best Direction, as well as several other nominations. Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon won Golden Globes for Best Actor, and the film itself won Best Film.

excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Like_It_Hot

I like to think that one reason Mae West lived so long was for the pleasure of seeing the demise of the Hayes Office, which ruined so many of her own movies as much as it could.

As a special bonus for LTW readers, the pilot film for a TV adaptation featuring Tina Louise was unsold. One might suppose she could only imitate Marilyn so many times in a single career. As the gangster remarked:

Gangster:
Is you the same broads we seen the other night?

Jack Lemmon:
Oh--- no--- that was some other broads.

And Yesterday in Wedding History:

1940 – Lucille Désirée Ball elopes with, and marries, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III
1954 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, a meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap, in the only documented case of a human being hit by a rock from space.
1835 – Birth of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American writer and humorist, whose birth year and also the year of his death (d. 1910) both occurred during apparitions of Haley's Comet... and whose 'gloves-off' just-as-he wrote-it autobiography was released this year. I have the censored edition; I'm drooling.
1900 – Decease of Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854). "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do." Otherwise, this is too sad to recount.

Ok, technically the last three items are not, strictly speaking, Wedding History, although I think the meteorite strike could be argued either way.

"Although both Arnaz and Ball remarried to other spouses after their divorce in 1960, they remained friends, and grew closer in his final decade. "'I Love Lucy' was never just a title", wrote Arnaz in the last years of his life." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi_Arnaz

Lucy's mother, in an effort to pry her away from a boyfriend of whom she disapproved, "despite the family's meager finances, arranged for Lucille to go to the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts in New York City, where Bette Davis was a fellow student. Ball went home after the first semester when drama coaches told her that she "had no future at all as a performer." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Ball

This marriage not only gave birth to two human children, but shook the once-all-powerful TV networks to their foundations by laying the foundation for syndicated television.

"Desilu Studios was home to I Love Lucy, and additionally, such hit television series as Star Trek, The Andy Griffith Show, Mission: Impossible, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lucy Show, My Three Sons, Family Affair, Make Room for Daddy, The Untouchables, I Spy, Whirlybirds, Harrigan and Son, Mannix, Wyatt Earp, Our Miss Brooks, The Real McCoys, Gomer Pyle, USMC, That Girl, and after 1960, The Jack Benny Program."

Desilu's innovation was to use a multi-camera film setup before a live studio audience, using conventional film studio materials, production and processing techniques. This meant that the 35 mm negatives (the source material for copyright purposes) were immediately available for production and distribution of prints when the Lucy series went into syndication at local stations around the country... the content and quality of Desilu productions displayed a high standard from the very outset. Moreover, they were readily adaptable to either comedy or drama formats and were able to handle special effects or feature interior or exterior sets and locations with equal ease."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desilu_Productions

This is something of a mouthful, but think what it means: it revolutionized the industry, opened the door to indies, and meant a fortune to the Arnazes. Actually, that's just the beginning of a very interesting story which is still quite timely. Think who has a chokehold on society today... the Big Three networks did, just yesterday; their fall was unimaginable back then, yet they're all-but-irrelevant fossil relics today.

"On August 6, 2011, which would have been her hundredth birthday... a total of 915 Ball look-alikes converged on Jamestown, New York to celebrate the birthday and set a new world record for such a gathering."

Well that's scary, but Happy Anniversary anyway, Lucy and Desi. And the meteorite.

I could add--- briefly, since it's too late to edit--- that Lucy's 20-year career in B movies gave her excellent judgement for what scripts offered a story that people would respond to. And, she was smart enough to outwit CBS.

Desi gave us some gems of economy, which still dazzle to this very day. "You've got a lot of 'splaining to do," is an expression I used just yesterday, and one which I would imagine Mrs. Herman Cain is using in some form today. And her straying, lying husband had better come up with some better answers than he's given the press.

Talk about Today in Wedding History! This is a conversation that's had a very long history--- one would hope, not at the wedding.

No wedding stories from me, but I do have a Christmas Pageant story, and I see this thread has been quiet much of the month.

I ended up codirecting our annual church Christmas Pageant this year. This ancient tradition has the usual shepherds, angels, kings, Mary and Joseph, etc. Quite an extravaganza! But in the 20 years I've been at this church, the population of children has declined steadily - like most churches.

We made some changes this year - did all the vocal solos with a dedicated children's chorus rather than hoping against all odds that the individal actors would somehow manage solos. And I cut down the number of instrumental solos significantly.

A middle school tuba player begged to be able to play, so I wrote something simple for him. Then the middle school French horn player showed up, so I wrote a part for him. Transposed for F horn, of course. And of course, he showed up for the one rehearsal with a trumpet in Bb. A little frantic scribbling with pencil, and we were ready for showtime on Sunday. I played along to give them support, on a bright blue plastic trombone. (the pBone is the latest thing, a plastic trombone available in multiple colors). I think these kids played surprisingly well for middle school beginners, especially sitting impatiently for most of the pageant and coming in cold. I was a bit frazzled myself after a half hour herding cats! I was playing without music, and completely forgot what key I was in.

Should I share it? Ah.......debating.......well here it is but I might edit it out later. Not sure anybody really wants to hear somebody else's kids playing brass music!

http://www.box.com/s/r3n24ih02r6t83qx9nfm

And miracle of miracles, my handbell choir played the performance better than the rehearsal. That has NEVER happened; nerves always get in the way. I had come to believe it was impossible.

Tim, i must say - school kid concerts with brass are particularly hard to endure, to sit thru without cringing, .. but your recording sounds FANTASTIC.. very nice.!!!

Happy holidays to all Wedding thread fans.

Tim, I enjoyed that. I kind of miss going to the school Christmas concerts. I loved all of them —from the little ones who couldn't hold a tune to the middle school kids trying to look nonchalent (sp?) to the high school kids who by that time were pretty good at their instruments.

Concerts by professionals are never going to be better than what you expect, while concerts by amateurs are never going to be worse.

How sad, if that's your experience. Though I've occasionally had pleasant surprises from amateurs too!

I am often pleasantly surprised, but never so much as when I discover a truly outstanding child at a student recital.

I sure hope we're not going to get serious here, that's not what this thread is about.

<humor>

What I find pleasant about the kids is not the talent or the musicality, but the sheer enthusiasm. That's why we all started, but it's easy to lose sight of that over the years.

I played weddings and receptions, too. There were the usual family requests, but the oddest one was on the day of the wedding they decided to move the entire venue out-of-doors to a large patio behind the mansion. I normally played the grand inside the mansion, but I arrived to find that the family decided to provide the "piano", a child's 3 octave keyboard with narrow child-like key spacing and very poor audio. "Here Comes the Bride" was very weak.

shows you just how important 'we' are.

I hope you played the melody with one finger

P.S. to all: I don't play at weddings (or for anyone at any time, ever), but I have enjoyed reading all your funny memories!!