Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 2/27

I didn't watch the Academy Awards. I don't see the point in sitting through three hours of mostly boredom when the results will be in the morning paper. Christopher Plummer was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, which unearthed an amusing gem about him. He starred as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965), a role he was embarrassed to have played. He subsequently referred to the film as The Sound of Mucus, despite its worldwide popularity. Why would someone who co-starred with the beautiful and talented Julie Andrews and Eleanor Parker, was directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story) in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, regret his participation? Maybe he was the diva in that power-packed lineup. The film is rated 7.9 out of ten at IMDb. I saw it a long time ago and was surprised that I liked it.
I felt almost like a normal working guy today. I accompanied a handicapped woman to three medical offices, then ran the floating bookshop for a couple of hours, and the mailman delivered a $50 check from Springboard Surveys. I thank the two Russians who bought books in their native language, and Marie, who dropped off four CDs, two Jeff Becks, A Grateful Dead and a hard rock compilation. I hoped Will, a local security guard who has bought a lot of music from me, would pass. Sure enough, he stopped by on his way to a late lunch at Ali Baba's gyro truck, and purchased all four. Thank you, Sir. Every time Marie shows I greet her with the phrase from the old Italian-American standard: "Way, Marie." It is all I remember from the song, which was sung at every wedding reception I attended as a kid. Marie is a great lady, knowledgeable about movies and music. I always enjoying conversing with her.
Now playing on the Martini in the Morning stream: The hilarious main them from Frank Loesser's classic Guys and Dolls, sung by Dean Martin and others. "When a bum buys wine like a bum can't afford, It's a cinch the bum is under the thumb of some little broad." And that's only one of that tune's incredible couplets - and only one of four show stoppers, along with Adelaide's Lament, Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat, and Luck Be a Lady. The film version, although extremely popular in its day (1955), is a disaster in retrospect. Marlon Brando was cast as Sky Masterson. "Brando sings," was the hook. It was an interesting novelty at the time, and Brando has to be credited with having taken the chance of making a fool of himself, but it was a crime that Frank Sinatra, who played Nathan Detroit, wasn't the lead and Dean Martin the second banana. It would have held up so much better, done greater service to the work of genius it is.
And now for the best thing about to today - the proof of Killing arrived. It comes in at 373 pages. I will be on pins and needles reading it the next few days, hoping it will not have to be amended. Eternal thanks to my literary angel, Victoria Valentine.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature