LifeSoFarLaRue

And moving on to 2012, Broadway Cares honored Gwen Verdon with the yearly "Legends" ornament for her standout performance as Charity Valentine  in "Sweet Charity." A Federico Fellini film, "Nights of Cabiria" from 1957 was the inspiration for this Bob Fosse conceived musical with a book by Neil Simon and music and lyrics by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields. It received a total of nine Tony nominations in 1966 but only won the best Choreography Award for Mr. Fosse. The other winners that year were "Man of La Mancha" (Best Musical) and Angela Lansbury (Best Actress for "Mame") Then, Mr. Fosse directed the screen version in 1969 starring Shirley MacLaine which received three minor Oscar nominations, winning none.  ("Midnight Cowboy" won the Best Picture.) The musical has seen several revivals both on and Off-Broadway.  The stars in those different productions were Debbie Allen, Christina Applegate and Sutton Foster. And here

In 2011, the yearly Broadway Cares Christmas ornament was Bernadette Peters, lauded for her performance in the Stephen Sondheim / James Lapine musical, "Sunday in the Park With George."  This is perhaps the only musical inspired by a painting, namely Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." What started out as a workshop, the first act was performed off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizon while the second act was being written.  It ultimately evolved, was completed and the whole thing was transferred to Broadway where it got mixed reviews but ultimately won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama!  It was the recipient of ten Tony Awards but only collected two (Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design). The major winners that year were "La Cage Aux Folles"( Best Musical), George Hearn (Best Actor for "La Cage....") and Chita Rivera (Best Actress for "The Rink") On a personal note, I didn't care for th

The year was 2010.  The Broadway Cares annual Christmas ornament was the incomparable Carol Channing as Dolly Levi in the Jerry Herman musical (with Michael Stewart providing the lyrics), "Hello Dolly." Beginning as a play in England, it was adapted into a French farce before falling into the hands of Thornton Wilder and becoming "The Merchant of Yonkers."  With little success at the box-office Wilder revise it and presented it again as "The Matchmaker" in 1954 starring Ruth Gordon which in turn became a movie starring Shirley Booth in 1958. The producer David Merrick acquired the rights to make it a musical ("Dolly, A Damned Exasperating Woman" and "Call on Dolly" were two of the original titles) and he offered it to Ethel Merman and then Mary Martin, both of whom turned it down (Ironically, they both did it later.) To helm the project, Hal Prince, Jerome Robbins and Joe Layton were approached but with no agreement reached and ulti

When I was growing up, a Kansas Thanksgiving was almost always the same, year after year.  Turkey, cranberry relish (home-made with bits of orange peel and walnuts), the  traditional green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams (which were really sweet potatoes from a can with marshmallows melted on top) and of course, the dressing.  (Now known as stuffing at sophisticated tables.)   Back then, it was dressing and Mom would get up early to prepare it, and shove it right into the bird with nary a thought of food poisoning or cross contamination.   And it was always delicious, with sage and sausage.   Then, one year on a whim, she added a secret ingredient.  Oysters!  Well, talk about your culinary surprise!  It was superb and everyone insisted that she add the oysters from them on.   And sad to say, I haven't had great dressing since.  But I still remember it, so that's something to be thankful for.

In 2008 the "Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids" organization began producing and selling a series of Christmas Ornaments dubbed "Legends" with all proceeds going to their cause.  I have bought the new ornament each year and thought I would share them with you as well as the provenance of the ornament.  The first was Angela Lansbury. What started as a best-selling book called "Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis was quickly to become a Broadway play starring Rosalind Russell in the title role, for which she received a Tony nomination.  Soon after, Ms. Russell repeated the role on film and garnered an Oscar nomination.  (The award went to Susan Hayward for "I Want to Live") Then, it was only a matter of time until it returned to the Broadway stage as a full-blown musical, "Mame" with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, the book by Jerome Lawrence and  Robert Edwin Lee and starring Angela Lansbury who won the Tony Award in 1966.   The musical

Celebrating the release of "That's Entertainment" in 1974, a smoky "pub-style" mirror featuring the M-G-M logo was commissioned to be given to the participants in the film (most of which are named in the ad below) and as a promotional piece for the film. At the time Fabian and I were doing trade shows in various parts of the country but not together.  I don't remember exactly where I was but as I recall Fabian was in Indianapolis. At these shows, booths were set up to display many items (Ours featured Christmas trees and wreaths) while other could be showing anything from lawn mowers to jewelry to "you name it."  Some of the booths in the venue always offered  "incentives" to place an order.  The mirror was such an incentive. Now, after the trade show was over, many vendors would choose to sell their wares rather than pack them up.  And so Fabian, having noticed the mirror, made an offer for it.  I think he got it