Ziggy Elman into his Van Nuys, California teaching gig, on Victory Boulevard.…”The horn blows at midnight” taps for the passing of “The little Princess” Shirley Temple (85), from the Santa Monica reality scene,(Palm Trees, slapping Pacific Oceanwaves) dimpled dream de amour with America’s depression likeaudiences of FDR’s New Deal.
Those 20th Century “30’s’, ””Tthe Little Princess” de amore with the ticket stub public, hungered down for hope in 85 minutes of vicarious optimism.
And then the double feature…..second banana Carl Reiner “Sid Caesar was the greatest monologist television’s “ Your Show of Shows”(91) ,the audiences at home, have ever seen or heard. A persona out of his immigrant parents restaurant in Yonkers,Isaac Sid waiting& busing the plates from the Polish Russian,Ukrainian, Lithuanian clientele, schlepping their soups..
All in sight of the Statute of Liberty, arriving at Ellis Island..Picking up their accents, mimicking them , only a Jack Oakie“Mussolini” could do in double talk.
II
“An obsequious wench,” said Piper Laurie. Her own stance of acting to the camera, the fatuous kiss up, constantly seeking approval and support.. But the talent coaches like Stella Adler (Brando’s mentor), Elia Kazan,(Group Theater) Paul Newman, Shelly Winters (the Stanislavsky method) went into their memory voodoo to find the persona’s roots…what makes the alter ego tick. The motivation for the persona’s modus operandi.(their classroom teacher’s annotations, sociograms)
A Lee Strasberg Holy Grail, in the actor’s quest to justify his or her existence in our galaxy..
Daryl Zanuck may not have been able to speak Yiddish but Jimmy Cagney learned , metamorphosing on the Warner’s lot. Zanuck scripting those “Angels with dirty faces” flicks, plottinghis own career.
Thus hence therefore the Mexican War pro morphed into 20thCentury Fox, marrying Matty Fox’s sister (Skiatron ) putting 20th Century studio on the dollar bill turf.
When the toothy singing dancing “Little Princess” broke the ice, Zanuck was there to promote that dimply bit of sunshine intoGrauman’s Chinese foot and hand prints in thes cementedlobby.
The Little Princess had arrived.
IV !
Meanwhile at the Universal studio school of dramatic acting, the Sheik of Araby presiding, a video appears of “Your Show of Shows” monologist.
The gaucho dictator of the Pampas… Isaac Sid Caesar, in the trappings of his uniformed honcho.
Generalismo Caser
“Fer vat is dis?. To expel y uniform to the Buenos Aires tailor for detecting pecker tracks. Central America El Salvador ( like a captivating but obsequious waif , “Your Show of Shows”, mimicking a corn pipe smoking suave honcho.
Flailing his arms, dusting off his epaulettes: a mucho grandhoncho and they want to deport me to the gringo’s bottom line.Ellis Island!.”
The pulsating lush tempos of Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” circulatetheir sensuousness thru the drama school’s space.
“Awesome! Medals weigh down my conflicting tempos. CentralAmerica El Salvador….. Do the thing I’m Jack Oakie’s “Benito Mussolini”. An enemy of the people.. ( Henrik Ibsen)
The humans projecting emotions are my Amigos: Caesar Romero Gilbert Roland Lupe Velez Katy Jurado Leo CarilloTony Quinn Margo Delores del Rio?
The Cisco Kid Zorro emoting... Central America, El Salvadorhonchos..”
Taking a yoyo out of his uniformed khaki pockets…. ”Around the world, Filipino... slumber in the swing. Dondo my sweater….( sobbing) I want my sweater….
“ Sil vous plais Amigos.” Spinning the yoyo in an around theworld . Like a gyro into cyber space. A “Gravity” shot into our galaxy.
(Imogine Coco, the mesmerizing coloratura ballerina to Caesar’s other self .. Carl Reiner, Howie Morris, Mel Brooks,Neil Simon, Woody Allen (*Midwood High School, the Kent movie theater on Coney Island Ave and ‘H’)
Larry Gelbert (“not to trivialize human suffering”) the barber’s son (“Mash”), out of Gower Gulch’s 12 chairs… the honcho, his pops..
“Tip?, merci beaucoup, “Mr. Ed”, (Alan Young, the 1944Argus,* Midwood High,) sweeping the straight man’s cuts,morphing as a treading smock
Onto Gower Gulch and Columbia Pictures Studio, the smockof hair, streaming thru the semitropical air. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....
Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2014, the City that never sleeps
