From “La cooka ra cha La cooka ra cha ”

From “La cooka ra cha La cooka ra cha ” the 3 leprechauns from“Finian’s Rainbow” made the quantum leap “Over the Rainbow”  “We’re off to see the Wizard “ “Ding done, the Wicked Witch of the West”

Judy Garland’s teeny bopper role as Dorothy, a Kansas farmorphan, searching “Over the Rainbow” for an escape from her  Charlie Grapevine uncle and aunt Surrogate niches..

E.Y. “Yip” Harburg’s magic touch and lyrics, enriching Harold Arlen’s karma (his pianistic ‘Buffalodians’)

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How did this unholy holy trio coalesce their larger than life sizesouls  (Mervyn Leroy  impresario’s role)  “One small step forthe “land of Oz”  A giant leap for the “Wizard of Oz” (Frank  Morgan’s fortune telling crystal ball) was beyond my  ken.. the studio interview 1939.. a 6TH grader, McKinley Elementary, Santa Monica..

A sneak preview in Central California’s San Luis Obispo was fraught with decision making and semantics, Louis B. Mayer, the studio honcho and the director George Cukor, tacking a realistic cue, while the unholy holy trio, into assuming a Mozartapt birthright ..

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“Somewhere over the rainbow, there’s a land way up high. There’s a land that I heard of. Only once in a lullaby.”

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From those Culver City MGM haunts  on West Washington Boulevard to San Luis Obispo, the 1939 five unlike the Liverpool Beatles, corralled their “collective consciousness” to Central  California, for a sneak preview without Hollywood Boulevard klieg lights, scorching the   ceiling of the skies

No red carpet fantasy or shrieks to support their manifesto, theNation in a food stamp Kansas basket depression, the San LuisObispo’s natives living out  “Over the Rainbow“ their eyes and ears  open to “ Jack Haley’s *“Heart”, **Bert Lahr’s “Courage”, and the ***Scarecrow’s quest for a  brain”.. Ray Bolger.

                                                                                                                             

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Dorothy ,the *Tin Man (Jack Haley), the **The Cowardly Lion(Bert Lahr),  the*** Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) hop skip and jumping on the Yellow Brick Road to the land of Oz…. Munchkin Country, the Wicked Witch of the North, her crystal gold slippers, a tornado,  Toto’s barking flight. And  Professor Marvel ..Frank Morgan in another guise, un like the Wicked Witch of the West..

“Somewhere over the Rainbow, there’s a land way up high.There’s a land that I heard of. Only once in a lullaby”

September 12, 2014, The City that never sleeps.

A heavy duty ego trip of Eugene O’Neil’s “

A heavy duty ego trip of Eugene O’Neil’s “A long day’s journey into the night”, a metaphorical  nightmare not to be taken lightly, as cannibalism continues on the other side of theArabian peninsula.                                                                            

Charlie Chaplin’s father in la, (married O’Neil’s daughter Oona )in searching for top billing  got his wish thru Henry Mencken and George Jean Nathan, the Bowery stage giving his plays thevision they deservedly sought.

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On the other hand his son in law,( Oona in her role as wife/daughter), never took his persona seriously so it seems.. the“Tramp” on Hollywood Boulevard ,West of Vine, Friday night bouts at the American Legion ring.

The New York Philharmonic giving Charlie top billing.”Modern Times” .Specifically “the Tramp” for two dates at Lincoln Center.

Is this poetic justice or is it? A divine intervention or what?

How could the son in law get top billing when both relatives were geniuses in and out of disguise. Yet the son in law’spersona  realizes himself as the Tramp. While the father in law   “Long Day’s Journey ” seems dwarfed, doesn’t it?

Henry Mencken and George Jean Nathan gave props to thefather in law’s one act plays when they finally lit up the lights onBroadway.

The” Tramp” had to sweat it out as the son in law’s persona. O’Neil’s daughter bound to raise a family with her second father–husband… aka her father’s son in law. 

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No matter how you swing the” Long Day’s Night” and the”Tramp”, Chaplin’s persona  seems to have the universal touch. Surely not a fictional rags to riches but empathy and sensitivity,interpreting the “Tramp’s” pilgrimage as contrasted with the “Long Day’s” nightmarish bonding of a family’s self destructiveness.

Charlie’s “Tramp” accepts his role in a perilous journey, while his father in law seemingly sets his legacy. A 180 degree taking himself seriously. A dissection of a family living under one roof, with vultures ,drugs, and womanizing voodoo.

Anyone with a light touch, can  see why the New York Philharmonic gave kudos to the son in law’s “Tramp”. Whatever word one uses:  empathy, the light touch, odyssey, pilgrimage, this corner sees Charlie Chaplin ‘s alter ego and persona as a hero. While the father in law’s dissection islike a surgeon  discovering his own Achilles heel.

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When the aficionados gather around the Oracle at Delphi andbeg the question  “The Tramp” or “Long Day’s Night” gets  top billing?    

September 4, 2014. The City that never sleeps.

The encounter between the hospital’s flower girl

The encounter between the hospital’s flower girl, exhorting her flowers and Italian tomatoes at a dollar a box.

“Choose your desire, Major Fenton”, she said, trumping her beat as thou she hadn’t heard that the cardiologists on the fourth floor had induced a coma on 81 year old comedienne Joan Rivers...

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“Quando monyah for the bouquet?  How did you remember myname, Princess? Where did we break the ice?” asked MajorFenton , taking a page from the 81 year old Joan Rivers, herselftaking a breather.. Her life crossing the Fentons in the Jet Bluewaiting room’s flight to the City of Angels.

She was a loner in the middle of the waiting room penthouse:boots above her knees, a furtive look in her eyes, her gearleathered with her lean and hungry stance.

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“Don’t you remember me, sir” asked the flower girl. “MidwoodHigh School library. You were at the computers, assisting MisterKelly  under the big windows.  I was at the desk, checking outbooks.,Before E books before the cyber space scene really took off.”

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“Jim Harrick, the UCLA basketball coach, post the immortal coach Wooden, had been caught in a wishful thinking recruitingat Subways in Westwood,” recalled the flower girl, rememberinghr past High School Internet education ; now grooming as a flower entrepreneur on  the corner, below the Cardiology 4thfloor surgery.

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A viajo to Bel Air’s gated community off of Sunset Boulevard rd and the UCLA campus guest house. A stone’s throw  away.

The comedienne and her late husband business manager staying  off Stone Canyon Road….not the man se of Molly Picon, a comedienne in  her own “Park yer carcus” comedic commentary.

The likes of the sterling screen’s Billie Burke or Zasu Pitts Martha Raye comes to mind as second baanas.  

Being  stand up funny is  the rub. The galaxy torn asunder wherever a human being looks. Humanity in a fierce struggle for its very Soul.

But what could agingMajor Fenton say to the ‘ Hornet’s Nest’Midwood High alumni library aide, now playing out her role asthe hospital corner flower girl in her quest for the dollar bill.. 

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Meanwhile the cardiologists on the fourth floor were into their blood pressure monitors, the nurses monitoring the breathing ofa 81 year old comedienne, fighting the struggle of her performing life.

August 31,2014  The City that never sleeps