Happy Birthday Mr. Lee

I is hard to believe that Lee is now 25 years old.  It seems like yesterday when Karen and I brought him home from the hospital.  He met his best friend last summer.  Happy Birthday!

Winchester Cathedral by the New Vaudeville Band

This has to be my favorite novelty hit. I remember listening to it on the radio in 1966

Rego Park Turns 90

Michael Perlman wrote an article in the Forest Hills Times  which details the history of Rego Park where I grew up.  It mentions Remo Hall (61-40 Saunders Street) where my family lived from 1951-80.  It also states that P.S. 139 opened in 1929.  Above is a photo of 63rd Drive that I took in 2009 when I did a walking tour of Rego Park.

Superman at City Center

There have been several references to Superman in Bruce’s Journal over the years.  You’ll even  find a post or two about Sunshine Superman by Donovan.  Anyway since Lee’s birthday is coming up on Thursday March 28, we decided to see the “encore” of the Broadway show It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman.  This play first was shown at the Alvin Theater in March 1966, but closed after 129 performances.  There is a question if a comic book can be translated to Broadway.  I am not an expert on Broadway shows, but I must assume that it is very difficult for a show to have a very long run.  It is quite possible that the 1966 show closed after a few months since America was in the middle of the Batman (TV series starring Adam West) craze.  There were also several hit musicals competing for the Broadway audience.

This encore was a trip back to the 1966 version.  There was absolute no high tech used as was done in the Spiderman musical.  A cutout of Superman was used to demonstrate his flying.  The music, dancing, and acting were excellent.  Yours truly is too enamored with the TV show starring George Reeves as the Man of Steel.  I was disappointed that Jimmy Olsen and Perry White did not appear in this show.  It will close on Sunday March 24, but I think it deserves a longer run at City Center or another venue.

At the end of the show there was a post-performance dialogue with members of the cast and the artistic team.  It was a very stimulating discussion including questions and comments from the audience,

Some relevant links

• Wikipedia entry
• Review of the 2013 version in the New York Times

Below is a photo of the birthday boy dressed up as Superman.

Walk Don't Run by the Ventures

I remember listening to the radio in the 1960s when WABC did their newscast at :25 and :55  before WMCA's at :00 and :30.  Very often the station had about 30 seconds to play music before the newscast, so they would play part of an instrumental. It was so frustrating a good hit and then it was cut off.  At least today instrumentals are played in their entirety on internet radio.  I have a 5 CD set of instrumental hits issued by Rhino Records.  One of my favorites has to be Walk Don't Run by the Ventures.

We Are going to see It's A Bird, It's a Plane It's Superman

To celebrate Lee's birthday we will going to see It's A Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman on Saturday.  No Comment Until the Time Limit is Up.  That means no review of this play until Saturday Night.  I hope Joe Mercuri finds this post amusing.

One More Thing About Koch The Movie

Very often when the credits start to roll at the end of a movie, people begin to file out.  Whenever I hear a good song I tend to stay in my seat until the song ends.  For example at the end of Jerry McGuire an alternate version of Bob Dylan's Shelter from the Storm was played.  Wild horse couldn't make me move :) .  Anyway at the end of the Koch movie the Only Living Boy in New York by Simon and Garfunkel was played.  That song is absolutely perfect for Ed Koch.