Beautiful Boy - Excellent Movie with the Wrong Title

Today I was grateful that I am retired and don't have to go to work and put up with managerial nonsense. I had a dentist appointment in Forest Hills late in the morning and from there I walked over the Kew Gardens Cinema to see Beautiful Boy starring Steve Carell.  As I have said many times in this journal I often go to this theater to see movies that appeal to older audiences that are not shown at the local multiplex.

This film showed the experiences of a family coping with the problems involved with the drug addiction of a young adult.  It was based on dual memoirs of David Sheff (father played by Steve Carell) and Nic Sheff (the son played by Timothee Chalamet).

I always associated the phrase "Beautiful Boy" with the John Lennon song from the album Double Fantasy.  John sings to his son Sean who was only 5 years old.  Nic Sheff was at least 18 years old in the movie.  There were about 30 seconds of the song in the film.  For that reason, I thought a different title should have been used.

SABR Keeps Me Busy in Retirement

I can't spend all my time at museums, movies, and libraries, so much of my time at home is devoted to SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) specifically the Games Project.  Here are two short articles that I am submitting for the Committee's forthcoming newsletter.

The Baseball Index

The Baseball Index is an ongoing project of a SABR Committee  now chaired by Andy McCue formed to locate, identify, evaluate, classify and describe the literature of the national pastime.  Currently, it includes over 250,000 records of books, articles, book sections, and other materials and is continually updated.  At the recent Pittsburgh meeting, I offered to index SABR Games Project articles so they may be added to the database.  The database is searchable by keyword and includes the teams involved and subject terms from a controlled thesaurus assigned by the indexer.  At the end of September, I had indexed 600 games.  I hope to complete the 1178 games already posted by the end of 2018.  I would then update the database monthly with the new submissions.

Fact-Checking

Earlier this year I assumed the role of coordinator of fact-checking.  I receive the manuscripts from Len Levin after he edits them.  I do many but also distribute to the following contributors:

·         Kevin Larkin

·         Brandon Lewis

·         Tom Brown

·         Jack Zerby

·         Mike Huber

·         Sheldon Miller

I am pleased to report that only a few corrections are needed.  I thank all the SABR members who fact-check the submissions.  After the fact-checking is complete, the articles are submitted to Mike Huber who sends them to Jacob Pomrenke for posting.

Random Comments of the Day

I never know when Bruce's Journal will have an impact on someone else.  Back in 2012, I purchased a biography of Paul Reed who played Captain Block on Car 54 Where are You.  A writer contacted me since he wanted to find out if there was any relationship between Paul Reed and the entertainer Sid Caeser who was popular in the 1950s.  He needed to get some information from that book which is now out of print.  When he phoned me, I was able to read to him some excerpts which confirmed there was a minor relationship between the two entertainers.  The next time I go to the Performing Arts Library of NYPL I will look up a few books on Sid Caeser.

Today we drove over to the Kew Gardens Cinema to see Robert Redford in the Old Man & the Gun.  It seems that all of the movies at the local multiplex are just suited for a younger audience.  However, whenever we go to Kew Gardens there is always a problem with finding a parking spot or navigating through the narrow 2-way streets.

I am working on indexing articles for the Baseball Index, a service of SABR.  I try to index about 10 articles a day.

Viewing WMCA and WABC Radio Seminars at the Paley Center

The Paley Center is certainly a treasure of radio and TV shows.  They also archive the seminars they hold there as well.  Back in 1998, there was a seminar featuring the WMCA Good Guys who were DJs when the station played hits in the 1960s.  As the camera panned the audience I saw some people that I know. .

• Alan Berman (may he rest in peace)
• Kevin Sealey
• Rob Frankel
• Alan Seltzer
• Mary Shaw

 I attended that seminar but didn't see myself in the audience

There was a similar seminar in 1985 featuring the late Rick Sklar with the WABC DJs who were there when it was a Top 40 station.  Sadly most of them have passed away.

Serendipity at the Met Breuer Museum

The big Metropolitan Museum of Art has a few satellite locations including Met Breuer at Madison Avenue and 75th Street, the former home of the Whitney Museum.  A New York State resident can be admitted for whatever amount he/she wants to pay.

The first exhibit I visited was called Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy.  When I got off the elevator there were large murals of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby.  It included 70 works by 30 artists in various formats that explore the hidden operations of power and the symbiotic suspicion between the government and its citizens that haunts Western democracies.  There were several photographs of Henry Kissinger of all people.  Anyway, as you can see above there was a work by John Miller of the Wheel of Fortune with Pat Sajak and Vanna White.  It doesn't fit in with the theme of the exhibit, but it was the highlight of the day for me.  Apparently, John Miller drew more paintings of game shows as indicated in this press release.  I am going to see if I can find out more information about this.

The second exhibit was Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963-2017.  Whitten's sculptures, which he first created in New York and later at his summer home on Crete, consist of carved wood, often in combination with found materials sourced from his local environment, including bone, marble, paper, glass, nails, and fishing line.

Randy of Randy and the Rainbows Passes Away from a Heart Condition

Photo of Randy Safuto at

the Nov 2017 Meet and Greet

I found out from reading Don Tandler's Facebook feed that Randy Safuto of Randy and the Rainbows fame passed away.  This report from Vintage Vinyl News stated that he suffered a heart attack last May, so I am assuming that a heart condition was the cause of death.  

He spoke to the group at last year's Oldies Meet and Greet and was very friendly to everyone.  My condolences to the family.

I Researched Beatles Producer George Martin at the Performing Arts Library of NYPL

On an impulse, I decided to research Beatles producer George Martin at NYPL.  It certainly beats suffering through a New Jersey Transit delay.  I found this marvelous book that answered all my questions:

Martin, G. (2002). Playback: An illustrated memoir. Guildford: Genesis.

Since this was a rare book with only 2000 copies signed by the author it was held in the Special Collections of the Research Library

He was born in 1926 and self-learned music.  He actually wrote his first musical piece at age 8.  He later attended the Guilford School of Music.  He entered Abby Road studios in 1950 when he produced classical music for EMI.  In addition, he produced the recordings of the London Baroque Ensemble and later made children's records for the HMV label.

He first met Brian Epstein in February 1962 when he signed the Beatles to EMI/Parlophone after several record labels rejected them. In June of that year, he rejected Pete Best as the drummer and hired Ringo Starr.  When he recorded Please, Please, Me in 1963 he realized that this group was going to be something special.

Other groups, he recorded included:

• Cilla Black
• Billy J. Kramer
• Cilla Black
• Shirley Bassey
• Gerry and the Pacemakers
• The Fourmost
• Neil Sedaka (later in his career)

He admitted that his biggest mistake was to record Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever as a double-A side.  With 20/20 hindsight George felt that those two songs should have been included on the Sgt. Pepper album.

I could have spent hours reading this book and taking notes, but I had to skim through much of the book.  There were fantastic photos of the Fab Four that I had never seen.

I also listened to an album called  Off the Beatle Track, a collection of instrumental versions by the George Martin Orchestra.