A Great Weekend.

I had a great time at the Hollywood Celebrity Show over the weekend.
I sold a shitload of books (I'm Not Garbo, and one of my essay books).
People seemed very glad to see me, and me them.
I had a table next to Ed Asner and we hit it off immediately.
He has agreed to read one of my plays.
I ran in to Dawn Wells who did my other play twenty years ago, and still looks young enough to
do it in a new production.
And she has now grown into one of the older characters in my other play.
Thirty years ago, that part was done by Mitzi McCall.
Time plays funny tricks.
As I am now wheelchair bound, it was a great way for me to get out of the house.
And I can still direct either one of them by way of Skype.
I've proven that this can be done, and that I can do it.
I also met a major macher who works for Mayor Rahm Emanuel who is also reading the two plays, and professes to have major connections in Chicago theater.
We shall see.
Whatever happens, it was an extremely pleasant weekend.
If nothing happens from it, that's okay, too.

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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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Leaving Astaire and Rogers in the Dust.

I never thought I'd ever hear myself saying this, but on at least one occasion,  I saw two people out-dance, out-sing, and outperform,  Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
It was only once, but direct comparisons could be made in the same number.
The pair in question are Karen Ziemba, one of my all-time fave Broadway dancer-singers, and
Scott Wise,  whom I didn't know by name, but had seen several times on Broadway in several musicals.
The number in question is "My One And Only Highland Fling".
From the movie "The Barkley's of Broadway".
Ziemba and Wise performed it at a gala 100th birthday party for Ira Gershwin, who wrote the lyrics for it.  The music was by Harry Warren.
This was twenty years ago.
The movie was produced by the top of the line MGM musical producer, Arthur Freed.
And written by the top of the line scriptwriters, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green.
It was nobody's finest work.
And it was originally written for Judy Garland.
I don't think it would have made much difference.
"My One And Only Highland Fling" is a lovely number.
It has, to nobody's surprise, a Scottish motif.
The problem with it, was, unless they gave the script a re-write, it did not belong in this movie.
It has the highly inventive "Shoes With Wings On", and very little else to recommend it musically except "My One and Only Highland Fling".
The problem with the number in the movie was that the characters that Fred and Ginger were playing, a married couple, was that they were the cinematic equivalent to the radio's The Bickersons.
The squabbled about everything,
From the beginning to the ending.
The most disagreeable couple you'd ever come across.
Only, of all things, Oscar Levant's bitter acerbity made it at all palatable.
So Fred and Ginger performed "Highland Fling" contemptuously toward each other.
Perhaps her less than him, but still, no joy, no exuberance.
Now, they're both on YouTube.
Go and watch Ziemba and Wise perform it.
Who knew this number had that kind of potential?
Utterly uplifting.
Utterly exuberant.
Ziemba has spent her entire career in New York, winning Tony's, and always deserving them.
And of course she does guest shots on "The Good Wife", and at least three "Law and Order's"
She was one of the great dancers.
At 59, she probably can't do what she did 20 years ago, but with the magic of YouTube, you can at least see what she was then.
And Wise is probably still a great dancer.
There's another parallel to be drawn.
At that same concert Ziemba and Wise performed "Put Me To The Test", which Gene Kelly and
Rita Hayworth performed in the movie "Cover Girl".
Now, nobody left anybody in the dust here, but the fact of the matter is that Rita Hayworth never did her own singing.
She was always dubbed.
Let's call this one a draw.        

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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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My Semi-Immediate Plans.

In  exactly two weeks from today and tomorrow,  March 25th and 26th,  I will be appearing at the Hollywood Celebrity Autograph Show in downtown Chicago.
I will have my own table, where I will be happy to meet you, sign autographs, and offer my books for sale, autographing them personally with each purchase.
The books are "I'm Not Garbo", my novel,  my one work of fiction, and the best thing I've ever written, and Mark Rothman's Essays, a collection of essays that have long been removed from the blog, and which you've probably never read.
If I'm not enough of an attraction for you, consider this:  Angie Dickinson will be there.
Stephanie Powers will be there.  Ed Asner will be there.  Dawn "Mary Ann" Wells will be there.
Larry Thomas, the "Soup Nazi" from Seinfeld, will be there.  Charlene Tilton from "Dallas" will be there. Richard Chamberlain will be there.
I don't know about you, but I want to see ALL of these people.
There will be many others. 
You can check out the whole list and get all the info at hollywoodshow.com/Chicago.
I look forward to seeing all of you,  whether you buy a book or not.
Now, there's no baseball yet, no football, it's a week before the NCAA Championship.
Those will be day games, so they can be Tivoed and watched at night.
So what better is there to do that weekend in Chicago?
I can't think of anything.

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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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Let's Make It A Fair Fight.

There's this new cable channel called CBS All-Access.
To promote it, along with a lot of old shows, they have this extension of "The Good Wife" called
"The Good Fight".
It has several elements of "The Good Wife"---Christine Baranski,  several other familiar cast members,  the tone and level of writing.
They offered the first hour on CBS Prime Time, for free.
But all episodes following cost seven bucks a month.
Now, I don't mind paying extra for extra programming on cable.
I have Netfllix, and Amazon Prime.
Both channels have tons of original programming.
CBS All Access only has "The Good Fight" and nothing else new.
Unless they get their act together, they'll never get their hands on my money.
At least give some indication that they are headed in that direction.
Otherwise,  I'll just have to wait until there is enough original programming that I want to see, so that I feel comfortable ordering CBS All access and begin binge-watching "The Good Fight"
This is my first threat.
I'm serious.
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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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