Martin Charnin.

He died today.
He was one of the great Broadway Lyricists.
Best known for providing the lyrics for "Annie".
And for directing the Broadway production of "Annie"
And all of the road companies of "Annie".
That's looking at and rejecting a lot of little girls.
Better than that, he was a wonderful performer.
Especially of his own material.
You can find a lot of it on YouTube.
I suggest that you hunt for it.
Especially when he performs the songs and talks about trying to raising the money for "Annie" at Backers Auditions.
Great stuff.
I was fortunate to attend one of his Backers Auditions.
In New York.  Many years ago.
He was trying to raise money for a major revival of his musical "Two By Two".
It originally starred Danny Kaye.
Who by now was dead.
Tom Bosley was now to be the star.
I found this odd.
Mainly because he really couldn't sing.
I was fascinated to see how they would audition the songs.
Tom won a Tony Award for "Fiorello' about 25 years before.
But he didn't sing.
He had one song, which he basically talked, or rather yelled his way through it.
I had harbored a secret wish.
I had hoped that Martin Charnin himself would handle the songs.
Which is indeed what happened.
And they even gave out demos of the songs with Martin Charnin singing for Bosley.
I don't think they raised a dime that night.
And the revival never happened.
But Charnin was quite a talent.
I still have that demo.
I think I'll play it tonight.

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My books, "Show Runner" and "Show Runner 2" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store,

along with newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".

They are all compilations of blog entries 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.

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The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.

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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@aol.com.

And now, there's my reading of my screenplay of my unmade "Laverne and Shirley" movie on "YouTube".

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