9/8/22
Newsletter91
The Crack of Dawn
[On Aug. 31 a big electrical storm blew through the Detroit-Metropolitan area knocking out the power. That’s when God, lo, in his infinite wisdom, smotem my modem. It has taken me a week to get a new one, but here I am; back and better than ever].
My literary bookends – it’s dark; it’s light – doesn’t work anymore. Now it’s dark and it’s still dark. I will dispense with it. I don’t remember who said this, but I like it, “Consistency is a false jewel that only cheap men cherish.”
As I’ve previously mentioned, Steve Miller’s song, Jet Airliner, fell victim to our new Puritanism. The line, “Funky shit goin’ down in the city” became, “Funky shiz goin’ down in the city.” Jet Airliner is one of the few hits that Steve Miller didn’t write. The song was written by the late Paul Pena, a blind Chicago musician. Pena taught himself Tuvan throat-singing, a very strange-sounding form of vocal, created in the throat and not in the mouth, and exceptionally difficult to master. Tuva, by the way, is located at the dead center of Asia in Siberia, north of Mongolia. Paul Pena was invited to the annual Tuvan throat-sing contest – making him the one and only non-Tuvan to ever participate – and won. Paul Pena, his Tuvan throat-singing, and him winning the contest, are all beautifully captured in the Oscar-nominated 1999 documentary, Genghis Blues, which I recommend.
And now for more fun facts about Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s best friend in the early 1920s when he was first starting the Nazi Party was Ernst Franz Sedgwick Hanfstaengl, who was six-foot-five and affectionately known as “Putzi,” meaning little penis. Putzi was from a very wealthy Bavarian family, attended Harvard University in the early 1900s, and became friendly with both Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt. Moving back to Germany in 1920, he heard Hitler speak, was introduced himself, and they became close friends. Hitler invited Putzi to an early Nazi rally. Afterward, Putzi informed Hitler that his Nazi rally songs stunk. Putzi sat down at a piano and played and sang Hitler the best American football songs, among them was the University of Michigan’s, “Hail to the victors valiant/Hail to the conquering hero/Hail, hail to Michigan, the leader of the pack.” Hitler loved these songs, stole all of them, had new lyrics written, and those became the official Nazi Party anthems.
On my SyFy Network film, Alien Apocalypse (2005), shot in Bulgaria, we received a note from the executives at SyFy saying, “Use more Steadicam, the kids love it.” The wonderful cinematographer, David Worth (who shot two Clint Eastwood movies), nearly collapsed from laughing. He said mockingly, “Honey, get the kids, they’re using a Steadicam.” Steadicam is a great tool, but sadly the cheap executive producer, Jeff Franklin, wouldn’t rent one. He did, however, still want to please the SyFy executives. I said, “Don’t worry about it, I got it.” From then on, any time we did a dolly shot, I had the camera department note on the slate, “Steadicam,” and went so far as to have the clapper announce at the beginning of each shot, “Steadicam up.” We soon a received a message from SyFy informing us that our Steadicam work was “excellent.”
Also on Alien Apocalypse, my two second-leads were Rossi, the top fashion model in Bulgaria who was on the cover of Russian Vogue that month, and Remy, the executive producer’s college-aged son. Rossi, who was not an actress and didn’t speak English, but was so beautiful that my knees got weak any time I got near her, was completely comfortable in front of a camera. She did anything I asked, like, “After you say the line [phonetically], smile and exit,” and that’s what she did. Remy, the executive producer’s son, on the other hand, didn’t know what he was doing. Remy’s first scene on camera ever in his life was with Rossi. I did a take, Rossi was fine, Remy did nothing. He delivered his lines in a dead-eyed monotone. After another take or two, I took him aside and said, “You’re being out-acted by a super model. You can’t do nothing. Smile, frown, gasp, raise your eyebrows, do something.” On the next take Remy smiled, frowned, gasped and raised his eyebrows. And all was well after that.
Cheers!