Author: Steve Crum
‘Waiting for Godot’ continues to frustrate, challenge
Among the first reviews I ever wrote is Waiting for Godot. Seasoned professional theatre critics still struggle with making some semblance out of Beckett’s tragi-comedy, featuring a surreal plot and eccentric characters. As a 20 year-old college student, I sat there taking notes, never really knowing what the hell was happening on stage. But the actors were acting, so I figured whatever I tried to explain about the goings-on would be just as valid as anyone else’s interpretation. As it turned out, several little old ladies in the audience stormed out of the theatre in obvious disgust at the dialogue and stage actions. I think they left during the farting scene.
The illustrious Emporia Gazette critic was there the same opening night, and gave Godot a sound thumbs down. This gave me some notoriety since we were so opinion-split. I was told more folks attended the production than expected, because they wanted to see which critic was on the mark.
Nonetheless, what follows is what was published in The Bulletin, Emporia State’s student newspaper, on Oct. 18, 1967.
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QUALITY OF SEASON’S FIRST, MAKES ‘GODOT’ WELL WORTH WAITING FOR
By Steve CrumWaiting for Godot, the first New Theatre production of the season, opened Monday evening.
It was brilliant.
The plot is centered upon two seemingly ignorant men who encounter various problems while waiting for the mysterious man, Godot. The primary concern of the entire play is not the appearance of Godot, but instead, the discipline of waiting.
The attitude of each of the characters is one of confusion and uncertainty. As a study of man’s actions, both mental and physical, author Samuel Beckett is perceptive. Psychologically, the play ponders and answers many questions that are seemingly devoid of answers. One of the characters, Didi, rationalizes at one point, “When you seek, you believe.”
Being one of the most famous of the “Theatre of the Absurd” productions, Godot traditionally incorporates several recognizable qualities: broken dialogue, inconsistency in progression and harmony, a minimum of props and scenery, and at times, almost hellish dreamlike visions.Directed by William E. McDonnell, himself a graduate of the “absurd theatre,” Godot exhibits precision. One more clearly understand because director McDonnell makes them understand.
There are only five characters in the play: Jim Daniels as Estragon (Gogo); Larry Remmers as Vladimir (Didi), Conrad Jestmore as Lucky, Patrick Kelley as Pozzo, and promising newcomer to the New Theatre stage, Indulis Dambro as the boy messenger.
Jim Daniels and Larry Remmers should undoubtedly be applauded for their frequently too realistic characterizations of Gogo and Didi. Daniels, as the sarcastic and sleepy hobo, blended appropriately with Larry Remmers, portraying the bombastic bed wetter and sometime intellectual. Conrad Jestmore holds the more physical part in his portrayal of the man servant of Pozzo. Jestmore does not speaks very much during the course of the play (he is usually bent over, grumbling somewhat), but it is a high point when he does speak. His “soliloquy” is memorable, though, on my part, unquotable. He must have said something.
The part of Pozzo, the egotistical slave driver, is enacted by Patrick Kelley. Here again, the character required versatility, and Mr. Kelley was effective.
Waiting for Godot will run through Oct. 21. Tickets are still available at the College Theatre box office, New Humanities Building. The price is 50 cents plus activity ticket, which is an inexpensive way to see an extremely high caliber play.During the “showdown” scene of Godot, insults are directed at each of the two participants much like bullets, the mortal wound occurring with the mention of “critic.” It was difficult to keep from smiling.
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An excerpt from the 2014 Broadway revival of Waiting For Godot, featuring Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUXtzkLTABI
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An excerpt from the 2014 Broadway revival of Waiting For Godot, featuring Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUXtzkLTABI
Backstage, Onstage…with Preservation Hall Jazz Band
CBS Sunday Morning, this morning, featured a piece on New Orleans’ venerable, famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This prompted memories of seeing and hearing the touring Preservation Hall group in 1967 while I was studying at Emporia State University (then Kansas State Teachers College). Before their fantastic performance, I chatted with two of its members, Billie and De De Pierce. They are long since dearly departed. While other veteran Preservation Hall musicians have passed on since its founding in 1961 (the average age at any given time is 70-75), replacements (mostly elderly) have stayed on, died, and been replaced themselves. Repeatedly. Lesley Stahl’s CBS feature did a fine job covering the current band and its history.
My take on the band was published in The Bulletin, the university newspaper, Oct. 11, 1967, when I was a 20 year-old junior.
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PRESERVATION HALL ROCKS EMPORIA WITH ‘DIXIELAND’
By Steve Crum
Even if one were to understate the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Oct. 4 performance, the review would have to include such superlatives as “tremendous,” “exciting,” and “unforgettable.”Why use such complimentary terms? If you were there, then you know why. If you were not there, then you missed something.
The five member group, billed as “The Last original Dixieland Band Direct From New Orleans,” displayed a musical technique that dates back to the New Orleans jazz era of 1919.
There have been many imitators of the Dixieland sound. The Preservation group is the real thing.Their music hits deep. You could not help but move when it moved, smile when it was happy, or to feel mellowed when it was sad. Their music leveled. It manipulated.
Take for an example the Emporia audience who presented the jazz group with a standing ovation…at the end of the first half of the show. Three more such ovations occurred during the second half.
Fifteen minutes before their performance began, Billie and De De Pierce, the two featured performers, sat backstage. They were quiet. Perhaps they were thinking about the 14 week cross-country tour they are presently on. For a group whose average age is 70 years, an extended tour is a tiring experience.Surprisingly, however, it was a youthful Mrs. Pierce who praised the current trend of music. “We like all music.” She spoke of her memories as a young woman, of her long marriage to De De, and of New Orleans, When asked about once playing jazz for funerals, De De added, “Oh yeah, and they still have funerals like that down there.”
Soon it was time for the aged Dixieland musicians to perform. Billie led her almost blind husband out to his chair at stage center. He picked up his trumpet, and she sat down at the piano. The rest of the company soon came out: Jim Robinson, trombonist; William Humphrey Jr., clarinetist: and Josiah “Cie” Frazier, drummer. The following two hours were memorable.
It is too bad there were not more college students there. They would have witnessed a vanishing era, and then walked away feeling good inside.
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Enjoy this brief overview of Billie and De De Pierce in performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiPDC_QTUts
It is too bad there were not more college students there. They would have witnessed a vanishing era, and then walked away feeling good inside.
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Enjoy this brief overview of Billie and De De Pierce in performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiPDC_QTUts
Breathing celebrity air with…FORREST J. ACKERMAN
By Steve Crum
I made Forry Ackerman laugh. Forrest J. Ackerman aka Forry aka The Ackermonster was a special guest at the fun Area 51 Festival held June 15-21, 2001 in Independence, Mo. He spoke on stage between screenings of classic science fiction movies The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Thing From Another World. Forry watched the films as an audience member too–films he had undoubtedly seen a hundred times since his 1916 birth.
Actors Billy Gray and Robert Cornthwaite were also there in person. As a child actor, Gray secured his place in movie history with 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still. Cornthwaite’s portrayal of the driven lead scientist in The Thing has immortalized him to sci-fi buffs. 
Incidentally, it is Forry Ackerman who created the phrase “sci-fi,” repeatedly used in his classic, influential magazine, “Famous Monsters of Filmland.” Ackerman, who died on Dec. 4, 2008, was a major cultural influence by legitimizing horror and sci-fi movies to the masses. He shared his passion for being awed by fantasy and terror with the world, a love geeks like yours truly have maintained. In fact, we are no longer considered geeks.
That is, unless one dresses up like a superhero or creature outside of Halloween. That is pretty geeky.
During a lengthy break in the Area 51 festivities, Ackerman sat behind a table, signing photos of himself for fans. I stood in the long line to meet and greet the man, and get a signed pic. He had brought stacks of 8×10’s with him in various poses. There was one of him with Vincent Price, one with Boris Karloff, and one by himself. I chose the one with Price. 
Before he signed, however, he asked for the $5 fee. I proceeded to pull a five inch wide $5 bill facsimile out of my wallet, adding, “I’m sorry, I just brought a little money with me.” It was a guaranteed groaner I have pulled on friends for years.
Forry Ackerman laughed. Big time. In fact, he guffawed.
This is the man known for writing excruciatingly bad (which means good) puns in his magazines for decades.
He checked over my fake bill as he kept laughing. Then I traded it for a real five spot. He signed the photo for me, and I thanked him. He was still laughing when the next in line approached.
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Let’s take a personally guided tour of The Ackermansion with none other than Forrest J. Ackerman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WFRsm0-PTc
Carrot Top gives audience what they apparently want, sad to say
(This review of comedian Carrot Top’s performance in Kansas City, Kansas was published in The Kansas City Kansan on June 23, 1995.)
By Steve Crum
Opening amidst smoke, strobe lights, The Little Rascals’ theme music and an M-80 explosion, wildly orange-red-haired comedy-propster Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) treated the obviously delighted 1,000-plus at Memorial Hall Saturday night to an hour and 45 minutes of sometimes goofy, too often vulgar, and frequently inventive laughs.
Labeled his “Junk in a Trunk Tour,” representing Carrot Top’s stage setting of numerous trunks (he pulled humorous inventions from five of them), the evening showcased the Carrot-man’s talent for visual, topical humor. A “Mark Fuhrman tool belt” had a half dozen bloody gloves Velcroed around it. Showing some versatility, CT cleverly excerpted about 15 rock stars in the finale.
So why then does Carrot Top resort to using the “f” word so frequently? Why are so many jokes built around sexual and bathroom humor (he uses a dozen toilet seats in his act) as well as ethnic putdowns of Vietnamese and Middle Easterners? My answer is The Carrot is no different from too many currently popular funny men in using what used to be considered (and I still do) offensive humor.
He gives his people what they want. The 20-ish audience certainly wanted it. In fact, throughout the evening, several fans shouted obscenities to Carrot Top. Only once was he momentarily stunned at what cannot be printed here.
Undoubtedly, the loose attitude of the audience was encouraged by the permissible beer drinking that occurred within the auditorium all evening. The drinking, as well as widespread cigarette smoking, was irritating and distracting. However, Carrot Top used the drinking to his advantage, borrowing a front rower’s plastic glass of suds and chug-a-lugging it to his sound man’s cue-up of the Cheers theme. The audience ate…er, drank it up.
Just a quick thanks to Memorial Hall’s crack security team for their polite harassment of yours truly. Right after the warm-up comedian began (a funny 15-minute spin by Patrick Simpson), security interrupted me as I sat in the audience and asked for my ticket, signature, and address. Embarrassing enough. Minutes later the same guy appeared, and ordered me to accompany him out of the auditorium and to the security room. Behind a closed door, I shared my ticket and press pass with three security guys. After 10 minutes, a honcho said he thought he knew the problem, so I was told “sorry” and permitted to return to my seat. Never was I told what the problem was and my supposed part in it. Mistaken identity, evidently. But hey, being treated like a criminal is always a great way to make friends and influence critics.
The end of Carrot Top’s showtime (a standing ovation) seemed to justify the means, which included latex sexual props, and a far too long demonstration of how men (including John Bobbitt) and women urinate in the snow.
Calling Carrot Top a roadshow Gallagher (another prop comic) is an injustice. Gallagher’s watermelon bashing act has less crass and more class.
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Carrot Top in action on The Arsenio Hall Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjbuRySA2Hs
Romantic films worth seeking out for Valentine’s Day
[Note: Published on February 10, 1995 in The Kansas City Kansan, this article references movie titles from 19+ years ago. It has been somewhat edited since VHS has since given way to DVDs. This affected my original introduction and conclusion. I realize there have been many Valentine-appropriate flicks since then, but not addressed here.]
By Steve Crum
“Where do I begin…” asks the musical question in the 1970 hit song, “Theme from Love Story,” and with that romantic day in February just a few roses away, a loving look at Valentine’s Day movies is appropriate. So add a couple of logs in the fireplace, snuggle up, and tenderly watch a film at least partially devoted to love. Most if not all these titles are available on DVD—or via stream, cable, satellite, pay-per-view, Red Box, pony express rider….
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THE ABYSS (1989)
On the surface, so to speak, it might not seem to be a love story. But one fathoms it truly is after Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is forced to die, trusting her husband (Ed Harris) to bring her back to life. She does, and he does.
THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
The love story between Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn is the strength of this film, sweetheart.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1992)
One of the great love stories, this animated musical version is also a Broadway hit. Check out the non-musical versions from ’46 and ’63. Also see the very stretched interpretations from 1933 and 1976: King Kong. (Don’t forget the former’s closing line: “Twas beauty that killed the beast.”)BEFORE SUNRISE (1995)
Two Generation-Xers meet on a train in Europe and decide to spend the night walking around Vienna together, and talk and talk and talk. If watching two people trying to put the make on each other for two hours is entertainment, be sure to see it. This critic left the theater before sundown. A better bet is the vastly superior inspiration, 1945’s Brief Encounter.
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961)
Makes the list just for its hit theme song, “Moon River,” if nothing else. But Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard make it that something else.
THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)
Well, at least Boris Karloff’s monster falls madly in love with his stitched-up soul mate. Sadly, it is unrequited love; Frankenstein’s womanster screams her borrowed guts out when she first sees him.
BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
The best screwball comedy ever made is also one of the funniest love stories. Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant are the duo. “Baby” is a leopard. (Note that Cary does not say, “Judy, Judy, Judy” in this or any of his films.) The remake, What’s Up Doc?, is just as zany.
DEFENDING YOUR LIFE (1991)
Albert Brooks wrote this romantic fantasy-comedy about life and love in the hereafter. Meryl Streep co-stars.
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GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
The king of all love stories for many, perhaps because of King Clark Gable as Rhett and Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett.
HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953)
Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable each eventually fall in love with the man instead of the money in this sophisticated comedy.
IRMA LA DOUCE (1963)
Seldom seen Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine comedy directed by Billy Wilder centers on a Parisian cop and his hilarious devotion to a prostitute girlfriend.
LADYHAWKE (1985)An extremely romantic fantasy-adventure about two lovers cursed to spend alternating hours with each other as a hawk and a wolf. No, this is not a dog.
THE LONG, LONG TRAILER (1954)
Lucy and Desi star in the best of the two features they made together.
LOVE AFFAIR (1937)
Take notes on this one. The 1937 version with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunn spawned the 1994 remake with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. In between there was the Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr ’57 version (An Affair to Remember) which was a more direct inspiration for the ’93 Sleepless in Seattle. Got it? You’ll be tested.
LOVE STORY (1970)
Sure it is sappy and maudlin, and sure it was the apex of Ryan O’Neal’s career. But it sure made a lot of people cry buckets of cash at the box office.
ROMANTIC MUSICALSProbably 90 percent of musicals have a love story as the central theme. Some of the most musically romantic are 1967’s Camelot, 1951’s An American in Paris, 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain, 1982’s Victor/Victoria, and My Fair Lady (1964). Add to this list the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical library and the Astaire-Rogers set. Factor in 1953’s Calamity Jane, 1956’s High Society, 1982’s Gigi, and Grease (1982). Need we mention the Elvis lineup?
ONLY THE LONELY (1991)
John Candy shines as a lonely guy just trying to fall in love in spite of mother Maureen O’Hara’s control.
THE PALM BEACH STORY (1942)
Of the Preston Sturges written-directed comedies, this one and 1941’s The Lady Eve are sophisticated gems dealing with gotten and misbegotten relationships.
PICNIC (1953)
A love story set and shot in Kansas, and one of the most hotly romantic. The film that asks us to pull for Kim Novak to catch up with William Holden on the departing train.
ROMEO AND JULIET (1936, ’66, ’68)Hollywoodized Shakespeare is still super romantic with two young lovers willing to live and literally die for each other.
THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)
Purely romantic vehicle of two who work in the same store, unknowingly writing pen-pal letters to each other. Remade as the musical In the Good Old Summertime with Judy Garland nine years later.
UNTAMED HEART (1993)
A weeper with a tearful ending, starring Christian Slater as a loner with a baboon’s heart (for real—“untamed”!) who becomes the love interest of waitress Marisa Tomei.
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And remember that love means to kindly rewind. (This was my original videotape-referenced tag line.)
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My favorite date flick, Camelot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zezwYtRW6m4