(Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in the classic 1950 film noir, Sunset Boulevard.)
My daughter has been taking acting lessons at the L.A. Acting Studios in North Hollywood, California. She tells me it has been a fun experience and well worth her time and money.
The L.A. Acting Studios teaches on-camera acting using six fully functioning, professionally-designed sets. All teachers are Hollywood professionals who actively work in the industry. Students act out scenes in front of multiple cameras, directed by Director David Rountree. During the course of the classes, students play both leading and supportive roles, giving them a well-rounded experience. Students can download their filmed scenes for their own evaluation and use. If desired, the studio can make demo reels for students at an additional cost to send to agents, casting managers, and production companies.
Classes are kept affordable and small. Acting classes are offered for children and teens. Actor David Banks teaches the Commercial Acting Class.
I was finishing up my final project for class, and I had notebooks and papers scattered all over the living-room. My husband, who hates it when I pile books and papers everywhere, said to me:
“You’re a nerd!”
I looked at him and said, “You’re just now figuring that out?”
I mean, I’ve known like forever that he’s a comic book-reading, Star Wars-watching Trekkie and Geek! No mystery there! We used to spend hours at the comic book store in Palo Alto, California while he looked at role-playing stuff and browsed through the collectible comics. We used to show up every Saturday to play hours of Dungeons & Dragons, which I thought was boring as hell. We spent hours playing board games that I almost always lost (except Scrabble). We spent tons of quarters at the arcade playing video games.
My husband watches the original Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and now Picard, over and over again. I swear, he has the dialogue memorized for every episode. He and my daughter watch all the Star Wars stuff. We even attended a Star Trek convention one year in Las Vegas. Then there are the Superheroes, like Batman and Spider Man.
I do what I’ve always done – read books, write, watch movies and TV, take classes, and listen to music.
And he’s just now figuring out that I’m a nerd?
I told my daughter about our conversation, and she just laughed. She said she doesn’t think of either one of us in that way!
~
Dawn Pisturino
February 22, 2023
Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
A few months ago, I suddenly realized that I had not been to the local library since before the pandemic, so I dusted off my old library card and made a point of visiting. During the lockdown, the county remodeled the whole facility and expanded the number of books available. They did a fantastic job! I was very impressed with the results and enjoyed browsing the shelves for a few good mystery books — and it didn’t cost me a dime.
When digital publishing became popular, people predicted the demise of public libraries. While bookstores in general have been profoundly affected, local libraries seem to have thrived. And, thank goodness for that! Libraries offer so much more than just checking out books.
I still remember Mrs. Brown from my childhood days, the chubby little librarian with stern eyes and short grey hair, who presided over our tiny branch of the county library. We lived out in the country then, and I used to ride my bike several miles to check out books. Whenever I chose something she didn’t approve of (I was an advanced reader and liked to check out the latest New YorkTimes best-sellers), she would ask me: “Did your parents give you permission to read that?” Now, my parents didn’t care what I read, but I always told her “yes,” and that was the end of the conversation. I still remember her looking at me with grave doubts when I checked out The Collector by John Fowles (which is still a good book and a great movie, by the way).
One of the most famous scenes from musical theater is “Marian the Librarian” from The Music Man – a musical that will put you into a joyous and inspired mood like nothing else. The movie (1962), starring Shirley Jones, is delightful!
Have a great day!
Dawn Pisturino
January 6, 2023
Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Jazz musicians are no strangers to Halloween. Even the great Louis Armstrong recorded a couple of fun Halloween songs that were quite popular in his day. When Armstrong appeared in his first major motion picture, Pennies from Heaven (1936), he performed The Skeleton in the Closet with Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra.
The Skeleton in the ClosetLyrics
Boy, don’t you go in there Come outa there, boy Don’t you know that house is haunted
There’s an old deserted mansion On an old forgotten road Where the better ghosts and goblins Always hang out. One night they threw a party In a manner à la mode And they cordially invited All the gang out At a dark bewitchin’ hour When the fun was loud and hearty A notorious wall flower Became the life of the party Mmm! The spooks were havin’ their midnight fling The merry makin’ was in full swing They shrieked themselves into a cheerful trance When the skeleton in the closet started to dance Now a goblin giggled with fiendish glee A shout rang out from a big banshee Amazement was in every ghostly glance When the skeleton in the closet started to dance All the witches were in stitches While his steps made rhythmic thumps And they nearly dropped their broomsticks When he tried to do the bumps You never heard such unearthly laughter Such hilarious groans When the skeleton in the closet rattled his bones
In 1954, Armstrong recorded the song Spooks with Gordon Jenkins and his orchestra.
SpooksLyrics
The other night, about twelve o’clock I thought I’d go downstairs just to check the lock When I heard something in the house I don’t mean a mouse
I swear they were spooks, spooks, spooks I know they were spooks, spooks, spooks, spooks I couldn’t move, just stood and stared I never was so scared
The first spook spoke and I heard him speak He said, “What say I go make the back door squeak?” Oh he would tease the cat and hound the pup And raise our spirits up
Oh lordy, them spooks, spooks, spooks Those scary old spooks, spooks, spooks, spooks You don’t have to take my word But I heard what I heard
The next spook spoke, he said, “Suppose we make The faucets drip and make the shutters shake You let me know just what you want This is my favourite haunt
Beware of them spooks, spooks, spooks Them mischievous spooks, spooks, spooks, spooks I ain’t spoofing, man I mean That I seen what I seen
A big spook spoke, he said, “Spike, my son,” he said “I’ll show you how to scare up some fun But next time when you wail, see here You make it loud and clear”
Watch out for them spooks, spooks, spooks Oh them nasty old spooks, spooks, spooks, spooks Maybe you don’t think it’s so But I knew what I knew
The last spook turned to his spouse and frowned Said, “I thought I’d told you to wait in the ground But you look awful cute tonight In fact, you look a fright”
How did Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 become a staple among Halloween favorites? After all, Bach lived 300 years ago and wrote high brow classical music during the high Baroque Period — not exactly popular music for pranksters and merry-makers. And yet, this organ masterpiece has become associated with Halloween as surely as dark, haunted mansions and creepy carved pumpkins.
Bach wrote it in two parts. The first part, the Toccata (from the Italian toccare, meaning “to touch”), was meant to show off the performer’s skill as a virtuoso organist, so it is characterized by many arpeggios (broken chords) and light-fingered gymnastics up and down the keyboard. The second part, the Fugue, uses repetition in various keys (“voices”) to highlight a central musical theme. A minor scale was used to give the piece a dark, ominous, foreboding, and dramatic tone. Organs have a deep, rich, and powerful quality, so writing such a magnificent piece for the organ (especially a large, full-bodied organ with pipes) was sheer genius.
Movie audiences were introduced to Bach’s piece in the opening scenes of the 1940 animated Disney classic, Fantasia. Instead of using the organ, however, conductor Leopold Stokowski arranged the piece into an orchestral number. But the music became associated with horror films when it was used in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), Gremlins2 (1990), and The Babadook (2014). And, truthfully, if you ask music lovers what images come into their minds while listening to Bach’s organ piece, many will tell you that they envision ghostly encounters in haunted houses, mist-covered cemeteries, scary pumpkins, mad organists in Gothic churches, and vampires and other creatures of the night.
But experience it for yourself!
(Organ version performed by Hannes Kastner)
(Orchestral version from the 1940 animated film, Fantasia, arranged and conducted by Leopold Stokowski)
Have a spooky day!
Dawn Pisturino
October 19, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
(Point Betsie Lighthouse, near Frankfort, Michigan. Photo from travelthemitten.com)
I just finished reading the book, The Lamplighters, by Emma Stonex, which tells the story of three lighthouse keepers who disappear without a trace. Her fictionalized story is based on a true story. On December 15, 1900, three lighthouse keepers (James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald MacArthur) were discovered missing from the Flannan Lighthouse on Eilean Mor, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The crew which searched the island found the clock stopped, a half-eaten meal, and no sign of the lighthouse keepers anywhere. The popular theory is that one of the keepers killed the other two and then did himself in; but no evidence exists that this is what happened. No bodies were ever found, and the case has never been solved. Stonex’s book maintains the mystery of the original story while providing a plausible solution. If you like history and mystery, I highly recommend this book.
Reading the book led me to watch the movie, The Lighthouse (2019), starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. My daughter had watched it and recommended it to me. The story is about a lighthouse keeper and his apprentice who get trapped on an island by a severe storm and go crazy from the isolation, excessive amounts of alcohol, and personal conflicts. It’s a fascinating movie with exceptional acting, and I recommend it for people who like psychological dramas and movies about interpersonal conflicts. Next, I watched The Vanishing (2018), starring Gerard Butler, which also tells the story of the Flannan Lighthouse and the disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers. Although the movie provides a plausible solution to the mystery, I did not like it as much as The Lighthouse.
Reading books and watching movies about lighthouse keepers reminded me that my great-great-grandfather, Medad Spencer (1836-1919), was a lighthouse keeper on Lake Michigan. A Civil War veteran, he joined the United States Lighthouse Service and manned lighthouses at Point Betsie and Beaver Island. At the same time, he owned a 120-acre farm near Spoonville, which his children ran, and a general store in Nunica.
From 1894-1905, he served as the lighthouse keeper for the Point Betsie Lighthouse, near Frankfort, Michigan. In his later years, he served at the St. James Lighthouse on Beaver Island. His wife, Julia, always accompanied him when he was away from his other obligations. She complained about the blizzards, rain, and isolation on Beaver Island. But when Medad’s health began to fail, she would take his watch for him, which meant staying awake all night. Now, that’s true partnership for you!
(Medad Spencer in his lighthouse keeper’s uniform.)
Although being a lighthouse keeper sounds romantic and exciting, I have to wonder if my great-great-grandparents went stir crazy from the isolation and began to fight with each other. I haven’t seen any evidence that this was the case, but I can’t help thinking about it, especially after reading the book and watching the movies!
Thanks for visiting. Have a great day!
Dawn Pisturino
October 7, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Gaia was the Greek goddess of the Earth who was born out of Chaos at the beginning of creation. Through her mating with Uranus, the celestial gods were born. Her dalliance with Pontos brought forth the sea gods. Through Tartaros, she birthed the giants. All humans and animals were created from her material being.
The Greeks viewed the Earth as a flat disk surrounded by a river. Overhead, the Earth was protected by a heavenly dome. Underneath, a deep pit formed the dome of the Underworld. Gaia was the Mother who nourished and nurtured the Earth and everything on it. The seas and mountains anchored securely on her great and abundant breasts.
Humans are not separate from nature. We are as dependent on Mother Earth for our sustenance as any other creature. But the human ego, pumped up by advanced technology, has deceived us into believing that we are above it all. We are so powerful, intelligent, and all-knowing, that we can control nature, the weather, and all aspects of the natural order. We are the Masters of the Universe, ready to hop onto the next spaceship to another planet. The problem is that we will take all of our problems and our egos with us.
In the 1970s, scientists claimed that the Earth was headed for another Ice Age and had all the data to back it up. So far, it hasn’t happened. They claimed that the Earth would run out of petroleum in 25 years. It never happened. They claimed that the Earth was going to be so over-populated in the future that famine would be widespread. Except for the political manipulation of politicians, this has not happened.
In the 1990s, we began to see books like The Coming Plague (1994) and The Coming Global Superstorm (1999) which predicted widespread existential threats like devastating disease and severe weather patterns that would wipe out the human race. No natural event has ever occurred in the history of mankind which had the capability to wipe out the entire human race. (Please note that I’m not talking about the dinosaurs here.) COVID was never virulent enough to rise to that occasion, as inconvenient and life-changing as it has been. (And there is no evidence that COVID originated from climate change, as some people are claiming. It could just as likely have originated from a lab, as some evidence suggests, or arisen naturally as a result of mutation, which is the most logical conclusion.) And, the wildfires, hurricanes, and tornados we have experienced have been contained as local events.
When scientists first labeled climate change as “global warming,” they neglected to explain to the general public how that actually works, and people were confused by what they actually experienced; so they re-labeled it as “climate change” to make it easier to understand. Essentially, it means that when one part of the planet grows warmer and changes the local environment, other changes occur in other parts of the planet – but NOT NECESSARILY THE SAME CHANGES. For example, record heat in one part of the planet may be accompanied by record cold in another part, even if the overall temperature of the planet has increased. Increased drought in one area may be accompanied by increased precipitation in another. Climate (long-term conditions) and weather (short-term conditions) involve much more than just temperature. Wind and ocean currents play a big part. An extreme event would be a sudden and unstoppable shift in climate. This scenario was touched upon in the movie The Day After Tomorrow (2004), where North America was suddenly covered with ice, and people were forced to migrate south to Mexico. (This movie, by the way, is based on the book, The Coming Global Superstorm.)
Our Mother Earth also has mechanisms in place to control population (disease, infertility, old age, predation, and natural death). The human ego is so out of control that we have come to a point where we believe that nobody should ever get sick and nobody should ever die. This attitude has been clearly evident during the COVID pandemic. One of the most important things I learned as a registered nurse and healthcare worker is that you can’t save everybody, and in fact, you shouldn’t save everybody. This sounds cold-hearted, but it’s a fact of life. The world is out of balance because of human interference in the natural order.
On Earth Day and everyday, remember and love your Mother – she who nourishes and sustains your very existence. But please don’t spread the seeds of hysteria, fear, panic, and anxiety. When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others began telling young people that we were all going to die in 12 years because of climate change, we began receiving young people into our inpatient mental health unit who were so distraught and eaten up with anxiety, paranoia, and fear that some of them were on the verge of suicide. Deliberately spreading this kind of fear-mongering rhetoric is irresponsible, cruel, and unacceptable. It’s pollution of a different sort.
Recycle what you can, plant trees, pick up litter, and keep your environment clean and free from as many toxins as possible. Work to help endangered species and places to thrive. Help clean up our oceans, rivers, and lakes. Conserve water! Reduce your use of plastic. Use energy-efficient vehicles, appliances, and lighting. Drive electric vehicles, if that’s your style, but remember that those batteries create toxic waste (ALL BATTERIES create toxic waste). Electronic computers, cellphones, and other devices also create toxic waste and use elements like lithium that have to be mined from the earth. Mining leads to erosion and deforestation. Convert to solar, wind, and all-electric, if you want. But remember that even these technologies have their environmental downside. For example, the breakdown of energy sources used to generate electricity is as follows, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration: natural gas 40%, nuclear energy 20%, renewable energy 20%, coal 19%, petroleum 1%. Using electricity does not eliminate fossil fuels and nuclear energy from the equation. Anybody who tells you otherwise (including politicians and climate activists) has not done their homework. Furthermore, humans and animals are carbon-based entities. Plants depend on CO2 to produce oxygen. We could never live in a carbon-free world because that, in itself, would be an existential threat.
On April 22, we honor our planet. Happy Earth Day!
Dawn Pisturino
April 21, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Before he became indelibly inked with the image of Dracula, Bela Lugosi worked as a theater actor in Hungary. He performed with various repertory companies from 1902 until 1913, when he was accepted into the National Theater in Budapest. He stayed with the company until 1919.
According to Lugosi, one of his most memorable and important roles was portraying Jesus Christ in the 1916 production of The Passion Play in Debrecen, Hungary. He was so taken with his resemblance to the traditional image of Christ that he had several photographs taken which still survive today.
In 1927, Lugosi appeared as Count Dracula in the Broadway production of Dracula. His performance and interpretation of the character were so captivating that he was hired to reprise the role in the 1931 Universal movie a few years later. The movie made him a star, and he was forever typecast as a horror icon, even though he would have preferred to move on to other roles.
Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. His iconic portrayal of Count Dracula lives on in the minds and hearts of all of his fans. Visit his official website: http://www.belalugosi.com.
Dawn Pisturino
April 11, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Not only did John Ford film the 1956 movie, The Searchers, in brilliant Technicolor, but he filmed it in VistaVision, providing the audience with an enhanced widescreen visual experience.
Movies made in VistaVision were intended to be viewed in theaters with large screens, both in height and width. VistaVision technology created an “optical reduction from a large negative image to the standard release print image . . . [that improved] the front and side seat viewing” (American WideScreen Museum) in widescreen formats.
John Ford’s spectacular landscape shots of Monument Valley (cinematographer Winton C. Hoch) were perfect for both Technicolor and widescreen viewing. Here are some examples:
In this wide angle long shot, the audience sees the renegade Comanches attacking the search party from two sides and chasing them through the valley. The landscape is open and wide, giving the impression of an unlimited environment with no place to hide. Will the search party survive this attack?
In this long shot, the searchers forge ahead with the search for the lost child, Debbie, in spite of a desolate desert landscape, storms, and few provisions. It is a dramatic scene which highlights the grim determination of the men involved.
In the final long shot, John Wayne walks away, after reuniting Debbie with her adopted brother, in order to avoid being arrested for murder. He is framed in black, indicating that this is the end of the story, and he will probably never return. He is a loner who got his revenge, found personal redemption, and saved his family. He is the hero of the story— but he is also a broken man who does not fit into civilized society. He has not necessarily overcome his bitterness and racism. He merely decided that saving one of the last members of his family was more important than killing her.
If John Ford’s intention was to highlight spectacular landscapes and provide the audience with an incredible widescreen experience, Technicolor and VistaVision were the right film stock and technology to use.
But if it was his intention to tell a dramatic and tension-filled story, he might have done better to use black and white film stock. The bright colors and wide angle screen shots detract from the story. It is easy to get caught up in the visual spectacle and miss what’s happening in the story. Barsam and Monahan describe The Searchers as “a psychological western that is concerned less with the traditional western’s struggle between good and evil than with the lead character’s struggle against personal demons” (Barsam and Monahan 216). They conclude that the movie “might have been even more powerful shot in black and white instead of color. Doing so might have produced a visual mood, as in film noir, that complemented the darkness at the heart of the movie’s narrative” (Barsam and Monahan 216).
John Ford was not striving for accuracy and authenticity in The Searchers, and the use of color highlights the movie’s many flaws. Viewers in the 1950s were not as familiar with the Southwest as they are today. In 2017, John Ford could not get away with filming a western in Monument Valley (which is located in Northern Arizona and Utah), and slapping on an intertitle identifying the location as Texas. The viewers would not accept it. Neither would they accept a white actor with gray or hazel eyes masquerading as a full-blooded Comanche wearing all-too-bright red and yellow war paint. The women in Scar’s tribe of renegade Comanches are attired in traditional Navajo clothing – including John Wayne’s lost niece, Debbie (Natalie Wood). Today’s Navajos watch movies and would eagerly point out this historical inaccuracy. (Monument Valley is Navajo country, and it is obvious from the movie that Ford employed local natives to masquerade as Comanches. As part of my job, I worked with members of the Navajo, Hopi, and Apache tribes. I found the inaccuracies in The Searchers to be jarring, even though I first saw the movie on TV many years ago as a child.) Black and white film might have minimized the obvious flaws.
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies, 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2016.
Ford, John, Dir. The Searchers. Perf. John Wayne. Warner Bros., 1956.
Ryder, Loren L. “The Story of VistaVision.” The American WideScreen Museum. 2006.
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