Casting Director Barry Moss!

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Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes cast by Barry Moss

This above all: to thine own self be true.- Hamlet Act 1, scene 3

"To thine own self be true" is Polonius's last piece of advice to his son Laertes, who is in a hurry to get on the next boat to Paris. It also happens to be casting director Barry Moss' favorite quote.
The idea for today’s blog comes from my friend JackieJoseph-Lawrence.
She happens to be a dear friend of Barry's and felt that he would be a great blog subject. She was right as you're about to find out. Today, I celebrate Broadway casting director Barry Moss andhis body of WORTH! He is about creating a bit of history on Broadway and I’mhappy to say that he has and continues to do so.The shows that he has cast over the pasttwenty-five plus years read like a major part of the history of Broadway.

Margaret Herrick, a fortuitous meeting

Barry started out as a directing major at UCLA.
Barry alwaysknew that he was going to be in the entertainment business in one form oranother. When he graduated from college, he worked for the Academy  of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.  Margaret Herrick who was the Academylibrarian from 1936 to 1943, and served as the Academy’s executive directorfrom 1945 to 1971, created a job for Barry after meeting at the Academy Awards.Once again, he knew what he wanted and he told her that he would love to work at the Academy Awards. Thenhe went on from there to work as a publicist for Stanley Kramer. He wasassigned to the Oscar campaign for GuessWho’s Coming to Dinner. 

Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes

Barry was also a manager of a major movie theater inBeverly Hills. One night, he met Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd. He told herthat he wanted to go to New York and direct. She said “Maybe we’ll worktogether someday.” He said of course. Years later he cast her in The Little Foxes! Still one of my favorite afternoons EVER at the theater! Barry was also the onewho came up with that play for her. He never dreamed that would come tofruition. That opening night was one of the most exciting nights of his life andone that he will never forget. Year’s later, a funny thing happened involving Elizabeth Taylor.Barry's best friend is John Rubinstein. he and Barry went to have coffee withhis Mother who had just arrived from Paris with her neighbor for the firstNIGHT OF A HUNDRED STARS. They were staying at the Helmsley Palace.

John Rubinstein, April 2008

At no pointhad John or his Mother told Barry who her neighbor was. The Helmsley Palacesuites are duplex and suddenly who should appear at the head of thestairs? 
Her neighbor...Grace Kelly!  She said she had heard some funny noises inthe hall next to her room, Johnny ran upstairs to check the hall and Barry wentout the front door to check. As Barry entered the hall the elevator door openedand out came Elizabeth Taylor "Barry, what are you doing here?"  "Having coffee with Princess Grace."  Barry's father loved that story. He eventually moved to New York to be a director, which isnot a good thing to jump in to. He had a very good friend who was an agent,Mary Jo Slater. She was with the Mort Schwartz Agency.
She left to become avery successful casting director. She proposed for Barry to replace her at theagency. The Mark Schwartz Agency was mostly commercials, but Barry was put incharge of the theatrical department. He used to go to auditions with his clientsto offer them advice on what they were doing right and what he needed toimprove. 

This cast is Barry Moss' creation!

At one of those auditions, Barry met Julie Hughes. He said to her thatif she ever thought of expanding her casting business, he would like to beinvolved. She called him and they met and he met with the president of hercompany.
He wanted to know if Barry could bring business in. Barry says hecould never have been able to live up to it if he had said yes. He did say hewould do his best to do a really good job. They became a very successful team.One time, they had eight shows running on Broadway.
He was also casting The Cosby Show on television and wasalso casting film. She retired about eight years ago. He has been on his ownsince then. He has a new partner, Bob Kale. The very first show that Barry cast was called Spotlight.
It was supposed to star DanDaly but he broke his leg. They went through a lot of interesting choicesbefore casting Gene Barry. It was Barry’s first musical foray. It didn’t lastvery long, the pre-Broadway tryout played briefly at the National Theatre inWashington, DC from January 7 - February 5, 1978, before folding, cancellingits scheduled Broadway opening. It was, however, fun to do. David James Carrollwas also in that cast along with D'Jamin Bartlett and Lenore Nemitz.
It wasdirected by David Black. It was a great way to start. Casting the original production of Nine was one of his favorite experiences.Barry remembers sitting on the steps of the Martin BeckTheater, now the Hirschfeld, watching Grand Hotel and thinking to himself,”Ohmy God, I have absolutely affected Broadway like I always wanted. I’ve actuallymade a difference.”
Watching people perform that Barry has cast is such a high.It is really the reward for casting because you don’t make that much money. Itis such a pleasure to see someone succeed that you have given the opportunity.
Barry loves his work because of the above. Barry recentlywent to see Bedbugs: the Musicalwhich he cast. To see that audience cheering the cast members is a greatfeeling.    Interesting facts about Barry MossHe was at one time called Hairorella because he had lots ofhair…no longer the case.Barry considers his best quality his open-mindedness.
         He is a liberal. He is a compassionate person. He lovesdogs. The one change that Barry would like to see in this industryis less dependence on stars and more leeway to cast really talented people.
Unfortunately with the economy the way it is, that isn’t going to change.When it comes to who he thinks is the one person to mostrevolutionize Broadway in his lifetime, Barry thinks that would be Bob Fosse.He really turned Broadway into a dance medium.
Agnes de Mille did a great dealof that as well. There was such magic in what Fosse did when he directed andchoreographed.Barry’s favorite form of entertainment is the theater. Heloves movies. He loves television. But if he had to choose, it will always betheater.
The most unusual casting request Barry ever received camefrom Gower Champion who requested a black tap dancer who also played theviolin.  The perfect day for Barry would be a spring like day with a slightbreeze, not too hot. He would probably be out with his dog. 

Barry Moss' latest casting venture

If it was a matineeday, he would catch a matinee.
He would come home, watch a little television,and return to the theater at night. He hardly ever vacations but his dream vacation spot isItaly. He has always wanted to go but never has. His favorite place to live is NewYork with San Francisco being a close second. The one thing he has to do before he dies is write a book. Hehas the opening line for sure: "If I had a dime for every time someonetold me I should write a book I wouldn't have needed to write it."
Barry would like to be remembered as a great Broadwaycasting director! He has achieved that.
 
Thank you Barry Moss for the gifts you have given to the world and will continue to give! Thank you, Jackie Joseph for suggesting Barry!


With grateful XOXOXs ,


Check out my site celebrating my forthcoming book on Hello, Dolly!

I desire this to be a definitive account of Hello, Dolly!  
If any of you reading this have appeared in any production of Dolly, I'm interested in speaking with you!
Do you have any pics?

If you have anything to add or share, please contact me at Richard@RichardSkipper.com.


NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.  FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!


Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!    
               My next blog will be... My Exclusive interview with Tony Cointreau and Jim Russo on Ethel Merman!

Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!

  Here's to an INCREDIBLE tomorrow for ALL...with NO challenges!
Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING  and HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
 
Sign The Petition! If I'm offended one person, I've offended one person too many!


Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com                            
 
This Blog is dedicated to ALL THE DOLLYS and ANYONE who has EVER had a connection with ANY of them on ANY Level!       

Tony Cointreau and James Russo’s Memories of Ethel Merman and Hello, Dolly!

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Ethel Merman was one of the theatre's greatest musical stars of a bygone era, who is still revered by those who saw her perform on Broadway decades ago.

Beginning in 1930, when she introduced I Got Rhythm in the show Girl Crazy and continuing through Hello, Dolly in 1970, Ethel Merman reigned on Broadway for forty years, appearing in such hits as Panama Hattie, Annie Get Your Gun, and Call Me Madam.

Ethel Merman and Tony Cointreau (Courtesy Tony Cointreau)

Tony Cointreau and his partner James Russo were two of Ethel Merman's closest friends.
Tony Cointreau,  heir to the French liquor company,was one of Merman’s closest pals. Cointreau befriended Merman in 1960, while she was starring in Gypsy.
In 1984, Cointrea and Russo were given most of Merman’s papers and belongings by her son Robert Levitt.
Cointreau also has her ashes, which he keeps in his front closet.
Merman’s not alone in that closet. Two other urns contain the remains of her parents, Edward and Agnes Zimmermann. And a third contains those of her daughter, Little Ethel.
Tony was eighteen years old when he first met Miss Merman. He had just graduated from high school and he was taking a summer course at The Neighborhood Playhouse.
It was a course for teenagers. The first day, all the kids were sitting in a row. The teacher was sitting at a desk giving a lecture. The girl sitting next to Tony said, “My name’s Patty. What’s yours?” At the time, Tony’s name was Jacques. If my French were more fluent, I would give you the full name here.
After saying he was Jacques, this Patty made a “eweee” face.

The Private Life of ETHEL MERMAN. On October 3, 2012 by Theater Talk Webtheatertalk.org

He didn’t think Jacques was such a horrible name. Patty did. There was a cute young girl on the other side. She was a little bit younger than Tony.
She was seventeen and had also just graduated from high school. She had big brown eyes and a pixie haircut. She leaned over and said, “I think Jacques is a beautiful name.”
They became the best of friends.
Kids can do that in five minutes practically. The next two weeks they were inseparable. After two weeks, she said, “Jacques, would you like to see mom’s play?”
Tony said yes. “What is she doing?”She said, Gypsy! Mom’s Ethel Merman!!” That’s where it began.
Tony was a big fan. They went to the theater and saw the show. It was very sweet when they went backstage after the performance. She was washing her face. They were backstage and only the ghost light was on on stage. Little Ethel was a very sensitive soul and she said, “Jacques, would you like to step out on a Broadway stage?”
She, of course, knew he was a student of the theater. He thought that was really lovely and they walked out on stage together of the Broadway Theater which was huge. He never felt so small in his life. They went backstage and, Miss Merman then, took them to Sardi’s.
All of show business heaven came over to say hello. It was a really wonderful evening.
Before that, Tony had gone to the house before going to the show. At the time, she was married to Bob Six.

Tony was standing in the living room waiting for Little Ethel. Six looked at Tony as if he was a cockroach had just walked into his living room, not a word. At eighteen, you’re a little insecure. Six wasn’t making it any better.
 A few minutes later, a lady comes out from the master bedroom, her hair in curlers and wearing Chinese pajamas. She puts out her hand and says in that unmistakable voice, “Hi! I’m Ethel’s mother!”  After that, there was the show, Sardi’s, and on top of that, Billy Rose took them home in his Rolls Royce. It was a brilliant wonderful evening.

The following Monday Tony went to school and Little Ethel came up to him and said, “You know, If Mom can’t have you for me, I think she wants you for herself.”

And that was the beginning of Ethel Merman’s friendship with Tony Cointreau.  In addition to being a Broadway star, says Tony, Merman was always the little girl from Astoria, Queens.
Ethel Merman had opened in Gypsy in May of 1959 and this was June.
  In August, Ethel burst a blood vessel in her throat during Rose’s Turn. She was out for a week. Jane Romano, her understudy took over that week.
When she came back to the show, they lowered everything a half tone. If she burst a blood vessel, who on earth could sing that score AND finish it with Rose’s Turn?
 Ethel Merman divorced Bob Six in 1960 and Tony called her. At this point, Little Ethel was going to college in Colorado but Tony and Merman remained in touch. They were becoming good friends. After marrying her third husband, Continental Airlines executive Robert Six, in 1953, Ethel Merman retired from performing and happily embraced the life of a Colorado housewife. Six, however, had expected her public appearances to engender publicity for the airline, and her decision to forgo the limelight did not sit well with him. He urged her to accept the lead in Happy Hunting, with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse (who had written Call Me Madam) and a score by the unknown team of Harold Karr and Matt Dubey.
Merman thought the songs were weak but grudgingly acquiesced to her husband's demands. Six wanted a Broadway star as a wife. Tony asked if he should call her Miss Merman or Mrs. Six. In her inimitable fashion she said, “Call me Ethel!” That was it from then on. This was definitely not one of her favorite experiences in the theater. It was the first Merman show Tony ever saw.

He loved it because she was so good. As a show, the audiences still loved her and although Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times thought the score was "hardly more than adequate," he called Merman "as brassy as ever, glowing like a neon light whenever she steps on the stage." The critic for Time thought Merman "consistently converts vulgarity into fun" but called her triumph "a minor one, what with a book that has at best a routine brightness and a score that sometimes lacks lilt even where it seems reminiscent."

Little Ethel died in 1967. It was heartbreaking to Ethel Merman and she and Tony grew closer.

For the purposes of this book, I would like to focus on Hello, Dolly! As most of my readers already know, when it was offered to Merman in 1963, she turned it down. She didn’t want to do anymore Broadway shows. Jerry Herman and David Merrick had called her up. She told them she didn’t even want to hear the score because if she liked what she heard, she would regret her decision either way.

Ethel Merman and Jerry Herman celebrate onstage after Hello, Dolly! became the longest running musical in Broadway history.

Years later, Tony Cointreau, Jerry Herman, Ethel Merman, David Merrick, and Jimmy Russo were having dinner one night in Washington DC.
 Jerry was recounting the story of the heartache when Merman turned down Hello, Dolly!  Tony really believed Jerry’s heartbreak. Tony thinks Jerry Herman is brilliant.


From his dinner with Herman, Tony remembers him as being a warm, nice, gentle man. He wasn’t carried away with himself in any way, shape, or form. 

In 1969, after agreeing to play Dolly to end the run, she received the two songs, Love, Look in my Window and World, Take Me Back which he had originally written for her and taken out when Channing was cast.
She had received these songs along with a vinyl recording as she always did.
It was an orchestration. She and Tony were going out to dinner when she told him that she had received the songs that afternoon from Jerry Herman for Hello, Dolly!
She asked him if he wanted to hear them. He said OK.
They went into her bedroom. He sat in an armchair and she played these two songs for him.
He held the music in his hands with lyrics and music. She leaned over his right shoulder and reading off the music and listening to the record and singing along. Tony doesn’t know if that ear is still working! Actually, she could sing very softly when she wanted to.
At this point Tony is in his twenties and she is asking him his opinion on the two songs that Jerry Herman had written for her!
She had already committed by the time these two songs arrived. Merman always said, “I didn’t open Dolly but I closed it.” She agreed to a limited run.
If they could get her to do it, after trying everyone else on God’s earth, they could keep the show running long enough to surpass My Fair Lady as Broadway’s longest running show. They came to her with that premise. Originally, it was supposed to be a six month run. They eventually added three more months to that.
In order for Hello, Dolly to work, you HAVE to be in love with her. It’s in the writing and the music. When she is at the top of the stairs, it’s as if she is on top of the world. She is coming down the stairs and re encountering long lost friends.
 She is being so human. 
There wasn’t that much of a time lapse between her agreeing to Hello, Dolly and opening in the show.

Tony asked Merman how long it took her to learn a role. Her roles were always leading lady roles after Girl Crazy.
She stunned Tony when she told him she could learn a whole show in two weeks! That was amazing.
Tony has no idea whether or not she saw anyone else play Dolly.
Tony and Jimmy were both there to experience Merman’s legendary return to Broadway in 1970. Everyone knows Dolly’s entrance is on a trolley car with a newspaper in front of her face. When she lowered the newspaper, the audience went completely insane when they saw Ethel Merman back on Broadway where she belonged.
Tony and Jimmy were in the orchestra section. She later told Tony that in forty years on Broadway, it was the first time she lost her concentration. The ovation was so enormous when she made her entrance. Her father was still alive. He was in his nineties and not well.
Mom Zimmerman had died. Pop Zimmerman was coming back from the bathroom and Tony ran into him. He said, How do you like our girl, Tony?” Her parents were her greatest fans.
Russell Nype who played Cornelius Hackl as of this writing is still alive and well and living in Palm Beach. Tony and Jimmy saw him last New Year’s Eve. He is ninety-three years old. He looks terrific and just like he did in Call Me Madam!

Merman and Russell Nype in Call Me Madam

It was at Marc Rosen and Arlene Dahl’s apartment. A young man answered the door and said, “I’m Russell Nype.” Tony said, “Oh no, you’re not.” He said, “Oh you must mean my father. He’s over there.”  
Josh Logan once told Tony that Ethel Merman was the greatest instinctive actress he had ever worked with.
That’s a huge compliment from Logan. Georgia Engel said there was a great moment each night between her and Merman where they made eye contact at the end of Dancing and it was ALWAYS a genuine REAL moment between them EVERY night.

She was very happy with the show and the company. It was already a hit and there was no question that it would continue to be so. There was not that pressure. She just did her job. It was like a typist going to the office. That was the way she did it.

Tony saw the show several times and cannot forget Ethel singing Love, Look in my Window on the passarelle. There were always tears coming down her face as she sang this song. She never gave up hope that she would find love again. It was very real to her.   
We now know this would be her last Broadway show but she moved on. She did several Pops concerts. She loved symphony orchestras. Her work on stage from then on was the concert stage. It averaged about one a month. She was interested in doing a non musical drama.
 She continued to receive scripts. Everyone was hoping she would do something else. 
Tony only saw half of Channing’s performance in Dolly. His mother got sick during intermission and they had to leave. Tony never saw Channing’s famed Harmonia Gardens scene.
Jimmy went to Georgetown University in 1963 when a new show was previewing at the National Theater, Hello, Dolly! He saw it then. He had heard or seen basically nothing about it prior to seeing the show. Not knowing anything about it and to see it like that was extraordinary. It was a wonderful experience.
Tony also doesn’t feel that Ethel Merman could deny Dolly being in the top five of her shows on Broadway. It was a great show and this one time she knew it was a great show before going into it. This was also a first to take on a role that had been played by so many actresses prior.
The stories about “Birdseye Merman” are legendary. Once she “found” her character, it was graven in stone, but she gave it her all every single night.
Marcia Lewis was also in this show. Every single night, God rest her soul, she would watch Merman’s performance from top to bottom, A to Z.
She was riveted in the wings watching her. Georgia Engel said it was like going to school every night to watch Merman.
Besides the opening night of Merman’s Dolly, one of the greatest nights was the famed Ethel Merman/Mary Martin Concert on May 15th1977 for the Museum of the City of New York.  (See my chapter on Ken Billington). They blew the roof off of the theater over and over and over again.
They both came out as Dolly to open the second act. The audience went bizerko! Can you imagine the curtain going up to reveal two staircases…Ethel Merman on one and Mary Martin on the other. Mary starts, Hello, Ethel” and Merman responds, “Well, Hello Mary” and then they start down the stairs together. Every male star that was in New York City at the time played the waiters.      
When it comes to the movie, Tony is not offended by Streisand’s performance. He feels that she is an enormously talented woman. She can sing the score and act it. It’s Barbra Streisand. It’s not Ethel Merman and it’s not Carol Channing, but he can’t fault her at all.
It’s not like some of the other actresses who played Gypsy who couldn’t sing it.
Being in the audience of an Ethel Merman performance was electric. There was an electricity that went right through the audience like a thousand volts. Who on Broadway has that now?

She was also very funny. She was a great comedienne both on and off stage.
Tony believes the biggest misconception that people have about Ethel Merman is that she was this tough broad that she often portrayed on stage.
The one thing that both Tony and Jimmy learned from Merman that they still carry with them to this day is loyalty and her generosity. She was so generous. You couldn’t pick up a check when you were out with her. She was always there for her friends. He was on the phone with her about five times a day. Nothing was too small to share. Her little girl quality, Jimmy was crazy about. They would walk home from a restaurant and they would go by mannequins in store windows and she would look in the windows and create an entire scenario that would have you on your ass laughing. She would get such a kick out of that. She was like a little girl. She was also very shy. 
To top an extraordinary career with Hello, Dolly, Tony doesn’t feel she could have done any better.

Courtesy: Stephen Crowley

Thank you Tony Cointreau, James Russo, AND Ethel Merman for the gifts you have given to the world and will continue to give!
 With grateful XOXOXs ,
A special thank you to Stephen Mosher and Pat Dwyer for helping to make this interview possible.

Check out my site celebrating my forthcoming book on Hello, Dolly!

I desire this to be a definitive account of Hello, Dolly!  
If any of you reading this have appeared in any production of Dolly, I'm interested in speaking with you!

Do you have any pics?

If you have anything to add or share, please contact me at Richard@RichardSkipper.com.


NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.  FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!


Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!    
               My next blog will be... My Exclusive Interview with Marge Champion on Hello, Dolly!

Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!

  Here's to an INCREDIBLE tomorrow for ALL...with NO challenges!

Are you able to join us November15th at 9:30PM at The Metropolitan Room for Pamela Luss? Please note, I’m notin the show. I’m just trying to get a group of people to join me in celebratingan artist I believe deserves celebrating! Are you available to join us? I’ll bethere and it will give us both a chance to see each again. It’s been a long time! Ihave assembled the best audience around to be there to cheer her on. You shouldbe part of that group!Pamela Luss with Houston Person atThe Metropolitan Room in NYC, 34 West 22nd St.Just The Two Of Us and FriendsIt’s going to be aparty! This past Saturday night, it was an SRO crowd!Reserve today ifthat date is available! Call me if any questions!Richard Skipper845-365-0720http://www.t2conline.com/pamela-luss-is-about-to-open-at-the-metropolitan-room-with-houston-person/And a review from her last timearound: http://nitelifeexchange.com/review/cabaret-reviews-mainmenu-27/2007-luss-is-luscious-at-metropolitan-room.htmlhttp://www.pamelaluss.com/schedule.htmlPlease reserve RIGHT AWAY!
RichardSkipper 845-365-0720

TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED DAY
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com                            
 
This Blog is dedicated to ALL THE DOLLYS and ANYONE who has EVER had a connection with ANY of them on ANY Level!

It's funny.....

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Not funny "haha", but funny "weird", "odd", "hard to describe".

My mother-in-law gave me my DH's high school class ring after we were married. DH smashed up his hand senior year in a football game and never was able to wear it again. It spent years in my jewelry box. I put it on the day they announced they were closing "our" school- the one he went to and where I taught so happily for 10 years. I wore it constantly until shortly before I started at my new school last fall.

I took the picture above yesterday. 

Last week I discovered a wonderful group- The American Soldier Memorial Project. They make hand-stitched memorials for the families of service men and women who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. I immediately thought that this would make a wonderful project for me for the summer. Sure, I have more WIPs (works in progress) than I can count already, but this one would have meaning.

I joined the group, and Tuesday evening I was emailing back and forth with the Pennsylvania rep about picking a name from their long list- there are way more heroes than there are stitchers volunteering. In between emails I checked my messages- and got a kick-in-the-stomach piece of news: another CD grad had died, this time in Afghanistan. John was from the class of 2009, and still only 19 years old. 



It turned into a long evening of reading messages and posts from the stunned CD community. The question, whispered before, was again asked: "Did closing us down also curse us?" It really is beginning to feel like it might be true.


At some point Tuesday night I emailed to the ASMP rep and told her to ignore all the previous emails- I now had a soldier to stitch for who was very personal to me. 


Since Tuesday night there have been newspaper and TV reports to read and watch, messages to answer and chats to try to comfort the kids. 



Next week there will be a funeral. Until then there is the sadness and the waiting.

I went to bed Tuesday night but was unable to sleep. I don't know what made me think to do it, but about 1AM I got up, went to my jewelry box, and put on the ring. It is large and heavy- a man's ring- and I am always aware of it when I wear it. I fell asleep almost immediately.

It's "just a piece of jewelry" is what anyone would say. I cannot explain. All I know is that I am again wearing "our" CD ring and somehow it has comforted me in the last few days. 

Losing Vince, age 18, to cancer in January was terrible. Losing Mark, age 19, two weeks later, to the gas explosion at which he was a first responder, was terrible. Losing John now, age 19, as a hero who died in the service of our country, is terrible.

Losing our school was an awful experience and continues to cause pain to so many. Not having a "home" as we go through these tragedies makes the pain a little worse and the grieving even more difficult. 

But I know that this wonderful community will again come through, this time for John's family and friends, and for one another. The ring reminds me that although the building may be closed, the REAL CD is in its people and their amazing spirit. As long as any of us are alive to remember and share that spirit, CD lives. And, in our memories, so do Vince and Mark and John.

What's New

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It's been a long time since I've been here. August was hectic- most of it good, some of it not so. 

Our landlord at our beloved "little house" at the shore died. He was a good man and a good friend and I will miss him. We do not know yet the disposition of the house, so we don't know if we will be able to go back.

Much of August was spent in Florida- with Auntie for almost a week, then a week at Disney World. We had a wonderful time throughout. We did some preliminary house-hunting in the area north of Tampa and found a neighborhood we really like- so we are that much closer to my dream of a home in Florida!

We drove home being chased up the coast by Hurricane Irene- it was an interesting trip, lol! I attended the funeral of the father of 3 of my students, who had died suddenly, the morning the hurricane started here. Lived through the hurricane with minimal damage, thank goodness, then as soon as the weather cleared, drove to the shore to attend our landlord's funeral the day after the hurricane.

We were able to spend Labor Day weekend at the shore and it was quiet and relaxing, except for all the packing up. 

Then came THE STRIKE! We, the Catholic high school teachers in Philadelphia, are on strike. The issues are too many to go into here, but it comes down to changes in work rules that would be so punitive that we could not agree. Those changes were proposed in March and in May we had a general meeting where the teachers voted unanimously to strike if certain clauses remained among the demands of the Office of Catholic Education. Well, come the end of August and OCE continued to demand their way. The teachers' union has offered, repeatedly, to work under the old contract with a mediator during continued negotiations, but the Archdiocese refused and closed the schools.

Now we are walking picket lines and kids are at home. OCE officials go on TV and talk to the newspapers and run us down. One of the Archdiocesan negotiators, an assistant superintendent, said on TV the other day that the union members "are not educators"! Parents are calling us lazy, greedy union thugs. How can I go in front of a class of students who have been hearing and reading all this? Needless to say, I am severely depressed.

Those who have read here for any length of time know how I feel about my students and my job. However, after the pain of the closing of Cardinal Dougherty, the stress of adjusting to a new school, and now this, I am so discouraged I don't know what to do. 


For now, I think I'll just go back to bed, pull the covers over my head, and wish it would all be a bad dream.

Walking Dead Death Pool

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The third season of AMC's The Walking Dead starts in just a few hours, and there have been promises of many deaths  of characters we already know this season.  This has to happen to keep the plot moving forward; if you're a survival series that ignored the inherent drama of not surviving, then you're not doing your job.  So I thought I'd lay odds on who might not make it out alive. 

A caveat:  I am up to date on the comic book series, which has long since left the prison.  However, there have been significant changes from the story of the comic book series to the story of the television series; most notably that Dale doesn't die until after he and Andrea have had a significant and successful relationship.  The prison arc and the story of The Governor was one of my favorite stories of the series.

Them That Are Safe

This is Rick's story--plain and simple.  While I could see a shocking twist taking him out, it would be storytelling malpractice and I would be out.   Rick needs to suffer and I have no doubt that he will, but he won't be dying.  He's the survivor. 

Likewise, now that we have fully blended Rick's group with the family from Hershel's farm, one of them definitely get a pass out.  Maggie is the one.  Lauren Cohan was quite the find last season and as one of the better performers on the show, she survives for a while.  Again, I am sure that she is going to suffer.

Michonne is a brand new character and one that fans of the comics are salivating over.  She lives no matter what.

The only other person guaranteed to make it out alive is Darryl.  Darryl and his brother Merle are the only successful creations made specifically for the TV show (sorry T-Dog), and they are headed to a conflict of significant proportions later this season.  A conflict that will cause Darryl to make a stand for what he believes, to protect/avenge those he cares about

The Long Shots

Andrea is a fan favorite character and Laurie Holden is doing the best work of her career.  The only thing that keeps her out of the Them That Are Safe group is that she is a Frank Darabont loyalist.  The series creator left under difficult circumstances at the beginning of the second season, and Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale) left with him.  While Holden has been involved in nearly every Darabont project since they first worked together, I would hope that she would not ask to be let go as DeMunn reportedly did.  Plus she is our way into Woodbury (home of The Governor) and to Michonne who is the most successful of the comic book characters.  Death Odds:  50 to 1

The show is many things, but I don't think they will run the social-political risk of killing off T-Dog.  Yes, they are bringing in another black actor (Danai Gurira plays Michonne) but I don't think they can kill all of the minority characters.  Also, T-Dog is the only male person who when faced with the binary fight or flight decision chooses flight almost every time.  That's an important concern that needs a voice.  True the producers choose to silence and minimize the voice far too often, but that is what it is.  Death Odds:  40 to 1

The Wouldn't Be Surpriseds

Carol's importance to the overall story is somewhat lessened now that Sofia is dead.  In the comic, she is desperate to feel connected and loved, which doesn't seem to be any sort of focus for the television series.  That said she is the strongest tie Darryl has to Rick's group.  If she were to be eliminated, Darryl could easily go to the other side.  I think she will be the person that glues Darryl to Rick's group and forces him to make a stand against Merle and the Governor.  She could do that either alive or dead, with fantastic dramatic moments coming from either scenario.   Death Odds:  15 to 1

In the books, Hershel doesn't live long past his farm.  It's a very Grandpa Joad kind of thing.  However, without the reasoned experience of Dale in the television series, another important shading for philosophical debates is gone.  Hershel may get a stay of execution simply because there needs to be a voice of reason.  His death would affect Maggie greatly.  Death Odds:  12 to 1

Even though he is undoubtedly the second lead of the comic book series, I don't know how long Carl is for the television world.  The plot of the first two seasons passed in a fairly short narrative time frame, yet Chandler Riggs aged two years.  There is no amount of cinemagic that will keep that boy from growing.  Either there will be a lot more time jumps like in tonight's premiere or the boy is doomed.  Killing him would certainly prove difficult for Rick and Lori.  Death Odds:  8 to 1

Glenn is everyone's favorite comic character, but he has never really connected on the TV show.  It's not that Steven Yeun is a bad actor; it's just that the producers haven't known hat to do with him.  No single death would affect both Maggie and Rick more.  Death Odds:  5 to 1

Beth is Maggie's sister.  The fact that I felt the necessity to write that sentence indicates the overall lack of importance of the character.  Maggie would obviously be affected by the loss of Beth and so would Hershel.  In the comics she has the most haunting death of any of the minor characters, but now that her boyfriend has already been killed they are obviously not going down that path (the young lovers end up killing themselves in a mutual suicide pact that says more about the loss of hope than any other death).  There is another plot that is prison centric that needs to have a victim, and I believe Beth is the most likely to fall prey here if the writers decide to follow that path.  Death Odds:  3 to 1

There is no more universally loathed TV character in the series than Lori.  Fans hate her.  I think that may be the only thing that saves her life.  The producers do not want to give the fans everything they expect/want.  Her death in the comic book series is the pivotal moment, but I think there is more drama to be mined between her and Rick if Carl dies.  Still, it would be hard to back away from the guaranteed drama that comes from killing the female lead of the series.  Death Odds:  3 to 1

Even Money

Merle and The Governor are not long for this world at all.  Merle will be killed by his brother Darryl, and Rick will kill The Governor avenging the death of someone close to him (either Lori, Glenn or Carl).