Mary Maile Online

My new movie: SOMETHING BLUE

2008-08-27T23:54:00.002-05:00

SOMETHING BLUE is an independent feature length film by award-winning producer/director/writer Sean Gannon. He is originally from Bondurant, IA and the entire film was set in Iowa with Iowa connected actors.

My part is "bit," but my fortune was good, nay huge! (although it really could have gone either way).

Producers were slow to call me back and since I knew people who had been definitely turned down and definitely accepted, I took the bull by the horns and called them. Mostly I was disappointed since the audition had gone so well and I didn't peg them to be the type that would just leave me hanging. Producer (and IPTV personality) Pat Boddy said they wanted to work with me but I didn't quite fit any of the parts as written and that's what was taking so long. Further strangling the aforementioned bull and his horns, I let them know what I was thinking -- what's a wedding without a wedding singer? Shockingly, they accepted my suggestion and wrote me in!

The result: I got to improvise three different versions of the scene with Boddy at the harp. One of them featured my favorite version and 20-year standby for weddings "The Wedding Song: There is Love." That version languishes somewhere on the fabled cutting room floor since it would mean fees which the production could not absorb, but you can see the improvised "free" version.

Here is my one scene ("Musician Audition"). The entire movie is there, too, broken into individual scenes at www.youtube.com/SeanOfTheWed. Keep in mind, I am supposed to be bad and overblown. And I did warn the sound guy I was going to be loud on purpose.....I guess you can never be quite prepared for me!

Please feel free to leave a comment and/or tell your friends!

For another version of what we improvised, see the movie trailer at www.somethingbluefilm.com. Both are "solid laugh getters" according to director Gannon.

Translation: His mom sure liked it.

Although it was filmed over two weeks in 2006, the finished film's debut is not set to premiere until Spring 09. The most recent of the multiple delays was due to storms affecting the Gannon family home (shown in the film as the groom's home). As I understand it, this film will otherwise go right into contest mode slash DVD but we do plan to hold a premiere in this Spring at the art house favorite Fleur Cinema.

I'll be helping with publicity. Any ideas or tips? Let me know!

Musician Audition scene

Something Blue movie trailer

ONLINE CLIPS FOR MARY CATLETT

2008-03-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome!
Thank you for checking out my blog Mary Maile Online at
http://marymaileonline.blogspot.com. Feel free to look around here -- especially at the link to the right for "Truck Driver Gets Send Off Fit for King of the Road" -- or do a search of the archives at www.newsrepublican.com.

Here are my online clips:

BEST PERSONALITY FEATURE STORY
Weeklies Class 1: First Place - Woodward NE Dallas Co. Record. (Wilkinson story, image at right)
http://snipurl.com/PersonalityFeatureC1

BEST FEATURE PAGE
Weeklies Class 1: First Place - Woodward NE Dallas Co. Record. (Garage
sales in Grimes, layout image at right)
http://snipurl.com/FeaturePageC1

MASTER COLUMNIST
Weeklies Class 1: Third Place - Woodward NE Dallas Co. Record.
Sample: Meet our new reporter article
http://snipurl.com/RememberMary

70 Valentines and still counting
http://snipurl.com/ValentineWagners

Tallgrass Theatre of Dallas Center
http://snipurl.com/TallgrassTh

R.I.P. Merv Griffin

2007-08-14T00:45:00.000-05:00

He started as a singer known for the novelty song "I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts." He tried on the role of leading man but eventually drifted into a 20 year career as a talk show host, writer of the Jeopardy theme "Think," and multi million deals designed to improve his various interests like realty.

He estimated that he had done 25,000 interviews.

For me, Merv Griffin was a familiar face to come home to. For a kid in central Iowa, this was the closest I got to seeing a very interesting conversational style, with a wide range of guests.

A child of the 70s, I remember stand up comics of all stripes -- always vital to my TV watching/talk show loving habits -- but mostly Totie Fields and Orson Welles and his magic, as well as maybe a plate spinner or two and Howie Mandel telling his wait-for-it "It's My potty" joke. I hurried home to see this show circa 1976 through '79 and even multi tasked as I sorted mom's kitchen shelves and watched from the next room.

Yeah. I was a weird kid.

Moreover, Merv made me a winner because I watched his show and heard instrumentalist Herbie Mann tout his newest album Super Mann. The next night I identified the same piece being played and won a whole party for my sixth grade class at a skating rink.

Merv made me a hero.

His style must have rubbed off on me.

And I have to say one his best features was his public battle with his weight. He talked about it, dealt with it and still lived for a long time at a higher weight than he might have liked, but never rejected himself before, during or after.

For some reason, I like that!

See the master in a clip (that's not Charo)....

This essay is rushed, but "Thanks, Merv."

He weighed 235 pounds. Shortly afterward, singer Joan Edwards told him: "Your voice is terrific, but the blubber has got to go." Griffin slimmed down, and he spent the rest of his life adding and taking off weight.

Am I getting old?

2007-08-05T22:06:00.000-05:00

Lisa told me Hairspray and I immediately thought stage production
(versus original movie vs. Ricki Lake movie vs. newest movie)

Colleen told me she had a new sidekick and I said, "Oh is this a new
co=worker, someone who looks up to you... a 'mini-me'?"

And the girls in office love the Spice Girls. So when I recently heard a
reference to Old Spice it took me ten minutes of trying to remember
which girl that was...........

Gil-less Girls?

2007-08-01T17:42:00.000-05:00

Are you a fan of the "Gilmore Girls?"

See what original creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, who was not there for the final season, said HER ending would have been.

BOO HISS
not funny

Johnny Carson quotes from obituary 2005

2007-07-30T22:52:00.000-05:00

Asked how he became a star, Mr. Carson once replied, "I started in a gaseous state and then I cooled."

Pressed further to analyze his own success, he said he worked hard on his own timing. "I have an affinity for editing and pacing," he said....

Someone once asked Mr. Carson what he would like his epitaph to be.

He thought for a moment and reached for the traditional line of a talk-show host:

"I'll be right back."

SOURCE:
Johnny Carson, Low-Key King of Late-Night TV, Dies at 79
By RICHARD SEVERO
and BILL CARTER
Published: January 23, 2005

A wild and crazy....book

2007-07-30T22:27:00.000-05:00

Steve Martin.com sez:

"In early December, my memoir of doing stand up will be published, “Born Standing Up.” Writing it was an absorbing enterprise lasting two years. I’m sorry I’m no longer working on it. And that’s what’s up with me." May 22, 2007

He also recently married a staff writer for the New Yorker, where he contributes humor.

Here's his classic tribute to Johnny Carson from the New York Times.

It ain't over 'til the anorexic felon sings...

2007-07-30T22:23:00.000-05:00

According to People.com and show business "Bible" Variety, "the Simple Life is over for Paris Hilton, but she has already lined up a juicy new role in the big-screen musical Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Hilton is joining Alexa Vega and Paul Sorvino in the cast of Repo!, a musical thriller..."

Egad.

Say it with me. The end of the world is near.....

And you think you're having a bad day....updated

2007-07-27T22:48:00.000-05:00

My favorite is the elephant...

In order, from not-as-bad to downright terrible, the worst jobs in science as ranked by Popular Science magazine:

• Whale-feces researcher: The feces part just smells bad.

• Forensic entomologist: Studying bugs on corpses combines two unpleasant things.

• Olympic drug tester: Watching athletes urinate into cups and testing samples thousands of times during the Games can't be fun.

• Gravity research subject: Stays in bed for three weeks and lets muscles atrophy.

• Microsoft security worker: Deals with every Microsoft user's problems.

• Preserved-animal preparer: Bottles frogs, cats and pigs for biology students.

• Garbologist: Sifts through garbage, literally, to analyze consumption patterns and how quickly waste breaks down.

• Elephant vasectomist: Elephants are big, and so are their testicles.

• Oceanographer: Pollution, overfishing and coral reef destruction mean the oceans keep getting worse.

• Hazardous-materials diver: Swimming in sewage is a dirty task.

read more at
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-06-10-popular-science_N.htm
==========
From Ames police reports:

July 26, 2007: City workers were held at bay by what appeared to be a rabid woodchuck at South 16th Street and Apple Place.

The woodchuck, according to police reports, would not let the workers get back into their trucks near the BMX Bike Park.

The woodchuck reportedly fled the scene, and police were unable to locate it.

Wicked Trailer

2007-07-16T00:32:00.000-05:00

The newest newsletter for the composer is out.
Visit this trailer for the tour of "Wicked."
http://www.universalpictures.com/asx/wicked/wicked/wicked_generic_trailer_128k_wmv.asx

LISA'S BROADWAY ALERT: XANADU COMES TO B'WAY

2007-07-12T00:34:00.000-05:00

I've been holding this since January....but no more.

Another Olivia Newton-John movie is being adapted to the boards as Xanadu prepares to hit the Great White Way at the Helen Hayes, according to the New York Post.

Just say it.

"I'm Alive!"

"This is 1980, the muses are in retreat," exclaims Tony Roberts as
Zeus. "Creativity shall remain stymied for decades. They'll just take
some old stinkeroo movie or some songwriter's catalog, throw it on a
stage and call it a show."

This sounds great to me. I've loved this music for years.

I don't think I even had access to the movie but somehow got the soundtrack (album -- and somewhere I have a beat up cassette). I don't recall what sent me running for it -- perhaps it was the title song "Xanadu" or the chart topper "(we have to believe we are) Magic."

But what's not to love? Olivia Newton-John's breathy vocal qualities, which started out in Australia and segued to the American country charts with songs like "Please Mister Please (don't play B-17, it was his song, it was our song, but it's over" and the remake of "Please Mr. Postman" were popular but for more me it had to be the song that was heard loudly from our swingset as I taught the neighborhood kids to cry to the skies: "Have You Never Been Mellow?"
I certainly didn't know what mellow meant then and probably no one knows now, but the important thing is this album was post-Grease, she was clearly the focus (not shared with fellow break out Travolta) and it was one more blast before she went the way of her alter ego Sandy.

You know what I'm talking about. When she lead the way for Madonna and future trampy transformations (paging Christina Aguillera's "Dirrty") when Olivia, Newton, and John made
it a threesome and tarted up irrevocably with "Physical."

There is a thrilling quality to her plea "keep me Suspended in Time with you, don't let this moment end...I've got a feeling when I'm with you none of the rules apply...." ON-J has a way of bending a phrase and a note just this side of a more melodic yodel -- and the technique is
echoed in E.L.O.'s grand style.

In the meantime, there were so many excellent musical moments in this production. America discovered Cliff Richard with "Suddenly," found a way to slightly honor the admittedly weak sounding, but nonetheless dapper Gene Kelly with the delightful "Whenever You're Away From Me (wherever you go, you're never far away from me, I want you to know, I only have to close my eyes, dear, and suddenly I'm where you are, you better never stray, 'cuz I'll never be far away).

And sure, there's E.L.O. but I was always much more in debt to Fee Waybill of The Tubes. Talk about contrapuntal on "Whenever You're...." (woman I gotta let you know, I won't take a back seat...)

So can it be any wonder people love this "All Over The World?" Ha!

Let me just say it.

"Xanadu your neon light still shines!"

1. Magic - Olivia Newton-John
2. Suddenly - Olivia Newton-John
3. Dancin' - Olivia Newton-John
4. Suspended In Time - Olivia Newton-John
5. Whenever You're Away From Me - Olivia Newton-John
6. I'm Alive - Electric Light Orchestra
7. The Fall - Electric Light Orchestra
8. Don't Walk Away - Electric Light Orchestra
9. All Over The World - Electric Light Orchestra
10. Xanadu - Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra
===

Keep it light, campy and fun (and invite Fee Waybill of the Tubes to reprise his music).

Let's hope they keep the classic ('cuz I'd love the sheet music) --

Whenever I'm away from you
Wherever I go
I'm never far away from you
I want you to know
I only have to close my eyes, dear
and suddenly I'm where you are
You better never stray
'cuz I'll never be far away.....

XANADU on Broadway

R.I.P. Charles Nelson Reilly

2007-05-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

R.I.P. Charles Nelson Reilly

Cutting remarks

2007-05-08T19:16:00.001-05:00

O.J. Simpson was asked to leave a steak joint the night before the Kentucky Derby. Obviously the restaurant owners wasn't impressed when he brought his own knife.

SOMETHING BLUE trailer now online

2007-04-30T00:32:00.000-05:00

SPREAD THE WORD: The movie trailer is now available for download at
SOMETHING BLUE
with Mary Catlett as the Wedding Singer
Keep in mind, I'm supposed to be bad!

http://www.somethingbluefilm.com/
Stay tuned for more info. Tentatively, I am hearing a premiere in Des Moines at the Fleur Cinema, then on to film festivals/contests and DVD.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
READ MORE

Alum creates video drama 'Something Blue' 4/23/07
Sean Gannon (AS '91) just finished making a video drama filmed right here in Iowa. "I was the director, executive producer, writer, cinematographer and editor for the film," Gannon said. Gannon, originally from Bondurant, Iowa, grew up on a farm and graduated from Drake with a major in theater and a minor in radio/TV....

Drake connections

Big dreams, big lights, small town 3/2/07
Buena Vista University features graduate Scott Murphy who plays "Edward"

American Idol: Resurrection of Elvis

2007-04-25T20:53:00.000-05:00

4/25/07 Anyone watching "American Idol" who belongs to their target demographic must have been a little confused at seeing "the new guy."

I know they hyped this incredible "duet" without hinting at who it would be. I was hoping for a Streisand/Manilow pairing but figured that was unlikely, so I know I was surprised.

And he looked good. 3-D even!

I don't know how they did it but it looked great and I hope there are at least a few suitably confused and on the hunt for the next album by the hot new singer in white who was crooning alongside Celine Dion tonight.

For now I'll just turn up the Vegas opening theme song when he sings another resurrected number "A Little Less Conversation" by Mac Davis....I gotta get some of his music in my life again!

Stephen King on Va Tech murders: Dude was crazy...

2007-04-22T21:13:00.000-05:00

Novelist and horrormeister Stephen King shared his thoughts of the Virginia Tech murders and the links between the creative process and violence with Entertainment Weekly (where he is also contributing editor)

"I've thought about it, of course. Certainly in this sensitized day and age, my own college writing — including a short story called "Cain Rose Up" and the novel RAGE — would have raised red flags, and I'm certain someone would have tabbed me as mentally ill because of them, even though I interacted in class, never took pictures of girls' legs with my cell phone (in 1970, WHAT cell phones?), and never signed my work with a ?.

...For most creative people, the imagination serves as an excretory channel for violence: We visualize what we will never actually do (James Patterson, for instance, a nice man who has all too often worked the street that my old friend George used to work). Cho doesn't strike me as in the least creative, however. Dude was crazy...."

Beware: Beer

2007-04-22T21:10:00.000-05:00

According to this source there is a dangerous new date rape drug called....

....beer

That's right.

There's another new date rape drug called....

...."please."

Understanding the caregiver's mindset

2007-04-22T15:08:00.000-05:00

This is one of the best articles I've read in a long time.
The author intimately understands the caregiver, the caregiver's experience, and explains what it is like.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am a recovering caregiver and I can't believe there are those who dealt with it before me and have been dealing with it since I was able to escape. So many have suffered so much more, and yet I know what a number it did on me for just a finite time. Of course, when you are inside and dealing with it all, you don't know how long it will last. I still measure my life as before, during and after the caregiving, and can minutely detail the experiences of Year One and Year Two/first six months, Year Two/final six months....and have I told you about when he was, as I call it, "actively dying."

And yes, in some ways, as suddenly as it all began...
it all ends.

I'm Fine, Thanks
by Pat D’Andria

RICHARD JENI: In Memory

2007-03-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

HE HAD A GOOD BIT: RICHARD JENI updated 3/18/07

Thoughts on the recent suicide of comedian Richard Jeni. The family has issued a statement indicating it was suicide brought on by recently diagnosed "severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia."

Remember him with laughter. That was the true Richard Jeni. Surely he just got waylaid by the confusion brought on by clinical depression and what must have been extreme paranoia. I say extreme because for him to think his life wasn't worth living was clearly cloudy thinking.

That was certainly not the man I had long admired.

I first met him when he came and spoke to Len's "class" in stand-up comedy circa 1990-1991 in Chicago. We knew his reputation and were beyond excited to meet a such a talented professional. The build-up was so strong we even fell for the bad acting when we were told, "Oh, he couldn't make it, afterall. Wait -- here he is!"

He came a second time to speak to a larger group and fell prey to a set up that made him believe his friend had been actively taking credit for the "McDonald's bit" (special sauce? I'll show you special sauce). He was had -- for a minute -- but then got the joke right away. There was no indignant tone, no slip up of a haughty man, no diva acts, no harsh response. Just laughter. Honest laughter.

Too soon, they both returned to the hotel. I turned to my friend. "You know, I don't want to be here. I want to be in that hotel room with the guys."

Okay, I know sounds bad, but it came from my heart. I knew they were having fun and it wasn't easy to find that kind of comic rapport -- something I had come to Chicago to find, afterall. I wanted to laugh, and if that was where the action was, then that was where I wanted to be.

Oh. And I was naive. Still am.

I saw Jeni perform live many times at the Funny Firm and knew him only as someone to be admired and talented. I'm trying not to throw around the "genius" title, but surely he and Bill Hicks both ably demonstrated one of the best pieces of advice T. Sean Shannon ever gave: "If you've got a good bit, add on."

That first day I met him, about 15 of us were treated to a private showing of "The Boy From New York City." I think I'd already seen it, and still have the cable version copied onto VHS right next to his second special titled "Crazy from the Heat." I still have it but I just can't bear to watch it. Not yet.

No need. A friend posted a comment here that reminded me of his classic bit (I'm up!) supposedly between him and his mother. I hadn't thought of it in years, but laughed in deep recognition. And I laughed hard.

Then came the first tears since I'd heard the news.

I wondered if I would cry -- I didn't know him that well, afterall -- but I find it hard to believe that such a great and prolific source of creativity didn't get a happier ending.

He had a good bit. Shouldn't he get the chance to "add on?"

Yes, I cried. But first, there was laughter.

Honest.

Fun calculator

2007-03-17T01:30:00.000-05:00

Get excited about math!
Try this calculator
It works, too.

Adults only

Unbelievable: Rich Jeni suicide

2007-03-11T19:46:00.000-05:00

THOUGHTS ON RICH JENI

TORTURED SOUL
You know that whole "crying on the inside, laughing on the outside" saying? And all those critiques with that theme from the internet and armchair psychologists? I don't wanna hear it!

ROCK 'n' HIS ROLE
On a side note: Tragedy plus time equals comedy, although surely Chris Rock's Monday night comments on Letterman were too soon for most. However, to be fair, he did hit the nail on the head and stayed true to himself, the situation and his late friend. His seemingly flip comments probably best illustrate not only Rock's humor style but the very point of being a comedian. He saw a sentimental balloon and he bust it with the truth. If Jeni had been there, he probably would've said "Go see Chris' new movie." I thought the same thing when Belushi died -- where was the parody scene that he would have been the first to do?

So, don't criticize Rock. He lost a friend and will deal with it privately.

We all will.
========================

According to the Associated Press, USA Today. and Yahoo news, talented stand-up comedian and film actor Richard Jeni died sometime Saturday morning from a gunshot wound. He was 45.

First indications: suicide.

Investigations are continuing and suicide has not been confirmed by police. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Jeni was a frequent guest at Chicago's late lamented Funny Firm and spoke to my "class" there around 1989 or 1990.

Savvy 'Ssica

2007-03-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

'Ssica used to live in the town where I now report from. Her grandmother got a subscription to keep track of her, but now they keep track of me.

"I see your name on the front page of the newspaper," she said. "Sometimes, it is even above the fold."

Sheesh.

Sweet Home for Hudson

2007-03-07T01:19:00.000-06:00

Mayor Richard Daley proclaimed Tuesday "Jennifer Hudson Day" to honor the budding star, whose Cinderella story took her from Chicago's South Side to the Hollywood A-list.

She's an inspiration to everyone who has a dream," Daley told hundreds of screaming fans. "People told her `You can't.'

And she said `I can... Not only can I do it, but you can do it, too...."

Her resiliency resonated with fans, who said they admired Hudson for never giving up her dream.

"Anything is possible if you believe," said 18-year-old Sharhonda Woodard, who braved bitter temperatures for a chance to see Hudson in person.

Kirpatrick Taylor, 37, said Hudson was an inspiration.

She's a dream girl for real," he said.

Toque up for new Second City reality show:

2007-03-04T03:53:00.000-06:00

Americans are being told to "take off, eh, hosers" when it comes to an upcoming reality show focusing on improv. They won't be allowed in the contest for an art form which started in Chicago!

See the evolution of my comments....

2/18 I don't get this reality contest. First of all, I'll bet it might be limited to Canadians, also the point of improvisation is teamwork and yet this contest appears to be seeking an individual. Legendary status should be earned not conferred.

I like the chair in the banner image, however. Classic.

And for the record, I don't like the mainstage set at Second City that gave up the revolving door, door and window. Call me old fashioned! Musical Director Ruby Streak refers to it in her podcast.

The majority of famous Second City Canadians were best known for their SCTV era as well as being some of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players, so the banner image below of 90's era of Mike Meyers looks bad not only because he looks like he is Ralph Cramden, but the photo was stressed to look as old as the rest. Do the math, it's quite a leap in time.

Still don't know for sure but I bet there is a Canadian requirement that doesn't allow anyone else to audition - still seeking confirmation. Otherwise, why are there no U.S. audition sites? And the four step illustration by "Ashley" is "awful," leading people to think that you can win this thing just by lots of practice alone.

Why? Second City originated in Chicago..................Something stinks.....but I"m not bitter.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
MARCH 3 UPDATE: The shadow on their banner image has already been revised to look like Marty Short's Ed Grimley by way of his pre-Something-About-Mary cowlick. Will it change again? The photo for Short on the strip at the bottom is pretty bad, too.
swer. Canadians only. I don't even know if this will air in the U.S.

March 4 UPDATE: "Sketch comedy performers from all over Canada will compete to join the ranks of such legendary Canadian performers as John Candy...." Banner image has changed again, no more shadow.

March 6: Got my answer. I knew it!

-- Chris Allicock wrote: Yes, this is for Canadian residents only. As the show has a Canadian agency funding component this is a mandatory requirement.

Of course, that's the bad news.

The good news is this same "Canadian content" requirement reared it's "ugly" head once before in a way that affected Americans.

When SCTV, which was filmed in Canada, left their Canadian content in their general broadcast for all to see, Americans fell in love with the result --a fake show called "The Great White North" with Bob and Doug McKenzie that, along with the SCTV and it's behind the scenes approach pre-dates both "Wayne's World" and NBC's "30 Rock."

And yes, I actually own an LP of this act. Bob and Doug tickled me at the time. Recently they used these characterizations for a Disney movie "Brother Bear."

Other good news, the unintended result of this Canadian Content rule that starred Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as two brothers was so popular it surely ushered in the way for another Canadian show that was hugely successful on public television and is still celebrated, "The Red Green Show" and all the gang up at Possum Lodge struggling to keep their stick on the ice.

This show featured another comic actor who came from Second City named Patrick McKenna as nephew Harold and Peter Keleghan as Ranger Gord. Dave Thomas appeared as a guest alongside his real brother Ian.

Ironically, and contrary to popular belief, the very talented Thomas has no Second City background or training.

LOCAL TV WEATHERMAN JOKE OF THE DAY

2007-03-04T02:23:00.000-06:00

"This week was Ed Wilson's fault," joked Brad Edwards, the ABC weatherman introducing himself as overnight host of local station's Variety telethon and joking about the weekend bookend storms of the century.