DRIFTING AND DREAMING

     

     Today is Charles Camille Saint-Saens birthday. Born on Oct. 9, 1835, he was a child prodigy composing his first piece of music at the age of three. He was a songwriter, pianist, journalist, playwright and poet. Symphonies, concerts, songs, choral music, piano and chamber music all poured from this Renaissance man. He wrote the opera Samson and Delilah, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals.
     A French composer, he received more acclaim in the United States and England. I remember hearing The Swan in music appreciation class in elementary school. I closed my eyes and my mind wandered picturing water, swans, weeping willows--branches of leaves lightly touching the bank. Clouds slowly wandering the blue sky. Classical music makes me dream and paint mental pictures that can be used when I play with words. Happy birthday, Charles Camille Saint-Saens.

     Do you paint mental pictures when you hear music?

     Bests,

     Elise

LOST AND FOUND

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     Sometimes a former love will become a character in one of my short stories or books. The outer appearance will change—at times it’s an improvement—but his essence becomes part of a new man. The outer shell may be used later in another character.  I guess you can change someone for the better although we’ve been told you shouldn’t even try—but that’s in real time not in fiction.

     The first—a neighbor with the stereotyped red hair and freckles usually found in descriptions of mischievous boys—pulled my braids because he liked me. Much to my mother’s dismay, I chopped off the braids. In a short story, the hair remained and a romance began.

     In my teens, I danced all evening with a fellow who made me feel like the most beautiful, intelligent and charming woman in the world. But we were two different faiths and he was studying to be a minister. I later heard he became a television producer instead. His faith lost a lot of converts but I gained writing material.

     Then there was my season as an apprentice in summer stock. I met an actor who was jobbed in one week to star in a play and we met after the show. He wanted to go into the wood and explore, I just wanted to talk about Shakespeare. We both were disappointed. Both in theatre and writing—use the material.

     As we mature, we often travel different paths from people we once held close but memories come back when we write and their traits, manners and features often appear in our stories.

     I offer a toast to those that we once loved and haven’t completely lost.

Bests,

Elise

Happy Birthday, Mr. Gershwin

Courtesy Wikepedia Commons     
     Today is George Gershwin's birthday. Born on Sept. 26, 1898, he left our world on July 11, 1937 at the
age of 38. He left us with music that brightens our lives whenever and whenever it is played. The son of Russian immigrants he began playing the piano at the age of 11 when his parents bought a second-hand piano for his older brother, Ira--who became a brilliant lyricist.
     A school dropout at 15, he began playing in New York night clubs and as a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley and he kept studying music with noted piano teachers. He worked as a rehearsal pianist for Broadway performers and had his first song published in 1916, titled "When You Want 'Em, "You Can't Get 'em." He wanted to study with Ravel but Ravel turned him down saying,"Why do you want to be a second rate Ravel when you are a first rate Gershwin?"
     Gershwin wrote hit after hit  with brother Ira. A motion picture starring Janet Gaynor and all time favorites for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He wrote for Ethel Merman's Broadway debut titled "Girl Crazy," and Of Thee I Sing--a political satire. His opera, Porgy and Bess just received another production, and his "Rhapsody in Blue," and "American in Paris," continue to bring joy to music lovers everywhere.
     Stories are told of him sitting down at a piano and performing at every party. If there is a heaven, I'm sure he's playing right now.

Bests,

Elise

    






 

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

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     One of the definitions the dictionary assigns to the word Medium is—an intervening substance through which something is transmitted or carried on. Another is—An Agency by which something is accomplished, conveyed or transferred. As writers we fit that description as we summon events from the past or gaze into the future, ask long-gone friends about their life in another sphere and transform their words, their history, their period into a happening that transports the reader into another time and place.

     Some Mediums claim to be taken over by spirits who use their voice. We listen to our characters who often change the way we first envisioned them. A hero may turn into a villain and the plot we’ve worked so hard on will be altered as the people that inhabit the pages of our short stories or novels choose a different path.

     Near the beginning of history attempts were made to communicate with spirits and mentioned in the Old Testament. In 19^th century England and America Mediums gave lectures and became authors. Some even wrote best-sellers. A Medium will do a reading for a particular client known as a “sitter.” We read our manuscripts aloud to ourselves and support groups who sit around a table waiting to offer suggestions that will help us to see if the manuscript is ready to be submitted to publishers.

     Then there is the Trance Medium where a spirit uses the Medium’s mind to communicate and said to center attention on the thoughts being conveyed. When we sit down at our computers or tablets or pick up a pad and pencil, we focus our attention on the words that we write. We do without trumpets, cabinets, levitation tables, darkened rooms and smoke but we do employ mirrors.

When you tell your story, do you ever think of yourself as a Medium?

Bests,

Elise

WALLANDER

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     Wallander and his Masterpiece Mystery! Series III began last Sunday evening on our public television station. The landscape and his new home on lush land—complete with lover and her young son and dog are destined to be immersed in gloom and doom. Wallander—his jaw marked with the stubble of an unshaved face and his sad tired eyes won’t be getting a much deserved rest—he finds a corpse on his property. And will soon find two more—all related to his case. Usually, I like my mysteries spiked with a touch of humor but played by the magnificent Kenneth Branagh, Wallander’s story—though I guessed the villain—hooked me and I look forward to episode number two. I’m sure the body count will grow during this four part series.

    What television mystery series are your favorites?

Bests,

Elise

CHAPLIN THE MUSICAL

    
     Had the pleasure of seeing a preview yesterday of an engrossing new musical about the life of Charlie Chaplin. One of two sons of English Music Hall performers. He survived his father's desertion and his mother's mental illness to become a comedian for Fred Karno. While playing in NYC, he was discovered by Mack Sennett who was a major silent film producer and offered the then grand sum of $150.00 to come to Hollywood. The musical traces his life from his early childhood, to his exile from America, partially due to the vindictivness of a Hollywood gossip columnist, and his late life welcome back to the hearts of the public with an honorary Academy Award.
     The play is well done and Chaplin performed by Rob McClure--new to most theatre-goers is a multi- talent that we'll be seeing and hearing a lot about. Chaplin would be stirred by his portrayal. His rendition of what is sometimes called an 11:00 o'clock number--titled Where Are All the People? brought the house down. The vido/projection design by Jon Driscoll is one of the best I've ever seen.

     If you're in or coming to NYC, buy yourself a ticket to a great evening.

     Bests,
   
     Elise

A SENSE OF PLACE

    

     While straightening out my files, I came across an article I had written about the Holy Meteora in Greece on the north-west border of Thessaly where clusters of surreal, rugged black masses of rock stand guard over the villages of Kalambaka and Kastraki. On their giant pinnacles, disciplined communities of monks and nuns live in isolated monasteries known as the Holy Meteora. By the end of the 15th century there were 24 monasteries that served as a repository for Greek culture. A system of ladders, nets, ropes and pulleys, in a winching tower suspended over an abyss, transported food, bulding materials and the monks. Religious faith (or a sense of humor) would be needed--the ropes--the story goes--were only replaced when they frayed and snapped. Seems like the perfect place for a mystery. Agia Tridada, the monastery of the Holy Trinity, located on a narrow spire, was the site for the James bond film, For Your Eyes Only with Roger Moore.
     I began thinking about how place affects the mystery and my first thought was about Ellis Peters and her books about Cadfael, a monk who lived in the 1100s in Shrewsbury, England in the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul. Could Cadfael have lived anywhere else?
     Then there's Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti who lives in Venice, well respected and well-fed by a loving wife. Where else but Venice?
     Tony Hillerman's mysteries take place in the southwest amongst the Navajo tribes. Here Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee solve crimes and keep criminal behavior in check. the land was made for Hillerman's mysteries.
     Mention Oxford, England--the fictional Oxford England and the reader is enthralled with Inspector Morse and his fictional heir, Inspector Lewis. Walk around Oxford and you'll find fans of the series wandering around looking for the places where they solved crimes usually committed by Professors and students.
     What mysteries and authors and places can you suggest?

     Bests,

     Elise