ARE YOU ANYBODY?

An article in The NewYork times this past week about people who collected the autographs of celebrities made me think of The Ice Cream Man. When I was auditioning for the chorus in Broadway shows, we all  ran into him. He drove a truck and sold ice cream when he wasn't chasing a famous actress or actor. He showed up everywhere--the stage door of Broadway Theatres, rehearsal studios, restaurants where performers grabbed a snack during a break or Sardi's on opening nights. If he wasn't sure of who you were or how you ranked in the theatrical firmament, he would ask. His question? "Are you anybody?"

My answer was, "Everybody is somebody." After reading the piece in The Times, I began to think about what turns a person into a somebody. Is it having the confidence to try to work at something you love? Finding contentment in work or family or using the gifts that were bestowed upon you by chance or birth or hard labor? Is it sharing those gifts? I began as a singer, became a stage manager and then a writer. As a singer I found excitement and a connection to the audience. As a stage manager, I enjoyed seeing the pieces of a show come together and as a writer I find fufillment in my words and characters. How do you define being a somebody? And do you ever redefine yourself?

Bests,

Elise

WORDS, MUSIC AND ART

This past week, public radio and television stations have been asking for contributions to keep their programs on the air. One of the announcers asked what would our lives be like without the arts and it got me to thinking. In the morning, after washing my face and teeth and throwing on some clothes, the first thing I do is turn the radio to our classical music station-WQXR-and listen while I make breakfast. Sometimes, after a restless night, the music soothes, sometimes a piece spurs me on to a more productive day. On weekends, I listen to Jonathan Schwartz on WNEW as he plays and talks about musical comedy and jazz greats. Singers like Sinatra and Clooney and Bennett. The fabulous Ella Fitzgerald and the singer's singer--Mabel Mercer. Composers and lyricists like Rogers, Bernstein, Porter, Gershwin, Hammerstein and Sondheim. What would I do without those stations?

Then there are museums where average folk can wander and fall in love with paintings that cover every taste from early Greek and Roman, African and Asian, renaissance, classical, impressionism, modern, and folk. Sculpture from the masters--Michelangelo, Rodin, Degas and photography--one of our latest arts. In Brussels--one can even study and gaze at the Ninth Art--cartoons.

Perhaps books mean the most to me. Words can make me dream, add excitemnt to a dull period in my life, encourage laughter and tears. Provoke anger, lull me to sleep and make me think. Books open my mind to the possible and sometimes make the impossible--possible.

Scene Stealer, my eBook mystery is available at Carina Press and wherever eBooks are sold. An audio version is available at audible.com