Happy New Year!
by Michael B. Druxman on 01/04/14
January 6, 2014
Happy New Year, everybody. I hope that you all had an enjoyable holiday season.
I have, actually, been a bit under the weather for the past month. I came down with a cold a couple of weeks before Christmas, and the cough is lingering. I've been on two antibiotics and a bunch of other stuff, but the cough persists. Wife Sandy and I are beginning to think that it's some sort of Texas allergy. I will be calling the doctor again today.
On December 18th, Sandy and I flew into Long Beach, then took a shuttle up to the San Fernando Valley where we stayed at the Sportsman's Lodge. I certainly enjoyed seeing my friends/family and my two book signings, but I think I've had it with Los Angeles and flying altogether. From now on, if people in Los Angeles was to see me...and I hope they will...they can come to Austin.
The flight to California was miserable. It took 45 minutes to go through the damn security line, then the flight was delayed 90 minutes. I just don't have the patience for this airport bulls**t any longer. I have a couple of book signing gigs later this year, but I'm driving to those.
On the plus side of the trip, I spent time with my son, David, and his lovely Lynette. I also saw longtime Bridget Hanley, Beverly Ansara, Frances Doel and I went to Bruce Kimmel's Christmas Eve party. We flew home on Christmas Day.
At my book signings, I finally met Ed French, face-to-face. He's terrific on the audio adaptation of my one-person play, ORSON WELLES. I also spent time at the signings with actors Clu Gulager, L.Q. Jones and Austin Stoker.
Since I've been home, aside from trying to stay warm and seeing the doctor twice, I have been working on my new 3 person stage play, which deals with a major Hollywood scandal of the 1950s. It's going well.
Finally, I've added several new DVD reviews to the Best Bets on DVD site, accessible via the link in the Introduction section of this page. They include Lee Daniels' THE BUTLER, FRUITVALE STATION, 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, ACROSS THE BRIDGE and 5 delightful movies starring Jessie Matthews, the British musical-comedy star of the 1930s. I've also just received COPPER, Season 2, which I will be watching and reviewing this week.
That's about it for now. You have a creative week.
Michael
