Can It Be Saved?
by Michael B. Druxman on 09/30/12
October 2, 2012
This past week has been spent, among other activities, trying to figure out a way to save and continue my stage play about Basil Rathbone.
I wrote the first few pages, and was quite happy with them (as a first draft), but then as I started to get into Rathbone's actual story, I realized that, from a dramatic standpoint, he had no story. Certainly there was nothing there in his personal life that would justify a play.
Aside from having a shrewish wife who "broke him" and kept him away from his son (from his first marriage) and his grandchildren, there is really no dramatic hook of any consequence. Rathbone died a sad, almost indigent old man, and I don't believe that audiences would want to see that.
I even considered putting him on stage with some of his other horror colleagues (e.g. Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr.), but whereas these other actors may be interesting, there is still no play that I can see.
So, until a dramatic thread for Basil Rathbone occurs to me, this one goes back onto the shelf.
This past week was also spent working with narrators on my various audio books. ORSON WELLES, my one-person play, should wrap within the next couple of days and be uploaded for approval by ACX then. Ed French is doing a brilliant job as Welles in this radio-like drama. Indeed, he brings the late filmmaker to life.
The audio book of my novel SHADOW WATCHER (narrated by Alan Douglas), is about half done, as is Fred Frees' rendition of my book of short stories, DRACULA MEETS JACK THE RIPPER & Other Revisionist Histories. Both of those are coming along quite well, and I am really enjoying myself wearing my director's hat again.
I also signed a contract with an actress in Tacoma, WA, to record my (Carole) LOMBARD play.
Additionally, books arrived this week for me to bring to (and sell in) Los Angeles later this month when I appear at the Son of Monsterpalooza horror convention at the Marriott Hotel across from the Burbank airport (October 26-28).
Finally, there's a review of the STARZ series, MAGIC CITY, Season One, on the Best Bets on DVD site, accessible via the link in the Introduction section of this page.
You have a creative week.
Michael
