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| re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? | |
| Posted by: TheHarveyBoy 06:06 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? - bobby2 04:44 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| It meant Unlawful To Be Unpleasant I didn't see it. It was written by James Kirkwood and featured Tony Tandall, Margaret Hamilton, Cathryn Damon, Tom Aldredge and Thelma Ritte, among others. |
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| re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:53 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? - TheHarveyBoy 06:06 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| I think it meant "Unhealthy to Be Unpleasant." The reviews were pretty bad, as you might expect given the short run, but there are shows that had similarly short runs but got more mixed reviews. | |
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| re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? | |
| Posted by: Revned 12:13 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? - AlanScott 07:53 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| The unhappy story of UTBU is related in some detail in Sean Egan's biography of James Kirkwood. Walker was reportedly intimidated by the high-powered cast. She was actually taken off the job and replaced by Jack Sydow late in the process, though Walker was still credited as the director and hung around occasionally giving notes anyway. James Leo Herlihy, a close friend of Kirkwood's, was originally a co-author, but he asked to have his name taken off the credits before the play opened, partly because Walker had brought in another writer to doctor the script without his or Kirkwood's consent. All in all a mess of an experience involving some very major artists. |
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| Link | Kirkwood bio |
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| re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? | |
| Posted by: Alcindoro 09:23 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? - AlanScott 07:53 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| From the Amazon advertisement, where used copies are going for almost $1000 (!!!) : "Farce / U.T.B.U. is a wacky organization dedicated to righting the world's ills by exterminating nasty people. The blind leader is after an actor whose 94 year old mother won't give him money to produce a play so he intends to hasten her demise with assorted Gothic tortures." "Zany ... and manic." - N.Y. Herald Tribune "It has overtones of You Can't Take It With You compounded with the most flagrant insanity of Olsen and Johnson...it is impossible not to bust out laughing." - N.Y. Journal American |
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| Would be pretty silly to pay that when you can get it new from Samuel French for $9.95 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:53 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Nancy Walker in a musical in the 80s? - Alcindoro 09:23 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| And even a bit less from one abebooks sellers at the moment. And as far as I can tell, there wasn't a hardcover, there was just French. That description comes from the French page, which I almost linked earlier. |
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| Link | UTBU |
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| UTBU | |
| Posted by: Whistler 06:17 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: Would be pretty silly to pay that when you can get it new from Samuel French for $9.95 - AlanScott 09:53 am EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| I saw it, attracted by the cast, and the fact that I was young, and it was cheap, and I'd see anything. It was just awful. On the desperate level of "Fun City" and "Four On A Garden" and "Things That Go Bump In The Night." Nothing worked, and it was playing to an almost empty house. One of those show where I'd bought my usual back balcony seat and was directed by the ushers to sit in the front of the orchestra, just so the actors didn't feel they were playing to seats. Even at 18, I knew enough to feel sorry for everyone involved, but only barely: I was laughing in the wrong places, at things that were ludicrous, and not laughing at the occasional intended jokes. I'm sure everyone but the investors was happy when it closed. |
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| re: UTBU | |
| Posted by: Fasslercom 08:12 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: UTBU - Whistler 06:17 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| Thanks, "Whistler." Having seen "Fun City" and "Four on a Garden," you made me laugh using them as references. I was too young to have been able to see UTBU, but I do own the poster since it's by the brilliant Tomi Ungerer (so there was that). | |
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| re: UTBU | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:37 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: re: UTBU - Fasslercom 08:12 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| Yes, it's a fantastic poster. (Not that I own a copy.) | |
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| Tomi Ungerer | |
| Posted by: Whistler 11:05 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
| In reply to: re: UTBU - AlanScott 09:37 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| Damn. I just went looking for the Ungerer UTBU poster online and couldn't find it. I haven't thought of him and his work in years, though I used to like his art a lot. I even used knockoffs of it once as projections for a production of a Brecht play. If anyone can find a link to the UTBU poster, please tell me the key words, if you can't post the link here. Thanks. |
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| re: Tomi Ungerer | |
| Posted by: Fasslercom 10:07 am EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: Tomi Ungerer - Whistler 11:05 pm EDT 09/03/19 | |
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| Here you go, Whistler. I posted it on Pinterest for you. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/488922103297901145 | |
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| Thanks | |
| Posted by: Whistler 04:00 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Tomi Ungerer - Fasslercom 10:07 am EDT 09/04/19 | |
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| Thanks. That's great. Nicely funny. And probably better than the script and the production. | |
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