Baby Steps to B'way...

And I mean that in a really big way!

A while back I was telling you about my big break in High School Drama Class. So this sort of continues from there.

Well anyway, shortly after that I found that Whittier Light Opera would be doing a production of "Funny Girl!" Well guess what, yes you're right, I auditioned. I have to idea what I was thinking since I was only 15, and really the only female roles in that musical are Fanny Brice herself, her elder Jewish mother, friends and neighbors...and a bunch of sexy showgirls. But I was still a little bit devasted when I received this postcard.

I don't think I ever told anyone about this.

But back to High School...

At that point my drama teacher already pretty much considered me a star. Amazing what one silly little lip-synch can do for your career. And so I was pretty much a shoe-in for one of the two females in our Spring production of "The Odd Couple." The other girl was Carolee Shoemaker...

I should probably interject here for a second and explain that I had the great misfortune during, say from 1970-1972, to live in a time when "technology" thought they could make improvements to the film processing methods for photos taken with instamatic cameras.. So sadly I am a product of the yellowed and faded photos from that time period. Senior picture included. But thankfully for nowday's PhotoShop I am at least able to remove some of the yellow tinge. The blur I can't do much about.

But back to the theatre, and where it all began, which I should probably mention here. I made my theatrical debut as a Munchkin in my church's stake production of "The Wizard of Oz" in 1965. (I would actually end up including that fact into my future Broadway Playbill bio's, where at 5'10" never failed to elicit alot of smiles.) Which now reminds me of those days when our church would regularly put on plays, musicals and roadshows all of which I was a part of. I loved being a part of all that and should probably give some credit to any of my future success to those experiences given me at church. I really don't know when or why they stopped all doing that. Perhaps they ended up considering it too prideful and not in the best interest of the church's youth. Probably because of me. lol!

Here's a shot from one of our Ward plays "A Ready Made Family." I played a 70 year old woman, can you tell?

I remember being told so many times that evening how I'd given an Oscar winning performance. I seriously doubt that but still, it kept me going.

Next up "The Crucible" where I was cast in the role of Abigail Williams (the town's most unprincipled girl), which sort of worked out to my advantage amongst all the really cute, unprincipled guys in the show... :)

And then, life changed dramatically (ha), when I took a chance to branch out over the hill in Whittier in the summer of '71. Definitely, a lot more theatrical opportunities over there.

And so my summer community theatre production of "West Side Story" was my year of branching out and growing up for sure. And as silly and amateurish as this picture may seem, there was some serious talent in that cast, along with many friends that would become a huge part of the next few years of my life. I'll never forget driving my old Rambler over the hill to that very first rehearsal. My mother was less than thrilled.

And as well she should have been (not thrilled) because it was a pretty growing up summer for me. Honestly, I never really did anything all THAT bad, except to learn how to kiss and alter my driver's license... But what a blast it was! It was also the summer that Lorna and I would meet and subsequently become unseparable for years to come.

And then it was Back To School in the Fall with "The Man Who Came To Dinner."

Again sorry about the blurry. It really WAS a pretty good play!

But Over The Hill beckoned me once again the next spring with Whittier Civic Light Opera's "Hello Dolly." It would be the most professional show I'd done to date. (I didn't audition for the lead this time!) Catherine Jacoby who played Dolly became my new idol.

And a great cast too!

The only downside to that experience is that it sort of threw me into the muck in terms of my high school drama teacher, Mrs. Bradbury, because it prevented me from being able to be a part of the senior play, "10 Little Indians." I still can't believe now how I had the nerve to show up for the auditions that night even after telling her I wouldn't be able to do it. That was a fun evening. I had never seen her so angry and betrayed! Talk about my burning bridges...

But I still got the Bank of America Award for Drama and a trophy for Best Actress at the end of the year... :)

And shared the "most creative senior" award with Jeff Balsmeyer who would later end up being nominated for some major film festival award plus doing well, a whole bunch of other stuff.

Anyway, I finished out my High School drama career on the other side of hill once again in "Mame" as Sally Cato/Ensemble...

Again, sorry for the blurry. This one's a little better.

Anyway, it really WAS quite stressful being the Los Altos High School drama department diva... lol! But onward and upward!

Cal State University Fullerton Theatre Department, here I come.

Prepare To Be (less than) Amazed!...

I've always told people that I started dancing at the age of 5, but I don't think that's altogether true..

What IS true is that at age 5 my mother enrolled me in a class which consisted of a combination of ballet, tap, tumbling, baton twirling and eventually (I think) the hula if there was time to spare... And I did this all in an hour, one night a week, and probably just so my mom could have time to run back to school and finish planning her teaching curriculum for the next day.

I remember playing on the jungle gym outside of the dance studio afterwards, waiting for her to pick me up. I think that was my favorite part. Anyway, I really hated that "dance" class.

Recitals were a different story...

BTW... the boy who is walking away in the background is Michael Gutenplan, who threatened to "beat me up" every single day of my young life. I hear he is now an attorney out in LA or something...

But back on topic... I think I eventually quit. Either that, or my mom quit needing me to go, or whatever.

But then, when I was in 5th grade, a girl from school told me she was taking ballet lessons and I stood right there on the north side of the cross walk while we waited for the crossing guard to tell us we could cross, and showed her my perfect pique turns and pas de bouree's. As not to be "topped" or anything...

So I guess you could say that my real dancing interests began more when I was... like 10.

Except that it was STILL really just an after-school program funded by the LaPuente School District. And we held our classes in elementary school cafeterias with the fold out cafeteria tables being used as our barres. Being tallish, I usually hung onto the wall instead. But at least I went twice a week, and ALL we studied was ballet. Our teacher was Miss Joyce and I will love her to this day, even though it would take several years before she'd ever put me on pointe.

With good reason!...

Yet despite our somewhat amateurish circumstances, she really WAS an excellent teacher. I don't think I ever really got that "good" in her care, but she gave me a really, really great start. At least I think she knew what she was doing... and made the very best out of the resources available. Elementary school cafeteria stages or high school gymnasiums for recitals, etc...

Mary Lou and Me... my best friend and carpool buddy.

Finally on pointe!

A solo (?)

Snow White's Dove

And then, at some point during all this, I joined the Covina Valley Junior Ballet Company. Which was sort of a big deal, because we actually had to audition! And it was a huge time committment... All day Saturday, plus my regular weekday classes. (my daughters will probably get a smile out of that... along with the fact that the "ballet moms" were still exactly the same as we would encounter some thirty years later. Because some things never change!)

But it was my first brush with semi-professionalism and a Russian artistic director. Marilia Walsh was a force to be reckond with! And we performed at the (waitforit...) Mission Playhouse in Pasadena!..

Jeux de Cartes

The Pirates' Treasure

The Precious Gems

...and even once at the old LA Pilgrimage Theatre in LA, where we did "Cinderella" and "La Mer." (There's gotta be pictures of that somewhere!)

And then, it was sometime soon after this time that I just sort of stopped dancing, because I decided that I wanted to be an ACTRESS instead. Obviously this was way before the time of understanding the need to be a "triple threat."

So to be completely honest, I don't really know exactly just how it came to be that I would eventually end up dancing on B'way. Except for the fact that I'm a little competetive maybe.

Because see, there was this girl, Sandra, in Home Ec one day who I overheard talking about the dance garb that Juliet Prowse had been wearing in class last night. And when I asked her how she'd come to know that exactly she just rolled her eyes at me and said, "Because I was there."

Well, it had never dawned on me before that anyone would actually go into LA to take dance classes... but anyway, even due to our apparent like-interests, we never did become friends.

Years later, upon my first move to New York, I would find, not only did she live in my VERY same apartment on 72nd street, but was also a corps member of the New York City Ballet! She never recognized me at all... and I never said hello.

But I did do "standing room" a LOT that year at the NYCB, which is when I think I forever fell in love and became addicted to ballet and dancing! So thankyou Sandra (even though you'll probably never know it was you who unwittingly inspired my obsession.)

I do have to mention here, though, that a couple of years later we were both auditioning for the same Broadway show. We bumped into each other in the elevator going up to the 3rd floor of the Minskoff Studios and I finally had the nerve to introduce myself and express to her that I thought we'd gone to High School together. And what did she say to me? She said "Wow, you must have a really good memory." And that was about it.

Long story short, we had to do fouettes at that audition so talk about pressure! But as it turned out, I got called back and she didn't.

And that is an absolutely true story...

When I stop to think about it, it was more likely Saybher, Dennon, Jackie & Bill, Joe Bennett, Kathryn Lowe, Ron Forella, David Howard and Doug Wassell * who ultimately made me wanna keep on dancing.

So I just kept on dancing...

And then eventually... somehow things worked out.

*So many others to remember and acknowledge... but it's been a REALLY long time, so I'll have to do some googling first.

T M B...

I'm not quite sure how to begin here, except to say that I think Thom may have added an "h" to his name right about the same time I added an "n".

And ALSO, that I think he's probably about the very best friend I've ever had.

For sure!

We met during our Freshman year of college at Cal State University Fullerton, though the Disney thing was probably one of the things that cemented us.

Or it could have been at least a thousand other things too. You can scroll (way) down to at least see 100 of the possiblities...

Anyway, when you're friends with someone for like 40 years its sometimes hard to keep the timeline straight so I'll just do the best I can to put some of these pictures in the order they came in with whatever memory I have left. I'm sure Thom will correct me if I'm wrong...

Please keep in mind this was WAY before the time of instantaneous photo ops. Because if otherwise, what follows could have been really frightening!

On The Circle Line the first time he came to visit me in New York (1974)

On some balcony in Newport Beach just as soon as I got back... (1974)

A Music Center afternoon (1975)

Out with the family after a performance of "Promises, Promises" (1975)

Another "Promises, Promises" afterparty - I must have taken the picture.. (1975)

Agent Day (1975)

Disney Easter Parade (1975)

Pardon Me Boys *cough* at Knotts Berry Farm (1976)

Thom with Tao (1976)

At a get-together with the NY Telephone Industrial cast (1977)

Rockerfellar Center (1977)

Rock Center Too (1977)

On the fire escape at my old "Hell's Kitchen" apartment (1977)

A picnic in Sheep's Meadow NYC (1977)

Somewhere more exotic... Like maybe Hawaii? Or Laguna..(?)

Told you my memory's failing me!

I wonder who wrote this?

Because I just found it...

I just love this picture! (from whenever it was..)

So what is it that seals the deal and makes two people be able to remain friends with each other forever? Because even after we'd lost touch for such a long time, we still WERE.

Catalina - One of the best times ever! (1987)

And then, STILL again, even after a lifetime later.

Dinner before "Wicked." (2007)

There is something just SO great about having someone who knows you, and has known you forever, through the very best and worst of it, and still sort of likes you. And even after all these many years later all you have to say is just say one little word (or a couple) and that person still completely gets it! So here goes:

The Hundred (or so) Reasons

1. New Sights and Bright Lights
2. Hello.. Western Airlines?
3. Some more champagne?
   
4. SIR, would you please put your cigarette out? You could blow up the whole plane!
5. Are you the couple who just got married?
6. I wonder if the bus terminal is anywhere near the Hilton.
7. Cab driver take us there please. "cough, choke, gag" And could you also open your window?
8. Only twenty-two dollars?
9. I'm sorry but we're closed.
10. Right this way Mr. Blackmore. May I suggest the prime rib?
11. Maybe a pot pie out of the machine?
12. Room 1717.
13. The Bristol.. with all it's charm.
14. Going back, we'll probably be all alone on the plane. haha
15. Debbie, Jean... and John Goodwin
16. Bette at Universal Amphitheatre
17. The yapanese yen..
18. Shiela Levine
19. Alcoves
20. Foam mattresses
21. Letters on cassette
22. "I gotta get this to the post office before it closes!"
23. Bonds
24. Rona...
25. Hop on the bus Gus, no need to discuss much...
26. Just drop off the key Lee, and get yourself free.
27. Sparkle and Song All Summer Long
28. Get those knees up Jannet!
29. My calves hurt!
30. I'll love you till the cows come home. Then I'll go back to loving cows again.
31. And so vhere ar your troubles now? Gone? I told you so!
32. Jen! I can't feel my legs! Tony!
33. No, No Nanette
34. But Oh when she dances.
35. Are you tired of going to the same old bathroom?
36. Red hat. Blond wig. Sunglasses. Yellow shopping bag. Don't make a mistake.
37. I made a mistake...
38. Let's see. Bed. Sleep. Touch. Struggle. But not too hard...
39. Vegas in a Vega
40. Sparkly jacket that just shouts homemade!
41. Liza.. with a Z
42. Rhinos...
43. Dinners prior to all those red eye flights
44. Melissa Manchester
45. David's of Hawaii
46. puka shells
47. The Longacre Home for "wayward" Women
48. Lost in Harlem
49. The Cottage and Chicken Little
50. Stephen Peck's pizza joint
51. joints in general
52. Polly's Pie Palace
53. Promises, Promises
54. Gittel and Jerry
55. Katie and Hubbel
56. Horace and Clarabelle
57. "I know I'm different but from now on I'm going to try and be the same.."
58. Eunice? There's a person named Eunice?
59. Don't you know the meaning of propriety?
60. Use your charm...
61. JH Hunsaker
62. The hostess did not shower for the occassion...
63. sixty-nine... sixty-nine!
64. I'm not the Butler Neely!
65. You're not the breadwinner either!

*And yes, I know that there's not quite 100 up there yet. But that's what the comments section is for because I'm sure you'll be able to help me fill the quota with absolutely no problem Thom. We can call this a "work in progress..."

And then, can we do it all over again one more time? Except this time maybe facing AWAY from the mirror?..

For any of you who felt alienated by any of that up there, well, all I can say is that if you were meant to understand it, there would be a completely different set of initials up there in the title bar. Right?

Anyway... ain't he a doll!

May you have a most perfectly perfect 59th Thom!

We isn't that old yet!

Just For The Record...

I've got 36... Barbra Streisand albums...

well, including this one.

Where to start...

I think it must have been some time around late'69 or maybe early'70 that I saw "Funny Girl" for the first time. The first of probably more times than I have her albums. Saw it at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Yes, one of the perks of growing up in Southern California. Seeing first run movies at the famous theatre was simply no big deal. Except for this one.

Imagine me, a young impressionable, actress/singer/dancer wanna-be, with a slightly larger than normal nose. Well, I was instantly hooked and my two year enamorement with one Patty Duke took an instantaneous nose DIVE. (I promise to keep this blog shorter... :)

Anyway, I owe Barbra a bunch.

The BackStory

I'm not sure what most teenagers do during their high school years. Don't get me wrong, I certainly had my share of extracuriculars along with boy crushes and the occassional munchies. I think I went to a "Three Dog Night" concert once as well as "The Moody Blues" and for sure "Joe Cocker." (I just realized that I have a whole lot of other things that I am now itching to write about!)

But one of the things I probably remember the most, at least during my last year of high school, was stalking Barbra Streisand.

301 Carolwood Drive in Holmby Hills, CA. That was her address.

Lorna and I had gotten this super secret piece of information from our friend Julie who had gotten it from a friend of hers. (Who would have known there could be so many "losers" in one small town?) But anyway, 301 Carolwood became our weekly Saturday destination.

Most of the time we would just drive by... and then go do the things that most teenagers do on a Saturday evening on Sunset or Hollywood Blvd. Usually it was dinner at Old World, a movie and a stop at Tower Records (thus all the albums.) But we did do some pretty "stalkerish" things as well. I'm not quite sure how many of the things I remember actually happened, like talking to young son Jason through the gate because I realize that sometimes when you embelish a story just once it can all of a sudden become very real in your mind, so I'll try to be honest here and use only my true memory.

• We did tote our bikes in the back of my VW station wagon a couple of times so that we could endlessly circle the block.

• We did pull a cardboard shipping box out of her trashcan once with the name and address label still attached.

• We did follow her yellow Mercedes once, causing her to panic a bit and to cut us off in her quick escape up the freeway ramp.

• We did have the police called on us more than once.

• And I'm not sure if we ever really took a picnic lunch to eat on a blanket in the vacant lot across from her house or not. Maybe we just thought about doing it. Given the last bullet point though, I highly doubt this ever really happend.

But we did stalk her backstage at the Hilton in Vegas once. Now there's a story.

Julie, Lorna and I had driven to Vegas to see her concert. Actually, my mom had driven the 3 of us along with my sister Jeannie and a friend in tow, but once we got there my friends and I never really saw the rest of the crew.

Prior to the dinner show, which my mom and sis were attending, we somehow snuck backstage through a side door off a service entrance that my friend (of course) knew about. We walked around for a while, acting as if we belonged there. (As if 3 teenage girls would ever have looked like they belonged there!) But somehow we pulled it off. I think the "ah-ha" moment of fooling everyone was finding that bank of pay phones...

And then suddenly, there she was. Walking from her dressing room to the stage accompanied by a female security guard and her little dog Sadie. And she was so much tinier than I had imagined! (Barbra, not Sadie) And then there we were petting her little dog and pretending that we weren't at all interested in the person who was walking her. And that's about it. We left the backstage area eeeeeing and awwwwwwing. Whether or not we left on our own accord is a detail I don't recall. Selective memory being what it is...

At the midnight show, we tipped the host $10 and somehow found ourselves seated at the very front table. Elbows on stage front table! Whether or not she recognized us during the concert we'll never know. If she did, she handled it like a pro.

Harvey Wallbangers were the fare of the evening. Don't they card in Vegas? Or perhaps we all just looked 21 and with the price of the ticket came two free beverages... (By the way, my friend Julie passed away sometime during the early 2000's due to an alcohol related illness, which is one of the reasons I can now remember the details of that night so clearly, sort of in the same way that I can still remember with such clarity the morning of 9/11, even though at the time I had no real reason to remember it.)

Anyway, as soon as the concert ended, Julie (the bravest of us all) hopped up onto the stage and dashed behind the curtain and of course we followed suit. The stage was already in the dark, but not dark enough for us to be able to swipe a type written sheet of "cheat notes" off the stool.

Yes, that really happened. And no, I do not know where that sheet of cheat notes is today but I will probably forever feel a little guilty about it.

And just for the record, Lorna and I DID attend the famous "Live At The Forum" concert with Barbra, Quincy Jones & Carol King. And to be honest I really don't remember doing anything out of the ordinarly foolish that night, except for purchasing the $20 nosebleed seats.

Anyway, I really don't remember how long this whole obsess I mean fandom, lasted. Probably well into my twenties for sure, though you'll notice that any of her current albums are unmistakably missing from my collection. I guess other things just eventually took over... as in career, husband, children, life changes, work and yes perhaps even Clay Aiken..

But if I had to name the top 20 people, things, events or experiences that have had the biggest impact on defining my life, I'm pretty sure she would be right up there.

And I just now remembered that somewhere along the line I somehow acquired THIS one too.

A collection of 94 tracks, 67 of which are previously unreleased. (So I guess I'm at 37 now, except that this one should probably count for a couple more.)

And also, just for the record, I don't know of anyone else who has an original copy of this...

But then again... you just never know.

I may just have to get caught back up one of these days.

*sigh*

Barbra Streisand - Official Site

*Updated Christmas 2012: Thanks Thom!!!

The Greatest Star Wannabe (BackStory)...

As much as I wanted to act, sing and dance as a child I still spent most of my early teen years pretty much lying on the sofa in my basement dreaming about it. And though I'd had some semi-decent dance recital experiences, my first year in high school drama class was a complete and utter disaster.

My assignments were total failures... not because they were terrible or anything, but because I didn't do any of them. I was paralyzed with fear about getting up in front of people! My drama teacher, Mrs. Bradbury, would later tell me that the only thing she ever remembered coming out of my mouth was "I'm not ready." Until the lipsynch assignment of course... which I practiced it in front of the mirror for at least a week beforehand.

I'll never, ever forget that day. Even now it remains the single most important dividing line between my eventual doing or continual dreaming.

I think all my memories are still intact, but since we do sometimes tend to overly embelish the past I thought I'd just do the rest of this straight from my old journal.

October 3, 1969

I shook all the way there, but I made it to Drama class. I wanted to do my song right away to get it over with. Ya know, every time I do anything in front of the class I just kind of blend into the wall. Nobody knows that I can do anything good.

I was so scared that Mrs. Bradbury would be bored with me. And after that speech by Michelle about how I could do "I'm The Greatest Star" SO good! That sure would be embarrassing! Anyway, I had to sit throught 5 songs, twiddling my thumbs. I didn't think I could stand it!

Finally, Michelle pointed to me and so Mrs. B. called on me next. I was terrified because all the other lip synchs that day had been SO good.

I started out the song a little tense and really hot from the spotlight on me. But then I just calmed down and just felt the part. Believe me, I felt the part! I almost cried and gave lots and lots of expressive emotion with my face and arms. I don't think I could ever do it that good again.

When it was over I heard a louder applause than I've ever heard in my life. I'm not kidding.. it went straight through me! I went to sit down and I could hear everyone whispering. Then I heard Mrs. B. saying, in the most surprised voice, "Jannet, that was great!" I said thank you and then went to retrieve my record before sitting down. Shaking. Every one shut up and then I heard Mrs. B's voice again saying, "Well, who wants to follow that?" Nobody said anything.

About a minute before class was over Mrs. B. came over to me and said, "That was excellent, and I want you to do it for 4th and 6th period on Monday. I never knew you had it, and just think all last year you were wasted! I could just kill you!"

And as I left the room she said one more thing to me.. "I couldn't believe it! I just sat there with my mouth open!"

I came home and laughed and cried and danced and sang and everything else...

Unfortunately, this was back in the day, way before video cameras and YouTube.. so you'll just have to use your best imagination...

Gosh I love her!

A Senior Yearbook comment from B.J.Bradbury...

SO many dreams ahead!