A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO RICK RHODES

                My family and I have compiled some of my late husband’s best known songs and with the help of a friend, Caleb Lambert, we are making them available on iTunes as a Fathers’ Day Tribute to him. For those of you who did not know Rick, he was an extremely gifted singer and composer who earned at least two dozen Emmy Award nominations and who won five of them.

                To learn more about Rick, I suggest you look in this past November’s blog archive for an article I posted about him.

                Rick composed a wealth of music, songs and instrumentals, over the span of a lifetime. All of the songs chosen for this album are unique and have Rick's "sound". (Let's Be Lovers Again, which I wrote with Rick, was nominated for an Emmy Award in the nineties and Michael Feinstein opened his 2004 European Tour with They Don't Write 'Em Like That, a song about the "tin pan alley" days.)
                We are hoping to get the word out through social media: Facebook, Twitter, and blogs such as this. A percentage of any monies that might be accrued from the sale of this album/tracks will be donated to the Tug McGraw Foundation, the focus of which is "to provide support and resources for people affected by brain tumors and brain related trauma."

                We're appealing to everyone who knew Rick personally and to those who only knew him through his music to spread the word -- post it, share it, tweet it -- so that our goal of making it go viral can be realized. Rick would have loved this! If it does well, we would love to add some of his more obscure singles, some of his earlier work, and some of the music he composed for The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company.

                Thank you all in advance for helping spread the word and supporting our efforts! https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/best-of/id885106756

               

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Date and Time my Lifetime Movie will be airing.

I am trying to get the word out in all forms of social media that the movie I wrote for Lifetime Television will be debuting shortly. For those of you who have not already heard, it is set to air on June 21, 2014. I believe it will be on a few times subsequently over the following day or two. Though the station is available to most people, if you don't get Lifetime, you might be able to access the movie online.

My original title, Empty Cradle was apparently too similar to a title used before so the network re-titled it. It is now called, Stolen From the Womb.

As you might recall from a previous blog I posted, my daughter and I flew to Vancouver to watch the movie being shot. It was a wonderful experience and we actually had small cameos in the film (look for us in the la- maze scene:)

For more information and a sneak preview go to:  http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/stolen-from-the-womb 

So set your DVRs and hope that we get good ratings!

Thank you,

Vivian

THE MAGIC CASTLE

It’s been quite a while since I blogged. Other writing commitments and life in general have taken up much of my time. I feel, though, compelled to write about my recent experience at the Magic Castle.

                What is the Magic Castle?  It is a private club in the heart of Hollywood that caters to those young and old who are intrigued by the art of magic. The members of this exclusive club are magicians and entry to the Castle is only allowed to members and their guests (although there are some ways of getting around this restriction if one is determined.)

                The building itself is quite unique. It was a mansion designed in the early 1900’s by  real estate developer, Rollin Lane and it remained in the Lane family until the mid-fifties. Eventually it was leased to  magic enthusiast, Milt Larson and his son Bill in 1961. Their intent was to create an atmosphere whereby magicians could perfect their craft.  They succeeded in doing so and the Magic Castle opened for business in 1963.

Over the years many additions have been made to the original structure, allowing for the inclusion of several theaters, bars, a library and other meeting spaces but the integrity of the Castle has remained constant. For example, there is a strict (and I mean strict) dress code that seems somewhat of an anathema in the 21^st. C.  Dress is formal. Men must wear jackets at all times (they may remove them to eat) and "properly knotted" ties must be worn. Needless to say, jeans and tennis shoes are forbidden. When one is at the Castle, the formality of dress is actually a plus and adds to the atmosphere, especially in this day and age when people rarely have the opportunity to dress up unless they’re on a cruise ship or walking the red carpet.

Nightly, five different magic performances are showcased in three different theaters, with additional performances added in the Peller as well as Hat and Hare Pub and W.C. Fields Bar on weekends Informal performance areas near the five bars give magician members the space to perform impromptu magic for guests and other patrons. In the music room, a piano is played by invisible "Irma," the Castle's "resident ghost," who takes musical requests. (My friends and I tried stumping Irma a few times, but “she” always came through with whatever obscure tune we requested.)

On the evening I attended I was part of a group invited to partake in a “séance held to communicate with magician Harry Houdini”. (For those interested, I posted a blog about the life of Houdini a while back.Check out the archives.) I was invited, along with my date, by my daughter and son-in-law who won this privilege by having placed first in a costume party last  Halloween.)

A mentalist held court, the table shook in darkness, and ultimately the séance turned out to be an enjoyable and unique experience, even for those present who were extreme cynics. (My date took great pains, when we left, to explain the illusions with the utmost of logic. It made no difference to me; in the moment, I was taken in by these illusions and I didn’t mind a bit.)

Can you think of movies with memorable séance scenes in them?  Offhand, The Changeling, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, Ghost, and The Uninvited come to mind. I know there are many more, particular in movies made in the “golden age”, the thirties and forties, when the topic of spiritualism was just beginning to be explored.

If you know a magician I strongly suggest you get yourself invited to the Magic Castle. It will be an evening you won’t forget soon.

Enjoy your week and thank you for reading,

RHODES LESS TRAVELLED

Vivian

MY LIFETIME MOVIE

          It’s been a very long time since I’ve blogged. Part of the reason for this is that for the past year I’ve been devoting my “writing energy” to completing one screenplay and revising another.

          With the support of my writing workshop and the guidance of its mentor, Ken Rotcop, I’m pleased to say that my efforts have paid off. I’ve just sold my first screenplay, EMPTY CRADLE, to Lifetime Television and production is expected to begin in Vancouver in November.

          At times the reaction I receive when I mention Lifetime is similar to the one I used to get when I wrote for the soaps.  Some people, mostly women, will “admit” to Lifetime being their “guilty pleasure” and others are adamant about “never having watched that kind of thing”. Incidentally, Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Channel are two different entities; the former deals primarily with stories inspired by true events, as mine was, whereas those aired on LMC do not.

          It is fair to say that movies on both Lifetime Television and on Lifetime Movie Channel tend to be formulaic and somewhat melodramatic at times, but isn’t there room for melodrama in the arts? I personally prefer this genre to, say, reality television.

          For those film buffs claiming to love classic films starring the likes of Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyk, Joan Crawford, and other leading ladies of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, I would pose the following question: What do you suppose happened to the genre of film in which these actresses performed?  More importantly, what do you suppose happened to the audiences for those movies, such as those produced by Ross Hunter?

          The answer is obvious. The majority of mainstream films today are geared towards young men between the ages of 16 and 30. With fewer and fewer features targeting the male demographic over the age of 45, let alone the female demographic, movies whose subject matter concern themselves with love triangles, children given up for adoption and unfaithful husbands were not welcomed. With a few notable exceptions (Unfaithful, starring Diane Lane, The Call, starring Halle Berry) even thrillers, if they are female driven, are now relegated to television, specifically to LMC. The bottom line is that there is a need for this particular genre.

          What follows is a compilation of female driven films of yesterday that, had they been made today, might have easily found themselves aired on Lifetime Television or LMC. I’ve listed them in no particular order.

Stella Dallas                            (starring Barbara Stanwyk)

Back Street                              (starring Susan Hayward)

To Each His Own                    (starring Olivia DeHavilland)

My Name is Julia Ross            (starring Nina Foch)

Dark Victory                           (starring Bette Davis)

Madame X                               (starring Lana Turner)

Autumn Leaves                       (starring Joan Crawford)

Gaslight                                   (starring Ingrid Bergman)

Imitation of Life                      (starring Claudette Colbert)

Julia                                         (starring Doris Day)

          I think I’m in pretty good company and just as I had no compunction about “admitting” to watching as well as writing for daytime serials, I am proud to say that my first full length screenplay will be a Lifetime movie.

          I hope to begin blogging again as frequently as I can; thank you for following me in, RHODES LESS TRAVELLED.

Have a nice weekend, Vivian

GANGSTER MOVIES

Last week I went to see the movie, Gangster Squad, despite the somewhat insipid reviews it received (I rarely look to reviews alone knowing that there have been many movies which received great reviews that I didn’t care for).

            Admittedly, much about what I enjoyed about the movie was the setting. The story takes place in the late forties and is based on the fight the police put up in order to keep gangsters (specifically Mickey Cohen) out of Los Angeles.

            Aside from the music and costume of the era, the general feel of the film was old fashioned. My brother introduced me to gangster movies at an early age and this movie had some of the same elements of those films.

            Josh Brolin, the lead, was the perfect, square jawed hero of many a black and white film and Emma Stone was the consummate femme fatale. My favorite, however, was the good guy/bad guy character portrayed by Ryan Gosling. He calls to mind the pretty boy/gruff charm of Bill Holden as well as the dark, bad guy  seductiveness of Robert Mitchum. A dangerous and appealing combination for most women.

            Some reviewers balked at the gratuitous violence of the film but hasn’t that been the nature of all gangster films throughout the years?

            I’ve listed what are believed to be some of the best gangster movies of all time along with some of my own personal favorites (ie. Roaring Twenties is not usually on anyone’s list but is a favorite of mine).

PUBLIC ENEMY – 1931 (the first of 3 James Cagney movies I’ve listed)

LITTLE CAESAR – 1931 (Edward G. Robinson’s breakout role)

ROARING TWENTIES – 1939 (when Cagney begs Humphrey Bogart not to shoot a young soldier, telling him "the kid’s only about 16" Bogart replies, "well, he ain’t gonna live to see 17", then he shoots him.)

WHITE HEAT – 1949 (another Cagney classic)

THE GODFATHER - 1972 – (probably considered the best gangster movie ever, though I think II is arguably somewhat better than the first – don’t bother with III).

SCARFACE – 1983 (put this one on the list because my husband loved it; way, way too violent for my taste)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA – 1984 (classic epic starring Robert Di Niro)

THE UNTOUCHABLES – 1987 (Kevin Costner played a great Eliot Ness as a foil to Di Niro’s Capone in this De Palma film )

GOODFELLAS – 1990 – (One of my favorites. Memorable for Ray Liotta’s portrayal of Henry Hill, as well as  Joe Pesci’s portrayal of the perfect sociopath "you laughin’ at me?")

DONNIE BRASCO – 1997 – (great performance by Johnny Depp)

THE DEPARTED – 2006 – (wonderful Scorsese ensemble including Leonardo DeCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Matt Damon)

(Honorable mention: Road to Perdition, Casino, Millers’ Crossing, Mean Streets, Carlito’s  Way, Pulp Fiction, Bugsy)

Thanks for reading Rhodes Less Traveled,  Vivian

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I've been busy working on other writing and have neglected blogging much lately. I thought I would, this week, reprint my Thanksgiving blog from last year. Though for me, as for many others, much has changed in a year, I think the basic sentiments remain the same.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

    

          Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There’s not a lot of pomp and ceremony to it. No disappointment in gifts exchanged. We gather with loved ones. Watch football. And stuff ourselves silly.

          It’s also a good day to remember and to reflect.

          To begin with, autumn has always been my favorite season. The incredible red, orange, and sienna foliage. The smell of burnt chestnuts that can bring me back to a brisk day in Manhattan in a New York minute.

          My memories of Thanksgiving Day growing up were of helping my mother prepare the stuffing, from scratch of course, using day old stale bread. She’d sew the turkey with thread and then panic when she couldn’t find the needle (this happened annually). I recall the aroma of roasting turkey and of thyme filling the room. The television was tuned in to Laurel and Hardy’s “March of the Wooden Soldiers” which aired every Thanksgiving. Most of all I recall the intangible feeling of comfort I felt on that day.

          I think most Americans feel that way. And the great thing about this holiday is that it is so inclusive. Even an immigrant who has resided in the U.S. for less than a year is made to feel as though his ancestors met the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.  Everyone is welcomed, not only to partake in the holiday, but to enhance it with his own cultural flavor. A Vietnamese family might serve lemongrass soup before the turkey is brought out. A Polish family might offer up kielbasa as an appetizer. And the variations on stuffing are endless: Middle Easterners adding dates, Africans adding peanuts, Mexicans adding cilantro, and so on.

          As for me, I’ve retained some traditions (I make my stuffing the same way as my mother did) and have incorporated some new ones as I raised my own family. These days the television is often tuned to a Twilight Zone marathon as we prepare for the festivities. My daughter makes a wonderful cauliflower dish and my son makes delicious home made cranberry sauce each year. We’ve lost loved ones who used to grace our table, and we’ve added people to the table as well. I suppose in some way that’s a metaphor for life.

          On this day I try not to look at the negatives but instead to be appreciative for that which I have to be grateful:  My wonderful children, old, cherished friends who have been so supportive, and new relationships that continue to grow stronger. I am thankful for my relatives, including my brother, sisters, nieces, nephews, and cousins with whom I got together recently to celebrate my brother’s birthday.  I am grateful for memories of a good marriage. I am grateful to have the opportunity of making an impact on the lives of young people and I am very grateful to have rediscovered my passion for writing. And by the way, I’m grateful to those of you who have been faithfully following my blog and for all your encouraging words.

          I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and thank you again for joining me along,

Vivian

A TRIBUTE TO RICK

This Friday marks the seventh year of Rick’s passing. I didn’t get to say the things I would like to have said at his memorial service. In fact, I couldn’t say anything at all. Now that time has passed and I have a blog, I’d like to use it as a forum to pay tribute in a way I was unable to at that time.

            Rick was more than my husband. He was my partner, my soul mate, my cheerleader, and my best friend.  Those who had the good fortune of knowing him will attest to the fact that although he could, at times, drive you crazy, you had to love him and his ‘eccentricities’ (he was so efficient and organized he was sometimes referred to as Mr. Quick-Quick and trash cans were emptied before they were half filled). And he had a nick-name for everyone.

            He was said to have been a musical prodigy at a young age, his first instrument being the trumpet. (Later, he taught himself to play piano by listening to his sister, Robyn, practice her lessons).  In his musical career, he traveled the country with a band called Wonder and was a magnet for investors who believed enough in his talent to back him when he performed in concerts and put out his own recordings. He played various clubs in the Los Angeles area, performed at weddings, and was, with The Rick Rhodes
Band, the house band at Mountaingate Country Club here in L.A.

            I introduced him to the world of soaps when I was writing for As The World Turns; he turned to the TV one day and asked who wrote the music for ‘this junk”.  He worked his way onto the staff of the show, Santa Barbara (sitting in for no pay at the beginning as he learned what was to be expected of him).  He composed music for other television shows as well (including the theme for Guiding Light) Throughout the years, Rick earned 6 Emmy awards and was nominated 24 times. He was also a pioneer in the ‘music library’ business.  Not long ago, ASCAP informed me that Rick was so prolific he had well over a thousand pieces of music registered with them.

            It was Rick who mentored me when I  first wrote lyrics (I still recall his crumpling my first efforts and telling me it was ‘a good start’) and eventually two songs we co-wrote were nominated for Emmy awards. I think some of his best music was that written for a musical we worked on together called UG – A CAVEMAN MUSICAL.

            Rick was more than merely talented; he was very entrepreneurial and had the knack of getting those inclined to say no to say yes.  He was fiercely loyal and trustworthy; he had integrity and would be hurt and dismayed when he found these qualities lacking in others.  His generosity extended not only to me and to his children but to friends and strangers as well. He gave financial and emotional support to many who needed it. One of his proudest contributions was being on the ground floor of the creation of C.L.U.’s Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, something that is now entering its twelfth year.  He also took great pride in starting Oak Park High School’s drama department, which flourished under his leadership. After his passing, I received numerous letters, some from people I’d never met. They’d begin “You don’t know me but your husband was responsible for giving me my first break in my career”.

            Rick was not perfect.  Who among us are?  But he left an indelible mark on those he met. He cherished his kids and played a huge part in their lives. So much so that I think perhaps my children will have more vivid memories of their father than those whose fathers may have been physically in their lives, but emotionally absent.

            I still find it difficult to listen to his music, but one day I hope that I’ll be able to do so. In the meantime, he remains with me in the anecdotes I still hear told by friends, in the humor and expressions I hear echoed by my daughter, Allie, and in the voice I hear when my son Adam sings, The Wanderer.

            In fact, Rick’s legacy lives on not only in his music, but  in his children as well. He will live in my heart always.