Friday, 1 May 2026

Bernadette Peters


            On Thursday morning I continued to edit “Ballade de la chnoufe” by Boris Vian to prepare it for publication on my Christian’s Translations blog. I might have it finished tomorrow. 
            I continued translating “Chaussures noires et pompes funèbres” (Black Dress Shoes and Funeral Parlours) by Serge Gainsbourg. These are notes for a movie that was never made about a songwriter trying to write a song that a record company will accept. 
            I weighed 88.9 kilos before breakfast. 
            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio during song practice and it stayed in tune about half the time. 
            I deleted several images from my hard drive. 
            I weighed 90.25 kilos before lunch. 
            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and stopped to pee at the McDonald’s at Yonge and College. On the way home I stopped at Freshco where I bought five bags of grapes, two packs of raspberries, some bananas, a pork tenderloin, a jar of marinara, and a pack of Sponge Towels. I did a price match on the grapes and the raspberries with the Food Basics deals of $6.59 a kilo for the grapes and $1.88 a pack for the raspberries. The cashier Maryama seemed annoyed at having to do a price match.
            I weighed 89.55 kilos at 19:05. 
            I was caught up in my journal at 20:09. 
            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity a Christian and the Lions rehearsal with Brian Haddon. At first I couldn’t get a waveform. I fast forwarded the tape then rewound it but there was still no signal. After I fiddled with the line-in jack a bit it started to show. I didn’t have a chance to listen to it because it was time for supper. Tomorrow I’ll listen and if it’s okay I’ll export it to my hard drive. 
            I grilled seven chicken drumsticks and had two with a potato and the last of my gravy while watching season 4, episode 24 of The Carol Burnett Show
            During the audience warmup someone asks Carol her favourite character and she says Zelda the nagging wife. 
            Twin girl scouts come up and want to give Carol Girl Scout cookies but she buys them and also makes a donation of $20, which would be like $200 now. 
            Bernadette Peters sings “Tea For Two” by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar from No No Nanette 1924 while tap dancing with Don Crichton. A lot of singers can dance a bit and a lot of dancers can sing okay but she’s uniquely very good at both, while acting at the same time. No wonder she’s such a big star on Broadway. 
            In the first skit Carol plays a tomboy and Bernadette a frilly and snooty little girl. Bernadette tells Carol she didn’t invite her to her party but Carol says she wouldn’t go anyway because she hates parties. Bernadette asks how she knows she hates them since she’s never been to one. Carol says she knows they play kissing games. Carol meets Bernadette's third boyfriend this week who's a sissy played by Harvey. They leave and then Carol meets a boy scout played by Lyle, who’s the brother of Harvey’s character and they like each other. He invites her to be his date at Bernadette’s party but neither of them has ever kissed and so they practice. They pucker up with their eyes closed first and then bump their foreheads together. 
            Mike Douglas sings “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story” by Francis Lai and Carl Sigman from 1971. 
            The acting couple Funt and Mundane are performing a play called “Out of the Blue” in a barn in Nebraska. Mosquitos, bad weather and farm animals make their performances a slapstick disaster. 
            Carol tells Mike that every housewife in the country is in love with him. He says the feeling is mutual and he’d like to give each of them a kiss. Carol reminds Mike that she’s a housewife and so he kisses her. They sing “I Think I Love You” by Tony Romeo from 1970, which was a hit for The Partridge Family. Then they sing “For All We Know” by Fred Karlin, Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin from the movie Lovers and Other Strangers. It was most famously done by The Carpenters. 
            There’s a parody of the musical The Most Happy Fella. Old Greek Nick gets a mail order bride named Stella who falls for Nick’s handyman Jerry. They feel a literal magnetic pull to each other which they resist until they finally start making out in the hay where Nick catches them. Nick tries to shoot Jerry but misses and kills Stella. Then Nick and Jerry do a Greek dance together. 
            Some retired Broadway performers read about the resurgent success of the 1919 musical No No Nanette and so they think their kind of musical could be big again and there’s a chance for them. They sing and dance to “Broadway My Street” from the 1971 musical 70 Girls 70 by John Kander and Fred Ebb. 
            Bernadette Peters’ show business career began on Juvenile Jury at the age of 3.5. She got her Actors Equity card at the age of 9. Her stage debut was in This is Goggle. She attended Quinatono’s School for Young Professionals. She recorded her first single in 1962. She made her Broadway debut in Johnny No Trump in 1967. She starred in the original Broadway productions of Sunday in the Park with George, Mack and Mabel, and Into the Woods. She has been nominated for seven Tonys and won two (For Song and Dance and Annie Get Your Gun). She co-starred in the sitcom All’s Fair and was nominated for a Golden Globe. She appeared 11 times on The Carol Burnett Show. She hosted Saturday Night Live in 1981. She was nominated for Emmys for her guest appearances on The Muppet Show and Ally McBeal. She had a recurring character on Ugly Betty. She was the voice and singing voice of Rita the Stray cat on Animaniacs. She co-starred in Silent Movie, The Jerk, Pennies from Heaven (for which she won the Golden Globe), Pink Cadillac, She starred in Slaves of New York, Coming Up Roses, . She was the youngest performer to be inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. She’s considered to be the foremost interpreter of the works of Stephen Sondheim. She co-hosted the Tony Awards in 2002. She’s recorded three albums and three of them have been nominated for Grammys. She had a top 40 hit with “Gee Whiz”. She’s written three children’s, all of them featuring dogs. She was in a relationship with Steve Martin for four years.



May 1, 1996: Brian and I rehearsed for next week's feature at Fat Albert's


Thirty years ago today 

            On Wednesday I rehearsed with Brian Haddon for our upcoming features at Fat Albert’s and the Art Bar reading series.