The Bride

  

A little late for Halloween but...

About three weeks before Halloween I dreamt I was rummaging through the attic of an old summer stock theatre. Amongst the props and costumes I find something unusual: a framed movie poster for The Bride of Frankenstein. However, instead of Elsa Lanchester with her iconic lightning streaked coife, the bride is played by that scarlet haired spitfire Nancy Walker.. 

This dream actually prompted me to see the film for the first time. I don't think the bride is in the film for more than 10 or 15 minutes, but she does make quite an impression.

She Can Cook, Too

 Nancy Walker as Rosie, the Bounty Lady in a sketch I made many years ago.

 I had to crop her hand out of the picture because honestly it made her look part lobster.

Philadelphia's own Anna Myrtle Swoyer was born on May 10, in 1922. Better known by her stage name, Nancy Walker, she introduced Bernstein songs in Brodway's On The Town, appeared on film with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Girl Crazy, and became widely known for her TV work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, McMillan and Wife, and a string of commercials for Bounty paper towels. Late in her career she hilarioulsy played a deaf mute maid in Murder by Death and directed the Village People in the cult classic Can't Stop The Music...well, nobody gets out of show business with only roses on their resume.

When I was in 10th great I wrote the libretto and lyrics for an unproduced musical I called It's All Relative. It centered around two New York City sisters and their well meaning but overbearing mother. I worked on it for months, feeling great excitement and pride about this original idea I'd developed. It was only after I'd finished the first and only draft and reread it that I realized what I'd done...I had unwittingly written a musical based on Rhoda.

Well, I suppose there are worse ideas. As far as I can remember, not much happened. One sister overate and went to group therapy (perhaps it was a blend of Bob Newhart and Rhoda?) while the other sister pursued a career in the arts and searched for a husband, all while being tortured by their spitfire mother.

Anyway, the vastly talented Nancy Walker, all 4 foot 11 inches of her, was a very bright spot in my childhood (and not just because of her flaming red hair) and I am happy to salute her on what would have been her 91st birthday.

If you've never heard her sing, here's a treat courtesy of Youtube.

The Hostess With The Mostess

8/12/2001

I’m standing on the sidewalk outside Radio City Musical Hall. I walk through the lobby and into the theatre, which is completely empty. I head down the aisle and take a seat in the third row and wait for the show to start. It turns out I am here to see the Tony Awards. As the lights go down the opening number begins; a big production with lots of chorus boys. Suddenly from within the midst of the chorus boys a lone and rather tiny female figure is hoisted into the air. It’s our hostess for the evening, 5-foot-nothin’ Nancy Walker! Still all alone in the auditorium except for the performers on stage, I leap from my seat and cheer enthusiastically.

******

I had this dream during an afternoon nap I took while on vacation in San Francisco. When I awoke I was truly disoriented for several minutes. At first I felt a sort of drunken happiness because I love the Tonys and I love Nancy Walker, whose Ida Morgenstern character was really my first surrogate mother. After a few minutes, I remembered that she was actually no longer alive and I experienced an almost suffocating sadness that lingered with me for the rest of my trip.