1) You might say I’m having a slow-moving day after a late, but lovely, dinner last night with an Interlochen friend and his husband in town from the West. 9 PM, Petit Robert, French 75s, oysters, steak frites, lemon almond tart. We chatted about Palm Springs, child stars of yore, the local university scene, and dogs, since they were all around us.
2) Now that October has begun and the pumpkins are up from the cellar, I can start putting the old scary movies on regularly: Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, Frederic March’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and my beloved 1943 Phantom of the Opera with Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, and Hume Cronyn as the second detective.
2a) Last year I got The Mask of Fu Manchu with Boris Karloff, Myrna Loy, Karen Morley, beautiful but dumb Charles Starrett, and that dude who plays the angry preacher in Shanghai Express. But sweet mercy goodness, it’s not an easy film to watch (for a lot of different reasons), and I doubt I’ll watch it again this year. I don’t recommend it.
3) I have another brief spell in Provincetown next week, and it looks like I’ll be on the last ferry of the season when I return on Columbus Day. I am so grateful and pleased to have the chance to spend part of the autumn there, but it looks like I’ll have to take the bus for my final week.