It was a big drama when John Cullum was hired to replace Louis Jourdan in the musical, "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever," during its pre-Broadway, out-of-town tryout in Boston.
Learning the script, songs, blocking and choreography is a tricky thing for any actor to do, and lyricist, author Alan J. Lerner wanted John to perform the role of the psychiatrist in one week. The rehearsals were "hush-hush"--though staff knew, the cast didn't know, and newspapers hadn't been told.
After we checked in at the hotel, we were ushered to Lerner's suite to stay there secretly while Alan stayed on his boat. On every flat surface, we saw vials and hypodermic needles. The phone was ringing. It kept ringing--rang constantly with calls from celebrities trying to reach Dr. Max, who was apparently treating some of the world's most famous celebrities as well as the show's staff.
I was friends with Tom Ryan, who was Preminger's staff screenwriter (hated him), wrote "Heart is a Lonely Hunter". He was another patient/victim of Dr. Max, it crashed his life completely, when I knew him he was a wreck. The Beatles knew of Dr. Max, and wrote a song debunking him - "Doctor Robert", so they wouldn't get sued.
NEW! ... Emily Frankel and John Cullum offer lively, provocative video commentary on YouTube once a week. Click image above to go.
HOW I GOT HERE
I'm a writer, writing things that haven't brought me fame, but continue to involve me, inspire me to find an audience.
I started out as a modern dancer, contemporary, but balletic. I didn't want to be a swan, or a barefoot dancer. I wanted to dance to the music that thrilled me as a child, and made me want to be a dancer.
I began writing in the truck my first husband, Mark Ryder and I bought, in order to carry our set, props, and costumes for a long one-night-stands tour -- eighty-eighty performances in eighty-eight cities.
We were performing "Romeo and Juliet" nightly, but our marriage was breaking up. Every day while our stage manager drove us two-hundred miles or so to the next booking, I'd type a detailed description of last night -- what we did well, what we argued about, and a travelogue about the town, and comments from the people at the nightly party.
Recovering from the trip and the divorce, I sent my "car book" to a friend who said -- "Em, it's great, but ..." And that became rewrites, and another book. Then, my marriage to actor John Cullum, and then a play that got produced, and another book, big hopes because a famous agent loved it. The title and concept changed five times -- now it's been published, finally, as "Somebody, Woman of the Century." You can buy it, or read about it and my other five novels on Emily Frankel.com
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3 comments:
Fascinating, . . . .
I was friends with Tom Ryan, who was Preminger's staff screenwriter (hated him), wrote "Heart is a Lonely Hunter". He was another patient/victim of Dr. Max, it crashed his life completely, when I knew him he was a wreck. The Beatles knew of Dr. Max, and wrote a song debunking him - "Doctor Robert", so they wouldn't get sued.
Believe you me this world is becoming weirld by the day.
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