The last week at the old grind has had a few surprises.  Last Thursday with about 5 minutes to spare on my shift, two of my best friends and their two youngest happened into the store on their way to meet a prospective sitter for use when their normal sitter is not available.  Apparently, there was confusion as to where the store is located since the old Super Value sign is still hanging but the Krispy Kreme sign hanging on the building struck a chord.  At the time, I was  putting some potato salad in the case which the customers turned down.  After clocking out, they were at the register so I walked out with them.

Today, I was told that Saturday would be the last delivery day for Krispy Kreme at the store.  Apparently, the location that delivers them is closing its doors… yet another victim of the rotten economy.  The deliveryman who was the subject of a post a few months ago must not deliver to our store anymore… I haven’t seen him since the incident.

I don’t know how I got so luck today but I got the pleasure of stocking about every type of baked bean we carry: Bush’s, store brand, regular, homestyle, with bourbon.  The person working with me in the aisle cracked a few jokes before I got the chance… including Bart Simpson’s famous axiom :

Beans, Beans

The musical fruit

The more ya eat

The more ya toot.

Ah, the wit and wisdom of the eternal ten year old eldest child of Homer and Marge.  It also made me recall the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles.  I have always though that it would be extremely dull to work in a place where you could not have some fun.

I’ve been hitting the Superhero movies hard for the past few weeks, so I thought I would let some of my other side show. So I thought I would write about Mel Brooks Comedies.

My absolute favorite is Blazing Saddles. A wonderful spoof on almost every western made. I’ve been thinking that this movie could not be made and release today. There were way too many politically incorrect comedy bits in that show. The best part of the show in my opinion had to have been Alex Karras. The part of Mongo and his hitting the horse and of course the Candy Gram. These little things made the movie fun for me. Of course all the puns and movie bits that make most of the Brooks’ comedies fun to watch over and over again. There are seems to be movies I haven’t seen that have been used in satire in these movies.

On to a quick list of favorite in order

1) Blazing Saddles

2) Young Frankenstein

3) Space Balls

4) The 12 Chairs

5) High Anxiety

6) History of the World

7) Silent Movie

8) Robin Hood Men in Tights

9) Dracula Dead and Loving It.

10) To be or not to be

11) Life Stinks

12) The Producers

–Not a movie but it should be in here The 2000 Year Old Man.

— I’m fairly certain I will like Get Smart this summer too. He is a writer for that, and was a writer for the original series.

Ok…. a recent trend that has come to the Broadway stage is the reimagining of Hollywood movies as stage musicals. I am not speaking of Disney animated features being adapted for the stage (I have made at least 2 postings on that subject). I have felt that the best of these cartoons easily lend themselves to staging. However, musicals such as The Producers, Hairspray, Xanadu, and most recently, Young Frankenstein all seem to be doing quite well.

I think the strangest of these creations is Xanadu. The 1980 movie was to be Olivia-Newton John’s follow-up to the phenomenal hit Grease. I’m not precisely sure why the movie flopped but it could have been the death of disco or perhaps that the movie was just terrible. It was the winner(?) of 1 Razzie and nominated for 4 others. Hopefully, I am not going to be the victim of a mob of cultists who actually liked the movie. Strangely enough 25 years later, nostalgia (or the few people who have actually seen and enjoyed the movie) must have created the necessity to revisit the movie. I wish I could dwell on the plot of the show. However, I have never seen either version and reading synopses just gave me a headache because they made little sense.

I suppose that this streak of bringing movies to the stage will continue as long as they are profitable. On the horizon a stage version of the Dolly Parton, Lili Tomlin, and Jane Fonda classic(?) 9 to 5 opens in Los Angeles in September ’08. I’m certain that I have heard rumors of a Back to the Future musical being produced. Any others? While Mel Brooks seems to be on a role, he might as well develop Spaceballs or Blazing Saddles. Or how about Road House: The Stage Version Of The Cinema Classic That Starred Patrick Swayze, Except This One Stars Taimak From The 80’s Cult Classic “The Last Dragon” Wearing A Blonde Mullet Wig (oops that was not a musical,correct?).

What other movies would make great musicals or which am I forgetting besides Footloose and Saturday Night Fever to name a few.