i can't wait to play this tonight. it's a deviation from most of my set but that's really of no consequence. i don't see the point in beating the shit out of a venue the whole night. people don't need relentless bangers; they need occasional breathers. it's good to have moments of levity and silliness. people like to crow all day long about arduous mixes and creating a flawless river of noise... but it's a pissing a contest that deviates time from the real purpose: having fun.

phoenix - long distance call (25 hours a day Remix)

Sou daiji na hanashi nanda warai banashika mo aa...

Kikoeru kikoeru kai mou sukoshi no kono mama de.
Kikoeru kikoeru yo arigatou kiitekurete.

Mou shibaraku aenainda oyasumi iu yo.
Kono denwasaigo ni sore ja...

Ai shiteiru yo Mama hoka ni wa nani mo nai sa.
Ai shiteiru ai shiteru hoka ni nani mo.
Ai shiteiru yo Mama mou umaku hanasenai yo.
Ai shiteiru ai shiteru hoka ni nani mo.

Mou shibaraku aenain da oyasumi dake wo.
Kono denwasaigo ni jaa ne...

Ai shiteiru yo Mama hoka ni wa nani mo nai sa.
Ai shiteiru ai shiteru hoka ni nani mo.
Ai shiteiru yo Mama mou umaku kikitorenai yo.
Ai shiteiru ai shiteru hoka ni nani mo.

Kokoro ga kowareteiku dareka wo kizutsuke ni iku.
Tomaranai tomaranai ore wa iku yo.
Ai shiteiru yo Mama mou umaku hanasenai yo.
Ai shiteiru ai shiteru hoka ni nani mo...

I wouldn't plug Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone if I'd found many mistakes in it, but one thing did nag at me when I first read it.  In this photo on page 229 from the taping of the segment "Long Distance Call" (the one where Lost in Space's Billy Mumy talks to his dead grandma on a toy phone), the caption identifies the bald man standing behind Mumy as the episode's director, James Sheldon:

But Sheldon has become a friend since I approached him for an interview a couple of years ago, and this fellow in the picture didn't look at all like James - even though, given the difference of over 45 years, who could really be sure?  The uncertainty bothered me enough that I finally showed the book to James, who confirmed that he is not the man in the photo (and that, for the record, he still has all his own hair).

And then I became very glad that I had asked, because James pulled out one of his scrapbooks and showed me several photos from his private collection that were taken on that set on that same day in 1961.  He has graciously allowed me to reproduce a couple of them to clarify matters.  Here's an image of Mumy standing behind the same table.  James Sheldon is the man in the white shirt right in the center of the photo.  (He couldn't remember the name of the young man at right, standing directly behind Mumy, but thought he was the stage manager.  "Long Distance Call," you'll remember, was one of the six videotaped episodes, which had technical crews more akin to live broadcasts than filmed series.)

Now I was curious as to the identity of the bald man in the original photo.  If he wasn't the director, who was he, and what was he saying to Mumy as the child actor dipped into his ice cream?  I spotted him in the background of a few of James's other stills.  Here's one in which James is giving direction to Lili Darvas, the legendary Hungarian stage actress (playing the grandmother). 

The bald man is in the background, and seems to be directing his attention to the cabinet behind Ms. Darvas.  It's purely a guess, but I'd wager he's the prop man.  In that case, if I'm not mistaken, Mumy's ice cream would also fall under his jurisdiction.

Of course, I present this small correction not as a knock against Mr. Stanyard's fine research, but as a supplement to it.  One of the ways in which the internet can be useful (and in which, unfortunately, outposts like Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database often tend to be counterproductive) is as an arena for like-minded aficionados to share data and comment upon each other's work.  I'll continue to use this blog periodically as a forum for this sort of exchange whenever the opportunity presents itself.