She Has Left Us "Alone"

I am so very saddened to read today about the passing of Kitty Carlisle Hart:

Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, including the classic Marx Brothers movie "A Night at the Opera," has died at age 96, her son said Wednesday.

Christopher Hart said his mother had been in and out of the hospital since contracting pneumonia over the Christmas holidays.

"She passed away peacefully" at home, said Hart. "She had such a wonderful life, and a great long run, it was a blessing."

Hart had appeared for years on the popular game show "To Tell the Truth" as a celebrity panelist.

The entertainer was also a tireless advocate for the arts, serving 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Arts from the first President Bush.

Well known for her starring role as Rosa Castaldi in the 1935 movie "A Night at the Opera," her other film credits included: "She Loves Me Not" and "Here Is My Heart," both opposite Bing Crosby; Woody Allen's "Radio Days"; and "Six Degrees of Separation."

She began her acting career on Broadway in "Champagne Sec," and went on to appear in many other Broadway productions, including the 1984 revival of "On Your Toes."

She made her operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967 in "Die Fledermaus," and created the role of Lucretia in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten's "Rape of Lucretia."

From 1956 to 1967, she appeared on the CBS prime-time game show "To Tell the Truth" with host Bud Collyer and fellow panelists such as Polly Bergen, Johnny Carson, Bill Cullen and Don Ameche. The show featured three contestants, all claiming to be the same person. The panelists asked them questions to determine which was telling the truth. (The popular show also had runs, sometimes including Carlisle, in daytime and in syndicated versions.)

Hart's late husband was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Moss Hart, who wrote "You Can't Take It With You" and "The Man Who Came to Dinner" with George S. Kaufman and won a Tony for directing "My Fair Lady" on Broadway.

Future = Bright; Past = Get Over It

So I’ve been fighting an upper respiratory infection for the past several days and quite frankly have been just too tired (read: lazy) to update this blog. It’s weird that I’ve been in fairly solid health throughout a cold and bitter winter just to find myself in really bad shape come April. Ahhh … well.

So the theme to today’s entry will be how bright (at least in terms of creativity) things are looking and how proud I am of fellow performers and artists. Indeed, this is a good time to be part of the Baby Hippo family … as you can tell if you’ve paid a visit to the slightly re-vamped website. This theme can be contrasted with how some folks will make absolute imbeciles of themselves because they want attention. But first, let’s take a look at the bright side of life …

My Pals the Filmmakers

A little over a week ago my buddy JB finished work on his short film “Fatal Isolation.” After working for months on the project, shooting it and really more or less teaching himself to become a first-rate filmmaker he came over to borrow my computer and nifty editing software. The final product is pretty damn amazing … and you can check it out here.



Additionally, a film I shot way back in the summer of ’05 found distribution this month. It’s a serious accomplishment to complete, from script to finished product, a full-length film. So, my most heartfelt congratulations to Manny as well.

It’s good to acknowledge the accomplishments of others … and JB and Manny accomplished something that thousands of others have tried and failed.

King the Stand-Up

So last Friday (the 13th, no less) I made what I have to consider my stand-up debut. Yeah, sure, I’ve done a bit here and there, but for the first time I did something along the lines of a full set on the bill with some great comics. I walked out of Casa Spain (a great venue out past Dover, NJ) pumped and rejuvenated.

For the first time in my performing life (which, ironically, pretty much corresponds with my “life life”) I felt like I could seriously consider myself a comic.

Was it perfect? No. It was like starting all over again. I learned more in that 10 or 12 minutes than I had learned performing anything in the past decade or so. It was like a re-birth of sorts. A whole new playground has been opened up to me. And I couldn’t be more excited. Big thanks to Laz for the opportunity!

The Broken Jump

Newsflash! My latest play has been accepted as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York this coming July. Needless to say, it’s time for the return of the Talented Talent Brothers! More on this to follow …

... the remainder of this post was removed 5/15/07.

San Fran and A Major Talent

Yeah, yeah … so I haven’t posted in a while. So sue me.

I Left Something or Another in San Francisco

So I went to the annual CfMC User’s Conference in San Francisco in March and I had forgotten just how much I really love that city. It has charm, character and is as expensive as Manhattan. The conference was the week before my birthday, so I stuck around for a while.

Y’see, the conference was over on the 16th and I sure didn’t want to fly out on St. Patty’s Day. I sure didn’t want to fly out the next day seeing as how I was turning 37 and all. So why leave?

Especially when Mel came out to play and we could spend some time enjoying the city and then heading up to Napa for a few days of wine tasting and exploring. Now, usually when Mel goes somewhere the rain follows. Since there was no rain, Mel did the next best thing and came down with a nasty little upper respiratory thing.

Regardless, much fun was had, much alcohol was consumed and much money was spent.

Now That’s A Show!

If you missed the lovely Miss Rebecca Sponseller at Vlada last Tuesday then you missed out on one heck of a fun show. Keep your eyes peeled … she’ll be back. She gives me way too much credit for helping her put the thing together. She brought her A-game to the stage and I had nothing to do with it … it was all S-P-O-N-S-E-L-L-E-R.

Keep checking babyhippopotamus.com for some exclusive video and pics from the performance … and for a major announcement regarding the new direction of Baby Hippopotamus Productions.

Also … major thanks to JB for coming out to film the gig, to David for lending his incredible talent and to our old Weasel friends for coming out to support our very own “Opera Girl.”

The remainder of this post was removed 5/15/2007.