Travels with Beaverhausen: Autumn in Connecticut

Buddy's buddy and downstairs neighbor, author and columnist Kevin Scott Hall, joined me on my weekend vacation in Connecticut. The biggest adventure was trying to get out of this concrete jungle.

As there are currently weekend construction delays in the subway, we opted to take a livery car into Manhattan. Much street construction work on both the Brooklyn and Manhattan sides made traffic a snarly, gnarly mess.

Finally at Grand Central Station, we boarded our train to Fairfield station in Connecticut, where Tracey picked us up in her car and drove us by highway and byway to her home in Sandy Hook, where Merv was cooking up our dinner.

We settled in, in the living room, chatting over Merv's marvelous margaritas, with corn chips and dips. This was Kevin's first visit in 2-1/2 years, so he had lots to update our hosts about and vice versa.

Eventually, we all sat at the dining table. Dinner was Merv's savory cinnamon pot roast with fresh broccoli and mashed red potatoes, all served with gravy. Everything was so scrumptious!

Our movie night kicked off with The Last of Sheila. This is a cheeky, cerebral whodunnit co-scripted by Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim and actor Anthony Perkins of all people! It's a nearly forgotten gem from 1973 starring James Mason, Dyan Cannon (as a character clearly based on Sue Mengers), Raquel Welch, Richard Benjamin, Joan Hackett, James Coburn and Ian McSchane. We all loved it, right down to Bette Midler singing "Friends" over the closing credits. It's an early '70s time capsule; just look at the costumes. Richard Benjamin looks like Freddie Mercury in this!

We then moved on to Ken Russell's The Devils before bedtime. http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2015/10/video-beaverhausen-oliver-reed-vanessa.html

Sunday morning, there was coffee once we were all up, just after sunrise. It was a clear, cloudless day, a bit chilly and bracing but with such sweet-smelling air. Breakfast, lazing about, reading the Sunday Times.

L. to r., me, Kevin, Tray, Merv. Or is it The Last Supper?

On our way to the train in the afternoon, all four of us stopped at Jones Farms for a free wine tasting at the farm's lodge. Several wines were sampled, although my fave is and always has been the farm's strawberry wine. We each received a free souvenir crystal wine glass at the end of our sampling.

Alas, all good things must come to an end and, after our sojourn, Tracey and Merv drove Kevin and me back to the NYC/ Grand Central Station train.

Thank you again, my friends, for a wonderful time. We sure know how to party!

Video Beaverhausen: Oh, Those Bloody Bees!

When someone decides, in a British horror film, to go to a quaint village or a remote little UK island, you immediately know he or she is bound for trouble. Sinister things happen in those places, it would seem, especially when one is trying to recover after a traumatic incident.

In The Deadly Bees (1966), Suzanna Leigh, a very pretty and talented British actress who was quite popular in the US as well as abroad throughout the 1960s and '70s, portrays a very Dusty Springfield-like recording artist who suffers a nervous breakdown. Though this is a daily routine for me, Ms Leigh hopes to chill out on a quaint, isolated island village for a rest cure.

No sooner than you can say, "You in danger, girl!",  our protagonist is plagued by the hives -- the kind with bees in them.

My friends, Tracey and Merv, are beekeepers. They have some rather sprawling property behind their Connecticut home and have become beekeepers. Maybe this film could give them a few ideas. I'll have to put the buzz in their ears.

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Amicus Productions made this film at Shepperton Studios in London. It was one of many films in the horror genre that they did, including Dr Terror's House of Horrors and Tales from the Crypt ~ the last two based on a compendium format originated in the UK by the classic Dead of Night (1945). They even produced a couple of Dr Who movies with the late, great Peter Cushing in the title role.

Amicus shared a lot of talent with Hammer Films, including Cushing, Christopher Lee and director Jimmy Sangster (who directed this film among many others for the studio). Frank Finlay co-stars in this one.

Robert Bloch (Psycho) wrote the screenplay based on a British novel. Special effects are tacky but fun. As an inside joke, there's a song by The Byrds on the soundtrack. (The Byrds and the bees, get it?)

First time ever on dvd and never on videotape.

Summer House Party with Buddy B!

My friend Tracey and Merv drove down from Connecticut for 3 pm and stayed until 8 pm. Kevin joined us and we had a terrific time hanging out in my air-conditioned entertainment room. We had plenty of hors de'oeuvres and Kevin supplied the fresh shrimp from Brooklyn Market. After we feasted, and talked over wine and beer as we conversed, we moved the party to Kevin's apartment.

There we all watched Storm Warning (1951) with Ginger Rogers and Doris Day. Everyone was impressed by its theme of two sisters vs. the Ku Klux Klan, with a storyline that resembles Streetcar Named Desire in various ways. http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2015/08/video-beaverhausen-storm-warning-with.html

Following our entertainment for the day, we shoved off, trying to decide on a restaurant. Dinner options included Everything Greek and Ammonia Cafe, but we finally all decided on Salty Dog, an old firehouse converted into a restaurant. Within the air-conditioned red brick walls, we ordered dinner. Mine was chicken francese with mixed veggies and a side of the thickest, largest onion rings I ever saw in my life. Not greasy either.

Tracey and Merv generously treated us to the meal.

We returned to Kevin's apartment. There was some mutual gifting. Tracey and Merv gave me a bottle of my favorite strawberry wine from Hartford's Boone's Farms and I gave them the gigantic mugs Kevin brought back on my request that his friend, Jan Fisher's husband Jim, makes by hand. Everyone left gifted -- materially but also on a contact high amongst one another.