Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Recently I noticed that all the actors in my son Truman’s production of Twelfth Night seemed to know all the lines to all the parts. If any particular actor in the Camp Shakespeare production of the play would forget his lines, someone standing right next to him would start to mouth or whisper the first lines until they were remembered.
Glenn Ford, the biggest box office star of 1958, and later the adopted father to a cape-wearing Christopher Reeve, also had to learn the plays that he supported. Ford said, “I don’t know how it is now but the assistant stage manager had to understudy several parts. You had to be ready to go on at any time if the actor couldn’t make it to the play. I didn’t think anything of it.”
My favorite understudy story comes from Les Brown, the author and motivational speaker who I got to see perform in Sacramento a few weeks ago. He told the story of practicing in his bedroom to be a DJ, and then finally taking advantage of his opportunity to step before the microphone. This long excerpt comes from the Jack Canfield book, Chicken Soup for the Soul.
“Les did whatever was asked of him at the station – and more. While hanging out with the deejays, he taught himself their hand movements on the control panel. He stayed in the control rooms and soaked up whatever he could until they asked him to leave. Then, back in his bedroom at night, he practiced and prepared himself for the opportunity that he knew would present itself. One Saturday afternoon while Les was at the station, a deejay named Rock was drinking while on the air. Les was the only other person in the building, and he realized that Rock was drinking himself toward trouble. Les stayed close. He walked back and forth in front of the window in Rock’s booth. As he prowled, he said to himself. “Drink, Rock, drink!”
Les was hungry, and he was ready. He would have run down the street for more booze if Rock had asked. When the phone rang, Les pounced on it. It was the station manager, as he knew it would be.
“Les, this is Mr. Klein.”
“Yes,” said Les. “I know.”
“Les, I don’t think Rock can finish his program.”
“Yes sir, I know.”
“Would you call one of the other deejays to come in and take over?”
“Yes, sir. I sure will.”
But when Les hung up the telephone, he said to himself,
“Now, he must think I’m crazy.”
Les did dial the telephone, but it wasn’t to call in another deejay. He called his mother first, and then his girlfriend. “You all go out on the front porch and turn up
the radio because I’m about to come on the air!” he said.
He waited about 15 minutes before he called the general manager. “Mr. Klein, I can’t find nobody,” Les said.
Mr. Klein then asked, “Young man, do you know how to work the controls in the studio?”
“Yes sir,” replied Les.
Les darted into the booth, gently moved Rock aside and sat down at the turntable. He was ready. And he was hungry. He flipped on the microphone switch and said, “Look out! This is me LB, triple P – Les Brown, Your Platter Playing Poppa. There were none before me and there will be none after me. Therefore, that makes me the one and only. Young and single and love to mingle. Certified, bona fide, indubitably qualified to bring you satisfaction, a whole lot of action. Look out, baby, I’m your lo-o-ove man”
Because of his preparation, Les was ready. He vowed the audience and his general manager. From that fateful beginning, Les went on to a successful career in broadcasting, politics, public speaking and television.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will benefit from an understudy who is also hungry. Now a Winters resident, my friend Jason doesn’t get to attend the Pub Quiz as often these days as he did back when his all-star team, The Penetrators, would always score in the top three of the Quiz. But he has the presence, the confidence, and the acumen not only to write questions for the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz, but to take up the microphone.
Tonight at the Pub Quiz expect questions about North American sports, volcanoes, people who have been endorsed by Sarah Palin, abundance, heroes, best-selling books, diacritics, secessions, church imperatives, Ant-Man, unusual felines, cities with harsh winters, monks, influential literature, current events, popular websites, teen comedies, big baseball games, surprising screenwriters, high flyers, grains, Great Britain, Forbes on sports, Donald Trump, and Shakespeare.
Sometimes Jason asks questions on topics that I have covered in recent months. This may give some of you regulars a slight advantage, as long as you have researched all the topics raised on past pub quizzes (which I am sure you do).
Thanks to the firefighters and National Guardsmen and women of California, I hope to return to Davis safely later this week, and join all of you next Monday at the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz. See you then!
Your Quizmaster
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