Why "Excess Within Control"?

-
There's a 1980 movie, a big favorite of mine, Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer. Plummer plays William Fawcett Robinson, the manager of a famous early 1900s stage actress, Elise McKenna. His advice to her before a performance is "Remember, stay ahead of them. Always keep the mystery. Excess within control!"



I have to credit Richard Matheson for the phrase -  he wrote the novel and screenplay.

My life has certainly had its excesses, but I think I keep them pretty much under control.

In this blog, I'll be discussing some of those excesses, and sharing random memories and thoughts, profound and otherwise.




Comments

  1. UnknownJune 27, 2020 at 8:16 AM

    The places our fingers can takes us to in micro seconds is beyond belief...at one very serene moment, listening to Nora Jones singing "will you still love me tomorrow"... a very melancholoy rendition.....even to the point of a full verse of introduction by a seemingly misplaced guitar....and I thought it to be a little self indulgent...when unexpectedly an old cinematic acquaintance' Richard Fawcett Robinson's words ran through my 71 year old brain...."Excess within control" which was appropriate to the moment and the song. A simple search brought me here. Very intriguing....

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Unknown but Naughty Lady

-
Image
Last November I worked as an election poll worker in my town of Glendora, California, which I often do. My first time at this particular precinct, I noticed that there was a street, Shady Lane, listed in the street index. I immediately remembered a very popular song from the 1950s, recorded by the Ames Brothers and others, "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane." It had been covered by Dean Martin and the McGuire Sisters. Whenever a resident of that street came to my table, I asked them if they knew the song (poll workers probably aren't supposed to do that.) Of all the people I asked, only one person, a man about my age, knew it. That surprised me because it's a fun little song and, I thought, pretty much a standard. One would think that they would have already been asked the question by others. Sometimes I enjoy being old, cuz I get to remember a lot of neat stuff.
Read more

House of Leather

-
Image
The year, 1969, now fifty years ago, was quite an interesting time. I guess every year has its share of significant events, but 1969 is particularly memorable for me.  Of course it was the year that man first walked on the moon, Neil Armstrong declaring,  "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." (I think he was supposed to say "...for A man..".) Richard Nixon became President in 1969, and the Manson "Family" cult murdered five people. While the "New Hollywood" revolution began in 1967, several notable films of that movement were released in 1969 including  Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy , The Wild Bunch , and  Medium Cool . Four hundred thousand people attended the famous music festival, Woodstock, on a farm in New York. The Beatles gave their last live performance on a  rooftop  of the Apple building in London. Other major music events were the Isle of Wight Festival and the Altamont Speedway Festival, which was ...
Read more