Birthday Buttercream!

Look Ma, I'm Dancin' opened on Broadway on January 29, 1948, starring Nancy Walker and Harold Lang. Music and Lyrics, Hugh Martin.

This was the same year Harold co-starred in Kiss Me, Kate. (Big year for Harold!)

Harold stayed on stage for most of his career (Pal Joey, On The Town, Once Upon A Mattress), but Nancy went on to films, variety shows, sitcoms, commercials (above), and directing.

She passed away in 1992, age 69...and Harold died in 1985, age 60.

Elaine Stritch was born on Groundhog Day! Feb 2, 1925...

Of course, I've spotlighted Elaine almost weekly on 2 On The Aisle, she of the 5-decade-long stage career, so you know many of the details already (so I won't BORE YOU!).

But we'll hear from her one-woman show, Elaine Stritch At Liberty, on Sunday, plus a great ballad from Goldilocks. Tho the show was a flop, Brooks Atkinson of the Times wrote,

“Miss Stritch can destroy life throughout the country with the twist she gives to the dialogue. She takes a wicked stance, purses her mouth thoughtfully and waits long enough to devastate the landscape.”

Above, Elaine enjoying her digs at the Carlyle Hotel, where she lived (and performed) for 15 years.

Below, Elaine with Barbara Cook, evidently performing a long and complicated song!

Elaine, in one of her first Broadway shows, Angels In The Wings, 1947 

(she was 22).

Her solo, "Civilization", is Un-PC, but very memorable (and it wasn't cut in out of town tryouts!).

Nathan Lane turns 65 this year, specifically on Feb. 3!

He arrived in NYC (which didn't demand a long commute, only a Hudson River boat ride in from Jersey City) in the 1970s, but had to wait til 1982 to debut with Present Laughter (with George C. Scott).

Prior to that, he performed a stand-up comedy act with Patrick Stack.

Six Tony nominations and three wins for Nathan:

Forum, The Producers, and Guys And Dolls.

(Above, Nathan with Cady Huffman and Mathew Broderick.)

Tammy Grimes has a birthday coming up on Jan. 30...born in Lyn, Mass. in 1934. 

A two Tony winner is Tammy: One for The Unsinkable Molly Brown (below with co-star Harve Presnell) and and 1970 revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives.

Tammy would go on to act in many Coward plays over the course of her career, which included her own TV show, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, and voice overs.

Married 3, count em', 3 times...once to actor Christopher Plummer. She is mom to actress Amanda Plummer.

 

Tammy passed away in 2016, at the age of 82.

Playlist For Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021: The Eyes Have It (Or Not!)

Well, the Body Parts are all tucked away. Last week's edition was fun, inspired perhaps by the fact that come February, I will go "under the knife" and get a cataract peeled or excised or erased from my left eyeball (so maybe I was just getting in the mood to be sliced). I've already had my right one done, so I know it's no big deal. Actually, the anesthesiologist for that first procedure asked me what type of music I liked (aiming at giving me a pleasurable experience whilst semi-conscious, I guess) and I, of course, said Broadway! He diabolically picked Sweeney Todd (think long knives, blood, and meat pies, right?). I got the joke mid-op, but couldn't he have played the original cast recording? Harrumph.

This is another kind of cataract. :) I like this one better. Couldn't I have THIS one?

Anyhoo, I'll be soooo much better at radio when I can see the buttons and the lights and all the other gizmos in the studio after this! I will nary make a production mistake. Well, as long as my brain cooperates. I may have had a "cataract" on THAT body part for quite a few years. Meanwhile I will take 1 Sunday off (2/7/21) to heal and may even get to work a new fashion eye patch (AND a mask???) for a couple of hours. I'll be back in time for Theeee Valentines Day Edition tho, so feel free to shower me with posies, pearls, and/or peanut brittle, come the 14th. Or just a simple diamond (they ARE a girl's best friend!) :))))

Sheesh! They'll make anything into a Valentine.

 But THIS Sunday, I must hang around and celebrate the birthdays of Nathan and Elaine and Tammy. Plus we'll dip our respective toes in the revival of Little Me with Marty and Faith. Plus those irritating little themes I tend to dream up (a little bit of luck...and no dearth of dancing!). So sit down, show up, tune in, and belly up (to the bar) for Broadway.  BYOMP, BTW (Bring Your Own Meat Pie)!

 

 I Ain't Down Yet (Tammy Grimes, Ensemble, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

Little Me (Faith Prince, Little Me)

I've Got Your Number (Faith Prince, Martin Short, Little Me)

Goodbye (Martin Short, Company, Little Me)

Look Ma, I'm Dancin' (Nancy Walker, Look Ma, I'm Dancin')

Go Into Your Dance (Carole Cook, Wanda Richert, Karen Prunczik, 42nd Street)

I Won't Dance (Kaye Ballard, Jack Cassidy)

You Can Dance With Any Girl At All (Bobby Van, No, No, Nanette)

I'm Just A Song And Dance Man (Mickey Rooney, Sugar Babies)

Free (Nathan Lane, Jim Stanek, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)

Morticia (Nathan Lane, The Addams Family)

Sue Me (Nathan Lane, Faith Prince, Guys And Dolls)

We Can Do It (Nathan Lane, Mathew Broderick, The Producers)

Luck Be A Lady (Robert Alda, Guys And Dolls)

Lucky To Be Me (John Battles, On The Town)

The Crapshooter's Dance (Instrumental, Guys And Dolls)

How Can I Change My Luck? (Walter Bobbie, Face The Music)

With A Little Bit Of Luck (Stanley Holloway, My Fair Lady)

Make Believe (Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Show Boat)

The Way You Look Tonight (Fred Astaire, Swing Time)

Look For The Silver Lining (Judy Garland, Til The Clouds Roll By)

The Last Time I Saw Paris (Noel Coward)

Long Ago (And Far Away)(Jo Stafford)

I'm Still Here (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)

Civilization (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)

I Never Know When (Elaine Stritch, Goldilocks)

Something Good (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)

Belly Up To The Bar, Boys (Tammy Grimes, Ensemble, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

My Own Brass Bed (Tammy Grimes, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

Keep-A-Hoppin'/Leadville Johnny Brown (Harve Presnell, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

I Ain't Down Yet (Reprise) (Company, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

Random Star "Parts"!

Jack Cassidy and Carol Burnett in Fade Out - Fade In (1964)

Created "musically" by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

"My Fortune Is My Face"

Heidi Blickenstaff as Bea in Something Rotten!

The work of Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, back in 2015.

"Right Hand Man"

Fanny Brice sang "Second Hand Rose" in

Ziegfeld Follies of 1921...

that's SHE above with Eugene Howard!

 

"Take It On The Chin" was part of Me And My Girl,

first produced in    with music by Noel Gay, Douglas Furber, and L. Arthur Rose.

We'll hear from the new and improved version of 1985, masterminded by

Stephen Fry and Mike Okrent.

That's Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson (above) who starred in the London production. 

Yup, that's the movie version of Grease,

which starred Olivia Newton John and that Travolta dude.

But this Sunday's "Hand Jive" will come direct from the original 1972

Broadway production.

Music: Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey

We'll trade Rex Harrison's version of "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face"

for Harry Hadden-Paton's take, performed in the 2018 revival of 

My Fair Lady, the creation of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.

And (above, right) the face he's grown accustomed to,

that of Lauren Ambrose, who played Eliza.

 

From The Most Happy Fella,

we'll touch base with FEET!

Jo Sullivan and Susan Johnson (above) played waitresses,

Rosabella and Cleo,

but only Susan complained: "Ooh, My Feet!"

That's Susan below, at the cast recording of this 

Frank Loesser almost opera from 1956. :)

"The Physician" takes the cake for the number of 

body parts listed, labeled, and dissected!

It's from Star!, the movie musical "take" on Gertrude Lawrence's life.

Julie Andrews "starred" and got to wear over 125 costumes in this

super-lavish flick.

And Cole Porter HAD to have written these lyrics! 

Playlist For Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021: That Face. Those Eyes. That Medulla Oblongata.

Broadway Body Parts? Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes? What fresh hell is this? 

I seem to be scraping the bottom of the theme barrel this week with a Body Beautiful motif. Yup. Faces. Feet. Arms. Cheeks (both sets). Chins (all of them). And epiglotisesesss.There just seems to be a lot of Broadway songs about body parts! Who the heck knew? And I am way too impatient to wait for Halloween (none are gory enough for that "celebration" anyway).

 It had something to do with boxing, I guess.

 In fact, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wrote a musical actually called The Body Beautiful, the CD of which I am anxiously awaiting in snail mail, although I don't have high hopes of it striking my fancy. Or making the 2 On The Aisle "grade" (standards!!!). It was B&H's first collaboration, and it starred Jack Carson, Barbara McNair, William Hickey, and Mindy Carson? Well, I know a couple of those folks. Anyway, it got panned, closed quickly ...and YET it brought Jerry and Sheldon the attention they needed to be hired to write songs for Fiorello! So The Body turned out to be a "stepping stone" to all things bright and ...a bit more beautiful. 

 

Dame Julie in Star! "The Physician"...all internal organs covered in 1 song!

 So it would be nice if the title song of that show turned out to be wonderful and up to SNUFF (where'd that phrase come from? Snuff goes UP?), and we could sneak it into this Sunday's show. But if not, c'est la vie. At least we have Julie Andrews' "Star!"-turn with The Physician, Jack Cassidy's "Fortune"-ate Face, Barbara and Brian, Fred and Fanny, and a little Dance 10 Looks 3 titillation to "cover" those other parts.:)

 

Pamela Blair showing off an improved pair. Thanks Getty Images! :)

 

Meanwhile, keep that body beautiful. Self care and all that. Lotion those elbows, soak those pedal-extremities, and wax a patella (or 2)... and tune in on Sunday.

Let's Face The Music And Dance (Fred Astaire, Follow The Fleet)

Sun On My Face (Robert Morse, Tony Roberts, Elaine Joyce, Sugar)

Lose That Long Face (Judy Garland, A Star Is Born)

Put On A Happy Face (Dick Van Dyke, Bye Bye Birdie)

Look At That Face (Cyril Ritchard, The Roar Of The Greasepaint, The Smell Of The Crowd)

How Can You Describe A Face (Sydney Chaplin, Subways Are For Sleeping)

That Face (Mathew Broderick, The Producers)

That Face (Vivien Leigh, Tovarich)

I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face (Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady)

Funny Face (Fred Astaire, Funny Face)

My Fortune Is My Face (Jack Cassidy, Fade Out - Fade In)

Were Thine That Special Face (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kiss Me Kate)

Secondhand Rose (Fanny Brice, Ziegfeld Follies Of 1921)

Clap Yo' Hands (Patrick Cassidy, Oh, Kay!)

Right Hand Man (Heidi Blickenstaff, Something Rotten!) 

The Country's In The Very Best Of Hands (Stubby Kaye, Peter Palmer, Company, Li'l Abner)

I Put My Hand In (Pearl Bailey, Hello Dolly!)

Born To Hand-Jive (Allan Paul, Ensemble, Grease)

Your Feet's Too Big (Ken Page, Ain't Misbehavin')

Ooh! My Feet! (Susan Johnson, The Most Happy Fellow)

Lonely Feet (Blossom Dearie, Alfred Drake, The Three Sisters)

Cold Feets (Troy Britton Johnson, Eddie Korbich, The Drowsy Chaperone)

Fidgety Feet (Patrick Cassidy, Liz Larsen, Oh, Kay!)

Magic Foot (Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Take It On The Chin (Emma Thompson, Me And My Girl)

Cheek To Cheek (Fred Astaire, Top Hat)

I Got Lost In His Arms (Bernadette Peters, Annie Get Your Gun)

In Buddy's Eyes (Barbara Cook, Follies)

On Your Toes (Joshua Shelley, Bobby Van, Kay Coulter, On Your Toes)

The Physician (Julie Andrews, Star!)

Dance: Ten; Looks: Three (Pamela Blair, A Chorus Line)

Dolly and David

  

“A voice like that comes along just once, and it echoes down Broadway to this day.” - Adam Feldman

 

I've blogged plenty about Ethel Merman before, so I won't riff on and on, but just wanted to add a quick salute this week, to commemorate her on her 113th birthday.

Ethel was born on January 16, 1908 (not 1912 as she used to insist)in her grandmother's house in Astoria, Queens. Her first job was as a stenographer, which gave her evening times to moonlight in nightclubs.
She didn't have to type for long.

Below, with Bob Hope, her co-star in Red, Hot, and Blue.

 

There's No Business Like Show Business, which we'll hear from on Sunday, starred Donald O'Connor, Ethel, Dan Dailey, Mitzi Gaynor, and Johnny Ray (and not to forget Marilyn Monroe!). Ethel was 46 when she did this movie. Of course, she had sung the movie's title song back in Annie Get Your Gun. (Despite the lavish production, the flick was a financial flop.)

Ethel was the 7th Dolly Levi, in 1970. Jerry Herman supposedly wrote the part with Ethel in mind, but she initially rejected the offer, as she was supposedly tired of "spending her life in a dressing room." But 7 years later...she reconsidered.

Ethel was the last diva to play Dolly in this first production. Thanks to her joining the cast, starting in March of 1970, Jerry was able to reinsert two particularly Merman-esque songs that had been cut prior to the show’s opening night: “World, Take Me Back,” and “Love, Look In My Window."

 Her appearance in Dolly was said to be a smash. Great reviews and standing ovations...Walter Kerr of the NYTimes called her voice "exactly as trumpet-clean, exactly as penny whistle-piercing, exactly as Wurlitzer-wonderful as it always was."

She stayed with the production until its closing on December 27th of that year and received a Drama Desk Award. It would be her last Broadway performance.

 

 David Wayne James McMeekan (2 middle names?) was born in Traverse City, Michigan (a town I've actually biked thru!) back in 1914. He first worked as a statistician in Cleveland, whilst moonlighting with a Shakespearean theatre group there (we're talking the mid-1930s here). 

He was too old to join the WWII forces, but ended up volunteering as an ambulance driver with the British Army in North Africa.

In 1947, he debuted on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow, as Og the leprechaun, ANNNND picked up his first of 2 Tony Awards (the second would be for his work in The Teahouse Of The August Moon.  

Roles in The Happy Time, Mister Roberts, Say, Darling and After The Fall followed.

 

The Happy Time, with Michael Rupert and Robert Goulet. I guess David really was "The Life Of The Party"!

Hollywood-wise, David often played best friends, charming cads, or mean-hearted villians! Way at the top, with Marilyn Monroe in How To Marry A Millionaire. In the middle, The Tender Trap, with Celeste Holm, Debbie Reynolds, and Frank Sinatra. And below that, in Adam's Rib with Spencer Tracey and Katharine Hepburn (love that robe, Kate!). 

 And not to forget his tons O'TV roles, on the Twilight Zone, Norby, The Outlaws, Bonanza, and Batman (he played the Mad Hatter on that one).

David passed away in 1995, at the age of 81.

Playlist For Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021: 78 To Go.

The Winter Doldrums have arrived (they just stopped by for a cuppa joe, unannounced and definitely uninvited. Next they'll be asking for an air mattress, pate en croute and Twinkies).

 

Above, YES.

Below, NO!

 I was just sitting there staring at my calendar, and in they walked, miring me in doomy gloom. This is NOT my favorite time of the year. On January 1, I always begin my "Count Down To Spring" (well, April 1, to be on the safe side), a mere 90 days to go. As I type this, we have 79 left. Time doesn't fly in this season, and neither do my depressing house guests. They do a slow shuffle (unfortunately not in the direction of Buffalo), never change their socks, and order out on my dime. UGH.

I know, I know, I should take up a winter sport. That would give me a reason to adore this freezing little piece of the year...or crochet my loved ones obnoxious afghans to while away the hours (or tat a doily)(or is that D'Oyly?)(and does anyone still wear a doily?).  Jesus, let me just sit here in my mire, will ya? (It's an upholstered mire, comfy for sure, but the springs are all blown, so it's a bitch to get out of.) But I have no aptitude for winter sports, be it skiing, curling, or hockey-ing. I get chilblains (look it up) just tap-dancing in an air-conditioned studio.

Frozen person vs Frozen musical.

I don't like either.

The only thing that works for me during EL LIMBO de Winter (sounds like a character from Rebecca, right?), is theatre. And we don't have that right now, do we? No new musicals to rake over the co...I mean, appreciate. Not a lot of new backstage drama to read about. Not a lot of anticipation for the new season. Soooooo that's why I've been looking backwards: To anniversaries of opening nights, birthdays of the "greats", and just oldie goldies in general.

I hope you're still amused. With rare exception, the Golden Age of Broadway remains my favorite era of musicals. So forgive me if I swamp you THIS WEEK with The Merm, The Happy Time, The Hello Dolly, Andrea Martin, and Danny Kaye...whose birthdays and opening nights are on the (50 Shades of) gray horizon. Same-o, same-o, but still good-o, good-o. No apologies!

 Gotta go. My house guests are threatening to play Toss The Cat. And make s'mores. And binge Bridgerton. Only 78 to go...

 

The Happy Time (Robert Goulet, The Happy Time)

Corner Of The Sky (Mathew James Thomas, Pippin)

On The Right Track (Ben Vereen, John Rubenstein, Pippin)

Love Song (Mathew James Thomas, Rachel Bay Jones, Pippin)

No Time At All (Andrea Martin, Pippin)

Funny/The Duck Joke (Andrea Martin, Lannyl Stephens, My Favorite Year)

He Vas My Boyfriend (Andrea Martin, Young Frankenstein)

There's No Business Like Show Business (Ethel Merman, There's No Business Like Show Business)

Friendship (Ethel Merman, Bert Lahr, Anything Goes)

Anything Goes (Ethel Merman, Anything Goes)

Heat Wave (Ethel Merman, Panama Hattie)

An Old-Fashioned Wedding (Ethel Merman, Ray Middleton, Annie Get Your Gun)

Let's Take An Old Fashioned Walk (Eddie Albert, Allyn McClerie, Miss Liberty)

Swing Me An Old Fashioned Song (Shirley Temple, Little Miss Broadway)

I'm Old Fashioned (Fred Astaire, You Were Never Lovelier)

Make It Another Old Fashioned, Please (Ethel Merman, Panama Hattie)

Ugly Duckling (Danny Kaye, Hans Christian Anderson)

Civilization (Danny Kaye, The Andrews Sisters)

Life Could Not Better Be (Danny Kaye, The Court Jester)

Ninety Again! (Danny Kaye, Two By Two)

Put On Your Sunday Clothes (Company, Hello, Dolly!)

Elegance (Charles Nelson Reilly, Eileen Brennan, Jerry Dodge, Sondra Lee, Hello, Dolly!)

It Only Takes A Moment (Charles Nelson Reilly, Eileen Brennan, Hello, Dolly!)

Before The Parade Passes By (Carol Channing, Company, Hello, Dolly!)

Tomorrow Morning (Robert Goulet, Michael Rupert, David Wayne, The Happy Time)

The Life Of The Party (David Wayne, The Happy Time)

A Certain Girl (Robert Goulet, Ensemble, The Happy Time)

Heart (Jean Stapleton, Ensemble, Damn Yankees)

Find Yourself A Man (Jean Stapleton, Kay Medford, Danny Meehan, Funny Girl)

All In The Family Theme (Jean Stapleton, Carroll O'Connor, All In The Family)

Welcome To Transylvania (Ensemble, Young Frankenstein)

Roll In The Hay (Sutton Foster, Roger Bart, Young Frankenstein)

Together Again (Roger Bart, Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein)

Puttin' On The Ritz  (Roger Bart, Shuler Hensley, Young Frankenstein)

 

 

 

Happy Birth-iversary!

Raymond Wallace Bolger, born to Irish American parents on January 10, 1904, hailed from South Boston. He got his start on the vaudeville stage, hoofing it with a fellow tapper in an act called "Sanford & Bolger." His Broadway debut came in "The Passing Show Of 1926" (they really knew how to name 'em back then, didn't they?).

Hollywood called (Ray answered!) and by 1939, he'd done The Great Ziegfeld, The Wizard of Oz, Rosalie, and Sweethearts.

Ray performing as himself in The Great Ziegfeld (1936).

Below, a reunion of that Oz gang, including Margaret Hamilton and Jack Haley.

Initially, Buddy Ebsen (another great hoofer) was chosen to play the Scarecrow in that movie, and Ray was to portray the Tin Man. How the roles got shuffled (and how Buddy got the axe) is probably a great story, but I don't know it!!! Suffice it to say that Ray was very happy when his part got changed.

 

 

Ray's Broadway endeavors included Where's Charley? (above) with Allyn Ann McLerie, On Your Toes, Life Begins At 8:40, By Jupiter, and All American. He also had his own television show from 1953-55, and did many television appearances thru the 70s and early 80s (The Love Boat! Fantasy Island! Battlestar Galactica??).

His final appearance was on Diff'rent Strokes in 1984. 

Ray passed away in 1987 at the age of 83.

 

Happy "celestial" birthday as well to Mary Rodgers, born January 11, 1931, a native New Yorker...and daughter of Richard Rodgers (a hard act to follow!). Though she never gained the fame of her musical dad, she did have some success with composing and writing children's books.

She started writing music at the age of 16, composing songs for Little Golden Records, partnering with Sammy Cahn on lyrics. Then a  jingle for Prince Spaghetti! And finally...Broadway! (And I guess, in between gigs, she cha-cha'ed with Jimmy, below.)

Once Upon A Mattress was Mary's big hit, and it opened Off-Broadway in 1959. Her writing partner on this project was Marshall Barer, and it featured a young Carol Burnett, Joseph Bova, Jane White, and Jack Gilford. A move to Broadway happened just a year later, and then 3 televised versions, tours, and general (HUZZAH!) success. The Mad Show followed in 1966, but Marshall left the partnership in a huff, leaving Mary to collaborate with a number of other lyricists, including Stephen Sondheim. Stephen helped with "The Boy From...", writing under the pseudonym of Esteban Ria Nido (Ole!).

Other shows Mary wrote for included Davy Jones' Locker, From A To Z, Hot Spot, Working, and Phyllis Newman's one-woman show, The Madwoman Of Central Park West.

Later in life, Mary turned to writing children's books, and had great success with Freaky Friday, the novel (1972) and the screenplay for the movie (1976). She also contributed songs to Marlo Thomas' album, Free To Be...You And Me.

The triptych above shows the Rodgers Dynasty: Pappa Richard, Mary, and Son Adam (Guettel). She was the one to suggest to Adam that he think about setting a certain novella to music, Light In The Piazza. And the story goes that she'd made the same suggestion to her dad many years before. Good thing one of them took that suggestion to heart!

 

 One of Jerry Herman's 3 flops, The Grand Tour opened on January 11, 1979, and closed just 61 performances later. Compared to his other 2 bagels, The Grand Tour had the fewest performances, 5 less than Mack & Mabel. This, despite a star like Joel Grey, a book by Michael Stewart (Hello Dolly, I Love My Wife, Bye Bye Birdie, 42nd Street...the list is long and beefy) and music and lyrics by the "grand" JH!

 

But even with all that star power, competition was tough. Running currently that season were Sweeney Todd, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, annnnd They're Playing Our Song. So maybe 1979 wasn't the easiest year to introduce 2 guys and a gal driving out of Paris to escape the Nazis? But...but...meat pies! And prostitutes? And Robert effing Klein?

 Above co-star Ron Holgate (driving the car) and, below, Florence Lacey ("Marianne", the object of desire).

 

Well, at least it rated its own Hirschfeld!

 

Ron Holgate at the cast recording. Ron started out his singing career in opera, but Broadway called (Ron answered!). He began in the chorus of Milk & Honey (another Herman creation), and went on to starring roles in Forum, 1776 (Tony winner there!), 42nd Street, Lend Me A Tenor, Guys And Dolls, Annie Get Your Gun...etc., etc., etc. !