Well, it won't make the Playbill, but I'll be making my Broadway debut on Tuesday, July 14: I'll be moderating a "Talkback Tuesday" discussion after the evening's performance of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway (okay, W. 44th St., but it counts). I'll come out on the stage (yikes!), vamp (double yikes!) for a few minutes while the actors change into street clothes, and then ask them questions about the show, Hitchcock and comedy. We'll take questions from the audience, and everybody will be out and looking for a cab by 9:30.
I've gotta say, I'm pretty excited. If the Tony nominating committee has a "best after-show host guy" category, I'm stuffing some ballot boxes!
Which brings us to the expansion, this week, of the Best Picture category for the Academy Awards. So now it's 10 nominated films? Can you think of 10 films you saw last year that could legitimately have been considered the best of the year? I think the five that were nominated were a stretch!
In a clear attempt to increase the show's TV audience, the Academy has decided to double up on its nominations in this one category. Are we really supposed to think that means things like Star Trek and Up (which actually was the best movie I've seen so far this year) have a chance? That the voters won't still go for some pretentious load of crap in which a movie star pretends to be a Nazi or have some debilitating illness? That if there had been five other nominees last year, Slumdog Millionaire (which actually was a very good movie) wouldn't have won? How stupid do they think we are? Never mind, I just remembered: very stupid.
But exciting as the Broadway news was (and silly as the Oscar news might prove to be), it wasn't the best thing that happened around here last week. That occurred last night,when my son got his first on-screen credit on a national television program.
At the end of the Nick News Special Report: Webstars--The Kids Behind the Hits, comes a list of credits including, "Story Consultant, Josh Cohen." Now, that's something.
Josh pitched the idea of the show when he was an intern at Lucky Duck Productions (Linda Ellerbee's production company) last summer. And was at college when it was accepted by Nickelodeon, so he couldn't actively participate in its production (although he did communicate with those who were, and helped with the odd question here or there).
It wasn't a paid internship--as Linda says, "we pay in credits." But that was a pretty big reward. For a film student, having your name on screen is a serious boost. It will look very good on a resume.
From his dad's viewpoint, it's something I wanted for myself until I started writing books. And I couldn't be prouder. Good for you, Josh.
One last piece: Kudos to the organizers of Deadly Ink, New Jersey's only mystery convention. It was a pleasure to serve as the toastmaster this year, and meeting Lincoln Child, interviewing him and introducing him at the banquet only made it that much more difficult to resent him, even if he is a New York Times bestselling author. He and his family are lovely people. I'll just have to concentrate on some other incredibly successful author, and feel that he or she stole the fantastic career that should be mine.
