Bell, Book and Candle

Bell, Book and Candle was written in 1950 English-American playwright John Van Druten.  (He also wrote "Leave Her to Heaven" (1940) and "The Voice of the Turtle" (1943).  In 1958, Richard Quine directed Kim Novak and James Stewart in the movie version.


Bell, Book and Candle is also said to be the artistic parent of the long-running tv comedy, "Bewitched".
I played "Aunt Queenie Holroyd" in the Park City Players production of Bell, Book and Candle, at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, UT during the early 1990's.  Aunt Queenie is said to be the forerunner of the "Aunt Clara" character on Bewitched.  (Amongst other things, the Egyptian is now used for premieres at the Sundance Film Festival.)
I have fewer memories about what happened during the run of the play and more about things that happened around the production.  The man who played Shep was a newcomer to live acting, but everything worked out ok.  His family owned a large cosmetology school in Orem (or maybe Provo) and gave me a free spiral perm and acrylic nails for the production.  (I gave the students a hefty tip because they earned it that day.  Whew!  Not to mention, there is no way I could have afforded the treatments at a salon!)  My hair was about mid-back length at that time and when they started rinsing the solution out, I learned what it meant to want to "snatch myself bald-headed".  I have never, before or since, had that much weight pulling on my hair.  OUCH!
This was my first experience with an alcoholic drink called a "brain tumor".  We would usually stop by a club in Park City after the production to chill out for a bit and people bought us a round.  If I remember correctly, you put in some vodka, layer Irish cream on top of it and plop in a little grenadine, which will sink to the bottom of the glass.  It looks odd, but was oh so tasty.  Here is a picture:

I don't know if I've ever thought if it this way before, but I usually played characters who were older than my actual age at the time.  But that is a bit of art imitating life, or at least it used to be.  While my body ages physically, my mind is getting progressively less 'serious'.  Do I worry that I'm entering my 2nd childhood?  Heck, no!  I'm not done with my 1st one yet!