[nostalgie]

First - thanks to ethereal for the warm welcome. Somehow "touching" doesn't quite fit in with noirish-ness, but it was sweet of you to say that.

About the Hotel Rossmore (as it was known at one point)...in the early '60s, it was a favored spot for touring theatrical companies to bed down. All of Scott's favorites from LA Civic Light Opera stayed there at one time or another. A particular memory: summer of 1962, the very young cast of "Oliver!" on the show's pre-Broadway tour, stayed at the Rossmore. There were some memorable parties with huge numbers of neighborhood teens hanging at the pool with Davy ('Artful Dodger', pre-Monkees) Jones.

...and about Scott's CLO recollections: it was 1963 when Edwin Lester brought in a revival of "Carousel" with original leads John Raitt & Jan Clayton, as well as a touring company of "Camelot" with Kathryn Grayson (they had to cover her cleavage to keep the Baptist landlords from apoplexy) and Louis Hayward as King Arthur. Ahhhhh....THOSE were the days!

...and one more little thing about HBO's "Mildred Pierce"...yeah, it was cringe-worthy in many respects, but my major teeth-gnashing moment was watching what must have been a perpetual Santa Ana wind whipping around Mildred's "Glendale" house & making those imported palm trees swoon. Every exterior shot had those damn trees bent at the waist. At least Carol Burnett's hysterical "Mildred Fierce" was shot right here town.