Not Quite Ancient History (Although it’s beginning to feel like it) If you can stand a little personal stuff (history). THIS JUST IN: BIG TIME LEAD STORY… Far more important events have taken place before Catherine Rose Zukuski landed her tootsies on the shores of la-la land. Her auspicious arrival year: 1981. Kenny…
Da Shlub I take the time now to, once again, interrupt my life to go back to a pleasant –as well as a not-so-pleasant time– for the then eight-year-old Harvey Kalmenson. It was a Sunday, December 7th, of the year 1941. I returned home from whatever I had been up to and found my fourteen-year-old…
It was 1953 when a very young Harvey Kalmenson raised his right hand, took the oath, and joined the military. It happened to be the United States Army—it didn’t matter what branch of the service it was. The flag was up there for me that day when I took the oath of allegiance…
SOME OF MY CHARMERS… CONTINUED Hans Conried introduced method reflection to my commercial life— without having any idea at all that he was becoming an instrumental force in the furthering of my career. Hans Conried, in his time, was known from coast to coast because of his numerous television appearances as “Uncle Tonoose”…
Some of my charmers… I have always used John Houseman as a reference for a variety of things… John’s respect for the journeyman actor is a guide to what one must do in order to keep their head screwed on during their quest for acceptance as an actor. No detail was too small for John…
Observations, Act II A Continuance To sum up my self-inflicted anguish: there is one more glimpse into my life’s anxiety that may be worthwhile for some of you to hear. It was an unforeseen question delivered by my sixteen-year-old daughter that caught me off guard. And it offered me an understanding of what living life,…
As written, produced, played by little-known writer: Harvey Kalmenson (da scribe) Time: Early morning 5:00 am Date: Probably summer, 1962. Place: Not on a farm or ranch, unfortunately. VO Actor: Da Scribe Direction: Stream of consciousness, with a small degree of wonderment. Is there anything ever really etched in stone… Which may or may not…
An Actor’s Survival Forever, actors have been keeping track of the bad times. They spend years lamenting over the return of the good old days. When, and if, those days really took place, is another story unto itself. What we know for sure is one simple fact: whatever the recorded time…
Work Ethic I actually had an actor tell me that he really wasn’t concerned over social graces or work ethic. He even went on to question my veracity as a lecturer who would have the audacity of saying or thinking, “work ethic had little or anything at all to do with a person…
Our own personal civil warIT happened, and I was there and deeply affected by it: The Strike of 2000 As an aside from my honest intention of keeping personal opinions to myself, rendering only solutions that will assist and encourage actors on their path towards success, I, nevertheless, feel duty-bound to offer my…