Release Day: Dial S for Second Chances

 Release Day: Dial S for Second Chances

I had a GREAT time researching and writing this story. Why? Because my husband and I were high school sweethearts. Because we broke up several times, giving us several "second chances," the couple in the story graduated the year before we did (I like round numbers, so this is their 45th high school reunion), and I got to relive the 1970s.

I've been listening to 70s music since, well, the 70s, but dug even deeper, and it was fun to stumble on some of the one-hit wonders that haven't been heard in a while. I remembered many of the events of the time, but I was a self-absorbed teenager during that decade so there were a few I didn't know about.  The movies were fun to reminisce about because most involved being on dates. With one exception: Dad and I attended the premiere of Star Wars in 1977, standing in line with dozens of other people (sweet memory).

So if you'd like a blast from the past, grab your copy of Dial S for Second Chances: https://amzn.to/3CSp6tH

Here's the blurb:

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into to WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Wayback Wednesday: Broadway in the 1970s

Traveling Tuesday: Broadway in the 1970s

Pixabay/
supergig160

From 1966 through 1978, I lived in two different locations within New Jersey, both of which enabled my folks to take advantage of the cultural and arts opportunities in New York City. Now, as an adult I can’t imagine what it would have been like to schlep four kids into the city, so I have an even greater appreciation for my experiences. I will remember the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall that featured live animals in the nativity scene!

The 1970s proved to be a time of great change on Broadway, and rock music began to dominate the stage. Conventional musicals such as Oklahoma! were replaced by shows with scores such as Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Show, Godspell, and Evita. Other shows such as The Wiz and Pippin featured “funkier” scores. Many productions added theatrics and light shows as part of the show. Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber became highly successful stars in their own right.

Musicals also saw a larger range of genres and plots and included religious themes, experimental story lines and cultural diversity. Interestingly old-fashioned musicals such as Annie and revivals such as No,

Courtesy NADIRAH

No, Nanette saw great success as well. Black musicals made a return to Broadway with Raisin, Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death, and the exceedingly popular The Wiz which ran for four years and won seven Tony Awards.

One site mentioned underappreciated shows like Over Here! which starred two of the three Andrews Sisters and is set as a cross-country train trip in the U.S. during WWII. The show begins with a nostalgic look at 1940s America but evolves into a social commentary about the fear of dying in battle, prejudice, and discrimination.

Truman Capote’s The Grass Harp eventually became a cult musical, but didn’t do well and closed after only ten days. Michael Stewart’s Mack and Mabel did marginally better and managed to remain open for sixty-six performances. The plot involves the romantic relationship between Hollywood’s silent movie director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand who became one of his biggest stars.

Pixabay/6493990

The 1949 Actors’ Equity Agreement divides Broadway from off-Broadway, and there are four criteria used to determine a “Broadway” Theatre:

• Seating capacity of over 500 seats
• Produces mostly “legitimate theater productions” (although I never found how this was determined)
• Is generally within Manhattan’s Theatre District (the Vivian Beaumont Theater is an exception)
• Is under an Actors’ Equity production contract if for-profit and follows the Actors’ Equity LORT A contract if non-profit.

_________________________

Dial S for Second Chances

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into to WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Pre-order link: https://amzn.to/43tXBlp

Wayback Wednesday: 1970s Events

Wayback Wednesday: 1970s Events

Pixabay/Brigitte Werner

I turned nine years old in 1970, and by the time the decade ended had graduated from high school. Most elementary school children aren’t attuned to national events, however, dinner discussions in our house didn’t seem to have limits, so I remember many of the incidents that occurred.

Failure of the Penn Central Railroad line, at the time the largest bankruptcy in the US started off the decade and a few months later, as an extension of the Vietnam War the U.S. invaded Cambodia. In May, four Kent State University students were killed and nine wounded during an anti-war rally. The following year saw additional anti-war rallies occurring outside the White House in Washington, D.C. Many people don’t realize is that America had involved since shortly after WWII, but by 1969 more than half a million troops had been stationed in Vietnam. By the time the US withdrew in 1973, over five million servicemen and women had served. President Jimmy Carter pardoned the war’s draft dodgers in 1977.

Scandal erupted in Washington, DC in 1972 with the Watergate incident, followed by President

Nixon’s resignation and Vice President Ford taking his place as president. Intriguingly, by November of 1972, the Dow Jones broke 1000 for the very first time.

Just after the U.S. bicentennial, on July 20, 1976, Viking 1 separated from the orbiter to touch down on the Chryse Planitia region of Mars, sending back the first close-up photographs of the surface. In September, Viking 2 entered the Mars orbit where it assisted Viking 1 with capturing images, eventually sending back more than 1,400 images.

Pixabay/Marcus Distelrath

For the most part, 1979 was a frightening year, beginning in March with the incident at Three-Mile Island during which equipment failures and a stuck open relief valve prevented the removal of heat from the Unit 2 reactor’s core. Inadequate cooling water to the core caused it to overheat and suffer a partial meltdown resulting in radioactive material being released. Subsequent tests and studies indicate there were no detectable health effects on plant workers or surrounding public.

Fall saw sixty-six American citizens taken from the U.S. embassy in Iran by militants. Fifty-two of the individuals would be held for more than a year. In December, the USSR invaded Afghanistan in support of the Afghan communist government in conflict with anti-communist Muslim guerrillas. The Russians would remain until 1989.

What events do you remember from this turbulent decade?

_________________________

Dial S for Second Chances

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into to WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Pre-order link: https://amzn.to/43tXBlp

Movie Monday: All the President's Men

Movie Monday: All the President’s Men

Photo: IMPA Awards
Fair Use

Typically, biographical films are produced years, sometimes decades after the person or significant event has long passed. Not so in the case of the 1976 film All the President’s Men, based on the 1974 book written by journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward who investigated the Watergate scandal for “The Washington Post.”

While he was promoting his film, The Candidate, Robert Redford heard about the scandal (along with everyone else in the U.S.) and began asking questions. He delved into the newspaper articles, then contacted Bernstein and Woodward in late 1972. Two years later after having read their book, Redford bought the rights to the story for $450,000 with the intention to adapt it to a movie through his company Wildwood Enterprises.

Having worked with William Goldman on the Academy Award Winning Butch Cassidy and the

Sundance Kid, Robert hired him to pen the screenplay for All the President’s Men. His first draft secured funding from Warner Bros, but Redford wasn’t happy with the script. Bernstein and then-girlfriend Nora Ephron wrote their own draft which was presented to Goldman who didn’t like it and saw Redford’s action as “betrayal.” Ultimately, Alan J. Pakula was hired to direct the film, and he worked with Goldman to secure rewrites that everyone could accept.

Unlike the book, the movie only covers the first seven months of the scandal, from the break-in to President Nixon’s second inauguration on January 20, 1973, Robert Redford as Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein were joined by an all-star cast including Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Stephen Collins, Ned Beatty, Meredith Baxter, F. Murray Abraham, and Richard Herd. Frank Wills, the actual security guard at the Watergate complex appeared in the movie as himself. Costing $8.5 million to produce, the movie would earn more than $70 million worldwide.

Nominated for eight Academy Awards and winning four, All the President’s Men would go on to win additional Golden Globe, BAFTA, and other awards, including Best Drama from the Writer’s Guild of America for William Goldman. In 2010, the Library of Congress selected the movie for preservation in the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” See the official trailer.

____________________

Dial S for Second Chances

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into to WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Pre-order link: https://amzn.to/43tXBlp

Wayback Wednesday: 1970s Fashion

Wayback Wednesday: 1970s Fashion

Although mostly remembered for its big hair and bell-bottom pants, the 70s saw a gamut of fashion styles during the decade. In fact, fashion during the times was so varied, Vogue reported, “There are no rules in the fashion game now.”

In the early 70s, the “hippie” look of the 1960s carried over and women work frayed jeans, bell bottom pants (including “elephant bells”), midi skirts, maxi dresses, tie-dye, peasant blouses, and ponchos. Accessories included chokers, headbands, scarves, and jewelry made of wood, stones, feathers, and beads. (Don’t look now, I think that’s coming back!) Pastel colors were very popular, especially baby blue, yellow, mauve, and peach, the latter being my husband-to-be’s go-to choice. Men’s outfits were generally bright colors and textured in corduroy, paisley, wool, or crushed velvet for special occasions. And don’t forget the plaid!

Women who didn’t like the hippie style wore clothing inspired by the 1940s movie star glamour and

included cloche hats or turbans, pearl earrings and necklaces, feather boas, and black-veiled hats. Some actually search for vintage clothing from the 30s and 40s. Intriguingly, sweaters played a large part in early 1970s fashion from sweater coats, sweater dresses, floor-length sweaters, and even sweater suits (just because you can doesn’t mean you should!). Some were even trimmed with faux fur. Shawl-collared, belted cardigans were popular.

Then the mid-1970s hit and the Hippie look fell out. Casual became the watchword with fitted T-shirts being popular, often with elaborate designs, slogans, or sports logos. As women flocked to the workforce business styles became more tailored with blazers, midi skirts, fitted blouses, and high heels. If you remember John Travolta’s character in Saturday Night Live, you know what men’s fashions looked like by 1975.

Thanks to Travolta, the Disco style took fashion through the late portion of the decade with its wide-lapeled three-piece suits and flared pants. Women wore jersey wrap dresses, tube tops, sequined shirts, shorts, and high-slit skirts set off with boots or chunky heels. As the 1970s came to an end, clothing became baggier and more revealing. Cowl-neck shirts, sundresses over T-shirts, pantsuits, and strapless tops became the rage. Colors shied away from pastels to earth tones with brown, tan, and gray being the most seen. Sportswear for men became the alternative to Disco attire. Tracksuits, jumpsuits, puffer vests, and low-top sneakers were the rage.

What is your favorite 1970s look?

________________________

Dial S for Second Chances

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into to WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Pre-order link: https://amzn.to/45uf9Qj

Movie Monday: Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Movie Monday: 

Murder on the Orient Express

WikiImages

We’re still in the 1970s, and today we’re going to look at the 1974 version of Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express. With a budget of just under $1.5 million, the film was a resounding box-office success, earning over $35 million. The producers’ choice of directors, Sidney Lumet, was no doubt a calculated move. He is reportedly one of the most prolific filmmakers in the modern era, directing more than one move a year on average since his debut in 1957. Actors loved working for him, and critics could count on a well-executed film. Although fourteen of his movies were nominated for Academy Awards, and Lumet himself was nominated for five, he never won an individual Oscar. Late in life, he received an Academy Honorary Award. Intriguingly, he directed Murder in between Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.

The cast is star-studded and included Sean Connery, Albert Finney, Ingrid Berman, Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, and Michael York. Connery was the first actor approached and said yes immediately. He would ultimately make five films with Lumet. Lumet wanted Bergman to play Princess Dragomiroff, but she chose instead, the smaller role of Greta Ohlsson. Obviously, a good choice because she won Best Supporting Actress.

Exterior filming was mostly done in France, and the scenes of the train going through Central Europe

Pixabay/Jorg Vieli

were filmed in the Jura Mountains on the Swiss-French border. There were concerns about the lack of snow proceeding the scheduled shooting of the snowbound train, therefore snow was trucked in (at quite a large expense). Ironically, heavy snowfall occurred the night before the scheduled filming making the extra snow unnecessary, and stranding the snow-laden backup vehicles.

Christie only liked two of the film adaptations of her novels, and Murder was one of them, the other being Witness for the Prosecution. She passed away fourteen months after the movie’s release. Roger Ebert was effusive with his praise, specifically saying, “What I liked best about this movie is its style, both the deliberately old-fashioned visual strategies used by director Sidney Lumet, and the cheerful overacting of the dozen or more suspects.”

A classic that’s not to be missed.

____________________

Dial S for Second Chances

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Pre-order Link: https://amzn.to/45uf9Qj

Wayback Wednesday: 1974

Wayback Wednesday: 1974

Pixabay/
Public Domain Pictures

The 1970s doesn’t feel like long ago until you do the math and discover that decade commenced over fifty years ago. I’m a child of the 70s and have enjoyed walking down Memory Lane while researching and writing Dial S for Second Chances, a story about high school sweethearts who reconnect at their 45th reunion.

Turbulence from the 60s carried over into the 70s as demonstrations continued about the Vietnam War, racial injustices, and women’s rights. Globally, there were lots of coups, civil wars, and political upheavals, some of which broke into armed conflict. However, the WWII post-war economic boom continued, giving people greater financial freedom. The Watergate scandal shocked the American nation and President Nixon resigned in disgrace.

Perhaps as a way to get the public’s minds off current events, 1974 filmmakers produced quite a few

comedies such as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Front Page. Disaster films were also popular and that same year and audiences were reportedly traumatized by the “Sensurround” effects of Earthquake.

One-hit-wonder Bo Davison released “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” but many musical groups hit their stride in 1974 with such popular songs as “Already Gone” by the Eagles, “I Shot the Sheriff” by Eric Clapton, “I Love You” by Olivia Newton John, and “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt.

Interestingly, 1974 also saw The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch go off the air to be replaced by Happy Days with Richie Cunningham and The Fonz, and Little House on the Prairie. Both shows hearkened back to simpler times. James Garner continued his success in television with The Rockford Files and Angie Dickinson made a splash with Police Woman.

WikiImages

Several prominent figures passed away in 1974: the controversial pilot turned activist Charles Lindbergh, jazz pianist and band leader Duke Ellington, vocalist Cass Elliot of “The Mamas and the Papas,” Ed Sullivan whose television show was the longest-running variety show in US broadcasting history, and Jack Benny who rose from modest vaudeville success with his violin to worldwide fame on radio, television, and film.

_______________

Dial S for Second Chances

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into to WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Pre-order Link: https://amzn.to/3pySoKm

Traveling Tuesday: Baltimore in the 1970s

Traveling Tuesday: Baltimore in the 1970s

Pixabay/David Mark

The history of Baltimore begins nearly three hundred years ago, its residents living through economic booms and busts, social and political upheaval, fire, and war. My upcoming contemporary novella, Dial S for Second Chances, takes place in my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. The premise is that two high school sweethearts reconnect on their 45th reunion planning committee.

Despite being born there, I was only there until just before starting kindergarten when the first of many moves occurred because of my father’s job. As a result, I had to do quite a bit of research into Charm City’s history, specifically in the 1970s to get a feel for what my characters experienced while in high school.

Throughout its history, Baltimore has reinvented itself on numerous occasions. Having congratulated

Courtesy: MD Military
Historical Society

themselves on a successful and mostly peaceful integration of the school system, unrest rumbled beneath the surface to erupt in the April 1968 riots. More than 10,000 national guard troops came to the city between April 6 and 14 until the situation was finally brought under control. Interestingly, Governor Spiro Agnew’s handling of the event brought him to the attention of Richard Nixon who asked Agnew to be his presidential running mate.

Studies indicate that many white residents left the city and businesses began to move their operations to the suburbs. This served as a wake-up call to Maryland officials who created committees to study the problem and suggest solutions. Urban renewal quickly moved to the forefront of activities.

In 1969, Fells Point became a National Register historic district, and Federal Hill followed in 1970. Interstate-95 was rerouted south of Locust Point and plans began for a bridge connecting Local Point to Lazaretto Point. Ultimately, the bridge concept was replaced with the Fort McHenry Tunnel in order to preserve Fort McHenry. In 1975, the Inner Harbor Renewal Plan saw houses in the Otterbein neighborhood sold to “homesteaders” for one dollar. These homesteaders were required to restore the houses and live in them for at least five years. Homesteading and historic preservation spread to other neighborhoods.

Courtesy: MD
State Archives

At the harbor itself, many of the buildings were demolished and new infrastructures of piers, bulkheads, roads, utilities, and parks were created. A new brick pedestrian promenade was constructed around the harbor’s edge. The city’s largest insurance company, United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company, consolidated its downtown offices and constructed a new 40-story headquarters that was completed in 1973. That same year, the State of Maryland built its World Trade Center, a pentagonal concrete-and-glass building designed by I.M. Pei.

Mayor (and later Governor of MD) Donald Schaefer actively sought film and television production, part of a larger strategy to add arts and culture that would attract tourists, corporate dollars, and “upwardly mobile” residents. He even managed to create an award known as The Don that celebrated filmmaking in Baltimore, and a gala was held in 1978 that included such luminaries as Alan Alda, Al Pacino, John Waters, and Barry Levinson.

__________________

Dial S for Second Chances

Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?

Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home, but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?

One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?

Reunion festivities include calling into to WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love with fake relationship problems. When both use their real situation, the stakes are raised higher than either imagined.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/417Z9jf