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2004 Dodge Ram 1500 Reviews and Ratings
Regular Cab Laramie 4WD
Expert Reviews
The Dodge Ram represents an excellent choice among full-size light-duty pickups. That''s saying something considering the renaissance of all-new pickups from Ford and Nissan for 2004, along with strong entries from Chevrolet and GMC, and a new Toyota Double Cab. It would not be an overstatement to call 2004 the best model year for full-size pickups in the history of the automobile. The competition is better than ever, but so is the Ram, which stands tall among its competitors.
Completely redesigned and re-engineered for the 2002 model year, this latest-generation Dodge Ram boasts high levels of refinement and comfort. It''s smoother and more comfortable than the previous-generation models. Its interior is more convenient than before and the bold exterior styling looks terrific. Changes for 2004 only improve the Ram''s impressive towing and hauling capabilities.
A new Hemi V8 engine brings more power and efficiency to the Dodge Ram line of pickups. Added late during the 2003 model year, the 5.7-liter Hemi replaces the old 5.9-liter V8, increasing power by 100 horsepower and 40 pounds-feet of torque while improving fuel economy by 10 percent. Dodge claims the Hemi makes the Ram 1500 lineup the most powerful mass-production light-duty pickup on the market. More important than claims, it is an exceptionally good engine, smooth and very responsive. Adding to the responsiveness of this engine is a new five-speed automatic transmission. A Tow/Haul transmission mode has been added for 2004.
A new full-time four-wheel-drive (all-wheel-drive) system is available for 2004 that improves traction in slippery conditions. The Laramie trim package has been upgraded for 2004, and new options have been added, including a Bluetooth-enabled cellular telephone.
Dodge Ram is available with two cab configurations, Regular Cab and Quad Cab (no extended cab). Quad Cab models ride on a wheelbase that''s 20 inches longer than comparable Regular Cab models. Quad Cab adds $4,200 to $5,200 to the retail price.
Two bed lengths are available, a 6-foot, 3-inch standard bed and an 8-foot long-bed. Ordering the long bed adds 20 inches to the wheelbase. Therefore, a long-bed Quad Cab is a long truck, long on roominess and utility, but not the easiest to turn around. Long-bed Rams also get a bigger fuel tank, 35 gallons in place of the standard 26-gallon tank. Long beds add $300-$350 to the price.
Three engines are offered: Most popular is the 4.7-liter V8, a modern overhead-cam engine. The most powerful engine in the line is the new 5.7-liter Hemi V8, which uses with hemispherical combustion chambers for improved airflow and burn. The new Hemi produces 345 horsepower and 375 foot-pounds of torque. When properly equipped, that increases the towing capacity to 9200 pounds and payload by an additional 500 pounds. The 5.7-liter Hemi adds $795 to the price. For those who want maximum economy, there''s a 3.7-liter V6 available, but only with two-wheel drive.
A five-speed manual transmission is standard with the 3.7-liter V6 and 4.7-liter V8. Optional is a five-speed automatic ($1,170) that includes an alternate second gear for hill-climbing and towing. The five-speed automatic is more responsive than four-speed automatics.
Three trim levels are available: ST, SLT, and Laramie. ST is the base level, starting at $19,420. It comes standard with air conditioning, but is equipped with wind-up windows, manual door locks, and vinyl upholstery . This is the trim grade you buy for other people.
SLT adds $1,700-$3,200, depending on cab style and driveline. It comes standard with the 4.7-liter V8, and adds cloth upholstery, nicer interior trim, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a host of convenience items, and wider tires. This is the grade you buy for yourself.
Laramie, the luxury package, brings leather seating surfaces, dual-zone air conditioning, a premium stereo, 17-inch cast aluminum wheels, and a long, long list of luxury features. For 2004, the Laramie package adds an all-chrome grille surround and chrome billet grill center. Laramie retails for $7,800-$8,900 more than the base level.
Sport trim features body-colored grille, bumpers and side moldings, and includes fog lights and 17-inch aluminum wheels, and is available for most models. Aggressive street-rodder 20-inch wheels and tires are also available.
Option packages include an Off-Road package ($870-$1,405) with unique 17-inch aluminum wheels on LT275/70R17 off-road tires, 3.92 rear axle, limited-slip differential, skid plates for the transfer case and front suspension, special shocks, tow hooks, fog lamps, and a heavy-duty cooling system. A Work Special package is designed to deliver affordability with gray bumpers, grille, and 17x7 steel wheels. A new hands-free cellular telephone system is available for 2004 that uses Bluetooth technology. There''s also a new integrated radio/navigation system available.
New for 2004 is the Dodge Ram SRT-10, an outrageous pickup with 500 horsepower and 525 lbs.-ft. of torque. Its V10 engine, a new bored and stroked aluminum engine block taken from the Dodge Viper, displaces 505 cubic inches. The Ram SRT-10 boasts a custom-tuned suspension that drops the ride height 1 inch in front and 2.5 inches in the rear. New front and rear strut assemblies and a rear sway bar were added to handle the increased cornering loads. Bilstein mono-tube shock absorbers, performance-tuned springs, and unique aerodynamic aids are designed to keep the Ram SRT-10 planted at high speeds, along with 22-inch wheels fitted with 305/40 R22 Pirelli Scorpion tires for extra adhesion. The brakes are modified with new 15-inch rotors in front and Ram Heavy Duty 14-inch rotors in the rear; front and rear brakes feature unique red calipers. The new front fascia features brake cooling ducts to provide plenty of cooling for hard driving.
The Dodge Ram presents a bold, distinctive appearance with its big horse-collar grille and Freightliner fenders. The basic look goes back 10 years, but received a major redesign for 2002. Modern and contemporary, the current design improved on the best of the previous, ground-breaking design. We think it looks terrific. The Dodge Ram is arguably the best-looking pickup in an increasingly spiffy field. Deep Molten Red has been added to the pallet of exterior colors for 2004.
Few grilles are as instantly recognizable as the massive horse collar grille of the Ram. The color of the grille provides some trim-level identification: The outside rim is all chrome on the SLT model, with a gray honeycomb center. 2004 Laramie models boast a new chrome grille and are further distinguished by chrome bodyside moldings. Sport trim includes a body-color surround and cross hairs with unique chrome billets in the center.
Moving rearward, the Ram presents robust appearance. The broad, sloping hood has a pronounced crown that falls over the sides to the prominent front fenders. A fast, raked-back windshield enhances aerodynamics and water management, and gives the Ram a modern appearance. The leading edge of the front door overlaps the A-pillar, creating a smooth transition from the front of the cab to the side. Everything is smooth and integrated. The big side mirrors, great for visibility, are mounted on platforms to reduce wind noise, and a channel has been specially designed to keep water off of the mirrors. An integrated air dam aids engine cooling and air conditioner performance.
The standard bed length is 6 feet, 3 inches, but an 8-foot bed is available for both Quad Cab and Regular Cab models. The longest model is the Quad Cab with 8-foor bed, which rides on a 160.5-inch wheelbase; that''s 20 inches longer than short-bed Quad Cab or long-bed regular cab models, which increases the turning diameter by 6 feet; but it''s just 3 inches longer than Ford and Chevy long-bed extended-cab models. Regardless, Ram beds are fitted with boat cleats designed to handle 1,000 pounds each.
Rams sit relatively high off the ground, particularly the four-wheel-drive models. Tailgate load height is 35 inches on four-wheel-drive models, 33.6 inches on two-wheel-drive Rams. That''s seems high when trying to heave heavy gear aboard.
The most noticeable exterior feature of the new 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10 is a unique hood that features a wide power bulge and scoop sitting atop the signature cross-hair grille.
The Dodge Ram is among the roomiest of the full-size pickups and its cab is a pleasant place to be. Dodge added 3 inches to the cab''s total length when the Ram was redesigned for 2002, stealing that space from the bed. So you sacrifice a little bed space for a lot more wiggle room. Regular Cab and Quad Cab versions offer identical roominess in the front seats.
The Ram comes with a front bench seat split 40/20/40. The narrow center section features a large fold-down armrest with a compartment big enough to hold a laptop. We''ve found both the cloth and the leather seats comfortable, though they could use more support on the side bolsters. Laramie models get an updated interior for 2004, with silver trim adorning the door panels and instrument bezels. Laramie comes with distinctive leather trim, with new, higher contrast color seat inserts.
We''ve found the interior materials in Rams to be good quality overall, though all is not perfect in Truckville. The faux wood trim on the center stack reminds us of plastic. On leather-trimmed models, cloth is used on the inboard seat-bottom trim where leather would have offered a cleaner appearance. The cup holders can be fussy. However, the Ram interior is quite nice and shows attention to details that add utility and convenience. The big fold-down center armrest/console comes with adjustable dividers and a power outlet. A hook on the passenger-side floor well is provided for securing a grocery bag or anything else with suitable handles. A new steering wheel with a four-spoke design has been added for 2004. White-faced instruments with turquoise numbers look sporty and trendy, but don''t offer the legibility of traditional white-on-black designs, particularly at dusk. At night, the instruments are nicely illuminated in green.
Three-point shoulder belts are used at all locations, including the rear center seat. The power adjustable pedals let shorter drivers adjust their seating position better so they aren''t sitting so close to the airbag; this improves comfort, safety, and drivability and is a smart option for two-driver families. Big mirrors on the Ram make it easier to see what''s behind.
Side-curtain airbags are a $390 option on Regular Cabs, $490 on Quad Cabs. Curtain-style airbags are designed to provide head protection in a side impact along with protection in the event of a rollover. We highly recommend them. The Ram was recently awarded the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety''s highest possible rating in its off-set frontal crash test.
The design of the audio system could be improved for ease of use. Sometimes you have to search for the right button to press. Setting a button for a station, for example, requires pressing a separate Set button, rather than just holding the station button down. Small, sliding bass and treble controls are harder to adjust than knobs when bouncing around in a pickup truck. Optional steering wheel audio controls ($75) improve this situation with brilliantly designed buttons behind the steering wheel that are easy to use. Likewise, cruise controls ($390, including tilt steering) on the steering wheel are easy to operate.
Overall, the center dash is a paradigm of convenience. Large heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) buttons can be operated while wearing gloves. A textured fabric is used for trim around the audio and HVAC controls that gives the center dash a nice look and feel. Just below the HVAC controls is a slot lined with a rubber mat that''s perfect for a wallet. A big panel below that folds down with adjustable cup holders. Overhead is a console with an effective pair of map lights, a trip computer, a compartment for sunglasses, and a compass, which every self-respecting truck should have.
Regular Cab models come fitted with a tray behind the seats big enough to hold a large bucket. Dodge even supplies the bucket, a tray designed to carry tools and such. Big hooks behind the seats are handy for hanging dry cleaning or plastic shopping bags.
About 80 percent of all Ram buyers opt for the Quad Cab for its ability to carry passengers and shelter cargo. The rear seat is roomy, with enough rake to the seatback to make it comfortable for two adults, though there isn''t a lot of legroom. The size of the rear bench seat makes it suitable for child safety seats, and all three rear seating positions are fitted with tether anchors. With one hand you can flip the Quad Cab''s rear seat down. An optional metal frame then folds into place to create a rigid platform designed to support 500 pounds, useful for carrying cargo. The rear doors open 85 degrees, making it easy to get in or load gear, and the rear windows roll all the way down. Overall, the Quad Cab is a friendly, practical design for hauling people and gear.
The new 5.7-liter Hemi V8 gives the Dodge Ram responsive performance. Fire up the Hemi, let it idle, and it burbles like a good old American V8, sounding like an engine in a cabin cruiser or ''''''''60s muscle car. In spite of the hot-rod term "Hemi," there''s nothing old or outdated about this engine. It does, indeed, have hemispherical combustion chambers, but this is a thoroughly modern engine. Apparently, Dodge was researching ways to gain power and fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, objectives that often run counter to one another. While studying some of the older powertrain designs, Dodge engineers rediscovered that swirling the fuel-air mixture around a hemispherical combustion chamber achieves a clean, efficient burn. Though it''s an overhead-valve design, the Hemi features twin spark plugs, direct ignition, and electronic throttle control. It achieves the holy grail of engine improvement, increasing power while improving fuel economy at the same time. Power is up by 100 horsepower over the 5.9-liter, torque is up by 40 foot-pounds, and fuel efficiency is improved by 10 percent. The Hemi generates 345 hp at 5400 rpm and 375 lbs.-ft. of torque at 4200 rpm. It comes with a new five-speed automatic that adds to its responsiveness and flexibility. Punch it and you know you''ve got a Hemi under the hood.
The popular 4.7-liter V8 delivers responsive performance as well, though it doesn''t offer the trailer-towing torque of the 5.7-liter. With the 4.7, the Ram feels eager around town and on winding roads. It accelerates quickly onto freeways and has no trouble powering up grades. It''s a smooth, sophisticated engine that always feels ready to go. The 4.7-liter V8 and 3.7-liter V6 are overhead-cam designs, smaller and more efficient than the overhead-valve engines they replace. The 4.7-liter V8 achieves good fuel efficiency (13/17 mpg City/Highway for a 4WD automatic). It revs higher than an overhead valve engine and generates 240 hp and 295 lbs.-ft. of torque. The 4.7-liter V8 feels smooth and refined, emitting a pleasant American burble while underway. We really liked it. An optional five-speed automatic improves the responsiveness of the 4.7-liter engine.
The 3.7-liter V6 is smooth and works well with the manual five-speed gearbox. If you don''t live in the mountains where long grades and high altitudes conspire against you, then it may offer enough power as a light-duty truck. It''s not the best choice for pulling trailers or heavy loads, however.
The Ram has a pleasant ride quality, important on long days. It''s much smoother than the previous-generation Ram. A rigid new chassis reduced vibration dramatically. Dodge uses hydroforming to fashion the frame. Instead of having to weld a bunch of straight pieces together, hydroforming uses ultra-high water pressure to force the metal into any shape needed. This highly rigid frame is a key component to the ride and handling of the Ram. It allowed Dodge engineers to redesign the Ram suspension and to tune it precisely, without having to work around a lot of chassis flex. A new rack-and-pinion steering gear sharpens handling, though we''ve noticed some on-center vagueness. Big 17-inch wheels are standard. The result overall is that the Ram offers responsive handling, a comfortable ride, and a general feeling of tightness.
The Ram is a big truck and on narrow roads it feels like one. It feels big and tall, and its fenders seem to fill small country roads. The ride height of the Ram adds to this sensation. It''s sometimes difficult to be sure exactly where your fenders are, so it''s not the best vehicle for the timid. In this regard, the Ram is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Toyota Tundra, which feels smaller and nimbler by comparison. The Ram handles reasonably well and powers through or over just about anything, even when the tires aren''t always precisely where you intended to place them.
All Rams come standard with big four-wheel disc brakes that are smooth and easy to modulate.
Trailer towing capacities range from just 3050 pounds for a 3.7-liter V6 Quad Cab with 2WD and manual transmission to 9,300 pounds for a 5.7-liter V8 Quad Cab 2WD automatic. A 4WD Ram with the 4.7-liter and automatic transmission is rated to pull a 7,450-pound trailer with the 3.92 rear axle ratio. The available 20-inch wheels reduce towing capacity by about 1,000 pounds. Payloads range from about 1300 pounds to 1850 pounds for a 2WD regular cab with the 3.7-liter V6. A new Tow/Haul transmission mode provides crisper shifts and reduces gear searching when towing.
Four-wheel-drive models ride on a torsion-bar independent front suspension, and use a part-time transfer case that can be shifted from two-wheel drive on the fly. Shifting into four-wheel-drive high locks the center differential. A low-range set of gears provides superior traction in extreme conditions. A limited-slip rear differential is available and we recommend it for drivers who intend to go off road. A Protection Group ($90) includes skid plates for the front suspension and transfer case. Rear axles are available in a standard 3.55 ratio or a numerically higher 3.92 ratio, which is better for towing and off-road driving.
A new full-time four-wheel-drive system and electric transfer case is also available. Under normal driving conditions, the full-time system delivers 48 percent of the torque to the front wheels and 52 percent to the rear wheels. The system includes a locking transfer case that features four-wheel-drive High and Low modes.
The Dodge Ram offers big power and big capabilities. It''s responsive and comfortable as an every day driver and it''s ready to do some serious work when called upon. Ram''s distinctive styling makes it stand out in a rapidly improving field.
Ram Quad Cab models offer a brilliant combination of comfort and utility. Regular Cab versions are far roomier than they used to be, and are thoughtfully set up to accommodate gear behind the seat. The responsive 4.7-liter V8 delivers good acceleration and gets the job done; it''s paired well with a new five-speed automatic that''s smooth and responsive. The new 5.7-liter Hemi delivers strong acceleration performance and is an excellent choice for towing.


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Were the new translations cause for Mass confusion on Christmas?
It didn't take long after the announcement was made that the new Mass translation would be implemented at the start of Advent 2011 for people to begin speculating on what that would mean for Christmas liturgies. After only four weeks, it was pointed out, those of us who are regulars at Mass would still be adjusting to the changes. So what would happen when the pews were suddenly filled with those who attend Mass only once or twice a year?
Once the new missal struck last month, initial reviews were mixed. Some complained loudly. Others praised the new translation. But most, it seemed, just took it in stride despite struggling with the new words or trying to understand why certain changes were made.
As Christmas Day approached, concerns again started to surface. Secular newspapers began running stories warning that Catholics who only show up in church for the big two (Christmas and Easter) were in for a shock. The Washington Times, for instance, claimed that "a large number of Catholics will be wrestling with once-familiar prayers in significantly altered form for the first time." A Catholic columnist in Toledo, Ohio added to the drama, writing last week, "If the prodigal sons and daughters had trouble relating to religion before, new changes in the Mass liturgy could have them reeling."
In other words, Catholics were being told they should expect a Christmas mess when they showed up for Christmas Mass. Yet now, several days removed from the holy day, I have not found a single report of the Christmas catastrophe so many had predicted.
So what actually happened? In my parish, there wasn't much difference on Christmas Eve than any other Sunday in Advent. The people's responses were generally muttered, with some cautiously reading the new words and others accidentally blurting out the old ones before trying to correct themselves. I didn't see anyone scratching their heads or looking around in confusion. There were no big disruptions and no one stormed out. And from what I've heard in other parishes, things were pretty much the same.
There are likely three explanations for what happened when the new translation debuted before its first enlarged audience. Those who haven't been to Mass in months may not have known in advance that things changed and, upon seeing the differences, they simply kept quiet and tried to following along, probably feeling embarrassed that they didn't know what was going on. Or perhaps they did know things had changed, but had no idea what the changes were and just tried to keep up, putting them only three weeks behind the rest of us. Or maybe those who knew about the changes and didn't like the idea simply decided to stay home.
We probably won't know for sure what difference the translations made to those who only drop in on our liturgies on special occasions. Some may have been silently steaming or overly frustrated, and they won't be back for a while, if at all. We might be able to speculate based on how many of them return for Easter, or even for Christmas next year, but those would only be guesses.
The most important question is whether parishes were able to offer these rare visitors a reason to want to come back more often, and if we're prepared to welcome them if they do decide to return.
Related reading:

subset: commoncrawl


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Washington made a bit of history yesterday, when the Huskies became the first ever regular season champion from a Big Six conference to not make the tournament. Perhaps fans can take some sick sort of solace in the knowledge that it wasn't a close-run thing: at least six other teams apparently had a better case for bracket inclusion than Washington did.
The selection committee listed the the first six teams out as Drexel, Miami, Mississippi State, Nevada, Oral Roberts and Seton Hall. The NCAA vice president said a spot on the bracket was left open, and those six teams would have been up for voting to sneak in, until St. Bonaventure won the Atlantic 10 tourney final over Xavier, who squeezed out the last at-large spot.
How did this happen to Washington? You can look at it two ways: the conference wasn't very good, and the team wasn't very good. The Pac-12 was nothing short of woeful, with teams beating up on each other. And not the "good teams beating up on each other" sort, where Seton Hall, with a below .500 record in conference play, apparently had more of a case than Washington. A conference tournament run might've helped the Huskies—it couldn't have hurt to finish the season in any manner other than two bad losses.
For Washington, and any other team who feels they got a raw deal, Iona's going to be the whipping boy. Not that the Gaels aren't deserving (meh), but that the MAAC somehow produced two tournament teams—the same as "power conference" Pac-12. It's easy to point to Iona's 161st ranked schedule and Washington's 97th, but it's become clear in recent years that strength of schedule matters less to the committee than what you do with it. While the NCAA doesn't instruct selectors how to weight the various metrics, only RPI gets its own section in the "Principles and Procedures for Establishing the Bracket" manual. And sure enough, Iona's RPI was significantly better than Washington's or Drexel's or any of the other outsiders'.
So cheer up, Huskies. You got a 1 seed in the NIT! Considering there were at least six teams ahead of you, you can't say at least one selection committee wasn't generous.


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ALL-STAR GAME: Lineups set for AL and NL
PHOENIX -- Philadelphia's Roy Halladay will start for the National League in Tuesday night's All-Star game against the Los Angeles Angels' Jered Weaver.
The NL batting order has Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks leading off and playing second base, followed by designated hitter Carlos Beltran of the Mets, Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, Milwaukee first baseman Prince Fielder, Atlanta catcher Brian McCann, St. Louis right fielder Lance Berkman, Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday, Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and Cincinnati third baseman Scott Rolen.
The AL has Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson leading off, followed by Cleveland shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, Boston first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, Toronto right fielder Jose Bautista, Texas left fielder Josh Hamilton, Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre, Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano and Detroit catcher Alex Avila.
Halladay, 11-3 with a 2.45 ERA, started the 2009 All-Star game while with the Toronto Blue Jays and will be the fourth pitcher to make an All-Star start for both leagues, following Vida Blue, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson. Halladay is the first Philadelphia pitcher to start since Curt Schilling in 1999.
Weaver, 11-4 with a 1.86 ERA, is the third Angels pitcher to start, following Nolan Ryan in 1979 and Mark Langston in 1993.


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Dawson News
What Do We Want? Climate Justice!: Dawson students
Links to New Dawson video about Dawson's climate change mobilisation and media coverage
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Dawson College, located on 12 acres of green space in downtown Montreal, is one of the largest CEGEPs in Quebec. Dawson students are enrolled in full-time and part-time studies in 26 programs and take part in various activities, including student social clubs, Model UN, S.P.A.C.E., Sustainable Dawson green projects, BBQs, talent shows, and intramural sports. This video will give you an idea of campus life at Dawson.Request Information
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The Dawson Advantage
Dawson College was the first anglophone college to be established in the CEGEP network. Since 1969, more than 70,000 people have received a college diploma from any one of the 5 pre-university programs or 21 career/technical programs offered at Dawson. Graduates have gone on to make their mark in every field, from the arts and law, to medicine and business, politics and academia.
As an academic leader in college education, Dawson is responsible for ensuring program quality, the delivery of pedagogical services and ultimately, student success. The Dawson community is committed to the pursuit of academic excellence, producing graduates who are informed, responsible, and fully engaged individuals. The College supports an impressive number of innovative projects that enhance the academic experience of students and fosters a greater commitment to the larger community.
- Built in 1908 as the Mother House of the Congregation of Notre-Dame for a teaching order of sisters, Dawson College took up residence in 1988 after major renovations and expansion.
- Founded In 1968, Dawson received its charter to become the first English-language CEGEP in the Quebec network. In September 1969, the College and its 111 teachers welcomed the first incoming class of 1,655 students. Today, Dawson College has a student population of 10,000 with 600 teachers and 400 non-teaching staff.
- Dedicated teachers offer students an innovative and stimulating learning experience both inside the classroom and laboratory environment and within their community.
- Professional and support staff offers Dawson students every opportunity to succeed in their studies and extracurricular activities with specialized services tailored to their individual needs.
- Superior facilities are available to students, faculty and staff, from interactive classrooms and labs to sports installations in the Tony Proudfoot Gym to living classrooms on rooftop gardens and the Ecological Peace Garden, 20,000 square foot testament to perseverance and courage.


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From downtown Las Vegas, it takes about twenty minutes, driving on flat, freshly paved, blistering-hot freeways, to reach Tony Curtis's house. To get there, one drives south on Las Vegas Boulevard, escaping the bumper-to-bumper traffic of the Strip, where the persistent jangle of the casinos lingers in the air. Curtis lives in a practically treeless, odorless, sun-blazed suburb called Henderson, with hisdevoted thirty-two-year-old wife, the former Jill Ann VandenBerg, and seven small dogs, including Josephine, a Yorkie that, like the Josephine character Curtis played in Billy Wilder's 1959 movie "Some Like It Hot," is a male. The Curtises also have a couple of cats, including a fluffy white one named Marilyn.
For the past several months, Curtis, who has played more than a hundred and twenty roles in a career that spans fifty years, has been working and rehearsing at home, preparing to go onstage for the first time since he started making movies. He has been cast in the Joe E. Brown role of the old millionaire, Osgood Fielding III, in the forthcoming musical-theatre version of "Some Like It Hot." It will be his singing and dancing début. Before starting on a twenty-eight-city tour, which will wind up in Portland, Oregon, in about a year, the show is scheduled to open at the new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, in Houston, on June 4th, one day after Curtis's seventy-seventh birthday.
"I'm going to have a piece of the profits from the show," Curtis said last month, with unconcealed delight. "I like the adventure of it—it means a lot to me." He speaks in a distinctive, rich-throated New Yorkese that moviegoers know well, and he is a bit hard of hearing in one ear. "All those years in movies with gunshots and explosions!" he said. Deeply suntanned, he has a thick, auburn-colored head of hair and is somewhat stouter and fuller of face than he was in his youth; otherwise he exudes the same overeager, innocent, unguarded persona of the characters he played in many of his movies.
The Curtises' house, a white stucco one-story Italian-Spanish ranch, stands on a half acre of precious, water-deprived land. Curtis shows the same undisguised affection for these digs that he shows for just about everything else in his life. He and Jill bought the house last year, had it modified to their specifications, and moved in last summer.
All of the houses in Curtis's colony look similar, arranged in a cozy huddle, but his seems to be the only one that has a front lawn, a four-by-four-foot patch on one side of the entry walk and a six-by-eight-foot patch on the other. The garage holds three convertibles, a canary-colored Porsche (Jill's) and two Trans Ams (Tony's). In the back of the house is a swimming pool, about twenty-five feet long and five feet deep, with a water-replacing vanishing edge. Also squeezed onto the half acre is a small house for the dogs, and an artist's studio for Curtis that is filled with dozens of his paintings, including many in Matisse-like colors and a large brown one of Curtis's hero, Muhammad Ali. In addition to easels, paints, and brushes, and a steadily increasing number of paintings, Curtis regularly creates scores of three-dimensional shadow boxes that he calls "my little touches of memory." Many of the boxes were previously host to cigars. He fills them with whatever odds and ends he can lay his hands on, such as dolls' heads or other toys discarded by his children when they were small. (He had six children, two each from three of his four previous wives, and he now has six grandchildren, whom he unabashedly adores.)
Jill, an accomplished horsewoman, grew up in San Diego. She is almost six feet tall and has straight, baby-blond hair, which she wears cut extremely short. She likes to collect things, too.
"This darling girl's great love is Marilyn Monroe," Curtis said proudly.
"I have half a dozen photos of Marilyn Monroe that are hard to find," Jill said modestly. "I have some from the nineteen-sixties, taken four or five weeks before she died. I found and bought them on eBay. Also on eBay I bought, for about twelve hundred dollars, a photograph of Jean Harlow with her autograph. It reads, 'Sincerely, Jean Harlow.' On the frame is a plaque saying 'The Blonde Bombshell. 1911-1937.' "
"That Marilyn!" Curtis said, hugging his wife. "She was like a naughty seven-year-old. She told Jack Lemmon, when we were making 'Some Like It Hot,' 'I love working with you, but not with Tony.' Then she told me, 'I love working with you, but not with Jack.' Then she told both of us she thought Billy had lost his touch. He called her the mean seven-year-old." Curtis gave a little smile. "I had a brief, sweet affair with Marilyn. When I first knew her, I was twenty-three. She was a year younger. We were two children wanting to be famous. We didn't know what we were doing. We were together for seven months. It was sweet and innocent, you know? We both had careers. Those early days were a very special time for me. I had a Buick convertible with Dynaflow. I drove with the top down. Embedded in my head is one day when I picked her up at the studio and drove her into town. I would look in the rearview mirror, which in those days was concave. It was one of those five-minute miracles. We looked at each other in the mirror as we drove, and we both knew we were going to be"—he paused briefly—"successful."
When Curtis appraises his career as an actor, he becomes suddenly serious. Of all his movies—including "Houdini," "Trapeze," "Sweet Smell of Success," "Spartacus," "The Defiant Ones"—his favorite was "The Boston Strangler," which came out in 1968.
"Playing that murderer, Albert DeSalvo, was the greatest challenge, and so satisfying," he told me. Even today, he enjoys telephoning friends and greeting them by saying, "This is Albert DeSalvo."
"I love it here in Vegas," Curtis went on. "I'm not bumming L.A. But L.A. is not for me. On a single movie set, you would have eighty workers. Some people would come to work with built-up anger and envy. And there's nothing I could do about it. A lot of them verbalized their anger. They didn't hit me, but I always felt afraid. I could never show my fear. They'd have killed me if I showed it."
Curtis said he used to hang out with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr., and he learned about singing from them. "But I was always afraid to open my mouth," he said. "All these people I listened to over the years impregnated me. What I learned from them stayed with me. I was afraid to dance, too. I loved the companionship of women, but in the old days I was always afraid.
"Life in L.A. was insular," Curtis continued. "I went to a psychiatrist out there for a couple of years, only because I needed someone to talk to. I enjoyed it. But my life is much bigger now. I'm thrilled to have a girl like Jill. She never gets impatient with me. She helps me. In learning my part for the show, she runs lines with me as Daphne, the one Osgood falls for. We came to Vegas on a vacation, and we never left. We got married here. I love Vegas. It's fun. It has uncomplicated money, and I like that. It allows you to be anyone you want to be. Here I don't feel afraid."
Last month, Curtis started working on the three songs and three dance numbers that he will do in the new production of "Some Like It Hot," which essentially tells the same story as the film—two musicians in 1929 disguised as women on the run from murderous Chicago gangsters. The stage version has a new book, written by Peter Stone; some old songs and some never-before-performed songs by the late Jule Styne, with lyrics by Bob Merrill; new dance music, composed for the show by Mark Hummel; and original choreography by the show's director, Dan Siretta.
"I want to bring everything I learned from the movies to this show, everything," Curtis said one morning in his living room, shortly before coming to New York for a month of rehearsals. "I've retained everything that I learned from my mentors, and now I feel free to use what they taught me. A lot of these guys treated me like a kid, and I liked that. But, in my own way, I was always building Tony Curtis. I feel so good now, living in Vegas and learning what I've got to do in the show."
The unrelenting sun outside the tall picture windows subtly threatened the room, which was cool and crammed with mementos: a couple of enormous silver champagne buckets, engraved with the words "Most Popular Star—Modern Screen Awards"; a solid-gold Photoplay-magazine medallion, three inches in diameter, "Presented on behalf of the American moviegoing public to Tony Curtis—most popular actor 1958"; a painting of an orange-and-yellow lady's boot, by Andy Warhol, entitled "The Some Like It Hot Shoe"; an elaborately tooled leather saddle, given to him by a cowboy friend; many family albums filled with photographs of attractive ex-wives, including his first, the "Psycho" star Janet Leigh ("A real class act, beautiful and brilliant," Curtis says of her), and of handsome children, including the actress and children's-book author Jamie Lee Curtis.
Curtis, wearing white tennis shorts, a white tank top, and brown Birkenstocks, got ready for his regular, hour-long morning session with his vocal coach. He picked up some song sheets from a stack on top of an upright piano. Colorful Curtis paintings stood against the walls and furniture or lay on the floor, because, Curtis explained, he doesn't believe in making holes in the walls to hang them.
"I'm going to play my millionaire different from Joe E. Brown's in the movie," he said. "I don't want people to be thinking of Joe E. Brown when they see me.
"I had many mentors who prepared me for this," he went on. "My mentors were nice to me. Larry Olivier was very kind and very generous. He helped me be what I had to be in 'Spartacus'; there I was, yours truly, scrubbing him down and massaging his back in the bath scene, where he's telling me, 'I love both oysters and snails.' Wasn't that wonderful?'' He burst into an appreciative guffaw and then said, "It was Olivier who told me the most important thing I had to know for acting. He said, 'Clothes make the man, dear boy' "—Curtis did an impressive Olivier accent—" 'Just put on the clothes, Tony, and look at yourself; you'll know what to do,' he would say. I've been very careful with my clothes ever since. I've got to choose what I'll wear in the show, when I get to New York. For here, I've got this, my millionaire's yachting cap." With a big grin, he clapped the cap on his head.
"Billy Wilder was one of my mentors," Curtis said. "He was first-rate. But I was never completely at ease with him. Something about him made me nervous. I was always afraid of him. He was quirky. He was mean. As a little kid, growing up in the poor neighborhoods in New York, I learned you've got to be careful of everybody. That's what growing up in New York teaches you."
Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz, in the Bronx in 1925, the son of a Hungarian tailor. "We were very poor, but, oh, boy, was my dad a snappy dresser!" Curtis said. "And he had a tattoo on his shoulder that showed an eagle, with a ribbon in its claws, and on it the saying 'Knowledge Is Power.' "
As a child, Curtis spoke Hungarian at home, and he didn't learn English until he was almost five, when he went to school. He still loves to speak Hungarian. A few weeks ago, when the Hungarian director George Sidney lay dying, Mrs. Sidney put Curtis on the phone with him. "I talked to him in Hungarian, telling him how much I loved him," Curtis said.
Curtis and his parents and his two brothers lived in back of the tailor's shop. "We kept moving, from one poor neighborhood to another," Curtis said. "When I started school, when I went out in the streets, the tough guys would chase me and beat me up. So I learned how to run, to run fast. I learned you've got to be careful of people.
"So I was afraid of Billy Wilder. I didn't want him popping me all the time. I was wild. I was like that. He wanted to know all about the girls. He wanted to know about the sex. Maybe he was a little jealous of me. I told him things he wanted to know, but still I was afraid.
"At the same time, I learned from him," Curtis said. "He taught me how to do the quick response. If you overlap each other's dialogue, it moves the action along faster. Don't wait, talk right away. In the movie, I ask Jack Lemmon, 'Why would a guy want to marry a guy?' 'Security!' Jack replies. Fast. Like that. Don't wait to get a laugh. The quick response. Billy Wilder loved it. "
Curtis went on, turning serious. "It helped me understand something terrible Billy did to me. I lost one of my boys, Nicholas, to drugs. He was twenty-three. A week or so later, I went to Spago. I saw Billy Wilder, and I went over to his table and knelt down next to where he was sitting. I said quietly to him, 'My son Nicholas died of an overdose of heroin.' His reply was fast. 'He learned it from you,' he said. I was deeply hurt. But I made myself forgive him. I understood it was something he couldn't help. He was so steeped in the quick response.
"Burt Lancaster was a mentor to me, too. He treated me like a professional, in 'Sweet Smell of Success' and 'Trapeze,' " Curtis said. "Burt Lancaster treated me real nice. He acted professionally with me, so he got me to do it with him. I was never afraid of him. It was Cary Grant who taught me, when we made 'Operation Petticoat'—'It's got to be artless, Tony, artless.' " He did a great Cary Grant imitation and laughed. "Cary Grant and I got to be good friends," he said. "He saw in me something that appealed to him. I told him how the whole reason I quit school and went into the Navy when I was a teen-ager was because of him."
As a child living in the Bronx, Curtis saw "Destination Tokyo," with Grant as the submarine captain, standing in the tower, looking through the periscope. Curtis became a signalman on a submarine tender, and in 1945 he watched the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. After the war, he enrolled at Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop, at the New School, with the help of the G.I. Bill. His classmates included Walter Matthau and Bea Arthur, but Curtis was the first of them to go to Hollywood.
"All I wanted then was to be a movie star. I told all that to Cary Grant, and he wasn't afraid to show his feelings," Curtis said. "He'd say, 'Tony, Tony, Tony.' " (Curtis did another impressive imitation.) "Like that." He went on,"When Cary Grant said, 'Tony, I'll never grow old on the screen,' I said, 'I won't, either.' And I won't. Going on the stage is different. You're alive, right there, in front of everybody."
He paused. "I never took it for granted. I never take anything for granted. Whatever I've done, whatever I do now, I consider a privilege. When I made 'The Defiant Ones,' with Sidney Poitier, they wanted to bill me above the title and to bill him below. Up to that point, no black actor had ever been billed above the title. I said we were both the same. I said they should put our names up there together. Equal billing. And that's what they did."
Curtis, standing in his living room holding sheet music, grinned as Jill entered. She was barefoot and wore a blue floral-patterned sarong. She plumped down, cross-legged, on the floor, cuddling a couple of dogs. Marilyn, the cat, wandered in and sat down beside her.
The vocal coach arrived—a cheerful fellow named Clito Piermarini, who wore wire-rimmed spectacles, a small gray goatee, and a tiny gold piano on his left earlobe. Three nights a week, he sings at the Venetian hotel. "I'm in an old Venetian costume," he said. "I stroll around in the hotel's St. Mark's Square, and around the Canal, playing the accordion, singing requests like 'O Sole Mio' and Musetta's waltz from Puccini's 'La Bohème.' "
"Pier, you know I don't just want to be in this show because I'm a celebrity," Curtis said, as the teacher sat down at the upright. "I've got to sing. I'm so happy to sing!" Curtis spread his arms wide, and in an unrestrained baritone sang a couple of lines from one of his songs: "I fall in love too easily, I fall in love too fast. . . ." Piermarini, nodding encouragement, pounded out accompanying chords on the piano. Curtis gave a quick laugh and sang on: "I fall in love too terribly hard, for love to ever last. . . ."
A little mutt entered and began barking shrilly.
"Shut up! I'm singing!" Curtis yelled.
Jill grabbed the barker and quieted him. "This one is Schwartz, after Tony's real name," she said.
Curtis grinned. "Sinatra always called me Bernie," he said, and laughed. "Sinatra was an intriguing man. He was very set in his thinking. Very angry. Where it came from I'm not sure. But he treated me nice. Someone asked him, 'Who's your favorite actor?' Frank said, 'Tony Curtis. Because he made it against all odds. He broke the fucking arts.' "
Curtis looked through his script and said that, as the millionaire Osgood Fielding III, he would be on the hotel veranda with Sugar (the character played by Marilyn Monroe in the film).
"Then I'll be singing 'I Fall in Love Too Easily.' But I've got to bring my own style to it, bring my own signature, the way the great singers do," Curtis said. "Am I getting it right?" he asked the coach. "I fall in love too easily," he sang again, in a full, rich voice.
"Right! Fabulous!" Piermarini called out, in accents reminiscent of Robert De Niro. "You've got a great voice, no question."
Curtis nodded. "Paul McCartney told me, 'Don't worry; just tell the story.' He told me, 'God likes you when you smile; God loves you when you sing.'
"I want to leave part of me open so the director can give me his feeling," Curtis said. "I've come a long way, getting ready for this show. I lost weight. Fifteen pounds. I'm now down to a hundred and eighty. I exercise by doing what I like to do. I swim twice a day. Jillie and I go out disco dancing at least three nights a week. The disco Light, at the Bellagio, is our home away from home."
Curtis said that he wanted to work on "The November Song." "That's when Osgood sees Jerry dressed as Daphne and starts making passes at her. I want to make him different from Joe E. Brown's Osgood. Brown was an extraordinary comedian. But I want to make my Osgood frivolous, very extravagant. Billy Wilder wanted a more graphic millionaire, with a lot of old millionaires in rocking chairs, not good for anything anymore. I want my Osgood to be freer, looser, more like a little kid playing." He made silly gestures with his hands, like a little kid.
"Joe E. Brown himself was very penurious, very tight," Curtis went on. "Jack Lemmon and I used to joke about the way he never went for the tab. He was stingy with everything. He wouldn't ever ad-lib. Let's go, Pier. Let's work on 'The November Song.' "
Curtis sang:
You can call it madness if you're so inclined
But though we're somewhat older we are still not blind
And if we still go frantic for a sweet behind
Even naughty old men need love.
"Great job," Piermarini said. "One thing, about the timing. Go slow. Talk it in the beginning. Ad-lib it."
Curtis grinned and did the song again. "And this is where I go into a dance routine with the other millionaires," he said. He did a little shuffle and sighed. "That's gonna be nice, eh?" he said. "I want to be like the bow of a ship, making my own way, cutting the stream."
For dinner, Curtis and Jill often head for the Bellagio hotel, which has an elegant restaurant called Picasso, where eleven original Picassos, along with more than eighty security cameras, look down from the walls at the diners.
One evening last month, Curtis and Jill set out for Picasso. He was wearing a black Armani suit and a white satin shirt. Jill had on a pair of Manolo Blahniks with four-inch heels and a very short, strapless, silk print dress that had been made to order to highlight her ample figure. They took a slow, regal stroll to the restaurant, where they got a splendid royal greeting. "It's such a privilege to eat here," Curtis said. After dinner, they ambled through the hotel's huge lobby. Every now and then, Curtis was stopped for an autograph request.
"People in their twenties recognize him," Jill said serenely, while Curtis graciously signed for a group of giggling young tourists wearing shorts. As the Curtises continued strolling toward the Bellagio's disco, a gray-haired gentleman with a heavy North London accent ran after them and said, breathlessly, "I just wanted to tell you that my friends and I all copied your hair. We were mad about your hair!"
"Yeah!" Curtis said, with an all-out laugh. "Full in the back, duck's ass, and in the front, the high pompadour. It was right after World War II. Everybody else was into crewcuts. But we wanted to make a statement."
At one point, Curtis paused in front of a bank of elevators. A very stout, handicapped young man in a wheelchair sped out and halted quickly in front of Curtis, who immediately put out his hand and offered it to the young man, who smiled hesitantly and then shook hands.
"Good to see you, sir!" Curtis said exuberantly. Without being asked, he reached into his pocket, took out a scrap of paper, and scribbled a greeting and his signature on it. The young man, who had trou- ble speaking, managed to say thank you.
"I lock eyes with everybody," Curtis said later. "I like being seen."
Before he came to New York last month to rehearse with the cast, Curtis would work on his dancing three afternoons a week with Scott Burrell, a good-natured tap dancer with thinning hair who performs in many of the Las Vegas shows. He had been hired to dance in the chorus of "Some Like It Hot," and he was teaching Curtis to tap-dance. Curtis, wearing his white shorts, put on white socks and a scuffed pair of old black tap shoes. They worked in a studio, a few miles from Curtis's house, outfitted with barres and mirrored walls. They practiced, accompanied by a recording of dance music that included songs by Janet Jackson and Harry Connick, Jr.
"Let's go with the basics," Burrell said. "The way you did it the other day. Here we go. Step, shuffle, ball, change." Curtis imitated him. "Good, good," Burrell said. "I grew up with Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse, and that's what I love. That's what the show is going to have. Wonderful, choreographed, traditional tap. There you go, Tony!"
Curtis did some routines with Burrell, looking down at his feet as, somewhat hesitantly, he tapped out waltz clogs. "We'll be doing this with the millionaires, right, Scott?" he said, rather winded, after going the length of the studio and back doing waltz clogs.
"Very good," Burrell said. "With the older men, there'll be some soft shoe. Step and touch, backslide front, hold." He illustrated. Curtis imitated him. "Good," Burrell said. "You're developing body memory."
After an hour of drills, Curtis did shuffle, shuffle, slap, slap. He did step and touch, backslide front, and hold. Dancing, he looked less hesitant, albeit a mite stiff. He had some trouble not looking down at his feet. At the end of the session, Burrell told Curtis that he was doing great, and promised that by the time they got to the New York rehearsals he would have it all down pat.
Curtis looked pleased. In what his voice teacher called his "nice, deep baritone," he sang out:
We cannot hope for youth or for a crown of curls
But naughty old men need naughty young girls!
He laughed and went off, he said, to buy seven old-fashioned steamer trunks—one of which he was going to fill with his easel, paints, brushes, and a set of tools for working on his boxes—to pack and take to New York. He said he was also going to buy a new pair of black tap shoes.
Meanwhile, in Manhattan the show's producers, Jeffrey Spolan and Diane Masters, were impatiently await- ing the arrival of Tony Curtis. They live and work together in a twenty-second-floor apartment in a new Hell's Kitchen building along the West Side Highway. They had never produced a show of any kind before this one. Their resemblance to the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland template of 1939 is barely discernible, but the spirit of it flickers. Spolan and Masters are both in their fifties. He is tall, with a boyish face; she is short, with a hoarse, authoritative voice. Masters was for many years a press agent for Off Broadway shows. Spolan has been an actor, promoter, producer, manager, investor, backer, and holder of odd jobs in the entertainment business all across the country. Each often steps on the other's lines but tries, diplomatically, to back off.
"We dated twenty-five years ago, and it didn't take," Spolan told me the other day in their apartment. "We dated eighteen years ago, and it didn't take. Three years ago, we started dating again. This time, it took. It's because this time we're working together on 'Some Like It Hot.' "
"It holds us together," Masters said.
The third occupant of the apartment is a white West Highland white terrier called Nicki, named after Masters's father. "The husbands came and went, but the dog stayed," Masters said.
"It took about two years to get to where we are now, working some days around the clock," Spolan said.
"I've always been a creative person," Masters added.
"It started with her," Spolan said. "It was always her idea to get Tony Curtis for the Joe E. Brown part."
"Jeffrey and I are on the same wavelength," Masters said.
"Every night, we say to each other—" Spolan paused and indicated to Masters that he was throwing her a cue.
"It's just you and me, kid," they said together.
Two years ago, they learned that the rights to the 1972 David Merrick-produced musical "Sugar," which was based on "Some Like It Hot," were available. They applied for the rights to the script and for the use of the title "Some Like It Hot." They secured the coöperation of Peter Stone, who revised the "Sugar" script. They enlisted Dan Siretta as director and choreog- rapher and got help from the widows of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill in finding new songs that might be used in the show. They started thinking about casting.
"Diane said 'Tony Curtis' right away," Spolan said, pointing to his partner.
"But I said, 'He'll never do it; why would he want to do it?' " Masters said. "Then we went to Atlantic City to see Debbie Reynolds do her one-woman stage show."
"This is the best part of the story," Spolan said.
"It was my birthday—July, 2000. He bought me a classy black suit in Atlantic City," Masters said. "We told Debbie Reynolds we were getting ready to do a workshop of the show. I told her that I wanted Tony Curtis for the millionaire. Debbie Reynolds said, 'Call him. What else has he got to do—paint? Tell him to get off his ass!' "
"Back in New York, we called his lawyer," Spolan said.
Masters said, "Forty-eight hours later, his lawyer called. Tony's answer: 'Absolutely.' He signed up for two years, with an option to do a third. Now he sings to me over the phone. He sings 'I Fall in Love Too Easily,' his favorite."
"Revivals are what makes the bucks these days," Spolan said.
"Everybody is afraid of new stuff," Masters said.
"He's going to play Tony when he plays Osgood," Spolan said. "We want Tony to put Tony in Osgood."
"People love Tony, and he loves them back," Masters said. "That's all we want from Tony."
A couple of weeks later, Curtis and Jill were ensconced in the New York Palace Hotel, with the seven steamer trunks and two of their dogs. He had had his hair radically barbered and dyed white, for his part, and he had met with the director/choreographer, the music director, and other key people he would be working with.
"Everybody is so nice to me," he said. "The enjoyment of the experience is giving me a lot of energy. I like the adventure of it."
Rehearsals were due to start in a few days, at a studio in Chelsea, with the principal actors. "It's a lot of pressure, but the people from the show do everything for me," Curtis said. "And they're happy and smiling, without any anger. A cap came loose on one of my teeth. They immediately found a dentist for me who fixed it. I had a complete physical exam. It came out perfect. There's chaos. But I had a few minutes to work on a song with the music director. So now he can give me his feeling for how I should do the songs. They rush me from one thing to another! Thirty people! It's all gonna come together in two weeks to make a musical!"
The day after Curtis's arrival in New York, he made a personal appearance at the Film Forum, a West Village revival movie house that was showing a double feature of "Sweet Smell of Success" and "Some Like It Hot." The Curtises got all dolled up, he in the black Armani and white satin shirt and she in a strapless black gown and high-heeled slippers. The sold-out crowd was made up of scruffy cinephiles. Nevertheless, a frantic, Cannes-like atmosphere pervaded the unglamorous venue. Curtis even had his own unofficial P.R. adviser in attendance—Gary Hill, a young fast-talker with hair reaching to his shoulders who had named his business Falco Ink, in homage to Curtis's press-agent character in "Sweet Smell of Success." Photographers, camera lights, and tape-recorder-armed gossip reporters surfaced and buzzed around the Curtises. Struggling, they made their way into the dark theatre.
After the closing credits of "Sweet Smell of Success" rolled, a young man in a business suit announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, Tony Curtis!" Gasps and a long, sincere ovation from the audience. Curtis moved to the front of the theatre.
"I used to go to school around the corner down here on the Lower East Side," he told the crowd. "I used to be beaten up by the gangs here. I escaped. All I wanted was to be a movie star. What a privilege it was to be in the movie you just saw. There's a bit of me in Sidney Falco. He was just a guy trying to make it. I don't think Sidney Falco should die at the end of this movie. He should get on the bus and go back to the Bronx, cleansed. So here I am now, the son of a poor Hungarian tailor. Isn't it wonderful?" The audience applauded.
A few days later, at the first full-cast rehearsal of "Some Like It Hot," Curtis got to work with Dan Siretta. Siretta started in musicals in 1959, when he danced in the chorus of "Fiorello!" For the rehearsal, he wore a black sports shirt under a larger black button-down shirt, black pants, and tan-colored tap shoes.
After watching from the sidelines as Siretta rehearsed some numbers without him, Curtis ran through what would be the finale with the full company. During the tap dancing, he looked down at his feet occasionally, but then, when Siretta placed him, arms linked and centered in a line with two pretty girls in the chorus, he tapped and sang unself-consciously:
Our deepest desire's
To sing in a choir
But we're on the spot
Some like it hot! . . .
I like it
You like it
Everybody likes it
Some like it hot!
Curtis tapped and kicked, his brow damp and his breath quick; but, holding on to the arms of the girls, he looked like he was having a good time.
"He's getting there," Siretta said to Scott Burrell, Curtis's dance coach. "He just needs to get a little more secure."
Next, Curtis watched as Siretta rehearsed William Ryall, a tall, experienced dancer, who is to play Spats, the gangster (the George Raft part in the film).
"We really follow the story just as it is in the movie," Siretta said. "I've wanted to do this show for ten years. The Wilder-Diamond script is my bible."
Curtis watched Spats lead his gangsters in a menacing tap dance as they set out to find Jerry and Joe, the two musicians, dead or alive.
"Spats kills people with his feet," Siretta said. "He shoots people with his feet." He did some heavy rat-a-tat-tat taps to illustrate.
Curtis, from the side, looked delighted. "Aren't these people wonderful?" he said.
"The first time out there, you did it all just perfect," Burrell said to Curtis, looking with approval at his new black tap shoes. "I feel like a proud dad."
Siretta joined them. "You get it," he told Curtis. "All you need is a few repetitions. When you sing 'The November Song,' we'll have all the other millionaires moving around in rocking chairs on wheels."
Curtis slapped his knee and spontaneously sang out:
I've had me moments
I've tasted some life
Ev'ry Christmastime a diff'rent wife
One was a gypsy and on the Q.T.
One was a partridge
In a pear tree.
A few afternoons later, Masters and Spolan showed up at a rehearsal. Siretta looked surprised to see them; producers don't generally sit in on rehearsals. Nevertheless, he rehearsed a couple of dance numbers that included Curtis, who tap-danced without once looking down at his feet. He wound up kicking and laughing, showing no signs of being out of breath. At the end, everybody applauded.
"Thanks, guys," Curtis said.
"See?" Masters said to Spolan. "See, I was right!"
"You were right," Spolan said. "You were right."
With about a week of rehearsals left, Siretta ran through "The November Song" with Curtis. Jill held up cue cards for her husband, marked with bits of lyrics. He talked part of the song and ad-libbed, obviously enjoying himself.
When he finished, he looked questioningly at Lynn Crigler, the music director.
"You've got perfect pitch," Crigler said. "You don't go flat. You sing it as though you wrote it."
"You understand it," Siretta said. "Maurice Chevalier could understand it and do it. For me, Jimmy Durante did it the best when he sang 'As Time Goes By.' Now you're doing it."
"This is exciting. You're making it artless for me," Curtis said.
He held up his hands, intertwined his fingers, and shook his head. With a mischievous smile, he went over to Siretta and kissed him on the mouth.
"I'm beginning to think I can do this," Curtis said. ♦


text:
Hi, i have uniform server which i use just static page and html 5. I am planning to run an application on the uniform server. I need to know what i need to do this? can i still use uniform server or is there some other application i need to be able to do this?
thank you.


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The ocular lens was made with a larger diameter than most scopes, helping to create a longer 4" to 5" eye relief and a larger exit pupil that allows your eye to receive a greater amount of light. This greatly reduces eye strain and fatigue making this one of the most "comfortable" scopes to look through.
• Camera quality glass.• Fully multi-coated lenses.• Clear and undistorted image. • Limited Lifetime Warranty.


text: (Waterville, ME) The Clippers coming off a big win continue to play well for Coach Tony Turini. (SO) Emma, Legallais scored a crafty goal in the 27th minute assisted by teammate Erin, O'Connor to give the Clippers a 1-0 lead into the half. (SR) F Erin, O'Connor also scored 2 goals in the 45th minute (assisted by Jenny, Guzman) and in the 57th minute assisted by teammate Cayla, Thomas. Thomas College goes on to score a late goal, but it wasn't enough as UMM cruises to a 3-1 win. (FR) GK Courtney, Ross had an amazing 8 saves and only allowing 1 goal. The Lady Clippers gave a great effort on both sides of the field tonight to improve their record to (2-1-1).


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Thanks for sharing CGR, nice pics!
Very nice pics CGR,the food look great,but i know all that fry food is not good for me.
Don't cry because it's over.. .Smile because it happened.
Thanks for sharing CGR, nice pics!
Don't start none, won't be none!
Thanks. The food was great. The trip was definitely something else :). The burning house is a mystery. No one seems to know how it caught on fire but there was a guy that fell into the fire a couple of times. That was pretty funny. He didn't get hurt. At least the rum helped him feel no pain.
deh food pictures got mi hungry !!
"Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a mans last romance." - Oscar Wilde
[QUOTE=Cant Get Right;340390]The trip was definitely something else :). QUOTE]
Tell us about the something else!
I would tell you but I can't seem to remember a lot of the trip. hahaha.
nice pix! really enjai dem...thanks CGR
Nice pics, made me nostalgic :(


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Thursday, 20 June 2013 07:09 AM
Sprint Nextel Corp. should consider raising its offer price for Clearwire Corp. or risk being saddled with a contentious relationship with Dish Network Corp., controlled by feisty billionaire Charlie Ergen.
Shareholders of Clearwire, already majority owned by Sprint, will vote on June 24 on Sprint's $3.40-a-share offer to buy the rest of the company. But Clearwire's board has recommended shareholders instead accept a higher, $4.40-a-share tender offer from Dish.
If Dish's offer carries the day, Sprint would have some kind of relationship with Dish, whether the satellite service provider becomes a minority Clearwire shareholder or the two agree to a network partnership. Either way, such an arrangement could be fraught with difficulty for Sprint, analysts say.
"It would be a cultural shock for any company to be partnered with Dish or to have any operating arrangement with it," said Brean Capital analyst Todd Mitchell, who pointed to a string of Dish relationships that went sour or ended in court.
Both Dish and Sprint, which has itself agreed to be bought by SoftBank Corp., want access to a trove of wireless airwave rights that Clearwire owns. SoftBank has also said that it is important for Sprint to acquire the Clearwire spectrum.
But several Clearwire shareholders have already said they are unhappy with Sprint's offer. Taran Asset Management principal Chris Gleason said he would not vote for Sprint's offer and that the vote would certainly fail on Monday.
Gleason, whose firm holds about 1 million Clearwire shares, suggested that Sprint had two options. "You've got to do a significantly higher bid or come to a deal with Charlie this week," Gleason said, referring to Ergen.
Analysts also expect Sprint to suffer a defeat at the shareholder meeting unless it raises its offer.
"Sprint and SoftBank should raise their offer for Clearwire to a level that's clearly superior to the Dish offer based on negotiations with major minority public shareholders," said Roe Equity Research analyst Kevin Roe.
Dish and Sprint declined to comment for the story.
So far SoftBank has shrugged off concerns about having Ergen as a minority shareholder even as a person close to Sprint said having Ergen in Clearwire would make for "a very uncomfortable situation."
SoftBank has said it could be content with Sprint owning just 68 percent of Clearwire, which is a likely scenario if the vote fails on Monday and only strategic shareholders with 13 percent of Clearwire shares approve the deal.
But that would present problems for Sprint. For starters, it would miss out on "hundreds of millions of dollars" a year in potential savings as Clearwire would remain a separate company with its own board and a separate wireless network, according to Roe.
On top of that, Guggenheim analyst Shing Yin said that Ergen could throw all sorts of obstacles in Sprint's way if he ends up with a minority holding in Clearwire with a say on issues such as commercial spectrum leasing agreements with Sprint, also Clearwire's biggest customer.
"Dish has the potential to disrupt whatever plans SoftBank has for Sprint and Clearwire," Yin said.
If Sprint doesn't want to raise its bid, Roe suggested that it could try to forge an agreement with Dish to entice Ergen to end his quest for a minority stake in Clearwire.
A deal could include a sale of some Clearwire spectrum to Dish or entering a network sharing agreement where Dish can offer wireless services using Sprint's equipment and wireless airwaves that Dish owns, Roe said.
But even that arrangement may not sit well with Sprint. A person who used to work for Ergen said that nearly every large relationship the entrepreneur has had with a major company has ended up being dissolved.
Most recently, Dish paid $700 million in cash last fall to settle a breach of contract lawsuit with Cablevision Systems Corp. over a failed joint venture called Voom. Cablevision alleged that Ergen stopped paying for HD channels Dish had agreed to carry for 15 years, before the end of the agreement.
Last year, Ergen also provoked a lawsuit from all the major U.S. broadcasters because of a Dish video recorder called the Hopper, which lets TV subscribers automatically skip recorded ads. The Hopper could threaten revenue at the broadcasters, with whom Dish has multibillion dollar programming deals.
Dish battled with SoftBank to buy Sprint itself but said late on Tuesday that it would instead turn all its attention and resources to efforts to buy a minority stake in Clearwire, as it was unhappy with the Sprint process.
In the meantime Sprint is hoping for legal help. It sued Dish and Clearwire earlier this week to try to block Dish's tender offer. But Guggenheim's Yin worried that Sprint would be left in limbo during a prolonged legal case.
"If Sprint and SoftBank want Clearwire, they're going to have to do more than filing this lawsuit," Yin said. Waiting for a legal win could delay Sprint's turnaround, which is dependent on a network upgrade that involves Clearwire spectrum, Yin said, adding that SoftBank likely wants a resolution soon.
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How to be Body Slim in 1 Week - One week is a short time to make your body slim. However, it does not necessarily mean that you cannot get such achievement. There are many reasons why people want to have perfect body shape. Some just do not want to get fat. Being fat is uncomfortable. It makes you difficult to move. Meanwhile, the other just want to looks attractive in front of other people. Having good body proportions is not only good for your health, but also boosts your confidence as well. Here are some tips that you can do. If you do it correctly, you might be amazed with the result.
1. Regular exercise
Regular exercise is the most important thing to do when you want to get your body slim. Even though it is necessary, most people feel reluctant to do it. They make excuses like do not have time for it. Regular exercise does not mean that you need to do full gym activity. You can start it with something simple like running regularly every morning. Simple exercise like that burns fat accumulated in your body. Fat is the main reason you do not have perfect body proportion. Exercise speeds up the metabolism process, thus burn fat faster than your system normally does.
2. Consume healthy food
Regular exercise alone will not able to make your body slim in a week. In order to make your body slim in short amount of time, regular exercise should be followed by consuming healthy food. Healthy food replaces fat burned during exercise with beneficial nutrients. Those nutrients help your system to work properly. At the same time, they are also able to reduce your body weight. Start with consuming balance diet. Fruits and vegetables are always a good option to get those nutrients. Consuming then on your diet allows you to have good body shape in a week.
3. Avoid unhealthy lifestyle
Some people exercise regularly and consuming healthy food yet their body still the same. This problem happens due to the unhealthy lifestyle. They are aware that they can achieve good body shape with regular exercise and healthy food consumption. However, they still smoke and consuming fast food as well. There is no point of exercising regularly and consuming healthy food if you still do unhealthy lifestyle. Most people make their body slim by avoiding unhealthy lifestyle along with regular exercise and healthy food consumption. It might be a hard work to do but it will worth at the end.


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A leading asset manager with $1 trillion in assets under management across a mix of retail and institutional funds hired Beacon Consulting Group (now part of Accenture) to help guide a buy-build-outsource decision related to the firm's middle and back offices, including accounting and administration services. At the same time, the firm wanted to design an overall system strategy that would provide optimal support to its clients.
Business Challenge
The asset manager was operating in a highly manual environment, with a large volume of processes being conducted offline. Its legacy technology platforms were performing well below industry standards and unable to keep pace with product, asset class, and geographical growth.


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Chicago Fire Season 7
The story of firefighters in Chicago, both on a personal and professional level.
Actor: Olivia Colman, Julian Barratt, Daniel Rigby, Sophia Di Martino, Leila Hoffman, Will Sharpe, Colin Hurley, Hammed Animashaun, Alistair Green, Desiree Akhavan, Zita Sattar, Rico Canadinhas, Georgina Campbell, Angus Wright
Director: Jay Karas
Country: USA