Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember when we last left off, the nefarious catnappers had investigated Ruffles owner’s van and found us inside. The tattoo littered man had told the woman in the silk Camo dress that some of us might do well on the black market. Suddenly, their attention was turned towards a Cadillac Escalade that had just pulled into the parking lot of my favorite summer restaurant and parked nose to nose with their garish orange Hummer. The catnappers headed back to the Hummer on the other side of the parking lot. Our little crew sat watching out the side window of the van as the driver’s side of the Cadillac Escalade opened and from out of the behemoth emerged a slender woman wearing an olive trench coat and a matching trilby hat.

“She is a bad woman,” Artemis the Persian said. “A terrible awful woman. We must attack.”

“No,” I said. “We must wait and see if they have Demeter. Then Ruffles must move closer.”

“Move closer, move closer,” the twin Dachshunds chanted.

“Quiet! We must concentrate.”

“What if we can’t tell if it’s Demeter,” Madeline the British Shorthair said.

“It’s still some poor cat,” Charlotte the Chow said. “If its some poor cat we don’t know, we must rescue it just as if it were Demeter.”

“It’s got to be Demeter,” Artemis caterwauled. “It’s got to be.”

“There, there,” Bruiser the Jack Russel said. “There, there.”

“The big tattoo guy is getting something out of the Hummer,” Ruffles said. “He’s getting something out of the Hummer.”

We all turned our attention back to the Hummer and saw the tattoo guy open the back hatch and take out a pet carrier.

“My goodness,” Edison the Manx said. “He’s a fiend! What kind of monster puts a cat in a cage?”

“Shh,” I said. “Watch.”

The woman in the olive trench coat studied the contents of the cage as if she were a scientist examining her experiment. I looked through my opera glasses and could see words were being spoken. Words between her and the woman in the silk camo dress. The tattooed man set the carrier down and opened it.

“It’s my sister,” Artemis exclaimed as soon as she saw him take the white Persian out of the box. “It’s Demeter! Drive, Ruffles, drive!”

“Wait,” I said. “If Ruffles turns on the engine, they’ll notice us.”

“They’ll notice us, they’ll notice us,” the twins said in unison.

“Hush up!” Artemis said with a hiss.

“The moment we see the woman in the trench coat take the cage and begin walking towards her car,” Charlotte said, “that’s when Ruffles will drive.”

“That’s when I’ll drive,” Ruffles said. “That’s when I’ll drive.”

We watched the woman in the trench coat pick up poor Demeter and examine her from all angles. It was most gauche. Demeter tried to struggle but the woman held her firmly. Then the woman nodded and put Demeter back in the cage, took an envelope out of her deep coat pocket and started to hand it to the woman in the silk camo dress.

“We’ve got to go now,” Artemis said. “Now, Ruffles, now!”

“Wait…!” But my words came too late. Ruffles turned on the engine and hit the gas. Until next week I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: TOOTSIE (1982)-NETFLIX

Right in the middle of one of the golden eras of soap operas came this film, a gender bending comedy with a serious statement about the sexism women faced in the workplace and in everyday life. The film received ten Oscar nominations including a win for Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Lang. Lang also won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Dustin Hoffman won the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy. The film has endured over the years and is considered one of AFI’s 100 Best Movies of All Time. It was brilliantly directed by Sydney Pollak and written by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal. However, there were other writers involved in penning the script, primarily Elaine May who strengthened the female character’s roles, but also Barry Levinson, Robert Kaufman and Robert Garland all who went uncredited.

The story is about a passionate, talented but difficult actor named Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman in one of his phenomenal performances) who waits tables and teaches acting while he desperately searches for work in New York City. One of his proteges, Sandy Lester (Teri Garr in a well-deserved Oscar nominated performance) is up for the part of Emily Kimberly, a hospital administrator for the soap opera Southwest General. Michael helps her prepare for the part and goes with her to the audition. But as soon as she arrives, they tell her she is wrong for the part and dismiss her without allowing her to read. Michael asks to see his fellow actor Terry Bishop, who stars on the show. But the receptionist tells him Bishop has taken time off to rehearse for The Iceman Cometh, a role Michael thought he was up for.

Michael tells Sandy to wait at the audition as he rushes over to the office of his enduring agent, George Fields (Sydney Pollak). George tells Michael nobody wants to work with him. Not in New York, not in Los Angeles nor anywhere else on the planet. Because despite being a great actor, Michael is intolerable. Michael tells him he is going to raise $8000 to produce and star in his roommate Jeff Slater’s (drolly played by Bill Murray) play.  

Michael sets out to prove George and everyone else in show business wrong. He buys a wig, carefully applies makeup and dons a dress. He heads back to the auditions and meets chauvinist director Ron Carlisle (played with delightful sleaze by Dabney Coleman). When Ron tells “Dorthy”, Michael’s now alter ego he isn’t right for the part, Dorthy stands up to him with charm and aggression leading Dorthy to win the role. But complications arise when Ron’s girlfriend, actress Julie Nicols (Jessica Lang) befriends her new co-star.

The movie also features Charles Durning, George Gaynes, Doris Belak and then-newcomer Gina Davis.