August 1948 I walked into the Boonton, New Jersey movie house, sat down and got my first movie star crush--Doris Day--I saw every movie she made, I bought every recording of hers, even kept a scrapbook of articles about her--until I was 16. She was and still is one of my favorite singers and though I don't hear THE song much I always think of her and my youth when I do.


6. Doris Day "It's Magic" https://youtu.be/Nuq8X4mn8P4

After 76 years of theatre going showtunes have become a big part of my life and I remember show stopping numbers that always bring back good memories not only of the shows and the singers but who I went with and, in many cases, the special occassions. I, also, remember seeing the legends of Broadway from Ethel Merman to Mary Martin, Alfred Drake, of course John Raitt and then there was THAT night--the Shubert Theatre, 44th Street, sitting in the second row of the mezzanine and being unable to move having seen a show that grabbed me and never let go. I have seen 101 productions of "A Chorus Line" including the day it became the longest running show on Broadway which was the greatest 3 hours (which included an encore of the closing number for a TV show) I have ever spent in the theatre.


7. Donna McKechnie leads 'Cassies' from all over the world doing a number during the gala that stopped the show "The Music and the Mirror" https://youtu.be/zI7CgQOIlgo


8. "La Cage Aux Folles"--Chuck, Bill, Tommie and I went to the first Broadway matinee of this show and George Hearn stopped the show with this act 1 curtain version of "I Am What I Am" https://youtu.be/3_aeHusrZeY


9. A couple of days before Chuck and I went to see "Dreamgirls" and the closing act 1 curtain has become a classic https://youtu.be/68-bKOknxGA


10. Most people know this song (and dance) from the movie version but I remember vividly seeing Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner doing the number--and stopping the show--at the St. James Theatre--she would die a year later of lung cancer and for the first time the Broadway lights were dimmed for a theatre star!! https://youtu.be/qDrIGpUtDOo

(to be continued)