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| Vol. XVII, Issue IV October 2007 |
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 Greetings Darlin's,
We’re still adding new numbers to the show every day, but already there are quite a few standouts. Our opening sequence is a rollercoaster ride through 60 years of great Tin Pan Alley songs, from “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” to “Steam Heat,” with a tip of the bowler hat to dance styles from George M. Cohan to Bob Fosse!
Our songbirds, Judy Bell and Trina Parks, enjoy a friendly rivalry that only makes each of them better every year. This season, Miss Bell delivers a heart-rending version of “The Man That Got Away.” And Miss Parks responds with a lively rendition of the Louis Armstrong classic, “’Zat You, Santa Claus?” in our holiday sequence. But they come together in the Finale to sing an “Amazing Grace” so stirring it will inspire even the most determined cynics among us.
But I really shouldn’t complain, because we’re seeing great things from our new costume designer, Thi Thu Hanyak. Born and raised in Switzerland, Miss Hanyak created costumes for European productions of Broadway musicals. But she also worked at several world-famous houses of haute couture, first at Atelier Brunner and later for Christian Lacroix and Laurent Peret, so she has the perfect background in high fashion and low comedy. The collection of Follies finery she has designed is dazzling! Of course it wouldn’t be a Follies without a guest star and great variety acts, so we eagerly await the arrival of comedy legend Kaye Ballard (appearing October 30 through December 31), and impressionist Mr. Babe Pier and Joanne Wilson’s Wonder Dogs (both appearing all season). You can read more below about Miss Ballard’s illustrious 70 years (!) in show business. And we’ll include more information on Mr. Pier and Miss Wilson in next month’s missive. Well, Darlin’s, much as I enjoy writing to you, I don’t want the cast and crew to get the idea they can get along without me. I have a strong hunch this new show will be our best ever, and I’d better get back to rehearsal so I can humbly take at least a little bit of the credit for it. But, come what may, we’ll be ready and waiting for you at the historic Plaza Theatre, beginning October 30 at 1:30 p.m.
After debuting on Broadway with Three to Make Ready in 1946, Ballard returned for 1954’s The Golden Apple, reinventing Helen of Troy as a small-town girl who is “always willing” and introducing the ballad standard, “Lazy Afternoon.” She later starred in the hit Broadway musical Carnival! (next to past and future Follies guest star, Anna Maria Alberghetti), and the 1980s revival of The Pirates of Penzance. Hollywood beckoned in 1957 and Ballard made her film debut with Jane Powell in The Girl Most Likely. Numerous movies followed, including Which Way to the Front?, the original Freaky Friday, A House Is Not A Home and, her personal favorite, The Ritz. In recent years, Ballard returned to the stage for celebrated revivals of Funny Girl and Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, and the 20th anniversary tour of Nunsense. She continues to make recordings and nightclub appearances, and has published the riotous autobiography: How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years. Like the Palm Springs Follies itself, Kaye Ballard is living proof that classic musical-comedy talent still beguiles audiences. Her October 30 through December 31 run at the historic Plaza Theatre will be a “homecoming” in every sense of the word: a return to her vaudeville roots; a revisiting of her smash Follies debut in Season 14; and a rare, local engagement near her adopted hometown of Rancho Mirage. Coincident with her opening at the Follies on October 30, Ballard will release a new DVD, entitled Bits and Pieces of My Checkered Career and comprised of highlights from her television career. The DVD will be on sale in the lobby of the historic Plaza Theatre during all performances through New Year’s Eve. Click here to view a Kaye Ballard Career Highlight Video   The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies is honored to be a long-time supporter of Desert AIDS Project, an organization that provides medical care and comprehensive support services to people living with HIV/AIDS in the desert community, and we are happy to again participate in the annual Desert AIDS Walk to raise funds to support this worthy cause.
If you would like to join us that morning for the 2.5 mile walk, please call Carl Hursh at (760) 778-7654 for more details. You will also receive a complimentary Follies T-shirt by becoming a “Team Follies” walker. If you are unable to walk that day, please consider becoming a “Team Follies” sponsor by clicking www.firstgiving.com/follies . We thank you in advance for joining our fundraising efforts that morning.
The Toys for Tots program has a rich history of providing for youngsters in need. In 1948, Walt Disney designed the Toys for Tots logo still in use today; Disney also designed the first Toys for Tots poster used to promote the nationwide program. Nat "King" Cole, Peggy Lee and If you are interested in donating, simply bring a new, unwrapped toy to the collection bin, located in the Plaza Theatre lobby, during any Follies performance from October 30 through December 16, 2007.  It seems dance fever has now spread from the Follies’ stage and your television set (with the hit shows Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance) to even the real estate industry! On Thursday, September 27, the Follies was honored to be asked by the California Desert Association of Realtors to judge their first ever fund-raising dance competition entitled, Stepping Out with the Realtors. Follies Company Dance Manager and Creative Consultant Leila Burgess and Follies Man Riff Markowitz were part of a three-judge panel charged with selecting the very best dancing Realtors in the Coachella Valley. Besides a good time being had by all (and the expectedly hilarious commentary by the Follies Man), this memorable evening benefited the C.D.A.R. Scholarship Fund for area high school seniors and the Theresa D. Holden Foundation, which grants wishes to women with breast cancer. The Follies applauds anyone and everyone in abiding our motto: KEEP DANCIN’!
If you are a proud wearer of the Red and the Purple, you may want to join in the fun! For more information, click here.   We partner with over 35 restaurants, hotels, attractions, retailers and special services to assist in making your visit to Palm Springs and the Follies even more enjoyable. Please browse the "Visitor Information" page of the Follies website or click here for a complete listing plus additional helpful details. Some vendors even make special offers exclusive to Follies patrons, so please check with them before your next Follies visit. This page also includes parking information and street directions to make getting to the Follies as easy as possible!  The Follies box office is open Monday through Friday, (Monday through Saturday starting Oct. 13, and seven days a week once the show opens) and can be reached by calling (760) 327-0225; or you can purchase tickets online 24 hours a day at www.psfollies.com and see your exact seat location at the time of booking. The Follies' physical box office, located at the entrance to the Historic Plaza Theatre, is open on the same days. |
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The Follies is counting down the days until the opening of our all-new 17th season, Tin Pan Alley!, on October 30. So we’re in the thick of rehearsals, an annual exercise requiring the stamina of Marine Corps basic training and the operational organization of the Normandy invasion. 
One might think our well-seasoned cast members would want to rest on their laurels, but no: inspired by the Golden Age of American pop music, our choreographers have created more intricate and athletic dance routines than ever before. And the cast has risen to the challenge, though none more so than Guinness Record “World’s Oldest ‘Still Performing’ Showgirl” Dorothy Kloss. At 84, Miss Kloss does a tap solo so thrilling it stops rehearsals every day! When dancers applaud one of their peers with that much enthusiasm, I feel sure you’ll have the same response.
Speaking of our annual Winter Holiday scene, “A Jolly Follies Christmas” will only be presented through December 31, and I'm certain you won’t want to miss the dancing penguins! (Yes, we know penguins live at the South Pole, not the North. But that’s only in real life. This is Follies Land!)
The hustle and bustle in our rehearsal hall is easily matched by our Wardrobe Department upstairs. There, a veritable army of skilled seamstresses are hard at work sewing thousands of sequins and feathers on a hundred new costumes! But with all that talent so close at hand, can I get a loose button fixed on one of my shirts? No! Apparently the Follies Man ranks somewhere far below the “Hot List” of fashion priorities.
To anyone who watched television in the mid-20th century, Follies guest star Kaye Ballard, 82, is a musical-comedy legend, thanks to her hilarious appearances on The Tonight Show, The Carol Burnett Show and other variety hours, and her own, now-classic sitcom, The Mothers-in-Law, co-starring Eve Arden. She also created the role of one of the stepsisters in the original broadcast of Rodgers' and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. But TV is only one medium in which Ballard has triumphed during her 70 years in show business!
Making her stage debut at age 12 in her native Cleveland, Ballard played vaudeville and burlesque during the closing years of those circuits. In 1943, she was "discovered" by bandleader Spike Jones and toured with his band, singing and playing flute and tuba.
The 20th Annual Desert AIDS Walk will be held in downtown Palm Springs on Saturday, October 27, with a 9:30 a.m. “step off” from Frances Stevens Park (at the corner of Alejo and Palm Canyon).
Since 1947, the U.S. Marines have been looking after America’s needy children during the holidays through the Toys for Tots program. By distributing over 300 million new toys since the program began, Marines deliver a message of hope and let children know that someone cares. The Follies is pleased and proud to participate as a toy drop-off location for the 12th year. 
Vic Damone recorded the Toys for Tots song written by Sammy Fain and Paul Webster in 1956. (You can hear the song by clicking 
From November 30 through December 2, 2007, Palm Springs will welcome a “mini-regional” convention of the Red Hat Society. Numerous activities are scheduled as part of the convention, entitled Holiday Oasis, including attendance at the Friday night performance of the Follies. On Saturday night, Red-Hatter participants, along with Exalted Queen Mother Sue Ellen Cooper, will march en masse down Palm Canyon Drive as part of the 2007 Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade.