Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 15, 1994 TAG: 9402150265
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Paul Dellinger
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Neither my wife or I had ever been to a blues singer performance, so we bought tickets last month for Bobby ``Blue'' Bland who brought his show to Ellery's Blues & More in downtown Pulaski a couple weeks ago. The venerable Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee proved that old adage that the show must go on.
Bland confessed that he was suffering from a flu bug or something comparable. ``Every time I hit a high note, it just hurts all over,'' he said. Nevertheless, he hit them. He sang his songs, had fun with some members of the audience (directing lyrics to the female half of couples that asked the question, ``Is he with you?'') and drew a standing ovation after the first of his two shows.
You could go for just the show, or you could go early enough to have dinner before Ellery's stopped serving for the evening. Those who opted for just the show missed some fine food, or so all the diners at our table seemed to feel.
People who missed the one public performance Feb. 4 of the Pulaski County High School Players' production of ``Metamorphosis'' missed something, too. Just ask all three judges who saw it the next day in district play competition at Cave Spring High School. All three rated it as No. 1.
The Players used to play to packed houses when they were doing popular musicals, but it has gotten too expensive to offer a regular menu of those. Nevertheless, some outstanding acting goes on in these less well-known, smaller plays. Senior Aaron Parks, who had to convince an audience that he was gradually turning into an insect, was asked by the judges: ``You are planning a career in acting, aren't you?''
It was jarring to hear the cast perform in a Victorian era setting with the appropriate English accents and then hear them relax afterward into the way we all talk. Watching the play, you could become convinced that proper Henry Higgins English was their norm.
Speaking of accents, the late lamented Dalton and Pulaski movie theaters no doubt played the old Cisco Kid features. Seeing a new version of Cisco and Pancho unfold as a made-for-cable-TV feature prompted a peek into Cisco's cinematic chronicles.
It turns out the first Cisco Kid movie was also the first talkie Western, made in 1929 with Warner Baxter in the role (he won an Academy Award for it). Baxter made two more before being replaced by Cesar Romero in six more. After a four-year hiatus, Cisco returned in the form of Duncan Renaldo, the one we remember from the 156 color TV episodes first shown from 1950 to 1956 but often repeated.
Renaldo was replaced by Gilbert Roland for the next six, but returned for the last five films before transferring to television complete with the stirring Albert Glasser movie music score. In the latest version, Cheech Marin made a good Pancho (even if his character was revised to become a family man with six children) but his rendition of a title song made one wish for Glasser.
Cisco and Pancho turned up on radio, too, with a variety of actors in the roles. The last radio Pancho was none other than Mel Blanc, who provided the voices for cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
O. Henry started it all with a short story called ``The Caballero's Way,'' but Cisco mellowed over the years. On the screen, he was the ``Robin Hood of the West'' bringing justice and understanding to the downtrodden. In the story, he was a cold-blooded outlaw who sets up his girlfriend to die in a trap she helped set for him. Who says television can't improve character?
by CNB