WA2K Radio is now on the air

Well, dj. That's an odd one as well, Canada. Rather like a moth drawn to the flame, no? often it is nice to get a little background on certain songs as they can be esoteric.

Something tells me that dys will appreciate the dedication even more than the porche.<smile>

A goodnight poem:

My Star
by Robert Browning.

All, that I know
Of a certain star
Is, it can throw
(Like the angled spar)
Now a dart of red,
Now a dart of blue
Till my friends have said
They would fain see, too,
My star that dartles the red and the blue!
Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled:
They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it.
What matter to me if their star is a world?
Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it.

Goodnight, my friends.
From Letty with love.

"Dominique, oh Dominique
Over the land he plods along
Never looking for reward
He just talks about the Lord, he just talks about the Lord, he just talks about the Lord

At a time when John Lackland
Over England was the king
Dominic was in the backland
Fighting sin like anything

Now a heretic one day
Among the thorn forced him to crawl
Dominic with just one prayer
Made him hear the good Lord's call

Without horses or fancy wagon
He crossed Europe up and down
Poverty was his companion
As he walked from town to town

To bring back the straying liars
And the lost sheep to the fold
He brought forth the Preaching Friars
Heaven's soldiers brave and bold

One day in the budding Order
There was nothing left to eat
Suddenly two angels walked in
With a load of bread and meat

Dominic once in his slumber
Saw the Virgin coat unfurled
Over Friars without number
Preaching all around the world

Grant us now oh Dominic
The grace of love and simple mirth
That we all may help to quicken
Godly love and truth on earth"

Sung partly in French, the song was riding high at #1 on the American charts while the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" was held back at #2. The Singing Nun also has the distinction of being the only Belgian-born singer to hit #1 in America. So popular was she, in '65 MGM even made a big musical about her called, of course, The Singing Nun, and starring Debbie Reynolds. The film wasn't respected by the Singing Nun herself, who called it "a film of fiction." Some of the movie's ads showed Debbie, in her nun's habit, a guitar strapped across her back, smiling and riding a motor scooter like any '60s teen. The movie also added a male character played by Chad Everett that the Singing Nun is attracted to. Reviewer Leonard Maltin wrote that the movie was "syrupy." The film The Singing Nun did receive one Oscar nomination -- Best Music Adaptation, but it lost to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The lyrics Debbie Reynolds sang in the movie were different from the Singing Nun's original words; here are the movie lyrics:

"Dominique, nique, nique I will tell of Dominique
His goodness to acclaim
And I pray the song I sing
Will some simple pleasure bring
That the world shall know his name!

I will tell of Dominique as I sing this little song
And when I sing the chorus all the world will sing along!

Dominique, nique, nique it was good Saint Dominique
He lived for you and me
From his labors long ago
Came a better world I know! And his love shall always be!

'Though I'm poor,' said Dominique as he spoke unto the Lord,
'I will be your humble servent and your love is my reward!'

Dominique, nique, nique I will follow Dominique
His burdens will I share
For his courage will I pray
His teachings to obey! His words shall be my prayer!

By the kindness of his heart and the labor of his hand
He brought love and understanding as he wandered through the land!

Dominique, nique, nique I will tell of Dominique
His goodness to acclaim
And I pray the song I sing
Will some simple pleasure bring! All the world shall know his name!

Dominique the mighty warrior was a soldier of ther Lord
His armor was devotion and the Gospel was his sword!

Dominique, nique, nique it was good Saint Dominique
He lived for you and me
From his labors long ago
Came a better world I know! And his love shall always be!

Through the blazing heat of summer and the chill of winter snow
I will follow Dominique! In his footsteps I will go!

Dominique, nique, nique I will follow Dominique
His burdens will I share
For his courage will I pray
His teachings to obey! His words shall be my prayer!"

http://home.earthlink.net/~nuttbait/singing_nun.htm

Good morning, WA2K radio fans and contributors.

Hey, Rex. That was an interesting song of history and fiction, Maine. Often we find, unfortunately, that the two have odd similarities. Hmmm. Need to check out John Lackland, I guess.


From Stevie Wonder:

For Once In My Life

For once in my life I have someone who needs me
Someone I've needed so long
For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me
And somehow I know I'll be strong

For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of
Long before I knew
Someone warm like you
Would make my dreams come true

For once in my life I won't let sorrow hurt me
Not like it hurt me before
For one, I have something I know won't desert me
I'm not alone anymore

For once, I can say, this is mine, you can't take it
As long as I know I have love, I can make it
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me

That's The Way Love Is
Bobby Darin

You're feeling low and oh, so small
Then suddenly you're eight feet tall
She just walked in the room
And the gloomy room just glows
That's the way love is
That's how it goes

You're such a drag from nine 'til five
Then all at once you're so alive
It's just the way she winks her eye
Or wrinkles her nose
That's the way love is
That's how it goes

It's the world's oldest unsolved riddle
The kind of game you just can't win
And if you come up with the answer
You're a better man sir, than I, Gunga Din

So when that tingle hits you deep
And you're tired but you just can't sleep
Don't you take my word
Go and ask anyone who knows
That's the way love is
That's how it goes

It's the world's oldest unsolved riddle
The kind of game you just can't win
You come up with the answer
And you're a better man sir, than I, Gunga Din

So when that tingle hits you deep
And you're tired you don't sleep
Don't you take my word
Go and ask anyone who knows
That's the way love is
That's how it goes
That's how it goes
That's how it goes

Hey, edgar. Thanks for the Bobby Darin song, Texas. Yes, buddy. I think those lyrics say a lot about love, whether it be between a man and a woman or among friends or family.



WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN
PERCY SLEDGE

When a man loves a woman
Can't keep his mind on nothin' else
He'd trade the world
For a good thing he's found
If she is bad, he can't see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend If he puts her down

When a man loves a woman
Spend his very last dime
Trying to hold on to what he needs
He'd give up all his comforts
And sleep out in the rain
If she said that's the way
It ought to be

When a man loves a woman

Billie Holiday » When A Woman Loves A Man

Johnny Mercer / Bernie Hanighen / Gordon Jenkins

Maybe he's not much, just another man
Doing what he can
But what does she care
When a woman loves a man
She'll just string along
All through thick and thin
Till his ship comes in
It's always that way
When a woman love a man
She'll be the first one to praise him
When he's goin' strong
The last one to blame him
When everything's wrong
It's such a one-sided game that they play
But women are funny that way
Tell her she's a fool
She'll say yes, I know
But I love him so
And that's how it goes
When a woman loves a man
I tell I her she's a fool
She'll say yes, I know
But I love him so
And that's how if goes
When a woman loves a man

Welcome back, Francis. Billy Holiday and Johnny Mercer are a great combination, no? I do wonder why she was referred to as "Lady Day?"

Your song by Billie reminds me of this one, a co-dependent type thing:

Billie Holiday
» My Man


Channing Pollock/Maurice Yvain / Albert Willemetz/Jaques Charles

It cost me a lot
But there's one thing that I've got
It's my man
It's my man

Cold or wet
Tired, you bet
All of this I'll soon forget
With my man

He's not much on looks
He's no hero out of books
But I love him
Yes, I love him

Two or three girls
Has he
That he likes as well as me
But I love him

I don't know why I should
He isn't true
He beats me, too
What can I do?

Oh, my man, I love him so
He'll never know
All my life is just despair
But I don't care
When he takes me in his arms
The world is bright
All right

What's the difference if I say
I'll go away
When I know I'll come back
On my knees someday

For whatever my man is
I'm his forevermore

Good morning everyone, what a lovely day it looks set to be.
I was thinking of a trip to town, when she said, "If you do that…

A Man Could Get Arrested
(Do it. Do it. Do it now. Do it.)
PET SHOP BOYS

Late on Tuesday evening such a commotion in the street
Someone broke a window and someone's head got beat
A wave of breaking bottles crashed across the city street
and someone got arrested for a breach of the peace

If you wanna walk, don't talk, do it
If you wanna earn, learn how to do it
And if you wanna ride, don't hide, do it
If you wanna stay, don't say, prove it

How much longer you gonna sit and talk to me?
You've got so many problems and a split personality
You want to see a doctor before our love is tested
How much longer? A man could get arrested

If you wanna walk, don't talk, do it
If you wanna earn, learn how to do it
And if you wanna ride, don't hide, do it
And if you wanna stay, don't say, prove it

You got your health, you got everything, that's what my doctor said
You may not have much cash but you've got a roof over your head
Of course I said I loved you not just 'cause you insisted
How much longer? A man could get arrested

If you wanna walk, don't talk, do it
If you wanna earn, learn how to do it
If you wanna ride, don't hide, do it
If you wanna stay, don't say, do it, do it

Oh babe, why don't we do it now?
Do it now
Oh babe, why don't we do it now?
Why don't we do it now?

Here is the original:

Sur cette terr', ma seul' joie, mon seul bonheur
C'est mon homme.
J'ai donné tout c'que j'ai, mon amour et tout mon cœur
À mon homme
Et même la nuit,
Quand je rêve, c'est de lui,
De mon homme.
Ce n'est pas qu'il est beau, qu'il est riche ni costaud
Mais je l'aime, c'est idiot,
I'm'fout des coups
I'm'prend mes sous,
Je suis à bout
Mais malgré tout
Que voulez-vous

Je l'ai tell'ment dans la peau
Qu'j'en d'viens marteau,
Dès qu'il s'approch' c'est fini
Je suis à lui
Quand ses yeux sur moi se posent
Ça me rend tout' chose
Je l'ai tell'ment dans la peau
Qu'au moindre mot
I'm'f'rait faire n'importe quoi
J'tuerais, ma foi
J'sens qu'il me rendrait infâme
Mais je n'suis qu'un' femme
Et, j'l'ai tell'ment dans la peau ...

Pour le quitter c'est fou ce que m'ont offert
D'autres hommes.
Entre nous, voyez-vous ils ne valent pas très cher
Tous les hommes
La femm' à vrai dir'
N'est faite que pour souffrir
Par les hommes.
Dans les bals, j'ai couru, afin d'l'oublier j'ai bu
Rien à faire, j'ai pas pu
Quand i'm'dit : "Viens"
J'suis comme un chien
Y a pas moyen
C'est comme un lien
Qui me retient.

Je l'ai tell'ment dans la peau
Qu'j'en suis dingo.
Que cell' qui n'a pas aussi
Connu ceci
Ose venir la première
Me j'ter la pierre.
En avoir un dans la peau
C'est l'pir' des maux
Mais c'est connaître l'amour
Sous son vrai jour
Et j'dis qu'il faut qu'on pardonne
Quand un' femme se donne
À l'homm' qu'elle a dans la peau ...

Wow!, Try. Pet Shop Boys. That's a new one. They do have something to say, however. Quit talking and do it sounds like good advice. Would that it were that easy.<smile>

Francis, that translation is lovely, Paris. As always, the sound of the romance languages are so very easy on the ear, even yours.

Crying over Camille is a standing thing between the Prince and me, and I have always felt that Moulin Rouge was a remake. (have never seen Camille in my life.)

So, let's listen to a song from The Red Mill:

Artist: Valeria Lyrics
Song: The Rhythm of the Night Lyrics

Dance all night [x3]
(Nicole Kidman) I believe you were expecting me
Dance all night [x3]
It is called the Moulin Rouge
Let's dance!

Feel the beat of the rhythm of the night
Feel the rhythm
Forget about the worries on your mind
On your mind
Feel the beat of the rhythm of the night
Feel the rhythm
Forget about the worries on your mind

When it feels like
the world is on your shoulders
and all of the madness
has got you goin crazy

It's time to get out
step out onto the street
Where all of the action
is right there at your feet
well...
I know a place where we can
dance the whole night away
and it's called the Moulin Rouge
oh...
Just come with me and we can
shake your blues right away
You'll be doin fine once the music starts...Oh!

[chorus]
To the beat of the rhythm of the night
dance until the morning light
Forget about the worries on your mind
we can leave them all behind
To the beat of the rhythm of the night..
oohh the rhythm of the night..
Forget about the worries on your mind
we can leave them all behind...
oh lalalalala
oh lala

Look at on the street now
the party's just beginning
The music's playing
a celebration's starting

Under street lights
the scene is being set
A night for romance
A night you won't forget, so

[Bridge:]
Come join the fun
this ain't no time to be staying home
mmm..the Moulin Rouge is going on...oh!
tonight is gonna be night like you've never known
We're gonna have fun the whole night long...
oh!

[Chorus]

[spanish]
Cuando sientes que el mundo
está encima de tí
y la vida te tienes como loca
conozco un lugar
donde podemos bailar

and it is called Moulin Rouge
[Chorus repeats]

OH RHYTHM WANNA FEEL THE RHYTHM

Announcement:

September 18, 2006 - 2:45PM (l hr and 50 minutes) Channel TCM -
Camille - Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore -

Program your VCR, Letty, and have a box of Kleenex handy when viewing. (It's not Wuthering Heights, but it runs a close second along with Waterloo Bridge.)

And a Happy 69th Birthday to:



and a Good Day to all.

Ah, Raggedy. I adore Dustin. He is in line with Kevin Spacey and others, both in performance and face. Thanks, PA. Guess I need a good cry Tears are cleansing, even when they are vicariously spent.

Well, guess we better play one for Dustin:

Dust in Time
Nina Simone, Tony Bennett

Dust in time,you've found me dust in time
Before you came my time was running low
I was lost the losing dice were tossed
My bridges all were crossed nowhere to go
Now you're hear; now I know just where I'm going
No more doubt or fear, I've found my way
For love came dust in time
you've found me dust in time
And changed my lonely nights that lucky day.

I'm laughing, I'm laughing here.

(Do you remember Dustin's lines, I'm walkin', I'm walkin here.)

And it's Dustin time here, too. Although I'd much rather play at A2K.

Sylvia Sidney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sylvia Sidney (August 8, 1910 - July 1, 1999) was an American actress.

Born Sophia Kosow, an only child to Victor and Rebecca Kosow, a Russian-born Jewish couple in The Bronx, New York, Sidney became an actress at the age of 15 as a way of overcoming shyness, using her stepfather's surname as her professional surname. As a student of the Theater Guild's School for Acting, Sidney appeared in several of their productions during the 1920s and earned praise from theater critics. In 1926, she was seen by a Hollywood talent scout and made her first film appearance later that year.

During the Depression, Sidney appeared in a string of films, often playing the girlfriend or the sister of a gangster. She appeared opposite such heavyweight screen idols as Joel McCrea, Fredric March and Cary Grant. Among her films from this period were: An American Tragedy and Street Scene (both 1931), Sabotage and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (both 1936), You Only Live Once and Dead End (both 1937).

Her career diminished somewhat during the early 1940s and a comeback later in the decade failed to renew her popularity.

In 1952, she played the role of Fantine in Les Misérables, and her performance was widely praised and allowed her opportunities to develop as a character actress. She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973), and she was visibly furious at losing to the 10-year-old Tatum O'Neal.

As an elderly woman she continued to play supporting roles, and was identifiable by her husky voice, the result of a lifetime cigarette smoking habit. She was the formidable Miss Coral in the film version of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. She played Aidan Quinn's grandmother in the television production of An Early Frost for which she won a Golden Globe Award, and she also played key roles in Beetlejuice (directed by longtime Sidney fan Tim Burton) and Used People (which co-starred Jessica Tandy, Marcello Mastroianni, Marcia Gay Harden, Kathy Bates and Shirley MacLaine).

Her swan song was in another film by Burton, Mars Attacks!, in which she played a senile old lady whose Slim Whitman music stops an alien invasion from Mars because that particular music makes the Martians' heads explode.

On TV, she appeared as the imperious mother of Gordon Jump on the pilot episode of WKRP in Cincinnati; as the troubled grandmother of Melanie Mayron in the comedy-drama Thirtysomething and, finally, as the crotchety travel clerk on the short-lived late-1990s revival of Fantasy Island with Malcolm McDowell, Fyvush Finkel and Madchen Amick.

She was married three times, including to actor and acting teacher Luther Adler from 1938 until 1947, by whom she had her only child, a son, Jacob, who predeceased her.

She died from throat cancer in New York City at the age of 88, after a career of more than 70 years.

Sylvia Sidney has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures at 6245 Hollywood Boulevard

Esther Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Esther Jane Williams (born August 8, 1921) was a United States competitive swimmer and movie star, famous for her musical films that featured elaborate performances with swimming and diving.


Born in Inglewood, California, Williams was enthusiastic about swimming in her youth. She qualified to be in the United States swim team in the 1940 Olympics, but the games were canceled due to World War II. Williams instead went to Hollywood, where she quickly became a popular star of the 1940s and 1950s. Her brother, Stanton Williams, also had a brief acting career during the 1920s before his death while still a teenager.

Many of her films, such as Million Dollar Mermaid and Jupiter's Darling, contained elaborately staged swimming scenes, obtained not without physical cost to the performer. She broke her neck filming a 50 ft (15 m) dive off a tower during a climactic musical number for the 1952 release Million Dollar Mermaid which landed her in a body cast for six months. She subsequently recovered, though she still suffers headaches as a result of the accident. Her many hours spent submerged resulted in her rupturing her eardrums numerous times. In her autobiography, Williams details several other occasions in which she nearly drowned shooting her oxygen-defying stunts, but she often used a stunt double.

Her love life was a source of media interest. She has been married four times. From 1945 to 1958, she was married to singer/actor Ben Gage, with whom she had three children. In her autobiography, she portrays him as an alcoholic parasite who squandered her earnings. She was romantically linked with Jeff Chandler. Her third husband was actor Fernando Lamas.

Esther Williams retired from acting in the early 1960s and lives with her current husband, Edward Bell, in Beverly Hills. She lends her name to a line of women's swimwear.

Rory Calhoun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown Durgin on August 8, 1922 - April 28, 1999) was born in Los Angeles, California. As an actor he starred in more than eighty motion pictures and a large number of television episodes.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Calhoun has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7007 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 1750 Vine Street for his work in television.

Starlet Lana Turner attended a film premiere with Calhoun very early in his career. Calhoun's agent, Henry Willson, suggested that Turner wear white fur, "to play up the contrast between the actress' blondness and Calhoun's wolfish, black-Irish good looks and dark suit".1 After that, the photos of Calhoun and Turner caused a sensation.

In 1955, Willson gave Confidential magazine, a scurrilous scandal sheet, information on the criminal past of Calhoun in exchange for burying a story about the homosexuality of Rock Hudson, a more successful Willson client. The story in Confidential did not harm Calhoun's bad boy image or his career. That same year, Calhoun portrayed "Alexander McNamara" in the fifth movie version of Rex Beach's 1906 novel The Spoilers, a role played earlier by Noah Beery (1923) and Randolph Scott (1942).

Calhoun also became a pop-culture phenomenon in the 1990's after being mentioned several times by villain Montgomery Burns on The Simpsons episode titled Two Dozen and One Greyhounds, in which he is referred to as the man who is always "standing and walking".

Dustin Hoffman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born 8 August 1937
Los Angeles, California, USA

Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is one of the dominant American film actors of the late twentieth century as well as one of the seven actors to win an Academy Award for Best Actor twice. Hoffman was at the forefront of American cinema's progressive period, a time that saw Hollywood's focus transfer from sprawling Technicolor escapism to character-driven modernism.

Background

Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California to Jewish American parents, Harry Hoffman and Lillian Gold (who was born in Romania but whose parents Max and Pauline were born in Russia).

Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School. His first ambition was to be a concert pianist and he attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. Then, with an interest in medicine, he attended Santa Monica College for a year before dropping out due to poor grades. But his time at the school wasn't wasted when he took an acting class to boost his grade point average since he was told "nobody flunks acting." Hoffman said when he was in the class, he felt totally at peace with himself.

Acting beginnings

Hoffman performed at the Pasadena Playhouse for two years with fellow actor Gene Hackman. Ironically, they were both voted by their class as the "least likely to succeed". Frustrated with the school, Hackman took initiative and got on a bus for New York City, advising Hoffman to call him if he were to come to New York City. Hoffman and Hackman would later befriend another struggling young actor named Robert Duvall.

Hoffman took Hackman up on his offer and soon after followed his friend to New York, where he worked a series of odd jobs, such as coat checking at restaurants, working in the typing department of the city Yellow Pages directory, or stringing Hawaiian leis, while getting the occasional bit television role. To support himself, he left acting briefly to teach. In 1960, Hoffman landed a role in an off-Broadway production and followed with a walk-on role in a Broadway production in 1961.

He also did the occasional television commercial. An oft-replayed segment on programs that explore actors' early work is a clip showing a young Hoffman touting the Volkswagen Fastback.

Hoffman began study with the acting coach Lee Strasberg, and became a dedicated method actor.


1960s: The breakthrough
Through the early- and mid-'60s, Hoffman made appearances early in his career on many television shows, including "Naked City", "The Defenders", "The Nurses", "Hallmark Hall Of Fame" and "ABC Stage 67" and the TV movies The Journey Of The Fifth Horse and The Star Wagon. Hoffman made his theatrical film debut in The Tiger Makes Out in 1966, alongside Eli Wallach.

The Graduate (1967)
In 1966, young up-and-coming director Mike Nichols, fresh off a Best Director Oscar- nomination for his film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, began casting his next film, an adaptation of author Charles Webb's little-known novel, The Graduate. The first choice for the role of Benjamin Braddock, Warren Beatty, soon dropped out. The second choice was Robert Redford, who badly wanted the role, but agreed with Nichols that he was too charming and popular to play the role of a sweaty-palmed, sexually uncomfortable virgin.

Hungry for a role, Hoffman auditioned for the film and, luckily, he came through with the exact amount of awkwardness necessary for the role. Hoffman was cast, and the film began production in March of 1967. The cast included Anne Bancroft as the sexually promiscuous older woman, Mrs. Robinson. Though the age difference in their characters was intended to be 20-25 years, Hoffman and Bancroft were actually only 5 years apart in age difference. Hoffman was twenty-nine.

Hoffman received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in The Graduate. The film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and Nichols took home the award for Best Director. The Graduate was also subsequently voted as the #7 Greatest American Movie of All-Time by the AFI.

After the success of this film, another Hoffman film, Madigan's Millions - shot before The Graduate - was released on the tail of the actor's newfound success. It failed utterly at the box office.

Midnight Cowboy (1969)
The film version of James Leo Herlihy's novel Midnight Cowboy came about in 1965 and Hoffman's name immediately came up for the role of Ratso Rizzo in the film, after producer Jerome Hellman saw Hoffman in his one-man-show "Eh!".

According to Hoffman, he thought he had proactively kinked the Ratso Rizzo chain by appearing in The Graduate, by now an international smash hit. He found his Strasberg training taking over when, to prove his dedication to the role, he asked the producer to meet him on a street corner in Manhattan. Without the producer's knowledge, Hoffman dressed up as a homeless man and begged for money on the streets. When the producer arrived, he took the man for an everyday beggar and paid no attention. Hoffman walked up to him several minutes later and introduced himself. Shocked, the producer questioned no further whether Hoffman could play Rizzo or not.

In one scene Rizzo and Joe Buck (Jon Voight) are walking crossing a street in New York City when a car almost hits the two of them. "Hey, I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!" Rizzo exclaims, feverishly smacking the hood of the car. The quote has become one of the most famous in film history, recently voted #27 on AFI's Top 100 Movie Quotes Of All Time.

Hoffman was nominated for his second Academy Award nomination for Midnight Cowboy. Directed by John Schlesinger, the film won the Best Picture honor at the ceremony, the only X-rated film ever to do so. Cowboy was voted the 36th Greatest American Film by the AFI.

[edit]
1970s: Staying in the game
Hoffman could now get the parts he dreamed of 10 years earlier. Instead of making large Hollywood films, however, Hoffman more often opted to take roles in smaller-scale, character-driven films.

Little Big Man (1970)
In Arthur Penn's Little Big Man, we find Hoffman playing the character Jack Crabb from teenager to 121 years-old (an acting World Record, says Guinness World Records). Crabb is a man who, on his death bed, recalls his life of struggle and adventure. A precursor to films like Forrest Gump, the film found Crabb in the middle of historical events, such as the battle at Little Big Horn, alongside General Custer.

According to IMDb, Hoffman sat in his dressing room for an hour screaming at the top of his lungs in order to achieve the 121 year-old rasp.

Mostly comedic, the film was widely praised by critics, but was overlooked come award season but for a Supporting nomination for Chief Dan George.

Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?(1971)
Overlooked to this day, Who Is Harry Kellerman...? featured yet another Hoffman role completely different from the rest. In the film - directed by Ulu Grosbard - Hoffman plays a Dylan-esque singer/songwriter who finds himself in life-crisis when a man named Harry Kellerman begins to spread ridiculous lies about him.

Straw Dogs (1971)
In his second film since The Wild Bunch, director Sam Peckinpah created one of the most startling depictions of societal violence ever on film. Hoffman (against his will, committed by contract) portrayed David, an American who moves with his girlfriend to her hometown in rural England, surrounded by violent men with lustful intentions.

Often (falsely) dubbed as England's answer to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the film is arguably Peckinpah's least commercial film. It depicts graphically the primality of physical and sexual violence to a shocking degree, a quality that polarized audiences and critics alike.

The film has found a cult audience since the acceptance of Peckinpah as a revolutionary of film directing.

Papillon (1973)
Alongside Steve McQueen and under the direction of Patton director Franklin J. Schaffner, Hoffman made his largest film to date. Papillon told the story of inmates on an island prison who plot their escape.

Domestically, the film brought in more than four times its budget.

Lenny (1974)
In director Bob Fosse's highly experimental Lenny, Hoffman portrayed pioneering stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce in a jarring performance, covering Bruce's onstage charisma and his tragic fall from grace. Hoffman was able to mirror Lenny Bruce so closely thanks to archived audio and extremely candid video recordings.

The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Hoffman). This would mark Hoffman's third nomination in seven years.

In 1976, Hoffman would star in two of the most enduring pictures of the decade:

All the President's Men (1976)
Only four years after the events of Watergate occurred, director Alan J. Pakula put to celluloid the story of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation and ultimate unveiling of the truth behind the Watergate scandal, an investigation that would eventually cause President Richard Nixon to resign from office.

Hoffman portrayed Carl Bernstein and Robert Redford portrayed Bob Woodward in the film, which garnered eight Oscar nominations, though none for Hoffman or Redford. The film remains one of the greatest films about journalism ever made.

Marathon Man (1976)
Reteaming with John Schlesinger, the director of Midnight Cowboy, Hoffman starred in Marathon Man, a film about the human psyche under the stress of confusion, torment and torture. The film was based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, which he adapted into a screenplay himself.

Marathon Man found Hoffman re-facing the themes of distress and anger that he encountered on Straw Dogs, though this film was more conventional.Sir Laurence Olivier starred in the film as the Josef Mengele-inspired Dr. Christian Szell (AKA "The White Angel"), a sadistic Nazi who tortured countless Jews in Auschwitz. Hoffman's character finds himself in the middle of Szell's plans to smuggle diamonds out of America.

In the film's most famous scene, Olivier tortures Hoffman while repeating the seemingly non-sequitur question: "Is it safe?" The quote was voted as the 70th greatest quote in the history of film by AFI. To achieve his character's exhausted look in this scene, Hoffman deprived himself of sleep for two days. Lawrence Olivier commented upon this example of Strasbergian acting by suggesting that Hoffman "Try acting. . . It's much easier!"

For scenes in which Hoffman was to appear breathless, he would run a half mile until the moment Schlesinger called "action".

After this film, Hoffman said that he would no longer play "young" roles like being a college student in Marathon Man (he was 40 at the time of its release).

Straight Time (1978)
Originally to be his directorial debut, Straight Time was a pet project of Hoffman's ever since he read Edward Bunker's source novel. Hoffman opted out of directing the picture and instead handed it over to Harry Kellerman director Ulu Grosbard. Hoffman starred as a thief who, upon being released from prison, decides to go straight. His plans are unfoundedly thwarted by a parole officer who, in turn, causes Hoffman to revert back to a life of crime. The film was based on Bunker's experiences.

Agatha (1979)
In his first true failure, Hoffman found himself in Michael Apted's Agatha. The film tagline describes it as "a fictional solution to the real mystery of Agatha Christie's disappearance." Vanessa Redgrave starred as Agatha Christie.

Controversy arose when the script was adjusted to accommodate Dustin Hoffman's starpower. Agatha producer David Puttnam left the production and swore he would never again work with Dustin Hoffman.

Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979) Directed by Robert Benton, Kramer featured Hoffman as workaholic Ted Kramer, whose wife leaves him unexpectedly to raise their son alone. Hurt and stunned, Ted is forced to juggle his priorities: success in advertising and single parenthood. In tradition feel-good fashion, he comes to see what's truly important and finds himself growing up far too late. When his ex-wife returns to reclaim their child, he finds everything he's fixed breaking all over again.

Hoffman starred alongside Meryl Streep in the film, which earned Hoffman his first Academy Award. The film also received the Best Picture honor, as well as Supporting Actress (Streep) and Director.

[edit]
1980s:
Tootsie (1982)
Sydney Pollack's Tootsie would take two masterful people to achieve: Director and actor. A film about a man who dresses up as a woman to get a job could easily be misconstrued and mishandled, but in the hands of Pollack and Hoffman, the film was successful beyond that of anyone's expectations.

Hoffman portrayed Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor who finds himself unable to land a job due to his stigma of being a "difficult actor" (a title Hoffman wasn't a stranger to). Amidst the threat of ultimate failure and poverty, Michael comes up with a plan: Dress up as a woman (Dorothy Michaels) and land a role on a soap opera. Not only does he get the job, he also becomes an extremely popular character on the show. To make things worse, he develops a crush on a co-worker (Jessica Lange) who unfortunately doesn't know that Dorothy Michaels is Michael Dorsey.

Tootsie earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Actor (Hoffman), Picture and Director. The film would only win one, for Supporting Actress (Lange).

Ishtar (1987)
Elaine May's Ishtar found Hoffman and Warren Beatty as two lounge singers booked at the Ishtar Hilton who find themselves tangled in a web of espionage.

The film received mixed reviews from critics and was nominated for three Razzie awards, though they spared Hoffman.

Rain Man (1988)
Director Barry Levinson's Rain Man chronicles the reunion of two brothers after the death of their estranged father. One, Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), is a successful car salesman while the other, Raymond Babbitt (Hoffman), is an institutionalized autistic savant. Never knowing of any brother, and upon finding out that Raymond is to receive his father's fortune, Charlie takes Raymond away from the institution. Because Raymond refuses to fly, they are forced to drive back to California. During the course of this trip, Charlie finds himself forever transformed.

Because Hoffman shows no emotion throughout the entire film, it took careful crafting to make sure that Cruise's transformation was noticeable to audiences. So Levinson, Hoffman and Cruise worked for two years on this film. In that time, they decided that Hoffman's role in the film was simply Cruise's divine intervention. Because Hoffman's blankness is so strong, the audience shapes him into whatever they want him to be, and feel sympathy. Hoffman's nuanced performance has been hailed as the best of his career.

The performance earned Hoffman his second Oscar, and the film took home three more, for Picture, Director and Screenplay.

Family Business (1989)
After the heaviness of Rain Man, Hoffman took it down a notch with legendary director Sydney Lumet's crime comedy Family Business, alongside castmates Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick.

The film did relatively poorly with the critics and at the box office.

[edit]
1990s: The commercial decade
Throughout the '90s, Hoffman would do many large, studio films.

Dick Tracy (1990)
Warren Beatty directed and starred as the title character in this comic book adaptation. Hoffman would do his Ishtar co-star a friendly favor by playing a small role in the film under heavy make-up. He played Mumbles, a hesitant squealer who speaks extremely fast. The character of Mumbles was supposedly based on producer Robert Evans.

The film was a hit with critics and a smash at the box office.

Billy Bathgate (1991)
Hoffman would reunite with Kramer vs. Kramer director Robert Benton for the ill-fated Billy Bathgate. In the film, the title character (Loren Dean), finds himself working his way up in organized crime in the '20s and '30s. The boss (Hoffman) promotes Billy and he becomes his mentor, just as the sydicate begins to fall apart.

The film failed on almost all accounts, critically and financially.

Hook (1991)
In his biggest film yet, Hoffman played the title role of Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg's Hook. Robin Williams co-starred in the film as the grown-up Peter Pan, who ends up back in Neverland after his kids are kidnapped by the Captain.

At $70 million, Hook was easily the most expensive film Spielberg had made up to that point, and was a huge success at the box office.

The film earned Hoffman a Golden Globe nomination.

Hero (1992)
In Stephen Frears' Hero, Hoffman plays a lowly scoundrel who saves a few people from a plane crash while trying to find goodies in the remains. When a picture of him surfaces, a reporter (Geena Davis) mounts a search for the man, including a million-dollar reward. A much more sympathetic drifter (Andy Garcia) gets involved claiming to be the real hero.

The film failed to perform well at the box office and received a mixed reception from critics.

Outbreak (1995)
Fresh off his smash hit In the Line of Fire, director Wolfgang Petersen decided to make a film fictionalizing the then-threatening Ebola virus. The lead role of Sam Daniels in Outbreak was originally intended for Harrison Ford. When Ford declined, the filmmakers went to Hoffman, who accepted the role. Starring alongside Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland, Hoffman plays the ignored whistle blower in the film.

Outbreak went on to recoup its budget, but made very little profit. The film, though, did receive better-than-average reviews for a Hollywood film.

Sleepers (1996)
In Rain Man director Barry Levinson's period drama Sleepers, four childhood friends find themselves reunited after bloody revenge is committed against their childhood abuser. Hoffman played bumbling defense attorney Danny Snider in the film.

Good reviews and decent box office led the film to cult status with the release of the film on video and, eventually, DVD.

Mad City (1997)
Hoffman starred opposite John Travolta in popular Greek director Costas-Gravas' Mad City, a film about a man who takes a history museum hostage after losing his job. In the movie, Hoffman portrayed Max Brackett, a reporter already in the museum when the event takes place.

Amongst negative reviews and terrible reciepts, the film quickly left theatres and plunged into obscurity.

Wag The Dog (1997)
Working with Barry Levinson for the third time, Hoffman played the role of the fiendishly clever movie producer-turned-war producer Stanley Motes in Wag The Dog. The film (co-written by master writer David Mamet) found Robert De Niro playing Washington spin-doctor Conrad Brean, a man hired to invent a war in order to cover up a presidential sex scandal. When De Niro approaches Hoffman, he finds the solution slowly becoming just another big, fat problem.

The film was shot in just under a month.

Hoffman's Robert Evans-inspired performance in Wag The Dog earned him some of the best reviews of his career and also brought him his 7th Academy Award nomination.

Sphere (1998)
Once again, Hoffman would work with Barry Levinson on the Michael Crichton adaptation Sphere. It tells the story of a team of scientists sent to the bottom of South Pacific to investigate a mysterious vessel, which turns out to be a spaceship, crashed in the middle in the ocean centuries before. Hoffman plays the leader of the team, which also includes Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson and Liev Schreiber.

After being welcomed with a plethora of bad reviews, the film failed to regain even half of its budget domestically. Being that Wag The Dog was filmed after this and released only weeks before it, Hoffman and Levinson managed to dodge Sphere's proverbial bullet.

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
In Leon: The Professional director Luc Besson's adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc, Hoffman portrayed "The Conscience".

The film failed with critics and at the box office.

[edit]
2000s:
Moonlight Mile (2002)
As Ben Floss, Hoffman plays the father of a recently deceased woman, while Jake Gyllenhaal portrays the fiance of the girl and Susan Sarandon plays her grieving, free-spirit mother.

Moonlight Mile, written and directed by Brad Silberling, primarily focuses on Gyllenhaal's character as the three work together to get through their grief.

Though it performed poorly domestically, the film received fantastic reviews.

Confidence (2003)

Working opposite Edward Burns, Andy Garcia and Rachel Weisz and under the direction of James Foley (Glengarry Glen Ross), Hoffman plays mob boss Winston King in Confidence. In the film, Burns' character works one job for Hoffman to pay off money he unwittingly stole from him.

Costing a meager $15 Million, the film failed to make that much in domestic theatres. It did, though, surpass the number worldwide (barely).

Runaway Jury (2003)

Hoffman would finally have a chance to work with his friend of fifty years, Gene Hackman, in Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury, an adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel.

In the film, John Cusack and Rachel Weisz portray two important factors in a large murder trial, one on the jury, working on the inside, and the other playing the outside. Hoffman portrays the prosecuting attorney, while Hackman plays the attorney for the defense.

In a pivotal and dramatic scene, Hoffman and Hackman get to have an argument in the court bathroom. The two friends rehearsed this scene for days.

Receiving good reviews all round, the film performed somewhat poorly at the box office, failing to recoup its $60 Million budget domestically.

Finding Neverland(2004)

Hoffman played the small role of theatre owner Charles Frohman in Marc Forster's dream-like J.M. Barrie biopic Finding Neverland.

The film, costarring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie and Freddie Highmore, received rave reviews, was a hit at the box office and earned the film seven Academy Award nominations - including Best Picture and Best Actor (Depp).

I ♥ Huckabees (2004)

In director David O. Russell's I ♥ Huckabees, Hoffman played Bernard, one half of an existential detective team (the other half being Lily Tomlin) hired to spy on Albert (Jason Schwartzman) in order to answer his questions about the meaning of his life and the nature of coincidence.

The film received polarized reviews and failed commercially, but became an instant cult hit.


Hoffman with Ben Stiller in 2004's Meet the Fockers.Meet the Fockers (2004) is a comedy film and a sequel to Meet the Parents which saw Hoffman co-starring with Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. The film was directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers). In addition to Hoffman, DeNiro and Stiller, Meet the Fockers has an all-star cast of Barbra Streisand, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, and Tim Blake Nelson. The film satirizes both the extreme conservative and liberal ways of life and its release in a US presidential election year was seen as an intervention in the national debate.

Also, Hoffman recently was featured in cameo roles in Andy Garcia's The Lost City and on the final episode of HBO sitcom "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'s fifth season.

Private life

Hoffman has two children (Karina and Jenna) with his first wife Anne Byrne (married May 1969; divorced in 1980), and four others (Jacob, Max, Rebecca and Alexandra) with wife Lisa Gottsegen, who is an attorney, (married since October 1980).

Hoffman is a liberal and has supported both Democrats and Ralph Nader.

Robert Duvall was Hoffman's roommate in college.

Trivia

The rock band Of Montreal made an album called "The Early Four Track Recordings" which tells a fictional, sarcastic story about Dustin Hoffman.

He is 5'5" 3/4 in height.

Connie Stevens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Connie Stevens (born August 8, 1938) is an American actress and singer.

She was born Concetta Rosalie Anna Ingoglia in Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of Italian American Peter Ingoglia (known as musician Teddy Stevens) and singer Eleanor McGinley.

Connie adopted her father's stage name of Stevens as her own. Her parents were divorced and she lived with grandparents. At age eight, she started attending Catholic boarding schools. Actor John Megna was her half-brother.

Coming from a musical family, she formed a singing group called The Foremost, the other three vocalists went on to fame as The Lettermen. In 1953, Stevens moved to Los Angeles with her father. When she was sixteen, she started another singing group, The Three Debs. She enrolled at a professional school (Georgia Massey's School of Song and Dance in Los Angeles), sang professionally and appeared in local repertory theatre.

Stevens then started working as a movie extra. After appearing in four B movies, Jerry Lewis saw her in Dragstrip Riot and cast her in Rock-A-Bye-Baby. Soon after that, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers.

She played 'Cricket Blake' in the popular Television detective series Hawaiian Eye from 1959 to 1962, a role that made her famous. In a televised interview on August 26, 2003, with Larry King on CNN's Larry King Live, Stevens recounted that while on the set of "Hawaiian Eye" she was told she had a telephone call from Elvis Presley. She didn't believe it, but in fact it was Elvis, inviting her to a party, saying he would come to her house and pick her up personally. They dated for a time and she says they remained lifelong friends.

Her first album was titled Concetta (1958). She had minor hits with the songs Blame It On My Youth, Looking For A Boy, and Spring Is Here. She appeared opposite James Garner in a comedy episode of the TV western series Maverick entitled "Two Tickets to Ten Strike," and after making several appearances on the Warner Bros. hit TV series 77 Sunset Strip, she recorded the hit novelty song Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb, a duet with one of the shows stars, Edward Byrnes. She also recorded the hit single Sixteen Reasons (1961). Other releases were Why'd You Wanna Make Me Cry?, Mr. Songwriter, and Now That You've Gone.

Stevens felt she should be given a raise in 1962, and during the dispute with the studio she was placed on suspension. She was also angered over being denied a chance to audition for the lead in the upcoming Warner Bros. musical My Fair Lady. The differences between her and Warner Bros. were patched up long enough, however, for her to star as Wendy Conway in the TV sitcom Wendy And Me (1964)-(1965) with George Burns, who also produced the show and played an older man who watched Wendy's exploits upstairs on the TV in his apartment, periodically commenting to the viewers about what he saw!

She also worked in summer stock, and she starred in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's Star Spangled Girl with Anthony Perkins.

Connie Stevens has had two husbands, actor James Stacy (married 1963-divorced 1967) and singer Eddie Fisher (married 1967-divorced 1969). She is the mother of actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher.

In the 1970s, Stevens started singing the Ace Is The Place theme song on Ace Hardware TV commercials in Southern California and was a guest on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast a few times. In the spring of 1977, she had an appearance at the Muppet Show, and in 1986, she had a regular role on the 1986 TV series Rowdies and appeared numerous times on the Bob Hope USO specials, including his Christmas Show from the Persian Gulf (1988).

Among her charitable works, she founded the Windfeather project to award scholarships to Native American Indians. In 1991, Stevens received the Lady of Humanities Award from Shriners Hospital and the Humanitarian of the Year Award by the Sons of Italy in Washington, DC.

Stevens developed her own cosmetic skin care product line, Forever Spring, and in the 1990s opened the Connie Stevens Garden Sanctuary Day Spa in Los Angeles. Her cosmetics empire has made Stevens one of the wealthiest women in Hollywood, quite the achievement for a woman who was on the verge of bankruptcy in the mid 1980s.

In 1994, she issued her first recording in several years, Tradition: A Family at Christmas, along with her two daughters.

She has also made nightclub appearances and headlined in major Las Vegas showrooms. She was an occasional guest on the game show Match Game.

Connie Stevens has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6249 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, and she has a star on the Star Walk in Palm Springs.

The Screen Actors' Guild elected Connie Stevens as secretary-treasurer, the union's second-highest elected position on September 23 2005. She succeeds James Cromwell, who did not seek re-election. Stevens will begin serving a two-year term on September 25. She received 68.20 percent of the nationwide vote, defeating Lee Garlington, who received 31.80 percent.

She resides in her homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Palm Springs and New York City.

Keith Carradine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keith Carradine (born August 8, 1949, in San Mateo, California) is an Academy Award-winning actor born into a family of actors. His father, John Carradine, appeared in dozens of horror films. His half-brother, David Carradine is best known for his role as Kwai Chang in the Kung Fu TV series, and more recently as the title character in Kill Bill. His brother, Robert Carradine, appeared in the Revenge of the Nerds series of films and has had other significant roles. All three Carradine brothers appeared as the Younger brothers in Walter Hill's 1980 film The Long Riders, with Keith playing Jim Younger. Carradine appeared again for Hill in 1981's Southern Comfort.

His daughter by actress Shelley Plimpton is Martha Plimpton, who was conceived when her parents appeared together in the Broadway musical Hair.

Carradine's first notable film appearance was in director Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller in 1971. He went on to play one of the principal characters in Altman's critically acclaimed 1975 movie Nashville and his song from that movie, "I'm Easy", was a popular music hit in 1976. Carradine won an Oscar for Best Original Song for writing the tune.

He has worked several times in the offbeat films of Altman's protégé Alan Rudolph, playing a disarmingly candid madman in Choose Me (1984), an incompetent petty criminal in Trouble in Mind (1985) and an American artist in 1930s Paris in The Moderns (1988). He also had a cameo role as Will Rogers in Rudolph's 1994 film about Dorothy Parker, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Carradine co-starred with Daryl Hannah as homicidal sociopath John Netherwood in the 1995 thriller The Tie That Binds.

Other works include Emperor of the North Pole (1973), Pretty Baby (1978), Chiefs, a television miniseries in 1983, and My Father My Son, a television movie in 1988,

In 1984 he appeared in the video for Madonna's single Material Girl. During the shooting of the video Carradine and Madonna had a short affair.

In the early 90's he played the lead role in the Tony Award winning musical, the Will Rogers Follies. He was nominated for Broadway's 1991 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for this role.

More recently, Keith Carradine enjoyed a starring role on the ABC sitcom Complete Savages, and played Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood. He has also appeared as a host of the factual Wild West Tech show on the History Channel.

In the 2005 miniseries Into the West, produced by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks, Carradine played Richard Henry Pratt.

He has two children by his ex-wife Sandra Will Carradine (married 6 February 1982, separated 1993): Cade Richmond Carradine, born on July 19, 1982, and Sorel Johannah Carradine, born on June 18, 1985.

Here are some tips for looking like you are working hard:

Never walk down the hall without a document in your hands. People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they're heading for the cafeteria. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they're heading for the toilet. Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do.

Use computers to look busy. Any time you use a computer, it looks like "work" to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, calculate your finances and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. These aren't exactly the societal benefits that the proponents of the computer revolution would like to talk about but they're not bad either. When you get caught by your boss and you *will* get caught - your best defense is to claim you're teaching yourself to use new software, thus saving valuable training dollars.

Messy desk. Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like you're not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your cubicle, bury the document you'll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.

Voice Mail. Never answer your phone if you have voice mail. People don't call you just because they want to give you something for nothing - they call because they want YOU to do work for THEM. That's no way to live. Screen all your calls through voice mail. If somebody leaves a voice mail message for you and it sounds like impending work, respond during lunch hour when you know they're not there - it looks like you're hardworking and conscientious even though you're being a devious weasel. If you diligently employ the method of screening incoming calls and then returning calls when nobody is there, this will greatly increase the odds that the caller will give up or look for a solution that doesn't involve you. The sweetest voice mail message you can ever hear is: "Ignore my last message. I took care of it". If your voice mailbox has a limit on the number of messages it can hold, make sure you reach that limit frequently. One way to do that is to never erase any incoming messages. If that takes too long, send yourself a few messages. Your callers will hear a recorded message that says, "Sorry, this mailbox is full" - a sure sign that you are a hardworking employee in high demand.

Looking Impatient and Annoyed. According to George Costanza, one should also always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.

Appear to Work Late. Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and storybooks that you always wanted to read but have no time until late before leaving. Make sure you walk past the boss' room on your way out. Send important emails at unearthly hours (e.g. 9:35pm, 7:05am, etc...) and during public holidays.

Creative Sighing for Effect. Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are very hard pressed.

Stacking Strategy. It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc. . . .Can always borrow from library. Thick computer manuals are the best.

Build Vocabulary. Read up on some computer magazines and pick out all the jargon and new products. Use it freely when in conversation with bosses. Remember: They don't have to understand what you say, but you sure sound impressive.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: DON'T forward this to your boss by mistake!!!