Summer Notes

Summer Notes

Series
WBAI And NPR Playhouse
Original Broadcast Date
1979
Cast
Joe Frank
Format
1 hour
Chronology
Preceded by:	Til You're Gone
Followed by:	Lies

"I notice a metal sheet here, lying beside you.."

"Summer Notes" is the name of a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series WBAI and NPR Playhouse. It was originally aired in 1979. It was rebroadcast without change under the title "Summer Notes (remix)." In 2004, a portion of this program was set to an animated short film.

Synopsis

• Interview with an armed guy on the beach.
• Scenes in which a sugary couple encounters disaster, interspersed by a panel discussion.
• A sailing trip that ends lost in the fog.
• The history of picnics and picnic etiquette. A hike that ends in berry picking and poisoning.
• A man in the street tries to get attention - offers little girl sandwiches and sings "you are my sunshine."
• Outdoor theater, performing scenes according to the time of day.
• The street performer fights with passers-by, threatens them, then apologizes.
• The history of theater.
• The couple builds a fire and catches the forest.
• Joe interviews people about resort communities - Woodstock, a nature resort in the Cook islands, and some sort of retirement community.
• The couple argues, watches multiple televisions.
• Animated monologue describing scenes of summer: a man on the subway shouts, "I'm not dead"; an idyllic neighboring family man goes mad; Houdini's act as the ultimate form of protest; a blind man carries a cripple on his back; shooting people at the beach as art; Joe repeats lines from the street performer and the acted dialog; "the sun shines from one place in the sky."
• Beach technology: radios, beach scanners, seismographs.

Music

• "Hard Work" - John Handy (from "Hard Work", 1976)

Commentary

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