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)."

A segment from this program was turned into an an animated short film.

Synopsis

• Interview with an armed guy (Arthur Miller) 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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