Barbra and the New Time Wasting Instrument

What a treasure. The Great Plotnik has had a movie still of 'The Owl and the Pussycat,' starring Barbra Streisand and George Segal, hanging on his wall for years. But last night he and Ducknik actually got to see the movie for the very first time, and, sure enough, halfway through the film, there's The Great Plotnik, on the right with the righteous mustache and hair o'black. This is the shot that is on the movie still.

But this is how Plotnik remembers the movie -- Barbra clowning around and having a great time. Plot got the job through his guitar player Paul (standing next to him). Paul got the job through Hamilton, a shady but kind Times Square entrepreneur-cum-talent scout who thought Paul 'n Plot's new band might have some promise. So when the production company called him looking for movie extras who were in a band so they could pretend they were actually playing the music in the background, Ham called Paul and Paul called Plot and the next thing they knew they were in a long-ago-torn-down bar on 45th St. discovering how much people get paid to stand around and do very little. It took three days to film the thirty seconds Paul and Plot are on screen, and Plot had never seen the footage until last night.

The Great Ducknik's sister Pleasant Pheasant aka Keeper of the Archives, sent Plot the movie still years ago, and Plotnik actually scanned and then sent a copy of the still to Barbra Streisand in 2001 when she was debating whether or not to record a song he had written for her new Christmas album. Her agent showed her the movie still, and she is said to 'have gotten a big kick out of it,' which is as close as Plot ever got to the recording process with her. Still, maybe it helped, because he is still collecting royalties on that song, though, sadly, a friend just bought the album on Amazon for 99 cents. Plot's share of that sale is probably 1/10 of one cent.

Many people have said Barbra Streisand is a not very nice person. Plot remembers things quite differently. She was funny, understanding to little people like movie extras, and even willing to talk a little bit about music, at a time when she was one of the biggest recording stars in the world, just beginning to work herself into the movies.

By the way, here is the new Instrument of Time Wasting which allowed the Plotniks to view this old film. What a gas.