Young at Heart Page #3

and his best friend Lenny.

Joe, youre gonna be singing...

- Heard of a van that

is loaded with weapons -

[ Narrator]

Joe is a phenomenon in the chorus...

an 83-year-old who went through

six bouts of chemotherapy...

before ignoring

his doctor's advice...

to join the most

recent tour to Europe.

[ Bob ] Do you have those CDs?

I'd like you to listen to them.

I s this the one that we- That's the one that-

the side that plays, right?

- What?

- I s this the side that plays?

- Yes! [ Laughing ]

- This is the side, right?

The one that says " New Music" on it.

This is the side that plays.

I don't think so.

It's this side.

- When you put it in the, uh-

in the, uh, CD player-

- You put this side up.

Oh, I thought it was

this side that played.

- No, I think it plays with this side.

- Oh, boy.

I'm not familiar

with the electronics.

- [ Lenny ] - I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy -

- -- [Joe Whistling Along ]

- A Yankee Doodle do or die -

- A real, live nephew

of my Uncle Sam -

- Born on the Fourth of July -

[ Stephen Narrating]

Every week for the past decade...

Lenny, Joe and Eileen have traveled

to and from rehearsals together.

A great friendship

has grown up between them.

They call themselves

the Three Musketeers.

- I am a Yankee Doodle boy --

- Should I give it the gas?

- When youre a star, everybody wants you. Right?

- [ Siren Wailing ]

- Oh, boy.

[ Stephen Narrating ] Since Lenny,

an ex- World War II pilot...

is the only one of them that can

actually see properly, he gets to drive...

an activity he performs

with great gusto.

- [Joe ] Lenny, they knew you were coming.

- [ Lenny Laughing ]

They got me.

I thought they would eventually.

- [ Tires Screeching ]

- [ Stephen ] Those are tight turns

you're doing there, Lenny.

- Oh, yeah? Okay.

- Yeah.

- Those are some tight turns.

- [Joe ] I told you he was a good driver.

[ Stephen ] You're gonna have me through

the window in a second at this rate.

[ Eileen ] The way you drive, Lenny,

weve got it made.

Im not going any faster than I usually go.

[ Chuckles ]

[ Eileen ] No. We dont need you to.

You're a good, confident driver.

[Joe ]

Hes got good brakes on this.

We used them just about an hour ago.

- [ Stephen ] What happened?

- Going through a red light.

[ Laughing ]

[ No Audible Dialogue ]

[ Stephen Narrating ]

The following morning...

I drop in on Stan to see how he's

getting on with "I Feel Good"...

a song which, by all accounts,

he seems to have really taken to heart.

- I feel nice -

- Like sugar and spice -

-- [ Continues ]

- So nice, so nice -

- Ive got you -

- - Yeah --

- -- [ Ends ]

[ Stephen Laughing ]

So, do you think you're in tune?

[ Clears Throat ]

Well, you tell me.

- -- [ Snare Drum Hit ]

- - I feel good -

- Nice. Nice.

- [ Chattering ]

- - Like I know I should -

- Nice! Nice! Sugar and spice.

- I feel good -

N ice! No, you see-

I think he's thinks Im telling him "nice."

"I feel nice. " Okay.

You caught me on a roll.

No, it's "I feel nice. "

[ Narrator]

"I Feel Good" is rapidly shaping up...

to be one of Bob's

biggest headaches.

Stans got the rhythm

but cant get the words.

- Dora knows the words but cant get the rhythm.

- You have the " I got you."

- I feel good -

[ Bob ]

- So good -

- - I need -

- Whoo!

[ Laughing ]

[ Bob ]

It's "So good, so good, I got you. "

I got you. Here, you can have that.

Ready? That was so close.

[ No Audible Dialogue ]

[ Man ] What do you love

about Young A t Heart?

- Or do you love-

- Oh, I do! I do. I wouldn't be here if I didn't.

Uh, I mean, this-

And this goes back to way before

we even started going to Europe.

I mean, that's a- that's icing on the cake,

but the cake was there before.

You forget all about...

the creaky bones and...

the knee, the hips,

the shoulders, the fingers.

- Shakespeare's sonnets.

- [ Stephen ] You're a bit of a

culture vulture, aren't you?

I guess you could

call me a culture vulture.

So what are you doing singing punk songs

and rock songs and God knows what?

Well, Im trying to-

[ Laughs ]

I don't know if this will do it,

but Im trying to expand my horizons.

Its kind of fun when you blend together

and you make that big sound.

Sort of makes you

feel good to be part of it.

What a nice bunch of people they are.

You know?

And I say to myself,

they are a caring group of people...

including our director, Bob Cilman.

It's, um, all keeping

your brain going, you know.

It's true-

If you don't use it, you lose it.

[ Sneezes ]

- [ Woman ] Bless you.

- Excuse me. Thank you.

That's the first blessing I get today.

[ Laughs ]

[ Stephen Narrating ]

Bob has come up with the idea...

of bringing back two former members

of the chorus for the show.

Both of them had to leave

because of ill health.

His plan is to give them the Coldplay song

"Fix You" to sing as a duet.

Today I'm off to meet Fred Knittle,

a colorful personality in the chorus...

until a heart attack five years ago

forced him to stop.

- An old cowpoke went riding out

one dark and windy day -

- Upon the trail he res ted

as he went along his way -

- When al I at once a mighty herd

of red-eyed cows he saw -

- A-ridin' through the ragged sky -

- And up a cloudy draw -

- Yippee-yi-ay

Yippee-yi-oh -

- Ghost riders in the sky --

That was the song that we sang

that started the show off.

That seemed to go over pretty well.

We did that all over Europe.

We went from continent to continent

until I became incontinent...

and then we didn't go any further.

There's something about Fred's personality

onstage that makes it all work.

You know, he's-

he's really got this- this charm...

th-th-that comes out of him

when he sings.

And so he's a- You know,

he's- he's pretty magnetic.

[ Stephen ]

Why do you need the oxygen?

I have congestive heart failure...

and it builds up fluids

in the lungs, in the legs.

Um, and so the lungs,

when it's filled with fluid...

you have to have a supplement...

and that's what the oxygen is for-

to replace the space

that I don't have anymore.

That's from years of smoking

and carousing and so forth.

- A lot of carousing, huh?

- A lot of carousing. Right.

Bob Cilman says I have

a high and a low voice.

Um, the high is for ballads

and things like that...

and then occasionally

he'll want me to do a low voice.

- Um-

- How low can you go?

Well-

- Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep -

- So beware -

[ Pitch Lowers ]

- Be-e-e-e-ware -

- [ Stephen Laughing]

- A little bit. I get it down there.

Again, it all depends

how loose my shorts are.

[ Narrator] Fred's partner

in the new song is Bob Salvini...

whose solo of "Every Breath You Take"

where he played a nurse...

was one of the highlights

of the chorus back in the '90s.

[ Bob ]

- Every breath you take -

- Every move you make -

- -- [ Continues ]

- [ Stephen ] Four years ago, at the age of7 1...

Bob developed spinal meningitis.

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes