I love live theater.  Years ago, I owned the Whitefire Theater on Ventura Boulevard.  I leased the theater to David Beaird, a friend of mine who wrote and directed plays.

One afternoon I was sitting next to David as he auditioned actors for a future production.  When David turned to me and started to talk during one of the auditions it made me very uncomfortable.

Afterward I said, “David, that wasn’t polite.”

His answer startled me.

“Alan, when those actors are performing in my play, they have to grab the attention of the audience.  If they don’t, everyone will be bored.  If I’m talking to you during their audition, it’s because they are not grabbing my attention and I’m not going to hire them.”

I couldn’t argue with him about that.

Another practitioner of the “grab people’s attention” point of view is Simon Cowell who created the “America’s Got Talent” show.  Time and again he demonstrates that he responds best to the contestants who command his attention.

Once Daveen and I attended a play on Broadway in which there was no dialogue for the first three or four minutes.  At the center of the stage the leading lady merely sat in a chair, rocking.  Without saying a word, she held my full attention.

After the play was over, I told Daveen that I thought the actress should win a Tony award for her performance.  Daveen pointed out a note in the program – she already had.

I suspect that the ability to “grab someone’s attention,’ is important in many aspects of our life.  Whether it’s in a business meeting, or in a job interview, or on a first date, the more adept we are at grabbing and holding someone’s attention, the more successful we’ll be in getting the deal, the job or the second date.

In a real sense, we all write, direct, and are the leading actor in the drama of our own lives.  Unlike a theater performance, however, our script is entirely improvised.

The best part is that we never know how or when each scene is going to end. And while we are not able to go back and redo the scene, we can pay attention and learn how to improve our performance every time we walk onto the stage.

Alan

One recent evening, when she was ready for bed, I started to sing an advertising ditty to Daveen.

Every day’s a special day at Thriftimart

Every day’s a special day just for you

Whatever you put in your shopping cart

You save and save at Thriftimart

‘Cause every day’s a special day

Yes, every day’s a special day

‘Cause every day’s a special day at Thriftimart.

The tune is probably more enjoyable when you hear it being sung.  But it makes me wonder how many of us remember the catchy tunes from our youth.  For me that was 70 years ago – and I still remember a lot of them.

I know Thrifitmart produced the jingle to attract customers to their stores.  Since they are no longer in business this tune lingers in my memory – an artifact from my past, like Frank Sinatra singing, “Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you’re young at heart…”

We all have special days we remember.  Daveen is amazing.  She remembers the birthdays and anniversaries of hundreds of people – family, friends, and even acquaintances.  Last week she reminded me (four or five times) to wish one of my sons a happy 55^th birthday, (I think he was 55).

For me Saturday and Sunday are special days.  I don’t have to work, and that means I don’t have to solve problems.  All I need to do is decide how I’d like to spend my day, and then do it.  This weekend was particularly special.  The USC Trojans won their football game and remain undefeated.  Next month they will play their archrivals, the UCLA Bruins, who are also undefeated.  For me that will certainly be another special day.  I might even buy a ticket to the Rose Bowl to enjoy it in person.

When I begin writing a blog I seldom know where it will lead me or how it’s going to end.  As someone famous said, “No surprise for the author, no surprise for the reader.”  When I started writing this, I didn’t know I would discover something new about myself.

As I contemplate how I spend my days, I realize – every day is special because I’m here.  That’s all I need.

Next time we’re together, if you ask me, I’ll sing you the Thriftimart jingle, to remind us both that – yes — Every day is special just for you.

And you and I are special too.

Alan

I have always lived in Los Angeles, California, with a population of millions.  Yesterday I visited Stevenson, Washington with a population of 1,414.

Daveen and I enjoyed both lunch and dinner in a Mexican restaurant.  At dinner we began chatting with the server, who turned out to be the owner and was also originally from Los Angeles.  She expressed the same concerns I have heard from restaurant owners in L.A.

“My business held up through the pandemic,” she said.  “We do a lot of take-out business, and that continued to do fine.  But in the past few months our orders are way down, and I might have to close.”

Another one of the challenges has been staffing the restaurant.  According to her, the state of Washington has implemented a program that pays the rent and utilities for many of their residents who, as a result, don’t have to work.  Presumably, their subsidized income is not high enough to pay for restaurant food. I have heard similar complaints from restaurant owners in Los Angeles, and some have closed or limited their hours because they aren’t able to hire enough employees.

I founded ACF more than fifty years ago and, just like the restaurant owner, we are also having difficulty in filing vacant staff positions.  Fortunately, we have the option of outsourcing some of that work to other companies.  But that alternative doesn’t exist in Stevenson.

Since our entire ACF investment portfolio is in retail shopping centers, I am always interested in the successes or challenges faced by our tenants.  Every time I drive down Ventura Boulevard, I take note of the vacant retail space.  There is more today than at any time that I can remember.

It’s important, however, to heed the advice given during the Great Depression in the 1930’s by the extraordinary stock market trader Bernard Baruch.  When asked what he expected the stock market to do he replied, “It will fluctuate.”

And whether we are owners, employees, or investors, that is exactly what we can expect in the future.  Things will fluctuate.

That is true whether you live in Los Angeles, or Stevenson, Washington, or any point in between.

Alan