Five months from "Greenlight" (USA) to "Showtime" (UK)

I wrote my earliest version of  GRUMPUSS in 1969 to amuse my then 5-year-old daughter, Lisa. She must have liked my rhyming tale of a knight sent by his king to vanquish or tame a huge, prehistoric cat, because iN 1991, she urged me to adapt it into an illustrated book and feature film project. I took her advice and in the normal course of development, recorded an audio demo, evocative of the radio programs of my youth.       In 1992, Dick Moran, an old friend from Newton Corner, Massachusetts, came to visit us in California, and introduced us to his companion, Dr. Judith Stanton, Professor of English at Bridgewater State College. He'd told her about me and how I'd entertained the Newton Corner crowd with my songs and rhymes, and she was looking forward to a performance. It was just the sort of thing that happened requently when I went to "the Corner," and I didn't want to let the side down, so I impressed the professor with a performance of my  waddle and the Gurck, long enough and engrossing enough to support Dick's claims.

While basking in well-deserved admiration, my wicked daughter, Lisa, warned them not to get me started. I'd recently recorded Grumpuss, an epic rhyme guaranteed to make us late for supper. Of course, the professor wanted to hear it. Fortunately, I had it on a two-sided cassette and since it ran about 80 minutes, we not only weren't late for supper, but when it ended, Dr. Stanton asked if I could make her a copy that, with my permission, she'd like to play for her classes at Bridgewater State College.       Of course, I was happy to do so, but never imagined it would lead one day to another, much grander dinner in England, at Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlborough.

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