"In My Travels"

        I write many of these things because, for such a very long time now, I find myself unhappy with the many of my brethren who honestly don’t give a damn about history being a continual restoration of vigorously being repeated over and over again…

        “Oh, yeah…who put you in charge?” complained a kid to his young pal (that would be me, da pal, not yet da harv). I was just merely a big-time ring leader on a street in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. It was 1941. World War II was about to break loose and, supposedly, change the world forevermore. That’s what was said way back in 1918 when the WWI armistice was declared, a mere twenty-three years before we, the U.S., entered WWII.

A VERY SHORT MUSING

Anything good

Almost anything deemed to be bad

Stem from and are duplications of the past!

Ours up for review

Initially not taken for granted

Not to be forgotten

Lest we ignore God's willingness

Improving our lives together

We human beings

Managing the true depictions of our past

Though not gaining from the horror of its wars!

It’s time

-hk-

        Seemingly within a flash, who would ever have guessed I would still be a ring leader at age nineteen, high up on a hillside, in a place known as North Korea? We were approaching July 27th, 1953, at 9:00 PM, when this stinking conflict was about to come to its merciful end. It happened to fall on a Monday, a good day to start the week. But truthfully, I couldn’t have cared less about what day of the week it was. I cared about coming home alive.

A TROOP SHIP RETURNING FROM KOREA, 1954.

(It wasn’t a good ride. The weather sucked!)

Appearances & Queries

"Appearances & Queries – At Least To Me"

Has there ever been a time in this world of ours when the verbiage “total peace” could honestly, and accurately, apply?
I, very personally, think not!
Perhaps on the morrow, it may
An older man told me
Keep the faith
Now I am the older man
Lo and behold
Still, it seems more difficult today
From then to now
And it comes back to me
The way it was has returned
Anything good feels great
But not quite the old days
“Riding high in April, shot down in May”
As the song lyric says
Why are wars duplications of the past
We know wars won’t feel good
Regardless of the outcome
Even when we win
Most will shed a tear
…And for some…it will never be over

Harvey Kalmenson

"You May Have Noticed"

        So many more times than once in a while, I have been privy to a conscientious objector offering me their steadfast advice about how they just can’t stand listening to or watching the daily news. They also offer how it just plain unnerves them to hear about how bad things are out there in the world.

        It so reminds me of the story I heard way back in grammar school. It was a simple story of what most ostriches do when they are the slightest bit disturbed or unnerved. This popular metaphor is believed to have originated with observations of ostriches that appear to bury their heads in the sand to avoid predators. Some people think this behavior results from the fact that ostriches are so stupid that they believe burying their heads will make them invisible to predators. (In reality, the observed behavior is a myth.)

        And one more thing from back during my days in grammar school: It was my mom telling me how safe she always felt when my dad was around. My dad and I had the very same feelings about mom. Both he and she faced life’s destiny with eyes wide open. Their heads were never in the ground. (Although they did show some nervousness from time to time—especially when I was pitching for our team.)

Harvey Kalmenson

"Time to Pivot"

“To be, or not to be, that is the question...”

[from William Shakespeare's Hamlet]

“To pivot, or not to pivot”

[from da harv]

        I almost always get a kick out of our country’s politicians, banding together in solidarity, when they go back in time in the unilateral capturing of a word—the use of which has been around for centuries. In the speech from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet's quandary is over choosing life or death.

        When a business pivots, it means that it’s changing some aspect of its core products or services. Businesses might pivot to better meet customer demand, shift their target audience to boost sales or some combination of both.

        Often, as is the case for those of us who exist and earn our livelihood in a world of creativity, pivoting is not a welcome experience, but nevertheless, a necessary one in order to keep a business alive and well. Or as well as may be expected.

        From the time and days of William Shakespeare, things they have been constantly changing. Unlike Prince Hamlet, da harv hasn’t ever taken death as a viable deterrent to life’s constant challenges. Today, we’re happy to report to you: at and in the world of Kalmenson & Kalmenson, a successful “pivot” has been accomplished! Today, we come at you, all by way of Zoom. Our Kalmenson Method has a global reach.

        Cathy and da harv stand center stage, hand-in-hand, continuing our uninterrupted ride into the future. Integrity remains the mainstay of the most well-known name in the voiceover world. Ours!

        Please stay tuned, and tell a friend. We’re busy working on expanding our wherewithal to greater heights than ever before! God willing, many helpful surprises are in the wings. Slings and arrows are not our intent. Giving or getting, may well be our will.

Harvey Kalmenson

"Go West, Young Man"

        "Go West, young man!" And, so we did…and found the slogan, all said was almost all true. The pulsating drive beating in the hearts of this young America of ours was with us from its earliest beginnings and remains with us today. “Go West, young man”, was credited to an American editor and publisher, Horace Greeley. The year was 1865, around the end of the US Civil War.

        One of Mr. Greely’s favorite subjects was “Manifest Destiny”. A wildly held belief that Americans were destined to spread all across America. These were the God-fearing men and women in whom Greely had a heartfelt belief. In the 1990s our country was a bubble of growth and excitement. Once again his great design for gathering strength was upon us.

        Well, over forty-five years ago, a new believer came upon his own personal discoveries about acting and, specifically speaking, the newly burgeoning world of voiceover. Da Harv—that would be me—had begun his defined Kalmenson Method for the acting craft of voiceover. In the very beginning, it appropriately began in the evenings at his home studio (in his garage in Encino), on a street appropriately named “Wish Avenue”.

        What follows is less than a totally detailed version of what Cathy, the true misty mistress of what has become the integrity backbone of an unequaled drive for success, personified. Short and to the proverbial point, we two manage, under the true guidelines of what life is all about: togetherhood, all done and accomplished the hardest way possible! Voice casting and education was the road we took.

We picked a name for our company:

Kalmenson & Kalmenson, Inc.
“The Business of Voice Casting”
“The Study of Voice Acting”

So, think no more about life. Listen to what da harv has to say. The fact of the matter is: there is no easy path.

On your chosen path
You see
Without question
There will be
A little
Or far more
Pebbles and stones
Rocks falling down
Sad people and clowns
Forge forward
No time to gloat
Roads often remain cluttered
Ups and downs
Another fork, another town
Good people to speak with
They must be found
It’s never too late for goodness
Never stop trying
Your destiny will manifest
There was once a play
“Too Late For Dreams”
Was what this scribe wrote
He was a young man at the time
Today he proved himself wrong
IT’S NEVER EVER TOO LATE FOR DREAMS!

Harvey Kalmenson

Even I Become Sick & Tired

"Even I Become Sick And Tired"

        It has become almost a daily ritual. Email upon email coming to me and us on the farm. The unfortunate substance of most of it is, without a doubt, the most lethal and unimportant material a human may receive. And, my friends… the senders are relentless.

        Here’s an interesting fact of my life: I rarely give out my personal email… nevertheless, not a day goes by—and I do mean every day of the week—da harv receives a few hundred pieces of mind-boggling crap.

        So, my friends, this Sunday, I write directly to all of you for explicit help regarding this useless and burdensome debacle da harv finds himself dealing with. If any of you have a proven way of defeating this life-shortening situation, please EMAIL me your solution. I will pay a penny for each suggestion we receive.

WE DO NOT WELCOME ANYTHING WHICH MIGHT BREAK THE LAW!!

da harv

"Pronouncement"

(not necessarily to be believed)

        I’ll begin another of my harangue-type of Sunday communications to all of my favorite people out there in "reading land", who mercifully have fallen onto my bandwagon of followers. Please be advised, mine is the form of wagon one becomes hooked on. To the best of my knowledge to date, no “da harv’s wagon’s anonymous”, has yet been formed. If there were to exist, on this planet, a place for readers for every human conglomeration of people in existence, I would pray they could fit on “da harv’s wagon”.

Bitterness

        Occasionally, da harv is forced to inflict his admittedly soapbox approach to life in his own inviable manner. Please don’t judge me for offering my unsolicited advice.

        These days and times are becoming more and more problematic for those of us who, as tradesmen, take part in what is often less than a time-honored profession. We find ourselves immersed in the difficult task of making a living, let alone the mistake and or driving force of having stardom as our goal.

Extras lining up in front of Paramount Studios in the 1920s.

Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS

        Sure the bad times are upon us, and they have become a driving ingredient for substantial complaint(s). But be advised, in the event you are oblivious to the history of acting… lack of work has always been our plight!

        I’d like to offer what follows as a short reminder of what deters an actor from career success. I refer to it simply as bitterness. Here’s the word from a guy who has experienced a smattering of success in his many years of directing.

        When I’m lucky enough to be working, I can’t believe they're paying me to do what I do. Actors and producers have added to my life, not taken from me. Sure, there have been some bad times, things along my way. Some should have been foreseen. Others were unexpected.

        But with it all, I ask you this one simple question: Have you ever experienced elation over what you have experienced as a performer? Your assignment is to make them laugh, and make them cry. Then accept the applause as payment in full. It’s yours to hold on to. To squeeze with joy, and above all, wear it on a sleeve for all around you to pick up on.

Up and down

In and out

All around town

Try not to share bitterness

It rarely cultivates success

Draw a visual of a good time past

Take it with when you audition

From da harv’s heart

I’ll help you make it last

Harvey Kalmenson