MORE MIZ: Just when you think everything that can be said about "Les Miserables" - the Broadway show currently playing Salt Lake City - along comes something new to say.
I learned over the weekend, for instance, that my neighbor, Norman Anderson - a former schoolteacher - knew "Les Miz" long before it became a star."I read the novel in the original French about 60 years ago," he says. "And I've been reading Victor Hugo ever since. I read him all the time. I like the suspense. But you have to stay with him, sometimes he'll go on for several pages just describing the contents of a room."
Does seeing the Broadway production of "Les Miz" interest him?
"Oh, I don't think so," he says. "I saw the movie many years ago and thought the book was much better. I'd rather read the book."4 EVEN MORE MIZ: And how about that novice reporter who asked a well-known woman to name her favorite Broadway show. When she said "Les Miserables," the reporter dutifully wrote down - and later published - the name of that famous Broadway musical, "Lame Is Rob."4 A ROMANCE WRITER'S BETTER HALF: Bonnie K. Winn of Bountiful is the Coca-Cola of romance writers. She's the real thing. Her latest novel, "Summer Rose," will kick off a new line of "Western" romances for Berkley Publishers. On Saturday she'll be at Waldenbooks in the Fashion Place mall to sign copies of the book.
And she's a great con-ver-sa-tion-a-list.
But when I called the other day, I didn't want to talk to Bonnie. I wanted to talk to her husband, Howard. I wanted to know what it was like being married to a woman who spends her days and nights in the wild world of romantic fan-ta-sy?
"Ninety-nine percent of the time it's wonderful," Howard said. "I really like going home to a woman who's an equal and a friend. Bonnie does more than just Simoniz the baby."
But how about the pressure to live up to her romantic ideals?
"Oh, Bonnie and I realize most of her work is a big chunk of fantasy," he says. "But we do have some nice romantic gestures for each other. We'll try to spend some quiet time together, or give each other a Godiva chocolate. . . . Notice I said `a' Godiva and not a box. After all, this is the real world."4 FAREWELL, EARL: I'm a little late getting the word out on this, but a couple of months ago I did a column about Earl Hansen, the widower who found the fresh blush of romance at age 80 when he met up with a woman he'd met 60 years before in Norway.
Earl passed away a couple of weeks after that column appeared. Family, friends and relatives miss him greatly.
Still, in many ways, he remains a part of Brigham City. Over the weekend I heard someone mention some of the things Earl had done that we could do well to emulate. At least in Brigham City, Earl Hansen's going to be with us for some time yet.