Back issues of The Monthly Rickmanista:

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
September

The Films Index
The Rickmaniac Cookbook
Fausta's home page, a. k. a. Emma On Line

The TMD page

The S&S page

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Would you like to contribute to next month’s Rickmanista Review?
Do you have a question to Ask The Rickmaniac?
Would you like to be next month’s Consulting Rickmaniac?
Any film reviews or new recipes to send?
Would you like to e-mail me?
Please do at emma-mail@mailexcite.com

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A Reminder:Raffaella started the Rickman mailing list, ar@onelist.com. If you would like to subscribe, visit www.onelist.com. If you have any questions, write to Raffaella at raffaellaR@mail.dex-net.com

Yes! A few lucky Rickmaniacs will get to see Mr. Rickman on stage as Antony! The October Monthly Rickmanista celebrates the ocassion, and wishes Mr. Rickman continued success in his carreer.

First, my apologies for the delay in this month’s issue. I’m still having browser and computer trouble, and thank you all for your patience.

This month’sLetter To The Editor
This month’s Link, to the Royal National Theatre, also ties-in with the Antony and Cleopatra banner (above) sent by Raffaella.
From Lin, The Rickmaniac’s Survival Kit for Antony and Cleopatra, followed by a photo (sent by a donor that prefers to remain anonymous) from a prior theatre performance.
Ask The Rather Insane Rickmaniac, featuring offbeat advice from Julia, this month’s Consulting Rickmaniac
Instead of The Quote Of The Month, we a re-print of a 1992 interview, also sent by Raffaella, from Film Review
And, since we are in celebration mode, a recipe from Augustina for nuts and bolts, on which we can munch while we eat our hearts out (especially those of us not going to London this Fall).
Fausta thanks Anonymous, Augustina, Julia, Lin, and Raffaella for their help.

The Rickmanista Review

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This Month’s Letter To The Editor

Rickmaniacs know their priorities, and this month they ask themselves the all important question, What should I wear?

Dear Fausta,
What should I wear to the theatre? I have center-orchestra tickets to Antony & Cleopatra.
Lucky in London

Dear Lucky,
Lucky indeed!
Since you don’t specify whether your tickets are for opening night, afternoon, or evening, I’m at a loss. However, a good general guideline is, NO SNAKESKIN, please, as Cedric might mind.
Here are two suggestions, both from the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. They are rather conservative looks, which I tend to favor. The suit on the right, priced at $1,320.00, meets Miss Manners’ criteria for the little theater suit (where little refers to the suit, not the theater. The Olivier is a big theater),

“ . . . the little theater suit . . .’Little’ is a refined way of calling attention to how expensive something is. . . The little suit is usually modestly slim and dark and hideously expensive. This may be worn, oddly enough, to a restaurant or theater.”

Click on the pyramid to visit The Royal National Theatre site

Editor’s note: WARNING: The following is posted merely for your entertainment and should not be considered as serious advice, as it might lead to expulsion from any theatre in the world, criminal charges, and possible confinement in a mental institution. Lin sent

1. Bib – Once considered part of baby’s wardrobe only, in fact the bib can now be seen on fashion runways from Milan to New York. Bibs are HOT! The de rigueur fashion accessory was created especially for the Rickmaniac who has a tendency to drool when seeing AR in the flesh. Bibs come in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and fabric, from a peasant style in claret linen to the black leather bib, which also sports a miniature riding crop. All bibs come with a hidden pocket. (*See No. 2).

2. Tape Recorder – The opportunity to record AR’s dulcet and honeyed tones is enough for any Rickmaniac to flagrantly disobey the theatre’s cardinal rule of no still/video cameras and/or tape recorders by pretending to be unable to read the prominent signs announcing said rule. Theatre staff may become annoyed when they spy a Rickmaniac with a tape recorder. To avoid such fuss, small tape recorders that fit into the bib’s hidden pocket are advised. Should anyone notice the bulge under your bib, tell them you’ve recently gained weight and begin to cry.

3. Tape Measure – A must! As noted in recent posts at the GB, Rickmaniacs are sticklers for detail, detail, detail. Lucky Rickmaniacs attending a performance of A&C will no doubt be delighted to share with those who are unable to attend critical information such as, “Exactly how far away they were from the stage were you?” Hence the tape measure. If sinking into a trance-like state and then wandering on stage is a possibility, DO NOT PANIC. Enjoy! Consider it as the ideal opportunity to measure AR’s exact height thus putting to rest the “exactly-how-tall-is-he” debate. Should anyone suggest that the tape be used for other than the aforementioned instances, please note that The Monthly Rickmanista is a family-friendly Internet ‘Zine.

4. Pen/Marker – A fave! Rickmaniacs who plan to ask for an autograph following a performance would be wise to carry a full range of pens and markers. The thought of facing AR and asking for an autograph only to discover that you own either/or a leaky pen, a dry pen, a broken pen, or the invisible ink pen belonging to your 10-year-old is simply too, too . . . Let’s not go there! Instead, it is advised to carry three to four dozen pens. Conversely, a set of indelible markers is necessary should you ask AR to autograph a selected part of your anatomy. A marker writes smoothly and, if indelible, may actually soak into skin and be impossible to remove, thereby causing all manner of interesting explanations to a Rickmaniac’s significant other.

5. Binoculars – Self-explanatory

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Ask The Rather Insane Rickmaniac

Editor’s note: The WARNING posted for The Rickmaniac’s Theatre Survival Kit applies here, too.
Julia’s this month Consulting Rickmaniac:

Q: I've started my friends on a rigorous converion routine. How do I know when they are true converts to Rickmanism?
A:Your friends let you do this? You have better friends than I! But, in answer to your question,conversion is a very tricky thing, gentle reader. You always have to make sure you don't brainwash them completely. Though it's up to you when to stop converting your friends, here are a few signs to help you tell when you've gone too far.
1. When they yell, "Ma-Ma!" and fall at your feet every time they see you.
2.When they walk around singing French songs, and calling themselves, "Eustacia."
3.They are jealous of anyone who has ever worked with AR.
If you find that your friends have any of these symptoms, immediately expose them to the international online Rickmaniac community, and while you're waiting to log on, why not dance away the rats?

Q: I have tried the conversion routine described by Noel in the June Rickmanista, but even after watching S&S, my husband still doesn't get it. What should I do?
A: Hmm, your husband's mental resistance is stronger than I thought humanly possible! Why don't you try the subconscious approach, like flashing spoons at him, or humming "Ode To Joy" whenever you see money? You could also try whispering pro-AR messages into his ear while he sleeps, or, better yet, play AR's voice to him-who knows? maybe, he'll start talking like him? (And that definitely won't be a bad thing!)

Q:I live in a small town, in which the highlight of the year is a Dustball Fair. I am worried that I will never get to meet AR.What should I do?
A: I deeply sympathise with your position! If you are like the majority of us, and cannot afford an expedition to London, you have to make do, and pretend. Try to obtain a life-size cardboard cutout of AR, and attatch it to your cat. (It's about time the creature did something useful!) Pretend AR is casually walking down the street, and act as you would if it was actually him! If this doesn't work, hope that someday AR will do a documentary about the fine dustballs in your town, and ask you to feature. (If this ever happens, give me a call- I've got one or two terrific ones...)

Q:How do you know these things?
A:I'm brilliant. (And not a bit modest!)

Raffaella, who knows that I’m also a long-term Alan Bates fan, wrote,

Dear Fausta,
I have a couple of things for your Rickmanista Review: an interview (from Film Review) I found in a second hand bookstore in Greenwitch . . . And the "stop press" that appeared at the NT some days after the great news.
Hope you like them.
When I first heard about A&C I thought of you: the day before I was telling my pal Darya about the supposed Mirren/Bates production. Well, here you are the article. PS, it seems the author *loves* run on lines.....

from "Film Review" (UK), May 1992, by David Aldridge

INTERVIEW

Why Alan Rickman politely reckons the write can get sfuffed

Alan Rickman has a love/hate relationship with the press.
He loves to hate it.
"You're damned if you don't.
"If you talk to them, they misquote you.
"And, if you don't talk to him, they just make it all up anyway".
Mind you, being paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
"One national paper attributed an entirely made-up quote to me", the "Die Hard" and "Robin Hood" star explains.
"My jaw just dropped when I saw it". He exaggerately mimics a stage actor's dropped jaw.
"Another national ran a completely fabricated interview. I just never gave it".
Which is obviously why, at the nominations lunch for this year's British Academy of Film and Television Arts "BAFTA" awards, stage-and-screener Rickman politely cold-shoulders any and all national-press advances.
Some he just verbally evades.
But one persistent national newshack gets a flamboyantly-mimed zipped mouth response when she goes after a few words.
"I've declared a moratorium on interviews", confides Rickman, who was BAFTA-nominated both as Best Actor for the true-Brit "Truly, Madly, Deeply", and, by way of complete contrast, as Best Supporting Actor for the Hollywood hugie "Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves".
"Besides, this is my day off (the BAFTA nominations lunch is held on a Sunday).
"I like to just laze".
But Rickman does talk to "Film Review". Sort of. It's a few words here and a few words there as we stroll together from nominations lunch to outside photo shoot, and back to nominations lunch.
At the shoot, which is held in a church courtyard just a stone's throw from BAFTA's London Piccadilly headquarters, Rickman happily signs autographs for some kids.
And he's equally amenable to camera-toting tourists who don't quite believe thet this shy, fair-haired man is Robin Hood's black haired and black-hearted Sheriff of Nottingham, but who snap away at him anyway. But he's far frostier when formally approached for anything approaching an interview.
"It gets hard sometimes", he confesses. "Coping with the lack of privacy."
"Privacy?", pipes up an ear-wigging other BAFTA nominee. "He doesn't get any anymore!"
Admittedly.
Yet Rickman, who's dressed for the occasion in stylishly mismatched grey jacket and blue trousers, does own up deriving great satisfaction from his new elevation to superstar status.
"It's been a great year for me. Of course it has been. I'd be stupid not to be enjoying my success."
And he intends, he says, to pursue where possible his mixing-and-matching of smaller British projects with American blockbusters.
For Rickman, success as a big screen star is obviously a dream come true.
He was, after all, raised on the cinema.
"I'm a Saturday-morning-pictures kid", he confesses, smiling as the old memories flood back.
Now he's making some of the sorts of movies he use to sit all goggle-eyed, just watching. Which brings us neatly to what's next moviewise for this much-ind-emand actor. As the question is asked, the barriers come almost audibly crashing down. All actors are sensitive, even superstitious, about talking too soon about work what-might-bes. Rickman is as sensitive as any of them.
"Let's just say there are a few things about to happen", he tells me, courteous and charming despite his evident discomfort at the question. "But I can't tell you what for a few days yet".
And he edges off to collect his two BAFTA nominations envelopes.

Diane's Nuts and Bolts

Mix together:
1 small box Cheerios
1 small box Golden Grahams
1 pkg pretzels (straight or curled)
2 lb bag mixed nuts
1 small bag of cashews

Melt 1/2 lb butter with a dash of cayenne
Add:
1 Tbsp hickorey smoked salt (seasoned salt)
1 tsp ground rosemary
1 tsp savory
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp marjoram
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce

Pour the butter mixture over the first mixture and stir. Place in a 250 degree Farenheit oven for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

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