'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' premieres Friday at Eastlight Theatre

Ian Fleming stories are known for their gadgetry, their cool cars capable of doing everything short of flying.

There is one story written by the well-known author of the James Bond stories in which the car does fly and in fact, is one of the heroes. It is even a musical.

The car in question takes flight starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Eastlight Theatre in East Peoria when the production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" opens a seven-show run. It will be the regional premiere of the stage version of the classic family story first released as a film starring Dick Van Dyke in 1968.

"The car will fly. The wings come out of the sides and everything. It's really impressive to see," said Chas Killen, who is directing the show that starts at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 4. Tickets are $18 and can be reserved online at tickets.eastlighttheatre.com (there is a $1 handling fee) or by calling 699-7469.

Killen said it was an easy decision for him when Eastlight offered him the opportunity to direct "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as it was long one of his favorite movies from childhood. "It came out during that time when there were family films that had a touch of magic about them, like 'Mary Poppins.' When they made a stage musical out of the original story, I knew I would want to direct it some day," said Killen, a veteran director of several area theatres, mostly Peoria Players.

Fleming wrote the story of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" for his own son and with his wife's encouragement had music put into the story. "Things just kind of fell into place for him and it was made into the movie by United Artists. Fleming didn't do anything like this before or since, but it certainly shows another side of him" Killen said. (There were three other Chitty Chitty Bang Bang books written, but those were written by Frank Cottrell Boyce.)

Killen said the book originally was more of a spooky story, with the children being kidnapped and the car, named Chitty, coming to the rescue. "They later revamped it to make it for family friendly and whimsical, but it is still a good story," he said.

Staging it has taken a lot of imagination, Killen added. "It has been a challenge, but it also has been a lot of fun meeting the challenge. Steve Cordle (Eastlight Theatre's technical director) has done a great job with the special effects, as he always does. He makes the car fly. And he makes it float. Nobody will be disappointed. The effects are like nothing I've ever seen before in this area. The audience will be amazed," he said.

Because of the special effects work "the car becomes a character itself, which is what I wanted."

When the musical was first staged in London in 2002, the Guiness Book of World Records said the car, which flew over the audience, was the most expensive stage prop ever made.

The cast of 40 people is headed by Chip Joyce as Caractacus Potts, Jaret Ledford and Abby Prest as Jeremy and Jemima Potts, Alexis Wraight as Truly Scrumptious and Seth Hannan and Sally Baker as the Baron and Baroness Bomburst. Jeff Joyce portrays the Child Catcher and Kevin Wickart is the Toymaker. Bill Murphy is Lord Scrumptious.

There are 14 children in the cast, Killen said.

"I love some of these names. They are really clever when you think about the characters," he said, noting the closeness of the main character's name to being "crack pots".

The live orchestra is directed by Molly Sloter and Kelleen Purdin, who has worked at Disney World, is the choreographer. Some staging was done by Whitney Urish, Killen said.

Most of the songs from the film, including the Oscar-nominated title song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", are in the stage version. Others are "Truly Scrumptious", "Toot Sweets" and "Hushabye Mountain".

"I really think we will be able to bridge the gap between grandparents or parents who remember the movie and will want to bring their own children and grandchildren to experience it. It would be one of my biggest joys of directing this show if we are able to do that. I'm hoping we can keep our audiences enjoying the show from beginning to end," Killen said.

Cat makes a Q2 profit, albeit a lower one

Caterpillar Inc.'s topsy-turvy year continued in the second quarter; it was profitable, but only about half as much as in the second quarter of 2012.

A struggling mining industry again was the problem and dealer reductions in inventory added to it, the company reported Wednesday.

But again the company still made a profit and it expects higher profits in the second half of 2013 even though it lowered its outlook for the remainder of the year.

Company executives remained upbeat even though it was the third consecutive quarter in which Caterpillar missed Wall Street expectations and the second consecutive quarter it lowered its outlook.

"Even though our sales and profit in the second quarter are down from last year, I'm pleased with how our team has performed. We've taken action to respond to the economic environment we find ourselves in, and operationally, the team has done a great job," said Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman.

Noting the $1 billion in dealer machine inventory reductions and a reduction of $1.2 billion in its own inventory in the quarter, Oberhelman said the company's revised outlook "doesn't reflect additional currency losses or reductions in our inventory during the second half of 2013. As a result, we expect profit to improve in the second half of the year."

Caterpillar reported a profit of $960 million, or $1.45 a share, in the second quarter, which was 43 percent lower than the record profit delivered in the second quarter of 2012, $1.7 billion, or $2.54 a share.

Sales and revenues were off more than 15 percent, from $17.4 billion to $14.6 billion.

Both profits and revenues were well below the estimates of Wall Street analysts. The consensus of 19 analysts predicted a profit of $1.70 a share and revenues of $14.92 billion.

That along with the lowered outlook for the rest of 2013 brought Caterpillar's stock value down more than $2, to $83.44 a share at the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. More than 16.5 million shares, or more than 2½ times the daily average, were traded on Wednesday.

For the first half of 2013 profit was $1.84 billion, or $2.82 a share, compared with $3.29 billion, or $5.04 a share, recorded in the first six months of 2012. Sales and revenues for the first half of the year were $27.37 billion, compared with $31.97 billion a year earlier.

In a conference call with analysts, Caterpillar executives were quick to remind their listeners that the numbers posted in the second quarter and first half of 2012 were all-time highs for the company and thus any decline from those numbers seemed more pronounced.

They continued accentuate positives, including the high cash position the company is in because of the reduction in its own inventory as well as in research and development expenses.

Oberhelman said the company is "underselling end-user demand this year and it sets us up for better sales in 2014."

Oberhelman said that operationally, "we've done very well. We've taken action to aggressively lower costs, and we've been successful in the marketplace with end-user demand for Cat machines outpacing the industry overall. In addition, our business in China improved — our sales and end-user demand for Cat machines were up in the quarter while the overall construction equipment industry was down. Cash flow was outstanding and coupled with our strong balance sheet, puts us in a position to repurchase more Caterpillar stock this year. I am confident we are positioned to improve results in the second half of 2013."

Other executives also emphasized that despite lower sales in the mining and construction industries, Caterpillar still performed better than its competitors and that there are signs a turnaround is coming. For example, the company said, actual commodity production in the mining industry was up in the second quarter, which bodes well for Caterpillar when mining company loosen the reins on equipment purchases. "The long-term prospects are very attractive," said Mike Dewalt, director of investor relations.

The company revised its outlook for the year to reflect sales and revenues from $56 billion to $58 billion, with profit of about $6.50 a share at the middle of the sales and revenues outlook range. The previous outlook for 2013 sales and revenues was $57 billion to $61 billion, with profit of about $7 a share at the middle of the sales and revenues outlook range.

The company said the lower outlook was less about demand than about a larger-than-expected reduction in inventory. "During the second quarter, dealers increased their utilization of inventory from our product distribution centers, which allows them to meet customer demand with less inventory," Oberhelman said. "With the sharp reduction in dealer inventory and the decline in mining, 2013 is turning out to be a tough year and we've already taken action to reduce costs. During the first half of the year, we've had temporary factory shutdowns, rolling layoffs throughout much of the company, reductions in our flexible workforce, and we've reduced discretionary and program costs. While we've taken significant action already, we will be taking additional cost reduction measures in the second half of 2013."

Caterpillar's worldwide workforce was 122,402 at the end of the second quarter, about 10,400 less than a year earlier. A significant portion of that, more than 6,500, was because of diverstitures, including the sale of the company's interest in a third party logistics business and some of the Bucyrus distribution business.

Also, the company's flexible workforce was reduced by nearly 10,000.

Brad Halverson, group president and chief financial officer, said the company is not ready to start sounding any alarms about its finances. Rather, it is focusing on executing plans, making good resource decisions and implementing the Caterpillar Enterprise System full-force so as not to be as affected by a down cycle.

"We've managed cycles around here for a long time. This is no different. We are managing this one. We want to make sure people understand that," Halverson said in a meeting with reporters.

Halverson said Caterpillar's balance sheet is "very strong" and that the second quarter was outstanding in terms of cash flow. With that, he added, the company will continue to invest in capital expenditures and research and development "and we are going to be smarter about the things we want or need that could be delayed."

The company said sales and revenues were down in each of its machinery and power systems segments, down 17 percent total, and up 7 percent in its financial products business.

The top performing equipment segment was power systems, which Halverson noted was the segment with the most diverse product line. That segment was down 5 percent, while construction industries sales were off 9 percent. Sales in the resource industries segment, which includes mining, was down 34 percent.

That was significant, DeWalt said, because the resources industries segment accounts for 24 percent of Caterpillar's total business.

The company also revised its economic outlook downward because of slower-than-expected worldwide economic growth. Caterpillar now expects worldwide economic growth of about 2 percent, slightly lower than last year.

"Although we expect some improvement in the second half, the improvement will be less than previously expected," the company said.

‘The Water Thief’: A Gripping, Chilling Read

It’s not lazy slang to say “dystopian,” like, “Do you like dystopian or dat topian?”

(Or, “Hey! Are utopian me?”)

“Dystopian” is the opposite of “utopian.” Dystopia is a miserable setting like the movies “Mad Max,” “Children of Men” or “A Handmaid’s Tale,” and Nicholas Lamar Soutter’s 230-page 2012 novel is a dystopian book in the vein of “Fahrenheit 451,” “1984” and “Brave New World.”

Plus, it’s a crackling good read, and one that simultaneously curdles the blood and unleashes the adrenalin.

That’s good, because a subtext to Soutter’s plot is reminiscent of the familiar smart-aleck response to the question, “What do you think of ignorance and apathy?” 

“I don’t know and I don’t care!” 

A complacent attitude has contributed to the near-future society depicted in “The Water Thief.”

Soutter's award-winning novel follows Charles Thatcher, a mid-level employee who becomes curious about the old times of government, when human beings were not yet treated like commodities and traded like assets or excess inventory.

At one point, starting to question why he has to pay corporations to work, live and, really, exist, Thatcher thinks, “Well, at least it’s not government.”

Soutter writes. "The only real check against corruption is vigilance. That was the death of republics: They thought the system was enough to protect them, that they didn't need to be involved. Citizens let go of the rope, nobody voted, nobody got educated on the complexities of governing. And the corporations moved in."

Indeed, in “The Water Thief,” society has become dominated – no, absorbed – by corporations. It’s a feudal civilization, yet modern, the logical outcome of extreme deregulation, which has enabled – empowered – businesses to assume control in a sort of ultimate hostile takeover.

The ideal of “small government” has become the reality of “no government,” leading to a situation British economist John Maynard Keynes decades ago questioned, saying “Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”

Thatcher is a nice guy, a little disillusioned but a decent sort who’s no rabble rouser. He, his wife, his friends and background characters that run from assorted scavengers to unbelievably (or QUITE believable) executives interact in an environment where everything is available for a fee, from health, education and legal help, to elevator access, air and water; electricity for your work station; a permit to smoke cigarettes.

Everything.

Thatcher is a private citizen – herein meaning the private property of his employer, Ackerman Brothers Securities Corp. – a Delta-grade colleague from Perception Management, a subsidiary or department that looks for media mentions of his company to manipulate messages, spin facts and otherwise engage in Orwellian public relations that would excite propagandists like Joseph Goebbels or Edward Bernays. He’s paid in a sort of twisted piece-rate, not unlike compensation based on the number of Internet “hits” one generates.

So – Al Gore aside – truth in this society really is “inconvenient” – or at least unpopular and not viable commercially. Add to that a corporate media that televises executions (by hanging) in a reality show that’s a bit like “The Hunger Games” if Ray Bradbury had rewritten it, and the recent blanket coverage of Great Britain’s royal birth or another Honey Bo Boo stunt or Nik Wallenda’s summer tightrope trip across part of the Grand Canyon make us wonder what Walter Cronkite or William Shakespeare would think of “content providers.”

“The Water Thief” is less Terminator-as-corporate-executive than “Mad Men” with a glandular vengeance, spouting unchallenged platitudes like the 21^st century’s most common idiocy: “Do more with less.”

If you think it stretches believability a bit too far, you may have missed that government already is relinquishing its role as mediator and moderator of the economy on the public’s behalf, now protecting corporations more than people. The novel in eerie ways resembles what many of us imagine possible after the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” ruling granted human rights to corporations, and other decisions over such issues as GMOs and DNA gave corporations powers over life itself.

 Further, it wasn’t that long ago when Major League Baseball teams traded players with little or no say to wherever owners wished them to go. Even today, jobs, livelihoods and, arguably, lives, can be irrevocably altered by the whims of executives boosting bottom lines by sacrificing people who’ve become too expensive or obsolete, despite their productivity, ability and loyalty.

In “The Water Thief,” people are urged to spy on others; law enforcement is corrupted/controlled by corporations and create revenue by creating criminals (think of the seizure of property from suspects not yet convicted of crimes, or for-profit prisons unfortunately arising today).

In one lengthy passage that avoids being an Ayn Rand lecture and becomes a quite-gripping debate during a disciplinary hearing with a 1%-er, Thather argues with an Ackerman exec:

“When a corporation fails, when the system fails, the executives will walk away with all their money, and they will say they did the best they could, and that they deserve their compensation, and those who broke their backs every day for the company will get nothing,” Thatcher says. “It’s not fair!”

The CEO says, “It’s the very definition of fair. It’s the workers’ own fault that they walk away with nothing; they choose to. You can’t blame executives for being smarter than them.”

Some may scoff at a comment from an increasingly skeptical character’s thought: “Fairness is nothing more than the distribution of wealth and power as those who already have it see fit."

Then they may notice recent college graduates shouldering unbelievable debt as they cope with a lousy job market or credit-card customers or mortgage holders wondering why the “too big to fail” policy applies to big banks but not everyday consumers and voters who face years of virtual indentured servitude.

Maybe this and other novels can alert readers to stop and think, “Wait; what?”

Oh Sweet Lorraine: A Love Song 75 Years in the Writing

These are the types of stories we live for at The Peorian! Earlier this year, Jacob Colgan and Green Shoe Studios in East Peoria held a contest for aspiring singers/songwriters. While they received many submissions via YouTube (as they requested), the most surprising one came in a very large manila envelope via the mail. It was the entry of 96 year-old Fred Stobaugh.

Fred had just written lyrics for a song called “Oh Sweet Lorraine” about his wife of 75 years who had just died recently. Now, Fred admitted to not being a musician and even wrote on the envelope, “P.S. I don’t sing, I would scare people. Ha-ha!” But Jacob was so touched by the lyrics and Fred’s story that he decided to turn the lyrics into a song with the help of other musicians.

He created a short documentary about Fred and recording song. You can hear the song (and see Fred’s reaction) at about 5:50 into the documentary.

"Oh Sweet Lorraine" is available on iTunes and all proceeds go to Fred. So, seriously you guys, go buy the song. You can also view the overall winners of the contest here.

A big Peorian shout out to Jacob Colgan and Green Shoe Studios for making this happen! We are sure somewhere Sweet Lorraine is smiling!