Another interview with Stephen Sondheim.
Monthly Archives: February 2009
Today's Video Link
Last October, I linked to a couple of videos featuring the team of Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, two very funny Britishers who wrote and often performed silly tunes. From the response I received, I gather a lot of you were unfamiliar with Flanders and Swann, and were quite happy to discover them.
Here's another ditty from the boys…a song about Charles de Gaulle. This is from 1967 when de Gaulle was still president of France and very much in the news. Flanders and Swann decided the time had come to end their 11 year career so they did a final tour, then performed the show for a last TV special. This clip is from that special.
About Facebook
In the past, I've complained here about always being invited into these social and business networking deals like LinkedIn and Grouply. I didn't see what any of them did for me that the plain ol' vanilla World Wide Web didn't, plus I had a bad feeling about some of these services. They reminded me of the loonier religious cult movements where you join and are instantly told that you now have an obligation to get all your friends to join and won't get as much out of your own belonging if you don't. Also, I have my e-mail and Internet routines all configured to work for me and didn't want to move any of it over to someone else's format, nor did I see any advantage to me.
But I broke down and joined Facebook, and so far I'm glad I did because I've actually "networked" to the point of reconnecting with several folks I haven't connected with in many years. I don't care for the fact that if we exchange messages through Facebook, that mail does not wind up stored on my computer like normal e-mail…but so far, I'm enjoying the connectivity.
At the moment, I have 268 Facebook "friends," many of whom I even know. I like seeing the quick lists of what they're all up to and I like being able to occasionally catch someone online and jump into a quick chat, even if it's only to exchange phone numbers and move to voice contact. I still haven't figured out some of the odder features, like what it means to "poke" someone or what the deal is with giving "gifts." But I suppose I'll either master these things or figure out I don't need them. I could also do without constantly being "tagged" with these challenges where I'm supposed to list 25 things I wish I hadn't put in my mouth or 36 parts of my body I shave or whatever.
Oh, look. I just checked and in the last 20 minutes, I got two more "friends"…and they're both people I actually know! At this rate, everyone I know will be on Facebook in about five more years and we can rename the whole thing. We can call it The Internet.
Next Friday
One week from today, a lot of us will be in San Francisco for the annual WonderCon…always a great gathering. If you can get there, get there. That's all I have to say about it except to post this banner again…
Today's Video Link
Here's a great one, especially if you grew up in Los Angeles when I did. Once upon a time, we had a line-up of great kid show hosts on television in L.A. By the seventies, they were all off the air…all except Tom Hatten, who from 1956 'til 1964 hosted Popeye cartoons on KTLA, Channel 5. Tom did other things for KTLA after he got out of the Popeye business and on one show he did in 1976, he brought in a group of local kids' show superstars. This is the closing of that broadcast. Hatten is the one acting as host. The people he says goodbye to are, in order…
- Skipper Frank — Frank Herman was a magician, ventriloquist and a very nice, non-condescending kids' show host who mainly showed early Warner Brothers cartoons on his late afternoon show on KTLA. For a while, he also had a morning program that he'd do from a truck at some remote location. I watched it every day while getting ready for school. I wish there was more video around of the Skipper. He had a great way of talking to kids, addressing us as equals and actually giving out useful tips about how to get through life. I learned a lot from that man, including my first card trick.
- Walker Edmiston — Walker, seen here with his puppet R. Crag Ravenswood, was a veteran of Bob Clampett's early puppet shows, including Time for Beany. (He was Beany for a time after Daws Butler quit.) Walker hosted a brilliant series for KTLA called The Walker Edmiston Show that had pretty much the same format as The Muppet Show did years later. It was just as creative and crowded with fun characters…but Walker did it all by himself. He also had quite a career as an on-camera actor and voiced a lot of the Krofft puppet shows. Lovely man. Here's a link to an obit I wrote when he left us.
- Engineer Bill — Bill Stulla was over on KHJ Channel 9 with his Cartoon Express. He showed the worst cartoons — a lot of Colonel Bleep and Q.T. Hush and Davey & Goliath — but there was something so friendly about his show that I watched anyway. For a time, KHJ had him hosting an afternoon series that each day ran one of the great Laurel and Hardy shorts, and that's where I first saw most of them. So Engineer Bill will always hold a special place in my heart. Also, I made my "TV debut" on an earlier kids' show he had, as discussed here and here. Here's a link to the obit I wrote about him.
- Sheriff John — John Rovick was over on KTTV Channel 11 with Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade, a noontime show that ran really early Looney Tunes and things like Tom & Jerry (not the cat and mouse but the earlier, human versions.) Mr. Rovick was otherwise a staff announcer at KTTV and he was still doing that in '76 when this reunion took place, which explains his reference to coming over from across the street. KTTV was literally across the street from KTLA.
- Bozo the Clown — Vance Colvig was our local Bozo, which was his way of carrying on the family tradition. His father, Vance "Pinto" Colvig was the first Bozo…on records and then on local TV. Before that, of course, Pinto was a cartoon voice actor and storyman — the voice of Mr. Disney's Goofy, among many others. As is explained in the video, the son also did cartoon voices, most notably Chopper the Bulldog in the Yakky Doodle cartoons. Then lastly, we have…
- Uncle Jimmy Weldon — Jimmy Weldon and his puppet Webster Webfoot hosted old MGM cartoons and Felix the Cat adventures over on KCOP Channel 13. As noted, Weldon did the voice of Yakky Doodle…and at one point, the Yogi Bear Show (and therefore, the Yakky cartoons) were on KTTV opposite Webster Webfoot on KCOP and Vance Colvig as Bozo on KTLA. I actually was aware of this when I was nine and watching all these shows, channel-flipping madly because they were on opposite each other and no one had been smart enough yet to invent the VCR.
And once more, I've made you spend more time reading my notes on a clip than it'll take you to just watch the clip. But I have a special fondness for these guys so I wanted you to know all about them. The only major omission for me is Chuck Jones the Magic Man (no relation to the cartoon director of the same name) who took over on Channel 13 when Webster Webfoot flew South. A skillful magician, this Chuck Jones performed tricks and taught me a few. He was one of the few hosts who was more interesting than the cartoons he introduced.
We have someone named imashowbizbaby to thank for putting this clip on YouTube. He (I think it's a he) was nice enough to configure this so I could embed it here for you. In return, I'd like to suggest you subscribe to or at least browse imashowbizbaby's YouTube channel. There's a lot of great stuff there and you won't have to wade through my long introductions to get to it.
Another of the Usual Gang of Idiots
I think Frank Jacobs is the best writer of funny verse in America today and he's also created some darn funny things which don't rhyme. Many of these have been for MAD Magazine, where he's been one of their most dependable contributors. Here's an article about the guy. Ignore where it says he's been writing for them since the early sixties. That's wrong. His first article was in issue #33, which was cover-dated June of 1957.
Exhibitionism
As I've mentioned here, the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles is hosting an exhibit called "ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950." It opens today and is there 'til August 9. Between now and then, there will be some special events…such as the one on March 5 when I'll be interviewing Golden Age Great Jerry Robinson. You can get tix for that event at this link and I suggest you do.
This afternoon, Skirball curator Erin Clancey and I were interviewed on Patt Morrison's show on KPCC radio and we talked about the exhibit for around 17 minutes. If you have Real Player installed and really want to hear it, there's a link on this page.
Recommended Reading
It's been ten years since film critic Gene Siskel died. Roger Ebert remembers his friend and foe.
Late Shifting
As Conan O'Brien winds down his successful run hosting Late Night for NBC (and prepares to Step Up To Big Pay), radio superstar Paul Harris recalls how outta-left-field the whole selection was. I remember that, too. When Letterman fled the time slot after The Tonight Show, we had rumors that it would go to Garry Shandling or Dana Carvey or Paul Provenza or Paula Poundstone or one of a dozen other folks, known quantities all. The notion that the gig would go to someone 99%+ of America had never heard of before was unthinkable.
As things turned out, it's hard to imagine anyone being more successful than Conan has been, though it didn't seem that way at first. To the credit of all involved, when things got off to a rocky start, they didn't panic and start wildly revamping the show and trying different things. They just kept doing the same show and did it better and better until finally it was good enough for enough of America to watch. Actually, I never thought it was as weak as some did but it did substantially improve.
Paul Harris was, as he notes, the first broadcaster to announce anywhere that this person named Conan O'Brien was getting the job. In the post I just linked you to, he explains that he got the information from me and suggests I blog about how I knew it before the rest of the world outside NBC. Alas, there's no tale there of brilliant detective work on my part. A friend of mine who was writing for Mr. Leno's Tonight Show just called me up and told me.
Like Paul, I'm a little skeptical about how Mr. O'Brien will fare at 11:35. Frankly, the last 3-4 years, I haven't liked any of the late night shows as much as I once did and I don't think it's just me. I think they've all settled into a too-comfortable groove of repeated bits and catch phrases and general déjà vu. Maybe this shake-up will do them all a world of good. In any case, it's a good idea to remember how wrong folks were to underestimate Conan O'Brien…and Jay Leno, as well.
Funny Money
I agree with this article that says the U.S. Mint is getting way too creative with our money. There was nothing wrong with the nickel the way it was.
Quick story. Remember when they made the big change in paper money? When suddenly, all the presidents had larger portraits and there were different style numbers in the corners? The first time I saw a new $20 bill was one morning in Laughlin, Nevada back in the days when I had this hobby (that's all it ever was) of counting cards in Blackjack and usually but not always winning tidy sums of loot. I gave it up because of the "usually but not always" part.
So one morn, I went to an ATM to withdraw $300 and out it came in these new twenties I'd never seen before. I don't think anyone in town had. After staring at them for a few moments, I strolled over to a 21 table and forked them over to a dealer to convert to chips. The dealer had never seen money like that either and looked somewhat troubled. She called over the Casino Host and showed him the pieces of paper I'd laid down, whereupon they had a brief private discussion about whether to accept it.
They quickly came to their senses and gave me my chips…but for a minute or so there, they were concerned that I had perhaps manufactured this alleged money. The thought process apparently went something like this: "My God…not only has this man printed up counterfeit money but he's taken it upon himself to completely redesign the twenty dollar bill!"
This Sunday
I will not be Live Oscar Blogging this year but my pal Gary Sassaman will be watching the whole thing, hunched over his computer and typing furiously throughout. You may wish to check in with him for his running commentary, which is always perceptive.
Recommended Reading
Barack Obama has dispatched 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Fred Kaplan tells us what this bodes for the future.
Today's Video Link
Here's another comedy that Oliver "Babe" Hardy made when he was teamed with a comic named Bobby Ray. This is Hop To It, Bellhop, made in 1925 a year before Hardy changed companies and teamed up with Stan Laurel. There are traces of the unique timing and rhythm that Hardy would bring to the new team but it's pretty much a typical comedy of the era. It wasn't until he'd begun working with Stan that he was encouraged to slow down a bit and bring more personality to his movements.
This runs a bit over nineteen minutes. You may have to watch a short silly ad before the film will start in the player below.
Beyond the Paley
For 25 years now, there's been this annual event in Los Angeles called The William S. Paley Television Festival. For the first 15-20 years, it was a glorious thing that trotted out guests and rare footage to salute the early days of television and folks who'd had long, productive careers in the medium. Now, granted, a lot of those folks have passed away or been covered and it's a little late for another Jack Paar tribute. But the festival events used to be about history and now they're about current or pretty recent programming…in some cases, about shows that have been on the air for months, not years.
Think I'm exaggerating? Here's a page of photos of 24 years of these seminars. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and work your way up to the more recent Paley Fests. See if you don't notice the change of focus.
The line-up has been announced for this year's salutes. The projects being honored are It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 90210, The Big Bang Theory, The Hills, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica/Caprica, Fringe, True Blood, The Mentalist, Desperate Housewives, Big Love and Swingtown! Some of those are very good shows and if the PaleyFest folks were going by the old standard, I'm sure some or most of them would warrant having evenings devoted to them. I just think a show oughta be on the air an entire week before someone pays tribute to it.
Go Read It!
My buddy Bruce Reznick sends me this link to an article that answers a question that I'm sure has been keeping you all up nights: Whatever happened to Bozo the Clown?