Monthly Archives: May 2009

Today on Stu's Show, Stu's got a good one! His guests are Keith Scott and June Foray. Keith is one of the top vocal performers in Australia, heard everywhere as an announcer, narrator and as the voice of many top cartoon characters. He's also a fine historian of animation voicing and on the Jay Ward studio. And as if all weren't enough, he's also taken over as the voice of Bullwinkle J. Moose, carrying on the role created by the late, great Bill (no relation) Scott.

And June Foray is…well, June Foray. She's Rocky the Flying Squirrel. She's Natasha Fatale. She's Granny, the owner of Tweety. She's the first lady of cartoon voicing, a true living legend of the art form.

Stu Shostak will have these two gifted folks in his studio today from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific time. If you live on the East Coast, it's 7 PM to 9 PM, and if you live somewhere else, you should be able to figure it out from that. You can listen live. You can even phone in. The show repeats for the next week in the same time slot but it's more fun if you listen live, which you can do by going to the website of Shokus Internet Radio at the appointed hour. Don't miss this one.

We're sorry to report the passing of Wayne Allwine, a charming gent who among his other achievements had been the voice of Mickey Mouse since 1977. He died yesterday at the age of 62 due to complications relating to diabetes.

The lineage of The Mouse is as follows: Walt Disney was, of course, the first voice of his studio's superstar. In the forties, when Walt got busy (and hoarse from cigarettes), he began handing off some of the voice chores to one of his sound effects editors, Jimmy MacDonald. The last known time Walt spoke for Mickey was for the lead-ins and animated wraparounds done for The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955. By then, MacDonald was doing it on most occasions, though once in a while, someone else would tackle the role. Stan Freberg, for instance, played Mickey on a 1955 children's record. And Hal Smith sometimes did some of the lower-profile appearances.

In the seventies as he neared retirement, MacDonald began training Allwine, who was a fellow sound effects editor at Disney, breaking him in on the mouse beat. By '83, Wayne was well enough established in the role that he and not MacDonald handled it for the character's big "comeback" film, Mickey's Christmas Carol…and he's done it ever since.

Wayne was married to voice actress Russi Taylor, who among many other credits has been the voice of Minnie Mouse for some time. They were both named Disney Legends (an in-house Hall of Fame award) in 2008. Russi, if you read this, please know that you have the condolences of everyone in the animation community. Because everyone liked Wayne. Everyone.

I just read about a dozen articles on various sites arguing over whether "deregulation" has been a good or bad thing, if it's been responsible for economic downturns or upturns or U-turns, etc. And in not a one of those articles did anyone pause to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the removal of certain regulations is a good thing and the retention of certain regulations is a bad thing. It's like we have to have the minimum number of laws or the maximum but we aren't allowed to pick and choose.

The rapper named Dolla was fatally shot yesterday afternoon in the valet waiting area of the Beverly Center. I have to admit I'd never heard of Mr. Dolla but I've sure heard of the valet waiting area of the Beverly Center. I park there often. In fact, if I read the reports correctly, he was standing out on La Cienega when it happened, which means he was right across the street from the Souplantation I frequent, especially during Creamy Tomato Soup Month.

I'm not sure why I'm mentioning this but there's an extra little chill when something like that happens in a locale that's familiar to you. Sure, you think, "Hey, I could have been there then," but there's also this: It makes it feel like it takes place in the actual world. It seems somehow more real.

There's one In-and-Out Burger in Utah and another 230 spread over California, Nevada and Arizona. There are none in other states and many folks there envy us. In-and-Out, they hear, is the supreme fast food hamburger…a "must-do" when one vacations in any state that has one.

This article wonders aloud if a pending change at the ownership level — a different family member in charge — will ruin the "perfection" of In-and-Out. As a longtime In-and-Out customer, I would like to make the following points…

1. In-and-Out has the best "fast food" burger I've had in California but that's kinda like saying someone is the most dignified of the Three Stooges. In-and-Out wouldn't seem so good if Jack-in-the Box, Carl's Jr, Burger King and so many others weren't so lousy. It isn't so much that In-and-Out does it well but that so many of the others do it so poorly.
2. A lot of that is simply a matter of freshness. An In-and-Out hamburger is made to order and if you eat it there (or as I often do, in my car minutes after purchase), it can be quite wonderful. On the other hand, if you take it home and eat it a half hour later, it isn't much better than a McDonald's quarter-pounder that's been sitting under their little sunlamps for a while. Conversely, I've occasionally gotten a McDonald's burger that came to me right off the grill and it was pretty darn good. Half the problem with so-called "fast food" is that it isn't fast. It was assembled fifteen minutes ago from components that were prepared an hour ago.
3. On the other hand, In-and-Out french fries are too fresh. They're a little better if you ask for them "well done" but they still aren't as good as most "fast food" fries.
4. Some people object to the little Bible quotes printed on some In-and-Out wrappings. They don't bother me. I often get annoyed at general preachiness but these don't bother me. Matter of fact, I think some other chains should try quoting scriptures on their packaging…like Jack-in-the-Box, for instance. If you eat there, you'd better pray.
5. Lastly: The last few times I ate at an In-and-Out Burger, I was disappointed. It was edible but that's about it…and I'm still trying to decide if it's the food or me or just bad luck to get some less-than-stellar burgers. Since I lost all that weight and especially since I cut my sugar consumption down to around 5% of the old levels, my taste buds have changed. "Fast food" ain't as yummy as some of it used to be. But what makes me think it's not me is that when I said that here a few months ago, I got a number of e-mails from folks who hadn't changed their eating habits and felt that In-and-Out was in decline. I don't know if the chain has changed anything about the product but it wouldn't surprise me.

What I think I always liked about In-and-Out was not so much the food as the attitude — the freshness, the simplicity of the menu, the feeling of cleanliness, the absence of silly promotions, etc. That the burger was so good was a happy result of all that. I dunno what'll happen with the management of the corporation but if they stick to those principles, they should do just fine.

I didn't feel tonight's earthquake in Los Angeles. When it hit, I was with friends at the Magic Castle up in Hollywood, watching (at that moment) a very funny performer named Chipper Lowell. Mr. Lowell has the kind of act that would cause you not to notice a little distraction like an earthquake. If you get a chance to see him anywhere, go. The whole group I was hosting thought he was terrific.

What's the economic stress like in your neck o' the woods? Check out this interactive map and find out.

In case anyone's curious: Jim Brochu informs me that this morn's clip of Zero Mostel singing "If I Were a Rich Man" is from Carol Plus Two, a 1966 special which was the pilot for The Carol Burnett Show. The "two" were Mr. Mostel and Ms. Lucille Ball…and Jim oughta know as he was friends with both guest stars and has recently been playing one of them (guess which one) in a one-man show.

Also, here's a follow-up from long ago: Back in September of 2006, I was watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon and I saw (and reported here) about something that confused me. Jerry sang the song, "Even Now," in tribute to a lady named Lil Mattis who had either passed away or left his employ. He wasn't clear as to which, though I assumed the former. What really baffled me was that he said, "She wrote that" — and I knew and verified that "Even Now" was written by Marty Panzer and Barry Manilow.

I recently heard from the son of Ms. Mattis. She did indeed pass away, and he also informs me that she was a successful writer of lyrics and special musical material, and she wrote material for Jerry, among many other performers. Her work for Lewis included special lyrics for "Even Now," done with the composers' permission, to turn it into a song about helping kids the way his telethon does. I'm not sure Jerry actually sang her lyrics on the telethon that year. Several correspondents, including one who worked for Barry Manilow, wrote me that Jerry sang most of the real ones, and I don't know for sure. Nevertheless, that's the answer to my confusion over her connection to the song.

We get to the bottom of things here. Sometimes, it takes a couple of years but we get to the bottom of things.

I'm putting up one of my little tipbars because I need to pay for some eBay purchases and also cover some expenses relating to the collection of comics for my friend Len. And as an incentive, the person who donates the highest amount will be contacted and told that he or she may designate a subject for an upcoming post, either requesting a specific anecdote I haven't told here or asking me to hold court on some topic of their choice.

This offer does not apply to a certain person with the initials F.B. — you know who you are — who has sent me way too much money in the past. I will accept no more loot from you, kind sir. The rest of you can send as much as you like. I won't stop you.