Today's Bonus Video Link

Today is Felix Unger Day, referencing the character from The Odd Couple. What makes it Felix Unger Day? Well, let's watch the opening narration from the first few seasons of the TV show which went like this…

Two things about that voiceover: One is that the announcer was William Woodson, a much-heard announcer and, away from a microphone, one of the funniest people I ever knew.

Secondly, the Odd Couple TV show went on the air in 1970 so this is a reminder of how terrified TV networks were then about the subject of D-I-V-O-R-C-E. ABC bought a show about two divorced men but partway through its first season, they added this opening narration…to suggest that divorce could be just a temporary condition. The same year, CBS wouldn't allow Mary Richards to be a divorced woman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Things have changed.

Also, you'll note in the video a screen credit for Jerry Davis, who was the producer of The Odd Couple TV show for a while — I think this was from the second season. Jerry had a wonderful career full of many things of which he was deservedly proud. He used to say that the only thing he regretted was that he was the person who introduced Erin Fleming to Groucho Marx. He might also have tossed in that he was one of the first producers to ever hire the writing team of Mark Evanier and Dennis Palumbo.

Meanwhile, a Twitter post by my longtime pal Joe Brancatelli reminded me of something I'd told him back in the previous century and which I mentioned here back in 2009; that the Odd Couple theme, which most folks know only as an instrumental, has lyrics. They're not great lyrics, mind you, but lyrics they are. What's more, they were written by Sammy Cahn, who had 31 Academy Award nominations and four wins. Neal Hefti wrote the tune.

The song was written for the movie but the lyrics were heard only on the soundtrack album. You can hear them in the second half of this video…