Follow-Ups

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.