Yesterday, I linked to a commercial for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World that was created by Stan Freberg and I asked if anyone noticed anything odd about it…something involving a major star of the film not being present for the ad. Here — I'll save you the trouble of scrolling back. Here's the commercial again…

A lot of folks sent in guesses to what was odd about it but as of the time of this posting, only one of you noticed what I noticed. Daniel Frank sent me this e-mail…

I had to look 2-3 times but the missing star is Sid Caesar. He was not in the room with the other five. He was filmed separately and we don't actually see him interact with the other stars. "Sid" is cut off to the left so we don't see him.

Correct. When Mad World was in the casting/planning stages, one of the biggest problem was coordinating the availability of the stars who had the large parts. Folks like Buster Keaton or Don Knotts only worked a day or two but the main players had to be free for many months. When people ask, as they incessantly do, why So-and-So wasn't in the film, one reason is that that person simply didn't have a couple of free months on their schedule. This was especially true of folks who were then starring in weekly TV shows like Lucille Ball, Dick Van Dyke, Jackie Gleason and Red Skelton, and others were busy with other things. For much of the time Mad World was shooting, Bob Hope was in England making Call Me Bwana.

One of the people Stanley Kramer wanted most in his cast was Sid Caesar…but Sid had other commitments, primarily a Broadway show by Neil Simon called Little Me. Luckily for the film, he had a few months open before he had to report for rehearsals. He could have a major role in Mad World if they took that into account in mapping out the shooting schedule.

The movie began filming on April 26, 1962 and for a while, it mostly stunt drivers racing around in front of the camera. The only non-stunt actors used during this time were Jean Sewell and Nick Stewart, who played the black couple that got run off the road. If my notes are correct, the first filming with the main stars of the film came on June 4, 1962 when Sid Caesar and Edie Adams began their scenes in the basement of Mr. Dinckler's hardware store — a set built on Stage 28 at Revue Studios.

They were on that set until June 15 (a Friday) and then on Sunday, June 17, Sid, Edie, Milton Berle, Dorothy Provine, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett and Jonathan Winters traveled to Palm Springs and the next day, they began filming at the site where Smiler Grogan's car ran off the road. The next day, they were joined by Jimmy Durante and Norman Fell…and on things went from there, in most cases completely out of sequence.

Sid Caesar's last day of shooting was September 2 and soon after that, he began rehearsing Little Me in New York. The rest of the main cast pressed on in Hollywood without him. In case anyone's interested, what some people think is the biggest laugh in the movie — Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Joe DeRita standing there in firemen's gear — was shot at Conejo Airport on September 17. Jack Benny and Jerry Lewis filmed their cameos on Stage 12 at Paramount Studios on October 29. By this time, Sid Caesar was in out-of-town tryouts for Little Me in New Haven and Philadelphia.

Most of the other stars finished their on-camera duties in October but the scenes in Spencer Tracy's office were shot in November. Sid Caesar opened on Broadway to rave reviews in Little Me on November 17.

Some of the stars were called back for looping jobs but it wasn't until Monday, March 25 that Ethel Merman, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Buddy Hackett and Phil Silvers assembled in a studio to film commercials like the one above but Sid Caesar wasn't present. He was in New York. If you watch the commercial again, you'll see it's him in two close-ups. I have no idea when or where those were filmed but in the shots with everyone, they keep "Sid" mostly off-camera or barely on it. That's a man named Carl Saxe who served as Sid's main stunt double in the movie. Oddly, he does not seem to be wearing a coat that matches the one Sid has on in his close-ups.

So that's the odd thing about the commercial. Congrats to Daniel Frank for being the first person to notice it…and don't feel bad if you didn't spot it. I saw the commercial a couple times before I did.

Here's a good example of how Trump will say something, then deny he said it and attack those who said he said it and his sycophants will deny he said it and they'll say the reporters are lying and it's all Fake News…but it turns out he said it and the reporters were right.

Factcheck.org fact checks Trump's latest economic speech and doesn't find a lot of facts. Apparently, if you think the prices you're paying at the supermarket and elsewhere are up, you're either lying or being deluded by lying Democrats or lying reporters or someone.

And here's an overview on how the White House is trying to deny that inflation is up.

Sorry this is shorter than these usually are but I'm under a self-imposed rule to not spend as much time thinking or writing about You-Know-Who

This is a really good one. In 1999, Nathan Lane appeared on the PBS series, Evening at Pops, with "A Tribute to Danny Kaye" — and of course, in show business the way you pay tribute to a performer is by doing their act. Well, Mr. Lane did a great job doing Danny Kaye's act, singing those great songs that Mr. Kaye did. When you get the time, watch this. I think he's really terrific…

Here's a simple Christmas wish from Emerson Steele. Don't worry. I'm not going to keep this up much longer…

It feels like everyone on the 'net is trying to grab a piece of Dick Van Dyke's upcoming birthday…and A.I. has certainly generated a lot of "bogus" stories you can find on Facebook and other places where truth is not a factor, only clicks. But some of them are nice. F'rinstance, Catchy Comedy is running a marathon of 78 episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, my pick for the best TV comedy show of all time. It starts Saturday at 11 AM Eastern Time, 8 AM Pacific and no, they're not running them in order.

If you don't have time to watch 78 episodes — or if your TV doesn't get Catchy Comedy — you can watch what I consider the ten best episodes here.

Yesterday here, we talked about how one of my heroes, Stan Freberg, wound up in one of my favorite movies, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and how he wound up with only one line and didn't even know about it.

Stan, who then was making most of his income from advertising, was hired to produce radio and TV commercials for the movie. Here's one of his TV spots with the stars of the movie…

Did you notice something odd about this commercial? If you didn't, don't be embarrassed because I didn't at first. But there's something unusual about it and I'll give you a hint: It involves a major star of the movie not being there and it isn't Spencer Tracy. Watch it again and you'll probably spot it…and if you don't, come back here tomorrow and I'll tell you what it is.

A reader of this site called my attention to a post I put up here on December 28, 2022. Don't bother clicking over there. I'll quote the interesting paragraphs of that post…

Bill Cosby says he's planning a tour in 2023 and a representative says he's looking at "Spring/Summer." Since so far, that's all there seems to be to this tour — no dates or performing venues mentioned — I'm guessing it's in the Trial Balloon category. Cosby and whoever might be involved in such a tour want to see what the reaction is to the possibility.

I would assume Mr. Cosby is less interested in money than he is in working to "normalize" his public image. That would require that theaters want him on the premises and that crowds actually queue up to buy tickets. I don't see those two things happening enough for him to be able to say, "See? The public still loves me."

I haven't seen one word since about Former Doctor William Henry Cosby Jr. performing anywhere at any time in any town so I guess the Trial Balloon went over like a lead one. Perhaps his health had something to do with it. The guy's 88 now after all. Then again, I suspect if there were performing venues that were willing to let him onto their stages, we would have heard about it as his way of saying, "See? There are people out there who don't believe I'm a serial rapist and/or still love me!"

Yes, there are more insufficiently-punished criminals out there now — people roaming free who are alleged to have committed worse deeds. But even if Cosby didn't serve the proper amount of time behind bars, it's worth noting that he's still in a kind of prison. He's probably still living well in a mansion with servants but if he cares one bit about his legacy and how he'll be remembered, it's still a prison. Sort of. Maybe.

Here's Valerie Lynn Williams with her simple Christmas wish…

Hey, you know that new book I have out about 75 years of Charles M. Schulz and his beloved creations? Well, you can still buy it here for — last time I looked — 43 bucks and change. And you can still buy it at other booksellers, some of whose ethics and/or pricing you may prefer.

And you can maybe still buy it at a Costco near you and while you're there, you can pick up a supply of toilet paper, a Kirkland Rotisserie Chicken, a ten-year supply of Pringles, a 30 lb. bag of sledge hammers and enough A-1 Sauce to fill your hot tub.

But if you have the desire for something fancier and more expensive, there's only one place to get a copy of the book in a faux gold slipcase, as opposed to the faux silver slipcase everyone else has. And this special limited edition (limited to 500 copies) is signed and numbered. The signees are Chip Kidd (the book's designer), Patrick McDonnell (who wrote the foreword and who created the superb comic strip, Mutts) and Yours Truly (author of said book).

And that one place is here. But don't order it as a Christmas present for some loved one for this year. It won't be available Until March 31, 2026…so it might make a dandy gift for Easter. For now, rush to Costco and get that loved one that 30 lb. bag of sledge hammers before they're out of them. They'll love you for it.

Joe Gulick wrote with this question…

Because you know a lot about both Stan Freberg and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, I don't think there is anyone more likely than you to provide some information I would love to know. Freberg is in the movie as an employee of the sheriff played by Andy Devine. He had no lines in the DVD version that I have, but I know there is a lot of footage missing from various versions of the film — and some that I believe has been lost forever.

Did Freberg have lines in scenes that may have been filmed but left out of my inexpensive version? I can't imagine casting Stan Freberg without the intention to use that marvelous voice of his. And assuming he had lines, does anyone know how many lines he had and what he might have said in them?

In every version of this movie which was ever seen by mass audiences, Stan Freberg did have a line…but you can be forgiven for not knowing this. For decades, Stan didn't think he had any lines in the released version and one day when we were recording Garfield cartoons and he was in the cast, I hauled out a DVD and played his one line for him. He was amazed…but for some reason, he went on telling people that all his lines had been cut.  I'll tell you where it is in the film in a moment.

I told the story of Stan being cast in the film on the commentary track of the semi-recent Criterion DVD or Blu ray edition — which, by the way, is the only version you should buy if you're going to buy a copy of this film to have and to hold 'til death do you part.  Here's how it goes and I got this straight from the Freberg's mouth…

Stan, who was then mainly in the advertising business, was engaged to make some commercials for the film. Stanley Kramer planned to find a role in the film for Stan but he hadn't as of Friday, November 26, 1962. Stan visited the set, which was on Stage 29 of Revue Studios on what we now call the Universal Studios lot. He was there to talk with Kramer about promos but the director had a more immediate concern. They were about to shoot the scene in Andy Devine's office — his end of the phone conversation with Spencer Tracy.

The script called for someone else to play Devine's deputy but that actor was a no-show for some reason. Kramer asked Freberg, "What size shirt do you wear?" and Stan was pressed into service to play the deputy. He recalled having dialogue but didn't remember what it was. He also recalled that the actor he replaced was Pat Buttram…which makes sense from a casting standpoint.  Still, as much as I love Stan, I learned to not trust his memory 100% so in the commentary track, I said the absent actor was "reportedly Pat Buttram."  As far as I know, there's no firm proof he was the no-show.

One reason I'm a bit suspicious is that the Daily Production Report for that day's shooting makes no mention of an actor not showing up…and that's the kind of thing that should be in a Daily Production Report. I did work several times with Pat Buttram — a very funny man onstage and off — but unfortunately, I didn't ask him about Mad World because this was before Stan told me what he told me.

That day's Daily Production Report shows Devine and Freberg "on set" at 9 AM and dismissed at 11:30 AM. It also has a note that Spencer Tracy was ill and did not report for work that day.  The two-way phone conversation between the sheriff and Captain Culpeper must have been filmed with Andy Devine trading lines with someone else off-camera reading Tracy's part.  That night have been how it would have been filmed even if Tracy had been around.

By the way: As I was flipping through the Daily Production Reports to get the date of the Devine/Freberg scene, I noticed that two days before on 11/14/62, they were filming scenes in Spencer Tracy's office with all the actors who were seen on camera in there, and with Selma Diamond and Louise Glenn, who were only heard on phone calls with Tracy. Also listed as having been on set from 9 AM to 2:30 PM is Morey Amsterdam, who I believe recorded his end of another phone call. There is no trace of it or Morey in the finished film.

Now then: What were Stan's lines? Well, cut from the film before it was ever released were three or four lines with him on the radio talking to various officers and folks out in the field — technical-type stuff. And then there's one such line that stayed in but it was used as a voiceover so unless you recognize Stan's voice, you don't know it's him. It comes right after the scene where Jerry Lewis runs over Spencer Tracy's hat. Then we cut to a police car out on the road following an ambulance and we hear Stan over the police car radio. In the script, the line looked like this —

— but in the film, what you hear outta him is just "Item: One large furniture van…item: one red Volkswagen…"  Nevertheless, it's Stan Freberg's voice and it's in the movie, despite what he said before and after I showed it to him and he said, "Hey, that's me!"

As I mentioned here, I'm limiting the time I spend thinking, writing or talking about Donald Trump to thirty minutes a day. I just used up most of my thirty minutes for today by watching and posting the new Jordan Klepper special from Comedy Central. It's all about how some people who cannot name the wars Trump has allegedly ended think he should get the Nobel Peace Prize for ending those wars…

Here's Amanda Golthorpe-Hall singing you'll never guess what song…

Sixty years ago this evening was the first of many, many airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas. This video purports to offer "15 Weird Facts You Didn’t Know!" about the show. None of them seem that weird to me but let's skip over that.

Several of you have sent me a link to this to tell me, first of all, that I'm briefly glimpsed in it and, secondly, to ask me if those fifteen facts, weird or not, are all true. To the best of my knowledge: Yeah, pretty much. I think they exaggerate the direct contact that Charles Schulz had with the CBS executives. My understanding is that most of it was through Lee Mendelson in his role as Producer and Middle Man.

But yes, there were arguments and yes, CBS didn't want to air the show but its sponsor insisted. It's indicative of how television has changed since that day that I don't think any one sponsor — even if it was Coca-Cola — could have that much say-so now. Basically though, the video is correct and I would underscore one point. The zillions of people who tuned in for that first airing had no idea how much they would love the content of the special and how it would become something they'd demand to see every year or their Christmas season wasn't complete.

They tuned in just because they loved the comic strip. It's one of my best arguments for why Peanuts is the most beloved newspaper strip ever.

It's not Christmas without The Randy Rainbow Christmas Special — a long-running annual tradition which I guess starts this year…

I woke up early this morning and, as I usually do these days, scanned the news and certain YouTube channels I find reliable to ask the question I ask myself every morning now: What's he done today? You know who "he" is. Apart from all the offenses involving self-dealing, nuking the social safety net, killing people on boats just for show, dragging non-white people off to cages also just for show, lying his ass off and managing to out-senile Joe Biden as Chief Execs go, he occupies way too much of my time.

I've decided to try and self-restrict the time I spend thinking, writing and talking about D.J.T. to maybe a half-hour a day. That's a serious cutback but I think I can do it. I just have to be a little strict. When friends insist on discussing the guy, I have to say, "I'm sorry…I've already spent 28 minutes today, thinking/talking/blogging about that man. This conversation can proceed but only for two minutes!"

Since I was up early, I've already spent twenty-nine minutes and forty seconds on The Worst President Ever. That leaves me just twenty seconds, which is exactly the amount of time it takes to post a Randy Rainbow video. Then on to other concerns…