Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Unset the TiVo!

June Foray's appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, announced for tomorrow, has been postponed. They're covering the Olympics and the Grammys and they have no room for the woman who voiced Rocket J. Squirrel at the moment. It'll be rescheduled, they say, and you'll read about it here when it is. Might be a month or so.

• Posted at 9:07 PM · LINK

Age Mismatches

David Cook reminds me that in North by Northwest, the mother of Cary Grant (who was born in 1904) was played by Jessie Royce Landis (who was born in 1904).

Jim Newman reminds me that in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the father of Dick Van Dyke (born: 1925) was played by Lionel Jeffries (born: 1926).

Galen Fott reminds me — well, actually informs me since I didn't know — that in the original New York company of The Fantasticks, 30-year-old Kenneth Nelson played Matt ("The Boy"), while 24-year-old Jerry Orbach played the older, wiser narrator El Gallo.

And Erik Peek, Eric Newsom, Steve Darnall and Alexander Pascover all remind me that in The Manchurian Candidate, Angela Lansbury (born in 1925) played the mother of Laurence Harvey (born in 1928).

• Posted at 3:07 PM · LINK

Today's Political Ramblings

A couple of folks have written to me to say they don't think I made it clear that even though Attorney General Gonzales wasn't put under oath, he can still be prosecuted for lying to Congress if it's determined that he did. Frankly, I think Gonzales could get up there and insist he's Captain Marvel and can fly around the room and there's zero chance of the Republican majority doubting him, let alone allowing a prosecution. But what I don't get is the argument for not treating him (or those oil company execs a few months ago when another committee leader waived the swearing-in) like anyone else. Why are some people put under oath and not others? Aren't they all supposed to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Why are there two classes of witnesses?

Here's another thing I don't understand. Gonzales kept talking about how Franklin Roosevelt and other past presidents had conducted very extensive electronic surveillance. Okay, that might be a good argument for why a president of the U.S. needs to do that. But the question before this committee and this country is whether Bush's actions violated the FISA law established in 1978. So I don't get how anything before that is particularly relevant. It's like they passed a law banning smoking in restaurants, and then someone got caught smoking in a restaurant and his defense was, "Yeah, but look how many people smoked in restaurants before that law."

It seems to me that the Bush administration position is that they think the '78 law was unwise and maybe, by their definition of the responsibility of the Chief Exec, even contrary to the Constitution. I don't know that I'd agree with that but it would be a more coherent, and perhaps more honest stance. But for some reason, they don't want to suggest the law is wrong; only that they can ignore it if they so choose. I don't think that's how this kind of thing is supposed to work.

• Posted at 10:57 AM · LINK

Younger Grandpa

Many sites seem to be discussing the raging controversy over the true birthdate of the late Al Lewis. A consensus seems to be emerging that he was definitely born in 1923, and he began saying 1910 when he did The Munsters. He was playing the father of Yvonne DeCarlo, who was born in 1922 and either (a) Lewis was afraid someone would think he was too young for the part so he fibbed or (b) the studio thought it might bother someone and they asked him to lie. I'm not sure either would be a very good reason but his being younger than Ms. DeCarlo seems to have been part of the reason.

Actually, there are plenty of instances of actors playing parents where the real ages don't match up. Maureen Stapleton was the same age as Dick Van Dyke when she played his mother in Bye Bye Birdie, and I'm sure other examples will come to me later. There might even have been something colorful about Al Lewis being younger than the woman playing his daughter when they were both portraying vampires. Maybe it's that they feared it would call attention to Yvonne DeCarlo's age and she (or the studio) didn't want that.

• Posted at 10:32 AM · LINK

Policy Statement

I agree with Bill Sherman's statement of political intent.

Browsing my e-mail, I sometimes wonder if some people understand that a weblog is something you do when you have time, and only when something pops into your head that you think is worth sharing with the world. My penchant for obits has caused some readers here to presume that if someone famous dies and I don't respond immediately with an anecdote, it must be that I have something against that famous person. No, I just may not have an anecdote or anything to say beyond the obvious or the time to write something.

• Posted at 10:17 AM · LINK

February 8, 2006 • Current • February 6, 2006