Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Raisin Cane

Boy, it's weird how topics evolve on this weblog. The other day, I linked to this Post Raisin Bran commercial and a lot of you wrote in to say you thought the lead actor was Barney Martin. I thought it wasn't. I still kinda think it isn't even though I now have eyewitness testimony from a trusted friend who says it was.

Turns out, an old and dear pal of mine, Jim Brochu, was also in that commercial. In the above photo, Jim's the raisin on the far left. In the commercial itself, Jim's the raisin on the far left also, seen in profile. He says they shot this in a studio at 106th and 2nd Avenue in New York around 1973. He also says the guy in the front is definitely Barney Martin. I say it still doesn't look to me like Barney Martin but I'll take Jim's word for it. He and Barney were good friends.

Also in the commercial is the very fine character actor, Ken Olfson. In the above photo, Ken's on the far right and I don't know where he is in the commercial. Jim says David Doyle was in another commercial in this series (there were four made in all) but wasn't in this one. And while we're identifying people, Frank Buxton says the voiceover at the end is by William Redfield, a fine actor who was probably best known for his work in the movie of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Anyway, I think it's amazing: I link to this silly little commercial and later find out a friend of mine is in it. Eventually, everything in my life will be connected to everything else in my life.

Hey, lemme tell you what Brochu is up to. Jim is a maddeningly versatile gentleman whose knowledge of The Theater puts mine to shame. He's an actor, a director, a playwright, an author, a producer, etc. He's been putting a couple of those job descriptions together as the writer and star of a forthcoming one-man show, Zero Hour, based on the life and times of his old pal, Zero Mostel. The play debuts July 7 (I will be there) at the Egyptian Arena Theatre in Hollywood and will play through August 13 before heading for New York. More info and a link to purchase tickets can be found here. Based on what Jim's done in the past, I expect to have a very good time. In fact, this may turn out to be the best play ever done by a former raisin.

• Posted at 7:03 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Before 1980, if you drove your vehicle into a Jack-in the-Box drive-thru, you had to give your order to a big, plastic jack-in-the-box. I guess a lot of people felt silly doing this...though if you were eating there, it's not like you had a lot of dignity to lose. Nevertheless, '80 was the year they took out those jack-in-the-boxes and did a not-ineffective advertising campaign announcing they were "blowing up the clowns." This is a commercial from that campaign. The elderly lady you see in Nedra Volz, who turned up at one time or another in every single situation comedy of the late seventies and throughout the eighties. At one point, she had recurring roles on three different TV series — Diff'rent Strokes, The Dukes of Hazzard and Filthy Rich. Not bad for someone in their seventies. The gent who plays the manager of the Jack-in-the Box is our old pal, Chuck McCann, who's been in even more TV shows. Here they are...

• Posted at 12:06 AM · LINK