Thursday, January 4, 2007

Thursday Morning Musing

I keep the entire archive of this weblog available online and I hope some of you admire my courage in doing this. It means that all my predictions which don't come true are still there, smirking at me. If you look back, you'll find me fearlessly decreeing — among other bad calls — that Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn't run for governor of California and that Ellen DeGeneres won't be asked to host the Oscars. But hey, I'm still right more often than a lot of public officials. (Then again, so is Captain Peter "Wrong Way" Peachfuzz...)

Back there also somewhere, you might find me thinking that Schwarzenegger would be a pretty bad governor...and for the first year or so of his term, I was right. He was terrible, his poll numbers were worse than the reviews for Jingle All the Way, and even a lot of his prominent supporters were talking about another recall election. At some point though, he seems to have wised up and managed to turn things around. He won another term partly because his opponent was a lox but also because even his one-time detractors suddenly didn't have a lot of beefs with Governor Arnold.

Some of us may be taking the last bit of our negative feelings back if he comes through with his newest proposal. It's Universal Health Care, which is an idea whose time I think came in this country a long time ago. People are dying every day from the high cost of medical treatment in this country. Even people who are covered are paying too high a price, financially and from the inefficiency of the system. There are a lot of lethal things in this world we can't do anything about but we can sure fix the clogged emergency rooms, the sky-high costs of prescriptions, the unavailability of certain equipment, the spread of some diseases, etc. Just worrying about getting and keeping health insurance is taking a lot of years off some lives.

Schwarzenegger is about to announce a plan that will guarantee health care for all children in the state of California. As this article explains, some of the details are still unknown and for all we know, the program may have problems or may not pass. Still, that a governor of a highly-populated state — and a Republican governor, in particular — could get behind such a thing is another of those small steps for man, giant leaps for mankind that you occasionally hear about. It's going to make it that much harder for the idea of U.H.C. to be dismissed by a certain crowd...you know, the ones who think the only thing the government can do with great efficiency is invade other countries.

And isn't it going to be an interesting press conference? Arnold — one of the relatively small group of Californians who can afford first-rate medical care — sitting there with his broken leg, announcing that even the children of illegal aliens are going to be able to get treatment for things like broken legs? I sure hope he throws in one of those movie line quotes like "I'll be back" or a Terminator joke because if he pulls this off, that may be the only thing some of us will have to complain about.

• Posted at 10:15 AM · LINK

Secret Identity

The Des Moines Register has been writing lately — with understandable pride — that the "new Superman" (Brandon Routh) is, like the "old Superman" (George Reeves) a native of Iowa. The other day, they touted a third Superman from Iowa: John Frederick.

Who's John Frederick? Good question. Here's a link to the article and here are the most relevant paragraphs of it...

Actor John Frederick swears it's true: He played the role of Superman on film, thus joining Iowa-born George Reeves and Brandon Routh, who also claim the role.

Frederick, now busy in retirement in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., says he filmed 18 episodes of the popular television series in the late 1950s as a studio threat to Reeves, who was increasingly unhappy in the role and felt he was being type-cast and excluded from better parts. Reeves allegedly was threatening to walk out on the series, Frederick says in his autobiography, "Name Droppings on Your Head."

"A muddled message came...the producers of the 'Superman' series would like to see me as soon as possible.

"It was at a little studio on the street just south of the Paramount gate. It was a tiny office with two men in it. Hanging on a rack was the Superman costume. 'If it fits, you've got the part,' one said."

The costume handed to Frederick did fit the brawny, square-shouldered actor, so he went to work.

He writes: "The part I remember the most vividly was lying stretched out on something that looked like a barrel on my stomach, feet and arms outstretched, and wind machine blowing. I guess I was flying. God knows where. I didn't."

Frederick adds: "Later I was told that the current Superman was making waves. I eventually figured it out that I was supposedly the threat that just might bring him back into the fold and hopefully his senses."

Frederick says he never knew where the episodes he made ended up, but "I was Superman! And it paid well too!"

Frederick says his work came to an abrupt halt with Reeves' mysterious death in 1959. Reeves allegedly shot himself, but many today say he was murdered and did not commit suicide.

I must admit to being utterly baffled by this. I never heard of John Frederick or of any scab Superman...and the story as reported does not make a lot of sense. The producers of the Superman TV show were notoriously cheap. No one who worked for them thought the job "paid well" and they certainly wouldn't have filmed one episode, let alone eighteen that were never shown. An awful lot of people involved with that series have been extensively interviewed and they sure haven't mentioned any other Superman or any unaired shows.

I also don't understand the logic here. The claim is that Frederick was hired and he did eighteen episodes replacing George Reeves. But everyone, including Frederick, knows that Reeves continued on the show until his death. So why were these eighteen alleged episodes done? And what was the job that Frederick lost when Reeves died?

It sounds to me like the man is claiming he was Reeves' stand-in or stunt double. That's possible. It's even possible the producers had him in mind at some point to replace Reeves if they needed an alternate Man of Steel. But I can't believe the man filmed eighteen "lost" episodes as the star. Further compounding the puzzlement, over on the website, there are tiny photos Frederick supplied of himself as Clark Kent and as Superman...only the Superman photo is of a homemade costume with no Superman insignia, not a costume used on the show.

Mr. Frederick's autobiography seems to be for sale on this page. If anyone has any additional information, lemme know. And thanks to John Wells, a reader of this site, for alerting me to this oddment.

• Posted at 3:53 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Here's another episode of Paul Winchell's variety show from (probably) late 1955 or thereabouts. Like our pal Pinky Lee from the other day, Winch was sponsored by Tootsie Roll, which is one of those products I always felt represented a triumph of advertising over actual consumer satisfaction. I never liked them but I think I bought them or asked my parents for them because Paul Winchell was always telling us how wonderful they were. And a man that talented wouldn't lie to children now, would he?

This episode features musical guest stars Lonnie Donegan and Denise Lor, plus many antics by the show's bandleader, Milton DeLugg. Many of you will remember when Mr. DeLugg was the bandleader on The Gong Show. They dressed one of his musicians up as a gangster so that the program's first host, Gary Owens, could refer to the ensemble as "Milton DeLugg and his band with a thug."

One thing I remember about these Paul Winchell shows is that when I was four or so, I figured out that Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff sometimes had "live" hands. Winch was a clever man and he knew that his dummies needed to be able to do more than just talk in order to do real sketches and comedy bits on a regular basis. I was always fascinated to figure out where the live person was hidden...and often, the ingenuity of how it was done ratcheted up my respect for Winchell another notch. Once in a while, Jerry would even have actual legs which obviously belonged to a tap dancer with pretty small feet. (Paul later told me it was usually a child.) All of that cleverness plus Winchell's brilliant acting skills made Jerry and Knucklehead into two of the most colorful people on television. They were sure a lot more human than Ed Sullivan...

• Posted at 2:27 AM · LINK

Me and Henrietta

On my recent trip to Ohio and Indiana, I had my first experience with a Global Positioning System. One came unsolicited in my Hertz rental car and it proved to be a handy thing to have. I'd printed out Mapquest guides for everywhere I had to drive but it was nice having the screen tell me that I was actually on the road I thought I was on, and having Henrietta (as I named the voice that comes out of the Hertz Neverlost® system) telling me when I was nearing a turn. For that reason — and the fact that it's a gadget and I must have all gadgets — I decided to get me a G.P.S. when I returned home.

I did a bit of study and got some advice from my friend, Marv Wolfman, who has one in his auto. It all pointed me to the Magellan Roadmate 2000, in part because it's nearly identical to the Hertz Neverlost® device I'd used on my trip. It's even the same Henrietta.

I've had my new Henrietta for a week, during which I haven't had to go anywhere I couldn't locate with my eyes closed...but I've been using the Roadmate anyway, just to get used to it and to learn what I could learn about the thing. I've learned, first of all, that there's no non-awkward way to install it in my car. I tried a number of different ways, including a special mount that I ordered over the Internet and which is supposed to clamp the thing onto any air vent on your dashboard. It did but since all my air vents rotate, the G.P.S. jiggled and moved out of position at the slightest touch of its touchscreen...and there seemed to be no way to make that mount work. I finally went back to using the suction cup connector on the inside of my windshield and it's functional but not ideal. Wherever I position it, it's in the way of something and so is the cord that goes from it to the cigarette lighter for power.

Beyond that, I'm reasonably happy. Henrietta has a tendency to send me down major streets when smaller ones would be more efficient, and she's not always correct about which route is either the shortest or quickest. But she also isn't far wrong and if I were driving on unfamiliar turf, I'd be quite satisfied with her directions. From here to my mother's house in non-rush hour traffic is twelve minutes the way I usually go. Following the path dictated by Henrietta today, it was fifteen.

She's good but she has an unfortunate tendency to nag. Today, she wanted me to take a turn that would have sent me down Wilshire Boulevard. (Henrietta loves Wilshire Boulevard. When Marv and I went to lunch in his car, we were driving down 6th Street to a restaurant that was located on 6th Street. She kept telling him to turn right and go down to Wilshire.) Anyway, today when I didn't cut over to Wilshire and went another way, she started ordering me to make a safe and legal U-Turn and to get my ass back to Wilshire. She didn't exactly phrase it that way but you could tell she wanted to.

I'll report more on Henrietta as soon as I go somewhere I've never been before.

• Posted at 1:39 AM · LINK

January 5, 2007 • Current • January 3, 2007