Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Set the TiVo!

If you have one and if your cable company or satellite dish gets the Boomerang channel, you might want to grab a season pass for Late Night Black & White, which used to be a treasure of Cartoon Network. Now it's on Boomerang every Saturday and Sunday night at 11 PM on my set. I'm sure these are reruns of the same episodes but, hey...it's a rare chance to see vintage WB and MGM cartoons that probably won't be turning up on DVD soon.

This coming Saturday night, they're running three "Captain and the Kids" cartoons, including one directed by Bill Hanna, sans Barbera. On Sunday night, we get three great WB black-and-white classics including We're in the Money, built around the Harry Warren tune. This is followed by two Goopy Geer shorts. You don't see a lot of Goopy Geer on TV these days so you have to take him wherever you can get him. He was an early, unsuccessful attempt by the Harman-Ising company (they produced the early Warner Brothers cartoons) to create a big cartoon star to rival Mr. Disney's mouse.

Cameo appearances aside, Goopy only starred in three cartoons so here's your chance to see two-thirds of the canon. Perhaps you'll be able to figure out why he never caught on...apart from the obvious fact that his name was Goopy Geer. If your name was Goopy Geer, no one would have heard of you, either.

• Posted at 9:24 PM · LINK

So Here's What I Wanna Know

I'm just a guy sitting here at my computer, blogging now and then when I need a break from my paying work. The Associated Press is a huge organization with offices all around the world, reporters, stringers, fancy equipment, etc.

I posted about the passing of Calvert DeForest last night here, shortly after Midnight, Pacific Time. How come it took the A.P. sixteen hours to get this news on the web?

That's what I wanna know.

• Posted at 6:30 PM · LINK

Today's Bonus Video Link

Let's hear another number from Spike Jones and the City Slickers. Here they are destroying "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" and even managing to get in a good, offensive Oriental stereotype at the same time. That's Freddie Morgan doing the solo and once again, Spike is wearing a suit that I wish I owned.

• Posted at 12:35 PM · LINK

One Degree of Separation

The new A380 airbus landed in New York on Monday and received great attention. Peter Greenberg, who's the Travel Editor for The Today Show, was on that flight and he filed this video report which is posted over on the MSNBC website. One of the other travellers interviewed in his report is my longtime pal, Joe Brancatelli, whose name comic fans may remember from fanzines of the seventies and a column he did for Warren magazines. I worked with Peter Greenberg years ago, too — on a TV pilot idea that no network had the guts/foolishness to pick up.

I mention this because I know an awful lot of people and I'm always amazed how they intersect. I'm always telling friends that eventually, everyone I've ever met will meet everyone else I've ever met. So it was not unusual but still odd to be watching Keith Olbermann last evening. Olbermann replayed Greenberg's report and there I saw someone I knew from one part of my life interviewing someone I knew from another part of my life. Joe and Peter are both in the business of travel reporting now but still...

• Posted at 9:36 AM · LINK

Calvert DeForest, R.I.P.

Over in the David Letterman newsgroup, Letterman authority Don "Donz" Giller has reported the death of character actor Calvert DeForest, who was a fixture of Dave's TV shows, first as Larry "Bud" Melman on the NBC show and later under his own name on CBS. According to Giller's posting, DeForest died Monday night from a heart attack after contracting pneumonia.

DeForest was born in 1921 and did not intend to have a career in show business. His mother was an actress and discouraged it, but he told interviewers he needed no discouragement in that area. He did, however, appear in a student film that caught the attention of Mr. Letterman. To his surprise, DeForest (who was then working in a Social Services office) received an offer to be part of a sketch on Dave's show and that led to regular appearances as the character, Larry "Bud" Melman. Dave and the writers especially loved putting DeForest into sketches and situations where the hapless actor had no idea what he was doing. DeForest read everything off cue cards and could almost always be counted on to pause or stand in all the wrong places. Once after he showed a tiny bit of on-camera professionalism, Dave reportedly remarked, "If he ever gets good, he'll be of no use to us."

When Letterman moved to CBS in 1993, his production company lost the legal rights to the name of Larry "Bud" so DeForest began appearing under his own name...but not often. Advanced age and frequent illness kept him from being on the show as often as Letterman and the producers might have liked. According to Giller, DeForest's last appearance was on the April 30, 2003 show where he was introduced as Saddam Hussein.

A tribute to DeForest had been planned for last night's show but Dave took ill with a stomach flu and missed the broadcast, which was hosted instead by Adam Sandler. Tonight's episode was taped on Monday night and the Thursday and Friday shows are both scheduled reruns. So one presumes Dave will be back next Monday and will say something then.

Our video link today is a clip of Larry "Bud" Melman on an early (1983) episode of Late Night With David Letterman. They sent DeForest to the Port Authority Bus Depot in New York to welcome arriving passengers, armed with nothing more than a microphone (which he didn't know how to use) and a supply of hot towels. Here's what ensued...

• Posted at 12:09 AM · LINK

March 22, 2007 • Current • March 20, 2007