Merv Griffin may not have been the funniest person who ever appeared on television...but he came up with what may be the funniest headstone of all time.
My pal Bob Elisberg wrote such a fine primer on the WGA Strike over at The Huffington Post that I hereby offer to take him back to my favorite barbecue restaurant for ribs.
As I think I mentioned here, I have suddenly turned into an instructor. Beginning in the new semester (which starts next week), I am teaching a course entitled Writing Humor: Literary and Dramatic for the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. The class is full and has a wait list so I'm not mentioning that to solicit students; just to tell you why I may not be posting here as much once it commences.
I am also teaching a half-day class in San Francisco on February 25 which is for actors who do or want to do voices for animation. I'll be telling them whatever I know about the craft (most of which I learned from the late/great Daws Butler) and directing students in scenes. This will be at a school/studio called Voice One and I believe there are still some openings. This link will take you to their listing for my class.
I'm also dickering to teach a one-time seminar in Los Angeles which will be called something like Professional Writing: How to Manage a Career. At least, there's a school that thinks I'm somehow qualified for the task and has requested that I do so. Watch this space for an announcement if this one happens.
Hey, you remember Mystery Science Theater 3000, the show that could make a mockery of any movie better than Skidoo. Well, many of the folks behind that wonderful enterprise have reassembled and are now plying their heckling skills in a series of DVD commentary tracks. They're calling the new venture Cinema Titanic and their first release should be out by now. Go to their blog for all the details. We're quite happy about this.
The subject of scabbing during the WGA strike is an emotional sore spot. The New Republic decided that they needed a piece that would address this topic and they asked me to write it. And so I did.
On their home page, by the way, they have its link next to a photo of Stephen Colbert. I did not select this or any photo.
Here's the funniest thing you may find on the 'net for some time: A newspaper ad showing that Paramount Pictures ran Skidoo in Los Angeles "for Academy Award consideration." Actually, I'm a little puzzled about this since all my sources say the movie was released on December 2, 1968, which would have allowed plenty of time to qualify for the Oscars without a special engagement. Perhaps that date is when the special engagement began and the general release came early in '69. Either way, it received no nominations. I wonder why.
This ad was taken with permission from Gabriel Neeb's great webpage, San Diego Cinema. Usually, it features great old movie ads from that area but Gabriel couldn't resist an ad from Los Angeles because of the Skidoo box. The Crest Theater was one of my old hangouts. In fact, it's where I saw the movie Penelope, which we discussed back here.
If you go over to Gabriel's page, you'll see the whole listing for the Loews chain that week. Oliver is premiering at the Beverly. I took my girl friend of the time there (her name was Lynne) to see that movie a few weeks later. We went to dinner that evening at what was then my favorite Chinese restaurant, a place called Wan-Q, which I wrote about over on this page. Wan-Q is long gone but my current favorite Chinese restaurant, Fu's Palace, is in its old building. The Beverly Theater (which you can see here) closed in 1977 and was converted into a bank and a jewelry store. It was recently demolished along with most of that block.
After the movie, Lynne and I walked down to a Wil Wright's ice cream parlor that was on Beverly, a block south of Wilshire. (I wrote about Wil Wright's here and just above it on that page, there's a photo that shows a bit of the Beverly Theater.) Wil Wright's is also long gone and I don't know why I'm telling you all this. Old movie theater ads tend to send my memory into overdrive.
Johnny Grant was "The Honorary Mayor of Hollywood" and did he ever preside. Every luncheon, every parade, every ribbon-cutting, every charitable event...there was Johnny Grant. He was most visible acting as host each time they unveiled a new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The photo above shows Johnny getting whacked in the face with a pie by Soupy Sales when they unveiled Soupy's.
Before all that, Mr. Grant was a radio personality and a TV host and a newsman and a staunch supporter of America's military men and women, organizing U.S.O. tours and other services to aid our soldiers. (He was an actor, too. One role you may have seen him in was in the Bing Crosby-Danny Kaye movie, White Christmas. Grant played the Ed Sullivan-like TV host.) Those of us who were watching TV in Los Angeles in the fifties and sixties saw him constantly.
I won't attempt a full bio here but I will direct you to this page of his website. Take a sec and read about the man's life, which was quite extraordinary. And here's a link to the L.A. Times obit. I spoke to him a few times at various events and always admired his niceness and his never-ending supply of energy. It won't be the same without him.
From a 1965 episode of Hollywood Palace: Frank Sinatra introduces the King of Insult Comedy — at least before Don Rickles broke through — Jack E. Leonard. Fat Jack, as they called him for obvious reasons, was one of those performers who never had much in the way of material but he had the attitude and style to "sell" just about anything. This clip is a good example of him getting away with comedic murder, blustering his way through a monologue that obviously didn't get a lot from the studio audience and was heavily "sweetened" with fake laughs in the editing room. Still, I always found him fun to watch. See if you do...
January 11, 2008
