Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Love Affair

At age 14, when the TV series Family Affair first appeared on my TV, I had a tiny crush on Kathy Garver, the lovely young lady who played Cissy. She was a bit older than me but, hey, it's not like I was ever going to meet her and act on said crush.

Plus, she was cute and I felt an odd "closeness" to the family on that show. The apartment building in which they allegedly resided — the building used for exterior shots — was and still is on Wilshire near Beverly Glen, not far from where my family lived. We drove by there all the time and though I knew the show actually filmed somewhere else and that it was all fictitious, it was still kinda fun to imagine them in there. I'd guess that Mr. French was scurrying about to try and find Mrs. Beasley before Buffy realized she was missing. And I'd guess Uncle Bill was rubbing his face in exasperation because that was the main thing Brian Keith always did on that show: Rub his face is exasperation. He was very good at it.

Then, about the time my crush on Kathy Garver was winding down — or, more accurately, being transferred to Yvonne Craig on Batman — I got the chance to go on the set of Family Affair. The lady who lived next door to us, an actress I've mentioned here, was playing Brian Keith's secretary in a couple of episodes. I can't recall why but I remember my father driving us over to watch a little of the filming and I remember a certain excitement that I might get to see Kathy Garver in person. It was accompanied by a little fear that I might have to talk with her. At that age, I didn't do well conversing with famous people. At times, I still don't. Anyway, I'm not sure if I was disappointed or relieved but Ms. Garver wasn't on the set while we were there.

Flash forward to a few years ago. Kathy Garver has long since become a fine grown-up actress...one who does a lot of voiceover work, including cartoon voices. I met her at a convention, had her on a couple of my Cartoon Voice Panels and generally got to know her. She's a very bright, smart lady with loads of great stories to tell of all she's done in show business — on Family Affair and so many other shows. You can hear some of those stories — yes, this is a commercial and I tricked you into reading it — tomorrow (Wednesday) on Stu's Show, the Internet-only talk show that I often recommend.

This is not a podcast. You can't download it and listen to it whenever you want. You have to "tune in" when it's on — 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern. They do the show live on Wednesday and it reruns on other days, usually in the same time slot. But try and listen live and if you do, you can even call in and ask Kathy a question. Just go at the proper time to the website of Shokus Internet Radio and click in the appropriate place. And while you're there, check out the schedule for some of the other fine programming you can hear on that station.

• Posted at 7:43 PM · LINK

Game Show Memories

The TV tickets illustrating this article are not ones I got in 1959. They're just from the same period. Our thanks to the management of Old TV Tickets for supplying them.

In the summer of 1959 when I was seven, my mother took me on a trip east — to New York, Hartford and Boston in that order. The idea was to sightsee and introduce me to relatives. I guess she thought I was old enough to see just what kind of family I was a part of.

The week in New York, we stayed at the Taft Hotel on Seventh Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets and did touristy things like riding the Staten Island Ferry and visiting the Statue of Liberty. One morning, my mother announced we were going to go to Rockefeller Center, walk around for a while, then take in a matinee of the movie that was playing at Radio City Music Hall. It was The Nun's Story starring Audrey Hepburn. If you ever decide your seven-year-old deserves a good beating but wish to avoid corporal punishment, make him sit through The Nun's Story, instead. Whatever it was he did, he'll never do it again.

Before we got to that, as we wandered through Rockefeller Center, a polite man approached us. He explained that he was recruiting audiences and that he could arrange for us to get a free tour of the NBC Studios, see one of our favorite game shows done live and (he emphasized the "and") take home a prize. All it would take was about two hours of our time. My mother motioned to me and said, "I thought you had to be a certain age to be in the audience for a TV show."

I guess they were desperate for warm bodies that day. He looked me over and said, "Yes, well, usually but he seems like a well-behaved lad. I can arrange for special tickets so he'll get in." My mother decided we could catch a later show of The Nun's Story and asked if we could see them do Treasure Hunt, which was then a popular NBC game show starring Jan Murray. The gent scanned his clipboard and said, "I'm not sure if there are any special tickets left for Treasure Hunt. They'd have to tell you upstairs."

He was probably lying to us. He probably knew darn well there were no tickets of any kind left for Treasure Hunt. His mission was to get us upstairs where we could be diverted into some other show that was hard-up for seat-fillers.

The next thing we knew, we were getting a quick mini-tour of NBC, conducted by a cheery tour guide who showed us almost nothing but kept encouraging us to ask questions. I did and she couldn't answer a one of them. Then we were at a high desk — these are images I remember — where another cheery person informed us that they couldn't get us into Treasure Hunt but we could see Concentration. We liked that show too...and what the heck? We were already there and it was free and that show gave out prizes to the audience, too. So we were handed tickets and directed to a line of other folks who'd been conscripted from the street.

There, we waited for what seemed like days. Minutes you spend waiting seem like days when you're seven. I was bored silly until, suddenly and without warning, Jan Murray came by. He was wearing a loud checked sport coat and I think he was out there to apologize to people who'd been waiting in another line to see Treasure Hunt and didn't get in. But then he came over and shook some hands in our line and I got to meet him.

I had met TV stars before. The lady who lived next door to us back home was on an ABC series then but this was different. She was like family and Jan Murray was a person who, insofar as I was concerned, existed only on television. He was also male and funny and charming and he made a big impression on me. I never wanted to be on TV but I do vaguely recall a little wish-dream that struck me at that moment. It had to do with people being as happy to see me as everyone was that day to see Jan Murray.

Eventually, we were herded into the studio where Concentration was done and seated in bleacher-type seats. Ours were way over on the end and from where they stuck me, I could see absolutely nothing of the area where the host and players would be. I could see about a third of the big Concentration game board and that was about it. This was not because of my lack of height back then. It was because of all the lights and cameras and equipment in the way. Kareem Abdul Jabbar would not have been able to see anything from where they put me. I ended up watching the whole show on one of the monitors and thinking, "Gee, I could have seen exactly the same thing at home without waiting in that line, plus I could be eating cookies."

To further diminish the experience, the show's regular host Hugh Downs was off that day and someone else (I don't recall who) was filling in. Because he made his entrance after we sat down and exited before we left, I never saw him except on the monitor.

We'd been promised prizes and usually in the world of game shows, the word "prize" suggests large amounts of cash, household appliances and vacations. In this case, it suggested one tiny, travel-size tube of the white Vaseline® brand petroleum jelly. As we filed out, an NBC page handed one to each of us and even the adults were audibly disappointed. The next day, I saw them for sale in a pharmacy and they were 39 cents, which wasn't much of a prize even in 1959. I'd been expecting a new Chevrolet and a case of Turtle Wax...although come to think of it, maybe Turtle Wax is the white Vaseline® brand petroleum jelly.

All in all, it was not the most memorable part of that trip to New York. I think the most memorable part was after The Nun's Story when my mother, by way of apology I think, took me to the famous Automat restaurant. I liked that. I'll write about it some other time here.

• Posted at 10:01 AM · LINK

Update

John Morrow, publisher of The Jack Kirby Collector, informs me that the Doctor Doom factoid on Wikipedia was taken from an "April Fool" article in his magazine. Someone apparently didn't read all the way to the end. The story has now been removed from Wikipedia. It was up there for quite a while, I'm told. Which should serve as a reminder to us that you can't believe everything you read on Wikipedia. Or anywhere.

• Posted at 9:52 AM · LINK

Wicked Wiki

Over on the Wikipedia page for the Marvel villain, Doctor Doom, one finds this paragraph...

In 1969 Marvel announced plans to launch Doom in his own comic book, Doctor Doom. The comic was due for release in September 1969, with the story and penciling by Jack Kirby, and would be the first time a villain had received a solo title. Pressure from parental groups and the adverse publicity caused by the news forced Marvel to cancel the title and pulp the entire print run, with only Kirby's file copy surviving. Kirby's decision to leave Marvel shortly after was influenced to some extent by these events.

This is about 99.3% untrue. Marvel did decide to try a Doctor Doom comic around then and they developed a couple of stories with different writers and artists. One was printed as the lead feature in Marvel Super Heroes #20 (May, 1969) and the rest were discarded for creative reasons. Jack Kirby had nothing to do with any of them. There were no protests over the one book that was printed, nothing was pulped, and Kirby's decision to leave Marvel had nothing to do with all these things that never happened.

Aside from that, it's pretty much accurate.

• Posted at 1:56 AM · LINK

Public Appeal

Does anyone know where to procure a copy of a 1970 movie starring Rod Taylor called The Man Who Had Power Over Women? Drop me a note if you do.

• Posted at 12:37 AM · LINK

Famed Inventors

Here's a list of 13 Patent-Holding Celebrity Inventors. One that they might have included was the great ventriloquist, Paul Winchell. He not only held the patent on an artificial heart he invented but dozens of other patents, as well. He invented an early model disposable razor, a flameless cigarette lighter, a retractable fountain pen and many others. I never saw any proof of it but Paul used to claim he invented — and I think he said he patented — the idea of hanging a tennis ball in your garage so that when you drive in and your windshield comes into contact with it, you know when to stop your car. Clever man.

• Posted at 12:17 AM · LINK

Foto File

Another photo from my stash. That's my old pal, Steve Gerber. Steve passed away in February of '08 and it still hurts.

• Posted at 12:05 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

What is it with Craig Ferguson? Every time I watch his show, I enjoy it. I think he's funny and clever and a lot less "phony" than most people who sit behind desks on that kind of program. But I rarely think, "Hey, I oughta watch Craig Ferguson." For a while, I was TiVoing him every night and I never got around to watching them. I must have deleted fifty unviewed episodes before I took him off my Season Pass list. He reminds me of certain restaurants. Every time I go there, I have a great meal but I almost never think to go there.

Here's how Mr. Ferguson opened his show a few night ago...

• Posted at 12:02 AM · LINK

April 22, 2009 • Current • April 20, 2009