Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Freberg Alert

An awful lot of people enjoyed meeting Stan and Hunter Freberg at the Comic-Con in San Diego last July...and why the heck shouldn't they? He's a legendary satirist, maker of hit comedy records and funny commercials and a great cartoon voice actor. She's his spouse/helpmate and an entertainer and broadcaster herself. We like these people a lot.

If you live in Southern California and yearn to be in the same room as a couple of Frebergs, you have two upcoming opportunities. One is this coming weekend when they'll be appearing at the Hollywood Collectors Show out in Burbank. There will be other celebs in attendance whose autograph you may wish to obtain — folks like Julie Newmar and Bill Mumy and Mickey Rooney and Shelley Berman and Debbie Reynolds and even Stan's longtime co-star, June Foray. But it would be worth the trip and admission price just to meet Stan and to also get a copy of June's autobiography.

You also have an even rarer chance to see Stan and Hunter perform. The world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood is hosting a series of cabaret events and the Funny Frebergs are doing two shows — one on November 16, one on November 17, both starting at 8 PM. If you're a member, you can order tix right now on the Castle website. There's also a way for non-members to get tickets but I don't know yet where to send you for those. Details will be posted once I do...but you might want to save one of those dates. I'm sure they'll put on a great show even though Stan will not be sawing Hunter in half. At least, I don't think he will.

• Posted at 8:44 PM · LINK

Tuesday Afternoon

I'm not really back yet from Travel Mode but I wanted to mention this. When I had my brief discussion here about Roman Polanski, a couple of the e-mails I received contained presumptions about "what all of Hollywood believes." Let me tell you about "what all of Hollywood believes." All of Hollywood believes it wants to make successful movies and TV shows, that it wants the folks who deserve honors to be honored for whatever it is they've done to deserve honors, and that there's no business like show business like no business I know.

But beyond generalities like that, Hollywood doesn't speak with a single voice. Heck, all the people who work on any one movie or TV show don't speak with a single voice. I had the same agent for 27 years and we didn't even speak with a single voice. The only people I ever met in this industry who ever spoke with a single voice were Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney.

Bill Lentz, a reader of this site, wrote to ask me what I think of a recent article about Terry Teachout on Hollywood's reaction to the Polanski arrest. I think Mr. Teachout is using that situation to unload some long-nursed grudges about the entertainment industry. For a better, more informed view, read what Patrick Goldstein and Josh Olson have to say in this article. Unlike Teachout, when they write about what people in Hollywood think, they actually know some.

• Posted at 4:49 PM · LINK

Soup's On!

For what it's worth, I received more argumentative e-mail for my position on Joe Besser than I did for my position on Roman Polanski. Roman may have committed an unspeakable sin but at least he didn't have the audacity to try and replace Curly.

I am still travelling and too preoccupied to post much...ergo, the picture of a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. This, for the benefit of those new to the party, is an ancient Internet tradition I've been attempting to start without a whole lot of success. The idea is that when your blog is going into sleep mode for a day or so — or whatever would be an unnatural amount of time for you to not post — you put up a picture of a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, just to alert all that you may not be around the 'net as often as they've come to expect. Almost no one does this...and one person who thought they were picking up on my idea was quite unclear on the concept. He posted a picture of a can of Campbell's Chicken and Stars Soup. That's just silly.

Normal nattering will resume shortly. If you're bored, I hear somewhere on the Internet, there's something else worth reading. You may, if you look hard, even be able to find naughty pictures.

• Posted at 5:38 AM · LINK