As millions of you have written me, I was wrong to say Steve Martin hasn't toured in years. As a stand-up comedian, no...but he sometimes tours with his banjo along with other pickers. So sue me.
A popular feature of The Smoking Gun is a library of "riders" — those special contracts in which big (and not-so-big) stars make eccentric demands of any venue in which they perform. Recently, another site uncovered the shocking demands of Steve Martin...especially shocking since he hasn't toured in something like twenty years.
While you're at it, you might like to see how Mr. Martin has been known to handle his mail.
About every six months, I run into TV producer Leonard Stern at some event and I ask him what's up with the planned DVD release of I'm Dickens, He's Fenster. That was the one season (1962-1963) situation comedy starring John Astin and Marty Ingels as not-the-most-ept carpenters in the world.
A lot of shows I recall enjoying as a kid don't hold up very well years later. (Somewhere here, I must have mentioned my theory that all the old episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. have been secretly refilmed to make them look cheap and clumsy.) But I'm Dickens, He's Fenster endures nicely, at least for me...a bit slapsticky but it's a good slapstick. Actor-bandleader Frank DeVol was especially funny in it.
Leonard Stern created the show and though it was but one of many credits, and he did others far more successful, I gather he still has a warm feeling for it. At least, he seems pleased when I ask about it and he always says, "Soon, we're close to a deal." I suspect that's wishful thinking but sometimes wishful thinking comes true.
Here's the pilot which sold the show...a somewhat typical episode, though it doesn't have nearly enough of Frank DeVol. No episode did. This one is somewhat redeemed with a nice, pre-Batgirl appearance by Yvonne Craig.
I used to say here that someone needed to start a cable channel that would run stuff like this. Someone still does, though not long ago a fellow involved in syndication explained to me all the obstacles that would be involved in setting up what I have in mind. Aiming for something that's more likely to happen, I've shifted my wish over to just seeing good DVD sets of such programs. The one of I'm Dickens, He's Fenster is apparently just waiting for the right distribution deal. Let's hope they find it soon.
June 24, 2010
