Monthly Archives: July 2008

A reminder. On our recommendation, some of you have been listening to the serialized radio interview with Miriam Marx, daughter of Hugo Z. Hackenbush, on BBC Radio. The third and final part is now posted and may not be up past this weekend. If you want to listen, listen soon. The links in this message should get you there.

Newspapers are reporting the death of the man (sort of) behind Bozo the Clown, Larry Harmon, at age 83. Harmon's role in the grand history of Bozo is a little confusing due to the claim — intermittently made and retracted — that Mr. Harmon had created Bozo the Clown. Here's a quick history…

Bozo was created in 1946 by a man named Alan Livingston. Livingston was an executive with Capitol Records and he wanted to launch a series of kids' records that would employ the unique voice of Pinto Colvig, a former circus clown who'd moved into animation work both as a gagman and voice actor. The records were popular and in 1946, Colvig began portraying Bozo on a TV show broadcast on KTTV in Los Angeles. The show was also successful and soon after, Livingston and Capitol began franchising it to other cities. Colvig's shows were not rerun elsewhere or even, in those days, recorded. Instead, stations in other towns bought the right to dress up some local performer as Bozo and to have him host a locally-produced program.

Capitol also hired other actors to play Bozo for personal appearances. Larry Harmon, a performer who had dabbled in childrens' programming and puppet shows in Los Angeles, was one of them. In the mid-fifties, Harmon purchased ownership of the clown from Capitol and continued the franchising, going further than his predecessors in training the legion of Bozos and in supplying them with material for their programs. He also tooled up for animation and in 1959, the franchise package included Bozo cartoons in which Harmon provided the voice. Bozo's TV presence eventually ended but for the rest of his life, Harmon operated a successful licensing operation that put the well-known clown face on a wide array of toys and merchandise.

Unmentioned in most obits this morning is that Bozo was one of two properties successfully handled by Harmon. The other was Laurel and Hardy. In the early sixties, Harmon acquired some rights from Stan Laurel and ever after, if you wanted to depict Laurel and Hardy on a piece of merchandise, Harmon was the man you went to see. He was also responsible for the 1966 Laurel and Hardy cartoon series from Hanna-Barbera (and for which he voiced Laurel) and the "new" Laurel and Hardy movie made in 1999, For Love or Mummy. Among Laurel and Hardy fans, he was quite controversial as many did not care for his exploitations of the classic duo.

I met Mr. Harmon a few times…usually when he wanted to hire me for a new Laurel and Hardy project he was planning. We disagreed on the approach, content, storyline and style of humor…but I think our main incompatibility stemmed from this odd idea I had about getting paid. I did admire his tenacity and ingenuity at keeping Bozo alive and earning all these years, and I trust that will continue in his absence.

I'm a Guest of Honor at CONvergence, which describes itself as "The place where Science Fiction and Reality meet." It's a friendly convention run by friendly people who create a friendly atmosphere…and that's the most important thing I've observed so far.

One of the other Guest of Honor people is a talented gent named Wally Wingert, who lends his voice to countless animated cartoons, videogames, commercials and other endeavors that employ voiceover actors. When you see me mention that I've been directing the voices for a new series of Garfield cartoons, one of the people I'm directing is Wally. He's the current portrayer of the cat's long-suffering, lasagna-serving owner, Jon.

Anyway, I left my room this morn for a walk and promptly ran into Wally, who was about to speak to a group of fifth and sixth grade students, explaining to them about the bizarre/fun way he makes his living. He let me tag along and it was fascinating. I'm not sure all the kids "got" that this strange man in the front of the hall actually supplied the voices he demonstrated for Family Guy and Invader Zim and other shows they watched religiously. I think a few of them thought he was just a guy who could sound a lot like characters on TV…but the ones who understood were mesmerized.

After that, Wally, his parents, a few other folks and I hiked over to a DQ Grill & Chill — or maybe it's a Chill & Grill. Whatever it is, it's the kind of Dairy Queen fast food outlet that one does not find often in Southern California. They have little counters in mall food courts but free-standing, full-menu Dairy Queens are few 'n' far between in my homeland. If I still ate ice cream and similar confections, I'd regret that more than I do. Seemed like a place the old me would have enjoyed a lot…and the burger I did have was a step or two up from most fast food places.

CONvergence officially kicked off in the evening with the Opening Ceremonies, a cleverly-produced show with a video that I hope gets posted online so you can all see it. Guests of Honor were introduced (there are 23 of us) and announcements were made. Unlike a lot of conventions, this one runs on volunteerism and there's a lot of it, which leads to a pretty happy, congenial atmosphere.

I was on a panel after that called The Cereal Mascot Smackdown. Basically, a group of "experts" were asked to argue whether one cereal box superstar could annihilate another in a steel cage, to-the-death match. Could the Trix Rabbit take on Count Chocula? Could Captain Crunch beat up the rooster on the Kellogg's Corn Flakes box? How about Fred Flintstone (on the Fruity Pebbles box) versus the Lucky Charms Leprechaun? When it was my turn to defend the honor of Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Bird, I called for help. I whipped out my cell phone and called Chuck McCann, who did the voice of that bird for a quarter of a century and held it up to the microphone so the whole audience could hear him. Pleading his own case, Sonny won his round…but the ultimate winner of the whole competition was, as you might imagine, Tony the Tiger.

During the discussions, we were served an endless stream of every cereal under discussion. Having given up any food with much sugar content, I took but a small sample of each…which was enough to convince me that Boo Berry is the crummiest cereal I've ever had and that Captain Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch — which I'd never had before and may never have again — was my favorite. I did at one point mix Fruity Pebbles, Fruit Loops and Trix in a bowl and went momentarily blind.

As may be apparent, it was a lot of fun. Everything here so far has been a lot of fun. I'll let you know if things change as the weekend progresses but somehow, I don't think they will.

From "Chelsea Girl" (a reader of this site) comes a worried e-mail: "Please assure me that though you're in Minnesota, Lydia is being properly fed." Lydia, you may recall, is the cat who hangs out in my back yard — the one I had to trap and take in for spaying and a kitty abortion a few months back.

Correction: "…one of the cats who hangs out in my back yard." We're up to five now. Five feral felines — try saying that fast — feed at the dishes I leave out on the rear porch. Usually in the evening, it's Lydia plus one guest. Years ago, I fed a cat we named Jackie out there…and Jackie was quite territorial, claiming my yard as her own. If another pussycat even entered, let alone approached The Dish, Jackie would leap to defend her turf, chasing off the intruder like one of Sinatra's bodyguards protecting The Chairman of the Board. Lydia is unthreatened by others and even acts as hostess. She's awfully generous with the food I pay for. As long as she gets her fill, all are welcome.

In the last week or so, the clientele out there has included a silvery/spotted cat of enormous size and appetite. Both of those qualities have been enhanced because this one looks ready to deliver a litter any day now…and may have, by the time I return. I made the layman's diagnosis that she was too far along to be trapped and hauled out to the vet, especially when I was about to leave town. She may even be too big to fit in that trap I bought. So I have the feeling Lydia will have plenty of new customers for the little Free Buffet she's operating on my stoop.

Fear not, Chelsea Girl. It's operational in my absence. I left plenty of food in the bins and a housesitter to dole it out. We've come too far with Lydia to abandon her now.

Hello from way up in the sky, en route to Minnesota. I'll post this when I hit the hotel room but I'm writing it from seat D-10 on a Northwest Airlines flight. A nice flight attendant lady is prowling the aisle with a bottle of H2O and a stack of nested plastic cups, asking everyone, "Water? Water? Anyone want water?" She makes it sound like we're not likely to get any in Minneapolis so we'd better tank up now.

The flight left right on time and they're saying we'll be in 10-15 minutes early. I like that. If I ran an airline, I think I'd pad the schedule so every flight would get in 10-15 minutes earlier than we say. It might take us just as long as any other airline to get you where you're going (or longer) but when you thought of us, you'd think, "Boy, they're good…they're usually 10-15 minutes early."

Security at LAX was the usual drag, made draggier by a raging debate ahead of me in my line. A lady who looked a lot like Paris Hilton (but wasn't) was refusing to remove her footwear…and getting very loud and strident about it. On one hand, she had a point. They were sandals — and I could have hidden a lot more weaponry or explosives in my wallet, which I did not have to put on the conveyor belt, than she could have secreted in her flip-flops. On the other hand, it was not like she had a prayer of winning the argument and having one lowly Security Agent reverse TSA policy.

"You're required to put your shoes through the x-ray," said a man of steadily-diminishing patience while behind us, we could all hear voices crying out, "My plane leaves in ten minutes" or similar pleas. For some reason, no one thought to move her to one side and debate the issue while others passed on through. Paris kept responding, as if someone was paying her to say it as many times as possible, "But these are not shoes." She was right on some theoretical level but wrong to think she was getting on her plane without complying. By the time she did as ordered, the line behind her was the length of the Nile and at least a few people had probably missed their flights.

The pilot just said we're at 31,000 feet and we'll be starting our descent shortly. He'll "have us on the ground" (isn't there a nicer way to put that?) in about 25 minutes and then there's 5-10 minutes to taxi to our gate. I think the "10-15 minutes early" didn't include taxi time so maybe we're not as far ahead of schedule as they suggested.

I'm going to wrap this up and spend the rest of the flight paging through the in-flight magazine, getting up to speed on the Great Steakhouses of America. How is it that I never get to vote on what gets onto those lists? It couldn't be because they're just a cheap advertising ploy and that the restaurants listed are the ones that paid to be included, could it? If it turns out that's the case, I'm going to stop wagering on these things.

If you're anywhere near Mission Viejo, California, this will be of interest to you: Frank Ferrante, who you're all sick of seeing me rave about on this here blog, will be Grouchoing all over the stage at the Saddleback McKinney Theater this coming Tuesday, July 8. Frank's one-man show as the Magnificent Marx is, like the man he replicates, a treasure. Click the link for more details.

Here's what's up with my occasional employers, Sid and Marty Krofft. As noted, there's a huge-budget Land of the Lost movie in the works (I was on the set two weeks ago) and other projects in the offing. I've worked for them on and off for thirty years and one thing I learned early-on was never to write them off or count them out. Along with their other talents, they're darned good at just bouncing back. If this new movie were to fail — and I'll betcha it won't — they'd be back a year later with something successful.

I am assured by half the Muppet Experts in the world that Cookie Monster, as seen on The Colbert Report, was performed by a gent named David Rudman. Frank Oz began cutting back on his Muppeteering in the nineties due to age and other career opportunities, and others began imitating him. Around 2001, Mr. Rudman emerged as the primary Cookie Monster manipulator and it's easy to see why. He's darn good at it.

A month or two ago, I spent a few hours on the set of a Muppet shoot with Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, Piggy, The Swedish Chef, Pepe the King Prawn and a few others. Four Muppeteers were handling the cast…with a few more providing hands and such. The four were Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson and Bill Barretta. Dave originated and still plays Gonzo and Bunsen Honeydew, and Bill started Pepe and a few other recent characters.

But for most of the stars, we're on to second (and third) generation Muppet Wranglers. When Jim Henson died in 1990, he willed the role of Kermit to Steve. Eric is the specialist in the roles Frank Oz no longer does — Bert, Grover, Fozzie, etc. For a while, he did Cookie Monster on Sesame Street but Rudman took it over, in part because it was easier to have Bert and C.M. interact if they weren't done by the same performer. I don't watch Sesame Street often and haven't since it essentially turned into The Elmo Hour. But when I've caught new Muppet segments, I am impressed with how faithful they are…and how well they integrate with scenes rerun from the era of Henson, Oz, Hunt, Nelson, et al.

Having been deeply critical of some cast replacements on animated shows, I'm impressed that someone knows the difference between a good Muppet imitation and a bad one…and hires accordingly. The four men I saw on that set a few months ago were as good as you could reasonably expect; maybe a little better than one would dare hope for. I wish more people cared that much about keeping classic characters sounding and behaving like themselves.