Went to a party last evening at the home of Leonard and Alice Maltin. Got to talk to lots of fun folks including Stan Freberg, Chuck McCann, Richard Sherman, Ian Whitcomb, Phil Proctor and John Landis. It was a lot more fun than the last time I was with John Landis. It was 1963 and […]
A couple of folks suggested that, in the spirit of the holiday, I put up a pointer to this article I wrote about Mel Tormé. So there it is. Hope you enjoy it. […]
Thanks to a Christmas Eve e-mail from the all-knowing Rick Scheckman, I corrected a minor factual error in the preceding post. Also, several folks have written me to note that while Fields never played Scrooge, impressionist Rich Little did play Fields playing Scrooge. Chris Smigliano offers the following recollection… It was a cable TV special, […]
There have now been over 72,500 adaptations of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, with most of the film and television versions getting rerun during a holiday viewing season that extends from just before Columbus Day 'til well after the Winter Solstice. The other night on The Tonight Show, Jay Leno and Billy Bob Thornton […]
You see a lot of silly animations on the Internet but occasionally one really impresses you. Last year on my other site, I recommended you take the time to visit this Christmas cartoon, and it's still one of the cleverest things I've seen. Try clicking the deers off and on in different patterns. And this […]
Governor George Pataki of New York has granted a posthumous pardon to Lenny Bruce for saying naughty words on stage. Here's the news report. […]
I was never much of a fan of the Dennis the Menace newspaper strip by Hank Ketcham. It was nicely drawn but there was something about its attitude towards children that struck me as needlessly condescending. At times, it was almost like Dennis was not a kid but a pet in need of better housebreaking. […]
Starting in a week or so, Comedy Central loses their package of Saturday Night Live reruns to the E! network. As a last hurrah, the former is airing what they're billing as "The 50 Greatest SNL Episodes" in five 10-hour blocks, one block per day starting tomorrow. It probably won't be the fifty best since […]
The eBay auction of my pilot script and bible for Dungeons and Dragons is rolling along. Up over a hundred bucks now with several days yet to run. Let's see how high this thing will go… […]
Here's Robert Scheer with one side of an issue that has me genuinely on the fence. Increasingly, government officials are leaking stories to reporters that turn out to be either not quite true or not at all true. The leak is calculated to advance the official's agenda and may even be a crime…but the ethics […]
Another great voice has been silenced. Les Tremayne starred in many memorable radio programs, including The Falcon and The Thin Man before becoming one of those "works all the time" character actors in motion pictures and television. His listing in the Internet Movie Database is woefully incomplete but even it will give you some idea […]
Justin Foster (a reader of this site) informs me that Thurl Ravenscroft's narration on the Disneyland Railroad has been replaced by another voice. I will never ride it again. […]
Eric Idle has finished his "Greedy Bastard Tour" which means (sadly) that he's finished his online tour diary. I dunno how long they'll leave it up over on this web page but I suggest you go enjoy it now, while you still can. A wonderful read it is…and certain installments, especially the last few, will […]
Quite a few folks have e-mailed me links to obits like this one for Harold von Braunhut, the man who invented and marketed the "Amazing Sea Monkeys." Most of the pieces spoke admiringly of his ability to merchandise odd items, and I suppose that's worthy of a salute. But I wonder how many children were […]
I had a pretty good time watching The Haunted Mansion, the new movie based on the Disneyland attraction of the same name. I liked that the special effects blended so seamlessly with reality. I liked that the film started slow and gave you the chance to get to know the people before zombies began chasing […]