When I joined the Magic Castle in 1980, one of the treats was to sit and talk — actually, sit and listen — to Dai Vernon, one of the greatest magicians of all time and a great teller of stories. "The Professor," as some called him, invented a lot of tricks that are carried on […]
I have so many things to do today that I'd better put up the soup can to caution followers of this blog that there may not be much here for a while. But I shall return. I always return. […]
Badges for Comic-Con International 2025 reportedly sold out yesterday morning in under two hours. It took a little longer than it has in some past years but that's almost certainly a function of the software and computer delays, not a diminished demand. Naturally, a lot of folks who didn't get what they wanted are complaining […]
When we speak on this blog of "Old Vegas," we're talking about a lot of things but the entertainment of the day was a biggie. Here from 1987 is a half-hour of a special celebrating entertainers from "Old Vegas," none of whom are still around to perform in "New Vegas"… […]
I've received several messages about the Saturday Night movie. Here's one from Graeme Burk… Long time reader, probably first time commenter…Your opinion of Saturday Night pretty much tracks with mine. While I don't have any TV industry experience, I went through a real deep dive about the history of early SNL 20 years ago or […]
I just, like half an hour ago, took out time from work to watch the Saturday Night movie on Amazon Prime. I didn't like it at first. I have a problem with movies where actors impersonate recognizable people. As I watched the movie in which Renée Zellweger played Judy Garland, I sat there noting all […]
When it first opened its doors in 1950, Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn in Las Vegas was more like a motel than the giant hotel of the same name that would soon stand on that choice hunk of real estate. The complex had been built with mob money and for a time, was probably the nicest […]
Long ago in another era, I was known to hang around The Comedy Store and The Improv a fair amount of time and I saw a lot of great comedians and some who, deservedly, you've never heard of. There were certain comics who didn't get a lot of respect from their peers but there were […]
One of the few things in the news I'm following is the sale of Alex Jones's Info Wars operation to, perhaps, the folks who bring us The Onion. I don't understand the intricacies of the auction and after watching this video from our old friend, the Legal Eagle, I know a lot more about it […]
If you're going to participate in Open Registration this Saturday for the 2025 Comic-Con International, you might do well to read this page from the folks at The San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog. They're not affiliated, connected or associated with Comic-Con International but they sure are helpful. […]
Set up to record ABC's news show 20/20 next week on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 9 PM in my and most time zones. They're doing a two-hour episode subtitled, The Untold Story of Mary Poppins: A Special Edition of 20/20, full of interviews and old footage about the 1964 movie. And yeah, it's a crossplug […]
The Adelaide Central Market in Adelaide, South Australia is one of the oldest markets on that continent. It's said to be a great place to shop for fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, cheeses and baked goods…and every so often, you can find a production of Sweeney Todd in its aisles… […]
I like to link links. At the 1974 Academy Awards ceremony, Jack Lemmon won Best Actor for Save the Tiger beating out a pretty impressive list of nominees — Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Robert Redford… And the next night, he did a suprise (to the audience) walk-on on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show… […]
Back in this message, we linked you to fresh, good quality audios of the opening and closing of the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon show. All the themes from that series are now online and you can listen to 'em here. There's reportedly a vinyl (VINYL!) record of them out, too. […]
Here's me filling out one of those online questionnaires that make the rounds. This one's about one's Senior Year in high school… Class of: 1969 Did you know your current love? Nope. Type of car? Didn't have a car then. I was highly dependent on the Santa Monica Bus Lines. What kind of work did […]