Here, recommended to me wisely by Marty Golia, is a short but very good audio story from NPR on the Silent Movie Theatre over on Fairfax. I wrote a brief article on the esteemed film palace some years back and you can read it here. Or you can go off this site and read a longer one here.
You can also visit the website of the Silent Movie Theatre where, they say, a book on the history of the place will be out in May of this year.
Want to see some clips of Don Knotts at his best? Want to see them on your own computer screen? The folks over at LikeTelevision have put up some on this page. Matter of fact, there's a lot of neat non-Knotts stuff on their site you might enjoy.
A couple of folks wrote me to point out an interesting point I should have included in some post. As I mentioned, Andy Griffith did something very wise by allowing Don to run away with The Andy Griffith Show. Ron Howard, who was then playing Andy's son, seems to have learned well. Years later, he sure profited by allowing Henry Winkler to run away with Happy Days.
Jon Stewart is on Larry King Live tonight. I wish Costas was guest-hosting but I don't think he is.
Sorry to say I never got to meet Dennis Weaver. I always liked him as an actor and respected him as a human being. The obits (like this one) only touch upon the fine non-acting work he did to make the world a better place. Especially impressive were the efforts of L.I.F.E., a group he headed up that fed hungry people and probably saved an awful lot of human lives. His work for ecological causes was level-headed and never hysterical, and I hope it continues without him.
Weaver had a pretty glorious career in television, starring in many a series. He practically stole Gunsmoke from Jim Arness, then went on to do Gentle Ben and Kentucky Jones, which were both good shows. Then Fess Parker turned down the lead in McCloud, Weaver was cast and you had a perfect match of actor and role. Even Parker later said that Weaver was better in the part than he would have been.
I never heard a bad word about Dennis Weaver. Once, when he was suggested for a part in a show I wrote, a very important network person grinned and said, "He's always money in the bank." Translation: He was always good in what he did, never caused trouble and audiences loved him. I'm sorry that project never went forward because I really wanted to meet the man and tell him how much I admired him.
For several weeks now, I've been having a very civil and mutally-enlightening e-mail debate with a friend about Iraq. Neither of us has an opinion set in concrete, though I tend to think our presence there is making things worse and he leans towards believing we could still wind up being glad we've done what we've done.
I asked him to suggest an article I could link to here that would make the best possible case for his position. He came back with a piece by Lawrence Kaplan written for the New Republic magazine. No matter how you feel about the war, you might want to read it and also this brief rebuttal by Matthew Yglesias.
I still would love to believe Iraq is not the biggest mistake ever made in the category of U.S. Foreign Policy. If someone else can point me to an article that makes a stronger case, I'd like to read it and link to it.
Lou Costello, of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, always talked about being raised in Paterson, New Jersey. It was his hometown and he was proud of it. Returning the favor the town of Paterson is tooling up to celebrate what would have been Lou's 100th birthday with a big Lou Costello celebration. This article will tell you all about it. [Warning: It's one of those sites that will ask you for your age and sex and zip code.]
One correction to the article: Lou most definitely did not write the team's signature routine, "Who's on First?" It was an old burlesque routine that they cleaned up and polished and made their own. It's also, as has been noted by several scholars of comedy, one of the most contrived bits of all time, founded as it was on the dubious premise that "they give baseball players odd names these days." Really? Was there ever a baseball player named Who? Or anything remotely like that? The piece actually made more sense when the satire troupe called The Credibility Gap parodied it and had a rock promoter deciding that at his concert, he was going to put The Who on first. There really was a rock group called The Who.
But of course, logic doesn't matter when they're laughing, and people laughed long and hard at Bud Abbott and Lou Costello arguing about an infield peopled with interrogative pronouns. Costello, when he was on target — which wasn't all the time — was a great comedic performer, and Abbott was one of the best straight men ever in comedy. They were probably better than a lot of their movies, most of which I find a lot more tedious now than I did when I was eleven.
You know what I wish? I wish someone would make an MP3 player that looks like a Pez dispenser. That would be great. That would be so neat. But of course, it'll never happen. Or will it?
Good article on Jon Stewart and what he might do on the Oscar telecast. It's a Los Angeles Times piece so you may have to register. But is that so much to ask?
…though it may only mean something to folks who watched TV in Los Angeles in the sixties and seventies. It's for Edward Nalbandian. Now, who the heck is Edward Nalbandian?
He was the proprietor of the huge discount men's clothing store down on Wilshire, Zachary All. In fact, he was Zachary All, which was a made-up name. Eddie turned up constantly on L.A. TV doing his own commercial spots and in one, which only ran eight times an hour for about five years, he said, of his store's prices on the new double-knit suits, "My friends all ask me, 'Eddie, are you kidding?' And I tell them no, my friend, I am not kidding." This line prompted rocker Frank Zappa to write and record a very funny, successful (at least in L.A.) record, "Eddie, Are You Kidding?"
I had one personal encounter with Eddie. I wrote about it in this article though I didn't use his name. But read down to the last part and you'll recognize he's the guy I was talking about. And if you'd like to know more about Eddie and Zachary All, here's a link to an article from The Los Angeles Business Journal that tells about him.
Here's a great photo of Don Knotts holding one of his five Emmy Awards and posing with Carl Reiner and Peter Falk. And I can't help but note that we have here three people who were in the movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
A couple other thoughts. Barney Fife was one of the all-time great TV characters and we have Andy Griffith to thank for that, and not just for casting Don. There have been a lot of stars who simply would not have allowed someone else to walk off with their program the way Andy let Don Knotts dominate The Andy Griffith Show. Oh, they'd let the producers hire someone funnier than them…but they sure wouldn't let him be funnier in that many episodes. Andy was wise enough to let Don be Don and it sure didn't hurt either man's career.
At the end of five years of Griffith shows, Don left. CBS offered very large dollars to keep him on their network and there was brief talk of a spin-off show that would have moved Barney Fife to a bigger city as a detective. Knotts wasn't interested. He'd signed with Universal to do movies and he did several…to sadly diminishing returns. It was mostly a matter of bad timing. The film industry was changing then and he was a few years late to be doing non-Disney family comedies. Even Jerry Lewis was no longer packing them in with that kind of material.
I don't know what Don's best movie was from this period — maybe The Ghost and Mr. Chicken — but the most interesting is probably The Love God?, which was a halting attempt to do something a tad more adult. The film was written and directed by Nat Hiken, the gent who'd brought us Sgt. Bilko and Car 54, Where Are You? I've always wanted to find a copy of the original screenplay for The Love God? — not the version Hiken directed but an earlier draft that was, legend has it, quite unlike the finished film and absolutely hysterical. It was to have co-starred Phil Silvers but Silvers was undergoing emotional problems at the time and declined. For reasons unknown, Hiken then despoiled his own script and made, as the last thing he did before he died, a not very good movie. I once got to ask Don about all this and he just shook his head and said, yes, Hiken had written a wonderful script and somehow — Don didn't know how — they wound up not making it.
There's actually a bit of irony to The Love God? Don's character was a meek little guy who was transformed into quite the ladies' man. In real life, Don was probably closer to that persona — or at least to would-be swinger Ralph Furley on Three's Company — than he was to Barney Fife.
When that film crashed and burned, Knotts decided to return to television and that's when he had some more bad luck. CBS still wanted him and he might have been a better fit in their schedule. But he couldn't do TV without a release from his movie deal with Universal…and Universal was mainly in business then with NBC, which wanted Don, if only to keep him off CBS. A deal was finally brokered which went something like this: NBC agreed to pick up a faltering Universal series, The Virginian, for another season in exchange for which the studio released Knotts to do TV…but only for NBC. Don reluctantly accepted the deal and soon regretted it.
NBC initially scheduled The Don Knotts Show for a great time slot on Thursday nights and pencilled in their other new variety series for the fall of 1970, The Flip Wilson Show, for a less-promising period on Tuesday. Then someone noticed a problem. On Tuesday, Flip Wilson would follow Julia, a sitcom with Diahann Carroll. That would put the only two shows on the network with black stars back-to-back, creating what some might criticize as a ghetto or some kind of schedule segregation. To escape this, they flipped Flip, giving Mr. Wilson the better berth on Thursday and consigning Don's program to a less-than-ideal day and hour. It was a pretty good show but it didn't get much of a chance. Wilson's show, on the other hand, thrived. A close friend of Don's once told me it was one of only two professional matters about which Don had lingering bitterness, the other being how little money he made off Andy Griffith Show reruns.
He was never out of work, of course. He still did movies and constant TV guest appearances before he joined Three's Company. But he never had that big hit he wanted as the one and only star of something. He was always teamed with someone like Tim Conway or cast in what was clearly a supporting role. Still, no one was ever more loved by audiences…and the times I saw Don in person and out in public, I got the feeling that he was aware of that but some part of him still could not believe it. When you told him how wonderful he was, he still blushed a bit and acted like you'd done him a tremendous favor, even though you were at least the eightieth person to tell him that in the past hour. But he was wonderful…in everything he ever did. If you don't believe me, ask anyone. They'll tell you.
Comic book retailer Brian Hibbs writes on his weblog about a just-completed trip to New York to see the new restaging/rethinking of Sweeney Todd.
Brian also writes about massive lines at the big New York Comic Convention that's going on this weekend. I'm hearing that the con is closing its doors to people who didn't secure advance tickets. That is, you can't just show up there tomorrow and buy a ticket to go in. I'm not sure how much of this is due to the Javits Center (which is pretty big) not being able to hold the crowds and how much is due to problems processing admissions. Probably both.
The "authorized" website of actor Darren McGavin is announcing he passed away this morning at age 83. I always enjoyed his work on screen but I'm afraid I have no anecdotes or personal experiences to put up here about him. I mention this because when some famous performer or creative talent dies and I don't post something like I just posted for Don Knotts, I often hear from some fan who wonders why I ignored their death. Did I have a grudge against the person? Did I not think they were important? No, the answer is that I just didn't have anything to say I thought was worth saying.
And yes, I know that a lot of what I do think is worth saying is probably not worth saying. But that's how these things work.
There's a group I may have mentioned here called Yarmy's Army — a social club for veteran comedians and actors that convenes once a month. I have been privileged to be an invited guest for several of their meetings and at almost every one, I found myself seated next to Don Knotts.
It's tough to get a word in edgewise in a roomful of comedians and I sure didn't try. At one meeting, I recall sitting there as Pat Harrington, Tom Poston, Shelley Berman, Howie Morris, Chuck McCann, Gary Owens, Pat McCormick, Harvey Korman, Jack Riley, Jerry Van Dyke and about a dozen other funny men swapped anecdotes and insults at a pace that made the Daytona 500 seem lethargic. People talked over one another, interrupted one another, topped one another and kept the conversation relentless for about two hours.
Of all the members, only one hardly said a thing. Don just sat there and enjoyed the show.
Which is not to say he remained absolutely silent. At one point in each meeting I attended — and I'm told this was typical — Don would think of something he wanted to say. He'd raise a finger, gesturing to indicate this and someone would notice and yell, "Hold it! Don wants to say something!" Suddenly, miraculously, everyone else would shut up and let him say his one thing, which would always get the loudest laugh of the night.
They wouldn't shut up for anyone else. But they shut up for Don.
Because they loved him. Everyone loved him. In a business where even your best friend can have some small resentment at your success, Don was utterly undespised. No one didn't like him, either as a performer or as a person.
When Yarmy's Army did benefits, as it has done for many worthy causes, many of its members would get up and perform. Don was not up to performing much. He hasn't been well for many years and — I don't know how many people know this about him — his eyes have been bad for quite some time. When he has acted in the last decade or two, someone has had to read the script to him and help him memorize and prompt him when he couldn't. That's how we did it when we had him as a guest on the Garfield cartoon show. I had another actor read each line to him and then Don would repeat the line, giving it that wonderful Don Knotts inflection.
So Don couldn't perform at these benefits but he could sure do his part to raise money. After the performance, it would be arranged to have him just sit in the lobby. There'd be a photographer, and you could have your picture taken with Don Knotts for ten or twenty dollars. I don't recall what they charged but there was always a line around the block. When he showed up at those Hollywood Collectors Shows, it was the same way. The line of people who wanted a picture or wanted an autograph — or just wanted to be able to say "I met Barney Fife" — was out the door and well into the parking lot.
I don't have to review his career and his many awards for you. There are many fine obits up, including this one over at the Los Angeles Times site, where you may have to register. I also don't have to tell you how good he was because you've seen The Andy Griffith Show and Three's Company and The Incredible Mr. Limpet and all those appearances with Steve Allen. I just wanted to get on here and tell you that the most beloved person in all of show business has died. Because that's what he was: The most beloved person in all of show business.
Here's an interesting news story about proposed legislation that would demand "truth in labelling" for musical groups. There are many bands playing around the U.S. now which claim to be The Drifters or The Platters or The Supremes but actually have no one participating who was a part of the original group that became famous under that name. Under this law, an act couldn't call itself The Coasters unless at least one performer on stage had been a part of the original Coasters.
In principle, this sounds fair and logical, and I assume it would stop a lot of phony advertising. On the other hand, some of the groups around that do still have one original member are engaging in a bit of a sham to act like they're the original group. Suppose you paid good money to see an act that billed itself as The Beatles and out came three new guys with guitars plus Ringo on the drums. Or suppose it was Pete Best on drums (he was an original member of The Beatles, albeit briefly) plus three new guys. Wouldn't there be some amount of fraud being perpetrated there?
Several years ago, I spent an hour with a gent who was booking "oldies" acts for a casino showroom. During our conversation, he was interrupted by a call from an agent offering him a group that had been very hot in the sixties. I don't recall the name of the group but let's say it was The Electric Lemon. The agent said he could deliver them to play all their hits…and the talent booker said, "But I had The Electric Lemon here playing all their hits, two months ago."
I heard the agent on the speakerphone reply, "No, let me tell you what you had. That was one of several drummers who played with the original Electric Lemon, plus three impostors. He didn't even sing on their records. The Electric Lemon I represent has a guy who played the guitar and actually sang on all their records…plus three impostors."
If you haven't been watching Countdown With Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, you've missed some pretty good news reporting. You've also missed some very funny feuding with Bill O'Reilly, who's the competition over on Fox. Olbermann often points up O'Reilly errors or quotes some of the sillier things that Bill has had to say lately. O'Reilly, who routinely insults his political opponents while lecturing them about decorum, has fired back with some pretty pompous replies. His latest is to post a petition — this one, over on his website — which urges MSNBC to bring the back the previous occupant of Olbermann's time slot, Phil Donahue, and to get rid of what's there now (i.e., Countdown).
On his show yesterday, Olbermann devoted a whole segment to O'Reilly's petition and did a little montage of a fraction of the times Countdown has slammed the Fox News host. Here's a link to an online video.