Category Archives: Video Links

Say, just how do they make potato chips?

A classic Bob Newhart routine introduced by the Smothers Brothers…

This runs about 36 minutes but it's pretty good. It's a documentary on the life and times of Benny Hill, a performer whose work I generally found funny but in some ways, more fascinating than funny. Mr. Hill had a grand and glorious career as an actor in other folks' projects but then devoted his last decade or two to producing a fine body of (mostly) low but clever comedy. A lot of it was chopped to smithereens when it made it to American TV, not so much for censor-type reasons — though there was some of that — but because someone was trying to carve it into neat hours and half-hours to fit U.S. formats. I remember watching some shows where Hill's weight and age varied wildly and you knew someone had combined segments from one season with material done many years later. I never felt we were getting him at this best.

This documentary is in four parts which should play one after the other in the player I've embedded below. If you're allergic to grown men making leering faces, don't click…

You've probably been asking yourself, "Self, where could I view a scene from the movie of My Fair Lady — as redubbed for Czechoslavakia?" Got your answer right here…

We need something cheerier on this site. Just watch this…

Hey, let's hear more about how peanut butter is made…

So…how is peanut butter made, anyway?

Like all fans of old Warner Brothers cartoons, I love the tune "Powerhouse," composed by Raymond Scott and often used in those films to suggest mechanical activity or sometimes a dogged chase. Here's a duet performance of the piece as played by pianist Dave Powers and some other guy who's almost as good…

Yesterday, Stan Lee got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A number of sites are reporting it as the first time anyone who wrote comic books ever got one.That's not exactly true. Charles Schulz and Joe Barbera both have stars and both wrote comic books…though obviously, that's not why they received the honor.Then again, we should remember that Stan's star wasn't for writing comic books, either. Near as I can tell, it was officially for being the Executive Producer of various movies starring characters from comic books. I guess it was also just for being Stan Lee, a part he plays quite well though personally, I always saw Sean Connery in the role.

A biz meeting prevented me from making it to the ceremony but it looks like they had a good crowd…

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So…how is pasta made? Let's find out from someone who doesn't know how to pronounce the word…

So…yesterday in this space, you got to see Larry Griswold, who did a spectacular (and pretty funny) act as a tipsy diver. Today — thanks to Pat Cashin, who told me about this — you get to see a guy who currently does that act…Don Otto. Otto uses some clever sound effects and music but it's basically Griswold's act with a little of Daffy Duck's delivery. I gather he works mostly at state fairs and I'll bet audiences love him.

One thing I always think about when I see an act like this is, "Where's the microphone?" Otto has the advantage of performing in an era of wireless RF mikes so it's probably no big deal for him to be heard by the audience. But go back to that clip of Griswold on a 1951 episode of The Frank Sinatra Show. No wireless mikes then. One or more technicians with boom mikes had to keep 'em wide open and moving wherever Mr. Griswold moved, which was all over the place…and they somehow managed to keep them off-camera. Anyway, here's Don Otto, the Diving Fool…

And while we're at it, here's a little bio of Larry Griswold…

Frank Sinatra introduces one of the all-time great novelty acts…Larry Griswold. Who the hell was Larry Griswold? He was a guy who spent years honing and performing this act…and he's heralded as the co-inventor of the trampoline. Wait'll you see what he does…

Here's an amazing effort. Animation director Chuck Jones used to dismiss TV cartoons as "illustrated radio." Well, this is illustrated radio. A fellow named Wayne Wilson took the 1949 Christmas episode of the radio show, My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball and used it as the soundtrack for this cartoon. It runs a little over 25 minutes and it's up on YouTube in three parts. I've configured a window below which should play them one after the other. If you don't feel like watching the whole thing, jump to the start of Part Three when the great Frank Nelson (subject of this article I wrote) puts in an appearance. Nicely done, indeed…

I recently discovered Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, a weekly Internet-only series hosted by…well, you can probably figure out who hosts it. Each episode, Mr. Pollak sits down with some friend in show business and they talk for however long they feel like talking…usually at least an hour, sometimes much longer. There are little games but mostly it's just honest, uncensored conversation. They've done a little less than a hundred of these, some (natch) with folks who don't interest me at all. But I'm really enjoying the ones with folks who do interest me. Pollak's a good (though occasionally fawning) interviewer and the format allows time and space for something in-depth and revealing.

How do you view these? Many ways but a good starting point would be the show's website where you can find a list of past episodes and links to watch them on YouTube. They're also on iTunes and I figured out how to get them on my TiVo. (You need to have TiVo Desktop Pro installed and be hooked up to the Internet. Then you go to "Video on Demand," then you go to "Free VOD and Web Videos" and they're in there. Let an episode download in full before you start watching it.)

You can also watch one right here. I've embedded Kevin's conversation with Craig Ferguson, which runs close to an hour and 45 minutes. I learned more about Mr. Ferguson than I ever have before…and I'm not sure where I'll ever learn more…

This is silent footage of Los Angeles in the twenties. Some parts of this city still look like this but most sure don't…