Category Archives: Video Links

And come to think of it, today's clip should probably be this…

And what we have here is The Floorwalker — one of Charlie Chaplin's better two-reel comedies — the first one he made for the Mutual Film Company, way back in 1916. Why am I posting this? Well, as many of you have reminded me, there's a version of the "mirror" gag in here. It starts a little less than seven minutes in. You may have to watch a brief ad for something you don't want to buy before you get to Mr. Chaplin…

My buddy Jeff Abraham reminds me of an even earlier incarnation of the "mirror" routine — in the 1921 Max Linder comedy, Seven Years Bad Luck. He thinks this is the first. I suspect this bit goes back before film was invented…

I've occasionally mentioned here the great film comedian Charley Chase, not to be confused with the current actress in XXX-rated films of the same name. This is a quick excerpt from Mr. Chase's 1924 film, Sittin' Pretty which finds him disguised with a fake beard.

Perhaps that scene reminds you of a similar but more famous scene in the 1933 Marx Brothers movie, Duck Soup. The latter routine is said to have been something more or less improvised on the set by director Leo McCarey…and (Hey, what a coincidence!) Leo McCarey was the director of the 1924 Charley Chase film, too. Here, to refresh your memory, is that scene with Groucho and Harpo…

And while we're at it, here from a 1955 episode of I Love Lucy is…well, you know what this is…

Today is not only Thanksgiving. It's also the birthday of Noel Neill, the beloved actress who played the role of Lois Lane on the George Reeves Adventures of Superman TV show and in a serial that preceded it. The Superman show was remarkably entertaining considering the silliness of many of the scripts and how little money was spent to film them. That it worked had a lot to do with the near-invulnerable appeal of the title character but also to the charisma and strong acting abilities of the regular cast. They made a lot of weak material work…and a lot of us will always have a warm spot for George Reeves, Jack Larson and Ms. Neill.

It may not be polite to divulge a lady's age but you're only one Google click from finding out that she turns ninety today. I'm pleased to say she still makes the rounds of conventions to answer questions, meet her fans, autograph a fine autobiography…and let people like me interview her. As far as I know, there are no videos of the chats I've done with her but my friend Joe Ferrara, who runs a great bookshop called Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz interviewed her four years ago and Joe had the good sense to have cameras rolling. It's in three parts which should run one after the other in the player I've embedded below. Together, it's about a half hour and I thought you might enjoy spending that much time with this classy lady…

Okay, let's get down to the important stuff. Join the crusade to have Cookie Monster host Saturday Night Live! Here's where you sign up.

Despite the fact that he once threatened indirectly to sue me when I was in high school (story here), I am still a huge fan of the late Allan Sherman. He not only wrote — or employed people who wrote — great song parodies but he performed them with grand humor and delivery.

I have a theory which I may have voiced here that he was a big smash because of the lyrics, because of his performances of them and because he was able to introduce Jewish humor into mainstream America in a non-threatening way. If he'd had the dialect of Myron Cohen or even a name like that which screamed "Jew!" I don't think he'd have sold a zillion records and done some of the shows he did. When Ed Sullivan had on a Cohen or a Jackie Mason, he practically ghettoized the performer with an intro that just about said, "All right now…I'm going to bring a Jew out here to tell you some Jew jokes!" All of the U.S.A. could accept that because, you know, the Jew was being kept in his own little category.

Allan Sherman transcended that. He had a goyishe name and he was fat and lovable and self-deprecating and only a small percentage of his material hinged on the listener knowing what Hadassah was or laughing reflexively at any mention of pickled herring. Mickey Katz made records of funny Jewish-oriented songs but they only sold them in "certain" neighborhoods and never played them on the radio. Sherman, you could buy and hear anywhere. He really was a breakthrough comedian on so many levels.

He even did commercials. Here — and we have Barry Mitchell to thank for this treasure — is Mr. Sherman picking up a couple of bucks.They never asked Mickey Katz to sing about Brillo soap pads…

Over in The New Yorker, Lewis Menand has an article about…well, it starts out like a review of Bill Carter's new book on the Leno/Conan dust-up, then makes a sharp left into a review of Dick Cavett's new collection of his New York Times columns, then suddenly it's about David Susskind of all people and…well, you might enjoy it even if you aren't sure exactly what it's about. Late night TV, mostly.There are some good observations in there.

Cavett is a fascinating figure in the whole history of that time period. He did a show that was on in a highly-competitive time slot for six years. (Joey Bishop, who he replaced, lasted for less than half that time.) Cavett's program was profitable for its network and it won great critical acclaim and awards at a time when very little on ABC was even in contention for any of that. Still, it was viewed by many as a failure because it somehow failed to move a man named Johnny Carson to the unemployment lines. What I've gleaned of the history is that that's about all Cavett did wrong.Today, there is little shame to finishing a respectable second in your time slot as long as your show makes money. Back then, if you didn't finish first, you were expected to concede abject failure and collapse onto your sword. And of course, what replaced Cavett got lower ratings and the network lost cash in that slot until years later when Ted Koppel and the Hostage Crisis moved into it, thereby begatting Nightline. I believe some ABC execs were later quoted as saying they should have just left him on and spent more on promotion.

Mr. Cavett's new book is called Talk Show (that's an Amazon link) and while you may have read all or most of those pieces in the Times, it sounds like it's still worth picking up for the sheer permanence of it all. I'm going to wait until the event mentioned in this posting to see if I can get one autographed without waiting in line for ninety minutes. In the meantime, here's a little montage of moments from The Dick Cavett Show…

Here's a medley of openings from a bunch of TV shows brought to you by Sid and Marty Krofft. I was a writer on the last one and an avid watcher of all the rest…

Richard Wiseman does books and videos that test your powers of observation and perception. Most of them remind you that what you see may not be so. Here's a video that may have you guessing until he shows you how it's done…

Here are some amazing basketball shots. And yeah, I know: They probably did some of these a thousand times before they got one where the ball went through the hoop. But they're still impressive…

Because there are some things you just can't see too many times…

We all have mornings that feel like this…

John Cleese discusses the creative process…

In the years just before he died, actor Charles Nelson Reilly toured in a one-man autobiographical show that I wish I'd seen. Everyone I know who did said it was an incredible evening with an incredible man. At some point in his life, Mr. Reilly got typed as an outrageous presence on talk shows and game shows…and I suppose you could argue that he had no one to blame but himself. Whatever the cause, a lot of folks forgot or never knew that he was an accomplished actor with impressive Broadway and off-Broadway credits. He was also a well-respected teacher of his craft and a generally fascinating man, beloved by all who knew him.

Fortunately for those of us who didn't get to see it, The Life of Reilly was recorded as a movie that received some theatrical exhibition and a stealth DVD release. You can buy a copy, as I did, from this website for $17…but before you do that, you might enjoy a little sample. The producers have put all or most of the film up on YouTube and you can watch the opening on this page and if you like it, find your way from there to the other parts. Or you can just sample one chapter that I've selected and embedded below. It's a story Mr. Reilly told about his appearances with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and one particularly memorable moment…