Another rendition of the "Meet the Flintstones" theme. This one is from The TV Themes Band…

Not long ago, many of my friends were fretting about the closure of the Pacific Theatre empire including the ArcLight cinema operation and the Cinerama Dome theater in Hollywood. We told you someone would come along to buy all or parts of it and reopen…and it looks like that's just what's going to happen.

We all know how our lives have changed due to coping with The Pandemic. A few friends and I have lately found ourselves on the topic of which of those changes will stick around after it's All Clear. I've grown to really like firms like Instacart and Grubhub which deliver food and supplies to my door. I won't use them as much but I'll use them more than I did before.

I think a lot more companies will be open to employees working from home. I think you'll see a lot of mask-wearing in public, especially during Flu Season. Most folks won't be as automatic to shake hands. A lot of us have gallons of Hand Sanitizer to use up. Things like that.

I have no opinion about whether Donald Trump should be allowed on Facebook or not. Part of me thinks nobody should be allowed on Facebook, including me. Or maybe just me. It would be a lot of fun to have it to myself.

A lot of people seem to think that Freedom of Speech is the right to say anything you want anywhere via any means you wish to use and to have everyone hear you. The relevant part of the First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…" Nothing in there about Facebook.

And it seems like most of the people now howling that Trump should be on any platform he chooses are also in favor of muzzling the press.

And what a bonus it is! Our friend, the multi-talented Shelly Goldstein has this to say (sing) about the slowly (too slowly) disappearing Pandemic…

• Did you hear about the surgeon who put himself through medical school working at a Five Guys restaurant? He's great in the operating room but before he closes up a patient, he dumps in an extra scoop of fries.

Another rendition of the "Meet the Flintstones" theme. This one is from Giuliano Ligabue…

Another rendition of the "Meet the Flintstones" theme. This one is from Yvan Jacques — and by the way, the name of the gent who wrote the parts of the song that Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera didn't was Hoyt Curtin, not Hoyt Curtain…

Same as yesterday. Still working on a script that an editor inexplicably thinks is more important than posting to my blog. Doesn't this person understand that if you have a blog, nothing is more important than posting to it? Just because something pays doesn't put it ahead of writing about comic books and tomato soup and Frank Ferrante. Let's have some priorities, please.

A song from Wicked performed by the original cast…

Another rendition of the "Meet the Flintstones" theme. This one is from The Melbourne Ska Orchestra…

• Derek Chauvin wants a new trial. Donald Trump wants a new election. I want a new Stephen Sondheim musical.

Lest a certain editor phone to ask, "Why the hell are you posting on your blog instead of finishing that job you're working on for me?", I hereby declare this (and possibly tomorrow) days of light blogging on this site. There will be video links because I have a whole batch of them prepped and ready to go. There may even be a few others. I pray there will be no obits. And I pray I finish my current assignment soon. In the immortal words of Garry Moore, "Be very kind to each other out there."

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick starred in a Broadway revival of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple for 249 performances from 10/27/05 until 6/4/06.

Brad Garrett played Murray the Policeman and I've seen folks wonder why someone with Mr. Garrett's stardom would accept a supporting role like that. The obvious answer is that the show's producers must have made it worth his while. They needed a heavyweight to cover the part of Oscar if/when Nathan Lane was out, as he occasionally was…and Garrett did play the role for three whole months when Lane was off vacationing or shooting a movie or something.

Our link is to a video press kit for reviewers — excerpts from the show that could be used in TV reviews. I didn't get back to New York while it was running but a friend of mine saw it twice — once early on, once late in the run. He thought Lane and Broderick got better and better in the show…so keep in mind that these clips must have been shot at a preview so they could be distributed by opening night.

They're still pretty darned good. They probably videotaped the entire show when they recorded these moments. It would be nice to think it might someday be released in its entirety. There's a bootleg making the rounds but it looks and sounds like a bootleg.

If you don't have time to watch all of this reel, this link will take you directly to the bit about the spaghetti, followed by the bit about the little notes on Oscar's pillow. Neil Simon thought those were the two biggest laughs he ever got in any play. But here — watch the whole thing, starting with some lingering shots of the marquee…

• Sorry to hear that Bill and Melinda Gates are divorcing. Under community property laws, she'll get half of all the money in the world and he can keep the rest.

One of the many, many, many reasons I loved working for Sid & Marty Krofft was Billie Hayes. Billie was a veteran stage and screen performer best known for playing Witchiepoo on H.R. Pufnstuf and Mammy Yokum in the musical of Li'l Abner.

She was the first choice for the role of Mammy when the show first opened on Broadway but she was under the contract to another show at the time. So Charlotte Rae got the role of Dogpatch's reigning matriarch and when Charlotte left the show, Billie was available to step into the role. She was so good in it, she did the movie, too.

And she did other shows and other roles for the Kroffts. She returned as Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo for The Bay City Rollers Show that I wrote about here and here recently and I even posted a couple of photos of Billie in character with the Rollers. In everything she did, she was a ball of energy — the kind of performer who livened up every scene, the kind you couldn't take your eyes off of. I loved working with her. I loved just sitting with her, hearing stories of her long, colorful career.

She was also a fervent activist for animal rights (Donations in her name will be welcomed). She died last Thursday at the age of 96 but the last time I saw her, which was just a few years ago, she still had enough energy to light the entire studio and all the TV sets watching her.

You can read about that long, colorful career in this obit but there's one error I've asked them to correct: Lennie Weinrib was the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf but he was never ever the person inside the costume.

Another rendition of the "Meet the Flintstones" theme. This one is from The Global Uke Companions and it was recommended to me by Scott Edelman…