THE HAT SQUAD: BUBBA SMITH

From the New York Times:

Bubba Smith, an outsize presence in the National Football League who went on to a prolific career in television and the movies, was found dead on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 66.

The cause was not yet known, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said, adding, “There is no indication of anything other than natural death."

As an actor, Bubba Smith is best known as Hightower in the "Police Academy" movies, a role he crossed over into the TV Universe for an episode of the televersion of the film franchise.

Smith added several citizens to the Tele-Folks Directory of Toobworld, especially regular roles in such series as 'Half Nelson', 'Semi-Tough', 'Good Times', 'Open All Night' and 'Blue Thunder'. But as a member of the League of Themselves, Bubba Smith certainly qualifies for the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame:

1994
'Married with Children' - "Dud Bowl"

1992
'Coach' - "The Bachelor Party"

1991
'Who's the Boss?' - "Death and Love: Part 2"

1987
'Mr. Belvedere' - "Separation"

1986
'Mary' - "And the Winner Is"

1973
'The Odd Couple' - "Take My Furniture, Please"

And then there were his serlinguistic turns in those Miller Lite commercials....

Good night, and may God bless.

BCnU........

TVXOHOF, 07/2011 - AMOS BURKE

Here it is, the middle of July, I'm on the eve of my vacation, and I forgot to induct a new member into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for the month. And I better do it now, because by the time I get back, it'll be time to induct our August Westerner!

And so, we're inducting the wealthiest police detective in all of Telemerica:

AMOS BURKE

This month's choice was spurred by a memorial induction back in May - Honey West. (She was chosen in tribute to Anne Francis, who died earlier in the year.)

Honey West is a multiversal who got her start in a series of novels, but her life in Toobworld began with an episode of 'Burke's Law'. From there she launched into her own series and finally returned to 'Burke's Law' decades later (but now with the married name of "Best".)

The main character of 'Burke's Law' was the type of detective you could probably only find in Toobworld - Amos Burke was a millionaire who didn't bother to lead a life of leisure. Intead he was a captain in the Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. Eventually he became the chief of the bureau.

(As such, certain LAPD detectives may have worked for him - Lt. Columbo, Pepper Anderson, Dennis Becker, Baretta, Hunter, Starsky & Hutch, and the Major Crimes squad - but before Assistant Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, known for her skills as 'The Closer', joined the team.)

In its third season, Amos Burke became a globe-trotting spy who answered to "The Man" - 'Burke's Law' became 'Amos Burke, Secret Agent'. At first it was the Toobworld Central ruling that this was an Amos Burke from an alternate TV dimension. Same man, different life.

But because I wanted to make Mr. Sin (a character played by Michael Dunn) into an alias for Dr. Loveless, I needed to keep the show's reboot in Earth Prime-Time.

So now Amos Burke took a sabbatical from the LAPD at the government's request and worked as an intelligence operative.

Again, only in Toobworld.

By the early 1990's, we learned that not only had Amos Burke resumed his duties with the LAPD years before, but he was now in charge of the Homicide Division but also that he was working with his son Peter.

(This is not the same Peter Burke who now works for the FBI in New York, as seen in 'White Collar'. But he could be a nephew to Amos Burke.)

So Captain Burke's candidacy for membership in the Hall does have a bit of a grey area. There are two versions of 'Burke's Law' - the original and the sequel - and then there's the sequel of 'Amos Burke, Secret Agent'. (While it followed immediately after the original series, it had a radical change in premise as well as a new title. Claiming it as a different series is the same argument made regarding 'Archie Bunker's Place' during Archie's induction.)

Add to that Amos Burke as the introduction to Honey West, so his show had two sequels and a spin-off. If you search Inner Toob for 'Burke's Law', you'll see that I've made plenty of theoretical connections to other shows as well.

Besides all of that, Amos Burke was quite the colorful character, highly prized in Toobworld's Tele-folks Directory.

And that's why he's "Mr. July" for 2011 in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

BCnU!

FORD FIESTA

In remembrance of the late Betty Ford (as well as for just the pure enjoyment of seeing these classic scenes), here are Mrs. Ford's two forays into Toobworld as herself.

First up, the first and the best -

Lou Grant and Mary Richards have gone to Washington, D.C., on a press junket for the weekend. And after two days of waiting for Lou's old contacts to reach out and invite them to parties, Mary finally bails on him to have dinner with a Congressman (played by Dabney Coleman). This is what happens when she gets back from her evening out.....

About six years later, Mrs. Ford is in Denver with her husband, former President Gerald Ford, to attend the famous Carousel Ball (which actually does exist, so it has its own televersion too!) And there they run into oil tycoon Blake Carrington.....

So her presence is what ties 'Dynasty' to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', and the two of them serve as the linking steps between 'Batman' and 'Phyllis', 'Rhoda', and 'Lou Grant'. (Later, nearly all of the Carringtons are wounded at the Royal wedding in Moldavia, the homeland of some antique stamps which were stolen by the Riddler. And of course, Phyllis, Rhoda, and Lou are all friends of Mayr's.)

Because it turned out that Betty Ford really had visited Lou in his hotel room, then it stands to reason that all of his visitors were actually there. Even though we didn't see them, their life during prime time must be accepted just as would be the case for whatever happened during commercial breaks, between episodes, and after cancellation.

So these are the other people who attended, and what TV shows they can link to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show':

John Glenn - 'Frasier', and yes, even 'Name That Tune'!

Eric Sevareid - 'Taxi' and 'Call To Glory', which has a Toobworld tweak: Sevareid somehow looked the same in 1963 as he did twenty years later....

Ethel Kennedy - 'Cheers'

Hubert Humphrey - His links are all to variety shows (hosted by Dean Martin, Red Skelton, and Pat Paulsen.) But those hosts can make connections to other shows in which they appeared as themselves. For example, Dean Martin guest starred in 'Half Nelson', 'Vega$', 'The Lucy Show', and 'Make Room For Daddy', and all of them could now be added to this link.

As for 'Dynasty'? There's always 'The Colbys'.......

If only Betty Ford appeared on 'The Hollywood Squares', sitting in the seat that used to belong to Paul Lynde and Whoopi Goldberg.

Then we would have had the Betty Ford Center Square.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BETTY FORD

In memory of a First Lady who may have done more for the country than her husband the President did.....

BETTY FORD

AS SEEN IN:
"The Betty Ford Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Gena Rowlands

From The New York Times:
Betty Ford, the outspoken and much-admired wife of President Gerald R. Ford who overcame alcoholism and an addiction to pills and helped found one of the best-known rehabilitation centers in the nation, died Friday in Palm Springs, Calif. She was 93.

Few first ladies have been as popular as Betty Ford, and it was her frankness and lack of pretense that made her so. Unlike many other wives of presidents, Mrs. Ford rarely hesitated to make public her views on touchy subjects. She spoke often in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, discussed premarital sex and revealed that she intended to share a bed with her husband in the White House.

On Sept. 28, 1974, Mrs. Ford had a radical mastectomy after doctors discovered cancer in her right breast. Within days, 10,000 letters, more than 500 telephone calls, more than 200 telegrams and scores of floral arrangements poured into the White House and into her suite at Bethesda Naval Hospital. In the months that followed, tens of thousands of American women, inspired by Mrs. Ford’s forthrightness and courage in facing her illness, crowded into doctors’ offices and clinics for breast-cancer examinations.

Breast cancer was only one of the medical battles Mrs. Ford won. Her dependency on pills began in 1964 with a medical prescription to relieve constant pain from a neck injury and a pinched nerve. Her drinking, which became troublesome as she was faced with her husband’s frequent absences on political business, grew increasingly serious as Mr. Ford’s Congressional career advanced.

In 1978, the year after leaving the White House, her husband, children, doctors and several friends confronted her about her drinking and her abuse of pills. She refused to acknowledge that a problem existed, calling her family “a bunch of monsters,” but she eventually entered the Long Beach Naval Hospital in California for treatment.

The Betty Ford Center, dedicated on Oct. 3, 1982, was a direct result of Mrs. Ford’s victory over her alcoholism and addiction. Set on 14 acres on the campus of the Eisenhower Medical Center 11 miles southeast of Palm Springs, the center was a nonprofit venture spearheaded by Mrs. Ford and Leonard K. Firestone, an industrialist and former ambassador to Belgium who raised a major part of the money.

“It’s hard to make anyone understand what it’s like to have your name on something, to be given credit for things you haven’t done,” Mrs. Ford wrote. “I’ve been at meetings where someone turned and thanked me, and I hugged the person and said, ‘Don’t thank me, thank yourself, you’re the one who did it, with God’s help.’ From the beginning, we have wanted every patient at the center to feel, ‘I’m important here, I have some dignity.’ ”
- Enid Nemy

Betty Ford is one of the few people of the real world, like Orson Welles and Johnny Carson, who have not only been portrayed by a televersion, but have also appeared as a member of the League of Themselves in fictionalized settings. She made a phone call to Mary Richards when "Mayr" visited Washington with Lou Grant in an episode of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'. (When Mrs. Ford identified herself as Betty Ford, Mary gave her name as Mary... Queen of Scots.)

Here's a behind-the-scenes publicity photo of Mrs. Ford filming her cameo for 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'. She and Ms. Moore didn't share the scene except by phone call, so "Mayr" might have been there to help feed her the lines to set up her dialogue.

President and Mrs. Ford, along with Henry Kissinger, attended the Carousel Ball in Denver years later, where they met members of the oil-rich Carrington Family of 'Dynasty'.

She was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame, along with her late husband President Gerald Ford, in November, 2007.
 
Good night, and may God Bless.

BCnU.....

AS SEEN ON TV: MARGARET THATCHER

Today's ASOTV Showcase is in memory of the actress Anna Massey, who passed away on July 2nd at age 73. I just recently saw her in a murder mystery solved by 'Agatha Christie's Poirot' - "The Clocks".......

 

PRIME MINISTER MARGARET THATCHER

AS SEEN IN:
"Pinochet In Suburbia"

AS PLAYED BY:
Anna Massey

By Jill Lawless, Published: July 4
Washington Post
Anna Massey, who as a young actress was killed off in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Frenzy” (1972) and later became a stalwart of British period dramas, often cast as a waspish spinster or maiden aunt, died July 2 in London. She was 73 and had cancer.

The actress was born in 1937 into a performing family — her father was Canadian actor Raymond Massey [who abandoned the family when she was two], and her mother was British actress Adrianne Allen. Her brother, Daniel Massey, also became an actor, and her godfather was director John Ford.

Ms. Massey worked most frequently in television period dramas. She appeared in TV adaptations of Anthony Trollope’s “The Pallisers,” Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” Charles Dickens’ ”Oliver Twist” and many others.

Ms. Massey won Britain’s top acting award for her role in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel “Hotel du Lac.”

In 2006, Ms. Massey played former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the TV drama “Pinochet in Suburbia.”

From Alan Corr of RTE:
Massey was outstanding in a TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's "Hotel de Lac" in 1986, made partially from her own money, and more recently savoured the chance to play Margaret Thatcher in the 2006 TV drama "Pinochet in Suburbia". "I adored doing that," she said earnestly. "One of the reviews said I went over the top but I promise you I was under the top compared to what she was doing. She was mad. She had that waxen mad look. The poor thing now is so ill, she doesn't know where she is or if Denis is around. It's rather tragic. Do you think power does that to people? Reagan was the same wasn't he?"

BCnU......

A LEVERAGED FATHER'S DAY.....

I think this will remain my favorite in-joke for the entire year. It's definitely the sweetest.....

In "The 10 Li'l Grifters Job", the 'Leverage' episode that aired over the Fourth of July weekend, everybody had to dress up as a "fictional" detective.

Sophie was Irene Adler from "A Scandal In Bohemia", a Sherlock Holmes story.

Parker was Nancy Drew.

Harrison was one of the Hardy Boys.  (Update: Originally I had him listed as Encyclopedia Brown, because that's who he thought he was.  But I've just watched that scene again and Sophie corrects him over the comm-link: he's one of the Hardy Boys.  The big "H" on his sweater should have been a give-away.)

Elliott was real-life Pinkerton agent Charlie Siringo.

But best of all?

Nate Ford (played by Timothy Hutton) was Ellery Queen.....

Timothy Hutton's father, the late Jim Hutton, played Ellery Queen in a 1970's series by the creators of 'Columbo' and 'Murder, She Wrote'.

And seeing Nate Ford in that floppy hat, the tweedy jacket, and the red sweater, it was like seeing Jim Hutton in the role once more.

So when Nate declared Ellery Queen as the greatest detective ever, I think there was more than one voice speaking......

I'll have more on these disguises later in the week....

BCnU!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

It's a day to celebrate, but also to mourn the loss of Clarence Clemons last month.....

THE HAT SQUAD: ALICE PLAYTEN

Actress Alice Playten passed away last Saturday from complications of pancreatic cancer at the age of 63.

She was mostly known for her work in the theatre - "Gypsy", "Henry, Sweet Henry", "Caroline, Or Change", "National Lampoon's Lemmings", among many others. Buried under heavy prosthetic makeup, she played the demon Blix, an underling to Tim Curry's Devil in the movie "Legend". And she had a Toobworld presence with roles in 'The Lost Saucer' and the HBO presentation of National Lampoon's "Disco Beavers From Outer Space".

But it's for a sweet, small role in a TV commercial for which she'll be best remembered in Toobworld. For an Alka-Seltzer blipvert back in the advertising heyday of the early 1970's called "Groom's First Meal", Ms. Playten played a young newlywed eager to try out some recipes on her new husband - among them, poached oysters and my favorite, marshmallow meatloaf. (That's Terry Kiser of "Weekend At Bernie's" fame in the background as her loving test subject......)

Sadly, of all those famous commercials from that time period for Alka Seltzer, "Groom's First Meal" doesn't seem to be available for viewing on the internet. But thanks to my copy of "Mighty Minutes" (and a technical assist from my co-worker Tony Ebadi), I'm able to present to you this still from the commercial:

Good night, Alice Playten, and may God bless.

BCnU......

AS SEEN ON TV: ANTONIA THE YOUNGER

We close out the first half of the year with a sad reason for the day's "As Seen On TV" showcase.....

ANTONIA THE YOUNGER

AS SEEN IN:
'I, Claudius'

AS PLAYED BY:
Margaret Tyzack

From Wikipedia:
Antonia Minor (PIR2 A 885), also known as Antonia the Younger or simply Antonia (31 January 36 BC - September/October AD 37) was the younger of two daughters of Roman politician Mark Antony and Octavia Minor.

Antonia is one of the most prominent Roman women. She is celebrated for her virtue and beauty. She was the youngest daughter to Octavia Minor and Mark Antony and was also the favorite niece of her mother’s younger brother, Rome’s first Emperor Augustus.

She was born in Athens, Greece and after 36 BC was brought to Rome by her mother and her siblings. Antonia never had the chance to know her father, Mark Antony, who divorced her mother in 32 BC and committed suicide in 30 BC. She was raised by her mother, her uncle and her aunt, Livia Drusilla. Due to inheritances, she owned properties in Italy, Greece and Egypt. She was a wealthy and influential woman who often received people, who were visiting Rome. Antonia had many male friends and they included wealthy Jew Alexander the Alabarch and Lucius Vitellius, a consul and father of future Emperor Aulus Vitellius.

In 16 BC, she married the Roman general and consul Nero Claudius Drusus. Drusus was the stepson of her uncle Augustus, second son of Livia Drusilla and brother of future Emperor Tiberius. They had several children, but only three survived: the famous general Germanicus, Livilla and the Roman Emperor Claudius.

Antonia was the grandmother of the Emperor Caligula, the Empress Agrippina the Younger and through Agrippina, great-grandmother and great-aunt of the Emperor Nero. Drusus died in June 9 BC in Germany, due to complications from injuries he sustained after falling from a horse. After his death, although pressured by her uncle to remarry, she never did.

Antonia would often offer Caligula advice, but he once told her, "I can treat anyone exactly as I please!". Caligula was rumored to have had his young cousin Gemellus beheaded, to remove him as a rival to the throne. This act was said to have outraged Antonia, who was grandmother to Gemellus as well as to Caligula.

Having had enough of Caligula’s anger at her criticisms and of his behavior, she committed suicide. Suetonius’s Caligula, clause 23, mentions how he might have poisoned her.

When his grandmother Antonia asked for a private interview, he refused it except in the presence of the prefect Macro, and by such indignities and annoyances he caused her death; although some think that he also gave her poison. After she was dead, he paid her no honour, but viewed her burning pyre from his dining-room.

When Claudius became emperor after his nephew’s assassination in 41 AD, he gave his mother the title of Augusta. Her birthday became a public holiday, which had yearly games and public sacrifices held. An image of her was paraded in a carriage.

We're featuring Antonia today because the actress who portrayed her in 'I, Claudius', Dame Margaret Tyzack, has passed away.....

Good night and may God bless.

BCnU!

SUPER-SIX LIST: "COLUMBO" EPISODES

I'm sending this out to a fellow crossover enthusiast named Gordon. He's seen several of the ABC TV movies about 'Columbo', but he apparently is too young to have seen the original run of the series from NBC. So to help him get started (Netflix online, Gordon!), here is a Super-Six list of my favorite episodes from the series as a whole.

1] "IDENTITY CRISIS"
My all-time favorite TV series is 'The Prisoner', so just for the opportunity to see Patrick McGoohan as the guest star would have been enough. But the episode (directed by McGoohan) is full of allusions to 'The Prisoner' - visual imagery referring to "#1", the design of McGoohan's windbreaker, the phrase "Be Seeing You".... Plus McGoohan's line readings are brilliantly off-kilter - just the way he says "I know!" is a pleasure.

2] "TRY AND CATCH ME"
This mostly has to do with Ruth Gordon as a sweet but crafty Agatha Christie type. But it also has an ingenious solution to the murder, worthy of the grande dame of mysteries.

3] "DAGGER OF THE MIND"
This is the first - and best - of several episodes that played with the show's formula - Columbo in London! (There would also be Columbo on a cruise and Columbo in Mexico.) Now he was in Christie country, complete with a country manor setting, a wax museum, pubs, theatre in the West End, and a gentlemen's club which I've decided was the famed Diogenes Club from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Peter Falk did some location shooting in London, but most of the episode was shot in California with excellent British ex-pats providing support for Richard Basehart and Honor Blackman as the hammy Shakespearean murderers - Bernard Fox, John Williams, Ronald Long, Arthur Malet, and Wilfred Hyde-White.

(Having now seen John Fraser in an episode of 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes', I'll have to watch "Dagger Of The Mind" again to spot him. He's prominently listed in the end credits, but I just don't remember him in the episode.)

4] "ANY OLD PORT IN A STORM"
The relationship that grows between Columbo and the murderer, Adrian Carsini, culminating in that last visit to the winery is probably the best in the series. And Donald Pleasance as Adrian is so... well, endearing, that it took me many viewings to realize just how ruthless his crime was.

5] "BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT"
Again, an episode with Patrick McGoohan as the muderer, and the first of his four appearances. The great thing about his murderers is that each of them looked so different from each other. A problem I always had with the repeat performances by Robert Culp and Jack Cassidy, among others, is that - great as the actors were - how come Columbo never noticed their similarities? Also, this was a nice spin on the formula in which the murderer was undone by that for which he committed the crime. In this case, it was the traditions of the school and subsequent infractions.....

6] "COLUMBO CRIED WOLF"
I'd say this was absolutely brilliant, but one thing mars it - that awful title.

This had the best capper of a revelation at the end since early episodes like "Short Fuse" and "Suitable For Framing". But best of all was the shout-out to the past - a mention of Chief Superintendent Inspector Dirk of Scotland Yard from "Dagger Of The Mind", and an uncredited appearance by Bruce Kirby. He was probably appearing as Sgt. Kramer, now promoted.

This is the only episode of the ABC run to make the list and it mostly had to do with the very inventive script by William Read Woodfield.

'Columbo' is in my top five TV series of all time*, so it was tough to limit this list to my self-proscribed "Super Six". But here's a Top Ten list of runners-up:

"Requiem For A Falling Star"
"Forgotten Lady"
"Uneasy Lies The Crown"
"Prescription: Murder"
"Negative Reaction"
"Etude In Black"
"A Stitch In Crime"
"Candidate For Crime"
"Mind Over Mayhem"
"Lovely But Lethal"

Just one more thing......

I'd watch any 'Columbo' episode over and over again, but I will admit some of them are not that strong. These would be at the bottom of the collection:

"Undercover"
"Dead Weight"
"An Old-Fashioned Murder"
"Make Me A Perfect Murder"
"Lady In Waiting"
"Ransom For A Dead Man"
"No Time To Die"
"Columbo And The Murder Of A Rock Star"
"Murder In Malibu"
"Columbo Likes The Night Life"

Sadly, that was Columbo's swan song.

BCnU.......
 
* Okay, just in case you were interested in my Top Five TV series:
'The Prisoner'
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'
'The Dick Van Dyke Show'
'Columbo'
'Doctor Who'

THE HAT SQUAD: CLARENCE CLEMONS

The Big Man has left the band - On June 18th, having suffered a massive stroke a few days earlier, Clarence Clemons passed away. After Bruce Springsteen himself, the saxonphone player was probably the musician most identified with the E Street Band.

With appearances on talk shows, variety programs, award presentations, and the news magazines '60 Minutes' and 'TV Nation', Clarence Clemons created his televersion as a member of the E Street Band. But he truly immersed himself in Toobworld with these appearances in fictional storylines as a member of the League of Themselves:

'Brothers' - "Meet Mike Trainor, Assistant Coach"

'Til Death' - "Eddie's Book"

'That's Life' - "Sex In The Suburbs"

And with those three, Clarence Clemons is eligible for induction into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.

But the Big Man wasn't done making an impact - Clemons also contributed several other citizens to the Toobworld Registry:

'The Wire' - Roman (in two episodes)

'My Wife And Kids' - Johnny Watson

'Viper' - Leo Duquesne

'The Weird Al Show' - A Miner

'The Sentinel' - A Workman

'Nash Bridges' - Big Barry (in three episodes)

'The Flash' - Darrell Hennings

THE BIG MAN GETS FLASHED...

'Jake And The Fatman' - Blue Danny Boyd

'Diff'rent Strokes' - Mr. Kingsley

The void he left behind may prove to be immeasurable. My condolences go out not only to his family and the other members of the E Street Band, but to all of his fans as well.

Good night and May God bless.
BCnU......

THE HAT SQUAD: PETER FALK

Good night and may God bless.

Rest in peace, Sir.  And thank you......

THE HAT SQUAD: DON DIAMOND

Chief Wild Eagle & Crazy Cat
'F Troop'

Crazy Cat: Friends, Hekawis, countrymen, we are gathered here today to say good-bye to Chief Wild Eagle who has gone to last big pow wow in sky. He was good chief, wise chief, with heart as big as his mouth.

Wild Eagle: Again you try to bury me?

Crazy Cat: Chief Wild Eagle. Just practicing speech I wrote for when we wrap your skin in buffalo hide, put it on your favorite pony, and send him to...

Wild Eagle: Never mind the funeral arrangements.

Crazy Cat: Must be prepared chief. You could go any minute.

Wild Eagle: That's why you practice funeral speech?

Crazy Cat: Have to practice. Would you want me to say burial speech for great chief off top of head?

Wild Eagle: You keep practicing speech and you get tomahawk off top of head.

('F Troop')

Don Diamond, who played Crazy Cat on the anachronistic Western sitcom 'F Troop', passed away on June 19th at the age of 90.

What I always liked about his character was his line delivery, the off-beat inflection in the way he spoke. There was something to suggest he may have been a precursor to the hippies, that he might have been strung out on Kickapoo Joy Juice (mixing references). And then again, it was the kind of voice that suggested he really was crazy. His interest in the possible demise of Wild Eagle certainly was an indication that he might hasten that eventuality.

I have to admit that he did fall into that category of "I thought he was already dead", I'm afraid. But I'm glad to see that I was wrong for as long as I was.

Good night and may God bless.

BCnU.......

ECHOES: STAN LAUREL - THE LIVING WAXWORK

Stan Laurel was born 121 years ago today......

The Wax Stan Laurel with Rimmer
"Red Dwarf"

The Wax Stan Laurel (and Oliver Hardy) with Maxwell Smart
"Get Smart"

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: STAN LAUREL

Today, "Bloomsday" in the literary universe, is my brother Andrew's birthday here in the Trueniverse. I would happily embarrass him by proclaiming how old he is, were it not for the fact that I am twelve years his senior.

So in honor of my youngest brother, today's ASOTV Showcase features one of the greatest celebrities to share his birthday.....

STAN LAUREL

AS SEEN IN:
"Stan"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jim Norton

The one-hour teleplay, based on a radio drama, was about Stan's visit to "Babe" one last time after he suffered a massive stroke, with flashbacks to their past together.  (Not mentioned was the involvement of a certain Time Lord in one of their movies.)

From Wikipedia:
Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson (16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965), better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film The Music Box (1932). In 1961, Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.

In May 1954, Oliver Hardy had a heart attack and canceled the tour [of Europe]. In 1955, they were planning to do a television series, 'Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables', based on children's stories, but the plans were delayed after Laurel suffered a stroke, from which he recovered. But as he was planning to get back to work, Oliver Hardy had a massive stroke on 15 September 1956.  Paralyzed and bedridden for several months, Hardy was unable to speak or move.

On 7 August 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Laurel did not attend his funeral, stating "Babe would understand". People who knew Laurel said he was absolutely devastated by Hardy's death and never fully recovered for the rest of his life.

In 1961, Stan Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica, California.

Always gracious to fans, he spent much time answering fan mail. His phone number was listed in the telephone directory, and fans were amazed that they could dial the number and speak to Stan Laurel. Dick Van Dyke told a similar story: When Van Dyke was just starting his career, he looked up Laurel's phone number, called him, and then visited him at his home.

Laurel was a heavy smoker until suddenly giving up when he was about seventy years of age. He died on 23 February 1965, aged 74, several days after suffering a heart attack. Just minutes away from death, Laurel told his nurse he would not mind going skiing right at that very moment. Somewhat taken aback, the nurse replied that she was not aware that he was a skier. "I'm not," said Laurel, "I'd rather be doing that than this!" A few minutes later the nurse looked in on him again and found that he had died quietly.

"If anyone cries at my funeral, I will never speak to him again."

Stan Laurel

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING ANDREW GOLD

Singer/songwriter Andrew Gold has passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack.  He's best known for his 1977 hit "Lonely Boy", but for Toobworld purposes, perhaps his biggest achievement was penning this classic theme song:

But the case could also be made for this theme song as well:

Here's Andrew Gold on 'The Midnight Special' performing "Lonely Boy".  I always loved the repeated hook in this sad song......

Finally, as a member of the Idiot's Delight Digest, an online group celebrating deejay Vin Scelsa and free-form radio, for the last sixteen years at least, I've been introduced to a lot of music I might not otherwise have heard.

And I can thank Steve Cohen, of the lofty Cohen brothers for first turning me on (dead man) to this song, in which Andrew Gold and friends reveled in their love of the psychedelic era:

Rest in peace, Andrew Gold.  Good night and may God bless.......

TVXOHOF: 2011 BIRTHDAY HONORS LIST II

For my birthday, I decided there should be two new inductees into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame for the Birthday Honors List. This is usually reserved for those TV characters that normally would not technically qualify for the honor.

The two "honorees" today fall into the category that was begun with Dr. Miguelito Loveless - that is, they played at least three characters who had enough in common to be considered the same person. (As long as the argument held up.)

With the three characters played by Irene Gilbert all rolled into "Nurse Griffin", each of them was a nurse in Los Angeles, but only one who had a name.

I wrote about this next entry previously in the Inner Toob blog, so I'm taking that post and revamping it slightly to make the case for her inclusion into the Hall......

Until I bought the DVD collection for myself, I used to watch the opening minutes of the 'Burke's Law' repeat which American Life Network used to show, in order to see who the guest stars were going to be. Then I would watch the full episode when I got home in the morning from work.

One night, I had to look up who the actress was playing Lucy Brewer, the woman who discovered the murder victim. (Like Marlyn Mason who was also in "Who Killed Jason Shaw?", she didn't merit a major credit at the beginning of the episode.)

Joyce Jameson played the slightly addled woman who did "favors" as her profession, and according to the IMDb.com, she played several women named Lucille over the course of her career. Even better, none of those other roles had last names attached to them and all of them were to be found in Los Angeles!

'The Fall Guy'
- "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harold" (1982) .... Lucille

'Baretta'
- "They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To" (1976) .... Lucille

"Promise Him Anything" (1975) (TV movie) .... Lucille

'Emergency!'
- "Kidding" (1975) .... Woman Stuck in Door

(I threw that last one in as a gimmee. After all, why shouldn't we assume that her name may have been Lucille, and Lucy Brewer at that?)

So, it could be that Joyce Jameson as Lucy Brewer was the same woman in all those TV shows and that one TV movie. And therefore, Lucille "Lucy" Brewer can be added to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame as part of my birthday honors list.

Sadly, Ms. Jameson won't ever know about it. She took her own life back in the 1980s.

BCnU....

AS SEEN ON TV: ROBERT F. KENNEDY

Although this should be a happy occasion, I'm using the ASOTV showcase to highlight the saddest event I can remember happening on my birthday, involving one of my heroes......

 ROBERT F. KENNEDY

AS SEEN IN:
'The Kennedys'

AS PLAYED BY:
Barry Pepper

From Wikipedia:
The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. After winning the California primary election for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, Kennedy was shot as he walked through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel and died in the Good Samaritan Hospital twenty-six hours later. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy's murder and is serving a life sentence for the crime. The shooting was recorded on audio tape by a freelance newspaper reporter, and the aftermath was captured on film.

Kennedy died at 1:44 a.m. PDT on June 6, nearly 26 hours after the shooting.

Kennedy's body lay in repose at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for two days before a funeral mass was held on June 8. His body was interred near his brother John at Arlington National Cemetery. His death prompted the protection of presidential candidates by the United States Secret Service. Hubert Humphrey went on to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency, but ultimately narrowly lost the election to Richard Nixon.

As with his brother's death, Robert Kennedy's assassination and the circumstances surrounding it have spawned a variety of conspiracy theories. As of 2011 Kennedy remains one of only two sitting United States Senators to be assassinated.

Inner Toob featured a different televersion of RFK as a Tiddlywinkydink back in 2008 on the occasion of his birthday.

For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Robert_F._Kennedy

BCnU.......

AS SEEN ON TV: SPALDING GRAY

Spalding Gray, American actor, writer, and monologist, was born on this day in 1941......

SPALDING GRAY

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Michael McKean

From Wikipedia:
Spalding Rockwell Gray (June 5, 1941 – ca. January 10, 2004) was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist, and monologuist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." Gray achieved celebrity for writing and acting in the play Swimming to Cambodia, adapted into a film in 1987.

He began his career in regional theatre, moved to New York in 1967 and three years later joined Richard Schechner's experimental troupe, the Performance Group. He co-founded the Wooster Group ensemble in 1975. He died in New York City of an apparent suicide. A documentary film about his life, entitled And Everything is Going Fine, was released in 2010 and is directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Gray was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Rockwell Gray, Sr., the treasurer of Brown & Sharpe, and Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" Horton, a homemaker. He also had two younger brothers – Channing Michael and Rockwell, Jr. He was raised in the Christian Scientist faith and grew up in Barrington, Rhode Island, spending summers at his grandmother's house in Newport.

After graduating from Barrington High School, he enrolled at Emerson College as a poetry major, where he earned his B.A. in 1963.

In 1965, Gray moved to San Francisco and became a speaker and teacher of poetry at the Esalen Institute. In 1967, while Gray was vacationing in Mexico City, his mother committed suicide at the age of 52. After his mother's death, Gray moved away from the west coast and permanently settled in New York City.

Gray's books "Impossible Vacation" and "Sex and Death to the Age 14" are largely based on his childhood and early adulthood.

He would have been 70 years old today.....

BCnU!

MEMORIAL DAY: REMEMBERING SGT. "CHIP" SAUNDERS

SGT. "CHIP" SAUNDERS

It's my opinion, but I'm pretty sure it's held by a lot of people, that Sgt. Saunders was the best TV soldier to come out of World War II in Toobworld, perhaps the best TV soldier no matter the war or conflict. Over a five year span in Trueniverse time (but the span of one year only within their own reality), we followed Saunders and the men of King Company through France once they landed during the Normandy invasion of D-Day.

On this Memorial Day, I wanted to honor his memory with a collection of YouTube clips culled from the TV series 'Combat!'  (Along with actor Vic Morrow and the other regular actors from the series, keep an eye out for stars like James Caan, Jack Lord, Bill Bixby, Richard Basehart, and Eddie Albert.)

I'd like to think that "Chip" Saunders (Not many dared to call him "Chip" to his face!) survived the War. But as he was born arround 1911, I doubt he'd still be alive today. It could be that after the War, he settled down... perhaps in California, somewhere around Orange County. And there, in 'The O.C.', he would eventually have a grandson named after him... but that kid wouldn't be half the man his grandfather was....

Artwork by Ralph Max