A man was driving along the highway, and saw a rabbit hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the rabbit, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of the car and was hit. The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to see what had become of the rabbit.
Much to his dismay, the rabbit was dead. The driver felt so awful, he began to cry. A woman driving down the highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong.
“I feel terrible,” he explained, “I accidently hit this rabbit and killed it.”
The woman told the man not to worry. She knew what to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead rabbit, and sprayed the contents of the can onto the rabbit.
Miraculously the rabbit came to life, jumped up, waved it’s paw at the two humans and hopped down the road. 50 meters away the rabbit stopped, turned around, waved and hopped down the road, another 50 meters, turned, waved and hopped another 50 meters. The man was astonished. He couldn’t figure out what substance could be in the woman’s spray can!!
He ran over to the woman and demanded, “What is in your spray can? What did you spray on that rabbit?”
The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: “Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave.”
Elementary, My Dear Watson
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine they lay down for the night, and went to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.” Watson replied, “I see millions and millions of stars.”
“What does that tell you?”
Watson pondered for a minute.
“Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo.
Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three.
Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?”
Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke. “Watson, you jerk. Someone has stolen our tent.”
Dead Duck
A woman brings a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon.
As she lays her beloved pet duck on the table, the vet puts his stethoscope to the bird’s chest and listens carefully.
A moment later the vet shakes his head and says sadly, “I’m really sorry mam, but your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.“
The woman becomes quite distressed and begins to cry.
“Are you sure?” she says with tears flooding from her eyes.
“Yes mam, I am sure” the vet responds. “Your duck is definitely dead.“
“But how can you be so sure?” the woman protests. “I mean, you haven’t done any testing on him or anything have you? Perhaps he’s just stunned or in a coma or something.”
The vet rolls his eyes, then turns around and leaves the room.
A few minutes later he returns with a black Labrador retriever.
As the duck’s owner looks on in amazement, the Labrador stands on his hind legs, puts his front paws on the examination table and sniffs around the duck from top to bottom. He then looks up at the vet with sad eyes and shakes his head.
The vet pats the dog on the head and takes it out of the room.
A few minutes later the vet returns with a cat. The cat jumps on the table and delicately sniffs at the bird from its head to its feet. After a moment the cat looks up, shakes its head, meows softly and strolls out of the room.
The vet looks at the woman and says, “Look mam I’m really sorry, but as I said before, this is most definitely a duck that is no longer of this world. Your duck is dead.“
The vet then turns to his computer terminal, hits a few keys and produces a bill, which he hands to the woman.
The duck’s owner, still in shock, looks at the bill and sees it is $150.
“$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!” she shrieks with incredulity
The vet shrugs his shoulders and says, “I’m sorry mam. If you’d taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20. However, with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it’s now $150.“
For my next pick in the Hanspostcard TV Show Draft, I chose a show that is one of my all time favorites. I don’t remember when I first was introduced to this show, but I am guessing my dad had something to do with it. Early on in the draft, I chose Police Squad, which only aired 6 episodes. This show is known for its “Classic 39” – The Honeymooners.
This isn’t my first blog about the show. Some time ago, I took part in a “Favorite TV Episode” Blogathon and picked 2 of my favorite episodes to present. You can read that blog here:
When you examine 50’s TV shows, there was very little struggle involved. Think about it. I Love Lucy, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Andy Griffith Show, and Leave it to Beaver all showed families who were living in nice homes or apartments, showed no signs of financial struggles, and while there may be a misunderstanding here and there, it was mostly “bliss.” In 1955-1956, however, The Honeymooners focused on two couples from New York, who were struggling to get by.
The show focused on the lives of Ralph (Jackie Gleason) and Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows), and Ed (Art Carney) and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph). One article I found on the show says this about Gleason’s Kramden character: Ralph was the get-rich-quick scheming, short-tempered, soft-hearted guy who was always striving for greatness, but never made it out of that two-room Brooklyn apartment. And that’s one of the main attractions for even the most casual of viewers: the characters are so identifiable. As Jackie himself said at the time, “Everything we did could have happened. People like the show, because we are them.”
The show began as a simple sketch on the DuMont Television Network, on the Cavalcade of Stars. The original hosts were Jack Carter and Jerry Lester, but in July of 1950 comedian Jackie Gleason took over the hosting duties. In the process, Gleason took the struggling show and turned it around to be a hit. The show, which featured comedy skits and a number of different performers each week, was broadcast live in front of a theater audience. In 1951, Jackie and his writers came up with the idea for a sketch called The Honeymooners. It was about a struggling couple living in Brooklyn who frequently fought, but in the end, there was no question that they loved each other.
Leonard Stern was a writer on both The Honeymooners and The Jackie Gleason Show. In an interview with the Archive of American Television he stated, “We started doing one sketch of The Honeymooners every five or six weeks and the response of people on the street was tremendous. So we started doing them every other week. Eventually, though, everyone, including Jackie, lost interest in the other characters in the different sketches, so we started to do them every week until the fatigue level hit its high and we’d have to take a break. I think Gleason had fun doing them, because he recognized the impact Kramden and Alice and Norton and Trixie were having on the audience. I’m not a great fan of ratings, but let me say that 53% of the total television audience was watching the show. There’s nothing like that in existence today. It was astonishing and the show itself was live. Remember, the audience of 3,000 people filled that theater. You earned your laughs. It was a resounding success and very exhilarating for all of us. It was opening night every week.”
When Gleason left the Dupont Network and went to CBS, he hosted the Jackie Gleason Show, where the Honeymooners sketches continued. In the 1952 season, the sketches usually ran between seven and 13 minutes. In the following season, and those sketches ran for a minimum of 30 minutes, and sometimes longer. Then, in the 1954-55 season, they actually filled the entire hour of The Jackie Gleason Show, and was doing so well in the ratings that it occasionally surpassed the viewership of I Love Lucy. That is almost unheard of!
In the 1955-56 season, The Jackie Gleason Show literally became The Honeymooners! It aired as a half-hour sitcom that was filmed in front of a studio audience. In total, 39 episodes were produced, and these episodes are the ones that are still being broadcast today. These 39 episodes are the ones that most people remember.
I read an article that said Jackie Gleason had actually been given a three-year contract from CBS for 78 episodes of The Honeymooners to be produced in the first two seasons. The contract also included an option for a third season of 39 more. For whatever it is worth, Gleason felt the quality of the scriptwriting couldn’t be maintained, and the show was mutually canceled by him and CBS.
A Closer Weekly article says: What’s particularly impressive about The Honeymooners living on the way it has is the fact that back in the day, there needed to be a minimum of 100 episodes of a show available so that local stations could run it five days a week. Any less made syndication difficult, since the cycle would be repeated that much sooner. But then there was The Honeymooners, with a mere 39 episodes to offer up, yet it worked. And continues to do so.
In a 1996 appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Jackie was asked why the show ended. He told Carson, “We were running out of ideas. I liked The Honeymooners and I liked doing them, and I didn’t want to denigrate them by forcing scenes that didn’t mean anything. So I wanted to quit, but they didn’t believe me. They thought I had another job someplace, but I didn’t. I’m glad I did stop them, because what we had done was good and if we had gone any further, we might have spoiled it.”
Those “Classic 39” are classic for a reason. They are still funny. The situations that The Kramdens and the Nortons muddle through every week will make you laugh, cry, think, and smile. They still hold up today. Each one of them has memorable scenes and quotable lines.
In one episode Ralph tells his boss he is a great golfer and is immediately asked to go play a round with him. Now Ralph needs to learn how to play – and fast. He finds the perfect teacher in his best friend Ed Norton. In pure Art Carney fashion, Ed reads from a book that you must “address the ball,” to which he takes the club, stands in front of the ball, looks down and says, “Hello, Ball!”
An episode of the show was featured in the movie Back To The Future. When Marty McFly winds up in 1955, a family is watching the episode The Man From Space. Intending to win the $50 first prize at the Racoon Lodge’s costume ball, Ralph decides to create his own outfit. And what an outfit! After appropriating (among other things) a faucet, a pot, a radio tube and the icebox door, he presents himself as the Man from Space.
In another episode, Alice says she wants to go dancing. Ralph has Ed come over to teach him how to dance. Ralph’s outfit is hilarious (he tells Alice it is “what all us cats wear! I’m hip!”). The dance (to the song The Hucklebuck) is worth the watch.
To me, sometimes the funniest stuff can be as simple as Ralph’s face …
In another classic episode, Ralph and Norton appear on a TV commercial trying to sell their Handy Housewife Helper, a kitchen gadget that can, among other things, open cans, remove corns and “core a apple.” In the inspired, ad-lib-laden episode, “Chef of the Future” Ralph demonstrates the wonders of the gizmo to “Chef of the Past” Norton. Rehearsal goes great, but in front of live cameras, Ralph freezes up.
Art Carney was the perfect second banana. The play between him and Gleason is classic. In one episode Norton’s sleepwalking becomes a waking nightmare for Ralph. Ralph can’t get any sleep because he’s been asked to keep his pal from wandering off on late-night strolls around the neighborhood.
Another classic episode takes place at the pool hall where Ralph gets into an argument with the diminutive guy named George. “My friend is even bigger than me,” he tells Ralph. “I have a friend Shirley that’s bigger than you,” Ralph counters. But then he comes eye-to-chin with George’s friend, the towering Harvey, who challenges Ralph to a fight. This prompts Norton to observe: “He’s even bigger than your friend Shirley.”
Many of the plot lines from the classic episodes made it into the Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy novelty hit “The Honeymooners Rap.”
In the 1980’s, Jackie Gleason announced that in his vault he had found a number of Honeymooners skits from The Jackie Gleason Show that had been shot on Kinescope, which is a way of filming directly through a lens that actually focused on the screen of a video monitor. 107 of those skits were released on DVD and syndicated to television stations. These would have been shot before the “Classic 39” and two of them stand out to me.
Jackie had been a guest star on the Jack Benny show, so Jack makes an appearance in one of those “lost” episodes as the Kramden’s landlord. The rent is being raised and Ralph is mad. When there is a knock on the door, Ralph opens it and Jack Benny is standing there. The audience chuckles in anticipation. Ralph calls to Alice that “the Landlord’s here” and the audience erupts. Benny stands there quietly as Ralph reads him the riot act! He calls him a “penny pincher” (which plays into Benny’s “cheap” character”) and says that he pinches a penny so hard that when he is through “both heads and tails are on the same side of the coin!”
In another lost episode, Ralph must lose weight for work. All through the episode he is starving. Finally, he is left alone in the apartment and sitting at the kitchen table. He notices a cake pan. He lifts the lid and sees the cake. His eyes bulge and he goes nuts. As he is about to tear into the cake Alice walks in. “Everybody get back,” he yells! The brief 3 minutes of him staring at the cake before getting ready to eat it is comedy genius!
As brilliant as Jackie Gleason was as Ralph Kramden, he never won an Emmy Award for it. Art Carney, however, won 5 Emmy’s for Best Supporting Actor on The Honeymooners and the Jackie Gleason Show.
The Honeymooners influenced a huge 1960’s cartoon – The Flintstones. It is a blatant rip off of the show, and was a huge hit. It is said that Gleason considered suing Hanna-Barbera Productions because of the similarities, but decided that he did not want to be known as “the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air”
Water Buffalo members and Racoon members
The Honeymooners is over 65 years years old! Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton is 97 years old and still going strong. I wonder if Gleason ever thought that those 39 episodes would still find an audience today and that they would still bring much laughter.
If you have never seen an episode, I encourage you to do so. The two episodes I mentioned in a previous blog are good places to start – TV or Not TV or A Matter of Record. Most are available on Youtube.
All writers get writer’s block. I am hardly a “writer”, but sometimes stare at the blank page and wonder what to write about. Since I began blogging, I have stumbled on blogs written by others who share some of the same interests as me. I have followed blogs that feature movies, TV, music, nostalgia, positive thoughts & quotes, and more. There have been many instances where I read another blog and an idea will pop into my head. My friend Max and I tend to “borrow” ideas from each other often.
Many ideas I adapt from those blogs. For this blog I am literally stealing the idea, and giving credit, and creating some rules for it. The Anxious Teacher wrote a blog after watching Back to the Future III. You can read it here:
What a great idea for a blog! If you had a time machine – where would you travel? As I thought about this, I wanted to limit myself to a few things. First of all, because I have watched the Back to the Future movies, I know that if you go back and change something in the past – it will affect the future. So Limit #1: If I go back, I am simply there to observe. Many of the things I thought I would like to go back and witness happened over a period of time, so Limit #2 – no real time limit. Limit #3 – wherever I go, I will be dressed appropriately as to not raise suspicion. I know, it’s silly, but it’s my blog and my rules.
I actually thought about adding what I would call the “Ebenezer Scrooge” element to this. What is that? Well, remember when Scrooge was transported into the past, present & future? He could witness everything, but he could not interact with anyone. Those events happened and the people were not aware he was even there. Perhaps that would be the best thing, right? That way, if I went back in time, I would not be tempted to change things.
General times and places
As my blogger friend said, I think it would be very cool to visit the old west. I have watched many westerns on TV and in the movies. I have read many books set in the old west. I think it would be pretty cool to walk through one of those western towns. How cool would it be to visit the saloons, or the general store? I think it would be cool to don a cool cowboy hat, boots & spurs and ride a horse to get from place to place.
I also think it would be cool to visit the ancient times and watch the building of the pyramids, or buildings like the coliseum. Those historic buildings are still standing. How awesome would it be to see just how they put them together?
As someone who has been a huge fan of the 1950’s, I would love to live a year or two in this decade. It’s fun to see how the ’50s are portrayed in movies like Back to the Future, and I would love to see it in person. I would love to hear the old radio stations playing those early rock and roll songs. I would love to see those classic films in a theater. I would love to have a meal at a real 50’s diner or drive a classic car!
I would love to visit the 1940’s, too! The music of the great band leaders, the early music of Sinatra, and of course, those great old radio shows! Of course, World War II was going on, but it would be interesting to see how life in America was at that time.
Everyone wants to visit the future … that peaks my interest, but is it something I would do? I don’t know. I’d be tempted to come back to the present and use the information for personal gain, or to alter outcomes. I’m not sure visiting the future would be something I’d want to do – unless I knew it was something specific I wouldn’t be able to see.
General People of Interest
I would love to watch Beethoven or Bach (or any composer, really) writing and composing a piece of their music.
I would love to watch someone like Edgar Allen Poe or William Shakespeare writing a poem or story.
I would love to sit on a set and watch them shooting a Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy film.
I would love to be in the room where the First Continental Congress held meetings and watch men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others in action.
I would love to attend a taping of an old episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson or a taping of the Dean Martin Show.
I would love to be in the audience at a Rat Pack show in Chicago or Las Vegas. Come on! Dean, Frank and Sammy!!
I would love to be an extra in one of my favorite movies.
I would love to watch Elvis in the recording studio.
I would love to watch Thomas Edison working on the phonograph or the electric light.
Specific Events
I would love to watch the moon landing (on TV or from space).
I would love to watch the first flight with the Wright Brothers.
I would love to see JFK’s inauguration.
I would love to see a Beatles concert.
I would love to see Lincoln deliver his Gettysburg Address.
I would love to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I would love to witness the launch of Titanic on her maiden voyage.
I would love to be in the stands at Tiger Stadium at the final game of the 1984 World Series.
I would love to be in the crowd at 1985’s Live Aid concert.
Personal Things
I know I put some limits on what can or cannot happen if I went back in time, but if there were no limits there are a few things I would like to do with that time machine.
I would love one more conversation with my mom.
I would love one more pinochle game with grandma and grandpa.
I would love one more Christmas Eve with grandma and grandpa.
I would love one more radio show with Rob.
I would love one more cribbage game with my grandpa.
I would love to play my trumpet in one more high school band concert.
Just One Day
For whatever reason, writing this blog made me think of the Nat King Cole song, “That Sunday, That Summer”. The lyrics of the song say:
“If I had to chose just one day, to last my whole life through, it would surely be that Sunday, the day that I met you.”
With a time machine, you could go back to one day. You could pick the day. You could relive whatever happened that day. What day would that be?
I don’t know that I could pick just one.
What I do know is that there are plenty of days that I am looking forward to that haven’t happened yet – the birth of my daughter, the graduations of my sons, etc…. I am perfectly content moving forward and experiencing the days to come.
Here is sit, remembering the past – loving the present – and looking forward to the future.
I once heard someone say, “In a world of darkness – be the light.” If I may alter that quote just a bit … “In a world of negativity – be the positive.” You wouldn’t know it, but it has been a very challenging couple weeks for me. I just have to keep reminding myself that “some people are just not happy unless they are trying to make others unhappy.”
Here are some things that made me happy this week:
Bless You Boys!
I was reminded that 35 years ago this week, the Detroit Tigers beat the San Diego Padres in the 1984 World Series. Remembering that amazing season always brings a smile to my face. In the final game, Kirk Gibson faced Goose Gossage. There was some chatting at the mound because they couldn’t decide whether or not to walk him or pitch to him. Gibby launched an amazing homerun off him! I can still remember Vin Scully calling it by saying, “And there it goes!!!!” Pandemonium! I rewatched that video more than once this week!
Autumn Leaves
The leaves are changing. Fall is probably my favorite season. It makes me think of high school homecoming parades and football games. It makes me think of Alumni Band. It makes me think of sitting around bonfires in hooded sweatshirts. It makes me think of those last few weekends up north closing up the trailer for winter. I love the beauty of autumn. Here in Michigan, we have such wonderful fall colors. I love to walk outside in the fall and just get lost in thought. Fall makes me happy.
Here’s Johnny!
This month Sirius XM Radio has a Johnny Carson channel (105) and they are playing old episodes of The Tonight Show. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I am loving these! Johnny was the best. These dated monologues are still funny today! Today, I laughed a little bit harder than I should have at one of the jokes. He was talking about a previous joke he did about McDonalds. He then asked “Have you ever been to the Beverly Hills (California) McDonalds? They serve escargot there. They call them, McSlugs!”
Listening to his reactions to when a joke bombs is just hilarious! His banter with Ed and Doc is also very funny. It’s been great to hear classic interviews with Mel Brooks, Eli Wallach, Buddy Hackett, Don Rickles and more! It’s also been neat to hear some of the early stand up from Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Garry Shandling, and others. He was a master – and he still makes me laugh.
Baby Kicks
I have saved the best thing for last. My wife is 22 weeks along now and she has been feeling our baby move. Earlier in the week, she started to feel baby kicks. We were lying in bed this week and she said the baby was kicking. She placed my hand exactly where she was feeling them, and I felt her kick! It was light, but it was there!
I don’t care how many times I feel it, it still amazes me! My wife feels her move a whole lot more than me, so to feel this little “bump” against my palm makes me more and more excited for her arrival! It gets more and more real as we get closer. I get emotional thinking about it. She’s going to be here soon! We’ll be able to hold her and kiss her. I’ve been creating my “Bedtime Song List” for her. There are some favorites that I sang with my boys when they were babies, and I will be singing them for her too. I probably need to start working on “Daddy’s Little Girl” and “My Special Angel” – songs that I obviously couldn’t sing to my boys!
February will be here before we know it – and I am sure there will be many stories to be shared about her here!
Final Thought
It really isn’t hard to find things that make you happy. Look around – they are right there! Find the happy & SMILE!
Today’s tune is another one that you have probably never heard before. It’s from a 1991 album that the critics gave poor reviews. That’s the thing about music – we each have our own tastes and not everyone is going to agree on what’s “good” or “bad”. I happen to really like this album, and play it often in the car. Here’s how I discovered it, and maybe you’ll find it different and interesting, too.
Ludington
In 1991, I had broken up with a girl I had been dating for 3 years. I was working part time in radio and an old buddy called me up and asked if I’d like to move to the west side of the state to do afternoon drive for his country station. It didn’t really pay well, but it was a full time job. Since the relationship was over, I decided maybe it was time to move out. In April of 1991, I moved to Ludington, MI.
As a 20 year old guy, who had never been away from home, it was a bit scary. I won’t lie to you, my first night away, I heard every noise inside and outside of my apartment. I really hated being away from my friends and family. I knew a few of the people at the station and that was the extent of it.
I worked from noon-8pm. My on air shift was 2p-7p. I ran an satellite show until 8p and someone came in after me to keep the station on the air until midnight. I lived about 10-15 minutes from work and when I would get home I would sit in front of the TV. The internet was probably around at the time, but I didn’t have a computer (and if I did, it would have been dial up!!).
I only had 3 or 4 stations, because I couldn’t afford cable TV. It was during this time that I really began watching Johnny Carson and David Letterman and gained an appreciation for late night TV. One night, Carson had Pat Benatar on as a musical guest. I was familiar with her music, as it was a big part of my childhood. Love is a Battlefield, We Belong, and Hit Me With Your Best Shot were huge hits in the 80’s! When Johnny introduced her, I was waiting for some kind of rock guitar lick, but it never came.
The song opens with a very bluesy bass line, and I was completely thrown for a loop. Pat’s vocal was sultry, smooth and sexy! I was totally digging this song! It was a HUGE departure from what she was known for. Word is that she had always wanted to do a “jump blues” album, and this was it. The album featured some covers (BB King and Wynonie Harris) and originals. True Love was an original.
This is one of those songs I can listen to over and over again. I just love her vocal and the arrangement. Give it a listen –
True Love
Never been no fragile flower
I always got too much to say
Never had much luck with love and romance
I guess it’s always been that way
But I’ve been seriously thinking
About slippin’ on the velvet gloves
I know it’s strange but my lucks about to change
‘Cause what we got here is true love, yeah, yeah
True love, you can’t buy it no, no
You know it ain’t like nothin’ else
True love, you really ought to try it
You owe it to yourself to get you some true love
You know I wake up every morning
It’s the first thing on my mind
This is a permanent condition
Of the most serious kind
Now let me tell you baby
That you were sent from up above
Give me a sign let’s not waste any more time
‘Cause what we got here is true love, yeah, yeah
True love, you can’t buy it no, no
You know it ain’t like nothin’ else
True love, you really ought to try it
You owe it to yourself to get you some true love
I called the man at the video store and I said
Cancel my membership, I won’t be needing it no more
Found something else to occupy my nights
And baby it’s just the right amount of true love, true love, yeah
I called the man at the video store and I said
Cancel my membership, I won’t be needing it no more
Found something else to occupy my nights
And baby it’s just the right amount of true love, true love, yeah
Everybody wants it, everybody needs true love
Don’t get me wrong about the bad love
I gotta have good love
True love, yeah true love oh
True love
Pat actually did 4 songs from the album on the Tonight Show. The night she did True Love, she returned to do The Good Life, which was a blast because all of the Tonight Show Band members joined the band. It was pretty cool. It’s probably on You Tube somewhere. She also, on another show, did the mellow So Long, and Wynonie Harris’ Bloodshot Eyes.
It doesn’t always work, but I am always curious to hear when a singer tries something a bit out of their genre. Pat is a very talented singer and I really enjoy this album.
Bobby Darin was a talent. He was a songwriter, a singer, an actor, and played multiple instruments. Today is the anniversary of his birth – he was born May 14, 1936. As a baby, he had bouts of Rheumatic Fever, which caused some damage to his heart. He beat many odds and lived longer than most doctors expected him to.
He began his career writing songs for Connie Francis, and eventually recorded his first song, “Splish Splash” which was a hit in 1958. He followed it with many other hits including “Dream Lover,” “Beyond the Sea,” “If I Were a Carpenter”, and “Mack the Knife.”
Mack the Knife was Bobby’s biggest hit spending 9 weeks at #1. It was the #1 record of 1959. It won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960, and Bobby won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist of the Year. The song later received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. But it was almost NOT released as a single.
The song is from The Threepenny Opera. Bobby saw this show at a theater in Greenwich Village in 1958 and thought he could present it in a more “jazzy” way. He began to sing it in his nightclub act and got a good response. He recorded it on an album and the sales of the album and his nightclub act had audiences wanting more of it. Originally Bobby did not want to release the song as a single. After all, he was a teen idol and had an image to uphold. A old song about a murderer could easily tarnish that. The record label decided that it should be released – and the rest is history!
One cool piece of trivia (at least for me, as a trumpet player): Doc Severinsen, who would go on to work with Johnny Carson as the bandleader of the Tonight Show Band, is one of the trumpet players on this song.
Mack The Knife
Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old Macheath, babe
And he keeps it out of sight
You know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, though, wears old Macheath, babe
So there’s never, never a trace of red
Now on the sidewalk, ooh, sunny morning, uh-huh
Lies a body just oozin’ life
Eek, and someone’s sneakin’ ’round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?
There’s a tugboat down by the river, don’t ya know
Where a cement bag’s just a-droopin’ on down
Oh, that cement is just, it’s there for the weight, dear
Five’ll get ya ten, old Macky’s back in town
Now d’ya hear about Louie Miller? He disappeared, babe
After drawin’ out all his hard-earned cash
And now Macheath spends just like a sailor
Could it be our boy’s done something rash?
Now Jenny Diver, ho, ho, yeah, Sukey Tawdry
Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town
I said Jenny Diver, whoa, Sukey Tawdry
Look out to Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Yes, that line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town
Look out ol’ Macky’s back!
There are many biographies available about the life of Bobby Darin. His son, Dodd, wrote one entitled Dream Lovers which talks much about his dad and his mom (Sandra Dee). It’s an honest read.
Bobby had health issues throughout his life and his heart already had issues. In 1973, he neglected to take the antibiotics he was prescribed for his heart before a dentist visit. He ended up developing sepsis which spread throughout his body. This made him weak and affected one of the valves in his heart. He checked himself into the hospital for another open heart surgery (he had two heart valves replaced in 1971). After a six hour surgery, he died in the recovery room on December 20, 1973. He never regained consciousness. Bobby Darin was 37 years old.
Since I started blogging about a year ago, I have stumbled on some great blogs that focus on old movies, film noir, music, books, and various other things that I find interesting. Some of these blog sites have hosted Blogathons, and I have participated in a few of them. A while back, the “Pop Culture Reverie” and “In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood” sites announced their “Made in 1938 Blogathon”. The only real rule that was that whatever you wrote about had to be something “made” in 1938. This blog is my contribution to this blogathon. I am posting a day early, but you can read the other participants blogs by clicking:
At first, I began to look at movies from that year, hoping there would be one of my favorites from that year. Then, because of the celebrity birthday page I had on Facebook, I wondered if there were any famous people born in ’38 that I might find interesting to write about. In looking over the list of celebrities, three stood out as having a significant part in my life, so I chose to write about them. I hope you find this blog interesting and entertaining. What follows is a brief salute to a great impressionist/comedian, a great radio personality, and a great actor.
Rich Little (Born November 26, 1938)
Rich Little shares the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Voices” with the great Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc). While they both have many voices that they do, Mel’s were more original voices and dialects for cartoons, while Rich did impersonations or imitations of real celebrities. He claims to be able to do about 200 voices, and he has had quite a career “being” other people! He even eludes to this in the title of his 2014 book “Little by Little: People I’ve Known and Been…”
I remember when we first got cable TV. HBO often featured stand up comedy shows and specials. One of the first specials I ever saw was Rich Little’s A Christmas Carol. I was mesmerized by this guy! This special was like an awesome dream come true – all these big celebrities playing the different roles of the Dickens classic – except, they were all done by one man, Rich Little. Can you imagine WC Fields, Jack Benny, Peter Sellers, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Falk (as Columbo), Jimmy Stewart, Richard Nixon, Johnny Carson, Laurel and Hardy, and Groucho Marx all in the same show?! He made it happen!
As a kid, not knowing what I really wanted to do with my life, and thinking I was funny, I thought maybe I could do what he did. After watching him often, and listening to him, I began to try out voices on relatives. I really thought I did an excellent Richard Nixon, but in reality, I was doing a bad impression of Rich Little doing Richard Nixon. (Later on in my radio career, while on Honey Radio I did create a few generic voices that I used on our morning show, but never anything close to what Rich has mastered!)
I was always excited when there was some new Rich Little Special on HBO, whether it was his stage act or his take on Robin Hood (which is where I first saw him do his Carol Channing, which blew me away). Every time he did a new celebrity I hadn’t seen him do, I would watch in awe. There was no shortage of people he could do.
One surprising fact that I was unaware of was one of my favorite singers played a big part in his American TV debut. He was asked by singer Mel Torme’ to audition for the Judy Garland Show in 1964. He did, made an impression (pun intended) and made his first appearance on American TV on her show. He stated in an interview that if you watch this appearance, you should watch Judy. She had never seen him perform before they taped the show and her reactions are very genuine. He went on to appear on other TV shows like Love on a Rooftop, That Girl, The Flying Nun, and Petticoat Junction in guest roles. He is probably best known for his appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Kopycats (a show featuring impressionists), and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts.
Rich is often asked which impressions are his favorites. He says he has many, but the two that stand out are Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Stewart. His Reagan is just wonderful and President Reagan loved it too! He did two albums as Reagan – “The First Family Rides Again” and “Ronald Reagan Slept Here”. I owned them both, and they are very funny (one of them features a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards)! His Reagan is a great example of how Rich can find something unique about someone and use it in his imitation. I’ll be honest, I never knew how many times Reagan started a sentence with the word “Well…” until I saw/heard Rich doing it in his act!
Jimmy Stewart was the first celebrity impression he worked on (and it is amazing). Rich was on the dais of The Dean Martin Roasts when Jimmy was the “Man of the Hour”. He got to the podium and began to school Jimmy Stewart on how to do Jimmy Stewart! After Jimmy tries to do all the things Rich is telling him, Rich finally tells him that there is no hope for him and that Jimmy was doing “The Worst Jimmy Stewart” he’d ever heard! Rich even went as far as to have the audience stand up and do Jimmy, to which Rich tells Jimmy that everyone does a better Jimmy Stewart than he did! Word is this was all ad-libbed and Jimmy, being the amazing guy that he was, went along with it all.
It would be hard for me to pick my favorite Rich Little Impressions, because they are all so good. Among his best, in my opinion, are Reagan and Stewart (just mentioned), Richard Nixon, Jack Benny, Don Rickles, Raymond Burr, Truman Capote, James Mason, John Wayne, Paul Lynde, and Johnny Carson. His Carson was so good, he was asked to play him in the movie about the David Letterman/Jay Leno feud called “Late Night”. After seeing Rich do an impression of him, Jack Benny sent him an 18 karat gold money clip that was engraved; “With Bob Hope doing my walk and you doing my voice, I can be a star and do nothing!”
How good are his impressions? When David Niven was ill, he actually dubbed in lines for Niven in a couple Pink Panther movies. He did the same for James Cagney in the 1984 film Terrible Joe Moran and for Gene Kelly in a 1991 Christmas special. I’m not sure how true it is, but some people say that there was some fierce competition between Rich and Frank Gorshin (The Riddler on TV’s Batman), who was also a good impressionist. Those sources say that this little rivalry only made Rich work even harder to perfect his voices.
In researching for this blog, I came across a quote from Rich that really made me admire him even more. He said, “I don’t like it when people imitate someone for political reasons or if they hate somebody. I’ve never imitated anyone that I’ve really hated. Usually, it’s people I admire.”
Thanks Rich, for the many laughs you provided throughout my childhood. Sorry about my Nixon impression!
Wolfman Jack (Born January 21, 1938)
Radio Legend! What more can I say?! He was one of the best. He knew what people wanted and gave it to them. He was a master at talking to his audience. He could be making you laugh out loud one minute, and crying the next. I never had the chance to hear a live show of his, but I was lucky enough to hear some of his syndicated stuff growing up. I can tell you this, I can only WISH to be as good and as talented as he was! In my 30 year radio career, I have never come close!
With the creation of the Internet and access to YouTube and other radio websites, some of Wolfman’s radio stuff is available to listen to and enjoy. I’m no dummy, I know that he must have done a lot of prep for his shows, but everything seemed so spontaneous and ad-libbed! Maybe it was, I don’t know, but I do know that it was good. His interactions with listeners were always entertaining. His random thoughts about peace, love, and brotherhood always hit the nail on the head. In this world where hatred runs amuck, we could use more people like Wolfman spreading the “love” on the air.
I got into radio because of the guys I listened to growing up (Paul Christy, Jim McKenzie, Richard D., Boogie Brian, Dick Purtan, etc…), and so did Wolfman Jack. To keep him out of trouble, his parents bought him a radio and he fell in love with R&B music. He listened to Jocko Henderson from Philadelphia, Dr. Jive from New York, the Moon Dog from Cleveland, Alan Freed (who coined the phrase “Rock and Roll”), and his mentor John Richbourg from Nashville. He spent a year at The National Academy of Broadcasting and landed a radio gig in Virginia where his on air name was “Daddy Jules”.
Three years later, he took his “Wolfman” character to XERF, a Mexican radio station that broadcast at 250,000 watts (5 times the power of any US radio station), and people listened! The station pretty much covered most of the US. The music he played (lots of great R&B) and his vocal stylings started to make news. His popularity grew and there were feature stories about him in Time magazine, Newsweek, and Life magazine. Newspapers from all over the country all wrote about him, too, wondering, “Who is this guy and where did he come from?!”
In 1972, he became the host of an NBC show called “The Midnight Special” where he co-hosted and interviewed musical guests. Director George Lucas grew up in North Carolina and was a fan of Wolfman’s show growing up. In 1973, he cast him in the film “American Graffiti” and made sure that he got a small percentage of the profits from the film. The success of the film brought Wolfman to New York to do a radio show on WNBC, but the commuting back and forth to do TV and radio became a hassle, so he moved back to California.
Wolfman Jack became the first radio DJ to nationally distribute his radio show. The show was heard on over 2000 stations nationwide and in 53 countries! Along with his radio work. he continued to do movie work and appeared on TV shows like The Odd Couple, What’s Happening, Vega$, Wonder Woman, Hollywood Squares, and Married…With Children. He also appeared as himself in the 1974 hit single by The Guess Who entitled “Clap for the Wolfman.”
In 1995, he wrote his autobiography (a must read for people in radio) “Have Mercy: Confessions of the Original Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal,” which received good reviews in The New York Times and LA Times. On July 1, 1995, after finishing a broadcast from The Hard Rock Café in Washington DC he boarded a plane and flew home. He had been away from his family for days promoting his book. He told his limo driver as they pulled in front of his house that he was happy to finally be home. He walked inside, hugged his wife, and collapsed after having a massive heart attack. He was 57 years old.
To close this section of my blog – here are some of my favorite Wolfman quotes:
“We are put on this earth to have a good time. This makes other people feel good. And the cycle continues.”
“I know it may sound corny, man, but I like to bring folks joy and I like to have a good time. I know folks like to be with someone who’s having a good time. You sure as hell don’t want to be with somebody who’s having a bad day.”
“Love is not a matter of counting the years – it’s making the years count.”
“If you do right. Everything will come out right.”
And my favorite quote, which I often used (giving him credit, of course) to close my own radio show:
“Remember to keep smiling because a smile is like a light in the window letting people know your heart’s at home”.
Thanks, Wolfman, for being an inspiration to young DJ’s like me, and for being a positive in a world full of negativity!
Christopher Lloyd (Born October 22, 1938)
When I first saw the trailer for Back to the Future, I was filled with anticipation. It was everything a 15 year old boy could ask for, action, adventure, and time travel! I’ve always been a fan of time travel stories. I have a collection of old radio shows that all have time travel as a theme. What kid didn’t wonder, “What would it be like to see my parents as kids? What would it be like to go back to the past?” I had to see this movie!
The Back to the Future trilogy remains one of my favorites (second only to the Godfather). Looking back now, I can’t imagine anyone but Christopher Lloyd playing Doc Brown. While there are great characters (and actors) in the film, Lloyd makes it all worth watching! He’s the epitome of a crazy scientist! He’s everything you expect one to be! He’s manic! He’s constantly moving! He’s always thinking and processing! In an interview he said that there were times he was so into the role that he didn’t know exactly what he had done until he saw it on screen! Believe it or not, he almost passed on the role!!
In an interview I found, he said that when he was initially contacted about playing the role, he had some doubts about it and seriously considered passing on it. He was in Mexico when his agent called to tell him that the producers wanted to meet with him. “I was anxious to do a play that I had been offered back east, and I wasn’t sure this was something I wanted to get involved in at that point.” Luckily, his future wife Carol reminded him that “I always told myself never to turn anything down without at least checking it out.” After the meeting he says he was “ready to put on the wig and hop into the Delorean!”
Doc Brown is probably one of two roles that Christopher Lloyd will forever be identified with. The other is that of “Reverend” Jim Ignatowski on the TV show Taxi. That character won him two Emmy Awards! I have always appreciated when a TV show has a great ensemble cast – Taxi was one of them. Each character stands out in their own way, and Reverend Jim never ceased to make me laugh! One of the greatest scenes in this show is when Jim has to take his driver’s test. Almost all of the gang is there while he is taking it and trying to help him. If you’ve never seen it – it’s comedy gold! Here is the link:
Christopher is one of those actors who is believable in comedy roles as well as dramatic roles. I have always felt that is what makes a great actor. He reminds me a lot of Robin Williams, in that he can play comedy for comedy, play straight for comedic effect, and nail a dramatic role perfectly. In his first movie role, as a psychiatric patient in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he is brilliant! It is one amazing performance!
He is one of those actors that has so many memorable roles. It would be impossible to give space to each one of them. One movie that sometimes gets over looked is the 1985 comedy Clue. As Professor Plum, we are treated to Christopher playing straight for comedic effect. In one of my favorite scenes, the characters are paired off to search areas of the house. Plum is paired with Mrs. Peacock (played brilliantly by Eileen Brennan) and he looks at her and says, “It’s you and me, honey bunch.” As strait as he says it, that line cracks me up every time! What an amazing cast in this film!
As someone who doesn’t care too much for movie remakes, I was pleasantly surprised at the Addams Family films. I loved Christopher as Uncle Fester. I always felt like the TV show was more comedy than dark comedy. The films were closer to the comic strips and I thought Christopher captured that dark comedy and mischievous aspect of the character in his portrayal of Fester. This is probably because he was a fan of the comic strip and claims to have always read the New Yorker Magazine (where the strip was featured in every issue).
Two of Christopher’s roles were so powerful they scared me! The first being that of Klingon Commander Kluge in the 1984 film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He is just so vicious, and over the top in this film. One of my favorite scenes is where one of his crew destroys a ship and he yells that he wanted prisoners. The crew member says it was a lucky shot. At this, his anger boils over and Kluge kills the crewmember. After this, he simply says “Animal.” He really does a great job of showing us how crazy the character is.
The other role that scared me was his role as Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? As much as I hated him throughout the movie, when he snaps and goes nuts at the end, wow! When he is run over by the steamroller you are almost happy! When he melts, you are ecstatic! When an actor makes you hate a character he is playing that much – he’s done it right! He says that people come up to him often and mention how much this character scared them, so I am not alone. He also says that he loves playing villains, because it’s a “license just to be as bad as the script allows you to be”.
There are many other movies that Christopher has played in that you may be familiar with, like The Dream Team, Dennis the Menace (Switchblade Sam is an awesome villain), and My Favorite Martian. He has done so much more that I wish I had been able to see. For example, in 2010, he starred as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in a Weston House Production. I can only imagine how well he played this iconic role. In 2008, he played Scrooge in a production of A Christmas Carol with John Goodman and Jane Leeves. WOW – I would LOVE to see him as Scrooge!!!! Many have played Scrooge, and played him well…but I know that Christopher’s interpretation would have been off the charts!
He continues to do voice work (my kids loved him as the Hacker on Cyberchase), television, and movies and is very active on social media. If you don’t already, follow him.
Thanks, Christopher for entertaining so many over the years! You are a treasure!
In Closing
I want to thank the hosts of this blogathon, “Pop Culture Reverie” and “In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood”, for allowing me to participate. It was a lot of fun for me to think about these three influential men and their work, and ultimately write about them. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
The great Red Skelton once said “Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.” In a world where there is so much sadness, sometimes you need to be the one to share something funny or make someone laugh. As I take a break from musical blogging – here are some quotes that I hope will make you smile and laugh.
“I went to a restaurant that serves breakfast at any time. So I ordered French toast during the Renaissance.” – Steven Wright
“I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, ‘Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.’ He said, ‘Yes, but not in a row.'” – Steven Wright
“According to most studies, people’s No.1 fear is public speaking. No.2 is death. Death is No.2. Does that sound right? This means, to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfeld
“Here’s a picture of me with REM. That’s me in the corner.” – Milton Jones
“I needed a password eight characters long, so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” – Nick Helm
“A government survey reveals the prime minister is doing the work of two men. Laurel and Hardy.” – Ronnie Corbett
“God gave men a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time.” – Robin Williams
“The worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades.” – Demetri Martin
‘Got a waterbed to spice up our love life. Doesn’t work, we’ve drifted further apart.’ – Keith Chegwin
“Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, ‘Jesus! This cup is expensive!’” – Conan O’Brien
“I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a video game where you help the people who were shot in all the other games. It’d be called ‘Really Busy Hospital.” -Demetri Martin
As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it. – Buddy Hackett
People say New Yorkers can’t get along. Not true. I saw two New Yorkers, complete strangers, sharing a cab. One guy took the tires and the radio; the other guy took the engine. – David Letterman
Italians are fantastic people, really. They can work you over in an alley while singing an opera. – Don Rickles
I once made love for an hour and fifteen minutes, but it was the night the clocks are set ahead. – Garry Shandling
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac? – George Carlin
Whenever I’m on my computer, I don’t type ‘lol’. I type ‘lqtm’ – laugh quietly to myself. It’s more honest. – Demetri Martin
I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book. – Groucho Marx
I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up – they have no holidays. – Henny Youngman
If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead. – Johnny Carson
Married men live longer than single men. But married men are a lot more willing to die. – Johnny Carson
My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already. – Milton Berle
Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves? – Robin Williams
A girl phoned me the other day and said… ‘Come on over, there’s nobody home.’ I went over. Nobody was home. – Rodney Dangerfield
Director Mel Brooks said, “Humor is just another defense against the universe.” The universe has no shortage of things to make us unhappy. Every day we see sadness and unpleasant images in the news. Defend yourself against the evil and the pain. Arm yourself to take on life’s challenges – by smiling … by laughing.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 