WAIT FOR YOUR LAUGH -- When I was 11, a wonderful television show came on the air. For five seasons, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was the only show we made an effort to see every week. With the possible exception of the actor who played the kid, everyone else in the cast was marvelous.
I particularly liked Rose Marie as Sally Rogers. I knew nothing about her, especially that she had been in show business since 1926, starting as Baby Rose Marie at the age of 3. And I didn't follow her long enough to know that she continued working until she did a voice job in a Garfield movie in 2013.She lived to be 94 and died just last year. Thankfully, she participated in a documentary film about her life -- "Wait for Your Laugh" -- that is one of the very best documentaries I have ever seen.
Everyone talks about Mickey Rooney having a career in which he had movie roles in 10 different decades. Rose Marie did 10 decades too, but most her early work was in vaudeville and nightclubs.
After "Dick Van Dyke," she did 14 years sitting above Paul Lynde, and then later she toured as part of 4girls4 with Rosemary Clooney, Helen O'Connell and Margaret Whiting.
She was a national treasure.
See this film if you get the chance. You will not regret it.
***
 |
| Babe and the Thumper |
It's basically wooden statues of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, but one thing you can't see unless you're up close to it is that each statue is completely carved from one piece of wood.
No hats, uniforms, bats or shoes. Just intricate carving of them that were later painted to look as though they were different.
It ain't Michelangelo's David, but these might be the most fascinating all-wood statues I've ever seen.
***
FUTURE HIT SHOW -- Our trip to Minnesota last month to see the blending ceremony for our daughter Pauline's new family gave me a truly bizarre idea.
Pauline and her husband Johnathan Roy each have three children from their first marriages. Except for one of the six being the wrong sex, they would have a classic "Brady Bunch" family.
So what I was thinking -- and I'll use the Brady Bunch for this so as not to weird out my own grandchildren -- that if Greg and Marcia grew up and fell in love with each other, it wouldn't be illegal for them to marry. They don't share any family blood or DNA.
But sitcom-wise at least, they would have a big problem. How do they explain to their kids why they only have one set of grandparents?
So here's the sitcom solution. The one set becomes two. Mike and Carol Brady entertain the grandchildren at their house as Greg's parents, and with the help of makeup, an attitude and a different story, they maintain an apartment in the next town where the grandchildren visit Mark and Carlene Branson (with different clothes and stage makeup) as Marcia's parents.
Yeah, it's incredibly goofy. Stupid even. But there have been at least a dozen sitcoms based on equally goofy premises that have been big hits.
***
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMPSKI -- After a year and a half, I've gotten accustomed to the idea that the folks who love (ugh!) Donald Trump as president will forgive just about anything from America's Lout.
But the one thing I truly don't get is the religious right excusing all of his escapades of extramarital sex. Think about this: Our first 44 presidents had a total of one divorce between them, and that was Ronald Reagan.
Trump alone has two.
If one thing is obvious, it's that people can justify almost anything they want to do.
If one thing is obvious, it's that people can justify almost anything they want to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment