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apocalypseornaw · 4 years ago

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Always be Yours-5

Word Count:4,476

Story Summary: Inspired by the 2 part I did of the same title. Follows Dean and Reader through season 9 into season 10

Chapter Summary: During a hunt a spell results with Dean tapping into his more k-9 nature

Warnings: ridiculousness along with the usual

After the interruption by Sam the night after Charlie left you expected Dean to find a moment to ask you whatever it was but it seemed as if he intended to act as if that moment had never happened between the two of you. Your bruises healed and with Kevin's mini vacation being over life in the bunker went back to as normal as it ever was.

You had just walked into the map room where Sam was sitting at the table when Dean walked in from the hall "Wow" you cut your eyes at him as you handed Sam a cup of coffee than sat across from him with your own "What?" Sam asked turning to look at his brother. "Kevin, I just poured some buffalo milk down his gob twice" you stifled a laugh. Poor kid was still recovering from Branson. "Buffalo milk?" Sam asked and without thinking you spoke over Dean "Hangover cure-all. Has everything in it except buffalo milk" Dean raised one eyebrow at you knowing what he meant and Sam not but luckily before he could comment on it Sam said what you were thinking "How is that kid still recovering from Branson?" "What can I say he's an amatuer. The slippery nipple shots at the Dolly Parton dixie stampede nearly killed the guy" "Not the slippery nipples" you muttered into your coffee and made both boys look your way with matching smirks before Sam told Dean he may have found a case.

"Are you sure you're up for a case Sammy?" Dean asked and you braced yourself for the ongoing back and forth where Sam would assure you and Dean both he was feeling fine and Dean would express his and yours concerns because the two of you actually knew what Sam's insides were like. "I am Dean. Look, Kevin's back on the heaven spell. Crowley's locked up so we should be out there doing what we do best. Plus we have Y/N here so three hunters are better than two"

Dean glanced your way but you kept your eyes trained on the coffee swirling around in your cup when Sam asked him "Are you at least going to listen?" Dean finally looked away from you and waved a hand "Go ahead" You turned to look at Sam as he started reading from the article "Taxidermist named Max Alexander crushed to death. Nearly every joint in his body dislocated, every bone broken. Poor guy is a human pretzel. You tell me what's got that kind of strength" "A demonic luchador?" Dean offered and the eye roll Sam gave him was deep enough you were certain Sam saw his own brain. "Shop's a couple hours away in Enid Oklahoma. We should at least check it out. Y/N you in?"

You looked up and shrugged "Sure, why not" Dean still hadn't said yes or not so Sam pushed "Unless there's some reason you think we shouldn't Dean" When you stayed quiet Dean finally let out a breath "Meet you both in the garage in twenty"

------

You sat in the backseat of the impala doing your best not to look Dean's way so you busied yourself with talking to Sam,double checking emails from other hunters and even fussing with your suit jacket. When baby finally came to a stop outside of Mounted Treasures Taxidermy you were relieved to get out of close quarters. Maybe you needed a break from the bunker too? You'd decide after this case.

You fell in step behind Sam and let out a low whistle when you saw the words "DIE SCUM" written in what you hoped was just red paint on the side of the building. Dean cut his eyes at you "Subtle isn't it?" Sam pointed out a symbol on the end of the letter M. It was an upside down triangle with a paw print inside. "I don't recognize it" you said before Sam took a photo "We'll look it up later"

Dean opened the door and motioned for you to go ahead so you smirked "Age before beauty" he rolled his eyes but stepped inside so you walked in between him and Sam. The interior of the building was even less welcoming than the message on the wall "The creep factor just skyrocketed" Dean muttered and you nodded in agreement glancing around at all the mounted animals lining the walls.

When Dean spoke the officer who you were assuming was in charge of the scene turned and spotted the three of you "Woah woah woah" You knew the drill so you had your badge out before Sam did the introductions "Agents Michaels, Deville and Jameson" motioning to Dean, himself than you in turn. The officer immediately turned a lot friendlier "The body's already went to the morgue just wrapping it up with Dave Stephens" then explained that Mr Stephens was who discovered the body. You glanced at the back room then back to the officer when he added "Sure a shame. I used to go hunting with Max. He was a real good egg"

"Sorry for your loss" Dean told him and you nodded in agreement. The officer thanked you both so Dean then said "Mind showing my partners around? I just got a couple questions for Mr Stephens" The officer nodded "Ok, Come on"

You walked in behind Sam and spotted the "Game of thrones" themed animals on the desk and nudged Sam. He picked one up and turned getting Dean's attention. If looks could actually scold anyone the look Dean threw at you and Sam was Bobby level scolding so you smirked then took the animal from Sam and replaced it with the others. You turned back to Sam "So emf? Hex bags?" he shrugged "You take emf, I'll look for the bags"

After a few minutes with no luck you and Sam headed back to the front room. Dean excused himself from Mr Stephens and the officer when he saw the two of you coming. "Excuse us"

"So?" Sam asked. "We got a thief jonesing for animal parts, a pagan symbol and a human pretzel" Dean said so you replied "Yeah it sounds all witchy but there's no hex bags or proof of anything we normally deal with every being here" So Dean shrugged "Well let's keep digging" then you noticed him look up at an owl that was on the wall before he added "Just not here" You looked at the owl then back at Dean "Did he insult you? Should I defend your honor here?" he smirked "I just don't like the way that thing's looking at me"

You were walking back to baby when Dean cut his eyes at you "Y/N, you good with one room or do we need two?" you shrugged "I'm fine with one" so he nodded "One it is"

------

Dean was going through his bag and you were coming out of the bathroom when Sam said "The symbol in the graffiti..It's not wiccan, It's copywritten" You walked over to where he was sitting on the foot of one of the beds and leaned over his shoulder to look at the screen then up at Dean "Local animal rights group, Enid's answer to PETA" Sam turned the screen around and Dean read over the screen "S.N.A.R.T? You got to be kidding me" "Well it makes sense that an animal right's group would have an axe to grind with a taxidermist" you offered pushing off Sam's shoulder to stand back up.

"Why? The animal's already dead" Dean asked and Sam responded "Yeah but hunters are what keeps them in business" Dean rolled his eyes and Sam added "Now the question is are those bleeding hearts actually witches or just hippies?" "What's the difference?" Dean asked and you laughed under your breath "We can shoot the witches?"

------

Gentle Earth Vegan Bakery was listed on S.N.A.R.T'S website so that was where you all headed. When you stepped in the door Dean looked around then said "Always knew I'd find the source of all evil at a vegan bakery" you tilted your head then said "Just wish I would've packed my leather jacket just to screw with them" and was rewarded with a wink from Dean and an eye roll from Sam.

Sam sniffed and his nose scrunched up "What's that smell?" "Patchouli" Dean answered and when you and Sam both looked his way he added "Mixed with depression from meat deprivation" you shook your head then noticed that the guy behind the counter was wearing sunglasses so you nudged Dean who followed your line of sight "Know who wears sunglasses inside?" You asked and he answered "Blind people and douchebags?" you shrugged "Point for the eldest Winchester. Sammy try to keep up"

You followed the boys to the counter then spoke "Olivia and Dylan Camrose?" the man and woman behind the counter looked your way "Yes ma'am?" "You two are members of S.N.A.R.T.? correct?" you asked and Olivia smiled "Founders and Co Presidents actually" then held up a pamphlet "Can we interest you in some literature?" Sam shook his head politely so Dylan offered a flax seed scone that was wheat, gluten and sugar free. "I'm gonna stop you right there" Dean interrupted "We're here to investigate the death of Max Alexander, local taxidermist" "He's dead?" Olivia choked out and appeared to be genuine. "You knew him?" you asked and she looked at Dylan before answering "Ish. Small town"

"Well he was murdered last night and a S.N.A.R.T. logo was found at the crime scene" you told her and wished she'd take those damn glasses off so you had a chance of catching a reaction of some sort. "You two wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" Sam pushed looking between the two of them.

------

Olivia and Dylan were a bust. Turned out while they were tagging the taxidermy place the night before they got spooked by a hissing sound and ran into the alley where they ended up getting maced. You didn't miss the irony of it but remained quiet when they removed their sunglasses to show their faces.

With no other leads you headed back to the motel to change and dig a little deeper because the "mace" on Dylan and Olivia didn't look like any macing you nor Sam had ever seen.

-------

You sat across from Sam while he typed into his laptop and took the beer Dean offered you. "Necrosis" Sam announced so Dean asked "Necrosis?" "Premature death of tissue, that's why their eyes were all messed up and it's not caused by mace" "Then what caused it?" you asked while Dean leaned over Sam to look at the screen.

"Blunt force, radiation, venom" Dean read off. "As in snake?" you asked and Sam shrugged "Taxidermist was constricted. Olivia and Dylan heard hissing and they were sprayed in the eyes" "By venom" you finished and took a sip of the beer.

"So we talking some sort of freaky ass snake monster?" Dean guessed sitting next to you on the chair and you shook your head at him but refused to move. Sam looked between you two then shrugged "Maybe but the weird thing is, snakes either envenomate or constrict. No snake does both" "Correction, freaky ass mega snake monster. Awesome" you scoffed which made Sam chuckle and offer "Could be a vetala?" "Yeah but they're not afraid to sink their fangs in" Dean brushed off the suggestion and you agreed "Taxidermist was bite free. Doesn't fit the profile"

Sam sighed "So we call Kevin? get him to look some stuff up?" "Best option we have at the moment" Dean agreed.

-------

With nothing else to do for the day Dean went to grab some food so all of you could eat and attempt to get a little sleep. You were sitting at the table in the room and Sam cleared his throat so you glanced up "Yeah?" you could tell he was wanting to say something but also not risk you getting upset at whatever it was so you stared at him expectantly "Just say it Sam"

He scratched behind his ear as he stood up and walked over to sit across from you "Is there something going on between you and Dean?" you didn't have to act in that moment because you were honestly confused "Huh?" he shrugged "Lots of conversations just from looks being passed back and forth. Dean worried about you leaving the bunker. The couple times I've walked into a room and the two of you jump apart.." You shook your head "There's nothing like that going on Sam. Just when you got so sick after the trials I guess it just pushed me back fully into your lives and then after the two of you talked me into moving into the bunker we're close quarters and all" He didn't look too awfully convinced but nodded nonetheless "Ok, I mean I just wanted to say I wouldn't have an issue with it. You both deserve someone to make you happy and if that happens to be each other.." you held up a hand to cut him off "We're friends Sam. That's it" about that time the door opened and Dean walked in carrying bags of food and soda and looked over at you and Sam "You two good?" you nodded "If you got my cheeseburger we are" and Dean grinned and held the bag out "Got your one and my three"

--------

You ended up sleeping in the same bed as Sam with you under the blanket and him sleeping on top of it. When you woke up Dean was making coffee and looked over "Sleep good?" you glared at Sam's side of the bed since he was already in the shower "Fucker snores, next time you're scooting over"

He smirked at that "Anytime you want in my bed just say the word" you bit the inside of your cheek to stop the warmth from spreading through your face, caused by his words then climbed out of the bed "Can I have a cup?" Dean held out the one in his hand "Here, we take it the same and I'll just grab me another one" you took it with a smile and teased "Dean Winchester dances and gives his coffee to a damsel in distress" He laughed "Sweetheart you may be a damsel, there may be times you are in distress but I haven't seen a lot you can't handle"

------

By the time you made it out the shower Dean was knocking on the door to tell you to go with the fed suit instead of usual jeans and t-shirt. There was another body on the ground at the animal shelter.

The body was of the guy who worked the front counter at the shelter. He had claw marks down the side of his face and according to the cops all the cats that had been registered at the shelter were now missing. "So yesterday snake monster, today killer kitty?" Dean scoffed and you cut your eyes at Sam who said "I don't know" Dean stopped both of you and pointed at a pen "Doesn't that mutt look familiar?" "He's from the first crime scene isn't he?" you asked and Sam doubled checked the clipboard on the pen and nodded.

"So he's been at both crime scenes, suspect?" you asked looking at Dean who agreed with you by saying "Could be a skinwalker or a shapeshifter" "Doesn't really look like a monster to me" Sam was looking at the dog but Dean had already dug a silver coin out of his pocket "One way to find out" Dean squatted and called the dog to the gate. He rubbed the coin behind the dog's ears but there was no reaction. "Well at least the pooch isn't the killer?" you said about the time the officer from the first crime scene walked up and the taxidermist's dog started barking until the officer took his hat off. He spoke to Sam but Dean noticed what you did especially when the dog once again started barking when the officer put his hat back on.

"Can we borrow your hat?" you asked and he handed it over. You held it right over Dean's head and the dog started barking until you pulled the hat down. You cut your eyes at Dean then handed the hat back. The officer snarled "Good luck getting adopted" at the dog and you had the strongest urge to punch the damn cop.

Sam read the clipboard again "So Colonel's not a suspect" "He's a witness" Dean confirmed. You squatted down and scratched Colonel's head "You speak sign language buddy?" he whined at you and tilted his head so you could scratch further. Sam perked up "No but there may be another option" and pulled his phone out. You curiously looked at Dean who shrugged until Sam said "Hey Kevin, it's me.. how do we speak to a dog?"

The shelter let you take Colonel with you so you sat in the backseat of baby with him laid across your lap back to the motel.

------

Kevin called back with the spell about the same time you made it back to the motel so Sam was currently combining the ingredients? while Dean sat across the table and you sat on the floor next to the table with Colonel. "So it's an Inuit spell?" you asked. Sam looked up from the bowl "Yeah, who knew the men of letters had its own eskimo section?"

"And it's supposed to let us communicate with the Colonel?" Dean asked looking at the dog who had his head laying in your lap where you were sitting leaned against Dean's chair. "Yeah..well that's the plan" Sam plucked a few hair from the Colonel then explained that it was a sort of animal/human mind meld which meant if it worked whoever drank it would be able to read the Colonel's thoughts.

You watched Sam pour the foul looking concoction and was glad when Dean grabbed it "I'll do it" he looked into the cup and at the face you were making "Doesn't look so bad" he downed it in a gulp and his entire face twisted for a moment "I was wrong"

Dean read off the spell but the Colonel barely moved. Dean tried to talk to him but to no avail so it was decided to get some lunch then call Kevin for more ideas.

------

You were sitting on the foot of one of the beds when Dean looked at the Colonel "What?" "What?" you and Sam echoed. "Shut up! It's working" Dean clarified then looked back at the Colonel "Say that again" after a moment Dean said "Dennis DeYoung's not a punk" you were more than a little lost but amused that the dog was apparently arguing with Dean. "Dean! Focus!"

"Oh yeah" he looked back at the Colonel "Hey boy, what were you trying to tell us about the coyboy hat?" you and Sam sat watching the scene unfold which even though the two of you could only hear one side it was clear there was a full conversation happening. "and the pothead too?" Dean asked and Sam glanced at you then turned his attention back to them. Sam threw a balled up napkin in the trash and told Dean to ask about the cats. Dean threw the paper back to Sam then asked about the cats. "I don't want this" Sam told him then chunked the napkin again.

You laughed when you realized that the mind meld was more than talking when Dean once again retrieved the napkin and said that the guy who was doing the killings smelled like ground chuck, soap suds and old lady cream. Sam finally held up the napkin "Dean, what are you doing?" Dean scratched his head in the same spot the Colonel had kept urging you to scratch on his "I don't know"

When Dean started beating on the window yelling at the mailman you fell over on the bed laughing "Dean's a dog dude!"

------

While Sam called Kevin to check side effects on the spell you sat between Dean and the Colonel. You weren't really paying attention to either until the Colonel bumped your knee so you absentmindedly scratched his head. It made you freeze when Dean let out a light whimper and you looked to see he was looking at your other hand "Are you serious?" he looked at the colonel "He's being smug that you're scratching his head" The colonel looked up at you and if you'd ever seen a dog laugh it was in that moment so you scooted over so you scratch Dean's head too. He let out a contented sigh and laid his head over on your thigh.

Sam hung up and arched an eyebrow at your current position so you stopped scratching both of them despite the whimpers so he could explain the spell's side effects which was what Dean was experiencing.

A few words were passed between Dean and the Colonel and you had to laugh again when Dean announced "I don't have the urge to sniff butts" "Dean?" you asked and he seemed offended "No! Sam how long will this last?" "Kevin doesn't know" he replied and you ran a hand across your face, as if your life could get weirder.

Dean pulled a candy bar out of his jacket pocket and you grabbed it out of his hand "Woah! What the hell Y/N?" you motioned to the Colonel "Dogs can't have chocolate Dean. Do you really want to test it?" the Colonel looked at you and let out a sharp bark so you looked back at Dean "What'd he say?" Dean glared at the dog then answered "He said you're cute for a human and smart" "Aww, thank you" you cooed rubbing the Colonel's back and could've sworn Dean let out a light growl of all things? Sam looked between the three of you then said "Let's head back to the shelter to see if we can find more clues because I swear Dean's getting jealous over a dog" "Am not" Dean argued but cut his eyes at the Colonel as he spoke.

------

After you and Sam having to de escalate an argument between Dean and a pigeon you were in tears from laughing as you climbed in the backseat with the Colonel and it only got worse when they both wanted to hang their head out of the windows.

------

When you got the shelter Dean argued with the Colonel for a second before saying "Y/N, he wants you to hold his leash" you winked at the Colonel then grabbed his leash as you climbed out and held the door open for him "C'mon big guy" he climbed out behind you and looked up at Dean who glared at the dog. "Quit being smug you asshole"

Watching Dean interrogate dogs was somewhere between just weird and the absolute best entertainment you'd had in years. A yorkie turned out to be a star witness and wanted a belly rub from Sam in return for information. You stood there watching Sam scratch the yorkie while chewing your bottom lip to not laugh. Apparently the whatever you were after had a sweet tooth for cats according to the yorkie.

The burlap sack the guy had taken the cats from the shelter in had "Avant-Garde Cuisine" written on it so that was finally a solid lead along with a vague description of the guy.

When you were about to leave Dean said "Hold up" and passed you the Colonel's leash then went back and opened all the cages. You shook your head with a laugh when he said "Ok, now let's go"

------

You were once again herded between Sam and Dean as the three of you walked into the restaurant after Sam picked the lock. In the first office you found a photo of "Chef Leo" who wore a cowboy hat like the yorkie had described along with a frickin pharmacy worth of pain meds.

You were going through a drawer when Dean said "Did you hear that?" you glanced at Sam the shook your head "No?" "Sounded like little kids" Dean explained so you stood up straight and strained your ears to no avail.

It turned out to be a cage of rats who lead Dean to the fridge that contained everything from cheetah liver to grizzly heart while Sam found a shamanism spell book. According to the book whatever animal organ you ingested along with the right mix of hoodoo and spices resulted in the temporary gain of the power of that said animal.

Meaning owl brains for IQ, Cheetah liver for speed..etc

A clanging drew all of your attention so Sam killed the only light in the room and you all pulled your guns and flashlights then headed out into the hall.

-------

The hall was empty so you moved into the kitchen clearing each corner carefully. There was a lone cook so when he asked who you were Dean said you were all from the health department for a surprise inspection.

He told you all that the reason the restaurant was closed was due to the chef having a private party and would be there any minute. "In that case you're shut down" you ordered and glanced at Sam who added "You're clearly in violation of penal code eight fourteen" "You heard em! Out Now" Dean barked out and they quickly moved to comply.

Dean took the front, you took the halls and Sam took the back to try to find the chef. Working plan was to simply empty a clip into his head and hope for the best.

------

After a fight with the good chef Leo resulting in Sam getting knocked out, you getting slashed on the arm and Dean calling in an entire pack of dogs as assistance the good chef got exactly what he had coming.

When Dean ran back into the kitchen you were crouched over Sam trying to wake him up. "C'mon Sam!" "Y/N!" Dean hollered so you shouted "OVER HERE" he slid to a stop at your side and crouched next to you "He's alive Dean" he let of a breath of relief when Sam finally stirred. "Thank god" Dean helped Sam to his feet then looked at your arm "Do you need stitches?" you shook your head "I don't think so"

The three of you made it outside in enough time to see some bloody dogs running away from the heap that had been chef Leo.

------

After getting the Colonel adopted out to Olivia and Dylan you hit the road back to the bunker. The only unfortunate thing was chef Leo had put some doubt in Sam's head by asking what Sam was. From what you and Dean could piece together Leo had slit Sam's throat and Zeke healed him. Wasn't like the two of you could tell him that so instead you convinced him that Leo was simply out of his head.

When Dean pulled out onto the road he shot you a look in the mirror and you met his gaze fully. "It'll be ok" you mouthed and he smiled then turned his eyes to the road.

Tags: @facadeformyrealblog @akshi8278

#spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester x female!reader #always be yours

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pagetonoscreen · 3 years ago

Text

THE CLUB

A serialized screenplay drama about EDM and an underground club.

by Buddy Garrison

**Listen to the above track while reading this script; imagine it in the scene**

INT. CAR - DAY

COR rubs his eyes. Not believing anything that is happening.

He looks around the interior of the sports car he is in, while driver is zooming through traffic on the 405.

Cor then looks ahead and sees the Los Angeles skyline. The one he had dreamed about, seen photos and films of, and now was here.

His hands shook.

The driver, WES, looked on. Wes was older, and good looking in the LA sense.

COR was younger, but his eyes and face her worn. His military tattoos sleeving his arms did not fit with the car he was currently in.

WES

You alright?

COR

It's a lot. All of it. Thanks for the ride.

WES

You looked like you needed one.

COR

Do you pick up a lot of people randomly at the airport?

WES

No. You looked like you needed help. And I just got off a flight.

COR

I thought you thought I was cute.

WES

I did.

COR

Oh.

Wes laughs.

WES

Midwest boy leaves the military and comes west. You got a lot to learn.

COR

All we have is Jesus and fields and each other. Country music. Guns. I didn't mean all we have like it was bad. I like it. Love it.

WES

We have that too. Just...it's different.

The music keeps thumping.

WES

So say again. She's not expecting you?

COR

I just texted her. She sent me the address to this club.

WES

Yeah, that place is trouble. The music is good. Hell, the vibe is too. But yeah. Trouble.

COR

I know. I gotta save her. I gotta bring her home.

WES

Some advice, Cor? If I can? I know we just met.

COR

Sure.

WES

This is Los Angeles. We're going to Hollywood, where the club is, which isn't what you think. She might not want to be saved. This ain't a movie. You saw stuff in your service, right? You saw combat?

Cor nods.

WES

And it changed you?

Cor nods again.

WES

This is going to change you. I envy you and feel bad for you. This chick doesn't deserve you.

Wes turns the music up louder and puts the pedal down.

Cor hadn't heard tunes like these. The constant beat and the synth and the way it made him feel, while in the car of some stranger.

The city came closer and closer. The music got louder and louder.

And the car went faster.

registered and copywritten.

#EDM #fiction #writers on tumblr #screenplay #screenwriting #serialized fiction #original screenplay #drama #music #electronic #serialized screenplay #SoundCloud

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theracoonlodge · 7 years ago

Text

At Lunch With Joyce Randolph & Audrey Meadows

AT LUNCH WITH: Joyce Randolph and Audrey Meadows; Trixie and Alice, on Their Own By BRYAN MILLER Published: October 13, 1993

SOMETIMES an actress becomes so identified with one role in her career that the character clings to her as stubbornly as puppy hair to a navy blazer, impossible to brush off.

"For years after that role, directors would say: 'No, we can't use her. She's too well known as Trixie,' " said Joyce Randolph, who was immortalized as the wife of Ed Norton, the rubber-limbed sewer worker in the 1950's television sitcom "The Honeymooners."

A similar fate befell Audrey Meadows, who played the wisecracking wife of a blustering bus driver named Ralph Kramden, portrayed by Jackie Gleason. "After the series, I was lucky to do guest shots with Dinah Shore and Red Skelton, but almost all of the stuff I was offered was something in the kitchen, always in the damn kitchen," Miss Meadows recalled over lunch recently at Le Cirque in Manhattan.

For both women, still close and affectionate, their famous television personae hover above them like giant balloon characters at a Macy's parade, attracting throngs of nostalgic admirers and prompting dozens of letters a week.

Since "The Honeymooners," Miss Randolph's acting career has been limited to commercials and occasional musical summer stock. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Richard L. Charles, a retired advertising executive. Miss Meadows, who lives in Beverly Hills, Calif., and has been divorced once and widowed once, has made many guest appearances on television shows and was in two subsequent sitcoms, "Too Close for Comfort" and "Uncle Buck." She has recently completed a book about "The Honeymooners" titled "Love, Alice," which is to be published by Crown next year.

Entering the restaurant wearing a shimmering pink-and-white Chanel suit and oversize tinted glasses, Miss Meadows was hardly recognizable as the tough-as-steel-wool spouse who fended off many threatened flights to the moon, courtesy of Ralph. Her once crystalline voice has taken on a cigarette-induced gruffness, but her distinctive inflection, familiar to all "Honeymooners" addicts, remains.

Miss Meadows began her career in musical comedies. The daughter of a missionary, she lived in China until age 5, when her family moved to California so that the children could be educated in the United States. "I first got into musical comedy as a teen-ager as the result of singing in church," she explained. She eventually joined road tours of shows like "High Button Shoes."

Miss Randolph had a similar theatrical background. After performing in local theater in her hometown of Detroit, she made the mythical trek to New York City in search of fame. In 1945, after several years of touring and appearing in Broadway shows, she found herself in Schenectady, N.Y., where the General Electric Company had some of its early television production studios.

"Mostly I remember the lights, which were so harsh, and that terrible black lipstick," she said, rubbing her lips as if trying to remove it.

The first television sketches were largely reworks of popular radio mysteries. "For a while I was publicized as the most murdered girl on television," Miss Randolph said, laughing.

Acting jobs were easier to find then than they are today. "We all were in the same kinds of bars and restaurants -- Sardi's, Lindy's, the Blue Angel," Miss Meadows recalled.

Miss Randolph found her way to the DuMont television network, where she was asked to do a Clorets commercial. She was such a hit that CBS asked her to do the same commercial on "Cavalcade of Stars," a variety show whose host was Mr. Gleason, a former nightclub comic who was a rising star.

It was on this show that Mr. Gleason began developing characters like Reginald Van Gleason 3d, Rudy the Repairman and Ralph Kramden. "Cavalcade of Stars" opened in 1950 and ran for two seasons, followed by two years of "The Jackie Gleason Show" and then, in 1955, "The Honeymooners."

Mr. Gleason liked the young "Clorets girl." So when he began casting "The Honeymooners" he offered the part of Trixie to Miss Randolph. For his stage wife, named Alice, he chose a seasoned actress named Pert Kelton. The part of the sewer worker went to Art Carney.

Miss Meadows, who eventually replaced Miss Kelton as Alice, was a pioneer in the early days of television, too, in both Chicago and New York City, doing bit parts in skits on variety shows as well as commercials. Her mellifluous voice won her a job in the comedic sketches of the radio duo Bob and Ray. While working on radio, she was asked to take a leading part in the Broadway musical "Top Banana," starring Phil Silvers.

On Broadway she became acquainted with Mr. Gleason's manager, Bullets Durgom. "He actually looked like a bullet -- bald, short, roundish," she said.

By this time, Mr. Gleason had moved his variety show, which included a "Honeymooners" sketch, to CBS. Just two weeks before the first show, he had to find a new actress to portray Alice because Miss Kelton had fallen ill.

Mr. Gleason supposedly rejected Miss Meadows for being "too young and too pretty." As Miss Meadows relates the story, she went home that evening, put on a frumpy housedress, changed her hair and had a photographer take pictures. Mr. Gleason saw the photos and hired her on the spot, not knowing he had rejected her the day before.

Did the two young actresses have any idea they were about to make television history?

"Heavens, no," Miss Randolph said, placing an open hand on her cheek, a la Trixie Norton. "Everything was so casual in those days, you never thought it would be important." In fact, Miss Meadows was the only one of the supporting cast who drew up a contract calling for residuals.

"The Honeymooners" achieved immortality with the 1955-56 television season, when 39 episodes were filmed at the Adelphi Theater on West 54th Street in Manhattan. The cast performed twice a week, Tuesday and Friday nights, before an audience of about 1,000.

Mr. Gleason loved spontaneity; hence, there was little or no rehearsal. Often the cast received the script the night before performing; it was not unusual for them to try on their costumes just before going on the air.

"I remember some nights when we had guests on the show, and I saw some of them vomiting in the wings from nervousness," Miss Randolph added.

Both actresses recalled one memorable fiasco on stage, during an episode called "Better Living Through TV," in which Ralph buys a warehouse full of fancy can openers and tries to sell them fast by appearing in a television commercial with Norton.

"The two of them are making the commercial, and the can opener is supposed to come down on Jackie's hand so he can do his pain bit," Miss Meadows recalled. "Then he starts running around the room, and he hits a prop wall that isn't fixed securely. He knocks down the wall and lands on his face. Then, Artie goes to help him and Artie lands on his face. That scene, just as it happened, was left in and is still being shown today."

Neither woman has anything nice to say about the most recent biography of Mr. Gleason, "The Great One," by William Henry 3d (Doubleday), which portrays Mr. Gleason as a moody, booze-soaked egomaniac who bullied his writers and abandoned his family.

While both contend that the book presents a flawed portrait, Miss Randolph concedes that Mr. Gleason sometimes mistreated his staff. "He was very mean to the writers," she said. "He kept them isolated. He didn't get to know them."

Miss Meadows, to this day Mr. Gleason's greatest defender, attacked Mr. Henry's emphasis on Mr. Gleason's drinking. "Jackie did not drink on the show, ever, not one sip," she asserted.

About the book's accusation that Mr. Gleason tried to thwart the richly talented Art Carney, both women strongly disagree.

"Never, never," Miss Meadows said. "There were times when he would say in rehearsal: 'Give that line to Artie. It would be funnier coming from him." Added Miss Randolph: "Art didn't want to be top banana. He was always so low-key and shy."

When Mr. Gleason was once asked why "The Honeymooners" was so popular nearly 40 years later, he replied, "It's funny." Miss Meadows concurred. "We had such good writing," she said. "The money people running the industry today don't know good scripts."

Moreover, "The Honeymooners" was a mini-morality play, in which the characters always learned lessons about things like greed, vanity, trust, love and the importance of sharing.

"You know what I thought was interesting about 'The Honeymooners'?" Miss Meadows said. "There we were, blowing whatever money we had from his driving a bus. The Nortons lived a little better than we did because they put everything on credit. We were both lower middle-class people, but we had class. 'Roseanne,' even though it's funny, do you think they have class?"

Both women think "Murphy Brown," "Seinfeld" and "Mad About You" are also funny.

After lunch, Miss Meadows and Miss Randolph did what their fictional counterparts never would have done: they shopped on Madison Avenue, taking time out to explore the new Barneys. They were spotted by an adoring sales clerk at the Estee Lauder counter and soon attracted a large crowd of autograph seekers -- so many that Estee Lauder herself came to see what the fuss was all about. "You see," Miss Randolph declared. "It can happen anywhere."

Copywritten NY TIMES

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shirlleycoyle · 6 years ago

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How Kids YouTube Star Blippi Used Copyright Law to Hide His Harlem Shake Poop Video

Wednesday night, BuzzFeed News published a blockbuster investigative report about Stevin John, the children’s YouTuber better known as “Blippi.” In 2013 Blippi, who has 3.6 million followers, once starred in a viral Harlem Shake meme video in which he pooped on his naked friend’s butt. In advance of BuzzFeed’s story, Blippi went to extreme lengths to get it off the internet.

There’s an adage: The internet never forgets. And yet, the internet forgets so much, which is why groups like The Internet Archive, Archive Team, and individual archivists are so important. The internet’s collective memory is fragile for lots of reasons. Internet companies go out of business and take down their websites, physical media erodes or becomes obsolete, file formats stop getting supported, domain names expire and web hosting subscriptions are canceled.

And certain internet artifacts can be actively cleaned up and legally protected, which is how a video that was actively promoted and went viral in 2013 (“PLEASE ENJOY AND SHARE THIS AMAZING VISUAL ART PIECE WITH YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY,” Blippi wrote on HarlemShakePoop.com at the time) can suddenly become pretty difficult to find in 2019.

BuzzFeed reporter Katie Notopoulos did not link to, embed, or otherwise share the Harlem Shake Poop video in her piece, noting that “an attorney for [Blippi] sent BuzzFeed News a cease and desist letter asserting copyright on the video.”

BuzzFeed isn’t the only company that got a legal notice about the video’s copyright. In early January, someone claiming to represent Blippi filed a copyright takedown request with Google, which previously had linked to a Russian website that host the so-called “Harlem Shake Poop” video.

“The copywritten work of ‘Harlem Shake Poop’ is of a NSFW video of one man defecating on another,” the takedown request reads. “This video was not authorized for use on the links provided. This Russian site is illegally storing the videos on their servers and your search results have indexed them. The information in this notice is accurate. I swear under penalty of perjury I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner that holds the exclusive right of the Harlem Shake Poop video that allegedly infringed.”

The whole situation seems frivolous and absurd, but actually tells us quite a lot about how the internet works and the ways in which people weaponize copyright law to censor, hide things they’d prefer were forgotten, or threaten others. Blippi did not respond to Motherboard’s request for comment.

After reading Notopoulos’s article, I naturally went searching for the video. I Googled “Harlem Shake Poop” and found a series of YouTube videos of people reacting to Blippi’s original video (think of the 2 Girls 1 Cup reaction video genre), but not the original video itself. At the bottom of the Google search results, however, I saw a notice: “In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), we have removed 1 result from this page.”

The DMCA is a sweeping law enacted in 1998 that is vitally important to the ways the internet has grown and is governed. Provisions in the act have been used at different periods to criminalize, for example, security research and independent repair. “Section 512,” a part of the law that’s also known as the “safe harbor” provision, protects Silicon Valley giants from being sued into oblivion when their users upload copyrighted content to their websites. This law gives sites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook immunity from lawsuits, as long as they don’t have “actual knowledge” that “material … on the system or network is infringing.”

This law has allowed for platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to flourish, because with millions or billions of users, some portion of them are going to upload photos, videos, or songs they don’t legally own the rights to. Without the safe harbor provision of the DMCA, it’s not a stretch to say that these companies and platforms could not exist. In fact, a large but unknowable portion of YouTube’s early growth was fueled by illegal song uploads, as the site became one of the larger repositories of music on the internet.

The key to DMCA is that once companies have “actual knowledge” of copyrighted material on their platforms, they have to “act expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material.” And how do they get that knowledge? Well, in many cases, the copyright holder simply tells them.

From Google, YouTube, or Facebook’s perspective, it’s better to be safe than sued, so megaplatforms often default to using their own copyright detection algorithms and, failing that, they usually take content down rather than challenging DMCA takedown requests.

The owner of a copyrighted material can file what’s known as a “DMCA takedown request,” and the platform must then remove that material or remove access to that material. Broadly speaking, DMCA takedown requests can be used by copyright holders to censor news, hide things they shouldn’t be hiding, and otherwise get things taken off the internet that don’t actually violate copyright law due to the myriad ways in which copyright law is extremely confusing, even to experts.

For example, the National Rifle Association targeted a parody website (which is broadly protected by copyright law) that attempted to raise awareness about gun violence. Axl Rose used DMCA to stop an unflattering meme about himself. OkCupid used the DMCA to get a scientific dataset of its users deleted from an open science website. Ancestry.com, somehow used DMCA to prevent a government transparency site from publishing public UFO sighting records. DMCA takedowns have been used to try to censor megapopular YouTuber PewDiePie. And so-on-and-so forth.

The DMCA takedown request received by Google

The DMCA has indirectly had other massive effects on the way YouTube and other platforms work. YouTube has literally billions of videos, and many of them use copyrighted material in some way (a copyrighted song in the background, a cell phone video of a copyrighted work, etc.) This means that Google and YouTube receive millions of DMCA takedown requests per year, and that manually handling these takedown requests is both expensive, time consuming, and highly inefficient. And so YouTube has developed what’s known as “ContentID,” a system that proactively and automatically identified copyrighted content and acts upon it. Sometimes this means videos are deleted, other times it means that the ad revenue from videos is reallocated to the actual rights holder. But this system isn’t perfect, and so there are many creators who have had their earnings stolen from them by larger rights holders for using material that they legally could have. YouTube’s internal copyright system, which is nominally designed to weed out pirates and repeat offenders, has been used by YouTubers to beef with, scam, or hold other creators hostage.

This all brings us, finally, to Blippi. Because the DMCA has been abused so much, civil society is constantly trying to reform it, or at least hold big platforms accountable by documenting the ways in which DMCA is used. Harvard’s Berkman-Klein Center created the Lumen Database to catalog millions of DMCA takedown requests and notices, and makes them publicly available. One of these publicly available DMCA takedown requests is the one I quoted above, filed to Google by the owner of harlemshakepoop.com in early January.

As far as DMCA takedown requests go, Blippi’s is about as open-and-shut of a case as you’ll get. The Russian site that hosts his poop videos does not own a copyright to the poop meme video, and therefore isn’t supposed to upload a copy of it. But Russian sites don’t really need to respond to DMCA notices, which is why the Google listing is the target of the actual takedown request.

The use of the DMCA to hide an embarrassing video, however, raises all sorts of other questions. Europe has a “Right to be Forgotten” law that allows people to request that Google and other companies remove articles that they’d prefer not exist. As you might imagine, that law has been regularly abused; last month, for example, a Dutch surgeon was able to get Google to remove a link about her medical suspension. The United States has no such law, but in the absence of Right to Be Forgotten legislation, the DMCA can sometimes be used to the same end.

Should Blippi be able to hide his poop video, which is gross, but not problematic or hateful? Honestly, I don’t know. But politicians and corporations are using the same tactics that he did to hide embarrassing and hateful content from their pasts that is definitely relevant and important to society. It’s easy to understand why Blippi would want his video to disappear forever. But if we let him clean up his mess, what else are we missing?

How Kids YouTube Star Blippi Used Copyright Law to Hide His Harlem Shake Poop Video syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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