#The Mary Tyler Moore Hour

[seycile]

Michael Keaton Filmography Marathon Log

Week 2

All of his 70s appearances were and still are great (especially Mr Rogers' Neighborhood and The Mary Tyler Moor Hour)

Mr. Roger's Neighborhood https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=407765554265936&rdid=ueiJoZGQmWo5IQOo

This is his second role on TV. His first one was playing a panda. He wore a full-on panda bear mascot suit.

His other earliest roles (age late 20s-mid 30s)

https://youtu.be/uVttOwAP6Tg?t=270 Tony Randall Show "Eyes of the Law" w Michael Keaton

https://youtu.be/yw1W6JUT_5U?t=437 All's Fair (he was a semi-regular on the show) https://youtu.be/BASpBA5ILos?t=47 A Different Approach - Educational Short Film (1978) ft. Michael Keaton https://youtu.be/tv8hm94pEbU?t=1129 Mary Tyler Moore Hour https://youtu.be/FgrF4VV2XYo?t=1623 https://youtu.be/kauTJIKsrIE?list=PLqmsK3aEGjOmJTrZZAR5DVUZxd0QasauZ&t=315 https://youtu.be/MjF7FKiEYSM?list=PLqmsK3aEGjOmJTrZZAR5DVUZxd0QasauZ&t=39 https://youtu.be/zsvNXahrBNQ?t=1752 Michael wearing a towering fruit hat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LObZW6OC7o working stiffs (while watching these I wanna say that Michael is so cute back in the 70s-early 80s. That's it.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGm6mFrmfPA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28YsyXDf0nY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPK_bjSzcw Night shift I love Mr. Mom. First time watching that last week. I also like Clean and Sober. I remember watching Pacific Heights when I was a kid, even before Beetlejuice. I skipped to watching The Other Guys after watching a Captain Gene compilation. Currently watching Multiplicity on Pluto TV. https://pluto.tv/us/on-demand/movies/5ead19138ad740001b7f86d0

[hooked-on-elvis]

𝗜 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥-𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 "𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗛𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗧" 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗬... It's not really anything from our business but Elvis' personal life is very, very entertaining - plus, knowing those things fans can always choose to live vicariously through the King's enormous list of love affairs.

From The News Examiner by author Trina Young — whom I love, btw... she really does an incredible job researching on Elvis' life and career — watch the video above on Elvis' romances on set of Change Of Habit (1969). Below, an excerpt from a book mentioned there:

While on set, Elvis and Mary, during breaks would "lie on a big blanket out in sunshine of the park, surrounded by extras and other actors, making out like teenagers. I don't mean affectionate pecks on the lips either. I'm talking about arms wrapped around each other during lip-locks that lasted fifteen minutes or half an hour. No one else on the set paid any attention to this behavior." From reporter Ann Moses' memoir book, released in 2017, "MEOW! My Groovy Life with Tiger Beat's Teen Idols":

Can you even look at these pictures the same way now?

PERSONAL COMMENT: Man, Mary Tyler Moore AND Jane Elliot? Seriously? Elvis had no shame at all, if that is true. Well, he certainly didn't - just thinking about the fact that he was married and had a tiny little baby at the time - but which actor or musician does? Very few. I always see things like this from a perspective of real life... If people in real life cheat all the time then how could we expect that stunning people, with money and fame and all the temptations surrounding them 24/7, don't do it? I mean, it doesn't make things right but it's not something only Elvis and Mary did - and at least concerning E we all know his wife cheated on him too, at given point - so we can drop the judgmental comments on marital status here because that's old news.

What shocks me is the suspicion he was having a thing with two of his co-stars from the same movie. Okay, supposedly it wasn't at the exact same time - apparently Mary was "inaccessible", according to Jane Elliot, so Elvis and Mary didn't get along very well compared to his relationship with other actors that worked on COH, and for that we can suppose she and Jane weren't actually friends either. Trina supposes his romance with Mary was very short-lived... and then (or prior to him and Mary happening) him and Jane happened. At least E (supposedly) wasn't having a thing with two girls who were friends with each other, behind their backs and at the same time but still... co-workers! Surreal. To me this is shocking. I always believed Mary when she said she didn't have a thing with E... Jane I had my suspicious but it's still not confirmed as far as I know. But now that I learn Mary was (apparently) lying, from a reliable source, eye-witness, adding this to the rumors (some gossip from the director based on situational "proof") that E and Jane had an affair during the making of COH... this got even funnier (to be kind).

I personally believe Ann Moses when she shares many, many years later what she saw between E and Mary in 1969 - and based on pictures I also believe him and Jane had a thing going on at the same period. I'm not judging any of them here. Even if it was all true, we don't know the real situation (how that happened, why it happened, the mood between the actors…) Still, c'mon, isn't that weird to imagine that Jane might could've seen Elvis and Mary and afterwards (or at the same time, who knows?) she got together with him even so? In other situation, isn't that weird to imagine, on the worst case scenario, that E got together with Jane and then he moved on to Mary right on Jane's face? Now, they were all grown-ups, all of them knew what they were getting themselves into (hopefully). I'm just sharing my thoughts, not for a sec intending to create any kind of morality shame on those people. Just like everything about Elvis, his love life is something we have fun (?) speculating about. Anyhow, one thing is true... ELVIS AND MARY TYLER MOORE DID HAVE A THING GOING ON IN 1969.

Oh, and about Mary saying Elvis said he slept with all of his co-stars except one, meaning it was her? I've read somewhere that Marlyn Mason said the same thing. I guess she was really the only one. Okay, making out and "getting into bed with each other" are two different things but still... things point more to Marlyn being the one than Mary. Again, who knows?

[fancoloredglasses]

[RERUN] Gargoyles (Gettin’ medieval for the kids)

[All images are owned by Disney. Please don’t sue me]

(Thanks to Jan Schmelter)

(If you would like to see the wall of text that was the original review, you may do so here)

In the 90s, before there were a ton of cable stations devoted to cartoons and kids’ fare (The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon were it) and you could still watch a ton of cartoons between the time that kids would be coming home from school and the time parents came home from work (every TV station not affiliated with the “Big Three” (Fox was not yet the major network it is now, and its stations were often regarded as “independents” that happened to have Fox programming a few nights a week) had this format in the afternoon)

(Thanks to DuckTales Wiki)

In 1990, Disney decided to get in on this action with The Disney Afternoon, a two-hour block of cartoons using series previously aired on the Disney Channel, with such well-regarded shows as Duck Tales, Chip & Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, and Goof Troop.

Then in 1994, Disney took a serious risk with its block. Instead of the kid-friendly mild adventure (and outright comedy) reruns, they premiered a show with a much darker (though still kid-friendly) tone that included characters being wounded and (gasp) killed! Needless to say, this got the immediate attention of my college-age friends and myself!

The cartoon is about a group of gargoyles (hence the series’s title) from the 10th century who, despite a symbiotic relationship with Celtic nobility (they defended the nobles’ castle at night and the humans protected them during the day when they were stone and helpless), were feared and shunned by the very humans they helped protect (almost sounds like a metaphor for racial tensions, much like the mutants in X-Men)

The clan of Gargoyles (well, the ones who the series centers on) consists of 7 warriors

...led by Goliath, the only one of them with a name (voiced by Kieth David who went on to voice Captain Anderson in the Mass Effect video game franchise)

...along with his mate (voiced by Marina Sirtis…we’ll get to her in a moment)

...his mentor (voiced by Ed Asner, who played Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show)

...three younger warriors

...and a gargoyle-dog (dog-goyle?)

There are others, but as you’ll see they’re not that important.

When their main ally among the humans betrayed them, (though, to be fair, he was actually betraying the nobles. He assumed the invaders would leave the gargoyles alone after they won. WRONG! The invaders smashed the majority of the gargoyles while they were stone, killing them in a way that was technically kid-friendly) and the nobles blamed them for their defeat (Why? The invaders attacked during the day!) The court mage (who is known as the Magus) cursed the gargoyles to remain stone forever “until the castle rises above the clouds”. What dicks!

Fortunately, the nobles realized who really betrayed them, but unfortunately the mage could not undo the spell, so they took it upon themselves to care for the unborn gargoyle eggs as they fled (This will become important later)

Fast forward about a thousand years, when billionaire industrialist David Xanatos (voiced by Jonathan Frakes…I swear I will address this!) has the castle carefully taken down and reconstructed (making sure to use every piece) atop his skyscraper. Sure enough, this meets the conditions of the spell and the gargoyles awaken at dusk. Goliath discovers his mate was not demolished by the invaders, but was somehow still alive (after a millennium? Given Goliath’s mentor is old, they are obviously not immortal!) and told Xanatos about the spell.

As thanks, Goliath agrees to work with Xanatos, until it’s obvious that Xanatos isn’t exactly on the side of the angels.

Nor, apparently, is Goliath’s mate, who had grown more cold and ruthless (and has developed a hatred of humans) in the past thousand years (again, how? I mean, it is sorta-kinda explained in later episodes, but for now it’s a mystery). Eventually, the pair turn on the gargoyles.

(Thanks to Tooth)

About this time, Goliath meets...

...(and accidentally nearly kills) an NYPD detective named Elisa Maza.

Elisa becomes a fierce ally to the Gargoyles, eventually helping them find a new home since living over Xanatos’s roof could be hazardous to their health (and sorta-kinda becoming a mate to Goliath? Well, at least a romantic interest in a “will they/won’t they/is the biology even possible?!” kind of way)

Elisa is also inadvertently responsible for naming the rest if the Gargoyles. When she asked Goliath’s mentor what his name was, he was exasperated that humans needed to name everything, and asked if a nearby river had a name too. She replied it was the Hudson. He then threw his hands up and declared that he, too, might as well be called the Hudson, which led to the rest of the clan to choose their own names...

(Thanks to Chris bentley)

OK, time to address the Enterprise in the room. A lot of actors affiliated with Star Trek gave their voices to the series (the fact that Sirtis and Frakes played villains when so many associated them with the crew of the Enterprise-D was surreal at the very least) Every chapter in the Trek mythos to date was represented, with TNG being the most heavy.

(Brent Spiner voiced the fae known as Puck

…and LaVar Burton voiced a spider god), though there were voice actors from...

the original series (Nichelle Nichols voiced Elisa’s mother)

Deep Space Nine (Michael Dorn voiced an undead cyborg gargoyle (yes, the series had some weird characters) known as Coldstone)

Voyager (Kate Mulgrew played Xanatos’s lover’s mother,

...as well as Queen Titania of the fae)

…and even the movies! (Paul Winfield, who played the captain of the USS Reliant in Star Trek II, played a recurring role as blind man who befriends Hudson)

The show’s creator has said that, while he did cast Sirtis and Frakes for the roles, it was not originally his intent to fill the series with voices to please the Trekkies, but he did seem to favor Trek actors more as new characters were written.

Many sci-fi and (urban) fantasy tropes were visited, including time travel (again with the time-travel…however, I like how the series handled the concept: you aren’t altering the past by going back in time, events in the past happened as they did because your present self traveled to the past!)

The series was very well-written, especially for its time (X-Men showed that younger audiences could handle more mature content and could follow a continuing storyline…plus a series written as such could draw in an older demographic that could afford all the merchandising)

As always, let me know if there are any episodes you would like reviewed.

[jisforjudi2]

THE FAITHFUL SECRETARY

Chicago Tribune

UPDATED: August 10, 2021 at 12:23 a.m.

Before the women’s movement, back when Father knew best and network TV made room for Daddy, when Mary Tyler Moore was Laura Petrie, not Mary Richards, actress Barbara Hale was playing a single working woman on TV.

Hale, now 71, remembers what appealed to her about the role of Della Street, secretary to lawyer Perry Mason on the series that was based on the mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner.

“When we started (in 1956), it was the beginning of women not working at home. I liked that she was not married. My husband didn’t have to see me every week married to another man, and our children didn’t have to see me mothering other children.

“When (my son) Billy was in the 1st grade, we went to school for the first parent meeting, and on his desk were little projects he’d made-pictures of Daddy and Mommy and his sister and his animals. And underneath my picture-I wish I had it now, but the teacher kept it-he’d written in inch-high block letters, `This is my mom. I love her. She is a secretary.”‘

On Friday, the latest Perry Mason two-hour movie, “The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host,” will air on NBC, one of seven productions that will carry the courtroom stalwart and his unflappable Girl Friday into 1994.

“I guess I was just meant to be a secretary who doesn’t take shorthand,” she quips. “My assistant wants you to know I’m a lousy typist too-33 words a minute!”

The Emmy award-winning actress is a Hollywood survivor-going into her second half-century in a profession she never dreamed of pursuing. A veteran of the old studio system and of television’s infancy, her co-stars in those early years were household names-Sinatra and Cagney and Stewart and Mitchum-when she was the ingenue.

RKO Studios was her “paid education,” as she puts it, her training ground. She met her husband, actor Bill Williams (who died several months ago), over coffee at the studio commissary.

Today, she still offers ample evidence of the effervescent beauty she was in the ’40s and ’50s-and even earlier, in Rockford High School, when her buddies entered her in a May Queen contest and she won. “I still know them, dear, and we 15 get together every three years. It takes three years to get over the three days we spend together!”

Her career seems to have evolved from being on the right Chicago street corner at the right time.

The daughter of a Rockford horticulturist and a homemaker, Hale (born in DeKalb) was studying at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, living at the Harriet M. McCormick branch of the YWCA and planning a career as a commercial illustrator and portraitist.

One day, as school let out for the summer, she was standing at the corner near the Drake Hotel with a girlfriend who’d come to town for a couple of weeks to look for modeling work. While they were waiting for the bus taking them to the North Side, a car drove up and someone tossed a card at them. It referred them to a modeling agency.

“A couple of weeks later, I went to see my buddies, and I told one of them the story about the card,” she recalls.

“She said, `Barb, you’re kidding! I was sitting in the little coffee shop at work this morning, and a lady came in and sat next to me, because it was the only seat left. She was pouting. I asked if she had a problem, and she said, “Yes, darn it. I have a model agency and I saw this kid on a corner, in a red coat, and can’t track her down. She’s exactly what one of our ad agencies is looking for.” Barb, what coat did you have on that day?

“I said, `My red coat-it’s the only coat I have.’ And she said, `Barb, I think that card was meant for you.”‘

It was. Hale went in to the Seaman Agency, and stopped Connie Seaman in her tracks. “She said, `Oh, my God-honey, don’t move! Al, get over here quick!’ Al came in and said, `It is her! Let’s see-we’ll shape her eyebrows, put on a little more lipstick, pull her hair back … ‘ and I said, `Just a minute, sir-what are we talking about?”‘

Hale was “a green 19” when she began fashion modeling, and after about a year and a half, RKO offered her a six-month tryout. The day after she arrived in Los Angeles, she visited the studio and its casting director, Dick Stockton.

“As I was shaking hands with him, the phone rang. He took the call, and as he listened, he started looking at me. `Yeah, yeah, yeah, just a minute.’ He turned to me and asked, `Honey, can you say a line?’ I said, `I don’t know.’ He said into the phone, `There’s a kid in the office right now. I think she’ll work. I’ll send her right over.’ He told his assistant, `Take her to wardrobe, take her to makeup, take her to Stage 6. One of the kids is sick. We’ve got to have a girl there immediately.’

“It hit every paper the next day. Cinderella story. First day on the lot, she gets-of course they said a starring part. I had one line, but you know about those things.”

Apart from that walk-on, in “Gildersleeve’s Bad Day,” she made her debut in 1944 in “Higher and Higher,” opposite Frank Sinatra.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Ginger Rogers and Jane Russell were all at RKO then. So was Burr-who would be her TV series co-star about a dozen years later.

Hale studied dancing and singing at the studio. She began to appear on screen regularly-four movies in 1944, two in 1945-and eventually won leads in such movies as “The Boy With Green Hair,” “The Window,” “Jolson Sings Again” and “The Jackpot,” performing even while pregnant.

“I told Billy (her son, actor William Katt, who starred in the television series “The Greatest American Hero”) he should put on his resume that he was in `The Jackpot’ and `Lorna Doone,’ and he said, `Mother, I wasn’t,’ and I told him, `Oh, yes, you were!”‘

She continued her movie career and was a mainstay of television dramas until 1956, when a producer offered her the Della Street part in the pilot of what turned out to be a 9 1/2-year run. Hale went on to win an Emmy for best dramatic actress for the role in 1959.

“We did 36 shows that first year,” she says. “And we’re still doing it!”

She says that Della “was-and still is, to a great degree-a woman who knew what everybody was thinking. She was informed, and very observant of everything that went on. That was my challenge as an actress-to be a necessary part of the office without being too aggressive. Della was quietly overpowering: She knew when to speak and when to keep her mouth closed.”

Hale sees Della as having remained constant, to an extent. Her task is basically the same. But there have been some subtle emotional changes.

“I think she’s a little more at home, relaxed, showing her knowledge not only of the case, but also of her boss. In the early days, it was all business. Today there’s more of a camaraderie between them, a little more humor and more sensitivity to each other, which comes with years of being side by side.

“She’s trying to see that he stays healthy,” she says. “She’s taking him off coffee.

After nearly 300 episodes, “Perry Mason” folded in 1966.

In the mid-1970s, the show returned briefly with other actors and faded quickly. During the ’70s and early ’80s, Hale worked sporadically. She was in the original “Airport” in 1970, and appeared opposite her son in a 1978 surfing movie, “Big Wednesday.”

In 1985, producer Dean Hargrove asked her what she thought of the idea of a “Perry Mason” reunion show. She told him, “it would be divine, but we are 25 or 30 years older than we were then.” He said the intention was to use them as they were and to bring in a few new young actors to replace cast members William Talman, Ray Collins and William Hopper, who had died.

“Dean said, `There’s a young blond kid in town. I want to talk to him, not his agent. He’s done a series-“The Greatest American Hero.” But I can’t reach him.’

“I said, `Oh, well, that young man is in Kansas City doing “The Music Man” right now, and I can get you in touch with him if you want.’ And Dean asked, `You know him?’ I said, `Dean, I changed that boy’s diapers!’ Billy played in the first nine (Perry Mason) movies, then went on to another series of his own.”

“Perry Mason Returns” in 1985 was a Nielsen triumph, and with Perry stepping down from a judgeship to defend Della against murder charges in the first episode. From then on, the Mason bunch have visited America’s living rooms every few months.

After nearly four decades, Hale says the role of Della still offers unexpected moments.

“This week, at the end of the show, very quietly and very surprisingly, Perry plants one on Della,” Hale says. “It’s a first!”

Originally Published: May 16, 1993 at 1:00 a.m.

www.chicagotribune.com/1993/05/16/the-faithful-secretary/

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Tom Tapp at Deadline:

Just days after saying the movie business “is over” as a cultural force, Jerry Seinfeld is decrying the decline of comedy on television. He blames “the extreme left and P.C. crap.” In a new interview with David Remnick for the New Yorker Radio Hour, the Seinfeld creator maintained that “people always need comedy” in their lives. He observed that “it used to be that you would go home at the end of the day…People would go, ‘Oh, Cheers is on. M*A*S*H is on. Oh, Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in the Family is on.” No more, says, Seinfeld. “Where is it? Where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap and people worrying so much about offending other people,” he said.  “When you write a script, and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups – ‘Here’s our thought about this joke’ �� well, that’s the end of your comedy,” he said.

This is just pathetic whining from Jerry Seinfeld.

See Also:

The Guardian: No Jerry Seinfeld, the ‘extreme left’ hasn’t killed comedy

[dorihey]

Today is the birthday of the late Ed Asner. Many are familiar with him as the voices of Carl Fredricksen from Up, Santa from Elf, and Hudson from Gargoyles, as well as Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore Show and the aptly named, Lou Grant (series).

Back in the mid 2000's, my family and I were staying at a very large expensive house that belonged to friends of my parents as guests. They had a larger cable package than we did back at home, and they had ToonDisney. I remember seeing Gargoyles while staying there, on the "Hangin' with the Heroes" block in the evening. I remember seeing this show very vaguely as a younger kid, but I must not have been older than 6 or 7 or so given the original air dates.

I was totally enamored with these characters almost instantly. I hopped on their upscale internet, and immediately perused various Disney media sites at the time and started going down the rabbit hole with what little material the internet had back in like 2004 about the show. I learned about the cast, Greg Weisman's blog Station 8, and somehow convinced my parents to upgrade our cable so I could watch it. I even made a Neopets Fanpage about the show, and I have no idea if it's still around.

I don't have a lot of specific memories about Hudson being my favorite, or even having a particularly verbose knowledge of the show back them, but I DO remember becoming familiar and fond of Ed Asner, seeing a teaser for Up, learning he was in it, and that detail making it NECESSARY for me to watch it on release day.

I remember the evening before watching Up, and enjoying it, but I rewatched it with my mom a few days later. I am not sure what was different here, but I became OBSESSED. I joined a Pixar fan site, became a highly active member, and began absolutely marathoning this film. I also spent 5 hours one evening with a mechanical pencil, very little drawing skill, and drew this. (apologies, the picture is 14 years old and washed out)

To be clear, this was EXTREMELY out of nowhere. I had never drawn anything remotely this detailed before. So I (quite ignorantly, but still strongly) decided to change college majors and pursue art. Still workin' on that one...

Down the line, I ultimately watched Up in theaters 50 times, held movie nights for the fansite over Skype, made multiple forum signatures for myself and other members, and even got invited to Pixar, and met a lot of Pixar leadership (albeit briefly for most).

At the center of this though, Ed Asner was responsible for me gravitating to these characters. I've been pretty consistently enamored with his brand of wholesome curmudgeonry.

(I just made up that word, and I like it, so it's real now)

In any case, I've always felt a bit odd for having an attachment to an actor that hit his acting stride while being middle-aged in the 70s, 20 years before I was even alive - like I'm the only person my age that even knows this guy existed.

I had never gotten to meet Ed, but I did make an attempt shortly before he passed. It didn't work out, but his son Matt runs a charity organization called The Ed Asner Family Center that focuses on supporting individuals and families with autism and neurodivergence. I was fortunate enough to join an early screening of Dug Days before it released on Disney + thanks to a fundraiser by the center, including a Zoom Q&A with Ed. The thing I noticed during the call is that Ed was so immensely quick-witted, absolutely hilarious, and would not leave his piece unsaid. He had an astoundingly magnetic personality. It wasn't open mic, but I managed to get a question through - "What was it that got you into acting?"

Jonas Rivera, the Producer of Up was moderating the call and Ed about verbally trampled the guy by the time he was getting the last few words out, and he knew exactly what he wanted to say.

I don't have the exact words, but it boiled down to "escapism" - which was a bit shocking to me. You've got a former president of SAG, who'd been acting for longer than I have been a living person, and he was immediately compelled to tell everyone that the reason he got into showbusiness is to run from the world and its problems. It was remarkably humble.

Ed passed away exactly a week later. I couldn't eat for 2 days, I was so distraught.

I highly recommend that folks check out a lot of the acting Ed has done. He's absolutely brilliant, and one of the most fun people to watch. He was intimidatingly witty, and yet seemed like the guy who would talk to just about anyone. And then make them laugh their sides off.

I haven't shared my deep admiration for Ed too often other than with folks closest to me, but Ed Asner was a precious gem of a human being, and embodies a lot of things I think the world - particularly folks of the male persuasion - should have a bit more of.

Here's to you, Ed. Have a happy birthday up there for us, big guy. We love ya. <3

(side note, the portrait at the top, I drew to commemorate his first birthday after he passed in 2021. The picture at the bottom was drawn, but not adequately finished imo, about 2 weeks before he left us. I need to give it a proper redo someday)

[radarsteddybear]

Tagged (again) by @feghoti and @tuttle-4077. Thank you both!

Last Song: "Sad Song" by Paul Williams

Favorite Color: Purple! Fun fact: my bedroom walls are purple and have been since I was in school.

Last Book: "The Jar of Fools: Eight Hanukkah Stories from Chelm" by Eric A. Kimmel, premiere author of children's Hanukkah books.

Last Movie: Blazing Saddles, still, though I did watch a couple of Harold Lloyd shorts a couple of weeks ago ("High and Dizzy" and "Never Weaken."). Maybe I'll watch something tomorrow...

Last TV Show: The Mary Tyler Moore Show ("The Snow Must Go On," because watching a silly fictional television station stall their election coverage for hours on end because all their modes of communication are out is far superior than watching anything else that may be on TV right about now)

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet and savory.

Relationship Status: Single

Last Thing I Looked Up: that Mary Tyler Moore episode

Current Obsession: Hogan's Heroes & Peggy Carter

Looking forward to: a) the end of this election and whatever nonsense it brings with it; b) running some errands over my days off this week (gonna see if Joanns has the perler beads I need...I don't have very high hopes, but I'm not paying 3x as much on Amazon as I'd pay buying them in person); c) my sister visiting for Thanksgiving d) making up a box of chocolates for my sister with all the candies I've tried at my job that I think she'll like

I tag anyone who wants to do it!

[annas-hair-donut]

This comes from the next (last) chapter of Head Over Feet. Honestly not sure when I'll post this chapter, but not before Smut Week. Anyway, have some Kristanna cuteness til then!

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Anna jumped at the ding of her email, just Olaf letting the office know the men’s restroom on the 4th floor would be out of order for the next three hours.

She took a deep breath and wiped her damp hands on her non-absorbent chiffon skirt. It wasn’t the right material for work, especially on a stressful day, but Anna was feeling particularly rebellious. And prepared.

She reached for the single strand of pearls hanging from her neck and twisted it around her fingers while she remembered how they got there.

She had been running late that morning because everything she tried on looked even more Laura Petrie than the one before, and Kristoff’s knock took her off guard.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she whispered with her hands on her hips.

“I just need a second,” he said, and he looked her up and down as he shut the door behind him. 

His smirk looked smug because Anna had smiled when she caught his eyes lingering.

Anna raked her eyes over every surface of his body, the crisp cleanness of his stiff collar, the sharp, symmetrical knot of his tie, the smooth chisel of his jaw, and the still wet helmet of blond hair protecting his head. He was dependable like a statue, but there was only so much he could withstand before a smile cracked through his lips and his eyes sparkled warm with devotion.

Anna lifted her hands to his cheeks so he wouldn’t crumble.

“I wanted to give this to you personally.” He handed her a box that must have barely fit in his jacket pocket.

Anna opened the white, unmarked box, flashing her eyes at him repeatedly as she did so. Inside was a magenta colored leather envelope, folded over with a snap.

Anna’s heart pounded when she looked at him with widened eyes.

His eyebrows shifted while half of his mouth curved a little more.

The bottom of the box fell to the floor as Anna opened the snap. Her fingers traced the strand of pearls, shiny with hints of pink and blue.

“Kristoff,” she said, her voice choking unexpectedly, “this is too much!”

He took the strand from the envelope and held the ends apart. Anna held her hair up as she turned around. He kissed the back of her neck before wrapping the pearls around it.

“You can’t be a real mid-century housewife without pearls.”

Anna snorted as she dropped her hair.

“Did you know that Mary Tyler Moore fought the network to wear pants for one scene in every episode of the Dick van Dyke Show?”

Anna smiled and he said, “You’re more powerful than you know.”

“You know a lot about classic tv!”

“Mary Tyler Moore was my first crush.” Then he whispered, “She still does it for me.”

Anna giggled and said, “Thank you, Kristoff. I love it.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “Almost as much as the strawberries.”

He pulled away and she said, “Olaf told me.”

She was pulled back to the present by another Outlook ding, a calendar appointment, followed by a knock on her door.

[oldshowbiz]

Stan Daniels, executive producer of programs like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, got his start writing and performing satirical pieces for the CBC series This Hour Has Seven Days.

[thevagabondexpress]

fic snippet

Contrary to popular belief among his friends, Christopher Lightwood not only could cook, but enjoyed cooking, when he could remember to get around to it. He liked that it allowed you to set things on fire in a controlled environment. He liked the hiss and spatter of hot grease and boiling water. He liked stir fry most of all, because it was exciting.

Because he was, for the first time in his life, alone in a house, he made fried rice and miraculously didn't burn any of it. He may have liked cooking but that didn't guarantee he was good.

Of course, the trouble remained that afterwards, there were dishes. He could leave them for the staff to do, of course. He also had time and long hours in the laboratory had accustomed him to housekeeping, so he would have been fine to do them himself. He was waffling in indecision in the kitchen when the flat's front door clicked open and Matthew stumbled through, tracking snow in with his boots.

to be dufrenoy and quinsonnas (let's try this again with a happier ending)

for the curious, i'm writing a fanfic ostensibly for @edwinspaynes but largely for myself where christopher and matthew share a flat mary tyler moore & rhoda style during the events of chain of iron. chaos, hilarity, angst, and potentially canon divergence i don't know how far this book wants to go yet ensues.

[kwebtv]

TV Guide  -  July 13 - 19, 1963

Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018)  Traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My Heart", and other hits like "On the Street Where You Live" (from My Fair Lady) and "I Have But One Heart"

In April 1949 he made his television debut on The Morey Amsterdam Show performing Cole Porter's "So in Love". In January 1950 he made his first of several guest appearances on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, including a duet, the first of many, with the vocalist and future TV hostess Dinah Shore. Over the next 30 years he became a regular featured guest performer on every major variety series on network television. Among the programs on which he appeared are All Star Revue, Texaco Star Theatre with Milton Berle, The Arthur Murray Party, What's My Line?, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Steve Allen Show, The Perry Como Show, The Bell Telephone Hour, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Garry Moore Show, I've Got a Secret, The Jack Paar Program, The Red Skelton Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show, Hullabaloo, Mickie Finn's, The Danny Thomas Hour, The Jonathan Winters Show, The Carol Burnett Show, Della, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and several Bob Hope television specials.

Damone did limited acting on television in the early 1960s. He played Stan Skylar in the 1960 episode "Piano Man" of CBS's The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He was cast as Jess Wilkerson in the 1961 episode "The Proxy" of the ABC Western series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. In 1962, he played the crooner Ric Vallone in the episode "Like a Sister" on the CBS sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, during which he sang "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World". In the summers of 1962 and 1963, Damone hosted a television variety series on NBC called The Lively Ones, which showcased current jazz, pop, and folk performers, as well as comedians. (Wikipedia)

Quinn O'Hara (January 3, 1941 – May 5, 2017), born Alice Jones.  Film and television actress.

O'Hara was crowned Miss Scotland in a beauty contest held in Long Beach in 1960. In April 1963, photographer Gene Lester introduced O'Hara to singer-actor Fabian; they became a couple for a time in the 1960s. In 1969, she was chosen on The Dating Game and went on a chaperoned trip to Nepal.

O'Hara was a regular on The Lively Ones, a musical program that was broadcast on NBC television in the summers of 1962 and 1963. Her many television credits included appearances on Dragnet, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Saint, The Real McCoys, The Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, CHiPs, T.J. Hooker, Trapper John M.D., Fantasy Island, Quincy M. E., and Dallas.  (Wikipedia)

Gloria Neil (born January 13, 1941) is an American television and film actress. She is best known for her roles on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Beverly Hillbillies.  

She was first cast in the role of the effervescent "Melvin" in The Lively Ones, a summer replacement comedy/variety show starring Vic Damone. The Lively Ones aired on NBC from July 26, 1962 to September 12, 1963, before giving up its slot to the comedy Hazel. The show received Emmy nominations as Outstanding Musical Program and for Outstanding Electronic Camerawork both seasons it aired. This was followed by a 1964 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in which she was cast as "Laura #2" alongside Mary Tyler Moore's Laura Petrie character and Rob Petrie, played by Dick Van Dyke.  (Wikipedia)

[lboogie1906]

Janet Angel MacLachlan (August 27, 1933 – October 11, 2010) was an actress who had roles in such television series as The Rockford Files, Alias, All in the Family, and The Golden Girls. She is remembered for her key supporting part in the film Sounder (1972) where she portrayed Camille Johnson, a young teacher. She worked with numerous well-known actors actresses and celebrities such as Bill Cosby, Jim Brown, James Earl Jones, Maya Angelou, and Morgan Freeman.

She was born in Harlem, her mother, Iris South MacLachlan, and father, James MacLachlan, were both Jamaican-born members of the Church of the Illumination. Attending P.S. 170 and Julia Ward Junior High School, she graduated from Julia Richmond High School. She received a BA in Psychology from Hunter College. She worked as an executive secretary in New York City before turning to acting. She performed at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.

A one-time contract player for Universal Studios, she made her debut in two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1965. She appeared in episodes of The Fugitive, The Invaders episode “The Vise” as Mrs. Baxter (1968), The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, Ironside, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Wonder Woman, and The Mod Squad. She appeared in the films Uptight (1968), Change of Mind (1969), ...tick...tick...tick... (1970), Darker Than Amber (1970), Halls of Anger (1970), Sounder (1972), The Man (1972), Tightrope (1984), Murphy’s Law(1986), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986) and The Thirteenth Floor (1999).

She won a Los Angeles-area Emmy for her performance in KCET’s Voices of Our People: In Celebration of Black Poetry in 1981. She would serve as grant committee chairman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[hooked-on-elvis]

ELVIS FELT BETTER SINGING DIRECTLY TO SOMEONE ON HIS MOVIES 🎬🎠

— BEHIND THE SCENES: 'HAVE A HAPPY' PRODUCTION NUMBER IN 'CHANGE OF HABIT' (1969)

The above 'Have A Happy' production number was filmed on the Universal back lot park (between March and April, 1969).

The scene was in fact shot three times. The first shoot used a small old merry-go-round, which looked out of place. The second shoot had technical problems with the sync and the camera, (The playback system had just been used on 'Sweet Charity', another 1969 movie with, among others, Sammy Davis Jr. on the cast, using quarter inch tape) then after a third attempt, some pick ups were still needed because Amanda (Autistic child character played by Lorena Kirk) wasn't smiling at the end of the number.

About that 'no smile' issue, Cynnie Troup (assistant trainee script supervisor) said:

To get that little girl to smile, oh my god! They had a day of re-takes, after the whole movie was over, after the wrap party, which Elvis was certainly involved. It was not a very good song, that scene was awful. It was tough to match, who sitting on what horse, it wasn't fun scene at all.

I highly disagree with 'the scene was awful' thing, but possibly Cynnie Troup is talking about the production work behind the cameras and not the final cut properly, but even if those are her thoughts on the final scene, it's a matter of opinion, really. Even though the scene is perceived as 'silly' mainly by adult audience, to me it looks joyful and carefree and personally I enjoy the song very much. The merry-go-round scene is cute, except one of the final moments when Mary Tyler Moore arches her back so slowly while she's silly smiling, looking kinda horny even, and it looks the character is on a acid trip (something common back in the 60s, so it's funny watching her look like that on the movie but it's a just a brief moment). The only thing I say as a viewer that slightly bothers me on the scene is that I get a little dizzy while watching it because of the obvious - the camera work and the actors walking around in that gyrating thing. I can't even imagine how Elvis must have felt filming this, since he is the only actor moving around that merry-go-round the entire time - and they filmed it 3 times fully!

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On the same scene, Director William A. Graham recalled:

We were shooting this musical number on a merry-go-round where he's taken this little girl to the park. He takes her on the merry-go-round and she's riding around and Elvis is singing to her. Well, she was a very young girl and she could only work for a few hours a day with us getting into all kinds of penalties and overtime. So when it came time to do Elvis' close up the little girl wasn't available to do the offstage. Also, you know, her attention span was not that great. So Elvis said to me, 'I always feel better when I'm singing a song if I can look at somebody and if I can sing to somebody'. He says, 'I wonder if you would mind standing beside the camera and let me sing to you when I do my close ups'. So I had Elvis Presley sing a song directly to me in a movie, and that was quite a thrill.

Source: This article comes from the website www.elvis.com.au.

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Taking the opportunity since we're mentioning 'Change of Habit', there's one brief interview from elvis.com.au with another actor on the cast of the movie, you can find it in HERE: Interview with Ed Asner (below), who played a cop in 'Change of Habit'.

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I shared this article because, watching all the Elvis movies, I often wondered if Elvis felt even slightly shy while having to sing directly at one person over and over again while filming his movies. Yes, he was used to sing to people, obviously, but singing in a movie set while there's more actors in the scene with him is one thing, while singing looking directly at one person (normally his love interests in the movies, all attractive females) is another, so I wondered if he ever felt uncomfortable singing directly at the ladies in his movies but it turns out he probably didn't. He liked it better this way. Haha, funny. ♥

[therecordchanger62279]

WHAT’S ON THE TUBE?

The television landscape is ever-changing. But our viewing habits? Not so much. In this age of apps, and streaming, and bingeing, I find myself enjoying the same types of shows I always enjoyed. So, I thought I’d put together a master list of my all-time favorite TV shows divided by genre, and then conclude with an overall Top 10.

* This list has been revised as of 8.25.24

POLICE DRAMAS

The Streets of San Francisco

Hawaii 5-0 (2010-2020)

Hawaii 5-0 (1968-1980)

Karen Sisco

Dragnet (1967-1970)

Highway Patrol

The Unusuals

In Plain Sight

The Mod Squad

NCIS: Hawaii

MEDICAL / LAW

ER

The Good Wife

House

The Practice

Ally McBeal

SCI-FI / HORROR

Lost In Space

The Invaders

The Twilight Zone

Bewitched

Angel

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Dark Shadows

The Munsters

The Addams Family

Space: 1999

WESTERNS

Kung Fu (1972-1975)

Have Gun Will Travel

The Rifleman

Tales of Wells Fargo

Cheyenne

The Virginian

Branded

The High Chaparral

The Wild Wild West

Maverick

ESPIONAGE

Person of Interest

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Secret Agent

The Avengers

Burn Notice

The Night Manager

Get Smart

Mission: Impossible

I Spy

The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

WAR

The Rat Patrol

M*A*S*H*

Combat

12 O'Clock High

McHale’s Navy

DRAMAS

Room 222

Men of a Certain Age

Relativity

Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip

Once & Again

COMEDIES

Sports Night

WKRP In Cincinnati

Becker

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show

As Time Goes By

The Bob Newhart Show

My Three Sons

The Andy Griffith Show

Everybody Loves Raymond

TALK SHOWS

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder

The Dick Cavett Show

The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson

Late Night with David Letterman

Speakeasy with Chip Monck

GAME SHOWS

Password

Jeopardy

Master Minds

The Chase

The $10,000 Pyramid (with Dick Clark)

VARIETY/MUSIC

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

Night Music (with David Sanborn)

The Midnight Special

American Bandstand

Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert

CARTOONS

Bugs Bunny & Friends

The Bullwinkle & Rocky Show

The Flintstones

The Jetsons

Huckleberry Hound & Friends

*I don’t do reality shows.

My All-Time Top 10 Favorite Television Shows

Person of Interest

Sports Night

The Streets of San Francisco

Hawaii 5-0 (2010-2020)

WKRP In Cincinnati

Becker

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show

ER

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder

[flannelepicurean]

Karate's Bad Boy Mike Barnes

Okay, I FINALLY, LITERALLY, ACTUALLY got around to watching The Karate Kid Part III, and first off, this film is an absolute GIFT. I have...so many. Just so many. But I really needed to take the time to address a big point that was brought up by the excellent friendo who made sure I could see TKK3. Here you go:

I don’t think Mike Barnes is actually that bad of a karate boy.

I know what the article said. I saw the picture. It does indeed beg the question, “What did he do to get an entire article written about him, with the headline, Karate’s Bad Boy, Mike Barnes, emblazoned over THAT PHOTO? What deeds did he do that made him exactly the right candy to tickle the fancy of a towering toxic waste billionaire in a single-serving hot tub?”

Here are some FACTS, my sweet Cadbury snake eggs.

Mike Barnes is not karate’s bad boy, and he never was. Terry Silver is. You know it. I know it. Everyone in LA knows it. Mike Barnes knows it. And the minute he laid eyes on that shoujo-manga villain from afar, he was like, “I’m gonna sweep the leg on that man’s heart and get swept off my feet into a billionaire romance novel. [Dramatic turn] But HOW…”

Next thing you know, he’s storming into the HQ of The Karate Times to rock them like a hurricane, demanding they write an article about how he’s Karate’s Bad Boy. They scoff at him because, no, TERRY SILVER is karate’s bad boy. What, did you just get off the bus from turnip town?

And Mike is like, I dunno, “Actually, Kalamazoo, and I’ve been here for a couple years, but THAT’S NOT THE POINT, MAN! YOU GOTTA WRITE THAT ARTICLE!!!”

And the editor, whose name is Paulie, is like, “Why? You already knocked over Denise’s typewriter and a filing cabinet. Why would we do anything for you?”

And Mike’s like, “BECAUSE…[breathing with maximum nostrils] BECAUSE… [eyes becoming shiny] ...because…” And then he breaks down anime-style about how he needs senpai to notice him so he can do an elaborate scheme to win the heart of a billionaire villain.

Paulie and the entire staff lean forward like, “Wait…you’re saying that…you…and Terry Silver…”

Mike looks up. Fingers snap a jaunty rhythm in the background, and his eyes glow like prom-night lights as he begins to explain, “He…he…” A basso voice drops a jelly-bouncing, “JITTERBUG,” into the soundtrack. Mike’s grin twinkles. “Just…awakened something, I guess…”

JITTERBUG.

Paulie slams his palms on his desk and rockets to his feet, hollers, “Why didn’t ya say so?! If you say you can break boards…let’s go see if you can break hearts.”

Mike looks around as the staff mobilize with gusto, hardly believing his luck. “Really? You’ll help me?!”

Paulie spreads his arms wide. “This is KARATE TOWN, kid! We do wacky shit like this all the time! Come on, let’s get you a PHOTO SHOOT!” Mike follows the staff to a warehouse area off the side of the office, where the lights are bright and the possibilities are endless, breathes with amazement, “Wow, so many punching bags…”

He hits that high with all the kicks. So many beats per minute on those punching bags. Puts the boom boom into everyone’s hearts and goes bang-bang-bang until Paulie shouts, “THAT’S IT! THAT’S THE ONE! START THE PRESSES!!!”

The building’s doors WHAM open a few hours later, and Mike steps out, a big stack of newsprint headshots clutched to his chest, his smile as dazzling as the California afternoon as he twirls like Mary Tyler Moore and releases them like doves or parade confetti into the air, then goes skipping down the sidewalk toward his destiny.

A cop snatches one from the air and calls, “Hey! That’s littering!”

Paulie sidles up next to him and warns, “Careful, Arnie—that’s karate’s bad boy, Mike Barnes.”

Arnie rolls his eyes. Scoffs, “C’mon. Terry Silver’s karate’s bad boy.”

Paulie gazes off at the trail of litter in Mike’s wake, a twinkle in his eye, and a gnomish smile on his face. “Not anymore.”

Arnie looks down at the picture in his hand: A sharp face, and fists poised, a mean mug like a mad mongoose, ready to take on a snake ten times his size. Raises a brow. Remarks, “Wow.” Turns to Paulie. “You’re gonna be busy.”

Paulie shrugs. “Denise is already workin’ on a wedding feature and a couple obituaries.”

Arnie shakes his head. “You picked the right town to do business.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Paulie chuckles. “It’s freakin’ bonkers here.”

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Mary Tyler Moore does a production number, demanding the emancipation of women in a segment of Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman, hour-long special to be presented in color Sunday, April 13 (8:00-9:00 PM, EST) on the CBS Television Network. March 22, 1967. Photo by Jerry Engel (New York Post)🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Via @isabelfutre on Instagram🌟