I thought I remembered you very well because of the exchanges we had in the past, and I thought you and your wife had gone to England. I do remember your moniker, though. I hit 70 in May, and my memory does fail me at times. Same birthday as the Dionne Quints and Ian Fleming.
Been watching lots of celebrities on old What's My Line episodes. Surprising who turns up: Eleanor Roosevelt, Frank Lloyd Wright, Erle Stanley Gardner and Salvador Dali among nontheatrical types. Dali and Gardner gave the panel a hard time. Gardner, like Jimmy Carter, was so little recognized the panel didn't need to be blindfolded.
Going back to Batman, my sister Lia lives in Denver and used to live in Littleton which is five miles from Columbine. In the years I worked for Sony theatres I never encountered anything like that massacre. Thank God. I learned a lone time ago to try avoid massive crowds.
The worst was on Honor America Day when the war protesters were fighing it out with the police on the Monument Grounds. The tear gas was being blown into the audience, but Bob Hope and company kept on with the show. I finally said to hell with it and went home. Mass chaos.
When RFK was shot, my girlfriend Cheryl wanted to go up to Union Station for when his body was brought in. I knew there would be a mob of people inside, and I gave her my wallet to put in her purse. Sure enough, somebody stuck their hand in my pocket. We were right up against the ropes for nine hours with the police and FBI in front of us, but I was too scared to say anything.
Two experiences I would rather forget.
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The_Dying_Flutchman
12 years ago
Saw "The Dark Knight Rises" 5 days ago and can't get it out of my mind. Just terrific! It might even be better than the 2nd one. It certainly ought to earn Bale an Oscar knod for Best Actor. I didn't think I could ever say that about a super hero flick, but this one certainly is not the usual go round ,; so many, many thoughts went into it and I don't think there could ever be one better. It will also be hard to match. It will really have to be something stupendous to get me back in a theater. It raises the bar so high I don't see how it can be matched. Certainly it won't be matched by Mr Nolan and Mr Bale; the both of them are on to other things. Interesting to note that Bale is doing a "knight" of another kind in Terrence Malick's "Knight of Cups" an allusion to the Tarot deck.
Reference is inscrutable because there is nothing to scrute.
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pjwoodall1
12 years ago
I guess you liked the movie from the way you raved about it. I just finished watching the 1943 Batman serial, and some of it is funny when it isn't being ludicrous, especially J Carroll Naish's Japanese villain. It pales, of course, with the Republic serials although there are a number of actors and stuntmen who cross over--Tom London, Charles Middleton and Eddie Parker who doubles for Batman, among others. Parker also doubled for all the U monsters except, of course, Acquanetta who played Paula Duprez the Ape Woman.
My father met Aquanetta at a poetry reading some years ago in Phoenix. She had quit Hollywood and moved to Phoenix, married the owner of a car dealership and become active in philanthropy and civic affairs. Dad asked her if she didn't used to be in pictures and reported she was happy people still remember her.
Speaking of U horror stars I caught Lon Chaney Jr doing a variation of Lenny on Rawhide yesterday along with Marie Windsor. Windsor's the wife of nutty Confederate officer who wants to set up his own little empire out West. Of course, she makes the mistake of leading Chaney on just as Betty Field did in Of Mice and Men. Well, there are worse things than having Chaney kill you.
My sister Lia babysat for Windsor years ago during a celebrity tennis tournament in Lake Havasu. Windsor came to visit, and I think my stepmother was embarassed beccause she couldn't remember ever seeing her in a movie. Three of my favorite Windsor films would be The Killing, Hellfire with Bill Elliott and Forrest Tucker) and The Narrow Margin.
Something else I remember about that Batman serial--Bob Kane might have had a cameo as a newspaper boy/vendor.
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The_Dying_Flutchman
12 years ago
I saw that ludicrous serial U speak of back in a drive-in when the first Batman craze hit; I'll never forget Naish's line about "animated suspension". How funny is that?! U have a lot of nerve to sit thru the entire slopfest at one time. Amazing!
Something else I wanted to ask U about: you've said you have Asberger's; are U familiar with the only good thing on the SyFy channel called "Alphas"? David Straithern is the star of it and it deals with a group of sort-of super heroes who have many of the failings and foibles of ordinary humans and one of them has Asberger's. The show is not one my wife or self ever miss. It just started its 2nd season and if U want to tune in, it plays on Monday nights. But be forewarned, it is a serial drama and it might be difficult, at least at first, of following what's going on. I think you'd like it, though.
Obtained from the liver of the inflatable mongoose.
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pjwoodall1
12 years ago
Not familiar with that show mainly because the only series I watch at the moment is Rawhide which I never saw the first time around.
Actually I watched both Batman serials but not at one sitting. The first one has numerous familiar faces from Republic serials as I pointed out.
I don't remember if I mentioned Rusty Westcott before who was always a henchman in Columbia serials. He turns up in Welles' Touch of Evil as one of Welles' assistants and even doubles for Welles according to the commentary by Heston and Leigh. Another familiar face is David Sharpe who does one of his flying leaps to tackle Heston in the barroom brawl. Heston surprisingly neglect to mention working with Sharpe on that scene.
I caught part of an interview with Mel Blanc last night on the computer and found Irving Fein just died at 101. Fein was the agent for Benny and Burns as well as producer/writer for Benny's show. Blanc said he spent two years knocking on the door at WB before somebody finally gave him a break. The excuse was they had too many character actors for voice work already. Arthur Q. Bryan was the voice for Elmer Fudd.
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The_Dying_Flutchman
12 years ago
U must have a comfortable chair to watch anything of length on the computer. I don't care for it even tho' I have hi def monitor.
Don't know the Fein of which you speak.
I do watch many of the "Rawhide" shows even though I saw many years back. Don't remember them all. I watched the pilot yesterday and it was superb. "Incident at Barker Springs" I think was the title.
Obtained from the liver of the inflatable mongoose.
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pjwoodall1
12 years ago
Something else I remembered about Batman. Robin was played by Douglas Croft who played the young George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy
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