It Got By The Censor/In Jokes

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I always loved Don Rickles. I always dug his insult humor. It never seemed mean-spirited to me. That was just his personal schtick and no one did it better than Don!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

1) In 1972's The Godfather directed by Francis Ford Coppola, whenever oranges are in a scene, it means someone is about to be murdered or sold out, either by his closest people or those in the room.

2) Taking a page from Alfred Hitchcock who famously appeared in the background at the start of his movies - once in a newspaper ad a character was reading - Martin Scorsese opted to do the same.
In 1976's Taxi Driver, he appears in a sidewalk scene as Cybill Shepherd strides by. Later on as a fare in the cab he spots his wife cheating on him when he spots her silhouetted image in a glass window.

3) In 1956's The Searchers, director John Ford had constantly belittled actor Ward Bond's enormous rear on the set. After Bond objected, Ford gratuitously featured said rear in many shots.
Culminating near the end where Pat Wayne's(Duke's son) cherry second Lt. character has accidentally stabbed Ward in the rear with his sword. Ford then showing Bond bent over as his
wound is administered to.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mad Dog Morgan (Dir. Philippe Mora, 1976)
Supt. Cobham: “By all means, off with his head… and don’t forget the scrotum.”

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

deleted

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

In the Bupkis episode(March 10, 1965)of the Dick Van Dyke Show, Rob reminisces with an old army buddy about the camp shows they put on.
Rob then sings two of the silly songs he wrote back then, "Attila the Hun" and "Guns of Navarone".

Fast forward two years to March 30, 1967 and the That Girl episode "Author, Author". Marlo Thomas's boyfriend Don writes and then sings 
two silly songs for her for her audition -  "Attila the Hun" and "Guns of Navarone".

Not exactly a case of plagiarism, but of writers recycling material and getting paid twice as both episodes were written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff.
Legendary producer/writer  (Maverick/Rockford Files) Roy Huggins was a master of that, scripts - and characters - he had done earlier such as  for
The Virginian repeatedly turned up on his Alias Smith and Jones series, the stories/characters hardly changed.
Huggins bore a life long grudge against the studios for the artful way they  - especially Warner  Brothers -  cheated him out of "created by" and or
writing royalties and if he took liberties himself, he was just getting a little back of his own.

By the way other writers would name characters after the aforementioned  Bill Persky, such as Sgt. Carter's pal Sgt. Persky on Gomer Pyle, USMC. 

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That Girl - "Christmas and the Hard-Luck Kid" (December 22, 1966) Newest employee Ann has to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas at work.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show - "Christmas and the Hard-Luck Kid" (December 19, 1970 ) Newest employee Mary has to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas at work.

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Danny Thomas Show Season 11 Episode 10 (12-9-63), "The Hex".

Handyman Charles Lane explains to Danny Thomas why he won't buy from the local lumberyard as -

"Aaron Rubin runs that...in 1923 Aaron Rubin left my cousin waiting at the church."

Aaron Rubin was a director/producer for The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle and other series at the same studio where the Danny
Thomas Show was filmed, Desilu.

The Danny Thomas Show Season 9 Episode 12 (12-25-61) "Teacher For a Day".
Stand in teacher Danny calls on student in class, asks her name, she replies "Veronica".
She is the real life older sister of series regular Angela Cartwright, who also starred in Lost in Space.

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One time Magnum guest star Richard Roundtree -
"It's my duty, to please the booty."
John Shaft

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

When Willie Comes Marching Home(1950)

I just came across this John Ford war film that I had never heard of before, clocking in at a fast 82 minutes.

While not in the top rank of Ford films, this tongue in cheek little gem gets better and better as it goes along.
Several times it had me laughing out loud.
It also featured a surprisingly(for a Ford flick) overt bit, humorously rendered, at the 48 minute mark.

Alluring French actress and sex symbol Corrine Calvert, hair perfectly coiffured and dressed in a manner designed to distract
every male in the audience, the camera capturing her every movement, mispronounces star Dan Dailey's name as she reads it off his dog tags.
Dailey correcting her -

"No that's Kluggs as in jugs."
Calvert then deposits Dailey's ID down the cleavage of her very low cut peasant blouse, a grinning Dailey commenting
"That's quite a filing cabinet you got there".

You ain't just whistling dixie, brother.

All time great character actor William Demarest does his usual fine job as Dailey's father.
Also appearing - blink and you miss her - is Vera Miles, who later appeared in Ford's immortal "The Searchers". And Magnum PI.
Look out for a very young Alan "The Skipper" Hale Jr. as a army Sgt. at the town Canteen(club for servicemen).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Haskell on Ward Cleaver -
"The way he looks at me when he opens the door. Sometimes I think he'd be happier to see Khrushchev standing there."

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

That Girl Season Three Episode 19 "My Sister's Keeper"
With -
Terre Thomas as Rose
Tony Thomas as Tony

At episode's end, Anne Marie(Marlo Thomas) stands up after drinking from a Catholic school water fountain and bumps into a priest, saying
"Oh, oh excuse me Father."
Priest: "Oh that's alright my child."

The Father is her actual father, Danny Thomas, though he receives no billing in the credits.

Marlo's brother Tony and lookalike sister Terre do get credited.
Terre plays a nun that Marlo has been helping, hence the episode's punning title "My Sister's Keeper".
The name of the Church the school is part of is Saint Thomas, so that's three in jokes plus one more very subtle one.
The nun's full name is Rose Casiniti, Mrs. Danny Thomas's maiden name.
So this episode is pretty much All in the Family.

The season five episode of the Danny Thomas Show(10-5-57), "Lose Me in Las Vegas", has Danny and his TV family staying at The Sands Hotel.
Danny, Marjorie Lord, Rusty Hamner, Angela Cartwright and Sherry Jackson are later shown gathered on the overlook that juts out from Hoover Dam, near the brass door entryway into the dam.

Fast forward 12 years and the "That Girl" episode "She Didn't Have the Vegas Notion" (10-18-69) had star Marlo Thomas also staying at The Sands, with guest stars Jack Cassidy and Hope Holliday.
They also wind up on the same exact Hoover Dam overlook.

The Sands and the same overlook may be a coincidence but the 'That Girl" crew often raided other TV series associated with the Danny Thomas Productions empire for ideas/bits.
Why not, what's a Daddy for anyway.

Danny Thomas had arguably done more to alleviate the suffering of children in America than any other individual in the 20th century except for Jonas Salk.
He was relentless in raising monies for St. Judes Childrens Hospital and related charities, ceaseless in pressuring politicians to divert resources to the cause.
His work continues to this day, untold numbers of suffering children getting the free medical care they desperately need because of him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAWLTY TOWERS -

Sybil: They all said, at one time or another, how on Earth did the two of us ever get together. "Black magic," my mother said.
Basil: Well, she'd know, wouldn't she? Her and that cat.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)

Bond(Roger Moore) is kissing belly dancer Saida's (Carmen Du Sautoy) exquisite abdomen when 3 thugs enter her dressing room and assault him.
During the ensuing melee they pass in front of her makeup table and in the mirror you can clearly see a cameraman, camera, lights etc.

Soon-Tek Oh plays Hong Kong police Lt. Hip in this movie. Magnum PI fans will recall his memorable appearance on the series as the North Vietnamese general
Nguyen Hue (2nd husband of Michelle Magnum) in "Memories Are Forever".
In that episode TM's driver's license states he was born on January 5, 1946.
Soon-Tek Oh also appeared in "Two Birds of a Feather" as Sato.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eyeing his hastily built and visibly swaying gallows in 1856, William Palmer turned to the reverend as they ascended the stairs and said,
"Are you sure it's safe?"

Now that's a man with sang froid, wit and style.
You can keep Sydney Carton and his "it's a far, far better thing that I do" jazz. I'd pay for the beers all night for Billy Palmer any day.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Odds and ends -

In the classic Disney movie "Fantasia"(1940) the Sorcerer is named Yen Sid. Which is Disney spelled backwards.
 
On ALF, whenever the orange alien mentions the names of holidays or currencies from his home planet Melmac, they are actually the surnames of the behind the scenes film crew.
 
In the Night Court episode "Educating Rhoda", John Larroqutte's Dan character sees the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is playing on his TV. "Seen that already" he comments as he turns it off.
Years earlier Larroquette had supplied the opening narration for that film.


The Big "W!" by Earl Kress

"…In Palos Verdes, however, a most remarkable set was constructed, a 2-acre park which looked as if it had been there forever.  Before Kramer's crafty construction specialists arrived, it had been
a dreary, shale-covered promontory overlooking the Pacific.  When the cameras rolled, it was a grassy dell of flowers, shrubbery and 70 towering, full-grown sago and fan palms.
The transformation cost $40,000; the view of Catalina Island, 20 miles across the water, came free."

The previous paragraph is from the official 1963 souvenir program for the movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and it describes the location of one of the movie's key elements, the Big "W."

If you haven't seen the movie, the rest of this article is a major spoiler.  And if you haven't seen the movie, for god's sake, stop reading this, go out and rent it and spend the better part of an evening
getting to know this modern masterpiece of mayhem.

Why I thought a movie set would still be standing 13 years later, I don't know.  Hollywood is notoriously lackadaisical, if not downright indifferent about its history.  Even the major studio back lots are not maintained until the next production with a budget comes along to fix them up.  But I had a gut feeling that the Big "W" was out there, and if it was, I was going to find it, or "kick the bucket" trying.

I had only lived in California about a year when I got this idea stuck in my head, so I wasn't that familiar with the territory.  I needed to recruit a like-minded guide.  My friend, Randy Cartwright, a native Californian, became Ding Bell to my Benjy Benjamin.  Only we weren't headed to Las Vegas, we were headed to Palos Verdes.

Armed only with the descriptive paragraph above and a few photos from the same program, we set out.  We went through San Pedro to get to Palos Verdes. 
The climax of the last chase sequence that leads to the principals climbing up the condemned building was shot a short distance away in Long Beach, but that's another story.

There's only one road that runs cliff side through Palos Verdes and that's Palos Verdes Drive, which also leads to the site of the now defunct Marineland.  Randy drove and I was the spotter.  And spot I did.
Seeing a lush backyard with many palm trees, I shrieked, causing my guide to nearly have a coronary, which surely would have sent us "sailing right out there", had it not been for the fact that he was,
after all, only about 25 years old.  He made a U-turn and found a spot along the side of the road, among a throng of beach goers' cars.

Now, it's important at this point for any of you would-be explorers to know that this backyard I saw with the palm trees is private property, so we weren't able to just walk into the little park.
We hiked out to a point on a nearby curve in the road, where we could get a side shot of the lawn.  The shrubbery was too overgrown to get a clear view, but it was promising enough that we trekked on…
or rather down.  There was a sloping path leading down to the beach that we traversed without incident.  Once on the beach, we were able to get directly behind the property in question.
As I looked up, my heart began to race and just as it happened 13 years earlier on film, I froze like Jonathan Winters, raised my hands and shouted, "It's the Big "W", I tell ya!  The Big "W"!"

Although it was unmistakably the Holy Grail of movie sets, Monty Python notwithstanding, there was one thing wrong.  One of the trees was missing.  If you were looking toward the ocean, the direction
most of the shots in the picture are framed, the third tree from the left was gone.  I began calling it The Big "V-I", since that's what it now resembled.

A few years later, as things happen in Hollywood and you meet the right people, I wangled an invitation onto the property.  The front of the house is the very recognizable entrance to Santa Rosita State Park, where Phil Silvers runs his car into the post and Spencer Tracy tells everyone they can ride to the police station in the two cabs.  For those not from Southern California, Santa Rosita is a made-up town for the movie.  The Santa Rosita police station façade was actually in the aforementioned Long Beach.

Once on the grounds, I got to walk right out to "the" spot.  Under the Big "V-I", which by this time, had become the Little "V" – Big "I", as half of the first tree sheered off in a storm.  They were down to 2½ trees.  I should also mention that, as with all objects movie-related, the trees, which appear so towering on the screen, are actually pretty small as palm trees go.  The owners of the property were very gracious and even pointed out another MAD souvenir.  The crew had left behind an old metal pail.
No, it was not the one that Jimmy Durante planted his foot on.  Painted on it, in very faint, but still readable letters was "The It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Butt Bucket", craft services parlance for an ash tray.  It was hanging from a tree to the side of the park area, where the cast and crew had been set-up between takes.  Stupidly, I didn't bring a camera, so I have no physical proof, but I can say that I was there.  So can you, but you would be lying.

The sad end to the story is that, as of 1991, when the documentary "Something A Little Less Serious" (an early working title for Mad World) was made, there was only one tree remaining.
The documentary states that the owners were planning to replant the other three trees, but the owners told me the same thing back in the 80's when they only needed to replace 1 (and a half),
so take that for what it's worth.

Well, now I'm going to go see my dentist, who I hate so much, I can't even tell you how much I hate him on Mark's website.  I have some Edible Seaweed stuck in my teeth.

From the blog: NEWS FROM ME Mark Evanier's blog about TV, movies, comics, news, politics and other forms of fantasy

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Odds and ends -

In the classic Disney movie "Fantasia"(1940) the Sorcerer is named Yen Sid. Which is Disney spelled backwards.
 
On ALF, whenever the orange alien mentions the names of holidays or currencies from his home planet Melmac, they are actually the surnames of the behind the scenes film crew.
 
In the Night Court episode "Educating Rhoda", John Larroqutte's Dan character sees the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is playing on his TV. "Seen that already" he comments as he turns it off.
Years earlier Larroquette had supplied the opening narration for that film.


The Big "W!" by Earl Kress

"…In Palos Verdes, however, a most remarkable set was constructed, a 2-acre park which looked as if it had been there forever.  Before Kramer's crafty construction specialists arrived, it had been
a dreary, shale-covered promontory overlooking the Pacific.  When the cameras rolled, it was a grassy dell of flowers, shrubbery and 70 towering, full-grown sago and fan palms.
The transformation cost $40,000; the view of Catalina Island, 20 miles across the water, came free."

The previous paragraph is from the official 1963 souvenir program for the movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and it describes the location of one of the movie's key elements, the Big "W."

If you haven't seen the movie, the rest of this article is a major spoiler.  And if you haven't seen the movie, for god's sake, stop reading this, go out and rent it and spend the better part of an evening
getting to know this modern masterpiece of mayhem.

Why I thought a movie set would still be standing 13 years later, I don't know.  Hollywood is notoriously lackadaisical, if not downright indifferent about its history.  Even the major studio back lots are not maintained until the next production with a budget comes along to fix them up.  But I had a gut feeling that the Big "W" was out there, and if it was, I was going to find it, or "kick the bucket" trying.

I had only lived in California about a year when I got this idea stuck in my head, so I wasn't that familiar with the territory.  I needed to recruit a like-minded guide.  My friend, Randy Cartwright, a native Californian, became Ding Bell to my Benjy Benjamin.  Only we weren't headed to Las Vegas, we were headed to Palos Verdes.

Armed only with the descriptive paragraph above and a few photos from the same program, we set out.  We went through San Pedro to get to Palos Verdes. 
The climax of the last chase sequence that leads to the principals climbing up the condemned building was shot a short distance away in Long Beach, but that's another story.

There's only one road that runs cliff side through Palos Verdes and that's Palos Verdes Drive, which also leads to the site of the now defunct Marineland.  Randy drove and I was the spotter.  And spot I did.
Seeing a lush backyard with many palm trees, I shrieked, causing my guide to nearly have a coronary, which surely would have sent us "sailing right out there", had it not been for the fact that he was,
after all, only about 25 years old.  He made a U-turn and found a spot along the side of the road, among a throng of beach goers' cars.

Now, it's important at this point for any of you would-be explorers to know that this backyard I saw with the palm trees is private property, so we weren't able to just walk into the little park.
We hiked out to a point on a nearby curve in the road, where we could get a side shot of the lawn.  The shrubbery was too overgrown to get a clear view, but it was promising enough that we trekked on…
or rather down.  There was a sloping path leading down to the beach that we traversed without incident.  Once on the beach, we were able to get directly behind the property in question.
As I looked up, my heart began to race and just as it happened 13 years earlier on film, I froze like Jonathan Winters, raised my hands and shouted, "It's the Big "W", I tell ya!  The Big "W"!"

Although it was unmistakably the Holy Grail of movie sets, Monty Python notwithstanding, there was one thing wrong.  One of the trees was missing.  If you were looking toward the ocean, the direction
most of the shots in the picture are framed, the third tree from the left was gone.  I began calling it The Big "V-I", since that's what it now resembled.

A few years later, as things happen in Hollywood and you meet the right people, I wangled an invitation onto the property.  The front of the house is the very recognizable entrance to Santa Rosita State Park, where Phil Silvers runs his car into the post and Spencer Tracy tells everyone they can ride to the police station in the two cabs.  For those not from Southern California, Santa Rosita is a made-up town for the movie.  The Santa Rosita police station façade was actually in the aforementioned Long Beach.

Once on the grounds, I got to walk right out to "the" spot.  Under the Big "V-I", which by this time, had become the Little "V" – Big "I", as half of the first tree sheered off in a storm.  They were down to 2½ trees.  I should also mention that, as with all objects movie-related, the trees, which appear so towering on the screen, are actually pretty small as palm trees go.  The owners of the property were very gracious and even pointed out another MAD souvenir.  The crew had left behind an old metal pail.
No, it was not the one that Jimmy Durante planted his foot on.  Painted on it, in very faint, but still readable letters was "The It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Butt Bucket", craft services parlance for an ash tray.  It was hanging from a tree to the side of the park area, where the cast and crew had been set-up between takes.  Stupidly, I didn't bring a camera, so I have no physical proof, but I can say that I was there.  So can you, but you would be lying.

The sad end to the story is that, as of 1991, when the documentary "Something A Little Less Serious" (an early working title for Mad World) was made, there was only one tree remaining.
The documentary states that the owners were planning to replant the other three trees, but the owners told me the same thing back in the 80's when they only needed to replace 1 (and a half),
so take that for what it's worth.

Well, now I'm going to go see my dentist, who I hate so much, I can't even tell you how much I hate him on Mark's website.  I have some Edible Seaweed stuck in my teeth.

From the blog: NEWS FROM ME Mark Evanier's blog about TV, movies, comics, news, politics and other forms of fantasy

You know, Dobie, I've been meaning to check out MAD, MAD WORLD for some time (heard some good things about it) but there's something about a 3-hour runtime for a comedy that keeps putting me off. I have no problem with an epic like TITANIC or BEN-HUR or THE TEN COMMANDMENTS clocking in at 3 hours or more (you expect that with an epic) but with a comedy? Sounds really excessive...

[Pahonu]

Odds and ends -

In the classic Disney movie "Fantasia"(1940) the Sorcerer is named Yen Sid. Which is Disney spelled backwards.
 
On ALF, whenever the orange alien mentions the names of holidays or currencies from his home planet Melmac, they are actually the surnames of the behind the scenes film crew.
 
In the Night Court episode "Educating Rhoda", John Larroqutte's Dan character sees the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is playing on his TV. "Seen that already" he comments as he turns it off.
Years earlier Larroquette had supplied the opening narration for that film.


The Big "W!" by Earl Kress

"…In Palos Verdes, however, a most remarkable set was constructed, a 2-acre park which looked as if it had been there forever.  Before Kramer's crafty construction specialists arrived, it had been
a dreary, shale-covered promontory overlooking the Pacific.  When the cameras rolled, it was a grassy dell of flowers, shrubbery and 70 towering, full-grown sago and fan palms.
The transformation cost $40,000; the view of Catalina Island, 20 miles across the water, came free."

The previous paragraph is from the official 1963 souvenir program for the movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and it describes the location of one of the movie's key elements, the Big "W."

If you haven't seen the movie, the rest of this article is a major spoiler.  And if you haven't seen the movie, for god's sake, stop reading this, go out and rent it and spend the better part of an evening
getting to know this modern masterpiece of mayhem.

Why I thought a movie set would still be standing 13 years later, I don't know.  Hollywood is notoriously lackadaisical, if not downright indifferent about its history.  Even the major studio back lots are not maintained until the next production with a budget comes along to fix them up.  But I had a gut feeling that the Big "W" was out there, and if it was, I was going to find it, or "kick the bucket" trying.

I had only lived in California about a year when I got this idea stuck in my head, so I wasn't that familiar with the territory.  I needed to recruit a like-minded guide.  My friend, Randy Cartwright, a native Californian, became Ding Bell to my Benjy Benjamin.  Only we weren't headed to Las Vegas, we were headed to Palos Verdes.

Armed only with the descriptive paragraph above and a few photos from the same program, we set out.  We went through San Pedro to get to Palos Verdes. 
The climax of the last chase sequence that leads to the principals climbing up the condemned building was shot a short distance away in Long Beach, but that's another story.

There's only one road that runs cliff side through Palos Verdes and that's Palos Verdes Drive, which also leads to the site of the now defunct Marineland.  Randy drove and I was the spotter.  And spot I did.
Seeing a lush backyard with many palm trees, I shrieked, causing my guide to nearly have a coronary, which surely would have sent us "sailing right out there", had it not been for the fact that he was,
after all, only about 25 years old.  He made a U-turn and found a spot along the side of the road, among a throng of beach goers' cars.

Now, it's important at this point for any of you would-be explorers to know that this backyard I saw with the palm trees is private property, so we weren't able to just walk into the little park.
We hiked out to a point on a nearby curve in the road, where we could get a side shot of the lawn.  The shrubbery was too overgrown to get a clear view, but it was promising enough that we trekked on…
or rather down.  There was a sloping path leading down to the beach that we traversed without incident.  Once on the beach, we were able to get directly behind the property in question.
As I looked up, my heart began to race and just as it happened 13 years earlier on film, I froze like Jonathan Winters, raised my hands and shouted, "It's the Big "W", I tell ya!  The Big "W"!"

Although it was unmistakably the Holy Grail of movie sets, Monty Python notwithstanding, there was one thing wrong.  One of the trees was missing.  If you were looking toward the ocean, the direction
most of the shots in the picture are framed, the third tree from the left was gone.  I began calling it The Big "V-I", since that's what it now resembled.

A few years later, as things happen in Hollywood and you meet the right people, I wangled an invitation onto the property.  The front of the house is the very recognizable entrance to Santa Rosita State Park, where Phil Silvers runs his car into the post and Spencer Tracy tells everyone they can ride to the police station in the two cabs.  For those not from Southern California, Santa Rosita is a made-up town for the movie.  The Santa Rosita police station façade was actually in the aforementioned Long Beach.

Once on the grounds, I got to walk right out to "the" spot.  Under the Big "V-I", which by this time, had become the Little "V" – Big "I", as half of the first tree sheered off in a storm.  They were down to 2½ trees.  I should also mention that, as with all objects movie-related, the trees, which appear so towering on the screen, are actually pretty small as palm trees go.  The owners of the property were very gracious and even pointed out another MAD souvenir.  The crew had left behind an old metal pail.
No, it was not the one that Jimmy Durante planted his foot on.  Painted on it, in very faint, but still readable letters was "The It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Butt Bucket", craft services parlance for an ash tray.  It was hanging from a tree to the side of the park area, where the cast and crew had been set-up between takes.  Stupidly, I didn't bring a camera, so I have no physical proof, but I can say that I was there.  So can you, but you would be lying.

The sad end to the story is that, as of 1991, when the documentary "Something A Little Less Serious" (an early working title for Mad World) was made, there was only one tree remaining.
The documentary states that the owners were planning to replant the other three trees, but the owners told me the same thing back in the 80's when they only needed to replace 1 (and a half),
so take that for what it's worth.

Well, now I'm going to go see my dentist, who I hate so much, I can't even tell you how much I hate him on Mark's website.  I have some Edible Seaweed stuck in my teeth.

From the blog: NEWS FROM ME Mark Evanier's blog about TV, movies, comics, news, politics and other forms of fantasy

That’s a fun story. Thanks Dobie! That spot is in the Portuguese Bend area of PV. I’ve been there a few times and there are two coves there, Abalone and Smugglers, but I don’t recall which one it overlooks. Also in the area is the beautiful Wayferer’s Chapel that we have visited many times on field trips for the Architecture and Engineering Academy that I teach in at my high school. Sadly, land movement has caused increasing damage and it was recently closed. Many homes nearby have also slid down the hillsides and have been red tagged. You may have seen it in the news in the last year or two.

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/

[Pahonu]

Odds and ends -

In the classic Disney movie "Fantasia"(1940) the Sorcerer is named Yen Sid. Which is Disney spelled backwards.
 
On ALF, whenever the orange alien mentions the names of holidays or currencies from his home planet Melmac, they are actually the surnames of the behind the scenes film crew.
 
In the Night Court episode "Educating Rhoda", John Larroqutte's Dan character sees the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is playing on his TV. "Seen that already" he comments as he turns it off.
Years earlier Larroquette had supplied the opening narration for that film.


The Big "W!" by Earl Kress

"…In Palos Verdes, however, a most remarkable set was constructed, a 2-acre park which looked as if it had been there forever.  Before Kramer's crafty construction specialists arrived, it had been
a dreary, shale-covered promontory overlooking the Pacific.  When the cameras rolled, it was a grassy dell of flowers, shrubbery and 70 towering, full-grown sago and fan palms.
The transformation cost $40,000; the view of Catalina Island, 20 miles across the water, came free."

The previous paragraph is from the official 1963 souvenir program for the movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and it describes the location of one of the movie's key elements, the Big "W."

If you haven't seen the movie, the rest of this article is a major spoiler.  And if you haven't seen the movie, for god's sake, stop reading this, go out and rent it and spend the better part of an evening
getting to know this modern masterpiece of mayhem.

Why I thought a movie set would still be standing 13 years later, I don't know.  Hollywood is notoriously lackadaisical, if not downright indifferent about its history.  Even the major studio back lots are not maintained until the next production with a budget comes along to fix them up.  But I had a gut feeling that the Big "W" was out there, and if it was, I was going to find it, or "kick the bucket" trying.

I had only lived in California about a year when I got this idea stuck in my head, so I wasn't that familiar with the territory.  I needed to recruit a like-minded guide.  My friend, Randy Cartwright, a native Californian, became Ding Bell to my Benjy Benjamin.  Only we weren't headed to Las Vegas, we were headed to Palos Verdes.

Armed only with the descriptive paragraph above and a few photos from the same program, we set out.  We went through San Pedro to get to Palos Verdes. 
The climax of the last chase sequence that leads to the principals climbing up the condemned building was shot a short distance away in Long Beach, but that's another story.

There's only one road that runs cliff side through Palos Verdes and that's Palos Verdes Drive, which also leads to the site of the now defunct Marineland.  Randy drove and I was the spotter.  And spot I did.
Seeing a lush backyard with many palm trees, I shrieked, causing my guide to nearly have a coronary, which surely would have sent us "sailing right out there", had it not been for the fact that he was,
after all, only about 25 years old.  He made a U-turn and found a spot along the side of the road, among a throng of beach goers' cars.

Now, it's important at this point for any of you would-be explorers to know that this backyard I saw with the palm trees is private property, so we weren't able to just walk into the little park.
We hiked out to a point on a nearby curve in the road, where we could get a side shot of the lawn.  The shrubbery was too overgrown to get a clear view, but it was promising enough that we trekked on…
or rather down.  There was a sloping path leading down to the beach that we traversed without incident.  Once on the beach, we were able to get directly behind the property in question.
As I looked up, my heart began to race and just as it happened 13 years earlier on film, I froze like Jonathan Winters, raised my hands and shouted, "It's the Big "W", I tell ya!  The Big "W"!"

Although it was unmistakably the Holy Grail of movie sets, Monty Python notwithstanding, there was one thing wrong.  One of the trees was missing.  If you were looking toward the ocean, the direction
most of the shots in the picture are framed, the third tree from the left was gone.  I began calling it The Big "V-I", since that's what it now resembled.

A few years later, as things happen in Hollywood and you meet the right people, I wangled an invitation onto the property.  The front of the house is the very recognizable entrance to Santa Rosita State Park, where Phil Silvers runs his car into the post and Spencer Tracy tells everyone they can ride to the police station in the two cabs.  For those not from Southern California, Santa Rosita is a made-up town for the movie.  The Santa Rosita police station façade was actually in the aforementioned Long Beach.

Once on the grounds, I got to walk right out to "the" spot.  Under the Big "V-I", which by this time, had become the Little "V" – Big "I", as half of the first tree sheered off in a storm.  They were down to 2½ trees.  I should also mention that, as with all objects movie-related, the trees, which appear so towering on the screen, are actually pretty small as palm trees go.  The owners of the property were very gracious and even pointed out another MAD souvenir.  The crew had left behind an old metal pail.
No, it was not the one that Jimmy Durante planted his foot on.  Painted on it, in very faint, but still readable letters was "The It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Butt Bucket", craft services parlance for an ash tray.  It was hanging from a tree to the side of the park area, where the cast and crew had been set-up between takes.  Stupidly, I didn't bring a camera, so I have no physical proof, but I can say that I was there.  So can you, but you would be lying.

The sad end to the story is that, as of 1991, when the documentary "Something A Little Less Serious" (an early working title for Mad World) was made, there was only one tree remaining.
The documentary states that the owners were planning to replant the other three trees, but the owners told me the same thing back in the 80's when they only needed to replace 1 (and a half),
so take that for what it's worth.

Well, now I'm going to go see my dentist, who I hate so much, I can't even tell you how much I hate him on Mark's website.  I have some Edible Seaweed stuck in my teeth.

From the blog: NEWS FROM ME Mark Evanier's blog about TV, movies, comics, news, politics and other forms of fantasy

You know, Dobie, I've been meaning to check out MAD, MAD WORLD for some time (heard some good things about it) but there's something about a 3-hour runtime for a comedy that keeps putting me off. I have no problem with an epic like TITANIC or BEN-HUR or THE TEN COMMANDMENTS clocking in at 3 hours or more (you expect that with an epic) but with a comedy? Sounds really excessive...

Hey Ivan, I watched it years ago and it’s pretty funny, but it does go on far too long with the many chases. There is a twist that finally comes, but not until the third hour. I doubt I’ll ever go back to it, as it’s a pretty basic concept, though with an incredible cast.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Odds and ends -

In the classic Disney movie "Fantasia"(1940) the Sorcerer is named Yen Sid. Which is Disney spelled backwards.
 
On ALF, whenever the orange alien mentions the names of holidays or currencies from his home planet Melmac, they are actually the surnames of the behind the scenes film crew.
 
In the Night Court episode "Educating Rhoda", John Larroqutte's Dan character sees the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is playing on his TV. "Seen that already" he comments as he turns it off.
Years earlier Larroquette had supplied the opening narration for that film.


The Big "W!" by Earl Kress

"…In Palos Verdes, however, a most remarkable set was constructed, a 2-acre park which looked as if it had been there forever.  Before Kramer's crafty construction specialists arrived, it had been
a dreary, shale-covered promontory overlooking the Pacific.  When the cameras rolled, it was a grassy dell of flowers, shrubbery and 70 towering, full-grown sago and fan palms.
The transformation cost $40,000; the view of Catalina Island, 20 miles across the water, came free."

The previous paragraph is from the official 1963 souvenir program for the movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and it describes the location of one of the movie's key elements, the Big "W."

If you haven't seen the movie, the rest of this article is a major spoiler.  And if you haven't seen the movie, for god's sake, stop reading this, go out and rent it and spend the better part of an evening
getting to know this modern masterpiece of mayhem.

Why I thought a movie set would still be standing 13 years later, I don't know.  Hollywood is notoriously lackadaisical, if not downright indifferent about its history.  Even the major studio back lots are not maintained until the next production with a budget comes along to fix them up.  But I had a gut feeling that the Big "W" was out there, and if it was, I was going to find it, or "kick the bucket" trying.

I had only lived in California about a year when I got this idea stuck in my head, so I wasn't that familiar with the territory.  I needed to recruit a like-minded guide.  My friend, Randy Cartwright, a native Californian, became Ding Bell to my Benjy Benjamin.  Only we weren't headed to Las Vegas, we were headed to Palos Verdes.

Armed only with the descriptive paragraph above and a few photos from the same program, we set out.  We went through San Pedro to get to Palos Verdes. 
The climax of the last chase sequence that leads to the principals climbing up the condemned building was shot a short distance away in Long Beach, but that's another story.

There's only one road that runs cliff side through Palos Verdes and that's Palos Verdes Drive, which also leads to the site of the now defunct Marineland.  Randy drove and I was the spotter.  And spot I did.
Seeing a lush backyard with many palm trees, I shrieked, causing my guide to nearly have a coronary, which surely would have sent us "sailing right out there", had it not been for the fact that he was,
after all, only about 25 years old.  He made a U-turn and found a spot along the side of the road, among a throng of beach goers' cars.

Now, it's important at this point for any of you would-be explorers to know that this backyard I saw with the palm trees is private property, so we weren't able to just walk into the little park.
We hiked out to a point on a nearby curve in the road, where we could get a side shot of the lawn.  The shrubbery was too overgrown to get a clear view, but it was promising enough that we trekked on…
or rather down.  There was a sloping path leading down to the beach that we traversed without incident.  Once on the beach, we were able to get directly behind the property in question.
As I looked up, my heart began to race and just as it happened 13 years earlier on film, I froze like Jonathan Winters, raised my hands and shouted, "It's the Big "W", I tell ya!  The Big "W"!"

Although it was unmistakably the Holy Grail of movie sets, Monty Python notwithstanding, there was one thing wrong.  One of the trees was missing.  If you were looking toward the ocean, the direction
most of the shots in the picture are framed, the third tree from the left was gone.  I began calling it The Big "V-I", since that's what it now resembled.

A few years later, as things happen in Hollywood and you meet the right people, I wangled an invitation onto the property.  The front of the house is the very recognizable entrance to Santa Rosita State Park, where Phil Silvers runs his car into the post and Spencer Tracy tells everyone they can ride to the police station in the two cabs.  For those not from Southern California, Santa Rosita is a made-up town for the movie.  The Santa Rosita police station façade was actually in the aforementioned Long Beach.

Once on the grounds, I got to walk right out to "the" spot.  Under the Big "V-I", which by this time, had become the Little "V" – Big "I", as half of the first tree sheered off in a storm.  They were down to 2½ trees.  I should also mention that, as with all objects movie-related, the trees, which appear so towering on the screen, are actually pretty small as palm trees go.  The owners of the property were very gracious and even pointed out another MAD souvenir.  The crew had left behind an old metal pail.
No, it was not the one that Jimmy Durante planted his foot on.  Painted on it, in very faint, but still readable letters was "The It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Butt Bucket", craft services parlance for an ash tray.  It was hanging from a tree to the side of the park area, where the cast and crew had been set-up between takes.  Stupidly, I didn't bring a camera, so I have no physical proof, but I can say that I was there.  So can you, but you would be lying.

The sad end to the story is that, as of 1991, when the documentary "Something A Little Less Serious" (an early working title for Mad World) was made, there was only one tree remaining.
The documentary states that the owners were planning to replant the other three trees, but the owners told me the same thing back in the 80's when they only needed to replace 1 (and a half),
so take that for what it's worth.

Well, now I'm going to go see my dentist, who I hate so much, I can't even tell you how much I hate him on Mark's website.  I have some Edible Seaweed stuck in my teeth.

From the blog: NEWS FROM ME Mark Evanier's blog about TV, movies, comics, news, politics and other forms of fantasy

You know, Dobie, I've been meaning to check out MAD, MAD WORLD for some time (heard some good things about it) but there's something about a 3-hour runtime for a comedy that keeps putting me off. I have no problem with an epic like TITANIC or BEN-HUR or THE TEN COMMANDMENTS clocking in at 3 hours or more (you expect that with an epic) but with a comedy? Sounds really excessive...

Ivan,
First, this movie is beautifully filmed, you can see the money up on the screen.
It's the first movie that I can recall seeing in a theater. The first sighting of "the Big W" made a big impression on me, plus the Jonathon Winters/Phil Silvers bit at the gas station which for my money is
one of the funniest bits of slapstick ever done, Winters destruction of the station abetted by the great comic character actors Arnold Stang and Marvin Kaplan.

It has naysayers because they maintain no comedy should run over 3 hours, the constant search for blink and you missed them cameos by stars distracts from the flow, that the production
suffered from such an embarrassment of riches in ideas/stars that the director couldn't help himself and tried to pack them all in.

Director Stanley Kramer said maybe that was so but it wasn't made for film courses at UCLA but to entertain people, was he supposed to have cut out Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Buster Keaton
and others from a cast that could never be duplicated again? Instead you have a treasury of 20th century comedic royalty. I like the 5 second cameos, the 3 Stooges as firemen, Leo Gorcey
as a cabbie. EVERY star in Hollywood was vying to get in it once word got out about the cast and the great time the actors were having on location socializing and trying to top each other.

It is a comedy, so watching the 1st half one night and the 2nd half the next wouldn't detract from the film. I would suggest looking up the cast beforehand and seeing what roles they played
so you won't miss anything. The production also sports a lot of fine character actors one has seen a million times but don't know the name of - "hey it's that guy"! - like Jesse White.
Lovelies Dorothy Provine, Edie Adams, Madlyn Rhue and Barrie Chase show up, as well as Selma Diamond and Ethel Berman as an hilarious harridan.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Odds and ends -

In the classic Disney movie "Fantasia"(1940) the Sorcerer is named Yen Sid. Which is Disney spelled backwards.
 
On ALF, whenever the orange alien mentions the names of holidays or currencies from his home planet Melmac, they are actually the surnames of the behind the scenes film crew.
 
In the Night Court episode "Educating Rhoda", John Larroqutte's Dan character sees the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is playing on his TV. "Seen that already" he comments as he turns it off.
Years earlier Larroquette had supplied the opening narration for that film.


The Big "W!" by Earl Kress

"…In Palos Verdes, however, a most remarkable set was constructed, a 2-acre park which looked as if it had been there forever.  Before Kramer's crafty construction specialists arrived, it had been
a dreary, shale-covered promontory overlooking the Pacific.  When the cameras rolled, it was a grassy dell of flowers, shrubbery and 70 towering, full-grown sago and fan palms.
The transformation cost $40,000; the view of Catalina Island, 20 miles across the water, came free."

The previous paragraph is from the official 1963 souvenir program for the movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and it describes the location of one of the movie's key elements, the Big "W."

If you haven't seen the movie, the rest of this article is a major spoiler.  And if you haven't seen the movie, for god's sake, stop reading this, go out and rent it and spend the better part of an evening
getting to know this modern masterpiece of mayhem.

Why I thought a movie set would still be standing 13 years later, I don't know.  Hollywood is notoriously lackadaisical, if not downright indifferent about its history.  Even the major studio back lots are not maintained until the next production with a budget comes along to fix them up.  But I had a gut feeling that the Big "W" was out there, and if it was, I was going to find it, or "kick the bucket" trying.

I had only lived in California about a year when I got this idea stuck in my head, so I wasn't that familiar with the territory.  I needed to recruit a like-minded guide.  My friend, Randy Cartwright, a native Californian, became Ding Bell to my Benjy Benjamin.  Only we weren't headed to Las Vegas, we were headed to Palos Verdes.

Armed only with the descriptive paragraph above and a few photos from the same program, we set out.  We went through San Pedro to get to Palos Verdes. 
The climax of the last chase sequence that leads to the principals climbing up the condemned building was shot a short distance away in Long Beach, but that's another story.

There's only one road that runs cliff side through Palos Verdes and that's Palos Verdes Drive, which also leads to the site of the now defunct Marineland.  Randy drove and I was the spotter.  And spot I did.
Seeing a lush backyard with many palm trees, I shrieked, causing my guide to nearly have a coronary, which surely would have sent us "sailing right out there", had it not been for the fact that he was,
after all, only about 25 years old.  He made a U-turn and found a spot along the side of the road, among a throng of beach goers' cars.

Now, it's important at this point for any of you would-be explorers to know that this backyard I saw with the palm trees is private property, so we weren't able to just walk into the little park.
We hiked out to a point on a nearby curve in the road, where we could get a side shot of the lawn.  The shrubbery was too overgrown to get a clear view, but it was promising enough that we trekked on…
or rather down.  There was a sloping path leading down to the beach that we traversed without incident.  Once on the beach, we were able to get directly behind the property in question.
As I looked up, my heart began to race and just as it happened 13 years earlier on film, I froze like Jonathan Winters, raised my hands and shouted, "It's the Big "W", I tell ya!  The Big "W"!"

Although it was unmistakably the Holy Grail of movie sets, Monty Python notwithstanding, there was one thing wrong.  One of the trees was missing.  If you were looking toward the ocean, the direction
most of the shots in the picture are framed, the third tree from the left was gone.  I began calling it The Big "V-I", since that's what it now resembled.

A few years later, as things happen in Hollywood and you meet the right people, I wangled an invitation onto the property.  The front of the house is the very recognizable entrance to Santa Rosita State Park, where Phil Silvers runs his car into the post and Spencer Tracy tells everyone they can ride to the police station in the two cabs.  For those not from Southern California, Santa Rosita is a made-up town for the movie.  The Santa Rosita police station façade was actually in the aforementioned Long Beach.

Once on the grounds, I got to walk right out to "the" spot.  Under the Big "V-I", which by this time, had become the Little "V" – Big "I", as half of the first tree sheered off in a storm.  They were down to 2½ trees.  I should also mention that, as with all objects movie-related, the trees, which appear so towering on the screen, are actually pretty small as palm trees go.  The owners of the property were very gracious and even pointed out another MAD souvenir.  The crew had left behind an old metal pail.
No, it was not the one that Jimmy Durante planted his foot on.  Painted on it, in very faint, but still readable letters was "The It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Butt Bucket", craft services parlance for an ash tray.  It was hanging from a tree to the side of the park area, where the cast and crew had been set-up between takes.  Stupidly, I didn't bring a camera, so I have no physical proof, but I can say that I was there.  So can you, but you would be lying.

The sad end to the story is that, as of 1991, when the documentary "Something A Little Less Serious" (an early working title for Mad World) was made, there was only one tree remaining.
The documentary states that the owners were planning to replant the other three trees, but the owners told me the same thing back in the 80's when they only needed to replace 1 (and a half),
so take that for what it's worth.

Well, now I'm going to go see my dentist, who I hate so much, I can't even tell you how much I hate him on Mark's website.  I have some Edible Seaweed stuck in my teeth.

From the blog: NEWS FROM ME Mark Evanier's blog about TV, movies, comics, news, politics and other forms of fantasy

You know, Dobie, I've been meaning to check out MAD, MAD WORLD for some time (heard some good things about it) but there's something about a 3-hour runtime for a comedy that keeps putting me off. I have no problem with an epic like TITANIC or BEN-HUR or THE TEN COMMANDMENTS clocking in at 3 hours or more (you expect that with an epic) but with a comedy? Sounds really excessive...

Ivan,
First, this movie is beautifully filmed, you can see the money up on the screen.
It's the first movie that I can recall seeing in a theater. The first sighting of "the Big W" made a big impression on me, plus the Jonathon Winters/Phil Silvers bit at the gas station which for my money is
one of the funniest bits of slapstick ever done, Winters destruction of the station abetted by the great comic character actors Arnold Stang and Marvin Kaplan.

It has naysayers because they maintain no comedy should run over 3 hours, the constant search for blink and you missed them cameos by stars distracts from the flow, that the production
suffered from such an embarrassment of riches in ideas/stars that the director couldn't help himself and tried to pack them all in.

Director Stanley Kramer said maybe that was so but it wasn't made for film courses at UCLA but to entertain people, was he supposed to have cut out Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Buster Keaton
and others from a cast that could never be duplicated again? Instead you have a treasury of 20th century comedic royalty. I like the 5 second cameos, the 3 Stooges as firemen, Leo Gorcey
as a cabbie. EVERY star in Hollywood was vying to get in it once word got out about the cast and the great time the actors were having on location socializing and trying to top each other.

It is a comedy, so watching the 1st half one night and the 2nd half the next wouldn't detract from the film. I would suggest looking up the cast beforehand and seeing what roles they played
so you won't miss anything. The production also sports a lot of fine character actors one has seen a million times but don't know the name of - "hey it's that guy"! - like Jesse White.
Lovelies Dorothy Provine, Edie Adams, Madlyn Rhue and Barrie Chase show up, as well as Selma Diamond and Ethel Berman as an hilarious harridan.

Wait, Don Knotts is in this thing??? Ok, I'm sold! Throw in Floyd the barber and I'll watch it twice back to back!

[308GUY]

Watched it last night...saw many stars as has been pointed out.

Thought I saw Bob Newhart as a background detective or whatever in one of the office scenes toward the end.

Don Knots was the driver of the 57' Ford (methinks) toward the end, and he was great.

Never did spot Jerry Lewis, maybe somebody can point to where he showed up and how?

Sooo many stars in cameos!

[Pahonu]

The number of quick cameos is indeed crazy! I recall the Three Stooges were firemen, and I think Jerry Lewis was one of many drivers depicted briefly, as was Don Knotts with his anxious persona. There were even silent film stars like Buster Keaton and ZaSu Pitts. It’s got to be in the several dozens of cameos. I want to check IMDB now. It’s been a long time since I watched it just the once and I think that was in the pre-internet days.

Edit:
I just checked IMDB. It was more than I thought! They list 112 actors with 67 uncredited including some big names. It lists Jerry Lewis as a driver who runs over a hat and he was uncredited. I don’t recall that scene. There were so many.