Thanks to a tip from friend of the blog, Jaime Weinman the "Dancin' Homer" shooting script that David Isaacs and I wrote is now available to download. You just go here to get the pdf file. Yes, you've seen the episode but have you read the stage directions??
Marvelous! Thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteI swear I remember your voice as the baseball announcer on this episode, but the script says no. Hrumpf. Maybe a different episode. Maybe a different Levine.
ReplyDeleteKen Levine's voice is in the episode (and the credits); I think the script just says who did the voices at the table read. Harry Shearer is also credited in the script with doing the voice of the Capital City Goofball, which was recorded for the episode by Tom Poston.
ReplyDeleteRight. For the table read I actually sat with the writers.
ReplyDeleteBetter yet, just go to http://www.zen134237.zen.co.uk and find dozens of other great scripts as well.
ReplyDeleteI still remember some of the outfield signs. "Clothing for the Obese or Gangly Gentleman."
ReplyDeleteNo wonder they hate you in Albuquerque...it was YOU that stuck them with the name "Isotopes"!
ReplyDeleteNow that the Dodgers are back in Albuquerque I might have to wear one of those stupid hats. I'm surprised there isn't a propeller on the top too!
Sandy
Great reading Ken, Cheers!
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to see how the table read differs from the final version, the most important of which was reframing the story as a giant flashback, a great decision (whoever's it was). Best stage direction: "Is there no God?"
ReplyDeleteCapital City is the greatest song ever
ReplyDeleteSo you had Tony Bennett in mind from the get-go for this episode. You should be proud...I really believe that if it weren't for this episode, there never would have been "MTV Unplugged".
ReplyDeleteLeft me weak and weepy. Not just a good table read, a good read period. Animation?
ReplyDeleteI don’t need no stinkin’ animation. “Whenever a doorbell rings and somebody goes to get it and nobody’s there, I’ll be there.” Terrific on several levels!
What is the primary difference between writing for fictional live and fictional animated characters. You had the voices perfect. Was this the introduction of the Isotopes, and if so, did you pitch the baseball idea, or did they decide they needed something for the Springfield baseball team and knew you guys were better equipped to deliver the goods than anybody?
The bus engine serial number business brought back one of the cringe moments you really wish you could forget. Oct. 21, 1967 Antiwar March on the Pentagon, chartered bus from Connecticut approaches the Lincoln Memorial. Rubin and Hoffman announce they would attempt to levitate the Pentagon, possibly with an assist from Norman Mailer. As I recall, Dr. Spock just wanted to lift and burp it. This was obviously pre-9/11, and authorities, still unaware the structure was so vulnerable, attempted to cooperate and keep everything as orderly as possible. There were even roped stanchions in the north lot like at the Oscars. As an encouragement to facilitate a peaceful egress by a motley 70,000 by 7pm. when the permit was scheduled to expire, a representative of the DC Police Department boards our bus as it pulls into the Memorial lot. He announces that, since there are hundreds of buses in the lot, we would be able to identify ours by looking for a big number 23 on the windshield. From the back of the bus, a voice announces, “Maybe 27 is a big number for a cop, but most of us are in college.” We were such asses.
Speaking of Shibe Park, wasn’t it some Philly who noted that it was pretty ridiculous to sing the request “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” for the 7th inning stretch, because you’d already been AT the ball game for 7 innings. Should be “Thanks for taking me out to the ball game, buying me peanuts and crackerjack….” Was that issue ever fully resolved? Do they have to pay anybody each time it’s sung, like those two broads with that sweet “Happy Birthday” deal?
Has anybody ever gotten a group together to attempt a vertical wave inside the windows of a glass skyscraper? I think it could be done with some sort of electronic enumeration from the ground. For some of us it would be both a cheer and a free expression of sexuality with the same arm lifting. Just one final question from an amateur. Does Robert McKee have anything to say about what you do when you run out of letters for the 27th shot in a really long montage?
Sorry, just have to ask, is that SANDY KOUFAX, Sandy Koufax???? If it's an Emmy and 3 Cy Youngs we've got within 4 inches of each other in these comments -- well, what's the point for the rest of us? Might as well just go watch the tube.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the Rockies tomorrow. Does playing so much in thin air make them weaker at Arizona altitude, or stronger, like when you arrive from Krypton?
Not only is that episode a favorite of my wife and mine, but we also use your exact tone in a quote we say on occasion, when something mildly unexpected happens: "'Topes...lose. 'Topes lose."
ReplyDeleteThis is truly a classic episode. I have vivid memories of different scenes.
ReplyDelete@Paul - Thanks for the link to the free tv scripts. Do you know of any other place to find tv scripts online. This would help a young penniless scribe greatly.
I loved this episode so much, i actually blew a couple of days pay for a animation cel of Homer on top of the dugout WAAAAAAY back in the day. I was right out of college, so a few days pay wasn't that much, but still...
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