tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post3579738338589510487..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: We all have to start somewhereBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-21910426216144348502014-07-24T11:32:53.141-07:002014-07-24T11:32:53.141-07:00D. McEwan, I didn't know how lucky I was. Rit...D. McEwan, I didn't know how lucky I was. Ritchard was superb.Lorimartiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-4382104158898731762014-07-23T16:07:35.406-07:002014-07-23T16:07:35.406-07:00"DBenson said...
Up in the Bay Area we had th...<i>"DBenson said...<br />Up in the Bay Area we had the Circle Star. The one show I saw there was 'The Impossible Years,'"</i><br /><br />You do know, I hope, that <i>The Impossible Years</i> was co-written by Groucho Marx's son.<br /><br /><i>"gottacook said...<br />Having seen It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman during its spring 1966 Broadway run (my first trip to NYC with my parents at age 9), I wonder how it could have been done at a theater such as the one described. Perhaps a non-flying Superman? Or did they have a cable and a hook, etc., as in the original?"</i><br /><br />I have no idea how the flying was managed either, but a former friend of mine saw <i>Peter Pan</i> at the VMT, starring Janet Blair and Vincent Price, and he assures me Janet flew. I'd have sold my mother to gypsies to see Vincent Price onstage playing Captain Hook.<br /><br /><i>"Lorimartian said...<br />D. McEwan, we also had 'The Roar of the Greasepaint...' with Joel Grey AND Cyril Ritchard."</i><br /><br />Cyril was <i>supposed</i> to be in it at Melodyland also, I bought my ticket to see him, but he was too ill to do the show, and was replaced by Murray Matheson, a far-less-well-known actor who looked very much like him but lacked that distinctive voice and charm. Some years later, I saw <i>Sugar</i> with Robert Morse. Once again, Ritchard was billed as in it when I got my ticket, but he had a heart attack, and was replaced by Gale Gordon. Well, it was fun to see Gordon onstage, and Robert Morse invited me backstage as his guest after the show, so it was a glorious evening in the theater. (This time The Ahmanson, not in the round. actual scenery.)D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-34283340027342049922014-07-23T08:08:48.876-07:002014-07-23T08:08:48.876-07:00@Paul Levine: You must not read much on the intern...@Paul Levine: You must not read much on the internet devoted to slasher movies. Betsy Palmer is venerated on many of them.<br /><br />And Ken himself wrote a nice, short piece about her some time back.Willnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88237569952576013652014-07-23T00:04:23.394-07:002014-07-23T00:04:23.394-07:00DBenson said...
Up in the Bay Area we had the Cir...DBenson said... <br />Up in the Bay Area we had the Circle Star.<br /><br />Happy to hear from a fellow Starian even if you saw just one show, one that I don't remember seeing. I've posted before about the Circle Star where I ushered for a while. D. McEwan, we also had "The Roar of the Greasepaint..." with Joel Grey AND Cyril Ritchard who originated the role in the Broadway production. I've also posted before about how aggravating it is that young people don't have a clue where the song "Feelin' Good" came from. I've never heard Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley credited. Also memorable, Marcel Marceau who autographed my program.Lorimartiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88245120698973275892014-07-22T18:24:11.790-07:002014-07-22T18:24:11.790-07:00Betsy Palmer and Bo Belinsky mentioned in the same...Betsy Palmer and Bo Belinsky mentioned in the same blog post. (Bo in a comment). Not sure either has been mentioned anywhere for 30 years.paul levinehttp://www.paul-levine.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-78360722590187021872014-07-22T15:02:25.759-07:002014-07-22T15:02:25.759-07:00Ken, Ken, Ken. Betsy Palmer was the killer in FRID...Ken, Ken, Ken. Betsy Palmer was the killer in FRIDAY THE 13th, PART 1, not PART 2.<br /><br />Really, an obvious error like that undermines the credibility of the entire column.Craignoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-56091322615972411152014-07-22T13:42:53.234-07:002014-07-22T13:42:53.234-07:00Up in the Bay Area we had the Circle Star. The one...Up in the Bay Area we had the Circle Star. The one show I saw there was "The Impossible Years," a dad-fretting-over-daughter's-virginity comedy starring Ozzie and Harriet. The kind of play where the hinted-at issue is happily resolved by the daughter having secretly married before losing it. <br /><br />They had the full-height suburban living room set (favored by 70% of contemporary stage comedies and sitcoms) and simply roped off the seats behind the set.<br /><br />It was okay as dad-fretting-over-daughter's-virginity comedies go (and it seems there were a number of them for a while). It was actually classier than the movie, starring a gloriously miscast David Niven. Ozzie was in the movie, doing a decent turn as the next-door doctor whose teenage son is a Suspect.DBensonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-70407529688987380012014-07-22T12:47:46.882-07:002014-07-22T12:47:46.882-07:00Hi Ken. As a longtime reader of your blog I know t...Hi Ken. As a longtime reader of your blog I know that distinctive character voices are really important and ideally lines shouldn't be interchangable. In Frasier (my all time favorite sitcom) while the main characters all had distinctive voices they could all be very sarcastic at times (with the exception of Moose). Would this be a problem when pitching a pilot?<br />Irish Ronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45574687759740497442014-07-22T12:33:15.579-07:002014-07-22T12:33:15.579-07:00Having seen It's a Bird... It's a Plane......Having seen <i>It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman</i> during its spring 1966 Broadway run (my first trip to NYC with my parents at age 9), I wonder how it could have been done at a theater such as the one described. Perhaps a non-flying Superman? Or did they have a cable and a hook, etc., as in the original?gottacooknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-51558975094460711382014-07-22T10:00:24.497-07:002014-07-22T10:00:24.497-07:00Ah, the VMT. I participated in a Sweet Dick Whitti...Ah, the VMT. I participated in a Sweet Dick Whittington Boxing-related event there during a boxing match when they were held there.<br /><br />Of course, for me it was Melodyland, its sister-theater in Anaheim, where I saw dozens of shows. Howard Keel in <i>Camelot</i> with no scenery items over ankle height. Peter Palmer and Stubby Kaye in <i>Lil Abner</i> with no scenery items over ankle height. <i>The Women</i> with Pamela Mason, Joan Caulfield, Dagmar, Miss Beverly Hills, and Margaret O'Brian (Whom I spoke to over this past weekend, bringing up that long ago production) with no scenery items over ankle height, <i>Damn Yankees</i> with Eddie Bracken (Was supposed to star Bert Lahr, but Bert had a heart attack and Eddie replace him) and Bo Belinsky (Well, Ken knows who he was), with no scenery items over ankle height, <i>The Solid Gold Caddilac</i> with Martha Raye with no scenery items over ankle height, <i>Finian's Raibow</i> with Alan Young, James Dunn and Molly Bee, with no scenery items over ankle height, <i>The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd</i> with Joel Grey, with no scenery items over ankle height, and in concert Victor Borge, The Smothers Brothers and many other shows others, with no scenery items over ankle height.<br /><br />The only show I ever saw at the VMT was Woody Allen doing his stand-up act, with opening act the late Jim Croce, and no scenery items over ankle height.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27998358387398972672014-07-22T09:27:55.986-07:002014-07-22T09:27:55.986-07:00Hey, how about a little love for Frank Gorshin?
Be...Hey, how about a little love for Frank Gorshin?<br />Besides being the best Riddler, by a wide margin, he did superb imitations (Riddler sounds like a cross between his Richard Widmark and his Kirk Douglas), he did a memorable episode of Star Trek, and was a generally funny guy (was on Ed Sullivan the week The Beatles performed and asked how come all those girls were screaming for him).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-13803422154690951962014-07-22T09:09:41.782-07:002014-07-22T09:09:41.782-07:00My first musical was BRIGADOON in the round at Oak...My first musical was BRIGADOON in the round at Oakdale Musical Theatre. I lived in New Haven. We had the same entertainment experience and we both ended up in the Theatre/Movies/TV profession. Blood Brothers. Roseannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08393487748949411049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-84247248614383277022014-07-22T08:24:51.755-07:002014-07-22T08:24:51.755-07:00Hey, there was Mickey Rooney in "Funny Thing ...Hey, there was Mickey Rooney in "Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum"...That was a GREAT show at VMT...Artie in Sin Cityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14926750887476570729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-65452734610123136892014-07-22T07:46:09.478-07:002014-07-22T07:46:09.478-07:00Betsy is a young 87 so it's likely that she ca...Betsy is a young 87 so it's likely that she can pass for 29, 30, maybe 86...Vince Carternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-78086771476433685622014-07-22T07:22:12.909-07:002014-07-22T07:22:12.909-07:00Good point, Scooter. But, Once Upon a Time, wasn&#...Good point, Scooter. But, Once Upon a Time, wasn't there a cable channel that dealt with history. Don't tell me, I think I can remember the name of it...VincentSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-25057327993670807962014-07-22T06:29:56.457-07:002014-07-22T06:29:56.457-07:00Vincent, it's not like Ken had a choice there....Vincent, it's not like Ken had a choice there. VH1'a "I Love the 2000s!"? The Whatever Channel's "The Eighties: The Decade That Made Us Stupidly Nostalgic"?Scooter Schechtmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-62206699394825998632014-07-22T06:10:20.324-07:002014-07-22T06:10:20.324-07:00Sorry, Ken. But let's be real her: When you ha...Sorry, Ken. But let's be real her: When you have to depend on CNN to advance your career...VincentSnoreply@blogger.com