tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post5599209364221726408..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Friday Questions By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67517510105029217802013-09-29T08:50:09.445-07:002013-09-29T08:50:09.445-07:00What did Ignatious put in the bread box other than...What did Ignatious put in the bread box other than bread?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02571523490702295529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-20045236630116524932013-08-28T19:36:09.126-07:002013-08-28T19:36:09.126-07:00Belated thank you for that picture of Elizabeth Mo...Belated thank you for that picture of Elizabeth Montgomery.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-71701309844999176752013-08-27T18:10:05.526-07:002013-08-27T18:10:05.526-07:00There is a lot of misinformation out there regardi...There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding John Kennedy Toole's suicide being connected to his being unable to get Dunces published. An interesting book is http://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Typewriter-Kennedy-Remarkable-Confederacy/dp/B00AZ8NXLA<br /><br /> It is pretty obvious (based on Toole's) behavior towards the end that he was schizophrenic....or some other closely related mental illness. Simply being unable to get a book published does not cause an otherwise healthy person to act the way he did. Example....thinking some of the students at the school where he taught were "stalking" him....driving by his house at night. One old friend recalls being in a car and JKT claiming they were being followed, despite the fact that there not. The whole inability to get the book published causing him to give up and kill himself makes an "interesting" story but the truth is much more fascinating than that. Nobody Will Read Thishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03435587585058495930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42548937089318879822013-08-26T16:05:38.218-07:002013-08-26T16:05:38.218-07:00I just finished reading Three Men in a Boat! Wonde...I just finished reading Three Men in a Boat! Wonderful! Fun Victorian travelogue on the Thames river!<br /><br />This paper back book was printed by a high tech copier a few days after I ordered it. The last page reads: Made in the USA, Lexington, KY,24 July 2013. It's also a first printing. I find this interesting. Print as needed. Seeing this, I now suspect any book printed from a copier is a by demand book. A friend asked how I know this. The text is raised. Another book made this way was written in 2006 and it is a first edition. I don't like this way of producing books. It's distracting.<br /><br />BarbAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28917899155056473632013-08-26T04:04:09.299-07:002013-08-26T04:04:09.299-07:00And given Mr. Levine's radio background, anoth...And given Mr. Levine's radio background, another appropriate comic novel to mention here would be Stanley Elkin's THE DICK GIBSON SHOW.AndrewJhttp://www.scribd.com/Andrew_Milnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-51853416563520413692013-08-26T01:04:38.419-07:002013-08-26T01:04:38.419-07:00Douglas, darling, you're so hip, you can't...Douglas, darling, you're so hip, you can't see past your pelvis. ;)<br /><br />Cheers, as always,<br /><br />StormStormnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69951129540642087272013-08-25T14:17:46.465-07:002013-08-25T14:17:46.465-07:00@D. McEwan - I was scrolling through the comments ...@D. McEwan - I was scrolling through the comments thinking to myself "Where's the Doug Adams?" and you come through right at the end and save the day!<br /><br />Another good novel I haven't seen mentioned is James Robert Baker's "Boy Wonder."Rich Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04883386588727303782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-60016373953863454962013-08-25T13:45:53.155-07:002013-08-25T13:45:53.155-07:00Another comic novelist you can't go wrong with...Another comic novelist you can't go wrong with is Douglas Adams.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11315995695015223942013-08-25T12:25:07.943-07:002013-08-25T12:25:07.943-07:00In the Lizzie Borden TV movie, the theory was that...In the Lizzie Borden TV movie, the theory was that she murdered her parents in the nude so there wouldn't be bloodstains on her clothing. The murders took place in the morning. So why would they have lengthy footage of Elizabeth wandering about in the nude at night when they knew it wouldn't make it into the movie (at least domestically) and it wasn't really integral to the plot? It's baffling.<br /><br />Some great book recommendations here.RCPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04251247613686669877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-90682325142246738942013-08-25T06:23:29.185-07:002013-08-25T06:23:29.185-07:00There have been numerous attempts to make it into ...<i>There have been numerous attempts to make it into a movie but so far no one has been able to crack it. So much of the book is the attitude of the main character and how he misinterprets everything around him and it’s hard to adapt that. I’ve read several screenplay attempts and they all fall flat.</i><br /><br />Harold Ramis was attached to a Dunces movie, but dropped out. He later said that a comedy only works when you have a) a sane man in a crazy world or b) a crazy man in a sane world -- but Dunces couldn't be filmed because it was about a crazy man in an equally crazy world.AndrewJhttp://www.scribd.com/Andrew_Milnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-22870217265187021922013-08-25T02:43:04.713-07:002013-08-25T02:43:04.713-07:00Question: Are royalties evenly distributed between...Question: Are royalties evenly distributed between episodes when a series goes into syndication? Let's say that you wrote two episodes in the same season, yet one of those episodes rarely if ever gets rerun.<br /> Powerhouse Salternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-77526936668912747932013-08-24T18:51:31.059-07:002013-08-24T18:51:31.059-07:00My question regarding the Laverne and Shirley situ...My question regarding the Laverne and Shirley situation is why in the hell would a producer put up with nonsense like that? I guess it happens, though. We've all heard stories about stars who made their sets hell. (Fran Drescher, Cybill Shepherd). And stars who just made everybody else miserable. (Florence Henderson said she didn't think there was a day on the Brady Bunch set that Robert Reed didn't spend griping and complaining. Okay, it was a crap show, but he knew what he was getting into when he signed on for it. Why spend the next six years making everybody else miserable?)Dennisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-20388829123246313042013-08-24T14:46:40.755-07:002013-08-24T14:46:40.755-07:00There are also actors who count the number of line...<i>There are also actors who count the number of lines they have in a script. By the way, if we catch an actor on one of our shows doing that, the next week he will see that the number of lines he has is zero.</i><br /><br />Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams used to do that on <i>Laverne and Shirley</i>. Betty Garrett (who was on the series as Laverne and Shirley's landlady for a few years) told me that. They were very jealous of each other and quite competitive. At times they wouldn't talk to each other directly expect when in character. Everything had to be relayed though an intermediary, even if the two were seated or standing next to each other. Garrett said that was the worst set she'd ever worked on. The series went through a ton of writers, in part because they were treated so badly by the cast. There was one notorious incident when a cast member left a script in the writer's room with a turd on top of it. Garry Marshall read the cast the riot act over that one.Leenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-65219212816027537422013-08-24T12:53:26.638-07:002013-08-24T12:53:26.638-07:00Pixie Portnoy! How lovely to hear from an actual c...Pixie Portnoy! How lovely to hear from an actual character in <i>Little Me</i>!<br /><br />Dennis's out-of-print books can usually be found on Alibris or eBay, which is where I got my first editions of <i>Genius</i> and <i>The Joyous Season</i> (which was Dennis's own personal favorite of his works).<br /><br />I genuinely hope that Grammar does not film Eric Myers's wonderful biography of Dennis/Tanner, <i>Uncle Mame</i>, having ever less patience with that Republican. However, it's a tale worth filming. Bear in mind how successful Tanner/Dennis was. He was the first author <i><b>EVER</b></i> to have three books on the NY Times Bestseller list at the same time. But then, Dennis gave it all up, deciding that he was written out. He said: "I've said everything I have to say three times." He decided he was gay, left his wife, changed his name, and became a butler for <i>Ray Kroc</i>, the founder of McDonald's, who went to his grave never knowing his butler had written <i>Auntie Mame</i>. Later, when Dennis/Tanner came down with cancer, his wife took him back in and nursed and cared for him until his too-young death. He was one of those rare people who was loved by everyone who ever met him. He was devoid of enemies.<br /><br />I don't know that I'd say <i>Around the World with Auntie Mame</i> is "better" than <i>Auntie Mame</i>, but it's pretty damn good. It would make a lovely mini-series. <br /><br />The reprint of <i>Around the World with Auntie Mame</i> that came out about a decade ago, and is easily available, contains the chapter <i>Auntie Mame and Mother Russia</i>, which is not in my (or anyone else's) first edition, and was only published for the first time in that reprint. Since it involved Mame living briefly on a commune in Russia, in the 1950s his publishers were, insanely, afraid of publishing it during the Red Scare. This is absurd; Mame Dennis, with her love of wealth, jewels and high living, is about as much of a communist as Zsa Zsa Gabor, and the chapter mocks communism in a manner more likely to please than outrage nasty old Joe McCarthy.<br /><br />Frankly, I can not fathom why no one ever filmed <i>The Joyous Season</i>, as it would easily make a perfect 1950s romantic comedy, far more easily adapted for film than the episodic, plotless <i>Aunite Mame</i>. Even Dennis himself expressed tremendous admiration for Lawrence & Lee, who very well adapted <i>AM</i> for the stage, finding and making a coherent plot out of this mass of hilarious connected episodes. The great Comden & Green's screenplay for <i>AM</i> made only the slightest of changes from Lawrence & Lee's stage play, opening it up just a tiny bit.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-71199859978274994162013-08-24T12:46:19.321-07:002013-08-24T12:46:19.321-07:00Ken - Can you top this one?
CNN: Pennsylvania bas...Ken - Can you top this one?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/us/free-funeral-baseball-game-essay/?iref=obinsite" rel="nofollow">CNN: Pennsylvania baseball team awards man a free funeral</a>Igornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86443777051033937282013-08-24T11:08:55.832-07:002013-08-24T11:08:55.832-07:00Another vote for Patrick Dennis, wish more of his ...Another vote for Patrick Dennis, wish more of his books were in print. Genius is one of the funniest books I've ever read; Tony is great too, though a bit flawed in execution. I think Around the World with Auntie Mame is much funnier (and darker) and a better read than the original Auntie Mame.<br /><br />But maybe the best and funniest is The Joyous Season, which came out in a new edition recently. <br /><br />I read that Kelsey Grammar optioned a bio of Dennis for a film adaptation. Ken, do you know if there's any update on that project?<br /><br />Pixie Portnoynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42421853308262302602013-08-24T08:42:04.734-07:002013-08-24T08:42:04.734-07:00And as for Andrew's statement about Ken object...And as for Andrew's statement about Ken objectifying Elizabeth Montgomery: She is standing there in a black babydoll, looking like the personification of sex appeal. Maybe Andrew is light years ahead of the rest of us on the enlightenment scale, but my first thought when I see that photo is not "wow, I wonder how good she is at Calculus?", nor is that the image that she is trying to project in that photo. Ease up on yourself Andrew; it's ok to think someone is hot without joining the rest of us knuckle dragging mouth breathers....Ron Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-77267726529088484012013-08-24T08:11:47.700-07:002013-08-24T08:11:47.700-07:00I tried to wade through A Confederacy of Dunces tw...I tried to wade through A Confederacy of Dunces twice, and it defeated me both times. I couldn't even say why, other than the book left me with a slightly sticky feeling, like I'd accidentally put on someone else's dirty socks. I knew it was supposed to be funny, but the central character's unpleasantness drowned out the humor for me.Ron Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-53263763143429477372013-08-24T06:46:38.064-07:002013-08-24T06:46:38.064-07:00YES! To Three Men In A Boat.YES! To Three Men In A Boat.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08717060322979521958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15797328039415655582013-08-24T01:15:01.237-07:002013-08-24T01:15:01.237-07:00You mention Debra Messing a lot. What is it with y...You mention Debra Messing a lot. What is it with you and La Messing?Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06248182899977033579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-14016779788498943372013-08-23T21:28:50.072-07:002013-08-23T21:28:50.072-07:00I'm worried about poor Andrew. It must be pai...I'm worried about poor Andrew. It must be painful to sit in front of the computer with that big stick up his ass. <br /><br />I appreciate a good comic novel almost as much as that photo of Elizabeth Montgomery, having taken a pass at one of those two impossible dreams myself. Keeping a comic novel from pooping out before the end is like trying to keep a soap bubble floating in mid-air for two hours. I'm glad Doug mentioned Thorne Smith, who's often forgotten these days. And Peter DeVries, who writes the best opening sentences ever. I'll also put in a plug for Max Shulman. By coincidence, I just bought a new (old) copy of "Rally 'Round The Flag, Boys" from Amazon a couple of weeks ago. Here's an excerpt from it. What a fantastic piece of writing:<br /> <br />http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=8164 Pat Reedernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86534462888660159092013-08-23T20:44:31.258-07:002013-08-23T20:44:31.258-07:00The sexy Liz Montgomery photo reminds me. When I w...The sexy Liz Montgomery photo reminds me. When I watched DVDs of TAXI, I couldn't help noticing Marilu Henner braless. Why no bra? Since it was Marilu Henner, we can rule out she forgot. But Taxi started on the network of CHARLIE'S ANGELS. Was it a network rule Marilu Henner go braless? If you were the show runner, what would you say to Marilu braless?Waynenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-46726370563905196032013-08-23T20:26:52.644-07:002013-08-23T20:26:52.644-07:00Ken, what are your thoughts on That '70s Show?...Ken, what are your thoughts on That '70s Show? I feel it is pretty underrated, and deserves to be considered a classic. Harrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-81638552953785773812013-08-23T20:19:18.974-07:002013-08-23T20:19:18.974-07:00Hi Ken-
I would love to know the rest of the book...Hi Ken-<br /><br />I would love to know the rest of the books you recommend on your reading list for the class you are teaching at SC.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />MarkMarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-12574143450739768102013-08-23T20:15:54.558-07:002013-08-23T20:15:54.558-07:00No offense, GaryJ. But that was the dumbest questi...No offense, GaryJ. But that was the dumbest question I've ever read. <br /><br />Well, I guess that's kinda offensive.A Non-Emushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09779869957233098665noreply@blogger.com