Ernie Kovacs Is Killed In A Car Accident January 13, 1962
Ernie Kovacs would have turned 93 on January 23 and today I’ll be remembering him.
Kovacs was a brilliant comedian who was killed in a car crash 50 years ago today on January 13, 1962 at the age of 42.
Kovacs was an author, radio, television and movie star. Most of all he was a true genius in an industry that bandies about that word rather loosely. Had Kovacs lived he would have surely gone on to greater heights.
Because he died at a relatively young age and most of his TV work is gone forever, many people unfortunately have never heard of, or seen Ernie Kovacs. Continue reading →
Vermin Supreme – Would Make A Better President Than Obama, Romney, Paul, Huntsman, Gingrich, Perry and Santorum
If you have never heard of Vermin Supreme or that he is running for President you are not alone. He has not taken out any advertising and the mainstream media ignores him. But through youtube and other web sites, Vermin Supreme is making his candidacy known.
The only Presidential candidate who wears a boot on his head, Vermin Supreme has a simple platform:
Dental Hygiene Law
Flying Monkey Public Safety Assurance Program
Time Travel Research Funding
An Energy Program Which Harnesses the Awesome Power of The Zombies
Free Pony’s For All Americans
Vermin Supreme really is running for President. The satirist was invited to share the dais with the other Lesser-Known Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum which was held December 19, 2011 and hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. The forum shows Mr Supreme at his best.
Randall Terry, the notorious anti-abortion activist, is the candidate who gets Mr. Supreme’s attention at the end of the video.
In a previous interview with the Washington Times, Mr. Supreme was asked whether he plans to send troops back into Iraq, Mr. Supreme said he wants to send troops “everywhere.”
“I propose we will invade and we will make that country a state,” he said. “So Iraq would be our 51st state, Afghanistan would be 52nd state. and on and on. Once we change these foreigners to Americans, they will certainly love America and we’ll will be able to tax them and it will be a wonderful unified United States of the Earth. Thank you.”
The United States needs Mr. Supreme if only for relief from all the empty words emanating from our politicians mouths.
Jimmy Savile, Zany British TV Host & PERVERT (see update at end of article.)
Jimmy Savile was found dead at his home in Leeds October 29. He was just two days shy of turning 85.
In the United States Jimmy Savile is a relatively unknown name except to die-hard music fans or those who might have spent time in the United Kingdom.
In the UK you could not help but know Jimmy Savile. For twenty years, from its inception in 1964, Savile hosted Top of the Pops, a television music countdown show featuring hit singles. Think of a British version of a cross between Casey Kasem’s radio program American Top 40 and Dick Clark’s television show American Bandstand and that was, Top of The Pops. Savile ended his reign as a regular host in 1984. Continue reading →
Marilyn Monroe and Edward R. Murrow Share a Smoke, April 1, 1955
The caption for this press photo is:
News Commentator Edward R. Murrow holds a match to the cigarette Marilyn Monroe extends to her puckered lips, during discussions at the Ambassador Hotel in New York regarding the luscious actress’ forthcoming appearance on Murrow’s “Person To Person” television show. Scheduled for April 8th, the TV show will be the second one Miss Monroe has ever done.
Playboy After Dark – Featuring the Original Deep Purple
Hugh Hefner’s swinging, late 1960’s TV show, Playboy After Dark had a wide variety of musicians, comedians and interesting people appear as guests. This clip recorded in late 1968, is one of the earliest television performances and one of the last to show the original Deep Purple performing their breakthrough song Hush.
This line-up is known as Deep Purple Mark I. By the time this segment aired November 14, 1969, original vocalist Rod Evans and bass player Nick Simper, both founding members of the band, had been out of the band since July 1969 and were replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. The new incarnation of Deep Purple would go on to have worldwide commercial success and set a standard for other hard rock and heavy metal bands to follow. Continue reading →
I believe Jack Benny was one of the funniest comedians of all time. Benny could elicit more laughs with a look, gesture or single utterance than other comedians could with an entire monologue. He became a star in vaudeville and was one of the few entertainers who made the transition to radio, film and eventually television successfully. Although Jack Benny has been dead for over 37 years, he is still fondly remembered by millions of fans.
Coming across weird, useless things like this, is what makes life fun.
When films need vocal sound effects, professional voice actors are frequently called in to a recording studio to create them.
For the Warner Bros. 1951 film “Distant Drums” the sound needed was “a man being bit by an alligator. ” Instead of the actor being “bit” by the alligator recording the scream of pain, someone else at the studio, did the screaming. Continue reading →
A Strike Box, Called K-Zone, So Viewers Can Have their Main Focal Point Completely Obscured
I watched ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball for the first time this season for a few minutes. The Yankees were battling the Reds in interleague play.
For those baseball fans who don’t know where the strike zone is or question the umpire’s judgment, the brilliant minds at ESPN have put a rectangle superimposed over the home plate area to point out what was a ball or a strike. It was on the viewing screen for every pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning.
I quickly turned off the game before it ended and put on the radio. It was unwatchable. Continue reading →
Jackie Cooper passed away last week at the age of 88. Cooper who rose to prominence in the Hal Roach produced Our Gang (a.k.a. the Little Rascals) movie shorts, was one of the last remaining movie stars who worked during Hollywood’s golden era of the 1930’s.
Jackie Cooper (left) Love Business 1931
The Our Gang / Little Rascals remaining cast is now down to under a dozen stars. The other living supporting players made brief appearances, many in the later films of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s after creator Hal Roach had sold the franchise to MGM. The most notable living star of those later Our Gang comedies is Robert Blake. I grew up watching Cooper star in Our Gang and his passing is sad, as he was a gifted actor and it is a reminder of how few of the early Hollywood stars remain. Unlike his more popular and well known successors as leads in Our Gang, George “Spanky” McFarland and Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer, Cooper was cast in several big budget Hollywood productions and was almost always very good in whatever he was in.
