This is satire, right?
No.
This two minute video will explain what the real problems are for promoting your book when you self-publish.
After you watch, maybe you’ll reconsider writing that book and self-publishing it. Based upon many a true story.
Enjoy.
Questions? Fire away.
Babe Ruth And Lou Gehrig On Film
The New York Times reports more film footage of the mighty Babe Ruth has been unearthed, this time from 1927 showing Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig up close and personal in a barnstorming tour. The article goes on to say that in the Major League Baseball archives there is less than an hour’s worth of film footage of Ruth! The majority of film footage that probably still exists resides in attics across the country waiting to be discovered. This film was found in a cellar in Illinois and shows Ruth and Gehrig in or around Sioux City, Iowa on October 18, 1927.
Gehrig and Ruth were good friends, had a presumed falling out (over mysterious circumstances) and eventually made up when Gehrig was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which ended up taking his life at the age of 37.
The public perception via film of Ruth and Gehrig together is not really when they are together at all.
Hollywood accomplished that trick with The Pride of the Yankees, the 1942 movie depicting the life of Lou Gehrig ,who is played by Gary Cooper. Babe Ruth plays himself in the picture. No mean feat as Babe was already 46 years old and was significantly heavier than in his playing days. Ruth would not be embarrassed. Before the movie started shooting, Babe went on a diet and dropped a significant amount of pounds so he could play the part himself.
While the picture is embellished for the silver screen, it still covers a fair portion of Gehrig’s baseball accomplishments while telling more Lou’s devotion to his family and the love story between Eleanor Twitchell (the future Mrs. Gehrig) and Lou. The movie almost never got made. Producer Samuel Goldwyn knew nothing about baseball and knew from experience that baseball movies were never “big box office.” But Goldwyn had been shown a newsreel of Gehrig’s farewell speech at Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day by Niven Busch, a Goldwyn screenwriter. Busch was confident a movie about Gehrig would be a success. By the end of the newsreel Goldwyn was crying and had made up his mind to acquire the rights to Gehrig’s story. The end result was a success, with the picture being nominated for 11 academy awards, including best picture.
Here are some photos of The Babe and Lou together. (click to enlarge)
Gehrig and Ruth in a posed publicity photo
Ruth and Gehrig 1927
Babe Ruth Scores ahead of a Lou Gehrig Home Run
Four Greats- Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth 1928
Babe Ruth pays his respects at Lou Gehrig’s funeral June 4, 1941
Nertz?!
Sometimes the songs of yesteryear are apropos for today. The lyrics of a song from the 1920’s or 30’s can translate very well in today’s economic tumult, with millions of Americans still out of work in the midst of our “economic recovery.” I see many of the same things happening today that transpired during the Great Depression.
Bread Line 1930’s Brooklyn, NY
Current events played a bigger role in the writing of songs back then, including this gem from composers Wesley and Mischa Portnoff and lyrics by Norman Anthony, performed by Eddie Cantor in 1931, Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz! The song was featured in the 2005 film Cinderella Man.
Eddie Cantor was one of the great entertainers of all time. He was a humanitarian and optimist. His rags to riches story is one that I shall elaborate on at another time. He was usually among the first choices for many songwriters to showcase their work.
Is the current recession over? I don’t believe it.
And what does nertz mean? — nonsense or nuts or (a polite way at the time of saying) B.S.
Here for your listening pleasure an mp3 with lyrics below of Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz!
Cheer Up, Smile, Nertz!
Sure, business is bunk,
And Wall Street is sunk,
We’re all of us broke, and ready to croak.
We’ve nothing to Continue reading
Here is Mia Kovacs in 1961, the only daughter of actress Edie Adams and television and movie star Ernie Kovacs. Mia is fast asleep on Edie’s lap. It is one of my favorite pictures. There is something especially touching about it. To me this captures a beautiful scene of the innocence of childhood.
Ernie Kovacs was one of the sharpest wits in Hollywood and his TV and film career was still flourishing when he was unfortunately killed in an automobile accident at the age of 42 on January 12, 1962 while on his way home from a party at Milton Berle’s house. His wife Edie was left a widow with an enormous tax bill and debts that Ernie had run up.
Rather than default, declare bankruptcy or accept money from friends, Edie worked and worked in television, on Broadway, commercials and in films such as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; Love With The Proper Stranger; The Best Man; Under The Yum Yum Tree; and others until the debts were paid off – nearly $500,000.
Mia Kovacs inherited talent from both of her parents. She was following in their footsteps and was beginning to work in the entertainment industry.
Tragically, in an eerie twist, on May 8, 1982 Mia Kovacs was driving with a friend on Mulholland Drive when she drifted onto the shoulder of the road. The car flipped, killing her instantly. She was 22.
The Story Of The Tapestry Photo Shoot And Some Out-takes
One of the best selling albums of all time is Carole King’s Tapestry from 1971. The appealing cover image of Carole King sitting in the living room of her home in Laurel Canyon, CA was taken by rock n’ roll photographer Jim McCrary. An interesting sidenote was that King’s cat Telemachus was moved while sitting on the pillow from across the room by McCrary to be used in the final cover shot.
We identify famous covers and just accept that is the cover. The conclusion is “it’s the right cover!” In Tapestry’s case, McCrary’s use of the cat definitely helps draw the viewer in.
What if a different cover had been used?
Here are four other photos from The Tapestry shoot
March 2 is the premiere of PBS’s “American Masters” which features Carole King in Troubadors: Carole King / James Taylor & The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter.
I had vaguely heard the term B-girl mentioned in the past. Whether it was from some early film noir cinema or pulp fiction I cannot recall. Continue reading
The Man Who Pushed Johnny Carson, Charlie Callas Dies at 83
For many people under a certain age (probably 40), the passing of Charlie Callas on January 27, 2011, will be met with indifference or “who was he?” But for anyone who had seen Callas interviewed on his numerous appearances on the late night talk shows or seen his cameos in movies, it marks the end of one the last true eccentrics in Hollywood.
Charlie Callas was bizarre.
He could do strange things with his voice and get laughs out of things that were not necessarily funny. It was Callas himself that was funny and there was that underlying danger that an appearance by Callas on a show could go in an unintended direction at any second. That unpredictability would nearly end his show business career when he shoved Johnny Carson during a 1982 Tonight Show appearance and in front of the studio audience Carson subsequently banned him from ever appearing on the show again.
Charlie Callas will always be remembered for one of the strangest performances in Mel Brooks’ send-up of Alfred Hitchcock films, 1976’s High Anxiety. Callas plays a man who has been committed to an asylum because he thinks he is a cocker spaniel. It is 1 minute and 40 seconds of sheer silliness.
Here is the link to Charlie Callas in High Anxiety:
http://youtu.be/_WEVmVKUk7s?t=4m32s
(UPDATE – 2013 High Anxiety clip- all copies removed from youtube)
A staple of 1970’s TV, The Dean Martin Roasts, where celebrities were insulted and joked about mercilessly by other Hollywood celebrities, Callas has comedian Don Rickles and the rest of the attendees laughing hard as he delivers Don Rickles’ eulogy.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHDU2jhLE-Y[/tube]
The appearance may not be as funny to today’s audience as Callas is doing an impression of George Jessel, who made a living it seemed at delivering eulogies of many of the entertainment world’s luminaries from the 1920’s right until Jessel’s own demise in 1981.