The Movie/TV Thread

Has anyone mentioned Jerry Lewis? I thought his low brow semi-retarded character played well in his early movies, but got old fast. At the end he was just a sad clown hawking his telethon. He was the best reason to NOT watch…

I believe he was the inspiration for Adam Sandler’s early stuff and he grew old in me as well, although he seems to have recognized that and moved on to other characters…

Saw Robert Klein at The Troubador in ’75, Carlin a few times at OC Community Colleges…Orange Coast, Golden West…during the same time period, Norm Macdonald & Dana Carvey at local Phoenix comedy clubs. Love Letterman…I think his natural cynicism, which I like, has always shown thru. His show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” has had some very interesting interviews. I really miss his late-night show, but Colbert & Kimmel are OK.

I love stand-up which is why I’ve kept up.…even tried it a few times myself on open mike nights at The Comedy Works in Denver. Met Roseann Barr there, which is where she got her start. It’s a lot harder than it may look to some, and I was used to performing on stage musically, so no stage fright. But it’s a whole other deal when you’re out there alone trying to get laughs.

One area I have definitely not kept up in is music. I stayed fairly current simply by osmosis as my kids were growing up, but that ended in 2000 when the last in the nest flew the coop.

The worst of all was his horrendous singing. He loved to sing and most certainly wasn’t pleasant to listen to.

I recall Johnny Carson saying he had been to Lewis’ home and that he had a full studio in his basement with a set up that we’d call karaoke today. Johnny was encouraged to sing and tried it to the musical accompaniment. He was listening to himself being played back and was quite proud l with his own singing until Lewis cut the music out… 😂 Damned dirty trick to pull on a man…

Spanky led a relatively long and successful life, albeit not in show business.  But you're right, they didn't have a good track record for longevity.  The youngest to die was Billy "Froggy"  Laughlin, who was only 16 when he crashed his motor scooter into a truck.  He had actually replaced Alfalfa, who had grown too old for the series.  I always assumed that voice was dubbed in, but I learned later that was actually him doing it.

I met Tommy Bond, who played the bully Butch, always fighting off Alfalfa for Darla's affection, through a mutual friend in the late 90s.  Super nice guy.  He had a fairly successful career working behind the scenes in TV with production crews, mostly in Los Angeles, but he even was involved in production with "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In."  He loved working on the Little Rascals and working with Hal Roach.

Roach was responsible for so many classic productions beyond the Rascals -- he directed Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chase and my personal favorite (and avatar) Harold Lloyd.  The studio -- nicknamed The Laugh Factory -- was in Culver City, and you can see Culver City backgrounds in a lot of L&H street scenes.  One of my first homages upon moving to LA was to go to that site, although there was nothing to see except a small plaque commemorating the spot.  It was just down the street from David O. Selznick Productions, where you could see that famous plantation-style house that was displayed at the start of many of his films, including "Gone With The Wind."

Spanky was from small town Denison, Texas where I lived for a few years when I was a kid, along with "Sully" Sullenberger, who I did not know.

Yep, I think that was the consensus.  Not one of the good guys.  I remember they used to point to the fact that he was popular in France as proof that the French had no sense of humor.  They do, of course, but it tends toward laughing at people who screw up.