I really have a hard time with the way things have gone lately... There is wayyy too much emphasis put on getting "A's" and going to college. This is especially true in the Asian communities. Parents send their kids to Chinese school AFTER a full day of public school, and even for 6 hours on Saturday's!!! Kids should be kids! I sometimes think these parents do it for themselves, not their kids.
A little publicized fact is that there is a percentage of these kids committing suicide because of the pressure. Then, the other end - after getting a degree in "Art" or whatever, the student can't find a job that pays enough and they have a $200,000 student loan to pay off to boot!
We are going to have a big shortage of plumbers and electricians in this country soon, all because of the idea that everyone needs a prestigious degree from some big university.
Being in Southern California, I made it a point many many years ago to visit a few of the "original" McDonalds locations. I saw the site of their "Arcadia" hot dog location near the old Monrovia Airport location... and the one in Azusa California which is no longer there.
Very few early McDonald's restaurants remain, largely because McDonald's Corporation required its franchisees to update their buildings. Their original San Bernardino location at 1398 North E Street (since 1940) is in a run down neighborhood - but their third restaraunt, located at 10207 Lakewood Blvd. in Downey, California is still there with the original Golden Arches and the "Speedee" logo. Because of some legal 'franchise worded' contract, McDonalds didn't have complete control over the Downey operation, and thus the menu was slightly different, but well worth the drive to see and take pictures in front of with the employees wearing 50's style uniforms of paper hats, white shirts and bolo ties. After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, and with a lack of a drive-up window and indoor seating, the restaurant was closed. McDonald's wanted to tear it down, but because of the city and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 1994 list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, McDonald's spent two years restoring the restaurant and reopened it. Customers today can visit the original restaurant and an adjoining gift shop and museum. It's on the list of must-see places after Disneyland and the beaches.
Ahhh... the cool things about living in Southern California... Now Eddie will have to tell us all about "In-and-Out" Hamburgers which is probably better known in our area than McDonalds is!
Eddie's article on George Clooney took me by surprise. Clooney is an actor I really don't give much thought to. I guess his "sex appeal" doesn't do anything for me. The films I have seen him in are 'okay', but the last role he had in "Gravity" left me thinking that he somehow didn't quite fit the feeling of the story. But... I gotta give it to him... his name alone will bring the ladies in.
How does he do it? He's got Emmy's and Golden Globes - and speaking of Golden Globes, how about the girlfriends he has conquered along the way? Talia Balsam, Ginger Lynn Allen, Kelly Preston, Lisa Snowden, Renee Zellweger, Krista Allen, Sarah Larson, Elisabetta Canalis and Stacy Keibler just to mention some. Man, I don't get it !
Oh, I guess most people know, but George comes from a long line of well known actors... His aunt is singer/actress Rosemary Clooney. His Mother (Nina Bruce) was a beauty queen. His Dad is Nick Clooney (former anchorman and game show host who now appears in PBS commercials and was in George's last film, The Monuments Men playing an older George). His Uncle was Jose Ferrer and is cousin to Miguel Ferrer. No wonder he found a job in Hollywood!
I should also add, that today - the very same day Eddie's story appeared here on Neatorama - Clooney made headlines in the news: "George Clooney storms off after Steve Wynn calls President Obama an a**hole". Apparently he is good friends with President Obama too. Maybe the President sees the sex appeal I don't (or Clooney is just another Hollywood connection).
P.S. Ladies: Clooney's shoe size is 10 1/2 ... mine is 12 !
Gosh... I expected to read a story about "baseball" but it turned out to be about a different game using two balls! Actually, I think this story was much more fascinating to say the least. As I read, I kept coming up with questions... like:
How one could find so many different women attractive. Wouldn't he have been so spoiled to have been more selective?
Or... Did he ever get any sort of disease?
Or... Did he ever give anyone a disease?
Or... Did he pay these women to "say" he slept with them for his image?
Or... Did someone tell him that getting to ‘third base' was great, but getting to ‘home' was difficult with some?
Or... Did someone tell him the incorrect meaning of "batter up" ?
Or... Did he just pick women to wear their clothes?
Or... Did he wear his glove in bed?
Then, the whole thing about Claire getting him to settle down. What was that all about? What did she have on him? Did she hypnotize Babe? Was she double-jointed or have two of "everything"?
Ah... so many questions...
I'll have second thoughts now when I bite off a chunk of a Baby Ruth candy bar and begin chewing it. Thanks a lot Eddie!
Grease was and still is my favorite musical of all time! I was lucky enough to have gotten the very FIRST FOUR TICKETS (# 001 - 002 - 003 and 004) to the movie's ORIGINAL premiere at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood! In fact, I STILL have the four tickets in my possession! It was a huge event with all the stars in attendance. Olivia and John were dressed like the Grease era. TV cameras abound all the way down the red carpet and the crowd was huge - one could barely move with being escorted!
There was even a Grease Party with so many people attending... Chevy Chase, Andy Gibb (Bee Gees brother), Leif Garrett, Penny Marshall, Robert Stigwood, Frankie Valli (who sung the Grease theme), and of course Olivia, Travolta, Did Conn, Jeff Conway... gosh it was something! I took my small 35mm camera with me and snuck a few pictures here and there, but it was so crowded that it was hard taking any pictures at all!
The movie premiere was also the opening event for the organization "FILMEX". Filmex was (it is no longer around) The Los Angeles Film Exposition, kind of like the what the Cannes Film Festival is today. I remember that they even had to add a second premiere showing to accommodate the festivals members
I also remember the following week, when Grease was released to theatres, the lines were huge! I went to see the movie dozens of time at the Village Theatre in Westwood, CA. This was THE place to see movies when they came out. Located right next door to UCLA, and very close to Bel Air and Beverly Hills, you would always see premiers being held around town and quite often see celebrities eating dinner or seeing a show. I specifically remember one time, coming out of seeing Grease for the ump-teen-th time, and passing Barry Pearl, Kelly Ward and Michael Tucci (The three T-Birds) in the lobby as they were going in to see the movie themselves that they were in.
Eddie makes mention that he had such a small role in the movie, but ANY role in Grease is a HUGE role to me and everyone who has seen it!!! (By the way, in the DVD release that has extras, there a scene of Eddie that was cut - so you can see more of him!). I would have given my right arm to have been able to be in Eddie's shoes and have been a part of the movie's history!
Oh... P.S. Another little known fact... Susan Buckner who played Rydel's homecoming queen, was originally considered for the part of Sandy also, but it went to Olivia Newton-John and Susan took the role of Patty Simcox.
I have often said that I think enough time has passed since the disappointing release of Grease 2 and that they should consider making a follow-up.... except this time, Eddie's character Eugene, should now be Rydell High's principal !
Wow Eddie, your article takes me back a bit. I grew up watching Dobie Gillis as a small kid all because I spent time working at a neighborhood grocery store. In the series, Dwayne Hickman helped his father out at his Dad's store, so I related. Bob Denver's characature, Maynard G Krebs was funny to me. I would see the news talk about "beatnicks", but I didn't know what a beatnick was until I saw Denver playing one. The craze only lasted two or three years, and then I lived through the "Hippies."
Back in the late 1960's I got hooked on a show called "The Good Guys". It was kinda quirky and it appealed to me as a teenager, that I actually wrote a "fan letter" to Bob Denver asking him if I could start a Bob Denver fan club. To my surprise, a week later I got a letter from him in the mail. He hand wrote a thank you and said that I should come to meet him and watch him tape the show. If I recall, he taped it at CBS in Hollywood. Being that I hadn't gotten my drivers license yet, I skipped on my chance.
As a side-note... I STILL have the letter he wrote me packed away in a trunk in the closet. It's funny how little moments like this come back to you so many years later (like in Eddie Deezen's article)!
Eddie, thanks for your story. It sure made me reminisce!
TV's Batman holds a special place for me. Mainly due to the fact that I grew up in Pasadena, California. The house they used for The "Wayne Manor" was not too far from where I lived and I would pass it all the time, sneaking a peek through the bushes to see if I could see anything.
One of the neatest memories I have was when a friend of mine (who was 17 years older than me at the time) would take me boating during the summer. My parent were poor, and this gentleman would treat me like one of his own kids. Well, this one Wednesday we got down to the beach and launched the boat. We had just gotten out and low-and-behold I looked over and saw the "Bat Boat" in the water! A little ways down the beach, they were filming the Batman movie. You could see Adam West and Burt Ward in their costumes as the big mirrors and boom mic were following them. Then, all of a sudden I heard something above which jarred me a bit. It was the Bat Copter! I guess they were bringing it in to use in the filming. What a thrill! I was about 12 or 13 at the time and what an impression it made on this lad.
From that point on, I was hooked on the TV series. As for today's movie remakes of Batman (Dark Knight, etc.) - I don't care for them. I even gave up going to see the new ones when they come out because MY Batman, no matter how cheesy, was original crime-fighter that I hold close to my heart as a kid.
I was privileged to have known Elvis Presley for a short period of time. Working at NBC (as an associate to a Vice President) I was there when "The King" came to our studios to tape his famous Singer "Comeback Special". We (and a couple of his friends) spent many, many hours talking and laughing about everything you could imagine. He was the easiest person to get to know and feel comfortable with.
I learned a lot about his thoughts, what he was led to believe, and what mattered to him when it came to show business. It was a time when his popularity was sinking after all those fluffy movies and before he decided to conquer Las Vegas (thanks to the success of the special he did at NBC).
He was truly in awe of his religious upbringing. Elvis held hymns and church music in highest esteem and laughed and was partially embarrassed when it came to the "pop" songs he had made a living singing. I swear, if Elvis wasn't a singer, he would have been a minister.
Now of course, I met him in the late 1960's... a decade after his first Christmas album came out. I can't say what he was feeling or what thoughts he had when he recorded it in the fifties, but I do know that because of his album, millions of people included Elvis Presley into their celebration of the holidays. I'll even bet his music brought attention to the real meaning of the holiday.
As I listen to the radio stations that play "Christmas Music" right now, I hear a lot of familiar standards I grew up with year after year. songs by Bing Crosby... Nat King Cole... Johnny Mathis... Karen Carpenter... Burl Ives... etc... But I always reach for the radio knob to turn up the volume when I hear "Blue Christmas" and my favorite, "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me." No matter what anyone says, Elvis' Christmas songs have that traditional meaning many new songs today miss the mark on.
Wow... Eddie, you have so many interesting facts and information!
I remember reading all the magazines and knowing a lot about John, Paul, George and Ringo back when they were in their heyday. Over the years I have forgotten so many things, and unless I go searching the library or the Internet for something, I don't hear, learn or reminisce much at all.
It's sometimes hard to believe that someone's life (like George) can be traced so closely... I don't even recall what I did last Monday! (ha!)
Thank you Eddie, for bringing back some of those memories, laced with such interesting facts I never have known. It's also hard to believe that it was fifty years ago!
Sometimes I wish we could turn back the clock to a sweeter time when "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was so simple!
Working as an executive for NBC way back in the "Start Trek" years, I remember the VP of programming (who also was responsible for putting Star Trek on the schedule and keeping it on the air after the first season) figuring out a way to advertise the fact that this was TV's (and NBC's) "First Interracial Kiss" to obtain two objectives: To "Get Ratings" and to "Get Ratings". No one back then ever did any research to prove or disprove anything to the contrary. Anytime NBC received a ton of mail, whether good or bad, it was great for ratings!
I wonder if anyone today has REALLY looked into this... I mean, didn't Sammy Davis Jr. give Frank Sinatra a big hug and kiss on the cheek (in fun) years earlier? How about Timmy kissing Lassie? - Oh wait, that another species... Never mind....
I remember seeing Blazing Saddles for the first time and laughing my ass off. Two different times I tried asking a (different) date to go see the movie with me, and both times the girls chose a different movie they wanted to see. Finally, the third girl I asked went along. Afterwards I asked her if she liked it and thought it was funny.
She replied, "It was pretty stupid. I didn't like it all all."
Then I started asking my buddies if they had taken their dates or wives to see the movie, and everyone of them gave me the same reply... their dates HATED the movie.
I have come to the conclusion after all these years that "The Three Stooges" and "Blazing Saddles" are what one would call "guy" movies.
I would love to hear comments from the ladies out there who were around back when Blazing Saddles was released. Thanks Eddie for helping me to be called a "sexist" dog.
Gosh... we don't have to "bring back" cheesecake today - - - it's all around us, everyplace we look! I pop on the television and see bra commercials with voluptuous models prancing around for Victoria Secrets... I see Brad Pitt mumbling some sort of poetry in black and white for Chanel perfume... I watch the Super Bowl and see Beyonce bouncing around in what I would think she should be wearing to bed... In just about every neighborhood I see a ton of so-called "massage parlors" and "Wedding Shops" with posters of women posing in alluring stances. Every day I turn on the Internet, my mailbox is full of "cheesecake" photos wanting me to subscribe to sex sites.
"Cheesecake" has sure come a long way in today's media generation. I even hear that 3-D is coming next. That's like putting chocolate syrup on one's cheesecake and having it melt before you can eat it!
A little publicized fact is that there is a percentage of these kids committing suicide because of the pressure. Then, the other end - after getting a degree in "Art" or whatever, the student can't find a job that pays enough and they have a $200,000 student loan to pay off to boot!
We are going to have a big shortage of plumbers and electricians in this country soon, all because of the idea that everyone needs a prestigious degree from some big university.
... don't get me started!!!!!
Sarah, your comic, simply stated, is great!
Very few early McDonald's restaurants remain, largely because McDonald's Corporation required its franchisees to update their buildings. Their original San Bernardino location at 1398 North E Street (since 1940) is in a run down neighborhood - but their third restaraunt, located at 10207 Lakewood Blvd. in Downey, California is still there with the original Golden Arches and the "Speedee" logo. Because of some legal 'franchise worded' contract, McDonalds didn't have complete control over the Downey operation, and thus the menu was slightly different, but well worth the drive to see and take pictures in front of with the employees wearing 50's style uniforms of paper hats, white shirts and bolo ties. After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, and with a lack of a drive-up window and indoor seating, the restaurant was closed. McDonald's wanted to tear it down, but because of the city and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 1994 list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, McDonald's spent two years restoring the restaurant and reopened it. Customers today can visit the original restaurant and an adjoining gift shop and museum. It's on the list of must-see places after Disneyland and the beaches.
Ahhh... the cool things about living in Southern California... Now Eddie will have to tell us all about "In-and-Out" Hamburgers which is probably better known in our area than McDonalds is!
How does he do it? He's got Emmy's and Golden Globes - and speaking of Golden Globes, how about the girlfriends he has conquered along the way? Talia Balsam, Ginger Lynn Allen, Kelly Preston, Lisa Snowden, Renee Zellweger, Krista Allen, Sarah Larson, Elisabetta Canalis and Stacy Keibler just to mention some. Man, I don't get it !
Oh, I guess most people know, but George comes from a long line of well known actors... His aunt is singer/actress Rosemary Clooney. His Mother (Nina Bruce) was a beauty queen. His Dad is Nick Clooney (former anchorman and game show host who now appears in PBS commercials and was in George's last film, The Monuments Men playing an older George). His Uncle was Jose Ferrer and is cousin to Miguel Ferrer. No wonder he found a job in Hollywood!
I should also add, that today - the very same day Eddie's story appeared here on Neatorama - Clooney made headlines in the news: "George Clooney storms off after Steve Wynn calls President Obama an a**hole". Apparently he is good friends with President Obama too. Maybe the President sees the sex appeal I don't (or Clooney is just another Hollywood connection).
P.S. Ladies: Clooney's shoe size is 10 1/2 ... mine is 12 !
As I read, I kept coming up with questions... like:
How one could find so many different women attractive. Wouldn't he have been so spoiled to have been more selective?
Or... Did he ever get any sort of disease?
Or... Did he ever give anyone a disease?
Or... Did he pay these women to "say" he slept with them for his image?
Or... Did someone tell him that getting to ‘third base' was great, but getting to ‘home' was difficult with some?
Or... Did someone tell him the incorrect meaning of "batter up" ?
Or... Did he just pick women to wear their clothes?
Or... Did he wear his glove in bed?
Then, the whole thing about Claire getting him to settle down. What was that all about? What did she have on him? Did she hypnotize Babe? Was she double-jointed or have two of "everything"?
Ah... so many questions...
I'll have second thoughts now when I bite off a chunk of a Baby Ruth candy bar and begin chewing it. Thanks a lot Eddie!
There was even a Grease Party with so many people attending... Chevy Chase, Andy Gibb (Bee Gees brother), Leif Garrett, Penny Marshall, Robert Stigwood, Frankie Valli (who sung the Grease theme), and of course Olivia, Travolta, Did Conn, Jeff Conway... gosh it was something! I took my small 35mm camera with me and snuck a few pictures here and there, but it was so crowded that it was hard taking any pictures at all!
The movie premiere was also the opening event for the organization "FILMEX". Filmex was (it is no longer around) The Los Angeles Film Exposition, kind of like the what the Cannes Film Festival is today. I remember that they even had to add a second premiere showing to accommodate the festivals members
I also remember the following week, when Grease was released to theatres, the lines were huge! I went to see the movie dozens of time at the Village Theatre in Westwood, CA. This was THE place to see movies when they came out. Located right next door to UCLA, and very close to Bel Air and Beverly Hills, you would always see premiers being held around town and quite often see celebrities eating dinner or seeing a show. I specifically remember one time, coming out of seeing Grease for the ump-teen-th time, and passing Barry Pearl, Kelly Ward and Michael Tucci (The three T-Birds) in the lobby as they were going in to see the movie themselves that they were in.
Eddie makes mention that he had such a small role in the movie, but ANY role in Grease is a HUGE role to me and everyone who has seen it!!! (By the way, in the DVD release that has extras, there a scene of Eddie that was cut - so you can see more of him!). I would have given my right arm to have been able to be in Eddie's shoes and have been a part of the movie's history!
Oh... P.S. Another little known fact... Susan Buckner who played Rydel's homecoming queen, was originally considered for the part of Sandy also, but it went to Olivia Newton-John and Susan took the role of Patty Simcox.
I have often said that I think enough time has passed since the disappointing release of Grease 2 and that they should consider making a follow-up.... except this time, Eddie's character Eugene, should now be Rydell High's principal !
Back in the late 1960's I got hooked on a show called "The Good Guys". It was kinda quirky and it appealed to me as a teenager, that I actually wrote a "fan letter" to Bob Denver asking him if I could start a Bob Denver fan club. To my surprise, a week later I got a letter from him in the mail. He hand wrote a thank you and said that I should come to meet him and watch him tape the show. If I recall, he taped it at CBS in Hollywood. Being that I hadn't gotten my drivers license yet, I skipped on my chance.
As a side-note... I STILL have the letter he wrote me packed away in a trunk in the closet. It's funny how little moments like this come back to you so many years later (like in Eddie Deezen's article)!
TV's Batman holds a special place for me. Mainly due to the fact that I grew up in Pasadena, California. The house they used for The "Wayne Manor" was not too far from where I lived and I would pass it all the time, sneaking a peek through the bushes to see if I could see anything.
One of the neatest memories I have was when a friend of mine (who was 17 years older than me at the time) would take me boating during the summer. My parent were poor, and this gentleman would treat me like one of his own kids. Well, this one Wednesday we got down to the beach and launched the boat. We had just gotten out and low-and-behold I looked over and saw the "Bat Boat" in the water! A little ways down the beach, they were filming the Batman movie. You could see Adam West and Burt Ward in their costumes as the big mirrors and boom mic were following them. Then, all of a sudden I heard something above which jarred me a bit. It was the Bat Copter! I guess they were bringing it in to use in the filming. What a thrill! I was about 12 or 13 at the time and what an impression it made on this lad.
From that point on, I was hooked on the TV series. As for today's movie remakes of Batman (Dark Knight, etc.) - I don't care for them. I even gave up going to see the new ones when they come out because MY Batman, no matter how cheesy, was original crime-fighter that I hold close to my heart as a kid.
I learned a lot about his thoughts, what he was led to believe, and what mattered to him when it came to show business. It was a time when his popularity was sinking after all those fluffy movies and before he decided to conquer Las Vegas (thanks to the success of the special he did at NBC).
He was truly in awe of his religious upbringing. Elvis held hymns and church music in highest esteem and laughed and was partially embarrassed when it came to the "pop" songs he had made a living singing. I swear, if Elvis wasn't a singer, he would have been a minister.
Now of course, I met him in the late 1960's... a decade after his first Christmas album came out. I can't say what he was feeling or what thoughts he had when he recorded it in the fifties, but I do know that because of his album, millions of people included Elvis Presley into their celebration of the holidays. I'll even bet his music brought attention to the real meaning of the holiday.
As I listen to the radio stations that play "Christmas Music" right now, I hear a lot of familiar standards I grew up with year after year. songs by Bing Crosby... Nat King Cole... Johnny Mathis... Karen Carpenter... Burl Ives... etc... But I always reach for the radio knob to turn up the volume when I hear "Blue Christmas" and my favorite, "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me." No matter what anyone says, Elvis' Christmas songs have that traditional meaning many new songs today miss the mark on.
I remember reading all the magazines and knowing a lot about John, Paul, George and Ringo back when they were in their heyday. Over the years I have forgotten so many things, and unless I go searching the library or the Internet for something, I don't hear, learn or reminisce much at all.
It's sometimes hard to believe that someone's life (like George) can be traced so closely... I don't even recall what I did last Monday! (ha!)
Thank you Eddie, for bringing back some of those memories, laced with such interesting facts I never have known. It's also hard to believe that it was fifty years ago!
Sometimes I wish we could turn back the clock to a sweeter time when "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was so simple!
I wonder if anyone today has REALLY looked into this... I mean, didn't Sammy Davis Jr. give Frank Sinatra a big hug and kiss on the cheek (in fun) years earlier? How about Timmy kissing Lassie? - Oh wait, that another species... Never mind....
She replied, "It was pretty stupid. I didn't like it all all."
Then I started asking my buddies if they had taken their dates or wives to see the movie, and everyone of them gave me the same reply... their dates HATED the movie.
I have come to the conclusion after all these years that "The Three Stooges" and "Blazing Saddles" are what one would call "guy" movies.
I would love to hear comments from the ladies out there who were around back when Blazing Saddles was released. Thanks Eddie for helping me to be called a "sexist" dog.
"Cheesecake" has sure come a long way in today's media generation. I even hear that 3-D is coming next. That's like putting chocolate syrup on one's cheesecake and having it melt before you can eat it!