Mark Evanier's Blog, page 63

FACT CHECK: R.F.K. (Again) on Measles

We could make this a daily feature here: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying something really stupid, claiming it's backed-up by numerous studies and then being unable to name any of those studies…or at least, any studies that sound authoritative.  This time, he's extolling the benefits of catching the measles.  Any day now, he'll be telling us that "some doctors" say that getting run over by a truck can be beneficial to your well-being.

Correction

I erred horribly in this post when I said the potato crisp known as Munchos didn't last long. They not only lasted a long time but they're still made. Many of you wrote to tell me, as one of you put it, "They may not be available where you live but they're available where I live." So I checked the websites of some local (to me) markets and found out that they are available in a few stores — including some at which I've shopped — in Los Angeles. I just somehow never noticed them.

Compounding my error about their continued existence, I also guessed wrong about what was in them. I ventured they were — and I quote myself — "reconstituted dehydrated potatoes mixed with corn starch, monosodium glutamate and maltodextrin." Perhaps they were when they were first introduced but here is the current ingredient list for at least one flavor of Munchos…

All of this made me curious about what Munchos are like.  I was thinking of whipping up a batch of them in my kitchen but I seem to be low on Ferrous Sulfate and completely out of Thiamin Mononitrate.  Given this lack of ingredients, I decided it might be easier to just order a bag of Munchos from one of the markets that bring me my groceries.

So I will soon try them and report back to you.  I hope I don't like Munchos because I wouldn't want to eat something like that on a regular basis.  If they're good, I could easily see myself acting like the Cookie Monster prototype in those commercials.

Today's Video Link

In 1969, Jim Henson produced several commercials for a new potato crisp called Munchos. Munchos didn't last long, but a furry creature in those ads named "Arnold" soon got a different voice, found a great street to live on and discovered cookies were much tastier than reconstituted dehydrated potatoes mixed with corn starch, monosodium glutamate and maltodextrin…

ASK me: Show Biz Careers

One of those folks who wants to remain nameless — because, I always assume, they'd be ashamed to have the world know they read this blog — wrote right after I posted that episode of I've Got a Secret with Kirk Alyn, the man who played Superman in the movie serials. Here's what Jerry Walker wanted to know…

Looking at Kirk Alyn's IMDB page, I see that he worked a lot in Hollywood for a while and then he had long periods when he couldn't possibly have been supporting himself as an actor. Why do you think that was? How do you think he felt about it?

I don't think very many people who decide to become actors — and really it applies to any profession you choose to pursue — are happy not to be working in their chosen profession. How they cope with this is complex and can vary a lot from person to person. There are those who are proud they had what they had. There are those who are angry or sad that they didn't have more of it. There are those who can be both in a single sentence.

But before I get into that, I should say that an actor's IMDB page might not tell you everything about how often they worked or their financial health. First, IMDB has listings that are wrong or incomplete. Secondly, there are actors have lucrative and satisfying careers acting for the stage or in commercials or who make the slight adjustment into teaching and other acting-adjacent professions not charted by IMDB. I can't find my copy of Kirk Alyn's autobiography but I seem to recall him talking about some stage work he'd done. It may not have been as bleak as you presume.

Kirk Alyn starring in the Blackhawk serial

Also, a person is allowed to have more than one chosen profession. I know people who act but also paint or write or dance or perform music or find satisfaction and grocery money doing other things. Every time I see a big musical dance number on a sixties variety show done in Los Angeles, I'm reminded of a gent I met shortly after I bought my house. He was an expert finish carpenter and he did magnificent work. It was his other profession along with dancing and he ticked off a long list of shows he'd been on, including every episode of The Red Skelton Show for two seasons.

He did not think of himself as a dancer who, at the moment he was here seamlessly patching a big crack in my front door, was outta work. As far as he was concerned, he was a dancer/finish carpenter who was happy doing either and was doing one way more often than the other just then.

It's all kinda how you look at it. I believe that one of the secrets to sanity in show business — or any field where there are short term jobs and you can go months without one — is to accept the capriciousness of the profession you've chosen. And it helps if you can learn to be amused by it…or fascinated by how on Monday, you have absolutely no prospects of work and then on Tuesday, someone calls and you're on a series. It can work that way even when that Monday and that Tuesday are years apart. I've probably said this before — and come to think of it, I have a graphic I made that I can re-use here. It's the catch phrase from the old Super Chicken cartoons…

But getting back to Jerry Walker's question: It's hard to say why Kirk Alyn didn't star in more movies after a certain time period. It may be as simple as a certain casting director or producer really liking him and casting him a number of times…and then that casting director or producer has suddenly discovered a different leading man type.

Or maybe that casting director or producer just wasn't casting anything anymore. A lot of hiring is done on whims or hunches. It's about as inexact a science as you can find. I suspect that at the time Mr. Alyn was in the most demand, there were a thousand guys in this town who could have played the same roles. And some of them were wondering why that Kirk Alyn guy got jobs that they could have done.

It's just the way the business works and always will. Maybe ten dozen times in my life — and probably more — someone who had the power to hire me for a real good job told me they were going to and it looked pretty definite. And then it went to someone else…or it went to no one else because the project was canceled. I've learned to shrug and say "That's show biz." A prominent voice actor friend once told me that every time he gets a job, he reminds himself, "It didn't have to be you!"

So I don't know why Kirk Alyn didn't act more but it's quite possible (even probable) that there was no reason just as there's no fixable reason why I didn't win the Powerball Lottery two nights ago. True, I didn't buy a ticket but I don't believe that would have made much of a difference.

By the way: The above quoted question did not come from someone named Jerry Walker. I made that name up. It was actually from someone named Enrique Gardenhose.

FACT CHECK: Job Numbers

Trump has been talking a lot about job numbers lately…which means he's been lying and cherry-picking and distorting reality. The folks at FactCheck.org set things straight.

Today's Video Link

This is a half-hour episode of the 1972 version of I've Got a Secret. I've embedded it but configured things so if you click to watch it, it starts late in the program just as they're bringing out the last contestant. That contestant is Kirk Alyn, who played Superman in movie serials beginning in 1948. Mr. Alyn, as I think I've mentioned on this site, was a frequent guest at comic book conventions in Southern California, way back when very few celebrities by any definition did that. Always dressed immaculately in suit and tie, he'd gladly talk with anyone, especially if they bought an autographed photo or a copy of his self-published autobiography. He was also Blackhawk in a 1952 serial.

By '72, his acting career was pretty much over, though he did get a brief cameo in the 1978 Superman movie with Christopher Reeve. He was a pleasant gentleman, very gracious and very appreciative of your attention. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing him on this show. If you want to watch the whole episode, move the slider all the way to the left and it will start from the beginning. The celebrity guest was Buddy Hackett…

FACT CHECK: The Voice of America

For some 83 years, the Voice of America radio broadcasts have spread the message of democracy to some 360 million people around the world. The White House is now accusing them of spreading "radical propaganda" — and their definition seems to be anything that isn't wildly pro-Trump. Glenn Kessler, the ace fact-finder of The Washington Post, explains how ridiculous the allegation is.

Good Blogkeeping

I accidentally posted the wrong draft of the preceding post. I have corrected it and now the right draft of it is there.

Today's Video Link

The TV career of the great Sid Caesar confuses some people so let's run through it. These are the American TV series which starred Mr. Caesar…

Admiral Broadway Revue (1949) – Imogene Coca and Sid – Writers were Mel Tolkin, Mel Brooks and Lucille Kallen.Your Show of Shows (1950-1954) – Imogene and Sid joined by Carl Reiner and Howard Morris – Writers included Tolkin, Brooks, and Kallen, plus Tony Webster, Joe Stein, Selma Diamond, Neil Simon and Danny Simon.Caesar's Hour (1954-1957) – Nanette Fabray replaces Imogene while Carl and Howie remain – Writers included Tolkin, Brooks, Diamond, Stein, Webster, Stewart and the Simon brothers plus Larry Gelbart, Aaron Ruben, Sheldon Keller, Gary Belkin, Phil Sharp and others.Sid Caesar Invites You (1958) – Imogene Coca returns, Carl Reiner remains, Howie Morris does not – Writers included Tolkin, Brooks, Gelbart, Stewart and the Simon Brothers.The Sid Caesar Show (1963-1964) – No Coca, Reiner or Morris. In support were Gisele MacKenzie, Joey Forman and Bea Arthur – Writers included Diamond and Webster along with Mickey Rose, Goodman Ace, Jay Burton and Terry Ryan.

And there were a number of specials before and after that last series.  People keep listing Larry Gelbart and Woody Allen as writers on Your Show of Shows but neither were there. Gelbart's career with Sid started at Caesar's Hour.  Allen's work with him was on specials and there is some disagreement out there as to which ones and when, and some claim he worked on that last series.

But there's another Sid Caesar series that isn't on the above list and the reason it isn't there is that that's a list of shows done in America.  Sid Caesar Invites You was not run in England but after it finished in the U.S., Caesar and Coca went over there and did thirteen half-hours of Sid Caesar Invites You for the B.B.C., recycling scripts done for the American version. American comic actor Cliff Norton joined them over there and reportedly, Carl Reiner turned up in a couple of episodes but he's nowhere to be seen in this one…

FACT CHECK: Biden's Pardons

The current occupant of the White House is claiming that pardons issued by his predecessor are invalid. Politifact explains how ridiculous that is. The current guy will say just about anything that he thinks will thrill his base.