Mark Evanier's Blog, page 91

From the E-Mailbag…

Referencing the previous post here, G. Robson wrote me to say…

The religiously-minded would perhaps point out that the scientific discoveries that cured those 10 diseases came about as a result of prayer (and a lot of research and hard work of course).

And that's fine. I personally don't think praying does anything except make the person doing the praying feel better and perhaps pleasing others who have a personal stake in what is being prayed-for occurring. But that's not nothing. And as far as I can tell, no one can or should stop anyone from praying at any time for anything. They can maybe stop you from insisting others pray along with you or they can say, when what was prayed-for comes to pass, that it's not the praying that did that…that it wouldn't have happened without the science.

On the other hand, it's quite possible to impede or even stop science from advancing or being applied. That can be fatal and often is.

A Meme for the Moment…

This is a meme that's making the rounds of the Internet and I decided it should be on my site too…

Mark's Xmas Video Countdown – #5

And of course, we all remember the great song from the 1966 animated special from the great Dr. Seuss book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was directed by Chuck Jones and starred the voice of Boris Karloff…but maybe the real star of it was Thurl "Tony the Tiger" Ravenscroft singing this song. The lyrics were written by Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel himself and the tune was by Albert Hague, who some of you may recall as the music teacher, Professor Shorofsky, in both the movie and TV series of Fame. Here's how it was sung in the special by Mr. Ravenscroft…

There have been dozens, if not hundreds of cover versions and videos but here are three I like. This first one was done by Voctave, a musical group I often feature on this blog…

And this is by another favorite group, Pentatonix…

And this version is by yet another musical group, Home Free…

Today's Video Link

Have you got two hours to learn all about Bob Hope? Here's the complete profile of him from the American Masters series on PBS. It's a pretty good history of the man and it isn't too biased in his favor…

Phoney Pholks

It's been a busy week here and way too much of it was spent answering phone calls that turned out to be spam callers trying to send me something I absolutely don't want. A lot of them ask for me by name, then say they're with "Medicare Providers" or some name that sounds kinda official and connected to my actual medical insurance. They actually have nothing to do with Medicare. What they seek in these calls — which I assume they're recording — is to get me to okay them sending me some piece of medical equipment. I usually cut them off pretty quickly but sometimes I play along for a minute or so.

They tell me their records — which allegedly include info from some unnamed doctor I see — say that I have some condition. Usually, when I let them get as far as this part of the call, they say it's back trouble and that this unnamed doctor of mine wants me to receive, at absolutely no cost to me, a back brace. The problem with that: I absolutely do not have back trouble nor would any of my doctors think I do. Still, if I say "Okay" and verify my shipping address, they'll send me this thing and then, I'm pretty sure, bill Medicare some very large sum of money. Sometimes, it's not a back brace. Sometimes, it's a blood sugar monitor or a piece of exercise equipment.

I say no pretty firmly, whereupon they hang up. More often actually, I don't let them get that far. Right off, I say, "You are not with Medicare" and they either hang up or argue a bit and then hang up…or I hang up. So far, no one has shipped me anything but these calls inspired me to carefully study the statements I receive from the genuine Medicare folks. In the last few months, I've reported four different instances where the Medicare statement says I received some sort of medical equipment (which I never got). Or they claim I underwent sort of test (which I never took) from some provider I never heard of and which is usually located far off in another state.

In the most recent statement, Medicare was billed by a medical supply company in North Carolina for a "lumbar-sacral orthosis, sagittal-coronal control, with rigid anterior and posterior frame panels." I don't know what that is but I do know I never got one of them things.

A lumbar-sacral orthosis, sagittal-coronal control, with rigid anterior and posterior frame panels.

Oh, wait. I just thought to Google it and I found the above photo and this definition: "A lumbar-sacral orthosis is a type of back brace designed to support and stabilize the lower spine, specifically from the sacrococcygeal junction to the T-9 vertebra. It features rigid panels and frames that control the movement of the spine in multiple directions, helping to reduce pain and promote healing." Yeah…a back brace.

So that's what it is and like I said, I've never received or needed one. The firm in Norh Carolina allegedly supplied this to me last June and then, according to the statement I received, billed Medicare $1,963.00 for it. This was above the allowable amount for one of these so Medicare paid them $1,089.30.

By the way, I'm pleased that reporting these cases never takes long. I intend to keep doing this even though I have yet to hear the disposition of any of these matters thus far reported
. What I'm kinda curious to know is if the outfits that have been paid for bogus claims of goods and services to me are the same folks who call me claiming to be "Medicare Providers" or "Medicare Consultants" or somesuch name. I never authorized any of them to send me anything and they didn't…but maybe they submitted claims anyway.

I'll let you know if I learn anything. In the meantime, speaking of bogus scams, here's this one more time…

Mark's Xmas Video Countdown – #6

Brenda Lee's 1958 recording of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" became a hit all over again last year and I've decided to include this recent video she made of it in this year's countdown…

…and also this recent version cover of the song which is very faithful to Ms. Lee's even though it took two ladies to do what Brenda did all by herself. That's Josh Turner's band and the vocalists are two ladies who call themselves The Ladybugs…

Today's Video Link

One of the happiest places I've ever been was the workshop of one of the nicest and most talented men it has ever been my honor to know. I'm talking about Daws Butler, the great cartoon voice actor who put words in the mouth of — and I'm doing this from memory — Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Mr. Jinks, Dixie the Mouse, Hokey Wolf, Quick Draw McGraw, Baba Looie, Snooper, Blabber, Augie Doggie, Snagglepuss, Elroy Jetson, Wally Gator, Peter Potamus, Bingo (of the Banana Splits), Captain Crunch and probably a few hundred others.

One of the foundations of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio was Daws, not only because he voiced so many of their earlier characters but because he set the standard for voice acting for television animation. Mel Blanc was the guy who showed everyone how to do it for theatrical cartoons with full animation. Daws was the man who loaded his performances with so much personality that it made up for the fact that the characters didn't move so much and when they did, they all moved in pretty much the same way.

And he was a wonderful person. This video is Daws taking someone on tour of his workshop, which was in a guest house in the back of his home in Beverly Hills. There, he taught students, many of whom became very successful in the voiceover field. I was not his student in that sense. I have trouble sounding like me, let alone someone else. But he invited me to sit in on classes occasionally and he and I spent many hours in that studio just talking…and I think I learned something about writing by better understanding the craft of acting.

This video allows you to spend ten minutes with Daws. I'm sorry for your sake you couldn't spend more…

Mark's Xmas Video Countdown – #7

10-year old Gayla Peevey recorded "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" in 1953 and had a decent-sized hit with it. Here she is on some show back then lip-syncing to the recording…

There are about eighty-seven thousand other videos of this song on YouTube but fear not. I've only chosen three to clog your screen. First, we have the Gold Note Chorus from Fresno, California…

Next, we have a jazzy version from Gretchen Wilson…

Lastly, here's Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox featuring Lauren Tyler Scott. If this isn't enough for you, you'll be amazed how many other interpretations you can find online…

Mark's Xmas Video Countdown – #8

Songwriter and occasional actor Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville) had several hit records before he recorded "The Chipmunk Song" in the latter part of 1958. Earlier that year, he'd had a Number One Smash with "The Witch Doctor," which featured him singing along with a sped-up voice, also by him. I guess he figured if one sped-up voice was big, three would be bigger and he gave us Alvin, Simon and Theodore. "The Chipmunk Song" was not only a bigger sensation but it launched an empire that thrives to this day.

Here's Mr. Bagdasarian-Seville lip-syncing to a cut-down version of that original record that year on The Ed Sullivan Show. I recall Bob Clampett — the great cartoon director and the producer of Beany and Cecil — telling me he had something to do with that appearance. It was helping design the puppets or helping Bagdasarian get them built or find puppeteers…I don't know what but something…

People keep singing this song. Last year, I featured this video which I like a lot. It's by a group called Voiceplay…

And here's a somewhat new version by a group called Cimorelli. I like this one, too…

Today's Video Link

I've seen the movie Goldfinger enough times to notice every single thing wrong with its script…or so I thought. Here in 16 minutes or less, the folks at CinemaSins heckle the film and point out an awful lot of things that never occurred to me. Some of it's absurdly nit-picky but a lot of it is not. And it all struck me as very funny…