April 23, 1996: I hosted my writers open stage as always

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday night as always I hosted my Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy writers open stage in the Art Bar of the Gladstone Hotel.

Barbara Feldon

            On Tuesday morning I ran through singing and playing verses 9 to 11 of “Ballad of a Dealer”, my translation of “Ballade de la chnoufe” by Boris Vian. 

            I finished memorizing “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg. Tomorrow I’ll start working out the chords. 

            I weighed 88.85 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Kramer electric during song practice and it stayed in tune about a third of the time. 

            I had to quit song practice two songs early because I needed to get ready to ride to get together with Brian Haddon at the Scotland Yard pub in the Esplanade. We were scheduled to meet at 13:00 and I was pretty much on time with Brian already there when I arrived. For some odd reason I got the idea that I was half an hour early and wondered why Brian was there. We shared a pitcher of Creemore. I had the cheeseburger with fries and he had the fish and chips. The food was excellent but there were big screens on either side of us blasting a football game. We’ll probably get together again at the end of May perhaps at The Artful Dodger. 

            I stopped at No Frills at John and Richmond where I bought three bags of grapes and a box of Earl Grey tea. 

            I took a siesta from 17:00 until about 18:45. 

            I weighed 88.9 kilos at 19:45. 

            I worked on getting caught up in my journal but was still behind at suppertime. 

            I had a potato with gravy and the five left over little thin-sliced eye of round steaks while watching season 3, episode 17 of The Carol Burnett Show. 

            The first sketch was with The Old Folks Mollie and Burt played by Carol and Harvey. After tease-insulting each other for a while they start singing, “Cuddle Up a Little Closer” by Karl Hoschna and Otto Harbach from 1908. 

            Barbara Feldon does a song and dance with “If You’ve Got the Money I’ve Got the Time” by Lefty Frizell and Jim Beck from 1950. They do it with kind of a ragtime flavour rather than the original country and western style. But the instrumental break with all the dancing was to the tune of “Yakety Sax” by Spider Rich and Boots Randolph from 1963 (best recognized as Benny Hill’s theme music).

            Joan Rivers does a stand-up routine. She says she flew Trans Jersey Airlines in a rainstorm to get from New York to LA. Everybody in tourist class got a rabbits foot and a cross but each person in first class got their own priest. Even the plane looked afraid because it had it’s wings folded over its nose. When she boarded the plane a man said, “If the lord wanted man to fly he’d have given him wings”, and that was the pilot. She says the flight attendants were beautiful but dumb. She says, “Dumb doesn’t matter when you’re beautiful, which is why I’m educated”. “I’m a Philosophy major but what good does Philosophy do me now? I can go to the butcher and prove the meat doesn’t exist?” “I studied Calculus and learned to figure out the length of a room but you don’t need Calculus when you’re housewife. It’s always seven inches longer than your vacuum cleaner cord”. “Housework is futile. You make the bed, you do the dishes but six months later you have to start all over again”. “If guests come over I just put down a drop cloth and tell them I’m painting”. “When it gets really filthy I call up my husband’s mother and ask her to show me one more time how he likes it”. “If you have kids that can crawl they can dust. You tie the diapers to their legs and throw a cookie across the room”. 

            Carol and Harvey play Stella and Harry, a poor couple in a run down apartment celebrating their 20th anniversary. He comes home from not looking for a job but forgets what day it is. She asks him to guess what happened 20 years ago and he lists the Korean war, almost getting drafted, getting double pneumonia. She says they got married and he says, “I knew it was something bad”. They decide to celebrate but have to get rid of the kids for the night. Their oldest son is a biker played by Lyle. He leaves. Now they have to get rid of the 11 year old. Dulcey is played by Vicki and looks a lot older than 11. Stella asks if there are any friends she can stay with tonight. Dulcey says, “Sure there’s Charlie, Tommy, Joey, Rocko, Mike, Al, Stanley…” Stella asks if she needs any money but Dulcey says she’s got a lot left over from her alimony cheque. 

            The next skit is the Miss Globe pageant hosted by Burt Sparks. Carol plays Miss USA, Barbara plays Miss India, Vicki plays Miss Holland, and Joan plays Miss China. The other contestants are played by members of the Ernie Flatt Dancers. Miss Holland wins Miss Warmth but gets a four month scholarship to a welding school. She reminds Burt that last night when she was a good sport he promised her a trophy. Burt has some men take her away. She tells him they’re going to take him away because she’s not 18 yet. The three finalists are Miss India, Miss China, and Miss USA. Burt asks them each a question. Miss USA is asked for the best way to aid the underdeveloped parts of the world and she answers the best way is exercise. She demonstrates a breast developing exercise. Miss India is asked what was her first impression of New York City. She says in a not bad Indian accent that New York is very similar to her own native city. Burt asks what city that is and she answers in a US accent “Chicago”. Burt asks, “Don’t you mean Calcutta?” She says, “No, you found me in the show Oh Calcutta, don’t you remember?” (Oh Calcutta was an R rated hit musical that started off Broadway in 1969. It was successful in London and New York but there were arrests in some smaller US cities). Miss China is asked where she thinks she will find the man of her dreams. She answers with a racist joke, “In yellow pages”. Then there’s the talent competition starting with Miss China demonstrating the ancient oriental art of stand-up comedy. She says, “Greetings ladies and Caucasians”. She has a gong hanging under her dress that she hits after telling a joke. She tells one joke and then says, “Last time I buy joke from Mao Tse Tung”. “Confucious say, many men smoke but Fu Manchu.” “That’s all the Chinese jokes for now but I be back in one hour when you hungry for more”. Miss India does a snake dance. She is basket on her left shoulder with a fake but realistic looking left arm and hand while her real left arm manipulates a snake puppet. Miss USA sings “Don’t Fence Me In” by Cole Porter but with extremely bad timing and out of tune. The first of the finalists to be eliminated is Miss China, who threatens to call Burt’s wife. The winner is Miss USA and Miss India begins strangling her. 

            The final bit has Carol’s character the Charwoman cleaning up at a nursery school. She sings a song that’s probably called “Where Did My Childhood Go?” but I can’t find it in a search. 

            Barbara Feldon studied acting at HB Studio in New York. In 1957 she won the grand prize in the $64,000 Question on the topic of Shakespeare. She caught the attention of TV producers after being featured seductively lounging on an animal skin type rug in a TV commercial for Top Brass hair pomade and calling the men who use it “Tigers”. She was cast as Agent 99 on Get Smart in 1965 and played the role for the show’s entire run until 1970. She received two Emmy nominations for her role. Her character’s real name was never given even after 99 married Maxwell Smart he still called her 99. She performed 5 times on The Dean Martin Show. She co-starred in Fitzwilly, and Smile. She wrote two books: Living Alone and Loving it and Getting Smarter: a Memoir.

April 22, 1996: I probably modelled at OCA or Central Tech

Thirty years ago today

            On Monday I probably worked modelling either at the Ontario College of Art or at Central Technical School. Those were the two main places where I got jobs posing in those days.

Harold Gould

            On Monday morning I ran through singing and playing verses 5 to 8 of “Ballad of a Dealer”, my translation of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I came close to memorizing the fifth and final verse of “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg so there’s a good chance I’ll have it nailed down tomorrow. 

            I weighed 89.25 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since March 4. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio during song practice and it stayed in tune about half the time. 

            I weighed 89.5 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back stopped at Freshco to buy grapes but they were all too soft. So I crossed the street to Metro only to find that their grapes were no firmer and so I wasted my time. 

            I weighed 89.35 kilos at 18:40. 

            I worked on getting caught up in my journal. 

            My upstairs neighbour David gave me a pack of eight thinly sliced eye of round steaks on Friday. Tonight I grilled them in the oven and had three with a potato and gravy while watching season three, episode 16 of The Carol Burnett Show. 

            During the audience warmup Carol brings out California Governor Ronald Reagan. He tells her that she’s practically part of the administration because his family sees her every week. Someone asks if Carol will be his running mate. He says he’ll win for sure if she is. 

            In the first skit Soupy Sales plays a guy in the hospital scamming his insurance company over several fake injuries that his brother-in-law doctor is helping him scam. Fireside Girl Alice Portnoy (played by Carol) arrives asking for donations for the patients in the poorer wards. Soupy gives her a nickel. She says she saw him jump in front of a truck that wasn’t even moving. He gives her a quarter and she promises not to tell anyone, not even her uncle the policeman. He gives her all of his change. She asks if there is anything can do for him and he shakes his head. She asks if he’s sure and he nods his head. Then she says, “Congratulations sir. Your whiplash is cured. I’ll call the nurse”. He gives her $5. She is leaving and says to say hello to his brother-in-law the doctor. He gives her all the money in his wallet, which is $30. She says that’s nothing compared to the quarter million he’ll be getting from the insurance company. She says the Fireside Girls should get 30%. He begins chasing her and ends up falling out the window and she calls to him that his injuries are real this time. 

            Mel Tormé sings “Hurry On Down” by Nellie Lutcher from 1947. 

            In the Carol and Sis sketch, Carol is on a hunger strike because Roger won’t take her with him on his business trip to Hawaii. Roger’s boss Mr. Phillips is coming over to discuss the trip and Chrissie (played by Vickie Lawrence) has made hors d’oeuvres, which are driving Carol crazy. Roger comes home and is trying to get Carol to go to bed but then Phillips arrives and wants to have Carol sit with him because he likes to get to know the wives. He’s eating the hors d’oeuvres and Carol is holding her face close to his to watch. Phillips learns that Carol isn’t going on the trip and it turns out that he thinks she should. Roger lies that it was Carol’s decision. It is settled that Carol is going after all and she begins pigging out on the hors d’oeuvres. Phillips leaves and Roger asks angrily if she’s satisfied that she’s going to Hawaii now. She says she doesn’t know if she can go now because she has a stomach ache. 

            The next set of skits and musical numbers are part of a series that pays tribute to the great Hollywood movie studios. At the turn of the century the four Warner Brothers travelled west to create the studio that still bears their name. 

            In the first skit Carol plays Bugs Bunny while Soupy plays Elmer Fudd. Bugs bends Elmer’s shotgun to point back at himself. Harvey plays Porky Pig doing the stuttering finally of “D-d-d that’s all folks!” 

            Carol and Mel sing a song to the tune of “Ain’t We Got Fun” about the biographies that Warner Brothers did of George Gershwin, George M. Cohan, the great Cole Porter that fabulous man, Eddie Cantor (played by Keefe Brasselle), and Gus Khan (played by Danny Thomas). 

            Harvey and Mel sing “Makin Whoopie” by Gus Khan and Walter Donaldson. Vicki and Mel sing “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love” and “I Get a Kick Out of You” by Cole Porter. Soupy sings “Now’s the Time to Fall in Love” by Al Sherman and Al Lewis. Carol sings “S’wonderful” by George Gershwin. Everybody sings “You’re a Grand old Flag” by George M. Cohan. 

            Lyle does an intro to a parody of Joan Crawford who was a star in the 20s and is still a star. She was the master of “the woman’s picture”. For Warner Brothers she played tough career women who were successful in business but unsuccessful in love. Carol plays Joan Crawford playing Mildred Fierce. She dictates a letter to her secretary played by Soupy: “Dear sir, I do not like the way you are conducting business. Either you shape up or ship out. Signed Mildred Fierce. Soupy asks, “Who do I send this to?” Mildred says, “The president of the United States”. She calls her psychiatrist and tells him she’s distraught as a window washer lowers himself on a rope outside her office window. She says to her psychiatrist, “That’s ridiculous! I do not hate men! Excuse me…” She puts down the phone to pick up some scissors and cut the window washer’s rope. Then a handsome man (played by Lyle) walks in. Mildred tells the entire story of what she imagines their potential relationship to be from the romantic beginning to the terrible and then she slaps his face. He says, “Lady I just came in to check the air conditioning!” Then her ex-husband played by Mel comes in with Mildred’s young daughter who is dressed exactly like Mildred in a striped power suit with fierce shoulder pads. Mildred asks, “Why didn’t you tell me we had a child?” She hugs her and says, “We must spend more time together. On your way out make an appointment”. Mel asks for a job and Mildred asks if he wants to be a window washer. Mildred wonders when she’ll meet a man stronger than she is. Then a tough looking working class man walks in and tells her he’s the one. She admits he has an animal magnetism and he says that’s because he came straight from the gym. He says he’ll be gentle but she says he doesn’t have to because she’s wearing shoulder pads. They kiss and then Soupy comes in with a telegram. Mildred says, “Here hold this” and Soupy takes Harvey in his arms while Mildred reads the telegram. It tells her she’s been drafted. 

            Vicki says “In the 40s all the major studios ran dramatic schools for their contract players”. Carol plays an instructor in a Warner Brothers school for future leading men. She shows pictures of several male movie starts and asks, “Are they handsome, are they charming?” The answer is they’re not. “When you get right down to cases they’re a pretty homely lot”. What they have is meanness. “Once you cultivate a sneer you will hear the people cheer”. You gotta be rough and tumble, don’t be humble, ladies adore a swine”. “Snarl and gnash your teeth, turn your feelings on and off like a machine… You’re on very solid ground when you slap the dames around.” Then the dancers do a routine that demonstrates manhandling women. There is a lot of fake slapping and it’s something like an Apache dance but with several dancers. Then Harvey pushes a grapefruit half into Carol’s face like the famous scene from Public Enemy with James Cagney and Mae Clarke. 

            Mr. Phillips was played by Harold Gould who earned a PHD in Theatre and then taught Speech and Drama at Cornell University. He made his professional theatre debut as Thomas Jefferson in The Common Glory in 1955. He made his TV debut in Dennis the Menace in 1961. He made his film debut in Two for the Seesaw in 1962. He played Honore Vashon on Hawaii Five-O. He played Marlo Thomas’s father in the That Girl pilot. On Love American Style he was the first actor to play Howard Cunningham. He was invited to do the Happy Days pilot but he had a previous commitment. He played Rhoda’s father on Rhoda. He co-starred in the short-lived sitcom The Feather and Father Gang. He played Louis B, Mayer in The Scarlett O’Hara War for which he received one of his five Emmy nominations. He played Miles Webber on Golden Girls. He co-starred in Master of Disguise. In 2005 he did a 12 city tour of Tuesdays with Morrie. He was married to Lea Vernon for 60 years.

April 21, 1996: It was nice enough to play outside

Thirty years ago today 

            On Sunday it wasn’t as warm as the day before but it was sunny and nice enough for my daughter and I to play outside.

Vikki Carr

            On Sunday morning I ran through singing and playing the first four verses of “Ballad of a Dealer”, which is my translation of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. It’ll take a few days to get through the song because the chords are placed with the French text and I haven’t memorized the English text and so I have to keep bouncing back and forth. 

            I finished memorizing the fourth verse of “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg. There are only four new lines to learn for the final verse so I’ll probably have it all done tomorrow or the next day. 

            I weighed 88.75 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the last of four sessions and it went out of tune for all but the second to last song. 

            Around midday I cleaned my warm mist humidifier but it hadn’t been needed for the most of last week so there wasn’t much to clean. Unfortunately this next week looks like it’s going to be cold and so I’ll need to run it a lot of the time. 

            I weighed 89.75 kilos before lunch, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the early afternoon since March 7. I had saltines with peanut butter, baba ghanoush, five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea.

            In the afternoon I started a bike ride, intending to go downtown but I got caught in a sleet shower. It had subsided mostly by the time I got to Brock and College but the front of my pants was soaked and icy cold so I turned and went home. 

            I weighed 89.15 kilos at 17:15. 

            I was caught up in my journal by 19:21. I returned to trying to digitize in Audacity the cassette tape of a Christian and the Lions concert at the El Mocambo. Yesterday I was able to get a waveform but it disappeared before the second song. This time with the same settings I could not get a waveform. I restarted but there was still no waveform. It was only after a second restart that I got one. I started recording and the waveform lasted for almost 23 minutes through the first three songs and halfway through “The Next State of Grace”. It seems to be a memory issue similar to why Movie Maker sometimes freezes on me. I saved the project and decided I’ll resume it the next time I get a waveform, which will hopefully be tomorrow. 

            I had a potato with gravy while watching season 3, episode 15 of The Carol Burnett Show.

            During the audience warmup Flip Wilson says his real name is Clerow. 

            In the first skit Harvey and Carol play two losers who meet because they are shunned by everybody else at a party. Harvey has ridiculously extreme dandruff and Carol has very bad breath. They bond because of those and various other conditions they have, plus they both have snorty laughs.

            Vikki Carr songs “Go (Voir)”. 

            Flip Wilson tells a story about a soldier named Jenkins in Vietnam who gets in trouble for complaining about the creamed chipped beef on toast. He explains to the captain that the cream is too thin, there should be bigger chips and his mother used biscuits instead of toast. Plus his mother didn’t say “Keep the line moving!” Jenkins is sent into the jungle with a pad and pencil to count the Viet Cong but returns with 4000 prisoners. He explains that he found them sleeping and started counting them. They woke up and asked what he was doing and he told them. He captured them while they were laughing. As a reward they brought Jenkins’s mother to make Creamed chipped beef on biscuits but she said “Keep the line moving!” 

            In the Carol and Sis sketch, Carol and Chrissie (played by Vicki Lawrence) come home from Carol’s 30th birthday party and Carol is smashed on champagne. Chrissie tries to get Carol to bed before Roger gets home from work because Roger doesn’t think Carol should drink as she can’t handle it. But he does get home and finds her drunk and depressed about turning 30. He goes to make her coffee. She tries to follow him but forgets where the kitchen door is and gets hit by it. Then Roger carries her to bed. 

            Vicki Lawrence does a song and dance with the Ernie Flatt Dancers. The song is “Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head” by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. 

            There’s a parody of Mission Impossible called Mission Improbable. Lyle plays the leader, Carol plays the femme fatale part that Barbara Bain plays in the real show, Harvey plays the master of disguise, and Flip Wilson plays Greg Morris’s part. Carol’s name is Oregano. She makes a slow and sultry entrance and Jim hands her an Emmy Award (Bain won three Emmys in a row for her performances on Mission Impossible). Harvey comes in wearing a combination of glasses, a big pink plastic nose and a moustache and says it’s his best disguise yet. Jim says that deserves an Emmy so he gives another to Oregano. Flip’s character Brainy has a mini laser nuclear ultrasonic transmitting paralyzer gun with a built-in tele-reader differential computer. He got it for 25 cents and three box tops. The mission is to solve the murder of US-friendly dictator General Delsado who led a plot to overthrow himself but failed. He was murdered by his wife Charline but they need to prove it. Charline (played by Vikki Carr) is hooked on Spiritualism so Oregano pretends to be a spiritualist who makes contact with her dead husband played by Harvey. Oregano shouts to Delsado because it’s long distance. He accuses her of killing him but she denies it. They say that her maid was a witness and they bring in Flip Wilson as the maid Geraldine. Geraldine gives a long account of how Charline killed her husband and after she’s finished Oregano hands her an Emmy. Charline confesses that she killed him and Geraldine gives her the Emmy. Charline is carried away and then the real Mission Impossible Team minus Barbara Bain walks in. Geraldine flirts with Greg Morris. 

            The whole cast, the dancers and the guests sing and dance to a song that seems to be called “There’s Enough to Go Around”. 

            Vikki Carr began performing at the age of 4. She signed with Liberty Records at 20. She was the first to record “He’s a Rebel” in 1962 and it was a hit in Australia. Her first album was Colour Her Great in 1963. In 1967 she had a top 5 hit with “It Must Be Him” by Gilbert Bécaud and Mack David. Her version of the song resurged when it was featured in the movie Moonstruck. She had other hits with “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” and “For Once in My Life”. She was the first female to regularly guest host Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. She made her acting debut on The Bing Crosby Show in 1964. Although of Mexican heritage she didn’t perform in Mexico until she was 30 and she became a superstar there. She became popular throughout Latin America. She’s had several number 1 hits on the Latin charts. She released her first Spanish language album the same year and it became her greatest success. She won three Grammy Awards. Dean Martin said she was the best girl singer in the business and Elvis Presley was also a big fan.

April 20, 1996: It was almost like a summer day

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday it was almost as warm as summer when I picked up my daughter to spend the weekend at my place. We played in the back yard and at the local playground.

Rusty Warren

            On Saturday morning I finished revising my translation of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll run through singing and playing it. 

            For the second day I still wasn’t able to memorize the fourth verse of “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg. I had it twice but it slipped away each time. I’ll probably get it into my head tomorrow. 

            I weighed 88.95 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since March 7. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the third of four sessions and it went out of tune during all but the penultimate song. I was really out of it while practicing and almost dozed off a few times, so practice took an extra half an hour. 

            Around midday I rode to No Frills where all the grapes were too soft. I bought a bag of oranges, two packs of raspberries, a pack of strawberries, some bananas, a pack of five-year-old cheddar, a box of spoon sized shredded wheat, three bags of skim milk, a tub of margarine, a jug of iced tea, two containers of skyr, and a bag of Miss Vickie’s chips. 

            I weighed 89.25 kilos at 14:30. 

            I took a siesta from 15:09 to 16:45. 

            I had to take a big bowel movement which made it too late to take a bike ride downtown so I just rode as far as Ossington and Bloor. On the way home at Ossington and Harbord a rain shower started and I was soaked before I got home. 

            I weighed 89.45 kilos at 18:00. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:58. 

            In Audacity I opened the project I started a few days ago to digitize the cassette recording of a Christian and the Lions concert at The Rivoli. This one had to be recorded with a microphone to the speaker because the line-in recording directly to my audio interface came out distorted. The last song “Angeline” was on the flip side of the tape but it was recorded at lower volume. I digitized it and it didn’t seem loud enough but when I played it again today it sounded okay to me. The volume on the stereo had to be turned up but that wasn’t that much of an inconvenience. I exported the audio to my hard drive and moved on to the next cassette, which is a cassette recording of a Christian and the Lions concert for Elvis Monday at the El Mocambo. The concert was only on one side of the tape and the other is Indian music. At first I couldn’t get a waveform so I restarted but that didn’t help. I finally saw that the line in to my audio interface sometimes disconnects and I lose the waveform. Maybe I need a new adaptor. Anyway I got it working and was recording but lost the waveform halfway through the song. By this time it was too late to struggle with it and so I'll start from scratch tomorrow. The tape itself is playing somewhat distorted and so I can’t expect too much from its digitization. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with marinara, tomato pesto, a chopped slice of ham, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching season 3, episode 14 of The Carol Burnett Show. 

            During the audience warmup Carol introduces a young actor whose in the audience. She saw her in Dames at Sea in New York and thinks she’s going to be one of the biggest stars. It’s Burnadette Peters. She asks her how was her flight from New York. She says she saw True Grit on the plane. Carol asks what she ate and she says, “True grit”. 

            The first skit is The Old Folks with Carol and Harvey. Nothing special. Harvey talks frisky but suddenly falls asleep. 

            In the second skit Harvey plays a school teacher who is having an affair with the art teacher. He’s about to go and meet her in the teachers lounge when the student Alice Portnoy (played by Carol) arrives to complain about the F she received for Geography. He tells her it was well deserved and escorts her out. Alice asks if he’s going to have lunch at the topless bar again. He says he’ll change her grade to a D. Then he takes her arm to lead her out when she accuses him of manhandling a student. He gives her a C. She says she thinks she should call an ambulance and so he changes it to a B. She shows him a nude drawing of him done by the head of the art department and thinks it will look nice on the bulletin board, so he bumps her to a B plus. When Alice leaves he calls up Muriel to tell her what just happened and mentions their relationship and the idiot principal. Then Alice returns and says she forgot her lunch box, which she says contains her tape recorder. He gives her an A. 

            Nancy Wilson sings “Spinnin Wheel” by Canadian singer David Clayton Thomas of the band Blood Sweat and Tears. 

            Then Carol and Nancy sing “Let’s Get Together” by Chet Powers, who was a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The song was a hit for The Youngbloods in 1969. 

            There is a Carol and Sis sketch in which Carol and Chrissie (played by Vicki) bring home a lifelike adult male dummy in a suit because they are taking a Red Cross First Aid course. Carol is keeping it a secret from Roger until after she gets her certificate because he always claims she starts things without finishing them. They act out an emergency and Carol gives the dummy “Charlie” mouth to mouth. Then Rogers car pulls into the driveway early and they hide Charlie in the closet. But Roger sees that Carol’s lipstick is smudged and finds a man’s tie on the floor. He goes into a jealous rage and wants to find the man she’s cheating with. He finds the dummy and has been punching it for a while before he realizes it’s not a man. Roger realizes his mistake and apologizes. Then he gets hit and knocked out by the kitchen door and Carol has a real emergency with a real dummy. 

            Then there is an episode of As the Stomach Turns. Marian (Carol) and Joyce (Nanette) are having coffee when Joyce bursts into tears and confesses that she’s a kleptomaniac. Over the course of their conversation she puts all of Marian’s chinaware into her bag. Gaylord Fontaine (Harvey) the Civic Theatre Group Sissy Director arrives. He needs Marian to play a neurotic disturbed person in his play this year and she agrees. Then a man played by Lyle comes to the door saying he’s running for congress and needs signatures. He takes Joyce’s signature and then says thank you sir to Marian. Then Marian’s daughter arrives with another baby born out of wedlock and leaves it with her. Joyce puts it in her shoplifting bag. Joyce pulls out a gun and puts it to Marian’s head saying she’s going to kill herself. Marian helps her point the gun in the right direction and then tells her she can be cured. Then Nurse Julia Carol arrives (played by Nancy Wilson). Joyce says “Tell me what to do!” and Julia says “Take two aspirin and get plenty of acting lessons”. Joyce puts the gun to her head and pulls the trigger but she forgot to steal bullets. The announcer asks “What will happen when Julia gets amnesia and forgets she’s black? 

            In the final number Carol, Nanette, and Nancy are discussing the generation gap. Nanette says there isn’t one since the kids are wearing their old clothes and beads. The three women change into hippy clothes and sing “We’re the Bim Bam Whim Wham Mothers of Tomorrow” which I think is written by Rusty Warren, who is called the mother of the sexual revolution. I think this is a cleaned up version of Rusty’s song. 

            Rusty Warren studied piano at the New England Conservatory of Music and graduated in 1954. She didn’t realize she was funny until she started responding to hecklers and made the audience laugh. Her first album Songs For Sinners was recorded live in 1955 at the Pomp Room in Phoenix, Arizona. Her second album Knockers Up was recorded live at the Golden Falcon, in Pompano Beach, Florida in 1960. Her comedy routines sang about sex from a female perspective. She became known as the “mother of the sexual revolution” with the song “Knockers Up” being her most exemplary contribution to that movement. Catherine O’Hara’s character of Dusty Towne was inspired by Warren. Her subsequent albums were Sin-sational, Rusty Warren Bounces Back, Rusty Warren in Orbit, Banned in Boston?, Sex-x-ponent, Rusty Sings a Portrait of Life, More Knockers up, Rusty Rides Again, Bottoms Up!, Look What I Got For You, Lays it On the Line, Knockers Up ’76, and Sexplosion. The singles from these albums were: from 1961: “Knockers Up”, “Basin Street”, “Bounce Your Boobies”, “Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”; from 1962: “Roll Me Over”, “Do it Now”, “Twist Blues”; from 1963: “I Like Everybody”, “Waltz Me Around Again Willie”, “Greenback Dollar”, “The Sexy Life”; from 1964: “The Pill Song”, “Surprise”, “Red River Sally”, and “Steel Drivin Man”.

April 19, 1996: After picking up my cheques I busked with Brian

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday it was payday so I went downtown to pick up and cash my Ontario College of Art and Toronto Board of Education cheques. Maybe I met Brian Haddon downtown and we busked, had lunch, busked some more and then performed on the Spit Fridays open stage in the back room of the Cameron.

Durward Kirby

            On Friday morning I revised my translation of the fifteenth verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I wasn’t quite able to memorize the fourth verse of “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg but I should have it nailed down tomorrow.

            I weighed 88.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the second of four sessions and it went out of tune during every song. 

            At 13:00 I went downstairs to meet my upstairs neighbour David because we were scheduled to go to lunch. After five minutes I called him but there was no answer. I went back up to my place and called him again and this time he answered. He asked me to come up to his place for lunch and so I did. All he has for furniture are folding chairs. he sat me down in a very uncomfortable high folding chair. He stir fried some stewing beef with cherry tomatoes and Ethiopian spices and served it to me on a plate with two slices of dry bread. I asked if I could sit on a lower folding chair. The meat was tough and hard to swallow. He gave me a bottle of water that tasted flat. There were no utensils and so I had to eat with my hands. I found out he has bedbugs. He says his girlfriend pointed them out. He’s had bedbugs ever since I’ve known him so I don’t know why he was surprised. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 89.5 kilos at 18:00, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the evening since March 14.

            I worked on getting caught up in my journal but was still behind at suppertime. 

            I baked a salmon fillet and had it with a potato and gravy while watching season 3, episode 11 of The Carol Burnett Show. 

            During the audience warmup Carol brings out her special guests Garry Moore and Durward Kirby. Someone asks when they started working together. Garry says Carol first guested on his daytime show in 1956. He adds that he and Durward have been together off and on since 1940. Carol says she became a regular on Garry’s show in October of 1959. 

            The first skit features Carol and Harvey as The Old Folks. They are sitting in their back yard on New Years Eve and so obviously it’s California. Molly says she’s thinking of turning on Guy Lombardo. Harvey says he doesn’t think that’s possible. They sing “Do You Love Me?” by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick from Fiddler on the Roof. 

            The second skit is a British courtroom drama featuring the trial of Mrs. Peter Piper. Mrs. Piper is played by Carol. Gary is the prosecutor and Durward the defender. Mrs. Piper is on trial for murdering her husband. The lawyers keep trading off to ask Mrs. Piper questions as she’s the only witness. In one round the defender just establishes Mrs. Piper’s name before saying “Your witness”. She says her husband was in the business of picking pecks of pickled peppers. The prosecutor accuses her of pecking in Picadilly Park with Paul Peters the porker and when Peter threatened to plug her she popped him on the pate with a poker. He says her true identity is Cecily Susan Sussman of Sussex and she sells seashells by the sea shore. She tells the story of killing her husband and his lover all in “S” alliteration in a British accent. The prosecutor asks the court stenographer to read back what she said. The court stenographer is Jim Nabors who says, “Gollay!” and proceeds to repeat it in his Gomer Pyle accent.

            Carol recites a poem she wrote when she was 12: 

I wish I was a Christmas star 

perched atop a tree 

Folks would see me from afar 

because of how bright I’d be 

I’d shine all night I’d shine all day 

A lovely sight to see 

folks would look at me and say 

We should have got a bell 

            Carol sings “Make Your Own Kind of Music” by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, which was a hit for Mama Cass in 1969. 

            Gary and Durward are co-hosts of a children’s show. They tell the kids to get close to their TVs and not to worry about the radiation because nobody lives forever (The cathode ray tubes of that era emitted low level X-rays but the fear of harm was unfounded). They encourage children to hold their breath until they turn blue to force their parents to buy the toys they are advertising. There is an Ed Sullivan doll that does everything the real Ed Sullivan does, which is nothing. 

            Harvey Korman does an impersonation of Tom Jones singing “It’s Not Unusual” by Les Reed and Gordon Mills. 

            Next there is one of Carol’s autobiographical sketches. Carol has a bad cold but still Roger has poker night at their place. She complains that every time his friends come over it takes her a week to clean up after them. Despite Roger telling her she could go to bed, after they come she has to wait on them the whole time. Carol gets knocked out by the kitchen door. 

            In a parody of To Tell the Truth three women claim to be Elizabeth Taylor. When the real one stands up, the host steals her diamonds. 

            Garry recites “A Christmas Wish” by Henry Van Dyke. It’s actually a segment of his larger poem “Keeping Christmas”. 

            Then the Bob Mitchell Boys Choir sings “Sleighride” by Leroy Anderson and Mitchell Parish from 1947. One of the boys in the choir has a black eye. Carol notices this and has been calling him “Shiner” all week. She asks his name and it’s Ronnie Stewart. She wants to know how he got the black eye and he explains that he got into a fight with another boy in the choir named Mike. They fought because Ronnie was in a folding bed and Mike folded it while he was in it. She has them shake hands and make up. She says the choir appeared in the movie Going My Way. 

            Carol, Vicki and the choir sing “Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?” by John Barry and Hal David. It first appeared in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and it’s the only Christmas song to ever be sung in a James Bond film. It was sung by Danish singer Nina van Palandt. Everybody sings “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. 

            Durward Kirby began studying Engineering at Perdue University but dropped out to become a radio announcer. He co-hosted the radio show Club Matinee in Chicago with Garry Moore. He acted in summer stock theatre. He was the announcer for the short film Musical Shipmates in 1946. He was the host of General Electric Guest House in 1951. He was the sidekick of Garry Moore for the long running Garry Moore Show. In 1961 he threatened to sue Rocky and Bullwinkle over the character on the Bullwinkle Show who was named Kirwood Derby. He co-hosted Candid Camera from 1961 to 1966. He wrote three books: My Life, Bits and Pieces of This and That, and a children’s book called Dooley Wilson.

April 18, 1996: I either posed or busked

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday I probably worked but I don’t know where. This is the one period in my whole career up until September 1996 for which I’m missing a daily planner.

George Carlin

            On Thursday morning I revised my translation of the fourteenth verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the third verse of “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg. There are only three more verses to learn and that’s only eight lines so I might have it all in my head this weekend. 

            I weighed 88.45 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since April 6. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the first of four sessions and it went out of tune during every song. It also feels like the action has gone up. 

            Around midday I went over to Family Dentistry to make an appointment. My top front filling needs to be fixed and I need to find out if my denture can be altered so I can wear it again. The shape of the gap has changed since I got the bone graft and it will be several months before I get the implant. 

            I weighed 89.55 kilos before lunch. March 7 was the last early afternoon when I was so rough on the scale. 

            In the afternoon I headed out for a bike ride but it was raining and so I only went to Brock and Seaforth, then south to Queen and east to Freshco. I bought five bags of grapes, one pack of raspberries, some bananas, a pack of Full City Dark coffee, a container of lemon dish detergent, and a pack of Sponge Towels. I did a price match on the grapes with the food Basics price of $6.58 a kilo.

            I weighed 89.4 kilos at 17:30. The highest in the evening since March 14.

            I was still behind on my journal at suppertime. 

            I had a potato with gravy and the rest of my pork ribs while watching season 3, episode 9 of The Carol Burnett Show. 

            A clean shaven, short haired George Carlin does a comedy routine. He says he thinks the Emmy awards are biased towards the big shows and that the small shows should receive consideration. Shows like Sermonette, which he says he watches religiously. He says he likes it because every religion gets a platform, but then he corrects himself and says, “Well, not every religion. When was the last time you saw a good old fashioned human sacrifice? Maybe on Ed Sullivan but not Sermonette”. Another award neglected show is the FBI list of wanted men. If it had a bigger budget they could jazz up the show and maybe win an award. Then he acts out that alternative reality he calls The J. Edgar Hoover Show. With music by The Mothers of Detention. 

            Carol performs a song that an audience member named Sue Vogelsanger gave her three weeks before. It took her some time learn it but they turn it into a big production complete with dancers. The song is from the point of view of a housewife who fantasizes about travelling the world. The set design has large three dimensional letters making up Sue Vogelsanger’s name but rearranged to make different words like “LOVE” during the performance. 

            In the next skit Carol and Lucille Ball are two flight attendants in competition for employee of the month. A Latin man with a beard boards the plane and it is clear to the audience but not to Carol and Lucy that he plans to hijack the plane. In that era there were several hijackings of planes that were forced to fly to Cuba. Lucy picks up that the man is Cuban and he asks how she knows. She says, “If there’s one thing I know it’s a Cuban accent”. That’s a reference to her husband Desi Arnaz. Carol and Lucy fight over making him comfortable to the point of causing him pain. Even after he pulls a gun they fight over who’s going to help him. In a tug of war of the man between Carol and Lucy trying to please him, he is eventually accidentally tossed off the plane to fall to his death. 

            Then Vicki and Lyle come out with guitars and sing “Try a Little Kindness” by Curt Sapaugh and Bobby Austin that was a big hit for Glen Campbell in 1969. Vicki does double duty as she also joins the dancers during the instrumental break but dances out of the circle and must have retrieved her guitar quickly before the last verse. 

            Next Carol is singing in the shower. She starts with a couple of lines of “Singin in the Rain” by Alan Freed and Nacio Herb Brown from 1929. Then she goes into “I Say a Little Prayer” by Burt Bacharach and Hal David from 1966. There are comical moments when water gets in her mouth. Then she wraps herself in a towel and leaves the shower where we see the band still playing as the water falls on them. 

            There is a parody of Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice with Harvey, Carol, Lyle and Lucy all in bed together. But the scenario is different from the movie in which the two couples try and fail to swing. In this case the other couple simply needed a place to stay and the hosts had no extra bedroom. 

            The final sketch begins on Vaudeville in 1919. Harvey plays the announcer Tommy Two Step and he introduces The Rock Sisters, played by Carol and Lucy. They sing and dance a happy song about love and pretend to play several instruments. But they’ve been doing the same act for a long time and they are fired for not changing. Fifty years later a DJ named Big Daddy (played by George Carlin) announces a big rock concert happening tonight and featuring 100 bands. He’s with his dumb assistant Tandalayo (played by Vicki Lawrence). She tells him that the 100th band Stark Naked and the Calcuttas have canceled. He says he promised the kids 100 acts and some of them can count so he needs a new 100th act. He has to leave for rehearsal and so he leaves it up to Tandalayo to look in the files and find another act. When she looks in the file cabinet an old file falls out and the name is The Rock Sisters. She assumes they are a rock band and calls to book them. They haven’t performed in 50 years and they are elderly but they go to the Neptune Theatre, which is where they last performed. Band 99, The Frozen Nostrils is pretending to perform “Commotion” by John Fogerty and the actual music is just the recording by Creedence Clearwater Revival. When the Rock Sisters come out the audience starts laughing. But the guys from the previous band come out to tell the audience to give them a chance. They do their old act while the Nostrils help to keep them from falling over and then join in. They win the audience over. 

            George Carlin was raised by a single mother and spent a lot of time alone listening to the radio while she worked. He started doing impressions of radio personalities. He was expelled from cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. He joined the US Air Force as a radar technician and was court martialed three times. He worked as a DJ. He did a morning show with Jack Burns and called themselves The Wright Brothers. He started out as a conventional comedian and had a considerable amount of success at $250,000 a year. . He was part of a comedy duo with Jack Burns from 1960 to 1962. He made his TV debut on The Tonight Show starring Jack Paar. But in the 60s he changed his act and started dealing with more serious contemporary topics. He also began to dress extremely casually on stage and he lost 90% of his income. He was arrested with Lenny Bruce in 1962 because when the cops asked him for identification he told them he didn’t belief in government issued ID card. His “Seven words you can’t say on TV” ("Shit', 'piss', 'fuck', 'cunt', 'cocksucker', 'motherfucker', and 'tits') routine became part of a larger censorship case that went all the way to the Supreme Court in 1978. The court ruled that the routine was indecent but free speech gave him the right to say it. He was one of Johnny Carson’s favourite guest hosts for The Tonight Show. He was the first host on the first episode of Saturday Night Live. He was a regular on the Tony Orlando and Dawn variety show. He made his film debut in With Six You Get Eggroll in 1968. He co-starred in Americathon, Car Wash, Bill and ted’s Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Jersey Girl, He played Mr. Conductor on the children’s show Shining Time Station. Later he became more and more critical of conservatism and increasingly more popular with audiences. His sitcom The George Carlin Show lasted two seasons and he said he had a great time and loved the actors but couldn’t wait to get the fuck out. He was fired in Las Vegas for criticizing people who go to Las Vegas. He won five Grammy Awards for comedy albums. He had 14 HBO specials. His autobiography was called Last Words. Comedy Central rated him the second greatest stand up comic of all time. He said it’s the duty of the comedian to find the line and cross it. He said voting gives you the illusion that you have the power of choice but you don’t. The politicians you vote for own you. Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things. Dishonesty is the second best policy. If teachers could influence sexuality I would have become a nun.

April 17, 1996: I performed at Fat Albert's and the Art Bar reading series

Thirty years ago today

            On Wednesday Brian Haddon and I rehearsed for our upcoming feature performances at Fat Albert’s and the Art Bar reading series. In the evening I performed on the open stages of both places.

Merv Griffin

            On Wednesday morning I revised my translation of the thirteenth verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the second verse of “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg. There are four more verses to learn and the last three lines of every verse are the same and so I just have to learn four new lines of each verse.

            I weighed 87.45 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since April 2. 

            I played my Kramer electric during song practice and it stayed in tune the whole time. Tomorrow I begin a four session stretch of playing my Martin acoustic. 

            In the early afternoon I did my laundry. I wanted to paint in the bathroom but I was almost out of underwear so it had to be laundry day. 

            I weighed 88 kilos at 16:10. That’s the easiest I’ve been on the scale in the early afternoon since March 28. I had saltines with peanut butter, five-year-old cheddar, baba ghanoush and a glass of iced tea. 

            I took a siesta until 18:10. 

            I went out and bought a six-pack of Creemore but they didn’t have any cases in the cold room so I got a warm one and put a can in the freezer. 

            I weighed 88.25 kilos at 18:35. It’s been a week since it’s been that low. 

            I worked on getting caught up on my journal but I was still behind at the end of the day. 

            I made pizza on a slice of seven grain bread with marinara, tomato pesto, a chopped slice of ham, five-year-old cheddar, and a sunny side up egg. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching season 3, episode 8 of The Carol Burnett Show. 

            During the audience warmup someone asks Carol if it’s true she used to swoon over Merv Griffin. She confirms that she loves Merv, and then Merv comes out. Carol seems surprised but the audience member must have been a plant. It seems he’d just started a new show in LA and Carol was on the first episode. She asks if his crazy wife had come out. He admits his wife is a bit odd. That would be Julanne Wright who was an actor and comedian. They were married from 1958 until 1976. Although he created the show Jeopardy the premise was her idea.

            Carol brings out Andy Griffith and he announces that he’s starting a new show but doesn’t know what kind of show it will be. Since this was 1969 the show would have to be his short lived sitcom Headmaster.

            Griffith tells his version of the Aesop’s fable “The Mouse and the Lion”. A lion let’s a mouse live when he promises to help him out some day. He does help him when he chews him free of a lion net. The moral is that no act of kindness is ever wasted. 

            The VIP interview is with the King Family. The King Family TV show had just been revived. The previous show had been on from 1965 to 1966 and it starred The King Sisters and their family. The King Sisters had been a big band singing group that was popular from the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s. This was a parody of the King Sisters. They were all blonde but one of them was black and another, Becky was played by Harvey Korman in drag. Bonnie says Beckie was adopted after being left on their doorstep in a fruit basket. The black on is Beulah who was forced into the group by the Supreme Court. Bonnie says they treat her just like a sister. Beulah asks why she has to sing in the back row. 

            Carol reads a poem sent to her by an 8 year old named Kelly Wright: 

Pink

Pink is a pony that runs very fast 

Pink is a colour that always will last 

Pink is a castle upon a bright hill 

Pink is a little spot on a bird’s bill 

Pink is a panther I see on TV 

Pink could even be letter C 

Pink is the blanket on my own bed 

Pink is always alive not dead 

Pink was my sweater a long time ago 

Pink is a famous colour you know 

Pink is bologna you wrap in cellophane 

Pink is my very own window pane 

Pink should even take place in the sky 

That’s my story of pink 

Goodbye 

            Carol sings “I Believed it All” by Al Ham, Alan Bergman, and Marilyn Bergman. 

            In the next skit Maggie (Carol) is complaining to Joyce (Vicki) about her husband bringing his work home with him. Joyce leaves and says she and Harry will be over for bridge later. Maggie’s husband Joe (Andy) comes home and opens the door by shooting the lock off the door. He’s a riot cop with a visor helmet. She asks for a kiss but he has to frisk her first and doesn’t lift his visor when he kisses her. He brags about being shown on TV today beating up a long haired and bearded protestor. He clubbed him because he got between him and the television camera. Maggie complains that he never notices her anymore. He argues that he does. She asks how she looks and he says, “Female, Caucasian, 5’7”, 115 lbs, late 30s”. At the mention of her age she punches him in the gut. She says last night he arrested her for going topless in their own bedroom. She starts shouting at him and he asks if she has a permit to make a speech. She starts throwing things at him and he threatens her with mace. She says, “Oink oink!” and locks herself in the bedroom. He tosses a tear gas grenade into the bedroom but she comes out wearing a gas mask. Joyce arrives for bridge but Harry is a fireman and he breaks through the door with an axe. 

            Vicki Lawrence and Don Crichton are dressed as Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson’s Laugh-In characters Gladys and Tyrone. Gladys is on a park bench and Tyrone is a dirty old man who Gladys always hits with her purse. In this case they are doing it to the tune of the 1968 hit song “Mah Na Mah Na” by Piero Umiliani. The Muppets and Benny Hill made it an international hit. At the end the real Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson come out dressed as Gladys and Tyrone. The two Gladyses escape from the two Tyrones who walk off arm in arm. 

            In the Carol and Sis sketch, Carol’s husband Roger is obsessed with watching football on TV on Sundays. Carol complains that she doesn’t see him all week except for Sundays and then he’s glued to the game. Roger argues that he’s out in the jungle all week trying to make a buck so Carol’s sister can eat her nine meals a day. Carol gives up because she’ll never be able to separate Roger from his game. Then the doorbell rings and it’s their attractive neighbour Cindy. Suddenly Roger turns off the TV and welcomes her. After Cindy leaves, Carol and Chrissie start acting like Cindy as they unplug the TV.

            Andy narrates a fairy tale set in the US south called Cinderellie. It’s basically a hillbilly version of Cinderella except that instead of a prince, the ball is thrown by Mr. Prince, the richest sharecropper in the land. Cinderellie has to stay home and do chores but wishes on a wishbone that she could go to the ball. Her very effeminate fairy godfather Rocky appears (played by Harvie). Rocky is short for Raquel. He sings a song about how much he loves his wand. He tries to make her beautiful but nothing happens. He looks at his wand and blames the Japanese batteries. He turns it up to full power and successfully transforms her. He gives her transportation to the ball in the form of a pair of roller skates. She says she’s gonna have a gay old time. Rocky says if he thought that he’s come along. At the ball the dancers do a kind of comical square-dance called by Andy. Cinderellie arrives and catches his eye. She’s pretty good on roller skates. She sort of dances with Andy but has to leave at midnight, leaving one roller skate behind. Like in the fairy tale Prince goes looking for the foot that fits the footwear and goes to Cinderellie’s stepmother’s house but it doesn’t fit her or her two daughters. Rocky asks if he can try it on but Prince says if it would fit he still couldn’t marry him. Rocky says, “You’re such a square!” As in the story the shoe fits the heroine. Prince tells her she doesn’t look that good in the light of day but he’ll marry her anyway. 

            Merv Griffin started playing piano at age 4. He was a singer on the radio and also wrote songs. His album Songs By Merv Griffin was the first in the US to be recorded on magnetic tapeBy the age of 20 he hosted and sang on his own 15 minute radio show five days a week. He became a big band singer for the Freddy Martin Orchestra. He became famous in 1950 when he had a number 1 hit with “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts”. He subsequently had hits with “Wilhelmina” and “Never Been Kissed”. Doris Day liked his nightclub act and got him signed with Warner Brothers. He co-starred in So This is Love, He hosted the game show Play Your Hunch from 1958 to 1962. He was a regular performer on The Arthur Murray Party and The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. When he guest hosted for Paar the show got very high ratings and so NBC decided to give him his own talk show in 1962. Based in New York, Griffin tended to embrace more controversial subjects than the Tonight Show. In 1965 he was called a traitor after his guest was Bertrand Russell who denounced the Vietnam War. Griffin tried late night but couldn’t compete with Johnny Carson and so he went back to daytime and lasted for 13 years. Arnold Scharzeneggar made his talk show debut on Merv’s show. He created Jeopardy (originally called What’s the Question?) in 1964 and wrote the music for Final Jeopardy. His show Dance Fever lasted from 1979 to 1987. He created Wheel of Fortune in 1983 based on the game hangman. He wrote the theme song. He sold his production company for $250 million in 1986 but still shared in the profits. He was at that time one of the wealthiest entertainers in the world. He still created puzzles and questions for Jeopardy up until he died in 2006. He won 15 Emmys during his career. He bought the Beverly Hilton where the Golden Globe Awards are held. He bought the Hilton Scottsdale Resort in Arizona and St. Clerans Manor in Ireland. he controlled closed circuit coverage of horse racing across the US. His tombstone engraving reads, “I will not be right back after this message”.

April 16, 1996: I hosted my writers open stage

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday night as usual I hosted my Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy writers open stage in the Art Bar of the Gladstone Hotel.