Discussion:
Bill Paxton dead at 61
(too old to reply)
Michael OConnor
2017-02-26 16:00:37 UTC
Permalink
http://variety.com/2017/film/news/bill-paxton-dead-dies-1201996712/
J.D. Baldwin
2017-02-26 16:48:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Michael OConnor
http://variety.com/2017/film/news/bill-paxton-dead-dies-1201996712/
Game over, man. Game over.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / ***@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
c***@aol.com
2017-02-26 17:06:33 UTC
Permalink
Hey Vazquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?
That Derek
2017-02-26 17:36:54 UTC
Permalink
Will the Academy be able to squeeze Mr. Paxton into tonight's (26th) "In Memoriam" obit reel?
Louis Epstein
2017-02-26 17:55:37 UTC
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Post by That Derek
Will the Academy be able to squeeze Mr. Paxton into tonight's (26th)
"In Memoriam" obit reel?
Have they EVER included anyone whose death was announced the day of the
ceremony?

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
Keeubie Plaffies
2017-02-26 18:31:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by That Derek
Will the Academy be able to squeeze Mr. Paxton into tonight's (26th) "In Memoriam" obit reel?
They will be too focused on bashing Trump. Remember to all the libtards
in Hollyweird, Trump and the American way of life are the enemy. They
have no time to remember mere actors when their communist way of living
is at stake of being destroyed.
Michael OConnor
2017-02-26 18:51:27 UTC
Permalink
After he became famous an actor, Bill Paxton received a secondary dose of recognition for his prominent appearance in a JFK crowd photo, where he was the kid on top of an adult's shoulders as JFK left the Dallas hotel on 11/22/63. Here is an article from the Dallas Observer from 2007 about the photo and Paxton's (he was eight years old at the time) recollections of the day:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/the-day-bill-paxton-saw-john-f-kennedy-7118827
Keeubie Plaffies
2017-02-26 21:10:41 UTC
Permalink
Now Paxton can ask JFK to autograph his picture.
That Derek
2017-02-26 22:46:13 UTC
Permalink
O>> prominent appearance in a JFK crowd photo, where he was the kid on top of an adult's shoulders as JFK left the Dallas hotel on 11/22/63.

That's almost as good as the little Italian boy in an "I Love Lucy" episode ("itsa her birth-a-day, too!") growing up to be Bart Braverman from the 1970s "Vega$" show.

Or, the little Scottish girl who sings "Loch Lomond" in "Our Gang Follies of 1938" growing up to be jazz chanteuse Annie Ross.

Or when Pia Zadora's back credits included a girl Martian in "Santa Clause Conquers the Margtians."
Bryan Styble
2017-02-26 23:24:02 UTC
Permalink
Pretty sure that Pia Zamora played a human in that Santa/Martians romp...

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
marcus
2017-02-27 00:45:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by That Derek
O>> prominent appearance in a JFK crowd photo, where he was the kid on top of an adult's shoulders as JFK left the Dallas hotel on 11/22/63.
That's almost as good as the little Italian boy in an "I Love Lucy" episode ("itsa her birth-a-day, too!") growing up to be Bart Braverman from the 1970s "Vega$" show.
Or, the little Scottish girl who sings "Loch Lomond" in "Our Gang Follies of 1938" growing up to be jazz chanteuse Annie Ross.
Or when Pia Zadora's back credits included a girl Martian in "Santa Clause Conquers the Margtians."
Or Johnny Galecki going from Rusty in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (one of funniest movies ever) to David on "Roseanne"(ground breaking TV comedy of the late 80s and most of the 90s) to Leonard on "The Big Bang Theory" (the best TV comedy of the last ten years).
c***@aol.com
2017-02-27 00:51:02 UTC
Permalink
Only nerdy geeky losers like Big Bang Theory. Yeah, we're talking Marcus.
t***@iwvisp.com
2017-02-27 19:13:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by c***@aol.com
Only nerdy geeky losers like Big Bang Theory. Yeah, we're talking Marcus.
Rank Show Net Day Time 18-49 Rating 18-49 Viewers (000s)
1 THE BIG BANG THEORY CBS Thurs. 8:00 PM 2.8 3,585
2 THIS IS US NBC Tues. 9:00 PM 2.4 3,048
THE BACHELOR ABC Mon. 8:00 PM 2.4 3,043
4 GREY’S ANATOMY ABC Thurs. 8:00 PM 2.1 2,643
5 MODERN FAMILY ABC Weds. 9:00 PM 2.0 2,573
6 NCIS CBS Tues. 8:00 PM 1.8 2,330
THE GOLDBERGS ABC Weds. 8:00 PM 1.8 2,290
8 SCANDAL ABC Thurs. 9:01 PM 1.6 2,113
THE GREAT INDOORS CBS Thurs. 8:31 PM 1.6 2,057
SPEECHLESS ABC Weds. 8:30 PM 1.6 2,052
J.D. Baldwin
2017-04-27 14:32:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by c***@aol.com
Only nerdy geeky losers like Big Bang Theory. Yeah, we're talking Marcus.
Rank Show Net Day Time 18-49 Rating 18-49 Viewers (000s)
1 THE BIG BANG THEORY CBS Thurs. 8:00 PM 2.8 3,585
No one in this world, so far as I know -- and I have searched the
records for years, and employed agents to help me -- has ever lost
money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of
the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.

- H.L. Mencken

[I watch BBT. But at least I have the good sense to be a little
ashamed of it.]
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / ***@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
marcus
2017-04-27 17:54:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by J.D. Baldwin
Post by c***@aol.com
Only nerdy geeky losers like Big Bang Theory. Yeah, we're talking Marcus.
Rank Show Net Day Time 18-49 Rating 18-49 Viewers (000s)
1 THE BIG BANG THEORY CBS Thurs. 8:00 PM 2.8 3,585
No one in this world, so far as I know -- and I have searched the
records for years, and employed agents to help me -- has ever lost
money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of
the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
- H.L. Mencken
[I watch BBT. But at least I have the good sense to be a little
ashamed of it.]
Why be ashamed of it? Millions of people love it. There is nothing embarassing about it. I think the writing isn't quite as good as it once was, but they still do a great job. And the characters have grown as they do on most good long running comedies (Seinfeld being the exception).

I judge a TV comedy by the number of from-the-gut belly laughs it gives me. Big Ban Theory gives me many.
J.D. Baldwin
2017-04-27 18:02:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by marcus
Post by J.D. Baldwin
[I watch BBT. But at least I have the good sense to be a little
ashamed of it.]
Why be ashamed of it?
Because it thrives by simultaneously congratulating and insulting the
viewer's intelligence. Howard and Stuart are played by genuinely
funny humans. Bernadette has some great moments. Everyone else is
formulaic and predictable. Dull, really.
Post by marcus
Millions of people love it.
Millions of people love blood sausage.
Post by marcus
There is nothing embarassing about it. I think the writing isn't
quite as good as it once was, but they still do a great job. And
the characters have grown as they do on most good long running
comedies (Seinfeld being the exception).
"Grown." Ugh.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / ***@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
c***@aol.com
2017-04-27 18:37:07 UTC
Permalink
Millions of people voted for Donald Trump. Should they not be embarrassed either?
marcus
2017-04-28 20:41:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by J.D. Baldwin
Post by marcus
Post by J.D. Baldwin
[I watch BBT. But at least I have the good sense to be a little
ashamed of it.]
Why be ashamed of it?
Because it thrives by simultaneously congratulating and insulting the
viewer's intelligence. Howard and Stuart are played by genuinely
funny humans. Bernadette has some great moments. Everyone else is
formulaic and predictable. Dull, really.
Post by marcus
Millions of people love it.
Millions of people love blood sausage.
Post by marcus
There is nothing embarassing about it. I think the writing isn't
quite as good as it once was, but they still do a great job. And
the characters have grown as they do on most good long running
comedies (Seinfeld being the exception).
"Grown." Ugh.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, we differ, no biggie.
RH Draney
2017-02-27 09:02:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by marcus
Post by That Derek
O>> prominent appearance in a JFK crowd photo, where he was the kid on top of an adult's shoulders as JFK left the Dallas hotel on 11/22/63.
That's almost as good as the little Italian boy in an "I Love Lucy" episode ("itsa her birth-a-day, too!") growing up to be Bart Braverman from the 1970s "Vega$" show.
Or, the little Scottish girl who sings "Loch Lomond" in "Our Gang Follies of 1938" growing up to be jazz chanteuse Annie Ross.
Or when Pia Zadora's back credits included a girl Martian in "Santa Clause Conquers the Margtians."
Or Johnny Galecki going from Rusty in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (one of funniest movies ever) to David on "Roseanne"(ground breaking TV comedy of the late 80s and most of the 90s) to Leonard on "The Big Bang Theory" (the best TV comedy of the last ten years).
Or future hobbit Elijah Wood telling Marty McFly in "Back to the Future
II"s eighties diner than the video shooting gallery he's just beaten is
a baby's game because you have to use your hands....

And then there was this:



A few years later, Melanie Coe (contestant number four) would run away
from home, inspiring the song "She's Leaving Home"....r
MJ Emigh
2017-04-27 21:03:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by That Derek
Or when Pia Zadora's back credits included a girl Martian in "Santa Clause Conquers the Margtians."
But in that case, unlike the others, that was sort of her career highlight, wasn't it?
Bryan Styble
2017-04-27 23:00:55 UTC
Permalink
No, MJ, I'd instead argue that the apex of Zadora's exaggerated time in the spotlight was during the fabled "Night of 100 Stars" benefit in 1982, when MC Steve Allen told the throng--which included Orson Welles, James Stewart, James Cagney, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Liz Taylor, Jason Robards, Jr., Christopher Reeve, Anthony Quinn, Robert Preston, Paul Newman and Ethel Merman--"If a bomb hits the building tonight...it will be a big break for Pia Zadora."

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
c***@aol.com
2017-04-27 23:53:34 UTC
Permalink
Steve Allen was not the MC of Night of 100 stars. Try again.
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 00:26:54 UTC
Permalink
Okay, maybe Steverino wasn't the host or MC per se, but he did get some time at the rostrum that night, and he did deliver that joke. Which I thought was pretty funny. And the star-studded audience agreed, or at least was humoring the humorist.

STYBLE/Florida
c***@aol.com
2017-04-28 03:28:05 UTC
Permalink
It was a paying audience of 6000 people. It was a benefit. The stars were onstage, not in the audience. And none of the people you mention were onstage at the time. Allen was grouped with a bunch of comedians in the comedian segment.
c***@aol.com
2017-04-28 03:30:23 UTC
Permalink
And for accuracy's sake Allen made the joke at the Night of 200 Stars 2 in 1985, not the 1982 version.
RH Draney
2017-04-28 06:20:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bryan Styble
No, MJ, I'd instead argue that the apex of Zadora's exaggerated time in the spotlight was during the fabled "Night of 100 Stars" benefit in 1982, when MC Steve Allen told the throng--which included Orson Welles, James Stewart, James Cagney, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Liz Taylor, Jason Robards, Jr., Christopher Reeve, Anthony Quinn, Robert Preston, Paul Newman and Ethel Merman--"If a bomb hits the building tonight...it will be a big break for Pia Zadora."
I believe that the fascination with Pia Zadora's "Santa Claus Conquers
the Martian" performance had to do with her husband in later years
trying to get her some award as a "new face" in the movie "Butterfly",
before someone discovered she had made the earlier picture as a child
actor....r
c***@aol.com
2017-04-28 11:39:40 UTC
Permalink
Zadora's husband was accused of basically buying off the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to get her a Golden Globe.

They were also notorious for buying the historic estate Pickfair and then proceeding to tear down this iconic piece of Hollywood history.
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 12:09:44 UTC
Permalink
OK, Cathy, I actually much appreciate the detailed corrections, although I'm betting you doubt my sincerity on that narrow point.

Fact is--though I suspect you'll think I'm making this up too--when I looked up the year for "The Night of 100 Stars", I did note that there was another one organized in 1985, and I thought to myself, "Well, we definitely were living in [Los Angeles] Mar Vista [District] then, but we were there from 1981-88, and it seems like that Allen gag was about 1985, not '82."

BUT then I noted that Steverino was there at the '82 affair, and for some reason--not sure which, but obviously not a good one--I neglected to check if he was also at the later event. So I went with the earlier date, even though I really felt like this memory--which was never reinforced, for I watched it in its original run, even if it was ever repeated, which of course is unusual for what they used to call "Specials"--was more mid-'80s than early-'80s. But, clearly, I was wrong on this one.

And yeah, I admit, Cathy, that my listing of celebs in the audience--I made it a point to cull only the dead for my litany, since this is alt-obits, after all--was compiled by checking the list provided by whatever presumably-reliable site I was consulting, rather than my remembering them each in the audience better than three decades later, although as you pointed out, they anyway weren't necessarily sitting out there in the crowd when Allen came up with his Zadora gag.

I pride myself on what others often tell me is a remarkable memory--backed up by over a dozen appearances on a quiz shows 1970-2002, eight of them victorious. But given you knew all these details from memory that I fumbled regarding a couple one-shot TV shows from the '80s, I'm sure you'd defeat me, were "Jeopardy!" ever to emulate "The Dating Game" and institute a Second-Chance Day and you were fortunate enough to come up against an ignoramus like me as your other challenger.

And oh yes, I'm sure if you check Steverino's exact wording on that gag, you'll find that I paraphrased him, rather than recalling the precise wording of the joke, which was pretty funny...at least until all this exegesis by you and I had drained all the humor from it.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 12:31:22 UTC
Permalink
Two clarifications: The only reason I introduced the Mar Vista data was because I definitely was in my first Mar Vista apartment's living room when I watched Allen make the joke.

And obviously, you, Cathy, as powerfully knowledgable as your postings often demonstrate you to be, would not qualify for any Second-Chance Day edition of "Jeopardy!", unless you happened to be one of the few folks to previously appear thereon as a never-victorious losing contestant*.

STYBLE/Florida
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
* Every "Jeopardy!" contestant is eventually a loser once, including of course Ken Jennings, but most of us are like me, single-show losers as well as never left-lectern-occupiers.
RH Draney
2017-04-28 12:47:16 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bryan Styble
* Every "Jeopardy!" contestant is eventually a loser once, including of course Ken Jennings, but most of us are like me, single-show losers as well as never left-lectern-occupiers.
Two out of three, innit?....

BTW, Watson never lost a game....r
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 14:56:44 UTC
Permalink
And while we've revived this Bill Paxton Is Dead thread like a zombie--and via a Pia Zadora discussion, of all things!--I suppose I might add my own personal contribution to the remembrances of a first-rate, and marvelously understated, actor, as well as the late fellow whom I knew him through:

If Siskel & Ebert hadn't agreed that "One False Move" was the finest picture of that year, I doubt I would have ever taken the time to find it on cable or at the video rental store, even though I casually knew its star. It was a terrific film indeed, and far and away due to Paxton's turn as a small-town cop in the middle of a major drug bust the Feds have come to Arkansas to spring.

But I was fortunate to somewhat know Paxton a couple years before the world came to know of his considerable talent. He happened to be in a circle of pals that Carl Bressler had. That would be the late Carl Bressler--as opposed to the surviving one in Hollywood, a character actor who, oddly, specializes in playing characters named some variant of "Berg".

You may remember the Bressler I knew from, first, my queries herein as to his whereabouts and whether he was still living, and eventually, my tribute to him posted after a cousin of his spotted my inquiry and related the sad news that this Carl Bressler had died in his sleep, back in the suburbs of his hometown Boston in 2006.

Carl, if you read my tribute to this Stooge Larry Fine-lookalike, was a casual Dylan fan in Los Angeles who in 1978 was helping start the nascent claymation scene in Hollywood, and had even had considerable success, seeing his faux-realism short film "Tuesday" make air on Saturday Night Live not once, but twice. And about this time Carl got the quixotic idea of somehow recruiting Dylan to provide the soundtrack for a new production that Carl had been calling around town to raise the money for.

So, when a 1000-square foot commercial space opened up on the other side of Strand where Dylan's longtime leased rehearsal studio/office at 2219 Main Street was located--opening up directly across from Dylan's front door--Carl snapped it up for his own mini-studio, and spent the next five years watching Dylan come and go. And listening, since Dylan's people would often leave the windows wide open during the upstairs rehearsals. (And occasional bona fide recordings: The entirety of "Street-Legal" was laid down there, and anyone strolling down Strand could have earwitnessed it.)

And after I chatted with Dylan in his wife's Mercedes parked by the front door one Tuesday evening in mid-October 1980, Carl motioned me over and, incredulously, soon enough invited me into his circle of pals. That's where I ran into Paxton one weeknight in December of that year. During a short conversation looking over some of Carl's film props on his shelves, he immediately struck me just as he would once I could ultimately see him in "Apollo 11" or "One False Move"--tremendously in control of himself, and with that positively charming slight Texas accent. So sad that this fellow barely made his 60s.

(And by way, since Carl died in 2006, he never got to hear Dylan's so-called--and SO lingering--Sinatra phase*. And that's TERRIBLY sad because Carl would have absolutely LOVED Dylan's current work with the standards, however melodically inept it is almost every night on The Neverending Tour. I say this because Bressler never seemed to much understand Dylan's talent despite being dazzled by it, and always preferred the numerous sentimental moments in Dylan's art to those endless Dylanesque aspects which endlessly mesmerize so many of us more conventional Dylanologists.)

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
* Which in fact would be more accurately termed Dylan's Standards period, for many of the Tin Pan Alley tunes his aging and ravaged voice can't hit the notes of are songs Francis Albert never recorded, although I gather all of those on the three albums recently recorded in the Capitol Tower are somewhere indeed in Sinatra's vast body of work.
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 15:07:00 UTC
Permalink
Uh, I was obviously buzzed on Buzz--the moonwalker, not the erstwhile cola--when I typed "Apollo 11" instead of the correct "Apollo 13". I regret the knuckleheadedness.

STYBLE/Florida
c***@aol.com
2017-04-28 13:39:15 UTC
Permalink
Don't doubt your sincerity at all Bryan, or the point you were making. Allen's quip was legendary which is why I remembered it so well plus some of the people you mentioned were dead in 1985 or no longer appearing in public.

Just wanted to correct the facts!
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 15:26:26 UTC
Permalink
Oh, and I guess it's the Capitol Records Tower, not the Capitol Tower...a fact that I should NEVER fumble, because the second of the two times I lived in Hollywood proper--i.e., within the bounds of that Los Angeles district, rather than elsewhere in L.A. or the suburbs--I was in a high-rise up the hill from Hollywood Blvd. on the east side of Whitley, with the entirety of the Tower and its lovely lavender topping neon trim looming a mere quarter-mile to the east out my bedroom window.

STYBLE/Florida
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 15:58:38 UTC
Permalink
Oh, and one postscript: yes, OF COURSE I realize that Carl Bressler maybe was merely using me rather than befriending me when he welcomed me into the crowd of showbiz wannabes that hung out at his studio at all hours over the next few years.

Indeed, I was suspicious of this from that very first night, soon after Carl announced "Congratulations on your interview!" while Dylan was driving off that night, even though it was in fact a conversation, not an interview I'd enjoyed with the recording artist and Rover, his friendly beagle. For a few minutes later Bressler confided, "You know, I've been in this place two years now and seen all kinds of people show up around here. But you're the FIRST person I've EVER seen him stop and actually talk to!"

So yeah, at first it may have indeed a case been Carl using me to somehow further his own Dylan ambitions, but after hanging out and hearing The Great Inscrutable One rehearse a few times upstairs across Strand--which is never a busy street, so you could hear everything pretty well most times--if anything in our strange (and sometimes-tortured) relationship, this Dylanologist was using Bressler a lot more than Carl ever used me.

STYBLE/Florida
J.D. Baldwin
2017-04-28 15:53:08 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bryan Styble
No, MJ, I'd instead argue that the apex of Zadora's exaggerated time
in the spotlight was during the fabled "Night of 100 Stars" benefit in
1982, when MC Steve Allen told the throng [...]
After failing as an actress, Zadora started recording music and did
pretty well. Her first couple of albums were successful enough that
Johnny Carson -- who had skewered her savagely in his monologues for
years -- had her as a guest and acknowledged on-air that she had done
pretty well for herself despite a poor start and some unkind jokes
from him and others. (Now we know more about what Johnny Carson was
really like, this is all the more remarkable.)

As for Steve Allen, Zadora proved herself to be the best of good
sports by performing "This Could Be The Start Of Something Big"
(written by Allen) in one of the Naked Gun movies. And you know what?
She did a creditable job and was adorably cute in the bargain.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / ***@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
J.D. Baldwin
2017-04-28 16:22:19 UTC
Permalink
Post by J.D. Baldwin
After failing as an actress, Zadora started recording music and did
pretty well. Her first couple of albums were successful enough that
Johnny Carson -- who had skewered her savagely in his monologues for
years -- had her as a guest and acknowledged on-air that she had
done pretty well for herself despite a poor start and some unkind
jokes from him and others. (Now we know more about what Johnny
Carson was really like, this is all the more remarkable.)
Well, whattayaknow ... I actually remembered something accurately from
seeing it once thirty years ago. This appearance is captured on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/150496034

Skip ahead to about 1:30 to the Pia part. And, correcting for the
absurd 80's haircut, she's just so damn *cute* in that appearance.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / ***@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 17:57:47 UTC
Permalink
Thanks much for digging up that Zadora clip with Carson, J.D.--indeed she seemed to be a pretty well-grounded young lady back then!

But what specifically were you referring to when you said "Now that we know more about Carson was really like"? I presume you're referring to some of the material in the partial biography--or memoir of his Carson relationship, more precisely--by Henry Bushkin, whom Carson always called "Bombastic Bushkin", a book I've not read except for excerpts. But which incidents therein are you thinking of?

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
J.D. Baldwin
2017-04-28 19:43:34 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bryan Styble
But what specifically were you referring to when you said "Now that
we know more about Carson was really like"? I presume you're
referring to some of the material in the partial biography--or
memoir of his Carson relationship, more precisely--by Henry Bushkin,
Not just that. Many entertainers have come forward to confirm the
view of Carson as a vindictive megalomaniac. Joan Rivers played nice
publicly while he was cheerfully annihilating her career for the most
trivial act of lèse-majesté. Wayne Newton has a compelling
story about Carson spreading rumors of his homosexuality. A man to
whom Carson owed an incalculable debt, Freddy de Cordova, was
similarly cast out for offending The King. There are lots more.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / ***@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
David Carson
2017-04-28 18:34:12 UTC
Permalink
On Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:53:08 +0000 (UTC),
Post by J.D. Baldwin
After failing as an actress, Zadora started recording music and did
pretty well. Her first couple of albums were successful enough that
Johnny Carson -- who had skewered her savagely in his monologues for
years -- had her as a guest and acknowledged on-air that she had done
pretty well for herself despite a poor start and some unkind jokes
from him and others. (Now we know more about what Johnny Carson was
really like, this is all the more remarkable.)
The public Johnny Carson was widely, or even universally, known as
personable, generous, and kind. Regardless of what we are to believe about
the private Carson, since the incident you describe took place in public,
I don't find it remarkable that he behaved like the public Carson.
Bryan Styble
2017-04-28 18:51:10 UTC
Permalink
Succinctly, Incisively and persuasively argued, David!

STYBLE/Florida
J.D. Baldwin
2017-05-02 16:36:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by David Carson
Post by J.D. Baldwin
After failing as an actress, Zadora started recording music and did
pretty well. Her first couple of albums were successful enough
that Johnny Carson -- who had skewered her savagely in his
monologues for years -- had her as a guest and acknowledged on-air
that she had done pretty well for herself despite a poor start and
some unkind jokes from him and others. (Now we know more about
what Johnny Carson was really like, this is all the more
remarkable.)
The public Johnny Carson was widely, or even universally, known as
personable, generous, and kind. Regardless of what we are to believe
about the private Carson, since the incident you describe took place
in public, I don't find it remarkable that he behaved like the
public Carson.
I agree -- once he made the decision to have her on and somewhat
humble himself. It's the fact that he made the decision in the first
place that is, at least on some level, out of character for him.

But ultimately he probably knew, instinctively if nothing else, that
it would be great television to have her on, and would do no real harm
to his public image (quite the opposite), and so that's the way he
went.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / ***@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
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