Getting the Shaft
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks? I didn’t know what other films he had been in. I didn’t know how much he was going to cost. But I didn’t care. There was no way that I was going to skip out on getting a picture with Richard Roundtree, who had played the private detective John Shaft in a series of three so-called blaxploitation action film noir pictures Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score, and Shaft in Africa. All this, despite the fact that I had never seen a single frame of film from any of them. But ever time anyone mentions Shaft – the Isaac Hayes title track will start on an endless loop in my head. Shut your mouth. Read the rest of this entry »
After spending a good portion of the early day checking out many of the Fantasyland rides that I typically bypass, Jimmy, David, and I continued with our visit to Disneyland on Friday, March 25, 2011, with more traditional fare. After we had disembarked the Disneyland Railroad at the front of the park, we hit the first attraction we came to on Main Street U.S.A.: Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln. Always a classic (and pre-cursor to the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents), this attraction welcomed us to the 3:00pm showing and front row seats. This enabled me to get at least one good photo of Mr. Lincoln in the room where cameras were frowned upon. 
No, I’m not talking about Jackie Gleason’s friendly TV character. I’m referring to Joe Turkel. He was making an appearance at the Hollywood Show on Sunday, April 25, 2010. Although Joe Turkel’s career stretched all the way back to 1948, it was two roles that he garnered around thirty years later. I knew him best from The Shining, in which he portrayed the creepy, ghostly Lloyd the Bartender, whose dialogue exchanges with Jack Nicholson were quite memorable. He was also well-known, perhaps even more so, to the fans of Blade Runner, in which he played the eccentric Dr. Eldon Tyrell. 
The original plans were to go back to Bob’s house in San Bernardino after Disneyland and then head out early Saturday morning toward our Utah destinations, stopping in Las Vegas for breakfast that morning. Then we had even talked about skipping Disney and just spending the whole day Friday in Vegas. What we ended up was an amalgam of both. After we had finished eating dinner at the Blue Bayou, Bob and I headed out from Disneyland directly toward Las Vegas on Friday, March 25, 2011. 
I’ve lately become a sucker for anyone from the golden age of Hollywood. So if I see that there is going to be a celebrity attending an autographs show and they have a scad of black and white photos on display on the show’s website, then I’m inclined to research their history. Gigi Perreau, for example, did not have a name that I recognized – but I’m very grateful that I checked her out before attending the show. If I hadn’t, I might not have realized that she played the key role of the orphan Shelly in Abbott and Costello’s last film Dance With Me, Henry.