"This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest." - Clark W. Griswold, "National Lampoon's Vacation"
I had never found Thora Birch all that attractive based on her roles in the few movies I had seen in which she starred: Now and Then, Ghost World, and the Academy Award winner American Beauty. But when she emerged from backstage for a press photo op after her performance in the star-studded reading of Casablanca that I saw on my birthday in 2005, I couldn’t believe how good she looked. Read the rest of this entry »
For years, Laurel and Hardy’s films from the 1940’s have been picked on, put down, and shunned by most Laurel and Hardy fans. In recent days, the films have seen new life by getting very nice DVD reissues and have been re-evaluated by many fans who now consider them small masterpieces in their own right. I typically try to stay out of any discussion on the merits (or lack of them) of the 1940’s films. Mostly because I simply don’t care. The films are what they are and they now more than sixty years old…so what does it really matter? Some are crap, some have their moments, and some I completely enjoy – all while recognizing that none of them live up to the standards set in the 1930’s films made at the Hal Roach Studios. Read the rest of this entry »
Usually the week between Christmas and New Years is reserved for eating leftovers, playing with new toys, lamenting the removal of decorations, and generally no excitement whatsover. This week in 1995 would have been no exception had it not seen a visit from my friend and a fellow Son of the Desert member from Seattle, Washington. Jack Taylor was in Cincinnati visiting his wife Cathy Ledbetter-Taylor, who was touring as an oboe player with the production of Miss Saigon, so he decided to swing by Dayton and hang out with me for a couple of days. Read the rest of this entry »
While certainly not the biggest celebrity I’ve ever met, I always did enjoy the performance and good-natured sarcasm of Hal Sparks when he hosted E!’s Talk Soup following the departure of Greg Kinnear when he went on to bigger and better things. I was able to greet Mr. Sparks without incident following his appearance on stage during the reading of Casablanca for the Actors Fund on October 2, 2005 at the Pantages Theater. Read the rest of this entry »
William Janney was the dramatic leading man in Laurel and Hardy’s 1934 feature film Bonnie Scotland. Never mind that his scenes as the romatic interest to starlet June Lang were more-or-less distractions to the boys’ comedy in the picture – that’s not his fault. He was there working alongside the boys and that’s enough to thrill any film buff including me. Other than his work with Laurel and Hardy, his film career mostly entailed bit parts and b-pictures, but I am still thrilled to say that I once was able to meet William Janney. Read the rest of this entry »