Bewitched Children
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
The title of this posting might sound a little disturbing if the photo at left didn’t make it obvious that we were talking about the TV show Bewitched. Although in the great I Dream of Jeanie vs. Bewitched debate, I come down on the side of Jeanie as being the better of the two shows, Bewitched is quite fun nonetheless. As a fan who caught the series in reurns, I own all of the episodes on DVD and am anxious to dig into them in the near future. Unlike the cast of Jeanie, I never got to meet any of the principles on Bewitched, but during my visit to the Hollywood Show on October 9, 2010 , I was able to get to meet the actors and actress who played Samantha and Darrin’s children Tabitha and Adam. Read the rest of this entry »
…But I guess that’s where our similarities end. While I have never portrayed my own cousin, nor won an Academy Award, Patty Duke has done both. As both a sitcom star (in the eponymous Patty Duke Show) and an Oscar winner (for The Miracle Worker, playing the deaf and blind Helen Keller), she really disappointed me when she cancelled her appearance at the 
I had been rather excited just to see Cloris Leachman in-person when I saw the live performance of 
Sometimes I stay at home on Saturdays, maybe do a few chores, watch a little TV. Sometimes things are more exciting and I travel up to Findlay or visit with family. Then there are Saturdays like the one on April 30, 2011, where I choose to spend Saturday in the New York City area, giving new meaning the phrase “New York Minute” – which is about how long I felt like I was there. You probably won’t be surprised that the event that precipitated this bizarre act of travel was the Spring Chiller Theatre Show. After attending not one, but two Hollywood Shows already in 2011, I hadn’t really been planning on attending Chiller already. However, it wasn’t long before the incredible line-up, which pretty much blew away both of the 2011 Hollywood Shows put together, convinced me otherwise. 
Although controversial in that it involves an adult man who is attracted to a 12-year old girl, the 1955 Vladamir Nobokov novel Lolita was somehow successfully adapted for American cinema, not once but twice. The first version was directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1962 as a fabulous vehicle for James Mason and Peter Sellers. Although I prefer this earlier version, it was once again made in 1997 by director Adrian Lyne, and starred Jeremy Irons, Melanie Griffith, and Dominique Swain. Although Swain was significantly older than 12 when she made the film, it was her deceptively innocent portrayal of Dolores, the title character, that really makes the second remake shine.