This is a piece I never thought I’d write. At the very least, not until I was much older and it might be something that was almost expected because of advanced age. But here I am, still not quite believing what I’ve been told, regardless of how reliable the source may be. Â
My friend, Elisabeth Sladen, has died, losing what is being reported as a long fight with cancer. Not that you’d have known it while watching her work over the past several years. Her own series, SARAH JANE ADVENTURES, had become very successful and she had just signed with Big Finish to perform alongside her former co-star, Tom Baker, in a new series of DOCTOR WHO audio dramas. We were supposed to have Lis and Sarah Jane around for a long, long time.
Like most people reading this, I was first introduced to Lis through her work on DOCTOR WHO. As investigative reporter Sarah Jane Smith, Lis quickly got the audience’s attention as something new for the series. Sure, she still screamed from time to time in the face of things like dinosaurs and giant spiders on her back but who wouldn’t? Sarah Jane was strong without having to be harsh and vulnerable without becoming a whimpering mess. It’s not surprising that she is one of the most popular characters in the long history of the series.
When I was only 13 years old, I accepted an assignment to interview Elisabeth Sladen & Ian Marter at their first appearance in the United States, at the first actual DOCTOR WHO convention held in the US. After somehow convincing my Dad to drive me to Los Angeles from Iowa, I was on the convention floor, trying to make good on my assignment. Despite making advance arrangements, I found myself getting stonewalled and wound up having to resort to one of those insane backup plans in order to complete my assignment. In this case, the plan was winning a dance with Lis Sladen at the charity auction. Trust me ““ this is the short version of what happened.
Winning a dance with Lis was not a foregone conclusion. Auctioning a dance with Lis had been mentioned several times in the weeks leading up to the convention while I was making preparations with the convention organizer but hadn’t come up once as my friends and I sat at the auction. Lis Sladen and her WHO co-star, Ian Marter (the actor who played Dr. Harry Sullivan), were on stage along with the convention organizer, the woman I’d dealt with for weeks leading up to the event and whom we shall refer to as She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. I wrote She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named a note, asking if she was still going to auction off a dance with Lis. The note was passed to her, she read it, dismissed it and sat it down on the table in front of Ian Marter.
A couple of things you should know about the late Ian Marter: 1: He was kinda nosy. He picked up the note and read it. 2: He had an evil sense of humor. He started giggling as he read the note, then leaned behind the Convention Organizer, She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and started talking to Lis.
Next thing we know, there’s one more item up for auction: ONE (this number was stated emphatically by She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named while looking me right in the eye) dance with Lis. And the bidding began.
The bidding was, in a word, INSANE. As the bidding started to get into the hundreds of dollars and the money pooled by my friends and I was starting to reach its limit, She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named kicked her “bitch-mode” into high gear.
“You drove two thousand miles for this,” She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named said, looking right at me. “It’s what you came here for.”
No, I came here on an assignment and I was going to complete that assignment come hell, high water or convention organizer who gets full of herself when she’s got the slightest bit of authority. She was like dealing with Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS without any of the good points.
She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named could see we were reaching the limit of our funds. In an attempt to try and make a preemptive strike on other bidders, we bet the farm, hoping a couple hundred dollar jump in the bidding would clear out the other bidders. Our plan worked, except for one bidder. One extremely determined bidder who had a fanboy crush on Elisabeth Sladen that would probably get him put on a potential stalkers list today.
My friends pooled the rest of their money, then took up a collection. “Anybody who wants to see Ken win this, drop some money into the hat”. Donations dropped in while Lis was falling further into shock. I think Ian may have sent someone to drop a few bucks into the hat but I could never get him to confirm that.
Finally, I heard a dejected voice say, “Nobody wants to see me win this…” I felt bad but hey, I was on a mission. Despite the best attempts of She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named to get him to take out a second mortgage on his house to out bid me, the other bidder finally dropped out and I won the dance. She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named didn’t seem pleased but knew there was nothing she could do about it at this point. Right after saying “sold”, she looked me in the eye again and made it very clear ““ I had purchased a single dance, nothing more. Â
Lis was astounded, to say the least. Ian Marter was laughing so hard he nearly fell off his chair. Twice. Finally, with the bidding over, Lis walked over to me, eyes wide, sputtering that she had a new dress, would have her hair done and would be ready for the dance. She left for her next appearance, still talking about everything she was going to do to prepare for that night’s dance.
One of my friends congratulated me. “You handled that well,” he said. Â
I promptly collapsed, my legs suddenly turning to Jello.
That night, at the dance, Lis came in and looked gorgeous as promised. She’d had her hair done and wore an amazing white dress that seemed to flow around her as she danced. Despite what anyone who has seen the photos might think, I was not looking down her dress. Honest.
She was still amazed that anyone would pay that much to dance with her, especially someone who obviously could not dance. We talked as we danced (well, she danced and I tried to move as much as I could with both of my feet firmly planted on the ground). Seeing my complete lack of anything resembling rhythm, Lis coached me into position that allowed her to twirl, giving the appearance that I might not be as inept on the dance floor as I really was.
As we talked, I told her about my assignment to interview her & Ian. She congratulated me on my resourcefulness for getting a story ““ very Sarah Jane of me. And of course she’d love to do an interview and she was sure Ian would as well. Then, one of those slightly embarrassing moments happened:
My stomach growled. Loudly.
“It gets so unruly when you don’t feed it,” I said, trying to just laugh it off.
Lis looked amused. “When was the last time you ate?” she asked.
I thought for a second. “Let’s see…. this is Saturday night…” I paused. “Thursday?”
Lis stopped dead with a serious look on her face. “WHAT!?”
At which point she grabbed my arm and led me out of the ballroom, right past a sputtering She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, Lis informing her that she was taking me to get something to eat. I tried to explain that not eating for a couple of days wasn’t unusual at a convention but she wasn’t hearing any of that ““ the order was for food and the timing was NOW with no delays.
This was how I met my friend, Lis Sladen. It was the start of my career and that act of kindness was so typical of Lis. She seemed to look out for me from time to time ever since. When I was working on a DOCTOR WHO documentary and ran into a problem with Jon Pertwee, it was Lis who took care of things between us without ever being asked.
There was always something special about her (although she would laugh if you tried to tell her that). It was no surprise that when long-time DOCTOR WHO producer John-Nathan Turner convinced BBC to think about a WHO spinoff series in the 80’s that he picked Sarah Jane to pair up with K-9. Years later, when Russell T. Davies brought DOCTOR WHO back after what the BBC likes to cal a “prolonged hiatus”, it just seemed natural for her to be the companion that created a bridge to the original series. Her own series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, has kept the spirit and feel of the original series alive while the main series becomes slicker & more “produced” by the episode. The ultimate fate of that series is unknown as of this writing but I hope there is some way to keep that spirit alive, although I’m at a loss right now at how to accomplish that without having Lis front & center.
When I heard the news that she had died, aside from just not believing it until I had it verified by at least two sources, my mind went to that first meeting, Lis encouraging me & making sure I was fed. Our relationship over the years was like that; she was always encouraging, ready with kind words, willing to help if she could. Even though we’d fallen out of touch, as people do, she was always there, an important part of my past. Who she was helped make me who I am and I’ll always be grateful for that. So many people in the various tributes to Lis have talked about how she would take them under her wing and that is something I can happily confirm. Lis wasn’t just that way for people she was working with. My experiences with her prove that she was that way every day, no matter the situation. She really was as special as people are saying. Sarah Jane is special because Lis was so very special.
It’s hard to imagine a world where I won’t have the chance to ever see or talk with Lis again but she has left so much behind, both in her work and in the people she directly influenced that her presence will be felt for a very long time. Her work is a part of modern mythology and as such, will likely outlive us all. As far as legacy’s go, she leaves us with a pretty damned good one.
YONKERS – Ernie Kovacs is the patron saint of innovative TV comedies. His impact can be felt on everything from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In to Monty Python’s Flying Circus to Saturday Night Live. Shout! Factory’s The Ernie Kovacs Collection gives a survey of his short yet stellar career that ended in 1962 with his death. Over the course of six DVDs, you realize this guy truly revolutionized what you could do on TV.
The boxset doesn’t have any of the episodes from his original Three to Get Ready show that aired on Philly TV. But we get a healthy helping of his other shows that allowed him to bounce between NBC, CBS, ABC and even the legendary DuMont. Along with creating comedy shows, he hosted talkshows, gameshows and even variety shows. He even contributed to Mad Magazine. His famous mustache and cigar popped up all over the dial.
I could type a rambling and praising review of The Ernie Kovacs Collection as the must buy for fans of classic TV and cutting edge comedy. Some of the visual gags might seem familiar, but mostly that’s because they’ve been stolen over the years by comics claiming to pay tribute. I’d toss in a memory of discovering him when PBS ran a series back in the day. But I’d rather talk to Josh Mills about this invaluable retrospective. Mills served as an executive producer. He’s also the son of Ernie’s widow Edie Adams. My first question turns into gushing praise about how amazing it is to finally see these shows on the boxset.
“I hope that your enthusiasm is translated to many others,” Mills said. “I hear a lot of that stuff so that’s always nice to hear.”
For those confused, Ernie Kovacs was married to the singer/ actress and Muriel cigar spokeswoman Edie Adams. Josh never met Ernie, but quickly learned about the comic. “Ernie passed away in January ’62 and I was born in ’68,” Mills explained. “My mom remarried to my father, the photographer Martin Mills. I did live in the Beaumont house where Ernie and my mom lived for years. I was aware of him from a very early age. In the ’70s there was the PBS special and an Ernie Kovacs album. Before I was ten I knew who he was and saw all the stuff.”
He knew about his mother’s amazing archive of Ernie’s work. He’s still collecting material about his mom and Ernie for the archive.
“The strange thing about being the son of my mom is there’s always not only visual photograph reminders, but moving images,” Mills said. “I saw clips of my mom when she was in her 20s when I was in my 40s. It’s always kinda weird to see that stuff, but it’s great too. The other day I get a Google alert that there’s a photo being sold on eBay of my mom and dad’s wedding. We ended up buying it because it was so cool. I had never seen it before. It’s just so weird that your private life is your public life sometimes.”
After film school, Josh Mills found himself working with his mom and Joel Hodgson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on what to do with Ernie’s archive. “Before Comedy Central, it was called Comedy Channel,” Mills reminded. “They were competing with another comedy channel called Ha! Ha! was doing things like Rhoda reruns. Comedy Channel licensed the Kovacs stuff and that’s when we found out Joel Hodgson. We met at this weird Comedy Channel party in Los Angeles. My mom was like, ‘Who is this guy Joel? He’s amazing.’ Years go by and there was thing called the Ernie Kovacs award given at the Dallas Video Festival. Joel received it and we became pretty close. At some point we all got together and said, could we or should we figure out how to make this work. When I was in my mid-twenties, every Thursday night I was meeting with my mom and Joel Hodgson trying to figure out what to do with this Kovacs stuff. Trying to figure out from my mom’s being their perspective of what he was trying to accomplish, how he was trying to get it out there. What his mindset was.”
The transfers on the boxset aren’t quite as sharp as episodes of I Love Lucy since most of Ernie’s shows were broadcast live instead of being shot on film. This was a time before high resolution videotape mastering. Many of his shows exist only on kinescopes. A simple way to describe the kinescope process is during the show, they point a 16mm camera at a TV monitor. Kovac’s archive has been properly maintained over the years.
“At various times it’s been transferred so it’s not like everything is on kinescope and it’s going to go away,” Mills assured. “We did a little test when we first started looking into the stuff with Shout! Factory. We randomly pulled kinescopes, one inch, two inch and I think we actually pulled a Beta. We went to CBS tape vault and ran everything. The thing that looked the best was the kinescopes. It just happens to be way more expensive to transfers.”
The fact that there was any of Kovacs’ shows to transfer is a case of love overcoming bean counters.
“Ernie was beloved by his crew,” Mills said. “He was a taskmaster in a good sense. He would say, “I want this to happen.” They’d say, ‘You can’t do that.’ And he’d say, ‘You can do that. Try to make it happen.’ Creatively they’d be pushed. He also filmed in 24 hour cycles which would drive ABC crazy. He was going into golden and triple time. The crew was getting ridiculous money. When Ernie passed away, some of those crew guys said, ‘Edie, the network is using Ernie’s masters to tape game shows, weather reports and PSAs.’ This was ’63 – ’64. My mom said that can’t happen. She took some money that was in a life insurance policy and went to ABC, NBC and CBS with a lawyer and said, do you have any Kovacs stuff? And miraculously, they were like yes. She said, can I buy it? And they said yes. We’re going to make money on stuff that’s just sitting. That’s where this archive came from. She went around to everybody and bought this back.”
She didn’t buy Ernie’s old shows with a vision of making a fortune off syndication.
“My mom just realized it was special and different and it had to be around. She didn’t think, there’s going to be VCRs, DVD players, or HDTV. She had no clue about that, nobody did. If you look at what happened to the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in New York, they just dumped (the tapes and film) in the Hudson River.” Indeed there are numerous stories of short sighted TV executives who viewed old shows as worthless. Most of Paul Lynde’s greatest moments on Hollywood Squares were taped over. It’s such a beautiful story that Edie refused to let Ernie’s legacy rest in the hand of network morons.
“Ernie was always butting heads with NBC, CBS and ABC,” Mills said. “He was always calling out (William) Paley or somebody by saying what boobs they were.”
Ironically the launch the boxset was at the Paley Center for Media. They hosted a night of Kovacs with Joel Hodgson as part of the panel with Robert Smigel (TV Funhouse), George Schlatter (Laugh-In) and Keith Olbermann (baseball card fanatic). Our conversation came back to Hodgson and his mother.
“The whole aesthetic of Mystery Science Theater when it first started was that it was very low budget. How do we make something creative out of something where there was no money? And that was what Ernie did. My mom recognized that in Joel really early. She said, this guy is as creative, innovative, funny and bizarre as Ernie. She was a huge fan of Joel. She loved him.”
She enjoyed working with him on Ernie’s archives, although the shows compiled by the channel weren’t the quality that the trio desired.
“When we did the Comedy Channel deal, they put a lot of those things together. It’s difficult to find a half an hour you can cut up and do the they way you want it. At the same time they choose things that wasn’t particularly great. My mom was always saying, there’s a ton of stuff that we have that’s ten times better than what anybody say. And that’s the morning stuff.”
Ernie was a pioneer in sunrise TV back at a time when a majority of the day dedicated to a test pattern instead of programming.
“Nobody thought that anyone was going to watch any morning so there consequentially wasn’t very much. In Philly they decided to do this “Three to Get Ready show. Ernie would come up with ridiculous gags like send us the count of the number of balls in the gumball machine. Send homemade items for these characters. They were getting so much mail that somebody at the station just went, there’s a lot of people watching this early.” That’s when Sigourney Weaver’s dad at NBC corporate in New York started The Today Show. “Ernie was the precursor of The Today Show,” Mills said.
While Ernie mocked his bosses, he loved his main sponsor: Dutch Masters cigars. The company backed so much of his work including the strangest gameshow ever. Take a Good Look is pure dada. A panel tries to identify a mystery guest with a sketch that makes so little sense. This is beyond Match Game on a weirdness scale.
“It never got amazing good ratings, but Dutch Masters people were really happy because sales went through the roof,” he said. “They were happy to keep the show on the air and sponsor it and let him do what he wanted because sales had gone crazy. You don’t have that system anymore.”
One of the odd things about the boxset is that it contains the last five of the eight episodes Ernie made for ABC in what would be his final series. These haven’t been lost to a network garbage pile. “We still have them. Those are the three that are owned by his one remaining daughter.” Mills still has 150 half hours of Ernie in the vault so there’s plenty more to see. ” We’d love to do a Volume 2,” he said.
Fans can get an extra helping of Ernie if they order directly from Shout! Factory. They’re including a bonus DVD. “It’s got Tonight which was an early version of The Tonight Show and two episodes of America After Dark that haven’t been seen since they were originally broadcast.”
A few of the episodes had to have their singing acts clipped. “There were times when the music clearances were so expensive that we had to take out some of the music. Some of the stuff I would have loved to have had in. Other things are the boy singer of the time singing a popular hit of the ’50s. Really not that great. We wouldn’t have missed it. But purely for aesthetics and historical sake, I would have loved to have included it,” he said. Once more a DVD suffers because music publishers wouldn’t budge on their licensing price.
We joked how in the ’50s Ernie was the second most famous man on TV with a cigar and mustache. Turns out the family were tight with the host of You Bet Your Life – Groucho Marx.
“My mom and Groucho were great friends,” Mills said. “I still have an autographed picture of him that said, ‘Dear Edie, I love you.'”
Once more Joel Hodgson’s name comes up. Mills remembers the MST3K genius pondering, “What I don’t understand is how did Ernie know that this would work. It wasn’t like vaudeville. It wasn’t like he took a theater sketch and put it on television. It wasn’t like he had tried this in movies before. It wasn’t like television had been around for 30 years and people knew it. He just had a clear idea of what he wanted to do and he knew it would work. If you think about it, no one else has done it or could do it like him. That was the genius of Ernie. He had these ideas and it worked.”
The Ernie Kovacs Collection shows a man who understood what he wanted to do on television. He figured out how to do an entire 30 minute show without uttering a single word. He knew how to make cars fall through parking lots and phones dial themselves. Ernie Kovacs was constantly pushing humor and technology on his TV shows. He was a rare performer.
“He was just naturally a little bit off. In the 1950s there weren’t that many people who were that weird,” Mills said.
PERFECT CASTING
How come Bristol Palin isn’t hosting the History Channel’s Mounted in Alaska? That seems to be the event that launched her to stardom.
MOD LION
As stores shrink their DVD sections, many of the distributors are turning to manufacture on demand DVD-Rs to get collectors and fanatics films they desire without worrying about warehousing. The latest dip into the MGM vault being offered through Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment MOD program has six fun titles that drip with cheesy goodness. The thing with the MODs is that they’re meant to be seen on player only DVDs so there might be issues playing them on your computer’s DVD drive. Some of the film presented in anamorphic transfers. You can order the through Amazon.
Body Slam is a gem of ’80s weirdness. At the height of the Rock and Wrestling meager comes a film that brings it all together under the direction of Hal Needham ( Smokey and the Bandit). Dirk Benedict (The A-Team) is a record executive who owes way too many people around Hollywood. Through a twist of weirdness, he ends up managing Roddy Pipper thinking the guy is a musician. This is how Dirk gets drawn into the world of pro wrestling. He brings the rock music to the squared circle to beef up his clients’ profiles. The stars include Tanya Roberts (“Las Vegas calling!”), Captain Lou Albano, Billy Barty, John Astin (Addam’s Family) and The Samoans. It’s got Charles Nelson Reilly as a talkshow host! That’s more stars than an episode of The Love Boat. Dirk appears to be mining Vince McMahon for his character. The movie is pure ’80s cheese and ought to be played at strange hours on cable. If you’re a fan of the ’80s wrestling genre, this must be the prize of your collection. This is so much better than Hulk Hogan’s movies from the era. They still wants us to think pro wrestling is real. Ric Flair has a cameo. How come this isn’t coming out on Blu-ray?
Queen of Blood is another classic American International Sci-Fi cheat film. Why is it a cheat? Seems that AIP bought the rights to several huge budget Sci-Fi films and stripped the effects from the storyline. They’d hire English speaking actors for low budget connecting scenes to link the expensive shots. It’s an efficient way to get quality for minimal cash. It wasn’t like people were begging to see Soviet sci-fi movies during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The cast in Queen of Blood includes stars Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes), Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider) and John Saxon (Enter the Dragon). They’re sent on a mission to meet up with an alien lifeform that’s contacted Earth. Things get complicated when they discover the alien ambassador is not only a green woman, but she’s got issues. The guys on the crew can’t resist her outrageous demands. It’s like Alien with a hot green girl.
The Black Sleep hypes the cast featuring five icons of horror in Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolf Man), John Carradine (House of Dracula) Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) and Akim Tamiroff (Black Magic). But they skip the biggest star on the screen: Tor Johnson (Plan 9 From Outer Space)! Basil plays a semi-mad scientist who is putting death row inmates into comas so they can be spared the noose yet delivered to his lab. He’s using them as guinea pigs to figure out how to remove a brain tumor from his wife. He’s got a lot of near misses lurking in his dungeon lab. What’s extra interesting is that Basil’s latest claim off death row is Gordon Ramsay. Is the TV chef using his real name or is it a stage name tribute to this film? The film is perfect for late night black and white horror action from the ’50s. This was Bela’s last role if you don’t count his barely there moment in Plan 9 From Outer Space. Worth ordering if you’re a fan of the Universal Horror series.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Buried Alive mixes the writing icon’s short stories with a girl’s correctional facility. What more can a late night viewer want in tawdry scares? How about the acting trio of Robert Vaughn, Donald Pleasence and John Carradine? And amongst the bad girls being corrected are Nia Long and Ginger Lynn Allen. What’s happening at the Ravenscroft Institute that’s causing the inmates to vanish? Hard to tell, but it involves black cats, ants and being buried alive. A great kill involves what can go wrong when a girl styles her hair using a blender. Do women really use home appliances to get a body in their locks? Must be the same people who dry their poodles in microwaves. A toilet nightmare is bound to shock anyone toilet training. This film is a major hit in Raleigh where Ravenscroft is the name of the posh kid high school. Vaughn deserves an award for his work in proving the ascot makes the man. A group showering scene with the female inmates gets goofy. Edgar would have enjoyed watching this after polishing off a few fuzzy nipples.
The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday lets Oliver Reed star in a Western. He and Lee Marvin have to team up and go after the dirty dog Robert Culp (Greatest American Hero) to retrieve their gold. Culp does his best to avoid them so they kidnap Culp’s wife (Elizabeth Ashley). Things get confusing since she used to be with Lee Marvin. How does a woman dump Lee Marvin for Robert Culp? Guess that’s why this is a movie. Marvin and Reed get help from a local hooker (Kay Lenz) named Thursday. The brothel she works at has girls for every day of the week. This must be a good promotion for people who want a week long stay. Anytime you can mix gold and hookers in a Western, the action is bound to be entertaining.
Daughters of Satan for some reason doesn’t advertise its biggest star on the box: Tom Selleck (Magnum P.I.). This is a witchcraft creep out made in the Philippines. Tom finds a painting of burning witches in a Manila antiques store. He swears one of the burning witches looks like his wife (Mother, Jugs and Speed‘s Barra Grant). Turns out the painting is evil and turns the wife into a witch. She also gets two friends to help in sacrificing Selleck. Tom doesn’t hate this film since when it came out on home video back in the ’80s, he promoted it on Letterman’s show. Amazing how Tom’s hair and mustache don’t suffer from the heat and humidity. This is like a long episode of Night Gallery.
DVD SHELF
The Lucy Show: The Official Fourth Season transforms the series. Lucy moves from New York to Los Angeles. Gone is Vivian Vance and most of their children. “Lucy at Marineland” has the little son gleeful want to get into a military boarding school. Lucy takes the kid to Marineland to suck up to the head of the school. They meet up with baseball star Jimmy Piersall whose life would be the basis for Fear Strikes Out. Without Vivian, the episodes are mostly about escapades with Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) at his bank. There’s a big emphasis on Dean Martin and Bob Crane guest star. That’s enough for me to declare this the best season of Lucy without William Frawley. “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” sets up the redhead with Dino’s stunt double for a date. Because of a last minute scheduling glitch, the stunt double can’t go. Luckily Dino is free to take Lucy to a dance. Will she ever catch on that she’s with the real crooner? Is she that oblivious? “Lucy and Bob Crane” brings the swinging star of Hogan’s Heroes into the bank. During his setting up a new account, Crane somehow gets Lucy and Mr. Mooney onto the set of his latest World War I film. Lucy plays a stuntman who destroys the set. There’s a fun cameo from one of Bob’s pals from the stalag. “Lucy Meets Clint Walker” brings us the star of Killdozer, the movie. It might be a whole new show, but Lucy is up for the change.
Chawz is a Korean film that scares us from high on the hog. Finally a movie that warns us what can happen if Babe goes out of control. A small country town hides the nasty truth that there’s a hogzilla loose in the woods. The beastly film goes from grotesque to black comedy as a local cop attempts to figure out the mystery. It’s rather artsy in its approach to what would be a SyFy original film if it was in English. It’s not vivid in showing the huge beast munching on people. There’s a witty magazine reveal of one victim. You’re not going to be as grossed out as you’d imagine from a Korean film about Porky Pig’s evil cousin on the loose. You might want to chomp a plate of BBQ afterwards just to remind yourself that it’s just a movie and there’s one less hog out there to eat you.
Muay Thai Giant shows what former WWE wrestler Nathan Jones has been doing over the last few years. He’s a thespian! The seven foot giant went to Thailand to make a comical action flick that comes off as a twist between The Jerk and My Giant. Nathan is a bit clueless. He gets severally rolled by a hooker at a nightclub. Two kids save him from the horror of the streets. They make the mistake of giving the guy a rather hot piece of food and discover he’s not a gentle giant. He’s a one man wrecking crew and his destruction leads to bigger problems. He’s like Curly of the Three Stooges when he hears “Pop Goes the Weasel.” But the movie is more Little Rascals than Stooges since the kids dominate the action. Nathan works better with these kids in action scenes than he did during his time on Monday Night Raw. It’s another exciting martial arts production from the folks behind Ong Bak.
The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Volume 1 Heroes Assemble! and Volume 2 Captain America Reborn! compiles the first 13 episodes of the new animated series on two DVD releases. This is a good primer for people curious about the upcoming Avengers all-star film along with the upcoming Thor and Captain America solo flicks. For those who don’t completely follow the comic books and don’t want to ask the geeks at the store for a backstory, these DVDs will get you in tune. Volume 1 Heroes Assemble! explains what brings Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Ant-Man and Wasp together as a fighting unit. Turns out they all have equal disgust for Nick Fury and Hydra. They have to unit to go after five major villains that have busted out of various prisons. Volume 2 Captain America Reborn! keeps up the uneasy alliance when these solo superstars must join together. Most of them have an issue with Tony Stark’s calling the shots. Black Panther brings them over to Africa to help him regain control over his place. The show is good and aimed for the non-hardcore fanatic fanboy. Interesting that the producers decided to make World War II between the Allies and Hydra when Captain America takes down the Red Skull in a flashback scene. No need to complicate things with the Nazis. Eric Loomis’ Iron Man voice sounds like Jack Black impersonating Robert Downey Jr. Noted super geek Wally Wingert gets big and small as Hank Pym, the man whose both Giant-Man and Ant-Man. It’s good to get a little bit of a head start on what will happen when the Avengers unit in live action.
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure is Ashley Tisdale going solo after all her work on High School Musical. Her character from HSM goes to Manhattan to conquer the Great White Way. Is she really ready for the legit stage after dealing with dancing baseball players? The film has elements of Coyote Ugly with the hideous apartment scene and Legally Blonde. She has to fight to get the lead role from another stuck up actress. It’s a fight to see whose name shall end up in lights. Sharpay isn’t going down without a fight. There’s a lot of cute dog scenes. This is a fine little feature for kids who are still intrigued by where do you go after dominating your high school drama club.
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
In this episode, I chat with the co-creator/co-writer of LOOK AROUND YOU, creator/writer of FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER, and the man behind Timewaster Robin Cooper, Robert Popper, as we explore birdsong, feces, flowers, and cell-napping.
Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on TWITTER under the name: Stipp
REVIEW – LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN
This is has been a good year for Donnie Yen. With IP MAN 2 establishing Donnie as the heir apparent to an absent Jet Li and a broken down, family movie making, Jackie Chan there is a sense of wonder at a man who can flow through a fight with grace and fury but who has not set his sights on a wider market. Be it an indifference to the wants and needs of a global film treasure trove that could await him should he just get his foot in the door stateside or just plain satisfaction in doing the kinds of films he’s happy enough doing overseas, the man is electrifying in this role.
Set in Shanghai around the end of World War I, Donnie plays Chen Zhen, a club owner in just the kind of place that Spielberg envisioned as a swanky Asian nightclub in TEMPLE OF DOOM. The story revolves around Japan’s encroachment into China and thus we have our tension. Throw in a Japanese spy who Yen falls for and we have ourselves a film. And it’s a film that caters to almost every fan of martial arts. The opening sequence alone is enough to make you wonder at the ways that choreographers continue to find nuances in making you believe there is still some originality to be found in this genre. With only his wits and fists, Yen explodes with this ability to be nimble and entirely compelling. The only issue, though, is that it’s like the opening sequence to a great comic book. You get sucked in by the cover only to wait 14 pages to get to the core of what you thought you were getting.
Not that what you get is tiresome by any means. The story set in Shanghai is filled with narrative and endless conversations, to say nothing of the occasional foot to someone’s face. There is a lot of exploring going on as it relates to character and while I didn’t mind as a viewer I could understandably see that what’s being marketed is an action movie of slick proportions. What’s served, however, is a little less Michael Bay and a little more introspection. People are talking a lot and, as a costumed superhero of sorts, Yen acquits himself quite well as he vacillates between hardcore street fighter and suave, debonair smooth talker.
Directed by Wai-keung Lau, the man who brought the world INFERNAL AFFAIRS, the film is relentless when it has to be and that’s what saves this from being a disappointing, confusing hodgepodge of tone and theme. Lau stitches the needs of the story with the mindless violence that most of us are here for in a way that is just as seamless as Yen’s fighting. As well, buttressed by a wicked opening sequence and a finale that finally feels like someone thought of something truly brilliant instead of something that’s just flashy, the movie keeps itself afloat by being engaging at all the right times.
What separates this film from so many others in past years is that this movie feels like it wasn’t just saddled with a few kung-fu set pieces and sent on its way. It’s a movie that wants to try and be light and breezy like an action movie with just a little narrative in there for good measure. These characters are legendary in the genre and both Yen and Lau do them a great service by being faithful to the spirit of the story and for making a movie that is more than worth your time to check out. It’s certainly a movie worthy enough to be considered one of Yen’s best films in the last five years and there is no substitution for the joy you get at the opening and closing sequences. Highly recommended.
Welcome to our weekly round-up of featured giveaways here at FRED. Every week, we’ll present a new clutch of DVDs, books, and other cool stuff you can take a shot at winning. All you have to do is click on the graphics below to be taken to their respective contest pages. And good luck!
In conjunction with History Channel Home Video, we’re giving away three (3) copies of STAN LEE’S SUPERHUMANS on DVD.
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
In this episode, I chat with the co-creator/co-writer of the THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR and the independent comedy DRONES, Ben Acker, as we name-drop shamelessly, bank endlessly, and make Andy Richter yell.
The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)
I had worries that The King’s Speech (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) wouldn’t live up to all of the kudos that had been thrown its way, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a genuinely enjoyable cinematic experience about a very personal struggles of a very private figure, held together by a genuinely stellar cast. Bonus materials include a behind-the-scenes featurette, a cast and director Q&A, and a look at the history behind the story.
Yeah, I love me some novelty cameras, and the Midnight Shot NV-1 Night Vision Camera ($129.99) is certainly a novelty camera. As you’ve probably already begun to suspect, besides taking decent 5MP regular photos, it also allows you infrared night vision shots, which is pretty darn snappy. Is the novelty worth it? If you want to be able to take night vision shots at a reasonable price, yes.
It’s an embarrassment of riches from the fine folks at Fantagraphics as they deliver not one, but two fantastic comic collections for aficionados to dive into. Not only do we get the 15th volume of The Complete Peanuts (Fantagraphics, $28.99 SRP) covering the years 1979-1980 and featuring an intro from Al Roker, but we also get the 5th volume of EC Segar’s Popeye (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP), Wha’s A Jeep, which introduces us to the magical Jeep. Both volumes? Brilliant.
Five years after Hurricane Katrina, Spike Lee returned to New Orleans for a follow up to his documentary When The Levees Broke. The equally powerful return is documented in If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), which finds the still depressed community facing the consequences of the BP Oil spill while still trying to keep the spirit of NOLA alive. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and additional interviews.
The arrival of the Handmade Films library in high definition continues with both a hard-bitten action flick and farce – Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa, starring Bob Hoskins & Michael Caine, and Alan Bennett’s A Private Function (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$17.98 SRP each), starring Michael Palin & Maggie Smith.
Not only great films make it to Blu-Ray – sometimes you get catalogue releases like the one-two punch of Mortal Kombat & Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.98 each). Bonus features are limited to a video game trailer and the theatrical trailer.
MGM cranks up their on-demand program (similar to the programs already in place over at Warners and Universal) with a clutch of obscure catalogue titles including an early turn from William Shatner in The Explosive Generation (MGM, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), Gregory Peck in Billy Two Hats (MGM, Rated PG, DVD-$19.98 SRP), The Great Cathouse And Cathouse Thursday (MGM, Rated PG, DVD-$19.98 SRP), Eric Roberts in The Ambulance (MGM, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP), Maximillian Schell in Return From The Ashes (MGM, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), and the Edgar Allan Poe-based Buried Alive (MGM, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP).
I’m sure that the Jack Black-starring bastardization of Gulliver’s Travels (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is exactly what Jonathan Swift had in mind when he wrote his 18th century political and social satire, urine jokes and all. The Blu-Ray edition sports a clutch of featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
Take another show off the uncompleted list as the 6th & final season of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) arrives, sporting all 24 episodes including the memorable blooper episode. You know you want to spend one last bit of time with James Avery.
If all of that story and character just seemed like filler to you, you’ll probably want to pick up Glee: Encore (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which boils the show down to just the music performances from season 1.
While Sideshow Collectibles has been doing quite good work with their 12″-scale Star Wars figures over the years, sometimes one of their pieces stands head and shoulders above that already-stellar work into the realm of sublime recreation, closely matching its onscreen counterpart. Such is the case with their 12″ Gamorrean Guard ($199.99), which features not only a perfect sculpt of Jabba’s piggish brute, but also an expertly tailored leather and fur costume. A brilliant piece.
So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…
LIDSVILLE –Sid Krofft talked to me over the phone. That’s almost as wild and weird as the shows he created with his brother Marty that dominated the ’70s. Their live action Saturday morning series mixed puppets and people went perfect with the sugar rush from a fresh bowl of Count Chocula. This was like a weird childhood dream as I had so many questions that had puzzled me since childhood. Krofft was eager to give answers.
He was excited about Vivendi Entertainment’s recent release of H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series Collector’s Edition. There’s also a normal H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series. What’s the difference? A cool bobblehead of H.R. Pufnstuf. I’ve had little contact with the bobblehead since my two year-old has turned it into her new best friend. I told Sid Krofft how another generation has embraced the lizard hero of my youth.
“Oh God, that is so cool,” Krofft said. “I have a two year old living here who is acting the same way. His favorite thing. He has all these boxes of toys, but the bobblehead is what he has to sleep with.”
For those who bought the original Rhino release, you should feel tempted to buy the new DVDs. The transfers are cleaner with a higher resolution. Did he knew what the restoration involved?
“I don’t know exactly what they did technically, but it looks great. They used our original masters,” he said. “It’s amazing that’s 40 years ago. I look at the show now because it’s on KCET every Saturday and Sunday and whoa! It looks like it was made today.”
The show hasn’t aged like an episode of Romper Room. Jimmy’s haircut comes back into vogue every 10 years. There is an eternal look to Living Island.
“I got to tell you how that look came about,” he insisted. “Saturday morning 40 years ago was all cartoons. When we were picked up, I said, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great if it had the feeling of a cartoon. Let’s not jar the kids cause that’s what they tune into on all three networks. It would almost be like a 3-D cartoon without using the glasses.'”
The show’s unique look adds to making it unforgettable for the wee minds that absorbed it when it first aired in the fall of 1969. The show also created quite a few tunes that have stuck in the ears.
“It’s amazing that everybody who watched it as a kid knows the words of the songs. They approach me and seem to know more than I can remember,” he said.
H.R. Pufnstuf evolved from Sid and Marty’s work on another classic Saturday morning series.
“We did the Banana Splits because in our puppet shows we always had little people and put strings on them. The press never knew that,” he said. “The audience never knew that. The reviews we got said, ‘The Krofft puppets are life-like.” We put strings on them and mixed them with the marionettes which were the same size in our big puppet shows. At one point in the show, the little person in the costume would rip his strings down, an elevator would take him down to the front row and he’s start to walking up the row with his strings and his control dragging behind him. It would freak out the audience.
“Now Hanna-Barbera approached us on the Banana Splits. We had something called the Show business Factory. We were the creative heads of all the Six Flags parks. They built this huge place for us near the Burbank Airport. Hanna-Barbera approached us because they knew we built suits. When they walked out with the suits that we built for them in our factory, I looked at my brother and said, ‘Oh my god, they’re going to make a fortune. We gave it away.’
“The network was very nervous about the Banana Splits. They didn’t think it was going to work. They would come and spy on how we were doing it all. The head of the network said, ‘You guys are out of your minds. You got to create your own show.’ And that’s how I came up with Pufnstuf.”
His main source of inspiration was The Wizard of Oz‘s colorful alternate world full of magic and strange creatures. The film had a major impact on his life.
“The Wizard of Oz was the very first movie I saw. I was 10 years old. My dad took me to see it. The first time I was ever in a theater. We slept in the street the night before in front of the theater because we were going to see the very first showing of it. It was seventy five cents to see it. It made a huge impression on me. I think Pufnstuf has that kind of a feeling. In The Wizard of Oz, it was just a few of the trees that were living. Every thing on Living Island regardless of what it was alive. Instead of a little girl, it was a little boy. It had a witch.
“There’s a great story about Margaret Hamilton who played the witch in The Wizard of Oz,” Krofft sidetracked. “She was retired and I wanted her to be the crazy lady next door in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. And I called her on the East Coast and she said, ‘I would come out of retirement if I can meet Witchiepoo. Witchiepoo is the greatest witch of all time.’ That was a helluva compliment from Margaret Hamilton. She came out and we had Billie Hayes, who played Witchiepoo, at the airport to meet her. They became incredible friends.”
Hamilton wasn’t the only star of the inspirational film to work with the Kroffts.
When I did see The Wizard of Oz, I had never seen… in those days they called them midgets,” he said. “It was pretty wild that thirty years later, that we hired more little people than were in The Wizard of Oz. Even the little people that were in The Wizard of Oz were on our show. They said that we gave little people a huge job and they hadn’t worked that much since The Wizard of Oz. That was great.”
The show inspired quite a few famous people.
“Judy Frog in the “You Can’t Have Your Cake” episode did what we called in that time, what was 1969, the Moonwalk. Michael Jackson was a great friend of mine,” said Krofft. “I knew him for years. He came to my house many times. I went to Neverland many, many times. He was a huge fan of everything that we did just like the Beatles. When we did Pufnstuf, the Beatles were locked in their hotel rooms cause they were so huge. Every time we finished an episode, we sent it to them so they could see it in their hotel rooms. Michael Jackson years later did the Moonwalk (on Mowtown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever). That came from Pufnstuf. It’s pretty wild and a helluva compliment.”
Very quickly the Kroffts discovered they had plenty of viewers.
“At the end of the show Pufnstuf would say, ‘Keep those letters and postcards coming in. See you next week.’ We wanted them to tune in next week,” he said. “Oh my god, we used to get 10,000 letters from kids wanting pictures and autographs from Jimmy or whatever. We didn’t know what to do with all this mail. We cleared out a huge room and had all these kids answering the mail. We started a fan club. Most of the mail came from college kids. That was the big thing to do is to wake up Saturday morning and watch Pufnstuf the way the would do years later with Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.
Do college kids watch the paltry offerings on TV that get passed off as Saturday morning cartoons? Can a 20 year old stomach Dora the Explorer? If you’re think about grabbing the Pufnstuf DVDs so you can have something to watch on hazy weekend mornings.
While the show was popular, the Kroffts only made one season of original episodes. Why didn’t it keep going like SpongeBob SquarePants? Turns out it cost more to producer an episode of H.R. Pufnstuf than the licensing fee.
“The network gave us $54,000 an episode. We lost close to a million dollars on the whole 17 shows. They did want to pick it up, but they only wanted to give us another $10,000. We said no way. We almost went into bankruptcy because of Pufnstuf.” Turns out what t kept them out of the poor house was their work for Six Flags. It’s “what supported all of our television shows since we never got a big fee in those days. Land of the Lost went up to $70,000 an episode. People think we made more than 17 shows.”
Of course it helps that the prime audience for Pufnstuf are small kids who have no problem watching the same episodes over and over. Even today, Krofft doesn’t mind the reruns when he tunes them on KCET on the weekends at 9:30 a.m. “I watch them myself after all these years and I still have a smile on my face,” he declared.
While often there’s tales of thousands auditioning for roles, the Kroffts were lucky to discover the actors for Jimmy and Witchiepoo easily. Jack Wild jumped out of the screen while Billie Hayes jumped on the furniture. Krofft first explains how Wild caught his eye.
“What happened was that Lionel Bart was a very good friend of mine. Lionel Bart wrote the music and the screenplay to the movie Oliver! that Jack Wild was in. It was Jack Wild’s first movie and he was nominated for an Academy Award for the Artful Dodger. Lionel Bart called me from London and said, ‘I’m coming in LA tomorrow. Please go with me. I’m going to see the first rough cut of Oliver!‘ That was the day we were picked up on Pufnstuf. We didn’t have any idea of how to produce a TV show. We certainly didn’t audition anyone at that point. I saw Jack Wild and I said to Lionel Bart, ‘That is the kid for Pufnstuf.’ Jack Wild was great. He was the little Mickey Rooney of his time.
“Billie Hayes was the second one who came in for Witchiepoo. Penny Marshall was the first one. I looked at my brother and said, ‘I don’t know if we want a Brooklyn witch.’ She had that heavy Brooklyn accent. That didn’t work out. Billie Hayes was Mammy Yokum in Li’l Abner, the movie and the Broadway show. She had just moved out here. She came in to audition and jumped on our desk. There was no doubt.”
Hayes is so attached to the character of Witchiepoo that no other woman can do the role justice. Which is just fine for Krofft as they construct the upcoming Pufnstuf movie.
The Pufnstuf movie is being developed over at Sony. We’re getting very close. Who is going to play Witchiepoo?” he asks. “Our wish is Johnny Depp. He’s waiting for the script right now, which is almost finished. Isn’t that going to be wild? He’s a huge fan of Pufnstuf. Hopefully we’ll get him to do it. He’ll chew up the screen with that character.”
This would be the second cinematic adaptation of the series for the big screen. The original Pufnstuf movie came out with the TV show’s cast. Was it always their intention to make a movie with the series?
“The original movie came right on the heels as soon as we finished the TV series. It was Marty’s idea to do a movie. He approached Universal. They said, ‘What’s it going to cost?’ My brother said, ‘I don’t know, probably a million dollars.’ They said, ‘A million dollars for a kid movie? No way.’ My brother went to Kellogg’s. They were the sponsor of the TV show and they put up half of it or a little more than half. Universal put up the other half. That’s all it cost. Now they make movies for a $100 million or $200 million. We made it for $900,000 actually. Now it’s time for a new movie,” he declared.
One of the odd things about the character of Pufnstuf is that he wear white cowboy boots. My pal Zan wanted to know why the big lizard wore boots. Thus I asked.
“We had a show called Les Poupees de Paris. It played to 9 1/2 million people at the New York. San Antonio and Seattle World’s Fairs,” he said. “For Coco-Cola’s Pavilion we did a show called Kaleidoscope. There was a character in it called Luther. That was Pufnstuf. It was a superhero that was changed into a dragon. The only way he could be changed back was to be kissed by someone. But who wants to kiss a dragon? He became the symbol of the San Antonio World’s Fair. He was huge. When we got Pufnstuf, we took that character. “Puff the Magic Dragon” was the big song that year. That’s where the title of Pufnstuf came from. It didn’t come from drugs like we were accused of. He wore cowboy boots because it was Texas. We loved that character and gave him that accent. That’s how that character was born.”
Many kids as they grow up look at so many of the Krofft’s TV shows and ponder if everyone on the set was high on something. Krofft swears his sets did not resemble Chevy Chase’s dressing room.
“We’re always accused of that. I’m 81 years old. If I was on drugs, I wouldn’t be talking to you. I’d be gone by now. It was the psychedelic era. I was moving with the times. When you look at it today, you go oh my god, that looks like an acid trip. I’m a big health fiend. I grown all my own food in my garden. I’m an original hippie cause I always wanted to feel good everyday.”
Krofft believes all their shows will be coming out on DVD with the new deal. This will come as a relief to Chuck McCann who wants to see his Far Out Space Nuts with Bob Denver (Gilliagan’s Island). Although he’ll have to wait. “The next one coming out is Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” Krofft said. Unlike the Rhino boxset, this new copy should contain both the first and second season of the show. “I think it’s the full. It’s being designed right now,” he said.
When the Kroffts went continued making Saturday morning shows, they had to figure out ways to trim the budget to decrease the initial production lost. The major change was shooting video instead of 35mm film that was used on Pufnstuf. This is why this show looks much better than Lidsville and Land of the Lost. By going on video they didn’t have to pay for expensive and time consuming optical effects. Krofft feels bad that they had to make the switch. “That was financial. I loved doing it on film,” he said..
Pufnstuf was shot at the Paramount studios with their neighbor soundstage being used by Lucille Ball. Mike Nichols was on the other side making Catch-22. “Mike Nichols would order our call sheets everyday and frame them in his office. They said, Stupid Bat 8 o’clock. He just freaked out. Lucy used to come over on every one of her breaks. No one ever saw anything like that with all these little people running around. At all the public toilets in the lot, we had to put elevators in the stalls. Once they got into the costumes, they couldn’t get out. It was insane. It was really crazy.”
The character of Pufnstuf was voiced by Lennie Weinrib, but the man inside the suit was Roberto Gamonet. Did Lennie ever dress up as Pufnstuf to do the character along with the voice? “No,” said Krofft. “I discover Lennie in the Billy Barnes shows. There were a lot of stars that came out of that. It was like Saturday Night Live. I loved Lennie. He could do all the voices.” The mix of two humans and the numerous puppets made recording the sound for the show rather interesting. The Kroffts had the dialogue recorded at once. Jack and Billie were recorded on the set. Off camera, Lennie, Joan Gerber and Walker Edminston sat at a table and recorded the characters’ lines.
As the ’70s wore on, live action shows on Saturday mornings grew in number. Filmation went from animation to create Shazam, Isis and The Ghost Busters. Krofft didn’t have an opinion of Filmation’s effort.
“I didn’t pay that much attention to other shows because I didn’t want to be influenced with what they were doing,” he said. “I didn’t watch the Hanna-Barbera shows. I had to come up with a new every single year. That was enough to worry about. Not only were we doing television too for a while. We had the theme park, Donny and Marie Osmond and the Brady Bunch. We had so many things going at our Showbiz Factory. We built a big portion of the Electric Parade for Disney.”
Turns out Sid and Marty had an encounter with the father of Mickey Mouse that excited Michael Jackson.
“When I told him I met Walt Disney; that was the biggest freak out he ever had. He had never met him. Everything in his home was Walt Disney characters. He loved Walt Disney.” And now the rest of the story:
“When we did Les Poupees de Paris at the Seattle’s World Fair it had just opened; we flew back here for some reason and had lunch with Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin at the Polo Lounge. Sitting at the next table was Walt Disney. We never met him before. He came over to say hello to Cyd and Tony. They introduced Marty and myself to Walt Disney. I was just shaking. Walt Disney said, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard about you guys. Can I give you some advice? Always put your name above everything that you create because someday it’ll be worth something.’ The show in Seattle was just the title of a show. Immediately we put Sid and Marty Krofft’s Les Poupees de Paris. That’s why you see our name on everything. You can blame Walt Disney.”
Unlike other creative groups that have sold their companies such as Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, the Kroffts are still in control of their creative empire.
“We held onto everything,” he said. “We own everything – all of our characters and all of our shows. That was one great thing my brother did. We didn’t sell out. Michael Jackson at one point wanted to buy our company. He gave us a down payment and it didn’t work out. He was having his own problems.”
Ownership of the characters has allowed them to make them show up in unique places. Pufnstuf was busted on CHiPs. My Name Is Earl had Pufnstuf pop up on the motel TV. Randy eventually had a fantasy sequence with Pufnstuf. “Evidently they got their highest rating on that episode,” Krofft said. “We’ve had Pufnstuf on quite a few shows. He was on George Lopez. It lives on forever.”
Along with the new Pufnstuf movie, Dreamworks is creating an animated version of Lidsville. The brothers are being more creatively involved in their films after their sour experience on Land of the Lost. At first they enjoyed the big budget production with lavish sets. They enjoyed their early visits to the studio, but the feeling waned.
“We walked away because we said, “Maybe we don’t know anything?” I had a meeting set up with the director (Brad Silberling) three months before we were ready to shoot. My brother canceled it. My brother said, “He’s the captain of the ship and you’re going to upset the ship. I know you. I know that you’re complaining about all the things about it. Where’s the heart? Where’s my family? Who is this movie for with all the foul language?’ Then you go, shit, I don’t know anything. Universal, why would they be spending hundreds of millions? We got Will Ferrell and his movies make a $100 million. Everything is going to be fine. We walked away from it. It looked great. Unbelievable when you walked on the sets. Maybe I don’t know anything. It’s going to be fine. That’s not going to happen anymore. When I look at my notes, it makes me sick to my stomach.”
The movie became a box office summer dud and a won the Razzie for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. But it’s had a second life. “On HBO when they showed it over and over again, it got huge ratings. Everybody who didn’t see it saw it, Krofft said.
There was one positive experience from the production for Sid Krofft. He got to meet my NCSA classmate Danny McBride.
“I love Danny,” he said. “He’s incredible. What a nice guy. He’s terrific. Never a problem. The nicest guy. Everybody loves him. I think he tried to help. He rewrote and ad-libbed.”
He didn’t have the same fond memories for when they created a show around The Bay City Rollers. “Not easy,” he declared. “They really weren’t. I don’t remember their problems that they had, but we had problems with them.”
He knows something about musicians since he’d worked with one of the biggest rock stars on an unexpected show.
We auditioned the Bugaloos in London. Four thousand kids came. Lionel Bart helped pick those kids. And Lionel on the last day brought in Mick Jagger. And Mick Jagger helped picked those kids. Phil Collins auditioned and was turned down.
That’s right, Mick Jagger at the height of the Rolling Stones’ most powerful era (when Mick Taylor brought the voodoo to their sound) was choosing which kids looked best wearing bug wings. He was the original Simon. And he decided that Phil Collins was not a Bugaloo. This was a blessing in disguise. Mick would have destroyed Phil Collins’ career by picking him. You think he could have gotten the Genesis gig after being a Saturday morning superstar? The world would have been spared “Sussudio.” Damn you, Mick Jagger for not stopping Phil Collins stealing South Park‘s Oscar!
The conversation comes back to H.R. Pufnstuf when I ask if they had a test to see if a character was too bizarre for the kids.
“We never tested them,” he said. “The network were scared to death. Nothing like this had ever been done. When we turned in the first rough cut, it didn’t have sound effects. They gave us…I don’t know how many pages of notes. They hated it. They hated the title. That’s what they did research on. It came out like a powderpuff. It was a girls title. They asked for all these things to be redone. We didn’t have any money to reshoot or do anything like that. What we did was we completed the show, put the sound effects in and put the music in and sent it back. And they said, oh thank you. It’s wonderful. And that was the end of it.”
As our conversation wrapped up, I thanked him for making my generation so weird.
“So it’s my fault? You’re putting all the pressure on me now,” he said. “When I’m out of town and I hand somebody my credit card, they freak me out. They can’t believe they’re talking to the guy that got them in trouble when they were a kid. I get blamed on a daily basis. It’s OK.”
We had to take back Charlie Sheen’s Spirit of Bob Crane Award since it’s obvious he isn’t living up to the Hogan’s Heroes star’s standards. During Charlie’s disastrous live tour he told an audience member, “I already got your money, dude!” Bob would have never done that while performing Beginner’s Luck at dinner theaters across America.
I don’t get is why people who paid $100 feel ripped off by Charlie’s live show. What did they expect? He’s not a singer. He’s not dancer. He’s not a stand up comic. He’s not a drummer. He can’t juggle chainsaws. He’s not much of an entertainer as long as he has to keep his pants zipped. You showed up to see a trainwreck and got dog chasing his tail. What’s more pathetic than Sheen’s incoherent ramblings is your expectation that this was going to be so cool. He’s got your money and all you have is the memory of being ripped off. At least you helped make a rich guy richer.
Bob Crane would have never approved.
DVD SHELF
Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Season One is the greatest cartoon ever created by a billionaire. Ted Turner decided that animation should do more than inspire kids to defy gravity and think man and dinosaurs lived together. He wanted an environmental consciousness raised with paint in motion. Thus he put together a series that pre-dated Al Gore. The spirit of the Earth (Whoopi Goldberg) gives powerful rings to five kids from around the world. Each has a secret force involving fire, water, air, earth and heart. When they use the rings together they summon Captain Planet. He’s the big heavy. The kids travel around the globe using solar power vehicles. They fight various polluting villains with colorful names like Hoggish Greedly, Looten Plunder, Sly Sludge, Duke Nukem, Venimous Skumm and Zarm. They have schemes to make the average people not consider the consequences to wasteful actions. This isn’t a Power Point presentation. There’s plenty of action on the screen since going green doesn’t mean going boring. Turner nabbed real star power to voice the bad guys including Ed Asner, Dean Stockwell, Jeff Goldblum, Meg Ryan, James Coburn, John Ratzenberger and Sting. Who knew Sting could be so evil? There’s 26 episodes in the boxset. The big bonus feature is “Your Powers Combined: The Story of Captain Planet” with Ted Turner explaining how this cartoon series came together. Instead of a plastic case, Captain Planet and the Planeteers is packaged with recycled cardboard. You should watch this on a solar power DVD player.
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
In this episode, I have another chat with the Screenwipe/Newswipe/Gameswipe, Happy Finish, and Funny Or Die director, Al Campbell, as we fear Skynet, text Charlie Brooker, & wear silly hats for money.
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
In this episode, I have another chat with the man, the Mythbuster, Mr. Adam Savage, as we remember Elton John, karaoke with Jamie, & travel to Gilligan’s Island.
Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on TWITTER under the name: Stipp
INTERVIEW – MATT HARLOCK and PAUL THOMAS
Directors Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas just had to answer one question for me, just one, when it came to the fame and popularity of Bill Hicks when he was still walking back and forth across the stand-up stages: What made him so popular in the UK?
I could easily understand why jokes, an inherently idiomatic expression of specific cultures and not given to easy translation, wouldn’t fly but what was it about Bill that made audiences in another country embrace this defacto expat? He was revered by a culture who “got it” while American late night comedy consumers didn’t get what was so endearing about the man with a wicked mouth.
The film, which is playing now and is On Demand, explores the nuances of what Bill was really about in a way that is at the same time honest and direct. He was obviously no saint, Bill had to battle his own demons as he rose from relative obscurity to headlining concerts where he was the only one people came to see, but this documentary is the best visual representation that pinpoints what made Bill Hicks such a legendary influence on those who listened to what he had to say.
He had a lot on his mind and he took a route not usually traveled by comedians who were finding success in being outrageous, in wearing heavy leather on stage, and in trading on jokes that would make Bill cringe. He had a lot to say and he wanted to be funny so ditching the usual pleasantries that usually encompassed the relationship between men and women and the jokes that could be mined from that was replaced with tirades about the government, about our broken social systems, and about hunting down and killing Billy Ray Cyrus. He was outrageous only on his terms, not the terms of the audiences he played to. Without question, this is one of the best documentaries on the man and, next to the book written by his childhood friend Kevin Booth, it certainly leaves you satisfied that this the most comprehensive story ever told when it comes to the legend that is Bill Hicks.
UK filmmakers Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas took some minutes out of their schedule to talk about Bill’s popularity within their country, what they discovered along the way of making the documentary, and shedding some light on the real Bill.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Hello, Matt and Paul.
MATT HARLOCK AND PAUL THOMAS: Hello, Chris.
CS: I saw the film a couple of days ago and loved it. One of the most satisfying documentaries on a person’s life that wasn’t overwrought or maudlin. Of course, it being Bill Hicks made it all the more enjoyable.
HARLOCK AND THOMAS: Thanks, thanks a lot.
CS: And that leads me to my first question which is why the UK seemed to have “got it” when it came to Bill while it seems that Americans just missed the chance to embrace the man before it was too late to do so?
HARLOCK AND THOMAS: I think it was all about a combination of Bill’s timing in a small enough country and his need for more time, really.
Whereas in America he was on late night shows where he had five minutes here, five minutes there, he couldn’t really have enough time to engage an audience. However, in the UK, he could have 15, 20 minutes here locally on television and really spend that time engaging the audience with his long form material. He wasn’t a comedian who could spend a couple of minutes on a joke, as he wanted to express big ideas, and when he could on television here where had more he really connected.
His long form ideas connected because, politically, you have things here in the UK where you have a very oppositional structure where institutions are questioned, regularly. Whereas in America it seems to be about blending into one of two parties and when Bill came over here he was much more well received because we, frankly, are used to questioning those is power.
One of the other things, as well, to note is that we’re now 16 years removed from his death. He was already perfecting the art of the very thing that is only now getting acceptance from people like Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and even Michael Moore who get their inspiration from exposing the hypocrisies in the culture. We feel, a documentary like this, is coming out at the right time because the sea change that is happening couldn’t be more perfect.
CS: The amount of research you had to do for this must have been slightly daunting. You had how many performances, Kevin Booth’s already comprehensive book, dozens of people who could have talked about the man. Did you gain any new insight into the man? I assume you did a lot of research, anyway.
HARLOCK AND THOMAS: You’re right. We did a lot of research but what we also wanted to do was to talk to the people who really knew Bill. Those who we wanted to use in this film have never talked altogether at the same time so we really did try to paint a picture of who this guy really was. And I think one of the things that came from that was seeing how much of an influence he was on those people. Those who were left behind.
We all know who he was on the stage but, off of it, he was a quieter man. He wasn’t the life of the party, he was a great listener. Talking with some people who might have only spent one night with him, might have only shared a drink with him, talk about how much of an impression he left. He was also a very orderly man. He kept amazing records of things like reviews, newspaper articles, photos, and so when we started this project we came across this massive trove of material. As well, he had a habit of recording his thoughts into a Dictaphone, a little handheld recorder, and some of things he reveals on the tape show just how introspective he was about who he was as a performer and as a person. All of this was great, mind you, because that’s what we were going for, wanting to know the man behind the performer.
CS: Did you find out whether his personal philosophy that he used to like to talk about on stage was ingrained as a youth or was that as a result of his experience as an adult?
HARLOCK AND THOMAS: He was always questioning existence, no doubt it.
He was fascinated with his heroes, the Stones, Hendrix, and he could see how they experimented with things to alter their consciousness and he went on a path of wondering what would happen if he did that as well. But, after a while, you could see that it became more like a crutch than it did as something that could tell him something spiritually and you can tell that there was a time when he thought they were useful in exploring who he was and, when they became not so useful, he was lucky enough to know how to stop. He was able to come back from that really dark place and was able to be honest and open about it which just led to the second phase of his career where he became more intimate and more focused than he ever was.
CS: The structure of the documentary. There are only 10 people. Surely, there was lots of temptation use others who could talk about Bill at length. Was that a conscious choice to keep it lean?
HARLOCK AND THOMAS: It began with that intention at its core. As we moved along in the project we felt like we were getting the most intimate, rounded portrait of the man. We didn’t feel the need to augment it. We could have done it with more people but I think it would have lost that intimacy. There might be room for that kind of documentary, a more wide view of what he did, but I think you would lose that intimacy of what Bill so influential.
CS: Did you find that the film stayed in this format or did it alter any as you moved along with the project?
HARLOCK AND THOMAS: The whole process was very fluid, and it always is, but that first version we had was over three hours long. But the trick was to try and distill what is the core ninety minute film within this. And we literally used photos to map out the entire interview track and just think about what each photo needs to do along the way as the animation goes along with the story. Because, the photos give you clues about what it is you’re seeing. For example, when we see Bill at the comedy clubs, the Comedy Annex, people gave us verbal snippets of what that club was like but as you’re watching the film a lot of that is done visually and that’s what that photo animation technique really does. It adds a life to the moments that are now years and years removed from the time when it really happened.
And it puts Bill back into the film, really, it puts him back as the center of this story. If you were to just watch these talking heads talking about him, his absence would be very apparent. But with these photos and the animation it feels very organic. With clips too, they’re doing just as much work as those talking about him. They show the audience what his comedy was like, how he was a performer, and who he was as a real person. We were careful to choose clips that showed glimpses of Bill for who he was in real life, what mattered to him, and it’s all about segueing between what was happening in his life at any given time and what he was doing on stage.
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
This is a piece I never thought I’d write. At the very least, not until I was much older and it might be something that was almost expected because of advanced age. But here I am, still not quite believing what I’ve been told, regardless of how reliable the source may be.  
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
This is has been a good year for Donnie Yen. With IP MAN 2 establishing Donnie as the heir apparent to an absent Jet Li and a broken down, family movie making, Jackie Chan there is a sense of wonder at a man who can flow through a fight with grace and fury but who has not set his sights on a wider market. Be it an indifference to the wants and needs of a global film treasure trove that could await him should he just get his foot in the door stateside or just plain satisfaction in doing the kinds of films he’s happy enough doing overseas, the man is electrifying in this role.
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
I had worries that 
Yeah, I love me some novelty cameras, and the 
It’s an embarrassment of riches from the fine folks at Fantagraphics as they deliver not one, but two fantastic comic collections for aficionados to dive into. Not only do we get the 15th volume of 
Five years after Hurricane Katrina, Spike Lee returned to New Orleans for a follow up to his documentary When The Levees Broke. The equally powerful return is documented in 
The arrival of the Handmade Films library in high definition continues with both a hard-bitten action flick and farce – Neil Jordan’s 
Not only great films make it to Blu-Ray – sometimes you get catalogue releases like the one-two punch of 
MGM cranks up their on-demand program (similar to the programs already in place over at Warners and Universal) with a clutch of obscure catalogue titles including an early turn from William Shatner in 
I’m sure that the Jack Black-starring bastardization of 
Take another show off the uncompleted list as the 6th & final season of 
If all of that story and character just seemed like filler to you, you’ll probably want to pick up 
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
Directors Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas just had to answer one question for me, just one, when it came to the fame and popularity of Bill Hicks when he was still walking back and forth across the stand-up stages: What made him so popular in the UK?
His long form ideas connected because, politically, you have things here in the UK where you have a very oppositional structure where institutions are questioned, regularly. Whereas in America it seems to be about blending into one of two parties and when Bill came over here he was much more well received because we, frankly, are used to questioning those is power.
He was fascinated with his heroes, the Stones, Hendrix, and he could see how they experimented with things to alter their consciousness and he went on a path of wondering what would happen if he did that as well. But, after a while, you could see that it became more like a crutch than it did as something that could tell him something spiritually and you can tell that there was a time when he thought they were useful in exploring who he was and, when they became not so useful, he was lucky enough to know how to stop. He was able to come back from that really dark place and was able to be honest and open about it which just led to the second phase of his career where he became more intimate and more focused than he ever was.