Meeting Local Celebrities

I use to work off and on in the local broadcasting industry. While trying to break into it I had some interesting meetings with local celebrities and some near misses. I already told you about Uncle Al when I was a kid. A few years later during Christmas time Mom and I were at a local drug store. I recognized the man in front of Mom. It was Larry Smith. For those of you not from the Cincinnati area Mr. Smith had a show called Larry Smith and His Puppets on Channel 19 WXIX (clever promotion as XIX is the roman numerals for 19). It's stars were Ruddy the rooster and Teaser the mouse. Another character on the show was Hattie the Witch who was spun off into her own series. Finally there was a third show spun off from Hattie's N.O.T. short for Nasty Old Thing. He was a monster who lived in Hatties dungeon. Snarfie R Dog was another popular character but didn't get his own show. Monday through Friday Larry Smith ruled the afternoons on channel 19. He was a very big star so I was starstruck when I saw him. When we got to the cashier she told us who that was. My Mom asked if I knew it was Larry Smith. I said I did. She wanted to know why I didn't say anything. The truth is I was too shy.
Mr. Smith has his own website right here.
When I was trying to get into broadcasting my Dad called an old Air Force buddy to show me around. He was Walt Maher who was the sportscaster on WKRC television. Now I have never been big on sports. I played some ball in the neighborhood but never watched much on tv unless the Red were in the World Series or the Bengels made the Super Bowl. So I really didn't know what to ask this kind gentleman. He talked about sports and how he helped some people become DJ's by taking them under his wing. Guess I should have asked him to do the same for me. He took me to a photographers studio where they were going to shoot promo photos for the newscast. On the way I asked questions about other reporters, news stories, etc. Once there at the studio I was introduced to his two co-anchors Glenn Ryle and Vicki Yates-Orr. I almost felt as starstruck with Glenn Ryle as I did with Larry Smith. At one time he had one of the biggest kids shows in the area. Second only to Uncle Al. He was Skipper Ryle. You can read more about him and Mr. Smith at Booksteve's Library. Glenn Ryle was a broadcasting utility man for the station. He not only anchored the news and hosted a kidde show but he hosted Bowling for Dollars and movie programs did commercials and was at times side kick on local variety shows. He was an ex-Marine and didn't come off as the rough and tough solider but was very kind to me. Ms. Yates-Orr was the co-anchor person and a very nice and attractive woman. I remember that day how Mr. Ryle said his single friends were always asking him to fix them up with her. He said he had to keep telling them "Guys she's married!"
After the photo shoot Mr. Maher and I got back to the station and my Dad picked me up. He asked what we did and Mr. Maher said that he took me out on assignment.
A few years out of school I went to see a movie at the Showcase Cinemas in Erlanger, Ky. I was waiting for the movie and a very young boy almost bumped into me. His Father said sorry and something else I don't remember but I do remember that we shared a laugh about it. As he walked away I thought he seemed familier to me. Maybe we went to school together but I couldn't remember. Later that night I was watching the news and they told how former Bengels Quaterback Boomer Esiason was in town. That was when I remembered him. I was talking to Boomer Esiason. At least it was a pleasant meeting.
Another clelbrity I met long before he became famous. I am talking about George Clooney. He and I had a broadcasting class together. We said hi to each other a couple of times but never got to know each other. I do have one memory that I may have mentioned here before but for those who don't know it I will tell it again. George and his friend wanted everyone to come into class wearing a funny hat. The day came but no one other then George and his friend had on a hat. So they asked us to turn our chairs around and face the back of the classroom to get a reaction from Dr. Byron Renz our teacher. We did and the only reaction from Dr. Renz was to say "Well you can turn around or I can come to the back of the room to teach you." He said it with a laugh so we all laughed and turned our chairs around to face him.
Now on to our cover boy. Never thought that anyone would refer to Al Schottelkotte as a cover boy. Mr. Schottelkotte was the Walter Cronkite of the Cincinnati news industry. He was so respected nationwide that he could get any of the big network news reporters to do nearly anything for WCPO. Cronkite and Dan Rather both came to Cincinnati to do news promos with him. So he was very big. My friend Chuck and I were doing and intership at the station. The newsroom was very busy. There was a drawer that was open and people were going past it very fast and barely missing it. Chuck and I tried to close it so no one would be hurt. It would not close. There seemed to be something blocking it from closing so I reached in to find it and move it. At that time Al Schottelkotte came up to us. It turned out it was the drawer that he kept his stuff in. He looked at my hand in the drawer then looked at me. I took my hand out and told him I was trying to close the drawer. Mr. Schottelkotte reached in moved something and closed the drawer. He looked at me and smiled and said "Simple!" Then he walked away. Chuck just looked at me and said "I can't believe your first meeting with Al Schottelkotte and he almost thought you were stealing from him. Only you." I bet he rememberd me for awhile. Mr. Schottelkotte passed away in 1996. You can read his obit here.
All in all these local stars were very nice to me and left me with a favorable impression.

My breakfast with Uncle Al and Captain Wendy

The above picture is from the "Uncle Al Show" that was on WCPO TV in the 1960's. This was an early morning kids show that I remember watching during the breakfast hour. It starred AL Lewis and his wife Wanda as Captain Wendy. I wanted to show this on April 16th as "Uncle" Al Lewis is shown holding up that day's date being the 16th. However, the 16th was Easter so I waited till today. Captain Wendy is standing in the back next to the beanstalk holding up another child. I can't see the month but from the way the kids are dressed it looks like fall to me. I and my cousin's Rachel and Randy were on the show that day. It was my first glimpse behind the magic that was television. First teh kids were seperated into different age groups. Rachel was younger the Randy and I so she was off in one group while we were in another. Rachel's group went into one room while randy and I were led into another. It was the segment where Uncle Al and the kids were suppose to climb a beanstalk to meat Mr. Giant. There the Giant would show the kids cartoons. On the way in I was encountered with what I now know was a learning experience. A young lady stopped me on the way into the room and asked me if I wanted to be Mr. Policeman. In the Mr. Policeman segment you would dress like a traffic cop and Uncle Al would interview you. I was hoping I would get to be Mr. Policeman and now here was my chance. Randy was right behind me. I knew if I left for the segment that Randy would be left alone and there was no one in our group that he knew but me. I didn't want him to be alone so I said no to the offer of a lifetime. When I got in the room I was dissappointed to see that the Giant was just a plywood cut out and we were expected to sit and watch a cartoon on TV. I turned to say something to Randy but I couldn't find him. I looked everywhere. I couldn't even find Uncle Al. Why weren't they both there? Because when I turned it down Randy was asked next and he took the job. At that moment he was being interviewd by Uncle Al. I am happy that if I didn't take the offer that Randy did. I learned that if an oppertunity comes up that you want you should take it. If you look closely at the center of the picture you will see me. I am laughing very hard as I was on my favorite show and having the time of my life and I got to share it with two of my closest cousins who I dearly love. Randy is to my left and seated to my right is my other cousin Rachel. They had no idea that we were all related. It just worked out that way.
If you want to know more about the Uncle Al show you can click here to go to WCPO's website. Many interesting things about it there. Like till 2002 it was the longest running kids show in history. Even though it was canceled in the early 1980's. 

The Honeymooners in Color with the June Taylor Dancers

Thanks to TVshowsonDVD.com I have just seen that the Honeymooners will be release this summer. The color version from the 60's. For those of you born after the 1976, the 1960's had alot of musical variety shows. Jackie Gleason had his first hit with the Honeymooners in the 50's and then hosted one of those musical variety shows that was called, modestly enough, "The Jackie Gleason Show." Around 1966 color tv was the new thing. Alot like stero television with surround sound is today. It was not uncommon for shows to add "in color" to their title sequence. That year Gleason toyed with the musical variety format a bit by having Art Carney, Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean join the cast and did musicals of the Honeymooner scripts. Most famously their trip to Europe. They kept the June Taylor Dancers and it was not uncommon to see Ralph and Norton to break out in song. I was about 5 or 6 at the time but I still remember it to this day. Which is more then I can say for my 2 years of high school spanish. Any way I can't wait for this to be released and since I don't have any of the DVD case artwork I have given you this cover from a late 60's TV Guide from this auction. 

Ultraman on DVD

I was over at Bubblegumfink and he had a link to this site telling of the date of release for Ultraman. The hero who helped the Science Patrol keep Godzilla and other monsters from destroying Japan will be back in July with series one. 

The Sentinel On DVD

I just got The Sentinel Season one on DVD. It is a very good action series produced by the same people who brought you "The Flash." I watched most of the episodes before it went off the air but the one that I missed, even in re-runs, was the first episode. So I was very happy to get this DD boxed set. For those of you not familier with the series it is about Jim Ellison who was lost for a year and a half in the jungle. To survive, his five senses get sharpened to an amazing height. When he gets home he joins the police force. The rest of the series he is shown getting use to his new senses in the city and hoe they give him an edge over the criminals. It is sort of like Daredevil joining the police department and he can see. Get this DVD set if you see it for sale anywhere. 

He's Back! The Human Rocket! NOVA!

The Human Rocket is back! The Man called Nova! This mini series Annihilation Nova is the first attempt to bring him back that has raised my level of excitement. The other attempts were well intentioned but weren’t big enough for the stature that Nova deserved. Marv Wolfman will always be my favorite writer for Nova but Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning come close. It took two men to come close to what Mr. Wolfman did. If you have not read this issue yet you may want to stop now. I may reveal something that you might not want to know before hand. Annihilus and the forces called the Annihilation wave attack Xandar the home world of the peacekeeping forces of the Nova Corps. The entire Corps are there as they were being debriefed and getting their new orders. The wave destroyed them all except for Richard “Nova” Rider, Drax the Destroyer who was a prisoner of the Nova Corps and a human girl named Cammi. Also, the Xandarian worldmind has survived but it too will be gone soon. In order to keep that from happening, the worldmind is downloaded into Richard. However, the worldmind cannot be contained in a person very long with out them going insane. In order to keep that from happening the worldmind upgrades Richard’s Nova suit. Nova, Drax and Cammi must join forces to get out of their current situation, stop Annihilus and find a place for the Xandarian worldmind before Richard does go crazy because the suit only slows it down but cannot completely stop the insanity from happening.
I normally don’t care much for adventures that take place in space but this is one of the good ones. I never like it when they change the hero’s costume but I will learn to like this one. Not because it is a good change. I don’t think it is. But I prefer that then to find that they killed off Mr. Rider just to get a new costume AND a new Nova. Death in order to change the character is used way to much to improve a series. They usually wind up bringing them back I somehow. Look at DC. They brought back Hal Jordan. They often refer to Barry Allen. In series that has the Hawk and the Dove they at times refer to Don and Hank Hall. Perhaps there is hope for Ted Kord in the new Blue Beetle series after all. In closing I want to say again that I still think Marv Wolfman is the best writer for Nova but Mr. Abnett and Mr. Lanning you have left me wanting more. Let’s hope this leads to an unlimited series that lives up to this miniseries.

Mike Nesmith article

Thanks to my cousin Steve I was directed to this BBC website. It is an article on Mike Nesmith. It chronicles his career up to this year with his new CD "Rays". It does a pretty good job at condensing his life. Like most news articles on him they report that he was the Monkee with the most musical talent. I don't completely agree with that. They were all very talented. Each of them just took their talent in different directions. The above photo of Mr. Nesmith from his younger days is from Mary Spooner's personal collection. Mary runs the celebrity hosting network. There are no site on it for the Monkees but she has links to other stars of those bygone eras. Like Paul Peterson, Cliff Emmich, Suzanne Lloyd and others. She also has some tribute sites to George Reeves, Robert Shayne, Clayton Moore, etc. If you are a fan of old time movie and TV stars you will like what you see. 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 47

This is the end of Dick Tracy's California adventure. He has already put in a long hard day on this and will be taking a rest. The last two strips on this are the beginnings of another adventure that I may post some other time. Feel free to leave any comments that you want on this or any of my postings. 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 46

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 45

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 44

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 43

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 42

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 41

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 40

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 39

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 38

 

Dick Tracy by Max Collins 1990 strip 37

 

The Harlem Globetrotters by George Vecsey

Going through some old books today I came across this book about the Harlem Globetrotters from Scholastic Book services. I got this back in 1971 when I was in elementary school. I use to be a huge Globetrotters fan. Not many people may know that the Trotters were started by a Jewish man named Abe Saperstein. When he started the team they were not suppose to be the clown princes of the court. They were a serious team. Over the years they had to fight racial prejudices. They did their tricks for crowds during their warm ups. After awhile due to the wars that America was involved in like World War II or the Korean War they had to replace some players. During WWII their were white players on the team. In the 50’s with players taken to fight in Korea they started relying on the tricks to become the clowns of basketball. The Trotters have never had trouble attracting first rate players such as Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul Jaber who played under his real name of Lew Alcindor. While they have been able to attract top players, they have not always had an easy time with them. Mostly it was when the players tried to transition from the Globetrotters style to the regular style of basketball. With self discipline they did make the transition and became the great players of their generation. The book says that another player had problems with Meadowlark Lemmon’s clowning. The author of the book, George Vecsey, does not give the players name. He just calls him Smith. When Smith was suppose to give Lemmon the ball to do his trick Smith would take it away from him. Soon there were hard feelings between the two men. One night, at a game in Ohio, Meadowlark had enough and pushed Smith down. When Smith got up he was ready to hit Meadowlark. The Ref, who normally has little to do at a Trotters game then to be the straight man, had to throw Meadowlark out of the game. Everyone was nervous that the fans would riot as he was the fan favorite on the team. However, the fans laughed thinking it was part of a new act. They were still laughing as he gathered his stuff and left the court.
When I saw the Globetrotters on TV I loved them. Curly Neal became my favorite. He was the first person I saw spin a basketball on one finger. I have tried for years to do this but have never mastered it. My 13 year old cousin Josh Hall has shown me that he can do it fairly well. He is one up on me with that one. One day I saw that they were coming to Cincinnati Gardens to play. That was not very far and I asked Mom and Dad to get tickets. They did and it is a bittersweet memory. I was the hit of my class when I came in the next day to tell of my experience at seeing my favorite basketball team play. What I didn’t say was that the Trotters seem better on television then when you see them for real. I don’t know why. They do the same tricks but they come off better when it is on TV. I have seen them play at least 3 times when they came to my area and have not enjoyed it as much as when I saw them on television. If I ever see they are going to be on ESPN or perhaps on Comedy Central I will tune them in till then I have seen my last Harlem Globetrotters game. 

Old Time Radio

Over at Booksteve's Library he has been talking about his love of old time radio and his experiences at the old time radio convention that comes to the Cincinnati area every spring. I too have a love for that era of entertainment. For me it began in the 70's. Well ,considering how my Mom and Dad would sometimes talk about their favorite shows or use the slang of that era that started from old time radio, it actually may have started earlier. I might have had a drawer full of stuff and Mom would say it looked like Fibber McGee's closet. I had no idea who Fibber McGee was or what his closet looked like but that was the beginning of my old time radio education. I loved watching the old comidies of Abbott and Costello. I knew they had a radio show before but could never listen to it since it was off the air but I could watch those movies everytime they were on tv. Then one night I had the radio on and came across the "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre." I was hooked. A friend of mine, Wayne Davis, said that he liked the show too. Eventually I found that my cousins Steve and Randy liked old time radio too. Randy's love for Edger Bergen led him to become a part time ventriloquist and helped him make some money. We all were going to record stores and finding albums of old radio shows like the one shown above. Suddenly the door to Fibber McGee's closet was opened up to me and out came a whole gang of wonderful people. Edger Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Jack Benny, The Shadow, Dick Tracy, Abbott and Costello, Superman, The Six Shooter, X-Minus One etc. Time passed and my love of radio grew enough that I got a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio, television and film communications. My cousin Steve told me of the OTR conventions that were in Cincinnati and one day when my college buddy Chuck and I wanted something to do we stopped in at the convention. The dealers room seem incredible and it was like a dream for people like me. Chuck and I both stocked up on some old time radio cassettes and listened to them on the drive home. Chuck has moved to Florida so he has stopped coming but I have been almost every year since. I missed one time as I went to Tampa that weekend to vist Chuck. I got to try out for roles usually being cast as the announcer. During the trip to Florida Chuck and I went to Disney and while there they were showing what went on behind the scenes of movies to make up the sound effects. They asked if anyone wanted to help out. I volunteered. They were going to show a film that had Martin Short and Chevy Chase in it and they asked me to voice the character that Mr. Short was playing. I couldn't believe it but here I was miles from the convention and I still got a part. When I was at one of the conventions I got the announcers job while Steve and his wife Rene also got roles. After we rehearsed I was sitting there waiting for the show to start. I looked at our cast of six and suddenly realized that half the cast was my family. It was a funny but proud feeling. Over the years I have stopped trying for roles but I still attend the convention and get tapes or CD's of OTR shows. The dealers room seems smaller every year now. Perhaps the audience for that brand of entertainment is dying off but my personal love for it never will.