Rain, Rain, Go Away

April 30, 2018 / thewritelife61 / 3 Comments

The old cliché is that April showers bring May flowers. So, today we get a glimpse of April Showers. I’m just grateful that I did not have to research shows about snowstorms, since Wisconsin received one to two feet of snow two weeks ago, and we’re still waiting for our first April shower. Let’s look at some of the best sitcom episodes about rain.

I am not a fan of Married . . . With Children, but when looking at sitcom episodes about rain, “Who’ll Stop the Rain” needs to be on the list. The title was taken from the Creedence Clearwater Revival song. During a weekend of rain, Al tries several times to fix the house’s leaky roof. He keeps falling off, and his family can’t decide if his worst trait is stupidity or being cheap. While Al continues to climb the ladder, and his family continues to debate his mental status, in a subplot, Steve lands a job at a pet store. He brings home a guinea pig for a pet. Unfortunately, the guinea bites Marcy and she finds out that the bite is full of venom.

One of my favorite rain episodes is a My Three Sons show titled “The Sky is Falling.” This episode is from the seventh season. Robbie and Katie are married and now have three sons. Rob is under some pressure to provide for his family. A friend of Robbie’s, Steve Franken, convinces him he can make a ton of money selling real estate, so Robbie considers quitting school. During a torrential rain, the storm reveals several flaws in a house he’s selling. Robbie must decide if he will cover up the problems or be honest with the potential buyers and lose the sale.

Another great rain show is the Barney Miller episode “Rain,” an episode from Season 2. Written by Tony Sheehan, the episode features Stanley Brock, Phil Leeds, and Sidney Miller. The team must continue their work even though the precinct roof is threatening to collapse due to a downpour. As the show opens, everyone is unhappy with the weather. There is a deluge of rain out the window, and you can hear the drop of water hitting a pan. Harris and Chano are sent to a nightclub to break up a fight.

The maintenance man reports that there are 6 inches of water on the roof. Fish opens an umbrella when a large leak occurs. Everyone who looks out the window gets depressed and complains about their life.

Harris and Chano bring in a comedian, Jackie Ace. When the audience didn’t like his jokes, he started insulting them. It turned into a free for all, and the owner wants him to pay for damages. He is booked on disorderly conduct. His act is Bicentennial impersonations such as Benedict Arnold turning to Ethan Hale and saying, “Just hang in there kid.” Barney asks Fish if they found a crime for the comedian, and Fish says only his monologue. Jack Soo who plays Yemana with deadpan delivery and a wry sense of humor, uses the rain coming from the ceiling to make coffee.

Every time we see the room there are more containers collecting water. Eventually the maintenance man reports they now have 5 feet of water on the roof, and it is coming from the buildings surrounding the precinct. Even the file drawers fill up with water. The emergency department for the city says there is no way the roof can collapse. When no nightclub guests press charges, the officers let Jackie Ace go. Eventually part of the roof collapses and Barney, who is typically mild mannered and calm, loses his temper. He has finally had it, and he decides to call the City and give them a piece of his mind, but now the phone line is washed out. At the end of the show when the rain has finally stopped, Barney apologizes to the crew for getting so mad, but they tell him not to worry about it. He just said what they all were feeling.

My favorite rain episode, hands down, is “The Rains Came” from Green Acres. This quirky episode is from the first season. It begins in the Pixley Courtroom. As everyone enters, Mr. Haney introduces Oliver and Lisa to his attorney, Diller Fangworth, played by J. Pat O’Malley. Fangworth doesn’t believe Oliver is really a lawyer because he’s never seen him hanging out with the other lawyers at the saloon across the street. Mr. Haney reprimands Oliver for not settling the lawsuit and gives him another chance to pay. He does take time to compliment Lisa on her sophisticated outfit in the middle of the speech. Fangworth removes his coat and plays with his suspenders. Haney tells Oliver the judge’s favorite actor is Spencer Tracy, and as Fangworth begins questioning the witnesses, he is obviously using his impersonation of Spencer from Inherit the Wind. At one point, the judge tells him he’s seen enough of his Tracy mimicking in the past and to put his coat back on.

When the judge asks who is representing Oliver, and Oliver says he is an attorney, the judge asks why he’s never seen him across the street at the saloon. We learn that Haney is suing Oliver for $350 for services rendered. Oliver says he did agree to pay $350 but services were not rendered. They begin to recall what led up to the lawsuit.

Eb is the first witness. He takes the stand, and the judge makes him remove his hat. Eb bought the hat just to go with the suit, so he is not happy. Plus, he worries his hair is now a mess while he testifies. Eb recalls that on the 86^th day of the drought, Lisa was talking to Rudolph the sunflower outside their back door. Oliver finds Lisa talking to the plant and thinks the heat has gotten the better of her. When she waters the flower, Oliver reminds here they have acres of plants dying from lack of water. She says she is not wasting water because there is a story from her old country that if you water a sunflower right outside your door, you can ask him for one favor and he must grant it. She is going to ask him for rain. Oliver tells her she is being ridiculous and sends her inside. Then he stops and stares at the sunflower and, making sure no one sees him, he waters it.

The second witness was Hank Kimble. He’s eating lunch when they call him up which leads to some confusion. He takes the oath but feels compelled to say while he doesn’t lie, he did in fact lie to his mother once. The judge stops him and tells him just to answer the questions. Kimble admits Oliver asked him how they could get it to rain, and Kimble said they could seed a cloud; unfortunately, there were no clouds to seed.

Everyone retires to the saloon across the street for lunch. When they reconvene, it’s Mr. Haney’s turn to take the stand. He explains that he and Oliver discussed the drought, and Haney offered to make it rain for $100 with his rain machine. When Oliver says there is no such thing, Haney reveals Chief Thundercloud, played by Robert Strauss. The chief begins playing a drum, but Oliver cuts him off and refuses to pay $100. Haney pulls out jars of water specimens from different areas around the country where the chief has brought rain.

A couple days later, Haney comes back to give Oliver a second chance. The Chief says he has to work harder now because it’s dryer, so the cost is $350. Oliver agrees to a double or nothing payment. If the Chief brings rain, Oliver will pay, but if not, they get nothing. The Chief does his dance, but after a couple minutes he stops because he is tired and asks Oliver for a glass of water. Oliver sends then both away. Haney tells the Chief he no longer wants his services. The Chief is walking around Hooterville and meets Lisa at the house; he tells her he needs a job. She tells him to do whatever handyman chores he sees need done and they will pay him. She relays this to Oliver who realizes who he is. He goes outside and finds the Chief washing his car. Oliver tells him to stop wasting water on the car. Suddenly, a rain storm begins.

Mr. Haney is sure it was from the Chief’s dancing, Lisa thinks it is the sunflower, and Oliver says it’s because the Chief washed his car, and everyone knows as soon as you wash the car, it rains.

The judge (played by Howard Smith), tired of the entire bunch, dismisses the case. Everyone returns home.

At home, Oliver finds Lisa talking to Rudolph again. She said she asked Rudolph to bring rain when Oliver was arguing with the Chief about washing the car. Oliver tells her that is silly, so she asks Rudolph to make it rain. Instantly, Oliver has rain coming down on him and looks amazed till he looks up and sees Eb squirting him with a hose.

The characters make this episode funny. Their expressions and mannerisms from Fangworth’s Tracy impersonation to Eb worrying about his hair to Kimble feeling the need to admit he once lied to his mother add dimension to the quirkiness the characters always exhibit. I liked the fact that the judge was not portrayed as a country hick; he is an intelligent and no-nonsense guy who just wants to get his job done right. I also thought it was great that while Oliver knows its crazy that watering a sunflower could produce rain, he still takes time to water Rudolph. It’s a well-written script featuring the true traits of the Hooterville citizens at their best.

Enjoy these rainy days of spring when you can stay indoors and watch old tv episodes.

Ruth Buzzi: Born to Be a Comedienne

April 23, 2018April 23, 2018 / thewritelife61 / 8 Comments

As we continue our look at actors and actresses who made great character roles their own, our last meeting is with Ruth Buzzi. While she was primarily known for her characters on Laugh-In, she has had a long and full career.

Ruth was born in July of 1936 in Rhode Island. Her father was a famous sculptor who was born in Switzerland. He carved the marble eagles at Penn Station in New York City, the Leif Erikson Memorial in Providence, and several animals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. For his family business, he created thousands of tombstones. In one article I read that he was asked to work on the Mount Rushmore presidents, but declined because he had a fear of heights. I was not able to confirm that story however. She was raised in Connecticut. Her brother took over the family business and sold it a couple of years ago.

Ruth was head cheerleader in high school. At 17, she enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse for the Performing Arts where she studied voice, dance, and acting, graduating with honors. Her classmates there included Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman.

Her first job was while she was still in school, traveling with Rudy Vallee in a musical and comedy act. After graduation, she moved to New York City and appeared in revues throughout New England. She teamed up with Dom DeLuise in a skit where he was an incompetent magician and she was his assistant. Buzzi decided to name her character, who never spoke, Shakuntala. They appeared to a national audience when they were booked on The Garry Moore Show in 1958. In the late 1960s Buzzi received a role on The Steve Allen Show.

Buzzi married Bill Keko in 1965. They would divorce a decade later.

During this time, Ruth was hired by Bob Fosse to perform in a Broadway show, “Sweet Charity.” She also had an appearance on The Monkees. While she was in the play, she auditioned for a role on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in 1967.

She received the role, and it was on that show that many of her funniest characters were created. Along with Dick Martin and Dan Rowan, she was the only person to appear in every episode of the show. (Gary Owens also appeared every series episode, but he was not in the Laugh-In special.) Buzzi was a versatile performer; her quirky characters included Busy-Buzzi, a Hollywood gossip columnist; a prostitute, Kim Hither; Doris Swizzle (sometimes Sidebottom), who ends up drinking too much with her husband; and one of two inconsiderate flight attendants.

Her most beloved character was Gladys Ormphby, a spinster dressed in a hair net and drab clothing. She always carried a purse and would use it to hit people when she was frustrated. Gladys was often paired with Arte Johnson as Tyrone, a dirty old man who was hit many times. (I have read about a lot of strange cartoons in the 1970s and one of them was The Nitwits, a cartoon about Gladys and Tyrone. Johnson and Buzzi voiced their characters.) Her performances on Laugh-In earned her a Golden Globe Award and five Emmy nominations.

While I remember Buzzi from Laugh-In, the role I knew her best in was Pete Peterson, Ann Marie’s friend on That Girl which she appeared on during her Laugh-In tenure.

Buzzi was one of the many starts who frequently appeared on Sesame Street. She was nominated for an Emmy on that show for her role of Ruthie, a store owner. She later appeared at the dedication of Jim Henson’s star on Hollywood Boulevard after his death.

In the early 1970s, Buzzi would continue to appear on television series, including Walt Disney, Night Gallery, Here’s Lucy, Love American Style, Lotsa Luck, and Medical Center.

In 1975, she starred with Jim Nabors in The Lost Saucer. This was a Sid and Marty Krofft production, so you know it was a bit odd. The stars were time-traveling androids Fi and Fum. The show was cancelled after 16 episodes.

During the 1970s, Ruth also was the spokesperson on a number of products, including Clorox 2, Clairol, Ban deodorant, the Santa Anita Raceway, and Sugar Crisp Cereal. In the Sugar Crisp ads, she was Granny Goodwitch, a role she created for a 1960s animation show, Linus! The Lion Hearted.

In 1978, another important milestone occurred for Ruth when she married her husband, Kent Perkins.

Her television work continued into the 1980s when she appeared on CHiPs, Trapper John, and The Love Boat. She was Chloe, the never seen, but often mentioned wife of Henry Beesmeyer on Alice. She also made eight appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She was in 25 films during her career including The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again and Freaky Friday. She currently has two movies in post-production: One Month Out with Barry Bostwick and John Schneider and Glen’s Gotta Go.

Buzzi is also well known as a voice actress. Most of her roles since 1985 have been for animation series. She voiced characters in the series Pound Puppies, Mama Bear in The Berenstain Bears, Smurfs, Chip and Dale, Darkwing Duck, Rocket Power, and Angry Beavers.

She also had a nightclub act which toured the United States for a year. In addition, she was on most of the Dean Martin Roasts, typically playing Gladys.

Ruth currently lives with her husband in Texas on a 600-acre ranch. Her hobby is painting. The couple also collects antique automobiles, primarily post-war English cars. She also volunteers for a variety of charities.

Like Fanny Flagg, Bill Daily, and Howard McNear, Buzzi can be described as delightful. I’m happy to celebrate such a full career for such a fun woman.

“Oh, he was a nice, nice man.”

April 16, 2018 / thewritelife61 / 10 Comments

With all the research I have done, I have discovered a lot of nice folks in the entertainment industry (as well as a few not so nice people), but I have never read about anyone more liked than Howard McNear. Everyone went out of their way to say what a kind and caring man he was.

McNear was born in Los Angeles in 1905. He studied at the Oatman School of Theater and then joined a stock company in San Diego. During World War II, he enlisted as a private in the US Army Air Corps. He went on to a career in radio, films, and television. In the mid-1960s, he had a stroke and died from complications of pneumonia in 1969. Parley Baer, a life-long friend, delivered his eulogy. He was buried in Los Angeles, completing his California life cycle.

Howard began working in the radio industry in the 1930s. He was featured in many radio shows, including The Adventures of Bill Lance – a detective drama starring John McIntire as Lance. McNear played the part of Ulysses Higgins, a friend and assistant to Lance. He also filled the role of Clint Barlow on Speed Gibson of the International Secret Police. Some of the other shows he often appeared on included Suspense, Lux Radio Theater, Escape, CBS Radio Workshop, Family Theater, Let George Do It, The Adventures of Masie, Fort Laramie, Wild Bill Hickock, and Richard Diamond, Private Eye. He and Parley Baer were part of the cast of The Count of Monte Cristo, a drama. He continued to work often Baer they both voiced characters frequently on Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. He played congressmen, hotel managers, French detectives, and occasionally the villain.

He was still working with Baer when they both created their most famous radio characters—Baer as Chester and McNear as Doc Charles Adams—in Gunsmoke which was on the air from 1952-1956. Baer would later show up in Mayberry as the mayor.

McNear made his film debut in the 1951 sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still. He followed that up with Escape from Fort Bravo. In 1959 he played Dr. Dompierre in Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder. Some of his most famous films were Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and two Elvis flicks, Blue Hawaii and Follow That Dream. He was also featured in three Billy Wilder comedies: Irma La Douce, Kiss Me Stupid, and The Fortune Cookie.

Overall, he appeared in more than 100 films and television shows. He transitioned into television in the 1950s, appearing The Jack Benny Show and the Burns and Allen Show. He appeared in comedies such as I Love Lucy, Private Secretary, December Bride, The Donna Reed Show, Bachelor Father, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He also showed up in dramas like The Thin Man, Playhouse 90, Richard Diamond, The Twilight Zone, The Zane Grey Show, Maverick, and Alfred Hitchcock. Ironically, he had a role as a barber in Leave It to Beaver.

Although McNear had a long career on radio and in films, he will forever be remembered for his memorable and scene-stealing portrayal of chatty and naïve Floyd the Barber in the long-running The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS). Don Knotts once said that playing Floyd wasn’t much of a stretch for McNear, as his real personality was pretty much like Floyd to begin with.

The first episode of TAGS to feature Floyd did not star McNear; Walter Baldwin was Floyd Lawson. After that episode, McNear took over and made the role his own. On his first appearance he was Floyd Colby, but the next time his name was mentioned it had become Floyd Lawson. Floyd’s shop was where the Mayberry men gathered to gossip and play checkers, and they occasionally got haircuts.

We usually see Floyd wearing his well-groomed mustache, thick glasses, and his white barber coat. We learned several things about Floyd during the course of the show. He is a widower. His wife was named Melva and they had two children, a son and a daughter. His son Norman plays the saxophone and baseball. When he retired he moved in with his daughter and her family. Floyd had a niece in town named Virginia Lee who entered the Miss Mayberry Pageant. He was also Warren Ferguson’s uncle; Ferguson would replace Barney as deputy when he moved from Mayberry to the big city.

Floyd often (incorrectly) attributed famous quotes to Calvin Coolidge. Floyd had a dog named Sam and raised pansies. He typically drank coffee but enjoyed a Nectarine Crush or a Huckleberry Smash soda now and then, and he thought Wally had the best pop in town.

Floyd liked to write. He wrote the song for the Miss Mayberry Pageant: “Hail to thee, Miss Mayberry; All hail to thee, all hail; Your loveliness, your majesty; Brings joy to every male; All hail, all hail, all hail; All hail, all hail, all hail.” He even tried to write a novel but had writer’s block after creating a brilliant first sentence: “The sun is dropping lazily down behind the purple hills in the western skies.”

In the middle of the show’s run, McNear suffered a debilitating stroke, leaving half his body paralyzed. He took some time off to recover. Andy asked him to come back, and the production crew went to great lengths to make things comfortable for him. Although he could not walk or stand, he was seen sitting outside on a bench. There was a special platform built so he could cut hair looking like he was standing while sitting. Often a he holds a prop with his left hand, using his right hand as he spoke his lines. In 1967, he left the series for good when he could not remember his lines.

My two favorite Floyd episodes were “Floyd, the Gay Deceiver” and “Convicts At Large.”

In “Floyd, the Gay Deceiver,” Floyd has been corresponding with a wealthy pen pal, a widow. She wants to visit Mayberry which gets him frustrated. He wants to meet her, but he has painted himself as an equally wealthy man. Andy helps him maintain the ruse by using a mansion of a man who is out of town. Eventually, Floyd realizes that the widow was not the wealthy woman she made herself out to be either.

In “Convicts At Large,” the normally excitable Floyd displays a calm demeanor after he and Barney are taken hostage by three escapees from the women’s prison–Big Maude, Naomi, and Sally. When they go into town to buy food, Andy realizes that there is something fishy going on and recaptures the women.

The cast members who worked with McNear can best describe the type of man he was. In Richard Kelly’s book, The Andy Griffith Show, Andy Griffith, Jack Dodson, and Richard Linke share their memories of Howard McNear. It seems fitting to let them have the last words of this blog.

Andy Griffith:

Howard, first of all, was a leading man in the San Diego theatre years ago. He never was in New York in his life. He developed this comic character, I believe, on The Jack Benny Show. Howard was a nervous man and he became that man, Floyd.

Then Howard had a stroke and was bad off for a long time. He was out of our show for about a year and three-quarters. We did a lot of soft shows, that is, those that were not hard on comedy — stories about the boy or the aunt. But we needed comedy scenes to break up things.

We were working on a script one day, and Aaron [Ruben] said, `Boy do I wish we had Howard.’ And one of us said, ‘Why don’t we see if we can get him.’ So right then we called up Howard’s house and we got his wife, Helen. ‘Oh,’ she said, `it would be a godsend.’

Well, we wrote him a little scene. He was paralyzed all down his left side and so we couldn’t show him walking. We had him sitting or we built a stand that supported him. He could then stand behind the barber chair and use one hand. Most of the time, however, we had him sitting. His mind was not affected at all. He was with us about two years after that before he died. Finally poor Howard died. I’m sorry because there was never anyone like him. Kind, kind man.

Jack Dodson:

Unfortunately, I didn’t know Howard before his stroke. Even after his stroke he was just a wonderful human being and a splendid actor. Sadly, it was during the playing of a scene with Howard that we realized he couldn’t go on anymore.

It was the segment where I wanted to raise the rent on the barbershop. The characters had a great falling out and then, at the end of the show, they were brought back together in the courthouse. Howard had a little difficulty with that segment. We had to change our shooting schedules a little so that his days were not quite so long as they had been. And then, finally, we had a very simple scene of reconciliation. He couldn’t remember it. He went over it and over it, frustrated with himself. Seeing his despair and anxiety was the most painful experience that I’ve ever had. And then he didn’t come back after that.

Richard Linke:

We went to the funeral, and I have to say that it was the only funeral I’ve ever been to where the laughs exceeded the tears. There were a couple of people who knew him well. They spoke in the form of a eulogy — I guess you could call it that. Oh, but it was funny. They related Howard McNear stories from the pulpit. It was something else. Really, it made a nice thing. I think Hal Smith, who played Otis, got up there. It was something else, those stories. And yet, it was all done with dignity. Oh, he was a nice man.

“Don’t give up before the miracle happens.” ― Fannie Flagg, I Still Dream About You

April 9, 2018 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

Fannie Flagg is one of those performers who I have seen all my life but know little about. I thought it would be fun to learn about her show business career. Like me, she started writing later in life as her second career. I wanted to know how that whole dream fulfillment came about. Let’s get to know Fannie Flagg.

She was born Patricia Neal in Alabama in 1944. Flagg, of Finnish ancestry, spent most of her childhood in the Birmingham area. It sounds like she had a “normal” childhood. Although she liked writing, she had problems because she was dyslexic which she did not realize until she was an adult. She was an archery champion at age 12. By age fifteen, she thought about entering a convent. Luckily for us she didn’t. In high school she was a cheerleader and a saxophone player in the band.

As a teen, she entered the Miss Alabama pageant, where she won a scholarship to the Pittsburgh Playhouse Theater Acting School. Acting might have been in her blood because both her father and her grandfather were motion picture machine operators. The summer she returned home, the woman who cohosted the Morning Show in Birmingham was leaving, so Fannie was able to replace her.

Who knows what direction Flagg’s career would have taken if the head of WBRC-TV were not so tight-fisted. Flagg asked for a raise and they denied it, so she quit her job and moved to New York City. She had to take on a new name since there was already a quite famous Patricia Neal in show business. Her grandfather suggested “Fannie” because so many comediennes used the name and a friend came up with “Flagg.”

Her first television job was on CBS Repertoire Workshop in 1964. During this time, Fannie recorded two comedy albums with various skits that included parodies of famous women. She appeared on a variety of talk shows including The Joey Bishop Show, The Dick Cavett Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Johnny Cash Show, Dinah!, and The Rosie O’Donnell Show.

Flagg got her first film role in 1970 in Five Easy Pieces with Jack Nicholson. The next year she appeared in Some of My Best Friends Are.

It was also in 1971 that she received an offer for her first series. Fannie says she stumbled into the role. She had been doing concerts and performing with stock companies. She was on the west coast and stopped in at her agent’s California office to meet the staff. A man came in and looked her up and down and then left. The next day she learned she was given the part of Dick Van Dyke’s sister on The New Dick Van Dyke Show. The man in the office the day before had been looking for someone who could pass for Dick’s sister in real life.

The New Dick Van Dyke Show was on the air from 1971 till 1973. Carl Reiner created the series for Van Dyke. Van Dyke was Dick Preston, a local talk show host. Van Dyke was signed to a three-year contract and given permission to film in Arizona where he lived. Hope Lange was his wife Jenny, Angela Powell their daughter Annie, Flagg his sister Mike, David Doyle was his boss Ted, and Marty Brill and Nancy Dussault were their best friends Bernie and Carol Davis.

The show began its life on Saturday night with All in the Family, Funny Face, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The series didn’t garner very high ratings, so the second season found the show on Sunday nights when ratings decreased drastically. Flagg was mentioned by several critics as being very funny in her role. Fannie credited Dick Van Dyke as her acting mentor, as well as one of her best friends.

Because Dick had a three-year contract, rather than cancel the show, CBS changed the structure. Dick gets a role on a soap opera, so he and his family move to Hollywood. They changed out most of the cast members so Flagg moved on. The show followed Here’s Lucy. The ratings improved significantly, but after the third year, Dick quit to go back to Arizona.

Throughout the 1970s, Fannie continued to get both television and film offers. She appeared on Love American Style, The New Candid Camera, Wonder Woman, and Fernwood Tonight. She was also in several films including both Rabbit Test and Grease in 1978.

During the 1970s, Flagg was a fixture on game shows. She is best known for Match Game where she usually sat next to Richard Dawson. With all the different versions of Match Game, she appeared in 529 episodes of the show. She is famous for wearing unusual tops on Match Game. It was while on the game show that Fannie received a note from a teacher who noticed a particular pattern in her misspellings on the show. She mentioned she might have dyslexia which is when Flagg first began to investigate and learn she did indeed suffer from the disease. When asked about two her costars on Match Game, namely Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers, Flagg said, “Besides being hilarious, Brett and Charles were two of the smartest people I have ever known. On “Match Game,” they got such a big kick out of each other! They razzed one another and everybody else on the panel mercilessly, and they were particularly relentless on the people they really liked. It was never mean or hurtful, and they loved it when you razzed them back.”

She continued, “One of the happiest times in my life was in 1980 when I was doing “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” on Broadway, and Charles, Brett and I were staying at the Wyndham Hotel at the same time. Every day at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon they would come to my room for cocktails. Many is the time I would come home from after the show and they would still be sitting there having a good time. The only thing that changed was the position of Charles’ toupee.”

In addition to “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” Flagg toured with Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.”

Fannie continued her acting career into the 1980s. From 1981-1982 she took a role as Cassie Bowman on Harper Valley PTA starring Barbara Eden. The show was based on the hit song, “Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie Riley. Sherwood Schwartz produced the first eleven episodes. The show moved around a bit from Thursdays at 8 to Saturdays at 8 to Saturdays at 8:30. Barbara played Stella, a mom who ignores Southern small-town standards by wearing mini skirts and speaking her mind. She reveals the hypocrisy of the other PTA members, making her a target of their comments. The show did not last long enough to accumulate enough episodes for syndication, but it occasionally shows up on independent networks.

Flagg was on The George Burns Comedy Week series and on The Love Boat three times. Her final films were done at the beginning and end of the 1990s. Her last movie was Crazy in Alabama in 1999 written by her friend Mark Childress.

She also had a cameo in 1991 in Fried Green Tomatoes, a movie based on her novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. She co-wrote the screenplay and received an Oscar nomination. The book is told in the past and the present by Ninnie Threadgoode and Evelyn Crouch who talk about the town of Whistle Stop, Alabama and the bonds the women forged in the 1920s and 1930s. The novel, published in 1987, was on the New York Times bestseller list for 36 weeks. This was her most famous novel, but it was not her first.

Flagg felt a pull toward writing as a child. She had written a play when she attended Catholic school. Because her father worked at the cinema, she had seen a lot of movies. She wrote a play about two career girls who lived in an apartment over the Copacabana nightclub in New York City. A man named Mr. Truman called and asked to come for tea. The girls assume it’s President Truman and go all out getting ready and inviting their friends. It turns out to be an insurance salesman. Her teacher phoned her mother to say the nuns were concerned because she used the word “martini” 16 times. Her mother had to explain that Fannie watched a lot of movies and the family was not sitting around drinking martinis every night.

She won first prize at the county fair for an essay titled, “Why I Want to Be Bald Headed.” She wrote it because she hated her mother braiding her hair so tightly every morning.

In the 1960s, Flagg wrote skits for a night club in New York—Upstairs at the Downstairs. She filled in for a sick actress one night when Allen Funt was in the audience. He invited her to become a staff writer on Candid Camera where she acted as well.

Flagg decided to attend a conference in 1978 to see Eudora Welty. She had to write a short story for a contest based on the word “childhood.” As Flagg tells it,

“I went to the grocery store, and I bought one of those spiral notebooks. I wrote a story called Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man about something that had actually happened to me in childhood,” says Flagg. “I wrote it as an 11-year-old child, and I thought that if they saw any mistakes, they would think I did it on purpose.”

Flagg won the contest. “I couldn’t believe it. I was thrilled, but at the same time I felt like such a cheat and a liar,” says Flagg. An editor there said that he wanted to talk with her about her writing a fleshed-out novel based on her short story. Flagg burst into tears and said, “I’m so sorry, but I can’t write a book.” When he asked her why, she replied, “Because I can’t spell.” Flagg says the editor looked at her like she was crazy and said, “What do you think we have editors for?”

She’s been writing ever since.

Fannie Flagg has found her niche. Since that first novel, she has continued to write, publishing ten books in all. Her most recent release was The Whole Town is Talking in 2016. In 2012 she won the Harper Lee Distinguished Alabama Author award and presented it to Fannie in person.

As an adult, Fannie collects lamps from the 1940s and 1950s. She loves going on cruise ships, which might explain her three appearances on The Love Boat. If you were a Match Game fan, it will not surprise you to learn that she loves wearing stripes with polka dots.

Fannie just seems like a delightful and fun person to be around. She is on my list of people to have dinner with. I have recently began reading her books and I love them. She writes about quirky, not strange, characters who seem true to life. It’s been fun getting to know a bit more about her life and career.

Hi Bob!

April 2, 2018April 2, 2018 / thewritelife61 / 4 Comments

There are several actors I find delightful; no other word quite fits. So, for the rest of this month, I thought it would be fun to get to know more about a few of them. Today we start with Bill Daily.

Bill was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1928. His childhood was not innocent and carefree. His father was in prison, and Bill only saw him once. He died when Bill was very young. Life with his mother and step-father was not a walk in the park either. He rarely spent time with his mother, and he described his stepfather as a “terrible person.” He spent a lot of time in Kansas City with his aunt and uncle who were great role models for him.

When Bill was 12, his family moved to Chicago and he attended Lane Technical High School. Daily struggled in school because he had dyslexia, but he learned to use humor to make it easier. It started a pattern of using humor to overcome obstacles.

After school he decided to earn his living as a musician. He had learned to play the bass at a young age. He played with jazz bands all over the Midwest. He was drafted into the army and was sent to Korea with an artillery unit, but he later was transferred to an entertainment division. During the war, he met actor/musician Dick Contino, and the two would travel to various units giving shows. Contino would sing and play the accordion and Daily, who was an accomplished musician, would play the stand-up bass. He also developed a stand-up comedy bit.

Returning to the entertainment industry after his military stint, Daily began performing stand-up comedy. In 1949 Daily married his first wife Patricia Anderson. They adopted two children and divorced in 1976.

He enrolled at the Goodman Theatre School and worked for a Chicago NBC station, WMAQ as an announcer and a floor manager. When he was preparing for a Chicago-area Emmy Award broadcast, he asked an acquaintance Bob Newhart to develop a routine about press agents. That routine turned into “Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue.” He described Bob as a shy man and a comic genius. He referred to him as “the nicest man that ever lived. The nicest man I ever met. Great father . . . great kids . . . great wife.”

Daily became a regular guest as a comedian on The Mike Douglas Show which was produced in Chicago. Steve Allen saw him and brought him on his show as a comedian and sidekick.

In the 1960s, Daily began his television career. He appeared on Bewitched, My Mother the Car, and The Farmer’s Daughter. Sidney Sheldon liked his work and offered him a role of Major Roger Healey in the pilot of I Dream of Jeannie.

The role of Major Healey turned into a regular costarring role. The show was on the air for five years from 1965-1970. Daily even got to write one of the episodes: “Jeannie the Matchmaker.”

In 1972 he appeared in Getting Together, a spin-off from The Partridge Family. He also was in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and two episodes of Love American Style. That same year, he got the role of Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show. Borden was a pilot, naïve and a bit excitable but a true friend. The show was on the air from 1972-1978. When it ended, he went back to guest starring on television series including The Love Boat, Trapper John MD, and CHiPs.

In the mid-1970s, he became a semi-regular on Match Game, filling in when Richard Dawson left, appearing on 85 episodes. Daily described Charles Nelson Reilly as “brilliant.” He spent summers at Gene Rayburn’s home in Hyannis Port.

In 1977 Daily married for a second time. He met Vivian when they were both traveling and performing in Lover’s Leap. They had a daughter and divorced in 1980.

In 1985, Bill was offered his own show called Small & Frye. Daily played a neurotic doctor; unfortunately, the show only lasted three months before it was canceled. He tried another show of his own in 1988 called Starting from Scratch which lasted one season before getting the axe.

That would be his last regular series although he made four appearances on ALF as Larry the psychiatrist. ALF claimed to have learned about psychiatry from watching the Bob Newhart Show. Jack Riley, Elliot Carlin on Bob’s show, appeared as a patient on the show. Riley and Daily were friends from Chicago days.

I Dream of Jeannie continued to keep Daily busy as well. Two made-for-tv movies were made as sequels: I Dream of Jeannie . . . Fifteen Years Later in 1985 and I Still Dream of Jeannie in 1990.

Daily tried marriage for a third time in 1993. He and Becky were married until her death in 2010. I found it funny that the couple had a dog named Hi Bob, named for the line that he said over and over on the Newhart show.

Daily retired to Albuquerque. He was a weekly guest host on a radio station there from 2006-2009. He has also appeared in plays at Albuquerque Little Theater where several other celebrities have performed over the years.

In 2016 Gary Levine, a writer for the Naples Herald interviewed Daily by phone. Here is part of that interview:

“Daily explained that while he was capable and proficient at reading music, he was hurried to inform me of his inability to read. Bill indicated that he struggled with Dyslexia and was unable to read without assistance.

At this moment, you are likely wondering how an actor, unable to read, can adhere to a script.

“I memorized them, with my daughter.” As he and his wife found themselves unable to have children, the couple adopted two children, Patrick and Kimberley. Kimberley has since passed away, however, Daily credits her with assisting him to read and learn his lines. Patrick and Bill appear to be extremely close and reside near one another. Patrick works in the film industry doing camera work on various films and productions.

“The scripts were brilliant,” he remarked, “but I couldn’t read.” Daily continued, “I was so grateful that I was working.”

Expectedly, the dialogue quickly transitioned to Barbara Eden. Daily’s first adjective: ‘brilliant.’ He indicated that massive lines would form, desperate to see her, wherever they travelled. “It’s her! No one else could have played Jeannie. Don’t bother trying. I’ve tried many times. There’s no one. She had the look, the charm…she was sophisticated. There was no one like her…ever.”

Bill Daily just seems like a great guy who would get along with everybody. He has played two endearing characters in Roger Healey and Howard Borden. He seems to be enjoying retirement and working with a local theater in Albuquerque. His sense of humor is quite apparent in all of his interviews. Most impressive is how kind he seems to be, especially dealing with such an unhappy childhood.

thewritelife61

How pop culture influences us

Month: April 2018