Just finished reading Henry Winkler’s excellent memoir/autobiography, “Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond” (2023). Highly recommended.
My one quibble isJust finished reading Henry Winkler’s excellent memoir/autobiography, “Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond” (2023). Highly recommended.
My one quibble is that while he hits the key points and does tell quite a few personal anecdotes, he doesn’t go as much into the making of “Happy Days” and his relationships with his co-stars (aside from Ron Howard) as much as I would have liked. Then, again, I understand that this is his own personal life’s story, not a “Happy Days behind the scenes” book.
I gave the book four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
Wonderful book! “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” by Paul Kupperberg (Crazy 8 Press, 2023). A sort of follow up Wonderful book! “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” by Paul Kupperberg (Crazy 8 Press, 2023). A sort of follow up to his “Directs Comments: Comic Book Creators in Their Own Words” book also self-published by the author through Crazy 8 Press in 2021).
Kupperberg joined DC Comics in 1975 as a freelance writer and then went on staff there (the first of a couple times) two years later in 1977. But he was already a familiar name and face for many working at DC’s New York City offices because of his many visits there for the DC weekly office tours open to the public, his activity in the very active comics “fandom” (those who not only read the comic books but also created amateur “fanzines” and who attended the early comic book conventions), and because of his older brother, Alan Kupperberg, who was hired onto DC’s production staff in 1971 straight out of high school.
“Direct Conversations” is a book of ten newly conducted interviews by Kupperberg with his fellow comics creators (writers, artists, letterers, colorists, and editors) who were not only all but one co-workers with him at one point or another at DC, but who all were part of that first great influx of new comic book creators and editors to come in at the start of the 1970s who had all started out as comic book readers and collectors. The older artists, writers, and editors already there at DC that they would be joining (and learning from) had basically been the same ones from the start of the American comic book industry in the late 1930s and 1940s on up to the beginning of the 1970s. There were a few exceptions, like artist Neal Adams, and writer, Roy Thomas, but for the most part DC Comics was a “closed shop” (very difficult for anyone new to come into it) throughout the 1950s and 1960s. But the changing nature of the industry—including the drying up of the traditional newsstand distribution system in favor of what would become the direct market system selling most comic books through dedicated comic book shops, which resulted in expanded line ups and the short term return of anthology type titles requiring as many as four to six additional “back-up stories” per issue—as well as the inevitable aging out of the older generation opened the doors to many young new faces like Kupperberg and those he interviews here.
His interview subject’s (following an introduction by Robert Greenberger, who also came to work at DC but just a bit too late to qualify as one of the ten subjects interviewed) are, in the order they appear, Paul Levitz, Anthony Tollin, Steve Mitchell, Joe Staton, Bob Rozakis, Jack C. Harris, Howard V. Chaykin, Bob Toomey, Tony Isabella, and Michael Uslan. I’m not going to go into who all of these people are here but for anyone who regularly read DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s, many if not most of these names are very familiar. As are the legendary figures they reminisce about working with and for back in those early years: Julius Schwartz, Sol Harrison, Carmine Infantino, Jack Adler, Murray Boltinoff, Joe Kubert, plus many many less familiar names and those that only they who worked there would have any reason to know, like the various secretaries, proofreaders, reprints editors, etc.
Some of the ones interviewed here were unofficially known at the time as “the Junior Woodchucks” (after Disney’s Huey, Dewey, and Louie comic books). Others, including Kupperberg, escaped that particular label, but they all share a very interesting bond in the shared experiences at DC during what later became known as comics “Bronze Age”.
(I was born in 1972 and was reading comic books by the end of the 1970s, so this was my own personal entry point into comic books, the later part of the Bronze Age, late 1970s/early 1980s. And at that time, older issues from the early 1970s were still quite plentiful and easy to acquire.)
I give “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” my highest recommendation for all of the Bronze Age DC Comics fans out there, plus anyone in general who likes to read about comic books “behind the scenes”/history. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads. (Checked out from my local public library, Tampa/Hillsborough Public Library, which added it to their collection upon my request.)...more
Today I finished reading Ralph Macchio’s recently released memoir, “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” (2022).
I really enjoyed this book. A relatively Today I finished reading Ralph Macchio’s recently released memoir, “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” (2022).
I really enjoyed this book. A relatively short book (241 pages), I think this is one of the quickest reads I’ve had in awhile (twelve days of off and reading, alternating with another book I am also still reading, which for me is quick).
Now, first off, this is one of those kinds of books that goes like this: “if you really like X, then you’ll really like this book about X”. In other words, if you are the right age to have grown up with (as I am) or just generally love (even if you are older or younger than that demographic group) the Ralph Macchio-Pat Morita “Karate Kid” movies (1984-1989), then you will probably also really enjoy reading “Waxing On”. Likewise, if you are a fan of the current “Karate Kid” universe sequel series, “Cobra Kai”, you will probably also enjoy it.
If you’re not into either of those, I don’t know. You might still enjoy it for Macchio’s friendly and engaging writing style. And also as another perspective on Hollywood filmmaking of the 1980s and 90s.
The thing I like best about this is that Macchio starts off right with his attending a “sneak preview” screening of the first “Karate Kid” movie (the very first time he saw it; no advance screenings for him) at a local New York movie theater on May 19, 1984 (the official full U.S. release was on June 22). He was very anxious going into seeing the movie with an audience (his only prior big movie he had been in at that point being Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” (1983)).
That experience of the audience’s complete embrace of the film and its characters (especially his young Daniel LaRusso and Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi), became one he would never forget. The audience cheered at moments like when the big payoff of all of those chores Miyagi had been putting Daniel through (“Show me wax on, wax off. Show me sand the floor. Show me paint the fence.” Etc.) And, of course, the big climactic moment in the tournament when the “crane kick” became a universally recognizable thing (one he saw the audience members emulating as the left the theater).
Macchio then moves back to how he got the part (including his recollections of scriptwriter/creator Robert Mark Kamen, director John Avildsen, and producer Jerry Weintraub). Then separate chapters on meeting and working with Pat Morita (Miyagi), Elizabeth (“Lisa”) Shue (“Ali with an I”), and William (“Billy”) Zabka (Johnny Lawrence).
Then a chapter on the famous “crane kick” (and how it was impossible for anyone, even professional martial artists brought in to train Macchio, Morita, Zabka, and the others, to actually *do* the kick as described by Kamen in his screenplay. (Kamen had Daniel kicking up on his plant leg as seen in the film—his other leg, the lifted one, being his injured leg—striking Johnny with the plant leg and then landing back on the same leg. No one could do it. Eventually, they had to “cheat” a bit and have Daniel (Macchio) land briefly on his injured leg and quickly shift back over to the good leg.
There are subsequent chapters about the two Macchio-Morita “Karate Kid” sequels and other work he did during the rest of the 1980s. (Why did he do the much less well regarded “Part III”? Because he had to. They insisted he sign a three-picture deal to do the first one. And it ended up costing him the River Phoenix part in Sidney Lumet’s “Running on Empty” (1988). Although, he does say that while he himself has always had issues with “Karate Kid: Part III”, it did eventually provide them with a wealth of backstory to mine later on in “Cobra Kai”.)
One thing I didn’t know about was that he did a Broadway show with Robert De Niro called “Cuba and His Teddy Bear” in 1986 (the same time that “Karate Kid: Part II” was in theaters).
He talks about getting typecast in the Daniel LaRusso part, and being cast in 1991 in the Joe Pesci comedy, “My Cousin Vinny”. (Words of a studio exec to the filmmakers when they inquired as to Macchio’s availability: “You don’t want him, he’s the Karate Kid”.
He discusses his reactions to learning of both of the “Karate Kid” films that he was not a part of: Pat Morita and Hillary Swank’s “The Next Karate Kid” (1994) and the Will Smith produced, Jaden Smith-Jackie Chan “The Karate Kid” remake (2010).
He goes into how he resisted suggestions and half-baked ideas to return to the Daniel LaRusso part, and then how eventually he began to consider it, especially after a memorable guest appearance on “How I Met Your Mother” (the comedy series in which Neil Patrick Harris’s character insists that Johnny Lawrence is the true hero in the original “Karate Kid” movie and that Daniel LaRusso was the villain who moved to town, stole Johnny’s girl, and beat Johnny with an “illegal” kick in the tournament). Macchio and Zabka would go on to guest star on the series.
He goes into how, after resisting it for so long, the creators of “Cobra Kai” were able to sell him on being part of their “Karate Kid” follow-up series. (He was the last one they approached after every one else had agreed because they had heard that he had always been hesitant.)
He talks about reconnecting with Zabka (who he really wasn’t close with at the time of shooting the first film or for decades after, not until just a few years prior to “Cobra Kai”).
He talks about enjoying working with both the “OG” original actors like Zabka, Martin Kove (Kreece), Elizabeth Shue (in a noteworthy guest-appearance by her), Yugi Okukoto (Chosen, from “Karate Kid: Part II”, and Thomas Ian Griffith (from “Karate Kid: Part III”) again as well as with all of the younger teenage and twenty something actors. How he would find himself now playing a version of the Mr. Miyagi character now to the younger actors, some scenes and situations very similar to the ones Pat Morita played with him back in 1983.
He talks about some things he wishes he could get a “do over” on, the biggest one being turning down being a presenter along with Morita at the 1984 Academy Awards. He said no, but later greatly regretted it because Morita was one of the actors nominated for best supporting actor for his part as Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid”. He realized, sitting and watching it at home with his girlfriend (later to be his wife, who he is still married to today) and his parents that he should have been there in support of Morita.
He later got a chance to make up for it, though, decades later, when he got to introduce Morita at the Asian Excellence Awards in New York City where Morita received a lifetime achievement award in 2006. They had a great time, he says, reconnecting after having not seen each other in a couple years (and not together at a public event in around a decade or more). One year later (almost exactly to the day, Macchio says), Pat Morita passed away.
There is more I could go into, but I shouldn’t spoil everything. Again, I highly recommend “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” to all fans of “The Karate Kid” films and “Cobra Kai” Netflix streaming television series. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads.
I finished reading “Son of a Junkman: My Life from the West Bottoms of Kansas City to the Bright Lights of Hollywood” (2020) by Ed Asner with Samuel WI finished reading “Son of a Junkman: My Life from the West Bottoms of Kansas City to the Bright Lights of Hollywood” (2020) by Ed Asner with Samuel Warren Joseph and Matthew Seymour. It has a Foreword by Paul Rudd, who appeared with Asner in 2012 in the Broadway play, “Grace”.
Ed Asner, who just passed away at the age of 91 on August 29, 2021, will forever be remembered as the blustery television news producer, Lou Grant, from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (1970-1977) and the dramatic hour-long spin-off, “Lou Grant” (1977-1982, in which Lou Grant returns to his roots as a newspaper editor). Younger generations will probably recognize his voice as that of Carl Fredricksen on the Disney•Pixar animated movie “Up” (2009), and he also made a very memorable appearance as Santa Clause in the 2003 Will Ferrell Christmas movie, “Elf”.
Asner did much more than those things in his very long career in live theatre, film, and television of course, much of which is at least touched upon in this book.
I enjoyed reading of his early years in Kansas City and his relationship with his family (parents, siblings, uncles, grandfather, etc.). At details what it was like growing up in a Jewish family at that time and his regret that his father died long before he could see his son’s success as an actor.
He discussed how he got into acting (live theater), then into movies and television. He has stories of working with legendary actors like John Wayne, Marlon Brando, and Sidney Poitier, and on two movies with Elvis Presley.
He talks of his many guest appearances and recurring roles on television prior to getting the role of Lou Grant.
He then has separate chapters on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Lou Grant”. These two chapters are way too brief though, in my opinion, and this is the arguably the most memorable role of his career, but they are only eight and five pages long. Then, again, this is a very short book in general, only 143 pages (only the first 94 pages of which are actually the autobiography; the rest of the book are additional interview transcripts between Asner and co-author Samuel Warren Joseph).
Following the chapters on “MTM” and “Lou Grant”, Asner discusses his time as Screen Actors Guild president and his at that time controversial remarks that he made in regards to the civil war going on in El Salvador, remarks that labelled him in the eyes of many as being pro-Communism and that he believed to his dying day as having caused the cancellation of “Lou Grant” while it was still doing decently well in the ratings and a long period in which he was basically blacklisted and could get very little television or film work (the second half of the 1980s, 1990s, and at least early 2000s).
He finally comes out of this fallow period (which was very hard on him emotionally as he loved his craft, acting) with those breakthrough parts in “Elf” and “Up”. He also started getting television guest roles again and also returned to live theater.
As I mentioned, the first 94 pages are the autobiography and the remaining almost fifty pages are additional interview transcripts. As Samuel Warren Joseph accounts in his introduction to those transcripts, his first draft with Asner was formatted as “an oral autobiography” (more interview style, I gather), but that Asner decided he preferred a more standard autobiography format, which co-author Matthew Seymour “reshaped and rewrote” along with Asner, resulting in this version published as this book.
It is a very interesting read, albeit a short one, one which left me wanting more. Perhaps Asner intended to do a follow up book going more into his biggest roles, I don’t know. I do know that he was a very engaging storyteller as demonstrated here in his autobiography and also on his many appearances on radio shows and podcasts over the past few years like Ed Robertson’s “TV Confidential” and Stu Shostak’s “Stu’s Show”.
For fans of his work, like me, he is already sorely missed and I highly recommend “Son of a Junkman”....more
I just finished reading “Betty White on TV: From Video Vanguard to Golden Girl” by Wesley Hyatt (2021).
This is the fourth television history book writI just finished reading “Betty White on TV: From Video Vanguard to Golden Girl” by Wesley Hyatt (2021).
This is the fourth television history book written by Hyatt that I’ve read, the others being “Television's Top 100: The Most-Watched American Broadcasts, 1960-2010” (2011), “The Carol Burnett Show Companion: So Glad We Had This Time” (2016), and “Bob Hope on TV: Thanks for the Video Memories” (2017).
Hyatt, who I’ve heard many times on television related podcasts “Stu’s Show” (hosted by Stu Shostak) and “Television Confidential” (hosted by Ed Robertson), always does an excellent job detailing the history of various television shows and/or personalities. He clearly is very knowledgeable about the subject and also goes out of his way to seek out every possible episode of a series to view when writing about it even if it means flying across country to various television history museums to do so.
The one thing about Hyatt’s writing that lessens my enjoyment of his otherwise excellent books is when, in his capsule reviews of television episodes, tv movies, or specials he feels the need to go beyond the objective facts and plot summaries to also giving his critical opinion as well. Things he doesn’t like he describes as unfunny, plodding, uninspired, etc. (generally not aiming those comments at the person he’s covering and their performance but at the show’s writing, producing, etc.). I’m sure that some find value in Hyatt’s critical opinions but I tend to like these parts less because I realize that such things are highly subjective and that just because one person might not find something funny or interesting doesn’t mean that I might not.
While Hyatt did this quite a bit in his Bob Hope book (which made it the one I liked but probably enjoyed the least of the four books he’s written that I’ve read so far), he does very little of this in “Betty White on TV” (aside from the last couple chapters where he details White’s time as a regular on “Hot in Cleveland” and covering all of the guest starring appearances she made on television over the years). As a result of this plus Hyatt’s as always excellent historical overview of White’s long career, this is probably my favorite of his books that I’ve read, right up there with his Carol Burnett Show and “Television’s Top 100” books.
The book is divided into the following chapters: “Betty the Personality” (White’s start on local Los Angeles television including “Hollywood on Television”, a six days a week afternoon talk show, the first of many short lived “Betty White Shows”, and her many years co-hosting the Macy’s Thanksgiving and Tournament of Roses Parades, as well as her guest appearances on other talk shows over the years like “The Tonight Show” with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson and “The Late Show with David Letterman”), “Betty the 50s Funny Lady” (her first sitcoms, “Life With Elizabeth” and “Date With the Angels”), “Betty the Game Show Goddess, Part I” (White’s many tv game show appearances from 1955-1975 including her meeting and marrying Allen Ludden, the host of “Password”), “Betty the Variety Star and Guest” (appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show” that lead to other variety show appearances throughout the second half of the 1970s; also covers later variety show appearances including the Facebook fan driven campaign that saw her hosting “Saturday Night Live” at age eighty-eight in 2012), “Betty the Game Show Goddess, Part II” (1973-2009 game show appearances), “Betty the Scene Stealer” (White’s time playing Sue Ann Nivens, the “Happy Homemaker”, on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (1973-1977)), “Betty the Shining Star” (another short lived “Betty White Show” (1977-1978), some unsold pilot episodes she did, five appearances on “The Love Boat”, and her return to a character she played earlier on “The Carol Burnett Show” in the 1982 “Eunice” tv special and subsequent “Mama’s Family” series (1983-1986)), “Betty the Rose in Bloom” (White’s second really big television role of her career, Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls” (1985-1992) and short lived follow-up series “The Golden Palace” (1992-1993)), “Betty the Boss and Grandmother” (White’s post “Golden Girls” sitcom roles on shows like “Bob” (1993, with Bob Newhart), “Maybe This Time” (1995-1996, with Marie Osmond and Craig Ferguson), “Ladies Man” (2000-2002, with Alfred Molina), and “That 70s Show” (White appearing in four episodes in a recurring role from 2002 to 2003)), “Betty the Drama Queen” (White’s recurring role on “The Practice” (2004-2008) and the soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” (2006-2009), “Betty the Added Attraction” (White’s regular role on “Hot in Cleveland” (2012-2015), and “Betty the Omnipresent: Guest TV Acting Appearances 1956-2018” (including her last two sitcom appearances as of the time of this book’s writing on “Young and Hungry” (2017).
All of this is followed by an extensive Appendix section (“Betty By the Numbers”) listing all of White’s known television appearances from 1953 to 2018, broken down into categories of National TV series as a regular performer (17), National TV series as a semiregular (9), Emmy wins (7), Emmy nominations without wins (17), Aired Pilots (2), Guest starring shots-Miscellaneous (3), TV movies (12), Guest shots-Dramas (20), Guest shots-Cartoons (20), Guest shots-Sitcoms (42), Guest shots-Variety (80), Selected talk show guest shots (100, noted as just a sample out of hundreds of confirmed appearances), and Confirmed game show guest shots (338!).
There’s not much else I can say about this book than that I highly recommend it for both fans of Betty White and also for those who just like to read about tv history. The chapters about White’s more well known series like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, “The Golden Girls”, and “Hot in Cleveland”, are approximately longer and more detailed, covering the creation and production of those shows (with the focus always on White’s roles in those shows) in greater detail. However, as much as I enjoyed those chapters, the ones I learned the most from were the ones about White’s early years on “Hollywood on Television”, “Life With Elizabeth”, “Date With the Angels”, covering the parades, and appearing on the early late night talk shows (the 1950s and 60s stuff), and the two chapters covering White’s hundreds of game show appearances.
There are so many game shows that White appeared on as a celebrity panelist that I’d never heard of prior to reading this book, and each series is given an entry here describing the rules of the game, the confirmed dates that White appeared in the show, memorable things she said or did, and how long the series ran for (some for as little as three or six months).
Here’s just some of them (including many of which I *was* already familiar with): “What’s My Line?”, “To Tell the Truth”, “I’ve Got a Secret”, “Keep Talking”, “Masquerade Party”, “Password”, “Play Your Hunch”, “Your First Impression”, “The Match Game”, “You Don’t Say!”, “Missing Links”, “The Price Is Right”, “Get the Message”, “What’s This Song?”, “Call My Bluff”, “Concentration”, “Chain Letter”, “Snap Judgment”, “Win With the Stars”, “It Takes Two”, “It’s Your Bet”, “Beat the Clock”, and “He Said She Said” (which just gets to 1970).
Finishing this review up, again, I highly recommend this book for those into these sorts of things.
(I should probably stress that this is *not* a biography of Betty White, although Hyatt does give brief accounts of White’s early years and also, later, her marriage to Allen Ludden from 1963 to Ludden’s death in 1981. Instead, this is an extensive overview focused entirely on her fifty plus years working in television.)...more
I once again stayed up way too late another night last night to finish reading whatever present book I’ve been reading, in this case “Roger Moore as JI once again stayed up way too late another night last night to finish reading whatever present book I’ve been reading, in this case “Roger Moore as James Bond: Roger Moore’s Own Account of Filming ‘Live and Let Die’” (1973).
I really enjoyed this book, which is a day by day diary style account by Moore from his first days of shooting the movie to his last, and all of the many things that go into the making of a major motion picture like a James Bond movie and the many people involved in its making.
The first half of the book or more follows Moore’s shooting on location in Louisiana (mostly boat chases through the bayous and scenes in New Orleans) and Jamaica (where, among other scenes, the infamous Kananga crocodile farm scenes were shot). Then, just in time for Christmas, the first unit returned to England to begin several weeks of shooting at Pinewood Studios (for most of the movie’s interior scenes). Finally, for Moore and David Hedison (who plays American CIA agent Felix Leiter), several days of shooting on location in New York City, including scenes in some of the poorest and crime ridden neighborhoods of Harlem.
Moore agreed to record a daily account of all of this at the time so that this book could be released just before the movie as a promotional tie in. He details his encounters with fellow cast mates (like leading lady/“Bond girl” Jane Seymour and Bond villain Yaphet Kotto (“Mr. Big”)), Bond films producer Harry Saltzman, and director Guy Hamilton.
Even more interesting at times are Moore’s accounts of the head craft services person on location, George Crawford’s attempts to keep hundreds of film people fed each day and on schedule (including once even he accidentally *delayed* shooting for several hours when he accidentally took the car with Jane Seymour’s make up in it to go looking for food supplies, and another story of how, reluctantly, he had to turn over the chicken he was preparing for the film unit’s lunches when a refrigerator holding the raw chicken for a scene with the crocodiles got left off over night and the “crocodile bait” chicken went rancid; apparently even crocodiles won’t eat spoiled chicken).
Moore also details the many days that the weather wouldn’t cooperate, as well as his own various duties off screen such as interviews with various press reporters (the most common question being, “How will your James Bond be different from Sean Connery’s?”), still photography sessions, and promotional appearances.
Being a diary taken at the actual time of shooting, this book also goes into much more detail of Moore’s daily interactions with his wife at the time, Louisa Mattioli (which he was married to from 1969 to 1996), his children, and the personal friends and acquaintances he would spend his off hours with than Moore’s much later written memoirs do when he reflects in them back to this period of time filming his first James Bond film.
I highly recommend this book for fans of the James Bond movies and/or of Roger Moore, as well as those who would find it interesting to see just how a big budget, stunts and location shooting heavy movie of the early 1970s was made. (For instance, it wasn’t until his fourteenth day of shooting that Moore got to speak any real lines of dialogue, the two weeks prior to that having been mostly used shooting the boat chase scenes. Also, the headaches of trying to schedule the “royal premiere” date in London which required coordinating it with whichever member of the royal family who would be available to attend, something that American films—and even most British ones, I would suppose—would not have to deal with, but that is simply expected to happen with the release of a new James Bond.)
As I said, highly recommended, if you can find a copy. As this book came out nearly fifty years ago (1973), it is of course by now out of print. I got my copy to read via interlibrary loan with my local public library system (Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library) borrowing a copy for me from Salem State University Library in Salem, Massachusetts. Used copies can probably still be found online of either the first printings or subsequent printings (some under alternate titles like “Roger Moore’s James Bond Diaries” and “The 007 Diaries: Filming Live and Let Die”).
I give this a four stars out of five on GoodReads (and would probably give it four and a half if GoodReads as allowed for half stars in their ratings)....more
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