Sunday, January 22, 2006

THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES: GERALD FORD

At a time when he's still hospitalized with pneumonia, the League of Themselves got a nice little bump in the standings for former President Gerald Ford.

President Ford once visited the law firm of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt, according to Senior Partner Paul Lewiston. Unfortunately, that happened at the same time when Denny Crane's fifth wife, Clovis, showed up drunk in the offices.

President Ford appeared as himself in an episode of 'Dynasty' with his wife Bette (who also appeared in an episode of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' in which she executed a perfect telephone reaction cliche). He also appeared in archival footage in a disco-themed episode of 'Quantum Leap'.

But he was also portrayed by actor Josef Sommer in a TV movie from 1987, 'The Bette Ford Story'.

In the Tooniverse, President Ford is a member of the super-hero team known as "The Ex-Presidents", as seen on 'Saturday Night Live'. And he also appeared as himself in a sketch on that long-running variety show when Ron Nessen hosted the show.

As for his portrayal by Chevy Chase in the first year of 'SNL', we should just enjoy those sketches for the pratfalls and leave it at that.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

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