JAMAICA ON TIME?

Here's your weekly serving of 'Doctor Who', with just a dash of Jerk Sauce....

BCnU!

THE QUEEN OF SIN

After seeing the vampiress Emma in her naughty wardrobe on 'Being Human' (UK version - the episode was "Adams' Family"), it put me in the mood to see Emma Peel as one of the Hellfire Queens....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MORGAN FREEMAN

MORGAN FREEMAN

AS SEEN IN:
'Robot Chicken'

AS VOICED BY:
Alfonso Freeman

First, the news:

BCnU!

THE SUPER SIX LIST: NEVER-WAS TV

I was reading about how the never-finished 'Doctor Who' story "Shada" by the late Douglas Adams is being re-worked to be a novel, with the blessings of the Adams estate. And it got me thinking about some other TV show episodes that, for one reason or another, never were completed......

So I've put together a Super Six List of the more interesting examples, starting with the oldest one I could find:

1] 'BONANZA' In "The Ponderosa Birdman", Buster Keaton was scheduled to portray crackpot inventor Phineas T. Klump back in 1965. That was the one where Hoss Cartwright was supposed to be the guinea pig for an experimental flying device.

But Keaton raised too many objections about the script. He felt that his character should be the one to test the device out; that he could come up with some funny routines based on his old silent movie material. But as the producers pointed out, they needed the participation of one of the Cartwrights, or it wouldn't be a 'Bonanza' episode.

So then Keaton suggested that Little Joe would be the more logical since Michael Landon was smaller and lighter. Keaton tried to put a polite spin to it by saying that Dan Blocker was not "aerodynamically sound".

Again, the producers stepped in saying that the image of Hoss with wings would be funnier, but Keaton insisted that the basis of humor needed believability, and that a fat man with wings was not funny, just stupid. It was all the stage-hands could do to keep Dan Blocker from tackling Buster Keaton.

Ultimately, Keaton was paid off and let go. The producers brought in Ed Wynn to play Klump. (Coincidentally, Wynn had visited the set just a few days earlier to see his old friend.) Keaton never held a grudge about it and went off to make a few "Beach Blanket" movies instead.

2] 'COLUMBO'

While in England during the summer of 1972 to film establishing location shots for "Dagger Of The Mind" later that year, Peter Falk was introduced to Sir Laurence Olivier. Sir Larry let the star of 'Columbo' know that he would be delighted to get the opportunity to play a murderer on the American detective series. Eager to land the "Master Thespian" for a guest spot, the script for "Greenhouse Jungle" was hastily written with Olivier in mind to play Jarvis Goodland. Unfortunately, a computer glitch caused problems for Olivier in securing a work visa in time for the shooting schedule. Since Falk had worked with Ray Milland previously in the episode "Death Lends A Hand", he was brought in to play the role instead. It was a rush job, evident in Milland's performance, and was put on the schedule ahead of "Dagger Of The Mind".Sadly, the opportunity for Peter Falk to work with Laurence Olivier on 'Columbo' never presented itself again.

3] 'SOAP'

Halfway through the first season of 'Soap', producer Susan Harris made inquiries to Jackie Gleason's people to see if he would be open to the idea of playing a character on the soap opera spoof. It would have been nothing elaborate - she knew Gleason's reputation for wanting it all done in one take - and would have just been a recurring role leading up to the season finale cliff-hanger. Ms. Harris had it in mind for "The Great One" to play Judge Petrillo, who would preside over the murder trial for Jessica Tate. But Gleason was only interested in doing a cameo, as his own character of Reggie Van Gleason, and he wanted Witt/Thomas/Harris to bring the production down to Miami.

Susan Harris realized it would have been more trouble than it was worth, so the offer was withdrawn. Eventually Charles Lane was hired to play the role of Judge Petrillo.

(Rumor has it that Gleason was hoping to revive interest in Reggie Van Gleason for his own show. He thought the time was right, since there was so much fascination with the rich in the prime-time soaps, to use Reggie {his own personal favorite character} to mock the genre.)

4] 'SABRINA THE TEEN-AGE WITCH'

Salem Saberhagen was a sorcerer who was serving a term of punishment by being transformed into a black cat. For the most part, his time on 'Sabrina The Teen-age Witch' was spent tossing off one-liners from the sidelines.

Voiced by Nick Bakay, Salem was supposed to get his own spin-off series. But the pilot didn't test well with the research audiences. Remembering the ratings debacle of the pilot for 'Toonces, The Cat Who Could Drive A Car', the network didn't want to risk burning off the pilot by airing it and thus harming the character's potential on the parent series.

Instead, they killed the project and quietly re-edited certain scenes back into the 'Sabrina' series as a cost-cutting measure.

 

5] 'LEVERAGE'

During the first season of the con man series on TNT, a very special script was written for a very special guest - Patrick McGoohan. "The Six Days Of Christmas Job" was about a shopping mall Santa Claus who was targeted for murder and who may have been a spy but who retired from the business long ago.
  

The script was full of references to McGoohan's career - the action took place at the Village Mall, where the Santa had been hired by the firm's "Number Two"; the activity area for children had a giant inflatable white ball; and McGoohan's character's name was supposedly "Drake Rafferty". There would have been a variation on his famous "I am not a number; I'm a free man!" speech, and even the title of the episode carried a reference to his character from 'The Prisoner'.

(By the end, it would still remain a possibility that McGoohan was appearing as Number Six. But as was the case in never identifying Number Six as John Drake of 'Danger Man'/'Secret Agent', it was deliberately left vague to avoid paying a license fee.) Unfortunately, McGoohan was only around long enough to be fitted for a costume and pose for a few publicity photos before he took ill. He died in January of 2009. The producers later took that script and reworked it for a 2010 episode, "The Ho Ho Ho Job".

6] 'SUPERNATURAL'

Earlier this year, an over-zealous writer and associate producer for the CW series 'Supernatural' had an idea for an episode that continued the meta humor standard set by earlier episodes "Changing Channels" and "The French Mistake". This time, he was hoping to develop a script in which the Winchester boys were given advice by a witch as they tried to save her grand-daughter and stop a hostile take-over of the Witches' Council.

And it wouldn't have been just any witch, but the most famous witch in all of TV Land. Samantha Stephens!

Astute readers of this blog will know that Elizabeth Montgomery, the actress who played Sam on 'Bewitched', passed away nearly sixteen years ago. Not that this writer saw that as a deterrent - apparently he previously worked on the 1990's HBO comedy series 'Dream On' which used clips from old Universal TV shows.  He was planning to use selected scenes from 'Bewitched' which would contain appropriate dialogue from the character of Samantha Stephens for "conversations" with Sam and Dean. (A recurring joke would have been for both Samantha and Sam to reply "Yes?" whenever Dean said "Sam".)

It appears he certainly did his home-work.  The plan was to utilize a plot point from the sitcom - that when a witch was close to death or losing her powers, she had to transform herself into something that would continue to be useful. Witches of 'Bewitched' had been transformed into objects before - chairs, bedpans.... (I once suggested that the house of Bartlett Finchley in 'The Twilight Zone' episode "A Thing About Machines" was full of objects that were actually transformed witches.)

The premise was established in a 'Bewitched' episode, "The Corn Is As High As A Guernsey's Eye", where Aunt Clara's powers were waning and she felt the time was right to follow the mandate to transform. (Samantha thought she then turned herself into a cow.)

In the proposed script outline for 'Supernatural', Samantha Stephens had become too ill for even Dr. Bombay to cure. And so at some point after the series ended, she tearfully said good-bye to her family and then used her powers to transform herself into something useful.

A television's remote control.

Sam and Dean Winchester confer with Samantha Stephens on their TV

And it was a universal remote, able to work on any TV. That way, she could "stay on the move" and be seen on any TV set, and the producer could also use black and white footage from the early years on a black and white TV.
 
See, Samantha was smart - she saw this as a way to remain in contact with her family there in Westport, Connecticut. But somehow the remote control was stolen and Sam Winchester eventually came into its possession. And with Samantha's help, as she popped up on whatever video monitor was nearby, Sam and Dean would be able to put down a plot against the Witches' Council and rescue Samantha's grand-daughter. (The character's name was Lizbeth as a tip of the hat to Elizabeth Montgomery. But apparently it was Elspeth in an early draft.)

The twist to the episode was that it turned out Lizbeth was the mastermind behind the plot against the Witches' Council. In order to protect her from a more serious fate, Samantha and Tabitha had no choice but to punish her with transformation - into a framed photograph of herself. (My source tells me that in the script, Tabitha explained that they didn't make the same choice as Samantha did because Lizbeth was being punished - and that meant no TV privileges. Also, Dean mutters as they leave that it was creepy the way her eyes followed him across the room.)

My source for this information also said that the original script called for her to be transformed into a bowling ball so that she could still be part of the family routine of bowling night. [Tabitha married a mortal - like mother, like daughter.] But then the writer realized Dad would be sticking his finger in the holes. It was bad enough that Sam Winchester was always fingering Samantha's buttons on the remote.....

The writer was so confident that the script would work that he contacted Sony Pictures on his own for permission to use the clips. He even put together a demo film of Sam and Dean "talking" with Samantha, using the two lighting stand-ins for Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as substitutes to play the Winchesters in the scene. He also hired the actress he had in mind for playing Lizbeth. (I recognized her from the very grainy bootleg I saw - it's either Keri Lynn Pratt or Kirsten Prout. I'm always getting those two confused.)

But he didn't run the idea by the executive producers of 'Supernatural' first. So they were blind-sided when Robert Foxworth and Elizabeth Montgomery's family approached show creator Eric Kripke personally to lodge a complaint against the idea.

I'd tell you the name of this writer, but he was fired over the incident and I don't want to embarrass him even further. Besides, I'm sure you can look through the credits of the series on IMDb and see which writer/producer is no longer attached to the show.

The funny thing was, Sony Pictures was keen on the idea. (They also okayed the appearance of Bernard Fox as Dr. Bombay on 'Passions' during the 35th anniversary of 'Bewitched'.) And it looks like Fox and Erin Murphy (as Tabitha) would have been available to make cameos as their characters. But the protests by Ms. Montgomery's loved ones would have been publicity they just didn't need.  
So those are my choices for the top six TV show episodes that never saw the light of the broadcasting day.....

BCnU!

"THE WIRE" - A NOVEL

Fans of the HBO series 'The Wire' would probably agree that the following scene is one of the best - if not THE best from the show.

But a word of caution - basically the dialogue is a litany of variations on the F-word. If you feel you would be offended by such dialogue, you may as well move on to some other blog......

What most people don't realize is that 'The Wire' was based on a Victorian novel written by little-known author Horatio Bucklesby Osgood. And this scene is almost verbatim to the original manuscript.

For more about the novel of 'The Wire', please read this detailed analysis from The Hooded Utilitarian.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: RODDY McDOWALL

RODDY McDOWALL

AS SEEN ON:'
The Carol Burnett Show'

AS PLAYED BY:
Roddy McDowall

BCnU!

"THE MENTALIST" - TAKING NOTES

I watched tonight's (3/31/11) episode of 'The Mentalist', "The Red Mile" and had a few Toobworldly thoughts.....

1] The murder victim, Timothy Hartley, could have been a cousin to Dr. Bob Hartley from 'The Bob Newhart Show'. He couldn't have been a brother as Bob only had a sister, Ellen. And Tim couldn't be a nephew as he was too old to have been born after we met Ellen on the sitcom. Besides, I doubt she would have had a child out of wedlock; I'd like to think she eventually married Howard Borden.

2] The Cook Family made its fortunes in sugar beets, via the grandfather. I'm going to say it was the maternal grandfather's business and that he was descended from Hans "Potato" Brumbaugh, who established his agricultural empire in 'Centennial', Colorado. The reason why the Cooks attribute only so far back as to the grandfather is because he began his branch of the family business near Auburn, California.

3] One of the mortuaries investigated by CBI Agents Rigsby and Van Pelt was Pine Valley Mortuary. It'll be my contention that it was part of a nation-wide chain with the original mortuary to be found in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, as seen in 'All My Children'.

4] And this really doesn't involve Toobworld as such. I just wanted to say that I've always enjoyed the work of George Wyner, but that he's come to be such a dependable character actor in everything he does that I'm guilty of taking him for granted. Well, tonight, he really knocked it out of the park with his portrayal of Dr. Steiner the coroner, and I was truly moved by that last scene in the episode between Steiner and Patrick Jane......

BCnU!

"THE CLEARY THEORY" FOLLOW-UP

If you haven't read Michael Cleary's special guest appearance here at Inner Toob - "The Cleary Theory" - please scroll down and do so. Michael grasped one of the fundamentals for the Toobworld concept - that the small, unnamed guest roles in TV shows could be characters in other series - and he ran with it to connect 'Are You Being Served?' to 'Absolutely Fabulous', 'Fawlty Towers', and 'Doctor Who'.
In that article, I marked a few comments with asterisks so that I could elaborate on them later. None of these embellishments negate what Michael posted; I'm just adding a few details to their lives during prime-time.

First up:

She visited Grace Brothers with a dog to buy him some clothes. (Yes it is a different breed, but it would seem that since she loves them so much, she must have more than one.*)

Mrs. Chase first showed up at the Grace Brothers department store one year before she was seen staying at Fawlty Towers. In most episode guides she is listed as "Roger's Mistress". In others, as "Customer".

What Michael didn't point out was that she went on that shopping trip not only with her dog Roger, but also her husband, who was only listed as "Roger's Master".

Raymond Bower played three other roles in 'Are You Being Served?' and it's likely that the "Sweater Customer" ("Mrs. Slocombe Expects") and "The Shrunken Sock" ("The Hero") could have also been the same character. But Mr. Crawford ("It Pays To Advertise") was either a different character or using an alias for some reason. (In any other circumstance, I would have just said Mr. Crawford was the other three customers as well - Grace Brothers likes repeat business! - but Michael's theory was too good to pass up. And not every character played by the same actor on the same series has to be the same person. Just look at Vito Scotti on 'Columbo' for proof of that!

Anyhoo......

At some point after that trip to Grace Brothers, Mrs. Chase lost both her husband and her poodle Roger. Either they both had died - perhaps together in a car crash on the way to the vet? - or the Chases got a divorce and Mr. Chase got custody of Roger.

So one way or t'other, Mrs. Chase must have consoled herself by getting a new dog and by forgetting her troubles with a trip to Torquay.

Next up....

Based on the facts of her past history in the series, she seemed to have worked early on at Grace Brothers*, as well as a His and Hers perfume model... as seen in these pictures:

Joanna Lumley guest-starred on 'Are You Being Served?' long before she became the physical wreck Patsy Stone on 'Absolutely Fabulous'. But according to most episode guides, when she was working at Grace Brothers she was known as "Miss French".

However, at no point during the episode "His and Hers" is her name actually given; and she is never addressed as "Miss French". The name doesn't even appear in the end credits - not that I've ever given any weight to the end credits in the past.

If we need to hold to the notion that she was appearing as Miss French, it could be that Patsy Stone used that name as her nom de mode when she was a model (which she demonstrated during the episode). Or maybe she was meant to be addressed as "Mz. French" - perhaps she had been briefly married at some point. (We know that "Stone" was her birth name and not a married name because her sister was Jackie Stone - as played by the devilish Kate O'Mara.)

But in the end, I think Toobworld Central is going to side with what actually was on air - and that was her name was never mentioned at all. So as far we're concerned, she was Patsy Stone.

And finally.....

Maybe two of the most horrid people in the comedy world got to share a great moment together*.

Here's the scene in which John Cleese and Eleanor Bron made cameos on 'Doctor Who' as snobby, pretentious art patrons in a Parisian art gallery:

 

I think MIchael is right - the actors were actually appearing in 'Doctor Who' as Basil Fawlty and Patsy's Mother. (She never was given a name on 'AbFab'.)

They probably only just met in the museum that day, but the experience of seeing the TARDIS vanish gave them a bond shared by very few in the World of the Toob. And because Basil could easily succumb to the base nature of his human frailties, and because Patsy's Mother was prone to be - well, let's face it, a slut - then I think it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that the two of them ended up in a Parisian hotel room together that day.

Paris... "The City Of Little Deaths" if you know what I mean. Nudge nudge wink wink.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN

QUEEN ISABELLA I

AS SEEN IN:
'Christopher Columbus'

AS PLAYED BY:
Faye Dunaway

From Wikipedia:
[On this date in 1492,] Queen Isabella of Castille issues the Alhambra decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.

The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion) was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon) ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.
BCnU!

SPOTLIGHT ON: THE CLEARY THEORY

Michael Cleary is one of the uncles to my god-daughter Rhiannon, and one of my best friends as well. He offered to write up a post for Inner Toob that would connect three classic Britcoms to the greatest science fiction series of all time. And I, lazy bastid that I am, greedily accepted.

And so, without further ado......

First off, I write this as an homage to Toby O'B's wonderful "Toobworld", and also to the man himself. He actually has made me "perk up" and watch credits and really think about the smaller roles people play, and how they are NOT unimportant! As they say, we have no small roles, only small actors. So thank you, Toby!

Ok, here I go!

'Are You Being Served?' was a British sitcom broadcast from 1972-1985. It was set in the fictional Grace Brother department store. The idea for the series came from Jeremy Lloyd working at Simpson's of Piccadilly, a clothing store which operated for 60 years until 1999.  Two other stores that inspired the series were Rossiters of Paignton and Clements of Watford.

I'm going to run with the idea that Grace Brothers was set in almost the place as Simpson's of Piccadilly, due to the fact that throughout the series, many characters dealt with transit strikes and bus trips, and also going out to major attractions in central London, while lamenting about the long trips home, or also, how close they are to the store. (Piccadily is a major center area of London).

Along the run of the original series, I was amazed that we might have connections to two other BBC series, via characters on both of them who might also be on 'Are Your Being Served?' The important thing I learned is that all these people showed up at one time or another on the series (mostly within 3-4 years) and were never named, which I will assume means they were the same characters from the other shows.

First up is 'Fawlty Towers'. 'Fawlty Towers' is set in Torquay, which is in the south east of England, putting it around 3 hours from London, depending how you travel. It is the 45th largest city in the country and during the peak summer season they recieve over 200,000 tourists. Torquay was also the home of Agatha Christie who lived most of her life there. But most importantly, it also contained Basil Fawlty.

Basil's hotel also served as a sort of a "old peoples home" for wealthy people. This included Major Gowen, whom my friend Toby already did a piece on, and I absolutely agree with it. Why wouldn't any of the guests staying in the hotel get away to London once in a while?

Which brings me to another famous guest from the episode "The Kipper and the Corpse" named Mrs. Chase.

She shows up with a little dog that tends to bite people, yet she pampers it, no matter what it does. Major Gowen shows some interest in it, but then loses his mind again worrying about dead bodies and Germans. Mrs. Chase was played by the late, great Mavis Pugh and here is a shot with herself, the Major, and the dog:

Now, at the same time the Major went to Grace Brothers, we have to assume so did Mrs. Chase, since she showed up the same season. She visited Grace Brothers with a dog to buy him some clothes. (Yes it is a different breed, but it would seem that since she loves them so much, she must have more than one.*)

At around the same time I come to another BBC show, 'Absolutely Fabulous', which has the ex-model, current Fashion Executive (depending on who you ask in the series) and major drug addict and drunk, Patsy Stone, played by Joanna Lumley. Based on the facts of her past history in the series, she seemed to have worked early on at Grace Brothers*, as well as a His and Hers perfume model... as seen in these pictures:

"You've certainly caused a stir in the trouser department."

Captain Peacock

She seems to have angered the staff and also showed a touch of early Patsy Stone with John Inman:

In the series of 'Ab-Fab', her mother (who never wanted her) was played by the great Eleanor Bron. Patsy's mother lived in Paris as a hippie and art lover, yet hated her daughter as seen in this flashback scene in 'Ab-Fab':

This leads me to wonder about the scene in 'Doctor Who': "City of Death" (Episode 4). Did Basil Fawlty show up in Paris, because he got away from his wife for just a day to visit a museum? (Sybil always went away for a day, or even an overnight, with her best friend.  Why not Basil?) And at the same time did he run into Patsy's art-loving mother?

Maybe two of the most horrid people in the comedy world got to share a great moment together*...... You decide!

Yes, I know; I have a big mouth.......

Thanks, Michael!

As you may have noticed, there are a couple of asterisks to be found throughout MIchael's piece. I have some notes of my own about what he had to say at those points, but I didn't want to detract from the excellent research into this four-way Missing Link. I agree with everything he's claiming here, but there are some details that need to be covered. So I'll have those up in a separate post later today......

I'm hoping that somewhere out there amongst Team Toobworld, or anybody else who happens upon this post, someone will feel inspired to send along their own version of Toobworld televisiology which I can showcase here at Inner Toob. (Sean, you still owe me that 'Enterprise' piece!) Give it some thought and write it up. If you can't find the appropriate pictures, don't worry - I probably already have it in the Toobworld database.

Once again, a very big thanks to Michael Cleary for all the research. (And for doing all of the work! As I'm slowly getting used to this new format on Blogger, I could use a bit of a break in the writing department.....)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD

 CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD

AS SEEN IN:
"Christopher And His Kind"

AS PLAYED BY:

Matt Smith

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:

Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an English-American novelist.

In 1925 he became [W.H. Auden]'s literary mentor and partner in an intermittent, casual liaison. Auden sent his poems to Isherwood for comment and approval. Through Auden, Isherwood met Stephen Spender, with whom he later spent much time in Germany. His first novel, "All the Conspirators", appeared in 1928. It was an anti-heroic story, written in a pastiche of many modernist novelists, about a young man who is defeated by his mother.

In 1928–29 Isherwood studied medicine at King's College London, but gave up his studies after six months to join Auden for a few weeks in Berlin.

Isherwood with Auden

Rejecting his upper middle class background and attracted to males, he remained in Berlin, the capital of the young Weimar Republic, drawn by its reputation for sexual freedom. There, he "fully indulged his taste for pretty youths. He went to Berlin in search of boys and found one called Heinz, who became his first great love.

In 1931 he met Jean Ross, the inspiration for his fictional character, Sally Bowles. He also met Gerald Hamilton, the inspiration for the fictional Mr. Norris. In September 1931 the poet William Plomer introduced him to E. M. Forster. They became close and Forster served as his mentor.

During one of his return trips to London he worked with the director Berthold Viertel on the film "Little Friend", an experience that became the basis of his novel "Prater Violet" (1945). He worked as a private tutor in Berlin and elsewhere while writing the novel "Mr. Norris Changes Trains" (1935) and a short novel called "Goodbye to Berlin" (1939) (often published together in a collection called "The Berlin Stories"). These works provided the inspiration for the play "I Am a Camera" (1951), the 1955 film "I Am a Camera" (both starring Julie Harris), the Broadway musical "Cabaret" (1966) and the film (1972) of the same name.

BCnU!

MISSING LINKS: SHIRLEY PARTRIDGE & MARCUS WELBY

'The Partridge Family' lived in the Toobworld town of San Pueblo, California. I've seen online that the location of San Pueblo was supposed to be somewhere near San Francisco. This seems strange to me because the term pueblo is usually associated with the Native Americans of the Southwest. But okay, I'll accept it. Dr. Marcus Welby was a general practitioner who lived and worked in Santa Monica, California, which is about 400 miles south of Frisco. And yet, Shirley Partridge must have known the physician, because when her son Danny expressed concerns about her health, she said "Why thank you, Dr. Welby." Now, I know other TV shows have made references to 'Marcus Welby, M.D.' in the past, and I suppose some of them will have to depend on the splainin that a TV show was created about Dr. Welby's life. But whenever possible, I'd like to resort to a more Toobworld-intrinsic splainin for a reference. In this case, I think Shirley Partridge was once a patient of Dr. Welby's. Before she married Mr. Partridge* and moved to San Pueblo, I think Shirley lived in Santa Monica. So there's another Zonk cured! BCnU! * I don't know if we ever learned the first name of the late Mr. Partridge. But it is a tradition to name the first-born son after his father, isn't it? So he could have been Keith Partridge, Sr......

AS SEEN ON TV: HEDDA & LOUELLA

A quick look at two of the most powerful career-makers (and breakers) during Hollywood's Golden Age for Two for Tuesday.......

HEDDA HOPPER

AS PLAYED BY:
Jane Alexander

Hedda Hopper (May 2, 1885 – February 1, 1966) was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.

LOUELLA PARSONS

AS PLAYED BY:
Elizabeth Taylor

Louella Parsons (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American gossip columnist who, for many years, was an influential arbiter of Hollywood mores, often feared and hated by the individuals, mostly actors, whose careers she could negatively impact via her radio show and newspaper columns.

AS SEEN IN:
"Malice In Wonderland"

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

"Malice in Wonderland" is a 1985 American television movie based on the 1972 novel "Hedda and Louella: A Dual Biography of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons" by George Eells. Starring Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Alexander, it tells the based-on-real-life stories of powerful Hollywood gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, once friends and later rivals. The film premiered on CBS on 12 May 1985. The film was a ratings success gaining an 18.3 rating equaling to 15,536,700 households tuning in its original air date.

Both women appeared as themselves on variety programs and game shows, while Ms. Hopper played herself in episodes of 'I Love Lucy' and 'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'. But I think we can let this TV movie stand as part of Earth Prime-Time as well. All information gathered from Wikipedia and the IMDb....

BCnU!

Today's ASOTV selection was inspired by the memory of Elizabeth Taylor......

ALL APOLOGIES

I apologize for the look of the blog posts for Monday. No matter what I try, the text all clumps together; I've lost control of the formatting.

I don't know if this is happening to other Bloggers or just to me - I've used two different computer systems (now three) trying to fix it but to no avail.

And so far I don't see it mentioned as a problem in the Help Center.

If you're using the Blogger system and having the same problem, let me know.....

BCnU!

If this runs true to form, every sentence should be clumped together now.....

UPDATE: It may all be fixed now.  It could have been tied in to the new "preview" feature.