Pretend Afterlife Which Doesn’t Exist Is Getting Funnier
Current mood: blah
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural
George Carlin, who was completely unbelievable as the flaming gay in the horrible Prince of Tides, but also the brilliant man behind the Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV comedy routine, died of heart failure yesterday at the age of 71. He went to the hospital yesterday afternoon complaining of chest pains, and passed away later that evening. Carlin first performed his Seven Words routine in Milwaukee in 1972, during which he spoke all seven words out loud, and was arrested for disturbing the peace. The routine aired on a NY radio station in 1978 and it resulted in a Supreme Court case which upheld the government's authority to deliver sanctions on the station for using offensive language. Through his career, he won four Grammy Awards and was nominated five times for an Emmy Award, and most recently was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. RIP
RIP, Sydney Pollack, 73
Current mood: anxious
Category: Life
Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and actor, whose star-laden movies, including "The Way We Were,""Tootsie" and "Out of Africa", were among the most successful of the 1970s and '80s, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles, after a long battle with cancer.
Michael Dorsey: Are you saying that nobody in New York will work with me? George Fields: No, no, that's too limited... nobody in Hollywood wants to work with you either. I can't even set you up for a commercial. You played a tomato for 30 seconds - they went a half a day over schedule because you wouldn't sit down. Michael Dorsey: Of course. It was illogical. George Fields: YOU WERE A TOMATO. A tomato doesn't have logic. A tomato can't move. Michael Dorsey: That's what I said. So if he can't move, how's he gonna sit down, George? I was a stand-up tomato: a juicy, sexy, beefsteak tomato. Nobody does vegetables like me. I did an evening of vegetables off-Broadway. I did the best tomato, the best cucumber... I did an endive salad that knocked the critics on their ass.
The brilliant and --rare for the world of show peoples -- genuinely warm Dick Martin, who co-created and co-hosted Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In - a show which forever changed the face of television, died today of respiratory complications, while surrounded by his wife, family, and friends. He was 86 years young.
In addition to a 25-year career in nightclubs and the success of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Dick Martin began a second career as a television director in 1976, starting with The Bob Newhart Show. He was the chief director of the 1980s sitcom Newhart as well as the host of the short-lived Mindreaders game show in the late 1970s. By the time he retired from his second career, he had directed over 200 hours of television.
He married Britain's first Playboy Playmate Dolly Read (Dolly Martin) in 1971. Martin was formerly married to Peggy Connelly. He has two sons, Richard Martin and Cary Martin.
Dick Martin was born on January 30, 1922, in Battle Creek, Michigan. He took an early interest in comedy and in his twenties worked briefly as a staff writer for the radio show Duffy's Tavern, working with the author and Broadway director Abe Burrows.
In 1951 he had a bit part in the Vincente Minnelli film Father's Little Dividend, alongside Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor, but it took him several more years to begin carving out a career for himself in television comedy. This began with an appearance on The Bob Hope Show, in an episode which also featured Diana Dors and Betty Grable. He then appeared in two episodes of The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, the first of which featured Shirley MacLaine and the second of which involved his first appearance with Dan Rowan, who was to become the other half of his famous double-act.
It was 1952 when Dan Rowan and Dick Martin met. Dick Martin, who had just seen Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform at Slapsie Maxie's nightclub, decided "that looked like a lot of fun." Nine days later, Rowan and Martin broke in their act at Charlie Foy's Supper Club in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. They didn't do all that well but while sitting at the bar after the show, comedian Joe Frisco came up to them and said "Don't give up kids - you've got class."
Rowan and Martin began playing nightclubs throughout America. The first time they played Las Vegas was early 1953 at the Golden Nugget; they played three times downtown at the El Cortez before moving "up" to the Strip. They received their first big break in Lake Tahoe at the Calvada Lodge, owned by Joby Lewis of the Detroit "family."
At the Calvada, they opened for a young singer named Nat King Cole. After a 3-week stint in Tahoe, Nat took the boys to Australia where they played Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, then flew on to play Auckland, New Zealand. Cole then took Rowan and Martin to the Chez Paree in Chicago, and on to the Copacabana in New York City. It was in 1955 that Rowan and Martin first played the Sands Hotel for a four-week engagement on the Las Vegas strip - they had arrived!
Between 1962 and 1964, Martin - without Rowan - was a regular on The Lucy Show.
Nat King Cole had opened the doors for Rowan and Martin, and they were now booked continuously as an opening act in Las Vegas and New York. At the same time, they began making appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show (a total of 18 times), the Perry Como Show (8 times), and The Hollywood Palace (10 times). They also appeared on the Dean Martin Variety Show on NBC.
In 1966, Dean's producer, Greg Garrison, sold NBC on the idea of a Dean Martin summer show. NBC wanted to have rotating hosts in the manner of The Hollywood Palace, but Dean Martin insisted ..an and Martin as sole hosts of the shows.
The 12 shows they hosted were so successful that NBC approached Rowan and Martin to host their own variety show. Dan and Dick said they "had something a little different" in mind. NBC said, "let's give it a try" and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was born. They shot a special in September, 1967. NBC was not thrilled with the show, but critics around the country were so enthusiastic that NBC relented to a 13-week run beginning mid-season.
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In began their 13-show run in January, 1968. NBC put the show on opposite The Lucy Show and Gunsmoke, two mega-hits and nobody gave the show much of a chance - but by the eighth show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was the number one show in the country. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In taped 144 shows and went off the air in 1973.
Dan Rowan retired to France until his death from lymphatic cancer in 1987.
Rowan and Martin also appeared together in comedy western film Once Upon a Horse and in the 1969 horror spoof film The Maltese Bippy, with Julie Newmar.
Dan Rowan and Dick Martin received the 2,194th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002.
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