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sohannabarberaesque · 2 years

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Meanwhile, at a grocers' specialist in British goods whence Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har-Har were in out of curiosity

[Wherein we find the most unlikely of duos in the candy--or, as the Brits would call it, "sweets"--section, and they come across a candy bar called the Lion such.]

LIPPY THE LION, beaming with some pride: Now isn't that interesting, Hardy, having a candy bar named "Lion," howbeit over in Jolly Olde England!

HARDY HAR-HAR, as myopic as ever: Would that they had, for the sake of fairness, a candy bar called the "Hyaena"; THAT would most certainly make my day!

LIPPY THE LION: Hardy, my compadre, you have no sense of the aesthetic that is discovery and fascination, especially when it comes to the odd treat in candy bar form ... and especially in the English manner, at that!

[Meanwhile, along comes no less than--]

THE KING, "himself," going into the Edd Byrnes routine with the comb through his leonine mane: Somehow, curiosity got the better of yours truly and he decided to pay a call to this rather interesting little supermarket, and a British supermarket, at that!

[He notices the Lion bars in the candy section]

If that isn't a rather astute sort of candy bar myself--uh, what are you and Hardy doing in this place?

LIPPY THE LION: Curiosity, my fellow of the leonine race! I am no less than Lippy the Lion, and this is my compadre, Hardy Har-Har, who has yet to crack serious laughter!

HARDY HAR-HAR: It's all because the laugh muscles in my jaw risk inflammation and injury! It's a medically confirmed fact, besides!

THE KING, with his usual swagger: Meanwhile, have you ever come across my crew's own hyaenal practical joker, Yukayuka? HIS style is classic Johnston Smith catalogue practical joker; joy buzzers, whoopie cushions filled with mayonnaise, fake cat vomit, rubber donuts, garlic chewing gum--

LIPPY THE LION: Doubtless I am acquainted with the whole! Too, I was thinking of trying those Colman's casserole mixes, especially in the slow cooker; I was thinking on the order of that Sausage Casserole, especially the sort where I could use some smoked sausage in the whole....

THE KING: As no doubt has me thinking along much the same sort of concept, especially so the Chicken Casserole, which might be worth trying some Sunday for supper!

LIPPY THE LION: To which yours truly might also want to give that some consideration as well!

THE KING, with exuberance: Heyyyyy ... what are friends for, anyway?

#hanna barbera #vignette #unlikely meeting #lippy the lion and hardy har har #heyyy it's the king!#things british #british groceries #british chocolates #lion bar #colman's casserole mixes #out of curiosity #hannabarberaforever

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naijawapaz1 · 4 years

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Edd Byrnes Bio, Wiki, Net Worth, Married, Wife, Death, Funeral, Age

Last Updated on January 10, 2020

A self-taught actor who is known for his hair-combing as well as jive-talking youth, Edd Byrnes rests in peace after he died on the 8th of January 2020. He was an actor who crowned as a crop of wavy hair, and people still try to gaze into his appearance. Edd Byrnes came into prominence form the hit series 77 Sunset Strip playing the role of Kookie and made him…

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#actors #edd byrnes age #edd byrnes asa maynor #edd byrnes bio #edd byrnes death cause #edd byrnes facts #edd byrnes funeral #edd byrnes height #edd byrnes married #edd byrnes net worth #edd byrnes wife #edd byrnes wiki

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popentertainment-moviereviews · 6 years

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GREASE (40TH ANNIVERSARY) (1978)

Starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Michael Tucci, Dinah Manoff, Didi Conn, Barry Pearl, Jamie Donnelly, Kelly Ward, Sid Caesar, Eve Arden, Dody Goodman, Joan Blondell, Frankie Avalon, Edd Byrnes, Dennis Stewart, Annette Charles, Susan Buckner, Lorenzo Lamas, Eddie Deezen, Alice Ghostley, Fannie Flagg, Dick Patterson, Ellen Travolta, Michael Biehn, Wendy Jo Sperber and Sha Na Na.

Screenplay by Bronte Woodard.

Directed by Randal Kleiser.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures. 110 minutes. Rated PG.

Grease is one of those movies that is hard to quantify for a film critic. Intellectually, I know it’s not all that good a movie. In fact, technically, it is pretty bad. The dialogue is often dumb, the acting is broad, the storyline is cheesy.

And yet, I love it. Totally, unashamedly. I’m hopelessly devoted to Grease.

Grease may very well be the film that I have seen the most times of any movie in my life. I’ve certainly seen it many times on the big screen in theaters – in five different states, no less (Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and California). I’ve also seen it numerous times on cable, an 8mm film copy (just selected scenes, and without sound), on an early pirated Betamax copy, VHS, DVD, broadcast TV, streaming, On Demand, YouTube and now on Blu-ray.

No matter how many times I see it, it never really gets old. Watching the 40th Anniversary Blu-ray of Grease (wow, 40 years, who is feeling old?), I could recite most of the dialogue and song lyrics from memory. Yet, even though I’ve seen it so many times, I still got swept up in it. I get transported back to be that young boy who first saw it in a West Palm Beach theater on opening weekend, when I literally got chills during the performance of the song “You’re the One That I Want.”

Years later, I’m older, more analytical and more cynical (and I no longer get chills), but I still can’t resist that scene, and several others throughout Grease.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few decades, Grease is based on the hit 1972 Broadway musical of the same name – one of the drivers of the big 1950s nostalgia movement of the time, which also spawned things like American Graffiti and Happy Days. The movie is a fairly loose adaptation of the play – really, sometime track down a script of the original musical, you’ll be surprised by how fundamentally different the two are.

For example, the movie added four songs which were not in the musical, in hope of getting radio airplay – “You’re the One That I Want,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” “Sandy” and the title track. Not surprisingly, those songs included three of the four huge hits from the movie soundtrack, with only a speeded-up and accessible version of the play’s “Summer Nights” reaching the upper level of the pop charts as well. (The play’s “Greased Lightning” also became a minor hit but got very limited radio airplay due to the song’s suggestive lyrics.)

However, the basic storyline remains intact, a mismatched love story between tough greaser Danny (John Travolta) and a pretty, sweet, good girl Sandy (Olivia Newton-John). At the time, the two actors were two of the bigger names in pop culture – Travolta was hot off of his breakthrough performance in Saturday Night Fever as well as being the buzz star of the hit sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, while Newton-John was a popular singer taking her first stab at acting.

Yes, technically, they were way too old to be playing high school students – Travolta was in his late 20s, Newton-John was in her early 30s – but then again the entire cast of high school characters was pretty much made up of older actors, from their mid-20s and topping out at Stockard Channing, who was about 34 when the film came out.

Danny and Sandy had a sweet summer romance, but when her family ends up moving to LA from Sydney (a plot point added to explain away Newton-John’s Aussie accent), they unexpectedly end up in the same high school. Therefore, Danny must reconcile between his feelings for Sandy and his reputation as a cool womanizer. Sandy, on the other hand, has to try to decide whether it is worth it to become worldlier to be with Danny. (In full disclosure, when I first saw Grease, Newton-John was my first celebrity crush. However, I seemed to be one of very few people who preferred the sweet original Sandy look to the wilder “Tell me about it, stud” Sandy 2.)

There are all the 50s highlights you could ask for in Grease: dances, diners, races, older 50s celebrities in the roles of the school staff (including Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Frankie Avalon, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, Dody Goodman, Joan Blondell and Alice Ghostley. It also gives a supporting role to Eddie Deezen, the greatest nerd actor ever.

And the music is timeless – both the original songs from the play and the ones made for the movie. (As an interesting extra in this package, they found the original song that was meant to play over the opening credits, before producer Robert Stigwood convinced his top musical act, The BeeGee’s, to write “Grease,” to be performed by Four Seasons singer Frankie Valli. The theme song that was not used was just awful, so things worked out in the long run, but it was interesting to see and hear after all these years.)

It’s hard to remember now, but in 1978 when Grease came out, the musical as a film genre was pretty much dead. This film singlehandedly revived the art form, and 40 years on it still holds up well. There are very few movies that come out that can be called essential, but even with all of its faults, Grease is one of those. This new Blu-ray version is a terrific way to revisit the film, if you don’t have several formats of it already, which most people do. However, even then, the picture and sound quality and the multitude of extras make Grease: 40th Anniversary worth a look.

Jay S. Jacobs

#Grease #2018 #Video Reviews #John Travolta #Olivia Newton-John #Jay S. Jacobs

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ozma914 · 4 years

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Celebrity Death Knell

Orson Bean, Robert Conrad, Kirk Douglas, Mary Higgens Clark, Freddie Silverman, Kobe Bryant, Jim Lehrer, Terry Jones, Edd Byrnes, Buck Henry, Gene Reynolds ... *pauses to catch a breath* ... and we're only in the second month of 2020.

Sounds like it's going to be another of those celebrity death years--in fact, I wonder if I should wait to see who else is going, before I post this. One of the many things they don't tell you about getting older is that the people you loved to watch, read, or listen to will start going, one by one. And it always seems like the new generation of celebrities is comparatively dull and uninteresting.

Or maybe it's because I've just gotten less interested in celebrity.

https://ew.com/celebrity/stars-we-lost-2020-celebrity-deaths/

It's not easy to tell what kind of a person a celebrity really is--being talented doesn't make you a nice guy. But I heard Orson Bean interviewed on Dennis Miller's podcast several times in recent years, and Orson seemed like an honestly good man.

#celebrities #celebrity deaths #entertainment #deaths

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trendingnewsb · 7 years

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Roger Smith dead: ’77 Sunset Strip’ star dies at age 84

LOS ANGELES – Actor Roger Smith, who brought glamour to the TV detective genre as a hip private eye on “77 Sunset Strip,” has died. He was 84.

Jack Gilardi, who is the agent of Smith’s widow, actress Ann-Margret, said the actor died Sunday morning at a Los Angeles hospital after battling a terminal illness. Smith had battled the nerve disease myasthenia gravis for many years.

The actor launched his career in the 1950s when James Cagney spotted him and recommended him for films. He survived two serious illnesses to have a second career after “77 Sunset Strip” as manager of his second wife, entertainer Ann-Margret.

From 1958 to 1963, he co-starred with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. on the glossy ABC series. It made stars of both men and a teen heartthrob out of Edd Byrnes, who played a colorful parking lot attendant named Kookie.

“77 Sunset Strip” had been created by producer-writer Roy Huggins, who also created “Maverick,” and it spawned a host of spinoffs and knockoffs, including “Hawaiian Eye,” ”Surfside 6″ and “Bourbon Street Beat.”

Smith told the Los Angeles Times that the series aimed to show that private investigators were well-trained, serious men, and not the movie and TV stereotype with “dangling cigarettes and large chips on their shoulders.” He was chosen for the part because “I don’t look like a detective.”

But the show had its glamorous side, too. In its Encyclopedia of Television, the Museum of Broadcast Communications said the show revived the crime drama and became “the epicenter of hipness on television, a sun-drenched world of cocktails, cool jazz and convertibles.”

Then Smith was hospitalized after falling down at home and losing consciousness. He was diagnosed two days later with a blood clot on the brain. In a March 1960 story on the incident, Look magazine blamed medical mistakes for the delay in diagnosis and quoted a doctor as saying, “This boy came too close to being buried needlessly.”

He rejoined “77 Sunset Strip” after recovering and continued in his role as Jeff Spencer until 1963 when the entire cast except Zimbalist was dropped in attempt to revitalize it. The show lingered for only one more year.

Meanwhile, Smith got the title role in the NBC series based on “Mister Roberts,” based on the 1955 comedy-drama about Navy life. It lasted from 1965-66.

When he first gained fame, he had been married to a glamorous Australian actress, Victoria Shaw, with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1965.

Meanwhile he was dating Ann-Margret, the dynamic singer, dancer and actress of “Bye Bye Birdie,” ”Viva Las Vegas” and other films. They were married quietly in Las Vegas in 1967. Smith later quit to manage her career.

“Now in Roger I’ve found all the men I need rolled into one a father, a friend, a lover, a manager, a businessman,” she told writer Rex Reed in 1972. “It’s perfect for me. I couldn’t exist without a strong man.”

For decades Smith guided Ann-Margret’s career with great care. She broke her sex kitten stereotype in dramatic fashion in 1971 when she appeared in Mike Nichols’ “Carnal Knowledge” as the abused mistress of Jack Nicholson. Critics praised her performance and she was nominated for an Oscar for supporting actress.

She was nominated again in 1975 for her portrayal of Roger Daltrey’s mother in the film version of the Who’s rock opera “Tommy.”

While appearing at the Sahara Hotel at Lake Tahoe in 1972, she fell 22 feet from a scaffold and suffered severe injuries.

“She could quit working tomorrow and we’d have enough money to live on for the rest of our lives,” Smith told Reed in late 1972 as she recovered from her injuries. “… But when the time comes, she gets interested in another act or a new film or something that delays it. The fact is, the girl just loves to work.”

In 1965, Smith was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a disorder that disrupts the transmission of nerve signals to the muscles, causing severe muscle weakness. Despite the disease, Smith continued working when he was able as the effects of the disease varied over time.

“I have this great dream that when Ann-Margret gets out of movies, she and I will co-star in a Broadway play,” he told New York magazine in 1976. “But right now I still think it’s impossible to be married to a successful actress and have your own career and have the marriage work.”

Roger LaVerne Smith was born in 1932, in South Gate, near Los Angeles. When he was 6, his parents enrolled him in a professional school in Hollywood where he learned singing and dancing. When he was 12 the family moved to Nogales, Ariz., where he excelled in the high school acting club and football team.

Smith served 2½ years in the Navy Reserve, and in Hawaii he sang at social events. Cagney, who was there making a film, suggested that Smith might try for a film career. When Smith’s Navy service ended, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures.

Cagney recommended Smith for a role in “Man of a Thousand Faces,” the 1957 film biography of silent star Lon Chaney. Cagney was Chaney, while Smith played Chaney’s son as a young man. Smith then was cast in “Auntie Mame,” playing star Rosalind Russell’s nephew, Patrick, as a young man.

He and Ann-Margret had no children; in the 1980s, she told interviewers she had tried in vain to get pregnant for over a decade.

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