Making Flippy Floppy

I'm already in the mood for Halloween. I think it's partially due to the fact that in my unemployment, I discovered recently that at 2pm on TV Land is The Munsters followed by The Aadams Family. I've never been too into the dry Aadams bunch, but I'd forgotten how much I loved those kooky Munsters. Yvonne De Carlo as Lilian was the original goth chick and poor Marilyn, the "normal" cousin is pitied by the rest of the family for being so ugly. The plots might not always be deep, but the writing is witty and the characters are loveable.

Some interesting Munsters trivia from Wikipedia: Lily was not in the original pilot episode of The Munsters. Instead, Herman is married to a much more gothic-looking wife named Phoebe, played by Joan Marshall. The producers scrapped the Phoebe character after deciding she seemed almost an exact double of the Morticia Addams character on The Addams Family. Lily appeared in the second pilot and all other episodes. For the role, Yvonne de Carlo had to wear a wig that weighed 20 pounds (9kg). Fred Gwynne (Herman) wore so much padding and so many layers of clothes that despite drinking gallons of lemonade and taking salt tablets between takes and using an air hose between his neck and costume, he sweated so much that he continuously lost weight, becoming dangerously thin. Portrayed by Al Lewis, Grampa's given name is said to be Sam Dracula. Lewis ran as Green Party candidate for Governor of New York in 1998. In that race he sought to be listed on the ballot as “Grandpa Al Lewis”, arguing that he was most widely known by that name. His request was rejected by the Board of Elections, a decision upheld in court against his challenge. Despite this setback, he achieved one of his campaign objectives. His total of 52,533 votes exceeded the threshold of votes set by New York law (50,000), and hence guaranteed the Green Party of New York an automatic ballot line for the next four years. He said that, with “no [political] machine and no money” backing him, the likelihood of winning the governorship would be “like climbing Mount Everest barefooted”. Marilyn was originally played by Beverley Owen who was 30 years old at the time. She was meant to be a copy of Marilyn Monroe (similar in name to Marilyn Munster) and had to wear a blonde wig for the part. According to Al Lewis in a 2001 interview with Pittsburgh radio's Doug Hoerth, Owen was having relationship problems in that she missed her boyfriend who was 3,000 miles away (from Los Angeles) in New York City. After Lewis and Fred Gwynne petitioned the studio, the actress was let go. The role was taken over in episode 14 by Pat Priest after Owen left to marry Jon Stone. Pat Priest looked enough like Beverley Owen that many never even noticed that the role was played by another actress. It also helped the studio in that she was Owen's size and so fit into her wardrobe.

In the spring of 2001, Sandra and Charles McKee of Waxahachie, Texas began construction of a fully livable recreation of the Munster home, inside and out. With initial construction completed in 2002, cast alumni Al Lewis and Butch Patrick appeared at the public grand opening. Lewis exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "This brings back warm memories." The house comes equipped with a grand staircase (which opens up to reveal Spot), a rotating suit of armor, trap doors, secret passages, Grandpa's electric chair, a pipe organ, raven cuckoo clock, a crooked bat weather vane on the roof and even a dungeon complete with trap door. Since then, the McKees have opened their private home to the public for two nights each year on the weekend of Halloween. Since the death of Lewis, Pat Priest has returned to appear multiple times. The Munster Mansion Halloween Bash each year selects a local charity and donates all proceeds from the event.

Their pets:

• Spot - A fire-breathing dragon living under the staircase. Though never fully appearing on camera, his eyes could be seen glowing in the darkness beneath as a hinged section of the stair steps swung open by tilting backward one of the bannister newels. He eats metal and just about anything else and a tail view of him shows him as a large dinosaur.
• Igor - A bat who lives in Grandpa's lab and assists with his work.
• Kittycat - An average-sized black cat who roars like a lion.
• Charlie - A talking raven who lives in the cuckoo clock in the living room, who often says "Nevermore" in reference to "The Raven" poem (usually voiced by Mel Blanc, but sometimes voiced by Bob Hastings).
• Goldfish - They devour food like ravenous piranhas.
• Elmer - A snake that lived beneath the garbage bin in the backyard.

The inevitable reunion special (video below): The Munsters' Revenge (1981), a made-for-TV movie. The owner of a museum with a Munsters exhibit makes robots of Herman and Grandpa and uses them to rob a bank. Gwynne, De Carlo, and Lewis recreated their roles, but Eddie and Marilyn were played by K.C. Martel and Jo McDonnell respectively.

Labels: Munsters, Random Thoughts, Retro Fun, TV, Videos

I just love Coeur d'Alene's local access cable channel 19, aka CDA-TV. It’s home to some of the most delightfully banal television available here and likely anywhere in the world. I don’t want to put down the fine folks who do programming on such a limited staff and budget; I honestly enjoy some of the things they show. The city council and planning and zoning meetings are always fun, full of those low-brow entertaining moments that could only occur on local cable access. I like the awkward moments when the camera lingers on the person who is NOT doing the speaking. I like the impossible mumbling of some council and board members who may be great at their jobs, but were certainly never meant to be public speakers.

Then there’s the fashion antics of our mayor Sandi Bloem, from her wild whipspray of salt and pepper hair, to her vintage Liz Claiborne (RIP) jacket collection, the gaudier the better. I truly thought she was a one of a kind until I tuned in to watch her host “CDA Now” and she really met her match in NIC president Pricilla Bell, who showed up with what looked like a peregrine falcon’s nest on her head and wearing a cast-off from Queen Elizabeth’s 1992 yard sale.

But the program that really wins the banality grand prize is “Perils for Pedestrians with John Z. Wetmore”. This isn’t even a local production – it must be something CDA-TV got free or really cheap just to fill in random gaps in the programming schedule. But if you’re into laughably mind-numbing TV like me, this show is a no-miss. “Perils for Pedestrians” is a very low-budget whirlwind trip through the wonderful and exciting world of sidewalk improvements in Louisville, Kentucky. Somehow, they managed to stretch this idea out over multiple episodes, each hosted by our intrepid and totally geeky host John Z. Wetmore. Wetmore goes from Louisville sidewalk to Louisville sidewalk interviewing various people who have a lot to say about Louisville sidewalks. That’s it in a nutshell, and the show is about as captivating as it sounds. Sometimes you wonder if the interviewees are in on the joke. They sometimes seem a little put off by John Z’s vulture-like stance, squinty-eyed with feigned interest, always holding the microphone at the same intrusive angle. If they try to inject some personality by making a joke, John Z. just glares blankly at them. You get the feeling this is just another gig for him and in reality he couldn't give a shit whether or not kids get plowed to death on dangerous Louisville sidewalks. The camera never moves, staying fixed in the same spot for the entire interview. I watched a woman carry on about how since they’d put in a new sidewalk in her neighborhood her whole life had changed, and she was nearly moved to tears just talking about it. Wetmore and another poor sot stood in pouring rain for 15 minutes discussing the deadly scourge of mud puddles on unimproved walkways. I’m not quite sure what the producers expect the viewer to take away from the show. “Gee, I’m all warm and fuzzy inside with sidewalk improvement love”.

“Perils for Pedestrians” runs several times a night, usually around 1am, 3:30am, and 5am on CDA Cable Channel 19.

Labels: Coeur d'Alene Goes Hollywood, Sandi Bloem, TV

You'll Never Walk A Scone If you haven't popped in to check out the new Bakery-by-the-Lake in the former insty-prints on 3rd St. in Cd'A, you just gotsta do it. I've been in twice just to grab some goodies to go, and the goodies were great. A good scone is a wonderful thing and they have many varieties to choose from. So far, I've tried the pumpkin scone and the orange-cranberry scone and they were huge and delicious. With a fresh cup of coffee it's filling enough to be breakfast and for a buck and half, the price is quite right. Also, I had a chocolate cookie that was exactly the same as mom's and that's pretty friggin' good. I also sampled a piece of fresh baked sourdough bread and *wow* - it was moist and perfect, as good as the best San Fran could offer. One suggestion: the seating area could use a bit of cozying up - all they have is a handful of cold square tables and stiff chairs in a room devoid of personality. Some plants and a bookshelf would do the trick. I Love Watery TV Death I typically only watch TV late in the evening in bed for an hour a two before I drift off to slumber. I get caught in certain things and they develop into a craze: "America's Next Top Model", "Top Design", "What Not To Wear", "I Love New York", anything brainless competition style reality show involving glamour girls and/or bitchy fags and I'm rapt. For some odd reason lately, I am so caught up in something totally different: "The Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel. (No, not "The Deadliest Snatch".) It's a gritty documentary series about commercial crab fishing boats in Alaska. For some reason, it's so fascinating to me that these people risk their lives and work 20-hour shifts in the worst possible environment imaginable, all to earn a meager living and bring a little crab to my dinner plate. Nearly every episode, someone dies a grizzly death, pulled suddenly to a watery death by catching a limb in the loop of a rope, or being sucked in by a wave and lost forever into the night sea. One episode I watched, the entire fishing boat sank and only one guy survived. Like any close-knit group of people, they have a ton of in-dramas and personal issues. they have fights and breakdowns, situations often brought on from lack of sleep and being overworked. It's quite entertaining. I've said before I think I must have died a watery death in the deep ocean in a past life, because I've always had a morbid fascination with deep and wide bodies of water. It's not a phobia per se, and it may be partly due to seeing the movie "Jaws" when I was too young, but I'm very uncomfortable near deep water and huge ships and cargo boats turn me into a nervous wreck, even standing next to them. You won't catch me ever playing shuffleboard on the deck of a Carnival cruise... There Are Times When I Would Scream Til I Was Blue Erasure's 40th (!) single "I Could Fall In Love With You", like each and every one of their many hits, is an earworm from listen number one. It's a hi-energy, high camp technicolor stomper and their best new single in years. The last few studio albums have been a little on the introspective, mellow side, but the new single and the rest of the new album Light At The End Of The World sees Vince and Andy getting back to business, making fun and bubbly synth pop of the finest caliber. Andy pulls his usual witty songwriting trick - on the surface it's a straight-up love song, but the lyrics are oblique and witty enough to be interesting and open to interpretation. Erasure has stuck to the same musical recipe since their earliest beginnings in 1985. In fact, to the casual listener, it's nearly impossible to date a particular song. Any given Erasure song could have been released in 1987, 1997, or 2007 with little discernible difference. It seems like Vince Clarke will never run out of catchy pop melodies for Andy Bell to warble diva-liciously atop. Having seen them live back in the heyday of the Wild! Tour, I will always picture Vince as a mad scientist frowning from behind an assortment of vintage synths and Andy as a naughty little boy in green-sequined lycra and riding across the stage on a huge mechanical swan. It was nice to hear their songs taken out of the electronic context and performed with a full band in country and western style on last year's Acoustic Tour as documented on the brilliant live CD/DVD On The Road To Nashville. They were able to prove that their songs were strong on their own, without the whoosh and whir of production and gizmos. Trends come and go, but Erasure remain stoically the same, they are like a rock, a true old friend you can always count on to be there. Cheers to Erasure for sheer longevity and for cooking up another classic and addictive new record!

Labels: Addictions, Erasure, Restaurant Reviews, Scones, TV, Watery Death