Article

2004-09-24 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-09-24 08:20|| || Front Page|| [11128 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Dang. And I clicked on the headline thinking it was sarcastic and the story would be about something totally different.

But reading the story does bring a thought to mind. Does anyone honestly think a show would make in on the air today with a bus driver and a sewer worker as lead characters?

As a society, we've gotten really snobby about acceptable jobs. (Or as least Hollywood has.)

To our detriment. I have a college degree, so I can say this: I have a lot more respect for the skills of good electricians, plumbers, carpenters, car mechanics, etc., than I do for those of us with just a "college degree." I know plumbers contribute more to our society, overall.

I just wish more people would respect trades. Those in the trades make our world go. (And they can make better-than-decent bucks, too. Pssst. Pass it on to the kids.)

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2004-09-24 8:59:18 AM|| 2004-09-24 8:59:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 The Great One would have adapted.
Reggie Von Gleason Show anyone? :>

Posted by Shipman 2004-09-24 9:12:46 AM|| 2004-09-24 9:12:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 One of these days, Barbara ... Kapow, straight to the vocational school!

Posted by Zenster 2004-09-24 9:14:22 AM|| 2004-09-24 9:14:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 The Great One looking mother-in-law saying, "ooou I'd like to belt you!"

Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-09-24 9:33:34 AM|| 2004-09-24 9:33:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 To our detriment. I have a college degree ...

PS: It's a good thing you put that odd little dot in the middle of your sentence, Barbara.

Posted by Zenster 2004-09-24 9:56:49 AM|| 2004-09-24 9:56:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 "The King of Queens," a show I don't watch, stars a guy whose character is a UPS-like deliveryman, no?
Still pretty blue collar.

Posted by growler 2004-09-24 10:13:12 AM|| 2004-09-24 10:13:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 My favorite parts of the JG show were the June Taylor dancers and when Gleason played Joe the bartender. I think it was Frank Fontaine who did the singing. . Hiya Joe, Hi Mr. Donaheeeeee. Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Posted by Doc8404 2004-09-24 10:20:34 AM|| 2004-09-24 10:20:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Doc, how can you mention the June Taylor Dancersâ¢ without duly noting the famous overhead camera shots? Tut tut!

Posted by Zenster 2004-09-24 10:37:26 AM|| 2004-09-24 10:37:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 I was watching a show about Jackie Gleason a few months ago. I never realized that there are probably hundreds of "lost" Honeymooners episodes, in that he kept "Honeymooners" running with some cast changes all through each reincarnation of "The Jackie Gleason Show" up until the early 70s. Many were in color, too.

PS: Jackie Gleason was funny as hell.

Posted by Chris W. 2004-09-24 11:06:10 AM|| 2004-09-24 11:06:10 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Melancholy Serenade.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-09-24 1:05:48 PM|| 2004-09-24 1:05:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Good one, Zenster.

It would probably be just as accurate without "that odd little dot in the middle" of the sentence. :-p

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2004-09-24 1:20:52 PM|| 2004-09-24 1:20:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Probbly da greatest showman of our time. Singer, orchestra leader, comedian, dancer, actor, writer, producer - he did it all. His characters will live in infamy just like Red Skelton's. You can have the Leno's, Lettermans, Cosby's and Carlin's but they will never duplicate Gleason and Skelton's output and quality.

Posted by Jack is Back 2004-09-24 2:07:16 PM|| 2004-09-24 2:07:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Is this the one where Ralph and Norton find the memos on Eisenhower's bad conduct discharge and try to peddle them to Edward R. Murrow? I hear it's a hoot.

Posted by tu3031 2004-09-24 3:44:59 PM|| 2004-09-24 3:44:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Probbly da greatest showman of our time. Singer, orchestra leader, comedian, dancer, actor, writer, producer - he did it all.

Jack, you left out "classical music composer." The man was almost alone in his field at that time. While others surely exceeded him in any individual category, few if any, could lay claim to so many skillfully applied talents.

If anyone ever wants to take a decidedly psychoactive trip through the comedic looking glass, rent a copy of "Skidoo." With a cast that reads like a veritable laundry list of Hollywood comedy elite, the movie is, to put it politely, strange as a snake's suspenders.

"U.S. film. Gangster prisoner Jackie Gleason spikes the prison punch with LSD! Absolutely bizarre 1960s hippie, drug cult movie with an amazing all-star cast. Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon, Mickey Rooney, Peter Lawford, Groucho Marx (as God), Richard Kiel, Slim Pickens, Frank Gorshin, Burgess Meredith, Caesar Romero, Harry Nilsson. (Nilsson also composed soundtrack.) Many others. Directed by Otto Preminger. Tune in, turn on, drop a tab! Skidoo!"

Posted by Zenster 2004-09-24 5:11:18 PM|| 2004-09-24 5:11:18 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Is this the CBS version where Ralph writes a love letter to Alice but it gets misdirected to Trixie who is convinced that a secret admirer wrote it then thinks Ed wrote it? All because Ed borrowed Ralph's palm pilot to play breakout....

Posted by CrazyFool 2004-09-24 7:25:28 PM|| 2004-09-24 7:25:28 PM|| Front Page Top

12:42 Liberalhawk
12:42 Liberalhawk
07:09 Memesis
05:02 Sock Puppet of Doom
04:57 Zenster
03:24 Super Hose
03:13 Super Hose
03:10 Super Hose
01:05 Sock Puppet of Doom
01:04 Zhang Fei
01:02 Memesis
00:57 Mike Sylwester
00:56 .com
00:49 Super Hose
00:45 Mike Sylwester
00:45 .com
00:39 Sock Puppet of Doom
00:35 .com
00:24 Memesis
00:20 Old Patriot
00:15 Zenster
00:14 Bomb-a-rama
00:12 Memesis
23:53 Zhang Fei