Sportswriter do not like the psychological aspect behind athletic achievement. They much prefer statistics. Sportswriters and most fans misinterpret athletic performance as if players were as predictable as machines. Joe Blow has 50 home runs and so he is an important player to have in the batter's box at the key moment in the bottom of the ninth inning. Players are not machines. They are subject to psychological hang-ups, some of which derail their careers. Great athletes sometimes get overwhelmed and I'll give you a few examples of players who have struggled:
1) Peyton Manning-- cannot perform in NFL playoff games. Brother Eli does much better.
2) Alex Rodriguez-- powerful performer in regular season games, big bust in the playoffs.
3) Tony Romo-- wonderful athlete and good guy, but hates the playoffs. Lost this year to Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay and Aaron was playing on one leg.
4) Prince Fielder-- great hitter but hates the playoff environment.
And it can happen to coaches as well:
1) Rick Barnes-- coached University of Texas basketball for 17 seasons and made one Final Four.
2) Roy Williams-- got the North Carolina job for college basketball but now falters in the NCAA tournament.
You can bet against these guys in big games and make a fortune. I prefer not to bet on sporting events, but have watched them fail with clockwork regularity.
I have seen a couple of players overcome this Monkey on the Back of fear. The Monkey keeps you from achieving success at the very pinnacle of success. Do these players have a fear of success-- are they afraid to become absolute superstars? It goes deep and they could all benefit from psychological counseling. Every guy mentioned above is a fantastic athlete.
Two who overcame their fears:
1) Dirk Nowitski-- brought the Dallas Mavericks to a NBA Championship after faltering for years in the big moment.
2) Lebron James-- despite his other-worldly talents, Lebron took off after he beat the demon back and won an NBA championship. Much well-deserved success followed this accomplishment.
And, Tiger Woods, is an athlete with two careers-- pre-sex scandal and post sex-scandal
Tiger obviously played with the awesome consistency of a golfing robot till the scandal hit. He must have felt so guilty about the tawdry cheating stories that he never has recovered. He never made a thorough confession to his misdeeds. He should have gone on Oprah and spilled the whole truth. He could have continued his career as the best golfer ever. Instead, he grew a Monkey on the Back.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
SXSW-- has it ruined Austin?
I drove around town yesterday, a Saturday afternoon, with a few classic Austinites as my passengers. Classic Austinites? Those are high IQ people, laidback to the point of self-indulgent, often underemployed and sometimes fully unemployed, and living here for at least two decades. We got stuck in traffic a few times-- on Lamar Boulevard through
downtown-- and got stuck in gridlock on our return going north on Mopac. One guy, a philosophical sort with a razor edge, made a comment: "South By Southwest ruined Austin."
The same friend added, voice dripping with disgust, "Broken Spoke with big condo projects on both sides captures the new Austin."
My friend takes a taciturn view of life. I had to wonder if he was right. Even the Austin American-Statesman wondered the same thing. Their headline last week asked if crossing the 2 million population mark was a good thing? What the heck... friends of mine started leaving in 1993 because of increased Austin traffic, high rise development and the disappearance of the slow lane lifestyle.
I got here in 1973 and in a few seconds and detect three key elements making Austin wonderfully weird in the first place:
1) Creativity
2) Freedom
3) Friendliness
The singer Michelle Shocked once referred to Texas "as a loose-limbed kind of place." I thought that really explained the charm of living in Austin.
Willie Nelson, godfather to the peace and love thing bubbling beneath this place, got the whole thing kicked off by melding hippies and redneck culture. Talk about a calming effect. The phrase "Live Music Capital of the World" helped Austin forge an identity. And the playful "Keep Austin Weird," reflected the view from outside Austin as much as anything else. "Keep Round Rock Mildly Unusual"-- hints at the viewpoint of most other places.
But SXSW, beginning as a music festival in 1987, packaged the Austin magic. The festival embodied Austin neater than a GSDM advertising campaign. Those SXSW folks knew Austin, but also sensed a future for Austin-- a bigger, better, more full-throated Austin. Their vision held more power than any previous attempt to capitalize on Austin.
SXSW and its marketing genius made "the Austin thing" more understandable to the masses and eventually a global audience. Now rich girls from Long Island fly their whole bachelorette party to Austin for a weekend of revelry!
You decide.. is SXSW a symptom or a cause of the new, more frenetic, higher-priced Austin? And has SXSW worked to Austin's benefit or detriment?
The same friend added, voice dripping with disgust, "Broken Spoke with big condo projects on both sides captures the new Austin."
My friend takes a taciturn view of life. I had to wonder if he was right. Even the Austin American-Statesman wondered the same thing. Their headline last week asked if crossing the 2 million population mark was a good thing? What the heck... friends of mine started leaving in 1993 because of increased Austin traffic, high rise development and the disappearance of the slow lane lifestyle.
I got here in 1973 and in a few seconds and detect three key elements making Austin wonderfully weird in the first place:
1) Creativity
2) Freedom
3) Friendliness
The singer Michelle Shocked once referred to Texas "as a loose-limbed kind of place." I thought that really explained the charm of living in Austin.
Willie Nelson, godfather to the peace and love thing bubbling beneath this place, got the whole thing kicked off by melding hippies and redneck culture. Talk about a calming effect. The phrase "Live Music Capital of the World" helped Austin forge an identity. And the playful "Keep Austin Weird," reflected the view from outside Austin as much as anything else. "Keep Round Rock Mildly Unusual"-- hints at the viewpoint of most other places.
But SXSW, beginning as a music festival in 1987, packaged the Austin magic. The festival embodied Austin neater than a GSDM advertising campaign. Those SXSW folks knew Austin, but also sensed a future for Austin-- a bigger, better, more full-throated Austin. Their vision held more power than any previous attempt to capitalize on Austin.
SXSW and its marketing genius made "the Austin thing" more understandable to the masses and eventually a global audience. Now rich girls from Long Island fly their whole bachelorette party to Austin for a weekend of revelry!
You decide.. is SXSW a symptom or a cause of the new, more frenetic, higher-priced Austin? And has SXSW worked to Austin's benefit or detriment?
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Rosedale... croissants to cardiac surgery
If memory serves me well.... a 1970s Life magazine photo essay derided
America’s eyesore highways and included a photo of Burnet Rd, crisscrossed with
power lines and blanketed with billboards and fast food restaurant signs. Much
has changed with the rise of the area I like to call LoBu—Lower Burnet—to a
happening hotspot in Austin, complete with gourmet sandwich shops, Middle
Eastern delis, coffee shops and trendy restaurants, Dollar Tree, Top Notch
hamburgers, pizza joints with in-house breweries, hipster bars, fitness
centers, second hand stores, bookstores, bakeries, condos and a Bingo parlor.
I planned a meeting with an architect
friend--Jim—to figure out how this change occurred. We wanted to look most
directly at the Rosedale neighborhood where Jim R has been a resident since
1994. We me at Monkey Nest Coffee and ordered a couple of skim milk--decaf
lattes but who’s counting calories? The conversation quickly assumed
caffeinated levels of intensity. What makes Rosedale such a thriving amazing
neighborhood? How do you explain
the explosive growth of American cities?
Jim, though way too modest to be
uppity about it, took me to school with a rapid 10-minute summation of American
city planning. Rosedale offers a powerful alternative to living in the ‘burbs.
Turns out the seismic shift, a boomerang effect to the original white flight to
the suburbs that began in the 1950s, has theoretical underpinnings.
Jim defined the two schools of
development. Rosedale, with its walkable streets and grid layout follows #1) the
“new urbanism” or urban planning model. And #2) the “subdivision-cul de sac” model, the suburban development
plan, features main road entry to a subdivision leading to a series of
cul-de-sac streets lined with homes.
Jim smiled at me. Maybe he knew my
brain was racing to recall Massapequa, New York – a Long Island suburban
town—and the layout of my neighborhood where everybody entered via Merrick
Road. “The subdivision model puts 5 miles between residents and the grocery
store,” said Jim. Oh my God, that’s exactly right and I bet 90% of the Long
Island residents, now pushing 8 million, have to drive 5 miles to the grocery
store!
Jim contrasted the 5-mile grocery
drive to his situation in Rosedale where Central
Market “one of the best grocery stores in the world is a 15 minute walk.”
Of course, not every town has a Central
Market, or anything close to that, but we are talking Rosedale—a
neighborhood Jim characterizes as “one of the great neighborhoods of America.”
Hey we need a new Statue of Liberty
and this one goes just a few hundred yards downstream from Stevie Ray
Vaughn—but in the middle of the Colorado River. We construct an iron and copper
statue of Janis Joplin, holding a microphone aloft and put it on a little
island beneath the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge. A plaque at the base goes something
like this... Give me your young, your
digital, your bearded hipsters yearning to breath... er. Uh?... ACL air....
And maybe have an LED display of the Austin population, a flickering number constantly
on the uptick.
Rosedale has several of the other key
qualifications according to the new urbanist outline for an ideal living
environment—definable boundaries and friendly public spaces. Jim said the geographical boundaries of
Rosedale are clear— 38th St for the southern line; 45th
St. is northern boundary; Lamar Blvd makes the east side line; and Shoal Creek
Blvd defines a western boundary. Comprised within these boundaries—you get Seton
Hospital and Upper Crust bakery, two
amenities accessible by foot and valued greatly by Jim, for reasons you will
soon learn.
Years ago, Jim noted Rosedale had
some rundown properties and a couple of those memorable Austin shady characters
of yesteryear... barely paying their rent. That sounds like me. Jim admitted
financial struggles forced him to leave Austin in the mid-1980s, taking his
architect’s toolbag to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Nowadays, architects probably just
need one toolbag—a 3-D, CAD software on their computer. But Jim says he still
likes to sketch when designing schools and hospitals. He certainly sketched the
Rosedale picture for me beautifully.
Ramsey Park is the important public
space at the center of Rosedale—an open space to relax and exhale, spend time
with children, a place to walk the dog, swim, play tennis, basketball, softball
or just hangout.
Jim explained the subdivision model
does provide advantages for human interaction. The main road to the
neighborhood means fewer entry points and protection from unwanted visitors. The
cul-de-sac streets encourage drivers to proceed more slowly. Residents get to
know each other more readily on the smaller streets. You might know every
neighbor within the bounds of a single street and the quieter, less trafficked
streets provide more safety for children out playing.
Jim recalled the early days when the Draught Horse and Common Interest on Medical Parkway stood almost alone as a beer
drinking, socializing options for Rosedale residents. Burnet Road was “mainly scruffy car lots and places like the
Poodle Dog Lounge.” Now there are a
multitude of options, including Flying
Saucer at the Triangle, Woodrow’s,
Hopfields, further afield on Guadalupe, Black
Star Coop, on Airport Blvd, and Billy’s
on Burnet. There is a downside, of course. Rosedale has become so darn
attractive, and expensive, nobody can afford a house there anymore... except
the lucky few.
The constant flow of trucks hauling
lumber into Rosedale for remodel projects are testament to the many people
living there, and the massive gentrification of the area. McMansions once ruled
the day, until laws were modified to respect the original scale of the
neighborhood. Homes are now
limited to cover a specified percentage of the lot space, usually limiting them
to about 2,800 square feet. Jim said the new law has deterred people were
building 6 or 7 bedroom mini-dorms designed for rental to college kids.
Even with Rosedale’s stabilization the
air of mystery never completely abandons any place fit for human habitation.
Jim marvels at the human entropy. “Sometimes I’ll see a person every week for
two years or so, and then they’ll disappear from sight, seem to be completely
gone. Then 7 years later I’ll bump into them again, like this guy I saw the
other day at the Ramsey tennis courts.”
Rosedale has been desirable for many
years, even before Austin’s boom took on juggernaut proportions, and the
perfect storm of great services and community spirit, serve as a role model.
Austin, and other cities across the country, can learn much from the magic of
Rosedale.
Oh, and the part about Seton Hospital
and Upper Crust bakery... Jim said
you “can walk to anything you want, from croissants to cardiac surgery.” And he
means it. He goes easily from his house to Upper Crust for the yummy pastries
or a cup of strong coffee and actually did walk to Seton Hospital one morning
in 2005 for treatment of a heart arrhythmia, all in a day’s work, or walk,
within the Rosedale grid.
But the strangest coincidence was the
day back in the late ‘90s when a runner in the Capital 10,000 keeled over with
heart attack and had the very same first and last name as Jim. The runner even
came from Ohio, just like Jim. He got calls for days from people checking to
make sure he was not the same Jim who died tragically in the middle of the
race.
“One day, a week later, I was walking
on 43rd and Lamar and a car screeches to a halt. David, the
wildhaired unofficial mayor of Rosedale, jumps out of the car and screams,
“You’re alive!”
Jim notes “notice of my demise, like
Mark Twain’s, had been greatly exaggerated. David just hadn’t gotten the word
yet.” You may be wondering... how did David get unofficial mayor status? He
helped lead the group that fought valiantly to keep the Triangle from becoming
just another strip mall, home to a supermarket, asphalt parking spaces and nondescript
apartments. They knew their neighborhood deserved better and refused to give
ground to the real estate moguls.
People like Jim and David help make
Austin the great place it is, a magnet for the
Young and the Digital from the world over. I thanked Jim for his time and
perspective and we moved on down Burnet Road.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Hunter Thompson, Bob Dylan and the Jingle Jangle Morning (1967)
Walking around my Austin neighborhood... and I came across a "Free Books" box standing tall in a neighbor's yard. There were 5-7 books in there and some were not bad. I saw a John LeCarre novel but I cannot keep track of plot twists. Then I spied Fear and Loathing in America (volume II), a collection of Hunter Thompson's letters from 1968-1976. I took it home. The very first letter got to me-- and it starts... "1967 was the year of the hippy."
That was the year I graduated high school-- what kind of chance did I have? It's okay, Ma, I'm only bleeding... Just kidding, but that was a hell of a time to be 18 years old and trying to make sense of the world.
Hunter said "the word 'hipppy' coined by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen-- who also came up with 'beatnik.' "
Damn, talk about a man with a talent for branding!
Thompson mentioned that "Bob Dylan was the original hippy" and "Mr. Tambourine Man is both an epitaph and a swan-song for the lifestyle and the instincts that led, eventually, to the hugely-advertised 'hippy phenomenon.' "
Hard to recall a time where things changed so dramatically, based upon things like rock music and a new ideology-- the hippie lifestyle and culture. Where would we be without that revolution...? Still dressing like Mad Men and sipping martinis?
So glad that Hunter mentioned Surrealistic Pillow! I listened to the LP up in my Long Island bedroom on the night before I headed off for college-- wondering what awaited me. That was a powerful album and, as Hunter Thompson said "The Jefferson Airplane is another key sound from that era..." and he goes on to praise the talent of Grace Slick, their lead singer.
Remember this refrain from Mr. Tambourine Man?
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
That comes from a proto--hipster named Lord Buckley... Don't believe me, Google it--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Buckley
Lord Buckley died in 1960, just before the big hippie change had a chance to get rolling. He even predated the Beats. And I quote the wiki piece on Lord Buckley:
"Bob Dylan in his book Chronicles, said 'Buckley was the hipster bebop preacher who defied all labels.' "
And here's a footnote from the end of the Wikipedia piece on Lord Buckley:
"The jingle-jangle morning" in "Mr. Tambourine Man" is a phrase Bob Dylan claims to have taken from Lord Buckley.[18] It appears in Buckley's performance of Scrooge.[19]
That was the year I graduated high school-- what kind of chance did I have? It's okay, Ma, I'm only bleeding... Just kidding, but that was a hell of a time to be 18 years old and trying to make sense of the world.
Hunter said "the word 'hipppy' coined by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen-- who also came up with 'beatnik.' "
Damn, talk about a man with a talent for branding!
Thompson mentioned that "Bob Dylan was the original hippy" and "Mr. Tambourine Man is both an epitaph and a swan-song for the lifestyle and the instincts that led, eventually, to the hugely-advertised 'hippy phenomenon.' "
Hard to recall a time where things changed so dramatically, based upon things like rock music and a new ideology-- the hippie lifestyle and culture. Where would we be without that revolution...? Still dressing like Mad Men and sipping martinis?
So glad that Hunter mentioned Surrealistic Pillow! I listened to the LP up in my Long Island bedroom on the night before I headed off for college-- wondering what awaited me. That was a powerful album and, as Hunter Thompson said "The Jefferson Airplane is another key sound from that era..." and he goes on to praise the talent of Grace Slick, their lead singer.
Remember this refrain from Mr. Tambourine Man?
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
That comes from a proto--hipster named Lord Buckley... Don't believe me, Google it--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Buckley
Lord Buckley died in 1960, just before the big hippie change had a chance to get rolling. He even predated the Beats. And I quote the wiki piece on Lord Buckley:
"Bob Dylan in his book Chronicles, said 'Buckley was the hipster bebop preacher who defied all labels.' "
And here's a footnote from the end of the Wikipedia piece on Lord Buckley:
"The jingle-jangle morning" in "Mr. Tambourine Man" is a phrase Bob Dylan claims to have taken from Lord Buckley.[18] It appears in Buckley's performance of Scrooge.[19]
Monday, February 9, 2015
Dollar Tree on Burnet Road (Austin, TX)
Just on a whim... decided to stop at Dollar Tree discount store about a mile from my house. Normally I look down my nose at such establishments. But what the hell, why not go to a store I can actually afford!
So I start cruising the aisles. I wanted some Lifesaver type breath mints. Found Certs, 3 packs for $1.00. That's a great thing, everything costs one dollar. It's kind of like you died and went to heaven where you can afford items, and the store manager doesn't want you to feel bad. Great for people who can't do math. It's all the same price-- one dollar! And even if you don't need or want most of the items, nice that somebody has priced things to take the pain out of shopping.
I checked the store thoroughly. You could paint your house with the paintbrushes, tape, buckets and brooms, rollers, etc available there. But I'm not painting my house. Food, tupperware, toys, organize a party. Impressive inventory and really the stuff is not that inferior-- maybe just a little out of step. Kind of like you're shopping in 1973.
But on the way out I found kids' trading cards-- NFL football, NBA basketball and Major League Baseball. And the basketball even had an album with every team and their player personnel. Okay, so the album was 2014-15 and most of the stickers for sale were 2013-14. I went ahead and got it. I'm gonna learn who is playing in the NBA and this album and stickers are going be my visual aid.
Checked out and got some AAA batteries so my grandson can complete this model car kit. Good time shopping and I'll probably go back.
So I start cruising the aisles. I wanted some Lifesaver type breath mints. Found Certs, 3 packs for $1.00. That's a great thing, everything costs one dollar. It's kind of like you died and went to heaven where you can afford items, and the store manager doesn't want you to feel bad. Great for people who can't do math. It's all the same price-- one dollar! And even if you don't need or want most of the items, nice that somebody has priced things to take the pain out of shopping.
I checked the store thoroughly. You could paint your house with the paintbrushes, tape, buckets and brooms, rollers, etc available there. But I'm not painting my house. Food, tupperware, toys, organize a party. Impressive inventory and really the stuff is not that inferior-- maybe just a little out of step. Kind of like you're shopping in 1973.
But on the way out I found kids' trading cards-- NFL football, NBA basketball and Major League Baseball. And the basketball even had an album with every team and their player personnel. Okay, so the album was 2014-15 and most of the stickers for sale were 2013-14. I went ahead and got it. I'm gonna learn who is playing in the NBA and this album and stickers are going be my visual aid.
Checked out and got some AAA batteries so my grandson can complete this model car kit. Good time shopping and I'll probably go back.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
TV Guide 2/6/60-- Globalism Begins
Richard Boone, star of Have Gun, Will Travel, appears on the cover of the February 6, 1960 issue of TV Guide but the words on the cover implore readers to "Name Your Favorite Stars and Shows." The cover also directs reader to page 5 of the pint-sized magazine-- for accessing the TV Guide Awards Nominating Ballot. Turn to page 5, and there are 7 categories--
1) Favorite half-hour series
2) Favorite one-hour-or-longer series
3) Best single dramatic program
4) Best single musical or variety program
5) Best news or information program
6) Most popular male personality
7) Most popular female personality
Readers are asked to cut along the dotted line and mail their choices to a TV Guide post office box in Philadelphia.
And so began the electronic age where the audience participates in a very active way in the creative process. Today things are easier; we can text our votes for winners on American Idol.
Read Marshall McLuhan, the media philosopher, to sate any curiosity about the notion of electronic media as participatory. And watch yourself studying the contents of your cellphone and pressing the buttons for confirmation of McLuhan's insights.
The magazine's first article, "Lions Can't Lose and They Hate Lucy," appears just after the nominations ballot and highlights the international flavor of television. Saudi Arabia had a major problem with I Love Lucy as the strong-willed Lucille Ball was perceived by the Saudis, perhaps correctly, as dominating husband Desi Arnaz. I Love Lucy was forbidden in Saudi Arabia.
The article mentions several other nations. The Japanese were comfortable with post-WW II shows like Air Power, Navy Log depicting the Japanese defeat in World War II but a Japanese sponsor didn't like nature shows showing a lion being shot, reason being the Japanese sponsor "Dr. Lion's Tooth Paste" preferred not to see the lion defeated in any form or fashion. Fulgencio Batista, the Cuban dictator rejected Gunsmoke for the Cuban audience, as the dictator feared the show's gun play might encourage a revolution. And American television companies rejected Spain's currency, the peseta, as payment for television product. They wanted dollars. The more things change...
Richard Boone had praise for directors of series Westerns, including a guy named Gene Rodenberry, though cowboy shows were considered inferior to the high art dramatic shows of the time, including Playhouse 90. Here's Boone's comment:
"There's a kind of snobbery," says Boone, "in live TV that carries with it the implication of pure art. Why? I don't know. All I know is that as far as I'm concerned Have Gun is better produced, better written and better directed than-- that thing."
Seems to me, Boone won that argument. Live TV dramas leave something to be desired and have largely fallen by the wayside.
Jack Paar's show was going strong every evening at 11:00 PM airtime in Austin, Texas. Jack's guests that week included Phyllis Dyller, Charley Weaver, and "singer Florence Henderson of the Today show." Steve Allen had a program on the schedule for Monday night, 9:00 PM, showing the Tonight Show host had already shifted from Steve Allen to Jack Paar.
And ABC's Friday night Boxing featured Emile Griffith in a welterweight bout against Gaspar Ortega from Tijuana, Mexico. "This is the TV debut of Griffith, 1958 National Golden Gloves champion." A little more than a year later Emile Griffith fought and killed Benny "Kid" Paret in a controversial match that led to the cancellation of the ABC's boxing program.
Boxing popularity on television has fallen off since those early days of the medium, mainly become a niche sport, and McLuhan explained that a hot war, like Vietnam, does not work well with a cool medium like television. We participate, interact intimately with the TV flow of electrons. Such intimacy makes war, and possibly a boxing match, too hot for handling by our central nervous system.
1) Favorite half-hour series
2) Favorite one-hour-or-longer series
3) Best single dramatic program
4) Best single musical or variety program
5) Best news or information program
6) Most popular male personality
7) Most popular female personality
Readers are asked to cut along the dotted line and mail their choices to a TV Guide post office box in Philadelphia.
And so began the electronic age where the audience participates in a very active way in the creative process. Today things are easier; we can text our votes for winners on American Idol.
Read Marshall McLuhan, the media philosopher, to sate any curiosity about the notion of electronic media as participatory. And watch yourself studying the contents of your cellphone and pressing the buttons for confirmation of McLuhan's insights.
The magazine's first article, "Lions Can't Lose and They Hate Lucy," appears just after the nominations ballot and highlights the international flavor of television. Saudi Arabia had a major problem with I Love Lucy as the strong-willed Lucille Ball was perceived by the Saudis, perhaps correctly, as dominating husband Desi Arnaz. I Love Lucy was forbidden in Saudi Arabia.
The article mentions several other nations. The Japanese were comfortable with post-WW II shows like Air Power, Navy Log depicting the Japanese defeat in World War II but a Japanese sponsor didn't like nature shows showing a lion being shot, reason being the Japanese sponsor "Dr. Lion's Tooth Paste" preferred not to see the lion defeated in any form or fashion. Fulgencio Batista, the Cuban dictator rejected Gunsmoke for the Cuban audience, as the dictator feared the show's gun play might encourage a revolution. And American television companies rejected Spain's currency, the peseta, as payment for television product. They wanted dollars. The more things change...
Richard Boone had praise for directors of series Westerns, including a guy named Gene Rodenberry, though cowboy shows were considered inferior to the high art dramatic shows of the time, including Playhouse 90. Here's Boone's comment:
"There's a kind of snobbery," says Boone, "in live TV that carries with it the implication of pure art. Why? I don't know. All I know is that as far as I'm concerned Have Gun is better produced, better written and better directed than-- that thing."
Seems to me, Boone won that argument. Live TV dramas leave something to be desired and have largely fallen by the wayside.
Jack Paar's show was going strong every evening at 11:00 PM airtime in Austin, Texas. Jack's guests that week included Phyllis Dyller, Charley Weaver, and "singer Florence Henderson of the Today show." Steve Allen had a program on the schedule for Monday night, 9:00 PM, showing the Tonight Show host had already shifted from Steve Allen to Jack Paar.
And ABC's Friday night Boxing featured Emile Griffith in a welterweight bout against Gaspar Ortega from Tijuana, Mexico. "This is the TV debut of Griffith, 1958 National Golden Gloves champion." A little more than a year later Emile Griffith fought and killed Benny "Kid" Paret in a controversial match that led to the cancellation of the ABC's boxing program.
Boxing popularity on television has fallen off since those early days of the medium, mainly become a niche sport, and McLuhan explained that a hot war, like Vietnam, does not work well with a cool medium like television. We participate, interact intimately with the TV flow of electrons. Such intimacy makes war, and possibly a boxing match, too hot for handling by our central nervous system.
Friday, January 16, 2015
The Beverly Hillibillies... memory lane
Watched several episodes of the Beverly Hillbillies in preparation for a talk at my Toastmasters club. Wow-- quite enjoyable! Nicely written by producer Paul Henning. The actors are so solid, never going over the top even though they're doing farce. And you gotta check out how peaceful Southern California looks back in 1963. Have to admit I got a kick out of Ms. Hathaway, the nerdy assistant to the greedy banker Mr. Drysdale. Ms. Hathaway was played by Nancy Kulp. Just looked at her bio. She moved to Hollywood to work in a publicity department and got discovered by George Cukor! He told her to move in front of the cameras. Her nickname was Slim, appropriately enough. Her character was always pining after Jethro, played by Max Baer Jr.. who felt that getting typecast as Jethro ruined his career for future roles. Not sure Max would have achieved Al Pacino-style greatness. With the death of Donna Douglas, Max Baer is the last surviving cast member.
After her acting career wound down, Nancy Kulp ran for public office in Pennsylvania. Here's an interesting development. She got dissed by Buddy Ebsen, her fellow cast member, during the election. Here's what the Inter-web had to say:
"In 1984, she ran as a Democrat for Pennsylvania's Ninth Congressional District, but lost to Republican incumbent "Bud Shuster". She blamed her The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) co-star Buddy Ebsen for her defeat, because Ebsen taped a radio ad in support of Shuster, and deemed her "too liberal". She did not speak to Ebsen for several years afterward, but eventually made peace with him."
So old Jed, the mountaineer who "barely kept his family fed," managed to keep Ms. Hathaway from getting elected. That made me pissed at the guy, but now I like Nancy Kulp even more. And as for Jethro.... well, you gotta love Jethro.
--> Y'all come back now, y'hear?.
After her acting career wound down, Nancy Kulp ran for public office in Pennsylvania. Here's an interesting development. She got dissed by Buddy Ebsen, her fellow cast member, during the election. Here's what the Inter-web had to say:
"In 1984, she ran as a Democrat for Pennsylvania's Ninth Congressional District, but lost to Republican incumbent "Bud Shuster". She blamed her The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) co-star Buddy Ebsen for her defeat, because Ebsen taped a radio ad in support of Shuster, and deemed her "too liberal". She did not speak to Ebsen for several years afterward, but eventually made peace with him."
So old Jed, the mountaineer who "barely kept his family fed," managed to keep Ms. Hathaway from getting elected. That made me pissed at the guy, but now I like Nancy Kulp even more. And as for Jethro.... well, you gotta love Jethro.
--> Y'all come back now, y'hear?.
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