Tag: Bob Hope

Quick Emmy Observation

I was sitting for a while, watching the Emmys. This show, unfortunately, has less of an appeal to me than it once did. It could be because of how diffuse TV has become.

With 100+ channels, how can any one show be known by all, or even most?

When David Letterman came on to introduce the Johnny Carson retrospective, Helaine turned to ask how Jay Leno must have felt? Good question.

OK, it’s possible to justify this by saying the Emmys are on CBS. Still, it always seems Jay succeeded Johnny but has never really been his successor. Do you know what I’m getting at?

Toward the end of the Tonight Show clips, the famous scene with George Gobel, Bob Hope, Dean Martin and an ascot wearing Johnny Carson came on. It’s the one where Gobel says he feels like life is a tuxedo and he’s a pair of brown shoes.

Whether ad lib or scripted, it’s one of the all time classic talk show lines.

I wondered aloud, how many of those watching knew who these three guys were. Helaine said a lot of them don’t even know who Johnny was.

Not only that, when was the last time a talk show had two “A” list and one “B” list guests out at once (sorry George)? I’ll bet none of them was plugging anything. This was in an era of career enhancement, not product placement.

The class comedian moment of the night was when Jon Stewart’s show won and he came up, saying Letterman was his Carson. Now Jay has a reason to feel bad.

Blogger’s note: A friend, who was actually at the ceremony, told me he watched Jay Leno get up and leave as soon as his category’s winner was announced.

Woody Allen

Now that I’ve had a DVR for a while, I can safely say I do use it. The ease, relative to a VCR, is certainly incentive to use it. There are some shows I tape every time they air – John Stewart, Boston Legal, Nova and 60 Minutes&#185. Other times I’ll see something that catches my eye and quickly hit the button to schedule a recording.

That’s how I got the Woody Allen documentary “A Life in Film” on Turner Classic Movies that I recorded this weekend and watched last night. The interview was conducted by Richard Schickel, film critic and historian.

The documentary is very simple with Allen sitting throughout. No other voices, no off camera questions, are heard. Clips from his films were used throughout to illustrate Woody’s points.

I have been a big Allen fan for… can this possibly be… over thirty years. I knew his work, but he was under my radar in the sixties. The same goes for What’s Up Tiger Lily and Casino Royale. I knew they were there but didn’t see them until much later.

It was Bananas that first attracted me and Sleeper which cinched the deal. From then on, I couldn’t get enough.

I remember going to see Love and Death in 1975. I went on opening night in Center City Philadelphia with my friend Harvey Holiday. Neither of us liked the movie, but we went back the next night to make sure. It was better the second night. The problem wasn’t Allen as much as it was me!

In last night’s documentary, Allen gave credit to Bob Hope for much of his physical persona in the earlier movies. The clips bore that out. But, though Woody Allen said he paled in comparison to Bob Hope, I’m not so sure.

What most interested me was the ability to hear Allen talk about his work… his art… in terms of an occupation. It was fascinating, because I think he analyzes and tears about everything he does, before, during and after.

Obviously, there has been controversy in Allen’s recent adult life. He is married to the adopted daughter of his former wife (see note below). It’s tough not to see characters like Mariel Hemingway in Manhattan and wonder if life imitates art.

There is just not enough of this type of show on television. I was glad I taped it and didn’t have to stay up through the middle of the night to see it air ‘live.’

&#185 – Recording 60 Minutes is a royal pain. Because the show follows football its start time is fluid, to say the least. I wish my DVR would be able to follow schedule changes and adjust accordingly. As long as they’re at it, I’d like to program it over the Internet as well.

Bob Hope – dead at 100

Bob Hope died last night at age 100. It was announced early today.

Over the past few years it has been sad to watch the Hope family milk Bob’s memory. It’s not like they don’t have all the money in the world already.

It’s been pretty well known that Bob was in sad shape for the last few years. Still, on the occasion of his 100th birthday the family attributed a pretty good ‘ad lib’ to him. Even in his prime Bob was written for. At this moment, who would believe he wrote the line at all? Why not let him live in dignity, without making up things to make him seem even larger.

As far as I’m concerned the true judge of Hope’s stature was his treatment on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (I’ll use the show’s full name). Bob could walk in, at any moment, while any guest was on the air, and Doc and the band would play “Thanks for the Memories”, and Bob would sit down. And the other guest… too bad.

When Bob was done, he’d get up and leave. And he could do this anytime he wanted to.

That’s an achievement.