RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

‘Tis the season for hugs!

Since I’ve been watching “Welcome Back, Kotter” on DVD now, it’s inevitable that the amazing theme song by John Sebastian would be stuck in my head. I liked it back then, and I still like it today. Brilliant!

Monday the 11th – TODAY’S SECRET WORD IS…COOL! – When I got up at noon I couldn’t wait to greet the day. I’d be having lunch with the amazingly talented Lynne Marie Stewart. In addition to being super sweet, and super talented, and providing the voice of Aunt Harriet in the two recent Batman ’66 animated films, and being in one of my favorite movies called “Tunnelvision,” and being on “Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” she’s also Miss Yvonne on “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.” We became friends during some downtime between ADR sessions that we were doing for “Batman Vs. Two-Face,” and she even came to our big premiere screening we had back in October. If you remember from past installments of Wally’s Week, I had found some aqua colored backrest pillows at Bed Bath and Beyond that looked to be the same color as Chairry from “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.” I altered them a bit to make them Chairry Jr.’s! When Paul Reubens saw mine at the recent L.A. Comic Con he took a picture of it on his phone. Then I sent him one. I had one for Lynne, but I also wanted her to sign the other arm of mine. Pee-Wee had signed the right arm, and when Lynne and I met for lunch at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City she signed the left arm. She wrote, ‘Wally. Today’s secret word is “cool” and that’s what you are. Love Miss Yvonne.” AWESOME! Though the chair isn’t a puppet (even though the original on the show was) I’m going to leave Chairry Jr. in the Puppet Room on display. Lynne wants to get involved with the museum exhibit in any way possible, so we talked about a few ideas. After lunch I hit Staples to get some supplies, then went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a red, aluminum drink tumbler (I had plans for it), and then the bank to make a deposit, the craft store to get some white and black sheets of adhesive vinyl (to go with the drink tumbler), and then I hit the hardware store to get some supplies. I got home to check my e-mails, do some work, and then grab some “Christmas Nappies” on the couch in front of the fire with the pets. Later I got up to do a bunch of auditions; a few animation auditions, a narration and a commercial audition. I made a Chef Boy Ardee pizza-in-a-box and delved into the “Welcome Back, Kotter” season 1 DVD set. I liked this show somewhat as a kid, but I’m realizing now just how brilliant this show was on a lot of levels. What a great cast!

Tuesday the 12th – THE YEAR WINDS DOWN! – At 3 I was due at Voicecasters to do probably the final “outside” audition of the year. Outside audition means you go outside of either the agency or your home to audition. It was great seeing other actors and auditioning with them; a rarity in this day and age. When the audition was over I got the Mustang washed, picked up my mail at my box, and then sped home to type of Wally’s Week, which I realized was late. I grabbed a short nap, and then got up later to do work. The soundtrack for the 1978 movie “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” arrived in my mail on CD, so I spent some time ripping the CD and putting a few of the tunes in my iTunes. Some of it required some editing, but I had a lot of fun doing it. Some of the versions of the Beatles’ classics are pretty darn good on there. I fed and walked Roxy, baked a pot pie and watched more “Welcome Back, Kotter” before bed.

Wednesday the 13th – NOTHING LIKE A GOOD (METEOR) SHOWER! – Since I had a lunch meeting to be at in West L.A. at 12:30, I woke up at 10:30 and got ready. First, I dropped Roxy off at the groomers for a much-needed bath, and then I sped over to Westwood to meet with the head of my Voice-Over agency for our once-a-year meet-up. I drove back to my neighborhood and picked up Roxy, and I spent the afternoon doing end-of-year bookkeeping, did a few auditions, and later went to DuPar’s with my assistant Sara for dinner. After 70 years the famous DuPar’s is closing for good. No more will you get those delicious breakfasts and pancakes! The world moves on I guess. And besides, doesn’t the world need another Sephora? (That’s what’s going in that location). I was pretty tired so I grabbed some “Christmas Nappies” on the couch with the pets, next to the fire with Christmas music playing softly on the satellite. When I got up later to walk Roxy, we saw an amazing meteor shower. One stayed lit for a good couple of seconds! And there were two in the sky almost simultaneously! If you could see that many in light-polluted Los Angeles, just imagine what it would have looked like in Palm Springs, or even Joshua Tree!! Not being in the mood to do much but relax and enjoy life, I came back inside from the cold night and snuggled back on the couch again to rest some more.

Thursday the 14th – I GUESS I DO WANNA GO! – Around mid-afternoon I drove over to Studiopolis in Burbank to do some pick-ups for “Terraformars,” a new anime series I’m a part of. There were a few line changes, so we needed to record those before the final mixes could be done. Then I drove over to Roundtable Pizza to get a pizza to go. It’s one of my favorite pizza places, but I just don’t get over there often enough. I got my pizza, drove over to the “Christmas House” in Burbank and watched the show while I dined. FUN! I went back home to feed the pets, do some work around the house, and think about finalizing the year. Most of the industry is shutting down this week so not much will be going on for the next month or so. I had to do a bunch of end-of-year corporate bookkeeping for my accountant, and when I finished up all that stuff I e-mailed the results to her for final tallies. I did a few auditions, and then settled down on the couch for “Christmas Nappies.” I got up later to do more work around the house. I wasn’t going to allow myself to be lured into the “Star Wars” mania; after all – the last movie proved that they’re no longer making these movies for guys like me. But I couldn’t resist. I texted Sara to see if she wanted to go to the 1am show on Friday night/Saturday morning…and she said yes. So I bought tickets on-line and got ready for bed. I reheated my Roundtable Pizza and watched a few more episodes of “Kotter” before bed.

Friday the 15th – TOTALLY JEDIZED! – I got up at 1 to let the maids into clean. While they cleaned I worked on a few things at my desk. When they finished I met Sara for a late lunch at Paty’s in Toluca Lake. I grabbed my mail at my box and then went home to nap a bit. I wanted to be fresh for “Star Wars; The Last Jedi” at 1am. But I didn’t really sleep very long, so I got up to busy myself around the house. I had some auditions that weren’t due until Monday, but I figured since I had the time I’d go ahead and do them now. I fed Roxy a bit early, and then Sara and I headed off to the theatre around 12:20. I got my popcorn, Diet Coke and Red Vines and we took our seats. Based on the past movie I wasn’t really expecting much. But I so thoroughly enjoyed “TLJ” that I may go again just to see a few things I may have missed the first time. Which is odd, considering that after seeing the last “Star Wars” movie I was “one and done.” We talked about it all the way to Sara’s house, where I dropped her off. I went to get some groceries at one of the 24 hour markets. I drove home, made some spaghetti and watched a few more episodes of “Kotter.” Just before bed I spent an hour or so reading the reviews of “TLJ” on-line.

Saturday the 16th – A “DO LITTLE” SATURDAY! – It sure felt good to sleep until 4. Of course this time of year, if you sleep until 4, the sun is almost down. I fed the pets and worked on-line for a while. It looked like the word about the big museum exhibit featuring Batman ’66 that I’ve been working on is starting to spread. “HOLY HOLLYWOOD HISTORY: BATMAN ‘66” will open on January 12, 2018 and we’re all very excited! For movie night my friends and I watched the original “Doctor Dolittle” from 1967 on Blu Ray. It’s a gorgeous film, especially in hi def, but the songs always leave me wanting. The lyrics are terrific, but the tunes just aren’t memorable. In fact, it sounds like the singers are making up the tune as they go. That’s the ONLY downside of this charming, fabulous film. The two standout songs are the ones sung by the Doctor himself. One is about living the vegetarian life (if I had a super power, it would be to become a vegetarian!), and the other is a courtroom song about how human beings treat animals. The lyrics to these songs are so amazingly clever! When my guests left I grabbed a few hours’ worth of “Christmas Nappies,” and then I got up to feed and walk Roxy. Sara crashed out on the beanbag halfway through the movie so I didn’t want to disturb her. So I just kept things quiet around the house so she could continue resting. When I came in from the cold night the couch was beckoning me again, so I slept a few more hours. In fact, I didn’t stir until I heard Sara get up from the beanbag and get ready to go home around 7am! I got up and bid her farewell, and then I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad and got ready to watch an episode of “SNL” from the first season. The original airdate was January 17, 1976 and though it started off well, it crashed hard after the first 10 minutes. It was painful to watch. It was like their A team of writers were still on Christmas vacation! Really awful. I checked some e-mails before I turned in and ended up going to bed around noon.

Sunday the 17th – SILENT SUNDAY! – After sleeping for about four and a half hours, I was awake and rarin’ to go! Roxy and I got ready and walked over to evening church. My “adopted grandma” Shirley and I walked back to my house after church and got into the Mustang to drive to Miceli’s for dinner. We were joined by our church friend Stephanie. Good food and good conversation. I dropped Shirley off at home and then headed back to Planet Wallywood to enjoy some “Christmas Nappies.” Napping on the couch just feels better during the winter months, for some reason. I got up later and fed and walked Roxy, and then crashed on the couch again until 9am Monday morning! DELIGHTFUL!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

I’ve got my supplies and I’m ready to Jedi!

This new Riddler Arkham figure was just released. It’s darn nice!

I ran across this picture recently from several years back. It made me laugh.