RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

On Christmas 1967 all I wanted was the complete Gumby and Pokey set. And BOY was I happy when Santa granted my wish!

Every time I visit The Christmas House in Burbank the song “The Christmas Can Can” by Straight No Chaser gets stuck in my head. I LOVE this song!

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Monday the 27th – AAAAAND…WE’RE OFF! – Since I spent all night doing work and prepping for the new week, I didn’t get to bed until 10am. But the hotline in my bedroom rang at 10:40 and woke me up. It was my agent letting me know an urgent bit for “Ellen” was in my inbox waiting for me to record. I sprang from bed, recorded the bit, sent it to my agent and headed back to bed. When I got up mid-afternoon I had an e-mail from my printer that my second Batman bubble gum card poster was finished. This was a smaller one than I had printed for the museum, and it’s going to my pal James at Warner Brothers for his office. So I walked Roxy over to the printer, and the hardware store is right next door. I took her over there too so I could get a few supplies. Everyone loves meeting Roxy! We got back home and I did some writing to finish up the text for the Batman museum exhibit. My assistant Sara and I went over to Ernie’s Taco House for dinner, and then I came home to have “Christmas Nappies” by the fire. When I had my other Collie named Sassie, we had a little game I dubbed “Christmas Nappies.” I’d turn on the fire in the fireplace, turn on some quiet Christmas music on the satellite, and get on the couch to grab a nap. Sassie used to love settling down next to the couch and napping with me during our…Christmas Nappies. So even though she’s gone, it’s a tradition I still carry on this time of year. I got up later to do a bunch of auditions, write Wally’s Week, and feed and walk Roxy. I made some Buffalo Mac and watched a few more episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie” from the second season DVD set.

Tuesday the 28th – IS IT MEMOREX…OR IS IT OUTDATED SOFTWARE? – When I got up at 3 in the afternoon I started working on more stuff for the museum. My official title for this project is Museum Curator, which means I’m organizing all of the pieces that are coming in for the exhibit from all over the country. It’s quite a bit of organizational work, considering that new stuff is popping up all the time. I did a few auditions, and then started working on designing and printing some DVD case inserts for some home movie DVDs I had made. It had been a while since I did covers like these for my home movie collection, but the program’s details started coming back to me as I started designing. But when I went to print the design to the specially perforated paper I bought at Staples, nothing happened. I had my computer guy Brian remote in to have a look. Come to find out, Memorex is no longer supporting their ExPressIt program and it’s in conflict with Windows 10. So I can design alright, I just can’t print. RATS! I hate when this happens! I’m able to master very few programs, but when I do they become obsolete. Just my luck. My pal Brittney Powell came over to do some work, and even tried to create a work-around for the problem, but no dice. When she left I grabbed a nap, and then got up later to do auditions, pay bills, reconcile my receipts and do some bookkeeping. I made some soup and a sandwich and watched a few more “Jeannie” episodes. Before I went to bed though, I had figured out a “cheat” to make my labels! The problem was I could design in the program, but I was unable to print. So once I finished the design portion, I did a Print Screen function and pasted it into my graphics program. Then I stretched it to fit a full sheet of card stock paper in my Print Preview, and hit print. It printed perfectly, and even in the proper aspect ratio. TAKE THAT, MEMOREX!!

Wednesday the 29th – MEMORY LANE! – Later in the afternoon I woke up and got back on the computer. Sara came over and we went to Jerry’s Famous Deli for dinner. I got home and did some auditions, and then took some Christmas Nappies. Roxy was napping on the bean bag chair, and Spook was curled up in a chair by the fire. We were all cozy little bugs! I got up later and did a few more DVD case insert designs. It was fun going through old movies of things I did 35 years ago. I got to see my young daughter on a kid’s show in Sioux Falls called “Captain 11.” I got to see me dancing with a dolphin back in 2005 at Sea World. And I even saw some video of when Spook was only 1 year old and cute as a button. And of course, I always love watching video of my dog Sassie who passed away in 2011. I got to bed so I could be up early to take my Gran Torino into the alarm shop to have a new car alarm installed.

Thursday the 30th – TORINO, TOYS & TEETH! – At 11 I got up and sped down the street in my 1974 Gran Torino. When it was stolen back in January of 2016 the thieves took the car into a field, stripped it of all the gear inside, and threw the keys and alarm fob in the field somewhere. Which left me with only one set of keys and one alarm fob; my back-up set. It was easy enough to get the keys copied, but I couldn’t find that type of alarm fob any more to save my soul. The only other option was to get a new alarm put in. So I went to Al & Ed’s in Burbank and dropped the car off at 12:15. Sara dropped by to pick me up and we went to lunch at Lancers. The car was going to be done around 2:30, so we killed time looking through Toys ‘R’ Us. We looked through Hobby Lobby as well. Before we knew it, we had killed enough time to go get my car! She dropped me off and I headed to It’s a Wrap to check out their selection. I found a great pair of black “rocker” pants with lots of quilting work on it. I figured those will be the pants I’ll wear to the press night for the Batman exhibit at the Hollywood Museum. I went to see my Endodontist Dr. Okata about some pain I was still having above my rear left teeth; right where I had the two root canals done earlier this year. We determined that a cyst still existed above the roots of my back teeth and would need to be removed by an Oral Surgeon. He referred me to one he trusted and I’ll need to call, explain the situation and go in for a CT scan to see what’s going on up there. It’s all because of that damned sinus infection I had last January. A year later and it’s still causing me grief, even though all my sinus worries are gone. On the way home I got some mail, hit CVS to get a prescription for some antibiotics Dr. Okata prescribed for me, and then headed home to check my e-mails. Then I headed over to DuPar’s to have lunch with Cade and Hunter; a couple of young guys from Utah who were in town visiting. They had e-mailed me asking for a tour of Planet Wallywood. Cade’s a huge Andy Kaufman fan and he wanted to see my Kaufman collection. I made a promise that I would always keep the Andy stuff on display for everyone to see and enjoy, so these tours are a part of that vow. After the tour the guys took off and I enjoyed some Christmas Nappies. Later I got up to do my auditions, and I fed and walked Roxy. There was a beautiful full moon out, and this Sunday is going to be a Super Moon again. I was supposed to be in Palm Springs this week, but I canceled the reservation when the extended forecast called for rain. Plus, I have far too much to do this week anyway. The maids will be coming on Friday, so I had to clean up some areas for the maids. (Cleaning for the maids? Does that even make sense?) I made spaghetti and watched “I Dream of Jeannie” before bed. Barbara Eden is sure nice to look at before I settle down to sleep!

Friday the 1st – MAIDS, MUPPETS & MUSEUM! – The maids said they’d arrive between 1 and 3, but shortly after 1 they arrived. While they cleaned I did some work and read some of the books in my library about The Muppets. I’ve owned these books since the late 70’s and every once in a while I love to page through them again. Especially since I’m in the process of trying to get an Oscar the Grouch made. I called the Oral Surgeon’s office, but they said I needed to be referred by a medical doctor, not a dentist. That’s in order for my medical insurance to pay for it. Dental insurance is inferior to medical insurance, so that’s the way they like to handle it. I dropped an e-mail to my ENT surgeon Dr. Jill and asked her to send a referral over when she could. I would love to get this cyst cut out of my head before the holidays if at all possible! I fed the pets, walked Roxy, and did some more museum stuff. Then the pets and I enjoyed a few hours’ worth of Christmas Nappies by the fire. Later I got up for some work around the house, but I hit the hay early so I could be up for a meeting on Saturday.

Saturday the 2nd – KISMET! – Right at noon my old pal Rob Klein came over to tour Planet Wallywood. He had never been over, but had been promising me for years he would come by for a tour. He’s a collector too, but his collection is super amazing! He’s got some really amazing pieces! But he’s recently gotten into Andy Kaufman and he wanted to see my Andy pieces up close and personal. I started telling him about the exhibit for the museum we’re working on, and he casually mentioned that he had one of the Bat Scope units that sat in the Batcave on the show. I flipped! We had been looking for one of those console units ever since a collector backed out of loaning us his a few weeks ago. It was meant to be! But unlike the other one that was a replica, this was the REAL deal! I put him on the phone with Roger the organizer for the event and he flipped too! My effects guy Jim Ojala, his employee Amber and her dad Don came over for a tour. Don is a carpenter and electrician, and I wanted to show him a few things I was thinking of doing in Planet Wallywood. One of the most important things is to swap out all of the Ikea puck lights, with new LED puck lights. I have about 30 of them in the house and they all need replaced. The lighting will be whiter and brighter, and use less energy. Some of the replacement will be easy, but some will be rather difficult to achieve. But as soon as Don showed me pictures on his phone of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Adam West as Batman, I knew I had the right guy! When everyone left I hopped in the Torino and drove to get my mail. I stopped by the cleaners to drop off a comforter, and then grabbed a sandwich at a place called Togo’s. When it’s nice out on a Saturday, and I need to do some grocery shopping, I like to get a sandwich at Togo’s, eat it in my Torino while I listen to AM 1260 LA Oldies. The parking guard came up to my window and we started talking. He has some amazing stories about growing up in the gang infested area of East L.A. called Story Street. After hearing his tales I told him he HAS to write a book! He said other people had told him that too, so maybe he’d better start writing. I hope I influenced him to get cracking on it, because he had some amazing (and horrifying) stories. I got some groceries and then headed home to unload them before movie night. I swapped out the Torino for the Mustang and went inside to try to dye some fur I had just gotten in the mail that day. But as I was looking through my cabinet for a jar to put the dye in, a big glass jar fell out and shattered all over my floor. GREAT! People were due in an hour, and I’m cleaning up broken glass from my kitchen floor! But it all worked out and we had a terrific movie night. When my guests left I grabbed a nap, and then stayed up all night doing work around the house. I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad and watched the episode of “Saturday Night Live” (then called “NBC’s Saturday Night”) hosted by Candice Bergen. The episode aired on December 20, 1975 and had a lot of Christmas themes going on. Hard to believe it was 41 years ago almost to the day when it originally aired. Timely. They did a few bits in the show that mentioned 1975 becoming the Bi-Centennial year of 1976. I remember it well. That was the summer my family and I first came to L.A. on vacation. Wild!

Sunday the 3rd – THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE! – An hour before evening church I got up, showered, fed the pets, and walked Roxy over to church for the service. My “adopted grandma” Shirley was there, which was nice because he hadn’t been feeling well lately. But she got on some different medication and she’s doing VERY well! When the service was over we walked to my house and then drove over to Rob Klein’s house to see his collection and talk about his Bat Scope. In the “small world” department, Rob and his wife Jennifer were married by our church’s pastor Bob Bock! And it turned out that Jennifer’s grandma was one of Shirley’s good friends! After we spent a few hours talking about Hollywood history, I took Shirley over to see The Christmas House in Burbank. I had been trying to get her over there for a few years, and I finally found the perfect time. Not only did she enjoy it, but Alan the designer and owner of the house was outside. So I got a chance to talk to him at length. He said he is going to add another song to the show, and he has one minute of programming left. But he says one minute of music and lights, takes him three days to program the computer system! He said one day he wants to do Andy Williams’ “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” That’s my all-time favorite Christmas song. I told him when I hear that song I feel like I’m 7 again. I said if he puts it in the show, he may as well paint a parking spot for me on his curb…because I’ll be there every night! I took Shirley over to the Coral Café for dinner, dropped her at home, and then went home to take Christmas Nappies on the couch. I got up around 3 and did my auditions, and fed and walked Roxy. But instead of doing some work around the house, the couch beckoned to me again. I slept until 9am Monday morning. It just felt like the right thing to do!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

This is one of the DVD case inserts I made for my home movie collection. Ha Memorex! Stick it!

On one of the home movie DVDs I watched, I got to see the time Dave Prowse signed my light saber at the San Diego Comic Con in 2005!

Years before I knew her, I just happened to shoot video of my pal Valerie Perez as Wonder Woman on the press stage. She told me that was the very first time she had ever donned the costume!

I’ll never forget the dance I had with a beautiful dolphin at Sea World in 2006!

My Junior High History teacher Mr. Weigel took me for a tour through the old school back in 2006. I made him stand at his old schoolroom door with the same mean look on his face he had back then. Actually, Mr. Weigel was one of my favorite teachers because he let us watch Laurel and Hardy movies in class! HEY! It’s history, right?!

My lovely doggie Sassie and his new kitten friend Spooky back in 2005. Spook was a little less than a year old.

What a cute little boy! How could you resist a face like that?

The legendary kid’s show host from the Midwest Captain 11…aka Dave Dedrick.

Here my daughter Lacey is interviewed by Captain 11 on the show. I think she was only about 2 at the time.

While I’m out of view working the mechanics of the animated reindeer Rudolph at the Western Mall, my daughter Lacey and a friend tell him what they want for Christmas. This was part of a shoot for a TV commercial we did back then!

A year later we went back again and she appeared on the show at the age of 3!

Spook is all ready for Christmas Nappies!!

Sunday’s Super Moon is amazing! I shot this out my bedroom window.