October 14 – October 19 (2014)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

This photo is from 1957. A full 20 years before I dabbled in plays and talent shows at Aberdeen Central High in Aberdeen, South Dakota, my dad was on that very same stage performing in drag with a bunch of his college buddies for a lark in a homecoming variety show. Small world, eh? I love this photo because it looks like everyone was having a great time and it must’ve been hilarious. What I wouldn’t give to be able to go back in time to see this in person for myself! By the way, Dad is the one at the microphone.

As I was getting ready for the NBC Reunion last Saturday night, this song popped into my head for NO apparent reason! But after I started humming it my pal Amanda asked what that song was. I brought it up on Youtube and played “My Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” by Edison Lighthouse. She agreed it was a great song, and I’m sure the rest of the night SHE was humming it as well!

Tuesday the 14th – TOTALLY WHIPPED! – It was a great weekend, traveling around South Dakota, but I was glad to be back in the swing of things. I got up around 11 and headed over the hill to my Voice Over agency CESD to have lunch with my two commercial agents Beau and Sumeet. It was a lunch we had planned on for quite a while, but I had to keep postponing for various reasons. One was because of my pneumonia, and the other was because I was running out of time to get stuff done before my trip to South Dakota. But it was fun getting together with them and chatting about the business. When I was on “The Tonight Show” for four years I hardly ever saw my agents because I was constantly busy in the valley area of L.A. But now that I have an open schedule again, it’s fun to get down to the west side of L.A. every so often. One of the advantages of that freedom is the ability to explore. A fellow VO pal of mine told me that there was a place in L.A. that had my beloved Dole Whip, that pineapple-y flavored frosty dessert treat I have come to love through my frequent visits to Palm Springs. I made a note to find it the next time I was in the area, and today I was in the area! It’s at a place called Whipp’d LA on Fairfax and Santa Monica (thanks Greg!) and though they were out of shredded coconut, they had the pineapple chunks to put on top. It was wonderful to drive around L.A. with a large, delicious Dole Whip in my hand! Though having a Dole Whip distributor close by in Hollywood wasn’t going to diminish my love of going to Palm Springs and enjoying it there! I stopped by International Silks and Woolens and picked up some fabrics I needed. One was a heavy white nylon that, when dyed the right tone of lavender/gray, would make for great outfits for customizing the 18” Adam West as Batman figure by NECA. I was starting to run out of the other fabric I had been using, which was a vintage 1970’s era polyester. This fabric was the scrap that was leftover from when I made my very first Batman costume in 1980. I remember the day I picked it out at the fabric store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My friend Mark Anderson was with me and the color of the fabric immediately caught our eye. We looked at each other and said, “That’s the stuff!” But this fabric should custom dye very well, being nylon. I also got a few lightweight yellow satins to make a new cape for the Hot Toys Robin figure. The figure was costly, but still released with a goodly share of flaws. But the most glaring one was that his cape was much too short. Hoping to correct that for my display of the figures, I’m going to experiment with these fabrics to see if it will make a suitable replacement cape. I also stopped by a light bulb store and picked up a few new replacement bulbs for my lava lamp. I hit Regenix for a follow-up visit, picked up some new supplies, and then hit the road for home. I got home and checked e-mail and fed the pets, then headed over to the Coral Café to meet up with prop maker Steven Meissner. He had made me an Ant Man helmet that had been chromed, and boy was it a beaut! I’m making up an Ant Man display for one of my shelves, and this helmet sure will attract the attention. It’s beautiful. But when I got it home I was doing some work with it and the left antennae snapped off. So I got out the trusty Super Glue and reattached it in short order. I grabbed a short nap while the glue cured. When I got up I did my auditions, wrote my introduction for my upcoming speech at “The Tonight Show” reunion coming up this Saturday, and finished writing Wally’s Week. I made some hot dogs on the grill and watched an episode of “Kojak” from the fifth season DVD set.

Wednesday the 15th – FROM MEDICATION TO MEDITATION! – It was 2:15 in the afternoon before I eventually awoke for the day. I had been fairly exhausted from my whirlwind trip to South Dakota the previous week, so it was good to catch up on sleep. I did two last-minute auditions and e-mailed them into my agents. Then I grabbed a shower and headed to Voice Trax West to record some more voice tracks for the US Airways interactive phone system. I went back home and got cleaned up to meet my friend Kathylynne for the Wednesday night meditation service at my church. I had been wanting to go for the past month or so, but my incessant cough would have been too distracting to the others. So I stayed in. But it went well tonight, and I didn’t need any cough medication at all! We got dinner after the service and then I stopped to get some grocery items I needed. I got home and grabbed a quick nap, then got up for my auditions. I wrote my speech for the upcoming “Tonight Show” reunion banquet and walked Roxy on our usual late night stroll around the neighborhood. I hit the hay to watch another “Kojak” episode. This one was about a race horse and was absolutely horrible. Almost unwatchable. But since it was the fourth to the last episode of “Kojak” ever, I could tell they weren’t really trying any more. Only 3 more episodes to go.

Thursday the 16th – CANCELATION DAY! – I was supposed to meet my contractor Electric Bob at noon to go over a few things. But I got up at noon (after only four hours of sleep) and…no Electric Bob. I saw that there was a message on my landline. It was Bob canceling our appointment. I guess I woke up for nothing. I also got an e-mail from Pat, one of my animation agents, who was canceling our evening dinner plans because she wasn’t feeling well. So it looked like it was going to be one of those days. I got a letter from Time Warner, my internet service provider that told me all about this new modem I needed to take advantage of their new, higher internet speeds. It said to call a certain number right away to get this new modem. After wasting about a half hour on hold, a lady came on the line. She looked up my address but told me that the service wasn’t available in my area. Then why the heck did they send me this letter? I was beginning to see why so many people hate Time Warner cable. I have satellite TV and don’t watch cable, so I don’t have to deal with them on a regular basis. But it this is any indication of their confusing and contradictory operating procedures, I totally got people’s frustrations! I checked e-mail and decided that life was giving me permission to go back to bed. After all, since a week ago last Wednesday I had been on the move almost constantly. I guess it was one of those “catch up on rest” days that life hands you every once in a while. I ended up sleeping most of the day and it felt good to catch up on my rest. I got on my e-mail and started to record my auditions shortly after midnight, but all of a sudden my internet went down! Time Warner strikes again! I called the technical services department and they said it could be down up to four hours for “planned maintenance.” FOUR HOURS?! I had to upload these auditions to my agents and my internet may be down all night?! Great! Luckily it was only off for about a half hour, and I got my work finished. I made some buffalo mac and watched “Kojak” before turning in early on Friday morning.

Friday the 17th – NOTHING LIKE A LU’S! – Once again I got up at noon, but this time it was to let my maids in to do work. I did some work at my desk, received some urgent audition material, paid some bills, and worked on some other stuff. When the maids finished I decided that since it was such a nice day, I’d take my iPad and go to Paty’s to eat lunch on the patio and enjoy the afternoon. I mailed my bills, and picked up my Fed Ex boxes at my mailbox. These were the three boxes that I shipped to myself from Aberdeen on Monday. All three arrived safe and sound, but as I was putting one of the boxes into my car something dropped out of it and fell on the sidewalk. WHAT? I looked down and discovered a huge split in the corner of the box! OH NO! Had other contents of the box slipped out during the shipping process? After a quick examination I realized that nothing had gotten lost. And they say there’s no God! WHEW! Apparently this box decided to split open just as I had picked it up to place it in my car, and thankfully not before! And I had some very valuable, personal items in there! I got the boxes home and unpacked them and put everything away. I spent a little time working on painting a few more Bat caps, navy blue leather baseball-style caps that I painted up to look similar to the 1966 Batman TV series cowl. I had two more that I needed to make for gifts, so I put a coat of paint on them and then left them to dry. I went over to Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City to meet up with my pal Doug from Minneapolis. He was in town for a relative’s 80th birthday, and luckily he had time to meet with me. His mom Lucille was the genius behind Lu’s Pizza, our family’s favorite restaurant when we were living in Aberdeen, South Dakota in the 70’s. Though Lu has passed away, Doug still has the recipe and makes Lu’s pizzas from time to time. Having just been to Aberdeen a week earlier, I discussed with him the possibility of him opening up a new Lu’s Pizza there. He thought it was a good idea, and definitely a possibility. A guy who owns the building where one of their restaurants used to be has offered him space to open up a take-out/delivery place if he wants to. MMMMM! After dinner I brought Doug over to give him a tour of Planet Wallywood, and we continued chatting for a bit. I grabbed a nap and then got up to do stuff around the house. I worked some more on my “Tonight Show” speech and timed it out. It was supposed to be between 3-5 minutes, but was timing out just over 7. Time to cut! And I remember a week ago when I was timing out my speech that I would be giving to the students at Aberdeen Central. It ran 52 minutes, but I had to end up cutting some out during the recitation because I was running out of time! So 7 minutes at my house, would be more like 10 minutes of actual time at the “Tonight Show” banquet! Hmmm! I’ll play it by ear and cut on the fly I guess. I made some delicious chili and watched “Kojak” before bed.

Saturday the 18th – SPEECH! SPEECH! – I awoke mid-afternoon and got my clothes prepared for that evening’s “Tonight Show” reunion banquet. I ironed my shirt, went over my speech again, and prepped all of the things I would need. I wanted to bring a little cough medicine and a few lozenges just in case. I called my dad and asked him some questions about the time he appeared on the stage at Aberdeen Central in a talent act for his college’s homecoming festivities. The year was 1957 and he and a bunch of college buddies dressed in drag and performed a song. Strangely enough (and I LOVE stuff like this) it would be 20 years later when his only son would also appear on that stage doing a comedy act. And how is this for mindblowers? Considering that in 1957 Elvis Presley had just become internationally famous…which was the same year my dad did his act. And 21 years after my dad appeared on the Aberdeen Civic Theatre stage I would be appearing there as well doing my high school-era Elvis imitation. Now imagine if someone back in 1957 had pulled my dad aside (he was only 22 at the time) after his comedy routine and said, “Lew, you know this new Elvis guy? Well, in 21 years your son will be on this very stage impersonating him.” Real “Twilight Zone” kind of stuff, right?! Funny. My pal Amanda came over to try on some dresses I have in my collection for the banquet. Several years back I bought a collection of dresses from “Deal Or No Deal” that I keep in the Puppet Room closet just for events like this. They had retailed at $600+ a piece, but I picked them up at It’s a Wrap for about $60 a few years ago. They had really only been worn once on the show, so they were in impeccable shape! We settled on a black one with lots of various sized rhinestones on it that looked like a star field (I like stars) and she wore it very well. I packed up my bag of goodies and we headed out at 6:15. I saw lots of my old “TS” pals and it was a great time. We got seated at our table and enjoyed the presentation immensely. Just before my speech I took a teaspoonful of my “Dr. Patt Juice,” (really great cough medicine that virtually shuts down the body’s urge to cough) and had a lozenge to make sure I wouldn’t cough during my speech. I was the fifth speaker and was introduced. The audience had been sitting through a fair amount of stuff and they were getting a little restless. Plus it was an older crowd (not really my forte) so I knew I had to keep it lively, rapid and brief. I surveyed the age demographic of the audience upon arrival and determined that some jokes in my speech just weren’t going to play. So during dinner I crossed them out. I brought my shoulder bag to the podium and brought out a full ream of paper with a binder clip on it. I held it up and said, “My speech.” I got a laugh. Good! Right out of the box, and with a sight gag! I told them not to worry that it was printed in a large font. I ripped through the speech and was having a great time. The lighting on the podium wasn’t that great, so I mostly just used it for placeholder reference, and I spoke mostly from memory. But halfway through the speech I had gotten a bad dry mouth! The medications I took had worked TOO well! And I didn’t bring water to the podium. Oh well, I just soldiered through and finished up. As the banquet ended we chatted some more with some old pals, and then we headed out to get some grocery items. We also stopped by Taco Bell to get Amanda some food because she absolutely hated what they served for dinner. Granted the food wasn’t too good, but the company more than made up for it. Her dinner was some sort of encrusted chicken stuff with some ground up dark stuff on it. Yuk. Mine was tri-tip but was covered in mushroom sauce. And I abhor mushrooms. The salads were made up of little spiny leaves… you know, the stuff that looks like it had just come out of the landscapers lawnmower bag? And the dressing was a putrid, vinegary-smelling pink cream. So Taco Bell tasted pretty good after that! I got home and grabbed a quick nap on the couch. When I awoke I fed Roxy, walked her and prepared for another Saturday Night Saint and Salad night. It was great watching an episode of the old “Saint” TV series with Roger Moore and enjoying one of my giant chef salads. The way a salad SHOULD be!

Sunday the 19th – SUNDAY’S SLEEP SYSTEM! – I’ve tried to explain my sleep system to friends and colleagues but they seldom understand. I sleep 8 hours a day, but in shifts. I sleep four hours here, four hours there, or five hours here, three hours there. But I can’t sleep a full eight hours all in a row. My mind won’t let me. I eventually got to bed around 9am in the morning and slept until 4pm…a good six hours. Perfect. I got ready for evening church and walked Roxy over to the service. I met up with Kathylynne there and we had a good time. Then we dropped off Roxy and headed to Chin Chin for dinner. When I got back I grabbed a short nap on the couch. But when I got up take Roxy out, she was sniffing around like crazy. She had started sniffing a wet trail leading from our swimming pool down the sidewalk. Our pool was locked with a chain and padlock, who could have been in the pool to leave a wet trail? It wasn’t a trail of wet human footprints, but it looked like somebody had dragged a wet sponge down the sidewalk for a bit, and then it started to diminish. In any event, the trail was fairly fresh. The water hadn’t had a chance to evaporate yet. What was this anyway? Roxy went up ahead a little further from where the trail faded off. Then I heard the rustle of tree leaves, and the shuffling of doggie paws. Roxy saw something and was after it. I looked up the tree and saw our friendly neighborhood raccoon scurry up a tree. Remember, the big one who was eating nuts on my patio wall last week? Apparently he’s getting pretty comfortable with our facilities at the complex. He took a nice swim and was probably on the lookout for some late dinner. Knowing what I know about raccoons, and how they hate to be cornered, I quickly pulled Roxy back and we went back inside. I don’t need a dog/raccoon fight at 2am! I went back inside to do auditions, and feed Roxy. We went for our late night stroll around the neighborhood and it was so relaxing, I came back inside and napped on the couch until dawn. I got up to write Wally’s Week around 6am and hit the hay at 8:30am. It’s a nutty schedule, I know. But it’s mine and I like it.

And how was YOUR week?!?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Like father, like son. Here’s a composite shot of my dad and I performing on the same stage in Aberdeen, South Dakota 20 years apart…1957 and 1977 respectively. Strange, huh?

At the NBC “Tonight Show” reunion last Saturday night, I spoke to the capacity crowd about how great it was being involved with Jay Leno and his crew….