RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
I love this cartoon I found, but technically, his hands would have human hands in them as well. But hey…let’s not get technical about it, OK?
I remember the day when I walked into a clothing store and head some amazing music being played on the overhead music system. I asked the gal at the front what it was, and she said it was the group Camera Obscura who hail from Scotland. I went out to buy the CD immediately (yes, this was back in the days you could go to a local store and buy CDs!). There are lots of great tracks on their album “Let’s Get Out Of This Country,” but my favorite has to be “Tears For Affair,” which came up this past week on my device. LOVE IT!
Monday the 9th – LOTSA SLOPPIES! – The weather in L.A. is really starting to get gorgeous now, as we move closer to spring. The day was so beautiful I took my pal Sara Raftery to lunch at Paty’s. Then I had some more prints made at CVS for my photo album project, and picked up a few grocery items. Sara met me there to help me select some items for a big batch of sloppy joe meat she would be making for me later. I like for her to make it in a huge batch, and then stash it in my refrigerator so I can nibble on it here and there. I did more work on my photo albums. I’m trying to get through the year 1997 and then I’ll stop for a while to turn my attention toward building the Herry Monster puppet for my display at Monsterpalooza in late May. I rested for a bit, and then got up to record a ton of auditions, and take my nightly WOG (walk/jog). I typed out Wally’s Week, and then worked on creating the text boxes for my photo albums. I finished up through the year 1996 and it’s looking great! I’m really proud of how these are turning out, and it’s definitely worth all of the intense work I’m putting into it. Plus, I’m unearthing some GREAT old photos!
Tuesday the 10th – BACK TO GRANDMA’S! – My first stop was my box to pick up some packages, and then I met my pal Edi Lurie at Bob’s Big Boy for lunch. It was fun catching up again, as I hadn’t seen her in a long time. I mailed off some stuff at the post office, while Edi ran some other errands, and then we met up at my place so I could show her some new items I’ve acquired since her last visit. She hadn’t been to my house in so long, and she had apparently really missed it. She always used to say that coming to Planet Wallywood was like coming to “grandma’s” – very peaceful, serene, and fun. So it was good to have her back at “grandma’s house” – and she enjoyed seeing my life-size Roger M00re figure. I worked on some stuff around the house after she left, and later my friend Amanda called to let me know she was in town. When she got to my house I updated her on my recent surgery adventure, and she filled me in on all the stuff that’s been going on with her. Later I napped for a bit, and then got up for my WOG. My accountant had recently completed my personal tax return, so I signed all the necessary documents, cut the checks I needed to cut, and got ready to mail everything off the next day. With all of the news lately about how our tax dollars are being used for fraud, cutting checks to the federal and state governments feels a bit like I’m funding a criminal enterprise. I guess maybe I am!
Wednesday the 11th – HUG!! – Since the Voice Over session I was scheduled for was literally just a mile down the street from my mechanic’s shop, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I drove to the shop and dropped off my Gran Torino for a much-needed oil change and cursory inspection. I wanted to see what other work might need to be done on it while I had it out and about. Then the office manager gave me a ride to Skylark studios so I could do my two-hour video game session at 1pm. I saw my old pal Kirk Thornton there (he voiced my brother in “Tiger and Bunny,” and he voiced Orbot to my Cubot in “Sonic Boom”), and Voice Acting legend Jim Cummings! But the coolest thing happened just before I went into the studio to record. When I first arrived at the studio I was early, so I enjoyed eating some Taco Bell food that I had picked up for lunch. My pal, and fellow Voice Actor Max Mittleman was in the studio’s lounge area talking to a tall young fella. I said hello and enjoyed my lunch. But when I was called in to the studio at 1:00, I stood up and walked toward the door. Just before I went in, the tall young fella came up and hugged me. It was a surprise, but I hugged him back and laughed. Come to find out his name is John, and he’s an up-and-coming Voice Actor who had just completed his recording session. He explained, “When you walked to the studio I said – that guy looks like Wally Wingert. And they said it WAS you! I just wanted to tell you that I’m a big fan of all your work, and you ‘blazed the trail’ for guys like me.” I was deeply, dearly touched by his comments. I thanked him profusely and asked him how his career was going. We also chatted about doing the autograph show circuit, as he’s starting to do that as well. Our conversation was nice, and it really, really made my day. NICE! After the session I decided to walk the 1.5 miles back to my mechanic’s shop because it was such a nice day. Plus, I needed the exercise. As I walked along Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank I started noticing all sorts of misspellings on store signs. In fact, another pedestrian happened by and he was marveling at it as well. He said, “Now I’m going to be keeping an eye out for mistakes in signs.” I told him I was sorry about that, as finding mistakes in signs is kind of my pet peeve…and it sticks with you once you start. When I got to the mechanic’s they said they were going to have to keep it through Friday, as some of the parts they needed hadn’t come in yet. I told them that was fine, as my pal Mike McGee was on his way to take my Robo-Hutch into his custody to do some minor repairs. Mike could give me a ride over to my auxiliary parking where I could get my Rav, which I had intended to do anyway after the Gran Torino’s oil change. I got back in the Rav and headed to my cleaner’s to pick up a comforter that I had cleaned. I mailed off my taxes at the post office, and then headed home to relax – I was BEAT! It was a VERY busy (BUT FUN!) day. Later I did my nightly auditions, but since I had my 1.5 mile walk earlier in the day I took the night off from my WOG. I scanned some checks for my monthly bank deposits.
Thursday the 12th – TORINO TROUBLE! – When the company Master Replicas released the Kermit the Frog, Animal and Gonzo photo replica puppets back in 2006 I made sure to get my order in right away! They were made in limited numbers, but I just HAD to add them to my collection! The Kermit was wonderful, even though his collar was a bit wonky, and the Animal was absolutely stunning. But the Gonzo had a few problems. First off, the way his eye pupils were aligned didn’t look like Gonzo’s. Most of the Muppets are all a bit cross-eyed (if you look carefully), but the pupils on the Gonzo replica were mounted on the eyeballs to be looking straight ahead. Many people who own these pieces have removed the pupils and corrected them. But the most annoying thing about the piece is what they decided to do for his snout. The actual Gonzo’s snout is hand-carved foam rubber. But because the shelf life of foam rubber isn’t great, the manufacturers decided to cast his snout out of a closed-cell foam, and cover it with a mesh fabric to create the illusion that it was porous like foam rubber. But it never looked right to me. So I asked my genius puppet builder pal Steve Troop to do some experimenting with my Gonzo photo puppet. I asked him to poke around and see if it was possible to REMOVE the closed-cell foam beak, and replace it with a new hand-carved foam rubber beak – that would look more like the original Gonzo. It’s a tall order, but I think Steve can do it. And of course, once he succeeds, I’m sure he’ll be flooded with orders from other Gonzo replica owners to do the same thing for THEIR pieces. We had lunch at Paty’s and discussed all things puppets – especially the upcoming Jim Henson display I’m planning for this spring’s Monsterpalooza convention. When we finished I headed to the bank to deposit some checks, and then I headed over to my mechanic’s shop to discuss some problems they found with the Gran Torino. When he removed the oil pan he found metal shavings, which indicated that the timing chain (which lives right above it) was old and flaking apart. He said if your timing chain goes, your engine could blow. YIKES! Plus I needed a handful of other mounts, gaskets and filters to bring the car back to full health. Plus it needed some transmission work. The total estimate came to about $3500, but to be honest, I haven’t spent any sizable amount of money on that car in so long – it’s about time to upgrade it a bit with some new equipment. The car is 52 years old and things like that are bound to happen; it’s part of the deal when you have a classic car. Plus, a lot of the needed parts are no longer being made, so the mechanic needs to “fabricate” and “modify” existing pieces in order for them to work. He’s a great mechanic, and he’s been working on classic cars for decades. I paid a deposit for the work and they said I could pick it up late next week. I came home to relax, and later I did my nightly auditions and took my nightly WOG.
Friday the 13th – FRIDAY THE 13th…AGAIN! – This is the second month in a row that has a Friday the 13th. I can’t remember the last time that happened, but it just worked out that way, amazingly. Since I’ve finished my photo album project up through the year 1997, I’m now looking through my Day Planner for 1998 and extracting all of the “notable events” for the album’s chronological narrative. It was an absolutely amazing read! I couldn’t believe how busy I was. On one particular day I flew to Las Vegas in the morning, performed as Austin Powers that night at an event, flew back to L.A. afterwards and got in about 12:30am. But later that morning I had to be on the set and dressed as Andy Kaufman at 9:00am to film the “E! True Hollywood Story!” WOW! Good thing I was young! The maids came to clean up Planet Wallywood, and I dropped a text to my daughter Lacey in Sioux Falls to pass along birthday wishes to my eldest grandchild Elliot – who turned 15 years old! My gal Angi came over and we toddled off to the local make-up store to pick up some supplies. We stopped at a local bookstore for a bit, and then we went to Art’s Deli to enjoy some lunch on their patio. Angi’s precious little doggie Khloe just had a tooth pulled the day previous, so we rushed back to my house to check in on her. I rested up for a bit, and then later I organized my photo case to make sure everything was in order for my brief signing engagement at the Transformers convention on Saturday afternoon. The convention in Burbank was going on for three days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – but I would be signing Saturday afternoon for four hours. I provided the voice for Side Burn in the 2001 series “Robots In Disguise.” The show seems to be getting a bigger following as the years go on, and it’s nice to see it finally being appreciated. I combed through some photos and negatives from 1998 in preparation for tackling the next phase of my photo album project. It truly was an amazing year that had me traveling all over the place – Las Vegas, Guatemala, South Dakota, Detroit, and more. WOW! I took my WOG and hit the hay.
Saturday the 14th – TRANSFORM!!! – Bright and early in the morning I packed up my photo case and headed over to the Burbank Airport Marriott for the Transformers convention. First, I had a panel at noon with some of the other “Robots In Disguise” Voice Actors, and it was a blast. While the audience for the panel wasn’t exactly “standing-room-only,” it was a lot better attended than the panel we did a few years ago at the same convention. Little by little our show is getting more love and respect, and it’s wonderful. While not available domestically on DVD, I found out that a lot of people are watching the episodes on YouTube! After the panel I had about an hour for lunch before my signing started. In the green room I got to see a lot of great old pals…Gregg Berger and Frank Welker were both there (my old “Garfield Show” buddies), and it was great to see the legendary Peter Cullen again. He and I recalled all of the fun we had at the very first Voices Against Cancer event back in 2022. I got to my table and signed from 2pm to 6pm – and it was an amazing day. I had a ton of fun chatting with the Transformer fans, and I was amazed at how many cool names I heard. The days of people naming their kids “Mike” and “Susan” are long over. I even met a young couple named Luis and Maria! I told them, “Hey! Just like on ‘Sesame Street!’” But being young they had no idea what I was talking about. I also received a lot of nice gifts from the fans, which tickles me to no end. Drawings, keychains, stickers, – and even a small crystal! When my day was done I headed out to get some groceries and then go home to pass out! I expend so much energy during these shows, it really does drain me. But like Elvis said in the new movie “EPIC” – “People can listen to music at home – but if they pay to come see you live – you’d better give them a show.” Along those lines I like to say, “People can acquire my autograph through the mail. But if they pay to go to a convention, I’d better give them a show!” I cleaned up and hit the hay and slept for a good long while. When I got up later I even decided to take the night off from my WOG. I just kept working on the photo albums and narrative for the year 1998. I have all of that year’s photos separated into groups, and now I need to compare them to the negatives to see if there are any images missing from the set. Later I made a salad and watched the second-to-the-last episode of “Fantastic Journey.”
Sunday the 15th – SOMEDAY MY PRINTS WILL COME! – As is usual, my Sunday was spent lounging around the house relaxing and resetting. It felt good. I did a few auditions, did some work around the house, and took my nightly WOG. After the weekend at the Transformers convention, I needed to dive into my photo case to take inventory and order some new prints. I was running low on several of the shots that I offer, so I’d better get them ordered while it’s fresh in my mind. I don’t have another show scheduled until Connecticon in Connecticut in July, but I want to make sure I stay fully stocked on photos.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
I love to read signs carefully to spot any spelling errors, and you’d be surprised how many there are out there! A long time ago my dad told me that the sign makers do that on purpose to get you to look at the signs more closely so you’ll absorb what they’re selling, but I think the misspellings I’m seeing these days is just plain laziness. Like this one – all the letters are there, but they’re in the wrong order. SLOPPY!
As I was sorting through pictures from the year 1997 I stumbled across this one that I snapped when I was on the Hanna-Barbera lot to audition for a show. They had their own Mystery Machine and it looked amazing! I wonder where this baby is today?
Speaking of 1997 pictures, I ran across the series of photos we took of my old pal Dustin Diamond as Shaggy, back when there was initial talk of a live-action “Scooby-Doo” movie. He wanted to play Shaggy more than anything, so we put him in costume to take some shots for a pitch booklet. I had him pose with his arm out, like he had his arm around Scooby, but we never ended up using that shot in the booklet. But today I decided to finally finish the shot and add in Scooby. I think Dustin would love this!
