RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
Look! The first Robin of spring!
This song has been on my mind all week. It’s a track from Looking Glass called “Wait.” It’s for a special lady I know. She knows who she is.
Monday the 3rd – THE DRYOUT! – The sun was out, the rain was gone, and it was a beautiful day! The animals woke me up earlier than I had hoped. Roxy wanted to cuddle and Spook kept tickling my face with his tail. I got up and walked Roxy, did some work on the computer, read some e-mails, then went to Studiopolis Burbank to record another episode of “Bleach.” I had guests in-studio that day. Momo, Maggie and Mom were my guests for the session. I had met Momo at one of the Hollywood autograph shows. She’s only 13 or 14, but is an amazing anime artist. I invited her family to come see an actual voice-over session in progress. They had a great time. It was a short session, but I’m sure they had fun. When we finished up I took the long drive down to Culver City to do some voice work on a new videogame. I got down on the westside early so I could stop at my favorite Mexican restaurant called Campo’s. I had the usual…a beef taco and beef enchilada with rice and beans. I used to live next to Campo’s when I lived in the area. There aren’t any restaurants close to where I live now, and I really miss it. After a scrumptious lunch I drove around the old neighborhood and saw the sights. Ahhhh the good old days. I found the studios of SDI, checked in and did my session. After it was finished I stopped at Martin B. Rettig Guns in Culver City and looked around. I spotted a couple of old Beretta .32 caliber semi-automatics from the mid 30’s. One was in better shape than the other. I was tempted, but I didn’t buy them. They were only $400 each, but they were pretty well used. I hit the freeway to head home. It was a long, slow drive home, but when I got back to the area I stopped at Rusty’s to pick up some more food for Roxy. I picked up a check at one of the other Studiopolis locations, and then went home to check e-mails and walk Roxy. It felt good to be out and about again. Not only to be free from the daily grind of “The Tonight Show,” but also to be feeling well again after my illness of the previous week. Nothing’s better than being healthy! I snagged a nap, then got up for a bunch of auditions. I typed Wally’s Week and sent it to my webmaster Scott Sebring. I prepped a bank deposit for Tuesday, fed and walked Roxy and did some final work on the computer before retiring for the day. Mark Evanier asked me to be on the Voice Actor panel at Wonder Con in Anaheim in April. I had planned on staying close to home and doing a bunch of church stuff, since Wonder Con is on Easter weekend. But I haven’t seen Mark in awhile, nor had I done a panel in awhile. So I accepted his kind invitation, booked my hotel room and prepared to acquire my convention badges when Professional Registration opened up in a few weeks. I made hot dogs on the grill outside and watched another episode of “Twilight Zone” on Blu Ray. I didn’t get to bed until 7am!
Tuesday the 4th – TRIUMPHANT TUESDAY! – At 1 I awoke and walked Roxy, then made some phone calls, wrote some e-mails and did a quick audition for my agent Vinnie. I did some stuff around the house then cleaned up and headed out for errands. I went to Fast Frame to check on my “Tonight Show” framed collage, checked my mailbox, went to my bank to do some Planet Wallywood, Inc. business, hit Togo’s for a sandwich, then went to the cleaners to pick up some laundry. I got a call from my sister Peggy that she’s gotten engaged! I got home and did some work. One of the things I picked up from my mailbox was a box of refrigerator magnets I had ordered. I spent a few hours putting them inside the tumblers, which are all part of a huge mailout I’m doing soon to Casting Directors, Producers, Directors, Writers, etc. in the Voice-Over world. It’ll be my first new demos in about 10 years! But while looking at the magnets I realized they turned out a little dark. I’m going to call the company to see if they’ll re-do them a bit lighter. I took a dip in the Jacuzzi and then grabbed a nap. When I got up my pal Edi and her doggie Bunny came over for a visit, and a doggie playdate. When they left I did my auditions and walked and fed Roxy. I spent the rest of the night working on my new VO demos.
Wednesday the 5th – GETTIN’ LOTS DONE! – My pal Electric Bob came over to do some stuff around the house that needed to be done. My normal contractor Terry broke his ankle during the rainy period last week. So he’s out for about four to six weeks. Bob pulled up the carpet in my upstairs hallway and fixed the floor. At some point before I bought the house, some workmen cut a 3’ X 3’ hole in the floor upstairs to gain access to some of the piping. But when they replaced the plywood, they didn’t reinforce it very well. But Bob fixed it right up. While he worked around the house, I continued work on my Voice-Over demos. I ordered a Domino’s pizza and kept working away. Time really flies when you’re hard at work editing away in Sound Forge. At the end of the afternoon I fed Roxy and Spook, and took Roxy for a nice long walk. I took a much-needed nap then got up to do my auditions. I did some more work on my demos, then drove over to Denny’s to get some food to go. I settled in for the night, ate my dinner and watched a TV movie called “Probe,” which was the pilot for a series I loved as a kid in the 70’s called “Search.” I knew I would probably like it a little, but this was AWESOME! What fun! Everything that was great about 70’s action TV shows. Hot babes, cool clothes (including leather jackets and turtlenecks), car chases, etc. I can’t wait to watch the entire series!
Thursday the 6th – DRAPED AND TAPED! – My hotline rang late-morning. It was my agent telling me I had two last-minute auditions to do. I got up, recorded them and sent them in. While I was on my Sound Forge program I decided to do some more work on my Voice-Over demos. Sara came over to sit with the carpet cleaners who were due at 1pm. But I had to scoot to a lunch with my friend Angelique Perrin at Jerry’s Famous Deli. She’s been doing a lot of voice work in New York, so she’s hardly ever back in L.A. We had a fun lunch and chatted for over two hours! On the way home I stopped at my local bank to finish up my Planet Wallywood, Inc. business from the other day. I had tried to set the account up on Tuesday, but my accountant forgot to tell me to bring a corporate check to finalize the process. But since I didn’t want to run all the way over to the branch I was at on Tuesday, I figured I’d save time by going to my local branch. BAD IDEA! I had to start the process all over again. It took a little over an hour. In hindsight, I would have been better off driving over to the other branch, handing them the check and heading back home. It would have taken about half the time. Live and learn, I guess. I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, then went back home to feed Roxy and Spook. I did some work around the house then grabbed a nap. I slept until midnight! I must’ve really needed it! After finishing my auditions, I started prepping for my meeting on Friday with my seamstress. She’s doing several projects for me right now, but the one I was really interested in tackling was making a cloth bodysuit for the new NECA Adam West Batman figure. The 18” figure is great in its detail, but the arms, torso and legs are jointed vinyl, and it doesn’t look very good. My pal Pete told me about a guy who customized his figure with a cloth bodysuit, and covered up the exposed joints. I thought it might be nice to do the same. So I dug out some old gray stretch fabric from my storage downstairs. Strangely enough, it was the fabric I bought back in 1980 when my Grandma made my first Batman costume! So this fabric had history! It was still in really great shape! I also took out some thin white fabric to make the pattern. I sat there at my desk for hours “draping and taping.” I would cover the figure with the white fabric, pencil in where the seams would go, then cut the fabric to size. I then taped the piece on to the figure so it wouldn’t move. Then I would drape another piece of fabric on a different area of the figure and sketch out the next part of the pattern. I finished up the entire thing then did a little bookkeeping. I fed and walked Roxy on our late night stroll through the neighborhood. It was a beautiful night! We saw a possum walking down the street and Roxy went nuts! Her incessant barking broke the silence of an otherwise gorgeously still night. I had to wrap my hands around her snout to keep her quiet. I did a little more work around the house, then made some Beefaroni and watched episode 1 of “Search,” the series based on the TV movie I watched the previous night called “Probe.” I’m really going to like this series!
Friday the 7th – SUCCESS SUCCESS! THEY’VE DONE IT THEY’VE DONE IT! – When I woke up at 10:30 I checked e-mails. Then I hit the road to my seamstress’ studio in Cypress Park. I took her my Scarecrow of Oz bust so she could create the costume for it. I also showed her my draped and taped Batman figure. She delicately cut the white fabric off the figure, laid it on some paper and traced it. She cleaned up the pattern nicely and cut the gray fabric I gave her. She said, “Wow! You did all the hard work!” It was a real time saver. She was now able to take the cut pieces of gray fabric and stitch it together on the spot, and create the bodysuit for the figure in a matter of minutes! While she worked I played tennis ball soccer with Jack, a hyper-active, supremely agile dog who loves to chase the ball around her shop. He’s amazing! She stitched the fabric on to the figure and it looked awesome! She now has the patterns, so she can do these “upgrades” for anyone who has this figure and wants to make it better. We chatted about the Scarecrow figure and how to make the burlap “skirt” around his neck. I left her studio and hit the cleaners to pick up my laundry. It was Friday, so that meant it was “hot dog” day at the cleaners. I had a hot dog and some hot, fresh popcorn. I stopped by Fast Frame to check on my “Tonight Show” piece, but it still hadn’t been finished yet. They promised me I could get it on Saturday. I stopped home to check in on Sara and the maids, who were working hard cleaning Planet Wallywood. I grabbed a flash drive and imported a scan of the original Adam West Batman chest logo that I scanned from Mark Hardeman’s original costume. Then I went over to my printer’s and had him print up 1” emblems for my Batman figure. When I came back home the maids were gone and I couldn’t wait to start working on putting my figure back together. I glued down the fabric on the areas on the calves and forearms that might buckle when I put the gloves and boots back on. Armed with my trusty Barge glue I reattached the boots after trimming away the excess fabric on the figure’s calves. The gloves just popped right back on easily, but the belt wouldn’t reattach. A ha! Because of the extra fabric tucked into the trunks, he had essentially “gained weight.” So I snipped the Utility Belt apart in the back, and stitched in a small Velcro extender. I hadn’t counted on the fact that the fabric would add girth to the figure’s waist. I glued down the ends of the fabric that were tucked into the trunks, just to make sure they wouldn’t shift, and the figure would maintain its uniform appearance. I finished up just in time to walk to dinner with my friend Bruce Kulick and his wife Lisa. We met up with my pal Barbera, who used to book all the musical acts on “The Tonight Show.” She and Bruce had a lot of mutual acquaintances in the music world. I was so excited about the work I had done on the Batman figure I couldn’t stop talking about it, even though I’m sure they weren’t all that interested. After dinner I came back home and checked on how the glue had set. It was coming back together nicely! I put the figure’s cape back on (which we’re going to eventually replace as soon as we can find suitable fabric) and put it back in the main display case. I heard a lonely croaking frog out behind my house in the L.A. wash, probably looking for a mate. I loved how he sounded, so I opened up the Puppet Room window all the way, and laid down on the bed to listen to his song of romance. I hadn’t slept in the Puppet Room in years! It was nice. The bed in there is very comfortable. When I got up I did some work around the house and checked back on the Batman figure. It looked awesome! The fabric was perfect because it was so full-bodied. Other upgrades I had seen weren’t as good, because the fabric they used was too thin. So thin, in fact, that you can still see the joints in the arms and legs that the bodysuits were created to disguise. I fed and walked Roxy and came back inside. I had fully intended to goof around in the garage for a bit, but I was enjoying the mellow I had going on. So I did a little more work on my VO demos. Slowly but surely they’re coming along. It’s a lot of work, because the timing and the pacing of the demo has to be perfect. And the order of the elements is important too. My agents had already signed off on my Videogame demo, after moving some stuff around, so now I only have 8 new demos to finish. Whew! I made some beef stew and watched “Search” episode 2!
Saturday the 8th – BEST SATURDAY EVER?! – I slept until 2, then took Sara and Edi to lunch at Paty’s. It was such a grogeous day we ate on the patio and had a great time. I stopped by Fast Frame and picked up my “Tonight Show” collage which turned out beautifully! I dropped off Edi and Sara at Sara’s house, then drove on to JoAnn’s Fabrics to meet up with my pal Pete. We were on the hunt for more fabric for Batman figure bodysuit upgrades. Sooner or later I’m going to run out of gray scraps from my old Batman costume, but we just couldn’t find a suitable alternative. The grays were too dark and not “blue” enough. The thing I really remember liking about the fabric I bought in 1980 was the perfect color. However, we DID find some great fabric for the cape. It had the same look as the Adam West cape, but it was super thin…suitable for an action figure. I also found some good material for my Scarecrow bust, though it’ll need to be dyed darker olive green. We finished up and I went next door to Rite Aid to get some ice cream. Coconut Pineapple, baby! Elvis’ favorite flavor! (See Wally’s Week for the last week of 2013 for more info on this) I got home and grabbed a quick nap in the Puppet Room before guests started to arrive for movie night. LF (lonely frog) was singing away and lulled me right to sleep. Movie night was fun…we watched the original pilot for “The Muppet Show,” and we watched “Dick Tracy” on Blu Ray. When everyone left I set about the arduous task of setting all my clocks ahead an hour. Ugh. I think everyone pretty much knows how much I abhor Daylight Saving Time. I have not heard ONE good argument for continuing this antiquated, archaic bit of stupidity. Why are we still doing this, I ask you?! It’s been proven time and time again it has absolutely NO benefit any longer. The reasons it was created two hundred years ago are no longer valid. There oughtta be a law! I kept working on my VO demos, then got ready for another Saturday Night Saint and Salad night…an episode of “The Saint” and a huge salad! I also watched another “Search” episode.
Sunday the 9th – POOR L.F.! – I got up at 2 and walked Roxy. It was a stunningly gorgeous day. After our walk Roxy laid down in the grass and sunbathed for a bit. I went inside to do some work and got a surprise visit from my old pal Kathy Pillsbury. She brought back my custom Ant Man cap I had made a few years ago. I wanted her to embroider the Ant Man logo on the back, but she never got around to it. So on Monday I’ll take it to Mr. Stitch and get it finished up once and for all. Roxy and I got ready for evening church and we walked over. When it was over, we walked back home and enjoyed the beautiful evening. I did some work around the house for a bit, then I settled down in the Puppet Room and grabbed a nap. My pal L.F. (Lonely Frog) was croaking up a storm again. I was starting to feel bad for him because I know he’s croaking to find a mate. Not only that, but he may be alerting predators to his presence. So he may end up getting eaten by an owl. But I slipped off to sleep listening to his song and feeling the warm breeze blowing in through the Puppet Room window. When I got up at midnight I had about 20 auditions to do. I walked Roxy on a nice, quiet, and warm evening. Then I went back inside and got ready for TV Time. I made a Tombstone pizza and watched another “Search” episode.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
It’s the CAT SIGNAL!
Here’s my finished NECA Adam West Batman figure. We’ve yet to replace the floppy cape he’s wearing, but we hope to attack that next week.
Mike at Fast Frame in Toluca Lake did a fantastic job on my “Tonight Show” collage. He took an eclectic bunch of mementos and made a really nice framed piece out of it! The collage includes a screen-used “Tonight Show” art card, a pic of Jay and I, my door name plaque, a collectible ticket to the final taping, the crew photo, a screen-shot of my on-screen credit, and a shot of me in my tux getting ready to do the final opening announce.
