May 6 – May 12 (2013) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

This week the “Random Pic” is another one from the collection of personal snapshots I received awhile back from the family of Jonathan Frid, Barnabas Collins from “Dark Shadows.” Jonathan passed away about a year ago this month, and along with Jonathan’s personally owned silver wolf’s head cane, I acquired a small collection of photographs Jonathan had in his possession when he passed away. The Frid family has given me permission to post them occasionally to share them with Jonathan’s fans. Here’s a shot of JF looking quite comfortable in the bright sunlight of the day!

First, you have to see this commercial! It’s one of the funniest I have ever seen, and was CLEARLY written by a Trekkie! It features a “Spock Off” between the new Spock Zachary Quinto, and the classic Spock Leonard Nimoy. Both actors are amazing. It makes me want to go buy an Audi!

Secondly, this week we have a tie between TWO songs…a first for “What’s Wally Humming?” Since Tom Jones was on “The Tonight Show” this week, I had a lot of his songs running through my head. But this one stuck in the forefront of my consciousness. It’s from an album he released just a few years ago called “24 Hours.” The track is“If He Should Ever Leave You.”

The one it’s tied with is from “Jesus Christ Superstar” and is sung by the character Pilate…portrayed brilliantly by Barry Dennen. Since we screened the newly released Blu Ray of the 1973 film this past Saturday, this song has been stuck in my mind! It’s“Pilate’s Dream,” and it’s wonderful!

Monday the 6th – BIRTHDAY FUN! – A hotline call from my agent woke me up in the morning so I got up and did two comedy bits for “The Tonight Show” in my home studio. My pal Sergio Lopez came by to attach hair to my Robin mannequin. I’m planning to add Robin next to Batman at the top of one of my staircases. He’s all set except for his hair. And Sergio did a fabulous job. He found a wig that matched Burt Ward’s hair color perfectly. My assistant Sara came by to sit with Sergio while he worked, as I had to head off to work. I stopped by Quizno’s and got a sandwich to go, and then headed into the studio. I was surprised by a lot of happy birthday wishes from the crew. I was wondering how everyone knew, but apparently my birthday was listed on the daily call sheet. I was making the final arrangements for a late birthday surprise for Jay on Wednesday. He’s a fan of the old TV show “Mannix” (as am I) and awhile back I had bought him a vintage 1968, still-sealed-in-the-original-box “Mannix” roadster model kit. I figured I could just give it to him in the hallway, but after seeing his reaction to the signed Mike Connors picture I gave him a month or so ago, I thought getting Mike to the studio to give it to him personally would be a better move. So I worked it all out with David Elkouby, who runs the Hollywood Collector Shows. He knew Mike from previous shows, and he helped arrange it. I arranged the meeting on my end with Derek, one of Jay’s assistants and writers. It was going to be awesome! We taped the show, and then I headed home to meet up with my pal Jeremy from Comic Relief, and Andy Kaufman’s writing partner Bob Zmuda. In addition to creating the Comic Relief organization, Bob also handles the tour schedule for international singing sensation Tony Clifton. Bob hadn’t been to Planet Wallywood in awhile, so there were lots of new things for him to see. Not the least of which was the lifesize Tony Clifton figure in my kitchen. Bob also wanted to go through my collection of tux jackets to see if any would be appropriate for Tony. He said Tony’s are starting to wear out a bit. I gave him one yellow tux jacket from After Midnight, which is exactly like the one Tony wore on “The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show” back in 1979. I also had a bolt of orange polyester fabric laying around that I had bought at a vintage fabric store many years back. It was similar to the famous “orange sherbet” fabric of Tony’s original tuxedo, but not exact. I had a tuxedo made from the fabric many years ago and Bob loved it when he saw it. He wanted to have some jackets made from the fabric for Tony. I also gave he and Jeremy one of my “Andy Kaufman Live at the Huntington-Hartford” photo books. He was amazed at the quality of the photos in the book. He pointed to a photo of himself wearing a referee shirt during Andy’s wrestling act and said, “Didn’t I look good?!” As a birthday gift he brought me an original Tony Clifton prosthetic nose that was worn during one of Tony’s recent Comedy Store appearances. Only I would be ecstatic about receiving a rubber nose as a birthday gift. But it’s definitely getting mounted and framed and placed prominently in my Tony Clifton section. It’s always fun hearing Bob’s stories about the old days when he and Andy caused various forms of havoc. Sara, my friend Edi and her daughter Ems joined me for a birthday dinner at The Smokehouse. My neighbor Genta and her dad Kent also joined us. It was a very pleasant evening, with LOTS of great food! When we got back to my house, Edi’s teacup Maltese dog Bunny had a “kling-on” on the fur around her butt. We were wondering if she had left me some sort of birthday present around the house somewhere. While Edi was in the bathroom cleaning Bunny off, I grabbed a few small Tootsie Rolls from one of my movie night candy containers and headed upstairs. I threw them in my mouth and chewed them a little to get them wet and twisty looking. Then I found an old puddle pad in my bedroom closet, and put the two Tootsie Rolls on the puddle pad. I went downstairs with an angry look on my face to show Edi. “Look what Bunny did while we were gone.” Edi looked at them and said, “She looks sick!” I said, (ala Carl in “Caddyshack”) “It’s no big deal,” and popped the Tootsie Rolls in my mouth and ate them. I thought Edi was going to be sick. She doubled over and gagged. I couldn’t hold back my laughter and longer. I told her they were Tootsie Rolls, and she said she knew they had to be, but it was still really gross. We laughed ourselves silly for quite awhile after. When everyone left I did my auditions, and then went upstairs to watch another episode of “Bionic Woman” before bed. All in all, it’s been a fantastic birthday weekend! And to make things ever better, it was pouring rain outside!

Tuesday the 7th – GLOOMY TUESDAY! – It was 1pm by the time I woke up. No hotline calls today. Electric Bob came over to survey my upstairs bathroom in anticipation of the bathroom construction I’m having done Memorial Day week. He brought my new toilet over, which has a hi-tech toilet seat that does everything but wash your dishes. Sara came over to get some mail to take to the post office. Then I headed off to “TTS.” I stopped to get lunch on my way at McDonald’s and used the gift card Edi gave me for my birthday. She really knows my habits! We taped the show, but on the way home I was stricken with a slight case of “the sads.” Not sure why. Gloomy day? Maybe it was because the show is ending in February and I’ll miss all the folks who work on it dreadfully. I got home, took Roxy for a walk, chatted with my neighbors, and noticed that the clouds were starting to break up. But it was still spritzing out a little bit. I came back inside and did some work on the computer, then took a brief nap. Edi and Ems came over with Edi’s sister Carrie, and we went to The Coral Cafe for dinner. Carrie is a young model and actress who came to town for an audition. She lives in Miami but wants to move to L.A. to pursue work options. Just before they left my house Carrie took a bunch of photos of my collection in Planet Wallywood, and I wished her luck on her audition. I did my auditions, then did some work around the house. I fed Roxy and took her on our late-night walk. It was cloudy, but no longer raining. It was another episode of “The Bionic Woman” before bed and then sleepy-time.

Wednesday the 8th – MANNIX DAY! – At noon I got up and walked Roxy. Sergio came by around 1 to fix the part on Robin’s hair. Then I headed off to “TTS.” Today was the day we were surprising Jay with a meeting with Mike Connors, “Mannix” himself! I sent a towncar to pick him up at his home to make sure he made it on time. Jay always does a meet-n-greet after the show in the Green Room. Mike showed up with Larry Manetti from “Magnum P.I.,” who’s a buddy of his. David Elkouby and his wife Ester also showed up. We hung out in the Green Room while the show was taping, while Mike told amazing stories. One of the guests on the show that day was 100 year old actress (who’s still working) Connie Sawyer. Jay came in after the show and immediately recognized Mike and gave him a huge hug! They had a good time chatting and Jay was asking questions about the “Mannix” TV show. The smile never left his face as Mike spun yarns about one of the greatest TV detective shows ever. Then Mike introduced Larry to Jay, and Jay had a VERY funny line. He said, “Mike, do you just hang out with other TV detectives, or…??” Jay told Mike that he used to watch the show with his folks all the time, and his mom had a crush on Mannix. He also said his father used to run an Armenian restaurant, and always said that Mike Connors was the first ever Armenian superstar. Mike told Jay about the time Neil Diamond was on “Mannix.” He gave Jay the model kit and then the two posed for some pictures. After that Jay was called away to shoot a segment for something else. Mike is a huge car fan and former collector, so we’re going to get him a private tour of Jay’s Garage. I wanted Mike to meet my pal Patrick Smith who mixes all the audio on the show, so we walked through the very busy hallway heading to the audio booth. Mike poked his head into Connie Sawyer’s dressing room to say hi to her, and the NBC photographer snapped photos like crazy. It was a fun day! Patrick happened to be in the hallway, so I introduced him to Mike. The Stage Manager Roberta was also elated to meet Mike, as she’s been a “Mannix” fan for years. And better yet, I think Mike had a good time as well! I headed home to do some work and answer some e-mails, and made some calls and walked Roxy. I received an e-mail from Barry Dennen that he would be joining us for movie night, when we would screen the newly released Blu Ray version of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Barry was Pilate on the original brown album, and in the film. (He was also the voice of Chamberlain in “The Dark Crystal.”) It was nap time for a bit, then it was time to take a dip in the jacuzzi, but the water still isn’t as hot as it should be. Gotta call the office and see what the problem is. There was some work to be done around the house, some auditions to be done, and some photos to be scanned before bed.

Thursday the 9th – TOM FREAKIN’ JONES! – Voice Trax West was my destination early in the day to do some pick-ups for a session I did a few weeks ago. This was the one that ended up being a 45 minute read and a 6000 word script (when I was originally told it was 2000 words and a 20 minute script). Anyway, when I got the script it was considerably shorter. I guess the producers realized that nobody was going to sit and listen to a 45 minute pitch about a product, no matter how good it was. We finished the pick-ups and e-mailed them off to the producers, and then it was off to Taco Bell to get some lunch. The legendary Sir Tom Jones was performing on the show today, and I didn’t want to miss it for the world. Edi, Sara and Kristy all went to NBC early, as I had them on the list for tickets. My good pal Raf, who handles audience seating, was kind enough to get all 3 of them in the very front row, right in front of Tom! I came out of my little audio hovel and stood at the back of the house and watched him perform. He’s always a class act. After the show we went to Paty’s Diner to grab a bite to eat on the patio. A couple approached the patio to get seated and I recognized the guy as the great John Byner! I introduced myself and told him he is one of the greats, and his work inspired me to get into voice-over. He’s a very nice guy and thanked me graciously. We found out we have the same voice-over agent! You just never know who you’re going to run into in this town! I went home and heard it begin to rain outside. I threw on my swimsuit and rushed out to the jacuzzi. I love to sit in the hot tub when it’s raining! Unfortunately the water still wasn’t very hot; a full 5 degrees below the 105 the complex promises. But the sky was beautiful as the spotty rain clouds came and went. I laid my head back and looked toward the west. As the sun began to set, the puffy orange and gray clouds drifted lazily southward as the remaining drops of rain sprinkled my face. How relaxing! So much so I went inside to grab a quick nap. When I got up I did some bookkeeping, some corporate bank account paperwork, and got some checks readied for deposit. I fed Roxy her dinner and we took our late-night stroll through the neighborhood. It’s so quiet and peaceful at 3am!

Friday the 10th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROXY! – Today is Roxy’s 5th birthday, and I’ve had her at Planet Wallywood a little over a year now. How time flies! My hotline rang at 11:30 and they said to be into NBC for a comedy bit by 12:30. Gotta go! I called Sara and asked her to be here by 12:15 to stay with my maids while they cleaned Planet Wallywood. I rushed off to “TTS” and recorded 3 bits for the show. I had a little time to kill before the taping, so I went over to Staples and got a new chair mat for my computer chair. The other one had cracks in it and it was getting annoying. This one was guaranteed for a lifetime not to crack. We’ll see. I went over to Michael’s Crafts to get a shadowbox for my new Clifton nose, and then got some drive-thru lunch at Wendy’s. I got back to NBC, we taped the show and then I rushed over to the bank to make my deposits. It’s weird. I get a lot of checks, but unfortunately they’re all for very small amounts because of payments of residuals from various shows I’ve done. Oh well. It’s better than not getting any checks at all! On the way home I stopped by the grocery store to get some supplies for the weekend. I found out through my pal Barry Denne, that we would be joined by Ted Neeley for our “Jesus Christ Superstar” night on Saturday night! Fabulous! Edi was sad that she didn’t get to meet them at the recent Hollywood Show, because she had an allergic reaction to something and had to see the doctor. But now she would be meeting “Hot Jesus” (as she calls him) in Planet Wallywood AND seeing “JCS” (which she had never seen before) all in the same night! Not only that, but while I was in the grocery store, the lady who books all the musical acts for “TTS” called to let me know there were two tickets to Sunday night’s Tom Jones performance at the Troubador in West Hollywood! FANTASTIC! I came home to put groceries away, and my neighbor Genta and her dad were just coming back from being out all day. We walked down to a local cafe with Roxy to get some dinner. What a fantastic day! We walked back home, I took a dip in the jacuzzi, and then went inside to do work around the house to get ready for movie night. Ted would be bringing his wife and daughter as well, so I wanted to make sure I had lots of extra room for seating. Later that night Sara went to get some Denny’s to-go, and brought it over for another “Bionic Woman” episode.

Saturday the 11th – JCS 40 IN BLU…HUT, HUT, HUT!–Craving KFC when I woke up, I headed over to the local CVS to get a print made of a photo that I was going to give Ted Neeley that night. It was a shot we had taken back in 1993, with Ted, myself and the late Carl Anderson. When Ted signed my copy of the photo at the autograph show, he asked for a copy for himself. So I bought a nice frame to put the enlargement in as a gift for him. Then I had to get to the KFC drive-thru! I stopped by my pal Fred’s house for awhile, as I knew he would be outside getting some sun. Then I came home to take down my desk. I needed to disassemble it in order to make more room for seating, as I was expecting a big group for movie night. The desk broke down very easily, and I stored the components in my garage. Then I grabbed a quick nap. Movie night was amazing. Neither Ted nor Barry had seen “JCS” in quite awhile, and the fact that the Blu Ray transfer was crystal clear, wowed them tremendously! Ted’s daughter Tessa loved seeing her parents on the screen so clearly, as Ted met his wife Leann (a JCS dancer) on the set in Israel. Can you imagine seeing, in living color and Blu Ray high definition, your young parents right around the time they met? That had to be an absolute trip for her! Occasionally during the film, she would hold up her i-phone and snap pictures of the screen. I think they all had a great time seeing the film again, and the family element was definitely an added feature. At one point when Leann was on-screen in a pair of tight hip-hugger pants and a crop top, I froze the image and said, “Yeah baby!” Ted leaned over to me and said with a wry smile, “Jesus be watchin’!” We laughed heartily! After the movie we asked a lot of questions. First off, how did they both get involved initially in “Superstar?” Barry said he had been performing in “Cabaret” in London. When a young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice approached him to play Pilate, Barry said he’d like to hear the music. When he heard it he said he knew he just had to be in it. He told his agent to draw up the contract, but the agent balked. Barry said if he didn’t draw up the contract he would leave the agency! Fast forward a few years later, the “JCS” brown album was selling millions of copies, and Barry’s in another country working on the “Fiddler on the Roof” film with director Norman Jewison. He told Barry how much he loved the album, and that he had an idea to make “JCS” into a film. He asked if Barry could get Tim and Andrew on the phone. He did, and the rest is history! In fact, there may not have been a “JCS” movie without Barry’s influence! Ted’s involvement started when he was doing “Hair” on Broadway under director Tom O’Horgan. When Tom was given the reins to the “JCS” Broadway show, he called Ted into audition. Ted said, being a Southern Christian boy, he would have never attempted to assume the role of Christ, so he went in to audition…but as Judas! He sang “Heaven On Their Minds.” Tom applauded and loved the audition! He came down to the stage and hugged Ted and said, “Great! Now come back tomorrow and read for the other guy!” Ted met Carl on Broadway, as they were both the understudies for Jesus and Judas respectively. So when the time came to cast the film, Ted and Carl already had great chemistry together. It all just worked! We touched a little on the controversy that surrounded “JCS” when it was first released. But all of the negative coverage only served to increase album sales in the rebellious early 70’s. I guess the youth figured if their conservative parents hated it, it MUST be good! As you can tell, I’m a HUGE fan of the behind-the-scenes stories like this! I drink them in like cold water on a hot day. Barry and Ted both signed my Wally Wall-Of-Fame in the Chaney Room. Ted was blown away by the lifesize figures and whipped out his camera to take shots of many of them. On his daughter’s camera, there’s a picture of Ted and I standing next to my Laurel and Hardy figures, mimicking their poses. I told Ted we looked so good as Laurel and Hardy, we should start an act! But by far my favorite part of the evening, was watching Ted and Barry, watch Jesus and Pilate on screen. I tried not to be too obvious about it, but watching them watch their younger selves was amazing! It always thrills me to do that. I’ve watched Adam West watch himself as Batman, Jonathan Frid watch himself as Barnabas Collins, Paul Michael Glaser watch himself as Starsky…and you get the feeling that they might be thinking…”Gee…this isn’t bad at all!” Despite the fact that sometimes the actors will downplay their contribution to those shows as silly or meaningless. When they experience some of the same magic the fans enjoy, it’s a wonderful thing. It was quite a night, and we all agreed to stay in touch and see each other again. When everyone left I cleaned up the place, fed Roxy and walked her, then enjoyed some “Saturday Night Saint,” another episode of Roger Moore as The Saint, just before bed.

Sunday the 12th – SUN-DAY! – Summer peeked it’s head in a little early today, as it was about 100 degrees. Luckily I could stay in bed most of the day in a cold, darkened room. Roxy and I walked to evening church later in the day, and afterwards I came home to clean up for the Tom Jones show. Sara and I trekked down to West Hollywood, parked and then went to the window to claim my tickets. I’m not used to small, crowded clubs. I get a little claustrophobic I guess. I don’t want people spilling things on me, and I don’t want them throwing up on me. So I found a great spot next to a wall and got ready to enjoy the show. But as soon as the show started a mob of people came into the room and it got very crowded. One thing I hate, which I never had to deal with in my old days of concert-going, is…i-Phones. Just as you’re enjoying the show, some jerkwad in front of you will hold his bright, glaring i-Phone up in front of your face to take a picture. I don’t want to see your bright i-Phone glaring in my eyes, and I really don’t want to see your hand! So I walked to the front of the club to sit in the bar area. It was cool, relaxed, and uncrowded. I could see Tom perform through a window at the bar, so I enjoyed a couple of Diet Cokes and sat down for awhile. Sara had found her way to the lounge upstairs, so I eventually joined her. There was a huge picture window where you could look right down on the stage and see the show. The music was piped in, and you could hear it very well since there wasn’t the same acoustics as a big room. We ordered a few more drinks and then got ready to split. Tom was winding up the show, and we wanted to get a head start out of the club. He performed his new stuff, which consisted of blues, country, soul and a little gospel. He only did one of his own hits, which was “Green Green Grass of Home.” I told a friend that seeing Tom Jones in concert, and not hearing his classic hits, was kind of like seeing Elvis sing disco songs. But Tom’s a terrific performer, and his voice is stronger than ever! But I caught myself singing “It’s Not Unusual” on the way home. Sara and I stopped at Von’s to get some supplies and then I headed home as the weekend wound down. Whew! What a week!

And how was YOUR week??!!!

PIX AND VIDEO FROM THE WEEK

On my birthday, Mark “Mr. Awesome” Fullerton shot these totally cool videos during their trip to Disneyland of the Disney Princesses wishing me a happy birthday. I’d like to have a more intimate, detailed discussion with the lovely Ms. Princess Aurora!

MMMM…steak at the Smokehouse with good pals!

On her 5th birthday, here’s Roxy in frame-by-frame doggie action catching pieces of her birthday steak.

Here are shots from Edi’s sister Carrie’s portfolio. I would say she has a very bright future ahead of her in L.A.!

Clutching the vintage 1968 Mannix Roadster model kit (still in the shrink wrap) Jay meets Mike “Mannix” Connors at the Tonight Show studio.

It’s not a birthday CAKE, it’s a birthday STEAK! Roxy patiently waits for the cue to blow out her candle and gobble down the steak. (By the way, this shot was achieved through depth-of-field, and Roxy was never near the flame of the candle. Just thought you should know.)

Spook joins the party and patiently waits for his share of the birthday steak!

Who says that Bob Zmuda and Tony Clifton are never seen together! Here Bob and his Comic Relief associate Jeremy pose with Tony in my kitchen.

Two legends from “Jesus Christ Superstar” stop by Planet Wallywood to enjoy the 40th anniversary release of the 1973 on Blu Ray. Ted Neeley (Jesus) and Barry Dennen (Pilate). A night to remember!!!

This is the picture I mentioned that was taken back in 1993. It was backstage at the Universal Ampitheatre after a live performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” What a night!