Happy Birthday Committee!

Fifty-first anniversaries are never quite as flashy as 50th anniversaries, but it’s always worth remembering the opening night of The Committee on April 10, 1963! Scott Beach, Hamilton Camp, Garry Goodrow, Larry Hankin, Kathryn Ish, accompanied by Ellsworth Milburn, stage managed by Dick Stahl, and directed by Alan Myerson, took the stage at 622 Broadway in San Francisco.

(The Dick Cavett Show appearances, including the one with Janis Joplin, above, didn’t come until much later.)

Since that evening, a lot of talented folks took the stage as part of The Committee, and they influenced countless others, most of whom don’t even know it. Hopefully, Jamie Wright, Sam Shaw, and I will be able to change that in the next couple of years. Jamie and Sam, who do a terrific job producing the San Francisco Improv Fest every year, are producing a documentary on The Committee, and I’m working on my Committee book.

Anyone who has ever performed The Harold (or any other kind of longform improvisation), or been to the iO, UCB, Groundlings, The Annoyance, or so many other theatres and schools, or enjoyed the work of some of their alumni (including the much-in-the-news iO and Second City alum Stephen Colbert), owe an awful lot to these pioneers, and the upcoming documentary and book will tell you why.

The Best Argument Against the Anti-Vaccination Arguments…

…is by Penn and Teller. If you don’t have time to watch the whole 26 minutes, then the first minute and a half pretty well sums it up. Note: there is some brief nudity toward the end (which may cause a few more people to suddenly have time to watch the entire 26 minutes).

Link

Cup of Woe…

In 2008, Starbuck’s Coffee announced that by 2015, they would offer recycling at all of the stores owned by the company. A lot of people probably thought they were doing that already. But last week, they announced that their 4 billion disposable coffee cups each year weren’t going to make that goal by 2015, and maybe not ever. Turns out that it’s a lot more complicated than they had thought.

Mickey Rooney …

A few days ago, I wrote that “nearly everyone who ever appeared in a silent movie is gone.”

Now, we’ve lost one more.

In 1988, Terry Jones invited me to visit him on the set of Erik the Viking, which he wrote and was directing. It was one of Tim Robbins’ first lead roles, and also featured John Cleese, Eartha Kitt and Terry.

When we were walking to the soundstage, Terry mentioned casually “Oh, and for Erik’s grandfather, we’ve also got Mickey Rooney.”

Rooney had been appearing on stage in London in Sugar Babies. Apparently, he was bored during the daytime when he wasn’t performing, and so happily agreed to do Terry’s film. He was, at that time, a mere youth of 68.

After I got on the set, I looked around for Rooney. It wasn’t difficult to spot him. I just looked for the biggest crowd, and there he was at the center of it. I got close enough to hear him regaling the extras (mostly younger girls) with stories of his past. And boy, did he have stories. He ran the gamut, everything from Hollywood Past to the dangers of smoking (something to do with enlarging the pores and aging too quickly, which made you look much older on camera–with Mickey, everything eventually led back to Hollywood).

He happily offered to do an interview with me for an article I was writing on the film, and regaled me as well. And all the time I was listening to him, I kept thinking “This is Mickey Rooney! This is Hollywood history!”

A recent article noted that he had an 88-year show business career, setting a world record, longer than George Burns, longer than anybody. He starred in silent movies. He was featured in Manhattan Melodrama, the movie John Dillinger saw just before he was shot, which puts it into an amazing perspective. And he just finished filming a role in Night at the Museum 3.

The word “legend” is thrown around a lot in show business, and is very seldom deserved.

Mickey Rooney was a legend.

Last Late Night

The older I get, the less late night TV I watch. Sad, but true. Although I don’t watch him regularly nowadays, I’m still not ready for David Letterman to retire. He was always the man back in the old days, and whenever I’ve tuned him in over the past few months, I usually have a good time. I’ve got friends and acquaintances who work for a few of the various shows, and just about all of them are big Dave fans. So, it’s going to be sad to see him leave.
The next year will be interesting to see the parade of guest stars coming by to say one last farewell. You can bet, however, that the final guest of the always loyal Dave will be the always loyal Bill Murray. The two of them have a great chemistry, and Bill is always an audience-pleaser. Bill was his first guest on his first late night show in 1982, and this clip shows why he comes back regularly. Legend has it that Bill came into the writers room that afternoon with a bottle of vodka and forced the writers to imbibe, and that is the explanation for the final segment here. Enjoy.

Last Chance–Last Show!

I’ve been telling you all for months that if you want to see Monty Python Live (Mostly), you shouldn’t hesitate. Don’t wait for an American tour.

And now, it’s official. The O2 Shows in July in London will be the Last of the Pythons Live. No European Tour, no Australian Extravaganza, no Final Presentations in Finland. This will be it. If you want to see the Pythons, this will be your final opportunity.

That’s the bad news. The good news is:

A final release of tickets for the final final show will go on sale Friday, April 4th at 12 noon (London time). This will be it, folks. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Click here when they go on sale, cross your fingers, get your credit card ready, and good luck.

And here’s the official press release:


	MONTY PYTHON LIVE (Mostly) LAST NIGHT OF THE PYTHONS LIVE 20TH JULY 2014 AT LONDON’S O2 ARENA TICKETS GO ON SALE FRIDAY 4TH APRIL AT 12 NOON GMT

In spite of offers from arenas all over the world for further shows, the Pythons reluctantly have to announce that the last night of their run of shows at the London O2 Arena on 20th July 2014 will be the Last Night of the Pythons Live. All of them have many commitments elsewhere and it is difficult for them to find another window when they would all be free to work together again.

Because until now the Pythons were not sure whether they would be available to do any more shows after London O2 Arena run, tickets for the 20th July 2014 have not been available to the general public for some time. Now that the decision has been made that the 20th July will be the Last Night of the Pythons Live, the final tickets for this historic night will go on sale at 12 noon on Friday 4th April. If you wish to come and say farewell to the Pythons, please come and join them for their last and special night.

View the brand new music video from the Pythons to accompany their new track – “The Silly Walks Song” – that’s been written for, and will be featured in, the upcoming “Monty Python Live (mostly)” O2 shows this July.

http://youtube.com/montypython

Tickets will be available on the following websites:

The O2
http://www.axs.com/uk/events/246428?skin=theo2mars

Ticket Zone
http://www.ticketzone.co.uk

Ticketmaster
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/Monty-Python-tickets/artist/702617

See Tickets
http://www.seetickets.com/tour/monty-python/

The Ticket Factory
https://www.theticketfactory.com/default/online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=34FCA387-A43C-44CE-B515-5090BF5378DB

Hospitality packages available from www.markbutler.co.uk

Brand New Python Song!

…I mentioned a week or two ago that there would be some new Python material coming out soon. “The Silly Walks Song” will be featured in Monty Python Live (mostly) this summer at the O2 Arena, but the music video is out now. So why are you reading this when you could be watching it?

One Hundred Years Ago…

One of the biggest movie stars of the Silent Era paid a visit to my home town one hundred years ago this week.

According to an article in The Times, Francis X. Bushman paid a surprise visit to the Crescent Theatre in Ottawa, Illinois to visit an old friend from vaudeville.

Bushman was working for the Essanay Studio in Chicago (before moviemakers figured out that they could produce movies year-round in California without dealing with Chicago winters). Even Chaplin worked for Essanay, though he only made one film for them in Chicago before heading west.

Bushman made his first movie in 1911, but made 175 films by the end of the decade. Largely forgotten today, he was the first great movie idol, though most people who know of him for playing the villain in the 1925 version of Ben-Hur because most of his movies have long since deteriorated. His stardom didn’t last beyond the Silent Era (he was allegedly blacklisted by Louis B. Mayer), but he kept working, in radio and TV, until his death in 1966. His final role, shot just weeks before his death, was as a silent movie collector on the old Batman TV series.

But most interesting to me was the reason that the star came to Ottawa. As it turns out, he was going to be spending the next day filming at what is now Starved Rock State Park.

What he was filming is unknown, but the odds are the movie is one of the 90-percent of silents that no longer exist, forgotten and crumbled into dust (or at least combustible nitrate sludge). How many other movies were filmed at Starved Rock? Apart from the recent kids’ Christmas movie Prancer, I can’t think of one. (I once wrote a screenplay based on Steve Stout’s The Starved Rock Murders, which is too obvious to even mention though that’s not why I bring it up.) It’s a great opportunity for a smart production company, and would be a spectacular setting for any number of scenes in any number of scripts. First one there is going to be mighty happy. Illinois Film Office, are you listening?

Link

Norway vs. Sweden–

The next war between Norway and Sweden will be fought with Silly Walks. John Cleese would not approve. No fooling. Have a look…

Play Ball!

…Two of the most beautiful words in the English language. It may not be a grand and glorious baseball season in Chicago this year, but this is the day when everyone is tied for first place, and hope springs eternal. And, eternal hopes for spring, which we can all use after this past winter. Play ball indeed!