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The shiny desk at East Tennessee PBS had a familiar look to it. The desk used to be part of the Good Morning Tennessee set at WATE. When WATE made the switch to high-definition, they gave pieces of their news sets to Fulton High School and to East Tennessee PBS.
My assignment on Sunday night was to sit at the desk and ask for pledges. I also plugged the premium items available during three programs: “Ava Barber’s Smoky Mountain Christmas,” “Great Performances: Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park” and “Barbra Streisand – One Night Only at the Village Vanguard.”
Ava Barber and Cylk Cozart were the celebrity guests during Sunday night’s pledge drive. I first met Ava in August in the same studio. Cylk was surprised to hear that we first met 19½ years ago in California. Shortly after the L.A. riots, Power 106 aired a Stop the Violence radiothon, hosted by Arsenio Hall. I was the producer for that show as well as a subsequent live broadcast from the Galaxy Theatre complex in Hollywood. Cylk Cozart, fresh off the success of “White Men Can’t Jump,” was one of the very first celebrities to agree to participate in the radiothon.
East Tennessee PBS arranges for a local restaurant to donate food for the volunteers each night of the pledge drive. Sunday night’s food came from Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The staff of the TV station put the fries in crock pots to keep them warm, with successful results. Two of the managers from Five Guys added red bow-ties to their uniforms as they answered phone calls from donors.
The phone bank was also manned by volunteers from the Morristown Theatre Guild, who asked me if Einstein Simplified would be interested in doing a fundraiser for the Guild. One of their board members is a lovely woman named Kay Flockhart, whose daughter Calista is a well-known actress. Mrs. Flockhart told me that she and her husband retired to Tennessee after moving all over the country for his job with Kraft Foods.
Fair Deal
Garage sales don’t hold much appeal for me. Fortunately, Cassie Kiestler, who occasionally comes to see Einstein Simplified, thought of me again when she spotted a deal too good to resist at a West Knoxville garage sale. For less than fifty cents, she bought a coffee mug, a postcard and an official guide book from the 1982 World’s Fair, all in like-new condition. She bought a set for herself too. She said that the seller must have worked at the Fair because he had a boxful of each item. Here are three of my favorite pages from the guide book, including a Magnavox ad featuring Leonard Nimoy:
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Durkee and Fluffing
Susan Olsen was a VIP guest at the “What the Fluff?” festival in Somerville, Massachusetts on Saturday. Her pal Geri “Fake Jan” Reischl was there too as was Allee Willis, who wrote the Earth Wind & Fire song “September” and many other hits. Susan says Allee talked her into going to the festival this year. Geri posted videos of her Fluff experience. Another attendee posted video of this year’s Pharaoh of Fluff being crowned.
I asked Susan which of the delicious Fluff treats she sampled at the festival. She replied that she didn’t eat any! She was too busy selling Fluff Art at her booth. Susan has been creating Fluff Art for five years. She has set up an online shop where you can buy Fluff Art prints for less than $20. In the near future, she’ll have a way to sell autographed prints and limited editions.
Faith, Hope and Charity
Delores Hope was so Catholic that even her Presbyterian husband won an award from the Pope. Of course, Delores was married to the legendary Bob Hope for 69 years. They were generous benefactors of many children’s charities and of her parish. Their money helped build a beautiful sanctuary. Mrs. Hope died Monday at home. She was 102 years old.
The Hopes lived in Toluca Lake, which is next to Burbank. On Halloween, their staff would hand out promotional items with Bob’s ski-nose caricature. I took my kids trick-or-treating in Toluca Lake several times in the years we lived out there. I remember the kids getting pencils and flying discs from the Hopes.
Before the rest of my family moved to California, I rented an apartment in North Hollywood. On Sundays and holy days I would attend Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church. The custom there was for the congregation to hold hands during the Our Father. One Sunday, there was only one other person in my pew, so I took a few steps to my right and held the hand of the woman next to me. She looked familiar but I couldn’t think of her name. I realized later that it was Delores Hope. She had a slightly runny nose and I remember thinking she must be rich if she can afford to wipe her nose with an Hermès scarf.
Funeral services for Mrs. Hope will be private. When Bob Hope died, they had his funeral at dawn at St. Charles Borromeo. Delores will be buried alongside him in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden on the grounds of the San Fernando Mission.
Are You Fluff Enough?
Susan Olsen and I have been swapping emails and Facebook messages about Marshmallow Fluff for years. It’s been over ten years since I presented her with her first jar of Fluff. About five years ago, I wrote a blog post about how she adopted Mother Fluffer as a nickname.
It’s also been five years since I wrote about the first “What the Fluff?” festival in Somerville, Massachusetts. When Susan started creating Warhol-inspired Fluff Art about three years ago, the match seemed obvious. This year the twain shall finally meet. Susan Olsen will be a VIP guest at next weekend’s festival. It gets better. Her Fluff Art is already on exhibit at Bloc 11 Café throughout this month.
Since I can’t be in Massachusetts on Saturday, I will be keeping an eye on Twitter and Facebook and any other online media I can find. After it’s over, I will have to chat with Susan to get her first-hand comments about all the gooey goodness.
Go Far
North Dakota exceeded our expectations. In fact, it’s just as wonderful as its more famous neighbor to the south. We crossed the Red River from Minnesota and stopped at the Fargo-Moorhead visitors center. The staff members who were working on the Fourth of July were extremely nice and very helpful. They suggested interesting things that we would see soon like the World’s Largest Buffalo and Salem Sue. They also suggested we travel the Enchanted Highway to see a series of large sculptures but a change of plans would eventually lead us down a different path.
The “Woodchipper in Fargo” has its own Facebook page. The visitors center has a “stunt double” out front that advertises the Convention & Visitors Bureau’s social media presence. It’s fitting that I learned about it via Twitter. The actual woodchipper is on display indoors, along with copies of the script and other information.
Joel and Ethan Coen, the writers and director of “Fargo,” autographed the chipper from the movie. They re-branded it “Eager Beaver” instead of its actual brand name, which is Yard Shark.
The visitors center is also home to the Fargo Walk of Fame. We saw handprints and footprints left in cement by rock bands, country singers and some interesting old-time celebrities like Art Linkletter, Steve Allen and Tiny Tim.
Just One More Thing…
Peter Falk died Thursday night. The actor who played Lt. Columbo also had a passion for painting, which is how I ended up in his driveway with Mark & Brian. The guys liked getting out in the Mark & Brian Mobile whenever possible. They also loved doing celebrity interviews. However there weren’t too many stars willing to let us broadcast from their homes.
I don’t recall the details of why we were invited to Peter Falk’s place. Maybe it was the only way to get him on the show. What I remember most is that we weren’t allowed in the house. There was an outbuilding at the end of the driveway that looked like it had been converted from a garage to a greenhouse to an art studio. Falk did allow me to step inside the studio to see his paintings. Several of them were nudes.
Charlton Heston also let us on his property but not in his house. The guys interviewed him on his driveway too. John Travolta and Kelly Preston let us in to the backyard for a poolside interview, which concluded with a dip in their pool.
Before my first trip to Los Angeles, I arranged for Don & Mike to interview Casey Kasem at his home. We went to the front door but were escorted around the house to the back patio. Years later when I was doing some freelance work, I interviewed actor Ken Howard at a table in his backyard. It must be something in the celebrity handbook: don’t let deejays in the house.
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