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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.
Paleolithic
George Clooney, Michael J. Fox, Eddie Murphy. Did I mention George Clooney? These young stars of Hollywood are all older than me. IMDB has 3,182 listings of people born in 1961. Wikipedia has 6,630 listings. NMDB has a pretty good list too.
Some of my favorites like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, George Lopez, and Lea Thompson have also already hit the half-century mark. Ricky Gervais turns 50 on Saturday. Celebrities born in the second half of the year include Woody Harrelson, Bonnie Hunt, Ralph Macchio and Jodi Benson, the Little Mermaid herself.
The American Association of Retired Persons, now known only as AARP, should get some of these whippersnappers to appear in their ads. For now, they have the 89-year-old but seemingly ageless Betty White as their spokesperson.
Now that I am an AARP member, I follow them on Twitter and they follow me. Yesterday, AARP Tennessee posted the question, “What were your favorite summer games as a kid? Kick the can? Red Rover?” I replied, “Painting bison hunts on cave walls.”
Scene Steelers
Billy Gardell was one of the first performers to appear at Side Splitters when it opened in Knoxville in 2009. He returned to the club last night as a household name and star of “Mike and Molly.” My wife and I went to the show with Terry Morrow of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Some of the material was from Billy’s recent Comedy Central special, “Halftime.”
Comedian Joe O’Connell opened for Gardell. They’ve known each other for years, ever since they were both getting started in the Pittsburgh area. It was my first time seeing O’Connell’s act. I thought he was great, especially when talking about diets.
After two shows at Side Splitters, Billy and Joe made a late-night drive to Atlanta. Billy had to be there in time for a 6:00 a.m. TV interview. They’ll be at The Punchline on Friday and Saturday night.
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