Thursday, April 6, 2017

Two More...


1. Don Rickles, 1926-2017, R.I.P.

Once again, yours truly has the kiss of death. Last night, I watched 1970's Kelly's Heroes, which prominently featured comedian and occasional actor Don Rickles, and I just found out that he died today at the age of ninety, from kidney failure.

I've been a fan of Don Rickles and his "offensive" insult comedy -- no ethnic or religious jibe or stereotype was beyond his reach, but people let him get away with it even in today's PC world -- ever since I saw his frequent appearances on talk shows and variety shows when I was a child in the 1960s. I was and am the proud owner of his 1968 comedy album, Hello, Dummy! In the late '60s and early '70s, I slavishly watched two of his very-short-lived TV shows, and I was finally vindicated by his two-year success on C.P.O. Sharkey in the late 1970s. He even supplied the voice of Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story films.

Rickles was a friend of Frank Sinatra's. Rickles could get away with remarks toward Sinatra that would have been inconceivable if delivered by anyone else. An example? "Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody!" 




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2. Joe Harris, 1927(?)-2017, R.I.P.

I must admit, I never heard the name Joe Harris until I read his obituary. But I was very familiar with many of the characters he created!

Joe Harris, who died March 26th at the age of eighty-nine, was responsible for the Trix Rabbit (Joe's the one who wrote the line "Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!"), Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, King Leonardo (an old favorite of mine from my youth, little remembered today), and several others during his career.





(An early blog post of mine, in which I wrote about Underdog, may be found here.)

Thanks for your time.

20 comments:

  1. I'm very sad that Don Rickles passed away. For some reason, I thought he was still touring and he was one I wanted to see. He was so funny. I just rewatched Kelly's Heroes 2. Weeks ago

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    1. I believe he was touring until recently. I don't think he ever planned to retire.

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  2. Those are some powerful kisses...

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  3. Sorry, not a Rickles fan. I've never liked nor understood insult humor.

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  4. Loved all of those cartoons as a child! And I liked Rickles best on the old Dean Martin celebrity roasts. Those were hilarious and not vulgar.

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    1. The way comedy (and the world) has changed, that would probably no longer be the case. Ever see the roasts they do on Comedy Central nowadays? Pretty filthy.

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  5. Stupid blogger keeps eating my comment.

    I sure am not above a good insult, Rickles was great, could get away with anything.

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  6. Don Rickles: the man people loved to hate. My dad loved him but unfortunately thought he could get away with the same type of humor. Not nearly as funny when you live with it in the house.

    But Underdog! Now there's a lovable character if ever there was one. We had a collection of episodes on VHS long ago, and had to explain to our kids that taking an "energy pill" was not okay in real life, haha. And now I'm off to read your Underdog post, of course.

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    1. There were a lot of superheroes who took pills of one kind or another to get their powers. Hourman, Ant Man/Giant Man, and TV's Mr. Terrific come to mind right off the top of my head.

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  7. I loved Underdog. Don Rickles, not so much.

    Love,
    Janie

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  8. Well I certainly recognised Don Rickles even though I never knew the actor's name until now!

    Susan A Eames at
    Travel, Fiction and Photos

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    1. I'm just glad it's such a short post this time around.

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  9. The last kisses of goodbye, as now they somewhere fly

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  10. Just popping in to say hi. And thanks for your support this A-Z. Much appreciated. Will be catching up here as and when I can. Stay well, and don't kiss too many celebrities :)

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    1. Yeah it's a running not-so-funny joke on this blog that when I think of a celebrity, especially in a "whatever happened to...?" kind of way, he or she dies or has recently died.

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