Monday, August 14, 2017

More "Short Shorts"


1. Joseph Bologna, 1934-2017, R.I.P.

Sad to hear that writer/director/actor Joseph Bologna, perhaps best known for his portrayal of "King Kaiser," a character based on Sid Caesar, in 1982's terrific My Favorite Year, has died at the age of eighty-two from pancreatic cancer.

In My Favorite Year, with John Welsh and Peter O'Toole.

With Valerie Harper, Michelle Johnson, Demi Moore, and Michael Caine in Blame It on Rio, 1984.

With wife Renee Taylor in 1974. Love his hair!

In Transylvania 6-5000 with John Byner and Carol Kane, 1985.

Another shot of Joe as King Kaiser in My Favorite Year, with villain Cameron Mitchell. Mitchell
played gangster Karl Rojeck, whom Kaiser was spoofing as "Boss Hijack" on his variety show.

*  *  *  *  *

2. More on Glen Campbell

I wanted to post a few YouTube videos showcasing the late Glen Campbell's talent as a guitarist! The songs below are some of my all-time favorite tunes.

Let's start off subtly. Carl Jackson is really the "star" of this rendition of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," while Glen accompanies him.


Next, from a 1977 episode of the Donny & Marie show, here's Glen doing the "William Tell Overture," which makes the inevitable connection to its use as the theme for The Lone Ranger on movies, television, and radio. I don't know whose idea it was to include the idiotic clips making fun of TLR, but they only distract from Glen's incredible guitar work!


Finally: One of my most beloved songs -- I own at least seven or eight different versions, and I'm always open to buy more -- is "Ghost Riders in the Sky." Here's Glen doing it with living legend Roy Clark, and yes, I do mean "living!" Thankfully, Roy is still with us.


*  *  *  *  *

Thanks for your time!

12 comments:

  1. Wow, that is a lot of versions of the song to own.

    Never knew Joseph Bolgna passed. I seen him in a few things. Mainly this: (my sister was obsessed with it as a kid)

    https://youtu.be/iCr_IO5ahvc

    He sung in it too.

    https://youtu.be/YTwiRJAn8IU

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never encountered it before. Looks like a scary show. And boy, does it look "eighties!"

      Delete
  2. Loved the extras on Glen Campbell. :) What a talent he was. And so is the banjo player in that first piece. Gosh. That was great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I watched and enjoyed the videos. I agree with you about The Lone Ranger. The camera should have stayed on Glen the entire time. I didn't know that Joseph Bologna died. My Favorite Year is hilarious.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those phony Lone Ranger clips were stupid. I, too, feel that the camera never should have left Glen. Who needed an effin' laugh track during that performance?!?

      Delete
    2. The canned laughter was hideous.

      Delete
  4. I saw your post come up on my feed and thought, Oh No! I knew someone had crossed to the other side. It's nice you pay tribute to these artists.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hm. I guess a lot of my readers see a new post from me and say "Crap. David just posted. NOW who died?"

      Delete

I strongly urge you to sign up for follow-up comments, because I (usually) reply to your comment! Comments left for me more than three weeks after a post is published will not appear until I approve them, but they will be answered eventually!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...