I just returned from Las Vegas, a city that's morphed in twenty years from family destination to a virtual Spring Break theme park for twenty-to-thirtysomethings.
Here are some more random notes in the Larry King fashion:
1. It probably says something about the passage of Time that the death of comedian Dick Martin (best known for being half of the comedy team Rowan and Martin) was only mentioned in a likely-trimmed Bob Thomas AP wire piece on the obituary page of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL--ironic since Rowan and Martin were Vegas staples a long time ago. For those with no memories of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, their biggest fame came from headlining the comedy revue series LAUGH-IN in the late 60s/early 70s. LAUGH-IN (which specialized in fast pacing and displaying the talents of a repertory cast which included both Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin) was a step forward in the evolution of the comedy/variety series from previous conservatism in content and presentation to the later breakthroughs of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (coincidentally, SNL producer Lorne Michaels was briefly a LAUGH-IN writer). Sidebar: producer George Schlatter, who produced the original LAUGH-IN for most of its run, revived the show in 1977--without Rowan and Martin--to poor audience and critical response, resulting in a quick cancellation. One of the cast members of the 77 edition: Robin Williams (saw him Sunday night at the MGM Grand Garden in what I assume is a raising-money-for-the-upcoming-divorce stand-up tour).
2. Though his kind of literate, adult-oriented mainstream Big Studio kind of filmmaking isn't in fashion now, director/producer/occasional actor Sydney Pollack (who died Monday of cancer) will be missed. My choices for DVD viewers of what I consider Pollack's essential films as a director from his peak period of 1972-1985: THE WAY WE WERE, JEREMIAH JOHNSON, THE YAKUZA, THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN, ABSENCE OF MALICE, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, TOOTSIE and OUT OF AFRICA (I haven't seen THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? in its entirety, but it is highly rated and hopefully will receive a TCM showing soon). As an actor, Pollack was especially good in TOOTSIE, Woody Allen's HUSBANDS AND WIVES and last year's George Clooney/Tony Gilroy collaboration MICHAEL CLAYTON.
3. Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan seemed to me to be a person who, while doing the job asked of him (spinning George W. Bush's policy decisions in a positive light), lacked the hatchet-person gusto of predecessor Ari Fleischer and the airy, distanced, facts-don't-really-matter cool of Tony Snow's successor Dana Perino. Now, McClellan has a book coming out which, from cable news coverage, takes a few shots at targets like Karl Rove and, again, follows what looks like an ongoing trend towards partial-rehabilitation of Butch Jr. of spinning Little Butch as "misled" by advisors (SLATE's Jacob Weisberg, who also profited from books of Butch Jr. malaprops called "Bushisms", took a similar line in a serious Butch Jr. bio recently).
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