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Blergh

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  1. Amazing you were able to watch anything but TV snow 3 billion miles from the Earth but I guess you were too worried about cold temps, virtually no sunlight. and possibly being unable to return to our planet while you were watching the Pilot to have more than a blase 'tude towards Charles's pioneer struggles. 🤣
  2. One of the deeds of St. Patrick (c. 385-c. 481 AD) was that he drove out all the snakes from the Emerald Isle after he endured a 40 day fast. However, it appears that the island had been long cut off from the rest of Europe and even neighboring Great Britain to the degree that no snake fossils have been found. One could consider that St. Patrick might have caused said fossils to have amscrayed along with all living vipers.
  3. Since today, March 17,2024, is St. Patrick's Day, I thought it would be as good a time as any to recount the following encounter that Carol Burnett (born 1933) recounted in her book In Such Good Company (2016): Miss Burnett was at her [IIRC] dentist's office waiting room in the early 1980's when another of his famous patients walked in- none other than Miss Barbara Stanwyck (1909-1990). During this time, Miss Burnett was in the process of suing The National Enquirer for having published a story which implied she'd been publicly intoxicated which Miss Burnett believed was false and defamatory! Anyway, Miss Stanwyck came up to Miss Burnett and told her 'You are going to WIN against The National Enquirer!' Miss Burnett replied by politely thanking her but Miss Stanwyck was not to be brushed off so easily, then Miss Burnett said 'from your lips to God's ear!' This got Miss Stanwyck to go for the big guns telling Miss Burnett that she wasn't just blindly cheering on but that she KNEW that Miss Burnett would win. At which point Miss Stanwyck whispered to Miss Burnett," My leprechaun told me!' At seeing Miss Burnett's somewhat shocked and puzzled expression, Miss Stanwyck quickly added, 'Oh, they're REAL alright- and mine has been with me since I started my career and has NEVER been wrong!' The two patients soon parted ways. In 1983, Miss Burnett DID have the satisfaction of winning her lawsuit against The National Enquirer. However, I'll leave it to every individual reader's imagination as to whether or not Miss Stanwyck's claimed leprechaun might have had any insight, knowledge or clout in the outcome. . .
  4. Talk about beating a dead horse except that that equine's remains have been beaten so much no animal cemetery have them.
  5. Sure, Jan. ETA- It's each individual poster's call whether to implicitly believe Miss Winfrey's explanation/spin. Speaking strictly for myself, I don't.
  6. I agree! It's also rather foolish because via veering off the marked trails, one doesn't just risk getting a twisted ankle or dropping one's lunch in the dirt. In Yellowstone with its many geysers, hot springs and hot mud baths, one risks getting literally boiled alive if one slips away from the trails- and Mr. Brosnan's too old not to know better!
  7. While the bulk of the episode showed the Oleson union nearly permanently unraveling due to Harriet piling on Nels's last straw (or egg basket) and neither one backing down for the longest time [and this is where a great deal of the episode's and future episode's humor would be derived], the irony is that when push came to shove by the two, they DID love each other for who they were! Yeah, with others dogging Harriet to Nels, Nels let his inner Fred Mertz loose (since Fred had no problems griping about Ethel but couldn't stand it when anyone ELSE did so]. Yep, this episode actually depicted for the first time that Nels was NOT a totally overwhelmed and henpecked spouse who had nothing to look forward to but misery from Harriet! I think it wasn't too much longer after this episode that they phased out the unfunny 'You don't HOW lucky you are, Charles!' early shtick while Harriet is ordering him about.
  8. Not invalid points. However, between Charlotte Stewart and Karen Grassle both going to bat for MSA in their bios AND with many of the viewers concluding that there had to be another side besides 'MSA's rotten for no reason[ while MG's mean pranks get laughed off],' it might be worth her time to at least connect to the more balanced cast members if not audience members.
  9. At this point, I think it would be better to just wait and see (and enjoy the other surviving cast members' reunion and interactions with each other and their audience) rather than just pin everything on Mr. Gilbert's return. BTW, it seems Bonnie Bartlett (Grace Snyder Edwards) has made her intentions of attending this fete known despite the fact that she's now 94 years old and has become her husband William Daniels's caregiver (who is due to turn 97 at the end of March). I hope she and the others listed can make it and will have fun. P.S. I think since it's the 50th Anniversary, it has occurred to some if not all the surviving cast members that this could be the last chance of being together and being openly celebrated for their particupation in LHOTP- especially those who had been adults during the show's production. Though, oddly enough Melissa Sue Anderson doesn't seem to be ready to join the others.
  10. Although, IMO, there were worse movies before and after this one, I can't help but nominate The Wiz (1978) for this one. It featured some good performers (most notably the late Richard Pryor in the title role and a shining cameo by the legendary Lena Horne as Glinda the Good) but the whole thing somewhat tanked from the start. Most regrettably in the decision to dump the winsome Stephanie Mills (born 1957) as the protagonist Dorothy who had shined in the Broadway mid 1970's interpretation in favor of Diana Ross (born 1944). In doing so, the role was transformed from a naive,shy teenager to an agoraphobic 24-year-old schoolteacher [like if she rarely if ever left her aunt and uncle's apartment, how did she get any degree much less teach]. While a young woman with an anxiety disorder could have been made a sympathetic character, alas, Miss Ross's interpretation somewhat frayed and wore out the audience's patience with her constant crying and whining about wanting to return home. Oddly enough , there were times when she'd sing, the camera inexplicably would zoom on an extreme close up of her mouth- as though the poor cinema audience was about to be sent through a tunnel of love! Mabel King as Evillene [the Wicked Witch of the West] nearly steals the show before she melts before Glinda the Good [Lena Horne] makes her appearance and almost saves the movie but alas, even these two are not enough to salvage the dreary and uneven tone . Hence, it's a relief when it's over! Though I admit I liked the songs 'Ease on Down the Road' and 'Believe in Yourself' [Lena Horne's rendition], they in themselves weren't worth enduring the rest of the movie for. BTW, this would be Michael Jackson [the Scarecrow]'s only movie performing role and it's not hard to understand why he wouldn't have wanted to have done another. He seemed utterly miserable in this! P.P.S. What's also rather sad, in retrospect, was that this movie bombed and wound up virtually sinking movie productions starring African-American casts for quite some time thereafter!
  11. Well, if he actually shows, it should be interesting to see how he lives up/down to everyone's expectations (to say nothing of who/how he got persuaded to show)!
  12. One thing they (AA, Mr. Butler and Miss Stewart) touched upon in the ZOOM interview was about how universally liked Dabbs Greer (Reverend Alden) was among the cast. They said he had an interesting approach to acting in which he made sure to learn ONLY the last four words the other performer/ character was saying to Rev. Alden as his cue to start his reply. However, in doing so, he'd be listening carefully to the other performer's words, actions and expressions beforehand so Rev. Alden could be as spontaneous and believable as possible in his Mr. Greer's interpretation of the scripted lines! Also, while Miss Stewart and Mr. Butler have become chummy in the years since the show's end via participating together in fan events,etc., their characters (natch) never met on the show. However, Miss Stewart revealed that she'd always known that Miss Beadle and Manley would never meet due to it being spelled out to her from the start that she had a four-year contract after which Miss Beadle would amscray to set the stage for a new teacher who happened to be the sister of Laura's husband to be brought on the scene (of course, it would be quite some time before they'd cast the performers to play Eliza Jane and Manley). Interesting that Mr. Butler has since become aware (and self-conscious) over the fact that the show's Spanish pronunciation of Al- MOHN-zoh was not how the any of the Wilders themselves pronounced it [Al-MAN-zoh- which made Laura's 'Manley' nickname seem more natural).
  13. You'd really hate The Great Man's Lady (1942) which had Miss Stanwyck play a woman who not only spent the better part of a century hiding a politician's early bigamous marriage with herself but never even uttered a peep to him about their tragically drowned twin babies! I mean, COME ON! She made Stella Dallas look like Lady Macbeth!
  14. What's interesting is that while Steve (Sidney Liebowitz) and Eydie (Edith Gorme/Gormezano) were both Jewish, they had a somewhat unusual union in that he was of an Ashkenazic (or Eastern European) background while she had been Sephardic ( Spanish via the Mediterranean and Middle East) though both were born in NYC! More importantly, they had great affection for each other and mutual admiration for each other's talent to the end. Hopefully, his mind is restored and they're now reunited! RIP, Mr. Lawrence. P.S. On a shallow note they each were quick striking in their day!
  15. I just saw a ZOOM interview with Charlotte Stewart- and she said something I never realized before: the WG Schoolroom Blackboards were full of different lessons for the different grades- as would befit a one-room schoolroom teaching different ages of students. Moreover, Miss Stewart said that she had made it her personal mission to write out these lessons herself since she didn't think it would reflect well to keep solely the '1+1=2' lessons that seemed to have been the only offering before Miss Stewart added her input! BTW, there seems to be something in the near future called Simi Valley 50th Anniversary Days that AA and Dean Butler especially seem to be pitching! Also, Mr. Butler has written his behind-the-scenes prairie bio and it's scheduled for June of this year!
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