My co-worker Candice gave me the number 22 (which is AWFULLY close to my real age): 1) I got caught trying to take my brothers place at his high school graduation (he wanted to watch himself graduate, and I wanted to graduate twice). 2) I have only been drunk once, but on that occasion really overcompensated for the other possible opportunities (sorry, Dolores!). 3) I once informed Verna Hillie (Trentinos secretary in DUCK SOUP) of her appearance in a film she didnt even remember she had been in, and subsequently sent her a copy of it. 4) Ive twice stayed at the Algonquin Hotel in NYC, and have quoted Benchley, Kaufman and Parker at the famed Round Table. 5) As a junior member of The Magic Castle, my act was praised by both Harry Blackstone and The Professor, Dai Vernon. The act actually stunk, but it had a clever central premise. 6) I once played Jud Fry in Oklahoma (I was only 13 at the time, but still). 7) Though I love detective fiction, and really like DOUBLE INDEMNITY and a few other titles, I am generally bored by film noir. 8) I appeared on what was evidently the final on-screen performance of Sterling Winnie The Pooh Holloway, sharing dialog with him in his final scene. 9) I have performed in The Birdcage Christmas Show every year since 1997, and Im still pretty shaky on the lines. One year I called Tiny Tim a criminal. 10) My first crush was Luann Haslam, who played Becky Thatcher in the New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn sequences of The Banana Splits Show. Saw a recent pic of her... shes still awful purty. 11) Earned my bachelors degree in film studies (an emphasis of Humanities) at U.C. Irvine, having somehow crammed four years of college study into 5 1/2 years. Booyah! 12) My play, KILL A BETTER MOUSETRAP, which will soon be produced in Victoria, Australia, was composed entirely on an iPhone 4. Think of how good it couldve been if Id had my iPad at the time! 13) Once spent two weeks of summer stock in Petoskey, MI, with brilliantine in my hair. No one could figure out how to wash the damn stuff out! 14) On separate occasions, I have inadvertently (mildly) pissed off the daughters of two of my heroes, George S. Kaufman and Ernst Lubitsch. 15) I gushed buckets of tears and wailed like a banshee at the curtain call of the 2009 Broadway revival of Finians Rainbow, far and away the most affecting theatrical experience I have ever had. 16) Due to a sinus operation gone wrong, I had to have all of my platelet cells replaced, two-thirds of my red blood cells replaced, and missed my first quarter at UCI. Good times! 17) I once threw up in Dean Joness dressing room. Poor guy! 18) I have only seen the first two Star Wars films (that is, episodes 5 and 6). 19) David Cassidy once saved my life on an episode of Police Story. What a dude! 20) I took a college course on Agatha Christie (with my Dad) when I was still in elementary school. I passed. So did Dad. 21) Through a chance offhand reference I made at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland (while wearing a cake on my head) I became friends with the family of one of my favorite Golden Age Hollywood actresses, Claire Dodd. 22) Much as I love many films from the 1930s and 40s, I dont like an even greater number from that era. Old dont mean great!
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 23:40:40 +0000