“The Olivier of Spoofs”…and Don’t Call Him Shirley
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
I’m not quite sure I know how I would feel to be Leslie Nielsen. On one hand he was once called the Olivier of spoofs by film critic Roger Ebert. But on the other hand, it may seem a bit demeaning that his serious manner of acting which began in such classic films as Forbidden Planet and The Poseidon Adventure has segued into one spoof after another. Surely one can’t discount the hilarious roles that he played in Airplane!, The Naked Gun series, and of course the greatest of all spoof TV shows, the short lived Police Squad. And don’t call him Shirley. Read the rest of this entry »
Angie Dickinson is a legendary performer best noted for her role as Pepper Anderson during four seasons of the TV drama Police Woman. But she had a rather lucrative career both before and after that series which ran from 1974-78. Starting out in a handful of TV dramas and westerns, the first major role which interests me came along in 1959 when she starred in Rio Bravo opposite John Wayne, Rick Nelson, and Dean Martin. She went on to star as a leading lady in numerous films throughout the 60’s, including Ocean’s Eleven. 
I generally always despise the week before vacation – with so much to do and prepare for, and seemingly so little time to do it. The week preceding Friday, May 8, 2009, was no exception, but thankfully when the chips were down on the Thursday before, I quickly and painlessly packed for my trip to Italy, gathered my passport, notified my credit card company, and still had time to watch a couple of episodes of Three’s Company on DVD. 
Once upon a time there was a curly-headed guy who had virtually no career of note, but had the good fortune to star in one of the most fun pictures ever produced. The movie was called Gremlins and the guy played the role of Billy Peltzer. The guy’s name was Zach Galligan and he was a very lucky guy because he got to make time with a hot princess named Phoebe Cates. After Gremlins, he went on to star in a fun sequel called Gremlins 2: The New Batch, which wasn’t quite as good as the first one, but was still rather fun. Zach has continued to make movies up to the present day, but no one has ever heard of any of them – except for The Love Boat: The Next Wave – but everyone wishes they hadn’t. 
Our group had a much earlier start on the morning of Tuesday, March 31, 2009. Our bus was scheduled to depart at 7am, so Bob and I trudged our way down to a nice hearty traditional Guatemalan-tourist breakfast in the hotel restaurant – still with the omelet chef, lunchmeats, bacon, and…well, you get the picture. Bob and I opted to enjoy our eats in the outside dining area by the pool this time.