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March 2013 • Vol. 2, No. 3 www.themodern.us
your life in retro
Bubblegum Goes
Dan Cortese Goes For The Record Dennis Christopher Breaks Away Tony Dow Sculpts A New Career Eddie Money Cashes In
Jordana Brewster
Razzles • Bubblegum Music • Trading Cards
Kicking Back in Dallas
c ntents T h e M o d e r n — Y o u r l i f e i n r e t r o
In this issue:
Modern Art
Girlie Action
These days, Leave It to Beaver’s Tony Dow stays out of trouble as a sculptor.
Kicking back in Dallas
The artist formerly known as Wally
Reconnecting
Headliner
Dennis Christopher
Unchained and breaking away
The Great Forgotten
Bubblegum Songs: Originally spit out by tastemakers, retro bubblegum music has aged like fine wine.
Dan Cortese Goes For The Record
America’s favorite dudebro is back with a hit show and a shout out to the iconic MTV Sports.
Sargent Shriver
Mark Shriver writes a book about his dad, Sargent Shriver, first director of The Peace Corps and avid letter writer.
Personalities
A favorite from The Dick Van Dyke Show, this tough broad still holds a tender place in our hearts.
The Real “Sybil” A new book reveals that the sensational multiple-personality story was just that — a story.
Eddie Money
Cover Story
Modern Sports
Retro Merch
On the cover: Angel Pai | Wilhelmina
Razzles: Is it a candy? A gum? One of the eternal mysteries of the universe.
Honorable Mention
Rose Marie
Kicking back with the Money man.
Trading Cards: …and the foul gum that chews like a stiff penalty.
Jordana Brewster
Bubblegum Goes Pop It’s just a dumb sap – but inflation stretches its possibilities to pink proportions.
Internalize This
Parting Shot:
The Ultimate Bubble: Bubblicious
In her 1973 TV special, Mitzi Gaynor moved men to tears, among other things that moved. Experience it here.
Dig This DVD
The Frank Sinatra Show: With Elvis in the army, Sinatra is King of the World!
Adventures In Modern Sound
Watch the people who people are watching.
RETR
A CTI VE
Jeff Dye
Jay Mohr
Desiree Dymond
Don Gator
Yaniv Rokah
Jackie Stewart
Tell us about your retro passions, Jeff. We’re listening!
Modern model mom. Baby Maya too.
JayJay, you make us laugh, kid.
Dennis Hirdt channels superspy Don Gator.
p r e s e n t e d I n C o lo r
Simply click on the TVs to screen these joints!
From Israel to Santa Monica barista to webseries star.
Girlfriend’s all about it.
letter from the editor
Only in America That’s my uncle, on the left. As awesome as his new deli (haha! New Delhi, get it?) looked back in the The Great Depression, this was only the first step in his American Dream kickass program. Brought up poor and hardscrabble, he and a partner scraped together enough scratch to open this humble Philadelphia corner venture. Starting a business during a depression is dancing against all odds, to say the least. But the dream was to accelerate and blossom, thanks to his innate smarts and finely tuned savvy. He saw into the future. Within a decade, he leap-frogged into the lucrative supermarket game. As America moved to the suburbs, he boogied along with them, knowing that the golden age of prosperity tasted better with a bounty of plenty, and the sticky lick of Green Stamps. In Levittown, PA (the Philly equivalent of the Long Island, NY Levittown, America’s first suburb), my uncle opened an amazing supermarket. You could see its lights glow for miles. He continued to make history by offering something new and awesome: 24-hour, 7-days-a-week service, a full realization of the endless selection and opportunity this country offered. We take this for granted now, but in its day, it was nothing short of a miracle. The shopping carts rolled by the hundreds and the NCR registers rang and sang. The decades passed and life’s pace quickened for my uncle, with more supermarkets added to his empire, as well as other real estate investments. Kids, the Caribbean and Caddys filled out the dream.
He passed in 1989, leaving behind a king’s fortune. Not a penny of that money was willed to me, but more importantly I took away from his story a vital life lesson about persistence and smarts. I only wish he were around now to help guide me through the ever-complicated world of business in the age of sequester and redux. If I could, I would bring him back to remind us all that aspirations, dreams and bootstraps are something to lift up, even in the most wary of times. Maybe this Depression-era photo can serve as an inspiration, as it always does for me. Ron Sklar Editor
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Contributing Writers: Mitch Gainsburg • Jay S. Jacobs Ken Sharp • William Shultz • Art Wilson
Editor • Ron Sklar Art Director • Jennifer Barlow Copy Editors • Patty Wall, Jay S. Jacobs
Director of Photography and Video Harley Reinhardt • Harleyhallphotography.com Video Editor • Rich Kortz
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Yo u r l i f e i n r e t r o .
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We’ve Got Issues.
BIG Issues. Simply click on any issue to read more retro.
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reconnecting
Dan Cortese Goes For The
America’s favorite dudebro is back with a hit show and a shout out to the iconic MTV Sports. B y
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TruTV bills itself not as reality TV, but as “Actuality.” True that. Its new hit series, Guinness World Records® Gone Wild, scored a whopping 1.4 million viewers in its debut episode, featuring daring and fearless recordholder hopefuls attempting to make witness and secure their place in history. The host of this series knows his fill about actuality mixed with wild. As host of MTV Sports back in the Nineties, Dan Cortese helped forge a new kind of X-treme television. Here, he keeps that legacy alive as he introduces us (again) to some truly outrageous and jaw-dropping stunts. Examples: most panes of glass run though in one minute. Highest dive into twelve inches of water. Most kicks to the head in one minute. The show is indeed a real kick in the head. “It’s big, it’s loud, it’s fun, it’s really cool to watch,” Cortese tells me. “[The contestants are] ordinary people who are intrigued by this and want to be the best in the world. They get a Guinness World
S k l a r Record certificate and they’re proud of it. They take these records extremely seriously. They’re not just out there jumping around and wanting to be on TV. They are unique, real people who actually want to be a world record holder.” Cortese holds his own record as well. The son of a Sicilian immigrant (who became a suburban Pittsburgh school principal), Dan shot to stardom with the groundbreaking MTV Sports in 1992. He recalls, “I went from being a production assistant on MTV on a Tuesday, and on Friday I shot the pilot for MTV Sports. It was not an overnight success. It was more like 72-hour success. There is nothing that can prepare you for it. And that show was highly visible.” He means “visible” in more ways than one. The series took MTV’s famous visual imagery to new heights, as the camera fused music video into the world of sports and athleticism. Add in a soundtrack of alternative music, and you’re attracting Gen X in a big way. Cortese rode the flame of
fame much like the gonzo athletes soaring in the series. The show, like the camera filming it, took on a life of its own. For the past few years, Cortese has made a name for himself as an actor, appearing in such TV ventures as Veronica’s Closet and Rock Me, Baby. Only now can he look back at the show that made him a star and see clearly now. “I can finally look at that show and say it was groundbreaking,” he says. “That really was the first show to give those types of extreme sports the spotlight. And just like Guinness, those [MTV Sports athletes] were doing it because they loved to do it. They were getting no money. It gave that whole generation of extreme sports athletes a voice.”
That generation also took away a TV persona that Cortese created practically on his own. “The in-your-face host,” he recalls. “I think it’s been taken a little too far now. But that’s what attracted me to this new show. I have free range to just go out there and enjoy myself.” How can he not, while watching, along with us, the most arrows caught while blindfolded or the most live cockroaches held in the mouth? “This is not your mother’s Guinness World Records,” he says. “This is Guinness World Records Gone Wild. It’s not just somebody with the longest fingernails. It’s taken this concept to the whole next level.”
Dan Cortese’s favorite things TV show: Happy Days. “I watched Happy Days religiously. Big fan of The Fonz.”
Movie: Night Shift, with Michael Keaton. “He’s from Pittsburgh, like me. One of the funniest movies of all time and one of the reasons I wanted to become an actor.”
Photo: TM & © Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. A Time Warner Company. Credit: Mathieu Young
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Dennis
Christopher Unchained and Breaking Away B y
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If Dennis Christopher’s recent career resurgence proves nothing else, it shows you never know when you’ve made an impression. Christopher has been working in film, theater and television for over 40 years, starting with an appearance in an episode of the Sixties sci-fi classic The Time Tunnel when he was just 12. As a teenager traveling in Europe, he stumbled upon the location shoot of a film by legendary director Federico Fellini. He mistakenly ruined the shot by walking on camera (“What was so important that you had to wreck my movie?” was the first thing Fellini asked him), but was surprised to be offered a sixmonth role in the film by the tempestuous director. However, that may have been only the second biggest surprise in Christopher’s career. Seven years after appearing in Fellini’s Roma, Christopher starred in the beloved coming-of-age film Breaking Away. It’s the story of a romantic bicyclist who lives in an Indiana college town and yearns to be Italian. That movie co-starred little known young actors like Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley and Daniel Stern, as well as vets Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie (who The Modern | March 2013
was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar). The movie did win an Oscar for Steve Tesich’s screenplay. Christopher was also nominated for a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year 1980. This wasn’t the biggest surprise, either, though Christopher admits, “I think nobody was ready for the way the film would connect.” Lately, Christopher has been mostly working on television series like Deadwood, CSI, Criminal Minds and The Lost Room. His agent recently gave him a call, saying that he wanted to send him a movie script to look over. “When I pulled it out of the envelope, I practically fainted,” Christopher says. “Written across the title page is ‘Django Unchained, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino’ scrawled across the front in his handwriting. It looked like a book report.” Christopher was on the director’s mind to play the lawyer and best friend of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character. The only problem was his character is supposed to be the same age as DiCaprio, a friend who had grown up with him. “Does Quentin forget that it’s been almost 35 years since Breaking Away?” Christopher laughingly recalls asking his agent. “We did that back in 1979. I have not stayed the same. I’ve not been sleeping in a hyperbolic chamber. I’m steroid free. It’s just me and I’ve aged. I’m not Leo DiCaprio’s age anymore. I got a message back saying don’t worry, he’s rewritten with me in mind.” Pretty damned impressive. What does it say when one of the most respected writer/directors in the world does something like that for you? So, naturally, Christopher took a meeting with Tarantino. “[Tarantino] started out the conversation by saying, ‘I have www.themodern.us
seen every movie you’ve ever made the week that it opened,’” Christopher recalls. “I was like: What? Who does that? My family doesn’t. My agent doesn’t. Sometimes I don’t even do that. I guess he likes me. He said, ‘Oh, yeah, you’ve been on my radar for quite a while now.’ I just thought, fuck! It’s every actor’s dream to know that someone is watching.” Of course, Tarantino hasn’t been the only one watching for all these years. We all watched him growing up in the Seventies and Eighties. While Breaking Away made him a star, he also worked in such interesting early films as Robert Altman’s A Wedding, the intriguing Hollywood murder film Fade to Black (with a just pre-fame Mickey Rourke), the cult classic miniseries of Stephen King’s It and Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire. “I’ve been blessed in the fact that I’ve been in a few coming of age films that I feel have had some substance,” Christopher says. “From 9/30/55 to California Dreaming to Breaking Away. I’ve been able to play people that were a little more interesting, a little more troubled, a little more dimensional than just the regular run of the mill. That’s because in many cases, the script was there. Fade To Black, that was another strange, twisted coming of age story, so to speak. When I was younger, they were all about young men who were trying to find their way in the world. To a certain extent, it mirrored my life experience as well.” Now, decades later, he is getting his fatal comeuppance in a dizzying plantation shootout with such Hollywood A-List stars as
Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington. And for Dennis Christopher, it felt like home. “I spent a year on stage with Elizabeth Taylor in Little Foxes. Some of the people I worked with under Robert Altman’s auspices were great. I worked with the mother of cinema, Lillian Gish. It may be one of the reasons why [Tarantino] chose me. I don’t know. But as far as being shy or intimidated by the incredible talent that I was able sit around the table with, it felt right, you know what I mean? We were all up for the challenge and all up for the task.” The Modern | March 2013
modern art
The Artist Formerly Known as
Wally
These days, Leave It To Beaver’s Tony Dow stays out of trouble as a sculptor.
“I’m sort of a tool hound,” Tony Dow tells me, “and I learned how to use them so that my technique caught up to my desire.” Already a beloved actor from the days of classic TV, and a producer and director during the many decades since, Dow has currently molded an amazing sculpting career for himself.
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After co-starring in the iconic sitcom Leave It To Beaver from 1957-1963, he continued to act, but another kind of art beckoned. “When I was a teenager, I did some painting and collaging and some assemblages and stuff like that,” says the softspoken Hollywood native. “I went to UCLA
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and took some art classes, which I found mostly useless.” Today, though, he creates abstract burl wood sculptures often dipped in bronze. For this, he garners some serious respect in the art world. Among other exhibits, his work was chosen for exhibition at the Salon 2008 de la National des Beaux Arts in Paris. He’s also shown at the Del Mar, Westwood and Avalon art festivals. “I enjoy the doing of it,” he says. “It was like that when I was acting. I enjoyed rehearsing. I enjoyed the process. It’s the same with the sculpture. I enjoy the process. Usually, I’m pleased with it.” His stint as big brother Wally on Beaver molded him permanently into the hearts of TV lovers across the planet. Dow remembers the show with great fondness, despite its critics decrying it as a false depiction of the American family. Dow begs to differ. “I think it was a strong portrayal of family life,” he says of the series that made him famous. “It was idealized a bit, as things were back in the Fifties. The show was being sent overseas and the writers wanted to depict American life and the American family in a very positive way. But the times were idyllic. Things were slower and more innocent. It shows the relationship in a family. There is a great relationship between the brothers and then the father and mom and their friends. It’s all there.” Now in retirement (except for his sculpting), Dow finds joy and wonder in today’s TV landscape. Yet even current series as popular www.themodern.us
and beloved as Beaver once was may garner about 8 million viewers if they’re lucky, while Beaver may have pulled in more than 40 million loyal viewers at its peak in the Fifties. “I think television is really good now,” he says. “I mean, Homeland, Breaking Bad or Boardwalk Empire. Those shows are just unbelievable, and I’m in awe.” Now living in the Santa Monica Mountains with his wife, artist Lauren Shulkind, he has created a new version of the idealized American life. “Everything is one day at a time, one task at a time,” he says. “I’ve sort of grown up that way. Even if it’s digging a ditch, I want to dig the best ditch that I possibly can. So if you put those guidelines into what you are doing, you are going to be successful. I’m just lucky to get up and be moving around and be able to do the things I like to do.”
March 2013 | The Modern
reconnecting
Rose Marie A favorite from The Dick Van Dyke Show, this tough
broad still holds a tender place in our hearts. B
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A show business veteran since the age of three, Rose Marie is best known for her role as the brash and fast-talkin’ comedy writer Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show. In this exclusive conversation, Rose Marie pulls back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of one of television’s most classic and enduring shows. From what I understand, Sheldon Leonard, executive producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show, was pivotal in casting you. Every time I saw [producers] Danny Thomas and Sheldon they’d say, “Your time will come.” So one day, I got a call from the casting office: “Go down to Desilu Studios.” I said, “Great, I’ve finally got a guest shot!” And he said, “No, this for a new show called The Dick Van Dyke Show.” And I said, “What’s a Dick Van Dyke?” I went down to Desilu and I didn’t have to read or audition for the role. I had the part. That was it. We have you to thank for recommending casting Morey Amsterdam. Morey and I had been friends since I was about three years old. Morey was very well known in show business but never the world. Morey was a great writer; he wrote The Modern | March 2013
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p for Fanny Brice, Fred Allen, people like that. Every time I did my act he would write material for me. We were very close friends. In fact, I’m his daughter’s godmother. You share many wonderful moments with Morey on the show. He was the master of a million jokes. He could come up with a joke for anything. He also did a lot for the show. There would be certain things in the show where we’d say, “that’s not funny, that stinks” and Morey would say, “I’ll come up with something’ and he’d add something and it would work beautifully.” That’s how we worked. We were all on the same page and all for one another. It was just fabulous. I’ve done a lot of TV shows and they were all very nice but there wasn’t the feeling or the camaraderie that we had on our show. It was so perfect. We knew the show was good but we www.themodern.us
didn’t know how good. I looked forward to going to work every day, couldn’t wait. Were you ever told who the character of Sally Rogers was based on? No, I just did it. I was the first woman’s libber. I worked with men on an equal basis. I got the same salary. I was treated the same as the guys. I had a strong opinion and I wasn’t afraid to express it. Not only that, a lot of women became writers because of that and I’m very proud of that fact. Initially when his name was mentioned you asked, “What’s a Dick Van Dyke?” but you very quickly found out. What impressed you most about Dick? First of all, he was the sweetest man in the world to work with. Number two, I never heard him say, “No, I won’t do this, I won’t do that.” He would do a lot of improvising. It was like somebody injected him with a needle and he’d get up and do something. As far as the show was concerned, whatever was asked of him he’d do and then doubled it with something even better. He was just so talented. Even today I don’t think Dick knows how good he is. He’s exceptional. He’s a great dancer and he said he never danced or took a lesson, which is probably true. He was a natural, all the way. And I have to say, working with two comic veterans like Morey and myself, I’m certain something had to rub off on Dick too. In fact Dick always says he learned timing from me. To me, that’s the greatest compliment. Carl Reiner not only created The Dick Van Dyke Show, but wrote and directed many episodes and also played the role of Alan Brady on the show. What did you learn from him? I learned how brilliant he is. He’s a great writer, has a great sense of humor and he’s a damn good actor. He really knows comedy and he www.themodern.us
knows how to write it.
Frankly, I don’t think anybody noticed. They don’t notice it today. I get letters from kids, twelve, thirteen-years old. They don’t care that it’s not in color. They said, “I think it’s wonderful, I love this, I love that…” Twelve and thirteen-year old kids are writing to me saying “Why don’t they have shows like that on television?” Television is not very good today.
The show ran for five seasons, from 1961 through 1966. Did it take time for the ensemble chemistry to spark or was it there from the beginning? It was there right from the start. It was all about talent. Everybody on that show had a lot of talent. Morey fit in just right. Mary [Tyler Moore] was the last member cast as Rob Petrie’s wife because they couldn’t find the right person. Danny remembered the girl with the three names that went for an audition for his show and was turned down because nobody thought she could be a part of Danny Thomas’
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The show went out on top, ending after five seasons. From your perspective, was that a mistake? I felt terrible. It would have been wonderful if we’d gone on for another two or three years. Everybody in the cast felt the same way, except for Dick and Carl. I didn’t
I was the first woman’s libber. I worked with men on an equal basis. I had a strong opinion
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and I wasn’t afraid to express it. Rose Marie
family. Carl [Reiner] brought her in and said, ‘That’s the girl!’ There was always a great energy on the set. There was a lot of improvisation. We’d kibbutz around during rehearsals and came up with crazy bits out of the blue. Dick, especially, would come up with things and we’d say, ‘Put that in!’ and then it would go into the show. We did a show about the wrong baby. When the parents come in and they’re black—they got the wrong baby at the hospital — that was unheard of at that time. That got the biggest laugh from the audience. It was a long, long laugh. Do you think the decision to film the show in black and white worked to its advantage?
think we were dried out like Dick and Carl thought. We had an awful lot of ideas we could have explored. Sheldon said to me, “They’d back up the Brink’s truck if Dick would keep the show going.’ He could have asked for any amount of money. I think Dick wanted to concentrate on doing pictures. A film like Mary Poppins was the kind of thing he was happiest about. A couple of years later, we did a one-off reunion show and in it I was married. It was a great experience. The chemistry was still there. Ken Sharp has authored or coauthored over 15 music books, including Kiss: Behind the Mask and Overnight Sensation: The Story of the Raspberries.
March 2013 | The Modern
picker/grinner/lover/sinner
Eddie Money Kicking back with the Money man. By Ken Sharp Hard to believe it has been over 35 years since the release of Eddie Money’s self-titled multi-platinum debut, which sported the smash hits “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Baby Hold On.” Money was catapulted to stardom and has since become a fixture on classic rock radio. With the recent Geico commercial, “Two Tickets to Paradise” continues to have a life of its own. The song has become much bigger than you. If you think about it for a minute, who doesn’t want two tickets to paradise? Not many people may know but you were managed by [legendary rock concert promoter] Bill Graham. Bill Graham thought I was a really good writer and performer. He used to take me to these clubs in Manhattan and [he] used to dance his ass off. Because he couldn’t sing, he wanted to live vicariously as a singer through me. He really would have loved to have been a singer. He got along very well with my mother too. Back in the Seventies and the Eighties, everybody was snorting blow and drinking vodka and smoking a pound of pot. When I went to work for Bill, whether he was there or not, I did all my shows very straight. Bill always said to me, “You’re not the most important person in this venue tonight. The most important people in this venue tonight is the audience. And the very most important people in the audiences are in the back rows. They love you and you’re here for them. You’re not here for yourself or to get
drunk, you’re not here to pick up fuckin’ chicks. You’re an entertainer. If I represent you I want you to be the best entertainer you can possibly be. And my mother said, “I’ve been telling him that for years, Bill!” So what Bill did was he kept me straight and put me on the right path to be a great entertainer. Now I don’t drink at all. I haven’t had a drink in two-and-a-half years. Everybody’s happy but me. But you know what? I’ve been keeping my weight down. I still have all my own hair. My wife’s got me working out. Doing all this stuff I really don’t want to do. If it was up to me I’d be 240 pounds eating Dunkin’ Donuts, watching football on TV. Is there one lesser-known Eddie Money song you’d like people to uncover? I became very close with John Belushi when he was doing Saturday Night Live. I turned him on to the bungalow that he died in at the Chateau Marmont because that’s where I used to stay. I wrote the song “Passing by the Graveyard” about John Belushi. Another great song I wrote was “So Good to Be in Love Again” from my first album. Another great song that people aren’t really aware of is “Don’t Worry,” another song from that first album. Great tune. Lastly, what’s the best part about being in the music business these days? I think the best part about what I’m doing today is I’m not going to get real fat because I need to look good onstage. I want my fans to remember me the way I was. I’m not going to get drunk or loaded. I don’t want to be like a Jim Morrison who’s going to get drunk and fall off the stage and embarrass himself. I’m not going to smoke a million cigarettes because I want my voice to sound good. I’m going to get enough sleep and take enough vitamin pills. To me, singing rock and roll is keeping me healthy. If I were in a rock band, I’d probably be knocking down a bunch of vodkas and smoking a million cigarettes, sitting around watching TV all day and getting DUIs. What really keeps me sober is I have to be Eddie Money. I love my fans and I love my wife and I want everybody to be proud of me. The only way people can be proud of you is if you’re proud of yourself. Ken Sharp has authored or coauthored over 15 music books, including Kiss: Behind the Mask and Overnight Sensation: The Story of the Raspberries.
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In Dallas, Brewster plays Elena Ramos, daughter of a Southfork Ranch maid. Her character is a long-time love interest of Christopher Ewing (Jesse Metcalfe). Elena just happens to be a kick-ass oilwoman as well. A week before the second season premiere of the new Dallas, we spoke with Brewster by phone about life in Dallas.
girlie action
Jordana Brewster Does Dallas The classic TV series Dallas was well known for its big business, high drama and beautiful women. So last year when TNT decided to reboot the boot-scootin’ franchise with original stars Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray and a new young generation of Ewings, it was no surprise that they looked Jordana Brewster’s way. The gorgeous former soap actress has made a name for herself in such hot properties as The Fast and the Furious movies, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and The Faculty as well as playing Zachary Levy’s first dream girl on the cult action series Chuck. b y
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You were really young when the original series first ran. Were you familiar with it when you were cast for the role? As an actress, what is it like to be part of such an iconic series? I was definitely aware of it. I was excited when my manager called and said they are rebooting Dallas. Because of just the built-in anticipation. I knew it was a really fun show tonally. Even now, I watched about three or four seasons on DVD [of the original] and it is really fun to watch. I have to be really vague about this because this is plot point I absolutely cannot give away. I am watching a character do something that alludes to the original Dallas. I am an actor on the series but I am also watching as a fan. I get really excited about the fact that they can call back certain characters and storylines from the past. That is a really fun thing to be a part of. The original Dallas was one of the original “water cooler shows” where everyone made sure to see it every week. Growing up, what series did you follow religiously? When I was a teenager, it was still appointment television. There was no DVR or TiVo so I had to be home on Wednesday nights to watch 90210 and Melrose Place. I loved My So-Called Life. When I was younger, I remember watching TGIF [ABC’s Friday night lineup]. It was Step by Step, which oddly enough is Patrick [Duffy], so I know Patrick more from Step by Step than Dallas. Boy Meets World was also part of TGIF. That was definitely appointment television as well. Did the show feel the need to prove itself to old-time Dallas fans? Season one we felt like we had something to prove. We were a little bit nervous. We didn’t all know each other. Now the crew and cast all know each other really well. We are like a big family. That relaxed atmosphere helps us do better work. The writing stakes are raised, there is more drama. More crazy relationships and really fun characters coming out of the woodwork. How do you all maintain the chemistry of the cast? We are all just having a lot of fun. Everything is kept fresh by the fact that there are new members coming in. We have been really lucky because we just have a really good group of people. Linda [Gray], Larry [Hagman] and Patrick really set the bar last season because they are so close to each other. They have such a great rapport with each other and that is something we all aspire to. March 2013 | The Modern
honorable mention
A Good Man Mark Shriver writes a book about his dad, Sargent Shriver, first director of The Peace Corps and avid letter writer. By Ronald Sklar Mark Shriver recently published a memoir about his father, called A Good Man, [Henry Holt & Company] shortly after Sargent’s death from Alzheimer’s disease in 2011, at age 95. Sargent Shriver was the first director of The Peace Corps and The Jobs Corps, among other organizations that helped people around the world escape poverty. He was also instrumental in President Johnson’s War on Poverty during the Sixties, as well as a driving force behind the Head Start program, which provides comprehensive education and nutrition to lower-income children. Mark took his dad’s inspirational lead. He heads up the US division of Save the Children, which promotes children’s rights, providing relief and support for children in developing countries. It’s also easy to see from his looks and from his commitment to public service that he is a Kennedy. His mother is Eunice Kennedy Shriver (President Kennedy’s sister), who died in 2009. Together with her husband, they brought to life The Special Olympics, which thrives to this day. Mark’s sister is Maria Shriver. Here, we discuss Sargent Shriver’s imprint on the conscience of a generation, as well as what Mark has learned from this good man. Your dad helped so many people and yet remained humble. What was his driving engine? I think it was just the way he saw life. There wasn’t The Modern | March 2013
any moaning about the past, worrying about his legacy. Somebody said to me, “This book is a great legacy for your dad.” It kind of threw me back, because I never thought about it. He never thought about his legacy, like “I need to name a building after myself.” I think it’s because he ultimately saw his work in the public sector and the private sector as a way to do the best he could with the gifts that God had given him. I know that sounds a bit old fashioned or maybe goofy, but that’s the way he operated. He was a genuinely happy man. He had a wonderful relationship with my mom. These were two really trailblazing people who had a marriage of 56 years. I knew he went to mass on a daily basis. I knew he had a ton of friends, and that people thought that he was special. In this digital age, it actually seems quaint to learn that your dad was a dedicated letter writer. He wrote me letters all the time, and I figured, “Oh, I guess everybody does that with their kids.” I realize that that’s not true. I thought everybody went to mass everyday and developed a relationship with God and then I realized that’s not true. I think the book really helped me pull all of those thoughts together. Do you write letters and notes to your own kids now? I write my kids now. I don’t write them nearly as much as my dad wrote me. But they keep them too. It will mean something different to them when they’re 21 and when they’re 31 and when they’re 41. To have something in your father’s handwriting and to realize that the guy was up at night thinking about you or thinking about some idea, it’s a powerful thing for a kid, even if the kid is 48 like I am. What makes a handwritten letter so special, especially now that we have email and texts? It has an impact on me as a human being, to see his handwriting and to just remember the pens he used to have in his jacket. They would explode and some of his jackets had ink stains on them. You remember these little things and you also remember that he took the time to write because he cared and he loved. That’s www.themodern.us
a nice thing to have at any time of your life. My father wrote almost every night. I’d get one in the mail at college every day and after college as well. A text doesn’t have the same emotional connection. My kids see that I take an 8 ½ x 11 piece of paper and write longhand to them. It means that I thought about it and it means something more than a quick text or a quick email.
a beat, he said, “I am doing the best I can with what God has given me.” I think that’s really the way he lived his life. He saw every moment and every person as a gift. He saw each day as a gift, as corny as that sounds. Alzheimer’s is a brutal disease. As a country, we don’t spend enough time and resources trying to find the cure. It’s brutal to see someone you love fade day by day in front of your eyes. But there were also moments of joy and insight that were very helpful to me.
When your dad started The Peace Corps, it was not an immediate hit. In 1960, when President Kennedy got elected, President Eisenhower thought the He wrote me letters all Peace Corps was a terrible What new impressions of idea. The Wall Street Journal your father have you develthe time, and I figured, editorialized against it. Counoped as a result of writing tries were wary of allowing the memoir? ‘Oh, I guess everybody young Americans into their He was fully human. I homes because they thought needed to have that message they were spies. They were reinforced. It just encourdoes that with their kids.’ coming out of this whole era aged me to be a better husof colonialism and here is the band and father and friend I realize that that’s United States trying to send and spend more time with young people into this kind of my faith. I keep going back not true. work. There was a lot of opto that expression, “I’m doposition from host countries ing the best I can with what Mark Shriver and from within this country. God’s given me.” I’m trying Yet dad created it out of nothto figure it out. Am I doing ing. And it’s been around for the best that I can with what 50 years. Right in the middle I’ve got? And to be comfortof that, when it was four years old, President Johnson able with that. That’s hard to deal with in America too. asked him to create the War on Poverty, and again, it In America, there is a lot of pressure to be the alpha was created out of nothing. He came up with the idea male, to be the big dog, or to be the kind of guy who of programs like Head Start, which helps little kids enbosses your family around or boss your kids around, ter kindergarten ready to learn. Then he took the Speand that’s not what he was about. That’s something that cial Olympics all around the world with my mother. is important to me that I’m trying to deal with on a This is a guy whose whole life was dedicated to helping regular basis. the poor both here and abroad.
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After all of his achievement and outpouring of love, his being stricken with Alzheimer’s disease must have been devastating to him and the family. When he was struggling with Alzheimer’s I asked him, “How does it make you feel?” Without missing www.themodern.us
Find out more: The Peace Corps: www.peacecorps.gov The Special Olympics: www.specialolympics.org Save The Children: www.savethechildren.org Buy Mark’s book here: www.amazon.com
March 2013 | The Modern
personalities
The Real “Sybil” A new book reveals that the sensational multiple-personality story was just that — a story. By Ronald Sklar In 1973, Flora Rheta Schreiber wrote about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett (a pseudonym for Shirley Ardell Mason) for multiple-personality disorder (sixteen separate personalities in all!). The disturbing book touched a nerve in the culture and raised questions about the nature of self. Meanwhile, that same year, another girl had personality troubles of her own in The Exorcist. The psychotherapy industry salivated, taking furious notes. The Exorcist went on to earn its own lore, and Sybil helped to create a new psychiatric diagnosis (it’s known today as dissociative-identity disorder). Since then, the Sybil story has nurtured a cult of obsessed fans. The book sold six million copies. An NBC miniseries, starring Sally Field and loosely based on the book, was seen by one-fifth of the country when it first aired in 1976. However, Sybil was not all she seemed to be. In her new book, Sybil Exposed [Free Press], investigative writer Debbie Nathan sheds light on how the famous multiple personality case was fabricated, exaggerated and bent to the will of the book’s author, the patient’s therapist [Dr. Cornelia Wilbur] and even the patient herself. This trio of ambitious people rigged and concocted an incredible fiction that reads like fact. Here, Debbie Nathan gives us a peek into what went down and what went wrong. Why did Sybil cause such a ripple in the popular culture? One reason was the sense of power in women, that they could overcome any kind of adversity, that they can make use of untapped talents that they didn’t even The Modern | March 2013
know they had. That was a powerful thing. It also made people much more aware of child abuse and the secrets of family troubles. On the other hand, it also gave women the feeling that the only way that they could express themselves was through the splitting of their personalities into a lot of different parts. So it had good and bad effects on the culture, but it was extremely powerful. Emotionally, it was an incredible read back then, but it’s only an incredible read if it’s true. Multiple personalities were nothing new when Sybil debuted, but it seemed new. Multiple personalities were always present in western culture — the idea of being possessed, these different people whom you can’t control, as beings inside you. It’s a very central attitude in Christianity, particularly. So the story was exaggerated and shaped so that it could be more sensational. That’s nothing new, is it? It happens now in journalism. We see all these scandals with memoirs. And in journalism, we have all these young reporters who are exaggerating like crazy. Sybil might have been one of the first examples of that. [Author Flora Rheta Schreiber] did pretty solid work, but in her research, she couldn’t get what she wanted out of it. It was just too late. She already had the fortune from the advance, and she had sugarplum fantasies of fame. It was a really sexy idea. Of course, the therapist had a lot of ambition because of her upbringing. Her father was a famous chemist and she had started out as a chemist under his thumb. But she ultimately did not become a chemist; she became a psychiatrist and she was always looking for the next big thing in psychiatry. This was definitely the next big thing. I mean, how are you going www.themodern.us
to walk away from that once you believe in it? Nothing was going to contradict her ambitions. Sybil herself, while troubled, didn’t suffer from multiplepersonality disorder. The patient herself bent every which way the wind blew. She was a very suggestible person and she depended on the love and support of these women, particularly the psychiatrist. I imagine she had some of her own ambitions. She was willing to be manipulated at the same time that she was manipulating them. It was a very interesting dynamic. In the book and miniseries, Sybil had a monster mother from hell, but it wasn’t quite like that in real life. But did child abuse play a role in the real Sybil’s troubles? Nobody is saying that terrible things don’t happen to kids. My book doesn’t suggest that. What it does suggest is that it’s pretty hard for things to happen to kids on a large scale without anybody noticing and without kids remembering what happened to them. Her mother wasn’t a schizophrenic. She was probably depressed. She had a clinical diagnosis from about 1912, what today would be known as depression. She would probably go into deep depression occasionally. For a little tiny child, to be around a depressed mother, it’s probably a very bad experience. It creates detachment problems. She grew up in this very repressive religious background and she was an artistic kid. I don’t think it was a happy experience growing up with that mom, but the mom clearly wasn’t a monster. There is no evidence of that at all. Did all three women get what they wanted? I think the psychoanalyst did. What she wanted was fame and she got fame. But I don’t think the other two did so well. I think in some ways, Sybil’s story was a curse for the journalist. She took the straw and she spun it into gold. Then, the next time around, she was expected to write a bestseller that would do equally well. She couldn’t really do that. She spent a couple of years spinning her wheels. She gets a huge advance to write about anything she wants, but she can’t figure out what’s going to sell. Her need to write a really sensational bestseller made her see herself as a lay psychoanalyst. Shirley Mason herself was ruined by this. She was a teacher doing well. She lived on the border of West Virginia and Ohio and she had a good job that she was very happy with. She had to give all that up because of the fear of people learning who she was. She ended up in the shadow of the psychoanalyst for the rest of her life. She was like a little mouse. She ended up dying alone. www.themodern.us
What lessons should we learn from the Sybil hoax? The story is so bizarre that it is more sexy than enlightening. Yet it’s telling us how to think about ourselves, particularly for women. When you read stories that are so bizarre that they are not like you or anyone else you know, you should step back and ask, “what’s going on here?” Second opinions should be encouraged. Fortunately, we live in an age now where we are critical; we go on the Internet, we look up information. We have all these places now where we can go and check what we are being told. We need to be constantly critical of medicine. To order Debbie Nathan’s book, Sybil Exposed, click here. To order the original book, Sybil, click here. To order the original Sybil miniseries, click here.
before they were stars
Rob McElhenney on Smoking Rob McElhenney, the co-creator and co-star of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is shown here from back in the day, younger and way more serious. A stranger in the school parking lot (with a camera crew) is having a spontaneous conversation with him, but the subject matter carries a lot of weight. The commercial was burned into the brains of many a Gen X’er, but few made the connection that it’s actually Mac — until now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltqssfzVyrw March 2013 | The Modern
cover story
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It’s just a dumb sap – but inflation stretches its possibilities to pink proportions.
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Its original name was Blibber-Blubber, dubbed by Philadelphia’s Frank Fleer in 1906. Thankfully, the name never stuck. By 1928, Fleer’s company perfected the recipe and redubbed it Dubble Bubble. In stores, the product, priced at a penny apiece, blew out in a single day. The 2.0 version was invented by a Fleer company accountant named Walter Diemer, who liked to experiment with gum recipes as a hobby (makes sense, right?). He used a salt-water taffy wrapping machine, and the only food coloring available in the factory was pink. During World War II, bubblegum was in short supply due to the rationing of sugar and latex, but still provided to soldiers in limited quantity. The reward/pleasure it stimulated in soldiers’ brains surely must have helped win the war. Dubble Bubble was king of the world until the Fifties, when Bazooka stepped in it. Produced by The Topps Company in Brooklyn USA, it packaged small, colorful comic strips wrapped around the gum, featuring the character of Bazooka Joe and his gang of lovable loonies. The strips offered premium prizes and fortunes, besides hilarious jokes and situations. It also provided a goldmine for dentists during the baby boom. In 1979, The Wrigley Company introduced Hubba Bubba, the nonstick-to-your-face bubblegum endorsed by caring moms. March 2013 | The Modern
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In today’s crowded market, it’s easy to blow your wad: choose from bubblegum tape, sugarless bubblegum and gonzo-hyped and cross-bred superflavors. 100,000 tons of bubblegum are chewed every year all around the world, and half a billion dollars a year is spent on bubblegum in North America alone. You’ll also be happy to know that swallowed bubblegum will not stay in your intestines for seven years. And spitting out your bubblegum in Singapore is subject only to financial fines, not caning. However, we strongly advise that you never spit your gum out anywhere in the world, nor should you swallow it. March 2013 | The Modern
the great forgotten
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Soft, chewy and sweet and with grooves that are oh-so sticky, a good bubblegum pop single is one of the most sublime pleasures in music. Bubblegum pop songs are often looked down upon because their only artistic goal is to make the listener blissfully happy, but that is actually their greatest strength. In a cynical world, there is something truly wonderful about a complete lack of jadedness, music that wants nothing but to make you dance, sing and smile. While bubblegum pop still survives and thrives to this day (hello, One Direction and Justin Bieber!), we’re going to look at some of the great moments of the style’s classic period of the late-Sixties/early-Seventies.
Though he is hardly a household name, you could make an extremely strong argument that Tony Burrows was the greatest voice in bubblegum pop. With an effortlessly catchy vocal style, Burrows sang lead in many vocal groups. In fact, he is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only artist to ever have four different top 40 hits under four different group names at the same time. This near-perfect song was one of them, as were the almost-as-good “My Baby Loves Lovin’” by the White Plains, “United We Stand” by Brotherhood of Man and “Gimme Dat Ding” by the Pipkins. (Okay, “Gimme Dat Ding” isn’t all that great). Burrows career was knocked off course when he The Modern | March 2013
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“Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” – The Edison Lighthouse
Songs was banned by the BBC after they had booked three of those bands on one episode of the then-iconic TV series Top of the Pops. An exec was annoyed that the same singer appeared with all three groups. However, Burrows was able to return to the top of the charts a few years later with yet another near perfect pop single — and another new band — “Beach Baby” by First Class. “What we did was from the heart,” Burrows told me in 1996. “We did it to enjoy ourselves and hopefully to allow people to enjoy listening to it. It was never taken too seriously. We weren’t trying to change the world. There’s room for all sorts of music, I feel. One doesn’t have to be educated every time one listens to a piece of music. Sometimes it’s just pure enjoyment. That’s basically what we tried to do.” www.youtube.com/embed/O6OF43Ahd80
“Sugar, Sugar” – The Archies
Ron Dante was the American Tony Burrows, a studio session singer who almost never recorded under his own name and yet was the voice behind some of the greatest bubblegum music ever. His bestknown gig was as the lead singer of the animated singing group from the Saturday morning cartoon based on the long-running comic book series Archie. “Sugar, Sugar” went on to be arguably the definitive song of the musical style. “The year ‘Sugar, Sugar’ was a hit, there was the Vietnam war and a lot of protesting and a lot of divisiveness,” Dante told me in 2000. “‘Sugar, Sugar’ was just this wonderful dance record, this happy little song. You could just make anything out of it. That was the number one record of the year, 1969, in the era of Woodstock.” As great as “Sugar, Sugar” and other Archies’ classics were, Dante’s band The Cuff Links were arguably even better. Their top 10 single “Tracy” is as near pure pop nirvana as you can get, and the band had several other less remembered classics. Like Burrows, Dante also sang lead on several other charting studio bands.
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Originally spit out by tastemakers, retro bubblegum music has aged like fine wine.
After his run of bubblegum classics, Dante shifted to behind the scenes, producing all of Barry Manilow’s albums during that artist’s glory years of 1973-1981. To this day, Dante still records and performs in nostalgia tours. www.youtube.com/embed/0MiQzAo6Cp8
“I Think I Love You” – The Partridge Family
With a wonderful piece of symmetry, The Partridge Family was a TV bubblegum pop group loosely based upon a real life bubblegum pop group — The Cowsills, whose “Rain, The Park & Other Things” came thisclose to making this list. Thanks to the popular series and a run of hit singles — “I Think I Love You” is the best remembered, but there were several near perfect pop tracks in the group’s songbook — lead singer David Cassidy became the biggest teen heartthrob of the early Seventies. “It means so much to me that it has had such a lasting and indelible influence and impact on so many generations,” Cassidy told The Modern editor Ron Sklar in 2010. “The Partridge Family changed my life. It gave me an opportunity to record and play music and sell millions and millions of records and do shows all over the world.” Cassidy’s half-brother Shaun is also responsible for a classic bubblegum hit for the ages, in Shaun’s case it was “Hey Deanie.” www.youtube.com/embed/wJYSu2OVCGM
“I Think We’re Alone Now” – Tommy James and the Shondells
Tommy James and the Shondells were one of the earliest bubblegum groups and this classic, which topped the charts again in the late Eighties when it was covered by teen queen Tiffany, is as propulsive a teen love celebration as when it first appeared in the late-Sixties. “We made it at a great time, when there were no rules,” James told Ron Sklar in 2008. March 2013 | The Modern
the great forgotten “We’ve been very fortunate to stay around this long, because honestly this is a business that maybe gives you two years if you’re lucky.” James and the Shondells had a white-hot hit period of about five years in which they had such hits as “Hanky Panky,” “Mony Mony,” “Crystal Blue Persuasion” and “Crimson and Clover” – almost all of which have had hit cover versions as well. www.youtube.com/embed/wIeRqPFJvXM
“Early in the Morning” –Vanity Fare
British band Vanity Fare only had two big hits in the US, but both of those were bubblegum classics. While they are probably better remembered for the second one, “Hitchin’ A Ride,” this sunny smash was even better. “Flying in the face of the incoming heavier trend of the late Sixties was deemed professionally dangerous at the time,” the band acknowledges on their official website, “and you would have been forgiven for supposing that the band would be steamrollered out of the picture.” Instead “Early in the Morning” (and “Hitchin’ A Ride” after it) became smash hit gold records and aural reminders of the wonders of bubblegum. www.youtube.com/embed/9hN9YRo7y1s
“Build Me Up, Buttercup” – The Foundations
The misconception is that most bubblegum pop singles about love were blissfully happy, perhaps because of the style’s upbeat musical bent. However, sometimes romantic despair is even more powerful when delivered in a joyful musical bed. Take this late Sixties classic, in which the singer begs his wannabe girlfriend to give him a chance, but she disappoints him every time. “’Build Me Up, Buttercup’ is a passionate song, but this passion has been thwarted again and again. ‘Don’t break my heart,’ he sings, but she already has,” says Stephen Shaviro in his web article “Critical Beatdown.” Unrequited love has never sounded so sublime. www.youtube.com/embed/iol0B-clFFM
“Dizzy” – Tommy Roe
One of the biggest names in bubblegum pop was Atlanta-born Tommy Roe, who had ten Top 40 hits (and twice as many singles in the Hot 100) between 1962-1971. While he hit the upper ranges of the pop charts with such classics as “Sheila,” “Jam Up Jelly Tight” and this classic, the guy never felt appreciated because he was construed just a pop singer. “It would irritate me because the DJs would talk about them as if they weren’t up to standards,” Roe told The Modern
The Modern | March 2013
last April. “They would kind of put it down. I took it all in stride and rolled with it, but I think happy music is a great thing. Today I think it’s wonderful. That’s what bubblegum music is. It’s uplifting and happy. It has a great beat to it. The lyrics are fun. It doesn’t bother me at all, but at first it did.” www.youtube.com/embed/FUHoUSXwVBY
“Easy Come, Easy Go” – Bobby Sherman
Actor/singer/TV host/teen heartthrob, in his day Bobby Sherman was nearly ubiquitous. (I still remember the huge wave of excitement in my summer camp when he was going to appear on The Partridge Family.) Because his career branched out in so many directions, it is sometimes forgotten how great his pop singles were. While he had several songs worthy of inclusion on this list – “Julie, Do Ya Love Me?” “Little Woman,” “La La La (If I Had You)” – this sunny stunner is probably his greatest moment. Sherman also deserves major kudos for not clinging pathetically to lost fame. As his career was winding down he reinvented himself and has become an emergency medical technician and saved lives for years. Then he became a deputy Sheriff for the San Bernandino Police Department, retiring in 2010, but still working with the LAPD. “My plate is kind of full,” Sherman told NPR in 2002, “but for me it has been a way of giving something back to the community that has been so good to me for so many years.” www.youtube.com/embed/QJOuTr0BXb4
“Yummy Yummy Yummy” – The Ohio Express
There is certainly no law that bubblegum pop needs incisive lyrics, and here’s your proof. “Yummy yummy yummy/I got love in my tummy” may be one of the silliest rhymes in musical history, but this song is a stone-cold bubblegum classic. Written by Ohio Express leader Joey Levine (who went on to lead the band Reunion and have another bubblegum classic with “Life is a Rock [But the Radio Rolled Me]”), the song was the biggest of several hits for the band. However, as often happened back then, this first single was recorded with Levine backed by a group of studio musicians, rather than the actual band. Ohio Express member Doug Grassel recalled, “”When we first heard it, it was such a different sound that we were looking at each other and saying, ‘What?’ The producers said, ‘Don’t worry. Play this and you’ll be stars.’ So we did and that’s what happened.” www.youtube.com/embed/KSSOFlbvr3E www.themodern.us
modern sports
More things the Internet destroyed: trading cards! Got it…got it…don’t got it…need it…. By Mitch Gainsburg I’m in the checkout line at the local Target store and I see baseball trading cards. Curiously, I pick up a pack, read it over. The thing that stood out was the $2.99 price tag. I chuckled for a few seconds. I then bought the cards. Perhaps I wanted that thrill of finding out what players were inside; maybe it was the thought of chewing a nice piece of bubble gum. I remember loving that gum. It had a film on it and we never thought to ask what that was. It was probably sugar. I remember I would stuff the piece in my mouth and then start running through the cards, tossing out the doubles and savoring the stars. I can remember yelling, “Ah, he’s a rookie” and then tossing it aside. Who knew,
retro quiz
Duck! It’s The Broad Street Bullies! Take a slap shot at these challenging trivia questions: By William Shultz 1. Which Flyer had type-1 diabetes and had to take insulin injections? 2. Who made up the LCB line?
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3. W ho was the goalie who played in 80% of the games in 1975-76, the year the Flyers lost to the Canadiens for the Stanley Cup? 4. W hose recording of “God Bless America” became a good luck charm for the Flyers? 1. Bobby Clarke 2. Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber. 3. Wayne Stephenson. 4. Kate Smith.
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back in the day, that a rookie who became a star would demand a hefty amount for that very card? We also used to flip cards for keeps; it was fun and it took very little talent. Needless to say, trading cards are a thing of the past, as is the bubble gum. When I opened that pack from the Target store, the gum was no bigger than a Chicklet. Very disappointing, but not as disappointing as the cards themselves. They just didn’t do it for me. No thrill. I guess since I could get any information, picture or fact instantly on the Internet, it just made the whole trading card experience obsolete. I can remember back in the Eighties and early Nineties when trading cards and memorabilia shows were at the top of their game. The pleasure: finding most of the old cards you were looking for. The challenge: tracking the shows to find that card as well as getting the value you thought they were worth. What the Internet did (and the collectors never anticipated) was revealing the whereabouts and the costs of these cards. This made the negotiations more favorable to the buyer. I was never a big collector of trading cards. I did have a collection from the late Sixties and early Seventies, at the time I was in elementary school. My father managed to save and keep this in great shape. I’m sure they have some value today, but not as much as preInternet. Still, I say it’s worth preserving and passing down to my daughter for the future. Mitch Gainsburg (aka. Cashy the King) hosts the Sports Goombah radio show and webcast. Listen here: www.sgshow.net March 2013 | The Modern
modern tech
Adventures in Modern Sound By Art Wilson 1974, a New York friend and I saw an off-Broadway review called Pretzels. It was a collection of clever comedy skits with vocals and dance numbers. In 1975 I lived the bachelor life in Center City Philadelphia. In walking distance was the YM/YWHA, where I attended various activities. One of them was a playwrights’ workshop group. There was a script-inhand demo presentation by several writers, and I enjoyed one that was a series of funny sketches. After the session, I sought out the playwright, Roy Shenberg. I suggested that his review might be enhanced by musical numbers, which I offered to write. Roy said that he had also seen the previously mentioned Pretzels when it played in Philadelphia, and he thought, “What could top Pretzels?” Hot mustard! So that would be the title of his own review: Hot Mustard (A Spice Odyssey). Roy was also a lyricist, and he had already written words to a possible theme song, which he gave to me. I promised to present him with a melody. Several days later I did so. He liked it, and we became partners in a creative project. Roy submitted more lyrics to me, and we cranked out songs to be embedded into the sketches. The initial goal was to present an enhanced scriptin-hand performance. Roy was associated with Theater Center Philadelphia, who then agreed to assist and promote Hot Mustard at a more theatrical venue, which would be The Painted Bride Arts Center, then located on bustling South Street. I would be the musical director and accompanist, on guitar. We included a few original songs submitted by other composers, and developed a script and score outline. During the months of preparation of Hot Mustard, The Modern | March 2013
I met and married Janice, who became involved in the production, as did Myrna, who would marry Roy. Janice and I discovered that we, too, clicked as a songwriting team. She also worked on coordination of many aspects of Hot Mustard. We recruited a director, Jeffrey Leeds, and actors, forming a talented cast. We rehearsed at Roy’s high-rise apartment and the cavernous subterranean space at Theater Center Philadelphia. I taught the songs to the cast, and we progressed nicely. The American Music Festival, based in Hollywood, was a songwriting contest. We decided to submit several Hot Mustard songs, so we rented studio time and I recorded them accompanying myself. Janice and I had written a satirical song, “There’s No Zip in the Zip Code” (not a part of the Hot Mustard review), which we wanted to submit, so I recorded it also. Several weeks after sending the songs to the festival, we were notified that “Zip Code” had won a quarterfinalist prize! Hot Mustard was now no longer a script-in-hand demo. We had a production staff and a cast, acting and performing choreography. We worked hard and had fun and camaraderie, and whenever we took it too seriously, we would say, “It ain’t Ibsen!” Some of our cast and production staff worked for a public relations firm and contributed their talents in graphic arts and publicity. Attractive posters and ads, and a witty, artsy printed program resulted. It was the Bicentennial year, 1976. We targeted December for five performances. It would be over a year in development. Three shows were scheduled at the Painted Bride and two more at the auditorium of the First Unitarian Church. We packed the audiences with friends and family and those who had been drawn to the show by our affiliation with Theater Center, and our publicity. Reaction was positive, and we were even reviewed in a collegiate newspaper. Despite attempts to find other outlets for the review, it ended there. With Hot Mustard under their belts, members of our group carried on in writing, composing, musical direction, acting (even as far as Broadway), graphic arts, and public relations. Janice and I are still friends with some of our colleagues from the show. We smile at the spicy memory of Hot Mustard. Art Wilson is a Philadelphia-based musician, teacher, software specialist and retired chemist. www.themodern.us
retro merch
Jay S. Jacobs
Razzles Is it a candy? A gum? One of the eternal mysteries of the universe. By Jay S. Jacobs If you want to get technical, Razzles were not very good at being either a candy (they were a bit chalky) or a gum (you needed to eat a whole bunch to get a reasonable wad). However, Razzles did become a snack-time favorite for Seventies kids everywhere. Named Razzles because they were originally only available in raspberry flavor, the crazy candy/gum hybrid was released to candy counters worldwide in 1966 by the Fleer Company. They were sold in paper packs, a group of ten little circular disk pellets (shaped much like the popular Sweet Tarts) with little tiny bumps on top. Razzles’ selling point: if you stuck them in your mouth and sucked them, they would eventually take on a gummy consistency. Of course, that depended on the eaters waiting around and sucking rather than biting straight in or swallowing the candy whole. (And little kids are always known for their patience.) Still, the little candies (no, gum! Candies, I say! Gum, dammit!) became a favorite of kids worldwide, birthing a worldwide Razzles craze as well as one of the most indelibly catchy product jingles in candy history. Soon Raspberry alone wasn’t enough, so Fleer added
more flavors and a line to the jingle: Blueberry, Orange, Lemon and Grape. Ten for a nickel, tastes so great. Over the years, Fleer (and Razzles’ later ownership group Concord Confections) tested different sizes and flavors — Cherry Razzles, Tangy Fruit Razzles, Double Razzles, ApeSize Razzles — but those all disappeared rather quickly. Of course, now a package — if you can still find them — costs about $1.25, not a nickel. Still, as the cost has gone up, so have the choices. In 2004, Razzles were bought by The Tootsie Company, and have since offered Sour Razzles and Tropical Razzles and changed the classic Seventies logo into a more casual and exciting font. So, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme... gimme some Razzles. It’s a whole candy store in a package. Well, except for the chocolate and the nuts and the gummies and the mints and caramel and nougat and all. Jay S. Jacobs is the author of the books Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits and Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos. He is also senior editor and founder of the pop culture web magazine www.popentertainment.com.
internalize this
The Ultimate Bubble For those of you yearning to get out of your pre-digital 1981 world, simply blow a Bubblicious bubble. According to the futuristic theme song, it’s the “ultimate bubble.” And even though it’s amazing enough to blast you into the final frontier, you won’t be alone. There are other Eighties bubbleheads out there too. Just blow defensively. Obsess on this joint — as we do — today! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTL5wKXEEDM
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March 2013 | The Modern
dig this dvd
The Frank Sinatra Show: High Hopes (MVD-2005)
With Elvis in the army, Sinatra is King of the World! By Ronald Sklar The old and true adage that “it’s Frank Sinatra’s world — we just live in it” is best illustrated during his Rat Pack years, from the very late Fifties until the early Sixties. Here you see the Chairman of the Board holding court (and what a court!), during one in a series of “spectaculars” for the struggling ABC network. The series ran sporadically from 1957-1960 (culminating with his famous welcome-home-fromthe-army for Elvis).
Sinatra kilowatts up the screen with his celebrated pals, making for wondrous television that mesmerizes adoring audiences. Those who were lucky enough to watch it when it first aired aren’t just glad to receive a clear picture — any picture — on their twelve-inch screens, so try to suck up the bad quality and be a man. Here, bleached out in glorious black and white, is Frank, in his elegant tuxedo and his reason for beThe Modern | March 2013
ing. He’s on top, baby, and he shows us how it’s done. Capisce? This broadcast, sparse with sets, easy on the writing and blessedly absent of cutesy, tiresome sketches, details what can happen when the talent is virtually unplugged. At the very time that the battle first raged for control of the popular culture, the adults still have the last word, but the times they are a-changin’. See it here. It’s 1958, and Frank is riding the suddenly changing pop charts with the cheerful ditty, “High Hopes.” High hopes indeed, especially since The Man is now surrounded in the record bins by pimply teen idols who have less talent in their entire adolescent bodies than Frank has in his pinkie. Still, over the course of three short years, the rock-and-rollers have become a force to be reckoned with, and Sinatra and his cronies mention them grudgingly, with nervous laughter. The “summit” — Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Sinatra — share the same stage, and Bing comments, “I don’t think there will be anything this big until Elvis gets back [from the army] and runs into Ricky [Nelson] and Fabian.” For the time being, anyway, these men have nothing to worry about. Yet the bell tolls; while they will be welcomed on television until the day they die, they will soon no longer be embraced by the pop music charts (with a few exceptions here and there). They will not take it well, and this DVD chronicles their anxiety about it. Not that we need to shed any tears — they will last longer than most of their young challengers — but the crack in the ceiling of that perfect honeymoon suite starts to snow plaster now. Nothing is spared for The Frank Sinatra Show, from its high-falutin’ sponsor, Timex, to its not-too-shabby guest stars (along with Martin and Crosby, we’re also offered the strange and overly polished Mitzi Gaynor, and a surprise cameo by the watchable, lovable Jimmy Durante). The orchestra is conducted by Frank’s main man and class act, Nelson Riddle, who worked with him on some of his most memorable and silky recordings. www.themodern.us
Gaynor, who made numerous failed attempts to become a movie star, found her niche doing this very thing: musical TV specials and guest appearances. Dean Martin will eventually and reluctantly host one of the most successful variety shows in the history of television doing his I’m drunk and I don’t give a shit act. Crosby, with his stand-offish manner, will not be as successful on television but will continue to be a TV dependable when it comes to delivering guest spots. And Sinatra — well, you know the rest. These were easily the brightest stars around, bar none, and they all made frequent appearances on the young medium. Yet as often as they appeared on TV (and it was often), it was always signified as an “event.” We get our money’s worth, though. Nothing — nothing — beats Sinatra singing “The Lady Is a Tramp,” which he does here with his usual one-two punch. During a performance of “High Hopes,” he incorporates a huge crowd of adorable children (all Caucasian, except for one little Asian girl who is apparently brought in as a lighthearted joke). The kids seem less-than-thrilled to be there (obviously, this is not their career choice), but the song is catchy and acceptable for the entire Fifties nuclear family. It’s an actual hit record that year, when rock songs are circling around it. “I’m the kinda fella who likes to keep busy,” Frank says (he was notorious for his reluctance to be alone). Illustrating this, he proceeds to lament an institution that he says is “rapidly becoming extinct — nightclubs.” With that, he gives us what we’re missing, and we realize that he’s absolutely right. Of course, it’s too late. Right on time, however, is Timex and its bangyou-over-the-head style of sponsorship. This was an ordinary annoyance on Fifties television. The commercials are live and ballsy. We’re sold before we even begin, not just because of the dependability of a Timex, but because of the assured voice of solid-citizen www.themodern.us
and Timex whore John Cameron Swayze. We marvel sadistically at the endless line of torture tests; for instance, a Timex is fastened to the blade of a motorboat engine and spun mercilessly. It survives, of course. An unseen chorus of singers remind us that, “more people than ever before are wearing a Timex today.” The jingle is unbearable. Swayze tells us that Timex has the ultimate quality in any materialistic Fifties aspiration: modern looks. And what’s there to argue about: a self-winding watch winds itself with the simple, normal movements of your wrist. To appeal to the women, a pleased housewife instructs her audience, “We ladies realize that timing is the most important factor in baking,” so she proceeds to plop a Timex ladies’ waterproof into a mixing bowl and then beats the shit out of it. Does it survive? What do you think? Swayze is on the up-and-up when he assures us that Timex can take a licking and keep on ticking. At least it’s not as shameless as Dean Martin’s endorsement of his new restaurant: while crooning a song about love, he shows off the bottom of his shoe, which has painted on it, “Eat at Dino’s.” Not included here is the most famous Frank Sinatra show of all, when he welcomes back Elvis from the army. And Mitzi Gaynor, for all her va-va-voomness and her determination to entertain us, is not quite the same as watching The King and The Chairman of the Board mix it up. Still, class is class, and we get more than we deserve when the big finale features a tribute/send-up of Jimmy Durante, with the man himself dropping in on the shenanigans. It’s a world in which adults ruled the airwaves, and even when they get silly, it’s hard to think of them as juvenile when they look so debonair in their tuxedoes. A final note: according to the announcer, the usual show in this timeslot, Adventures in Paradise, will be seen next week over most of these ABC stations, but don’t hold your breath. March 2013 | The Modern
parting
sh t
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j_zUxuWNvs Ain’t she sweet in her Alice blue gown? Hell to the yeah, and yet she determinedly discards the fashionable dress so that she can perform a stylized shimmy shimmy shake. This is a Mitzi Gaynor for the sexual revolution, in a rousing 1973 CBS television special. Every middle-aged man in America sat up and took notice that night, thinking (but not saying), “Hoo-boy! What a dish!” This is more than likely not the way the tune was first performed in 1919. Let’s just say they put a new dress on the old girl. Mitzi’s got a case of body language, and a wide offering of facial expressions. And the colored girls go, “here she comes…here she comes…” Ronald Sklar