James Mason and Cats

If you are a fan of actor James Mason, chances are good that you know he loved cats. Indeed, he and his wife Pamela even co-wrote a book on cats, including The Cats in Our Lives and lent their names to the fiction anthology Favourite Cat Stories of Pamela & James Mason. Over the years James Mason had many feline friends, and he clearly knew cats well. He once said, "Cats do not have to be shown how to have a good time, for they are unfailing ingenious in that respect." As a fellow cat lover, I know that to be true. Here are a few pictures of James Mason (and one with Pamela as well) and his various feline friends.

Why Klout Should Not Underestimate Google+

The past few months there has been a common complaint among Google+ users who also have Klout accounts. Namely, it appears to them that Klout undervalues Google+'s contributions to individuals' scores, while overvaluing those from Facebook. As a Google+ power user who also has a Klout account, I think their complaints have merit. Despite the fact that I post more to Google+, that twenty times as many people have me circled on Google+ as I have friends on Facebook, and the fact that I see much more interaction on Google+ in the form of plusses (the equivalent of "likes" on Facebook) and comments, Klout consistently claims that Facebook contributes more to my Klout score than Google+. The only conclusion that I (and many others on Google+) can make is that Klout is dramatically undervaluing Google+'s contribution to Klout scores.

Speaking as Google+ power user and an admitted Google+ fanboy, this hardly seems right to me. To me if Klout truly wishes to measure influence on the web, then it should not matter on which social media site one has the most influence. A like on Facebook should be treated the same as a plus on Google+, which should be treated the same as a like (or whatever they call them) on Instagram. Quite simply, one social media site should not be favoured over others, which seems to many what Klout is actually doing.

Even if someone could make the argument that all social media sites are not created equal, there are some very good reasons that Klout should place Google+ on equal footing with Facebook. I will outline them below.

1. Google+ is the Second Largest Social Media Site in the World: In January 2013 the Global Web Index announced that Google+ had overtaken Twitter as the second largest social media site. It boasts 359 million monthly users. Indeed, over 8000 people have me circled on Google+, which is 10 times as many people follow me on Twitter and about 20 times the number of friends I have on Facebook. And contrary to the claims of some that Google+ is a ghost town, G+ users are very active on the site. While I have no statistics to back this up, I can tell you that many of those I have circled post several times a day. And every day at that.

2. Public Google+ Posts Show Up in Google Search Results: Every public post I make to Google+ will show up in Google+ search results. That is, if I make a post on the character Emma Peel of The Avengers, that post has a chance of showing up every time a person searches for "Emma Peel" on Google. Even if one were to make a public post on Facebook (I don't do so myself personally, nor do many people I know), the odds of it showing up in Google Search results seem very low. In fact, I don't ever remember seeing a Facebook post show up as a search result anywhere, not on Google, not on Yahoo, not even on Bing. It seems to me, then, that a Facebook post will only be seen by one's Facebook friends and followers (if one has any), while a Google+ post might be seen by many more people than one's circlers. Of course, this points to a problem Facebook has (probably due to concerns its users have over privacy). While people will post publicly to G+ and will have public Twitter accounts, they generally limit their Facebook posts to their friends. I don't think that will change any time soon.

3. There is No Limit to the Number of Circlers One Can Have on Google+:  While one can only circle a maximum of 5000 people on Google+, there is no limit to how many people can circle one. I know private individuals--not celebrities--who have upwards of 50,000 circlers or more. Facebook only allows one to have a maximum of 5000 friends, period. While Facebook does allow people to follow individuals without being friends with them, those followers will only see public posts. Most people I know do not have the option for followers enabled and those who do generally do not make public posts. Once again, one's posts are generally going to be seen onlhy by one's friends, who are set at a maximum of 5000. To put it in other words, on Google+ even my private posts will be seen by over 8000 people (not counting those who find them in searches), as opposed to the 400 or so on Facebook (that's if they see them...).

4. Google+ Does Not Filter Posts: Unlike Facebook, Google+ does not automatically filter posts. Any filtering of posts is in the hands of the user. I can adjust the "volume" of various circles to where I might see some from one circle, none from another, and everything from yet another. This is not the case with Facebook, which employs an algorithm called EdgeRank to determine which posts are displayed on one's News Feed. Now one can set any given friend so that his or her posts show in one's news feed and one can set it to see "all updates". The problem is that if one wants to see every single update from every single friend in his or her news feed, one would have to go to each and every friend's profile to set it to "show in news feed" and "see all updates". Not only would that be time consuming, but it might not even work. I have had many instances where a friend or relative's post did not show up in my news feed, even though I had them set to "show in news feed" and "see all updates". That has never happened on Google+.

5. Major Brands Have Discovered Google+: While it seems to me that most major brands do not have Google+ pages, there are several that do. And some have proven very successful at engaging users. Clothing giant H&M has over 3 million followers on Google+. Candy maker Cadbury also has over 3 million followers on Google+. Both companies post almost every day and often receive a good deal of engagement from their followers. H&M and Cadbury are not the only companies that have seen success on Google+, as others have as well. The simple fact is that big business has become aware of Google+ and have started utilising it as a tool for promotion.

Of course, some might question why it is important that Klout place Google+ on an equal ground with Facebook. Klout has more than its fair share of detractors, from those who question whether online influence can be numerically measure to those who even question the very principle of measuring influence on the web. I must confess, I have questioned whether online influence can truly be quantified myself. That having been said, I can think of two basic reasons why it matters that Klout treats Google+ the same as it does Facebook. The first is the fact that Klout offers Perks, free products or experiences from various brands. To receive most of these Perks one must usually meet certain criteria, among which is often that one must have a Klout score over a certain amount. If one is a power user on Google+ and only a casual user on Facbook, then he or she might find himself or herself losing out on Perks simply because his or her score is too low due to Klout undervaluing Google+.

Second, while it might seem hard to believe,  there are businesses in some industries that do look at Klout scores when hiring individuals. It then seems possible that a person who is very influential on Google+ and Twitter, but with no influence on Facebook could lose out on a job because his or her score is low dues to Klout undervaluing Google+. Now personally I think looking at Klout scores when hiring people is not only unfair, but unwise as well. And fortunately I get the impression that this practice is nowhere nearly as common as many on the internet would have one believe. In the end, however, the very fact that even one business might look at Klout scores when hiring people should make Klout think carefully about how they go about determining individuals' Klout scores.

If Klout is undervaluing Google+'s contributions to individuals scores as many of us believe, then it should be corrected immediately. Indeed, the fact that Google+ is a huge social network with many, many active users should be enough for Klout to treat it on an equal basis with Facebook and Twitter. The fact that Google+ has several advantages over Facebook should be more than enough for them to do so. In the end, however, I think Klout should treat all social media sites equally. The simple fact is that if one can get 1000 likes on LinkedIn (in my experience the least active social network that I am on), then that should be counted the same as 1000 likes on Facebook. To do otherwise is to not truly measure online influence at all.

(Credit Where Credit is Due Department: This post came about largely due to many conversations with my brother, Berry Towles Canote. His contributions were priceless)

The Late Great Dennis Farina

Dennis Farina, who played Lt. Mike Torello on Crime Story and Detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order, died today at the age of 69. The cause was a pulmonary embolism.

Dennis Farina was born in Chicago on 29 February 1944. He attended St. Michael Grammar School and St. Michael Central High there. After graduating high school he served for a time in the United States Army. He worked for a time in the South Water produce market in Chicago. Afterwards he joined the Chicago Police Department, starting out as a patrolman on the city's North Side. Four years later he became a detective. He served on the Chicago Police Department for 18 years.

He began his career as an actor after he met director Michael Mann in 1981, who was scouting locations in Chicago for his film Thief. As a result Dennis Farina received a small role in the film. In the Eighties Mr. Farina appeared in such films as Code of Silence (1985), Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986), Manhunter (1986), Midnight Run (1988), and Men of Respect (1990). It was in 1986 that Dennis Farina was cast in the lead role of Lt. Mike Torello on the TV series Crime Story. While the show only lasted two years, it developed a cult following that it has maintained throughout the years. He also guest starred on such shows as Hardcastle and McCormick, Hunter, Remington Steele, Miami Vice, and China Beach.

In the Nineties Dennis Farina appeared in such films as We're Talkin' Serious Money (1992), Mac (1992), Street Crimes (1992), Another Stakeout (1993), Striking Distance (1993), Little Big League (1994), Get Shorty (1995), Eddie (1996), That Old Feeling (1997), Out of Sight (1998), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Mod Squad (1999),  Reindeer Games (2000), and Snatch. (2000).  He guest starred on the show Tales From the Crypt.

In the Naughts and Teens he played lead roles in the shows The In-Laws, Law & Order, and Luck. From the Naughts into the Teens he guest starred on the show Law & Order: Trial By Jury and provided the voice of Wildcat on the animated series Justice League. He appeared in such films as Sidewalks of New York (2001) , Big Trouble (2002), Stealing Harvard (2002), Paparazzi (2004), The Grand (2007), Bag Boy (2007), and The Last Rites of Joe May (2011). He is due to appear later this year in Authors Anonymous (2013).

As Crime Story is one of my favourite shows of all time, I always thought of Dennis Farina as Lt. Mike Torello. He was excellent in the role. I suppose this should not have been surprising given the fact that he had experience in real life as a police detective, something most actors never have. Regardless, he could play roles vastly different from Mike Torello and do them quite well. Indeed, on Miami Vice he played what was arguably Torello's polar opposite, mobster  Albert Lombard. While he played both police officers and gangsters quite often, he also played a number of other sorts of roles. In Saving Private Ryan he played a lieutenant colonel in the Army. In Manhunter he played FBI profiler Jack Crawford, tracking down Hannibal Lector. And while Dennis Farina was best known for serious material, he had a flair for comedy. Mr. Farina even won an American Comedy Award for his role in Get Shorty. And he gave a solid performance in the comedy That Old Feeling. Although best known for his roles on Crime Story and Law & Order, Dennis Farina was a versatile actor who could play a wide variety of roles.

100 Years Ago Today Red Skelton Was Born

I suspect that unless they happen to be fans of Old Time Radio, classic television, or old movies, most young people have never heard of Red Skelton. Despite this, there was a time when it would have been hard to find anyone who had not heard of Red Skelton. Mr. Skelton had a very long career. His radio show debuted in 1938 and his television show ended in 1971. He also starred in films and played venues from nightclubs to casinos. Quite simply, Red Skelton was a comedian who mastered multiple media. He was born 100 years ago today, on 18 July 1913.

Red Skelton was born Richard Skelton in Vincennes, Indiana. His father, who had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, died two months before he was born, and as a result Mr. Skelton had to begin work when he was very young. He was only seven years old when he started selling newspapers. It was in 1923 while selling newspapers that he met the legendary Ed Wynn. Mr. Wynn not only bought every newspaper that Red Skelton had, but gave him a ticket to see his show. At the show Ed Wynn took young Red backstage. It was at that point that Mr. Skelton realised he wanted to be an entertainer. It was while he was still young that Red Skelton began performing. He was only ten when he travelled as a performer with a medicine show. By the time he was 15 Mr. Skelton was working the vaudeville circuit. At 16 he performed with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus as a clown.

Red Skelton proved to be a very popular performer in vaudeville, and it would not be long before he expanded into other media. In 1932 young Mr. Skelton had a screen test in Hollywood, but failed it when he was given a dramatic script (he had a difficult time not being funny). Despite this, Mr. Skelton would go onto a successful film career. He made his feature film debut in Having a Wonderful Time in 1938. Two Vitaphone shorts and supporting roles in Flight Command (1940) and The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941) followed. It was in 1941 that he received his first lead role, playing Wally "the Fox" Benton in the comedy mystery Whistling in the Dark. The film proved to be successful enough to produce two sequels: Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). Red Skelton's film career proved highly successful, and he appeared in such films as Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), I Dood It (1943), Bathing Beauty (1944), Ziegfeld Follies (1945), Merton of the Movies (1947), The Fuller Brush Man (1948), Watch the Birdie (1950), The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954). Red Skelton's film career wound down in the Fifties, and his last film appearance was a cameo in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965).

Of course, while Red Skelton had a very successful career in movies, it would be for his work in radio and television that he would be best remembered. Indeed, in 1940 when he renegotiated his contract with MGM, the far sighted Red Skelton asked for a clause to work on radio and television without receiving the studio's permission. While MGM granted him the radio clause, they rejected the television clause (keep in mind, at this point television was still very much in the experimental stage). Later, when Red Skelton once more renegotiated his contract, MGM gave him the right to appear on television without their approval. This was very wise of Mr. Skelton. While he was a very successful movie star, arguably he is now best remembered for his long running radio and television shows.

Red Skelton made his radio debut on 12 August 1937 on The Rudy Vallee Show. He proved so popular with listeners that he made another appearance on the show two weeks later. It was in 1938 that he became the regular host of a show for the first time, replacing Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time. He remained with the show for around a year. It was on 7 Ocotber 1941 that he received his very own show, The Raleigh Cigarettes Programme. With an interruption from 6 June 1944 to 18 September 1945, during which time he was in the Army, and with a few changes in sponsors, Red Skelton's radio show ran until May 1953. Starting in 1954 he would have radio show syndicated by Ziv for three years.

While Red Skelton was a huge star on radio, his MGM contract would not permit him to do television without their permission. Fortunately he was able to renegotiate his contract. The Red Skelton Show debuted on NBC on 30 September 1951. With the 1953-1954 season The Red Skelton Show moved to CBS. The Red Skelton Show proved very popular, ranking in the top thirty for most of its run. The show also became well known for its comedy sketches, and it was not unusual for Mr. Skelton, his guest star, or both of them to crack up during a skit. The show was also one of the earliest airing in colour. It aired in colour from 1955 to 1958, then switched back to black and white. In 1965 it switched back to colour for the rest of its run.

For the 1969-1970 season The Red Skelton Show was still enormously popular. It ranked #7 in the Nielsens for the season. Unfortunately, demographics had begun to play in a role in the television industry at the time, and CBS believed that the audience for The Red Skelton Show was too rural and too old. CBS cancelled The Red Skelton Show, makign it one of the highest rated shows to ever be cancelled. NBC picked up The Red Skelton Show for the 1970-1971 season, but cut it back from an hour to a half hour. On NBC the once high rated Red Skelton Show did not even rank in the top thirty shows for the season and ended its run after twenty years on the air.

There can be no doubt that much of Red Skelton's success was because he was very funny. Indeed, throughout his career he not only created hundreds of sketches, but some of the best remembered comedy characters of all time. There was Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer who had taken one too many blows to the head. There was Clem Kadiddlehopper, a hick with no clue as to life beyond the hills. There was the Mean Widdle Kid, a, well, mean little kid. Perhaps his most famous character, however, was Freddie the Freeloader. Freddie was a warm hearted tramp who was constantly down on his luck. Many of the Freddie the Freeloader sketches were played in pantomime. Even when one of Red Skelton's sketches did not include one of his usual characters, it could be incredibly funny. Indeed, Mr. Skelton's best known sketch may be Guzzler's Gin, in which a radio (later television) announcer gets progressively more and more drunk on the gin he is pitching.

Of course, the 20th Century produced many funny comedians and many of those comedians produced memorable sketches and great characters. What set Red Skelton apart from them is that his sketches often included a touch of pathos to them. This was particularly true of his sketches featuring Freddie the Freeloader. One of his most memorable Freddie the Freeloader sketches was set on a cold, snowy, Christmas Eve.  Freddie wants to get thrown in jail so that he can have a warm place to sleep. Unfortunately, every effort he makes to do so (from stealing a rich man's umbrella to throwing a brick through a store window) fails. It was an incredible feat for Red Skelton, who managed to create a sketch that was very funny, but at the same time warm and funny. This brings out another strong point of Red Skelton. He could play characters such as Cauliflower McPugg and Clem Kadiddlehopper, who weren't the brightest individuals, without deriding them. Mr. Skelton's characters may have been none too bright or even eccentric, but he always treated them as human beings.

One hundred years after his birth, Red Skelton is not as well known as he was at the height of his career. And that is a shame. He was a master comedian and master clown, who was capable of being very funny while at the same time being very touching as well. He left behind not only several movies, but literally hundreds of hours of radio and television that should continue to be heard and watched. There were many funny men in the 20th Century. There were even many funny men capable of creating hilarious sketches. In the end, however, there were only a few as gifted as Red Skelton.

TV Producer Ray Butt R.I.P.

Ray Butt, television director and producer best known for producing the show Only Fools and Horses, died on 12 July 2013 at the age of 78.

Ray Butt was born on 25 June 1935 in London. He served in the Royal Air Force. He began his career in television as a production assistant on Porridge. In the late Seventies he directed episodes of The Liver Birds, One-Upmanship, Are You Being Served, Mr. Big, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Citizen Smith, and Q5. His first producer credit was on Happily Ever After in 1974. In the late Seventies he also produced Citizen Smith.

In the Eighties he served as a producer on Citizen Smith, Seconds Out, Just Good Friends, Dear John, Only Fools and Horses, and Young, Gifted, and Broke. He directed episodes of Just Good Friends, Dear John, Only Fools and Horses, and Sob Sisters.

The Ageless Barbara Stanwyck

Today in 1907 Barbara Stanwyck was born. She has always numbered among my favourite actresses of all time. She was obviously beautiful. And she could be incredibly sexy without even trying. And she was extremely talented, one of the most talented actresses of all time. That having been said, I have always thought Barbara Stanwyck was remarkable for one other reason. She just did not seem to age! At the very least she did not age the way most of us do.

This is a picture of Miss Stanwyck from 1924 when she was a Ziegfeld Girl. At the time she was only 17 years old.

This photo is from around 1930-1931 She would have been about 23 at the time. She really does not look that different from when she was 17!

A picture of Miss Stanwyck from 1937. She turned 30 that year, and yet she doesn't look any older than when she was 25.

Barbara Stanwyck circa 1943. She still doesn't look that much older than she was in 1930. She would have been 36, but to me she still looks like she is in her mid-twenties!

This picture is from 1949. I think Miss Stanwyck looks a little more mature in this shot, but I think that is because of her hair and make up. At 42 she still looked much younger.

A publicity shot for the film Executive Suite, released in 1953. Barbara Stanwyck does look more mature than she was in her twenties, but not by much. At 46 she looks closer to 30.

A black and white promotional shot for the TV show The Big Valley, which debuted in 1965. By this point Miss Stanwyck had some grey hair and a few wrinkles, but she did not look terribly much older than she had been in the Forties. She was 58 when the show debuted, but would have looked closer to 40 if not for the grey hairs.

Many actresses age gracefully, but my point is that they do age. Aside from a few wrinkles and grey hair, Barbara Stanwyck appeared to age very little from her mid-Twenties to her late Fifties. This is even more remarkable when one considers that Miss Stanwyck never had plastic surgery and lived most of her life at a time before collegen and Botox. I suspect that her youthful looks were largely a result of good genetics and good care. It was either that or Barbara Stanwyck had discovered the Fountain of Youth. All actresses age, but none seem to have done so as slowly as Miss Barbara Stanwyck.

Ironside

If you keep up with such things, you may have heard that NBC has picked up a reboot of the Sixties and Seventies show Ironside starring Blair Underwood. Perhaps not so coincidentally, ME-TV began rerunning the original Ironside starring Raymond Burr (perhaps best known for Perry Mason).

 Ironside was created by Collier Young, who had previously produced the anthology series Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond. The show centred around Robert Ironside (played by Mr. Burr), a San Francisco Police Chief of Detectives who was paralysed from the waist down by a sniper's bullet and hence confined to a wheelchair. Ironside did not exactly retire, however, convincing the Police Commissioner to make him a special police consultant, complete with his own team, including Detective Sergeant Ed Brown (Don Galloway) and detective Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson). Completing the team was Ironside's assistant/bodyguard/driver, Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell), who functioned as Dr. Watson to Ironside's Sherlock Holmes or Lewis to Ironside's Inspector Morse.

If it has not become obvious by now, Ironside was not only different from other shows on at the time, but any shows before or since. Sadly, disabled characters on television shows have been rare even as regular characters on American television shows, let alone lead characters. Gunsmoke featured Chester (Dennis Weaver), who walked with a pronounced limp. On the short lived Seventies show Longstreet, insurance investigator Mike Longstreet (played by James Franciscus) was blind. On Little House on the Prairie  Mary Ingalls (played by Melissa Sue Anderson) went blind during the course of the show, must as the historical Mary Ingalls did in real life. More recently there was Dr. Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie) on House, who not only had only partial use of his right leg (forcing him to walk with a cane), but was also addicted to Vicodin). Robert Ironside was then one of the very few characters in the history of television who was disabled and probably the only wheelchair bound lead character in the history of the medium.

Of course, it is important to note that while Robert Ironside was confined to a wheelchair, he did not let that keep him from investigating crimes. He was a dogged investigator with a skill for piecing together clues. And he could be a shrewd opponent when it came to criminals, not below using a bit of trickery to see that justice was meted out. Unlike the lead characters of many police dramas, Ironside's weapons were not guns or his fists, but his mind, which was ultimately much more dangerous to criminals. In the end, if Ironside had any sort of message, it may have been that one does not have let his or her disability define him or her.

Ironside was not only progressive in having a disabled character as a lead, but also in the fact that it included an African American character in a primary role. Indeed, arguably Mark Sanger was the most important character on the show aside from Robert Ironside himself. Prior to serving as Ironside's assistant, Mark had been a juvenile delinquent who had grown up in the bad part of San Francisco. He attended law school. In the course of the show he became a police officer, graduated from law school, and became a lawyer.  In the capable hands of Don Mitchell, Mark was no mere sidekick to Ironside. He often provided valuable advice to Ironside and was a very capable detective himself, in many ways better than police officers Ed and Eve. In many ways Mark Sanger was a very remarkable character for a Sixties television show. Ironside debuted in 1967, only two years after Bill Cosby made history as the first African American lead on a drama as Alexander Scott on I Spy. It was still very rare for any television show to have a black character, particularly one in a role as important as that of Mark Sanger. Indeed, in 1967 perhaps the only other drama with a black character in a prominent role besides I Spy was Mission: Impossible, with Greg Morris as electronics expert Barney Collier.

While obviously a product of its time, Ironside holds up very well. For the most part the episodes are both well written and well acted. And the show had a good deal of variety. Episodes ranged from classic mysteries to police procedurals to character studies. The show boasted some big name guest stars, including Edward Asner, Joseph Cotten, Bruce Lee, Ricardo Montalban,  and many others. Of course, like many shows of the late Sixties and early Seventies, Ironside sometimes tried to be relevant, and this is often the show's weakest point. The "hippies" who appeared on the show were more often than not caricatures than any realistic representations of the subculture. In defence of Ironside, however, it must be pointed out that nearly all hippies on television in the late Sixties were caricatures, and at least Ironside acknowledged the Vietnam War, drug use, and other issues of concern to youth at the time. Most shows in  the late Sixties did not acknowledge youth culture or issues of concern to youth at all.

I have my serious doubts as to how good the new version of Ironside will be. Too often many reboots of shows fall far short of the original. Even if it does, however, I hope that it brings attention to the original Ironside starring Raymond Burr. It was one of the better police dramas of the time and certainly a little ahead of its time. It certainly deserves to be better remembered than it has been.