Dolemite R.I.P.

Rudy Ray Moore, the comedian best known for playing Dolemite (a parody of blaxploitation heroes) passed Sunday. The cause was complications from diabetes. He was 81 years old.

Rudy Ray Moore was born Rudolph Frank Moore on March 17, 1927 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. As a teenager he moved to Cleveland. He initially peeled potatoes and washed dishes for a living. While there he won a talent contest. Moore was draughted in 1950.

After being discharged from the Army, Moore performed both as a dancer and even recorded some records as a singer. Eventually he moved into comedy, releasing a few comedy records in the Sixties. He practised a raunchy brand of comedy not unlike that of Richard Pryor, a situation which prevented him from appearing on television. It was while working at a record store that he listened to a regular named Rico's stories of Dolemite. Moore incorporated Dolemite into his routines. In 1975, towards the end of the blaxploitation cycle, he financed the film Dolemite, playing the title role. The film incorporated such blaxploitation hallmarks as a pimp hero and plenty of martial arts. It was followed by a sequel, The Human Tornado.

The Dolemite movies were the height of Moore's success. He would continue to release comedy records well into the Naughts. And he would appear in a few more films, such as Disco Godfather, B*A*P*S, and Shoeshine Boys.

The raunchiness of much of his material probably kept Rudy Ray Moore from mainstream success. Most of the dialogue in the Dolemite films could not repeated on network television or the average newspaper. But he was one of the funniest comics of his time. And with Dolemite he developed a hilarious parody of blaxploitation films that sent up nearly every cliche of the genre. Ironically, his act would have an impact on rap music, but I hardly think that can be held against him. To this day the man maintains a cult following among fans of good comedy and the character of Dolemite.

One of NBC's Better Seasons?

In his review of Crusoe, the television critic Robert Bianco at USA Today proclaimed this NBC's worst season since the days of Manimal and Mr. Smith. Now if NBC had only produced shows like Kath and Kim and Knight Rider (let me say now that there should be a moratorium on revivals of Glen Larson shows--what's next, Alias Smith and Jones?), I could agree with him. But Bianco included My Own Worst Enemy with these two pieces of trash. And it was clear from his review of Crusoe, he doesn't consider it much better. Now maybe Bianco would be more than happy if the airwaves were filled with garbage like Eli Stone (yet another lawyer show that tries too hrad to be hard to be quirky), Grey's Anatomy (shallow characters, bad writing, bad acting, and an unoriginal premise--Dr. Kildare with sex), and Sex and the City (a half hour dirty joke for women with some of the most shallow characters ever created for television), but some of us have tastes. And some of us just happen to be men who like good action-adventure shows with well developed characters and not shallow automatons.

Indeed, looking at the four networks, I would say CBS has the worst season in years. The Mentalist is a blatant rip off of USA's Psych, albeit done more seriously. Eleventh Hour is an American adaptation of an ITV series, but here it comes off as an odd combination that rips off House, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and The X-Files in equal measure. Worst Week, although funny at times, is basically Meet the Parents: the Series. It seems to me that CBS is continuing its downward spiral.

On the other hand (Kath and Kim and Knight Rider not withstanding), it seems to me that NBC is on the ball. The past few years they have produced two truly great comedies (the American version of The Office and, best of them all, 30 Rock) and one fairly good one (My Name is Earl). As far as action-adventure series, they have produced Heroes (brilliant at best, mediocre at worst) and Chuck (not really that remarkable, but entertaining enough). This season out they have produced two very good action/adventure shows, contrary to what the tasteless Bianco of USA Today might think.

Indeed, if its pilot was any indication, My Own Worst Enemy could be one of the best spy shows in years. It has a starkly original concept. To create the perfect covers for its agents, a top secret government agency has intentionally created split personalities in its agents. While on the job these agents are spies deadly efficient at their jobs. While not on the job they are just average guys, not at all aware of their double lives. All of this works fine until their best spy, Edward (played by Christian Slater) begins to go haywire. At the worst times possible, he will wake up as his alter ego Henry, a mild mannered efficiency expert with no knowledge of the spy game. Worse yet, Henry will suddenly wake up as Edward at inopportune times as well. Unable to fix the problem, the agency must accept that their best agent will have to deal with this difficulty in his own way.

What makes My Own Worst Enemy a great show is primarily the performance of Christian Slater. Many movie actors performing on series television often phone in their performances, making no real commitment to their characters. This is not the case with Christian Slater. He is surprisingly earnest as both Edward and Henry, two characters who are nothing like he has ever played before. There are none of the usual Slater mannerisms to be seen, none of the sarcasm Slater borrowed from Jack Nicholson to be heard. Beyond Christian Slater, however, the show is very well written and well thought out. In fact, it reminds me of some of my favourite spy shows and thriller shows from the past--The Prisoner, La Femme Nikita, and Nowhere Man. If the rest of the series is as good as the pilot, I suspect it will go down in history as one of the better spy dramas. As to action, well, there is no shortage of it. If you love spy dramas with plenty of twists and turns, gun play, intrigue, and explosions, this is definitely the show for you. And, quite frankly, you have to give credit to a show who tip their hat to the great Robert Louis Stevenson (Edward and Henry take their first names from his Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

As original as My Own Worst Enemy is, Crusoe is even more so. In fact, it is something American network television has not seen since The Buccaneers left the air in 1957 and The Adventures of Robin Hood left network television in 1958--a good, old fashioned swashbuckler. Like the Daniel Dafoe novel upon which it is based, the series centres around Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked on a desert island. If viewers are expecting some loyalty to the source material, however, I will say they will be sorely disappointed. Creator Justin Bodle has made Crusoe its own animal. Robinson Crusoe is a tormented hero, living with the agony of a man separated from the woman he loves (his wife in England). He is also a skilled inventor who has not only created a treehouse that makes the one built by the Swiss Family Robinson look like a flophouse, but has an array of period gadgets and mantraps scattered about the island. As to Friday, he is not Crusoe's servant, but his own man--Crusoe's friend and equal. Friday also happens to be one of the deadliest heroes ever seen on television. Put a bow and sword in his hand and you had better not get on his bad side. And neither character is a cardboard cutout made to go through action scenes. Crusoe and Friday (wonderfully played by Philip Winchester and Tongayi Chirisa) are erudite men who not only skilled in combat and tactics, but who can engage in some very thoughtful discussion.

As to the show itself, it is the sort of series that little boys and the little boys that still reside in most men (except maybe Robert Bianco and a few other TV critics) will love. Although the plot of the pilot was somewhat thin, it was filled with twists and turns, not to mention the sort of nonstop swashbuckling action that little boys and not so little boys crave. In the end Crusoe succeeds in what it has set out to be--an adventure series whose primary focus is swashbuckling action and nonstop adventure, spruced up with some very good character moments. Because of this it is starkly different from anything else on network television right now. And the sort of thing a lot of men have probably been waiting to see for a very long time.

To sum everything up, forget what Robert Bianco and his ilk have to say. I gave up on television critics long ago (let's face it, they ripped both The Beverly Hillbillies and Gilligan's Island to shreds--those critics are forgotten, but those two shows are still on the air...). If it's good action and adventure you crave, it looks like NBC is the place to be this season.

Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops Passes On

Levi Stubbs, the powerful baritone for The Four Tops, passed on Friday at the age of 72. Although a cause has yet to be determined, Stubbs had suffered a stroke and a bout with cancer in the past.

Levi Stubbs was born in Detroit on June 6, 1936. While still in high school, in 1954, Stubbs and his friends Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton were invited to sing at a birthday party in 1953. The four then decided to stay together as a singing group, naming themselves The Four Aims. By 1956 they would be signed to Chess Records, at which time The Four Aims became The Four Tops. Unfortunately, they met with little success. Over the next several years they switched labels several times, having contracts with Red Top, Riverside Records and Columbia Records. Despite producing no hits, The Four Tops toured incessantly. Eventually their touring paid off and The Four Tops appeared on The Jack Paar Tonight Show in 1962, singing their rendition of "In the Still of the Night." Berry Gordy Jr. caught their performance and persuaded them to sign to Motown Records.

Initially, The Four Tops performed classic jazz songs for the label's Workshop imprint and provided back up for The Supremes and other Motown artists. It was in 1964 that the legendary song writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote "Baby, I Need Your Loving" specifically for The Four Tops. The song proved to be a hit, going to #11 on Billboard's pop charts. With a hit pop record under their belt, The Four Tops stopped singing jazz standards and starting singing pop songs. While their next single, "Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)" did not chart and "Ask the Lonely" only made the Top 30 on Billboard's pop chart, The Four Tops would soon find themselves one of Motown's biggest vocal groups. In 1965 the group released "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)." The song became a number one hist on the Billboard Hot 100, perhaps largely because of Levi Stubbs' powerful lead vocals.

Over the next several years The Four Tops would produce a string of hit records, in the end producing more than 40 hits on the Billboard pop charts. Among their most successful songs were "Reach Out I'll Be There (which went to #1 on the Billboard charts in 1966)," "Standing in the Shadows of Love (which went to #6 in the same year)," "Bernadette (which went to #4 in 1967)," "Keeper of the Castle," "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)," and "When She Was My Girl." In all they released over thirty albums in a recording career that lasted into the Eighties. Unlike other Motown groups, the membership of The Four Tops remained largely consistent over the years. The first change of membership came as a result of Lawrence Payton's death from liver cancer in 1997.

The Four Tops would change labels over the years. With newer acts beginning to overshadow the original Motown line up in the early Seventies, the group signed with ABC-Dunhill. Sadly, their success would fade with the rise of disco in the late Seventies and for a short time The Four Tops produced no hits. Fortunately, in 1980 they signed with Casablanca Records, which give them their first hit in some time, "When She Was My Girl," in 1981. Ultimately, The Four Tops would record only two albums for Casablanca before returning to Motown in 1983, where they recorded their last few albums. Although they ceased recording regularly in 1988, The Four Tops would appear on many TV specials over the years, many of them on PBS. Among the highlights of their television career was the special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, in which they engaged in a vocal duel with The Temptations (personally, I think The Four Tops won...). The group's songs would appear in many movies over the years, including Shaft in Africa, John Carpenter's version of The Thing, Blood Simple, Alien Nation, Forrest Gump, and Auto Focus. The group themselves appeared in the film Grease 2.

Levi Stubbs' strong baritone provided the voice of Audrey II in the musical film version of Little Shop of Horrors. He was also the voice of archvillain Mother Brain on the Saturday morning cartoon Captain N: The Game Master.

It was in 1995 that Stubbs was diagnosed with cancer. He later suffered a stroke. By 2000 his health had failed to the point where he had to cease touring with The Four Tops, although he joined them briefly on stage for their 50th anniversary concert in 2004, which was shown on PBS.

There can be no argument that Levi Stubbs was among the greatest pop and rock vocalists of all time. Even though most of their songs were written for tenor lead vocals, the range and power of Stubbs' voice would lend them an urgency rarely heard in rock or rhythm 'n' blues records before or since. With a natural talent for singing, Stubbs could give emotion to the songs he sang more powerful than the vast majority of performers. There can be no better example of this than in The Four Tops' greatest hits, such as as "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" and "Bernadette." Arguably the most powerful voice to emerge out of Motown, Levi Stubbs will never be forgotten.

Edie Adams Muriel Cigars Commercials

In tribute to the great Edie Adams, who recently passed, I thought I would treat my readers to some of her commercials for Muriel Cigars.

This commercial, aired in 1965, has Edie performing with legendary saxophonist Stan Getz. My apologies for the video quality.




In this particular commercial we are treated to Edie as a blonde, brunette, and redhead (she looks good as all three) in a take off on the Andrews Sisters. It's one of the later adverts, shot in colour.



Another late commercial, this one from 1971. Edie performs "Big Spender." Also appearing in the commercial is boxing champ Joe Frazier and his mom. Edie was 44 when this one was made, and she was still sexier than women half her age. Susan Anton could never replace her!



Another commercial from 1971 with Edie performing "Big Spender." It includes the classic catchphrase "Pick one up and smoke it sometime."



And, as a special treat, here is Edie Adams and the great Ernie Kovacs' appearance on What's My Life. Both are in top form!



Okay, I know I paid tribute to Edie Adams yesterday with a eulogy, but this was EDIE ADAMS!!!

Edie Adams R.I.P.

Chanteuse, comedian, and actress Edie Adams passed Wednesday at the age of 81. She had fought a long battle with cancer before succumbing to pneumonia.

Edie Adams was born Edith Enke in Kingston, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1927. She grew up in Grove City, Pennsylvania and Tenafly, New Jersey. She was drawn into singing by her mother, who being of Welsh descent believed a woman should be able to sing. She received a degree from the Juilliard School of Music and attended the school of drama at Columbia University in Manhattan. In 1950 she won the "Miss U.S. Television" beauty contest. As a prize she won an appearance with Milton Berle in a performance in Minneapolis. Afterwards she made an appearance on his TV show.

This would in turn lead to what may have been the most pivotal part of her career. She was one of the cast of Ernie in Kovacsland, with the great Ernie Kovacs, in 1951. She was also a regular on The Ernie Kovacs Show in 1952. She and Kovacs would marry on September 12, 1954. Adams appeared in a variety of TV shows in the Fifties. She appeared in such dramas as Suspense, Appointment with Adventure, Suspicion, and General Electric Theatre. She played the Fairy Godmother in the TV special Cinderella in 1957. She appeared on such talk shows and variety shows as The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Steve Allen Show, The Tonight Show with Jack Paar, The Perry Como Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show. In the Fifties she appeared on Broadway twice, in Wonderful Town in 1953 and as Daisy Mae in Li'l Abner in 1956 (for which she won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical).

The Sixties saw Adams make her feature film debut in The Apartment. She would appear in several more movies during the decade, including Call Me Bwana, Under the Yum Yum Tree, Lover Come Back, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and Love with the Proper Stranger. Throughout the decade she also appeared on such shows as What's My Line, The Dean Martin Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Carol Burnett Show, and The Lucy Show. In 1963 she would have her own variety show, Here's Edie. September 13, 1962 would be one of the most tragic days of her life, her husband Ernie Kovacs dying in a car crash on that day. The two had worked together from Ernie in Kovacsland, appearing together on such shows as What's My Life, The U. S. Steel Hour, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, and The Perry Como Show.

From the Seventies to the Naughts Adams appeared less frequently in movies, although she did appear in Up in Smoke, The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood, and Boxoffice. On television she appeared in shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Hollywood Squares, McMillan and Wife, Harry O, Bosom Buddies, Murder She Wrote, and It's Garry Shandling's Show.

While well known as a singer and comedian, and as Kovacs' wife and partner, Edie Adams was also well known for her 19 year stint as the spokesman for Muriel cigars. Her sex appeal on full display, in slinky dresses and the highest heels possible, she would ask viewers, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" They were probably some of the sexiest commercials of all time.

I must confess that I have had an enormous crush on Edie Adams since childhood. She was the epitome of the blonde sexpot. But what set her apart from many other beautiful singers and actresses was that Adams had real talent. She'd been classically trained as a singer and it showed in every one of her performances. She was an incredible comedian, with an impeccable sense of timing. She was also a talented actress, often overshadowing better known talents in some of her films (an example, the all star cast in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World). It is no wonder that Ernie Kovacs fell in love with her and married her. Forget about her beauty. She was one of the few women intelligent enough and talented enough to keep up with his genius. Indeed, if Kovacs is still a legend today, much of that is due to Edie Adams. She was a rare performer with multiple talents, able to sing, act, and crack jokes with ease. While she was incredibly sexy, it was her talent and her intelligence that set her above every other Hollywood blonde.

Compser Neal Hefti Passes On

Composer Neal Hefti, best know for the theme to the TV series Batman, passed Saturday at the age of 85.

Hefti was born October 29, 1922 in Hastings, Nebraska. He started playing trumpet while at age eleven in school. By the time he was he was a teenager he was playing in a variety of local bands during the summers. Living near Omaha, Nebraska, he had the chance to see such artists as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. Hefti was only a junior in high school when he broke into the music industry, writing arrangements for local bands. It was only two days before he graduated high school that he received an offer from the Dick Barry band to tour with them. He only worked with them for a short time before being fired. He made his way back from New Jersey to Nebraska where he joined the Bob Astor's band. He remained with the Astor band for a few years before an injury forced him to leave.

Staying in New York, Hefti starting playing with Bobby Byrne and later saxophonist Charlie Barnet, for whom he wrote the arrangement of "Skyliner." He would eventually leave New York to play with the Les Lieber rhumba band in Cuba. Upon returning from Cuba, he joined the Charlie Spivak band. It was when the Spivak band was touring California that he left the band to remain in the state.

It was in Los Angeles in 1944 that Hefti joined up with clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, and band leader Woody Herman's First Herd. The First Herd was more jazz oriented than most swing bands and was among the first to embrace bebop. It was while Hefti was with the First Herd that he started writing bebop influenced ensembles. For the First Herd he composed "Wild Root" and "The Good Earth." Hefti would leave the First Herd in 1946. He wrote for a time Buddy Rich and later Billy Butterfield. He also did arrangements for Henry James's bands. In 1961 he performed with Frank Sinatra on the album Sinatra and Swingin' Brass. He received credit as the album's arranger and conductor.

It would be in 1950 that he started arranging for Count Basie. Eventually Basie would release an album of nothing but Hefti compositions, called Basie: E=MC²=Count Basie Orchestra+Neal Hefti Arrangements or better known as Atomic Basie. While still working with Basie in the Fifites, Hefti also led big bands of his own. He also began to work in Hollywood, composing the score for the movie Jamboree, released in 1957. In 1960 he was the orchestra leader on The Kate Smith Show.

Hefti would be the musical director and composer on the film Sex and the Single Girl, released in 1964. He was also the composer on the Jack Lemmon comedy How to Murder Your Wife. The height of his success may well have come with a TV show that was a national phenomenon from the moment it debuted. Hefti was the musical director on the TV show Batman, which debuted in 1966, and composed its famous themes song. The Batman theme has appeared on lists of the greatest TV show theme songs ever since. Neal Hefti composed the soundtracka for the movies Barefoot in the Park, released in 1967, and The Odd Couple, released in 1968. He would later work upon the TV shows based upon the movies as well. Hefti served as the musical director on the TV series The Fred Astaire Show which debuted in 1968. He would go on to compose music for the movies A New Leaf, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The 500 Pound Jerk, Conspiracy of Terror, and Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood. Well into the Seventies Hefti would perform with various big bands.

Throughout his career Neal Hefti performed with some of the biggest names in the music business, including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Mel Torme, and, as mentioned previously, Frank Sinatra. Despite this, Hefti said that his most satisfying work was for the cinema and television.

Neal Hefti was arguably one of the greatest arrangers and composers in the genres of swing and jazz. He had a profound influence on big bands, having moved the First Herd from swing more towards bebop. He also wrote several well known jazz tunes, including "Wild Root," "Apple Honey," and "Little Pony." He also wrote the Bobby Vinton hit "Lonely Girl." That having been said, his greatest legacy may be the Batman theme. Simple, yet undeniably catchy, it is one of the most famous TV theme songs of all time and is often found on lists of the greatest TV theme songs of all time. To this day, even after several movies, the theme song is identified with the Dark Knight. It is Neal Hefti that people hear when they think of Batman, not Danny Elfman or Hans Zimmer. This may well be the greatest testament to Hefti's skill as a composer and arranger.

Gil Stratton R.I.P.

Actor Gil Stratton passed Saturday from congestive heart failure. He was 86 years old.

Stratton was born Gil Stratton Jr. in Brooklyn on June 2, 1922. He went to school at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. He received a bachelor's degree at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. He had started acting while still in his teens. By age 19 he debuted on Broadway in Best Foot Forward. In 1943 he appeared in the film adaptation of Best Foot Forward and Girl Crazy. His acting career was interrupted by World War II, during which he joined the Army Air Corps.

After World War II ended, Stratton resumed his acting career. He appeared frequently on radio, including on such shows as My Favourite Husband, Broadway is My Beat, Dragnet, and Gunsmoke. He was a regular on Life of Riley, Fibber McGee and Molly, This is Your FBI, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, and My Little Margie.

Stratton also resumed his film career. He appeared in such films as Kilroy Was Here, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, Here Come the Marines, Monkey Business, and Stalag 17 (in which played "Cookie" Cook and provided the narration). He also appeared on television, making his debut in a skit on Your Show of Shows. He would go onto appear in Dragnet, Shower of Stars, Damon Runyon Theatre, and The Red Skelton Show. He was a regular on the series That's My Boy. As the Fifties progressed he appeared in such films as The Wild One, The Girl Rush, and Bundle of Joy.

During the Sixties Stratton put his acting career on hold. He had joined KNXT, Channel 2, in Los Angeles in the mid-Fifties. He would work on television and radio as an announcer and sportscaster well into the Nineties. Despite being a television personality in Los Angeles, he was one of the many Brooklynites who opposed the move of the Dodgers to Los Angeles. He told his viewers that if the Dodgers did move, he would jump off the Santa Monica pier. When the Dodgers did move, Stratton remained true to his word and jumped off the pier.

Stratton would resume his acting career in the late Seventies, appearing on the TV shows Police Story, The Nancy Drew Mysteries, Wonder Woman, and Remington Steele. He also appeared in movies, including The Cat from Outer Space, Inside Moves (playing himself as a sportscaster), and Dismembered.

For Los Angelenos Gil Stratton may be best remembered as a long time sportscaster. For the rest of the United States, however, he is probably better remembered as an actor. While Stratton rarely played major roles, he always gave his best in any part in which he was cast. Indeed, Cookie is one of the characters I remember best from Stalag 17. He was also blessed with an impressive voice, trained not by his years in sportscasting, but more likely from the many years he spent on radio shows. Indeed, he not only played Cookie in Stalag 17, he narrated the movie! Gil Stratton was a talented man with a great voice. He will certainly be missed.