Death Pool

Fraoch wrote:Richard Bull (aka Nels Oleson).

Sometimes Mr. Moseley on Downton Abbey reminds me of Richard Bull (back in the LHOP days).

I just read about Shirley Temple. I haven't seen too many of her movies, but this one hit me hard. :(

Was home sick and saw about Shirley Temple. Best child star EVER and she grew up fairly normal and was an ambassador. I read her autobiography and she did lull and go woe is me, she was candid and admitted to crushing on Joel McCrae as a a child. She definitely had a full life.

I liked the story about how that Hollywood bigwig pulled down his pants, but it was the first time Shirley'd ever seen penis, and she burst out laughing. He threw her out of his office.

I'm mostly surprised that she was only 85.

I've always found that Shirley Temple movies hold up really well. She really was a charming child.

Hulu has a one hour biography of her in their Hollywood Collection.

I grew up with Shirley and always admired what she did after acting. Her real life friendship with Bill Robinson was very sweet and she always made me cry when she discussed him.

I never knew she was US Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.

I read her autobiography, and I've always admired her for putting her child star past behind her (in spite of being left with none of the money she made) and pursuing a very good career as well as having a happy personal life. On other other hand, it's probably unpopular to say this, but I find her career as a child unsettling and moderately creepy and have no interest in her films.

It's not entirely unpopular to find her films unsettling.  One reviewer noted that in Wee Willike Winkie  she was a bitt too coquettish for a kid and that the men's  interest in her was not exactly innocent.http://flavorwire.com/438219/that-time-nine-year-old-shirley-temple-got-slut-shamed-by-graham-greene/

Ii just find it amazing she did all that dancing and singing as a child! And that she was possibly in the first interracial dancing partnership with Bojangles Robinson.

The Glen wrote:I read her autobiography, and I've always admired her for putting her child star past behind her (in spite of being left with none of the money she made) and pursuing a very good career as well as having a happy personal life. On other other hand, it's probably unpopular to say this, but I find her career as a child unsettling and moderately creepy and have no interest in her films.

I don't think it's that unpopular.  Have you ever seen her early short films?  Audiences back then thought they were cute, but if you watch them now they look creepy as hell.

Lurker wrote:It's not entirely unpopular to find her films unsettling.  One reviewer noted that in Wee Willike Winkie  she was a bitt too coquettish for a kid and that the men's interest in her was not exactly innocent.http://flavorwire.com/438219/that-time-nine-year-old-shirley-temple-got-slut-shamed-by-graham-greene/

Oh God, I must have suppressed the details of that. He got it right about the main point, that she was being fetishised, but that he put it on her was really wrong. I understand the libel case, actually. He could have chosen to criticise the studio.

Ii just find it amazing she did all that dancing and singing as a child!  And that she was possibly in the first interracial dancing partnership with Bojangles Robinson.

That is true, and it's nice to be reminded of things like that rather than her child persona. As a person and as a performer she was admirable in many ways.

Crowbridge wrote:I don't think it's that unpopular.  Have you ever seen her early short films?  Audiences back then thought they were cute, but if you watch them now they look creepy as hell.

Well, maybe not that unpopular. It surprises me how many people say they grew up with her films, though. I don't remember seeing any as I was growing up. But then she was probably never the institution here that she was in the States.

Sid Ceaser.

I'm sorry to hear about Sid Caesar. He was a funny, funny man.

I wish I knew more about Sid Ceasar, but never saw his show.  Isn't Neil Simon's play,Laughter on the ?? Floor based on Sid Caesar's show? (Can't remember which floor the laughter was coming from.)

My Favorite Year was also a riff on Sid Caesar's show.

And now I know it was released back in 1982, which makes me a thousand years old.

You can find many of the sketches from "Your Show of Shows" on YouTube. They're definitely worth checking out.

Lurker wrote:I wish I knew more about Sid Ceasar, but never saw his show.  Isn't Neil Simon's play,Laughter on the ?? Floor based on Sid Caesar's show? (Can't remember which floor the laughter was coming from.)

The 23rd floor.

The man's writer's room included (at various times) Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, and an assortment of names that are less well-known, but no less influential for that.

It's like all American comedy of the last half of the 20th century can be traced back to him or to Monty Python.

Poor Sid -- I remember hearing an interview with Mel Brooks where he said Sid had been suffering for awhile now. I'm glad that he's at peace.

But I will miss his comedy. That show was like the big bang of modern American comedy.

Wow, that's 2 deaths in 2 days of people that I thought had already passed on. My main memory of Sid Caesar is Grease, but I feel like he was also in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? Am I remembering wrong?

As for Shirley Temple, I think I've only ever seen 2 of her movies (Poor Little Rich Girl and The Little Princess), but I still feel like she was part of my childhood somehow. My office had an impromptu memorial for her yesterday with Shirley Temple drinks and animal crackers and I've had "animal crackers in my soup" in my head ever since. It's quite the earworm!

He like everyone else in the world was in Its a Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Look up the Sid Ceaser show on youtube. There's some amazing comedy right there. And I always love Mel Brooks' stories about Sid and how strong he was.

I only knew of him by reputation as a comedy legend, but off to spend some time watching his show.

Cutebutpsycho wrote:Look up the Sid Ceaser show on youtube. There's some amazing comedy right there. And I always love Mel Brooks' stories about Sid and how strong he was.

I second this recommendation. One thing that I notice in his performances is his generosity with the other players, and his willingness to let them get the laughs in service to the sketch.