PHOTOS OF THE DAY: THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED

One of the holy grail of movies is Jerry Lewis' The Day The Clown Cried. The 1972 film has never been released, but now that Jerry Lewis has passed away the film may be shown eventually. Here are some stills from that doomed production...

JOE BESSER: THE WORST STOOGE

Actor Joe Besser had a long career as a character actor in Hollywood. He was known for his impish humor and wimpy characters. He is best known for his brief stint as a member of the Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957–59. He is also remembered for his television roles: Stinky, the bratty man-child in The Abbott and Costello Show, and Jillson, the maintenance man in The Joey Bishop Show. Even though it is just my opinion. Joe Besser never really fit in as a Stooge, and I believe he was the worst Stooge of all of them.

The zany comedy team of Olsen and Johnson, whose Broadway revues were fast-paced collections of songs and blackouts, hired Joe Besser to join their company. Besser's noisy intrusions were perfect for their anything-can-happen format. Besser's work caught the attention of the Shubert brothers, who signed Besser to a theatrical contract. Columbia Pictures hired Besser away from the Shuberts, and Besser relocated to Hollywood in 1944, where he brought his unique comic character to feature-length musical comedies like Hey, Rookie and Eadie Was a Lady (1945). On May 9, 1946 Besser appeared on the pioneer NBC television program Hour Glass, performing his "Army Drill" routine with stage partner Jimmy Little. According to an article in the May 27, 1946 issue of Life magazine, the show was seen by about 20,000 people on about 3,500 television sets, mostly in the New York City area. During this period, he appeared on the Jack Benny radio program in the episode entitled "Jack Prepares For Carnegie Hall" in June, 1943. Besser also starred in short-subject comedies for Columbia from 1949 to 1956. By this point, his persona was sufficiently well known that he was frequently caricatured in Looney Tunes animated shorts of the era. He appeared in the action film The Desert Hawk (1950).

Besser had substituted for Lou Costello on radio, opposite Bud Abbott, and by the 1950s he was firmly established as one of the Abbott and Costello regulars. When the duo filmed The Abbott and Costello Show for television, they hired Joe Besser to play Oswald "Stinky" Davis, a bratty, loudmouthed child dressed in an oversized Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit, shorts, and a flat top hat with overhanging brim. He appeared during the first season of The Abbott and Costello Show. Besser was cast for the role of Yonkel, a chariot man in the low-budget biblical film Sins of Jezebel (1953) which starred Paulette Goddard as the titular wicked queen.

After Shemp Howard died of a heart attack on November 22, 1955 at age 60, his brother Moe suggested that he and teammate Larry Fine continue working as "The Two Stooges". Studio chief Harry Cohn rejected the proposal. Although Moe had legal approval to allow new members into the act, Columbia executives had the final say about any actor who would appear in the studio's films, and insisted on a performer already under contract to Columbia: Joe Besser. At the time, Besser was one of a few comedians still making comedy shorts at the studio. He successfully renegotiated his contract, and was paid his former feature-film salary, which was more than the other Stooges earned.

Besser refrained from imitating Curly or Shemp. He continued to play the same whiny character he had developed over his long career. He had a clause in his contract prohibiting being hit excessively. Besser recalled, "I usually played the kind of character who would hit others back".  As a result of his whiny persona and lack of true slapstick punishment against him (the cornerstone of Stooge humor), Joe has been less popular with contemporary Stooge aficionados, so much so, that "Stooge-a-Polooza" TV host Rich Koz has even apologized on the air before showing Besser shorts; during the show's tenure he received more than a few letters from viewers expressing their outrage over his airing them. Besser does have his defenders, however: Columbia historians Edward Watz and Ted Okuda have written appreciatively of Besser bringing new energy to what was by then a flagging theatrical series.

The Stooges shorts with Besser were filmed from the spring of 1956 to the end of 1957. His Stooge tenure ended when Columbia shut down the two-reel-comedy department on December 20, 1957. Producer-director Jules White had shot enough film for 16 comedies, which were released a few months apart until June 1959, with Sappy Bull Fighters being the final release. Moe Howard and Larry Fine discussed plans to tour with a live act, but Besser declined. His wife had suffered a heart attack in November 1957, and he was unwilling to leave without her. In later life, Besser praised Moe and Larry.

While Joe Besser was a great character actor, his stint as a Stooge was largely forgettable. He died on March 1. 1988 - a forgotten footnote in Stooge history...

HISTORY OF A SONG: ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

The song "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" is one of the best songs to ever come out of a comedy! "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is a comedy song written by Monty Python member Eric Idle that was first featured in the film Monty Python's Life of Brian and has gone on to become a common singalong at public events such as football matches as well as funerals.

The song touches on the British trait of stoicism with the "stiff upper lip" spirit in the face of adversity, and became immensely popular. It reached No.3 on the UK Singles Charts in 1991, and the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London featured a live performance of the song by Idle.

Whilst trying to come up with a way of ending the film Monty Python's Life of Brian, Eric Idle wrote an original version of the song which was sung in a more straight fashion, which the other Python members eventually agreed would be good enough for the end of the film. However, Michael Palin noted in his diary for 16 June 1978 that during a script meeting, "Eric's two songs — 'Otto' and the 'Look on the Bright Side' crucifixion song — are rather coolly received before lunch." Despite being initially underwhelmed, the group warmed to Idle's efforts and the song was retained. While practicing during a break in filming, Idle found that it worked better if sung in a more cheeky manner. This new version was used in the film and became one of Monty Python's most famous compositions.

The song appears at the end of the film. The film's lead character Brian Cohen (played by Graham Chapman) has been sentenced to death by crucifixion for his part in a kidnap plot. After a succession of apparent rescue opportunities all come to nothing, a character on a nearby cross (played by Eric Idle) attempts to cheer him up by singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". As the song progresses, many of the other crucifixion victims (140 in all, according to the script, though twenty-three crosses are actually seen on screen) begin to dance in a very restricted way and join in with the song's whistled hook. The song continues as the scene changes to a long-shot of the crosses and the credits begin to roll. An instrumental version plays over the second half of the credits. Its appearance at the end of the film, when the central character seems certain to die, is deliberately ironic.

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was arranged and conducted by John Altman and recorded at Chappell's Studio with a full orchestra and the Fred Tomlinson Singers. The song appeared on the film soundtrack album, listed as "Look on the Bright Side of Life (All Things Dull and Ugly)". The subtitle does not appear in the actual song, and is only used on the soundtrack album. "All Things Dull and Ugly" was also the title of an unrelated track on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album (released only a few months later), which is a parody of the popular hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful". The song was also released as a Double A side single with "Brian", the film's opening theme (performed by Sonia Jones).

When Chapman died on 4 October 1989, the five remaining Pythons, as well as Chapman's close friends and family, came together at his public memorial service to sing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" as part of Idle's eulogy...

UPDATE: GRAVE MARKER FOR HELEN FORREST

Congratulations and a thank you are in order for Don Romano. He organized a campaign to raise money for a tombstone for big band singer in Helen Forrest. His campaign was successful and became a reality finally!

Helen Forrest was one of the most popular female singers in the United States in the 1940's. She was known as "the voice of the name bands" and was the girl singer for the bands of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James. She is regarded by some as the best female vocalist of the swing era.

July 11, 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of her passing. She is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, in Los Angeles. Her only surviving son, Michael, passed away on May 1, 2014. At her plot right now is this pitiful twenty-year-old temporary marker.

Here is what Don Ramano had to say:

"Friends, I have some great news. Earlier this year, I started a GoFundMe campaign to put a marker at Helen Forrest's burial site at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California. A temporary marker had been placed at the site since her passing in 1999. Today, on the twentieth anniversary of her passing, I am happy to report she has been memorialized with a beautiful granite marker. The marker was just set on Monday July 8, 2019. None of this would have been possible without your donations, shares, and support. The sentiment on Helen's marker was not only a #1 hit for her and Artie Shaw's band in 1939 (written by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon) but also reflects our gratitude for Helen's work. And to all of you who supported me in this mission, I say, 'Thanks for Ev'rything'!"

Thanks for everything Don Ramano! And thank you for helping Helen Forrest get the memorial that she deserves...

RECENTLY VIEWED: HALLOWEEN

I am not a big fan of the Halloween or Friday The 13th genre of horror movies. I was too young and scared to get into them the first time around. However, I was bored on a Saturday night and watched the latest remake of Halloween on HBO. It really was not too bad, but boy has Jamie Lee Curtis aged! Halloween is a 2018 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Green, Jeff Fradley, and Danny McBride, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle who reprise their respective roles as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, with stuntman James Jude Courtney also portraying Myers. It is the eleventh installment in the Halloween film series and a direct sequel to Halloween (1978) while effecting a retcon of all previous sequels. The plot follows a post-traumatic Laurie Strode who prepares to face Michael Myers in a final showdown on Halloween night, forty years after she survived his killing spree.

After failing to develop a new Halloween film in time, Dimension Films lost the production rights for a sequel, which reverted to Miramax, which then joined with Blumhouse Productions. In May 2016, a new installment was officially announced, with original co-creator John Carpenter's involvement as a composer, executive producer, and creative consultant.

Halloween premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 19, 2018, by Universal Pictures, the distributor's first involvement with the series since Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many considering it to be both the best Halloween sequel and a return to form for the series. It has grossed over $255 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise and the highest-grossing slasher film in unadjusted dollars, breaking a record that Scream had previously set, as well as breaking several other box office records. A sequel is in early development (of course!)

Jamie Lee Curtis never impressed me as an actress, but this was the role that made her. If you forget about all of the pointless sequels in between the 1st film and this film, then this is a great movie. Curtis does a good job playing a withdrawn and alcoholic slasher victim. Throughout the film, people try to get Michael Myers to talk, and he never does - I wish he would have said something, even a word. Perhaps in the sequel! I'm glad I did not go see the film in the movies, but it was a great film on a rainy Saturday night on television. The theme music alone is worth it!

MY RATING: 7 OUT OF 10

A TRIBUTE TO GARY BEACH - ONE YEAR LATER

Gary Beach was one of  the true greats of Broadway that the world sadly lost a year ago today. His memory will always live on...

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: THE CAST OF THE MUSIC MAN

One of my all-time favorite movie musicals was 1962's The Music Man. The musical originated on Broadway and became a huge movie hit. Everyone who is a fan of the movie know the cast such as Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, and a young Ron Howard, but I wanted to spotlight some of the supporting cast and where they are now.

PERT KELTON (Mrs. Paroo) played the mother of Shirley Jones and Ron Howard. I always thought she was too old to be Ron Howard's mom. She originated her role on Broadway with Robert Preston. Her first movie was 1929's Sally. Kelton was the original Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners comedy sketches on the DuMont Television Network's Cavalcade of Stars. Due to being blacklisted in the 1950s, she did not have as successfule career as she could have. A resident of Washington Township, Bergen County, New Jersey, Kelton died of a heart attack on October 30, 1968, at age 61 while swimming at the YMCA in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

SUSAN LUCKEY (Zaneeta Shinn) played the daughter of the town's mayor (Paul Ford). Throughout the movie she was explaim "Eeeee gads!".  Luckey was best known for her roles in Carousel and The Music Man. She co-starred as the daughter of Billy Bigelow's character, played by Gordon MacRae, in Carousel. he 'iconic scene' of Susan Luckey and Timmy Everett kissing on the jungle gym may have taken place on-stage, but was not in the film version of The Music Man. Her last film was the 1966 small movie, Step Out of Your Mind. She left Hollywood and died of liver failure at the age of 74 on November 29, 2012.

TIMMY EVERETT (Tommy Djilas) played the town trouble maker who falls for the mayor's daughter. Timmy did not have much luck in Hollywood. His major role was The Music Man and an appearance on TV's "Ben Casey". He began performing at the age of 14, and was a popular Broadway actor by the late 1950s.  He became an actor teacher but was a heavy smoker and drinker. He died in a fleabag hotel he was renting in New York on March 4. 1977. He was only 39.

THE BUFFALO BILLS (nameless) appeared as members of the school board that try to investigate Robert Preston. In 1956, composer Meredith Willson was looking for a quartet to appear in his new musical "The Music Man". The Bills won the audition and were cast in the play, which was to open on Broadway. The only surviving member of the Buffalo Bills is Jim Jones, who lives in Orlando, Florida. Only Reed and Shea were with the Bills throughout their entire existence. Internal issues and some health problems caused the quartet to be disbanded. Shea died in 1968, Ward in 1988, Reed in 1992, Smith in 2007, and Grapes in 2015.