The trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on charges of racketeering, wire fraud, extortion and bribery in attempting to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat has begun in Chicago. Prosecutors say they have audio tape proving the allegations while Rod says he’ll counter with video tape taken by a camera hidden in his hair.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has released the performance rights of “Phantom of the Opera” to high school drama departments. The rights to “Cats” are also included in the waiver providing the schools agree to advertise Andrew’s “Scat-A-Way” kitty litter on the sides of their buses.
In a survey conducted by Entertainment Weekly magazine, subscribers chose Homer Simpson the greatest TV character to emerge in the past 20 years. An historic choice since Homer is the first cartoon character voiced by a human to receive such an honor -- unless, of course, you count Larry King.
The classic 1964 Astin-Martin roadster driven by James Bond in “Thunderball” is up for auction. The seller guarantees that it’s exactly as it was in the film except, in compliance with demands of the National Safety Council, the ejection seat now has a belt and shoulder harness.
Bowing to pressure from womens rights groups, the Saudi Arabian government now requires marriage contracts to include the bride’s age after a 12-year-old girl was found to be married to an 80-year-old man. There has never been such a case in the U.S. -- if you discount all those Andy Rooney-Miley Cyrus rumors.
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Excerpted From THE LAUGH MAKERS
When Les Brown retired, his musical director, Bob Alberti, was drafted to conduct on- camera. I got to know Bob well during my years with Hope and traveled with him to many countries — Australia, England, Tahiti, Sweden — but not China. The reason Bob sent Geoff Clarkson, Hope’s pianist, to work that show was because it violated his personal rule against visiting a non-English speaking country. Bob was inconsistent, though. He didn’t seem to mind visiting non-English speaking states, willingly working on shows we taped in the South. Just kidding. (I think.)
Bob came from a musical dynasty that could be traced back several generations in Italy. He had perfect pitch and during rehearsals could ferret out an errant note coming from any section of the band. If he suspected a player was hitting a clunker, he’d use the mixing-board in the control booth to isolate the section from which he thought it was coming. Then, he’d stop the band and say something like “Larry, you’re playing an F sharp in bar sixteen. Should be an F.” Once, after doing this he said to me, “I don’t know why I’m so picky. At home, they’ll be listening to this on a three-inch speaker.”
We were on the road one time, and Glen Campbell lost a bag that contained the arrangement of his hit “Southern Nights” that he was scheduled to sing on the special. Bob withdrew to his room and within two hours returned with a complete orchestral arrangement of the song that he had reconstructed from memory. Even Glen (no stranger to chromatic scales) was impressed.
Throughout the sixties and seventies, Bob was a musical fixture in Hollywood, working on shows as diverse as The Hollywood Palace, Hee-Haw, Name That Tune, and The Harlem Globetrotter’s Popcorn Machine where he met his wife, Shirley, who was an assistant producer on that show and later became a production coordinator on Barney Miller. Today, they live in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Next week: Were Hope and Crosby as friendly off-screen as they appeared on it?
Order THE LAUGH MAKERS on line:
http://www.amazon.com/LAUGH-MAKERS-Behind-Scenes-Incredible/product-reviews/1593933231/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_2?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=2
Also available in an unabridged audio version read by the author:
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UK orders:
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A Longtime Bob Hope Joke Writer Presents Daily Insightful Topical Satire Of Current Events (Illustrated) Plus Rare Photos From Hollywood's Bygone Era And Excerpts From THE LAUGH MAKERS By Robert L. Mills -- Color Photos From the Book and Rare Classic Vintage Video Clips! Send Your Show Biz Questions to "ASK BOB" at: TheLaughMakers@GMail.com
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