MONDAY, June 7, 2010

Illinois Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk confessed to reporters that contrary to claims in his campaign ads, his plane was not shot at in Iraq, he was not in Operation Desert Storm and he was never named “Intelligence Officer of the Year” or commanded the Pentagon’s war room.  In Mark‘s defense, though, GOP officials point out that he actually does shop at Old Navy.

Scientists at Canada’s Concordia University have created cloth, woven with wireless sensors, that can track the wearer’s vital signs including temperature, heart rate, and breathing.  If all goes according to plan, Armani will soon market the “Dr. Georgio 500” -- a business suit that can give you a complete physical.

An Air Force test pilot recently set a world record by flying an experimental attack jet six times the speed of sound.  To put that speed in terms the average laymen can understand, by the time the rockets he fired hit their target, he was retired and working as a lobbyist for Boeing.

Astronomers have confirmed that a huge explosion on Jupiter photographed last year by an Australian amateur was probably caused by a giant asteroid that left a crater the size of the Pacific Ocean.  It was the worst damage to the solar system since Kirstie Alley started that grease fire in the kitchen of Planet Hollywood.

A collection of items including letters, a daily diary and an cigar that once belonged to Winston Churchill will be auctioned by Christie’s.   Is this the end, you might ask?  This isn’t even the beginning of the end -- but it might be the end of the beginning.
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Excerpted From THE LAUGH MAKERS  


Bob Hope and Bing Crosby met while working in vaudeville.  A mutual friend who thought they would compliment each other on stage, introduced them.   The friend was correct -- they seemed to have an immediate rapport and enjoyed visiting each other on the circuit where they would do short comedy bits called “cross-overs” (i.e., Two lawyers running into each other… they meet center stage and pick each others pocket.)  A producer at Paramount Pictures Corporation in Hollywood happened to see them on stage together and sensed they might be able to transfer the chemistry they shared from stage to screen.  Thus, the “road” pictures were born -- a collaboration that would prove to be one of the most successful film franchises in the history of Hollywood.

In the fall of 1977, news of Bing’s death stunned Hope since both were the same age (born twenty-seven days apart in 1903) and, while not the pals the Road pictures had led the public to believe — they seldom saw each other socially — they had been inordinately successful business partners and shared a mutual respect.  While interacting on the screen, both performers seemed a lot alike.  In truth, they were not.  Hope was gregarious and enjoyed his fans while Bing was more of a loner, preferring to get his work done so he could get back to the tenth tee.  Between takes on a movie set, Hope enjoyed exchanging banter with the crew working behind the camera and counted many of them among his friends.  Bing, on the other hand, was notorious for sitting by himself, engaged in some lone activity like checking race results to see how his horses had done. 

In truth, Hope was something short of the “hail-fellow-well-met” that he appeared to be on the screen, but hardly the icy tycoon that some in Hollywood imagined him to be — a characterization that could, at times, accurately describe his pal, Bing.  In the early forties the Friars’ Club, an exclusive fraternity of successful actors and comedians, decided to honor Hope with a roast.  Though a seat on the dais had been reserved for him, Bing, a Friars’ board member, failed to show up.  Later, when asked by a reporter why he hadn’t attended Hope’s roast, Bing replied, “I wasn’t hungry.”

Tomorrow:  Hope and Barbara Eden as Koalas

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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