"It's Been Real" - A View From The Stage At The Paley Event

(Robert Smigel, George Schlatter, Jolene Brand Schlatter, Pat Mitchell, Ben Model and
Joel Hodgson between flashbulbs on the red carpet at the Paley Center for Media.)

Preparing for the Kovacs panel event on April 12 found me cramming like this was the Kovacs LSAT’s. Re-reviewing less-common content from the new set and boning up on facts in the Kovacs chronology from the three books on Ernie as well as notable facts I’d figured out in my own research. And then the question came up – what about Lollos?

My good friend, photographer Steve Friedman, had introduced me to John Lollos a couple of years back when I’d begun doing research for the Kovacs set. If you’re a credit-reader, you’ll know this name. John Lollos is the guy who conceived and produced “The Best of Ernie Kovacs”  that aired on public television in 1977. He’s had a long and varied career in TV and theater as well, and graciously chatted with me at length about the back-story of making “Best Of” and getting it on the air.

So, when Steve posed this question to me, I had a “D’oh!” moment – John lives in the tri-state area and could certainly get to Paley. It was only fitting that the man responsible for the forty- and fifty-somethings’ having discovered Kovacs through the “Best Of” series – to say nothing of the next generation down who’d found the show on home video or in pieces on YouTube – should be in the house that night. I had bought a block of tickets the moment they went on sale, and had one for Mr. Lollos, and as it turned out he was able to attend the Paley event.

The “green room” for us panelists was upstairs in the executive offices where there was a large antique card table and bookcases whose shelves also hosted many radio mike frames with call letters of stations long gone. When I entered I found Mr. Olbermann chatting with the Schlatters, exchanging stories of classic broadcasting comedy…Bob & Ray, Laugh-In etc. Paley Chief Curator Ron Simon invited me to sit at the table and, after being introduced, I basically nodded and smiled while stories were told. Smigel and Hodgson arrived soon after, and I chatted with them a little. I'd been in touch with Joel in the late 90s when he was doing an online ant farm website. After that I hovered in the background, being a little more comfortable hanging out with curator folk.

Photos were taken, and then we were escorted downstairs where we were miked just outside the Paley’s video control room. (Mr. Schlatter disappeared inside for a few minutes...I'm sure it was hard to resist.) We then entered the auditorium to applause, and the evening began.

The clip reel, assembled by Paley curator Barry Monush, ran 17 minutes (impressive, considering how much material there is) to a great response. It won’t really be necessary to go into details on what was discussed during the panel here. I noticed when I took my seat onstage that there were two young-ish people in the back row typing on laptops. Turns out the event was being tweeted live on the Paley’s Twitter feed. Rather than make you go there and try to find April 12 on it, I got screen grabs of the evening’s feed, and have posted them here (scroll way down to the bottom).

Ron Simon and I had coordinated running a pair of Dutch Master spots during the panel, but the discussion and Q&A went on without an opportunity to run these. I managed to point out John Lollos, seated in the second row, during the evening and he got a real nice hand. During the Q&A John spoke and talked about the challenge of including the DM spots on the “Best Of” shows, as commercials were not shown on PBS in 1977. Olbermann picked up on this and made it a segue to the DM spots, which we then ran.

We each made a final statement to wrap up the evening, with Keith’s closing being a warm call to arms for all us fans to share Kovacs programs with people, now that we all have our hands on them.

In the end, many of the Kovacs facts I'd crammed my cranium with went unused, and I managed to hold up okay alongside everyone else on the panel who had way more credibility, fame, etc than I did. Part of what helped was the way Olbermann addressed me and asked questions. My agenda was to make sure we all acknowledged Edie Adams and the work she did with Ernie and later, saving his shows. I managed to work that in, and Keith pointed out Josh Mills in the audience. The evening was a spectacular success and I think we were all floating for a bit for a few hours after it all ended.

With all the pre-ordered DVD sets arriving in fans' mailboxes this week, my hope is that the euphoria over Kovacs will expand and ripple outward...once you've all come up for air after what will probably be a number of marathon viewings of the 15+ hours of Kovacs shows (not 13 hours – you did order from Shout, didn't you?).

It's really been real.

Ben Model
Kovacsland Online

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"Festival Of Magic" Hosted By Ernie Kovacs

Good evening Kovacsians. I have something for you that I know you'll enjoy.

Kovacs fans know that outside of the "Best Of Collection" and the ten films he appeared in, there is a dearth of material with Ernie in it that is available for purchase. Now, however, there is something you can add to the list.

"Producers Showcase: Festival Of Magic" aired on NBC on Monday, May 27, 1957. Ernie acts as the emcee for this extravaganza which you can now purchase from The Miracle Factory, the company which produces it. Todd Karr, who owns The Miracle Factory, was nice enough to send us a copy for review.

The program itself is an ode to the big production number/variety shows from television's golden age. From a magic standpoint it has a wonderful theme; grand stage illusions are performed by magicians from the far corners of the world.

There's Robert Harbin , the British magician who invented the famous "Zig Zag Girl" illusion, a version of which he does here and who for purposes of the show is from "South Africa". Then from "Asia" there is "Li King Si" (a Frenchman born Edouard 'Georges' Cassel), Sorcar from India, Rene Septembre from France, June Merlin from Ireland and Milbourne Christopher from the United States.

But for me the highlight of the magic is the genius of the Englishman Richard Pitchford, better known to the world as "Cardini". This is the only performance of his full act available on film and it's something well worth seeing. He's like a great actor; the delivery and the magic together make for a fine performance and I find it amazing that unlike the other magicians, who are working with much bigger items and/or animals, Cardini pulls off his act with just playing cards and cigarettes. Truly phenomenal, a master of sleight of hand and very funny as well, the perfect compliment to EK.

"So what about Ernie?" you may be asking. In her book "Kovacsland: A Biography Of Ernie Kovacs" author Diana Rico describes him as doing a sword balancing act and performing some running "magic" gags in which he shoots, saws and otherwise tries to destroy some NBC Vice Presidents. This is an apt description; EK, who wrote his own bits for this show, is using them as a jibe at the meddling ways of television executives, something he was famous for loathing. Before addressing the assemblage of "executives" for the first time he tells the audience:

"Some of the gentleman with whom I've been at odds occasionally, the NBC Vice Presidents, felt that perhaps I might not restrain myself in doing a magic show; they're a little bit skeptical."

After turning to look at them he says:

"You've been here all day; it's awfully difficult to work with them here."

He then opens with a "trick" in which he attempts to make one of them vanish inside a large cabinet. Very telling.

Ernie performs all the "tricks" as himself so you won't be seeing "Matzoh Hepplewhite: Itinerant Magician". There is also no interaction between Ernie and the magicians themselves; he does his bits at the end of the acts before the commercial breaks and then again coming in from the breaks before the next act, then announces the act. This could have been a "meddling vice president" choice; Ernie was at his best when riffing with people or performers not used to his brand of humor so it seems odd that this was not pursued.

This is not going to go down on record as Ernie's greatest hosting performance. It's from a time period several months after his fill-in stint as permanent guest host of Steve Allen's "Tonight!" and was at a point when Ernie did not have a show of his own but was still under contract to NBC. For this reason it's apparent that it's of the "let's get Kovacs to host this magic show" variety, since NBC could never quite figure out what to do with Ernie in a show of his own. At points he's reading from cue cards and seems to not be all that into it.

That being said Ernie's bits when he's allowed to be Ernie have their moments; wind-up toy animals talk, there's a visual bit where he has a conversation with a tiny man in a pith helmet and of course the attempts to execute TV middle management disguised as illusions are great, if simply for that reason that it's obvious what his point is. Amongst the "executives" Kovacs stalwarts will recognize the veteran character actor Henry Lascoe and actor/singer Peter Hanley, both Kovacs show regulars. Hanley of course is famous for introducing the song "Solfeggio" to Ernie; he brought it into work one day to use as a singing exercise and it's the song that inspired Ernie to create the "The Nairobi Trio" and then became the music for same.

The DVD itself was made from a tape of an excellent kinescope; for the most part it looks and sounds fine with the occasionally audio and video glitches you might expect but completely watchable. Originally the producers had intended to include the original commercials but left them out because they felt it slowed down the show's pace, however, you do get to see who the sponsors are during the show opening. There is a choice on the DVD menu called "Commercials" but it is simply a little bit of comedy with EK before a commercial break. Running time is slightly over an hour and fifteen minutes which means the original show was probably 90 minutes. The cost of this DVD is $35.

All in all a very enjoyable "hour and a quarter"; as I write this I can hear my relatives laughing in the other room at EK's antics. That's as good an endorsement as any. If you're an Ernie fan, magic fan or both (and most people who read this blog are), then I suggest you pick up a copy.

Here's a short trailer so you'll have an idea what you're getting:


Until next time, "It's Been Real!"

Dancing Office Furniture Trivia

OK fellow Kovacsians, its time for a new trivia question and I promise its not as hard as the last one:

"What is the name of the music used as the soundtrack to Ernie's famous "Musical Office" sketch and who performed it?"

If you'd like to the view the sketch you can do so either by looking on the VHS "Best Of Kovacs" collection or the DVD. On the DVD its chapter 8 on the menu and is called "Musical Office." On the VHS series the sketch is located on Volume One, which is the tape in the dark red box. "The Turksville Trolley Blog" also has a stream of the sketch which you can view by clicking here.

This is one of my all time favorite Ernie sketches; its an absolute piece of inspired genius that works splendidly on both visual and musical levels. The late, great author David Walley who wrote "The Ernie Kovacs Phile" (a wonderful book that every Kovacsian should own) put a series of appendices in the back which are quite informative. Appendix B is the "text of memo sent to staff for third Special, taped May 28, 1961, aired May 15, 1961 (I realize that the dates don't seem to make chronological sense, but that's what it says). This is Ernie's memo to the staff about how to execute the bit and also contains what he called the bit, which is a hint to part of the song title. Its an amazing read, as is the whole book so get a hold of it if you don't already own it. The book had several printings and is also known as "Nothing In Moderation: A Biography Of Ernie Kovacs." Many libraries have a copy.

Every week I say thanks to anyone who has accepted a friend request from or put in a friend request to the Ernie Kovacs MySpace Fan Page. We are up to 372 friends from last week's total of 361. Please tell your friends about us if they don't know and ask them to put in a request if they have a MySpace page.

When I started acting back in around 1988 I did a student film at the State University Of New York At Purchase. Parker Posey, an amazing actress whose films are well worth you time, was a student there and was the lead in the film. She's in a new film called Fay Grim and this review mentions Ernie. Since I love them both I thought I'd share it with you.

Well, fellow Kovacsians, I close this week with my usual list of blogs and articles that mention our dear friend Ernie:

Bad Banana's Blog has a video of a couple of Ernie "Dutch Master's" Spots AND a great piece
about Ernie and advertising

An interesting post from the "Hadleybloggers" about the Golden Age Of Television

The "Other Side Of The Rainbow" wrote a piece with an Ernie reference that had me laughing out loud for several minutes

"10Speed3" with an interesting take on Ernie and the Internet video craze which I am in agreement with

Until next week friends, "Its Been Real!!"