Ernie Kovacs: The ABC Specials

April 19th, 2012, will mark the one year anniversary of the release of "The Ernie Kovacs Collection" DVD set. Today is the release day for "Ernie Kovacs: The ABC Specials," which is disc 5 from the original set. You can click the link above to learn more about the content of this disc, or the photo ad to purchase it.

Here is a great review from from Dusty Somers of "blogcritics.org."

I've been writing about Ernie for a long time now and highly recommend this packaging of the specials as a fantastic way to introduce the uninitiated to Ernie's work. This is when Ernie was really pushing the video envelope; everything was shot on videotape (no film) and new, innovative special effects and editing techniques were used.  What Ernie did back then with so little is what has influenced so much that is done with video by today's computer generation.  The material on this disc is a MUST SEE for video artists.

Special #6, from November 24, 1961, is the classic "Silent Show," aka "Eugene." This alone is worth the relatively inexpensive "price of admission" for this disc.

Yesterday would have been the 85th birthday of Edie Adams and this disc is a fitting tribute to her.  Without Edie's tireless efforts so much of Ernie's work would have been lost forever.  Special thanks also goes to "Shout Factory!" for releasing it, Edie's son Josh Mills for making that possible and of course to Ben Model, our friend, blog contributor and Kovacs Historian/Curator.  Ben was instrumental in putting this material together.

And speaking of Ben, he'll be hosting a great panel discussion on Ernie and Edie next Friday, April 27, 2012, at the "Museum Of The Moving Image" in Astoria, a section of the lovely borough of Queens, in the wonderful city of New York.  It promises to be great: just take a look at the stellar panel that's been assembled.  And, from what I understand, another stellar panelist is to be added soon (I'll tweet that when it happens).

Do you love Ernie and Edie?  Do you enjoy Greek diners run by charming folks who will remind you of Miklos Molnar?   Well, then buy this disc and get yourself out to Queens next Friday for some dinner and a show!

Until next time fellow Kovacsians:  "It's Been Real!"

Springtime For Ernie Kovacs And Edie Adams: Paley Center And DVD Set

Spring is here and there is a great deal going on in Kovacsland. I haven't posted anything in a while and in light of all that is happening I figured it was about time that I did (my thanks to Ben Model for posting and keeping the blog fresh with some great news).

1. If you're going to be in New York City (Manhattan) tomorrow, I strongly suggest that you buy tickets to It’s Been Real: The Life and Legacy of Ernie Kovacs at the Paley Center For Media.  This event features a stellar panel, including our own Ben Model, and starts Tuesday, April 12th, 2011, at 6:30pm. 

2.  The Paley Center festivities are a week prior to the official release of Shout Factory's "The Ernie Kovacs Collection" 6 DVD set , which is Tuesday, April 19th, 2011. If you pre-order the set, you'll get a bonus 7th DVD for free; you can do so by clicking on the link or on the banner in the upper left corner of this blog. To get the bonus disc you must order the set directly from Shout Factory and clicking one of the aforementioned links takes you directly to the set's page on their site; do not order from Barnes And Noble, Amazon, etc., if you want the bonus disc.  Ben Model was the curator for this fantastic new release, the first of Ernie's work in years and much of it not seen since it originally aired.  I've discussed it with Ben and you have my word that this is the definitive collection and one that Kovacs fans everywhere should own.  The two emails that I get most frequently ask whether it's possible to see the live color version of "Eugene" ("The Silent Show") or footage of Ernie hosting "Tonight".   They are included on this new set, "Eugene" on one of the main discs and the "Tonight" clips on the bonus disc.    You can read a full summary of what's on the discs here.   

3.  A special thanks goes to Josh Mills, Edie Adams son who runs Ediad Productions Inc., for bringing all of this wonderful new material to the fans.  Josh has started two websites, one for Edie and one for Ernie (screen captures of the sites are to the left).  The information provided on them is great and I'm thrilled to have both join with my site and Ben's to continue promoting the legacy of these two wonderful video artists. If you need to acquire the rights to any video footage Josh is the person to contact and you can do so through either of the sites he runs; I'll often get emails asking about this.   

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

Kovacs Memorabilia Auction Feb 21-22 2009 In Texas

A pair of Ernie's Percy Dovetonsils glasses are among many piece of Kovacs memorabilia slated for the auction block on Feb 21-22 at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas Texas.

You may never get a chance to see any of these items again, but you can take a gander at the auction preview page. Click here to go directly to the list of Ernie Kovacs stuff. In each item display, just above each item image, there is a text box that says "turn off/on Pan & Zoom Images". Turn it off and then click on the image to see it in high resolution. For instance, you'll see that the black horizontal "eyelids" on Percy's glasses were drawn on.

There are also two books that have been hollowed out with some sort of sound or light effect inside. Ernie tried out the "library" sequence of the 1957 Silent Show a couple times when he was hosting Tonight in November and December of 1956. These prop books may be from those dry runs. Kinescopes survive for at least one of those Tonight episodes.

Below is an image for four title cards up for auction, in a lot, which are not identified but I believe these are from Kovacs Unlimited (CBS, 1952-54), as Schroeder was one of the puppets used on the show. The puppet is still around, in the collection of a relative of Andy McKay.


Anyone with deep pockets live near Dallas? Paging Mr. Letterman...!

Eugene on ABC

Here's a nice still I picked up on eBay recently. Caught my eye because of Ernie's "Eugene" costume (the shoes are a dead give-away, even if Kovacs isn't wearing the hat). Flanking Ernie are Bobbie Lauher and Maggie Brown, who were part of the ensemble cast for the ABC specs.

At right is the memo from ABC's photo department, attached to the photo, showing the program's airdate and time.

It's been real!

Ben

The Masked Man Finally Is Un-Masked!

OK. I know that there are many of you that are dying to know the answers to the infamous trivia question and I'm happy to say that someone has finally gotten it. I promise I won't keep you in suspense for much longer.

But first, I want to thank (as I always do each week) anyone who has accepted a friend request or requested to be a friend on Ernie's MySpace Fan Page. As of my last post there were 348 friends and there are now 361. Please let other Ernie fans who have MySpace pages know about us if they don't already. We will gladly process their friend requests.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The trivia question was answered by our dear MySpace friend Brian, pictured to the left ( I think this photo may have been taking after some painful dental surgery). Here are the answers. Ernie would have been proud:

1. What was the name of this western?
"Das Einsame Aufseher"

2. What is the LITERAL translation of the title.
"The Lonely Overseer"


3. Who is the character a satire of? The Lone Ranger

4. What is the name of the desperado Ernie is going to fight, as played by Joe Mikolas? "Schwarze Bart"

5. What is the translation of the desperado's name?
"Black Bart" (Or "Black Beard" since Bart = beard in German)

6. What does Ernie put in his six shooter? "Silber Kugels!" = silver bullets

7. What language are they supposedly speaking in this "European Western?"
Mangled German

Brian speaks some German and I accept his answers as more correct than the ones I came up with when I first wrote the question. I thought that "Das Einsame Aufseher" meant "The Lonely Custodians," but that was probably because the translation website I used is inaccurate.

Here's Brian's take on it:

In fact, I remembered the whole sketch except for the word "Aufseher", and had to play the video to get that. "Aufseher" means literally "out-seer", and the dictionary says it means overseer or supervisor. I think Kovacs might have meant it in the sense of a scout, which would be "Spaher" (umlaut (little dots) over the a). I speak enough German to wince at how "Wolfgang Sauerbraten" mangles the language!

So there you have it. A profound thanks to Brian for his good sportsmanship and fine effort. I'm giving him extra points because he had to look on the VHS tapes to get some of the answers and didn't have the help of an easy to search DVD.

Another MySpace friend, "MadWriter," was asking me about the two versions of "Eugene" (aka "The Silent Show") that were done. Yes, there were two! The first was in color and was the only time Ernie ever appeared on TELEVISION in color. He appeared in movies in color all the time. Here's what I told "MadWriter":

When Jerry Lewis split with "Dino" in 1956 he was given a 90 minute special by NBC to go out on his own with. Thing is, his agent told them Jerry didn't want to do 90 minutes.

So, they needed to fill the extra 1/2 hour. They offered it to many well known comics but NO ONE was crazy enough to go on after Lewis who was extremely popular at that time. No one except for Ernie that is. And he did Eugene for his 1/2 hour and garnered lots of acclaim. That version is in color. The only place I've ever seen it, or part of it anyway, was at the "Museum Of TV And Radio" here in New York (http://www.mtr.org/). And its the only time Ernie was ever in color on TV. And, it was LIVE. Of course, Ernie was in color in the movies quite a bit.

The version on the VHS or DVD is one of the ABC specials from 1961 (November I believe) and that is the one most everyone knows.

Last week a magician named Glenn Bishop wrote a very nice post about this blog and I hope you'll all go read it. Once you're there be sure to check out all of Glenn's blogs. There are some great video clips and info on magic, which used to be a hobby of mine. Glenn's a really talented magician and a fellow Ernie fan with an interesting take on Ernie's process. Thanks for the post Glenn!

I'll close as always with some other blog posts and articles I found this week in cyberspace:

The column "Pop Matters" talks about the pros and cons of "The Nairobi Trio"

Steve Gerber Gives Us A Quick Opinion On "The Nairobi Trio"

Inner Toob Gives A Quick Nod To Ernie

Some more "Nairobi Trio

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